Horse Guest (4 page)

“Maybe we can figure out a way to get Britt to try both horses,” she said. “If she seems to like one or both of them, we can talk to her mom and see what she wants to do.”

“Okay,” Carole agreed. “I’ll see if I can subtly convince Max that Britt should try riding Coconut tomorrow.”

“I’ll invite Britt to come with me to Hedgerow sometime soon and visit Applesauce.” Lisa smiled. “And may the best horse win.”

W
HILE HER FRIENDS
were talking on the phone, Stevie was sitting in a hard plastic chair at the airport. The plane from Arizona was more than forty-five minutes late, and the entire family was watching for it out the big, glass windows of the waiting room.

Finally they saw a plane taxiing up to the gate.

“Is that it?” Michael asked, yawning and rubbing his eyes sleepily.

“I think so,” Mr. Lake said. He peered at the plane as it sidled up to the building. “Let’s go wait by the gate.”

Moments later, the entire family watched as people began to spill through the door of the jetway that had been hooked to the plane. Stevie scanned each face as it emerged. Most looked nothing like the way she remembered her grandmother. There were old faces, young faces, male and female faces.… Finally one face appeared that matched Stevie’s memories.

“Is that her?” she whispered to her mother.

Before Mrs. Lake could respond, Mr. Lake had rushed forward to greet the white-haired woman. “Mom!” he exclaimed. “Let me help you with those bags.”

Grandma Lake relinquished them gratefully. “Thanks, son,” she said, turning up her wrinkled cheek for a kiss from Mr. Lake, then coming forward to greet the rest of the family.

Stevie gave her grandmother a critical look as the old woman hugged her daughter-in-law. In some ways Grandma Lake looked a lot like Stevie remembered her. She still had bright blue eyes and a thick mop of curly white hair cropped short around her ears. But had her face always been so deeply lined? Had the grid of wrinkles been as extensive? Had there been such large dark circles under her eyes before? Stevie struggled to recall earlier days, but it seemed so far in the past.

Grandma Lake turned and saw her. “Stevie!” she exclaimed.
“Look at you. I think you’ve grown at least a foot since the last picture your father sent me.” She stepped forward and took Stevie by the shoulders, kissing her soundly on both cheeks.

Stevie couldn’t help feeling how her grandmother’s hands trembled as they grasped her. And she couldn’t help noticing how dry and paper-thin the skin of the elderly woman’s cheeks felt as they brushed her own. “Hi, Grandma,” she said. “I’m glad you came.”

After all the greetings were over with, the family moved away from the gate, heading toward the long hallway leading to the lot where Mr. Lake had parked the car. Stevie noticed that her grandmother was walking quite slowly.

Mr. Lake noticed, too. “I have an idea,” he said. “I’ll run and fetch the car and meet the rest of you by that door right over there. No sense in all of us making that trek.”

Grandma Lake nodded, once again looking grateful. “That would be wonderful, son,” she said. “My flight was exhausting. I wouldn’t mind sitting for a moment or two.”

Mr. Lake handed his mother’s suitcases to Chad, then hurried off. As Mrs. Lake helped Grandma Lake find a free bench near the door, Stevie glanced at her brothers. She could tell that they were all thinking the same thing she was. Since when had their cool, commanding, active grandmother become such a feeble old woman?

“I
CAN
’
T BELIEVE
she fell asleep in the car on the way home,” Chad said. “Especially after not seeing any of us for so long. She never would have done that in the old days. She would have talked our ears off—
we
would have been the ones who got exhausted from answering all her questions. I guess that should tell us something about how the last five years have changed her.”

Stevie leaned back on her pillow. She and her brothers were holding a furtive emergency meeting in her bedroom while their parents showed Grandma Lake to her room. “I guess she is getting old and frail now, like we were saying earlier,” she said.

“That means we really should be careful while she’s here,” Alex said.

Chad furrowed his brow, looking worried. “You said it,” he said. “I mean, I know we were sort of talking about that before. But this is really serious now.”

For once, Stevie was in complete agreement with her brothers. “No kidding,” she said. “Grandma probably can’t deal with too much excitement. We’ll have to make sure things stay calm around here while she’s visiting.”

“Okay,” Michael said, nodding solemnly from his spot on the floor near Stevie’s door. “What do we do?”

“First of all, we call a truce,” Stevie said. “No matter what anyone in this room did to anyone else, or what anyone
thinks
anyone did to anyone else …” She
paused, starting to feel a little confused by her own phrasing.

Chad stepped in and took over for her. “No fighting,” he said briskly. “No insults, no matter how funny.”

“Got it,” Alex said. “So no matter how much Stevie stinks like a horse, we won’t say a word. We won’t even neigh and pretend it’s a cough.”

Stevie made a face at him. “And no matter how many zits Alex has on his nose, I won’t make a single joke about Mount Vesuvius erupting on his face.”

Chad frowned at them. “This is serious, you two,” he said. “We don’t want to make Grandma sick.”

Stevie thought about that for a second. It would be terrible if their behavior endangered Grandma Lake’s health. And she was only here for two weeks. The least her grandchildren could do was make her stay as pleasant and as soothing as possible. “You’re right, Chad,” she said. “We’ve got to be on our best behavior. All of us,” she added, shooting a glance at Alex. “No pranks or practical jokes.”

“No revenge plots,” Chad said.

“No horsing around,” Alex put in.

Stevie shot him another look, suspicious at his choice of words. But he spread his hands apologetically.

“Sorry,” he said. “You know what I mean. We have to act civilized and stuff, like Mom and Dad were saying earlier.”

