The sleigh went over a bump in the road.
“Ouch!” Dinah said.
“What’s the matter?” Betsy asked automatically.
“Nothing,” Stevie and Dinah answered in unison. Keeping a secret from Betsy was turning out to be a very hard thing to do. This time it was Dinah who attempted to change the subject.
“How are your parents coming with their riding lessons?”
“Oh, great,” Betsy said. “In fact, they’re going on a trail ride this morning.”
“They are? I thought Mr. Daviet said nobody would go out on any of the trails until after sugaring off was over.”
“He did,” Betsy said. “But you know how convincing my father can be. He told Mr. Daviet that he wouldn’t have time to go again for another couple of weeks if they couldn’t go today. And guess what? Mr. Daviet said he’d take them on a trail that’s been closed because of the snow this winter. He wants to see if it’s ready to be opened to other riders soon.”
Stevie got a bad feeling in her stomach. Dinah, standing next to her and holding the reins, stiffened.
“What trail?” the two of them asked in a single voice.
“Rocky Road. Isn’t that neat? I’m sure they’re going to love it. It’s such an exciting trail ride—or so I’ve heard.”
Exciting. Yes, it was that, Stevie thought, depending on how one felt about tumbling rocks, landslides, and avalanches. That trail wasn’t safe for an expert like Mr. Daviet, and it especially wasn’t safe for novice riders like the Hales. Her mind suddenly filled with images of falling rocks, terrified horses, and wounded riders. The same thoughts had occurred to Dinah.
“They can’t go!” Dinah said.
“Don’t be silly. Of course they can,” Betsy said. “Like I said, Dad told Mr. Daviet …”
“I don’t mean they can’t go riding; they can’t go on Rocky Road.”
“Why not?”
“It isn’t safe!” Dinah said urgently.
Betsy seemed annoyed by Dinah’s reaction. “I think Mr. Daviet’s a better judge of that than you are,” she snapped. “After all, if he thinks my parents—”
“That’s not what I mean,” Dinah said. Then she began talking quickly. “The trail isn’t safe. I mean, it can’t be safe at this time of year. All that snow melting is probably dislodging some of the boulders and rocks, and it could—” Dinah stopped talking because Betsy was staring at her.
“You were on it,” Betsy said. “That’s how you know.”
Dinah stopped talking. She merely nodded.
“That’s what happened, and you’re hurt, aren’t you?” Betsy asked.
“It was a big boulder,” Dinah said finally. “It missed me by inches. Stevie saved me. The same thing could happen to your parents—only Stevie won’t be there to save them. We can’t let them go on the trail.”
Betsy paled. “We’ve got to get back and warn them,” she said, taking the reins from Dinah. “Hold on tight, or we won’t get there in time! They’re going out at eleven!”
Stevie looked at her watch. It was ten minutes to eleven. That didn’t leave them much time at all. They were going to have to race.
Betsy slapped the horse’s rump vigorously with the reins, and the lumbering old workhorse sparked to life.
“Hyaaa!” Betsy cried, turning him around as sharply as she dared. He responded.
“This isn’t a sleek and speedy sleigh,” Stevie said somewhat nervously.
Stevie gripped her seat.
Their trip into the forest had been at about two miles an hour. Their trip back to the Sugar Hut was much faster. The old horse finally got into a trot at Betsy’s urging, and Stevie was surprised to see that he seemed to like it. He shook his head, loosening his mane, and seemed pleased to breath in some of the cool air. He snorted it out smartly.
Betsy didn’t say anything for the whole trip. Stevie was sure her mind was brimming with questions, but every ounce of her concentration was focused on the horse, the sleigh, and the trail.
At the faster speed the trail seemed much more curvy and hilly than it had when they were going slowly. It swerved to the right and then turned sharply to the left.
“Hold on!” Dinah said.
“I am holding on!” Stevie replied.
“Not tight enough for this next curve!” she warned.
Betsy looked forward with grim determination on her face. Instead of slowing for the curve, she flicked the reins again. The horse’s stride lengthened. They moved faster still. Stevie could feel her own fear mounting as they entered the turn. The horse kept to the right, then obediently began the turn to the left at breakneck speed, dragging the lumbering sleigh with its three passengers behind him.
