“Do you drive?”
“She won’t let me get my license till I can afford the insurance and I can’t pay for insurance until I get a job. And I can’t get a job because I don’t have any way to get there. I could walk, if it was in town, but with school starting and all, I haven’t looked. I help Mr. Simpson around the biology lab a little after school, but that pretty much just buys a Coke here or there. Hey, Piper?”
“What?”
“Cassie will be home pretty soon. You aren’t going to tell her that I left the stall door open, are you? She’ll really go off on me.”
I looked at him for a minute. Cassie was beginning to sound like a bad deal of a step-mom, and I liked him better now. “I won’t tell her if you will remember to close it from now on.”
“Deal. I will close it every time. I’ll close it even if it doesn’t need closing,” he said, with a wink and a smile for me.
As we hung out and relaxed on the big porch, Miss Julie’s blue Cougar came rolling up the drive. She parked it in her usual spot next to the crabapple tree, got out and looked in the back seat. She got something out and walked around to the front of the car, holding onto a strap with one hand and her cane with the other. As she cleared the front of the car, a small golden brown and white dog with a heavy fur coat walked behind her on a leash.
“Come on, honey,” she said. “This is your new home and these are your new friends.” She led the dog up onto the porch. “Look what I have,” she said to all of us.
Addie crouched down in front of the dog, holding out her hand. “Awww! What a pretty dog! What’s his name?”
“It’s a girl and her name is Honey,” said Miss Julie. “Piper’s dad helped me find her. She was living with an old lady that had to go live in a nursing home. No one in the family could take her, so I said I would. You can pet her, Addie. She loves people.”
Addie sat on the floor of the porch and ruffled Honey’s soft fur. Honey leaned into her arms and panted happily.
“She looks like a little collie,” said Jeff. “What kind of dog is she?”
“She’s a sheltie. A shetland sheepdog.” I held out my hand for Honey to sniff.
“That’s it,” said Miss Julie. “She’ll be my little companion and let me know if someone tries to get in the house at night.”
“She’s beautiful,” I said. Honey wagged her tail and licked my hand. I patted the soft fur on her head and she stared at me with big brown eyes. “How old is she?”
“Seven, so she has a lot of years left in her. I think she’s just glad to have people to pet her. Her owner was very ill and wasn’t able to give her much attention,” said Miss Julie. “Piper, would you mind going to my car and getting the dog food, bowls and dog bed? I brought her things from her old home, so she can have what she’s used to. Plus, I picked up some dog treats and new toys for her.”
“Sure, Miss Julie.” I headed to the car while Miss Julie headed into the house with Honey.
“I’ll help you,” said Jeff, following me. I grabbed the bowls, the bed, and a grocery bag full of treats and toys, while he hauled a twenty pound bag of Purina into the house.
“Just put them in the corner there,” said Miss Julie, taking a bowl and filling it with water. She set it on the floor near the door and Honey came over, smelled it, and lapped it up like she was dying of thirst. We watched her drink, then start sniffing around the kitchen. Willie Nelson wandered in, took one look at Honey and hissed. Honey wagged her tail and sniffed at Willie’s rear end, the way dogs always do. Willie pretended to ignore Honey after that, but jumped up on a kitchen chair to watch her. Honey lost interest in the kitten and walked away, following her nose around the living room, dining room and the hall. Very peaceful, no drama.
Jeff leaned close to me and whispered, “Here comes Cassie. Remember, you promised not to tell.” The sound of a truck on gravel came in through the open window, then a door slamming.
Cassie clomped up the steps to the porch and walked in the backdoor, holding a small package wrapped in brown paper.
“Oh, hi everybody!” she said. “I wasn’t expecting to see all of you here this time of day.” She slipped the package into her jeans pocket. “Jeff, did you check on Daisy like I asked?”
“Yeah, I did.”
“I looked at her, too,” I said. “So did Addie. She looks fine and she’s not waxing yet. She won’t be having that baby for a while.”
“Waxing...right,” said Cassie. “Okay, well, I have to run upstairs for a minute.”
