Beach Ride (6 page)

When the last note had been sounded, and the last paper plate put in the last plastic bag, it was time to fold up the last of the chairs and get ready to go back to Aunt Joanna’s.

Carole and Midge seemed to be the ones working on the chairs. Carole hadn’t seen much of Midge since they’d left Joanna’s house, but when she had seen her, she’d been near Mitch Hanson. Both her father and Midge seemed to be smiling a lot. It gave Carole a funny feeling. She loved her father and wanted him to be happy, but she felt a certain loyalty to Mrs. Dana. Yet she liked Midge. Still she didn’t know how she would feel if her father actually married
somebody. Dating was one thing. Living with somebody else was another.

“I like your family,” Midge said.

“So do I,” Carole said.

“I hope I get to see more of them,” said Midge.

“I hope you do, too,” said Carole. She meant it, too. And she found that even more confusing.

Carole had learned that there were some things in life she wasn’t going to understand, and these confused feelings were among them. She shrugged, picked up the next chair, folded it, and handed it to Midge to put on the pile. The reunion was over. She’d had a wonderful time and met lots of relatives she liked. She’d also met a nonrelative she liked. What was the big deal about that?

Now it was time to start hugging people all over again—this time to say good-bye. When the last hug had been hugged, Carole and her dad climbed into Uncle Willie’s car for the drive home. Carole was exhausted. She fell asleep in the car, dreaming about family, food, games, songs—and Midge Ford.

S
TEVIE AND
L
ISA
were so excited about their secret that they could barely keep from telling Alice. But they knew, as they set out on their trail ride on Sunday, that Alice would find out soon enough.

“You’re going to love the trails here,” Stevie said to her. “They’re beautiful, and fun to ride. They just always seem to have surprises for us, too.”

“You mean you get lost?” Alice asked. She sounded a little nervous.

“No, we don’t get lost,” Lisa assured her. “Even if we did, the horses would always be able to find the way home. They’re like the pigeons who always know
where to go. The horses always know where to go to get food and water!”

It was true. More than one horse had brought an unwary rider back to the stables simply because the rider hadn’t taken control of the horse. That wasn’t going to happen with the three of them, though. Stevie and Lisa knew exactly where they were going.

It was fun for them to have a new rider to whom they could introduce all the wonderful things about Pine Hollow and the surrounding trails. The girls talked easily, with Stevie and Lisa filling Alice in on all the fun they’d been having riding at Pine Hollow.

They told her about the mock hunt and the fox hunt; they told her about the time they’d helped the police uncover a ring of horsenappers; they told her about the time the colt, Samson, had been stuck in the briars and Carole had rescued him.

“Remember the first time we took you on a trail ride?” Stevie asked Lisa.

She did. She remembered that they’d gone through a field that had a bull in it, and they had to jump a four-foot-high fence to get away from him! That memory could still make Lisa’s heart skip a beat.

“Sure,” Lisa said, trying to shift the topic. “And remember the time we had to ride like crazy to get away from a forest fire?”

“A forest fire?” Alice asked. She looked around at the woods and didn’t see any sign of damage.

“It wasn’t here,” Lisa explained. “We were on a pack trip in the Rockies.”

“It must have been scary,” said Alice.

“It was. Especially when we had to jump our Western-trained horses over a fallen tree. Western saddles were definitely not made for jumping. Not like these, I mean.”

“I wouldn’t know,” Alice said.

From Alice’s tone of voice Lisa could tell that Alice wasn’t interested in hearing more about jumping and how wonderful it was. But Lisa hoped that would all change after her first successful experience, which would occur in just a few minutes. They were nearing the spot on the trail where they’d left the tree trunk.

“Let’s trot now,” Stevie said.

“Is the ground smooth enough?” Alice asked.

“Oh, sure,” Stevie said. “In fact, up ahead it gets even smoother and we can canter. Are you ready?”

“Definitely,” Alice said. “I’m having a great time with you two. I just like to be on the safe side.”

“I couldn’t agree with you more,” Stevie said as she signaled Topside to begin trotting.

“Trust us,” Lisa said from behind. “You’re safe with us all the way.”

“I know,” Alice said. “You’re my kind of riders!”

The horses all began trotting then. Lisa held her breath. The tree was less than fifty yards away now. Stevie, in the lead, began cantering. That was the safest way to approach a jump. Starlight followed, just about twenty feet behind. Lisa, twenty feet behind Alice and Starlight, cantered as well.

Then, as Lisa knew it would, the path veered quite sharply to the left. They’d placed the jump about ten feet after the turn. Lisa listened carefully for the sound of Topside’s jump, but couldn’t hear it. She urged Barq forward then. She didn’t want to miss Alice’s jump.

The second Stevie landed, she drew Topside to the side of the trail and turned him around. She just had to see the look on Alice’s face when she went over her first jump.

Starlight came around the bend at a rapid canter. He didn’t even bat an eye when he spotted the tree trunk across the trail. He maintained his speed, and then just as if he’d been born to do it, he rose, pushing off with his strong rear legs and soaring over the obstacle.

Stevie couldn’t contain her excitement.

“Wasn’t that wonderful?” she asked, riding over to where Alice had drawn Starlight to a halt. “You did it
perfectly. We knew you would. You’re a natural jumper!”

Barq and Lisa completed the jump then and drew up beside Alice and Stevie.

“Wasn’t it great?” Lisa asked. “Jumps in a ring are fine, but the best ones are the natural obstacles. Starlight knew just what to do, didn’t he?”

