Before They Rode Horses

by Bonnie Bryant

  “Midnight?” I said. He perked his head to one side and flicked his ears. His tail wagged so fast I think it was a hundred times a second.

  I shouldn’t have had any doubts left then. But, I told myself, it’s perfectly possible that there was another dog named Midnight in his last home. Or maybe it was just the way I said it. I tried again, this time saying “Midnight” as if it were a used tissue instead of a sweet name for a black dog. Again, his tail flopped eagerly. In my heart, I knew he was excited by the name because it was his. My head, on the other hand, was still spinning with possibilities, though even then I recognized a few of them were pretty farfetched—like the idea that his previous owners only ever fed him at midnight or that it was the puppy name his mother had given him that he hadn’t heard for years. By the time I was done making up possibilities, I’d convinced myself that my mother had made a terrible mistake telling these strangers to come get my dog and it was my job to save him from being taken by dognappers who would never care for him at all.

  So I started making plans. I’m not very proud of this, but the fact is that I was nine years old and desperate. I had nine years worth of experience being the daughter of a Marine Corps officer. I was pretty self-sufficient. I decided this was the time to become totally self-sufficient. I would run away. I would take Sparkle with me. I really don’t think I had any delusions about living on my own for very long, but I did think I would have a chance to show my parents that I was serious about keeping Sparkle and maybe that would convince them to convince Michelle and her parents that their dog had run away again and they’d have to go look for him someplace else—anyplace else.

  It only took me a few minutes to put together my survival kit. I packed my favorite shirt, my three favorite model—um, you know, h words—and a copy of Little House in the Big Woods to help me live in the woods near our farmhouse. I know this isn’t logical and I’m not particularly proud of it, but it’s all true, so what can I say? I also found a bag of pretzels in the den. I guess I was expecting to live on that until I could bring in my first crops the way they did in Little House in the Big Woods!

  “DID YOU REMEMBER your toothbrush?” Lisa asked.

  “No, of course not,” said Carole. “I didn’t even bring a change of clothes. What good was a toothbrush going to do me, especially when there was no way I’d remember any toothpaste!”

  Lisa and Stevie laughed. They looked to see if Deborah was laughing, too, but she wasn’t. In fact, she wasn’t even smiling. She was breathing deeply through her nose and blowing out slowly through her mouth. There was a pained look on her face. Automatically, Lisa glanced at her watch. It was only five minutes since the last contraction.

  Lisa took one of Deborah’s hands and held it while Stevie put a cool, damp washcloth on her forehead. Carole helped Deborah concentrate on her breathing.

  “In-two-three-four, out-two-three-four-five-six.”

  She had to do that five times. That was more than for the previous contractions. Most of them had been no more than three or four breaths. The girls looked at one another.

  “They’re getting longer,” Stevie observed.

  Deborah nodded.

  “And closer together,” said Lisa.

  Deborah nodded again. Then she released a final breath.

  “All done,” she said.

  “Is it time to call the doctor again?” Lisa asked.

  Deborah frowned. “It can’t be,” she said. “This is supposed to take twenty hours. It hasn’t been anywhere near that long. And besides, my contractions aren’t that close together yet.”

  “Well, that was five minutes,” Lisa said.

  “It couldn’t have been,” Deborah said. “You must have measured wrong.

  “It sure was—” Stevie began.

  Lisa cut her off, though. “We probably did measure wrong,” she said. “We’ll be more careful next time. Gee, I could use another cup of tea, and Deborah’s ice chips are all gone. Stevie, come help me in the kitchen, will you?”

  “You don’t need any help getting tea,” Stevie said. “I think I’d better stay here with Deborah.”

  “I don’t remember where the kettle is,” said Lisa. “You’re the one who found it in the first place, Stevie,” she said.

  Stevie’s look showed her irritation. The kettle was right on the stove in plain sight. Then it dawned on her that Lisa actually had something else in mind. Her hints really weren’t all that subtle. Stevie abandoned her annoyance and stood up.

