Willie cleared his throat loudly in Mary’s direction, and Jody elbowed her in the side, but Mary was not to be deterred from her mission of informing Twister of the availability of the three ponies.
“I mean, the ponies are already here on the farm, and Lady and Star have both been to horse shows, where they won first-place ribbons, and Gypsy probably would have too, but she hasn’t had the chance to go to a show yet,” Mary babbled.
“Oh, I know, ma’am, and as soon as they get that ring done over there we’ll try out yer ponies and see how they do. Don’t worry, they’ll have a chance fair and square. But even so, we’ll need a few more horses to round out the bunch.”
“Willie, are you really going to a horse auction?” Jody asked quietly.
“I reckon so. That’s what we were just talkin’ about. I don’t know if we’ll find anything halfway decent, but it won’t hurt to look.”
“Don’t worry, Jody, if anybody can find a good horse, it’s Will. He’s got the best eye in the country for horses,” Mr. Crowley said reassuringly.
“Well, we’ll have a few days to work with them once they get here,” Willie said modestly, “so maybe we’ll be all right.”
Mary and Jody were speechless, still pondering Mr. Crowley’s comment about Willie’s expert eye for horses. But Jody had one more question to ask.
“Um, Willie, if you and Twister are going to a horse auction, do you think we could go too?” she asked shyly. Then she turned sharply when she heard Mary gasp.
“Oh, my gosh!” Mary blurted, her mouth agape. “I just realized what you said! A horse auction! We’ve never been to an auction before! I’ve just read about them in books! Oh, Willie, can we go, please?”
Twister glanced at Willie with eyebrows raised and a half-smile on his face while Willie pulled on his earlobe and shook his head.
“Hmph,” Willie snorted, “I’ll have to see. Might not be room enough in the truck…”
“Now, Will, you’ll have the double-cab truck to use with the gooseneck trailer hooked up. There should be plenty of room for these young ladies,” Mr. Gordon said, grinning at the upturned, eager faces of the girls.
“Well, I s’pose it’ll be all right, that is if you behave yourselves, and don’t run off and git lost once we git there,” Willie said, trying to sound grumpy.
“Oh, thanks ever so, Willie! We won’t get lost, we promise!” Mary said ecstatically while Jody simply shivered in anticipation.
“Well, girls, how would you like to see what we’ve done so far in the house?” Mr. Gordon offered generously. “That’s where our first scene will be shot tomorrow, and we’re just about finished setting up.”
Mary and Jody nodded happily and followed Mr. Gordon through the red double doors at the front of the McMurray farmhouse. They had to be careful not to trip over the thick black and yellow cables that snaked along the hallway floor. But when they reached the old, familiar kitchen where at times they had dawdled, talking with Mrs. McMurray at the trestle table, they stopped in their tracks and stared.
More cables, leading to several three-legged, tall, black poles each topped by a large, square light, lay on the wood floor of the kitchen. Thick, yellow plastic sheeting covered each window except the one above the kitchen sink. Several of the blue metal boxes the girls had seen disappearing into the house the day before were sitting along one wall, mostly empty, but a few with more cables and cords inside. Men and women dressed in sturdy denim or khaki shorts and cotton T-shirts bustled about the kitchen, some with rolls of black or multi-colored duct tape hanging from their belts, some with walkie-talkies, and some with large metal clips attached to their shirts. And at the kitchen table, in the midst of all the chaos, sat Mr. McMurray, sipping a cup of tea and beaming like a Cheshire cat at the “movie people.”
At the kitchen table, in the midst of
all the chaos, sat Mr. McMurray.
“Well, what do you think?” Mr. Gordon asked the incredulous girls. “It looks a bit different than the last time you saw it, eh?”
“Oh, my gosh, Mr. Gordon,” Jody whispered. “What are all these people doing?”
“They’re working, of course!”Mr. Gordon chuckled. “These are the crew members, and they’re setting up the lighting and the sound for tomorrow. It takes quite a while to get everything ready for each shot. And once the actors get here in the morning, the crew will have to adjust everything again to get it exactly right.”
“The actors? Will they be here tomorrow?” Mary asked excitedly. “Oooh, I can’t wait to meet them!”
