Summer Horse

by Bonnie Bryant

  “So, are you and Phil friends again?” Carole asked as Stevie sat down next to her.

  Stevie smiled. “Almost,” she said. “We’re going for a walk after the show so he can apologize.”

  After a few more cabins performed, it was Lisa’s turn. “Wish me luck,” she muttered to her friends as she stood up, tugging at her costume. The five remaining residents of Cabin Six were wearing matching black T-shirts and denim cutoffs. “I’m going to need it.”

  “You’ll do great,” Stevie said, trying to reassure her. Lisa looked pale and nervous. “You always do.”

  Lisa and her cabin mates took the stage. One of them set a battery-operated cassette player in one corner of the stage and switched it on. A fast-paced jazz number poured out of the speaker, and the five girls began to dance. They started off with a staggered kickline, then moved straight into an intricate series of steps. The girls’ feet moved so fast that it was hard for the audience to keep up.

  Carole and Stevie couldn’t take their eyes off Lisa as she danced. “Wow,” Stevie whispered. “She’s good!”

  Carole nodded, gasping as all five girls leaped across the stage at once, perfectly in synch. “No wonder she spent so much time on this. It must have taken a lot of work to get everyone to do so well—especially since Lisa told us most of the girls in the cabin have never taken a single dance lesson.”

  All the girls danced well, but Lisa stood out from the rest. Her leaps and kicks were higher, her moves were smoother, and her arms arched more gracefully than theirs. At the end of the number, she did a few showy solo dance steps, cartwheeled to the front of the line, and then ended with a split, raising her arms high over her head as the other girls dropped to their knees behind her.

  Carole and Stevie jumped to their feet and applauded wildly. Soon the whole audience followed their example. The girls from Cabin Six stood up and bowed, then ran off the stage and returned to their seats.

  Lisa was breathing hard when she rejoined her friends.

  “Lisa, you were fantastic!” Carole exclaimed, grabbing her friend and hugging her.

  Stevie waited her turn, then gave Lisa a hug of her own. “You really were great,” she added. Pulling back, she noticed that Lisa’s eyes were brimming with tears. “Hey, what’s wrong? You didn’t hurt yourself, did you?”

  Lisa shook her head. “I almost wish I did,” she said, her voice sounding bitter and angry. “Then at least I’d have an excuse for all the mistakes I made.”

  “What mistakes?” Carole asked. “You looked perfect to me.”

  “I was off the beat during the second set of leaps,” Lisa said, sitting down on the hay bale and wiping at her eyes. “And I took a big misstep right before my cartwheel at the end.”

  “Don’t be so hard on yourself,” Carole said comfortingly. “Nobody noticed those things. You were definitely the best one up there. The other girls weren’t nearly as good as you.”

  “It doesn’t matter how good they were,” Lisa said. “It just matters how good I was. Or wasn’t.”

  Before Carole and Stevie could think of anything to say to that, Barry called their cabin number. “Well, they say laughter is the best medicine,” Stevie said to Carole as they hurried up to the stage. “And if anything can make Lisa laugh, it’s our play.”

  As the premiere performance of Cabin Three: The Play began, Carole and Stevie were too busy to notice if Lisa was laughing. But one thing was certain—even if she wasn’t, everyone else was. The audience howled with laughter as Carole flitted onstage, trying her best to look like a dainty princess. They laughed even harder when Stevie intoned, “But the year was 1912, and tragedy was about to strike the fair princess. For her parents, the king and queen, had decided to send her on vacation—aboard the Titanic!”

  The play continued to get sillier and sillier, as Stevie the Good Witch blessed Princess Carole with magical powers, which she went on to use to help Congresswoman Bev win the big election and save the world.

  Finally, it was time for Carole to go and prepare for the big finale. She slipped away as Helen, who was playing a famous movie star, begged the congresswoman to tell them more about boating safety. By the time Bev’s speech was finished, Carole was back, leading Ditto. She hadn’t bothered with tack; she had simply slipped a halter on him. The horse seemed a little confused when she led him onto the stage, but he stayed calm.

