Hay Fever (6 page)

“Great,” Margery said.

“And now that that’s settled, I’m afraid Carole and I should really be off. We’ve got an office to visit, barracks to inspect, and a firing range to view,” Colonel Hanson said.

“Sounds fun,” Margery said. “And we’ll have time to catch up on the Fourth. So enjoy your day on base, Carole.” She gave Carole a quick hug good-bye.

Sitting in the jeep, Carole sent a mental thank-you up to Cupid. She was positive that Max and Margery would hit it off.

The next stop was a large brick building where Colonel Hanson had his office. He wanted to introduce Carole to his administrative assistant, Sergeant Major Kiernan. A smiling woman met them at the door. “You must be Carole,” she said kindly.

“Carole, meet Sergeant Major Kathleen Kiernan, the highest-ranking noncommissioned officer on base,” Carole’s father said.

Carole’s jaw dropped. The officer was young, pretty, and thin. She wore her black hair pulled back neatly into a bun. Recovering her composure, Carole shook hands with Sergeant Kiernan.

“I’ve got a couple of things to take care of, so I’ll leave you two to get to know each other,” Colonel Hanson said.

This time it didn’t take Carole any time at all to extend the invitation for the Fourth of July picnic.

“I’d love to go, but I’m planning to spend the day with my daughter,” Sergeant Kiernan explained. “I’m a single mom, so I don’t get to see her as often as I’d like.”

“That’s okay,” Carole said. “You can bring her, too.”

“Really? That would be great. She just loves horses, so it’ll be a real treat for her.”

“Perfect,” Carole said.

“Now let me show you around while your dad’s busy,” the sergeant offered. Carole prepared herself to be bored. She just wasn’t that interested in office work, even on a Marine base. Little did she know that five other single women worked in the adjoining offices. Before her father returned, Carole had convinced all of them to come to the picnic, too. There were even two married women who got so excited by Carole’s enthusiasm about the horses and games that they wanted to come, and Carole just didn’t have the heart to say no. She couldn’t wait to tell Lisa and Stevie. They would be so excited at her success.

When Colonel Hanson came to pick her up again and take her out to see the barracks, she had no more idea of what he did in his office than before, but she had half a dozen wife candidates lined up for Max. Carole decided that maybe she should forget her idea to ride, train, and vet horses professionally when she got older and start a singles dating service instead!

S
TEVIE MANAGED TO
arrive at Pine Hollow the next morning only fifteen minutes late, instead of several hours. She hustled to catch up with Lisa and Carole, who were all set to go on a trail ride.

Catching a glimpse of the two of them leading Barq and Starlight by Topside’s stall, she called, “Two seconds and I’ll be all tacked up—promise!”

“You know,” Stevie continued, leading Topside out of his stall a few minutes later, “it’s not true what they say. Money
can
buy happiness.”

“Why do you say that? You’re not thinking of charging admission to the picnic, are you?” Lisa asked. She was always suspicious of Stevie’s money-raising schemes, many of which had been known to backfire.

“No, nothing of the kind. Even though Max is going to make the perfect husband, I don’t think we need to make people pay to catch a glimpse of him. I was just thinking how happy I am that I decided to pay Michael to do the dusting and clean the bathrooms so that I could go trail riding with you guys. Now, if only my mother would have the same realization and decide to pay someone to clean the house, everything would be perfect.”

“But why should she, when she has you?” Carole teased.

“Exactly. And we’re free,” Stevie said ruefully. Even though the Lakes were well-off, Mrs. Lake didn’t like to pay for things that she felt her children could do for themselves.

Carole and Lisa had tied Starlight and Barq to the rings on the outside of the barn while they waited for Stevie. As all three walked in that direction, they overheard Max instructing someone on how to tack up. “That’s weird,” Stevie said. “Doesn’t he have a lesson in about two minutes?”

Lisa nodded. “Yeah, and usually he’d get another student to help, or ask Red.” Red O’Malley was the head stable hand. He could always be counted on to help a beginner, give horsey advice, or just have a talk with.

