Entering In: Day 1

Word Count: 6,048

Summary of Events:

Levi watched his filly in her morning training run, as usual, and talked with Tom, the trainer, and Rod, the jockey, afterwards. Hadia got tired of waiting for her older brother to get up and so went and woke him up herself, only to get into an argument that led to him mocking her for being rather short. Traeton arrived in Vicksburg and managed to get a little something to eat from a restaurant dumpster — although he got wounded fending off the crows and seagulls also vying for sustenance — before managing to steal some food from a truck at a grocery store that would get him through the next day without the same battles. Levi readied for his grand entrance at the family's Derby Eve Ball . . .

Excerpt of the Day:

"With a light touch, Levi stroked cologne onto his collarbones before shrugging the crisp, fresh white dress shirt over his shoulders and buttoning it up neatly.

He then pulled on the perfectly pressed deep charcoal grey dress pants and tucked the shirt inside before putting on the vest of rich, deep navy.

Before he put on the jacket that matched the pants, he flipped up his collar and tied the bowtie of silvery satin and affixed the rhombus-shaped cufflinks, set with turquoise, save the S that filled them, which was set with mother-of-pearl.

Finally the jacket was on and Levi exited the washroom to put on his socks and polished black dress shoes, and then exited the bedroom to appear at the top of the balcony.

Shutters clicked and flashes flickered as the media gathered at one of the premier events on the calendar of the rich and famous who came to Louisville for Derby Week eagerly catalogued his outfit.

Slowly Levi walked along, drawing close to the rail so as to slide his hand along it while the media and the women gathered in the receiving hall swooned at his appearance.

Admittedly, he felt something like the Great Gatsby — not that he'd ever read the book, but he had a general idea of what it was about — and the fact that he was inside an opulent Georgian mansion that was decorated in the vogue of the late nineteenth century only helped the mood.

Stopping at the centre of the entryway onto the landing just below the balcony, Levi stopped, almost as if he'd been frozen stiff suddenly, and he did so long enough for an uneasy murmur to ripple through the crowd.

He then whipped around to face them, stepped down to the landing, and leaned against the railing that separated him from the twelve-foot drops to the floor below.

As he looked down at the crowd a thought came to his head. It was a thought he'd had before, and, at times, much more seriously entertained; but he was much to exhilarated right about now to give it much more than passing notice: what if the railing gave out and caused him to plummet to his death?

The thought never scared him. In fact, there were times when he relished in it, but things were good right now, he had no reason to think of such morbid things, he had a filly racing on Saturday who was his — or, at leas as much his as his grandfather would allow.

Technically, he only had a fifty percent interest in Twilight. His father had twenty five percent — although he'd been willing not to have anything — and his grandfather had the remaining twenty five — which was the least he had on any horse that lived on his property."