Maddie’s Dream

by Catherine Hapka

“No, we’ll leave jumping for another day,” Ms. Emerson said.

  “But I know I could do it!” Amber protested.

  “Another day.” The instructor’s voice was firm. “I’ll hold Cloudy while you dismount.”

  Maddie held her breath, afraid the older girl was about to roll her eyes again. Ms. Emerson might have tolerated that when it was aimed at Amber’s mother, but Maddie knew from personal experience that the barn owner had no patience for that sort of thing being directed at herself.

  Luckily for Amber, she just sighed. “Okay, fine,” she said.

  “What do you say to Ms. Emerson, Amber?” Mrs. Richardson called from the bleachers as Amber swung down from the saddle.

  “Thank you,” Amber said. “It was a pretty fun lesson, I guess. And Cloudy was great!”

  On that point Maddie had to agree. She’d seen Cloudy give beginner lessons before. But usually the new riders were too busy trying to figure out how to keep all their body parts where they were supposed to be to bother the horse much. Maddie was surprised that Ms. Emerson hadn’t put Amber on a lunge line, as she often did while teaching newbies not to yank or balance on the reins.

  Ms. Emerson showed Amber how to run up her stirrups to keep them from banging on the pony’s sides, then opened the gate. Felicia ran over and started chattering eagerly at the barn owner, asking all kinds of questions about the lesson she’d just seen. Meanwhile Amber led Cloudy out of the ring, with her mother and the other two siblings trailing along behind them. Maddie couldn’t resist stepping out of the shadows as the whole group moved toward her.

  “Hi,” she said. “I’m Maddie. I take lessons here, too—I ride Cloudy a lot, actually.”

  “Really? Cool.” Amber’s smile was a little distant, probably due to the difference in their ages, but she sounded friendly enough. “Cloudy’s awesome, isn’t she?”

  “It’s nice to meet you, Maddie,” Mrs. Richardson added with a smile. “You must be a good rider—I can’t imagine our Cloudy would be doing so well otherwise.”

  Maddie winced at that term—“our Cloudy.” She’s not yours! she wanted to yell. Not anymore.

  Instead she just said, “Thanks. Cloudy’s taught me a lot.” She reached out to stroke the mare’s nose. Cloudy nickered and nudged her, clearly hoping for a treat, but Amber pulled the pony’s head away.

  “We actually used to own Cloudy, you know.” Amber waved vaguely in the direction of her family. “I helped my older sister and brother put the basics on her when she was young.” She gave the mare a pat on the neck. “Guess we did a pretty good job, huh? ’Cause look at her now!”

  Maddie forced a smile. “Um, yeah. Cloudy’s great.”

  Mrs. Richardson glanced at her smartphone, looking distracted. “Yes, we heard through the grapevine that Cloudy ended up being one of this stable’s most reliable lesson horses. Now that the younger kids are showing an interest in riding, we decided to look into buying her back.” She glanced at the youngest girl and the boy, who appeared to be squabbling over a rock they were kicking around on the path behind them. “Frank! Baby!” she added sharply. “Cut it out!”

  She hurried off toward the kids. Left alone with Amber, Maddie shot the older girl a sidelong look. “So, um, you’re getting back into riding?” she asked.

  “Sort of.” Cloudy had drifted to a stop and stretched her head toward a patch of weeds. Amber tugged on the reins to get her moving again. “It’s mostly Felicia, though. She took a lesson at her friend’s barn, and now she’s horse crazy.” She rolled her eyes. “Never stops blabbing about it, actually. She was only like six or seven when we sold Cloudy, so she never got to ride much back then. Especially since Cloudy was a total brat at our last barn. Nobody but Raina—that’s my older sister—could even handle her most of the time, so Mom and Dad kept the younger ones away. That’s why they sold her when Raina went to college.”

  Maddie winced, flashing back again to how spoiled and willful Cloudy had been during her first few days at Solano Stables. “Oh, really?” she said, afraid that if she said anything else, she’d end up telling Amber that it was her family’s fault that Cloudy had ended up that way.

  “Uh-huh. Raina says the barn owner there didn’t know what she was doing. She fed Cloudy this really cheap sweet feed, and it made her nuts.”

  Maddie bit her lip, hearing her mother’s voice in her head saying, If you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all.

