“And the cat lady didn’t have strange tables and weird machines,” May reminded Jasmine.
“There must be some explanation,” Jasmine said.
They heard a thumping sound. But it was a nice, familiar sound. It was the sound of a horse’s hooves entering the barn.
“Hi, girls!” said Mr. Grover. He was leading Vanilla to his stall.
“Hi, Dad,” said May.
“Hello, Mr. Grover,” said Jasmine.
Mr. Grover closed the door of Vanilla’s stall and reached over to pat Macaroni. The pony liked to be patted. Then Mr. Grover looked over the door to Macaroni’s stall.
“May, did you notice anything wrong with Macaroni’s right front leg? It looks like he’s got a sore foot.”
May scrambled to her feet and looked into the stall with her father. Something was wrong. Macaroni was holding up his right foot so only the tip of his hoof touched the floor of the stall.
“I’ll check it,” she said. “Maybe I missed a stone in his shoe.”
May went into the stall. She picked up Macaroni’s right front foot. She felt under his shoe with her finger. There didn’t seem to be anything there. She put the foot down.
“Check his lower leg,” said her father.
She ran her hand down Macaroni’s right leg, holding it gently. Then she felt his left leg. The right one was definitely larger.
“It’s swollen,” she said to her father.
“I thought so,” he said. Then he came into the stall with May and felt Macaroni’s leg himself. “What do you think we should do?” he asked.
May thought hard. There were a lot of things that could make a horse lame. Some of them were serious. Some of them weren’t. Sometimes an owner could tell and sometimes a vet was needed.
“I think Judy should check him out,” she said. Judy Barker was their vet.
“I think you’re right,” said her father. “What should you do in the meantime?”
“I should put a bandage on the leg. That will protect it from getting worse,” she told him. “It will give him extra support, too. No riding until we know what it is.”
“Very good!” said her father. “You’re really learning a lot at Horse Wise, aren’t you?”
“Max makes us work hard,” said Jasmine.
“Max is a good instructor,” said Mr. Grover.
He handed May a long cloth bandage. She began wrapping it around her pony’s leg.
May heard a familiar click and then a hissing sound. It was the intercom that connected the Grovers’ house to the barn.
“Jasmine? Are you there?” Mrs. Grover asked.
“Yes, Mrs. Grover,” Jasmine called toward the box on the wall.
“Your mother’s on the phone. Your dinner’s ready!”
“Please tell her I’ll be right there,” said Jasmine.
“Okay,” Mrs. Grover replied over the intercom.
Jasmine stood up. “I’d better go. Good luck with Macaroni.”
“See you tomorrow,” called May. She went back to wrapping the bandage around Macaroni’s leg.
“Not too tight,” said her father.
May nodded and concentrated very hard.
Jasmine started walking home quickly. From outside the Grovers’ barn she could still hear May talking to her pony.
“Hold still, Macaroni,” May said.
Jasmine smiled to herself. Macaroni was good at holding still. He would behave for May. Jasmine thought about how much trouble Outlaw gave her when she tried to wrap his legs. He never stood still.
Suddenly her stomach rumbled. Jasmine realized she was very hungry. Luckily her mother was making vegetable lasagna, her favorite dinner.
Then her stomach made a louder noise. At least that’s what Jasmine thought until she heard the sound again.
It wasn’t her stomach—it was a cackle! It was loud and it sounded mean, like a witch. Someone—or something—was laughing, and the sound was coming out of the Duttons’ house!
6 Jasmine Gets Some Help
Everything was quiet at the Duttons’ house on Monday morning. Jasmine didn’t hear any howls or cackles. There were no lights flashing on and off. Jasmine wondered if she and May had made it all up. She didn’t think so.
At 7:45, she left her house to wait for the school bus. It wasn’t easy because she was carrying her congressional diorama as well as her backpack and lunch box. She also had to carry the doll in one hand. The doll was going to look bad enough with a lopsided head. Jasmine didn’t want to mess up her hair, too.
