Phantom Horse (13 page)

Several more readers followed, including Phil’s mother and a young man Shannon identified as their Hebrew-school teacher. Finally Phil’s name was called.

He stepped forward, looking solemn but happy. Taking his place at the reader’s desk, he began to chant, the simple melody carrying the Hebrew words over the congregation in a rich, flowing stream. Stevie was impressed. Suddenly Phil really did look very grown-up, standing there.

When Phil’s reading was over, Shannon explained that it
was time for him to give his speech, the
Dvar Torah.
Sure enough, Phil pulled a piece of paper from his pocket, glanced down at it, and began to speak in English.

He talked about the passage he had just read and what it had meant to him. Then he talked about what being Jewish meant to him. Glancing at his family as he spoke, he explained how much it meant to him to come from a family where each member was free to be himself or herself. He mentioned his father, who supported his wife and children’s religion while practicing his own. He talked about his aunt and uncle, who had decided to move to Israel to experience a different kind of Jewish culture but still kept in close touch with the rest of the family. He even described the ways in which his sisters had supported him all his life—although the entire congregation chuckled when he added that they often did so by helping him practice debating skills and the skills of being patient and forgiving. He ended by saying that his family—and the Jewish community, which was another kind of family—had always encouraged him to speak up, to be himself, to explore the things that were important to him, such as riding, and in general to take control of his own life and shape it in the ways he wanted and needed to.

Carole could see the people around her nodding at Phil’s words. Suddenly something Phil had said made an awful lot of sense to her, too. After listening to what he was saying about taking control of his own life, Carole had finally figured out what Mrs. Reg’s story had meant, and it wasn’t
what she’d thought. She had a pretty good idea now what she had to do to make sure the phantom horse nightmares stopped for good. And once she’d figured that out, she was able to forget all about it and enjoy the rest of Phil’s celebration.

T
HIS
TIME
C
AROLE
was riding Starlight on a treacherous mountain trail. Snow was just beginning to fall, and she shivered slightly despite her heavy jacket and pants. The trail led down into a shadowy valley, and that was where Starlight stopped and began the now familiar routine. He snorted, shook his head, and then bucked, sending Carole flying out of the saddle.

She was on her feet immediately. Turning to face the horse, she saw that his eyes were glowing red and his sharp hooves were pawing the ground. The familiar feeling of panic washed over her, and for a second her instinct was to turn and run. But this time, for the first time since the dreams had started, she fought that feeling. This was her
dream, and she was going to take control. Instead of fleeing, she put her hand into her jacket pocket. Her fingers closed around the carrot she knew she would find there.

She took a deep breath and stood her ground as the phantom horse began his charge. Even though part of her knew that this was a dream, another part experienced it as perfectly real, and it was hard not to panic as the huge beast thundered toward her. At just the right moment Carole pulled the carrot from her pocket and held it out. “Hello, Starlight,” she said, her voice trembling just a little. “Good boy.”

The horse skidded to a stop, and the red glow faded a little from his eyes. Carole concentrated, smiling and talking soothingly. She pictured Starlight the way she had always known and loved him, willing the creature before her to revert to that familiar shape.

Carole wasn’t sure exactly when or how it happened, but after a few moments had passed the phantom horse turned back into plain, lovable Starlight. At the same time, the entire mood of the dream shifted from forbidding and frightening to normal, even pleasant. Carole heaved a deep sigh of relief. She had the funniest feeling her nightmare week was over. As her dream horse stepped forward to take the carrot from her hand with his soft lips, Carole reached forward to fling her arms around his neck for a long, well-deserved hug.

* * *

T
HE
NEXT
MORNING
a well-rested Carole arrived at the stable early. Barely taking the time to dump her jacket and bag in the locker room, she hurried to Starlight’s stall, her heart in her throat. She had solved the problem of the dream Starlight. Would that solve her problems with the real one?

As soon as she saw him she knew that it would. Instead of the feelings of dread and nervousness that had followed her to his stall for the past week, she felt joy and affection when she looked at his calm bay face. She knew everything was going to be all right.

When Stevie and Lisa got to Pine Hollow a half hour later, they found Carole giving Starlight an extralong grooming.

Lisa, trying to be tactful, decided not to mention the nightmares. But Stevie had no such qualms.

“So did you have another bad dream?” she asked Carole, not even bothering to say hello first.

Carole smiled. “Sort of,” she said. “I mean, I had the beginning of the same kind of dream. But the ending was different. I made sure of that.”

“What do you mean?” Lisa asked, leaning against the wall outside Starlight’s stall.

“I finally figured out what Mrs. Reg’s story really meant,” Carole explained. “Something Phil said yesterday made me realize it. Remember when he was talking about being himself and shaping his life and everything?”

Her friends nodded.

“Well, that made me realize that that was exactly what I
wasn’t
doing with those dreams,” Carole said. “If I wanted them to turn out differently, I was the only one who could make that happen. So I did.”

Stevie looked confused, but Lisa just looked surprised. “You mean you changed the dream while you were having it?” Lisa asked. “I’ve read about people doing that, but I wasn’t convinced it would really work.”

“I wasn’t sure, either,” Carole admitted. “That’s why I didn’t tell you guys yesterday. But I was pretty sure Mrs. Reg believed it would, so I figured it was worth a try. You see, I realized the guy in her story didn’t give up riding because he had a superstition, but because he wasn’t willing to work to change it. So I knew I had to work to change what the dreams were doing to me, and the only way I could think of to do that was to take control of them while I was having them. And it was actually pretty easy once I made up my mind to do it. Last night when Starlight changed into the phantom horse, I just concentrated until he changed right back into Starlight again. And after that, everything was fine.”

