Horse Play (2 page)

“The problem with Veronica is that she doesn’t just
think
she’s better than everybody else. She
knows
she is,” Stevie whispered to Lisa, who nodded in response.

Stevie was riding a horse named Comanche. She usually
rode him, because they were such a good match. He was a chestnut gelding with an independent streak just like Stevie’s. Today he was acting up a bit, tossing his head and taking steps backwards.

Stevie shortened the reins in response, then leaned forward. “Hey, Comanche,” she said, “remember me? I’m the one who’s in charge here.” She patted his neck reassuringly, but the tone of her voice and the firmness of her hand on the reins could leave no doubt in the horse’s mind about who was the boss. He shifted his weight easily and relaxed. Stevie knew that most horses made a habit of testing their riders. It was important to let the horse know who was in charge.

“We’re going to play a game today,” Max announced. “I want to see how much control you have over your horses.” Stevie shifted her weight deeper in the saddle and Comanche glanced back over his shoulder at her.

“It’s called ‘Break and Out,’ ” Max told the riders. Stevie liked this game. The idea was that Max would call a gait—walk, trot, or canter—and the riders had two strides to get their horses to the new gait. If they didn’t get the horse into the new gait or if the horse broke gait, they were out, sort of like musical chairs.

“Walk,” he announced. Stevie got Comanche walking. The other riders did the same. This game was always easy at the beginning. The horses marched in a circle around the ring.

“Trot!” Max said. Stevie’s calves gripped Comanche’s
side firmly and he broke into a trot immediately. Betsy Cavanaugh wasn’t so fast. Her horse kept plodding along. Max pointed to the edge of the ring. Betsy was out.

Stevie could see Veronica sitting up straight, ready for the next change. The logical gait was a canter now and it was clear to Stevie that Veronica was ready for it.

Max raised his hand to get their attention before announcing the next gait. Before he spoke, Veronica had already signaled to her horse, Barq, for a canter. He broke out of the pack and began a rocking canter around the ring.

“Walk!” Max announced.

Veronica’s face turned a bright red. In somebody else, that might be from embarrassment. But in Veronica, it was fury.

“How
could
you?” she demanded of Max, reining Barq down to a walk and guiding him over to Max, who simply pointed to the edge of the ring where Betsy waited patiently.

Stevie and Comanche were walking next to Carole, on Diablo. They both watched Veronica in amusement.

“See,” Stevie whispered. “I told you—” she began.

“Trot!” Max said. Comanche and Diablo followed instructions. It made it harder for Stevie to talk to Carole, but it wasn’t going to stop her.

“I told you,” she said louder. Comanche was trotting very quickly. He pulled ahead of Diablo. Stevie had to look over her shoulder at Carole to finish her thought.

“I told you it was the silly season!” she said, but she practically had to yell it. Not only did Carole hear her, and Lisa, but everybody else in the class, including Veonica. The girl’s face was stony and bright red when Stevie looked at her. She spoke to Stevie silently, but her words were clear as she mouthed them. “I’ll get you for that!” Veronica said.

“Canter!” Max said. Stevie touched Comanche behind his girth with her left heel and the horse began cantering. Stevie loved the wonderful rocking feel of Comanche’s canter. It made her forget everything else.

A
FTER CLASS
, S
TEVIE
removed Comanche’s tack and gave him a good grooming. One of Pine Hollow’s many traditions was that each student was responsible for his or her own horse, grooming included. As Comanche munched away at the fresh hay she’d supplied, Stevie used a curry comb to bring a sheen to his auburn coat. By having the students take care of the horses, Pine Hollow was able to keep its costs down, and that was something everybody could appreciate. Right then, however, Stevie wished there were a gigantic staff of grooms to take over the work. It was a hot afternoon and she’d rather be in her own pool than in Comanche’s stall.

