Summer Rider

by Bonnie Bryant

  Barry came to her rescue. “Don’t worry, Stevie,” he said. “You can speak freely. Betty knows all about it. She was the first one I told—she’s been here as long as I have.”

  Betty nodded. “Ten years,” she said quietly. “Some of the others on the staff have been here almost as long.” She shrugged dejectedly. “I don’t know what we’re all going to do when this place closes.”

  “Maybe we should open our own camp someplace where the real estate isn’t quite so valuable,” Barry said jokingly.

  Stevie pulled up a chair. “Don’t start shopping for that land yet,” she said in a businesslike voice. “Nothing’s final until the papers are signed.” She had picked up that phrase from her parents, who were both lawyers. “First of all, we’ve got to know more about the Winter brothers.”

  “I appreciate what you’re trying to do, Stevie,” Barry said. “But I’m afraid there’s really no point. Moose Hill is gone. I’m finally starting to accept it. You’re going to have to do the same.”

  Carole sat down next to Stevie. “We know that, Barry,” she said soothingly. “We’re just curious, that’s all.”

  Stevie shot her a dirty look, but her expression brightened when Barry and Betty glanced at each other and shrugged. She realized that Carole wasn’t really giving up—she was just trying to get the adults talking.

  “I don’t blame you for being curious,” Betty said. “It’s hard to believe that something like this could happen to such a great place.”

  Barry nodded. “I don’t want you to get the wrong idea about the Winters,” he said. “They’re not bad guys. In fact, they’ve been awfully good to the staff here—they even found jobs at their other businesses for some of the people they fired this year. And they took a lot of pride in the reputation we’ve built over the years. Unfortunately, that’s not as important to them at this point as cold, hard cash.”

  “It’s too bad that these developers happened along and were willing to pay so much,” Betty put in. “There wasn’t much chance that anyone who wasn’t familiar with Moose Hill would want to invest that heavily in a riding camp. But that’s just because the camp’s real potential hasn’t been brought out.”

  That gave Stevie a great idea. “I’ve got it!” she cried, turning to Barry. “Why don’t you buy it? You know all about the potential, and you said your brother was advising you about the money part—”

  Barry cut her off with a rueful smile. “I’m way ahead of you on that one, Stevie,” he said. “It was the first thing I thought of when I heard that the brothers wanted to sell. But the developers’ offer is just too high.”

  “Are you sure?” Carole asked. “Maybe you could get a big loan from the bank or something.”

  “Believe me, I’m sure,” Barry said with a heavy sigh. “I’ve been over the numbers a hundred times. Even with the biggest bank loan I could get, along with my savings and an optimistic estimate of what I could beg, borrow, or steal from family and friends, I’m still a good thirty thousand dollars short.”

  Stevie and Carole couldn’t help gasping at the number. “Th-Thirty thousand?” Carole repeated in disbelief.

  Barry nodded. “It’s a shame, too. I’m sure the brothers would break off negotiations with the developers if they thought I could match their price.”

  “I’m sure of it, too,” Betty said. “I think they’d like the idea of Moose Hill continuing as it is.”

  “As it is, only better,” Barry corrected her. Then he sighed again. “But what’s the point of thinking about that now? Fred called just this morning to say the deal should be worked out around the time camp ends next week.”

  Stevie hardly heard him. She was still turning the number he had mentioned over in her mind, and it was making her head spin. Thirty thousand dollars! That was real money, and she knew it. Despite her natural optimism, she was having a hard time believing that even The Saddle Club could find a way to solve this problem.

  But as she and Carole got up and said good-bye to Barry and Betty, one thought emerged clearly from Stevie’s muddled brain. It might seem impossible, but they had to save Moose Hill. They just had to!

  BY THE NEXT day, Stevie hadn’t come up with any ideas, though she had thought about it until her brain hurt. The girls talked about the problem while they cooled down their horses after one of their morning classes. “Our only chance is to raise enough money for Barry to buy the camp instead of the developers,” Carole said for about the tenth time that day.

