Horse Tale (6 page)

“Me too,” Carole said. “I can’t understand why Chuck was so annoyed.”

“I can’t either,” Christine agreed. “That’s the best audience response that show has ever gotten. I would think he’d want to sign you and Stewball on permanently.”

“Oh, well,” Stevie said philosophically. “At least it means I won’t have to wear this ridiculous dress any longer.”

“True. And it also means we can start planning our wilderness camp-out right away,” Christine pointed out.

They did just that as they reached the high school and changed back into their normal clothes. As they started back toward the main street to pick up the horses, they were deep in a discussion about whether to bring hamburgers or hot dogs to cook over their campfire. Stevie was enthusiastically supporting the idea of bringing both hamburgers
and
hot dogs when she heard a young voice shriek, “There she is! It’s the funny cowboy lady!”

The girls turned to see a group of tourists approaching, led by a little girl about five years old. She rushed over to Stevie and stopped, gazing up at her with adoring eyes.

“Looks like you made yourself a fan, Stevie,” Christine commented with a chuckle.

“I
loved
your show,” the little girl told Stevie breathlessly. “Your horse was so funny.”

“It sounds like Stewball’s the one with the fan,” Stevie told Christine. Then she bent down to look the little girl in the eye. “I’m glad you liked it. I’ll tell Stewball—that’s my horse’s name—that you said so, too.”

Just then the little girl’s family reached them. “Sorry, I hope Susie isn’t bothering you,” said a young man who appeared to be Susie’s father.

“She just went crazy for the show this afternoon,” added the woman at his side. “When she recognized you, well, I guess she just had to meet you.”

Stevie waved away the apologies with a grin. “It’s no bother at all,” she assured the young couple. “I just wish my horse was here to meet his fan.”

“Where did you get your horse?” Susie asked. “I wish I had a horse. I want a smart, funny one just like yours, with spots and everything.”

“Well, Stewball isn’t really my horse,” Stevie explained. “He belongs to my friend Kate’s parents. But they let me ride him whenever I visit, and I love him just as much as if he were really mine. I actually live in Virginia.”

“I live in California,” Susie said solemnly. “But I wish I lived here, so I could watch the cowboy show every day.”

Stevie chatted with her new friend for a few more minutes, until the little girl was dragged away by her parents. As The Saddle Club continued on their way, Stevie’s friends began to tease her a little about her new celebrity status, but they had hardly begun before another group of tourists stopped them to congratulate Stevie on her act.

After that it seemed that Stevie could hardly take two steps before being accosted by more of her adoring fans. Carole noticed that by the third or fourth time, Stevie had stopped explaining that Stewball wasn’t really her horse. In
fact, Stevie started inventing some pretty tall tales about him—including one in which she and Stewball had met when he had rescued her from a pack of coyotes in the desert. Carole and the others just rolled their eyes at that one and kept quiet.

“He really is the most wonderful horse in the world,” she told the group of college students who had stopped to talk to her. “I’d be happy if I never rode another horse in my life besides my Stewball.”

Carole raised her eyebrows—was she imagining things, or did Stevie sound as if she had really meant that?

“Hey, you guys,” Stevie said as they reached the main street. “Can we stop in the candy store again for a second?”

“Is your sweet tooth acting up again?” Carole teased. “All that rock candy you ate today wasn’t enough?”

“Actually,” Stevie replied, “I want to get a little bit more as a special treat for Stewball. After all, he does deserve star treatment after the way he rescued me today, don’t you think?”

“You know, Stevie, now that you mention it, maybe the rock candy was the reason for the ‘rescue’ all along,” Kate said. “He’s got almost as much of a sweet tooth as you do. It’s possible he was just after the sugar in your pocket this afternoon. You saw how he acted with Sam.”

Stevie shook her head firmly. “No way. It’s like I said before—Stewball saw that I was in danger and he wanted to help me. He probably just realized that Sam was my friend
when he smelled the rock candy he had in his pocket, and that’s why he calmed down.”

