Tight Rein (10 page)

Mrs. Lake held up a finger. “Just for clarification,” she asked, “which pair of Stevie’s boots did you take? Her old snow boots?”

Chad shook his head miserably. “Her riding boots,” he whispered.

“Her
new
riding boots? The ones she got for her birthday?”

Chad nodded. Stevie felt herself growing furious about it all over again. At least her pranks weren’t mean—except, maybe, for the tacks in Chad’s shoes.

“Her
expensive
riding boots?” Mrs. Lake continued. “You were going to put Super Glue on those?” Chad nodded again. “Well,” said his mother, “if I had seen you do that, I would have started screaming at you myself.
The popcorn prank was funny, Chad. It was out of line, but it was funny, and it didn’t hurt anything. This is different. It’s destructive. I won’t tolerate it. Do you understand?”

Chad mumbled.

“Excuse me?” Mrs. Lake said.

“Yes,” Chad said. “I do understand. And I’m really sorry, believe me.” He turned toward his sister. “I’m sorry, Stevie,” he said.

“Okay,” Stevie said. “I’m sorry about the tacks in your shoes.” To her mother she added, “I’m sorry about the flowers, too, but you know I didn’t wreck them on purpose. I know how much you loved those pansies.” The garden shops didn’t sell pansies in late summer, so Stevie had had to plant geraniums in that bed.

Mr. Lake tapped his desk pad with his pencil. “What’s the point of all this, Chad?” he asked. “Much as your mother and I appreciate your confession, you had gotten away with everything. Why tell us about it now?”

Chad bit his lip. “I went to Pine Hollow yesterday, and again today,” he said. “Stevie’s horse is really sick. She misses Stevie so much, she’s dying. If she doesn’t see Stevie soon, she’s really going to die. And I know how much Stevie loves Belle. I don’t want Belle’s blood on my hands. I’m sorry. I had to tell you. You have to let
Stevie see her horse.” His voice rose anxiously with the last words.

Stevie tried to look sorrowful all over again, and shocked, as if Belle’s illness were a complete surprise.

Mr. Lake’s stern expression changed. His lips twitched, and his eyebrows arched in disbelief. “Stevie’s horse is dying?” he repeated.

“I know it sounds weird, but she is,” Chad persisted. “Mrs. Reg said so. She said poor Belle was dying of a broken heart.” His voice trembled with earnestness.

“Oh, Chad, I really doubt—” his mother began.

“Mrs. Reg said so! And I saw Belle. She looks it, too!”

Stevie’s parents looked at each other. There was a long silence. Stevie struggled to keep a suitably solemn face. She held her breath.

“Well,” Mrs. Lake said at last, “we hope you two have learned a lesson.”

Chad nodded and said yes. Stevie didn’t say anything.

“These constant pranks have absolutely got to stop,” Mrs. Lake continued. “On the other hand—”

Stevie exhaled. She’d been so hoping there was an other hand.

“—On the other hand, Stevie, you’ve behaved well during your punishment. You haven’t tried to sneak out to Pine Hollow, you haven’t tried to call your friends,
and you’ve behaved civilly to the rest of us, even though it appears you had reason to be angry at Chad. Also, the flowers look nice, and I know you paid for your share of them and the screen door.”

Stevie nodded. Her piggy bank would never be the same.

“So you seem to have been punished enough,” her father said. He turned to Chad. “However, in view of your recent testimony, young man, you don’t seem to have been punished enough. Do you agree?”

Chad hung his head. “I guess so.”

“Good. Admission of guilt allows for leniency in sentencing. You’re grounded, Chad, but only for four days.”

“Starting when?” Chad asked. Stevie knew he had two soccer games on Saturday.

“Starting now.”

“What about me?” Stevie asked.

Her parents smiled at each other. “You’re ungrounded,” Mrs. Lake said. “Starting now.”

Even though after all this Stevie had been expecting her mother to say that, she could still hardly believe it. “You mean it?” she asked. “I can go to camp?”

Mr. Lake smiled. “You can go to camp.”

“Yippeeee!” Stevie jumped in the air. Chad grabbed her by the arm.

“You’ve got to get to Pine Hollow!” he urged her. “Hurry! Right away!”

