Horse Guest

by Bonnie Bryant

  That took Carole’s mind off of Britt’s shyness immediately. “He’s a little better,” she said. “But not much.” She went on to explain exactly why, in quite a bit of detail.

  Lisa let her talk for about five minutes while she and Stevie finished cleaning and bandaging Magoo. Then she decided it was time to rescue Britt. “Carole,” she said sharply, interrupting a monologue about applying poultices to an infected area, “I think you’ve already told Britt what she wanted to know.”

  “And more,” Stevie added with a wink at Britt.

  Carole stopped talking. For a second, she looked annoyed at the interruption. Then she grinned sheepishly. “Sorry, Britt,” she said. “I guess I was getting a little carried away.”

  “Maybe you should add ‘college professor’ to your list of possible careers,” Stevie suggested. She turned to Britt. “You see, Carole knows she wants to work with horses when she grows up. She’s just not sure whether she wants to be a competitive rider, a trainer, a riding instructor, a vet, a breeder—”

  “Or all of the above,” Lisa finished for her.

  Britt looked a little confused. She smiled uncertainly but didn’t say anything. There was a moment of awkward silence.

  Suddenly Stevie remembered something. She glanced at her watch. “Oops,” she said. “I didn’t realize how late it was getting. I’ve got to get home.”

  “Oh, that’s right,” Lisa said. “Your grandmother is coming tonight, isn’t she?”

  Stevie nodded. “We’re having an early dinner, then we’re all going to meet her plane at the airport.” Stevie couldn’t wait to see her father’s mother again. Grandma Lake had moved from Pennsylvania to Arizona more than five years earlier, and this was her first trip back to the East Coast. She would be staying with Stevie’s family for two weeks. “It will be fun having her here,” Stevie added with a smile. “I don’t remember too much about Grandma—I was kind of young when she moved—but I know I was always crazy about her. So she must be pretty cool, right?”

  “I’ve got to go, too,” Britt murmured, slipping away before the other girls could answer. She had almost reached the end of the aisle when someone came barreling around the corner, slamming into her.

  “Watch where you’re going!” the newcomer exclaimed angrily, glaring at Britt. It was Veronica diAngelo.

  Stevie frowned, momentarily forgetting all about her grandmother’s arrival. She dropped the rolled bandage she was holding and hurried toward the site of the collision. Britt, rubbing her elbow where Veronica had bumped it, stared wide-eyed at the other girl.

  “Why don’t you take your own advice, Veronica?” Stevie said angrily. “You’re the one who wasn’t looking where you were going.”

  “Mind your own business, Stevie,” Veronica said. She glared at Stevie, then turned her angry gaze on Britt. “Just watch it next time. Or else.” She stomped down the aisle to Danny’s stall, which was right next to Magoo’s, and let herself in.

  “Sorry about that, Britt,” Stevie said, making sure that her voice was loud enough for Veronica to hear from inside Danny’s stall. “But don’t worry. Most of the people at Pine Hollow aren’t that rude and obnoxious.”

  “It’s no big deal,” Britt said in a voice that was practically a whisper. “I’ve got to go.” She hurried away.

  Stevie was still scowling as she returned to her friends. “Veronica is such a jerk,” she muttered. “If we don’t watch out, she’ll scare Britt away from Pine Hollow for good.”

  Carole and Lisa weren’t paying attention to her. They had hardly noticed the incident. Lisa was at Magoo’s head, trying to keep him as still as possible while Carole dabbed red liquid from a small glass bottle onto a few of his bandages.

  “What are you doing?” Stevie asked.

  Lisa looked up. “Mrs. Reg suggested it,” she said. Max’s mother, known to one and all only as Mrs. Reg, helped to run the stable, just as she had done when Max’s father was alive. She had a lifetime’s experience collecting good ideas for taking care of horses, and she was always willing to share them with the young riders at the stable.

  Carole held up the bottle so that Stevie could see the label. “We’re putting a little hot pepper sauce on the bandages he’s been pulling at. The taste should make him leave them alone.”

  “What a great idea,” Stevie said. “My mom did the same thing to keep the cat from eating her houseplants. It worked like a charm.”

