Horse Guest (8 page)

Max glanced at his watch. “Shouldn’t you be tacking up Belle right now?” he said. “You don’t want to be late for class.”

“As I was saying,” Stevie said, ignoring the interruption,
“you leave me no choice. If you don’t agree to stick to walking after my grandma gets here, I’ll be forced to withhold all of my great new ideas for the gymkhana. You’ll be stuck with nothing but lame stuff like Veronica’s shopping spree race.”

Max rolled his eyes. “Is that supposed to be a threat?” he said, not sounding very threatened. He glanced at his watch again. “Okay, fine. You win. Let me know when your family gets here, and we’ll start walking.”

“Really?” Stevie could hardly believe the ploy had worked. Actually, when she thought about it for a second, she suspected that Max was probably just tired of listening to her arguments and wanted to shut her up. But she didn’t care. She was getting her way, and that was all that mattered.

H
ALF AN HOUR
into the lesson, Stevie was busy guiding Belle through a figure eight at a brisk trot. The mare responded beautifully to every command, and when they finished the figure, Stevie gave her a proud pat on the neck.

Then she glanced over at the doorway to the indoor ring, as she had been doing frequently throughout the lesson. She was just in time to see her entire family enter, with her grandmother leading the way.

“Um, Max?” she called, waving her hand at the instructor, who was mounted in the center of the ring. “Would you mind if I said hello to my
grandmother
?” She
carefully stressed the last word, hoping that Max would remember his promise.

Max looked from Stevie to Grandma Lake, then back again. He sighed. “Sure, Stevie,” he said. “Be my guest.” He raised his voice for the whole class to hear. “Okay, everybody. For the rest of our time today we’re going to get some practice at the walk. Please take your horses around the ring counterclockwise at a slow, steady gait. I want to see perfect form out there, people.”

Stevie waved at her family, ignoring the whispers and murmurs that were rising around her. Max often asked them to walk as part of their classes. As he liked to point out, it was helpful to practice even the most basic of skills on a regular basis. But the students were understandably surprised that he wanted them to spend so much time walking just four days before the gymkhana.

“Did he say to walk?” Stevie overheard Polly Giacomin ask Lorraine Olsen. “But I didn’t get to do the figure eight yet!”

Veronica diAngelo was more direct. “Max!” she called out loudly. “What are you talking about? Do you really want us to just walk around the ring? Why?”

Max gave her a stern look. “Who’s the instructor around here, me or you?” he barked.

Stevie grinned at the sullen look on Veronica’s face. Even obnoxious Veronica was afraid to talk back to Max when he used that tone. She just shrugged and yanked at Danny’s reins to bring him into line. Behind her, Britt
had to pull Coconut up sharply to avoid running over Danny’s heels, and Veronica shot her an irritated glance. “Careful! Can’t you even keep your horse in line?” she hissed, loud enough for Stevie to hear. Stevie was also close enough to see Britt’s face as it turned bright red. But the new girl didn’t say a word in response to Veronica’s unfair comment.

Meanwhile, Max had turned away from Veronica to survey the other students. “Any other questions? No? Good. Then let’s see you keep those hands steady and backs straight.”

Across the ring from Stevie, Carole and Lisa exchanged bemused glances. Stevie had filled them in on the situation before class, but they weren’t surprised that the rest of their classmates were confused.

Max watched the class critically for a moment, then rode over to Simon Atherton, one of the weaker riders, to help him adjust his position. While he was busy, a few of the riders started to whisper to each other despite Max’s strict no-talking-in-class rule.

“What do you think Max is doing?” Anna McWhirter whispered to Lisa. “I thought we’d be practicing gymkhana skills today.”

Lisa just shrugged and smiled. She was almost as surprised as Anna herself, though not for the same reason.
She
couldn’t believe that Max had actually given in to Stevie’s wacky request. “That’s Max,” she said. “Always unpredictable.”

A
S SOON AS
Max dismissed the class, Stevie dismounted and led Belle toward the bleachers, where her family was sitting.

“How did you like the lesson, Grandma?” she asked.

Grandma Lake walked forward to meet the girl and her horse. “This must be Belle!” she exclaimed. She reached out to stroke the mare’s nose. “I’ve heard so much about her.”

