‘Eeek!’ Poppy squeaked, jumping when something pushed her leg from behind. She spun around to find her aunt and uncle’s big dog standing behind her, his shaggy tail wagging. He’d butted her with his nose and he was about to do it again.
Just as she whispered sternly ‘No!’ to him, the door was flung open. Poppy stumbled forward and sprawled on the kitchen floor. Casper stood over her, his tongue lolling out as he gave her a big doggy smile.
‘Poppy?’ Uncle Mark was frowning down at her.
Ooops.
‘I was just, um . . .’ Poppy stammered, not sure what to say.
‘Here, up you hop,’ Aunt Sophie said, stepping forward and extending a hand.
Poppy’s face felt on fire. She held out her hand and grasped Sophie’s, hauling herself up as gracefully as she could and glancing at the two strange men seated at the table. As she looked at them they both stood, collecting their paperwork with faces that made her want to look away. There was nothing kind in their expressions, and it made goosebumps break out across her body.
‘We’ll expect to hear from you within thirty days,’ the tallest of the men said.
Poppy slunk over to the bench and reached for a glass, pouring some water. She didn’t know what to do and it seemed best to pretend like she’d actually been coming in to the kitchen for a reason.
Uncle Mark led them out and she let out a big breath and waited for Aunt Sophie to come back into the room. But her aunt just stood still in the doorway, her back to Poppy.
‘Is, um, everything okay?’ Poppy asked, cringing as she said the words and wishing she’d just kept her mouth shut. Duh, everything was so obviously not okay!
Aunt Sophie turned, and to Poppy’s horror there were tears in her eyes. She’d never, ever seen her aunt cry, except at her dad’s funeral, and Poppy didn’t know what to do. She put her glass down and took a few awkward steps forward.
‘Everything will be fine,’ Sophie said, as she brushed her knuckles past her eyes and flashed Poppy a smile. ‘We’re just having a little bit of financial trouble, that’s all.’
Uncle Mark stepped back into the room then. ‘Poppy, put the kettle on would you? I need a strong cup of coffee.’
He slumped down at the table, and Poppy quickly did as he’d asked, pulling out a couple of mugs and spooning some coffee in. It was nice to have something to do because she’d never seen her aunt and uncle so sad and she had no idea what she was supposed to say. If only she’d just stayed outside instead of coming in to investigate!
Her aunt was standing with her hands planted on the back of a chair, and Mark sat silently opposite her.
‘Thanks,’ he said when Poppy set their coffees down in front of them.
She watched as they exchanged glances, wondering if she could just run back out to the horses and forget she’d heard anything at all.
‘Poppy, sweetheart, I think you should sit down,’ Uncle Mark said.
She slid into a chair. ‘Is there anything I can do?’
Mark sighed. ‘Sophie lost her sponsor about a month ago. We’ve been trying to secure a new deal, form a new partnership with another company, but for now we’re having to fund everything ourselves, which means taking out a new loan. The bank is seriously breathing down our necks.’
Poppy folded her hands together tightly under the table. She looked from Mark to Sophie and back again. They were treating her like an adult, talking to her like this, and she didn’t want to say the wrong thing or do something stupid like burst into tears.
‘What does that mean for Starlight Stables?’ she asked.
Aunt Sophie reached out and placed a hand on her shoulder, her touch warm. Her aunt and uncle had been so kind and good to her and she hated to see them so worried.
‘Poppy, we have a lot of debt. There’s the mortgage on this place, the loan we took out for Mark to buy the local vet practice, and we had to buy the sponsor’s half share in Prince, otherwise he was going to be offered up for sale.’
Thank goodness they’d been able to keep Prince! Her aunt’s new young horse was already showing signs of being a star in the making.
‘It’s hurt us big time,’ her aunt said, ‘and that’s without the loan on the three new ponies.’
Poppy’s blood ran cold. She meant their ponies. Crystal. Joe. Cody.
‘I don’t understand,’ she managed to say. ‘Why would they stop sponsoring you?’
‘Because the sponsor company is in trouble. They had to cancel all their sponsorship deals to stop their business going under. It’s just one of those things.’
