Horse Magic (2 page)

“It’s settled, then,” Max said, nodding to The Saddle Club and the other Pony Clubbers who had raised their hands to volunteer. “Susan, you don’t have to worry about a thing. With this group in control, those kids will have more fun than they can handle!”

“Great,” Susan said with a smile. “That’s exactly what we’re trying to give them. Thanks a lot, everyone, and I’ll see you next weekend!” With a cheerful wave, she headed out of the ring.

After she had gone, Phil raised his hand. “Max, I know I’m not a member of Horse Wise, but I’d love to help out next weekend,” he said. “I even have an idea for something special I could do for the kids.”

Max looked surprised, but he shrugged agreeably. “The more the merrier,” he said. “What did you have in mind?”

“A Halloween magic show,” Phil replied. “I’m a pretty good amateur magician, if I do say so myself, and it would be nice to perform for someone other than my sisters.”

Stevie stared at him. She’d had no idea Phil could do magic tricks.

But Max looked pleased. “That’s a terrific idea,” he said. “We’re going to have to come up with enough activities to keep a dozen or so kids occupied all day, and that could be a
challenge. A magic show should be a lot of fun. You’re hired, Phil.”

Suddenly a gruff voice spoke up. “Well now, if this is turning into some kind of community event, I think I’d better volunteer, too,” said Mr. Toll.

Everyone turned to look at him in surprise. With all the excitement over Susan’s visit, they had almost forgotten the old farmer was in the room.

“If these youngsters are going to have a real country Halloween, they’re going to have to go trick-or-treating,” Mr. Toll continued. “Might be fun for them to do it in a hay wagon—not so tiring that way.”

“What a great idea!” Stevie exclaimed. “The hayride you gave us on Carole’s birthday was so much fun—those city kids will love it!”

Mr. Toll just nodded, but the girls thought they could detect a twinkle of pleasure in his blue eyes. “It’s settled, then,” the farmer said gruffly. “Providin’ this blasted rain stops by then, that is.”

“Oh, it will,” Stevie predicted confidently. “It wouldn’t dare rain when we’ve got something so important to do.” She looked a little surprised when everyone burst into laughter. It was typical of Stevie to assume that even the weather would automatically go along with her plans.

“Okay, everyone, settle down,” Max said. “Let’s have a quick planning meeting for the event after Mr. Toll’s talk. Anyone who would like to volunteer to help next Saturday should stay.”

Mr. Toll took over and began telling the students about his experiences farming the same land for more than sixty years. Despite her interest in the topic, Carole found her mind wandering back to the Halloween event. She knew that with The Saddle Club on the case it was certain to be a fun day for the city kids. Carole was glad to be able to help with such a worthy cause. Although she had lived on or near military bases all over the country because of her father’s career in the Marine Corps, Carole had never lived in a big city. It was hard for her to imagine being somewhere where she wouldn’t be able to ride and be around horses. She knew that the children Susan’s group tried to help had a lot of very serious problems, and that not being able to ride was the least of them. Still, Carole was glad to think that horses might play a part in making the kids’ lives a little more fun. One of the best things about horses, in Carole’s opinion, was the way that just being around them seemed to help people in lots of different ways. Her mother had died when Carole was eleven years old, and riding was one of the things she could always count on to make her feel better. Horses and riding had also helped Carole and her friends many other times in many other ways.

Carole was brought back to reality by Lisa’s asking a question. “Mr. Toll, how many workhorses do you have now?”

The farmer scratched his head, thinking. “Let’s see, now,” he drawled. “There’s Dapper and Dan, my team of matched bay Clydesdales. Then I have another matched
pair—no special breeding on them, just regular horses, but good, solid workers. They’re twin brother and sister, both blacks, named Superstition and Black Magic.”

“What a great idea!” Carole cried out. She blushed a little when everyone turned to look at her, but then she explained. “Sorry to interrupt, Mr. Toll. I was just thinking that a pair of black horses would be perfect for the Halloween event. Maybe they could pull the hay wagon.”

