Saddlebags

The current below had torn a small tree out of the bank by its roots and sent it floating downstream. Behind it, rushing toward The Saddle Club, was a big black cowboy hat with silver buckles and a leather strap.

“It’s my father’s hat!” Carole gasped.

The hat suddenly snagged on the sapling, and white water bubbled and splashed around it.

“Oh, no,” Stevie cried as she gazed at Colonel Hanson’s hat bobbing in the water. “Our parents must be in terrible trouble!”

S
TEVIE LAKE HURRIED
up the path to Pine Hollow Stables for the Saturday meeting of her Pony Club, Horse Wise. She looked at her watch. It was 10:59. Whew. She couldn’t be late for Pony Club
this
week. Her riding instructor, Max Regnery, who also owned Pine Hollow, had warned her when she was late to last week’s meeting. He had as hard a time with lateness as Stevie had with being on time.

Colonel Hanson, the father of one of Stevie’s two best friends, Carole, was on his way down the path. “Morning, Stevie.”

“Hi!” said Stevie. She gave him a high five. “Aren’t you going in the wrong direction?” she asked. Colonel Hanson volunteered at Horse Wise every Saturday, so he should have been heading inside, not down to the parking lot.

“I left my clipboard in the car,” he answered.

“Mmm-mmm, mustn’t get sloppy,” Stevie teased, shaking a finger at him. “See you inside—I don’t want to be late.” Colonel Hanson was one of Stevie’s favorite people, and she loved clowning around with him, but today she couldn’t take the time.

As Stevie continued on her way, the colonel called after her. “Oh, Stevie—will your folks be picking you up today?”

Stevie stopped and turned around. “Actually, the whole family’s picking me up. We’re all going to the airport.”

“The airport? Wait a minute. Why do you need to go to the airport?”

“We’re seeing my brother, Chad, off on a trip to Paris. Can you believe it? His French class is going for two whole weeks!” Stevie made a face. “I mean, school is closed for one week for spring break anyway, but I seriously
doubt they’ll get any
studying
done that other week.”

The colonel’s eyes twinkled. “Do I detect a little jealousy?”

Stevie shook her head. “Actually I’m glad I’m staying home—I’ll have the whole week to spend with Belle.”

The colonel smiled knowingly. He was fully aware that nothing in the world made Stevie happier than being around horses—her own horse, Belle, in particular.

“Sounds like you’ve got it all figured out,” he said, waving. “I’ll see your folks after class.”

“Class! Oh, no!” Stevie glanced at her watch as she raced up the path—11:12! “I can’t believe it. I’m late again!”

When she reached Max’s office, she opened the door as quietly as she could. Members of Horse Wise were sitting inside on chairs and on the floor. Max was standing in the back. He ignored Stevie as she tiptoed into the room. Judy Barker, the vet who treated the horses at Pine Hollow, was talking to the club members. She stopped speaking for a moment as Stevie slipped in between her two best friends, Carole Hanson and Lisa Atwood. The room was silent. To Stevie, the moment felt like an hour.

Max cleared his throat. Stevie knew it was meant for her.

Judy smiled and went on. “So, to recap what I said before, a horse who has been eating hay all winter should be allowed how much fresh grazing time at first?”

“No more than a half an hour a day,” Carole answered, poking Stevie with her elbow. That had been one of the questions Stevie had called her with the night before.

Stevie was trying to listen. She had tons of questions about this topic. But something else kept gnawing at her. Why did Carole’s father want to talk to her parents? No one knew better than Stevie herself that she was always getting into some kind of mischief or other. But what could this be? When Carole nudged her, a thought popped into her head: That’s why the colonel’s mad at me—I called too late last night. But I
had
to ask Carole about whether I should change Belle’s feed now that it’s springtime.

“Right. And how do you increase a horse’s grazing time, Carole?” Judy asked.

This was another question Stevie had had the night before.

“Well, after a few days,” answered Carole, “the
amount of fresh pasture time can be increased, but only very slowly, by fifteen minutes per day. That’s to help the horse avoid colic.”