“Cassie, did you pick up your sister at the airport? Where is she?” Addie asked.
Cassie looked at her questioningly. “Oh, yes, I did. She’s at the Blue Parrot for a couple of days. We didn’t have room here.” She turned and walked down the hall toward the stairs.
Five seconds later, we heard Honey barking frantically. Cassie came rushing back into the kitchen.
“What is that? Whose dog is that?” she demanded, pointing at Honey, who had followed, still barking at her.
“That’s my new dog. Honey, hush!” Miss Julie crouched down by the trembling dog and hugged her. “Shhh! It’s okay, it’s only Cassie.”
“I can’t believe you got a mean dog like that and brought her here! Did you see her snarling at me?” said Cassie, who glared, then stalked back to the stairs and ran up two at a time.
Honey whined in Miss Julie’s arms and licked her face. She panted the way dogs do when they are nervous.
“I wonder what that was all about?” said Miss Julie. “I don’t know what could have upset Honey. She’s really a very gentle, sweet dog.”
“Well, she’s calm now. Maybe Cassie just surprised her and she got scared. Besides, Honey wasn’t snarling, she was only barking,” said Addie.
I looked at Jeff. “I thought Cassie liked dogs.”
“I don’t know,” he said. “She flies off the handle sometimes, but I’ve never seen her do it over a dog barking. Of course, the dog was barking at her this time.”
“Maybe she’s having a bad day,” I said.
“She has a lot of bad days,” Jeff replied.
Miss Julie led Honey over to the table and sat down with her hand still on the dog. “Sit, Honey.” Honey sat, eyes never leaving her new owner. “Maybe she’s just nervous being in a new place. You’re a good girl, Honey.” She smoothed the fur on Honey’s head and ears. Honey panted and grinned a doggie grin.
“Can I take her for a walk?” asked Addie.
“In a little while,” said Miss Julie. “Let’s let her settle down some more. And when you do, I want you to keep her on a leash until she’s used to living here. I don’t want her to wander off.”
“I think it’s great you got a dog, Miss Julie,” I said. “You won’t have to be alone out here anymore, even if Sam is gone and Cassie and Jeff are out. Well, besides the kitten.”
“That’s what I thought,” said Miss Julie, watching Honey lie down beside Miss Julie’s chair and put her head on the floor. She was still alert, with her ears up and eyes watching every movement in the room. Her head rose as Cassie walked into the room from upstairs. A low growl came from the dog’s throat.
“I have to go get my sister, Jeff. I’ll be back later. I hope that dog isn’t going to be a problem when I get home.”
“I’ll keep her in my bedroom with me tonight,” said Miss Julie.
“Okay. See you.” And she walked out the door.
We all sort of stared at each other. Not a word of apology for yelling at Miss Julie. Who was that person?
Jeff cleared his throat, mumbled something about homework and went upstairs. Miss Julie ruffled Honey’s thick golden coat and hummed to her softly. Addie and I looked at each other, connected our brains and decided to leave.
Chapter Seven
~ Missing Jewelry ~
Addie and I walked home that afternoon wondering what on earth was going on with Cassie, but happy for Miss Julie, who had found a new friend. We said goodbye because we both had a lot
of homework. That was something else they didn’t tell you when they were saying how great senior high would be. That you’d have piles of homework. I worked on Spanish for an hour, smelled food, and went down to see what was for dinner. Mom had cooked her special tuna casserole, the one that she thought was wonderful and I ate only to be polite. While we ate, I told her all about Honey and how Cassie had acted so weird.
“But Piper, I thought that Cassie was a nice person,” said my mom.
“She seemed nice for maybe ten minutes. But she’s not nice to Jeff—at all. She hardly says boo to him and when she does talk to him, it’s kinda mean. She’s not even Jeff’s real mom, she was just married to his dad and then his dad died.”
“That’s too bad. I know that Sam likes Jeff. He says Jeff is smart and is always willing to help around the farm. Jeff helped him put up the fences for the new paddock.”