  “Be careful not to get any of it on his skin,” Lisa said worriedly, watching as Carole moved on to the bandage on Magoo’s knee. “If that stuff gets in his wounds, it will really sting.”

  Carole just nodded and concentrated on her job. A few minutes later, she was finished. “Okay, that should do it,” she announced, screwing the cap back on the bottle and putting it in the grooming bucket. “And if I’m lucky, my dad won’t even notice that I swiped a bottle of his favorite super-spicy taco sauce.”

  The others laughed, then helped return Magoo to his stall. They had already cleaned it and removed some of the straw to avoid another pileup under his belly. The gelding looked around his home carefully, then returned to the front of the stall to watch the girls as they hurried down the aisle.

  When they reached the student locker room, Stevie sat down on a bench in front of her cubby and started to change out of her riding boots. Carole and Lisa sat down nearby to keep her company.

  “I wonder if Britt likes it here,” Lisa mused. “It’s hard to tell, isn’t it?”

  Stevie glanced up. “That’s for sure,” she said. “I mean, it’s hard to believe anyone wouldn’t like it here. But then again, Veronica could make anyplace look bad. I hope her obnoxious attitude doesn’t scare Britt away before she gets to know some of the nice people here.” She grinned. “Like us, for instance.”

  “I know one thing that could help make her happy,” Carole said. “Our latest Saddle Club project.”

  “Definitely,” Lisa and Stevie agreed in one voice.

  When Britt had first come to tour Pine Hollow with her mother, Ms. Lynn had asked The Saddle Club to help find her daughter a horse. Britt had had her own horse back in Ohio, but he had retired to pasture just before the family’s move. Ms. Lynn wanted to surprise Britt if possible, and The Saddle Club had agreed to keep the project a secret. They were planning to arrange for Britt to ride a number of different horses until she found one she really liked, without telling her what was really going on.

  “Actually, I was thinking about stopping by Hedgerow Farms tonight,” Lisa said. “I have a ballet lesson, and Hedgerow is on the way to the studio. They have so many gorgeous horses—I’m sure we can find the perfect one for her there.”

  Stevie nodded as she tossed her riding boots into her gym bag. “You may be right,” she said. “Although I also wouldn’t be surprised if we found Britt’s dream horse right here at Pine Hollow.” Most of Max’s horses were for sale if the right buyer came along. He was always pleased to match a rider to a “perfect” horse.

  “We should keep our eyes and ears open for all possibilities,” Carole said. “You never know where the right horse is going to turn up. I already asked Judy to let us know if she comes across anything promising among her patients.”

  Stevie finished pulling on her sneakers, then checked her watch again. “Let’s talk more about this later, okay?” she said. She stood up, not bothering to tie her shoes, and quickly yanked on her coat. “Because if I don’t get home soon, my parents won’t let me near a horse—any horse—for a year!”

  A LITTLE LATER, Stevie was seated at the dinner table with the rest of her family. That included not only her mother and father, but also her three brothers.

  “Hey, Stevie, don’t forget,” said her younger brother, Michael, “you have to clear the table tonight. Dad made me set it because you were late coming home from your stupid stable.”

  “No kidding,” Stevie snapped, looking up from her green beans. “You only told me that fifty times already, twerp.” She
had been doing her best to ignore Michael’s complaints. She knew he actually preferred setting the table to clearing it. He was only making such a big deal out of it because Stevie had kidnapped his new pet white mice the week before to get back at him for eating all the ice cream one night.

  “Stevie,” Mrs. Lake said warningly. “Michael. Behave yourselves, please.”

  Stevie shrugged and kept eating. But Chad, Stevie’s older brother, jumped in. “I don’t blame Michael for being mad, Mom,” he said. “Stevie’s always late when she’s out riding her dumb horse. I had to set the table for her at least five times last month.”

  Stevie sighed and rolled her eyes. Of course Chad would agree. Stevie had wrapped up a box of horse manure and given it to him as a Christmas present, and he still hadn’t forgiven her for it. Besides, she had shown his latest girlfriend a photo of him as a five-year-old swimming naked in the Lakes’ backyard pool.