One of those things! Poppy’s heart was racing again. ‘What are you going to do?’
Mark grimaced. ‘Worst-case scenario is that we have to sell the farm,’ he said, holding up his hand when Poppy gasped. ‘But we won’t let it come to that. We’re going to find a new sponsor, and everything will be fine. I won’t be selling this place without a fight!’
Poppy’s breath was shallow, her lungs hardly working. ‘You can’t lose the farm. I can’t lose Crystal,’ she whispered.
Sophie walked up behind her and put her arms around her neck, her cheek to Poppy’s hair. ‘I will do everything I can to make sure you never lose Crystal, sweetheart. This isn’t something you need to be worrying about.’
But she was. There was no way she could hear news like this and not be upset, not be worried. ‘Should we still all go to the show-jumping competition next weekend?’ she asked. ‘Because if it’s too much . . .’ her voice trailed off.
Sophie dropped a kiss on the top of Poppy’s head. ‘Of course. Just like I’m going to ride better than I’ve ever ridden before at the National Champs. Nothing is going to stop us, at least not without a darn good fight.’
Poppy stood up, needing to get out of the kitchen. She felt like there wasn’t enough air inside for her to breathe. ‘Can I go now?’
Uncle Mark nodded when she looked at him. ‘Go ride, enjoy your pony. This is for us to worry about, not you. Just go be a kid.’
Poppy bristled, hating hearing that.
How could she not worry about this?! Without Crystal . . . tears sprang into her eyes at the thought of being without her beloved horse. She felt guilty, because her aunt and uncle were talking about losing their farm, but the thought of losing her own pony . . . She bit hard on her bottom lip.
With one last look at Sophie and Mark, she walked from the room, running when she reached the hall. Poppy yanked on her boots and ran as fast she could, arms pumping, lungs screaming, as she pushed herself faster and faster. Casper was by her side, his big body stretched out as he raced her. When she finally couldn’t run any longer, Poppy flopped to the ground, curling into a ball on the grass. The tears started in a steady trail down her cheeks until her entire body was shaking and heaving with sobs that she couldn’t control. And then Casper was with her, licking her face, thumping her with his paw and whining. He finally curled up beside her and she buried her face into his thick fur, crying like she’d never cried in her life before.
‘Poppy?’
Poppy groaned and slowly opened her eyes. The second she did it she wished she’d just kept them shut, the bright light hurt so much. She bet her eyes were red and puffy.
‘Ow,’ she muttered when her comfy fur pillow stood up and her head hit the ground.
‘Pops?’
She looked up and saw Milly and Katie standing over her. Milly was holding out a hand and when she didn’t grasp it, both her friends dropped to the grass beside her. Poppy hadn’t realised how far she’d run, but looking around now she could see she was quite a long way from the house.
‘Are you okay?’ Katie asked, her voice soft as she reached out and put an arm around her. ‘What happened?’
‘We were waiting for you and when you never came and Mrs D said you’d left the house an hour ago, we decided to come looking,’ Milly said.
Poppy couldn’t believe she’d fallen asleep curled up with Casper, but all the sleep in the world wasn�
�t going to help her deal with what her aunt and uncle had told her.
‘Sophie lost her sponsor and now they could lose the farm,’ she blurted, surprised she had any tears left when fresh ones flooded her eyes. Poppy quickly explained what she’d found out, knowing how upset they’d both be.
‘What can we do?’ Katie asked. ‘There must be something. We can’t just sit around waiting, hoping that our ponies don’t get sold.’
Poppy loved that Katie was so practical in emergency situations. Just like when they’d been planning to look for the stolen horses, riding over to Old Smithy’s place, she was so calm when things were bad.
‘I said the same thing, but I don’t know what we can do. I mean, I have a bit of pocket money, but nothing much,’ Poppy said. They had an old lady in the house beside them at home, and she paid Poppy fifteen dollars a week to walk her dog on school days, but . . . she did a quick calculation. Actually . . .
‘You know, I haven’t touched my money since Christmas, and I’ve been saving a lot. I could have, like, three hundred dollars by now. Maybe more!’ Trouble was, she had no idea how much Mark and Sophie would have paid for Crystal.