“Now just hold yer horses and settle down.”Willie stood behind them in the doorway with his hat in his hands, gazing around the room in admiration of the hardworking crew members. “The actors have a job to do, and they don’t need you two buggin’ them to death.”
“Only the actors who will be in this particular scene will be here tomorrow, girls,” Mr. Gordon explained. “That will be the lead female character and the actors who play her mother and father.”
“And you two will be busy takin’ a ridin’ test, so don’t worry about bein’ underfoot in here,” Willie continued.
“A riding test? What do you mean, Willie?” Mary asked.
“Didn’t you hear what Twister said? You and the ponies have to prove yourselves if you want to be in the movie. We’ll see you in the ring first thing tomorrow mornin’.”
“In the ring? But Willie, they’re still building the ring,” Jody said. “They won’t be done by tomorrow!”
“Won’t they?” Willie said mysteriously, turning toward the door. “Come on now. There’s still work to be done at the barn. And these people don’t need you standing around gawkin’ at them.”
As the girls turned to Mr. Gordon to thank him for inviting them on the set, they saw Mrs. McMurray bustling down the hallway toward the kitchen, shaking her head and clucking her tongue at the sight of Mr. McMurray sitting at the kitchen table among the crew.
“Shamus! Have you nothing better to do?” she asked, looking down at him with her hands on her hips.
“Oh, Maureen, let me be. How many times will we have a movie made in our very own kitchen?” he chuckled. “And they don’t mind. Do you, lads?”
Mary and Jody smiled when the crew members—even the women (who seemed to like being called “lads”)—slapped Mr. McMurray’s open hand and assured him that they didn’t mind. As the girls turned to follow Willie out the door, Mrs. McMurray caught their eye and winked, all the while tsk-tsking in the direction of her gleeful husband.
“I think Mrs. McMurray is having just as good of a time as Mr. McMurray. She just won’t admit it,” Jody whispered, linking arms with Mary and skipping down the farmhouse steps behindWillie. But instead of heading toward the barn, Willie turned the corner of the farmhouse.
“Where are we going, Will…”
For the third time that day, Mary stopped in mid-sentence, speechless. She and Jody could not believe their eyes when they looked straight across the farmhouse yard at the old wheat field.
Where earlier in the day the bulldozer had only just taken the first bite out of the soil and stubble, there now lay a beautiful oval of white sand and rubber, perfect footing for a riding ring. And surrounding this, as if by magic, rose a brand new three-board fence with evenly spaced posts and a swinging gate at one end. A crew of men was just putting the finishing touches on the gate, installing little wheels on the bottom so the gate could roll into place and be fastened with a nifty hook over the top of the first post.
“Oh, Willie,” breathed Mary in awe, “how could they possibly…”
“I told ya, things happen fast on a movie set,” chuckled Willie. “They’ve got to get it done so they can start filming.”
“So that’s really where we’ll be riding tomorrow?” Jody asked, even though she already knew the answer.
“That’s the place,” Willie nodded. “Now why don’t you get your chores done and get on home. You’ve got a big day tomorrow, what with meetin’ the sta
rs and everything.”
Mary and Jody looked up to see if Willie was joking, but he had already turned to head down to the barn for milking. Then they spun on their heels and galloped as fast as they could go to Lucky Foot Stable to tell the ponies all the exciting news of the day.
5
The Riding Test
MARY AND JODY hardly slept a wink that night, so excited were they to be at the farm bright and early the next day. They both set their alarm clocks for 5 a.m., not quite sure what Willie had meant by “first thing in the morning.” But they were sure of one thing: they wanted to be the first to arrive, to show Twister and the rest of the “movie people” that they were hard workers and dependable.
At precisely 5:30 a.m., Mary arrived on her bike at the end of the lane, and it was only a few minutes later when Jody joined her there. (They had promised each other that whoever got to that point first would wait for the other.) Without a word, they pedaled furiously up the gravel drive, their bike tires flinging tiny rocks everywhere in their haste to be the first on the movie set. But when they turned the corner to the McMurray farmhouse, they saw plainly that their plan had been in vain.
