Horse Guest (5 page)

“Come on,” Carole said. “We’d better get going or Belle will never be ready in time.”

A few minutes later, Lisa was just getting ready to fasten the noseband on Belle’s bridle when Stevie appeared outside the stall, red-faced and panting.

“Whew!” she exclaimed, clutching her side. “I didn’t think I was going to make it. I …”

She paused for breath, her chest heaving. Lisa finished fastening the noseband and then handed the reins to Stevie. “Don’t worry,” she said. “You’re all ready to go.”

Carole nodded. “Now let’s get over to the ring before we’re all late.”

Stevie followed her friends down the aisle with Belle in tow. She mopped her brow with one sleeve and shook her head. “You’ll never believe why I was late,” she said once she had caught her breath. “My idiot twin brother hid my riding boots.”

“So what else is new?” Carole said. “Usually you just throttle him until he tells you where he put them.”

“I couldn’t do that today,” Stevie said. “That’s the problem.” She quickly filled her friends in on the situation with her grandmother. “So we made a pact. We’re all going to be on our best behavior for two whole weeks,” she finished.

Lisa grinned. “It sounds like Alex didn’t get the message. Otherwise he wouldn’t have hidden your boots.”

“Well, no,” Stevie admitted grudgingly. “He hid them before we made the pact.” She paused. “At least that’s what he claims. He says he just forgot to tell me about it until he noticed me tiptoeing around this morning peeking in closets and stuff.”

Carole giggled at the thought of Stevie tiptoeing around and peeking daintily into closets in search of her
boots, Stevie’s usual method of searching was to stampede around, yelling and throwing things, until she found whatever she was looking for. And, Carole had to admit, that usually seemed to be the most effective method of finding things in the chaotic Lake household.

Lisa was thinking the same thing. “So you four are really going to be good while your grandmother is here?” she asked. “I’ll believe that when I see it!”

Stevie looked a little hurt. “I mean it,” she said. “And so do my brothers. We want to make sure Grandma doesn’t get too stressed out while she’s here. And for someone in her condition, just hanging around my house the way it usually is could be pretty stressful.”

“I guess that might be true,” Carole said. “So where were your boots, anyway?”

Stevie stopped walking and held up one foot. Her boot was coated with a fine gray dust. “He stuffed them up the fireplace flue.” She slapped one ankle against the other, and a cloud of ash flew upward. Even Belle wrinkled her nose.

“Yuck,” Lisa said as they all resumed walking. They were almost at the indoor ring by now. “It’s a good thing nobody decided to light a fire.”

“A good thing for Alex,” Stevie agreed as she led Belle into the ring and toward her friends’ horses. “But he’s still going to be sorry he pulled this.”

Lisa raised an eyebrow. “Wait a minute,” she said. “Didn’t you just finish telling us you’re not going to pull
any pranks or exact any elaborate forms of revenge while your grandmother is staying with you?”

“Exactly,” Stevie said. She grinned wickedly. “That means I have two whole weeks to plan what I’m going to do to him after she leaves.”

M
AX SPENT MOST
of the Horse Wise meeting talking about the gymkhana and having the students practice some of the skills they would need for it. Normally every second Horse Wise meeting was an unmounted one, when the students learned about non-riding aspects of horse care and stable management. But Max was making an exception to that schedule for the gymkhana, which would take place in exactly one week.

“After all,” he said with a grin before dismissing the students, “I guess you ought to have some fun next weekend, since school starts again the following Monday.”

A groan went up from the riders. Then they all dismounted and led their horses toward the door.

“By the way,” Stevie told her friends as they walked out together, “I don’t think I ever thanked you guys for tacking up Belle for me. You really saved my neck this time. I owe you one.”

“Oh yeah?” Carole said with a grin. She winked at Lisa. “If you really mean that, I can think of one way you could pay us back. You could take care of Magoo all by yourself today.”

Stevie gave a mock groan. But then she grinned.

“You’ve got it,” she said cheerfully. “It’s the least I can do. If it weren’t for you guys, I’d be in even worse shape than he is—once Max got through with me, that is.”