  “Good idea,” she said. “I could use another cup of tea myself.”

  “We’ll be right back,” Lisa assured Carole and Deborah.

  “Don’t go anywhere,” Stevie joked.

  Deborah closed her eyes. Carole nodded. She knew what her friends were up to. It was time to call the doctor again, and if Deborah didn’t know it, The Saddle Club did. They’d call him from the kitchen.

  Lisa sighed with relief when she spotted the Redial button on the phone. The last person to use the phone had been Deborah, and the last person she’d called had been her doctor. They didn’t have to search for a number.

  The doctor’s nurse answered on the third ring. It took Lisa a few seconds to explain to the nurse who she was and why she was calling.

  “Right, Deborah Hale. She’s having a baby.”

  “All of Dr. Husted’s patients are having babies,” the nurse answered. “Dr. Husted is an obstetrician.”

  Briefly, Lisa wondered if doctors’ nurses were required to have brains, and it occurred to her to ask the question. She decided that wouldn’t help. She returned to the reason for her call.

  “No, I mean, like now,” Lisa said. “Today, soon, very soon.” She made a face at Stevie to indicate that she was dealing with someone who wasn’t getting the point.

  “Hale … Hale … um … uh … Hale,” said the nurse.

  “Regnery?” Lisa suggested. Since she was Max’s wife, that was her married name, but she always used her maiden name as far as the girls knew.

  “Regnery … Regnery … um … uh … Regnery,” said the nurse. “Oh, right, Mrs. Regnery. Well, she’s not due for another couple of weeks. I’m afraid you’ll have to get any information on her condition from her or from her husband. I’m certainly not allowed to discuss a patient’s condition without her specific authorization.”

  “No, you don’t understand,” Lisa said, mustering every ounce of patience she could. “I don’t want you to discuss the patient’s condition. I’m discussing the patient’s condition. I’m telling you that Mrs. Regnery is going to have a baby. She is in labor and her contractions are now five minutes apart. When she spoke to her doctor a couple of hours ago, he said to call when the contractions were five minutes apart. We’re calling to tell you that. Now.”

  “Oh,” said the nurse. “I see. You mean the baby seems to be on its way.”

  “Yes,” said Lisa. She sighed with relief. “Maybe I should speak with the doctor?”

  “Yes, I think that would be a good idea,” said the nurse. “At the moment, he’s in surgery, but I’ll let him know as soon as he can be reached. You know, this is Mrs. Regnery’s first baby and the labor is liable to be quite long. You shouldn’t worry. The contractions could remain at five-minute intervals for a good long time. You should stay with her and let her know that you’ve called the doctor, and you should call back here in case there’s any change. Okay?”

  “Okay,” Lisa said. She felt a little better, but not a lot. She told Stevie what the nurse had said.

  “I guess they know what they’re doing,” Stevie said. “And I’m sure she can reach Dr. Husted if she has to. In the meantime, there’s someone else we need to reach.”

  “Max,” said Lisa.

  “Right.” Fortunately, both Max and his mother had been talking about the Pony Club workshop for some time and the girls knew where it was. Stevie made the call. It was no more productive than the call to Dr. Husted’s office had been. It turned out that the workshop had moved f
rom the conference center to a stable and that all the participants would be leaving directly from there.

  “Soon?” Stevie asked.

  “Pretty soon,” the woman said.

  That was too vague. Stevie realized that Max really needed to know what was going on. He would want to be here. He should be here. She explained to the woman what was going on and asked her if she could get a message to Max that he should call home. She said she’d be glad to do that.

  Lisa and Stevie felt that they’d done the right thing all around. They poured more water in the teapot and took the tray and some ice chips back into the living room.

  The woman at the Pony Club workshop was as good as her word. Minutes later, the phone rang and Deborah picked it up.

  “Max?” she said. “Oh, sure, I’m fine. No, no problems. Well, they didn’t need to do that. You know this is going to take a long time. There’s no hurry. You finish up the workshop. The girls are taking great care of me. In fact, I think I’ve got them doing all the work in this labor! They seem to like it better than mucking out stables!”