Mr. Toll scratched his head again. “I sure don’t see why not,” he said. “They ain’t as good-looking as the Clydesdales, but they’re just as strong.”

“It’s perfect, Carole,” Stevie agreed enthusiastically. “They’ve even got the perfect names for Halloween—Black Magic and Superstition.”

“Funny you should mention that,” Mr. Toll said. “Fact is, the names are a little bit of a joke. Back when that pair was born, there were some among the old country folk who thought I shouldn’t even keep ’em.”

Stevie and Lisa exchanged amused glances. In their opinion, Mr. Toll himself definitely qualified as one of the “old country folk.”

“Why’s that, Mr. Toll?” Carole asked.

“Because the both of them were born with four white feet,” Mr. Toll replied. Seeing the mystified looks on most of the students’ faces, he recited, “ ‘One white foot, buy him; two white feet, try him; three white feet, doubt him; four white feet—do without him!’ It’s an old superstition from the days when some folks still believed in black magic.
That’s how I got the names—Superstition for the colt, Black Magic for the filly. ’Course they’re not colt and filly anymore—they’re going on twenty. But I still get a chuckle out of those names.”

The Saddle Club had a hard time imagining solid, serious Mr. Toll chuckling at anything. But they loved his story nonetheless, and they were sure the city kids would love it, too. They made him promise to tell it to them on Halloween.

“… A
ND
I
STILL
can’t believe you never mentioned you could do magic,” Stevie exclaimed for the fifth time. She, Carole, and Lisa were keeping Phil company while he waited for his father to pick him up. All four of them were perched on the fence beside the driveway, discussing the Horse Wise meeting. The rain had finally stopped, and the girls had a few minutes before they had to get ready for their riding lesson.

“Forget it, Stevie,” Carole advised her friend. “We’ve got more important things to think about—like how we’re going to come up with enough costumes for twelve kids.”

Lisa shook her head. “It’s still kind of hard to believe these kids are so poor they can’t even afford Halloween costumes,” she said.

“I know,” Carole agreed. “That’s why it’s so important that they all have a wonderful time on Saturday.”

“Well, like Max said, they’re sure to have more fun than they can handle with The Saddle Club helping plan
things,” Stevie said confidently. “Remember how great the Halloween fair was last year? We could do some of the same stuff again here. You know, like the costume contest, the candy corn contest—”

“Hold on a minute, Stevie,” Lisa interrupted. “Even though all those things were fun, some of them were really mostly to raise money for the cause. This time we’re not trying to raise money at all, just show a good time to a group of city kids.”

“Hmm. I guess you’re right,” Stevie said. “But Max obviously thinks we can do it. That’s why he put us in charge of the entertainment. We should be able to come up with plenty to do—you can hardly help having fun on Halloween.”

“True,” Carole said, remembering her earlier thoughts. She smiled. Now she’d get a chance to wear her costume after all!

“Besides,” Stevie continued, “if anyone can show those kids a good time on Halloween, it’s me. After all, I am the undisputed queen of spooky Halloween pranks.” She gave Phil a sidelong glance, expecting him to protest. Stevie and Phil had a very competitive friendship, and it wasn’t like him to let a challenge from Stevie pass without comment.

But Phil seemed distracted. He was digging around in his jacket pocket, looking worried. “Listen, you guys, I think I left my watch inside,” he said. “I took it off during the meeting because the band was pinching me, and it must have fallen out of my pocket.”

“Then it’s probably still lying on the floor in the indoor ring,” Lisa said.

Carole nodded. “You’d better go get it before a horse steps on it.”

“Good point,” Phil said. He glanced around at all three girls. “Want to walk me in? It must be about time for you to start tacking up.”

Lisa glanced at her own watch. “Oops, you’re right. We’ll have to hurry if we don’t want to be late.”

Inside, the girls said good-bye to Phil, then hurried to the tack room.

“Maybe we should get together later and do some more planning,” Lisa suggested as she slung a bridle over one shoulder. “We don’t really have much time if everything’s going to be ready by Saturday.”

“Good idea,” Carole agreed. “How about a Saddle Club meeting at my house right after our lesson?”

