Lucky Horse

“Oh, no!” Carole heard her father cry.

“What?” She was barely able to make herself heard above the wind and rain.

“We must have gotten disoriented when we got up so fast,” he called, his voice now hoarse from yelling. “The trail’s over there, right across from where we just were.”

Carole’s heart skittered with fear. “You mean we’re going to have to cross the mountaintop again?”

Her father looked down at her and grinned. “Are you with me, kiddo?” he asked softly.

Carole only nodded. She was afraid that if she spoke out loud he’d know how scared she was.

Colonel Hanson waited until a clap of thunder rolled away, then stepped out from the shelter of the skinny trees. Again they had to bend at the waist and throw themselves into the wind.

They had almost reached the middle of the mountaintop when suddenly the sky lit up as if a million fireworks had all exploded. A crash of thunder like no other boomed across Carole’s ears. The earth itself seemed to tremble beneath her feet. The sky went bright, then dark; then she couldn’t see anything. Where was her father? He had been there just a moment before. Then the sky lit up again, and she saw his crumpled form.

“Dad!” she screamed.

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CAMY BAKER’S HOW TO BE POPULAR
IN THE SIXTH GRADE by Camy Baker

CAMY BAKER’S LOVE YOU LIKE A SISTER
by Camy Baker

ANNE OF GREEN GABLES by L. M. Montgomery

HORSE CRAZY (The Saddle Club #1) by Bonnie Bryant

AMY, NUMBER SEVEN (Replica #1) by Marilyn Kaye

PURSUING AMY (Replica #2) by Marilyn Kaye

FOUL PLAY (Soccer Stars #1) by Emily Costello

Special thanks to Laura Roper of Sir “B” Farms

“I’
LL HAVE ONE
scoop of strawberry with mint syrup one scoop of pistachio with cherry syrup, and one scoop of fudge brownie with those bright orange sprinkles.” Stevie Lake looked up at the waitress and grinned. “We’re celebrating today.”

“Uh-huh.” The Tastee Delight waitress scribbled on her pad and frowned. “Was that fudge brownie with orange sprinkles or pistachio with orange sprinkles?”

“Fudge brownie,” Stevie explained. “Cherry syrup on the pistachio.”

“Okay.” The waitress looked at Stevie in wonder. “Coming up.”

Carole Hanson and Lisa Atwood, Stevie’s two best
friends, watched the waitress walk back to the counter. Then they both leaned over the table.

“What are we celebrating today, Stevie?” Carole whispered. “International Make Yourself Sick with Ice Cream Day?”

“Yeah, Stevie,” said Lisa. “I thought this was just a regular day. We’re sitting in our usual booth with our usual waitress, who took your usual
un
usual order.”

Stevie grinned, then sighed. “I guess we’re celebrating the last Saddle Club meeting before you-know-what starts.”

Lisa and Carole stared at Stevie. The girls were all members of The Saddle Club, a club they had started some time before when they had first met at Pine Hollow Stables. The only rules of the club were that members had to be crazy about horses and had to help each other out at all times. Since the three spent most of their time together, around horses, and since practical joker Stevie was the main source of most of the troubles that they needed to solve together, obeying the club rules was not a problem. In fact, they enjoyed it.

“That’s right,” Carole said sadly. “School. I almost forgot. I like school well enough, but it doesn’t compare to spending every day at the stable!”

“I know.” Lisa nodded. “Now we won’t be able to ride morning and afternoon. Or feed or water or groom our horses every time they need it. We’ll have to sit at a desk all day instead of in a saddle.”

“Please,” Stevie groaned. “Don’t remind me.”

Lisa smiled. “I’ve gotten to love being with horses so much this summer that I even like cleaning up after them. I never knew Calypso and Doc that well, but after three months of mucking out their stalls, I feel really close to them.”

“Gosh, Lisa,” Stevie said with a laugh. “Mucking out stalls is getting a little too close to a horse for my taste.”

Just then the waitress appeared with their order. She put chocolate shakes in front of Carole and Lisa and a huge multicolored platter of ice cream, sprinkles, and sauce in front of Stevie.

“Enjoy,” she said, shaking her head as she went to take an order from the next booth.

