Yankee Swap (5 page)

Then it was Merrill’s turn again. She glanced at Carole and gulped, but she looked a little calmer than she had at the beginning. Carole hoped that meant Merrill was feeling more confident. She crossed her fingers just in case.

Merrill rode forward and took Patch in a circle at a brisk trot before aiming him for the first fence. She was sitting well, her hands steady and light on the reins. Patch seemed relaxed but alert. His ears pricked forward, and his trot was even as he got closer to the low fence.

Then it happened.

With a loud caw, the crow, which had been perched on the fence of the ring watching the people and horses, launched itself into the air and circled above the riders.

Patch, who had just reached the first fence, was startled by the sudden noise and motion. Instead of jumping up and forward, he wheeled around and shied sideways, crashing into the fence. Scared even more by the impact, he reared up and twisted around, ending up straddling the remains of the jump. Merrill had barely managed to keep her seat and was clinging to Patch’s mane, her stirrups swinging free of her feet. Max was already hurrying forward to catch the panicky horse, but Patch was too quick for him. He reared again, unseating Merrill completely, and then darted away as the girl tumbled off and landed hard on her backside.

Lisa slid out of the saddle and tossed Barq’s reins to Carole. She ran to Merrill’s side.

“Are you okay?” she asked anxiously.

Merrill shook her head, tears running down her face. “I think I’m okay,” she said in a shaky voice.

“Hey, are you all right, Merrill?” Joe Novick asked, joining them. There was a look of real concern on his face. “That was quite a tumble.”

Merrill quickly wiped her face with the back of her hand, which only succeeded in leaving a trail of dirt mixed with the tears on her face. “Um …,” she said.

“Here.” Joe reached into the pocket of his jeans and pulled out a crumpled but clean tissue. Lisa took it from him and wiped off Merrill’s face. Then she and Joe helped Merrill stand.

“I don’t think anything’s broken,” Merrill said. She reached behind her gingerly. “Only bruised.”

By this time Max had caught and calmed Patch. The gelding looked a little ashamed of himself.

“Tough break, Merrill,” Max said. “Are you in one piece?”

Merrill nodded. “I think so.”

“Patch is pretty calm most of the time, but he has a tendency to shy at loud noises,” Max explained, patting the horse on the neck.

“I know,” Lisa added, her eyes widening as she remembered her very first ride at Pine Hollow. She, too, had been riding Patch when there had been a loud, sudden noise. That time it had been Veronica slamming a door, and it had made Patch take off and jump out of the ring. Lisa hadn’t fallen off, but the incident had scared her.

Still, it was clear that this fall had scared Merrill even more. And that worried Lisa. She was sure that Merrill would have
quit the public speaking course if her parents had let her. And she knew that Merrill had once dropped out of a gymnastics class after taking a fall off the balance beam. Now that she’d fallen off, would Merrill want to stop riding altogether?

Max helped Merrill climb back into Patch’s saddle. Merrill looked anxious, but once she was aboard she seemed to regain control. She took Patch around the ring at a walk and then at a trot. As if trying to make up for his bad behavior, Patch behaved perfectly.

“Do you want to try that fence again, Merrill?” Max asked. “It might be good for Patch—and for you.”

“Could I wait for my next turn?” Merrill said. “I think I need a few minutes.”

Max nodded understandingly. “Okay, who’s next?” he asked, seeming satisfied that everything was all right.

But when Merrill took her place in line again, Carole could see that she still looked scared. “Are you okay?” she whispered. “Really?”

When Merrill looked at her, Carole saw tears glistening in the other girl’s eyes. But Merrill kept them under control. “I’m fine,” she replied. “I just hope I don’t have to take another turn jumping today.”

Carole glanced at her watch. “It’s getting pretty late,” she said. “I bet this will be the last round. Max won’t want to overtire the horses—or us.”

She was right. After the last rider had finished the course for the second time, Max announced that it was time to take the horses in. “We had a good class today, everyone,” he added. “More to come tomorrow—don’t be late.”

