Horse Power

by Bonnie Bryant

Carole shook her head in confusion. “I don’t understand,” she said. “I mean, I decided to quit riding once, when Samson’s father had to be put down and I thought the world had come to an end. But after a while, I realized that I just loved horses too much.”

  “I love horses, too. That won’t stop. It’s riding I don’t like.”

  Kate stared thoughtfully at the sky and continued chewing on the stalk of grass. Carole waited. There were times to ask questions. But Carole sensed this was a time to wait, so she watched the foal until Kate was ready to speak.

  Samson flicked his tiny tail furiously, trying to get rid of an annoying fly, but the fly apparently was unimpressed with the colt’s efforts and kept pestering him. Wisely, Samson sidled over to his mother. As soon as Delilah spotted the fly, she brushed her long tail around her foal’s hindquarters, and the fly retreated.

  “I’ve done all the riding I ever want to do,” Kate said finally. “I know how you feel. I know how much I used to love riding, but I don’t anymore. I’m done with it. Period.”

  How could anything be that final? Carole wondered.

  How could such a thing have happened at all?

  ON MONDAY MORNING, Stevie and Lisa were eager to talk to Carole. They wanted to hear all about the rest of her visit with Kate.

  “Oh, she’s so neat!” Lisa said. “I really like her. And her clothes. You know, there’s just something about the way she walks and talks. She’s older than we are, but not much. She’s only fourteen, but she’s so grownup!”

  “I think you grow up fast on the competition circuit,” Carole said. “We talked about it a little, and she said it’s like you’re always on display. Actually, she didn’t really want to talk about riding.” She looked at her friends seriously. “In fact, she’s quit.”

  “Quit?! How could somebody so good—a champion—quit?” Stevie asked.

  “She didn’t want to talk about why, but she’s definitely made up her mind. And, she’s determined.”

  “Hah!” Stevie huffed. Lisa and Carole looked at her. “This sounds to me like a job for The Saddle Club!”

  “What are you talking about?” Carole asked.

  “We’ll just have to show her how wrong she is,” Stevie said.

  “Come on, you can’t interfere with somebody else’s life,” Carole told her.

  “Oh, yes you can!” Stevie retorted. “When you see somebody making a terrible mistake, and it’s your friend, well, you’d just better interfere. That’s what we do for each other, isn’t it? I mean belonging to The Saddle Club means helping friends—even when they don’t know they need your help.”

  “But Kate isn’t in The Saddle Club,” Carole reminded Stevie.

  “Not yet,” Stevie said.

  “I think I’m beginning to like this idea,” Lisa said. She looked at Carole for a reaction.

  “I don’t know,” Carole said. “But I guess it’s worth a try. And experience shows that when we three work together—”

  “Just what I had in mind.” Max Regnery’s deep, booming voice interrupted them. “You girls have been nagging me for weeks about being on the same team at the gymkhana. Well, I’m going to grant your wish. I want to see what you three can accomplish together.”

  “Oh, wow!” Stevie said. “We won’t let you down, Max! We’ll be terrific. We’ll probably win all the prizes.”

  “That’s not what I have in mind for you to accomplish.”

  The three girls got a queasy feeling. Max had a way of getting his riders to do things they never thought they could, just because he told his students he expected them to be able to.

  “Just what do you want us to accomplish?” Stevie asked.

  “The gymkhana teams each have four riders on them. Your team now has three, and you are all good riders. In order to even up the teams, you need a fourth. I’m assigning the newest, greenest rider in the stable to your team as well. I want you girls to work with the new rider closely, and cooperatively. Can you do it?”

  “Well, sure,” Carole said. “We always help the new girls.” She spoke eagerly, until she caught the grim look on Stevie’s face. Max’s next words confirmed her friend’s apparent suspicions.

  “This one isn’t a girl,” he said. “It’s a boy, and his name is Chad Lake.” He paused while the full weight of his pronouncement sank in. “In fact, here he comes now, girls. Why don’t you help him get ready for class. He’s had an awful lot of trouble with his tack.”

  “That’s an understatement,” Stevie grumbled. “He’s been here a week and he still can’t tell a halter from a bridle!”

