Driving Team (11 page)

Stevie sealed up the card she’d spent so much time choosing and wrote, “From your friends Stevie, Carole, and Lisa” on the envelope. Then she took the card and the package and put it in the top of Veronica’s locker.
What a nice surprise that will be
, Stevie thought as the little present sat invitingly on the top shelf.

She closed the locker and hurried back out to Belle. She felt good about all the things she’d done to help her friend Veronica. Now the only other thing she could do was to get out there with Red and turn Danny and Belle into a real team of driving horses.

“I
WONDER IF
You-Know-Who is here today.” Carole hurried up the library steps beside Lisa.

“Cynthia?” Lisa shrugged. “If she is, I don’t think we can help her out too much today.”

“I know,” said Carole. “Our report’s due in a week, and we really haven’t gotten much done.”

“We’ll just have to work triple hard from here on out.” Lisa held the big library door open.

Inside, the place was bustling with patrons. The girls looked for Mrs. Davidson and soon found her at her usual station, behind the checkout desk.

“Let’s go get our forty-two books,” whispered Lisa.
“Then we’ll chain ourselves to a table until we finish.”

“Right,” Carole said with a grin.

They hurried over to Mrs. Davidson.

“Well, here come my helpers.” She greeted them with a warm smile. “I’ve missed you girls.”

“We’ve been busy at school this week,” explained Lisa. “Are our books still on reserve?”

“They are until five o’clock tomorrow afternoon,” Mrs. Davidson replied. “You want some help getting them to a table?”

“That would be great.” Carole and Lisa both nodded.

Mrs. Davidson helped them lug all the books to a library table. Then she had to go and help someone find an old copy of
The Washington Post
.

“Now,” said Lisa in a stern voice as she pulled note-paper out of her backpack. “We’ve got to sit here and go through these books. We can’t get up for anything! Not Cynthia or Mrs. Davidson or that little old lady who wanted us to look at her mushroom books! Nothing can make us leave these seats!”

“How about Veronica diAngelo?” Carole asked, blinking.

“What?” Lisa turned around in her chair. There, coming through the door, was Stevie’s newfound friend, Veronica. As soon as she got inside, she stopped and sniffed, as if the library didn’t smell good; then she
waltzed over to the reserve desk. She looked at Lisa and Carole as she passed, but she acted as if she didn’t recognize them.

“I don’t believe it,” whispered Carole. “Veronica diAngelo in the public library on a Saturday afternoon. Now I’ve seen everything!”

“Shhh!” said Lisa. “Be quiet and maybe we can hear what she’s asking for.”

The girls pretended to hunch over their books, all the while listening to what Veronica was saying to Mrs. Davidson.

“I assume you have some books on dogs,” Veronica said in her snootiest voice.

“Yes, dear, we do,” Mrs. Davidson replied sweetly.

“And where might I find them?”

“Have you ever been to a library before?” Mrs. Davidson asked.

“Of course I have,” Veronica snapped.

“Well, you must know then that most libraries use the Dewey decimal system. Dogs are classified at 636.7. When you see those numbers on the spine of the book, you’ve found a volume on dogs.” Mrs. Davidson smiled. “You might start over there, just past where those two girls are working at the table.”

“Thank you,” Veronica said archly. She turned and walked past Lisa and Carole, again barely giving them a glance.

After she passed, Lisa and Carole looked at each other.

“This must really be serious,” Lisa whispered. “Veronica’s actually asking the librarian where the dog books are.”

“I know,” Carole replied. “She must be doing research to help Doc Tock figure out what’s wrong with Robespierre!”

“Poor Veronica,” said Lisa. “She must feel awful. I wonder if there’s any way we can help?”

Carole shook her head. “I think the best thing is to leave her alone. She didn’t really look like she was in the mood for company.”

“You’re right,” agreed Lisa. “Anyway, we’ve got enough stuff of our own to do.”