  “Um, okay . . . ,” she mumbled.

  Just then Ms. Emerson and Felicia caught up to them. “Why don’t you take Cloudy back to her stall,” the barn owner told Amber. “Do you remember how to untack?”

  “I know how!” Felicia piped in brightly.

  Amber shot her sister a slightly sour look. “Don’t worry, I’ve got it.” She gave another tug on the reins. “Come on, Cloudy. Let’s go.”

  They disappeared into the barn, with Felicia right behind them. Maddie was about to follow when Ms. Emerson put a hand on her arm.

  “Hold up a second, Maddie.” The barn owner glanced at Mrs. Richardson, but the woman was still busy scolding her two younger kids back by the ring. “I want to talk to you—I hope you’re not too upset about this Cloudy situation.”

  Of course I’m upset! Maddie wanted to shout. Instead, she just nodded and waited to see what Ms. Emerson would say next.

  “I want you to understand, this is all very preliminary at this point,” Ms. Emerson went on. “The Richardsons haven’t decided they definitely want to buy Cloudy back. They’re just exploring the idea. I’ve agreed to give the kids a few lessons to let them test the waters.”

  “Oh,” Maddie choked out. That didn’t sound very preliminary to her. Once Amber and Felicia rode Cloudy a few times, how could they help falling in love with her? Especially Felicia, if she was as horse crazy as her sister said.

  Ms. Emerson was watching her carefully. “I mean it, Maddie,” she said. “You shouldn’t panic or assume Cloudy will be leaving us.”

  “Okay.” Maddie wasn’t sure what else to say. Then she remembered something. “Um, the Snack and Swim—”

  “Oh yes, I meant to mention that.” Ms. Emerson smiled. “You don’t have to worry. Cloudy will definitely be here for the big ride next weekend, and nobody will ride her except you that day. I promise.”

  Maddie nodded. Ms. Emerson never made promises she couldn’t keep.

  Still, that didn’t make her feel much better. Okay, so she’d get to ride Cloudy for the Snack & Swim. What about after that? What if the Richardsons did decide to buy their pony back and take her away?

  What would Maddie do if she lost Cloudy?

  “Ew, what’s this doing on my bed?”

  Maddie glanced up from her desk. Tillie was glaring at her from her half of the room, holding Maddie’s soccer shirt between one thumb and forefinger as if it might be some kind of potential biohazard.

  “Oh. Sorry.” Maddie shrugged and hit send on her phone. It was half an hour after dinner, and she’d just finished texting the twins about what had happened after they’d left the stable earlier that day. “Just throw it in the hamper.”

  Tillie tossed the shirt onto Maddie’s rumpled bed. “You throw it in the hamper. I don’t want to smell like tween tomboy sweat tonight.” She stepped over to her tidy dresser and picked up a tube of lip gloss.

  “Whatever,” Maddie muttered. Then she thought of something. “Hey, Till, do you know a girl named Amber Richardson? I think she’s around your age.”

  “I don’t think so.” Tillie slicked on a coat of cranberry-colored lip gloss, then smacked her lips together. “Wait, yes I do. Blond, kind of pushy?”

  “That sounds right, yeah.”

  Tillie glanced at Maddie in the mirror. “She’s a year behind me. She tried out for cheerleading last year when I was cocaptain of the middle school squad, but then she quit to play tennis or something instead. Why?”

  “Just curious.” Maddie kept her tone casual. “She came to the barn today.
”

  “Oh.” Tillie immediately lost interest and returned her attention to her primping.

  Dropping the phone on her desk, Maddie heaved herself to her feet. As she grabbed the dirty T-shirt off her bed, she noticed the corner of her laptop peeking out from under the bedsheet. Suddenly she remembered she’d never logged back on to the Pony Post. She’d been too distracted by her worries about Cloudy—the Richardson Situation, as she’d started calling it in her head—to think about anything else.

  She flopped onto the bed and flipped open the laptop. When she logged on, there were several new messages.

  [NINA] Went for a ride along the levee today after my lesson. It was perfection! Breezy was amazing and chill, even when we passed a whole herd of bikes. Such a good boy!

  [BROOKE] Breezy is always amazing! lol! Glad u had fun! Foxy and I just messed around at home today. It was 2 hot to do much, so I just hopped on bareback and we practiced some dressage stuff or whatev.