  “Why, hello, magical princess Carole,” Stevie the Good Witch greeted her. “I see you’ve brought your horse.”

  “He’s not a horse, you silly witch,” Carole replied in her princess’s voice. “He’s my pet unicorn, Ditto. I brought him to prove to you all that I truly am the royal princess of the land of Toodle-dee-doo.”

  “He doesn’t look like a unicorn to me,” Helen the movie star said.

  “He most certainly is a unicorn,” Carole replied haughtily. “He just happened to be born with a slight birth defect.”

  “What’s that?” asked Helen.

  Carole pointed to Ditto’s forehead. “No horn. See?”

  Congresswoman Bev crossed her arms over her chest and pretended to look suspicious. “Oh, really?” she said. “How do we know he’s really a unicorn if he doesn’t even have a horn?”

  “I can prove it,” Carole said. “Just watch, and I’ll lead him with his invisible lead line.” As she snapped off Ditto’s lead line, Carole prayed that the laughter from the crowd wouldn’t spook him. She stuck the lead in her pocket, then pantomimed pulling out an invisible one and clipping it on his halter. Then she took a few steps back and took a deep breath. This was the moment of truth.

  She took a step backward, calling and gesturing and pretending to tug on the invisible lead. Ditto gave her a suspicious look, but finally he took a step in her direction. Carole continued to back away, and Ditto continued to follow, until they reached the far end of the stage.

  Carole smiled with relief. Stevie’s idea had worked.

  “Ta-da!” she cried, snapping the real lead line back onto Ditto’s halter.

  As the crowd erupted into applause and Ditto rolled his eyes nervously, Carole gazed at the horse. She had been skeptical about this whole plan. Ditto was so ornery, she was sure he would mess up the whole thing. Why hadn’t he? Why would he pay attention to her in this one rather unusual way and not in any other? Carole didn’t think even Starlight would follow her so obediently without any aids other than her voice.

  Suddenly Carole realized what the answer might be. She gasped. “Oh, Ditto,” she whispered under the noise of the crowd. “Could that be it?” Naturally, Ditto didn’t reply. He just gave her his usual suspicious look.

  Carole had to find out if her theory was correct. And she had to find out now. This might be her last chance before Starlight arrived in the morning. “Witch Stevie, give me a leg up,” she called.

  Stevie looked surprised, and Carole knew that this time she wasn’t acting. “Are you sure?” she asked. “Er, I mean, surely your highness doesn’t mean to ride without tack.”

  “I will ride without tack, because that is the only way that unicorns are ridden,” Carole replied, making up the lines as she went along. “Now do my bidding, if you please.”

  Stevie stepped forward and hoisted Carole onto Ditto’s back. He shifted uneasily under her, and she grabbed a handful of his mane to steady herself. She was going to have to do this without reins, which would make things more challenging. But suddenly she was sure she could do it.

  “Out of the way, minions!” she cried to her fellow actors, waving her free arm above her head. “Now that everyone knows I am the true princess, I must ride off on my trusty unicorn to do good all over the world.” With that, she signaled with her legs for a trot. But this time, she didn’t signal lightly, as she would with the alert and sensitive Starlight. Instead she made the command as firm and unmistakable as she could.

  And this time Ditto understood her. He broke into a trot almost immediately. When she signaled again, just as firmly, for a canter,
he obeyed that command as well. They rode around the perimeter of the stage while the other actors took their bows, and Carole grinned as she heard the audience break into applause. Ditto broke stride for a moment at the noise, but even that didn’t wipe the smile off his rider’s face. Ditto wasn’t perfect—far from it—but Carole had finally realized that she was equally to blame for their poor relationship. She had come to camp wishing she could ride Starlight and ended up on a horse that was nothing like him. Then instead of adjusting to Ditto’s unique personality, Carole had waited for the horse to adjust to her expectations, and that just wasn’t going to happen.