  “Chad is right,” put in Alex, Stevie’s twin brother.

  That was no surprise to Stevie, either. Recently, Alex had listened in on one of Stevie’s private phone conversations with her boyfriend, Phil. To get back at him for that, Stevie had started a chain letter asking people to send him women’s underpants—size extra large. He had received the first batch of responses just a couple of days ago.

  “You’re always telling us we need to learn to be responsible,” Alex went on, gazing earnestly at his parents. “But all Stevie ever does is play around at her stable all the time. She’s the least responsible person I know.”

  Stevie dropped her fork and glared at each of her brothers in turn. “Taking care of Belle is a huge responsibility,” she said icily. “But I wouldn’t expect you three losers to know anything at all about that sort of thing. It’s more work than all of you do put together.”

  Chad rolled his eyes. “Yeah, right,” he said. “Shoveling a little manure and then spending hours gabbing with your friends is sooo tough.”

  Alex snorted with laughter. “Right,” he said. “And deciding what color ribbons to tie in her horsie’s tail is even harder.”

  “Boys!” Mr. Lake said sharply. “That’s enough. Stevie will clear the table tonight to make up for being late. End of discussion.”

  But Stevie’s brothers weren’t finished. “Boo hoo,” Michael said in a falsetto, pretending to sob. “I’m Stevie Lake, and I have such a hard life. I have to ride my horse all day long.”

  “It’s such a chore,” Chad joined in. “Boo hoo. And then I’m forced to have slumber parties with my girlfriends every other night. It’s just too much to bear.”

  That really was too much for Stevie to bear. Without thinking, she grabbed a green bean off her plate and flung it at her older brother. It hit him square in the forehead. Chad retaliated instantly by dunking his hand in his milk glass and flicking white droplets in her direction. Michael giggled and did the same, while Alex recovered the green bean from the floor and dropped it in Stevie’s hair.

  Mr. and Mrs. Lake both stood up. “Stop it!” Mrs. Lake shouted. “Right this minute!”

  The kids froze.

  “What do you think you’re doing!” Mr. Lake exclaimed, his face flushed with anger. “Your behavior is outrageous! Is this what my mother is coming all these miles to see? My children acting like they were raised by wolves?”

  Stevie gulped. Her father sounded really furious. He looked it, too. And her mother didn’t appear to be in a much better mood. Too late, Stevie realized that the day of her grandmother’s arrival probably wasn’t the best time to start a food fight with her brothers at the dinner table. Even if they had asked for it.

  “Now,” Mr. Lake said. His voice was quieter, but still angry. “I hope this will be the last we’ll see of this childish behavior—especially for the next two weeks while your grandmother is here. She never let me get away with such nonsense when I was your age, and I don’t want her to think your mother and I have completely lost control of our own home. I expect you all to get along like civilized human beings.”

  “But Dad,” Alex started, “Stevie—”

  Mr. Lake didn’t let him finish. “That goes for all four of you. And I don’t want to hear another word about it.”

  Mrs. Lake nodded in agreement. “And to make sure you realize that we’re serious about that,” she said, “all four of you will work together to clear up after dinner.” She gestured at the spattered milk droplets all over the table. “And all four of you will make sure there’s no sign of the mess you’ve made here by the time we leave to pick up your grandmother.”

  Hearing the dangerous tone of her voice, none of the kids dared to utter a peep about that.

  “IT WAS ALL your fault,” Alex muttered sulkily, glaring at Stevie as he dried a platter.

  Stevie snorted. “Then why are you three getting punished? Mom and Dad were right there. They obviously thought it was your fault.”

  The four siblings were in the kitchen washing up. Dinner was over, and the elder Lakes were upstairs making sure that the guest room was ready for Grandma Lake’s arrival. The family would be leaving in less than half an hour for the airport.

  Chad sighed. “Forget it, Alex,” he advised his brother. “Mom and Dad are just worked up about Grandma’s visit. I’m sure that’s why they didn’t see the truth, that it was all Stevie’s fault.”