  “Yes, he’ll be a challenge for you,” Max said matter-of-factly. “But I’m sure you’re up to it. See you in class. Fifteen minutes now. Don’t be late.”

  Chad sauntered up to his sister and her friends. “Good morning, teammates!” he greeted them.

  “Oh, groan!” Stevie said.

  “Come on, Stevie,” Carole said. “Let’s get ready for class. You promised to help me check Diablo’s hooves for pebbles.”

  “I did?” Stevie asked, confused.

  “Definitely,” Carole said, grabbing Stevie’s sleeve and yanking her through the tack room toward the other aisle of horses.

  “What were you talking about?” Stevie hissed at Carole when they were out of Lisa and Chad’s earshot.

  “If you’re busy with me, then Lisa can help Chad,” Carole explained.

  “Ooooh, I get it,” Stevie said, seeing the light. “But what’s wrong with Diablo’s hooves?”

  “Nothing,” Carole said, rolling her eyes. “Let’s just get ready for class, okay?”

  “HERE, CHAD,” LISA said. “Remember now how to hold the bridle while you’re putting it on? You have to kind of reach up under the horse’s neck—”

  Chad stood next to Patch, the bridle dangling awkwardly from his outstretched hands. Patch had a look in his eye that said “No way.”

  “Right, then first, the bit,” Chad said.

  “Uh-uh,” Lisa corrected him. “Bring the crownpiece up first with your right hand, and then …” Her voice trailed off because there was no point in continuing. Chad had dropped the crownpiece and was grasping the bit. The whole bridle was a tangle. Patch blinked his eyes languidly. If he could have spoken, Lisa was sure his words would have been “Give me a break.”

  “I guess I’d better do it for you,” Lisa said, reaching for the tangle of leather. “You watch, though, so you can do it yourself next time.”

  “I’ll try,” Chad promised while Lisa deftly slid the bit into the horse’s mouth and then slipped the crownpiece over his ears. “I’ll really try. I just don’t seem to have much aptitude for this, though, you know?”

  “You’ll learn,” Lisa assured him, buckling the final straps on the bridle. “It’s just a matter of time. This stuff was really confusing for me, too, at first. Pretty soon, you’ll get good at it.”

  “Maybe,” Chad said, taking the reins from her. While he held the horse, she tightened up the girth. “Um, Lisa,” Chad began. “Would you like to go to a movie, or something, like after riding tomorrow?”

  With a start, Lisa realized that Chad had just asked her out on a date. Her mind raced. A date. She could wear her favorite pink top over the denim skirt and the sandals her mother had bought for her—but they were yellow and that didn’t go at all.… Flushing with embarrassment, Lisa realized Chad was waiting for her to answer him.

  “Me?” she said, her heart beating so fast she was sure he could hear it.

  “Yeah, you,” he assured her.

  “Well, sure,” she said, suddenly grinning. “I’d like that.”

  “Great,” Chad said. “There’s a neat movie at the Triplex. We can just walk over from here after we’re done.”

  So much for my pink top and denim skirt, Lisa thought to herself. She was going on her first date in riding clothes. Well, what did that matter? At least she was going on it.

  “What’s the movie?” Lisa asked.

  �
�Revenge of the Mummy, Part Six. Did you see the other parts?”

  “No,” Lisa said, shaking her head. “I’m afraid I missed them.”

  “I’ll tell you about them,” Chad said. Lisa opened Patch’s stall so that Chad could lead his horse toward the indoor ring, where his class was about to begin.

  “I can’t wait,” Lisa said.

  “So far, my favorite was Part Three,” Chad told her. “That was the one where the archaeologist gets trapped in the ancient burial room with these bones, see, and he thinks they’re just bones, but it turns out—”

  “All beginner students proceed to the indoor ring!” Mrs. Reg’s voice boomed over the P.A. “Class is about to begin.”

  “Hey, that’s me,” Chad said. “See you later, okay?”

  “Right, later,” Lisa said. She watched the horse and rider walk away toward the ring.

  Revenge of the Mummy, Part Six? Lisa said to herself. How could there be six parts of a revenge? Of a mummy? How could somebody care—six times?

