Pony Tails 05- May Takes the Lead

by Bonnie Bryant

  “Everybody wants to ride in the parade, but nobody wants to work on it?” Max looked annoyed.

  “Come on, guys,” May said. “Somebody’s got to be in charge!”

  “What about you?” Amie asked.

  “Me?” May said.

  “Yes, you,” said Corey.

  “But I’m not organized,” said May.

  “It was your idea,” Max reminded her.

  “But—” May protested.

  “Hey, May, you’re going to do a wonderful job!” said Jasmine. “You know exactly what we need to do to make it a success. Nobody would do it better.”

  “I agree. It’s decided then, May, and thank you for volunteering,” said Max.

  “But—”

  “May, while we warm up our ponies, why don’t you go in and talk with Mrs. Reg to see what needs to be done?” Max suggested. “Jasmine, you can walk May’s pony on a lead line, okay?”

  “Sure, Max,” Jasmine said.

  “And then, at the end of class, we will have a parade practice,” Max went on.

  May could hardly believe what had happened. She had one little idea, and the next thing she knew, somebody had put her in charge! She didn’t want to be in charge. She just wanted to ride in a parade. She had too many other things to think about to be in charge of a parade. She had schoolwork, the drill event for CARL, basement cleaning, plus revenge on her sisters. Could she really add a whole parade on top?

  She looked around at the other riders, hoping to find some help. Maybe someone would say they actually thought they could do a better job than May. It wouldn’t be hard. May thought anyone could do a better job than she could. She was good at ideas. She wasn’t good at organization.

  “May, give your reins to Jasmine,” Max said.

  That was it. Max had decided. May was in charge. She sighed and dismounted. She handed the reins to Jasmine and walked into Mrs. Reg’s office.

  Outside, class was beginning. Inside, it was just May and Mrs. Reg.

  “Now, sit down and let’s get started,” said Mrs. Reg.

  May sat down. They got started.

  It turned out that Mrs. Reg had already made a long list of things that needed to be done. One person needed to be the equipment manager. That person would be in charge of making sure that everybody was there and properly dressed. Another person would work with Mrs. Reg to be sure everybody had flyers to hand out to people watching the parade. And then they would need some people at the shopping center who could sell tickets to the drill team event. Obviously that would be another person who wasn’t riding in the parade. Mrs. Reg had already called the chief of police to be sure they had permission for their parade.

  “That was easy,” Mrs. Reg said. “He rides here at Pine Hollow on his day off.”

  Mrs. Reg told May that somebody ought to call the managers of the stores at the shopping center to be sure they knew about the parade so they could tell their customers.

  “And most important, we have to have one person in charge of the actual pony parade—the leader,” said Mrs. Reg.

  “Shouldn’t that be Max?” May asked.

  “He’s too big to ride a pony,” Mrs. Reg said. “It should be one of the young riders.”

  “Oh,” said May.

  “Now, your main job will be finding people to do all these jobs,” said Mrs. Reg.

  “Nobody wanted this job,” May wailed. “How will I find people to do other jobs?”

  “If you want the pony parade to be a success, you’ll find them,” said Mrs. Reg.

  She gave May a list of the jobs she had to fill. Before May could ask one more question, Mrs. Reg picked up her pen and started writing. May knew she was being dismissed.

  In class, the riders were having one final run-through of the drill exercise they would perform at the show. May hurried to catch up. For the next half hour, she was working too hard to think about the work she’d have to do when they stopped riding.

  Then it was time for a break—a break for everybody but May.

  “Corey, can you be the equipment manager?” May asked. Corey was the most organized person she knew, and this job required a lot of organization.

  “I’m sorry, May.” Corey shook her head. “I can’t do that. I’ve got too much to do for the drill exercise already. Remember, I’m in the main part of the show, but I’m also in the small group.”

  May remembered. Max had picked a small group of riders to perform extra skills in the show. Corey was very busy with that.

  “Jasmine?” May pleaded.