The wood strained. Stevie could see it pressing into the horse’s flesh as he made the turn. The next thing she felt was all the weight on the sleigh shifting dangerously to the left. She and Dinah automatically leaned to the right. Stevie didn’t want to look at the horse anymore. She looked down at the snow. Just as they came to the point of the turn, the right runner of the sleigh actually pulled up out of the snow.
Stevie gasped. She also leaned farther to the right. The horse completed the turn, the sleigh straightened out, and both runners once again ran smoothly in the snow.
“There it is!” Betsy declared, looking straight ahead. Stevie looked up. It was the Sugar Hut. She looked at her watch. It was five minutes past eleven. Were they too late?
“I FIGURED IT out,” Carole told Lisa as they sat in Colonel Hanson’s car on their way to Phil’s pony club meeting.
“Figured what out?” Lisa asked. It always irritated her a little bit when one of her friends started a sentence in the middle of a thought and didn’t take the time to tell her what had come before. Stevie did it more than Carole, but Carole was certainly doing it now.
“Mrs. Reg’s story,” Carole said.
Lisa recalled the rather mystifying tale of how Mrs. Reg had taken care of somebody else’s horse and the horse had gotten to like her a lot. She hadn’t yet made sense of it. She wondered what Carole had seen that she hadn’t.
“In the first place,” Carole went on, “she had heard what we were talking about.”
“I know that,” Lisa said. “Mrs. Reg may spend most of her time in her office, but it seems that her ears are all over the stable! She always hears everything.”
“One of these days we’ve got to use that to our advantage,” Carole said. “But that’s not what she was talking about. What she was saying was that Stevie was away and, as Stevie’s best friends, it’s up to us to take care of Phil. See, while the owner of the horse was away, Mrs. Reg made friends with the horse, just so she could take care of it. But when the owner came back, although the horse was now attached to Mrs. Reg and not to him, he knew the horse had gotten good care and eventually would become reattached to him. That’s why he wasn’t angry with her.”
“Oh,” Lisa said, thinking about what it all meant. “You mean we’re supposed to groom Phil and muck out his stall while Stevie’s away?”
“No, not at all,” Carole said, giggling at the idea. “We’re supposed to be there when he needs a friend, i.e., at his pony club meeting. I don’t know what this meeting is all about, but if he wants us there, we should be there. Get my drift?”
“I think I’ve got it,” Lisa said. “Basically, it’s okay for us to go in Stevie’s place because we’re trustworthy and honorable and her best friends and wouldn’t want to steal her boyfriend anyway.”
Colonel Hanson cleared his throat. The girls looked at him. “What do you think, Dad?” Carole asked.
“I think that if you tried to steal Stevie’s boyfriend, she’d scratch your eyes out, so I’m sure it’s the farthest thing from your minds.”
“Definitely,” Lisa confirmed.
“Just what I was thinking,” Carole agreed.
Colonel Hanson drew the car to a stop and let the girls out at the stable where Phil’s pony club, Cross County, had its meeting
.
“Pick you up at one,” he said.
“I NEED TO use the intercom,” Betsy said breathlessly to an astonished Mrs. Daviet, dashing into the Sugar Hut. There was an intercom telephone in the Hut that connected with Sugarbush. Maybe it wasn’t too late.
“That’s only for my husband to use—”
Betsy didn’t stop to argue. She grabbed the phone and pushed the code. Then she waited.
Stevie waited, too. She found herself flooded with emotions, including both fear and relief. She was afraid for the Hales and Mr. Daviet, but she was oddly relieved now that the secret she and Dinah had been keeping had come out. Usually Stevie loved secrets. This one, however, had been weighty and difficult. There would be consequences, of course, but they wouldn’t be as bad as the consequences of not reaching Mr. Daviet in time.
“Mr. Daviet? You’re still there?” Betsy said, relief flooding her voice.
Stevie let out her breath, unaware that she’d even been holding it.
“I’ll tell him,” Dinah said, reaching for the phone. Betsy handed it to her and stepped back, waiting.