‘Oooh, me too!’ Milly said excitedly. ‘I’ve been helping mum with her work, and she pays me a little bit, plus my grandparents gave me fifty dollars for my birthday. I’ve probably got about the same because I’ve been saving for a new pair of riding boots.’
Katie took her arm from around Poppy and sat back. ‘Guys, I don’t want to say this, but, um, I don’t think that amount of money will help.’
‘Why?’ Milly asked.
Poppy had a feeling she knew what Katie was going to say.
‘I read HorseWyse all the time, including all the For Sale adverts. I know that good ponies cost thousands, and that’s what they would have paid for ours. A few hundred dollars each probably isn’t going to make a difference.’
‘No, you’re wrong,’ Milly was defiant, glaring at Katie like she was the enemy.
‘She’s only telling the truth,’ Poppy said before Milly could get too cross with Katie.
‘Well, the truth sucks.’ Milly slammed her fist against the ground and stood up. ‘Any money we come up with has to help. I say we find out exactly how much we have, and we give it all to Mrs D.’
Poppy wasn’t going to argue. Whatever they could do to help must be worth it. They just had to find out how much money they needed to make a difference, and fast.
‘What if the farm is sold, though? Then where could we keep them even if we had paid for them?’ Katie asked, her eyes swimming with tears. ‘My parents would never let me keep Cody, I know it.’
Poppy knew exactly what her mum would say, too. It would be a big fat no. Even if Poppy had it all worked out, found somewhere to keep Crystal and saved up her own money, it would still be no.
‘Plus how would we pay for feed and covers and . . .’
‘Shut up!’ Milly yelled. ‘Just shut up and stop making it sound like we’re about to lose our ponies.’
‘I forgot to tell you one other thing,’ Poppy suddenly said. ‘Prince. They’ve had to buy him from the sponsor, but I bet he’ll be the first horse sold if they need to get more money together.’
A shiver ran up Poppy’s spine. Aunt Sophie’s new young horse was incredible, one of the most gorgeous horses Poppy had ever seen, and it would be awful if he was sold. Although not as awful as seeing Jupiter go to a new home. Poppy shuddered. She couldn’t even stand thinking about it all.
‘We’re not going to let this happen,’ Milly declared.
Poppy stared at her plucky friend, tried to inhale some of her positive energy. ‘Milly’s right. There has to be something we can do.’
Katie sighed. ‘I didn’t mean to be negative. I just don’t see how we can make a difference.’
‘We can,’ Milly told them, holding out her hand and looking first at Poppy then at Katie. ‘Let’s make a vow to do anything we can to save Starlight Stables, and our ponies.’
‘I’m in,’ Poppy said straightaway, placing her hand over Milly’s.
‘Me too,’ Katie added, her warm palm covering Poppy’s hand.
‘Now let’s go ride and forget all about this doom and gloom stuff for a while. I vote we go for a big gallop.’
Poppy grinned at Milly. Trust her to make them all feel better. ‘Me too. Why don’t we ask if we can go to the beach tomorrow? Then we can have a proper gallop along the wet sand.’
They all stood up and walked over to the stables with Casper trotting along ahead of them, leading the way. Poppy looked around, breathed in the fresh country air and smiled at the big blue gum trees filled with birdlife, the endless paddocks stretching out around them, grass still green from the beautiful warm spring they’d had. She had the best memories here at Starlight, and the thought of not coming here any more made her so sad. But they could do something, she just knew they could. Starlight Stables meant everything to her, and she knew her friends felt the same.
Poppy was so tired her eyes felt like they were going to fall out of her head. She groaned as the truck lurched. She should be super excited about riding the horses at the beach, but she’d found it impossible to get to sleep the night before, worrying about the farm. When she’d finally drifted off she’d had a nightmare about Crystal being sold to Jessica, the mean girl they’d met at Starlight when they were preparing for their first big gymkhana. She hadn’t been able to sleep after that.
‘Come on, sleepyhead.’ Aunt Sophie’s voice made her eyes pop open.