  [NINA] Bareback dressage? Awesome! U and Foxy should enter a show sometime—it sounds like you’re getting rly good.

  [BROOKE] Maybe if I can save enough $. But I dunno if we’re good enough.

  [HALEY] Hi guys! B, you are totally good enough to show.

  [NINA] Hi H! Did u ride today?

  [HALEY] Of course! I want to make sure Wings is fit enough for our jumping lesson next week. Can’t wait!

  [HALEY] btw, where’s Maddie? She hasn’t checked in since she posted those pix last night.

  [BROOKE] I’m sure she’ll post soon. She’s probably still at the barn having fun w/Cloudy.

  [NINA] Or maybe she ran into a famous movie star on her way home and got whisked off to a big film premiere or something, lol!

  Maddie grinned at Nina’s post. Maddie’s Pony Post friends seemed to think the entire state of California was crawling with movie stars and other celebrities, no matter how many times she tried to tell them that Hollywood was like an eight-hour drive away.

  Her smile faded as she came back to reality. How was she going to break the news to her Pony Post friends about the Richardson Situation?

  She scanned their posts again, lingering over the details about the fun they’d all had with their Chincoteague ponies that day. Their ponies. That was the key word, wasn’t it? Nina and Brooke owned their ponies, and Haley’s was free leased from an elderly neighbor who had said she could keep him as long as she liked. That meant they didn’t have to worry about having their ponies snatched out from under them.

  Until today, Maddie hadn’t worried about that either. She’d taken for granted that Cloudy would be at Solano Stables forever. It was still almost impossible to believe that that might not be true. . . .

  “What’s with you?” Tillie asked, stopping beside Maddie’s bed on her way to the closet. “You look all angsty.”

  “Nothing.” Maddie quickly signed off and closed her laptop. “Just checking messages and stuff, that’s all.”

  Tillie shrugged, grabbed a pair of shoes off the organized rack in her half of the closet, and hurried out of the room. Maddie just sat there for a moment, feeling vaguely guilty for not telling her friends what was going on.

  Then again, Cloudy wasn’t gone yet. The Richardsons had given up on her once—maybe they’d do it again.

  So until Maddie knew anything for sure, why upset her Pony Post friends over something that might not even happen?

  CHAPTER

  4

  “ALL ABOARD FOR FOG CITY!” Maddie’s father sang out as he strode into the kitchen the next morning.

  Maddie was sitting on the bench by the back door, tying her sneakers. “I’m ready. But you’ll have to tell Ry and Ty there’s no time for a third helping of cereal.”

  “Shut up, I’m finished.” Maddie’s youngest brother, nine-year-old Tyler, dumped his bowl in the sink with a clatter. He patted his skinny belly. “Anyway, I’m saving my appetite for steamed buns.”

  Ryan didn’t bother to answer. He just kept shoveling cereal into his mouth while reading the back of the box.

  Tillie yawned as she put the orange juice carton back in the fridge. “I still don’t see why we have to leave so early. It’s the weekend, you know!”

  Her mother bustled in just in time to hear her. “We want to be there when the museum opens,” she said. “We’ve got a busy day planned.”

  Maddie nodded, feeling a surge of excitement. Her parents both had unpredictable work schedules, and it wasn’t often that the entire family got the chance to spend a whole day together. But this was one of those rare occasions. They were planning to drive into nearby San Francisco and spend the morning at the Exploratorium, then head over to their favorite dim sum place in Chinatown, followed by shopping at Union Square—the latter being the only way Tillie would agree to the rest without complaining.

  “Okay, I’m finished,” Ryan announced a moment later. He set his bowl in the sink with the others and pushed his glasses up his nose. “Whose turn is it to load the dishwasher?”

  “Leave the dishes—I’ll do them when we get home.” Mr. Martinez checked his watch. “Let’s hit the road.”

  Maddie was heading for the door when the phone rang. Her mother grabbed it. “Hello?” She listened for a moment, then held out the receiver. “Maddie, it’s for you.”

  Maddie froze. Who would be calling her at this hour on a Sunday morning? Her mind immediately jumped to Cloudy. Had the Richardsons already made up their minds? Was Ms. Emerson calling to tell Maddie she’d have to find another mount for the Snack & Swim ride after all?

