Horse Guest (14 page)

Stevie turned and raced back to the center of the ring, where the snowballs she had dropped had started to melt in the warmth of the stable. Several of them had begun to merge, forming a large, icy blob. She grabbed the blob. The bottom of it was coated with a thick layer of dirt, sawdust, grit, and straw, which was clinging to the frozen mass.

Seconds later, Stevie had returned to the scene of the incident. Britt still hadn’t moved. Neither had anyone else. Max seemed too stunned to respond, and nobody else seemed sure what to do. Out of the corner of her eye, Stevie saw Ms. Lynn start to rise from her seat.

Veronica alone seemed unperturbed by her own obnoxious behavior. She turned away from Britt and carefully rearranged her riding hard hat, which had been knocked slightly askew in the collision.

Stevie strode up to her. “Oh, Veronica,” she said in a singsong voice.

Veronica looked up, an irritated expression on her face. “What do you want?”

Stevie grinned and held up the grimy snow blob. It was too big to shove down Veronica’s shirt. She shoved it in her face instead. “This is what Britt and I think of your obnoxious behavior,” she said, knocking off Veronica’s hat and rubbing the dirty slush into her expensively cut hair.

Veronica shrieked in dismay. Britt gasped in surprise. Max looked uncertain whether to start yelling or laughing. And from the direction of the bleachers came a hoot and then the sound of applause. “All right, Stevie!” someone yelled.

Stevie glanced over, expecting to see Ms. Lynn leading the cheers. Ms. Lynn was clapping, all right. But the one standing on the bleacher seat, hooting and hollering and grinning from ear to ear, was Grandma Lake.

S
TEVIE WAS SO
stunned by her grandmother’s behavior that she hardly heard Veronica apologize to Britt at Max’s stern command. She barely saw Veronica stomp off, face dripping with filthy melted snow, in the direction of the bathroom, or return a few minutes later with wet but clean hair and a freshly scrubbed face. She might not even have noticed when the shopping game started if Carole and Lisa hadn’t come over with Belle, shoved a receipt into her hand, and helped her to mount.

The players lined up, and Stevie glanced down at her receipt. “Wait!” she cried when she finally snapped back to awareness of her surroundings. “We’ve got to keep to a walk during this game. Did everyone hear me? Don’t go any faster than a walk!”

Everybody ignored her. As soon as Mrs. Reg gave the command, all the players rode pell-mell toward the pile of shopping bags.

Stevie followed, her heart in her throat. What had she done? Not only had she failed to convince Max to keep the gymkhana calm, but she had caused a big ruckus herself and gotten her grandmother all worked up. Why did Veronica have to be such a jerk? And why couldn’t she, Stevie, contain herself and plan some suitably humiliating revenge for sometime when Grandma Lake wasn’t around?

Still, Stevie told herself as she dismounted and grabbed the Bloomingdale’s shopping bag from the pile, it had
almost
been worth it to smash that dirty, disgusting pile of slush into Veronica’s obnoxious face.

She shook her head. What was she thinking? It hadn’t been worth it at all. Getting revenge on Veronica was a million times less important than protecting her grandmother’s health.

Stevie was so distracted by her thoughts that she came in last in the shopping race. Next came the backward obstacle course, and once again Stevie tried to convince Max to tone down the excitement.

Once again, he refused. “Don’t be ridiculous, Stevie,” he said. “The whole point is riding backward. The course is too easy if you ride forward. It wouldn’t be a challenge at all.”

That didn’t sound like a problem to Stevie. No challenge meant no excitement, and no excitement meant no problem for her grandmother. But Max stood firm. As the race started, Stevie crossed her fingers for luck. Just in case that failed, she also started trying to figure out the best way to tell her father that she had been responsible for his mother’s heart attack.

“I
THINK WE
set a new record out there today,” Carole said ruefully as she led Starlight out of the ring.

Lisa was right behind her with Prancer. “You mean for having the lowest team score in gymkhana history?” The award ceremony had ended a few minutes earlier. The Saddle Club’s team had come in dead last. Carole and
Lisa had walked their horses at one end of the ring to cool them off after all of the exercise, and now Starlight and Prancer were ready to return to their stalls.