* * *

A
LITTLE
LATER
, The Saddle Club and Merrill sat together cleaning their tack and talking about the day. Foremost in all their minds was Merrill’s fall.

“Everyone has a ride like that once in a while,” Carole told her again, soaping up Starlight’s saddle. “You just have to learn to get past it and remember it’s all part of the learning process.”

“I know,” Merrill said. “It’s just that I’m not sure anymore how much I want to learn.”

“What do you mean?” Lisa asked, her stomach sinking. “You don’t want to give up riding, do you?”

Merrill shook her head. “No, I definitely don’t want to give up riding. I love it too much.”

“Well, that’s settled,” Stevie said. “Tomorrow is another day. You’ll make up for today then, and before long you’ll be jumping like a pro.”

“I’m not so sure about that,” Merrill said quietly.

“Okay, maybe it will take a little longer than that before you’re really a pro,” Stevie corrected herself. “But it will happen, trust me.”

“It might not happen for me,” Merrill said, “because I’m not sure I want to learn to jump anymore.”

Lisa gasped. “Not learn to jump? But why? Because a bird scared your horse today?”

“It’s not that,” Merrill said, biting her lip. “There’s just so much to remember. It seems a lot harder than other kinds of riding. I’m not sure it’s worth it to me.”

The Saddle Club exchanged a worried glance. They couldn’t let Merrill give up on jumping!

“What about what you were saying earlier?” Lisa said. “About jumping being sort of like flying. You wouldn’t want to miss out on that, would you?”

Merrill shrugged. “Maybe.” But she looked doubtful.

Stevie seized the opportunity. “I for one don’t think you should let one day’s experience decide something that important,” she said. “You’ve got to give it at least one more chance. Otherwise you’ll always wonder whether you made the right choice.”

“Stevie’s right,” Carole urged Merrill. “Try it again tomorrow and see how it goes. Please?”

Merrill looked uncertain. “Well …,” she said. “I really didn’t feel very comfortable even before I fell.”

An idea occurred to Carole. “Maybe you need to try a different horse,” she suggested. “Maybe you and Patch just didn’t click. Anyway, it’s always a good idea for a rider to try out different kinds of horses. I’m sure Max would let you switch.” Carole really didn’t think incompatibility with Patch was the problem. But maybe it would make Merrill feel better to ride a different horse. Desperate times called for desperate measures.

“Do you think he would?” Merrill asked slowly. She thought for a moment. “Well, maybe I should give it one more try—”

“Great!” Stevie interrupted before the other girl could change her mind. She jumped to her feet. “I’ll go ask Max right now!” She hurried out of the room.

T
HE
NEXT
MORNING
Carole, Stevie, and Lisa arrived at Pine Hollow an hour before the jumping clinic. Merrill was spending the morning with an elderly aunt who lived nearby, and The Saddle Club had decided to take advantage of her absence by having a secret birthday-planning meeting. Of course, since the meeting was taking place at Pine Hollow, that meant the girls had to work while they talked. There was nothing Max and Mrs. Reg hated seeing more than a pair of idle hands—except maybe
three
pairs of idle hands. So the girls settled down in the tack room with a pile of stirrups and bits that needed polishing.

“Okay,” Stevie said as they all set to work. “The first order of business is coming up with something fun and exciting to do for Merrill on her birthday.”

“Not
too
exciting, though,” Lisa cautioned. “Remember, Stevie, Merrill doesn’t quite have your taste for, uh, adventure. We don’t want to embarrass her.”

“Also, don’t forget that Saturday is Joe Novick’s birthday, too,” Carole said. “If we do something special for Merrill, we should include him.”

“Especially since it’s obvious to everyone except Merrill that he really likes her,” Lisa added.

Stevie smirked. “It was pretty obvious to Veronica, that’s for sure. And it’s pretty obvious she doesn’t like it. You should have seen her face when Joe jumped down and ran to Merrill’s rescue after she fell yesterday.”