  “No way,” Jasmine said. “I’ve got a big school project coming up and I’m going to have to work on it every spare second over the weekend. …”

  May hadn’t known about Jasmine’s school project. Projects were important. No wonder Jasmine couldn’t help her.

  “Erin, could you—?” Erin Mosley wasn’t May’s favorite rider at the stable, but May was getting desperate.

  “Are you going to ask me to help with the pony parade?” Erin snapped.

  May nodded.

  Erin tossed her long blond hair. “I’ll help you plan the lineup—I think we should go by height.”

  It didn’t surprise May that Erin wanted to go by height. Erin’s pony was very small. That would put her in the lead.

  “No thanks,” May said.

  She turned to find someone else.

  “Josh, would you like to call all the stores at the shopping center?” she asked.

  “You mean, like on the telephone?” Josh asked. May remembered that Josh was very shy. Asking him to make phone calls probably wasn’t a good idea.

  “Actually, how would you like to be in charge of being sure everybody has flyers to hand out?” May asked.

  “Me?” Josh asked.

  “Yes, you,” May said.

  “Wow,” he said.

  May put a check mark by that item on her list. It was the easiest job by far, but it was filled. If Jasmine and Corey were too busy to be equipment manager, maybe they could give her a hand by calling some of the stores. They weren’t shy about making phone calls.

  May looked around for her friends. Jasmine was talking with Jackie. May saw Jasmine hand a piece of paper to Jackie. As soon as May called Jasmine’s name, Jackie stuffed the paper in her pocket. May thought that was odd, but sometimes Jackie acted odd.

  She turned to look for Corey. Corey was whispering something to Amie. Amie giggled. May thought Amie giggled too much. She decided not to ask Corey anything. Just as she started to turn away, Corey handed Amie an envelope. Amie stuck it in her pocket right away.

  “All right, everybody. Let’s mount up again,” Max announced, looking up at the cloudy sky. “I want to get in some practice time for the pony parade before it rains. Are you ready, May?”

  “Yes,” May mumbled. As she climbed into the saddle, she couldn’t help feeling a little annoyed. Nobody wanted to help her with the pony parade. Everybody was too busy with school projects, drill team work, and giggling to give her a hand.

  There was only one answer, then. May would take charge. Maybe she wasn’t the most organized person in the world, but she could do this. And since nobody else wanted to do any of the hard things, then nobody else was going to do the most fun thing—take the lead in the parade.

  “Okay, riders,” May shouted when everyone had mounted. “Follow me.”

  A light rain started to fall as May rode toward some poles Max had set up in the schooling ring.

  Slowly the other riders fell in line.

  8 Something in the Air

  “But, Mr. Michaels, I just want to tell you that there will be a parade on Sat—A parade,” May said again. “Actually, a pony parade. No, they’re not really young horses, they’re small hor—But that’s not what’s imp—”

  May glared at the telephone, wishing she could finish a sentence. The man who owned the shoe shop at the shopping center was having a lot of trouble understanding why there was going to be a pony parade.

  �
��We’re raising money for—No, not ponies … No, there’s no charge for the pony parade, but we’ll be selling—Okay, see you then, Mr. Michaels.” She hung up. Making phone calls to strangers could be hard.

  The good news was that that was the last call. She put a check mark by “Call shopkeepers” on Mrs. Reg’s list.

  May was sitting at the desk in her mother’s office. She felt very important to be at a desk with a telephone. She’d finished one job and she was ready for another. She looked back at Mrs. Reg’s list.

  Next came figuring out a parade order. A parade could look nice if it went short to tall, as Erin had suggested. But May thought it made more sense to have an experienced rider behind each of the novices, as they called the newest riders. She picked up a pencil and two clean sheets of paper. On the first she wrote the name of every rider in her pony class. Then she noted whether each was an experienced rider or a novice. On the second sheet she made an order, alternating them. Naturally, she also wanted to have her two best friends as close to her as possible.