  Stevie started to retort. But then she stopped to think about something. “Hey, you know what?” she said, sloshing a greasy saucepan in the sink. “Mom and Dad do seem awfully anxious about this visit. Do you think there’s a reason for that?”

  Michael looked up from the dishwasher, where he was trying to shove one more plate into the overcrowded rack. “Duh,” he said. “Grandma hasn’t been here for a long time. What more reason do you want?”

  “No, wait a minute,” Alex said, shooting Stevie a curious look. “What are you driving at, Stevie?” Stevie shrugged. “I don’t know,” she said. “I guess it has been an awful long time since Grandma moved. It’s hard to even remember what she’s like.”

  “I know what you mean,” Chad said, leaning on the counter. “I mean, we talk to her on the phone on holidays and stuff. But that’s not the same as seeing her in person. I know Dad is right, though—I remember that she was always totally in charge when we used to visit her house in Pennsylvania. When she told us to do something, we did it, no questions asked.” He grinned. “But I also seem to remember that she hardly ever told us to do anything we didn’t want to do anyway. She used to do a lot of cool stuff with us, like taking us places and helping us make up new games. She even rode my dirt bike once.”

  “I remember that,” Stevie said with a laugh, while Alex nodded. “She rode it better than you did.” Then she stopped laughing and sighed. “We always had a lot of fun with her back then. But five years is a long time. Just look how much we’ve all changed in that time. Do you think Grandma has changed a lot, too?”

  “I don’t know,” Alex said. “She is getting older.”

  “She was always old, wasn’t she?” Michael put in, closing the dishwasher. “I don’t really remember her when she lived here. But she’s got white hair in the pictures she sends at Christmas.”

  “Yeah, but that doesn’t mean anything,” Chad said. “She’s had white hair for as long as I can remember.” He paused. “Still, she did have to move to Arizona because of her health.”

  Stevie nodded. “I wonder if that’s why Mom and Dad got so upset at us tonight. No matter whose fault it was,” she added quickly. “Maybe Grandma is really old and sickly now, and they’re worried that we’ll frighten her or wear her out or something.”

  Alex shrugged. “I doubt it,” he said, though he didn’t look nearly as certain as his words sounded. “If that was true, Mom and Dad would just come out and tell us.”

  “Still,” Chad said, “whether Mom and Dad want to make a big deal of it or not, maybe it wouldn’t hurt for us to cool it while she’s here.” He chuckled. “For one thing, if Grandma’s anything like her
old self, she’ll kick our behinds if she thinks we’re not behaving right.”

  Stevie nodded in agreement as she handed the last of the freshly washed pans over for drying. Her memories of her grandmother were pretty fuzzy after all this time, but it was still hard to imagine her as old and frail and delicate. Still, it was better to be safe than sorry. Maybe she and her brothers could tone down their usual behavior for a couple of weeks. At least a little.

  LISA CALLED CAROLE right after dinner. Colonel Hanson, Carole’s father, answered the phone and went to get her. Lisa tapped her foot impatiently while she waited. She had already tried Stevie’s number, but there was no answer. Then she had remembered that the Lakes were driving to the airport together that evening to pick up their visitor. But Lisa couldn’t wait for Stevie’s return to share her news. She was too excited.

  “Guess what,” she said as soon as Carole picked up the phone.

  “Hello to you, too,” Carole said with a laugh. “Are you turning into Stevie or something?” Usually Stevie was the member of their group most likely to get excited about something and forget about little courtesies like saying hello and identifying herself.

  Lisa laughed. “Sorry,” she said. “But I’ve been dying to call you ever since I got home from ballet. I think I’ve found the perfect horse for Britt!”

  “Really?” Carole said.

  Lisa thought her friend didn’t sound nearly as interested as she should have. “Really,” she said. “I stopped at Hedgerow like I planned, and that’s when it hit me. They really do have exactly the right horse for her personality and riding ability.”

  “I wouldn’t be so sure about that,” Carole said. “I’ve been doing some thinking about Britt myself. After you and Stevie both left Pine Hollow today, Mrs. Reg asked me to muck out some stalls. And while I was doing that, I realized that the perfect horse for Britt has been right under our noses all along.”