  “Um, who is it?” Maddie asked, trying not to sound as panicky as she felt.

  “Coach Wu,” her mother replied. “Make it quick, okay? We need to get going.”

  Maddie nodded, relief flooding through her. She had no idea why her soccer coach was calling, but she was pretty sure it had nothing to do with Cloudy.

  “Hello?” she said.

  “Maddie? Hope I didn’t call too early.” Coach Wu’s voice sounded excited. “Didn’t want to miss you. Got a minute?”

  “I guess so.” Maddie shot a look at her family. They were all hovering near the door, staring at her. “What’s up?”

  “Big news. I just found out you’ve been invited to try out for the Cascade League!”

  Maddie gasped. “Are you kidding me?” The Cascade League was the most competitive travel league in Northern California. Maddie had gone to watch a couple of their local games, and the players were super-intense.

  Coach Wu laughed. “I wouldn’t kid about this. Congratulations, Maddie! And congratulations to me, too.” She sounded pleased. “This is the first time since I took over as head coach that one of my players has been invited to try out.”

  “Wow.” Maddie leaned against the wall, stunned. “This is awesome.”

  “Yeah. Anyway, I just wanted to let you know right away. We can talk details at practice on Tuesday.”

  “What was that about?” Tillie asked as Maddie hung up.

  Maddie explained as the family headed out and climbed into the minivan. “. . . and a Pelican hasn’t been asked to try out in like three years,” she finished as she clicked on her seat belt. “It’s super-selective, and only the most promising kids from all the local leagues get scouted.”

  “Excellent.” Her father glanced at her in the rearview mirror, sounding proud. “This could open lots of doors for you, Mads.”

  “Thanks, Dad.” Maddie leaned back against her seat. “But don’t get your hopes up, okay? I mean, there’s no guarantee I’ll make the team on my first try—”

  “Yeah, you probably won’t,” Tyler put in with a smirk.

  “But even being asked to try out is, like, a huge honor,” Maddie finished, ignoring her brother. “This is really cool.”

  As Mr. Martinez pulled the car out of the driveway, Sergeant Martinez turned around in her seat to talk to Maddie. “So what’s involved in this Cascade League if you do make it?” she asked. “It won’t interfere with school, will
it?”

  “It’s just for the summer. I think.” Maddie shrugged. “Actually, I’m not sure. I never really thought I’d get invited to try out, so I never paid that much attention.”

  “I’ll look it up if you want,” Tillie volunteered. She fished her new smartphone out of her purse. She’d saved up for more than six months to buy it and never missed a chance to show it off—or so it seemed to Maddie.

  It didn’t take long for Tillie to bring up the Cascade League’s official website. She scanned it.

  “Well? What’s it say?” Tyler demanded from the backseat. He was leaning forward, straining against his seat belt. Beside him, Ryan already had his nose buried in a comic book. He didn’t appear to be paying attention, though Maddie knew her quiet ten-year-old brother heard more than people thought.

  “It sounds pretty hard-core,” Tillie said, scrolling down. “You practice at least four times a week, plus you have to go to these special coaching seminars and stuff. And then of course you travel to the games every weekend.”

  “What kind of travel are we talking about?” Mr. Martinez asked.

  Tillie was still scrolling. “Well, for the junior league—that’s what Maddie would be trying out for—the regular games are supposed to stay within seventy miles of your team’s home base—”

  “Seventy miles?” Maddie broke in. “Whoa, that’s far.”

  “Yeah. But then it sounds like the championships can be even farther away than that, and some of the coaching thingies too.”

  “Wow,” Maddie’s mother said. “Sounds like a serious time commitment.”

  Mr. Martinez nodded, glancing at Maddie in the rearview again. “Yeah. You’d probably have to drop your other activities for a while—including riding.”

  “What?” Okay, that changed things. Suddenly Maddie wasn’t feeling so excited anymore. “Forget it. Riding is way more important to me than some soccer team. I’ll call Coach Wu later and have her tell the Cascade League thanks, but no thanks.”

  In the front seat, her parents traded a look. “Don’t make any hasty decisions, Maddie,” her mother warned. “This could be a great opportunity for you.”