If her aunt could sound happy and positive, then so could she. Poppy rubbed her eyes with her knuckles and sat up straighter. She was sitting beside Sophie, while Katie and Milly were seated in the living area of the truck, where the other seats were.
A stamp of hooves made Poppy’s heart beat faster, the sudden anticipation of her next ride helping her to push the worries away. If she didn’t have much longer with Crystal, then she was going to make sure she enjoyed every single ride.
‘Come on, let’s get these horses unloaded and geared up,’ Aunt Sophie said cheerily.
Poppy got down and opened the side door for the others. They waited for Sophie to lower the tailgate, then Milly was up first, taking Joe down. Katie was up next, unloading a perfectly behaved Cody, and then Crystal, followed by Jupiter.
‘I’m going to take Jupiter for a nice long walk to stretch out, but you girls can do whatever you like. Race, canter, gallop, swim.’ Sophie shrugged. ‘Just have fun.’
Poppy ran the soft body brush over Crystal’s grey coat once she was tied to the side of the truck, feeling every curve and indent of her horse. She picked out Crystal’s hooves then saddled her up, taking her time to do the girth up loosely to start with before tightening it up completely and putting Crystal’s bridle on. Then Poppy pulled on her gloves, clicked on her helmet and turned to wait for the others. Milly and Katie were both ready seconds later, and they mounted just as Sophie was checking her girth.
‘What’s with you girls today? You’ve hardly said boo,’ Aunt Sophie said, leading Jupiter over to the side of the truck, climbing up and then mounting.
Poppy looked at Katie and Milly. She gulped. ‘Um, it’s just . . .’
‘Poppy told us what happened!’ Milly blurted. ‘I’m sorry, Pops, but I can’t keep it secret.’
Poppy groaned. Trust Milly. She gave her an evil stare, hoping she’d realise how much trouble she was in. The last thing Sophie needed was anything more to worry about.
‘Oh sweetheart, if I’d wanted to keep it a secret, I’d have asked you not to say anything. It’s okay that you told the girls,’ Sophie said, giving Poppy a smile. ‘Come on, let’s head out and you can ask me any questions you want to.’
Aunt Sophie was always so kind and nice to them, except when she was drilling them in the arena and demanding perfection, and it made Poppy sad all over again. She still couldn’t believe what was happening. Or what might happen.
‘We want you to know t
hat we’re going to do anything, anything, to help out,’ Milly blurted. Poppy just wanted to tell her to shut up but she bit her tongue to keep quiet.
‘I’m really sorry, Mrs D,’ Katie said in a quiet voice that didn’t even sound like her.
‘I still should have asked you before telling them,’ Poppy said, riding close to Aunt Sophie up front as they headed down towards the beach. The trail was narrower as they approached, going up over the sand dune, and Crystal started to jig-jog with excitement.
‘It’s okay. We all need someone to talk to, and you confided in Milly and Katie. It’s fine.’
Poppy wasn’t so sure it was fine, but she decided to take her aunt’s word for it.
‘What I don’t want is you girls worrying. Mark and I are taking care of things, and we wouldn’t have even told you if Poppy hadn’t overheard what was happening yesterday,’ Aunt Sophie continued. ‘Where there’s a will, there’s a way, which I know is a silly old-fashioned saying, but it’s true. I was a girl desperate for her own pony as a ten year old, with a dream to be a top rider when I grew up. The chances of that actually happening were slim to none, but I know firsthand that anything is possible.’
‘Did you always know that you wanted to be a dressage rider?’ Katie asked.
They were on the beach now and Crystal was snorting, still jig-jogging beneath Poppy, but she stayed firm with her, sitting deep in the saddle and not letting her start trotting.
‘I knew that I wanted to spend my life in the saddle, and when I was a teenager I started riding dressage and loved it,’ Aunt Sophie replied. ‘My point is, it’s okay to dream big. Don’t ever let anyone tell you that what you’re dreaming is stupid or unattainable, and don’t ever think that you can’t make it happen if you work hard and believe in yourself.’
Starlight Stables: Saving Starlight Page 2