Western Star (2 page)

Their Pony Club met on Saturdays at Pine Hollow. The riders had named the club Horse Wise because that was what they hoped it would help them become—wise about horses. Meetings started at nine o’clock on Saturday mornings and lasted until early afternoon. That would leave a very short time to do any more shopping. Lisa was going to have to get her mother to take her over to the mall right after Horse Wise.

“Maybe we’ll get to town while we’re at the Bar None,” Carole said.

“It’s a teeny little town,” Lisa reminded her. “And besides, who wants to go into town when there’s so much to do at the ranch?”

“And so little time to do it,” said Stevie. “This
is
going to be a short trip.”

“Then it means that we’re going to have to work harder to pack all that fun into three days,” Lisa said.

“There she goes again, being logical!” Stevie teased.

“Well, if I’m really going to be logical, then I’m going to have to start thinking about packing now. There won’t be much time tomorrow, and on Sunday we’re out of here first thing in the morning,” Lisa said.

They all agreed it was the sensible thing to do.

“See you tomorrow!”

“Good night.”

“Happy trails.”

But Lisa didn’t start thinking about her packing right then. First she needed to think about Christmas. She went to sleep thinking about finding the perfect Christmas presents for the two best friends in the world.

“N
OW
,
COLUMNS SPLIT
and circle back at a trot!”

Stevie kept her eyes forward and sat straight in the saddle. Max wanted all the riders to go through the whole drill practice with military precision. If the movements weren’t precise, then the whole thing just looked like a bunch of horses and riders milling around a ring.

Belle perked up her ears. Belle was a mixed-breed horse, part Arabian, part American Saddlebred. There were probably some other parts in there as well, and Stevie was convinced that one of them was mind reader. Belle had a way of seeming to know exactly what Stevie was about to ask her to do.

Stevie turned Belle to the left and trotted the length
of the ring, following one length behind Carole, who was leading the column of riders through the drill.

“Nice turn, Stevie, nice,” said Max.

Stevie could barely keep her jaw from dropping. Max was very good at pointing out eight things a rider was doing wrong at once. He wasn’t as good at talking about what a rider was doing right. She was very pleased by his praise and couldn’t help smiling.

“All right now, cut across the middle … don’t bump into one another … and back into a double column,” Max called out.

Finally the practice was over. Max asked all the riders to line up in front of him, and he gave comments to each of them.

“Carole, you’ve got to keep Starlight at an even pace.”

“Yes, Max,” Carole said.

“Veronica, you must pay attention. If you’re not paying attention, how can you expect Garnet to follow my directions?”

Veronica didn’t answer. She just pursed her lips, obviously annoyed. Veronica rarely answered when someone criticized her. That was the way she was. The Saddle Club exchanged smirks while Veronica coolly stared straight ahead.

Max had dozens of other reminders for the riders. Toes in, heels down, remember to change diagonals without being told, don’t forget the pattern, and maintain an
even pace,
especially
when doing a crossover. Boys and girls were trying to take in everything Max was saying so that they wouldn’t make the same mistakes again. Everybody wanted the demonstration to be perfect when they performed it in a couple of weeks.

Stevie waited for her list of criticisms, but they didn’t come. Max had nothing bad to say about the way she’d ridden, which was extremely rare. Stevie decided she’d remember this day for a long time.

“Now, there’s one other thing,” Max said. His eyes rested on Stevie for a second. Maybe this day wouldn’t be memorable after all, she thought. Maybe he had just saved her for last because her list of faults was much longer than everyone else’s.

“It has to do with Wednesday …,” Max continued.

Wednesday? They didn’t have class on Wednesday and no more Pony Club until next Saturday. What was Wednesday? It was the day they were getting back from the Bar None. It was Christmas Eve. It was—

“The Starlight Ride—for those of you who are new here—is our annual Christmas Eve event. It’s a nighttime trail ride through the woods. We will end up at the town green, where everybody is invited to sing holiday songs and have hot cocoa and doughnuts.”

The Starlight Ride was one of Stevie’s favorite Pine Hollow traditions. There was something totally wonderful about riding at night. The path through the
woods was decorated with princess pine and lit with twinkling lanterns. It was a magical event.

“As you know, every year I select a special rider to lead the trail ride. It’s an honor because it’s not an easy thing to do. It takes someone with confidence and good judgment, someone who can be responsible and set an even pace for the other riders. It’s also a way I have of honoring a rider who has made a lot of progress during the year.”

Stevie smiled, remembering when Carole had had the honor. She had been riding a borrowed horse—one that her father, though she didn’t know it, had already bought for her Christmas present. Starlight had been named for the ride. She could still see Carole with the torch in her hand, leading all of Pine Hollow through the woods. It had been a great night.

“And this year, it’s clear to me that the rider I most want to honor and who will do a fine job for us is Stevie Lake.”

Stevie shook her head. What was it Max had just said? It sounded like her name, but that really wasn’t possible. She wasn’t the kind of girl who got honored. She was the kind of girl who got sent to the principal’s office. It must have been somebody whose name sounded like hers.

On either side of her, her best friends were grinning.

“Yay, Stevie!” Lisa said.

“I knew it! I just
knew
it!” Carole said. She reached over and clapped Stevie on the back.

“Me?” Stevie said.

