Once upon a time, before the boys were killed and when there were more horses than cars, before the male servants disappeared and they made do, at Upleigh and at Beechwood, with just a cook and a maid, the Sheringhams had owned not just four horses in their own stable, but what might be called a 'real horse', a racehorse, a thoroughbred. Its name was Fandango. It was stabled near Newbury. It had never won a damn thing. But is was the family's indulgence, their hope for fame and glory on the racecourses of southern England. The deal was that Pa and Ma - otherwise known in his strange language as 'the shower' - owned the head and body and he and Dick and Freddy had a leg each.' What about the fourth leg?'' Oh the fourth leg. That was always the question. .Graham Swift
About This Quote
The story began with the couple's four sons getting together and deciding to build a stable so they could have a horse of their own. They didn't expect their mother to go for it, but she did. Her father was given the job of overseeing the project and he assigned them the position of stable manager. The boys had to work hard and be very diligent in their duties as they were not allowed to spend any of their salary on themselves.
It was a time when if you had a horse then it was your responsibility to take care of it and not let anyone else spend any money on it. This meant that they had to ensure that everything ran smoothly and they couldn't be seen as slackers as this would bring bad luck on the whole project.
Source: Mothering Sunday
Some Similar Quotes
- Love can change a person the way a parent can change a baby- awkwardly, and often with a great deal of mess.
- You know all that sympathy that you feel for an abused child who suffers without a good mom or dad to love and care for them? Well, they don't stay children forever. No one magically becomes an adult the day they turn eighteen. Some people...
- When you loved someone and had to let them go, there will always be that small part of yourself that whispers, "What was it that you wanted and why didn't you fight for it?
- It never gets easier, missing you. And sometimes I wonder if it ever will.
- Parents have this twisted belief that anyone under the age of about twenty simply can’t know what love is, like the age to love is assessed in the same way the law assesses the legal age to drink. They think that the ‘emotional growth’ of...
More Quotes By Graham Swift
- Social media is a powerful tool to raise awareness and create change. But we must take care not to rely upon it as a reflection of our charitable efforts.
- Once upon a time, there was a generation of parents who were certain that Elvis Presley's unashamed hip-swivellingvwas most certainly the end of society.
- Gen Y's work best in groups, collaboratively, transparently, interactively and entrepreneurially - and have already created positive change in many local communities and around the world.
- The Kony campaign us an example of how powerful 'slacktivisim' can be, and demonstrates that, with enough worldwide awareness and social pressure, movements like this one have the power to make politicians move. It also makes the ignorant less so. No-one knew who Kony was...
- It has been said already, but bears repeating: no blanket statement can sum up an entire group of people. No book, no chapter, no study, no research report can attempt to do that either. Instead, Understanding Y attempts to start a conversation - one that...