Stevie joined her friends just in time to hear their comments. “I’m sorry, guys,” she said morosely. “I know I wasn’t exactly performing my best out there. I guess I was a little distracted.”

“It’s okay,” Lisa said sympathetically. “We know you were worried about your grandma. Besides, Veronica was so grumpy after you humiliated her that she did even worse than you.”

Carole giggled. “Boy, was she mad,” she said. But when she saw Stevie’s face, she stopped laughing immediately. “Don’t worry, Stevie,” she said. “I’m sure your grandmother is fine. Where is she now? Did you check on her?” When Stevie hadn’t joined them while they were cooling down the horses, the other two girls had assumed that she was with her grandmother.

“I tried,” Stevie replied. “But on my way to the bleachers, Ms. Lynn stopped me to thank me for sticking up for Britt. By the time I got over to where my mom and grandma had been sitting, they were gone.” She let out a heavy sigh. “They’re probably rushing to the emergency room for some oxygen or something.”

Lisa was pretty sure that that wasn’t the case. Grandma Lake hadn’t looked all that frail to her when the older woman was stomping on the bleachers and cheering at the top of her lungs. But she knew Stevie too well to say
so. Stevie wasn’t going to stop worrying until she saw for herself that her grandmother was still alive and well.

“Come on, let’s get these guys put away,” Carole said, gesturing at the horses.

Stevie nodded and patted Belle on the neck. “They all did their best, even if we can’t say the same for their riders,” she muttered.

Lisa gave her a comforting look. “Don’t worry about it, Stevie,” she said. “Now come on. We’ve still got to go check on Magoo when we’re done with our horses. After that, maybe we could go to TD’s for a quick snack. A nice butterscotch swirl, lime sherbet, and marshmallow sundae is sure to make you feel better, right?”

Stevie shrugged. “I doubt it,” she said glumly. “But I might as well go with you. I’m in no hurry to get home and face the bad news.”

The Saddle Club met up again in front of Magoo’s stall a few minutes later. The gelding had left his bandages alone for a change, and it didn’t take the girls long to check on him. As they were carefully grooming around his injuries, Britt stopped by the stall.

“Oh!” Carole said when she saw her. “Hi. How are you?” She wondered if Britt was still upset by her unpleasant encounter with Veronica.

Britt grinned, not looking upset at all. “Great,” she said, pointing to the blue ribbon clipped to her belt. Her team had come in first place in the gymkhana.

“Congratulations,” Lisa said with a smile. She held the
stall door open so that The Saddle Club could join Britt in the aisle. “Did you have fun?”

“Definitely,” Britt assured her. She gave Stevie a sidelong glance, then stared down at her shoes. “Um, by the way, thanks for sticking up for me back there,” she said softly. “It was really nice of you.”

“You’re welcome,” Stevie said. “You know, you shouldn’t be too intimidated by Veronica. Her bark is much worse than her bite.”

Britt looked up and smiled. “I know that now,” she said bashfully. “Thanks to you.”

Britt seemed embarrassed by the whole topic, so Carole decided to change it. “Hey, Britt,” she said cheerfully. “We were just about to head over to TD’s for a snack. Do you want to join us?”

“Thanks,” Britt said. “That’s really nice of you to ask. But actually, my teammates and I were planning to go there together and celebrate.” She paused, looking uncertain. “Um, I’m sure Polly and the others wouldn’t mind if you guys came with us …”

“No, no, that’s okay,” Stevie assured her quickly, perking up a little at the mention of Polly’s name. Maybe Britt was so eager to go out with Polly because she was interested in Romeo’s half brother! Stevie didn’t want to discourage that. “You go ahead.” It would be wonderful if Britt actually ended up buying the horse that Stevie had chosen for her. With all the bad things that had happened that day, Stevie couldn’t resist prying just a little in
hopes of finding a nugget of good news. “Um, by the way, you never really told us what you thought of that horse Polly took you to see,” she said, trying to sound casual. “Did you like him? Polly didn’t try to talk you into buying him or anything, did she?”

Britt smiled and glanced around to make sure nobody else was around. “Actually, now that you mention it,” she said, “I just found out something wonderful. Can you keep a secret?”