“We shouldn’t have done it, Mr. Daviet,” she began. “I don’t want to get anybody in trouble. It was all my fault—”
There was a brief silence. Dinah’s face reddened. But then she took a deep breath and began at the beginning.
With each word Stevie could feel a weight lifting from her. It was the last thing she would have expected to feel when a secret came out, but she definitely felt better listening to Dinah tell everything they had done.
Finally Dinah hung up the phone. She sat down on a wooden bench, leaned back against the rough-hewn wall, and began crying uncontrollably. She was still crying when her parents, summoned by Mr. Daviet, arrived to take her to the doctor.
“MRS. REG! MRS. REG!” Lisa called out eagerly when she and Carole returned to Pine Hollow after Phil’s pony club meeting.
“What is it, child?” Mrs. Reg asked, emerging from the feed room where she had been overseeing the blending of grains.
“Thank you!” Lisa gave the woman a hug. Mrs. Reg was more than a little bit astonished by the thanks, but she hugged back nevertheless.
“Whatever for?” she asked, finally.
“For telling Carole and me that we should go to Phil’s pony club meeting. It was wonderful. You won’t believe it! Stevie would have killed us if we hadn’t been there. You were exactly right!”
“Me? What are you talking about? I don’t know anything about Phil’s pony club, and just who is Phil?”
“Phil Marston, you know, Stevie’s boyfriend?”
“Stevie has a boyfriend?” Mrs. Reg asked. She seemed genuinely surprised. When Lisa paused to think about it, however, she knew that Mrs. Reg knew perfectly well who Phil was. He’d ridden at Pine Hollow several times. Although Mrs. Reg might, occasionally, forget a boyfriend, she’d never forget a rider.
“You didn’t exactly tell us right out,” Carole said, coming up behind Lisa to give her support. “You just told us that story about the man whose mare you took care of. Remember, the horse who got so attached to you?”
“Hmmm,” Mrs. Reg said. Obviously she wasn’t going to admit that there was any connection. That was just like her. “I never forget a horse,” she said. “That one was one of my favorites.”
“Hmmmm,” Carole said, echoing Mrs. Reg. “I’m beginning to think that mare was one of mine, too. So anyway, thanks, Mrs. Reg.”
“I’m glad you had such fun,” Mrs. Reg said. “Now it seems to me that there are a couple of stalls to muck out before class begins.…”
“Tallyho!” Carole responded eagerly, picking up a pitchfork.
“Yoicks!” Lisa agreed.
“STEVIE, WE’LL SEE you later,” Mrs. Slattery said, dimissing her. Stevie opened the car door and went into the Slatterys’ house. Mr. Slattery drove off, taking Dinah to her doctor’s appointment.
Stevie definitely felt relieved that the secret was out, especially since it meant Dinah would finally see a doctor. Still she felt an uncomfortable foreboding. There were good reasons why they’d originally kept the secret. For one thing, Jodi was in trouble. Today was her day off at Sugarbush, but Mr. Daviet had grumbled that he was going to call her at home. Stevie and Dinah had both insisted that Jodi was not to blame, but that didn’t seem to mean much to him. He’d kept on grumbling. He’d also scowled at Dinah. If there was one thing Mr. Daviet and Max had in common, it was their feelings about the rules of safety in riding. Going on the Rocky Road Trail had definitely violated those rules. It had endangered his riders and his horses. He wasn’t going to forget that.
Another important reason they’d kept the secret was Dinah’s conviction that her parents would tell her she couldn’t ride anymore. This was about the worst thing Stevie could imagine. Why couldn’t the Slatterys be more like the Hales, joining in on their daughters’ activities, Stevie wondered, or like her own parents, more or less ignoring the activities unless they interfered with schoolwork?
Stevie went up to Dinah’s room and changed her clothes, slipping into some clean dry jeans, a turtleneck, and a sweatshirt. All the while she was thinking about Dinah’s dilemma. What she realized, the more she thought about it, was that if she hadn’t been there, it never would have happened. Dinah wouldn’t have been able to go out on any trail ride at all, much less the Rocky Road. So if she’d been the one to get Dinah into all this trouble, she’d have to be the one to get her out of it.
Stevie looked at herself squarely in the mirror. She arranged her face so it looked serious, sincere. It didn’t look a lot like Stevie, but it looked earnest.