Carole thought that sounded a little far-fetched, but she decided to keep quiet about it. After all, she wasn’t entirely convinced that Kate’s theory was right, either—it really had looked as though Stewball had had more than rock candy on his mind when he went after Sam.

“Well, whatever he was thinking, I think we can all agree that Stewball is quite a horse,” Carole commented.

Stevie nodded her head vigorously. “That’s for sure,” she said. “He’s my hero!” With that she opened the candy-store door and marched in to buy Stewball’s reward.

“I
CAN
’
T WAIT
,” Carole told her friends eagerly. “I’ve been dreaming for days about going on another one of those wonderful desert rides.” It was the next morning and the girls were eating breakfast. As soon as they were finished, they planned to saddle up their horses for a nice long trail ride.

“Me, too,” Lisa said. She nudged Stevie. “I bet you can’t wait to ride your hero Stewball again either, huh?”

“Mm-hmm,” Stevie murmured distractedly, stirring her oatmeal.

“Hey, Stevie, have you heard a word we’ve said?” Carole asked. Stevie had been quiet all morning. “Earth to Stevie!”

“I hear you,” Stevie said. “I just have something on my mind, that’s all. Don’t worry, it’s not a
bad
something,” she hastened to add. “In fact, it’s a downright wonderful something.”

“Would you care to share that something with us?” Lisa asked dryly.

“Not just yet,” Stevie replied mysteriously. “I want to wait until the time is right.” She grinned and started humming a little tune.

Carole raised her eyebrows at Lisa and Kate. They shrugged, as mystified by Stevie’s odd behavior as Carole was. Still, they all knew how difficult it was to pry a secret out of Stevie before she was ready to share it. Besides, they had plenty of other things to think about at the moment.

“Anyway, I can’t wait to start our ride,” Carole said, with one more curious glance at Stevie. “And the weather couldn’t be more perfect.”

Lisa nodded. “It’s too bad Christine couldn’t come.”

“I know,” Kate said. Christine and her parents were going to visit some relatives that day. Kate smiled. “But the important thing is she’ll be here for the big camp-out tomorrow.” The others couldn’t argue with that!

W
HEN THEY REACHED
the barn half an hour later, John Brightstar was there to help them saddle up, as usual. “Want some help with that saddle, Lisa? It’s heavy,” he said, seeing her coming out of the tack room with Chocolate’s bridle slung over one shoulder and her saddle in her arms.

Even though a Western saddle was larger and heavier than the Eastern ones she was used to, Lisa was perfectly capable of carrying Chocolate’s saddle herself. But she knew that if she let John help her, it would give her an opportunity
to talk with him some more, so she let him take the saddle from her. As she followed him out of the barn toward the corral, she thought she saw Stevie, Carole, and Kate exchange an amused glance. Her friends would probably tease her about this later on.

Lisa watched while John set the saddle on the fence and then went to bring Chocolate out of the small herd in the corral. The obedient mare gave him no trouble, and soon John and Lisa were busy saddling her up together. A moment later Carole, Kate, and Stevie joined them in the corral and began saddling up their own horses.

While Lisa and John worked on Chocolate, they talked. Lisa asked him what he had to do to get ready for the auction.

“I’m glad you asked,” John replied quickly. “I was going to ask you if you’d be interested in seeing some of the preparations firsthand.”

“Sure,” Lisa said. “Like what?”

John leaned over to tighten Chocolate’s girth. Then he straightened up and looked at Lisa over the mare’s back. “I thought I’d teach you a little about cutting,” he said.

“Cutting—that’s like cutting specific horses out of the herd, right?” Lisa said, hoping he would be impressed that she knew what he was talking about. “It’s easy to figure out from its name.”

“Well, yes, you’re right about what it is,” John said. “Although that’s actually not where the word ‘cutting’ comes
from. A ‘cut’ is what the pen is called where cowboys drive the calves they separate from the herd.”

“Oh, I didn’t know that,” Lisa said, trying to decide whether or not to feel embarrassed by her mistake. She decided not to. “I’d love to learn,” she said, smiling at John across Chocolate’s back.

