A Star Discovered (2 page)

2

Meeting Annie

MARY AND JODY decided not to bother Willie just then with their questions about the horses, even though they were bursting
to know all about it. Instead they walked back to Lucky Foot Stable, glancing curiously at the house trailer as they strolled
by and trying to look nonchalant. Much to their dismay, no one was to be seen outside the trailer, and they were surprised
to see that most of the household goods had already been unloaded from the rusty old pickup.

“Wow,” whispered Mary, “they work fast! There must be a lot of them.”

“Well, there can’t be too many,” Jody replied. “There isn’t that much room in there.”

“I guess we’ll soon find out,” Mary said, breaking into a trot. “I have an idea! Let’s go bring Gypsy and Lady in from the
pasture, and we’ll go riding around the farm. Then we can keep an eye on what’s going on over there without being too obvious.”

“Mare! That’s so sneaky . . .” Jody giggled, “. . . but it is a good idea!”

The girls laughed as they ran the last few yards to the stable. They checked on Star, who had settled down and was munching
on his hay in the corner of the paddock, and grabbed two lead ropes, one for each pony. When they arrived at the cow pasture,
they found Lady and Gypsy taking a break from grazing and standing head to tail under the weeping willow tree, lazily switching
flies from the other’s ears.

“Gypsy! Ladabucks!” Mary called. “Wake up! We are going to do some investigating!”

Lady’s reaction to this grand announcement was a gaping yawn, and Gypsy immediately turned her back to Mary and dropped her
head to graze.

“Gypsy Amber!” Mary insisted, clipping the lead rope onto the mare’s halter. “We are going to the stable and getting your
bridle on. Then we are going to ride around and check out the invasion of the new people on the farm.”

“Invasion?” Jody giggled, leading Lady toward the gate. “You make it sound like they’re aliens or something.”

“Well, who knows? Maybe they are. We haven’t seen them yet, have we?”

“No, but we have to give them a chance. They could be perfectly nice,” Jody said generously.

“Could be. Now let’s quit yappin’, as Willie would say, and get bridled up. Time’s a-wastin’!”

The girls trotted the ponies the last few yards to the stable and led them inside to their stalls. Out of the tack trunks
came brushes, hoof picks, and combs, and they went to work grooming the dusty ponies from head to hoof. Jody worked silently,
concentrating on getting the tangles out of Lady’s unruly black mane, while Mary whistled a tune. So busy were they, making
sure all the dirt was removed from the ponies’ coats, that they didn’t notice the shadowy figure who appeared in the open
back door of Lucky Foot Stable.

“I’ll get the bridles!” Mary yelled, skipping to her tack trunk with brushes in hand. Then she screamed, “aaahhh!” and dropped
every brush to the floor.

Startled, Jody came flying out of Lady’s stall. “What happened?” she cried. Then she stopped and stared, openmouthed.

Standing still and silent in the open doorway of Lucky Foot Stable was a knock-kneed skinny little freckle-faced girl with
bright red hair tied up in pigtails and brown-rimmed glasses perched on the end of her upturned nose. She wore cutoff green
shorts, a red and white checked shirt, and no shoes. Mary and Jody looked at the girl and the girl looked back at them. Finally
the girl broke the silence.

“Hi,” she said.

“Hi,” Mary and Jody replied in unison.

“Whatcha doin’?” the girl asked, squinting into the dimness of the stable.

Mary and Jody looked at each other. “Um, we’re just grooming our ponies,” Jody answered.

“Ponies? I love ponies. Can I see ‘em?” the girl asked, walking right past Mary and Jody and over to Lady’s stall. The two
surprised girls stood with their hands on their hips and watched as the girl reached up and patted Lady’s nose.

“She’s pretty,” she said.

“What’s your name?” asked Mary.

“My name is Annie. Annie Mooney. I live here now.”

Mary and Jody responded to this matter-of-fact statement with silence. They watched as Annie Mooney went to Gypsy’s stall.
“Come here, girl. Are you a girl? Come on over here so I can pet you,” she demanded. And Gypsy did come over, much to Mary’s
surprise. Usually, when there was hay in her stall, nothing distracted Gypsy from eating. But there she stood, hanging her
head over the stall door and letting this stranger scratch behind her ears.

“What’s her name?” Annie asked.

“Gypsy Amber. Gypsy for short,” Mary replied, becoming a little annoyed at the obvious enjoyment Gypsy was displaying at the
scratching of her ears. “Don’t you want to know our names?”

“Oh, OK, sure I do,” Annie replied, turning to Mary expectantly. “What are they?”

“I’m Mary, and this is Jody.”

“Pleased to meet you,” Annie said, shaking Mary’s hand first, and then Jody’s. “Do you live here?” she asked.

“My name is Annie. Annie Mooney. I live here now.”

“No,” Jody replied. “We live down the road. My house is in one direction, and Mary’s is in the other. But we’re here every
day after school, and the whole weekend,” she added quickly, lest this new girl think she had the upper hand.

“Oh. Well, I guess I’ll see you around, then.” And with that, Annie Mooney turned on her heel and walked out of Lucky Foot
Stable.

Mary and Jody said not a word, only stared at the open doorway. Finally, Jody picked up her broom and Mary slowly gathered
up the brushes she had dropped in the aisle. Mary deposited the grooming tools in her tack trunk and then turned to face Jody.

“Well,” she said.

“Hmphh,” sniffed Jody.

Nothing more was said as Mary picked up the bridles and Jody finished sweeping the aisle. But in each of the girl’s minds
were troubling thoughts of the changes that would take place as these new people “invaded” the farm. Mary and Jody began to
understand Willie’s feelings on the matter. But for now, they kept their thoughts to themselves.

