Corey nodded. “Mom says CARL really needs the money. There are a lot of animals who don’t have homes or owners to love them. A few of them need special care, too. Medicine for animals can be really expensive.”
Jasmine sighed. “I wish I could think of a way to get more people to buy tickets,” she said. “There’s got to be something the Pony Tails can do.”
Suddenly both girls looked at May.
“Come on, May,” Corey said. “You’ve always got good ideas.”
“What?” May hadn’t been paying attention to her friends’ conversation. She was still thinking about her sisters and the way they’d treated her the day before.
“We need to find a way to tell people about the show for CARL,” Jasmine explained. She knew she sounded impatient, but she couldn’t help it. How could May be daydreaming when they were talking about something as important as saving animals?
“Oh.” May was quiet for a minute. “I can’t think of anything,” she said.
“You can’t?” Corey was amazed. May could always come up with an idea—even if it was a crazy idea.
“I guess my mind is on something else right now,” May said.
“Your birthday party?” Corey asked.
“No.” May shook her head. “Revenge. Against both my sisters.”
Corey and Jasmine didn’t like the sound of this.
“Revenge isn’t usually a good idea,” Jasmine began gently.
“Right,” agreed Corey. “Sometimes it can get you into big trouble. Remember?”
May remembered. Not too long ago, she’d tried to get back at Wil McNally. He was a bully who had been picking on Jasmine. Her plan had backfired, and Jasmine had wound up angry at May.
“This is different, though,” May insisted. “That time I was trying to solve Jasmine’s problem. This time it’s my problem. I get to decide how to fix it.”
Corey and Jasmine looked at one another. They were about to warn May again when they heard the phone in the stable ring once.
“That must be Ellie and Dottie calling me back to work,” May announced. “I don’t want to keep them waiting today.” May dismounted and walked Macaroni back toward the stable. “See you,” she said, waving good-bye to her friends.
Corey and Jasmine walked their ponies back out of the schooling ring and rode toward their own stables.
“What are we going to do about this?” Corey asked Jasmine.
“I don’t know,” Jasmine answered. “But when May gets an idea in her head …”
“It usually stays there,” Corey finished Jasmine’s thought.
The girls reached Corey’s stable. “See you tomorrow,” Corey called.
“Bye,” Jasmine called back.
Corey had a lot of work to do grooming and feeding Samurai. It gave her time to think about May and her sisters. If only May knew …
4 Temptation
The rest of the day was very busy for May. She thought about her plan to get back at her sisters, but she didn’t have time to do anything about it. After she finished helping Ellie and Dottie in the basement, she had to return to the stable to groom and feed Macaroni. Then it was time for dinner, and time to set the table. When the meal was over she had to help her mother clean up.
Finally May shoved the last pot into the cabinet and hurried to her room. Quickly she closed the door behind her. She was alone at last!
May got on her hands and knees and reached under her bed. She felt for the big box filled with clothes that didn’t fit Ellie anymore but didn’t fit May yet. May pulled the box toward her.
There, on the top, was the sweatshirt she’d been wearing yesterday. Carefully she took it out of the box and unfolded it.
Resting inside was the leather-bound diary.
May looked at the book. It had a flap of leather that came from the back and latched on the front. There was a lock on the latch. May didn’t have the key. She didn’t even know where the key was. It was probably in Dottie’s room, but maybe Dottie kept it on a string around her neck. If May had a diary, that’s what she’d do with the key. She would never want to worry about who might find the key and decide to open her diary.
The lock on this diary wasn’t a very sturdy one. May could probably force it open. Even if she couldn’t unlock it, she could always just cut the leather strap with scissors.
MY DIARY.
The gold words seemed to gleam up at her, bright and inviting.
May felt the smooth, soft cover with her hands. She sniffed at it. It had the same nice smell as clean tack. It was real leather.
May knew it wasn’t right to read someone else’s diary, but so what? Dottie hadn’t thought twice about teasing May yesterday. And tonight at dinner, she’d gone on and on about how she was having friends over first—on Saturday night.
May touched the latch, feeling the cool metal lock. It would be so interesting to find out Dottie’s most private thoughts. Maybe she had written about her boyfriends. And about school …
“School,” May said out loud. “Oh no. I have math homework to do!”
May ran her fingers over the soft leather cover of the diary one more time. Then she wrapped it back in the sweatshirt and slid the box under her bed.
Operation Get Back at Dottie and Ellie will have to wait, May told herself. Right now she had to write out the eights tables.
5 A Good Idea
“Look at him! He’s my favorite. He’s so cute!” Corey said, pointing to a newborn puppy with a little fuzz of white fur on his sweet, pink skin.
“No, I like that one best,” said Jasmine. “The black and white splotches are adorable.”
“I like them all the best,” May declared.
It was Monday afternoon. School was finished for the day, and the three girls were at Corey’s house. They were lying on their stomachs, watching a newborn litter of puppies sleeping next to their mother. The mother was a patient of Doc Tock’s, and the six puppies had been born at Corey’s house the night before.
“I wish I got along with my sisters as well as these puppies get along with one another,” May said glumly.