Stevie held her breath. Belle had a friendly temperament, but she could be feisty and playful. Stevie hoped the horse wouldn’t frighten her grandmother. Fortunately, Belle seemed tired from the lesson and stood calmly while Grandma Lake patted her.

“What a lovely horse,” Grandma Lake said sincerely. She glanced at Stevie’s brothers, who were waiting nearby. “Don’t you think so, boys?”

Alex started to make a face, but Chad elbowed him in the ribs. “Oops, sorry,” Chad said sweetly. “Did I accidentally hit you, Alex?”

Alex frowned and rubbed his side. “Uh, no problem, Chad,” he said. “It’s quite all right.”

Stevie bit back a laugh. Normally she preferred to keep her brothers far, far away from Pine Hollow. But it was kind of fun watching them try to be polite when she was sure that inside they were all dying to make fun of everything—especially her.

Stevie noticed Carole and Lisa heading toward the exit
and waved them over. “I want you to meet my two best friends, Grandma,” she said. She introduced Carole, Lisa, and their horses.

“It’s so nice to meet both of you,” Grandma Lake said, smiling at the two girls. “I’ve heard almost as much about you as I have about Belle.”

Carole and Lisa grinned. “Speaking of Belle,” Lisa said, “do you want us to take care of her for you so you can show your grandmother around, Stevie?”

“Oh, a tour!” Grandma Lake exclaimed. “What a wonderful idea. I’d love to see the rest of this place, Stevie.”

“Uh, thanks, guys,” Stevie muttered. A tour? How could Lisa suggest such a thing? Still, Stevie reminded herself, the last thing she wanted to do was let her grandmother wander around by herself while she was busy untacking Belle. Who knew what kind of trouble she could get into that way? It would be better if Stevie took her for a quick look around the stable. Maybe then she would be satisfied and ready to depart for a nice, safe, soothing restaurant.

Once her friends had departed with Belle, Stevie took her grandmother by the arm and steered her toward the door. “Come on,” she said. “I’ll give you my special guided tour. Then we can go to dinner.”

“Uh, we’ll skip the tour,” Alex spoke up quickly. “We’ve seen it already.” Chad and Michael nodded.

Stevie smiled at them sweetly. “Are you sure?” she said. “Oh well, your loss.”

Stevie’s parents also decided to wait for Stevie and
Grandma Lake in the entry area. “Don’t be long,” Mrs. Lake warned. “We have reservations at the Willow Creek Inn in thirty minutes. And you still have to change clothes.”

“Don’t worry, Mom,” Stevie said. As far as she was concerned, this was going to be the shortest Pine Hollow tour in history. All she wanted to do was get her grandmother out of there before anything bad happened to her, like tripping on something or getting nipped by a horse.

As she led her grandmother around the stable, Stevie was careful to introduce her to only the calmest horses. Grandma Lake met Nero, the oldest horse in the stable. She met the calm, gentle gelding named Patch, the horse Max usually assigned to beginning riders. She met a few of the ponies ridden by the youngest students. She met Veronica’s horse, Danny, who was athletic and fiery in the ring but aloof and very sedate in his stall.

Stevie moved her grandmother past some stalls quickly. A few horses she avoided entirely, including Geronimo, Pine Hollow’s resident stallion. Like many stallions, Geronimo could be unpredictable or even aggressive, especially with strangers. Stevie also skipped Magoo’s stall, moving quickly from Danny’s to another across the aisle. She was afraid that the sight of all those bandages would disturb Grandma Lake.

They had just reached Coconut’s stall when Stevie spotted Polly Giacomin heading toward the tack room. “Um, I just remembered something,” she said. “Can you
find your way back to the entry, Grandma? I think you’ve seen just about everything now.”

“Sure, Stevie,” Grandma Lake said, rubbing Coconut under the chin as the friendly gelding sighed with pleasure. “I’ll be fine. Go ahead.”

“Thanks.” Stevie took off after Polly.

A few minutes later, everything was set. Polly was waiting in the locker room. Now all Stevie had to do was find Britt.

