Silver Stirrups (4 page)

There was the tiniest fraction of a pause before Red began to shake his head. “Lisa, I’m warning you …”

“It was just a hypothetical question,” Lisa said happily. There, that sounded more Stevian.

“Okay, I would like to ride at Briarwood. But,” he continued before Lisa could respond, “finding a suitable horse at this late date would be impossible. I’m certainly not going to take a horse that’s not ready.” He glanced at Lisa. “You should understand that!”

“Now, Red,” Lisa protested, “be nice!”

A few minutes later, Red brought the truck to a stop in front of Lisa’s house. “What do you look so happy about?” he asked suspiciously.

Lisa grinned. “I’m just happy to be home, Red,” she
said. She got out and shut the door behind her. “Thanks for the lift.”

Red shook his head again. “You’re welcome—I think,” he said grimly. But he flashed a smile before he drove off.

Lisa watched the truck disappear and then hurried up the path to her house. What an exciting afternoon! First the news about Briarwood, then Red’s news about himself. And no matter what he said, Lisa had heard him hesitate when she asked him about riding at the bigger show. Lisa was a sharp observer of people. She knew that when a person hesitated, it meant he was undecided. Clearly, it was up to The Saddle Club to decide him.

A
FTER DINNER
, L
ISA
sprinted for the telephone in the family room. “Don’t forget you have to empty the dishwasher when it’s done!” Mrs. Atwood called.

“I won’t, Mom!” Lisa replied. As she dialed Carole’s number, Lisa promised herself, for the hundredth time, that if she ever became a famous scientist, she was going to build a robot that did one task and one task only: empty the dishwasher!

Carole answered the phone sounding sleepy. Or maybe not exactly sleepy, Lisa thought. But if it wasn’t tiredness that was making Carole’s voice sound flat,
then the only other thing it could be was lack of enthusiasm, and Lisa
knew
it wasn’t that.

“You sound tired, Carole,” Stevie said, when they had included her in the three-way call.

“Do I? I guess I am, a little,” Carole replied. It was a white lie, but Carole didn’t feel like getting into the truth. The truth was that for the first time in forever, Carole didn’t really feel like talking to her two best friends on the phone. She knew they would probably want to talk about horses, and then they would want to talk about the new horse. She tried to focus on what Lisa was saying.

“So then Red gets a big smile on his face and tells me he’s going to ride Kismet in the schooling show!” Lisa announced.

“He is!” Carole exclaimed. All at once, her mood shifted from tepid to highly interested. “That’s wonderful!”

“Maybe he’ll do really well and decide to ride in the Briarwood show, too!” Stevie cried.

Lisa chuckled. She could always trust her friends to think the way she did. Quickly she recapped the conversation. “I could just
tell
that Red would be interested in going to Briarwood, provided that (a) he does well this weekend, and (b) somebody—meaning us—finds him a horse.”

“What’s wrong with Kismet? Mrs. Murphy shows him all the time,” said Carole.

“That’s just it,” Lisa explained. “She’s taking him herself.”

“Oh … so that leaves Red high and dry,” said Carole.

“More like low and—and slow,” Stevie felt compelled to point out. “Because without a horse, he’s grounded.”

“Stevie!” Lisa and Carole cried. They knew if they didn’t stop Stevie’s punning right away, she would get completely out of control.

“I’m sure if we racked our brains, we could think of some possibilities,” Carole said.

“I was hoping you’d say that,” said Lisa.

“Let’s see …” Carole was quiet a moment, considering. “Red needs a decent-sized horse.”

“A good jumper,” said Lisa.

“With at least some horse-show experience,” added Stevie.

Before long, the girls had come up with a composite of the perfect mount for Red. The only problem was, they couldn’t come up with a horse to fit the bill. Every horse they named had at least one major strike against it. It was too green, or too dead, or its owner was overprotective. “The kind of owner that gives you
a list ten pages long about how to treat their ‘baby’ when they go away for two days,” Carole said.