As she walked up to the bus stop, Jasmine looked around for May. She wanted to ask May about Macaroni’s leg. She also wanted to know if May had heard any more sounds coming from the Duttons’.
But May wasn’t at the bus stop. Jasmine looked down the street past the Duttons’ to May’s house. Judy Barker’s truck was in the driveway. That explained it. The vet must be looking at Macaroni’s leg. Someone would drive May to school a little later. That meant Jasmine would have to wait to get her questions answered. And she’d have to carry the diorama all by herself.
When Jasmine reached the bus stop, Wil McNally pointed to her diorama. “What’s that?” he demanded.
“It’s an assignment,” Jasmine told him. She turned away. She didn’t even like to talk to him. Wil McNally was a big bully. He was always teasing people and picking fights. The last thing she needed today was Wil making fun of her.
When the bus arrived, Jasmine carried everything onto the bus. The driver helped her by holding the diorama until she was up the stairs. Then Jasmine took it to an empty seat. She put the diorama on the aisle seat next to her and held the doll carefully on her lap.
Wil was behind her. He stopped when he got to her seat. He looked at her. He looked at the diorama. There was a gleam in his beady brown eyes. He didn’t say anything. He just sat down—right on her diorama!
“Get off that!” Jasmine shrieked.
“It’s only an assignment.” Wil grinned.
The driver stood up and started walking over. Wil quickly moved to another seat.
The cardboard was bent and wrinkled. Weeks of work were ruined! Jasmine swallowed hard. She wasn’t going to let Wil McNally have the satisfaction of seeing her cry.
For the rest of the trip, Jasmine sat still and stared straight ahead. When they got to school, she waited so that she’d be the last one off the bus. She didn’t want anyone else to wrinkle or bend the diorama.
As soon as she was on the sidewalk, Jasmine stopped to examine the damage. The diorama now had a bulge in one wall and a dent in another.
I’m going to kill Wil McNally, she thought.
She picked up the diorama in one hand and her lunch box and the doll in the other. Suddenly the doll’s head rolled along the sloping sidewalk in front of the school. Jasmine dropped the diorama and her lunch and chased after the head. She stopped it with one foot—as if it were a soccer ball.
Jasmine groaned. Nothing was going right and school hadn’t even started yet. Then the bell rang. She had two minutes to get to her classroom. Along with everything else, she was going to be late!
She couldn’t hold back the tears now. They started rolling down her cheeks.
“Do you need some help?” someone asked.
Jasmine turned to see a girl she’d never seen before. She was wearing a bright blue jacket—just like one Jasmine used to have—and she had a nice smile.
Jasmine smiled weakly in return. “Only if you know how to fix dolls’ heads.”
The girl in the blue jacket picked up the head, and took the doll’s body from Jasmine. She looked at both parts.
“Hmmm,” she said. She turned the doll’s body so she could see better. “I wonder …” She turned the doll’s head so she could see inside it better. Then she poked inside the doll’s body. “I have an idea.”
“You do?” Jasmine asked.
The girl nodded, reached into her backpack and pulled out a tool. It was something Jasmine had seen many, many
times. It was a hoofpick—the tool that was used to clean horses’ hooves.
“Do you ride?” Jasmine asked.
“Sometimes,” answered the girl in the blue jacket.
“I ride, too,” Jasmine began. “My friend and I …” She let her words trail off. The other girl was concentrating very hard. Jasmine knew she shouldn’t interrupt.
The girl in the blue jacket stuck the hoofpick into the doll’s body. Then she tugged. Something moved, but Jasmine didn’t know what it was. Next, the girl stuck the hoofpick into the doll’s head. It took two tries. Jasmine couldn’t see what she was doing, but she held the hoofpick steady when the girl told her to.
“There!” the girl in the blue jacket announced. She gave Jasmine the doll. Its head was back where it belonged, and it was on straight.
“Wow! You did it!” Jasmine handed the girl her hoofpick.
“Yeah, I did, didn’t I?” the girl said proudly. There was a big smile on her face. She put the hoofpick in her backpack.