The girls returned to the thick tomes that were open on their table. Lisa started reading about how horses may have pulled some of the huge rocks that the Egyptians used to build the pyramids, while Carole took notes on how teams of horses helped build the Erie Canal. Suddenly they heard a strange yet familiar noise. They both stopped writing and looked up.

“Did you hear that?” asked Carole.

Lisa nodded.

“Is it who I think it is?” Carole frowned.

“I don’t know,” said Lisa. “Let’s listen harder.”

They put their pencils down and concentrated. Ever so faintly, they heard two voices, arguing.

“Shhhhh!” one voice said. “No!”

“Please?” another voice whined. “Pretty please?”

“What are you doing here, anyway?” replied the first voice.

“It won’t take long,” insisted the second voice.

“No, I will not!” the first voice snapped. “You need to go someplace else. You’re in my way!”

Lisa and Carole looked at each other and got up from the table at the same time. Sometimes the library could be full of pesky people who just wouldn’t leave other people alone. Veronica shouldn’t have to deal with one of them today, particularly when she was doing research to try to save her dog!

“We’ll just go and rescue her quickly,” said Carole. “Then we’ll leave her alone to deal with her problems in her own way.”

“Right,” Lisa said. “That’s exactly what we’ll do. It shouldn’t take more than a minute.”

The girls walked down the aisle together, then turned the corner. Their mouths fell open. It wasn’t just another library pest who was bothering Veronica—it was Cynthia! She had parked herself in front of the dog books and was trying to get someone to read to her. She still had
Misty
clutched against her chest. All four girls turned and looked at each other, unbelieving.

“Cynthia?” said Carole.

“Lisa?” said Cynthia.

“Veronica?” said Lisa.

“Carole?” said Veronica.

“Cynthia!” yelled a voice so stern they all jumped. They turned. Mrs. Davidson was standing there, her pretty eyes flashing with anger. “Carole, Lisa, Veronica, will you excuse us, please?”

They had no choice but to leave immediately.

“O
KAY
, S
TEVIE
. T
RY
it once more. Walk them down to the end of the ring, then make a wide turn and go into a trot.” Red looked up at Stevie, who was perched in the Pine Hollow wagon, reins in hand.

“You think I can do it?” Stevie’s face was flushed with excitement. All Sunday afternoon they’d been working with the horses hitched to the wagon. It felt funny to drive two horses from a seat high above them, but Danny and Belle had responded to her aids better than she had ever dreamed.

“Give it a go and see what happens,” urged Red.

Stevie settled herself on the seat and flicked the reins over the horses’ backs. At the exact same moment, they began to pull together, Danny on the left, Belle on
the right. Stevie let the reins rest lightly in both hands as the horses walked down the ring, then pulled Danny ever so gently to the left. He made the inside turn, with Belle following on the outside. So far, so good. Then she had to ask for a trot. She took a deep breath, then tightened her fingers on the reins and flicked the long whip over their heads. After a moment’s pause, both horses reached forward in an extended trot, the wagon rumbling loudly behind them.

“Look!” Stevie cried to Red. “We’re trotting!”

“You sure are,” he said proudly. He watched as they trotted once around the ring. Stevie turned them and pulled them to a halt in the middle.

“Wow!” Stevie said. “Wasn’t that great? Aren’t they terrific horses?”

“You bet they are,” agreed Red, giving Danny a well-deserved pat on the withers. “But why are you holding your hands so funny?”

Stevie looked down. She was holding her fingers wide apart. “I keep forgetting my gloves,” she admitted sheepishly. “My hands are a little sore.”

Red grabbed her left hand and looked at it. Each finger had a bright red blister where the reins had rubbed it raw. “Does your right hand look as bad as this?” he asked with alarm, his eyes full of concern.

“Well, kind of,” Stevie said, wishing she hadn’t left her gloves at home.

“Then get down off that wagon, Stevie. You’re done for the day.”

“But I can’t be done for the day, Red,” she pleaded with him. “Our demonstration is only six days away. I’ve got to do better than my very best if I’m going to do both mine and Veronica’s part and still impress Phil.”

Red snorted. “Is that what this is all about? Impressing Phil?”