  The Saddle Club could hear Max laughing at the other end of the phone. On the one hand, they were glad that Deborah felt good enough to reassure him. On the other, they were relieved when they could tell that Max was insisting he and his mother would leave the conference and come home.

  “Okay, I’ll see you in about two hours,” Deborah said. She gave him a kiss over the phone and hung up.

  “Is that what the kettle argument was about?” she asked, looking suspiciously at Lisa and Stevie.

  “Yeah,” Stevie said. “We really thought he ought to know.”

  “Max put us in charge,” Lisa reminded Deborah. “And he would have blamed us for not calling.”

  “Well, maybe you’re right,” Deborah said. “He’ll want to be here. But I hope he doesn’t get here before you all finish your stories. I’m enjoying every word of these horseless tales! In fact, I’d enjoy them even more if I could stretch out on my bed. Do you girls mind if we move the party upstairs?”

  The Saddle Club glanced at each other nervously. Deborah must be getting tired from the contractions—more tired than they thought.

  “Well?” she said, lumbering to her feet. Lisa and Carole each grabbed an arm and Stevie followed with the tea. Deborah huffed as she took the steps slowly. When she was settled in her bed, she gave the girls a big smile.

  “Aaah, that’s better,” she said. “Now, Carole, where were you?”

  CAROLE’S STORY, CONTINUED

  IV

  RIGHT, WELL, THERE I was with my book, a few clothes, and some pretzels. I snuck out of the house, got Sparkle from the barn where he was waiting for me, and off we went. Although we were living in a farmhouse and there were lots of fields there, I knew we’d be spotted very quickly in the fields. Besides, it was Little House in the Big Woods that I had brought, not Little House on the Prairie. So, we headed for the woods.

  I guess it must have been about four o’clock in the afternoon when we left the farm. By five, I was exhausted from walking. Even Sparkle seemed a little tired, so I sat down and he stayed right next to me. Naturally, all that walking had made me hungry. I broke out the bag of pretzels. They didn’t last long. I think I finished them off in about ten minutes. Of course, I hadn’t brought anything to drink, and there’s nothing worse than eating salty pretzels and not having anything to drink—well, maybe chocolate chip cookies without milk, but you know what I mean. I was really thirsty and I knew Sparkle had to be, too. He’d shared the pretzels with me. We had to find something to drink, and the obvious choice was water. Since I had no idea where there might be any water, I had to keep going. I couldn’t go back—there wasn’t any point, because I knew there was no water that way except at the house.

  Sparkle and I walked for another hour, maybe more. The sun was still out, but it was beginning to drop toward the trees, and in the forest it was getting darker. I looked at my watch then. I couldn’t believe it was only six o’clock. It was the middle of summer and it should have been light at six. But it wasn’t. It was almost as dark as night, and I didn’t know why—until the first flash of lightning. It startled me so much that I just about screamed. Sparkle was just as surprised as I was and he jumped about six inches—but not nearly as far as he and I both did when the thunder came. It was a horrendous noise. It seemed like it was right next to me, as loud as anything I’ve ever heard in my whole life. I grabbed Sparkle for comfort. He kept moving away, and I thought he was trying to pull away from me. He yanked so hard at my arms that I had to let go. I didn’t know then, but he was trying to tell me something. I found out soon enough, though.

  There was a terrible cracking and ripping sound above my head. It wasn’t like the thunder or any sound I’d ever heard before. I looked up just in time to see a big branch of the tree tumbling down—right above where I was standing. I remember it now as clearly as if it had happened only a second ago. The big branch broke its way through the lower branches of the tree, ripping at the leaves and cracking the twigs. I stood there, too scared to move, and it was too late anyway. It was an enormous branch and I never could have gotten out of its way in time. Maybe it’s better that I didn’t try, because if I’d been anywhere but where I was, I might have been crushed very badly.

