“Alex who?” Lisa asked.
“Alex Lake,” Stevie said. “My brother. I asked him if he wanted to come with us, and he said yes.”
“Wait a minute,” Lisa said, holding up one hand. “You asked him? What’s going on here? Did pigs start flying and I didn’t hear about it?”
Carole giggled. “No, it’s true. I’m a witness.” She quickly told Lisa the whole story.
“Well, I’m glad you finally gave poor Alex a break,” Lisa said. She jumped a little as she felt a large nose begin snuffling at the back of her neck.
“Wow! She really knows you now, Lees,” Stevie exclaimed with delight.
“She’s a whole new horse,” Carole added, grinning widely.
“Anyway,” Stevie said as the mare went back to her breakfast, “I was super nice to Alex through the whole ballet.”
“True,” Carole confirmed. “She was a perfect gentlewoman. And I think Alex appreciated it, too. Even if he doesn’t usually like ballet, this was just the thing he needed to take his mind off not being at the dance with Paige.”
“In more ways than one,” Stevie added. “Not only did it take his mind off his broken heart, but it may actually have cured it.”
“What do you mean?” Lisa asked.
Carole picked up a spare bucket and turned it upside down to create a makeshift chair. It was early, and she had been up late the night before, and she was tired. “We ended up sitting one row behind a classmate of Alex and Stevie’s at the ballet,” she said. “A girl named Susie and her parents.”
Stevie grinned. “By the end of the evening, my brother had mysteriously cheered up quite a bit. And Susie looked pretty happy, too.”
“Oh, no,” Lisa said with a groan. “Don’t tell me—are we about to witness the return of Alex, the world’s greatest romantic?”
“Looks that way,” Stevie said, still smiling.
Lisa raised one eyebrow suspiciously. “Why do you look so happy about it? I thought he drove you crazy when he was going out with Paige.”
“Sure,” Stevie said. “But it also gave me some great teasing opportunities. Let me tell you, it was a real effort to be nice to him for a whole evening. It would be a relief to have something new to give him a hard time about.”
Carole and Lisa laughed. The mare watched them curiously.
Stevie looked at Eve with interest. “It’s really amazing,” she said. “It’s like she suddenly remembered she had a personality.”
“I know,” Lisa said. “She’s actually quite playful when she wants to be.” She told her friends about Eve’s taste for plastic.
“I’d bet anything that horrible man didn’t have her for her whole life,” Carole said, standing up and fishing a small piece of carrot out of her jeans pocket. She held it out to the mare. Eve sniffed at it for a few seconds, then gently lifted the carrot from Carole’s palm. “She must have had another owner before him who treated her well. Otherwise she wouldn’t be able to trust people at all.”
Lisa gasped. “Oh, I almost forgot to tell you,” she said. “I talked to the police again this morning. And you’re exactly right.”
“What do you mean?” Carole asked, watching the mare crunch the carrot eagerly. “What did they say?”
“Well, first of all they told me that they have officially confiscated all the animals that were on that farm and turned them over to CARL,” Lisa said. “That means CARL can go ahead and place them in new homes. A family with a little boy has already asked to adopt the puppy we found. They’re just waiting until his foot is better. But he should be with his new family by Christmas.”
“Oh, how wonderful!” Stevie said. “What about the other animals?”
“The CARL people think they’ll be able to place them, too,” Lisa said. “It sounds like the farmer whose barn burned down may take the goat and the chickens when he takes his own animals back. That just leaves the other dog. He seems like a pretty well trained watchdog, so they’re sure somebody will want him, too.”
“That must have been the watchdog barking when we first went to the farm,” Carole said distractedly. She was busy trying to convince the mare that she didn’t have any more carrots by letting her snuffle at her hand.
Lisa nodded. “Anyway, they questioned that nasty man further and found out he’d only had Eve for about six months. Her last owner was a woman who died of cancer. The woman’s children didn’t have any place to keep a horse, so they sold her cheap to the first person to make an offer.”