“It’s a deal,” Stevie and Lisa replied in one voice.

“I
THINK MY
father will let us use some of his old military uniforms,” Carole said as The Saddle Club walked toward her house from the bus stop. A light rain was falling, but the girls were so busy discussing where they could find costumes for the city kids that they hardly noticed.

“Great,” Stevie said. “They’ll be too big, but that’ll be part of the fun. I wonder if my brothers will let me borrow some of their sports team uniforms?”

“Probably not,” Lisa predicted with a laugh. “But I’m sure they’ll let you have their old Halloween costumes. Didn’t you say something about pirates earlier?”

Stevie snorted. “Believe me, we have more pirate costumes than you can shake a peg leg at. Besides that, once in
a while they actually come up with something original. Alex was Paul Revere last year, and Chad went to a party as Rusty the Robot. He painted a bunch of cardboard boxes silver and wore them. But just as he was walking home from the party with some girl he had a crush on, it started to pour. Chad’s boxes got a little soggy, and before he knew it they had fallen right off. He had to run home wearing only his long Johns. The girl never spoke to him again.” Stevie grinned. “My only regret is that I wasn’t there to witness it.”

The girls were still laughing when they walked into the Hansons’ kitchen. Colonel Hanson was there pouring popcorn into the popper. “Hi, girls,” he said when he saw them. “Your after-stable snack will be ready in a minute. In the meantime, why don’t you towel off. Oh, and Stevie, your parents called a few minutes ago. They want you to give them a call right away.”

“Uh-oh,” Stevie muttered, heading for the phone. “I wonder what my brothers are blaming me for now.”

Carole, Lisa, and Colonel Hanson laughed. They all knew that Stevie’s brothers did their best to get Stevie in trouble with her parents as often as possible. But they also knew that Stevie’s own mischievous nature was a lot more likely to get her in hot water than her brothers were.

While Stevie dialed her number, Carole and Lisa filled Colonel Hanson in on Saturday’s event. Colonel Hanson nodded when Lisa mentioned the name of the organization.

“City Kids/Country Kids is a good group,” he said. “I’ve
read about some of the work they’ve done in D.C. You girls should be proud of helping such a worthwhile cause.”

“Funny you should mention helping, Dad,” Carole said. “I was just about to ask if you’d like to come along and help on Saturday.”

“I thought you’d never ask,” Colonel Hanson exclaimed. “I’ll be there with bells on.”

“Actually, we were hoping you’d be there with your uniform on,” Lisa said. “We’re all supposed to come in costume.”

“I see,” Colonel Hanson said, rubbing his jaw thoughtfully. “And you thought I might like to dress up as, say, an officer of the United States Marine Corps?”

“Right,” Carole replied.

Colonel Hanson gave both girls a smart salute. “Orders understood. You can count on me.”

Just then Stevie, who was still on the phone, let out an excited shriek. “You’re kidding!” she cried, almost dropping the receiver.

“What is it, Stevie?” Lisa asked.

Stevie waved a hand for quiet, her attention on her conversation. “When does she … that soon? How did she convince them to let her come? Uh-huh. Hmm. I see … Oh, that sounds like fun. Everyone here will be glad to see her.… Of course. Okay, thanks for telling me, Mom. I’ll be home in time for dinner. Right now I’ve got to tell Lisa and Carole the news!”

She hung up and turned to her friends. “Dinah’s coming!” she announced.

“Dinah?” Lisa repeated blankly.

But Carole understood right away. “She is? Oh, that’s great!” she exclaimed. “Remember, Lisa, Dinah Slattery is the girl Stevie went to visit in Vermont that time. She used to live in Willow Creek, and she rode at Pine Hollow before you started going there.”

“Oh, that’s right,” Lisa said. “She used to go to Fenton Hall with you, right, Stevie?” Stevie attended a private school called Fenton Hall, across town from the public school Carole and Lisa attended.

“I think I remember her,” Colonel Hanson put in. “She’s the one Stevie used to get into all kinds of trouble with.”