“Come on, boy,” she said, trying to convince Comanche to step to the right so she could get around him. She patted his rump. He didn’t move. She reached to scratch him under his jaw. His mouth sprung open as if he were talking. She looked at him in surprise.

“Did you say something, boy?” she asked with a giggle.

She scratched him again. His jaw began to move again. Stevie dropped her own voice and spoke for Comanche as his mouth opened and closed. “Lay off the talk, sister. Just give me some peace and quiet so I can eat my hay.” The horse regarded her curiously. Stevie giggled.

She’d always wondered what a horse would say if he could speak. Now she’d found she could speak for him! It was fun.

“You going to give me trouble?” she asked.

Then she began scratching his chin and as soon as his jaw opened, she dropped her voice and spoke for him. “Me give
you
trouble? What do you think you were giving me all through the class?”

“I was just doing what Max told me to do!” Stevie defended herself.

“Teacher’s pet!” Comanche responded in a taunting voice.

Stevie scrunched up her eyebrows to think. “No, I think
you’re
the teacher’s pet,” she remarked, then smiled at her own joke. Comanche leaned forward to munch on some hay. Stevie shoved his hindquarters a bit
to get him to move over so she could return to the grooming.

Stevie began working on his left side. Comanche stepped back to the left, boxing her in. She growled at the horse, but he calmly munched on his hay. Stevie was about to start him talking again when Carole’s voice came over the horse’s neck.

“Stevie, you there?” Carole asked. She was standing at the door to the stall.

“Unfortunately,” Stevie said from behind Comanche’s haunches. “It’s so hot—I bet even Comanche would rather be in my swimming pool.”

“That would be a sight to see,” Carole said, laughing. “Maybe this will help—here’s your soda.” Carole perched the can on the ledge by the door of the stall, just within Stevie’s reach. At the end of every class at Pine Hollow, one of the riders was assigned to get sodas for all the other riders. Carole had the honors today.

“Thanks,” Stevie said.

Carole watched for a second. All she could see was a hand reach out from under Comanche’s neck, circle the can, and disappear with it.

There was a long silence.

“Wonderful,” Stevie said. The can reappeared on the ledge.

“See you later,” Carole said.

“Wait—don’t go. I want to ask you something.”

“Well, okay, but I’ve still got to untack Diablo.”

“I’ll help you when I’m done here,” Stevie promised. “But I was just thinking about something—”

Stevie paused. Carole knew she was collecting her thoughts, and would start talking in a second. In the meantime, since Stevie was totally invisible on the far side of the large chestnut horse, Carole had the eerie feeling she was actually having a conversation with Comanche. He looked at her balefully, munching on his hay.

“Remember our drill classes?” Stevie asked Carole.

“Sure,” she said. The Saddle Club had been working on drills with Max for a while during the summer camp session. They’d all enjoyed the difficult work and the precision it required tremendously, but the classes had stopped when the month of camp ended.

“Why don’t we see if Max will start them again? It really was neat, even with just the three of us. Maybe now other people would want to get in on it, too, don’t you think?”

Carole’s eyes lit up. “That’s a great idea!” she said enthusiastically.

“Why don’t you ask Max, then?” Stevie suggested.

“Your idea, you get to ask him,” Carole replied. “Besides,” Carole continued, “Max has been sort of cranky lately and you have a way of talking people into things—even cranky people.
And
, I have to finish delivering sodas and then untack Diablo and groom him.”

“I said I’d help,” Stevie reminded her.

“
After
you ask Max,” Carole said. “See you,” she added with a laugh.

Stevie began to tell Carole that she was a much more convincing person and Max would be more likely to go along with Carole’s suggestion, but she realized, when she was about four sentences into her argument, that Carole had disappeared. Comanche, now clean and shiny, content with his hay, just nudged his empty water bucket in response.

“See how convincing I am?” she said to him. “I couldn’t even convince Carole to convince Max!”

