Horse-Sitters (7 page)

The rest of the polo ponies were just as gorgeous. There were three more bays, each glossier and more muscular than the last. The girls took turns leading the horses into the stable and putting them into stalls under Max’s direction. Meanwhile Veronica leaned against a fence nearby, watching everything with a disgruntled look on her face.

As the young groom led the last horse, a sleek gray, off the van, Max excused himself and went inside to ask Red to bring down some straw for the visitors’ stalls.

“They’re pretty great, aren’t they?” said the young groom, a slim man in his early twenties, when he noticed Lisa admiring the gray.

“They sure are,” she agreed wholeheartedly. “I can’t decide which one is my favorite.”

The groom laughed. “I can’t either,” he said. He held out his hand. “By the way, my name’s Mick Bonner.”

“I’m Lisa Atwood,” Lisa replied, shaking his hand. She called over her friends, who had just returned from inside, and introduced them to Mick.

“It must be great to work with such beautiful horses all the time,” Carole said, stroking the gray’s sleek neck.

“All horses are beautiful,” Mick replied, sounding a little like Carole. He grinned. “These just happen to be more expensive than most.”

Lisa gulped, her nervousness returning. She hoped Stevie realized what she’d gotten them into.

“Well, they’re really wonderful,” Carole said. “It’ll be an honor to help take care of them.”

“Do you work here?” Mick asked.

“Uh, not exactly,” Lisa said. “Max is a little shorthanded right now, so he hired us to take care of these horses for him while they’re here.”

“We’re very experienced,” Stevie added quickly.

But Mick didn’t seem worried. “That’s great,” he said. “I had a job as an exercise boy at the racetrack when I was about your age.” He smiled. “Although it hardly felt like a job. Working with horses doesn’t really seem like work somehow, you know?”

“I know exactly what you mean,” Carole said, and Stevie and Lisa nodded.

“Hey, what’s the holdup here?” demanded the older groom, a lanky man with thin brown hair and a deep suntan. While the others were unloading the horses, he had leaned against the side of the van smoking a cigarette. Now he strolled over to where The Saddle Club and Mick were standing. “We’ve got to get
going. My vacation starts as soon as we get this van back, you know.”

“Uh, sorry, Luke,” Mick said quietly. “The girls and I were just talking. I’ll take Tempest in now.”

“Make it snappy,” Luke said, lighting another cigarette. “And try not to waste any more time standing around talking to little girls.”

Mick cleared his throat. “These girls will be helping take care of the ponies, Luke,” he said. “There are a few things we need to tell them before we leave.”

Luke raised an eyebrow and looked The Saddle Club up and down. He exhaled a puff of smoke and frowned. “These kids work here?” he said in disbelief. “What kind of operation is this, anyway?”

Max returned just in time to hear the man’s last remark. “Is there a problem here?” he asked.

“There might be,” Luke replied. “What’s this I hear about a bunch of kids taking care of my boss’s horses? They’re very valuable animals, you know.”

“I’m well aware of that fact,” Max replied coldly. “And I can assure you, sir, that I would never ask these girls to take on more responsibility than I thought they could handle. They’re more than qualified to care for your horses, and I’m confident they’ll prove that to your satisfaction, and to your boss’s as well. I’ll stake my reputation on that.”

Luke shrugged, looking a bit taken aback. “Well, I guess that’s exactly what you’re doing, then,” he muttered. “Come on, Bonner.
Take Tempest in and then let’s get out of here. I’ll fill in Regnery here on everything he needs to know.”

Mick nodded. “Just show me the way,” he said to the girls.

“Carole and Lisa, you’d better go help Red with the bedding for the stalls,” Max said. The two girls nodded and hurried inside. “Stevie, you can help take Tempest in,” he added. “Put him in the empty stall on the end of the aisle near the tack room.”

Stevie led Mick and his charge into the stable building, pausing to let the groom soothe Tempest before leading him in. As soon as they were inside, out of sight of Max and Luke, she broke into a grin. The old Max was back! That little speech had been vintage Max Regnery, and it sounded good. Then her grin faded a little. For the first time she stopped to think about how much extra work the six polo ponies would be. Then she shrugged. The next day was Saturday, and they’d just have to spend the entire day at Pine Hollow. Sunday, too. Then there were only a few more days before all the owners came back. They could worry about next week when they had to. In the meantime, Stevie preferred to think about all the money they would be making. She added the figures in her head. Could it be? Yes, she was sure of it. When all their horse-sitting jobs were complete, The Saddle Club would have more than enough money for the things they wanted—including the beautiful new bridle.