Alice hadn’t said anything, and that became the first indication to Lisa that maybe something was wrong.

“Are you all right?” Lisa asked.

“Of course she’s all right,” Stevie said, dismissing the question. “She jumped like the champion we knew she would be. She’s not just all right. She’s wonderful.”

“You planned this?” Alice asked the girls.

“Sure did,” Stevie said proudly. “And it worked, didn’t it? Now you have a whole new thing to learn about riding. Not that there’s much to learn, considering how well you went over your first jump!”

“You intentionally put that log where I wouldn’t see it and where Starlight would just go over it?”

“It took a while to find the right place,” Stevie said. “But we obviously picked the perfect one, right?”

“Perfect for what?” Alice said. There was a sharpness
in her voice that finally alerted even Stevie to the fact that something was definitely wrong.

“Perfect to show you that jumping is wonderful and you have all the skills you need to do it very well,” Stevie answered her. She was feeling a little defensive and hurt by the fact that Alice didn’t seem to appreciate all the work she and Lisa had gone to to make this be just right.

“And who asked you to do it and said it would be okay?” Alice demanded. “Max Regnery wasn’t behind this, was he?”

“No,” Lisa said. “Max didn’t know anything about it. It was our idea. We thought it was a good one.”

“You thought wrong,” Alice said.

Then, without a word, she turned Starlight around and began walking him back to Pine Hollow. She had him step back over the tree trunk very carefully.

“Alice?” Lisa called.

“Leave me alone.”

“We just want to help,” said Stevie.

“Then leave me alone from now on,” retorted Alice. That was the last word she said to them. She never turned around again as she and Starlight made their way back.

“Shouldn’t we go with her?” Lisa asked Stevie. She was concerned about Alice.

“What for?” Stevie said. “You heard her say she doesn’t want to talk to us or be with us. We have to move the tree trunk off the trail now anyway.”

“Won’t she get lost?”

“Starlight knows the way. He’ll get her back to the stable.”

“Won’t Max be angry with us for letting her ride back alone?” Lisa asked.

“So what else is new? He’d be angrier if he knew we’d lied about clearing the path,” Stevie said.

The girls dismounted and secured their horses to a tree branch while they went to work moving the tree trunk a final time.

When the tree trunk was safely off the trail and into the woods, Lisa sat down on it, put her elbows on her knees and her chin in her hands.

“I don’t understand,” she said. “We were just trying to help. Why is Alice so angry with us?”

“I’ve been thinking about it, and I’ve decided that she’s probably not all that angry,” Stevie said. “It’s just that we surprised her. Maybe she’s really angry with herself for letting so many jumping opportunities go by without trying it before now. The way I figure it, by the time she gets back to Pine Hollow, she’ll be really glad we tricked her and ashamed that she rode off alone.”

“Maybe,” said Lisa.

“Why, I bet she’s waiting for us so that she can apologize,” Stevie went on. “She’s probably talked to Mrs. Reg and signed up for a zillion jump classes for the rest of the time she’s here.”

“Maybe,” said Lisa.

But that wasn’t the case. By the time they returned to Pine Hollow, there was no sign of Alice. The only indication that she’d been there at all was the fact that Starlight was standing in the paddock, tacked up and riderless.

W
ITHOUT A WORD
Stevie and Lisa began doing the work they knew they had to do. First, they took care of the horses they’d been riding, untacking and grooming Topside and Barq. Then, when that was done and they’d each brought fresh hay and water to the horses, the girls met in Starlight’s stall to take care of him. That was when Mrs. Reg appeared.

Mrs. Reg was Max’s mother, and she was a friendly person, kind and motherly. She was well-known for her habit of keeping young riders busy with chores that needed to be done around the stable and for her endless supply of stories. Whenever something happened, Mrs. Reg told a story that didn’t seem the least
bit relevant to the circumstances. It usually took the girls a while to figure out what the point was, but when they did, they almost always learned something.

This time Mrs. Reg didn’t have a chore, nor did she have a story. But she certainly had a piece of her mind to give to Stevie and Lisa.

“I saw that horse in his stall, all lathered up, with his tack on,” she accused. “I don’t know what you two think you were doing, but you didn’t do it right. Alice Jackson came through here in a storm, just leaving Starlight alone. You two were responsible for her since she’s a new rider here, and it was your job to see to it that she took proper care of your friend’s horse.”

“But Mrs. Reg—” Stevie began.

“No buts. You know the rules.”

“We did take care of him,” Lisa protested.

“After he’d been standing in his stall for a full half hour,” Mrs. Reg said.

This didn’t seem fair to Stevie. After all, they weren’t responsible for the fact that Alice had ridden off in a huff. Nor could they help the fact that they had to stay in the woods to clear the path.

“But we—”

“No excuses,” said Mrs. Reg. With that, she turned on her heel and marched back to her office, leaving the girls even more befuddled.

“That wasn’t fair,” said Stevie.

“Well, we couldn’t tell her what we were doing in the woods, could we? We’d already told Max that we cleared the trail. It’s a good thing she didn’t know we lied to him. Then she’d
really
be angry.”

“Well, we were that lucky, but it still wasn’t fair that Alice left Starlight alone and left us to take the rap for it. She knows better than to leave a lathered horse tacked up in his stall.”

“Maybe she didn’t even cool him down,” said Lisa. “Is he going to stiffen up? Should I walk him now?”