Stevie looked at her parents, who nodded. She dashed for the office door. Then she stopped and turned. Chad looked so worried about Belle. He’d looked so worried the whole time he was talking to their parents. He’d done all this for her.

Stevie was surprised at herself, but suddenly she felt she didn’t want Chad to worry anymore. “Can Chad come with me to Pine Hollow?” she asked. “Just so he can see how Belle is doing now?”

Stevie’s parents looked as surprised as she felt. “Okay,” her mother said after a pause. “But on your honor, Chad. Come straight home when you’re through. You’ll be grounded as soon as you get back.”

“Thanks!” Chad said. He struggled into his shoes, then beat Stevie to the front door. “C’mon! We don’t have any time to lose!”

S
TEVIE KNEW SHE WAS
in pretty good shape, but with all the soccer Chad played he easily outran her to Pine Hollow. He was waiting outside the stable door when Stevie got there, breathing hard. “Just a minute!” she gasped. “Let me get my breath.” Chad pounded her on the back while she bent over and coughed.

“Okay.” Stevie stood and looked around her. After her four-day absence, Pine Hollow seemed more beautiful than ever before. For a moment Stevie let her gaze wander over the lovely riding ring, the beautiful horses grazing in the pasture, the indoor arena, the manure pile,
Max’s ancient, rusted-out truck … it all looked so amazingly wonderful. Stevie drew in a deep, pleased breath. She was so glad to be back.

“C’mon,” Chad said. “Belle needs you!”

“Oh, right.” Stevie went into the stable. “Belle!” she cried out. “Belle! Belle! Here I come!”

From around the corner came Belle’s high-pitched whinny. Stevie began to grin. How she had missed that sound!

“She hears you!” Chad said. He broke into a run.

“Hey!” Stevie called after him. “No running in the stable!” It was a safety rule. Also, Stevie wanted to savor the moment. While Chad hopped up and down impatiently, Stevie walked slowly around the corner.

“Oh, Belle!” Despite herself, Stevie ran the last few steps to her mare’s stall. Belle had indeed heard Stevie’s voice and responded. She had thrust her head and neck over the half door of the stall and was looking eagerly, ears up and eyes bright, down the aisle in the direction of Stevie’s voice. When she saw Stevie, she began to bob her head and whicker.

Stevie threw her arms around Belle’s neck. “Oh, my sweet, darling horse,” she crooned. “Did you miss me? I missed you!” Belle nuzzled Stevie’s shirt. Stevie buried her face in Belle’s neck and breathed in the rich, wonderful smell of her horse.

“It’s a miracle!” Stevie opened her eyes. Chad was staring thunderstruck at Belle. “A miracle, Stevie!” he repeated, wide-eyed. “If you saw what she looked like this morning—she’s so much better now. It’s unbelievable.”

He patted Belle softly on the nose, his eyes wide with wonderment. “Gee, Lisa and Carole were right all along. They said Belle needed you. They were right. Look at her. She’s been cured by love.”

“She’s beautiful,” Stevie said. She was so happy to see Belle that at that exact moment she would have given Chad her new riding boots, gladly, and let him fill them to their tops with whipped cream or sour cream or whatever, and glue whole herds of plastic horses on them, in exchange for being with her beloved horse again. Not to mention being able to go to camp. Stevie loved her brother as she never had before.

Of course, she reflected, the whole mess had really been his fault all along. If he hadn’t been such a brat, she wouldn’t have needed to spy on him.

“Do you think we should give her some grain?” Chad asked eagerly.

“Sure,” Stevie said. “A little extra won’t hurt her.”

“Extra?” Chad looked puzzled. “But she’s hardly been eating at all, Stevie. It’s not extra.”

“I mean,” Stevie amended, “it won’t hurt her to have a little in the middle of the afternoon. Sure.”

They went together to the feed room and got half a scoop of grain. Chad very carefully poured it into the bucket in Belle’s stall. Belle dived for it. She seemed delighted at the unexpected treat.

“She’s eating!” Chad said.

“Yay!” Stevie cheered. Belle looked up briefly at the noise, then went back to the grain.

“I just can’t believe how much better she looks,” Chad said. “Yesterday her coat was all dark, and this morning she looked almost unconscious.”

