Rocking Horse (12 page)

“We’d better hurry,” Stevie said. “Now that the music’s playing fast again, everybody’s starting to ask where Danny is. They thought he was just sitting out the slow song.”

“Let’s dress him up,” the second reporter suggested. “Look!” She held up a baseball hat and an enormous pair of clown’s sunglasses. “Will he mind?”

Lisa looked over Danny’s withers. A big group of students was heading their way. “He won’t mind, but hurry!”

Just as the girl snapped the picture, they saw Judy’s truck and trailer pull into the parking lot. Carole took the hat and glasses off Danny and handed them back to the girl.

“That’s
my
horse!” a familiar strident voice shouted.

Stevie, Carole, and Lisa looked at each other. They didn’t need to turn around to know that Veronica had finally decided to claim Danny. “Run for it!” Stevie said. Carole gathered Danny’s reins and they jogged him down to the waiting trailer.

“Really, it is!” Veronica yelled. “Stevie, Carole, Lisa, stop! How dare you bring my horse out here? My expensive, beautiful horse! Bring him back!”

“Sure he’s your horse,” they heard a student respond. “And I’m your uncle Frankie.”

“If he’s your horse, why didn’t you say so right away?” another student pointed out.

“Good-bye, horse!” someone cried. As Judy let down the ramp of the trailer and Carole carefully led Danny inside, a whole group of students took up the cry. “Good-bye, horse! Good-bye, Prince! Goodbye!”

“Was his name Prince?” Lisa heard someone ask.

“His name is Danny!” Veronica shouted. “He’s mine, I’m telling you—mine!”

Stevie dropped the crowd a curtsy, and Lisa managed to wave at Bart before they all climbed into the cab and Judy took off.

“Fun?” Judy asked, putting the truck into gear.

“Oh, marvelous,” Stevie said, sighing. “And right at the end there, Veronica started to make a fool of herself. With any luck she’ll keep it up after we’re gone.”

P
INE
H
OLLOW
S
TABLES
was as dark and quiet as it had been when they left. Lisa yawned. It had been a long, strange evening.

Judy’s beeper went off as they pulled into the driveway. She parked and checked the number. “It’s my husband,” she said.

“We’ll unload Danny while you talk,” Carole offered.

“Thanks,” Judy said, reaching for her cell phone. “Then, if you like, I can drive you all home.”

“We’re staying at Stevie’s house,” Lisa said. “It’s not far.”

They unloaded Danny under the glow of the big
outdoor light. Carole slid open the wide stable door, and Lisa walked Danny inside. Stevie reached for the switch to turn on the office light. “Let’s not wake them all up,” she said. Lisa and Carole nodded. There were aisle lights that shone into all the stalls, but they were almost guaranteed to wake the sleeping horses.

“I hate to say it, but I’m glad Max isn’t back yet,” Stevie added. “After the way he spoke to us …”

“I know,” Carole said. “I’m not feeling very happy about him, either.” The one thing about the evening that still rankled her was that Max had believed them capable of such a prank in the first place—a really unfunny prank. Sure, they’d been at war with Veronica for years, but there were limits that Carole would never cross, and anything that might hurt a horse or truly upset Max was beyond those limits.

“Maybe Max will be calmer in the morning,” Lisa said. “After breakfast we can walk over and try to explain.” She led Danny into his stall and began to unfasten his bridle while Carole unbuckled his girth and lifted the saddle from his back. Stevie brought him a fresh flake of hay.

“He’s cool and dry,” Carole reported, feeling along Danny’s back. “I’ll just get a brush to wipe off the saddle mark.” She went out the stall door and bumped smack into somebody. Carole screamed. Lisa and Stevie flew into the aisle in alarm.

“It’s me!” Max said. “Don’t shoot!” To their surprise, he was laughing.

“That wasn’t funny—you should have said something before sneaking up on us,” Carole scolded. She could hear her heart thudding.

“I know—I’m sorry,” Max said. “But I didn’t realize you were still in Danny’s stall until it was too late. You haven’t actually been here all night, have you? And why haven’t you turned on the lights?

“Judy just gave me a lecture in the parking lot,” he added, before they had a chance to respond. “Something about not trusting my three best riders. But I’d already figured out for myself that I went way overboard this evening and probably blamed the wrong people for what happened.”