“I know,” Carole said. “And she walked by yesterday when they were talking together after we finished cleaning tack. If looks could kill, Merrill would be a goner. I guess Veronica thought that after Betsy ditched Joe, he would be hers for the picking.”

“Luckily I don’t think Merrill even saw Veronica walk by,” Lisa said.

“No kidding,” Stevie said. “She was too busy gazing at Joe to notice anybody else.”

Lisa laughed. “She may be shy, but she seems to be getting over it a little with Joe, at least. The crazy thing is, she still insists she has no interest in him—and, of course, she also insists that there’s no way he could ever have any interest in her.”

“Oh, he’s interested all right,” Stevie declared. “And so is she. That could be a very good thing. Joe is in the clinic—one more reason for her not to drop out.”

Lisa shook her head. “I don’t think so,” she said. “Merrill isn’t like that. She’s never been boy-crazy, and she can be pretty stubborn. Once she makes up her mind about something, nothing will change it.”

“In that case, I think we should make keeping Merrill in the clinic an official Saddle Club project,” Stevie said.

“That’s a great idea,” Lisa exclaimed. “If anybody can help Merrill through her jumping problems, it’s us. Carole started by suggesting that Merrill try a different horse today.”

Carole nodded. “I hope it helps her. As with most riding problems, Merrill’s is really all in her head.”

“Okay, now that that’s settled, let’s get down to some serious party planning,” Stevie said, tossing a polished snaffle bit into the trunk by her feet. “What can we do to turn Max’s party into a birthday bash for Merrill and Joe?”

“Well, we should have a cake for starters,” Carole said.

“That goes without saying,” Stevie said. “Who wants to be in charge of that?”

“I will,” Lisa volunteered. “I’m sure my mother will want to make it.”

“Good. Now what else?” Stevie asked. She thought hard for a minute. “I know. We could ask everyone to bring some kind of funny gag gift for Merrill, and make her open them in front of everyone.”

Lisa looked dubious. “I don’t think she’d like that,” she said. “Remember what she said about being the center of attention? Well, I’d say that definitely qualifies.”

“Besides, everyone would have to bring something for Joe, too,” Carole said, “and that could get expensive.”

“Well, how about if we make Merrill and Joe wear some kind of special birthday costume—maybe a big hat or something,” Stevie said. “Or have a dance contest and make them be the judges. Or both!”

Carole shook her head. “All of these things would be great ideas if it were
your
birthday. But they don’t seem like anything Merrill would enjoy at all.”

“You’re right,” Lisa said. “And we definitely don’t want to make her miserable. We have to think of something that won’t make her feel embarrassed.”

The three girls thought in silence. Nothing any of them could come up with seemed quite right.

Finally Carole glanced at her watch. “We’re not getting anywhere,” she commented. “What time is Merrill getting here?”

“I’m not sure,” Lisa said. “She said she would definitely be in time for the clinic, but she wasn’t sure of the exact time. I think she went with her aunt to some early-morning swap meet at her church.”

Suddenly Stevie straightened up in her seat. “That’s it!” she cried.

“What?” Carole and Lisa asked in one voice.

“I have the perfect idea for Saturday,” Stevie said. “The swap meet just made me think of it. We’ll have a Yankee Swap!”

Lisa smiled. “That’s perfect!” she exclaimed.

Carole looked confused. “A Yankee what?”

“Swap,” Stevie said. “It’s a fun way to exchange gifts. See, each person who’ll be at the party draws the name of another
guest out of a hat. Everyone buys and wraps a gift for the person whose name he or she got.”

“Like a Secret Santa exchange,” Carole said with a shrug.

“But wait, there’s more,” Lisa said.

“Right,” Stevie continued. “At the party, all the gifts go in one big pile. None of them have name tags, so no one knows which gift is meant for who. Or is it ‘whom’? Anyway, someone is chosen to start, and that person picks a gift from the pile and opens it. The next person picks a gift, too. But the thing is, that person can decide either to keep the gift they got
or
exchange it with the first person’s.”