“Take that, Veronica,” she muttered.

“Excuse me?” Mick said politely. He had been busy murmuring
quietly to Tempest. The gray horse had been perfectly calm until he had been asked to enter the strange barn. Now he looked nervous.

“Oh, nothing,” she said. “Just talking to myself. Is he okay?”

“Oh, sure,” Mick said, giving the horse an affectionate scratch. “He’s always like this his first time in a new building. Don’t know why. Once he’s had a chance to look around and get his bearings, he’s fine.”

They reached the empty stall. “Here we are,” Stevie said. She swung open the door, expecting to see exactly what she’d seen in the other five stalls—the wooden floor swept clean, the walls scrubbed and spotless, and an overturned water bucket near the door, ready for use. She saw all that in this stall, but this time there was something extra as well. A large wire cage sat square in the middle of the stall—and perched atop it, lazy eyes half closed, was a large, green, scaly iguana.

Stevie glanced over her shoulder at Mick and saw his eyes widen. But the groom didn’t say a word. He just backed Tempest up a little so the lizard was out of the nervous horse’s view and continued talking to him soothingly.

Suddenly the horse’s ears flicked backward, and a second later Stevie and Mick heard Luke and Max coming toward them. Luke was complaining to Max about how long it was taking to get the horses settled.

Stevie jumped into the stall and grabbed the iguana. She had no idea whose it was or how it had gotten there, but she could figure that out later. Right now the important thing was to make sure Luke didn’t see it. She shoved the sleepy lizard under one
arm, grabbed the empty cage, and hurried out of the stall. She managed to duck around the corner and into the tack room just in the nick of time. Quickly shoving the iguana into its cage, she snapped the door shut and then hurried back to the others.

“What on earth is taking so long, Bonner?” Luke snapped as Stevie returned.

“You know how Tempest gets in a new place, Luke,” Mick replied mildly. “You’ve got to take him in slowly.” Ignoring the older man, he turned his attention back to the horse and led him into the stall. Tempest went calmly and immediately began snuffling at the walls around him.

Stevie grabbed the water bucket. “I’ll go take care of this,” she said.

“I think you might want to take care of putting some straw down on the floor before that,” Luke said rudely. “I can’t believe it wasn’t done before we got here.”

“The other girls are dealing with that right now,” Max said firmly. “And Stevie will be going to help them—
after
she fills the water bucket.”

Luke rolled his eyes. “Well,” he drawled in a sarcastic tone, “I hope you won’t take this the wrong way, but I think I might just stop by tomorrow and make sure the nags have settled in okay. I’m responsible for them, you know, and I’m sure my boss wouldn’t want me to leave them somewhere if I wasn’t a hundred percent satisfied it was all right.”

Max nodded. “Of course, you’re more than welcome to stop in to check on your horses anytime,” he said stiffly. “Although I can assure you—”

“Hey, Luke, didn’t you say something about going to a ball game tomorrow?” Mick broke in.

“Oh, yeah,” Luke said with a frown. “I almost forgot.”

“If you want, I could stop by for you,” Mick offered. “I’m not doing anything special tomorrow.”

Luke seemed to consider the young man’s offer for a second. Then he shook his head. “No, that won’t work. I’m head groom. It’s my responsibility. I guess it’ll just have to wait until Sunday. I’ve had these tickets for months. There’s no way I’m passing up this game—especially not while I’m supposed to be on vacation.”

“Sunday it is, then,” Max said, heading for the entrance. “Allow me to show you the way out. And don’t worry about a thing. Your horses are in good hands here.”

“I can see that they are,” Mick said politely. But Luke just grunted in reply.

Stevie watched them go, then quickly filled the water bucket and hung it in Tempest’s stall. She found Carole and Lisa a few minutes later, hauling bales of straw toward one of the other polo ponies’ stalls.

“Um, listen, guys,” Stevie said. “Is there anything you’ve forgotten to tell me today? You know, like you did really well on a quiz, or your parents decided to put in a tennis court, or, oh, I don’t know, Pine Hollow is being invaded by giant green lizards …”

Lisa gasped and her hand flew to her mouth. “Oh, no! Mr. Munch! I forgot all about him. But where did you …?”

“In the gray polo pony’s new stall,” Stevie said casually. “But I think they’ll get along just fine, don’t you?”

“Very funny,” Carole said. She paused to wipe the sweat from her forehead. Hauling bales was hard work. “Where did you put him?”

“He’s in the tack room,” Stevie said. “Now would you mind filling me in?”

