Love And Hate

Chapter 1

Art Of Racing

Michealangelo packed a bag with his art pencils and art pad. He packed various other art things into the bag and stuffed some snacks in there as well. He pulled on his trench coat and hat. He had pants on also with a pair of custom made loafers. He picked up his bag and walked out the door. He had a nice beige Mercedes that he had bought not too long ago. He had sold his old car to buy this one and was very happy with that choice. He got in and started it up. After carefully backing out of the drive way, he turned on the main road and made his way to the Gulf Stream Park. He had been going to the horse races for almost 10 years now and loved every minute of it. He loved to draw the powerful animals pounding down the stretch and pouring their hearts out to win the race. Today was just going to be a few allowance races and maidens. But he was still intrigued by them. He pulled into the parking lot of the busy Park and got out of the car. He grabbed his bag and went to the barns. He was silent as he looked at all the different colored horses standing in their stalls.

" Alright, tack him up for the race." He heard a voice say. He turned and looked at the young woman. She couldn't be older than 25 or so. She had somewhat long brown hair and hazel eyes with green speckles in them. She was truly beautiful, but so was the young woman with her. She was a slender woman with somewhat curly black hair and brown eyes. It was obvious she was an Italian beauty that he took a small interest in. But he realized that he had come to look at horses and not girls. Not to mention he wasn't exactly their type. He sighed and stood, waiting for them to bring the horse out. He had a racing program that he had ordered before he came in. He looked at it and then the name of the horse.

" Butterscotch Ruler......" He read on. The colt was entered in a Grade III allowance race set to go off in less than 30 minutes. The colt was a two year old and this was his first race. He watched the colt emerge from his stall and was moved by his elegance and beauty. Butterscotch was defiantly his color, he had four white socks on his legs and a nice white blaze on his face. Mike decided that he was the horse to draw. He made his way to the stands and next to the rail where he could get a good view of the race. He pulled his camera out from his bag and prepared to take pictures when the horses ran.

He watched as the horses were brought out for the post parade. He looked beyond a dark bay and saw Butterscotch Ruler being led by the brown haired lady. He waited a little longer and then saw the colt's jockey come out. To his surprise, it was the young woman he had taken a slight interest in. She was mounted up and given instructions before the race began. Then the pony leads came and took the energetic Thoroughbreds to the starting gate. Mike could feel his heart start to thump in his chest. He always got excited when he was at the races. As the horses loaded, he watched. As soon as the last gate was closed, they all flew open and 7 horses pounded down the stretch. Mike started taking pictures as they past and waited as the went past the club house turn and down the back stretch. When they made the final turn he watched and took a few more pictures. Butterscotch Ruler, suddenly lunged forward with another burst of speed and came into first within a few seconds. Mike was amazed at how the horse did that and took another picture as the colt went under the finish line to place first, 2 lengths ahead of the rest. Mike quickly went to the winners circle and waited. He saw the brown haired lady hug the jockey and her horse. When they were ready again, pictures were taken. Mike wasted no time and took pictures himself. Then he silently watched the colt be walked to the backside to be cooled off. He then went to the backside of the barns and sat down on the grass. He pulled out his drawing equipment and started to draw the horses he saw in the pasture. He had to wait until he developed the film before he could draw Butterscotch Ruler. Drawing relaxed him. It was something he did to get away from all the bad things in life. Like when he started to write books and poetry. He often illustrated books and did his own art works. He used it as a means to escape from his past. He tried to forget about what happened. Once he had even tried to forget about his brothers and Splinter, but the fact was that it was something he saw everyday in his nightmares. He watched the sleek horses graze as he drew. Then he heard someone behind him. He turned to see Butterscotch being led by his jockey. She stopped and stuck his tack in a large horse trailer. He looked at it and read the name on the side, written in silver.

Silverbrook Stables

He had heard of it when he came to races. They were obviously very popular with very high standard Thoroughbreds. But he had never seen those two girls before. Maybe he just hadn't bothered noticing anyone except the horses. He turned away as they walked past him without even a glance. He packed his things and got up to leave. With one last glance at the young woman and the tall horse, he turned and left.

Mike relaxed at home and waited as the pictures developed in his own dark room. When they finally came out, he went to his art room and began to draw various scenes of the race that he had taken pictures off. He sketched out the frame of the girl's face and then starred at it. He remembered it clearly and wished that he were someone he wasn't. It would at least give him the chance to talk to her. But he pushed the thought aside. He wanted to concentrate on his work.