Stevie, Carole, and Lisa nodded, exchanging glances. Britt’s face was positively glowing. Whatever her news was, it must be really good. And unless they missed their guess, that meant that Britt had picked out her next horse. Which one had she chosen?

Stevie tried to control her grin. She was sure it was Romeo’s brother. After all, that’s the horse they had been discussing when Britt had brought it up. And why else would the new girl be hanging around with Polly so much?

Carole was of a different opinion. Britt and Coconut had performed brilliantly together in the gymkhana. They made a wonderful team—that was probably what had made up the girl’s mind.

Meanwhile, Lisa was crossing her fingers and hoping that Applesauce was the horse the new girl was talking about. True, Britt had done well on Coconut. But the gymkhana games had been demanding. Maybe she had missed the mare’s cool and professional response to her
every command. Maybe she had just realized how perfect Applesauce would have been in the gymkhana.

“Polly convinced me to ask my mom, and she said yes!” Britt said, looking even more ecstatic. She turned toward the stall behind them and broke into a full-fledged grin. “She’s going to buy Magoo for me!”

“Magoo?” the three members of The Saddle Club repeated in a single, astonished voice.

“You’re buying Magoo?” Carole added in disbelief.

Britt nodded and reached up to stroke the horse’s long nose. “Can you believe it?” she said happily. “I didn’t think we could afford it right now. But Mom said it was no problem. It’s so great—Magoo is the perfect horse for me!”

Just then, Polly appeared at the end of the aisle and waved at Britt. Britt waved in reply, then turned back to The Saddle Club, looking anxious. “I guess they’re ready to go,” she said. “I was going to offer to help with Magoo, but—”

“Don’t worry,” Stevie said. “Go ahead. We’ll finish up here today.” She grinned weakly. “But starting tomorrow, he’s all yours.”

Britt beamed. “It’s a deal!” She hurried to join Polly, pausing only long enough to give Magoo a kiss on the nose and The Saddle Club a brief wave.

Lisa watched her go, stunned. “Did I just hear what I thought I heard?” she asked. “She actually wants to buy … Magoo?”

All three girls turned to stare at the horse for a long moment. Magoo stared back impassively, chewing on a mouthful of hay he’d just pulled from his hayrack.

“But he’s so fussy,” Carole said at last, breaking their mystified silence.

“And fidgety,” Stevie added.

“And fearful,” Lisa said. “And demanding and nervous and everything else you could think of.” She let out a bewildered sigh. “Still, Britt’s been helping us deal with him all along. She must know what she’s getting into, right?”

Before her friends could answer, they heard someone calling their names. They looked up and saw Ms. Lynn hurrying down the aisle toward them. “Hello, girls,” she said when she reached them. “Have you seen Britt?”

“She just left,” Lisa said. “She was going over to TD’s with her teammates. You might be able to catch her if you—”

“No, no,” Ms. Lynn interrupted. “That’s okay. I didn’t realize she’d already left.” She smiled. “Isn’t it wonderful that she’s already made friends as nice as Polly, Anna, and Lorraine? Anyway, I was just hoping to get a look at this horse she’s fallen in love with. Could you show me which stall Magoo is in?”

Stevie stepped aside and gestured at the gelding behind her. “No problem,” she said. “He’s right here.”

Ms. Lynn stepped closer and took a good look at Magoo. “Oh my,” she said. “He really does seem to have
some recovering to do. No wonder Max was so careful about letting her ride him.”

“Britt has ridden Magoo?” Lisa asked. She glanced at her friends, who looked just as surprised as she was.

“Well of course,” Ms. Lynn said, still watching the horse. “My Britt wouldn’t decide to buy a horse she’d never ridden.” She smiled and patted Magoo on the nose. “Although it would have been a real shame if her test ride hadn’t worked out. Magoo sounds like such an ideal choice for her.”

The Saddle Club glanced at one another again. “Um, how do you mean, exactly?” Carole asked cautiously. “I mean, don’t get me wrong. Magoo is a perfectly fine horse in some ways. But he is a little, well …” She searched her mind for the most tactful word. “… demanding.”