“Enjoy?” shrieked Carole, her deep brown eyes growing wide at the sight of Stevie’s platter.

“Yeah, Stevie,” Lisa said. “This is a new height, or maybe depth, for you.”

Stevie shrugged. “I’ve got to do something to cheer myself up.”

“Anyway, like I was saying, I’ve just gotten to know so many of the horses so much better.” Lisa sipped her milk shake. She was the least experienced rider of the three, but she was catching up fast. “I’m not even afraid of being around Danny anymore. Even after we took him to the dance, I still got nervous around him. I was always worried that something might happen to
him and I’d get blamed. After all, he is valuable. But he’s such a nice horse.”

“Too bad you can’t say the same for his owner! Anyway, Danny’s not the one you should be afraid of,” said Carole, giggling. “Veronica is.” Veronica di-Angelo was Danny’s owner, and also the richest, snootiest girl at Pine Hollow. She’d gotten The Saddle Club into trouble more than once.

“I feel sorry for Danny.” Stevie swirled a bite of pistachio ice cream around in cherry sauce. “Veronica loves the way Danny can make her look good at a horse show, but she doesn’t really appreciate him as a horse.”

“You know he hasn’t been ridden in over a week?” Lisa said. “Veronica’s been too busy shopping in Washington for her fall wardrobe.”

Carole frowned. “I thought Red O’Malley was supposed to be riding him.”

“Veronica’s furious with Red. She accused him of getting a scratch on her new French saddle and told him not to go near Danny again,” Lisa reported. “Now, because Danny’s been neglected, he’s got some kind of problem with his right front leg. He’s got a bandage on it and can’t be ridden for at least another week. I saw him in the back paddock. Red’s longeing him every day.”

“Poor horse.” Carole shook her head. “He must
have been foaled under an unlucky star to get an owner like Veronica.”

“Danny’s about as unlucky as our horses are lucky,” Stevie mumbled through a mouthful of strawberry ice cream.

“What did you say?” Carole asked.

“I said our horses are lucky. We treat them like royalty. We groom them and water them and love them and ride them almost every day. And now Lisa even loves to muck out their stalls! I mean, how much luckier can three horses get?”

“I guess you’re right, Stevie,” Carole laughed. “Although I hadn’t quite thought of it that way.”

Carole and Lisa finished their shakes while Stevie worked on her ice cream. “I’ve been thinking,” Stevie said as she started on her last scoop, the fudge brownie covered in orange sprinkles.

“Uh-oh,” said Carole. “When you start thinking, I get worried.”

“No, really.” Stevie swallowed one orange-and-black spoonful in a single gulp. “Since Friday starts our final weekend of freedom, why don’t we spend the whole time at Pine Hollow? We can go over there early Friday morning and not go home till late Monday afternoon.”

“You mean spend three nights there?” Lisa asked excitedly.

“Sure. We could bring food and sodas and our sleeping bags and camp out in the hayloft right above our horses. It would be neat. Like one big sleepover with Belle, Starlight, and Prancer.”

Carole frowned. “Do you think Max would let us?”

“I bet he would if we asked him nicely.” Stevie stopped eating for a moment and brushed one tousled, honey-colored lock off her forehead. “I mean, we’d probably have to volunteer to do some extra chores around the barn, but who cares? We love doing those things anyway. It wouldn’t be like work at all.”

“That sounds like fun.” Lisa’s blue eyes grew dreamy. “Living above a horse is about as close to one as you can get.”

“Okay,” Carole agreed. “Let’s meet at Pine Hollow tomorrow and try to convince Max.”

“Good idea,” said Stevie, scraping up her last bite of ice cream. “How can he possibly turn us down if all three of us wonderful, beautiful young riders are there begging him?”

“I can’t imagine, Stevie,” Carole laughed as they scooted out of the booth and walked over to the cash register. “How could he say no to anyone who can eat fudge brownie ice cream sprinkled with orange dots?”

The girls paid their bill, then agreed to meet at the stable at ten the next morning. Carole waved as Stevie and Lisa began to walk toward their homes; then she turned and hurried to the bus stop in front of
the shopping center. She and her dad, who was a colonel in the Marine Corps, lived farther away from Pine Hollow than her friends, and Carole often had to take a bus ride before she could take a horseback ride.