High Horse (7 page)

Last night Stevie was so determined to win Horse Charades that she messed up the clues and turned Joe Novick into a nervous wreck
.

Stevie looked up. This wasn’t true. Their lousy team’s losing had been entirely Joe’s fault.

Stevie read on.

And then when Betsy told Phil that his fire was gooooorgeous, Stevie completely flew off the handle and threw all the kindling in the fire
.

Stevie looked up. Lisa’s English teacher was going to think that Stevie was the biggest idiot on earth. Members of The Saddle Club were supposed to stick with each other through thick and thin, not criticize each other. Lisa might have a point or two here, but how could she say these things about someone who was supposed to be her best friend?

Suddenly it felt as if the journal were burning a hole in Stevie’s lap. She wanted to throw it on the floor. Better yet, she wanted to throw it out in the rain, where it would dissolve and disappear forever.

But then Lisa would know that she had read it. Stevie figured she might as well know the rest of the bad news, so she picked it up and started reading again.

It’s fine to be competitive. That’s one of the things that makes Stevie such a great rider. But last night Stevie got carried away. She let her competitiveness cause even more trouble with Phil
.

Stevie felt her face burn. Who did Lisa think she was?

Just then there was a sound outside the tent. Stevie caught her breath. It must be Lisa. She didn’t want Lisa to know that she had read the journal. Never. No way. She put it where she found it.

When Carole came in, her hair was stuck to her forehead and her nose was shiny. “It’s bad out there,” she said. “The horses are getting spooky. It’s not that they couldn’t handle the rain at first, but there’s been so much. They feel like it’s never going to end.”

Stevie yawned. “Rain always makes me sleepy. I thought I’d come in here and take a rest.”

“Really?” Carole said, looking at her with surprise. “With all that noise?” Carole glanced at the bedroll where Stevie was sitting, noticed that it was Lisa’s, and wondered what was going on.

“So what is Max going to do?” Stevie said quickly.

“He’s going to move the horses into the forest,” Carole said. “It’s safer there. The only problem is that
it isn’t going to be easy to move them. They’re on the edge of panic.”

Carole took off her boots and then her socks. Underneath, her feet looked pale and wrinkled. She rubbed them. “The dampness really gets to you.”

“You can say that again.”

Carole looked at her. “Are you okay? I mean, is there something wrong? You look a little funny.”

“No,” Stevie said. “I’m great. No problem. Feeling excellent, as a matter of fact. I’d better go help with the horses.”

Stevie put on a dry sweater and then pulled her rain jacket over it, tightening the drawstring of the hood. Outside, the oak tree was black with rain, and the grass had disappeared under a sheet of mud.

Stevie took a deep breath and pushed her way through the rain.

L
ISA HAD TRIED
everything, but nothing had worked. Teddy was getting more and more edgy, and she could feel from the tension in his neck and legs that he was about to take off.

Suddenly Phil and the other hikers appeared from the edge of the forest.

“Phil,” Lisa said. “Help! I’m so glad to see you. The horses are getting skittish, and we have to move them under forest cover, but Teddy won’t budge.”

Phil came over and took Teddy’s halter and put his arm around his neck and whispered something in his ear. Teddy snorted, but listened.

Stevie, holding Topside a couple of yards away,
tried to hear what Phil was saying, but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t. Phil leaned close and muttered something else, and Teddy suddenly seemed to relax.

Walking close to Teddy and still talking, Phil led him out the paddock gate toward the forest.

All the other horses were watching the scene. Suddenly Stevie felt Topside relax. It was just like her brother Michael’s behavior at bedtime when he was little, Stevie realized, grinning. He would argue and argue, but once he realized that he had to go, he would get kind of floppy and easy, and then go right to bed.

Stevie and Topside walked through the gate after Phil and Teddy, with the other riders and horses following. Phil led them into the hemlock forest, where it was dark and cool.

“Thanks, Phil,” Max said, leading Garnet into the group of horses. “We’re lucky to have you on the overnight.”

“I’m enjoying it,” Phil said. “I’m learning a lot.” He looked pointedly at Stevie.

What does he mean by that? she wondered.

“The last thing you want to do is let horses panic in a storm,” Max said to the riders. “When they run in
fear, they can hurt themselves, especially when it’s slippery.”

There was a quiet moment while everyone thought of what would have happened if the horses had bolted from the paddock.

“Look,” Phil said.

There was a glint of sun overhead, one sunbeam, as clear and sharp as an icicle.

“Oh,” Amie said.

The sunbeam shivered and split until it was a cluster of rays reaching through the trees.

“It’s like being inside a Christmas tree,” Amie said.

What a perfect image, Lisa thought, as everyone stood watching the sunlight spread over them.

“Back to the meadow,” Max said. “The horses will be glad to see the sunlight, too.”

They had a reverse parade then, walking out of the woods, into the wet grass at the edge of the meadow. Because of the rain, the grass was full of colors: purple stems, rusty leaves, bristly white seeds.

As soon as they reached the meadow, Topside and Garnet began to grab the grass with their teeth.

“Pull the horses’ heads up,” Max reminded the riders. “They can get colic from eating wet grass.”

Stevie knew this was true. She’d once seen a horse with colic. The horse’s stomach was as tight as a
drum, and its muscles were swollen. If a horse wasn’t treated promptly for colic, it could die.

“Keep them moving,” Max said. They walked the horses to the high point of the meadow, a knoll with a stand of rust and yellow flowers called Indian paintbrush.

“Look,” Phil said.