Corey raised an eyebrow as she and Jasmine looked at each other. May was still brooding about her sisters.
“Did they tease you again about ponies?” Corey asked.
May nodded. “And about having their parties in the basement first. But I figured out how to get back at them. You’ll see.”
“What do you mean?” Jasmine asked.
“I found Dottie’s diary,” May began. “And I’m sure there are a lot of things in it. I was thinking of reading it out loud to her friends at her first party.”
“You wouldn’t!” gasped Corey.
“May! Diaries are private,” Jasmine chimed in. “You’d be sorry if you did that.”
“Don’t worry,” May promised her. “I won’t do anything I’m going to be sorry about.”
“Promise?” Corey asked.
“Promise,” May said. She meant it, too. She wouldn’t be the least bit sorry if she embarrassed Dottie in front of her friends.
Just then two of the puppies woke up and started nuzzling their mother for some milk.
“Aww,” said Jasmine.
“You’re so lucky that your mom’s a vet,” May told Corey. “You get to have lots of adorable animals at your house all the time.”
“They’re not always so adorable,” Corey said. “Once we kept a skunk for a week.”
“Pee-yew!” said Jasmine.
“Oh, it couldn’t spray anything,” Corey replied. “Its sprayer had been removed. It was just sort of nasty and nippy. Mom and I didn’t know why anyone would want to keep it for a pet. We only had to keep it until it got over its infection. And then there was the time someone brought in a porcupine with pneumonia.”
“How did your mom take care of a porcupine with pneumonia?” Jasmine asked.
“Very carefully!” said Corey. The girls laughed. “Most of the time when they’re wild animals, Mom takes care of the
m at CARL instead of here.”
The phone rang. Corey answered it.
“Um, yeah, well, uh … I think I’d better change phones,” she said. Then she turned to Jasmine. “Will you hang this up for me when I pick it up in the kitchen?” she asked. Jasmine said sure. Corey left the room. Jasmine listened at the receiver for a few minutes and then hung up the extension.
“Who was that?” May asked, wondering why Corey would have to go to the kitchen to talk to someone. The Pony Tails were best friends. They never had secrets from one another.
Jasmine seemed a little flustered by the question. “What makes you think I know?” she asked.
“Well, you were listening for a while,” May told her.
“Oh, right. Well, it was probably a salesman or something,” Jasmine mumbled.
That doesn’t make any sense at all, May thought.
“Oh, look, the one I like is waking up!” Jasmine said.
May watched as the little puppy stretched, yawned, and wriggled. One of its brothers or sisters—May couldn’t tell which—stretched and wriggled and moved so that it was right behind the first puppy. And then a third did the same thing. They looked as if they were lining up to play Follow the Leader or be in a parade.
“Ohhh,” May said. The puppies were so cute she forgot all about Corey’s strange phone call, at least until Corey came back into the room.
“Who was that?” May asked her friend.
“Urn, it was a call,” Corey told her, even though May obviously knew that. “It was about CARL,” she added quickly. “And the tickets for the show.”
“Have they sold any more tickets?” May asked.
“Nope.” Corey sighed. “I wish we could think of a way to help.”
For a few moments the Pony Tails were silent, each thinking about how they could make the event for CARL a big success.
May stared at the puppies while she thought. There were now four of them lined up, each with its head resting on the next one’s back. At first it was hard to think about ponies while she was looking at the puppies, but then she saw it.
“A parade!” she announced.
For a minute Jasmine thought her friend had lost her mind. “No, we’re doing a drill exercise for CARL, not a parade,” she corrected May.
“I know that!” May told her. “But if we have a parade, everybody will see us and they’ll wonder why and we can tell them about the show we’re putting on. Parades are fun!”
“Right,” Corey said. “But just exactly how—”
“Come on, you guys. Nobody can ignore a parade,” May went on, the words tumbling out. “Especially if it’s something totally wonderful like a pony parade. We can go all around the town and into the shopping center. Lots of people go there. They’ll all notice us and watch. Everyone loves a parade, right?”
“You could be right about—” said Jasmine.
“You bet I am,” May interrupted. “And the time to do it is this weekend. Definitely this weekend. Because the show is next weekend. Now, we have to do it on Saturday.” She stopped talking for a minute to think. “Saturday afternoon, definitely,” she said. “That’s when most people are shopping.”
“Good idea!” said Jasmine.
Then Corey spoke up. “Saturday afternoon isn’t a very good idea,” she said quickly. “Saturday morning’s much better.”
“What’s the matter with Saturday afternoon?” May asked.
“Didn’t you promise Dottie and Ellie that you’d help them finish the basement cleanup on Saturday afternoon because Dottie has some friends coming over?” Corey asked.
“I did?” May asked. “Oh, right, maybe I did.” She stared at her friend, confused. “But how did you know? Dottie just told me about that last night.”
“Saturday morning’s a better time,” Corey went on. “Even more people are shopping on Saturday morning than Saturday afternoon.”
“They are?” May asked.
“Definitely,” Jasmine agreed.
“Then I guess it’s Saturday morning—that is, if Max agrees,” May said. Max Regnery was the owner of Pine Hollow Stables. That was where the girls had riding lessons and Pony Club meetings.