Still, the girls were optimistic. “I’m sure we’re just forgetting an obvious choice,” Carole said. “We need a nice, solid, attractive horse. Heck, maybe the girl who owns Country Doctor won’t show up for a couple of weeks and Max will let Red ride the wonder horse.” The thought was very appealing to Carole.

“Somehow I doubt that,” said Lisa. “If his owner is as serious about riding as she’s supposed to be, I’ll bet she’ll get here as soon as she can—definitely in time for Briarwood.”

“You’re probably right,” Carole said, in a noncommittal tone of voice.

“Say, what about Danny?” Stevie suggested. “With Red instead of Veronica on his back, that horse would think he died and went to heaven!”

“No such luck,” said Carole. “I wanted to take him out the other day, but Veronica left strict orders that only a special German dressage trainer she hired for the time she’s away can go near him.”

“Typical,” said Lisa.

“
Too
typical,” Stevie added.

After a few more minutes of talk, the three of them sighed in unison. Red, more than anyone, deserved a good mount for Briarwood. He probably wasn’t admitting
that he wanted to go for just that reason: He didn’t want people to feel sorry for him. And with his quiet, reserved personality, he wouldn’t want to make waves at Pine Hollow.

“Lisa!” Mrs. Atwood called. “The cycle stopped!”

“Be there in two minutes, Mom!” Lisa called back. To Carole and Stevie she said, “Why doesn’t my mother understand the cardinal rule of dishwasher emptying?”

“What, that you have to wait for the dishes to cool off before unloading them?” said Stevie.

“Exactly!” Lisa cried, thrilled that her friend understood.

“I’ll tell you why,” said Stevie. “It’s simple. In order to get us to do all the chores, parents pretend that they work really hard, too. But it’s a myth. None of them have emptied a dishwasher or set a table in
months
—maybe even
years
! They don’t remember what it’s like! They only pretend to.
Your
mom just slipped up, and
you
caught her.”

“Yeah, but what good does it do me?” Lisa asked.

“I can’t wait to hear this,” Carole muttered.

Stevie laughed into the receiver. “Absolutely none at all, I’m afraid. It just confirms my theory.”

After Lisa hung up, Stevie and Carole continued a discussion they’d started that afternoon about what
classes they were going to enter at Briarwood. The choice wasn’t difficult for Carole. She would ride in the junior equitation and junior hunter classes. She and Starlight were good at both of them, capable of winning in each division. But for Stevie the choice was harder. Belle could jump very well, but she didn’t have beautiful form over the fences. Likewise, Stevie was a confident, skilled rider, but her style was more slapdash than Carole’s. Both Belle and Stevie preferred jumper classes to hunter and equitation classes. In jumper classes, the only thing that mattered was that the horse cleared all the fences within a time limit. Form didn’t count at all.

“I’ve thought about it a lot,” Stevie said, “and I don’t want to bite off more than I can chew. Belle and I are going to stick with junior jumpers. That’s what we’re good at.”

“But don’t you want to challenge yourself, the way Max said, and try an equitation class?” Carole suggested.

“I don’t think so,” Stevie replied. “I think riding at Briarwood, which is such a big show, will be enough of a challenge. This way we’ll have fun and we’ll have a chance to do well, too.”

“I guess so …,” Carole said. She was going to pursue the subject but decided against it. It had suddenly
dawned on her that she felt exactly the same way as Stevie. She wanted to stick with what she knew and have a chance to do well—
very
well. Anything short of the trophy would be a disappointment.

After they had said their good-byes, Carole hung up the phone and doodled absently on a piece of paper. She knew Max would disapprove of their conversation, but why should he? What was so wrong about wanting to do well, to prove what you knew and show off what you were good at?

Carole looked down at the paper she was sketching on. She’d drawn a horse’s head with a ribbon pinned to its bridle that said First Prize. Beside the head she’d drawn a girl in boots and breeches, smiling. Humming softly to herself, Carole added one last detail: a huge, silver trophy, shining in the sun.

C
AROLE RACED TO
Pine Hollow after school the next day. Having two horses to exercise made her feel like a professional rider. A little guiltily, she gave Starlight a carrot and a quick hug; then she went to Doc’s stall. As she was tacking up the new arrival, Red appeared. He leaned over the door to say hello.