  As it was, the branch knocked me down. I was stunned when I hit the ground. I tried to sit up and look around, but I couldn’t move because the branch was on top of me and I couldn’t see anything but leaves, everywhere.

  “Sparkle? Are you there?”

  He barked loudly to answer me. I couldn’t see where he was, but I could hear him moving, so I knew he was okay. Also, the sounds he made were perfectly normal.

  Once I knew he was all right, I had to figure out if I was all right. I had a couple of scrapes and bruises, but I didn’t think it was any worse than that. I could move my arms and wiggle my toes. The thing I couldn’t do, though, was stand up or pull myself out from under the branch. It was almost as big as a tree and I was completely pinned down. I was, in a word, stuck.

  I think what happened next is what’s sometimes called shock. Sparkle was okay. I was okay. I knew I was okay. But I also knew it had been a very near thing. If I’d been a foot to the left or to the right, I might not have been okay. I might have been hit in the head with the branch. I might have been paralyzed or killed. I remember those thoughts going through my head and I remember that I didn’t want to think about them. Then I don’t remember anything for a long time after that. I guess I sort of fainted.

  When I woke up, it was raining. I was grateful then for all the leaves on the branch. They didn’t exactly keep me dry, but they did keep me from getting totally soaked. It took me a minute to remember where I was and why I was there. The fact that I couldn’t move at all reminded me of everything.

  “Sparkle!” I called out.

  There was no answer. I called him again and again. Still there was no answer. No matter how loudly I called his name, he didn’t answer.

  I took a deep breath. “Midnight!” I called out. The only answer I heard was silence. I was stuck, I was alone, and I was wet. Plus, of course, I was hungry, cold, and afraid. It wasn’t long before I was crying, too. I cried until I finally fell asleep from exhaustion.

  When I woke up again, it was dark in the woods, but it had stopped raining and I could see some light from the sky above me. At least that’s where I thought it was coming from. Then I heard something. It took me a minute to realize it was the sound of Sparkle barking.

  “Sparkle?” I cried out.

  “Carole?” came the answer.

  Now, I don’t want you to get the idea that the dog had learned how to talk in the thunderstorm. No, it wasn’t Sparkle who answered me. It was Mom, and the sound of her voice in those dark woods was the sweetest sound I’d ever heard!

  We kept calling each other until she and Dad found me. Somehow they managed to work their way through the thick leaves of the branch, and both of
them gave me a hug at the same time. Nothing ever felt so good.

  It took me a bit of work to convince them that I was okay except for being pinned under the branch.

  “Don’t worry, honey,” Dad said. “I’ll move that thing for you.”

  Now, I’ve never understood how he did it. Even though I was just a kid, I was pretty strong, and I hadn’t been able to move the darn thing one teeny tiny bit. Dad looked at me, then he looked at the branch. He reached down under it with one hand, bent his knees to brace himself, and then stood, lifting the branch right up off me.

  “This way, dear,” my mother said, helping me out of the trap that had held me prisoner for so many hours. And then I was free.

  Well, we all cried then. We hugged one another and then we cried some more. It was only after about our fifteenth hug and fourteenth cry that I asked them how on earth they had found me.

  “Sparkle showed us the way,” said Mom.

  I realized then that that wonderful dog, my very best friend, hadn’t abandoned me at all. He’d had the good sense to go get my parents and had brought them there to rescue me!

  So, we had our fifteenth cry and our sixteenth hug, only this time we all hugged Sparkle, too.

  It was time to go home then. We walked back to our farmhouse, and after a nice warm bath, I got into bed and slept and slept and slept.

  I remember feeling this wonderful feeling of being safe and being loved and knowing that those were the two most important feelings in the world.

  What I don’t remember is knowing that Sparkle’s real owners were coming the next day to pick him up.

  I WAS IN my room when the Lefferts’ car pulled into our driveway. I couldn’t see it. I just heard it because the car doors slammed so loudly. Then a voice called out, “Midnight!”

  Sparkle was inside the barn, but I could hear him bark loudly in response. He knew the name; he knew the voice. I looked out the window.