H
ALF AN HOUR
later, Magoo was already looking much more presentable. Stevie had cleaned the hay and dirt off him and replaced all the missing bandages. This time she decided to be more liberal with the hot sauce. She was careful once again to avoid getting it on his skin, but she made sure that if the horse nibbled on
these
bandages he would definitely taste them.

“There,” she told the horse as she applied a few more drops to a bandage near the crest of his neck. “I know there’s no way you could reach this one with your teeth, but better safe than sorry, right?”

“Hi, Stevie,” said a quiet voice from outside the stall. “How’s Magoo?”

Stevie glanced up. “Hi, Britt,” she said. “He’s ornery, as usual. But he’s doing okay. How’s it going?”

“Okay,” Britt replied. Then she fell silent. She leaned on the half door of the stall and watched as Stevie screwed the cap back onto the hot sauce bottle.

Once the bottle was back in the grooming bucket, Stevie looked up at the other girl again. Britt smiled shyly, but she still didn’t say anything more. Stevie guessed that the new girl was trying to be friendly but wasn’t quite sure how to go about it.

She decided to help her out. “Horse Wise was fun today,
wasn’t it?” she said cheerfully. “I can’t wait for the gymkhana.”

Britt nodded. “It sounds like fun,” she agreed. “Gymkhanas were one of my favorite things at my old stable. We always had really silly games and things.”

Stevie was pretty sure that that was the longest she had ever heard Britt speak at one time. That was a good sign. Maybe the shy girl was starting to open up at last. “They’re one of my favorite things, too,” Stevie said, grabbing a comb and starting to work a tangle out of Magoo’s mane while she talked. “And I bet that snowball race will be a blast. I’m going to tell Max about it the first chance I get. I’ll make sure he knows the snowball part was your idea.”

Britt’s cheeks turned slightly pink. “Oh, that’s okay,” she said modestly. “The race was mostly your idea. You probably would have thought of the snowballs yourself sooner or later.”

Stevie hardly heard the other girl’s comment. That was because she had just peeked into Magoo’s manger. “Oh, it figures,” she said.

“What’s wrong?” Britt asked.

Stevie grabbed a handful of alfalfa pellets out of the manger and held them out for Britt to see. “He ate everything else and left these,” she said. “It’s the first time he’s done that.”

“Do you think there’s something wrong with him?” Britt asked, looking concerned.

Stevie shrugged. “I’ll mention it to Max so he can tell Judy when she stops by,” she said. “But my guess is that Magoo just decided he didn’t like alfalfa pellets anymore. Or else he got bored and decided it would be fun to eat around them this time.” She gave the horse an annoyed look. “It just figures you would be a picky eater too, Magoo.”

Britt giggled uncertainly, seeming unsure whether Stevie was joking or not. “Maybe to him, alfalfa pellets taste like broccoli does to me,” she said.

It took Stevie a second to realize that Britt had actually made a joke. Then she grinned in appreciation. “Good one,” she said. “You’re thinking like a horse. Carole would definitely approve.” Stevie herself was starting to approve of Britt. The new girl was smart and funny underneath that shy exterior, though it took her a while to show it. But she
did
seem to be making more of an effort lately.

Just then, Polly walked by. She paused beside Britt to glance in at Magoo. “How’s the patient?” she asked Stevie.

“Oh, he’s all right,” Stevie said. “Have you met Britt?” She quickly introduced the two girls.

Polly gave the new girl a friendly nod. “I’ve seen you around,” she said. “How do you like Pine Hollow so far?”

“I like it fine,” Britt said softly. “You’re the one who rides that pretty brown gelding, right?”

Suddenly Stevie remembered something. When Britt
had toured Pine Hollow on her first visit, she had seen Polly’s horse, Romeo, in his stall and mentioned that he resembled her own horse back in Ohio. “That’s right,” she said. “Polly just got him recently. His name is Romeo.”

“He looks like a really nice horse,” Britt said.

“Thanks,” Polly said, looking pleased. “He is pretty terrific.” She turned to Stevie. “That reminds me,” she said. “Romeo’s breeder called me last night. He’s got another horse for sale—Romeo’s half brother, actually. I promised to spread the word around here. Do you know anyone who’s looking?”