  It was time for her to get Pepper ready for class, and Max wouldn’t like it if she was late. She hurried to the tack room, collected her horse’s gear, and carried it back to Pepper’s stall. By the time she’d gotten the bridle on, she had succeeded in convincing herself that if somebody nice, say Chad, liked mummy movies, maybe she’d really been missing something all along. She decided to keep an open mind.

  “CHAD, IF YOU don’t hold the spoon level, the egg is never going to stay on it,” Stevie said in total exasperation.

  It was Tuesday, and Chad and The Saddle Club girls were trying to practice for the gymkhana. Every time Chad did something wrong, Stevie got crankier and crankier. Lisa was feeling very uncomfortable with the whole situation. As soon as this practice was over, she and Chad were going to the movies. The problem was that Lisa hadn’t told Carole or Stevie about it, and she was sure Chad hadn’t mentioned it to Stevie. It wasn’t exactly being dishonest with her best friends, but, she had to tell herself, it wasn’t telling the truth, either.

  Chad came bounding up on his pony, Half Dollar, to where Lisa stood at the far end of the ring, and stuck out a spoon. Lisa supplied him with the egg for the gymkhana practice—which he promptly dropped.

  “Big deal,” Chad grumbled as Stevie rolled her eyes at him.

  “It is a big deal to us,” Stevie told her brother. “Now try it again.”

  Once again, Chad turned his pony and retreated to the starting line. Carole, aboard Quarter, gave the signal to start. Chad told Half Dollar to “giddyup,” which inspired the pony to a grudging walk. Carole clicked her tongue until the pony broke into a trot. Chad, surprised by the sudden speed, nearly tumbled off the back end of his pony.

  “Hold on!” Stevie yelled. Chad grabbed the pony’s mane at the moment he broke into a canter. As the pony approached the table where Lisa stood ready to hand out an egg, Chad managed to slow Half Dollar down. Chad thrust a spoon at Lisa and she slid another egg onto it. He nudged the pony with his heels and once again Half Dollar spurted. The egg dropped off Chad’s spoon about ten feet from the finish line.

  “Better, definitely better,” Carole said optimistically.

  “But not good enough,” Stevie complained. “It’s a good thing we hard-boiled these eggs. We couldn’t possibly afford to use all the raw eggs Chad would break. At least we can recycle the cracked ones.”

  Chad glared at his sister. “Speaking of ‘cracked ones,’ ” he began in a threatening tone.

  “I think it’s time to concentrate on a different event,” Carole interrupted. “How about the water-gun race?”

  “Fine,” Stevie grumbled. “The water’s free around here.”

  “And besides, I’m good at the water-gun race,” Chad said. “Are we going to be finished soon? Our movie starts at four.”

  “Are we going to the movies?” Stevie glanced at her watch. “Well, we really have to give these poor ponies a rest. We’ll quit at three-fifteen. What movie did you want to see?”

  “Not you and me, Stevie,” Chad said. “You’re not invited. I invited Lisa to come to the movies.”

  Stevie and Carole looked at Lisa, raising their eyebrows. She squirmed uncomfortably until Stevie spoke.

  “No problem, Chad,” she said. “We can stop right after we go once through the water-gun race. That should give you plenty of time.”

  Lisa sighed with relief. If Stevie or Carole had been annoyed that she’d kept her secret about Chad, they would have said something immediately—at least Stevie would have. The fact was, Lisa didn’t quite know how she felt about the whole idea herself. It was exciting to think of having a date, but she’d argued with her mother for what had seemed like hours on Monday just to get permission to spend two hours with a boy in a movie theater!

  In the next fifteen minutes, the girls and Chad all practiced with the squirt gun and the target on horseback. Just as Chad had promised, he was very good at it. Somehow, he managed to hit the target, even while he was wobbling around in the pony’s saddle.

  “You’ve got to have a good steady stream of water to be able to aim it,” he told the girls. “So squeeze hard, okay?”

  Lisa tried it, but no matter how hard she squeezed, she couldn’t get the water anywhere near the target. Carole and Stevie were a little disappointed, but that made them more or less even since Lisa was the best of the team at the egg race.

  When they’d finished practice, they took their ponies back to their stalls, untacked them, and cooled them down. Stevie brought a bucket of fresh water into Penny’s stall, where Lisa was brushing her quickly.