“I wonder why a horrible man like that would want a horse in the first place?” Stevie commented.
“I don’t know,” Lisa said with a shudder. “But the important thing is that Eve is away from him now for good.”
Carole glanced from Lisa to the mare and back again. There was a question she wanted to ask, but she wasn’t quite sure how to phrase it. “Um, so what’s going to happen to her now?” she asked. “Once she’s all better, that is.”
Lisa gulped. “I’ve been wondering about that, too,” she admitted. “The police said the CARL people have decided that if Max is willing, they’d be grateful if she could stay on here at Pine Hollow until they find someone to adopt her.”
“I hadn’t even thought about that,” Stevie said. “But I guess she’ll have to leave sooner or later. That’s sad, isn’t it?”
Lisa nodded. “It’s okay,” she said, trying to sound as if she meant it. “I’m just glad she’s better. That’s the only important thing.”
“Why don’t we take advantage of her while we’ve got her by giving her a good grooming?” Carole suggested. “We have plenty of time before we have to start getting ready for Horse Wise.”
“Sounds good to me,” Stevie said. She turned to Lisa. “Do you think she’ll get too nervous having all of us work on her?”
“There’s only one way to find out,” Lisa said. She put the mare in cross-ties and the girls got started. They decided to work in shifts, with one person sitting on the bucket and watching while the other two did the grooming. Eve seemed a little nervous about the arrangement at first, but after Lisa let her chew on the dandy brush for a few minutes, she calmed down.
As she worked, Lisa couldn’t help thinking about the mare’s future. She had meant what she said about being happy Eve was better. But she knew she’d be even happier if she knew what kind of future lay ahead for Eve. After all, who knew what kind of person might end up adopting her? What if it was someone who didn’t appreciate her properly? Or, even worse, someone who wouldn’t treat her well? Lisa knew that CARL was very careful to check out the people who adopted their animals, but everyone made mistakes. In any case, Eve was going to need special care for quite a while to make sure she was completely recovered from her ordeal. What if her new owner didn’t realize that?
“How’s it going, girls?” said a familiar voice, jolting Lisa out of her thoughts.
“Hi, Max,” Stevie said, jumping up. It was her turn to watch from the bucket, and she didn’t want Max to think she was just sitting around with nothing to do. “We’re just, um, grooming the mare.”
“So I see,” Max said, with a twinkle in his blue eyes that reassured Stevie that she wasn’t about to be ordered to start mucking out stalls. The mare had started rolling her eyes when Max appeared, but she didn’t try to get away. Max took a few steps back and the mare calmed down. “She’s looking much better today.”
Lisa nodded, glad that Max had noticed. “It’s because she decided she wants to get better,” she told him.
Some people might have laughed at a statement like that, but Max Regnery wasn’t one of them. “So I see,” he said again. He paused, looking the mare over thoughtfully. “Red believes she’s getting over her nervousness with men, and I think he may be right. And she certainly seems to have taken to you girls. I think she’s going to make someone an awfully fine riding horse when she gets better. Judy thinks she’s only seven or eight years old. She’s got a long future ahead of her.”
“She
definitely does,” Lisa said, not looking up from the brush she was running over Eve’s withers. “I just hope she gets an owner who will really appreciate her. And take good care of her.”
“Oh, I’m sure she will,” Max said. He watched the girls work in silence for another minute or two.
Finally Lisa couldn’t take it anymore. “But what if she doesn’t?” she burst out. “She just decided life is worth living again. What if someone awful adopts her and ruins all that?”
Max took his time answering. “I don’t think that’s going to happen,” he said at last. “Actually, I was just coming to tell you the news. I just spoke to the folks at CARL, and the mare has officially been adopted.”
Lisa’s heart plummeted into her stomach. She knew she was going to have to adjust to Eve’s leaving. She just hadn’t thought it would happen so soon. “She has?” she said, trying to keep her voice steady.
Max nodded. “She has,” he said.
