Starting Gate (9 page)

Carole sighed and nodded.

“And now you won’t be able to compete either, because Starlight is in the middle of a traffic jam somewhere in Oklahoma.”

“Well, I’ve been in lots of competitions,” Carole said softly. “And I’ll be in lots more. Missing one isn’t going to kill me.” She looked at the others, then she began to blink back tears. “I am beginning to worry about Starlight, though. He and the other horses have been in that trailer an awfully long time.”

“Hi, everybody.”

The girls looked up. Deborah stood there, her mouth curled down in a disgusted line. Max pulled out the chair beside him and motioned for her to sit down.

“I just wanted to let you guys know that I’ve got good news and bad news.”

“Are the horses okay?” Carole blurted out as Stevie froze with her spoon halfway between her yogurt and her mouth.

Deborah gave a soft smile. “Oh, yes,” she assured Carole. “The horses are fine.”

“Thank heavens!” said Stevie.

“I just finished talking to the man who is actually driving the van that’s carrying the horses. He said he was terribly sorry for all the delays, and he’s expecting to arrive first thing in the morning.”

“Did he give any explanation for why the horses aren’t here now?” asked Lisa.

“He said he got poor instructions from the first driver,” reported Deborah.

“I knew it!” cried Stevie. “That guy was a nitwit! He didn’t even know where California was!”

“Well, he’s no longer with the company,” said Deborah. “The man I talked to assured me that the horses are fine and healthy. In fact, he’s going to stop for the night at a place where he can let them out into a paddock so they’ll have some kind of a break from the trip.”

“I don’t know,” Carole worried out loud. “I still wish there was some way we could really find out if our horses were okay.”

“I heard each of them on the guy’s cell phone,” said Deborah.

“Huh?” Max looked at her. “You talked to the horses?”

“I sure did,” replied Deborah. “I told him I wasn’t going to be satisfied until I heard each one snort, whinny, and munch. He took his cell phone to each stall, and I heard good, healthy sounds from each.” She looked at the girls and laughed. “Although, to be honest, I wasn’t absolutely positive I could tell the difference between Danny’s snort and Belle’s nicker.”

The girls looked at each other, then began to laugh. Maxi was laughing right along with them when Max’s cell phone chirped.

“Hold her a minute,” he said, passing Maxi to Deborah as he flipped open the phone.

“Hello?” he said into the tiny receiver. “Oh, hi, Mom!”

The girls could hear the sound of Mrs. Reg’s voice all the way across the table.

“You talked to the driver of the van?” Max winked as Mrs. Reg continued. “And he told you he’d be here tomorrow, and that everything was fine?”

Max nodded as his mother talked on. “And even though he thought you were crazy, you made him take his cell phone around to each stall so that you could hear each individual horse?”

The girls giggled. Mrs. Reg had done exactly the same thing Deborah had!

Grinning, Max kept repeating what Mrs. Reg was saying. “He said, ‘I’ll do it, but you won’t be able to tell the difference between any of them!’ ”

Max listened a moment, than laughed. “Say that again, Mom. I want the girls to hear you.”

He held the phone in the middle of the breakfast table. Mrs. Reg’s voice came through loud and clear. “He didn’t think I would know the difference between Danny and Belle and Prancer and Starlight! Imagine! Of course I know the difference. And all four are absolutely fine!”

“L
ADIES AND GENTLEMEN
, our last contestant in today’s final event is Alana White from San Antonio, Texas, riding her horse, Spirit.” The announcer’s voice rang over the arena as a small, trim rider guided her prancing black Arabian into the ring.

“Wow,” Carole breathed. “What a wonderful-looking pair.”

“I know,” said Lisa. “They’re so far ahead in points they could do this course at a walk and still win.”

“I’m hot,” grumbled Stevie, digging in her backpack for a bottle of water. “I’m glad this is the last event.”

Lisa turned and frowned. “Haven’t you enjoyed this, Stevie? I feel like I’ve learned tons of stuff just from watching all the different horses and riders.”