“So for two weeks, all we have to do is act like good, quiet kids and not fight with each other, right?” Michael said.

Stevie nodded firmly. “It won’t be easy,” she said, “but we have no choice. Grandma’s life may depend on it.”

T
HE NEXT DAY
was Saturday. Even though school was out for winter break, it was still The Saddle Club’s favorite day of the week. That was because it was the day that their Pony Club, Horse Wise, met at Pine Hollow.

“Guess what,” Carole said when she found Lisa in the tack room.

Lisa looked up from the saddle she was grabbing. “What?”

Carole grinned. “Britt is riding Coconut today. All I had to do was drop the teeniest hint to Max, and he jumped at the idea. I guess he thought that Britt and Coconut would get along just great.”

Lisa couldn’t help laughing at the smug look on her
friend’s face. “Oh yeah?” she said. “Well, I’m sure she’ll love him.” She hoisted the saddle onto her shoulder. “But I’m also sure that she’ll love Applesauce even—”

Lisa bit off the rest of the sentence just in time, as Britt appeared in the doorway of the tack room. Carole turned and saw her, too.

“Hi, Britt,” Carole said with an innocent smile. “Can I help you find your tack? Which horse are you riding today?”

Lisa almost snorted, but she held it in. She didn’t want to make Britt suspicious and spoil the surprise.

“Um, Max said I should try Coconut today,” Britt replied.

The words were hardly out of her mouth when Carole had grabbed the correct saddle from its rack. She handed it to Britt, then pointed out Coconut’s bridle. “Enjoy,” she said cheerfully. “He’s a terrific horse. I’m sure you’ll get along famously.”

“Speaking of terrific horses,” Lisa said quickly, “I was just thinking about those Hedgerow horses. It was fun having them stay here last week, wasn’t it? I kind of miss them now that they’re gone.”

Out of the corner of her eye, Lisa could see Carole rolling her eyes. But she ignored her. Britt was nodding. “They were nice horses,” she said.

“Hey, I just had a great idea!” Lisa exclaimed. “Why don’t we go visit them tomorrow? I’d love to see their new stable. What do you say?”

“Sorry,” Carole said, not sounding sorry at all. “I can’t make it. My dad and I are going to the movies.”

Britt didn’t answer one way or the other. She just stood quietly, carefully brushing little bits of dust off the saddle she was holding. Lisa realized that the shy girl probably didn’t even understand that she was included in the invitation.
What would it be like to feel so insignificant?
Lisa wondered.
To just assume that people aren’t talking to you—even when they are?
She decided it must be awfully lonely.

“So, how about it, Britt?” Lisa said. “Will you come with me tomorrow? It will be fun.”

Britt looked up quickly. “Me?” she said. “You want me to come with you?”

“Sure,” Lisa said. “What do you say? We can see how all our old friends are settling into their new home.”

“Um, okay,” Britt said. “I guess that would be okay.”

“Great,” Lisa said happily. She shot Carole a triumphant glance. “I’ll get my mom to drive us over there. We’ll have a great time.”

A
FEW MINUTES LATER
Carole and Lisa had tacked up their horses for the meeting and were leading them toward the indoor ring. Carole held the bridle of her horse, a bay gelding named Starlight, as he danced sideways in anticipation of his morning’s exercise. For once, Carole hardly noticed her horse’s antics.

“Where could she be?” she said anxiously, glancing at her watch.

Lisa shook her head. She was leading a slender Thoroughbred mare named Prancer, the Pine Hollow horse she usually rode. “Late as usual, I guess,” she said.

They were talking about Stevie, who had not yet appeared at the stable. That was bad news, since Max hated it when his students were late. Carole and Lisa were a little early for the meeting—none of the other students were in the ring yet. But even if Stevie arrived at Pine Hollow immediately, she would have to rush to get her horse and herself ready in time.

“We’d better tack up Belle for her,” Carole said. She looked around and spotted Polly Giacomin coming into the ring, leading her own horse, Romeo. “Hi, Polly,” Carole called. “Can you do us a favor?”

“Sure,” Polly said. “What is it?” Once the other two girls had explained their problem, Polly agreed to keep an eye on their horses.

Carole and Lisa hurried out of the indoor ring and down the aisle toward the tack room. They grabbed Belle’s tack and headed for the mare’s stall. On the way, Carole noticed Magoo poking his head out over the half door of his stall.

“Hold on,” she said. “Let’s just give him a quick look.” She slung Belle’s bridle over her shoulder and then swung open Magoo’s stall door.

Lisa peered over Carole’s shoulder. “Oh no,” she said in dismay. “I guess he likes hot sauce!”

The gelding had ripped off the bandages the girls had
treated with the spicy sauce. What’s more, he had managed to remove a few more that they hadn’t thought he would be able to reach.

“He must have been really determined to get those off,” Carole said, leaning closer to examine a wound on Magoo’s shoulder. The bandage was hanging by one side, and Carole guessed that the horse had rubbed against the wall of his stall to make it come loose.

Lisa bent to retrieve a bandage that was lying near the front of the stall. She turned it over in her hand. “It looks like he just nibbled around the parts with the hot sauce,” she said. “Mrs. Reg won’t believe it. She swore it was a foolproof plan.”

“We’ll have to deal with this after Horse Wise,” Carole said with a sigh. “He must have been lying down after he took the bandages off—there’s all kinds of straw and dirt in these wounds. What a mess.”

Lisa shook her head and patted Magoo on the nose as Carole latched the door shut behind them. “You’re not an easy patient, Magoo,” she said. “Anyone would think you didn’t
want
us to help you. Don’t you want to get better so you can go back home and see all your friends at Hedgerow?”