“Is the new owner anybody we know?” Stevie asked, hoping that at least they would still be able to visit the mare.
“Oh, yes,” Max said. “It’s someone you know very well indeed. In fact, it’s me.”
Lisa gasped. “You? You mean you’re Eve’s new owner?” Her heart soared. That meant Eve wouldn’t be leaving Pine Hollow. Lisa could still see her almost every day, maybe even ride her when she was better. It meant that Eve would have her chance to take part in the Starlight Ride next Christmas after all.
“Eve?” Max looked confused for a second. Then his face cleared. “Let me guess. You’ve already named my new mare for me.”
“Oh. I guess we have,” Lisa said. “I was calling her Eve. I thought of it last night. Do you like it?”
“I love it,” Max assured her. “She looks just like an Eve to me.”
“But Max, what made you decide you needed another horse?” Stevie asked.
Max shrugged. “Part of what convinced me was the mare—er, that is, Eve—herself. She’s got good lines under all those cuts and bruises, and she’s still young enough to train if she isn’t fully trained already. And I’ve seen enough to make me think she probably is, and will just need a little reminding. The other thing is that I’ve been thinking it’s almost time to let old Nero have a rest. Eve can be his replacement.” Nero was the oldest horse at Pine Hollow. He was still a gentle, reliable stable mount, but The Saddle Club knew that in horse years he was older than any of their grandparents.
Hearing about Nero’s impending retirement made Lisa think about her one-sided conversation with Eve the night before. It made her a little sad to think that Nero was retiring, just as Pepper had before him, and that his life was drawing to a close. But it also made her happy to think that Eve was going to be there to carry on Nero’s duties. It would be almost as if she were carrying on his spirit, as well as the spirits of Pepper and all the other Pine Hollow horses who had come before her. As Lisa was learning in her ecology project, life almost always found a way to go on, through the changing seasons and the passing years. Eve would be a part of life; she wouldn’t be doomed to miss it as poor Sal had.
Lisa wasn’t sure how to express all of this to Max in words, so she didn’t try. She just handed the dandy brush to Eve, who grabbed it, and hurried over to give Max a big hug.
He looked surprised but pleased. He hugged her back for a moment, then gently disentangled himself. “All right, that’s enough talking,” he said briskly. “Now I want to see you girls getting back to work. And see that you take good care of my new horse.” With that, he turned on his heel and marched away.
Carole giggled as she watched him go. “I don’t believe it, Lisa,” she said. “I think you actually embarrassed him.”
Lisa giggled, too. “I know. But isn’t it wonderful?”
Carole and Stevie weren’t sure if she was talking about embarrassing Max or about Max adopting Eve. They decided it was both.
“It’s the best pre-Christmas present anyone could ask for,” Stevie answered for both of them. Then the three friends all shared a big, unembarrassed, three-way Saddle Club hug.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
BONNIE BRYANT is the author of many books for young readers, including novelizations of movie hits such as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Honey, I Blew Up the Kid, written under her married name, B. B. Hiller.
Ms. Bryant began writing The Saddle Club in 1986. Although she had done some riding before that, she intensified her studies then and found herself learning right along with her characters Stevie, Carole, and Lisa. She claims that they are all much better riders than she is.
Ms. Bryant was born and raised in New York City. She still lives there, in Greenwich Village, with her two sons.
Don’t miss Bonnie Bryant’s next exciting Saddle Club adventure …
HORSE BLUES
The Saddle Club #62
The girls in The Saddle Club are making their New Year’s resolutions. That’s the easy part. Keeping them will be another matter! Can Stevie really be nice to Veronica diAngelo for a whole month—especially when the snobby girl is busy showing off all the expensive loot she got for Christmas? Can Lisa learn embroidery to make her mother happy? And how can Carole give up junk food when her dad is always making delicious buttery popcorn to eat during the old movies he loves to watch? To keep themselves on the right track, the girls have made a bet. The first one to waver from her resolution must pay a price—and it won’t be pleasant!
Broken Horse Page 10