“Oh, sure I have,” answered Stevie, taking a long drink of water. “It’s been great, but I can’t help thinking that if Carole had been able to ride Starlight in these events, we’d be cheering for her instead of that girl from Texas.”

“Well, that’s true,” Lisa agreed sadly.

Suddenly the stadium erupted in shouts. The Texas rider had ridden the course perfectly, her horse bounding over the jumps as lightly as a feather. The Saddle Club stood up and cheered as well. They knew when someone had done an exquisite job of riding and had earned a round of applause. As they watched, the horse and rider from Texas rode to the center of the ring and collected a blue ribbon and silver tray from the judge. Waving to the crowd, the girl rode a victory lap around the arena, a big grin on her face.

“She did a wonderful job!” exclaimed Carole. “I’m going to try a few of her tricks on Starlight the next time I ride him.”

“Wonder when that will be?” said Stevie as they jumped from bleacher to bleacher, heading for the ground.

“Oh, maybe by next Christmas,” Carole sighed. “If I’m lucky.”

They joined the crowd that was slowly moving toward the gate. “Gee,” said Lisa. “It’s only two o’clock in the afternoon, and everything’s over.”

“That’s right.” Stevie shouldered her backpack and sighed, too. “No horses to look after, and no events to practice for. There’s absolutely no point in staying here at Ashford Farms. What shall we do?”

“Knott’s Berry Farm?” suggested Lisa. “Disneyland?”

Carole shook her head. “Since we’ve already been watching horses all day, why don’t we go over and see how things are going for Skye?”

“How will we get there?” asked Stevie.

“I don’t know,” said Carole. “It’s a two-mile walk, which is too long to do in riding boots. I guess we could call a cab.”

“I don’t think we’re going to have to,” said Lisa, peering into the parking lot just beyond the gate. “Isn’t that Stephan, standing beside that big black limo? And isn’t he motioning to us?”

“It sure is!” cried Stevie, waving back. “Looks like Skye had exactly the same idea we did.”

Stephan drove them to the set, where Jess was waiting for them, their guest passes in hand.

“Hi, girls,” he said worriedly. “I’m really glad Stephan found you.”

“Stephan said Skye needed us.” Carole frowned with concern. “What’s going on?”

“You’ve been on a movie set before, haven’t you?” Jess asked as he led them over to the barn.

“Yes,” Stevie replied.

“Then you know that often we shoot out of sequence—sometimes scenes that are at the end of the movie are shot the first day of production.”

“And?” Lisa asked, hurrying along behind Jess.

“And today Skye’s shooting one of the final scenes—where his character, C.G., and Mabel have created a really close bond. The same close bond that will enable them to win the big race, which is being shot tomorrow.”

“Is it a difficult scene?” asked Carole.

“It shouldn’t be,” replied Jess. “All Skye has to do is put her on a lead, take her to a place where he can put on her tack, and then tack her up. With all the stagehands we have handing him stuff off-camera, the whole thing should take about five minutes.”

Jess stopped as they neared the big lights and cameras. “The only problem is Mabel. She’s been nuts all day. Nothing Skye does seems to help, and George, the trainer, just makes it worse.”

“Quiet on the set!” a loud voice called in their direction. They all turned. Shev Bayliss was scowling at them from behind a camera.

“Sorry, Shev,” explained Jess. “These are Skye’s guests. We didn’t know you were ready to shoot.”

“Well, we are,” Shev growled. He stared angrily at the girls for another moment, then spoke again. “Take them over to those seats behind camera two,”
he snarled. “And make sure they keep their mouths shut.”

Embarrassed by Shev’s rudeness, Jess shrugged at the girls, then led them over to a row of seats behind one of the huge cameras. From there they could immediately see that everything was going wrong. George Gamble had just slammed Mabel’s stall door shut, and Marcella was leading horse after horse in front of the stall. Mabel’s ears were slapped back, and she was tossing her head in an angry, nervous way. Skye was talking to her and trying to calm her down, but nothing seemed to be doing any good.