They told her the whole story, including Carole’s plan to keep Mr. Munch in the garden shed. “I guess we’d better get it over with,” Carole said. “You’re off the hook, Stevie. I’ll ask Max. You guys can keep working on getting those polo ponies settled.”

“Oh, yeah?” Stevie challenged her. “How come we have to keep doing this backbreaking work while you get the easy part?”

“Do you want to trade?” Carole asked.

Stevie thought for a moment. Did she really want to explain to Max why there was an iguana in his tack room, and then convince him to let them keep it in his garden shed? Suddenly lugging straw and filling water buckets didn’t sound so bad after all, and she said so.

When Carole had gone, Lisa turned to Stevie. “Do you realize what you’ve gotten us into?” she asked.

“Sure,” Stevie replied. She grinned and started singing “We’re in the Money.”

“But, Stevie,” Lisa interrupted her, “we’re supposed to earn all that money by taking care of
nine
horses. Nine.
And
one iguana. And in the meantime, we’re supposed to do our normal
chores, go to school—oh yeah, and eat and sleep if we have any spare time. I’m not sure we can do it.”

“But it will all be worth it when we have those things we wanted,” Stevie said. “Just imagine the look on Veronica’s face when Belle has a bridle identical to Danny’s.” She grinned. “I bet Veronica will throw hers away immediately. Anyway, I don’t see what you’re so worried about. The Saddle Club can do anything, remember? And this time, what we’re doing is heading for easy street.”

“Not so fast,” Lisa said grimly. “First we have to survive the next five or six days. And I have a feeling
that’s
not going to be easy.”

“U
GH
. M
Y BLISTERS
have blisters,” Carole mumbled from her position on the Lakes’ living room sofa.

“My blisters’ blisters have blisters,” Lisa countered, not moving from the spot where she had collapsed on the floor in front of the TV. “Stevie, what was that you were saying earlier today about easy street?”

Stevie groaned. “Don’t mention streets to me,” she said. “That reminds me of walking. And I can’t think of anything I’d like to do less right now. Except maybe stand up.” She was sprawled in a large, comfortable easy chair. There was a bag of potato chips on the table beside the chair, but Stevie hadn’t eaten any. It required too much effort to reach over and get one.

It was Friday night, and the girls were gathered at Stevie’s
house for a sleepover. Usually their sleepovers involved more talking than sleeping, but it seemed this one might be an exception. The girls had barely managed to stay awake through their late dinner, which Stevie’s parents had reheated for them when they arrived. And when Mr. and Mrs. Lake had offered to take them to the movies, The Saddle Club had been too exhausted to accept. They had barely managed to work up the energy to wave good-bye when Stevie’s parents and brothers had left the house.

“I can’t believe we got everything done today,” Carole said.

As her friends thought back on all the work they’d done, they had to agree with her. The girls had worked hard getting the polo ponies’ stalls into shape. They’d also removed the traveling bandages and given each horse a quick grooming. After that, Carole and Stevie had held a joint training session for Memphis and Romeo in the outdoor ring. Meanwhile Lisa had headed to the garden shed. Max had okayed the idea of keeping Mr. Munch there, and Carole had moved the iguana’s cage in earlier. But when Lisa opened the door, she found the cage empty, its door swinging open. Just when she started to panic, Mr. Munch strolled toward her from behind the riding mower, and she breathed a sigh of relief.
How did you get out?
she wondered. When she read the care instructions pinned to the cage, she got her answer. Billy Giacomin warned in his notes that Mr. Munch liked to escape from his cage whenever he was bored. And he was very good at it. But Lisa wasn’t too worried—the garden shed latched from the outside, so even if the iguana broke free he couldn’t get out of the shed. Nobody but Max and Red ever
went into the garden shed, and both of them knew the iguana was there. She’d put Mr. Munch back in his cage, fed him, and left, latching the shed door carefully behind her. Then she’d stopped by the nearby paddock to pick up Honeybee. She got the old mare settled in for the night, then made the rounds of the polo ponies for one last check. One of the bays, a gelding named Nighthawk, had managed to knock down his water bucket, so she had to replace the wet straw and refill the bucket. By the time she finished, Carole and Lisa had finished their lesson. All three girls worked together to untack and groom Memphis and Romeo. Then Lisa had volunteered to clean their tack while Carole and Stevie walked Belle and Starlight around the schooling ring a few times to stretch their legs. They agreed gratefully, and Lisa got started on her task equally gratefully. At least she could sit down while she was doing it. Finally, after helping with the evening feeding, the girls had headed to Stevie’s house for dinner.