Star Rider (2 page)

“Hello?” she almost gasped into the phone.

“Is this Lisa Atwood?” a voice asked. It was a gentle and familiar voice, but Lisa couldn’t quite place it.

“Yes, who’s this?” she asked.

“It’s Skye—Skye Ransom,” the voice informed her. “Remember me?”

“Really?” Lisa couldn’t believe it. Of course she remembered him. Skye Ransom was a famous teen movie actor whom she and her friends had gotten to know when they were on a trip to New York City to attend the horse show there. The girls had met him when he’d been trying to learn to ride horseback because he was starring in a movie that required him to ride. Skye hadn’t wanted to admit to anyone that he didn’t know a thing about horses. The Saddle Club had taught him everything he’d needed to know. They hadn’t really expected to hear from him again, although Lisa
had
written him a letter to
say that she’d seen the movie eight times when it came out.

“You don’t recognize my voice after seeing my movie eight times?” Skye teased.

Lisa laughed. “I recognize it. I just don’t believe it! What are you calling for and how did you find me here?”

“I tracked you down,” he said. “See, I’m doing another horse movie.”

“You want more riding tips?” Lisa asked.

“Well, partly that,” he said. “I do need more riding tips.”

“Look, my friends and I would love to give you lessons, but wouldn’t it make more sense to find an instructor in California?”

“I could do that, I suppose,” he said. “But if I did, I’d have to take lessons long distance. See …”

“S
TEVIE
! C
AROLE
! G
ET
this!” Lisa shrieked as she dashed back to Samson’s paddock. “You’re never going to believe it! Never!”

“What?” Carole asked.

“It’s incredible!” Lisa said.

“What’s incredible?” Stevie asked.

“You won’t believe it!” Lisa repeated.

“If you won’t tell us what it is, we won’t have a chance to believe it,” Stevie said sensibly.

Lisa brought herself to a halt, and gulped. She couldn’t get the words out.

“Who was calling?” Carole asked. She thought maybe if she could just get Lisa started, she might learn what was going on.

“It was Skye,” Lisa began.

“Ransom?” Carole and Stevie asked in a single voice. Lisa nodded.

“Yeah, Skye Ransom. He was calling me. From California. Where he is—”

“This could take all day,” Stevie said.

Lisa ignored it. She concentrated on getting her news out. “—but he won’t be in California for long. See, he’s making another horse movie. It’s a sequel to the one he was making in New York. Only this time it’s going to be shot in … in …”

“Virginia?” Carole asked.

Lisa nodded. “Yeah, somewhere in Virginia. Anyway, he wanted to know if I—and you two—could help him some more. Can you believe it? See? I told you you wouldn’t believe it. Isn’t it incredible?”

“Wow,” Carole said.

“Outstanding!” Stevie added, but then her face fell.
“Virginia’s a big state, you know. He could be miles from here.”

“Wherever he is in Virginia, it’s closer to us than California, isn’t it?” Carole reasoned.

“Oh, yeah,” Stevie said. “That’s definitely true.”

Carole felt a tug at her hand, then. She had almost forgotten that she was holding Samson’s reins. Before she could do anything about it, Samson tugged them out of her hand and began darting around the paddock, dragging the reins. He nearly stepped on them several times.

“Oh, no!” Carole said. She realized right away that Samson was so unaccustomed to the leather straps that he might very well trip himself.

Nobody needed to say anything. The Saddle Club immediately knew what to do. Working quickly and wordlessly, the three of them cornered Samson in the paddock. Lisa began speaking to him in her soft, reassuring voice. His ears flicked curiously. She approached him slowly from his right side. She kept talking as she neared him. She held his attention so that he never noticed that Carole was actually much closer, on his left side. Just as he was about to dart away, Carole reached out and grasped his reins.

“Good boy,” Lisa said. She patted him. He seemed a little disappointed that the excitement was over so fast.
The Saddle Club was relieved they had kept him from creating more excitement.