  “First Jasmine, then Jackie, then, um …” She wrote the names down.

  The phone rang.

  “I’ll get it!” Dottie yelled from the living room.

  May ignored the phone and Dottie. If she put Jasmine first and then Jackie, there might be a problem, because Jackie liked to ride Ha’penny and Ha’penny didn’t like Jasmine’s pony, Outlaw. He might try to nip at him. That wouldn’t be good for the pony parade.

  Maybe Nickel should come behind Jasmine. But Josh would probably ride Nickel, and he was just about the newest rider there. It would be better to have Josh in the middle of the parade. But then, if she put—

  The phone rang again. May glared at it.

  “I’ll get it!” Ellie said.

  May tried to remember where she was in planning the parade. Right, who would come after Outlaw. Peso? If she put Peso next, then she couldn’t put Corey behind Peso because Peso and Corey’s pony, Sam, didn’t like each other. So, it should be—

  RRRRrrringggg!

  “I’ll get it!” Dottie said.

  What’s going on here? May asked herself. She couldn’t concentrate with the phone ringing like this. Dottie and Ellie always liked to answer the phone, but they didn’t usually pounce on it as fast as they were doing today. May decided that they probably each had a new boyfriend. And that meant Dottie’s new boyfriend would probably be here on Saturday. And after May read Dottie’s diary, they’d never see him again! And Dottie would never get another phone call and the whole house would be quiet!

  She turned back to the order of the parade. Maybe it would work better if she had Corey and Sam right behind her, then she could put—

  “May, phone call,” Dottie said. “It’s Corey.”

  May put down her pencil and picked up the phone.

  “How’s it coming?” Corey asked.

  May told her what she was working on. “It’s not easy to concentrate here,” she complained. “The phone keeps ringing off the hook.”

  “You’re getting a lot of calls?” Corey asked.

  “No, Ellie and Dottie are,” May said.

  “Oh,” Corey said. “Well, I just wanted to know how you were doing.”

  “Fine,” said May. “See you at the bus tomorrow.” They said good night and May got back to work.

  If she put Sam and Corey right behind her, then she could put Amie behind …

  The phone hadn’t rung.

  The thought came to May as she stared down at the names on the paper in front of her. When Corey called her, the phone hadn’t rung. Dottie had answered it and talked for a long time before she yelled that it was Corey for May. What could they have said to each other?

  May felt a twinge in the pit of her stomach. Corey hadn’t liked the idea that May had the diary. Was it possible she’d told Dottie? May gulped. She had to know.

  She put down the pencil and went into the living room where both her sisters were doing homework.

  “Hi, guys,” she said.

  “Hi, May,” they said back.

  Neither of them looked as if they wanted to strangle her. That was a good sign. But maybe they were just pretending. She had an idea.

  “Could you two do me a favor?” she asked.

  “Like what?” Ellie eyed her suspiciously.

  “Well, you know about the pony parade on Saturday morning?” May began.

  “Sure, we know about it,” said Dottie.

  “I need someone at the shopping center to sell tickets to the drill team demonstration while the parade is on. Could you do that?”

  “Oh, come on, May,” Ellie said. “You know there’s a lot to do for the party—”

  “Not that much,” Dottie interrupted. May could have sworn she nudged Ellie. “How much help will you need?”

  “About an hour?” May said. “Maybe ten to eleven?”

  “Okay,” Ellie said. “We’ll be there.”

  “You will?” May said.

  “Sure,” Dottie said. “Glad to help.”

  “Thanks,” May said. She returned to her mother’s office.

  Why had Dottie nudged Ellie? she wondered. And why had both her sisters acted so nice to her?

  There was only one answer.

  Something was up. But what?

  9 The Pony Parade

  “Riders, forward!” May called. Then she nudged Macaroni and moved ahead herself. She could hear the wonderful clop of fifteen ponies’ hooves behind her. The parade had started!