Members of the movie crew were already bustling about, carrying equipment to and from the house, calling and whistling to each other as though they had been up for hours. The ThomKats catering truck was open and ready for business, cheerfully handing plates of made-to-order breakfast sandwiches and omelets out the windows to several of the hungry crew members. Others gathered around the breakfast buffet table, helping themselves to oatmeal, eggs and bacon, biscuits and gravy, creamed chipped beef, and all kinds of fresh fruit and juice. And in the midst of it all was Finnegan, wagging his tail, spinning in circles, and panting happily as he received one treat after another from the generously heaped plates.
“Well, I guess we aren’t the first ones here after all,” Mary said glumly. “What time do you think they all got here, for Pete’s sake?”
“You know what Willie said, Mare. Making movies is a lot of work, and it takes a lot of time. I guess they have to start really early to get everything done that they need to do in one day.”
“That’s right,” came a voice from behind the girls. Spinning around, they were surprised to see Twister, grinning and twirling his handlebar mustache. “The crew started setting up at 5 a.m. They have a certain number of shots they have to get finished in one day. And sometimes it takes longer on the first day, just because they’re workin’ the kinks out.”
Twister grinned even wider when he saw the looks of awe on the faces of the girls as they watched the crew buzzing around like honeybees. “So, are you girls ready for your big ridin’ test?” he asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Um, I guess so, Twister. What do we have to do exactly?” Mary asked hesitantly.
“Well, why don’t you get yourselves somethin’ to eat first, then I’ll fill you in.”
“Us? Get something to eat? Are we allowed?” Jody asked, licking her lips at the sight and aroma of the steaming trays of food.
“Well, I reckon so, bein’s how you’re trying out for the movie and everything. And don’t worry, there’s always plenty of food to go around,” Twister whispered, making a grand gesture toward the brimming table.
Having not had time to eat breakfast before they left their houses, it took no more persuading for
Mary and Jody to help themselves to the buffet. They filled their plates and, finding a seat on the grass, dug in hungrily while Finnegan rolled, sat up, offered his paw, and whined pitifully until Mary finally gave in and fed him a biscuit.
“That dog’s going to be as fat as a pig by the time the movie’s done,” laughed Jody.
“Hey, I wonder whereWillie is,” Mary said suddenly. “I guess he must be helping Mr. Mooney and Jimmy with the milking. Do you think he’ll still milk the cows every day, even with the movie going on?”
“You know Willie, Mare. He has to be doing something all the time. He’ll probably help with the farm work until they need him to be the wrangler.”
Just as the girls scraped the last morsels of food from their plates and put them down for Finnegan to lick, Twister appeared from around the corner of the farmhouse.
“I just got a good look at the ring,” he announced. “Looks like that sand and rubber is ready for a few good hoofprints to mess it up some. Why don’t you girls go down and get your ponies ready and meet me up here as soon as you’re done? By that time, Will oughta be here too. We’ll just put you through your paces a little bit. Nothin’ to worry about, just ride like you always do.”
“OK, Twister,” Mary said cheerfully. “Come on, Finney, you greedy dog. You need to get away from all this food for a while.We’ll be right back, Twister!”
Mary and Jody linked arms and skipped toward Lucky Foot Stable with Finnegan trotting closely behind. But Jody wasn’t feeling quite as carefree as Mary.
“Mare,” she whispered as they entered the cool stillness of the stable, “what if we don’t pass the riding test? We’ve never had lessons or anything. And we have to ride with saddles in the ring, not bareback. We haven’t had a whole lot of practice with the English saddles.”
“Jody, don’t worry. I don’t think we have to be expert riders. We’re supposed to be taking riding lessons in our part of the movie, so it’s OK if we’re not perfect, for Pete’s sake. And besides, they’re probably going to be watching Lady and Gypsy even more than they’re watching us, and they’ll be just fine, as always.”
Still, Jody bit her lip nervously as she grabbed Lady’s lead rope and headed to the big pasture field where the ponies grazed peacefully, having no idea that they were about to take a “test.” She didn’t feel much better when the ponies were groomed and tacked up and on their way to the brand new ring. In fact, the nearer they led Lady and Gypsy to the riding area, the more nervous she felt. And when they turned the corner of the farmhouse and saw a group of people standing by the gate, her heart pounded so she thought it would fly from her chest.