“That horse is going to be a basket case by the time they start shooting,” whispered Stevie.

“That horse is a basket case right now,” said Carole. “So is Skye. And they haven’t even begun to roll the film!”

Shev turned toward them and held up one finger.

“We’d better be quiet,” whispered Lisa, “or he’s going to throw us off the set.”

“Okay, everybody, are we ready?” called a tall blond man who they assumed was the main director.

“The horse is,” replied George. “I’m not so sure about our star.”

“I’m ready.” Skye looked over and smiled at the girls, but he looked almost as edgy as Mabel did.

“Okay,” the director called. “Scene fifty-six. Take one. Action!”

The cameras rolled. Skye moved slowly toward Mabel, lead rope in hand. “Hi, girl,” he began, reciting his lines. “Are you ready to show them what you can do?”

“Cut!” The director’s voice roared over the set. “Try it again. The horse was looking the other way.”

“You really need to get her attention, Skye,” George called. “She’s not one of your little fans that you can just flutter your eyelashes at.”

Skye backed up to his mark, ready to try again.

“Okay, folks. Scene fifty-six. Take two,” called the director. “Action!”

Again Skye stepped forward, holding the lead. “Hi, girl,” he said. “Are you ready to show them what you can do?”

This time Mabel looked at him with soulful brown eyes, but when he moved to clip the lead on her halter, she slapped her ears back and bared her teeth.

“Cut!” the director snapped again.

“Ransom, you’re coming at her too hard. She’s going to bite you every time!” yelled George.

The Saddle Club looked at each other. Skye had done nothing that would make Mabel bite. In fact, he had clipped a lead rope on Mabel exactly the same way just the day before. Something weird was going on.

They turned their attention back to the set, where take three was about to begin. Everything went well,
except the director yelled “Cut!” when Mabel tossed her head at the very moment Skye snapped her lead on.

Take four was cut when Mabel gave a loud snort just as Skye was delivering his lines.

On take five, Mabel kicked the stall, and by the time the director yelled “Cut!” on take six, everybody on the set was a nervous wreck.

“I don’t know what’s the matter with you people!” the director screamed at Skye and the rest of the crew. “This is the simplest scene in the movie. Boy greets horse, boy clips a lead line on her, boy saddles her up. If he’s going to ride her to victory the next day, that should not be a problem!”

Skye began to say something when the director turned to George.

“What’s your advice here, George? You’re in charge of these creatures.”

“Take a break,” said George, shooting a look of disgust at Skye. “The horse needs to calm down. Ransom’s upset her too much to go on.”

“Take a break?” The director looked at George in disbelief. “Do you know how much it costs per day to film a movie?”

George shrugged. “I warned you and the producers. This is what happens when you put inexperienced actors together with high-strung horses.”

“Okay, okay.” The director shook his head. “I
guess you’re right. Take ten, everybody! And come back ready to do this in one take!”

Suddenly everybody disappeared. Cameramen, sound people, assistants, and set decorators all scurried back to their trailers. Skye threw his lead line down on the ground and stalked off to a far corner of the stable.

“Come on,” said Lisa. “Let’s go talk to Skye. He looks like he could use some friends.”

“Good idea.” Carole bounded out of her chair. She was halfway across the set when she looked back at Stevie, who hadn’t moved.

“Aren’t you coming, Stevie?” she called.

“You go ahead,” said Stevie. “I’ll catch up with you guys later.”

“Okay.” Carole glanced once at Stevie, then she hurried over to an empty stall far away from Mabel, where Lisa was talking to Skye.

“I may not be a genius when it comes to horses,” he was saying, angrily kicking a bale of hay. “But I do know a little bit about them. And I know that none of this is my fault!”

“That’s absolutely right, Skye,” said Carole. “None of this is your fault. Everybody has done everything they can to make that poor animal crazy!”

“That’s true,” said Lisa. “First George jerks her around, then they parade all those horses in front of
her. No horse should be treated that way, especially when it’s expected to be calm for a camera!”