The Pony Club members all listened and nodded. There were plenty of kids in the room, but Stevie, Lisa, and Carole were the only ones who were members of The Saddle Club. They had formed The Saddle Club themselves, and it had only two requirements for membership. First, each member had to be absolutely horse crazy. Second, they always had to be willing to help each other out of any jam.

That was why Carole and Lisa had been listening carefully to Judy’s talk—so they could answer any questions Stevie might have about feeding Belle.

Stevie’s parents had just recently given her Belle, a beautiful mare who was part Arabian and part Saddlebred. Stevie loved having her own horse, though she was finding out that it was a lot of work and responsibility. Horse owners needed to know many things, such as the proper amount to feed their horses.

Judy talked about feeding for a while longer, then stood up. “Believe it or not, I have more spring and summer health tips for horses. But first, let’s break for our own spring feed!”

“Yeah!” everyone shouted.

“I’ll get colic if I don’t eat something soon,” Stevie said to her friends.

“Ahem! I get colic too,” came a serious, deep voice. It was Max. “From lateness, especially when it’s one of my best riders.”

Stevie blushed. “Sorry, Max,” she said.

“This meeting started at eleven sharp, not eleven-fifteen,” said Max, still annoyed. “Try being
early
next week, then maybe you’ll be on time. And don’t get
lost
during lunch break.”

Stevie knew he was half joking. “Okay,” she promised sheepishly. “I will. I mean, I won’t. I’m sorry,” she stammered.

She and her friends headed out of the office and over to their cubbies. Stevie could feel that her face was still red. She hated it when Max was annoyed at her.

“You know why I was late?” she said to her friends.

“Why?” asked Lisa and Carole as they headed outside to sit on a bale of hay and eat under the April sunshine.

“Because I was being interrogated by the marines!” Stevie sat down on the hay bale and took her sandwich out of the bag. “I bumped into your dad, Carole, and he wanted to know if my parents were picking me up today.”
She cast a worried look at her friend. “Was your father mad at me for calling last night?”

“Well, you did wake us both up,” Carole admitted after swallowing a bite of her ham and cheese sandwich.

Lisa’s eyes were wide. “I must be in trouble too,” she said, sounding worried. “When I saw your father, he told me he wanted to talk to
my
parents.” Lisa didn’t get into trouble the way Stevie did. In fact, she was a straight-A student. She couldn’t imagine what it was she might have done.

Stevie frowned. “Maybe it’s from the time we turned your bathroom sink blue. Remember that diffusion experiment we did?”

Carole shook her head. “You can hardly notice it now. Besides, he already scolded me about that.”

“Do you think he’s going to tell them about all the bubble gum I chew?” Stevie went on. “I always do it at your house because Mom and Dad won’t let me at home because of my braces. I keep breaking brackets. And if my parents knew—”

“How could it be about your braces,” answered Lisa, “if he wants to see my parents too?”

That stopped Stevie short. The girls munched their
sandwiches in silence for a moment, mulling over the possibilities.

“Come to think of it,” said Stevie, “your dad called and spoke to my mom a couple of weeks ago, and she never told me what it was about.”

“That’s weird,” Lisa said. “I overheard my parents talking the other night, and I thought I heard my dad mention your dad’s name. But I wasn’t sure, and I definitely wasn’t supposed to be listening, so I just dropped it.” Lisa turned a little pale. “I hope it’s nothing major. I hate when my mom gets upset. You know how overprotective she is.”

A few minutes later Max’s voice came booming over the P.A. system. “Your attention please. Horse Wise will resume in three minutes.”

Stevie nearly choked on her drink. For now she was finished worrying about whatever Colonel Hanson wanted to tell her parents. She had something more immediate to worry about. She leapt up, balled up her sandwich bag, and tossed it in the trash. “I’d better not give Max colic,” she yelled over her shoulder as she dashed into the barn. “I’m already in enough trouble.”