She found her leaning on the half door of Magoo’s stall. As soon as she saw her there, Stevie smiled to herself. Obviously Lisa had been right. Britt really was trying to befriend The Saddle Club. She must have thought she’d find them taking care of Magoo as usual.

“Hi, Britt,” Stevie said. “Um, I wonder if I could ask you a favor?”

“Sure,” Britt said. “What is it? Do you need me to help you with Magoo again?”

“No, no, don’t worry,” Stevie assured her. “It’s nothing like that.” She grabbed the girl by the arm and dragged her toward the locker room. “You see, I’m supposed to go to dinner with my family now. But I forgot that I promised Polly I’d go with her to look at Romeo’s brother. She really wanted someone to keep her company. Would you mind going in my place?”

Britt looked uncertain. “Are you sure? I don’t know if she would want me to …,” she began.

By now they were entering the locker room. Polly
stood up when she saw them. “Hi, Britt,” she said. “Did Stevie tell you what’s going on? I hope you can come with me. I really want a second opinion on this horse before I start telling people about him.”

Britt shrugged, still looking a little confused. “Um, okay,” she said. “Just let me call my mom and tell her where I’m going.”

“Great,” Polly said. She followed Britt toward the door, tossing Stevie a wink on her way. “I’ll come with you to the phone.”

Stevie watched them go with a smile. Her plan was going perfectly. She had worked out the story with Polly. Now Polly and Britt were going to go see Romeo’s brother—who just might possibly be Britt’s dream horse. Stevie only wished she could go with them.

That reminded her that her family was waiting for her. She quickly changed out of her riding clothes, then hurried to the entryway. Grandma Lake was there chatting with Mrs. Reg. Both women were smiling and laughing and talking animatedly. They really seemed to be enjoying each other’s company, which surprised Stevie. They didn’t seem like the same type of person at all. Mrs. Reg was so brisk and lively and smart and hardworking. And Grandma Lake was so … well, old. What could they possibly have to talk about?

As Stevie came a little closer, she suddenly realized what the two women were talking about. The gymkhana!

“I do hope you can make it,” Mrs. Reg was saying. “It
promises to be a lot of fun. Not to mention a lot of laughs.”

“It sounds wonderful,” Grandma Lake said warmly. “I wouldn’t miss it for the world. I’m just surprised Stevie hadn’t mentioned it to me yet.” Just then she spotted Stevie. “Oh, hello, dear. We were just talking about your show on Saturday.” She glanced at Mrs. Reg. “What did you call it again?”

Stevie answered for her. “A gymkhana,” she said glumly. Her heart sank. What was she going to do now?

“D
ID YOU SEE
Alex’s face when his grandmother asked him what he thought of Belle?” Lisa giggled at the memory as she carefully examined Magoo’s injured hock.

Carole laughed, too. “I never thought I’d see the day when Stevie’s brothers would work so hard to be polite around here,” she said. “You could tell they were itching to make fun of everything like they usually do. But instead they had to pretend to be interested.”

Lisa started to rewrap Magoo’s hock with a fresh bandage. “I wonder what Stevie’s going to do about the gymkhana,” she said. On her way out a few minutes earlier, Stevie had huddled with her friends long enough to tell them about her grandmother’s plan to attend Saturday’s event.

“I don’t know,” Carole said. “If she needs to avoid excitement, the gymkhana is the last place she should be. I hope Stevie can change her mind. And speaking of
changing people’s minds,” she added, “have you changed your mind about Coconut yet? He and Britt got along great in class today, didn’t they?”

Lisa had to admit that they had. “Still,” she argued, “Britt gets along great with every horse she meets.” She gestured to Magoo. “Even this one seems to like her. She’s totally horse-crazy. Isn’t that one reason we’re thinking about asking her to join The Saddle Club?”

“Does that mean you haven’t given up on Applesauce yet?” Carole asked with a grin.

“No way,” Lisa replied. “By the way, what do you think of Stevie’s candidate?”

“You mean Romeo’s half brother?” Carole asked. Stevie had also filled them in on her plan to send Britt with Polly. “Actually, I’ve seen him. Judy is his vet.” Carole volunteered as a part-time assistant with the vet and sometimes accompanied her on her rounds. “He’s no Coconut, but he is a really nice horse. He reminds me a lot of Romeo.”