“Lisa told us the good news, Red,” said Carole, inching the girth tighter.

Red smiled. “Somehow I knew she would.”

“Why don’t you take Kismet out now? With us?” Carole suggested. She thought it would be fun if Red joined The Saddle Club in a preshow schooling session.

But Red shook his head. “Can’t. I was planning to, but Mrs. Murphy decided she wanted to have a private lesson with Max before she leaves for the week,” he explained.

Carole couldn’t help noticing his glum tone. It didn’t seem fair that Red couldn’t ride today, on this beautiful spring afternoon.
Here I have
two
horses to ride, and Red doesn’t even have one,
Carole thought. She straightened up. What the heck was she thinking? “Say, Red? Would you like to ride Starlight today?”

Red’s face lit up. “I’d love to, Carole. If you wouldn’t mind.”

“Mind? I’d love it! I was wondering all day how I would have time to ride two horses. This will be a huge help to me.” Carole made sure she emphasized that Red was doing
her
a favor and not vice versa, so that Red wouldn’t feel indebted to her.

Soon Red had the bay gelding ready. The two of them joined Carole and Doc at the mounting block. “Anything I should know, Carole?” Red asked, springing lightly onto Starlight’s back.

Carole watched Red walk Starlight in a circle. It was strange seeing someone else riding her horse. She had to admit that Red looked good on him. Red sat easily in the saddle, the reins loose so that Starlight could stretch. Starlight looked perfectly relaxed. To
her surprise, Carole felt a touch of disappointment. She had thought her horse might react more to the switch.

“Let’s see …,” Carole said. “I can’t really think of anything … Well … Well, okay—sometimes he’s afraid of shadows. He shies, and you really have to sit firm and tighten the reins. And you don’t want to let him jig at the walk. It’s a bad habit, you know. And of course he tends to get faster on the long sides of the ring and slower on the short sides. And you’ll notice he doesn’t always bend into the corners. You really have to use your inside leg. And come to think of it, your outside leg, too, to keep his hindquarters in line. And don’t forget—”

“Carole?” Red broke in. “I think I can handle it,” he said gently.

Carole stopped, flustered. She was acting like one of those overprotective owners she always made fun of! She was giving Red a lot of unnecessary advice on how to ride Starlight. Red—who’d been riding since he was two! She laughed. “Sorry, I know you can.”

Embarrassed, Carole mounted Doc. She caught up to Red and they walked to the outdoor ring together. Even at a walk, Doc had a long, swinging stride.

“How does he feel?” Red asked.

“Great!” said Carole. “A little higher and narrower than Starlight.”

“Do you know anything about his training?” said Red.

Carole shook her head. “Not too much. Although I have the feeling this is going to be one easy ride—kind of like sitting in an armchair and holding the remote. He’s probably been schooled within an inch of his life, like most fancy show horses.”

As Carole finished her remark, a gust of wind shook the trees overhead. Before she could gather her reins, Doc shied violently and broke into a trot. Carole lost her stirrups and slid forward onto Doc’s neck. “Ho! Ho, Doc. Ho, ho.” In a moment she had recovered herself, but not before feeling stupid, angry at herself, and, for the second time, embarrassed in front of Red. She sat back and slowed Doc to a walk.

“He must be feeling a little fresh from his trip,” Red said helpfully. “He’ll work out of it.”

“I know,” Carole said shortly. She knew she sounded rude, but she couldn’t handle advice right now. Luckily, they had reached the ring. A couple of other riders were working on the flat at the top of the ring. “I think I’ll take him down to the end where it’s quiet,” Carole announced, thankful for the excuse to split up with Red.

She turned Doc away from Starlight. Doc dug in his toes and refused to move. Carole used her legs harder and pulled with her outside rein. Doc backed up two steps. Carole dug her heels into his barrel. Doc backed up two more steps. “You didn’t bring a crop, did you, Red?” Carole said through clenched teeth.