“Probably!” Stevie said. “Max, if you still think there was any chance that we—”

Max held up his hand. “I know you didn’t do it,” he said. “I’m very sorry that I ever thought you did. You guys have carried out a lot of practical jokes here, especially on Veronica, but you’ve never done anything that hindered the running of the stable.”

“Or hurt the horses,” Carole said.

“Right,” Max said. “How is Danny, anyway? I don’t think that mud would have actually bothered him much. He probably liked getting dirty for a change.” Max looked Danny over briefly. If he noticed
the saddle mark on Danny’s back, he didn’t comment. “Did Danny and I wreck your evening?” he asked. “I hope not. You guys look pretty dressed up. Didn’t you say something about a dance?”

“Danny didn’t wreck anything,” Lisa said, telling the truth but not the whole truth. “Our evening was great.”

“Danny was a real Prince Charming,” Carole added. For the first time that night, she felt completely happy. She was so glad Max wasn’t angry with them. “He just made our evening more fun.”

“And Max, about Veronica …” Stevie knew that Veronica wouldn’t hesitate to tell Max the whole story of the dance. Perhaps he’d better hear it from them first.

“Don’t worry about Veronica,” he said. “The next time I see her, she’s going to have some explaining to do. I said I wouldn’t tolerate this sort of behavior in my stables, and I won’t. I’ve got to go—Maxi woke up on the way home, and Deborah needs my help with her. Do you have a ride home? I don’t want you walking in the dark.”

“Judy said she’d take us,” Lisa said. “We’re just giving Danny a last look.”

“Good night, then,” Max said.

“Wow,” said Stevie when he was gone. “I do feel better now.”

“We all do,” Lisa said. Carole handed her a brush, and they quickly went over Danny’s sleek, clean coat.

Stevie leaned against the stall wall. “All in all, it wasn’t a bad couple of weeks,” she said. “We won the rally, doing some fabulous riding. We beat Veronica then, and we even got the best of her tonight. And when she whines to Max tomorrow, I don’t think she’s going to get any sympathy. Plus, Lisa got to know Bart a little bit.”

“I still don’t know him very well,” Lisa said. She ran the brush over Danny’s face and around his eyes. “We had a great time at the dance—it was really super—but we never really talked. I still don’t know anything about him except that he loves horses, is a great rider, can dance, and doesn’t say much.”

“What more do you want? He sounds like the perfect guy for you,” Stevie said.

Lisa laughed. “We’ll see,” she said. “But you’re right—the dance was fantastic, as far as I’m concerned.”

“As far as Danny is concerned, too,” Carole said. She handed the brush to Stevie. “Get to work,” she said. Stevie took the brush and went over each of Danny’s legs. Carole pulled a hoof pick out of her grooming bucket and started checking Danny’s feet for stones.

“I agree,” Stevie said. “Danny’s always been so
aloof. For a horse, he’s almost stuck-up. Who would have guessed he had so much rhythm in his soul? He really enjoyed the dance.”

“I bet he’d enjoy a lot of things if he had a different sort of owner,” Lisa said. “Someone who really loved him.” She patted Danny’s soft nose. She knew that Max and Red made sure he always had the best of care, but still she felt sorry for him. What she wouldn’t give for a horse of her own! She would never, ever, treat it the way Veronica treated Danny.

“Oh well,” Stevie said cheerfully, “if he starts looking too depressed, we can always take him to another dance.”

Carole had worked her way around to Danny’s back feet. Suddenly she dropped the hoof she was holding and let out a laugh. “We’ll have to call the farrier in the morning,” she told them. “Prince Charming here left a shoe behind at the ball.”

B
ONNIE
B
RYANT
is the author of nearly a hundred books about horses, including The Saddle Club series, Saddle Club Super Editions, and the Pony Tails series. She has also written novels and movie novelizations 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 still lives there, in Greenwich Village, with her two sons.

Don’t miss Bonnie Bryant’s next exciting
Saddle Club adventure …

HORSEFLIES

The Saddle Club #78

School has never been one of Carole Hanson’s favorite things. She isn’t a bad student, but she’d much rather spend time with horses than with books—until she starts doing a research project on the Greek myth of Pegasus, the winged horse. Carole had no idea school could be this much fun.

But in her rush to learn everything she can about this wonderful flying horse, she forgets about the most important horse of all—the one right in front of her, Starlight. Can Lisa and Stevie help Carole get her priorities back in order? Or is their friend lost to the past?