“Well, kind of. But not really. I mean, I always want to impress Phil, but this time Veronica is the one who really needs my help.”

“And tell me when Veronica doesn’t need someone’s help.” Red crossed his arms over his chest.

Stevie frowned. “I know you have to do a lot of her work for her, but this time she’s really in bad shape. Her little white poodle, Robespierre, is dying! Veronica can hardly talk about it, but she’s constantly at Doc Tock’s office with him, and she’s even gone to the library to do research on dog diseases. She’s desperate to find a cure.”

Red’s eyebrows lifted in surprise. “And you’re coming to her rescue over this driving demonstration? I didn’t think you guys were friends at all. In fact, I didn’t think you could stand each other.”

“Well, for a long time we couldn’t, but we had a long talk in the back paddock, and she’s really nice once you
get to know her. She loves animals just as much as we all do, and she’s heartbroken about her dog.” Stevie’s eyes brightened. “Carole and Lisa and I even pooled our money and bought her a little china dog from the BonTon gift shop, just to make her feel better about Robespierre. It’s in her cubby right now. I can’t wait for her to get back to the stable to see it!”

Again Red looked surprised. “Stevie, I don’t know about any china dog, but Veronica has already been here today. She came by earlier to pick up her riding clothes. She was muttering something about having to get them dry-cleaned ‘before the dumb demonstration Saturday.’ ”

“Really?” Stevie blinked. Surely Veronica had seen the gift on the top shelf of her cubby—it would have been impossible to overlook. She must have taken it home. Still, wouldn’t she have called or e-mailed or something? Stevie shook her head. Veronica wouldn’t be intentionally rude. Her concern over Robespierre must have crowded out every other thought in her head.

“Look,” Red was saying. “Don’t think about Veronica and any little china dog now. You need to take care of those hands immediately. Go wash them, then get the first-aid kit and rub some ointment into them, then put some gauze over the blisters. Since you shouldn’t ever leave horses unattended when they’re harnessed to
a wagon, I’ll wait here and help you unhitch everybody when you get fixed up.”

“Okay,” Stevie said. “If you’re absolutely, positively sure we can’t do any more work today.”

Red looked at her hands and shook his head. “We’re done for the day. And tomorrow, too.”

Stevie reluctantly climbed off the wagon. As much as she wanted to work longer, she knew Red was right. Her hands needed to be in great shape for next weekend, and that meant taking care of them now. She hurried in and washed them, then applied the ointment and bandages that Red had suggested. She was on her way back to the indoor ring when she passed the locker room.

“Maybe I’ll stop in and see if Veronica really did get her gift,” she said softly to herself. “Maybe Red was mistaken.”

She tiptoed into the empty locker room and headed straight for Veronica’s cubby. Slowly she opened the door. Veronica’s good riding clothes were gone, but stuffed carelessly back in the top shelf of the cubby was the package Stevie had been so proud of. The beautiful wrapping paper was crumpled up in a ball, and the pretty little china dog lay half out of the box. Veronica hadn’t even bothered to open the card that Stevie had spent so much time selecting.

“Oh, no!” Stevie found it hard to believe what she
was seeing. “The china dog was a terrible mistake. It must have upset her even more than I could have possibly imagined!”

Quickly she closed the door of Veronica’s cubby. This was awful. The gift that she and Carole and Lisa had spent so much money on had only made everything worse. How could she have been so insensitive?

She hurried back to the indoor ring. Once again she felt as if she had done exactly the wrong thing. Now all she could do to make things better for Veronica was give absolutely the best, most perfect riding demonstration that it was in her power to give.

“Does that feel better?” Red asked, looking at her bandaged hands.

Stevie nodded, having forgotten all about her blistered fingers. “Do you think they’ll be okay for the demonstration Saturday?”

“They will if you take care of them,” said Red, helping her unhitch first Danny, then Belle. “I’ve had lots of blisters, and the trick is to just go easy on them until they heal.” He looked at her and smiled. “Anyway, even with bum hands, you’re more than ready to give a demonstration.”