Ranch Hands (13 page)

Lisa looked at her friends. That wasn’t the answer she’d expected.

“Do you remember that story Mrs. Reg told us before we left on our trips about the boy who wanted to be a jockey and ended up being a trainer?”

Both Carole and Lisa recalled it.

“I think I know what it was about now. She was trying to warn us that our expectations were going to turn out to be all out of whack, but that it would work
out in the end in a way that would be even better than our expectations.”

Carole felt mildly annoyed, not because she thought Stevie was wrong, but because she realized she was right. “How is it Mrs. Reg always knows what’s going to happen to us?”

Stevie smiled and shook her head. “Beats me.”

“What’s going on here?” Lisa asked. “What
did
happen at High Meadow? Am I going to have to read every word of your diaries to get a few simple answers to a few simple questions?”

“My diary would be short reading,” Stevie said. “You know me, don’t you?”

“Sure,” Lisa said. “I bet you made one long entry the night before you left for High Meadow, a medium length entry the first night you got there, before anything happened, and then two scribbled one-sentence entries much later on. Right?”

“Wrong,” Stevie said. “I didn’t do the medium length one. Just the one long and the two scribbled.”

Lisa wasn’t surprised. That was just like Stevie. She hoped she could count on Carole, though.

“Not much better,” Carole told her. “I did a couple of entries that you’re welcome to read, but on the worst days, I didn’t write anything. Stevie and I are just going to have to tell you everything that happened.”

“Everything?” Stevie asked, still uncomfortable
about confessing every dumb thing she, Carole, and Kate had done in the three weeks at High Meadow.

“Everything,” Carole said. “And I know just the place to do it.”

She drew Starlight to a halt and dismounted. They had arrived at the creek, and they had a routine there that they followed whenever the weather allowed it. Today’s weather was perfect for it.

The girls secured their horses to branches of the trees that stood by the creek so the horses could get fresh water. Then they removed their own riding boots and socks and climbed onto a flat rock that overhung the stream. They each hiked up their pants and let their feet dangle in the water.

“Nothing ever felt so good!” Carole declared.

“Oh, I’m not sure about that,” said Stevie. “The swim after the stampede was pretty terrific.”

“Stampede?”
Lisa said.

That seemed like as good a place as any to begin.

By the time Carole and Stevie finished telling all, Lisa was laughing. It was the one reaction they hadn’t expected from their friend.

“You certainly kept everybody busy, didn’t you? And you finally tamed the L-ions. Did you really get Linc to jump?”

“Yes, I did,” Carole said, a little proudly. “He didn’t want to admit that he liked doing it. He kept saying he wanted to try it to prove how sissy English jumping
was, but then he seemed to want to try it a lot. I’m sure he liked it.”

“And, you, Stevie, finding a way to keep twelve kids quiet and calm in the middle of a stampede! No wonder Eli thought you guys were so great!”

“We didn’t think he did,” Carole said.

“As I remember Eli, he has a way of keeping his thoughts to himself, doesn’t he?”

“Sure,” said Stevie. “What I forgot, though, was that if he’s angry about something, he’ll let you know. I should have realized that when he wasn’t angry, he must have been pleased. It would have saved me a lot of worrying.”

That didn’t sound like it made sense, but Carole agreed with it because she knew it was right.

Lisa swirled her feet in the cool water and watched the ripples reflect the trees and sky above. “You know, I was thinking,” she began. “At first, it was hard being away from home, but I got used to it. When we left, I was terribly afraid of all the things I didn’t know, but I found that what I did know was enough. That made me feel good.”

“And when we left home, we were just full of ourselves, very sure that all the stuff we knew would be more than enough. It didn’t turn out that way. We had to learn a lot more and prove ourselves to the campers, Eli, and Jeannie. Mostly to ourselves, though, I guess,” Carole said.

“Being away from home is hard sometimes,” Stevie observed. “Even when you’re glad to be where you are.”

“Right,” Carole mused.

“But being away from home wasn’t as hard as being away from my friends,” said Lisa. “I missed Willow Creek and Pine Hollow, but most of all I missed The Saddle Club.”

“Well, we’re all back together again now!” Stevie announced, as if she’d just realized the significance of their trail ride. “And like Dorothy says in
The Wizard of Oz
, ‘There’s no place like home!’ ”

“Especially if ‘home’ is a stable!” said Lisa. Then she reached over and took a handful of water and splashed it on her two friends. Stevie and Carole weren’t sure what felt so wonderful about that—the cool water dripping down their hot faces or the fact that their best friend Lisa had splashed it on them. They decided not to waste any more time thinking about that. Instead, they decided to retaliate. In seconds, creek water was splashing all over the place.

The Saddle Club was back together.

B
ONNIE
B
RYANT
is the author of more than fifty books for young readers, including novelizations of movie hits such as
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
^®
and
Honey, I Blew Up the Kid
, written under her married name, B.B. Hiller.

Ms. Bryant began writing The Saddle Club in 1986. Although she had done some riding before that, she intensified her studies then and found herself learning right along with her characters Stevie, Carole, and Lisa. She claims that they are all much better riders than she is.

Ms. Bryant was born and raised in New York City. She lives in Greenwich Village with her two sons.