  “Definitely,” Stevie answered for the tenth time. Belle nudged her on the shoulder, and Stevie rubbed the mare’s nose thoughtfully. “But how?”

  As usual, none of them had an answer.

  After a few minutes of silence, Stevie let out a long sigh. “There’s got to be a way,” she said. “There’s got to!”

  “Where there’s a will there’s a way,” Carole said. It was one of her father’s favorite sayings. “We’ve got the will, right? So where’s the way?”

  “I hate to say it, but I’m not sure there is a way for a bunch of kids to raise thirty thousand dollars in a few days,” Lisa said, switching Major’s lead line from her right hand to her left as the horse wandered over to snuffle at Starlight. “That’s more money than a lot of people earn in a whole year at their jobs.”

  “We can’t just give up,” Stevie said, a little annoyed at Lisa’s tone. She knew thirty thousand dollars was a lot of money—they all did. Lisa didn’t have to lecture them about it. “Carole’s right. Where there’s a will, there’s a way.”

  Lisa just shrugged, and Stevie bit back the urge to snap at her for being negative. This was no time to start fighting with her friends, even if one friend wasn’t being much of a team player at the moment.

  Carole sensed the tension between Stevie and Lisa, and she didn’t like it. “Maybe we should go over the ideas we’ve had so far,” she suggested. “I know none of them seem that great, but maybe they’ll inspire something.”

  “So far our best plan is Todd’s idea to hold a giant skateboarding rally,” Stevie admitted sadly. “The others, like getting a list of the richest people in the world and calling them to ask for a donation, don’t seem too likely to work.”

  Carole sighed. It seemed hopeless, and for a second she felt like giving up. But when she thought of the wonderful camp and all its beautiful forested land about to be gobbled up by greedy bulldozers, she knew they couldn’t give up until they’d done everything they could. They wouldn’t be The Saddle Club otherwise. “All right, we’ll keep thinking,” she said. “Let’s just hope someone comes up with something brilliant pretty soon.”

  “I wish Piper were here to help us,” Lisa said softly. “She’s so smart—she could come up with a good plan if anyone could.” The night before, she had taken a few minutes out of her reading time and written Piper a letter. Since she wasn’t having any luck reaching her by phone, she decided it was time to try some other way. She had mailed it that morning from the rec hall.

  Carole glanced at her watch. “Sorry to change the subject,” she said, “but we’d better get back in the ring, Lisa. Our jump class starts in five minutes.”

  “Uh-oh,” Stevie said, glancing automatically at her own wrist before realizing she had left her watch in the cabin again. “That means I have only five minutes to untack Belle and get over to the rec hall for my horsemanship class.” She hurried toward the stable, barely pausing to say good-bye to her friends.

  As she quickly untacked Belle, Stevie’s thoughts returned to their problem. Every time she thought of a plan, she was brought up short by the huge amount of money they needed. She had to figure out a way to cut the problem down to size. Maybe then she’d be able to solve it.

  Todd was in the same jump class as Carole and Lisa, and he rode forward to greet them as they entered the ring.

  “Had any brilliant ideas yet?” he asked.

  Carole shook her head. “I was about to ask you the same question.”

  Todd grinned. “No
t yet,” he replied. “But it’s only a matter of time.” He tapped his forehead meaningfully. “In some states this is registered as a lethal weapon, you know.”

  Carole laughed and glanced at Lisa. But Lisa didn’t seem to be paying attention. As Betty entered the ring and called the class to order, Carole couldn’t help wondering what was going on with Lisa these days. Judging from her behavior, it seemed she wasn’t that upset about the camp’s being sold. But Carole knew that Lisa loved Moose Hill as much as anybody else. That meant that something else must be bothering her an awful lot to distract her this much. So why hadn’t she told her best friends about it?

  “Okay, everyone,” called Betty after a few opening comments. “We’re going to take turns over the course and criticize each other’s performance. Don’t forget about your jump position, people—it might not matter if you’re entering the show-jumping event, but you’ve got to have it down if you want to win points in the hunter classes.” She nodded to Todd, who was riding a camp horse named Alamo. “You’re first.”