“Mrs. Slattery,” she began. “It wasn’t Dinah’s fault. You shouldn’t punish her. You know my reputation as a troublemaker, and it’s all true. Dinah didn’t want to go on the trail. I was the one …”
No, that wouldn’t do at all. Stevie certainly did have a reputation as a troublemaker, but she had no reputation at all as a martyr. The Slatterys would never believe it.
“Horseback riding isn’t just a sport, or just a lot of fun,” she began, trying another tack. “Although it is those things, it’s an activity that builds character and develops responsibility.…”
Except in Stevie and Dinah, it seemed. She decided that wouldn’t do, either.
“We knew we weren’t supposed to do it,” Stevie said, beginning over. “We just didn’t consider the consequences.” That, at least, had the advantage of being true. “We thought the trail was closed because of the sugaring off. We didn’t consider the fact that it was closed because it was dangerous.” That, too, was true. However, it left unanswered the question of how it was that they’d been allowed to go on a trail ride by themselves in the first place. That led Stevie to think about Jodi. She didn’t like the thoughts she had about Jodi, and she was beginning to realize that she didn’t like Jodi.
She’d dismissed Betsy’s complaints about her sister as complaints about a big sister, but in this case Stevie was getting the idea that maybe Betsy knew more about Jodi than either she or Dinah did. Dinah adored Jodi, but why?
Stevie had a feeling that she knew the answer. Dinah adored Jodi because Jodi was everything Dinah wasn’t. Jodi was older. She had a lot of horseback riding experience. She could spend just about all day every day at Sugarbush Stables because she worked there. She also was somebody who didn’t think much of rules. She broke them a lot. She didn’t see anything wrong with offering a “lesson” to a boy when she didn’t intend to teach him anything—at least she didn’t intend to teach him anything about tack!
Dinah wasn’t like that. She liked to have fun, but she wasn’t a rule breaker, not even as much as Stevie was. Stevie liked her because they always had good times together, not because Dinah was any goody-two-shoes. Stevie knew Dinah had missed her when she moved to Vermont. Maybe Dinah had thought that Stevie and Jodi were alike and she’d admired Jodi for that reason.
But we’re not alike, Stevie told herself. I’m no
t afraid of getting into a little bit of trouble, but I’d never do anything unsafe—unless I had to. Well, she relented, not anything really unsafe. Besides, although Stevie occasionally took risks she didn’t have to, she’d never tell anybody else to do something that was unsafe.
That was the problem. If Jodi had gone out on the trail by herself or with them, that would have been one thing. The fact was that Jodi had let them go out by themselves, knowing that the trail had been closed because it was always unsafe in the winter.
That wasn’t just dangerous, that was reckless. And they’d been covering for her.
Stevie looked back up at the mirror. “Mrs. Slattery,” she began, “we should have known better. It was a really stupid thing to do. Just because somebody else says something is all right doesn’t mean that we should go along with them. I’m sorry. I’m truly sorry.”
That was the truth. It was that simple.
The Slatterys’ car pulled into the driveway. Dinah climbed carefully out of the backseat. Stevie descended the stairs quickly. She wanted to talk to the Slatterys before they lowered the boom on Dinah.
“Are you okay?” she asked Dinah.
“Yes, I’m fine,” her friend replied. “In fact, the doctor admired the leg wrap. I thought you’d want to kow that.” She smiled. Stevie felt terribly relieved. She turned to Dinah’s parents.
“Mr. and Mrs. Slattery, there’s something I need to say,” she began. “This wasn’t Dinah’s fault, really. It was mostly mine. It wouldn’t have happened if I hadn’t been here.”
“Thanks, Stevie,” Mr. Slattery said. “Dinah told us everything. We have an idea where the fault lies. We understand what the two of you were doing and why you were doing it.
“We even appreciate the fact that it must have been hard to come clean this morning when you learned what was at stake. We wish both of you had known you could trust us and had told us right away. Most of all, though, we’re relieved to know no serious damage was done. We’re also pretty sure nothing like this will ever happen again.”
“You mean you’re not going to punish Dinah?” Stevie asked.
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