“Of course it’s you, silly,” Lisa told her. “You’re going to lead us all!”

“Really?” Stevie asked.

“You’ll be up for it, won’t you?” Max asked.

Stevie felt a grin spreading over her face. Max had chosen her to lead the Starlight Ride. She, Stevie Lake, was going to be the front rider.

“Leading this group through the woods?” she said. “Sure, it’s a piece of cake. It’s just like a game of Follow the Leader, right? Let’s see—we can go in circles, maybe ride backward in our saddles—I guess there isn’t anybody else at Pine Hollow who is better at Follow the Leader than I am—”

“Um, Stevie,” Max said. He sounded as if he had become just a little dubious about his choice.

“Joke, Max. It’s a joke,” Stevie assured him. “I will be the best Starlight Ride leader you’ve ever known.” Then she thought about the night Carole had led the ride. “Or at least the
second
best,” she corrected herself, making everybody laugh.

“All right, then I want you all here by six o’clock to tack up. We’ll have inspection at six-thirty, and the trail ride will begin at seven. It’s going to be cold. Wear
proper riding clothes, but also be sure to wear warm jackets and gloves.”

He went through a long checklist of the things everybody should bring and the things everybody should remember. Stevie knew she should be listening, but her thoughts kept drifting. All she wanted to do was picture herself leading the Starlight Ride.

What a wonderful Christmas it was turning out to be. First the trip to the Bar None and now this. That meant Wednesday was going to be a busy day. Their plane was supposed to land back in D.C. in the middle of the afternoon. Then they’d have to drive through heavy traffic back to Virginia. They’d make it, though. For something as important as the Starlight Ride, nothing could go wrong.

“Stevie, do you have any questions?” Max asked before he dismissed the group.

“Just one,” Stevie said. “Could somebody pinch me?”

Lisa and Carole were only too happy to oblige.

Max told all the riders to untack and groom their horses and ponies. The meeting was over.

Stevie, Carole, and Lisa cross tied their horses in a row so that they could chat as they untacked and groomed. Carole talked practically nonstop about how happy she was for Stevie.

“It’s really a great honor, you know. We all know you’ve been working hard with Belle ever since you got
her, and now we know that Max knows it, too. What’s more, he knows all the progress you’ve made. Just wait until he hands you that torch and you go out in front of all the other riders. It’s the greatest feeling in the world. Belle’s going to like it, too. She’s a show-off, you know. She likes being the center of things—”

“Oh, Stevie, this is going to be so great!” Lisa said, interrupting Carole’s analysis. “It’s exciting.”

“And mostly it’s going to be fun,” Stevie said.

Stevie considered that the most important part of the Starlight Ride—the fact that it was fun.

For a while the girls worked in silence. Stevie had gotten so excited about the Starlight Ride that she forgot she had to hurry now. Her father had promised to take her to the mall to shop for Lisa and Carole, if and only if she got home by three o’clock. She looked at her watch. She had twenty minutes. She brushed Belle faster.

Carole’s mind was racing. She had to catch the 3:15 bus to the mall to finish her Christmas shopping. She didn’t think she had much time, but she didn’t want to look at her watch. She didn’t want her friends to know she was in a hurry because she still had to buy them presents.

Lisa kept glancing through the dingy window of the stable to see if her mother’s car was there yet. Her mother had agreed to pick her up at Pine Hollow to take her out to the mall. Finally the car pulled in. Now the
trick was going to be getting out to it without letting her friends know what she was up to. She didn’t want them to know she was going to the mall to look for their Christmas gifts. Lisa looked at her watch. She couldn’t wait any longer. She finished grooming Prancer.

“Oh boy,” she said, dropping a dandy brush into Prancer’s grooming bucket. “I’ve got to go. Mom’s here. We’re going to my godmother’s for tea this afternoon. You guys doing anything?” she asked, trying to sound casual.

“Nothing as exciting as tea with your godmother,” Carole said. “I have to catch the three-fifteen bus so I can get home and wash my hair this afternoon.”

“What about you, Stevie?” Lisa asked.

“I’m going straight home. I’ve got some, um … I need to … well … ironing. I have to iron all my clothes so I can pack tonight,” Stevie said.

Well, that answered that. Lisa could head for the mall without worrying about getting caught. She told her friends she’d see them in the morning, then took Prancer back to her stall and hurried out of Pine Hollow.

Her mother reached over and opened the door to their car. Lisa climbed in. She was glad her friends didn’t remember that her godmother lived in Missouri.

“M
EET ME BACK
here in one hour, Stevie, okay?” her father said to her as they got out of the car in the mall parking lot.

Stevie looked at her watch. It was 3:35. One hour wasn’t much time. She nodded and waved to her father, then ran more than walked into the first store she found.

I’ve got to get something perfect for Lisa and Carole
, she thought. She looked around, her eyes scanning the shelves, convinced that she would see the perfect thing in an instant—or at least in less than an hour.

There was nothing on the shelves around her, and for a moment she couldn’t understand why. Then it came to her: She was in a hardware store. In a way it wasn’t
surprising. That was the store her father was going to. He was giving himself a new power drill for Christmas. But somehow she didn’t think she was going to find the perfect gift for The Saddle Club in a hardware store.

There isn’t a wrench in the world good enough for my friends!
Stevie declared to herself with a giggle as she headed into the main passageway of the mall.