Coming around the corner, they saw Delilah cross-tied in the aisle. Max had a bridle slung over one shoulder
and a saddle in his hands. Deborah Hale looked on attentively. Max was speaking very patiently.

“Now, do you remember how to put the saddle on?” he asked gently.

Deborah stared at Delilah’s back. “Umm,” she said nervously, “you, um, put it in the middle of the back.”

The Saddle Club all felt a pang of pity for Deborah. They knew she was about to receive a harsh lecture from Max. If he told students something once, he expected them to remember it for good.

To their surprise Max bit his lip. “Right—that’s right. That is definitely right.
Eventually
the saddle should be just about in the middle. But the important thing to remember is that you put the saddle forward on the withers and then slide it back toward the croup—and not vice versa—so that the hair underneath lies flat. Okay?”

Deborah nodded unhappily. “Okay,” she said in a whisper.

Stevie, Lisa, and Carole looked at each other in amazement. Whatever had been getting to Max earlier in the week was obviously still distracting him. Not only was he being patient and encouraging and understanding with a student who had failed to remember his previous instructions, he was also about to be late for a lesson, and, as far as The Saddle Club knew, Max Regnery the Third had never been late for a lesson in his whole life.
“He doesn’t have time to put up with this,” Stevie said.

“Why don’t we offer to help out?” Carole whispered.

“I’ll take Topside and wait outside. You guys tack up Delilah since you’re a little faster,” Lisa said. Carole handed the reins to Lisa, and she led the bay gelding away.

“Hi, Max. Hi, Deborah,” Carole said.

The two looked up in surprise. They had been so engrossed in the lesson that they hadn’t noticed The Saddle Club standing there watching.

Deborah looked relieved at the interruption. She greeted them warmly.

“Listen, Max, we know you’ve got that adult class starting right now, so why don’t we tack up Delilah for Deborah?” Stevie asked.

Max looked uncertainly from Deborah to the girls and back to Deborah again. Finally he asked, “You really want to tack up Delilah?”

“That’s right,” Carole said cautiously. Was it her imagination, or did Max look vaguely annoyed at her offer?

“Well, all right,” Max said. “But make sure you check over the tack carefully.” He nodded good-bye and hurried away to teach the lesson. As he rounded the corner, he sneezed violently. “Ah-ah-ah-CHOO!” reverberated down the aisle.

“Sure, Max,” Carole said under her breath. “I’ll check
over everything.” She was a little insulted that Max would even remind her and Stevie to do something so basic, but she gritted her teeth and told herself that it never hurt to be reminded of important rules of horsemanship.

The look on Stevie’s face told Carole that her friend was telling herself the same thing.

The two of them got Delilah tacked up in a jiffy. Deborah thanked them politely. “I’m just not used to horses yet, I guess,” she said.

“Don’t worry,” Carole said. “Max’ll have you riding in no time.”

“I don’t know,” Deborah said doubtfully. “It’s a lot easier writing articles about them than learning to groom and tack up and ride them.”

“Are you kidding?” Stevie said. “That’s easy compared to being a big journalist! I mean, look at us, we all know a lot about horses, and we can all ride, and we’re not even in high school yet. What you do is really hard. If you think about it—” Stevie stopped midsentence when she saw the crestfallen look on Deborah’s face. Somehow what she had been trying to say had come out the wrong way. She had meant to compliment Deborah and seemed to have ended up insulting her instead. Now she didn’t know
what
to say.

“Um, have a nice ride,” Carole said, trying to come to Stevie’s rescue. Deborah mumbled her thanks and led
Delilah slowly toward the indoor ring. Stevie and Carole watched her go.

“Is she still writing articles about the track?” Stevie asked.

“I guess so,” Carole said. “Otherwise she probably wouldn’t be here. I don’t think she likes horses that much.”

“Yeah, I guess she really has to do a lot of research for the articles,” Stevie said.

“Anyway, it’s too nice of a day to worry about people who don’t like riding. Come on, we’ve got a picnic to discuss,” Carole said.