“Hmm,” Stevie said, pretending to think about Polly’s question. Meanwhile, her mind was racing. This could be the answer! It seemed almost too perfect. Romeo was a friendly, cheerful, talented, and eager-to-please young horse. If his half brother was anything like him, he would be absolutely perfect for Britt. He would have enough spunk to challenge her riding abilities, but no major character or behavior problems to overwhelm her own timid personality. Stevie had to fight to keep from showing how excited she was at this unexpected piece of luck. “I’ll have to think about it, Polly,” she said.

“Okay,” Polly said. “Let me know.” She said good-bye and headed down the aisle.

Stevie waited a minute or two. She didn’t want Britt to get suspicious, but she had to talk to Polly. Keeping her face neutral, she started to roll a bandage around Magoo’s
injured hock. Then she looked up at Britt, who was watching silently.

“You know,” Stevie said, creasing her brow a little. “I wonder if I should tell Max about Magoo’s feed problem now instead of later. He might want to call Judy right away.”

Britt shrugged. “Like you said, it’s probably nothing serious, right?” she said.

“Probably,” Stevie agreed truthfully. “Just the same, I think I’ll go catch him before he disappears somewhere or other. Do you know how to wrap a hock?”

Britt nodded. “Sure,” she said. “I’ll finish that if you want.”

“Thanks.” Stevie held the stall door for her as she came inside. Then she quickly let herself out and hurried down the aisle. She didn’t break into a grin until she was absolutely sure that Britt wouldn’t see her.

“C
OULD YOU PLEASE
pass the butter, Chad?” Stevie asked in a low, discreet tone.

Chad picked up the butter dish, which was sitting near his place at the dinner table. “Certainly, Stevie,” he replied calmly. “Here you go.”

Stevie accepted the butter dish with a smile. “Thank you so much, Chad,” she said. “I really appreciate it.” She carefully put a small pat of butter on her plate, then turned to her twin. “Would you like any butter, Alex?”

“No thank you, Stevie,” Alex replied. He dabbed at his mouth with his napkin, then returned it carefully to his lap. “But it was nice of you to ask.”

Stevie thought she caught her parents exchanging perplexed
glances. She smiled secretly. So far the plan seemed to be working perfectly. That afternoon, after returning home from Pine Hollow, Stevie had volunteered to help her mother make dinner while her father talked to Grandma Lake in the living room. Mrs. Lake had seemed surprised at the offer, to say the least, but she hadn’t said anything about it.

Neither she nor Mr. Lake had made any comment about their children’s behavior at the dinner table, either. Not even when Alex had complimented Michael on his T-shirt, or when Stevie had asked Chad how he had enjoyed his basketball practice that day.

But they looked more amazed than ever a few minutes later, when Chad turned to Stevie with a courteous smile. “So, Stevie,” he said, “how was Pine Hollow today?”

At that, Alex couldn’t suppress a groan. “Do we really have to know?” he complained.

Stevie shot him a quick, murderous glance. Then she smiled sweetly at Chad. “Actually, Chad,” she said, “there’s not much to tell.” That wasn’t true, of course. There was lots to talk about—Magoo’s progress, next weekend’s gymkhana, her talks with Britt and Polly, and all the usual interesting stuff that went on at the stable all the time. But Stevie was afraid that any of those topics might stir up too much excitement for her grandmother. “Why don’t we talk about—um—Mom’s plans for her garden this summer?”
There
, she thought with satisfaction.
That should be a safe topic. Nice and dull
.

She sneaked a peek at her grandmother’s face. Grandma Lake looked a bit startled.
Uh-oh
, Stevie thought.
I guess Alex’s obnoxious comment upset her even more than I thought
.

She scanned her mind for a way to take the old woman’s mind off her brother’s behavior. Suddenly inspiration struck. “I have a great idea,” she chirped. “Why don’t we go to the Smithsonian while you’re here, Grandma?” The world-famous Smithsonian Institution was only a short drive away in Washington, D.C. It consisted of all sorts of museums, from modern art to natural history to aviation. Stevie was sure that that would be a nice, soothing way for her grandmother to spend the day, as long as they didn’t do too much fast walking. And older people always liked to do cultural stuff, right?