Horse Trouble (12 page)

Mrs. Reg beamed. Lisa was sure it was the last smile she’d see on her face for a long time once Veronica got a word in edgewise. “It’s awfully nice to know that when I’m gone, my shoes can be filled by young riders Max and I have trained so well.”

“I guess we did,” Max said. “But I can’t claim any credit for the French lesson that one of these young riders delivered. A new rider here said he never had more fun or learned more on a trail ride than he did
with Lisa. He said something about having a friend who wants to learn Arabic and wondered if we had any Arabian horses. I don’t know what he was talking about, but he signed up for six months’ worth of trail riding. For that, I’ll learn Urdu! I don’t know what you did, Lisa, but thank you.”

“It’s a long story,” Lisa said, stunned. “But you’re welcome.”

“Max—I need to talk to you
now
.”

“Not now, Veronica.” Max turned back to his mother. “Then there’s the case of Mr. Jarvis. That man is quite strange, you know.”

“Oh, right,” Mrs. Reg said, remembering. “I never knew what to make of his passion for pintos. It’s always been tricky having Patch available for him. When is he coming back? I have to make a note so Patch will be free.”

“He’ll be back, all right, but he doesn’t have to ride Patch. Our friend Carole managed to convince him to try a bay. He says he enjoyed the experience so much, he wants to try to ride every horse in the stable. Can you imagine? Another magic trick from our young riders.”

“I’m just thrilled,” Mrs. Reg said. “I had a wonderful visit with my friend, you know—and she’s much better
now. She just needed some cheering up. Anyway, when I didn’t hear from Max, I knew everything was going smoothly. Good work.”

“I’m not done, Mother,” Max said. “I also had a call today from the man at Connor’s. You know how difficult he can be. Well, it turns out that Stevie here somehow managed to do him a gigantic favor, and he says he’s going to give us a ten percent discount on our next order.”

“Great! We’d better make it a big one, then, right?”

“Good idea,” Stevie said, keeping a straight face. “And trust me, they’re prepared for it to be big—very big.”

“Good, but what were you doing ordering grain? I thought we—”

“Max,
now
.”

“Just a minute, Veronica. Can’t you see my mother hasn’t even taken her coat off?”

She hadn’t. In fact, Max and Mrs. Reg had been so busy going over all the wonderful things The Saddle Club had been doing in their own unique way that Mrs. Reg hadn’t even sat down. Max put down his mother’s suitcase and reached to help her off with her raincoat. And when her raincoat came off, the girls couldn’t believe their eyes.

For there, fastened securely to Mrs. Reg’s blue
blouse, was a solid gold pin of a horse with a diamond for an eye.

There was stunned silence. Even Veronica couldn’t think of anything to say.

“Your pin—” Lisa uttered finally.

“I always wear it when I’m dressed up,” Mrs. Reg said. “Though, of course, it doesn’t belong in a stable. I mean, look what happened last time I had it here. You girls did a wonderful thing by calming Prancer. I had to rush after I picked up the pin where you left it for me in the locker area, so I never had a chance to tell you how proud I was of the job you were doing. But I’m sure Max remembered to tell you, didn’t he?”

“Max?” Stevie said.

“You
did
remember, didn’t you?” Mrs. Reg asked accusingly.

Max looked downright sheepish. That was enough of an answer.

“You mean he never told you that I got the pin?”

Lisa shook her head.

“I certainly hope you weren’t worried about it,” Mrs. Reg said.

The girls looked at one another. Stevie shrugged for them all.

Mrs. Reg turned squarely to her son. “Max Regnery,” she began. “Is it possible that you knew that these girls
were worried sick about my pin and you didn’t tell them, just because you knew they’d be trying to do everything in the world to find it and to try to make up for losing it?”

“Why, Mother!” he said. “How could you suggest such a thing?”

One of the things about having really close friends was that sometimes, without a word or look passing among them, they all had the same thought. At that instant three minds conceived of the idea that Mrs. Reg was going to have a few stories to tell her son about horses and riders who used to be at Pine Hollow. And there was a chance, just a chance, that one of them was going to be about a farrier in a three-legged race.…

The girls had to get out of Mrs. Reg’s office before they started laughing uncontrollably.

“Veronica, what is it you wanted to say to us?” Max asked, now desperately trying to change the subject.

“Nothing,” she said darkly, and then spun on her heels and marched out of the office.

The Saddle Club was close behind.

T
HREE VERY TIRED
, but very relieved and very happy, girls piled into the back of Colonel Hanson’s station wagon.

“Time for a Saddle Club meeting!” Stevie announced as soon as the door slammed.

“I can’t believe it!” Lisa said. “We got away with
everything
!”

“We are something!” Carole agreed. “Never was there a threesome like us!”

“What is going on?” Colonel Hanson asked.

“Oh, Dad, you won’t believe what just happened!”

“Probably not,” he agreed, “but I’ve come to learn that when the three of you get together to try to solve
a problem, it gets solved and stays solved, and even after it’s long gone and done, people often can’t figure out exactly what happened.”

“That’s a perfect description!” Stevie said.

The three of them started laughing all over again. It was a very different laughter from the sort of desperate giggles they’d all had the day before. Now they were laughing with relief and joy. Each felt the wonderful strength of their friendship that seemed to make The Saddle Club greater than the sum of its parts.

“This is all fine and good,” Colonel Hanson said, interrupting their celebration. “But didn’t I hear something about vegetable lasagna this morning at the breakfast table? I don’t see any signs of grocery bags, and we don’t want to go to the supermarket at this hour. What happened?”

“Oh, that’s almost the best of all!” Carole said. “See, we were on our way out of Mrs. Reg’s office when she spotted the grocery bags. I
did
do the shopping, Dad. Anyway, she said something like ‘Max, you remembered!’ It turns out that when she put ‘Food for Friday’ on her list, she didn’t mean that we should order grain and hay, she meant that her friend, the one who is going to do the painting of Pine Hollow—and that’s another story—is coming for dinner, and she wanted to be sure she had something to cook for him.
She was even thrilled that he’d included a recipe for vegetable lasagna. She’s been meaning to try it for months!”

Even Colonel Hanson had to start laughing then. “There seems to be no end to the trouble you three can get into and out of at exactly the same time, and I have no end of admiration for this wacky skill you have. Still, I want to know, what are you girls going to make me for dinner?”

Carole patted her jeans pocket. She had the change from her grocery shopping, and she had the money Max had handed her to pay her back for the groceries. It was way too much money for the groceries, but it wasn’t too much for what she had in mind.

“Simple, Dad. We’re going to make reservations!”

Everybody agreed that it was a great idea. They had a victory to celebrate.

Bonnie Bryant is the author of nearly a hundred books about horses, including the Saddle Club series, the Saddle Club Super Editions, and the Pony Tales series.