“Wow,” Stevie said, impressed. “Do you think you’ll stop having the nightmares now?”

Carole shrugged. “I think I probably will. But even if I have one again, now I’ll know what to do.”

“And Phil’s speech helped you figure it all out?” Stevie said. “I’m sure he’ll be glad to hear that—oh, unless you don’t want me to tell him, that is.”

“No, it’s okay. You can tell him,” Carole said, dropping Starlight’s grooming tools back in the bucket and giving him a pat. “After all, he is an out-of-town member of The Saddle Club.”

“And now he’s our only official adult member,” Lisa added with a smile, as the girls headed for the tack room. They had already decided to go on a long trail ride to make up for not riding at all the day before because of the bar mitzvah.

“Yesterday was quite a day, wasn’t it?” Stevie said, hoisting Belle’s saddle off its rack.

Carole nodded. “Phil was right. It was a great party.” After the ceremony at the synagogue, Phil and his family and friends had gathered at the Marstens’ house for a big party, complete with music and dancing and lots of food.

“It was,” Stevie agreed. “But that’s not exactly what I was thinking about.”

Lisa slung Prancer’s bridle over her shoulder. “I know,” she said. “The party and the presents were a lot of fun. But the best part happened at the synagogue. It’ll be hard to see Phil quite the same way after this, won’t it?”

“Yes. But in a good way,” Stevie said, leading her friends out of the tack room. She stopped in the hallway, a thoughtful look on her face. “After all, the bar mitzvah didn’t
change who Phil is in any important ways. It really did just the opposite, by making him think about who he is. It made him more
him
, you know?”

It was a typical confusing Stevie comment, but this time her friends knew exactly what she meant, and they said so.

“Anyway,” Stevie said with a grin, “Phil may be an adult now, but he hasn’t changed that much.”

“What are you talking about?” Carole asked.

“Well, I don’t know if you noticed,” Stevie said, “but toward the end of the party, Phil and I went for a walk—just the two of us.”

Carole and Lisa exchanged glances and smiles. “We noticed,” they said in one voice.

“We went out to the barn,” Stevie went on. The Marstens had a small barn behind their house where Phil’s horse, Teddy, lived. “Phil said he wanted to get some fresh air, and also to check on Teddy. What with all the excitement about the bar mitzvah, he was afraid Teddy might have been feeling neglected.” She paused, blushing just a little. “Actually, he said he was afraid I might be feeling the same way.”

“That’s nice,” Lisa said, leaning against the wall and shifting Prancer’s bridle to her other arm. “So I guess knowing that he still cares about you just as much as ever must have made you feel a lot better about him becoming an adult and everything, right?”

“Well, sure, I guess so,” Stevie said. “But that was only
part of it. You see, while we were talking to Teddy, Phil’s sister Barbara came out to the barn with her new boyfriend.” She grinned. “I guess they were looking for some fresh air, too.”

Carole smiled. “What happened?”

“Oh, just what you’d expect from a real adult like Phil,” Stevie said. “We hid in Teddy’s stall, and just when Barbara and her boyfriend were
really
starting to enjoy the fresh air, Phil starting talking in this really deep voice, pretending to be Teddy.” She laughed at the memory. “Boy, you should have seen the look on Barbara’s boyfriend’s face when he heard Teddy scolding him for luring Barbara out to the barn.”

Carole and Lisa laughed, too. “Adult or not, I guess Phil’s still the same person he always was,” Lisa said.

“Thank goodness for that,” Carole added. “I like Phil just the way he is.”

“Me too. But I never had any doubts,” Stevie said airily.

Then Lisa frowned. “It’s too bad we’ve had a few too many doubts about certain other people lately,” she said.

“You mean like Troy Lasker, for instance?” Stevie asked.

“And Shannon,” Lisa added. “She turned out to be really nice, even if she is a little shy. But just because we didn’t know either of them that well we jumped to all kinds of conclusions.”

“I know,” Stevie said. “I’ve been feeling bad about that.”

“It’s not all our fault,” Carole said. “Troy does act kind of different sometimes, and his sense of humor can be downright weird. And Shannon was pretty mysterious about that bracelet, right?”

“We still shouldn’t have decided they were criminals just based on that stuff,” Lisa insisted. “Would you assume a horse was no good just because he was a funny color or had big ears?”

“Of course not,” Carole said immediately. “The most important thing about a horse isn’t the way he looks. It’s whether he’s sound, has a good disposition, and is generally healthy.”

“And you can’t always tell those things at first glance, right?” Lisa said. “If you just went by appearances, you could end up with a beautiful horse with a terrible personality. Or you could pass up a wonderful horse just because he’d been rolling in the dirt and looked like a mess.”

“I see what you mean,” Carole admitted.

Stevie nodded. “Me too,” she said. “If we just went by first impressions, we might actually think Veronica diAngelo was a good person just because she’s always neatly dressed and pressed. And if we’d never gotten beyond our first impression of Shannon, we might never have realized what an interesting person she really is.”

Carole glanced at Stevie, who as usual was wearing a pair of faded jeans, a shirt that had seen better days, and a battered
pair of boots. “If everyone only went by appearances, you might not have any friends at all, Stevie,” Carole teased.

“Very funny,” Stevie said, sticking out her tongue. “But you’re right. We weren’t very nice to Troy or Shannon. And we certainly weren’t very good detectives. A good detective would have gathered more evidence before deciding on a suspect.”

“Speaking of detectives, I finally finished my book last night,” Lisa said. “And guess what? Remember that character I said reminded me of Troy? He wasn’t guilty after all. In fact, he saved the detective’s life at the end and helped her solve the mystery. It turned out that the butler did it.”

“See? At least we weren’t the only ones who suspected someone without enough evidence,” Stevie said.