  And so far, if she didn’t count the fact that two of the riders were wearing jeans instead of proper riding pants, everything was going smoothly. May couldn’t believe it. She’d done it and she’d done it right!

  “Come on, Macaroni,” she told her pony. “All the work is done. Let’s have fun!”

  May and Mrs. Reg had planned the parade route carefully. May was to lead the riders along the road through downtown Willow Creek, from the town green to the shopping center. From there they could take the shortcut through the woods back to Pine Hollow.

  “Riders, prepare to trot!” May called. She and Macaroni began trotting toward the green. Behind her, fifteen riders started trotting as well. When the path narrowed and there were more cars on the road, May held up her hand, signaling a walk. She reined Macaroni in. He walked. Behind her, fifteen riders and their ponies returned to a walk.

  Soon the ponies got closer to the middle of town.

  “Hey, look! Ponies!” said a little girl who was playing with dolls in the front yard of her house.

  “Wow!” said her friend.

  “Come watch us ride and help CARL,” Josh said. He reached out and handed the girls one of the flyers Mrs. Reg had made up for them.

  “Okay,” said the first little girl. Then she turned to her friend. “Come on, let’s call Francesca and tell her.”

  Francesca, it turned out, lived just down the street. By the time the ponies got to Francesca’s house, the girls had also called other friends. At every house along the way, people came out to watch. And every person who came to watch got a flyer telling them about the following week’s drill demonstration for the animal shelter.

  “CARL? I know about that,” said one man. “They do good work. I can help them just by watching you ride?”

  “You sure can,” said Josh. “Buy a ticket to the show and bring some friends. That will help even more.”

  May could hardly believe what was happening to Josh. The shy boy wasn’t at all shy when he was talking about CARL!

  The cry of “Hey, ponies!” followed them everywhere. By the time they got to the center of town, all the firefighters were standing in front of the firehouse and cheering for them. Every one of them got a flyer from Josh or one of the other riders. May thought she’d never sat so tall in the saddle. She was proud of her parade.

  While a policeman stopped traffic, the riders crossed the main road to the town green. It was a park and it was full of people this morning. The pony parade was already get
ting people’s attention, but May knew she could do more.

  “Prepare to trot!” she called out, raising her hand. She took the riders in a big circle all around the town green at a trot. Then she cut across the circle to make a figure eight. When she’d finished that, she started riding around the trees on the green.

  “Hey, this is neat!” said Amie. She was having fun, and so were all the other riders.

  “Look, Mom. Horsies!” a little girl said, tugging at her mother’s hand.

  “Do you like horsies?” the mother asked.

  “I love horsies!” the little girl said.

  Josh gave them a flyer. “Tickets on sale at the shopping center,” he told them. “Don’t miss the show!”

  “Let’s go, Mommy!” said the little girl.

  It was working, really working! May was so happy she punched the air with her fist and yelled “Yahoo!” Behind her fifteen riders punched the air with their fists and yelled “Yahoo!”

  That was when May realized they weren’t just having a pony parade. They were playing Follow the Leader! May knew how to lead that better than anyone, and so she did.

  She brought Macaroni back to a walk. Then she stood up in her stirrups. Behind her, fifteen riders stood up, too, one by one. Then May sat down. They all sat down, one by one.

  She swung her right arm in an arc. All the other riders swung their right arms in an arc. She put her left hand on top of her riding helmet. Everybody else did the same.

  At first, only a few people on the green were paying attention. But by the time May had the riders turning their ponies in circles, everybody was watching.

  “It’s a show!” said one man.

  “Come see some more!” said Josh. More flyers went out to the people in town.

  “Tickets on sale at the shopping center,” said Corey.

  “Don’t miss the big fun!” said Jasmine.

  “Pay attention to May,” said Jackie. “She’s going to do something else wacky.”

  They did and she did. May took her feet out of her stirrups and stuck them straight out in front of her. Then she brought her feet back and leaned forward into Macaroni’s mane.