“Yeah, Miss Julie loves Jeff. He helps her a lot. I think she would rather have him around than Cassie.”
“I don’t think I could blame her.” Mom started clearing the table. “Why don’t you go on up and finish your homework?”
I went up to my room and sat down at my desk with my algebra book. After forty-five minutes of worrying the problems around, I gave up and called down to Mom.
“Hey, Mom? Can you help me with my algebra?”
“Piper, no. Please don’t ask me that! Anything but algebra.”
“You’ve helped me before,” I said. Seriously, she wouldn’t help?
“I helped you with your regular math, but I hate it and I’ve always been especially bad at algebra. Now when you have geometry, I can help. I like drawing the little pictures.”
“Oh, my gosh, Mom,” was all I could say. How lame. Dad was out of town for a conference and I couldn’t call him in case he was in a meeting or something. Out of ideas, I called Addie.
“Hey, Pipe,” she said.
“Where are you in Algebra?” I asked.
“I’m in the second seat next to the door, near the cutest guy in our class. I’m thinking about asking him to the Homecoming Dance. What do you think?” Addie was Miss One-Track Mind.
“No! I mean where are you in the book?” I tried to stay patient.
“Let me look. We’re in um, Chapter three, page 25. Why?”
“Arrrgh!” I said, “I can’t figure out what I’m supposed to do. I was hoping you had done those pages already. Now what do I do?”
“Um, your mom?” said Addie.
I explained how my family was no help in this situation as I twirled my pencil in my hair, envisioning a big, fat F on my grade report.
“Well, what about Jeff? He’s smart and he must have had that class. He’s a senior, after all.”
“Good idea, Adds, I’ll give him a call.”
I had Jeff’s number from Cassie, so I called.
“Hello?” he said.
“Hey, Jeff? This is Piper.”
“Oh, hi Piper. What’s up?”
“Can you help me with my algebra? My dad is gone, Mom hates the stuff, and Addie’s class hasn’t gotten to this chapter yet.”
“I’ll try. Tell me what it’s about.”
So I gave him the problems I was stuck on. We talked for around fifteen minutes and he explained things really clearly to me. What a relief! I thanked him maybe a million times and hung up.
It was two more days before I got out to the farm again. Addie volunteered to water the horses and check on them, since I did it so often. By then it was Saturday and I was ready for a break from school. Algebra was going okay now, thanks to Jeff, and I always love English class because we read books. But science—I tried to like science and do well in it. I knew I would need it in my future career training horses, but I just couldn’t make myself care about scientific method and bugs. Bring on the mammals! Bring on the environmental studies!
I rode out to Miss Julie’s with Dad, who wanted to check on Daisy. He also wanted to see how Honey was getting along with Miss Julie. Dark clouds told me it would not be a good day to ride and the rain started coming down as we drove to the farm.
We climbed out of Dad’s truck and ran into the barn. Daisy was in her stall, so it was easy for Dad to slip a halter on her. I held her head while he got out his stethoscope and listened to various parts of her. Patting her shining flank, he smiled.
“She’s in great shape and seems to have a healthy foal inside, but I think Cassie got the due date wrong,” he said. “Her udder isn’t full yet and there’s no waxing.”
“What do you mean?” I was rubbing Daisy’s forehead as I held her lead.
“I mean, I could be wrong, but I don’t think she’s anywhere near ready to have this baby.” Dad ran his hand over Daisy’s large quarter horse rump. He patted it gently.
“Do mares always get full udders and wax?”
“Well, not always. Sometimes one will skip that stage and go into labor. But Cassie seemed so sure of when Daisy would be due.”
“I wonder if she really knows what she’s doing with horses,” I said. “Sometimes she acts like she knows stuff, but you can tell she doesn’t really.”
“Yeah, some people are like that,” Dad said and nodded at me. “They just can’t admit they don’t know. I don’t know what the big deal is. How else are you going to learn?”
“Maybe they don’t want to learn. Maybe they want to seem smarter than they are,” I said.