While Lisa patted Samson some more, Carole unbuckled the bridle and released the bit from his mouth. He shifted his jaw around cautiously and seemed satisfied that everything was normal. Carole patted his flank and Stevie opened the gate to let Samson back into the paddock with his mother.

“What a team!” Lisa remarked.

“We’re really something!” Carole said. “We can train colts, we can even instruct famous movie stars!”

“And cater birthday parties,” Stevie added.

“Let’s face it, girls,” Lisa said. “We’re The Saddle Club. We can do anything.”

“W
HAT
’
S ALL
the noise out here?” Max Regnery demanded, storming from the stable to where the girls were still celebrating their own brilliance. “The horses are all nervous and edgy, and you three are giggling and shouting. I can’t have—”

The girls glanced at one another. It was true that they’d been making some noise, but it didn’t seem that the horses had been in the least bit upset until Max marched through the stable, swinging his arms and bellowing at them.

Max was a wonderful teacher and a good friend to all the riders. Most of the time he was pretty relaxed and understanding. The exception to that was when it came to horses. Riding and caring for horses always came first with Max. That included classes, too. He was a no-nonsense
instructor. When Max said no talking, he meant it. More than one chatty student had found herself ousted from Max’s class until she was prepared to concentrate the way Max wanted her to. Now he had that same no-nonsense look on his face, but the girls hadn’t been breaking any of his rules.

“I’m sorry, Max,” Carole said. “We got a little carried away, but I didn’t realize the horses were upset by what
we
were doing.”

“Just what were you doing?” Max asked, calming down a little bit.

“We were putting a bit on Samson,” Stevie said. “He was really good, too. And then, when we took it off, he almost seemed to miss the feel of it in his mouth.”

“He was so cute, Max. You just wouldn’t believe it,” Lisa said, patting the colt through the fence.

Max looked at Samson and smiled. It was almost impossible to watch the gentle colt and not smile.

“You three are doing good work with him,” Max said. “I’m sorry. I think maybe it was the fact that I’m upset that upset the horses.”

“What are you upset about?” Carole asked.

“I have a decision to make,” he said. Then he looked around at the interested faces of his three most eager riders. “Maybe you can help me.”

“We’d be glad to try,” Lisa said.

“Well, we can talk while we work,” Max said. “The farrier will be here later today, and I want to make sure we check all the shoes before he gets here. Help me round up some of the horses in the north paddock, okay?”

That was just like Max. He could talk and ask the girls for advice, but he couldn’t bear the idea that anybody might just stand and talk while there was work to do.

The girls agreed to his terms and followed him to the north paddock, where six horses were enjoying the freedom of the pasture.

The girls rounded up the horses and contained them near the entrance while Max checked their shoes. The farrier, or blacksmith, came to Pine Hollow about once a week, and Max wanted to be sure that all the horses who needed shoes or repair work were ready for him.

“I had a phone call from a man named Blake Dithers. He makes movies.”

Three pairs of human ears perked up.

“It seems he’s looking for a stable in Virginia where he can spend a week—Monday to Friday—making a movie that has to do with horses. Somehow, the name of this place came up.…”

The girls looked at one another. They all had the same thought.

“Anyway, the man seemed to think I should know
about this movie. He kept talking about the star—his name is Cloud or something like that.”

“Skye,” Lisa said.

“Oh,” Max said, realizing that he knew the name, too. “I remember. He’s the actor you girls met in New York, right?” They nodded. “Did you have anything to do with this?” They shook their heads. “Well, maybe it’s just coincidence.”

“It has to be,” Stevie assured him. “None of us has heard from Skye since New York—until today, of course.”

Max nodded absently. “Of course,” he said. “But there’s a problem. This guy, Dithers, seemed sure I’d want to go along with his movie plans.”

“You
do
, don’t you?” Lisa asked, horrified at the realization that there was a real risk Max would turn Mr. Dithers down.