“Do you still feel like riding?” Jody asked Mary.

“Mmm, not really,” Mary said. “I think we just found out at least part of what we wanted to know. Maybe we should try and
work with Star some more.”

Bridles were put back where they belonged in the tack trunks and Star was led in from the paddock. Mary sat on a bale of hay
and watched while Jody crosstied him and groomed him half-heartedly. Then they led him back out to the paddock and went to
work using the training methods Willie had shown them to get Star ready for the in-hand yearling class at the county horse
show.

Jody led Star in a circle around the paddock while Mary acted as announcer.

“Walk, please, all walk. Please use half the ring only,” Mary intoned solemnly. Star walked nicely around the “ring,” only
once pushing Jody on the back with his muzzle.

“Now trot, please, all trot,” Mary continued. Jody slid her hand down the lead rope, giving Star a little more of his head,
and quickened her own pace to a trot, hoping Star would follow. But as soon as he felt the tug on his halter, he planted his
feet and pulled back, stomping his foot and snorting stubbornly.

“Come on, Star!” Jody cried, and pulled again. But Star was having none of it. This time he reared halfway up and came down
with both front hooves planted even more firmly than before. Jody turned to face him and with both hands pulled on the lead
rope with all her might. But the harder she pulled toward her, the harder Star pulled away.

“What is goin’ on here?” A familiar voice asked from the open Dutch door of the stable. “Is that what I taught you to do?”

“Willie!” Jody exclaimed, happy to see the old cowhand, even if he was in a bad mood. “Star won’t trot, no matter what I do!”

“Well, he ain’t trottin’
because
of what you’re doin’!” Willie said. “How many times do I have to tell you—you don’t turn and face him like that and pull with
both hands. The more you do that, the more he’ll pull back.”

“Well, what should we do, Willie?” Mary asked, almost forgetting not to use her announcer voice. “He has to be able to trot
nicely around the ring for the show, and he just won’t do it.”

“Well, you shoulda waited for me to help you. Now he’s in an ornery mood, and he won’t want to do nothin’ right. We’ll have
to try somethin’ new today. Let me get my rope.”

Mary and Jody looked at each other fearfully when Willie walked away to get “his rope.” Although the cowhand had been nothing
but gentle and patient with Star up until this point, the girls were afraid of what he might do considering the mood he was
in, and he had never mentioned a rope before. Jody patted Star nervously on the neck until Willie came back with a long section
of soft thick rope in his hands.

“Um, Willie,” Mary said hesitantly, “you’re . . . you’re not going to hurt him, are you?”

Willie stopped in his tracks and furrowed his brow, giving Mary the sternest look she had ever seen on his face. “Hurt him?
Have I ever hurt him before?” he asked, raising one eyebrow and waiting for a reply.

“Um, no,” said Mary meekly, blushing and looking at her toes.

“Then I guess that means I ain’t gonna hurt him now,” Willie said. “But I might feel like hurtin’
somebody
if any more stupid questions get asked. Now, Jody, bring him over here.”

Jody quickly did as she was told, knowing it wouldn’t be a good idea to argue with Willie today. The girls watched silently
as Willie expertly handled the rope, making a large loop in one end. The loop was gently placed around Star’s rump. His tail
was in the middle, and the long section of the rope was brought up over his back. Then Willie threaded the end of the rope
through Star’s halter ring. Star calmed down and stood still in response to Willie’s gentle hand. Mary and Jody stood hypnotized,
watching him.

“Now I’m goin’ to lead him by this rope, and when I lead him forward, the loop around his rump will push him a little at the
same time.”

Willie held the rope in his right hand and stood on Star’s left, then he walked forward a step. Star started to follow as
normal, but when he felt the unfamiliar rope pushing on his rump; he lurched forward in surprise, stopping to look at Willie
as if to say, “What’s all this?”

“That’s all right, boy, you’ll get used to it. Come on now.” Willie took another step, and another and after the first few
hops and starts, Star became accustomed to the rope and walked along as he always did.

“Now call for the trot, Mary. Use your best voice,” Willie instructed.

“Trot, please, all trot,” Mary announced grandly. Willie pulled a little more strongly on the front end of the rope and began
to trot himself, and Star had no choice but to go along, as the rope pulled him in the front and pushed him from behind. In
no time Star was trotting easily around the paddock, lifting his head prettily and almost looking like a show horse. After
three turns around, Willie slowed him to a halt and patted him on the neck.

“Willie! He did it!” Jody exclaimed. “He almost looked like he was having a good time!”

Willie removed the rope from Star’s hindquarters and wound it carefully in his hands. “That’s enough for today,” he said quietly.
“Once they do what you want them to, you don’t want to overdo it and make them tired of it. We’ll work on it again this week.”

Mary took this opportunity to bring up the subject Mrs. McMurray had impressed upon the girls concerning Willie. “Willie,
speaking of working with Star—now that the new people are here, you’ll have more time, right?”

Jody held her breath waiting for Willie’s reply, but no reply came.

Mary continued, “We saw one of them, Willie. We met a girl. I don’t think we like her.”

Willie turned sharply to Mary and took off his hat. Then he looked at Jody and paused before he spoke, as if trying to find
the right words.

“I met one of them too,” he said quietly. “I met that girl’s daddy on the way over here. He told me that her mama, his wife,
passed away, and then he took sick and lost his farm. He’s raisin’ three kids on his own, and now he’s got no choice but to
work on somebody else’s farm just to make ends meet.”