“Bingo!” said Dad, taking Daisy’s halter back off her and patting her shoulder as he let her go. “So let’s keep a close eye on her. She’ll have the foal when it’s ready.”
The mare walked out of her stall and snorted at the other two horses, who had been watching us from a distance. They all sniffed each other and wandered off to the far side of their paddock, ignoring the rain.
Dad and I left the barn and hurried up to the big white house through the drops, me to say hi and Dad to leave a note about Daisy and to see how Honey was doing. When we knocked on the door, it was a surprisingly long time before Miss Julie opened it for us, Honey at her heels.
“Hello, you two. I’m sorry I took so long, but I’m just all at sixes and sevens this morning.”
“What’s wrong?” I said, greeting Honey with a pat on the head and a back scratch. She wagged her tail and smiled at me.
“Oh, my memory! I have misplaced my good watch and I’ve looked everywhere I can think of. I hate it when I do that!”
“When did you have it last?” asked my dad.
“I wore it to church last Sunday. Then I’m sure I put it in my jewelry box—I always put it there when I take it off, so this doesn’t happen. But I’ve checked my drawers, my pockets, everywhere. It just isn’t anywhere and I can’t think of where else to look.”
“Wow,” I said. “Do you want us to help you look?”
“Sure,” said Miss Julie, “but I can’t imagine where it could be.”
“While we are looking,” said Dad, “are you having any problems with Honey? Does she seem okay?”
“Honey is a honey,” said Miss Julie. “I’m so glad I have her...and she has me.”
So Dad and I started looking around Miss Julie’s house. It was neatly kept, so the watch wouldn’t be sitting out. There wasn’t a lot of clutter. We looked in drawers, in cupboards, I even checked in the refrigerator. People do weird things when they are not thinking. There was one time not long after Mom and Dad got divorced that Mom left her purse in our refrigerator. But I am never to tell Dad about that.
After maybe a half-hour of looking, Miss Julie came back downstairs with a funny look on her face, like she had a stomachache. Honey walked behind her, looking up at her for reassurance.
“I can’t believe this,” she said, grabbing a kitchen chair and sitting down.
“What?” said my dad. “Did you find it somewhere odd?”
“No,” said Miss Julie. “But now that I’ve been digging around in my jewelry box, I’ve discovered a number of other things missing, too.” She stared at
us with a lost expression.
“Oh, no!” I said.
“What things?” my dad said.
“Well, near as I can tell all my really good jewelry. A necklace with a diamond in it, my emerald ring with matching earrings, some other rings and bracelets with precious stones, and a gold necklace. They are all things Joe gave me over thirty years of marriage. I can never replace them. At least I still have my engagement and wedding rings. I never take those off.” Big tears trickled down Miss Julie’s lined face.
“Julie, you need to file a sheriff’s report. Someone has taken your things and the sooner the police know, the better chance you have of recovering them,” said my dad.
“But who would...? Yes, yes, Dan, I know. Call Harvey Martin. I will, I will. I just need to...get myself together. Who could have taken them?”
“Do you want me to call Harvey?” asked Dad, hugging Miss Julie’s shoulders.
“Oh, would you please?”
“Sure.” Dad stepped out onto the back porch with his phone in hand. I saw him through the window, dialing.
“Miss Julie, I’m so sorry.” I sat beside her. I didn’t know whether to pat Miss Julie on the back or hug her or what. Honey knew what to do. She came over and sat against Miss Julie, looking up at her.
“Thank you, Piper. I’m so glad you and Dan were here. And I’m glad I brought Honey home to live with me. She seems to know when I’m sad.” Miss Julie looked at me while smoothing the fur on Honey’s head. “Who could have done it? I’m always home at night. I only drive in the daytime and I haven’t gone anywhere this week except to get groceries and go to my yoga class. And to get Honey.”
Dad came back into the kitchen, closing the screen door gently.
“Harvey will be by in about an hour,” he said. “Do you want us to stay?”
“That’s sweet and thank you, but I’ll be fine, Dan”
The Horse Rescuers Page 15