  She had figured it out just in time. She couldn’t wait to share her discovery with Stevie and Lisa. Carole rode Ditto off the stage and toward the stable, silently promising him an extra ration of oats as a reward for his performance in the play. His gaits were still choppy and hard to ride, especially bareback, but for once Carole hardly noticed. She knew that the applause she still heard behind her was for their play, but she felt as though it was all for her. And she felt she deserved it, too.

  THE NEXT MORNING after breakfast, The Saddle Club walked up to the hill by the stable to wait for Starlight to arrive.

  “After he gets here, we’ll help you move your stuff into our cabin,” Carole promised Lisa. Their departing cabin mate had already been picked up by her parents, and Barry had approved the move.

  “Thanks,” Lisa said. She sat down on the grass and yawned.

  “In the meantime,” Stevie said, “I think this is the perfect time for a Saddle Club meeting.” She turned to Carole. “I’m still waiting to hear what happened with Ditto yesterday.” The three girls hadn’t had much time to talk since the talent show. After the show ended, Stevie had left immediately for a very long walk with Phil, and Lisa had rushed back to her cabin to read. There hadn’t been much of an opportunity to talk at breakfast, either, since Lisa had come in late and Stevie had been busy talking with Phil.

  “Good,” Carole said. “I’ve been dying to tell you, even though I’m a little embarrassed at how stupid I was.” She flopped down on the grass near Lisa, and Stevie sat down between them. Carole glanced quickly at the road when she heard the sound of an engine. But it wasn’t coming from the Pine Hollow van; it came from a small blue car arriving to pick up a camper who was leaving. Carole went on. “I realized the reason I was having so much trouble with Ditto was that I was trying to turn him into Starlight.”

  Stevie looked puzzled. “What do you mean?”

  “I mean I was doing everything the way Starlight likes it and not even noticing that it wasn’t working,” Carole explained. “For instance, Ditto is much more skittish and jumpy than Starlight, but I kept forgetting that. And Ditto hates being touched on the neck, but since I’m so used to patting Starlight there I kept doing it anyway, which must have made Ditto like me even less. Most importantly, when it comes to riding aids, Starlight prefers a light touch, but Ditto needs a heavier hand. I should have realized that right away and changed what I was doing, but I was too busy missing Starlight.” She shrugged. “If I’d been riding Basil, I probably could have gotten away with it. But Ditto is nothing like Starlight, so it just didn’t work.”

  “I get it,” Lisa said. “But I can’t believe that you didn’t figure it out for a whole two weeks. I mean, you’ve got so much riding experience …”

  Carole shrugged. “It just goes to show, you’re never done learning when it comes to riding,” she said quietly. “And sometimes you even need to learn the same lessons over again, like this time. Once upon a time I would have figured Ditto out right away. Even if I wasn’t crazy about him, I would have taken it as a challenge to bring out the best in him instead of the worst. A good rider can ride any horse well—and for a while there, I wasn’t acting like a good rider.”

  “Well, Max will be glad you learned something,” Stevie said. “Even if you had to spend two weeks riding a horse you didn’t like to do it.”

  “I know,” Carole said with a laugh. “Before, I was kind of mad at him for convincing me to do this. But now I’m almost glad. Although,” she added hastily, “I might not be saying that if I didn’t know Starlight was on his way here right now.” She sighed, closing her eyes and enjoying the feel of the warm sun on her face. “He’s the only thing missing to make camp perfect.”

  “Well, not the only thing,” Lisa muttered.

  Stevie turned over on her other side to look at her. “I hope you’re not still thinking about those mistakes you claim to have made last night.”

  “Actually, I was thinking about Piper,” Lisa said. “I’m beginning to wonder if I’ll ever find out what happened to her.” She paused as the blue car drove noisily past on its way out. “But now that you mention it, the dance thing is still bothering me a little. I shouldn’t have made those mistakes.”