“Mare, who are all those people?” she said in a panic. “I thought it would just be Twister and Willie watching us!”
“Well, it looks like Willie, Twister, Jimmy, Mr. Mooney, Mr. Crowley, and a couple of people I’ve never seen before. Don’t worry, Jode, you’ll be fine. Just pretend it’s like the first horse show with Lady. Remember how nervous you were, and you got a blue ribbon!”
“I know, but that was just the obstacle course,” Jody began, “and I was riding bareback…”
“Now, shush, they can hear us. Don’t look nervous. Always look like you know what you’re doing, even if you don’t. I read that in a book once.”
Jody actually trembled as they approached the group, but as much as she wanted to spin around and run back to the stable with Lady galloping behind, she knew it was too late. Mr. Crowley had already spotted them and had turned with a smile and a wave.
“Here they are, our illustrious riding students!” Mr. Crowley announced to the group. “How are you, girls? And what nice ponies!”
“Thanks, Mr. Crowley. This is Gypsy, she’s mine, and that’s Lady, she belongs to Jody. We’re ready for our riding test!” Mary proclaimed all in one breath.
“Well, that’s great!” Mr. Crowley chuckled. “But first I’d like to introduce you to some people you may be working with.”
“Oh, OK,” Mary said, turning to the three strangers standing by the gate. Jody stood silently holding Lady’s reins in one hand, afraid that if she spoke her voice would come out all trembly. It was only when Willie pulled on his earlobe and winked at her that she finally managed a smile.
“Jody and Mary, this is Ms. Edythe Pierson. She will be playing the mother of our heroine. And this is Mr. Gerald Lafferty, who will play her father.”
“Pleased to meet you,” Mary nodded politely.
“Hi,” squeaked Jody.
“And this is Ms. Vicki Beaumont, who is playing their daughter, our main character, the one who will be teaching your
riding lessons. They’ve taken a break from shooting inside the farmhouse to come out and see the ring where the riding scenes will be shot. And to meet you girls, of course.”
“Nice to meet you, Mary and Jody. I’ll be looking forward to working with you,” said Vicki Beaumont, patting Gypsy on the neck.
“So this is Gypsy, and…what’s your pony’s name again? I missed it the first time,” Vicki asked Jody with a brilliant smile. When Vicki Beaumont smiled, her brown eyes crinkled at the corners, and her dimples deepened in her cheeks so that her whole face lit up. Jody suddenly lost her nervousness, responding to the kind voice and the way Miss Beaumont impulsively kissed Lady on the nose right then and there.
“Her name is Lady. But sometimes we call her Lady White Cloud when we take her to a horse show,” Jody blurted, immediately sorry for her outburst. After all, Lady had only been to one show, and now everyone would expect her to ride like a show pony in the ring!
“Lady White Cloud! What a pretty name!” Vicki declared. “I can’t wait to see what she can do!”
Jody felt herself blushing deep red at that statement, but before she had time to respond, Mr. Crowley directed the attention of the group toward the farmhouse.
“Oh, and look who’s here! We weren’t really expecting him today—hey, there, Bryan!”
Mary and Jody spun to see for themselves who Mr. Crowley had spoken to. Their mouths dropped open in shock.
Sauntering toward them with a half-smile on his face and his hands casually stuck in his jeans pockets was Bryan McVey, the young and handsome star of his own TV show, which Mary and Jody watched religiously every Tuesday night at eight o’clock. Stopping in front of Lady and Jody, he cocked his head and grinned, reaching out to rub his hand up and down Lady’s face.
“Bryan, this is Mary Morrow and Jody Stafford. They’re trying out with their ponies to be in the riding lesson scene,” Mr. Crowley said. “Girls, this is Bryan McVey.”
Mary and Jody could not seem to shut their mouths long enough to respond to Mr. Crowley’s introduction, but Bryan McVey was completely at ease with the situation. He turned from Lady and patted Gypsy on the shoulder.
Mary and Jody in the Movies Page 3