“Why don’t you call him now?” Corey suggested. “You can use the phone in the kitchen.”
“Okay.” May hurried to the kitchen. She was so excited she could hardly stand it.
The parade would be a smashing success—she just knew it. In fact, the whole day would be wonderful. On Saturday after the parade, Dottie’s friends would come over. Then May could reveal all Dottie’s juicy secrets!
She punched in the digits for Pine Hollow Stables. “Hello, Max,” May began. “I have the most wonderful idea. …”
6 A Family Dinner
At dinner that night Ellie told everyone how she’d scored a goal at soccer that afternoon. Then Dottie talked about the new substitute math teacher. She thought he. was really cute.
May thought this was the most boring dinner table talk in the world. She wondered how Jasmine and Corey could possibly wish they had sisters.
“And how are plans coming for the CARL show?” Mr. Grover asked May.
“Oh, great!” she said enthusiastically. “In fact, something big just came up this afternoon.”
“What’s that, dear?” Mrs. Grover asked.
“A parade,” May announced. Dottie and Ellie seemed about as interested in that as May had been in soccer and the substitute math teacher. “But not just a parade, a pony parade!” she went on anyway. “It was my idea. And Max and Mrs. Reg think it’s a really good idea.”
“What’s a pony parade?” her mother asked.
“We’re going to have a parade that starts at Pine Hollow and goes all over town,” May began. “It will be a way of letting everybody know about the show for CARL. We’ll make some banners and pass out flyers to everybody. We’re going to do it on Saturday,” she added.
“Not Saturday afternoon?” said Dottie. She looked worried.
“It’s okay,” May said. “I’ll be there to help out in the basement. I didn’t forget about your party.”
“Good,” said Dottie. “Because I’ve got about twenty-five people coming over Saturday night. I want the place to be really clean.”
“I hope you won’t be too tired to work after your little parade,” Ellie said.
“If you’re going to be marching all over town—” Dottie began.
May felt her face turning bright red. Before she could say anything herself, Mr. Grover cut Dottie off. “That’s enough!” he said sharply. Dottie looked at him and stopped talking. “May, that sounds like a wonderful idea,” he told her. “It’s very creative. You’re sure to make a lot of people curious about the show. Nice thinking.”
“Thanks, Dad.” May smirked at her sisters. She couldn’t help it. At least one member of the family understood how important ponies were.
May ate the rest of her meal in silence. As soon as she could, she excused herself. “I’ve got homework to do,” she announced.
She ran up the stairs and along the hall and into her room. She closed the door behind her.
“Dottie deserves this,” she whispered to herself. She still hadn’t thought of a way to get back at Ellie, so for now she’d concentrate on Dottie.
May reached under her bed and took the diary out of the box. Her thumb went to the latch and flicked at the button that should open it. The latch didn’t move.
“Locked,” May concluded.
What did you expect? she asked herself. It’s a diary!
May looked around her room. A paper clip might do the job. Maybe she had one in her desk drawer. But that place was such a mess, she’d never find anything as small as a paper clip in it.
Tomorrow, then. She’d find a paper clip tomorrow and she would try to pick the lock.
For now she had some more math homework to do. She rewrapped the diary and put it back in its hiding place. Then she went to her desk where her math workbook was waiting for her attentio
n. Her assignment sheet was attached to it with a paper clip.
May glanced back at her bed, thinking of the diary in the box underneath it. She could …
No, I’ll do it tomorrow, she told herself.
7 Taking Charge
At pony class on Wednesday, Max had all the riders line up their ponies in front of him. Everybody knew that meant there was going to be an announcement. There was a buzz of excitement.
“Now, before we begin class,” he started, “the Pony Tails have something to tell you about. May?”
May wasn’t expecting this. She wasn’t sure what she would say. She was sure Corey would say it better.
“Corey, you tell them,” May said. Corey did. She told all about the plans for the pony parade. Corey explained that they were going to meet at Pine Hollow at nine-thirty on Saturday morning and that the parade would begin at ten. The riders’ faces glowed with excitement.
“What are we supposed to wear?” Jackie Rogers asked.
“Your best riding clothes,” Max answered. “We want everybody to know how good we really are.”
“So they’ll all want to watch us do the really hard things at the demonstration!” said Amie Connor.
“This is a great idea,” said Jessica Adler.
“Definitely,” Jackie added.
“I’m telling my mother to be sure to do her shopping on Saturday morning,” said Josh Jackson. “I don’t want her to miss this!”
“It is a good idea,” Max agreed. “But it’s going to take a lot of organization. I need one person who will help my mother and me coordinate everything. Do I have a volunteer?”
There was a long silence. Max looked at all the riders. All the riders looked at each other. May looked at Corey. Corey shook her head ever so slightly. May looked at Jasmine. Jasmine shook her head hard.
“We can’t do this without help,” Max said.
“What about Lisa Atwood?” Jackie asked.
“No, this is a pony parade,” May reminded her. “It’s just for the younger riders on ponies.”
Pony Tails 05- May Takes the Lead Page 2