  Carole shrugged. “I really don’t think you should beat yourself up about it, Lisa. You were practically perfect last night.”

  “Practically doesn’t count,” Lisa said, picking a blade of grass and rolling it between her fingers. “I wanted to be totally perfect.”

  “Nobody’s totally perfect,” Stevie said. “Except maybe Starlight, if you believe everything Carole says about him.”

  Carole smiled, but Lisa didn’t even respond to the joke. “But I’ve got to try to be perfect,” she said earnestly. “Or at least close to it, like Piper. If you can’t strive for perfection, what’s the point of doing anything?”

  To Stevie, that seemed like an awfully philosophical question for a beautiful Saturday morning. But she could tell Lisa was serious. “I don’t know,” she said. “But I do know that you were a lot closer to perfect last night than I could have been.”

  “That goes double for me,” Carole put in. “I’ve got two left feet when it comes to dancing. Dad says it runs in the family. I could hardly believe the way you made all those hard moves look so easy, Lisa.”

  “Besides,” Stevie said, “as far as most of this camp knows, you were perfect. Nobody even saw those tiny missteps. So what’s the difference?”

  Lisa sighed. “Maybe it didn’t matter much this time,” she said. “But sometimes, those tiny missteps can cost big. Like that B-plus I got, for instance. Right now everyone keeps saying it’s no big deal, but they’ll feel differently if it keeps me from being accepted at a top college.”

  “Don’t worry, Lisa,” Carole said. “When the time comes, I’m sure every college around will be knocking down your door to sign you up.” She could tell that Lisa was still thinking a lot about her grade. That must be the real reason she was so upset about a few minor mistakes in her dance routine. Maybe now that she was moving into the same cabin with Carole and Stevie, they could help her relax and enjoy herself a little more. After all, things were always better when The Saddle Club was together.

  Stevie was thinking the same thing. She leaned back on her elbows and glanced at the driveway as another car came into view. This time it was a long, black sedan. “Hey, look,” she said. “Isn’t that the same car we saw by the road when we first got here?”

  Carole looked. “The gangster’s car?” she said. “It looks like it.”

  “I wonder which kid it’s here for,” Stevie said. She watched as the car pulled up and stopped next to the rec hall. The driver was hidden from view by some trees, and Stevie soon lost interest. She turned over onto her stomach and looked up at her friends. “You two are being very discreet,” she teased. “You haven’t even asked me about my walk with Phil.”

  “That’s because we know you too well,” Carole teased back. “We know you’re going to tell us all about it sooner or later, whether we like it or not.”

  “Well, you’re right,” Stevie said, resting her chin on her hands and smiling dreamily. “And since you’re so interested, I’ll tell you right now. It was wonderful. He spent the first ten minutes apologizing. He said he didn’t even realize how much time he was spending with Todd until it was too late.” Her sm
ile grew even dreamier. “He also said he would much rather spend time with me than with Todd—or anyone else, for that matter.”

  She didn’t say anything more about it, but her dreamy smile told her friends everything they needed to know. Carole and Lisa traded amused glances. It was obvious that Stevie and Phil’s romance was definitely back on and better than ever.

  Just then, the girls heard the sound of another vehicle moving toward them. A moment later, a familiar horse van emerged from the trees.

  “He’s here!” Carole cried. “Starlight is here at last!”

  She jumped up and raced to meet the van.

  Stevie and Lisa got up and followed. They could see Red’s familiar face behind the wheel, and a moment later they all heard a familiar nicker from inside the van.

  Carole could hardly wait as Red helped her lower the ramp and lead Starlight out. As she threw her arms around the big bay horse for a long-awaited hug, Carole thought she had never been happier. Starlight was here, Lisa was moving into Cabin Three where she belonged, and there were still two more weeks of camp to go, including the exciting show-jumping competition. She was ready to put the last two weeks of camp behind her and to make sure the rest of The Saddle Club’s stay at Moose Hill Riding Camp was totally perfect.

  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 exciting companion novel to