“Do you know how much work it would be to have this place turned into a movie set?” Max asked. “It would be totally disruptive to our regular riders. The movie people would almost shut the place down while they had the run of it.”

“They’ll pay, won’t they?” Stevie asked.

“That’s not my main concern,” Max said. “But, of course, they’ll pay. When Dithers got the idea I wasn’t totally enthusiastic, he practically doubled the amount of money he was offering. Yes, they’ll pay. A lot.”

“Think what you could do with the money!” said Stevie, the pragmatist.

“Think how much work its going to be!” Max countered.

If ever there was a time for a Saddle Club meeting, this was it. The girls just had to have a chance to talk.

“Uh, Max, I think those three horses over there ought to be checked,” Stevie said, pointing to two bays and a chestnut on the far side of the paddock. “We’ll go get them for you, okay?”

Max nodded. The three girls headed for the horses—out of earshot of Max.

“Isn’t this wonderful?” Lisa asked, trotting alongside her friends.

“We’ve just got to convince him,” Stevie said.

“Well, we’re The Saddle Club. We can do anything,” Lisa reminded her friends.

“The only thing that’s going to convince Max is if he’s sure the movie company won’t disrupt the running of Pine Hollow and that the horses will all be safe and well tended.”

“How can we convince him of those things?” Lisa asked.

“By assuring him we can do it ourselves,” Carole said.

“Ah, we have to be logical about this?” Stevie asked.

Carole nodded. Then both of them turned to Lisa.

“We’re going to need a work schedule,” she said. “We may even have to get some of the other riders to help.”

“Do you think we can do that?” Carole asked.

Stevie gave her a withering look. “When it means they’ll have a chance to actually see Cloud?—I mean Skye?”

The three girls giggled. They were sure Max could remember Skye’s name just as well as they could. He was just being funny, and four could play at that game.

“Let’s get the horses over to Max and make a proposal,” Carole said. She whistled to get the horses’ attention. They willingly came to her call and followed the girls back to the paddock gate, where Max was waiting for them.

“We want to make a deal,” Carole begin. “Lisa will tell you about it.”

Almost unconsciously, Lisa stood up straight and brushed off her blouse. She took a deep breath and began.

“We’ve decided that it would be a good idea for Pine Hollow to have Mr. Dithers’s movie company here,” she began.

Max looked at the three of them. “Oh, have you?” he said.

Lisa nodded. “It would be good publicity and it would
make extra money for you. That might make it possible for you to make some improvements—not that this place isn’t already perfect—but there’s a mare you’ve been wanting to buy, and the feed shed needs a new roof, you know, stuff like that. Anyway, we propose to offer the services of Pine Hollow’s young riders, starting with this group, working in organized shifts, to help make things run smoothly for the duration.”

Max seemed interested. “You girls are willing to do all this work just so I can put a new roof on the feed shed?” he asked.

“Definitely,” Stevie chimed in. “The feed shed is important to all of us.”

“And so is the mare you might buy,” Carole added.

“Just for the experience of hard work,” Lisa said. “We really care, you know?”

“I had no idea how devoted you were to Pine Hollow,” Max said.

“Oh, we definitely are,” Stevie assured him.

“It will be a lot of work,” Max said.

“Like what?” Stevie asked.

“Like grooming, cleaning stalls, tacking and untacking for the riders in the movie. There will be a lot of grounds-keeping. The place will have to be spotless. There may be some painting that we have to do, and I’m sure there
will be special training required of some of the horses, maybe even lessons for some of the performers.”

“No problem,” Lisa said. “We can get you a grounds crew, trainers, or grooms at the drop of a hat.”

“And lessons for the performers?” Max asked. “Who is going to take care of that chore?”

Three hands went up at once.

“All right,” Max said. “I’ll call Dithers and tell him it’s okay. He won’t believe that my riders are so devoted they’ll give up their own lessons just to pitch in for his movie.”