Stevie reflected, with irritation, that Phil was always telling people to look. But then, when she saw what he was referring to, her annoyance melted away. On the other side of the valley was the beginning of a rainbow. It traveled to the center of the sky.

“Where does it end?” Jackie asked.

Phil winked. “Look for where it ends,” he said. “Remember, there’s a pot of gold at the end of every rainbow.”

Amie and Jackie traced the rainbow’s path with their eyes. Miraculously it seemed to end at the cluster of Indian paintbrush.

The two girls immediately charged over, but when they arrived, the end of the arc was gone. Laughing, they darted from spot to spot. The other riders looked on, amused.

Lisa came over to Stevie and said, “We’d better go back to camp and get the grooming kit to dry the horses.”

“Says who?” Stevie demanded. Why was Lisa telling her what to do? How come she always knew best? “Get it yourself.”

Lisa’s jaw dropped. “The horses shouldn’t stand around when they’re wet,” she said. “You know that; they’ll cramp.”

Stevie glared at Lisa. This was great. First Lisa had criticized her personality, and now she was questioning Stevie’s horse knowledge. Lisa was saying that Stevie didn’t even know how to take care of her horse.

“I think I can take care of Topside myself,” Stevie said. “Thank you very much.”

Lisa wondered what in the world could be wrong with Stevie. Why was she suddenly on her high horse? Lisa noticed that Phil, who had heard what Stevie said, was looking at Stevie with confusion, too.

“Forget it,” Lisa said. “I’ll get the grooming kit myself.”

“You just do that,” Stevie snapped.

Lisa turned away. If Stevie didn’t want to go with her, maybe Carole would. Carole was climbing the hill toward the paddock, looking thoughtful. It was odd that it had taken Carole so long to get dry socks—she’d left the paddock twenty minutes ago, knowing that Max needed her help with Starlight and the
other horses. Carole was spacey sometimes—but not when it came to a horse in need. Something must be up.

“Stay right there,” Lisa called down the hill to Carole. “We’ll go back to camp and get the grooming kit.”

But Carole didn’t seem to hear her. She continued up the hill, her eyes cloudy.

Jackie and Amie saw Carole and ran toward her. “We saw a rainbow,” Jackie said. “We didn’t find the pot of gold, but we’re still looking. Want to help us?”

“Maybe,” Carole said without much interest.

“It’s the biggest rainbow ever,” Jackie said. “So the pot of gold is bound to be the biggest ever.”

“We’ll be millionaires,” Amie said.

“Actually, gazillionaires,” Jackie said.

“Trillionaires,” Amie said.

“That’s stupid,” Jackie said. “Everyone knows that a gazillion is more than a trillion.”

Amie slipped her arm around Carole’s waist, and Jackie held on to her left arm. “How come horses get scared from rain?” Jackie asked.

Carole was about to explain that lightning and falling branches were dangerous to horses, so they were right to be scared. But then she remembered Lisa’s
journal. The last thing that Amie and Jackie wanted was another boring horse lecture.

“I guess they’re afraid their coats will shrink,” she joked.

Amie’s face fell. “Horses’ coats don’t shrink, Carole. That’s not true.”

Lisa was surprised. She’d never heard Carole answer a question about horses in this manner. “What happened to our professor of horse-ology?” she asked. “The answer should take you at least a week.”

Carole gave her a grumpy look. “You think so? Would a week be enough for me and my big mouth?”

Lisa drew back, wondering what had gotten into Carole. Maybe the storm had spooked her, too. Or maybe it was the fact that they’d spent the whole morning not riding. That was it: Carole loved horses so much she got grumpy when she couldn’t ride.

Just then Phil walked over to them. “What’s going on here, guys? The horses need to be rubbed down.”

“I’m on my way to get the grooming kit,” Lisa responded. She looked at Carole again. “Want to come with me?”

But Carole just turned away. “Why don’t you get it yourself?” she muttered.

Phil and Lisa looked at each other. It seemed as if half of The Saddle Club had gone crazy.

“T
OPSIDE DOESN
’
T SMELL
like a wet horse anymore,” Stevie said. “
I
smell like a wet horse.” The riders were in the paddock rubbing down the horses. The horses had been blanketed and covered with rain sheets during the storm, but their heads and necks and legs were wet.

Carole took a sniff of Stevie, and it was true. Stevie had the ripe, steamy smell of a soaked horse. “Phew,” Carole said. “Don’t go to a dance smelling like that.”

“No problem there,” Stevie said, grimly thinking of Phil and Betsy. “No one will ever ask me.”

Max came over to see how they were doing, and Stevie noticed that he was pretty grubby himself. It
seemed as if the dirt and damp had moved from the horses directly to the riders.

“Horses dry?” Max said.

“They are, but we aren’t,” said Carole.

Max grinned. “Now that the horses are clean, it’s time to clean the riders. Go back to your tents and change clothes and come back. I’ve got a surprise for you.”

With relief Carole and Stevie went back to the tent to put on clean clothes.

When they returned to the meadow, the other riders were dressed in dry clothes, too.

“The trails are too wet to ride,” Max said, “but the meadow isn’t. I’ve tested it myself and the footing is fine. So saddle up for horse games.”

A cheer went up from the riders because horse games were almost as much fun as a trail ride.

“We’ll start with Maximillian Mandates,” Max said. “Here are the rules. When I give an order, follow it if I say ‘Maximillian mandates,’ but ignore it if I don’t.” He looked at the younger riders. “Do you understand?”