  As she watched Todd start through the course, Carole remembered Lisa’s comment about Piper. She hadn’t really thought about it much, but she supposed Lisa must miss Piper a lot. And it couldn’t be easy not knowing what had happened to her.

  When Todd and Alamo had finished, they stopped in front of Betty. “Well?” Todd said with a grin. “Was I perfect or what?”

  The other campers giggled. Alamo had knocked down two rails, and Todd had made several other obvious mistakes during the round.

  “I’m not sure you’re ready for the National Horse Show just yet,” Betty replied dryly.

  “Darn!” Todd cried. “I guess I’ll have to withdraw my name. And I bet they won’t refund my entry fee, either!”

  The other campers laughed out loud at that, and even Betty had to smile. “Very funny,” she said. She turned to the other riders. “Now, who would like to tell our class clown how he could have improved that ride?”

  Carole’s thoughts drifted again as several people gave their comments. She wondered if she and Stevie had underestimated the impact that Piper’s disappearance was having on Lisa. Stevie was too focused on saving Moose Hill to think about much else, but maybe Carole should try to get to the bottom of the mystery and put Lisa’s mind at ease. She would make tracking down Piper her own personal Saddle Club project.

  “Okay, that’s enough,” Betty said after a few minutes of discussion about Todd’s ride. “Thank you, Todd.”

  “Anytime,” Todd said, doing his best to bow while still on horseback. “I’m thrilled that my mistakes could be of service.”

  “Glad to know we can count on you.” Betty turned to survey the group. “Who wants to go next? Lisa, how about you?”

  Carole watched as her friend rode forward to begin the course. Most of the riders were still smiling at Todd’s clowning, but Lisa’s face was serious. In fact, it was so serious that Carole couldn’t help thinking that she might want to do more than look for answers about Piper. She might want to start keeping a closer eye on Lisa, too, at least until she could reassure herself that nothing was wrong with her.

  Lisa’s ride was much better than Todd’s, but she didn’t look very happy as she finished the course. In fact, she looked as pale and grim as Carole had ever seen her. As she watched her friend’s set, determined expression, Carole didn’t think she was going to be reassured anytime soon.

  “WHERE IS SHE?” Phil asked later that evening. “I can’t believe she’s keeping us in suspense like this.”

  Carole shrugged. She, Phil, Todd, and Lisa were perched on the fence of the corral waiting for Stevie to show up. “All I know is she claims to have come up with the perfect plan to save this place,” she said. She found it hard to believe, but as she watched several horses grazing in the evening coolness, she crossed her fingers hopefully.

  Lisa glanced at her watch. She was eager to get back to her books—she was almost halfway through Brave New World—but she had to admit she was curious about Stevie’s plan. Stevie had been bursting with it since arriving in the mess hall for dinner, but several other campers had sat down at their table before she could share it. As soon as the meal ended, she had asked them to wait for her at the corral, then disappeared.

  She didn’t keep them waiting for long. She arrived a moment later at a run, clutching a small notebook and a bright purple colored pencil.

  “Good, you’re all here,” she said breathlessly.

  “Nice pencil,” Todd commented.

  “I borrowed it from the arts and crafts room,” Stevie explained. “I wanted to make some notes, because I’ve really got it this time. We’re going to turn the horse show into a real fund-raising event!”

  Carole collapsed against the fence, disappointed. “Is that it?” she said. “We thought of that already, remember? We figured out there’s no way to make enough money, even if we charge a high ticket price and sell lemonade for five dollars a cup. There just won’t be enough people at the show.”

  “Wait,” Stevie said, holding up her hand. “You didn’t let me explain. We’re not just going to sell tickets and charge for refreshments—though of course we’ll do that, too. Every little bit helps.”

  “What then?” Todd asked. “Come on, the suspense is killing us.”

  Stevie smiled. “We’re going to ask people to sponsor the riders.”