“Great,” John said, smiling back. “My father and I will be bringing in the horses early the morning of the auction. I’ll give you a few lessons before then so you can help.”

Lisa opened her mouth to answer, but before she could speak, she was interrupted by Stevie, who was leading Stewball past them toward the corral gate. “Hey, John, I couldn’t help overhearing what you guys were talking about,” she said loudly, a huge grin on her face. She glanced around at all of her friends, making sure she had their attention. “And I thought I’d better tell you that one of the horses you’ll be cutting out for the auction is good old Stewball, here.”

“What do you mean?” Lisa asked, annoyed that Stevie had obviously been listening to her conversation with John. “The Devines aren’t selling Stewball.”

Carole and Kate came over, too. “What are you saying about Stewball?” Kate asked. “I don’t think my parents are planning to sell him.”

“Oh, yes, they are,” Stevie replied. She looked around at her friends and grinned broadly. “I wanted to wait to tell you all the big news when Stewball could be with me to hear it.” She slapped the horse fondly on the neck. “
I’m
buying Stewball. Frank agreed to it—he’s arranging to have him shipped to Virginia right after the auction.”

“Really?” Lisa exclaimed. “You’re kidding!”

“Scout’s honor,” Stevie replied solemnly. “I talked to my dad last night. Stewball’s coming home to Pine Hollow.”

“That’s wonderful!” Lisa exclaimed. “Isn’t that wonderful, Carole? Stewball’s going to live at Pine Hollow!”

“It
is
wonderful! You’re sure your parents really agreed to this, Stevie?” Carole asked, sounding excited but a tiny bit skeptical.

But John had a different question for Stevie. “What’s a dude like you going to do with a cutting horse like Stewball out East?” he asked bluntly.

For a second Stevie looked taken aback. Then she put her hands on her hips and glared at John. “For your information, John Brightstar, Stewball is a
very
smart horse. He very well may be the smartest horse you or I have ever met—in fact, he’s a whole lot smarter than some wranglers I could mention.” She paused for breath, turning to sling one arm over Stewball’s neck. “That means he’s more than capable of learning anything anyone tries to teach him. I’m sure he’ll make a great English riding horse.”

John shrugged and turned to adjust Chocolate’s stirrups. Lisa couldn’t read his expression as he answered Stevie. “That’s probably true,” John said calmly. “He probably could learn to be an Eastern horse at that. I just wonder whether he’ll like it.”

“Of course he will,” Stevie replied with a wave of her
hand. She was just too happy to remain angry with John for long. “He’ll love it. And I know he’ll especially love being with me, just like I’ll love being with him. That’s the most important part, right?” She looked to her friends for support.

“You’re absolutely right,” Carole said, nodding. “You and Stewball have a wonderful relationship. I’ve always thought so. You’re practically made for each other.”

“True,” Lisa added. She looked at John. “Maybe you just haven’t really seen Stevie and Stewball together enough to understand just how well they get along. I mean, you should have seen the way he rescued her from the big bad bank robbers yesterday.” She giggled. “If a horse came to my rescue like that, I’d know he was definitely the horse for me—Eastern, Western, whatever.”

John shrugged again. “You could be right.” He gave Chocolate a pat. “She’s all ready to go,” he told Lisa, obviously trying to change the subject. “Let me give you a leg up.”

“Thanks,” she said. Carole and Kate hurried to finish with their own horses. Stevie was already aboard Stewball, leaning forward and chattering into his ears. He was listening closely—or at least that’s how it looked to Lisa.

John helped Lisa into the saddle. Then, as she settled herself into the seat, he remained at Chocolate’s side, looking up at Lisa. “Have a nice ride today,” he told her.

She glanced down into his dark brown eyes. “Thanks,” she said quietly, trying to suppress the herd of butterflies that had started fluttering in her stomach. She didn’t know
why just looking into his eyes made her feel nervous and flustered, but happy at the same time. She wondered if that was how Stevie felt when she looked at Phil, or how Carole felt when she looked at Cam. She hoped so. It was a nice feeling.