She unhooked the bucket and took it to the faucet, then rinsed it carefully. When Stevie was certain the bucket was clean, she put some cool water in it and brought it back to Comanche’s stall. She hooked the bucket on his wall so he could reach it. He began drinking right away.

“I’m even being ignored by a horse,” she grumbled. It was time to talk to Max.

Max’s office was in the main house on the far side of the indoor ring. In fact, it overlooked the ring so that he could oversee classes taking place there. In nice weather, however, almost all riding was outdoors.

Stevie let herself into the main building and walked along the little hallway that led to Max’s office. He was inside, talking animatedly on the telephone. The office door was ajar, but he was speaking so intently that Stevie felt she’d be intruding if she walked in. She stood outside
his office and waited. Carole was right that Max had been cranky and out of sorts recently. He seemed distracted, too, as if he had a lot on his mind. Although Stevie didn’t exactly want to snoop, Max was talking loudly and agitatedly on the phone. Stevie heard every word.

“But I can’t do it now!” Max said, protesting loudly. “It’s out of the question.… Yes, I know what that means. If I lose it, I lose it! Of course it will affect the stable and the riders will suffer, but they’ll get used to it when the time comes.”

Can’t do it?
Stevie said to herself.
Can’t do what? Why will we suffer? What will we get used to?

“Of
course
it’s a matter of money!” Max said, raising his voice further. “If you want this business arrangement to work, you’ve just got to give me more time—or the whole deal will fall through and we’ll be out of business altogether!”

Stevie jumped when Max slammed the phone into its cradle. Stevie wasn’t sure exactly what she’d just heard, but two things were clear. First, this was no time to ask Max for a favor. Second, whatever was going on with Max, it was a job for The Saddle Club!

“B
UT DEAR
, A
UNT
Maude and I are here right now. We can take you home and you won’t have to walk,” Mrs. Atwood told Lisa as Carole and Stevie looked on. Lisa was more than a little embarrassed to be having this conversation
with her mother in front of her friends, especially when Stevie had just told them that they absolutely had to have a Saddle Club meeting right away at TD’s—their favorite ice cream place at the nearby shopping center.

“It’s okay, Mom, I can walk home by myself,” Lisa assured her mother.

“I can pick you up at the shopping center, dear,” Mrs. Atwood persisted. “Or better still, why don’t your friends come over to our house? I’m sure we’ve got plenty of ice cream and sauces there. You could have your snack right in our kitchen.…”

Snack
, Lisa thought with annoyance. Her mother made it sound like milk and cookies after school. Why couldn’t her mother recognize that she was almost grown up—almost fourteen?

“Mom,” she said much more patiently than she felt, “we’ll walk to TD’s and I’ll be home in about an hour. I’ll see you and Aunt Maude at home.”

“I don’t get it,” Lisa said after her mother walked away. “She always tries to treat me as if I were still a little girl.”

I don’t get it, either,” Stevie said. “My mother was only too glad when she didn’t have to drive me to and from riding lessons. But that’s not the real mystery we have to solve this afternoon. Let’s get dressed and over to TD’s. Right away.”

Carole and Lisa tried to get Stevie to tell them what was up before they left the stable, but Stevie only said
that the walls had ears. The girls were dying of curiosity. What could be so important that it shouldn’t be overheard by anybody?

The girls changed into their street clothes as quickly as possible and walked over to the town’s shopping center.

It wasn’t a mall by any definition. It was just a little shopping center with a supermarket, a jewelry store, a couple of shoe stores, a music store, and best of all, Tastee Delight.

“So?” Carole challenged Stevie when they were seated in TD’s and had ordered their sundaes.

“I’m worried,” Stevie began.

“We already know that,” Lisa said sensibly. “But what exactly are you worried about?”

“Max.” She had both of her friends’ attention immediately. Stevie leaned forward on the table and spoke in hushed tones, repeating as much as she could remember of the conversation she’d overheard from outside Max’s office. “It was like he was desperately trying to avoid paying something. And he was worried about the impact it would have on us!”