  “Here,” Stevie said, hooking the bucket onto the wall, where Penny could reach it. “I don’t want you to be late for your date.”

  Lisa looked at Stevie uncertainly. “You don’t mind, do you?” she asked.

  Stevie grinned and shook her head. “I guess if I had a date with someone like my brother, I’d keep it a secret, too,” she teased. “But aside from that, how could I mind? It’s so exciting that I’m almost jealous.” She gave Lisa a little hug. “What movie are you seeing?” she asked.

  “Well …” Lisa began as she stuck the brush into her pocket and stepped out of the stall. Stevie followed, sliding the door closed behind her and latching it carefully. “We’re seeing Revenge of the Mummy, Part Six.”

  “I take it back,” Stevie said. “I’m not jealous at all.”

  Lisa burst into giggles and Stevie joined her.

  They were still laughing when they arrived at the locker area.

  “Ready to go?” Chad asked brightly.

  Lisa nodded, and they were off.

  THE MOVIE THEATER was within walking distance of Pine Hollow, so at least they didn’t have to rely on anyone’s parent to drive them. Lisa had promised her mother she’d be home by six-thirty, though what her mother was so worried about wasn’t really clear to Lisa.

  Lisa had been anticipating her first date for a long time. She was an organized person, a list maker, so it wasn’t surprising that she had made lists of things she could talk about on her first date. Somehow, the idea of awkward silences had filled her with terror. As it turned out, she had no such problem with Chad.

  “Did you go out for a sport last year?” she asked (Item Number One on her list of conversation topics).

  “Yeah,” he said, and then abandoned the subject altogether. “Now let me tell you about what happened in the last movie because it may be really important to what’s going on in this one, though probably not since that was a couple of years ago. But, see, this archaeologist was trying to break into the tomb of the king of someplace, I don’t remember where, but it doesn’t matter because it’s this ancient cult, see? And the curse is that if somebody lets light fall on the casket, he’ll get it from the mummy—I mean the mummy of the king’s bodyguard, not the king. He’s actually dead.”

  “Isn’t the bodyguard dead, too?” Lisa asked.

  “Well, sure, but see, it’s his curse to return to life if som
ebody disturbs his master’s grave.”

  “Oh.”

  “So then he …” Lisa listened with growing concern as Chad described an impossibly complicated but otherwise mindless plot. The more he talked, the more enthralled he became and the more worried Lisa became.

  “You really like this?” Lisa asked finally, interrupting his monologue.

  “Oh, yeah, it’s cool. You’ll see,” he assured her, but Lisa didn’t feel the least bit assured.

  When they got to the Triplex, Chad paid for her ticket, but he let her buy the popcorn and soda. Lisa liked it that they could share expenses. Then, with some trepidation on Lisa’s part, they went into the darkened theater and Lisa settled into her soft seat to learn the fate of the greedy archaeologist who would awaken the evil spirit of the mummy. Once again Chad assured her she was really going to like the movie.

  She still wasn’t feeling assured when it began. The mummy, it seemed, had built up a lot of anger over the course of the first five movies, so his thirst for revenge was considerable. Lisa squirmed uncomfortably in her seat while the tension built and, as the bloody battles began, she tried scrunching down in her seat. Chad tugged at her sleeve.

  “Don’t miss this part coming up,” he hissed, pulling her back up in her seat. Reluctantly, she sat up, but she found that she could close her eyes and Chad wouldn’t notice, since his own were glued to the screen, where the mummy was wreaking his terrible revenge.

  Finally, it was more than Lisa could take. She had to get out of there. “Chad,” she whispered, “I’m not too crazy about this.”

  “It’s going to get even more exciting now, just you see,” he said.

  But it didn’t. The mummy just figured out creative things to do with sharp pieces of broken pottery.

  “I think I’d better go,” she said.

  “Didn’t you go before the movie started?” he asked.

  “No, not go like that,” she said. “Go, like go. I don’t like this at all. I don’t want to watch any more.”

  “You lost your watch?” he asked, clearly distracted.

  “No, I’m leaving,” she said. “I’ll wait for you outside. Here, you take the popcorn,” she told him. She climbed over him to the aisle, and escaped to the lobby.