The two of them joined Lisa, mounted up, and, by silent mutual consent, headed for Willow Creek, their favorite summer spot, at a brisk trot.

When they entered the woods and slowed to a walk, Lisa brought up the subject they’d all been thinking about. “Isn’t it funny how many attractive, single women you can find once you start looking?” she asked.

“It’s incredible!” Carole said. She related her successful day at the base with Margery Tarr, Sergeant Kiernan, and the others.

“Good job,” Stevie said. “And I’ve got good news, too. First, I saw one of our old baby-sitters jogging yesterday, so I ran alongside her until she agreed to show up. Secondly, Dad was feeling sorry for us last night, so he took
us to TD’s, and I finally convinced the waitress to take the day off and come.”

“How’d you do that?” Lisa asked.

“I promised not to order another blueberry, hot-fudge, caramel, pistachio sundae with nuts and strawberries ever again.”

“You’d do that just for Max?” Carole said, in mock amazement.

“It’s a tough sacrifice, but somebody had to do it,” Stevie said.

“Gee, with Carole’s six and your five and my two—” Lisa began.

“Two?” Carole asked. “I thought there was just the model.”

“Oh, I forgot to tell you that I invited my dad’s secretary, Nicole Gray. I’ve only met her once, but I remember she has very long legs, and those can come in handy for riding. It’s easier to balance, and you look better on a horse.”

“Good point,” Stevie said. “I haven’t really been considering conformation much at all. I was thinking more in terms of stamina and intelligence.”

“Stamina and intelligence alone don’t make a winner,” Carole pointed out judiciously. “You’ve got to have the correct build, too.”

“But remember, the conformations of the sire and dam
have to suit each other, too, to produce the best offspring,” Lisa said.

“True,” Stevie said. “I mean, the son of a Shetland and a Thoroughbred could never be a Derby winner, no matter how nice the Shetland was.”

“Exactly,” Carole and Lisa said in unison. Then Carole added, “I must say, with Margery Tarr’s conformation and intelligence and Max’s general good breeding, you could really have something nice.”

“Don’t forget temperament,” Stevie put in. “And after putting up with four Lakes, our old baby-sitter, Holly, has got nerves of steel.”

“Same goes for my dad’s secretary, Nicole. And I do think a bay—I mean, brunette—would be a nice match for Max,” Lisa said.

“Can’t argue with that,” Carole replied.

When they reached the creek, all three dismounted. “Mm, that water looks cool. I can’t wait to wade in it,” Stevie said.

“I’ll hold the horses first,” Carole volunteered. None of The Saddle Club was ever foolish enough to tie a horse by his bridle. It might look cool on TV Westerns, but it was really quite dangerous. If a horse got spooked and tried to bolt, he could panic, get tangled, hurt his teeth, or worse. So if they didn’t have halters and lead ropes along, they took turns holding the horses.

Carole took all three pairs of reins while Lisa and Stevie stripped off their boots and socks and dangled their feet in the water. Once they were settled, talk of the picnic could continue.

Lisa counted off on her fingers the number of people that were coming. “Let’s see—Tiffani the model, Nicole, my dad’s secretary, six people from the base, right, Carole?”

“Actually,” Carole remembered, “there are eleven people coming from Quantico: six single women, one little girl—Sergeant Kiernan is divorced but has a daughter—and, uh, two married women and their husbands.”

“Married?” Stevie asked. “What are you trying to do, get them divorced?”

Carole laughed. She explained how she just hadn’t been able to bring herself to tell them not to come.

“That’s okay, I’m sure they’ll have fun,” Lisa said. She did some quick mental arithmetic. “Wow, that means eighteen extra people, including the three Cartwright sisters, the waitress, and Stevie’s baby-sitter.”

The conversation stopped momentarily as all three girls imagined the hoard of eligible women—plus married couples and child—descending upon Pine Hollow and, more important, upon Max.

“Who do you think will win?” Stevie asked after a minute.

“Stevie,” Lisa admonished, “it’s not a contest!”