“Thank you!” Jasmine said.
The bell rang again. Now they were both late. The hall monitor stood at the front door of the school. She waved angrily at the girls. “Time to get to class, girls!”
“We better hurry,” Jasmine said.
“Right,” agreed the other girl. She rushed into the school building, brushing her straight black hair back from her face. Jasmine grabbed her slightly wrinkled diorama, her perfectly repaired doll, and her lunch. She ran after the girl in the blue jacket.
When she entered the school, there was no sign of the girl or her blue jacket.
As Jasmine hurried to her classroom she decided she’d try to find the girl later. She wanted to thank her again and find out her name.
7 Macaroni Needs a Hand
The minute she got home from school that afternoon, May went to the barn. As she hurried to Macaroni, she greeted the other horses. “Hi, Dobbin; hello, Rascal. Hey, Hank.” Vanilla was in the back of his stall stomping angrily. She didn’t say anything to him. Macaroni was waiting for her.
She patted and hugged him. He nuzzled her shirt pocket, looking for a carrot. She gave him one.
“Okay,” she said. “Time to look at your leg.”
That morning, Judy, the vet, had said that Macaroni’s injury wasn’t serious. So far May had done everything right. His leg needed to be wrapped in a bandage and he should only have light exercise. That meant May couldn’t ride him until the swelling was gone.
May knew that things like this sometimes happened to horses. Owners had to be patient with them or the horses would only get sicker. May was not very good at waiting for most things, but with Macaroni, she could always be patient. Especially since Judy had promised that his leg would be all better for the mounted games against Cross County Pony Club. That was what May was most worried about.
She unwrapped Macaroni’s leg and felt for swelling. It was still swollen. She rewrapped the leg. “Time for a walk,” she told him.
May looked at the paddock behind the stable. She could let Macaroni out in the paddock, but there was no telling what a loose pony might do. He might run around. That would be too much exercise. Or he might stand completely still. That wouldn’t be enough exercise.
The only way to be sure to do the right thing was to walk with him, as if he were a dog.
That’s a great idea, thought May. I’ll take Macaroni out on a lead, just the way people walk their dogs.
She clipped a lead line on the pony’s halter and led him out of the stable. She waved to her father, who was riding Vanilla in the training ring. He waved back.
“Come on, boy,” she said. Macaroni followed. She took him out of the barn and through the backyard. She passed by the kitchen door where her mother was baking something that smelled delicious. She walked out into the street in front of her house.
May and Jasmine lived on a quiet country road. There were no sidewalks and only a few cars passed by. Elm and maple trees grew along the side of the road, shading the street. It was a nice place to take a horse for a walk.
May glanced over at the Duttons’ house. She didn’t see anything strange. She didn’t hear anything strange. That was good. Still, May didn’t want to take any chances, especially when she had to take care of Macaroni. She turned right, away from the Duttons’ house.
Macaroni followed May. His shoes made a nice clip-clop sound as they struck the road. She listened carefully. The clips and the clops were even. That was good because it meant that Macaroni wasn’t favoring his sore leg.
Macaroni paused to sniff at grass and leaves near the McNallys’ house while they walked. He lifted his head suddenly. He’d heard something.
May looked where her pony was looking. She groaned. It was Wil McNally!
Wil was in his front yard. He was playing with his dog, a big greyhound named Dave. When May passed his house, Wil stopped and stared at them. His jaw dropped as if he’d never seen such a sight as a girl walking a horse.
May looked straight ahead. Maybe if she pretended not to notice Wil, he wouldn’t say anything mean. She and Macaroni walked on.
Wil went back to playing with Dave.
May sighed with relief.
The houses were far apart after the McNallys’. The land became more hilly and covered with trees. It was a state forest, filled with trails and paths where May and Jasmine liked to ride. So did Macaroni. His ears perked up and he sniffed eagerly.
“Not today,” May told him. “We can’t ride into the woods on the trails. We have to walk by the road so you can have your light exercise. That way we’ll be able to have all the fun we want when you’re better. Maybe Mom will let Jasmine and me go on a picnic on Sunday. Would you like that?”