“I was really worried about her,” Stevie said, stroking Belle’s shining neck. “Yesterday, when Carole said it could be colic—that was bad.”

“I heard you crying,” Chad said.

Stevie looked at her brother. Most of the time she detested him, but every once in a while … “That was a really nice thing you did, Chad,” she said. “Making Mom and Dad come home in the afternoon, and telling them about everything you did.”

Chad blushed. “I was afraid to wait until dinner,” he said. “It might have been too late for Belle by then. Anyway, I didn’t do much. All I did was tell the truth.”

“Which was probably more than I would have done,” Stevie said in a sudden burst of honesty.

“Even if my horse was dying? If I had a horse, or something else I loved as much as you loved Belle, and it was dying, don’t you think you would have done the same thing for me?”

“Maybe,” Stevie admitted. She smiled. “I might have, but you did. Thank you, Chad. Now Belle’s okay, and I get to go to camp and everything. Thank you, very much.”

“You’re welcome.” Chad looked at Stevie with a shy smile. “Don’t hug me or anything, okay? People could be watching.”

Stevie nodded. “As long as you promise not to hug me, either,” she said.

“I
T
’
S BEAUTIFUL
,” Carole said mistily. “Like the happy ending of a movie. Two sworn enemies declaring their secret, undying love for one another … it almost chokes me up.”

“Almost,” Lisa said. “Not quite. I agree with the sworn enemies part, but ‘undying love’? I think what Stevie and Chad have is more like secret, undying tolerance.”

“Still, look at them!”

Lisa looked, peeking through a large crack between
the boards of Barq’s stall. She and Carole had been helping Red clean stalls when they heard Stevie and Chad enter the barn. As quickly as they could, they’d hidden themselves in the stall they were cleaning. Luckily, it was across the aisle and only a little way down from Belle’s stall. They’d been able to see all of Stevie’s joyful reunion with her horse.

Now Stevie and Chad were talking earnestly, in soft voices Lisa couldn’t quite hear. She strained her ears. “She gets to go to camp!” she told Carole at last.

“All right!” Carole whispered. She and Lisa exchanged quick hugs of delight.

“Our plan worked,” Lisa said. “I can’t believe it. Shhh! Let’s hear what else they’re saying.” She and Carole waited in silence, but most of the rest of Stevie and Chad’s conversation was too quiet for them to catch. All they could hear was Chad saying, “Don’t hug me or anything.”

“Just like a boy,” Lisa said in disgust.

“More like a brother than a boy,” Carole corrected her with a smile. “I told you, I’ve got this sibling thing figured out.”

“I’m glad at least one of us does,” Lisa said. She sat down in the clean sawdust in the stall. Now that she knew Stevie would be able to go to camp, she wasn’t much interested in the rest of her conversation with
Chad. Camp with Stevie was all that mattered. No, Lisa corrected herself,
make that camp with Stevie and Prancer.

“We’re quite a team,” Carole said softly, sitting down beside Lisa. “I figure out the sibling thing, you make the plan.”

“We out-Stevied Stevie,” Lisa said with satisfaction. “We made a scheme all our own, and it worked.”

Carole looked at Lisa and shook her head. “You made the scheme,” she said. “
You
out-Stevied Stevie, not me.” Lisa looked up, surprised and doubtful. Carole continued. “I mean it. You’re the one who thought of everything in the first place. You came up with the dirt idea, and the coffee, and you convinced Chad that we were serious. All I did was follow your lead.”

The two girls looked at each other. “Did it bother you?” Lisa asked at last.

“No,” Carole said, “because I thought your idea was good.” She thought for a moment. “No, that isn’t true. It did bother me a little, Lisa—just a very little bit. You’re so smart, you always get As in school, and sometimes I wish I could figure things out as fast as you do.”

“The way I sometimes wish I knew as much about horses as you do,” Lisa answered.

“Exactly.”

Lisa felt a sudden flush of happiness. At first she thought it was because she’d finally done something Carole
couldn’t do. Then she realized she was happy because she finally understood that Carole felt the same way she did. Carole sounded just a little bit—well,
envious
of Lisa. And that made Lisa glad because it made her own envy seem less wicked.