  Carole, Phil, and Todd looked confused, but Lisa raised an eyebrow, looking interested. “Sponsor them?” she asked. “You mean like in a charity run?”

  “Exactly,” Stevie said. “Except instead of pledging a certain amount per mile, like in a run, our sponsors will pledge to donate a certain amount for each fence their rider jumps cleanly.”

  Lisa nodded slowly. Her mother volunteered for several charities, so Lisa knew a little about fund-raising. In this method, each competitor was responsible for signing up sponsors ahead of time, then collecting the money from them after the event. “It’s an interesting idea, and I’m sure we could raise quite a bit of money that way. But thirty thousand dollars?”

  Stevie flipped open the notebook and showed her friends a page of hastily scribbled numbers. “I’ve got it all figured out,” she said. “There are about fifty riders at camp, right? And each of them will probably attempt at least eighteen fences during the show.”

  “Six in hunter seat equitation, and twelve in either hunter or show jumping,” Carole said, nodding. She wasn’t sure she completely understood this plan yet, but she couldn’t help feeling hopeful. She kept her fingers crossed and did her best to cross her toes, too.

  “The way I figure it,” Stevie said, pointing at a row of figures on the notebook page, “each camper only has to get twelve people to sponsor them for three dollars per fence, and we’ll be home free with money to spare.”

  Phil took the notebook and checked the numbers for himself. “That’s right,” he said. “It comes to $32,400.” He shook his head in amazement. “You know, it’s hard to believe this is the result of your lifetime C-plus average in math. You should turn in this notebook as an extracredit project next year.”

  Stevie just grinned. She could tell Phil was impressed, and that was nice. But the more important thing was that her plan would work. She was sure of it.

  “There’s just one problem,” Carole pointed out. “Not everyone is going to clear every fence.” She glanced at Lisa for support.

  Lisa misinterpreted the glance, thinking that Carole meant that Lisa would be one of the riders who failed to ride clean. “You never know,” she said quickly, her face once again taking on a grim, determined expression. “Some riders might do just that.”

  Carole was surprised by Lisa’s reaction, and it worried her more than ever. So far she hadn’t had any success in finding out what had happened to Piper—Barry wouldn’t tell her a thing—but she was determined to keep trying.

  Stevie didn’t seem to notice Lisa’s comment. “I thought about that, and I don’t think we have to worry about a
few downed rails here and there,” she said. “There’s sure to be a jump-off for the show-jumping event, and that means more fences for the people who make it. Besides, I’m hoping most people will get more than twelve sponsors. I’m sure it will all balance out in the end.”

  “Maybe,” Phil said, sounding a little dubious. “But do you think all the sponsors are going to want to shell out three bucks a fence?”

  “Good point. For eighteen fences …” Lisa quickly did the math in her head. “That’s fifty-four dollars total. That’s a lot of money, especially when we have such a short time to convince people to sponsor us.”

  “Never mind that,” Carole said. “I just thought of another problem. Barry wanted us to keep the camp’s sale a secret, remember? He’s never going to let us do this.”

  But Stevie had already thought of that, too. “There’s only one person who’s going to have a secret kept from him, and that’s Barry,” she said. “Well, better make that Barry and the rest of the staff. We’ll just spread the news quietly among the kids. I’m sure everyone will want to help out when they hear. Once the show is over and the money is ours, we’ll break the good news to Barry. There’s no way he can be mad at us then, right?”

  “Right,” Todd said. A smile spread across his face. “You know, Stevie, Phil keeps telling me what a dullard you are, but I think he’s wrong about that. You’re a genius!”

  “I know,” Stevie replied modestly. She turned to Carole and Lisa with a grin. “Well? What do you think?”

  “I guess it’s worth a try,” Lisa said. “It’s certainly the best plan we’ve come up with so far.”

  It wasn’t exactly a rousing statement of support, but Stevie decided it would do. “Carole?”

  Carole took a deep breath. “Let’s do it,” she said with a grin. “There’s just one more thing I think we need. I think we have to confide in at least one adult about this—you know, to help us with the financial stuff.”