Macaroni snorted. May decided that was a definite yes. May gave him a hug.
“Is that your boyfriend?”
May turned around. Wil McNally had stopped playing with Dave. Now he was following May and Macaroni on his bike.
“No, it’s my pony,” May retorted. “And he’s nicer than any boy in the whole town. Smarter, too!”
Wil smirked. “If he’s so wonderful, how come you have to walk him like a dog?”
“He’s got a sore leg,” May shot back. The minute she said that she was sorry.
Wil never missed a chance to tease her.
“It’s probably from carrying you,” he said.
May glared at him. She decided not to say anything else.
“That must be why his sock is all wrinkly, too.” Wil laughed.
May looked down at Macaroni’s leg wrap. It was wrinkled.
Oh no, she thought. May knew from practicing in Horse Wise that a wrinkled leg wrap was worse than no leg wrap at all. She had to fix it, but she didn’t want to do it in front of Wil. She didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of knowing he’d found her mistake.
She had to get rid of him. Her mind raced. Then she got an idea.
She shaded her eyes with her hand and looked back down the road. “Was that your dog?”
“Huh?” Wil said.
“Running after that squirrel, I mean,” May went on.
Wil looked where May had been looking. There was no sign of his dog, Dave. There was no sign of a squirrel, either. But Dave was a very fast runner and liked chasing squirrels a lot. Wil had to find out. He stepped on the pedal of his bicycle, turned around, and headed in the direction May had pointed.
May sighed with relief. Now he’d leave her alone—at least until he got back to his house and found Dave still in the yard.
She knelt down and removed the bandage from her pony’s leg.
“I’m sorry, Macaroni,” she said. “I didn’t do a very good job, did I?”
Macaroni stood patiently while May tried to reroll the bandage. It had to be rolled up smoothly before she could put it back on the pony’s leg. May sighed with impatience. Wil would be back any second, and May wasn’t very good at rolling bandages. She was on her third try when she heard bicycle wheels behind her.
“I think I hear your mother calling you, Wil,” May said without looking up. “She says your rich aunt Sylvia just arrived. Isn’t she the one who brings you good presents? You’d better hurry!”
“Are you all right?” a voice asked. It wasn’t Wil’s voice.
May turned around then to see who had spoken. It wasn’t Wil.
It was a girl about her own age. She had straight black hair which she wore short with bangs cut across her forehead. That was just the way May wanted to have her hair cut, but her mother liked it long.
May’s face turned red. “I thought you were someone else,” she said.
“I know. I don’t have a rich aunt Sylvia—but I wish I did!” The girl with the black hair laughed. She had a nice laugh and a nice smile. May laughed, too.
“What’s the problem?” the girl asked May. She pointed to the pile of unwrapped bandage.
“I’m not very good at leg wrapping and Macaroni needs a bandage. It was all wrinkled.”
“I can give you a hand.” The girl climbed off her bike and set down the kickstand.
To May’s surprise, the girl rolled up the bandage quickly. A few minutes after that, she’d bandaged the leg with a smooth, snug wrap.
“Nice!” May declared. This girl knew a lot about taking care of horses. “Thank you, too.”
“You’re welcome,” said the black-haired girl. “I’ve got to go now.”
With that, she climbed back onto her bike, zipped up her blue jacket and was off, riding down the road. “See you!” she called over her shoulder.
May waved after her. She didn’t know where the girl had come from or where she was going. But she was glad she’d been there.
May tugged on Macaroni’s lead. The horse stepped forward comfortably. The tighter bandaging job was just what he needed.
May felt bad. She’d never even asked the girl her name. But she was sure she’d see her again. She’d know her right away by her nice smile and laugh—and especially by that great haircut.
8 The Night Visitor
A little while later, Macaroni was back in his stall and May was in her room, working on her math homework. She opened the book to page 73 and saw 100 problems. Yuck, thought May, I’ll be doing math problems all night!
Pony Tails 01- Pony Crazy Page 2