Starting Gate (13 page)

Almost everybody cheered as Skye pulled Mabel up and dismounted. Only three people sat frowning in silence—George, Marcella, and Shev. They got up from their perches beside the track and walked over to Skye and Mabel.

“Well, looks like you got lucky, Ransom,” George said, grabbing Mabel’s reins away from Skye. “No more scenes that require a real rider in this movie. You can just bat your eyelashes at the camera from here on out.”

For a moment Skye looked angry, then he smiled and handed Mabel a lump of sugar. “Whatever, George,” he said. “My only regret in this movie is that this poor horse has to be cared for by you.”

George muttered something else, then he led Mabel back to the barn, the whole time shaking and jerking the lead line, trying to make her misbehave. Instead of jumping and biting, though, Mabel just followed calmly, nodding her head at some crew members along the way.

From their seats on the bench, The Saddle Club could see the whole thing. “Come on,” said Lisa. “I want to find out what George is going to do next.”

All three got up and followed George and Mabel, careful to stay far enough away to escape his notice. He jerked Mabel back to the barn, still failing to get a
rise out of her. The longer he tried, the calmer she got and the redder his face became. By the time they reached her stall, he practically shoved the poor horse inside.

“Get in there!” he snapped, popping the end of the reins on Mabel’s flank. As soon as she was safely in her stall, he slammed the door so hard the whole stable shook. Then, without ever noticing that the three visitors from Virginia were standing nearby, he stormed out of the stable, muttering something under his breath.

“Wow,” whispered Stevie. “He’s really mad!”

“I know,” Carole replied. “I pity the poor horse that belongs to him.”

“Can you believe we actually did this?” cried Lisa, her blue eyes alight with joy.

“No!” cried Stevie, lifting her hand in a high five. “I think this is one of the most amazing stunts we’ve ever pulled off! We should go down in the annals of Hollywood history!”

They all gave each other high fives in a small, tight circle. Mabel watched them curiously, then she whinnied as someone entered the stable. The girls stopped celebrating and turned around. Skye stood there, a big grin on his face.

“Hi,” he said. “What’s going on? Why do I have the feeling that The Saddle Club has just played a major part in that scene with Mabel and me?”

The girls looked at one another, each dying to tell Skye their big secret.

“Well, Skye, remember that pizza delivery boy who came to your trailer the other morning?” Stevie began.

“Y
OU WANT THE
same thing you had last time?” The waitress at TD’s frowned at Stevie.

“Right,” Stevie replied with a smile. “Lime and orange sherbet, only this time with pistachio sauce instead of hot fudge and pecans instead of marshmallows.”

“I get it,” the waitress said as she wrote Stevie’s order on her pad. “Just the same, only different.”

“Well, I suppose,” agreed Stevie.

“Kids!” the waitress muttered, shaking her head as she walked back to the soda fountain.

“Stevie, why did you change your order?” asked Lisa. “You haven’t eaten pistachio sauce in months.”

“I don’t know,” sighed Stevie. “For some reason, pistachios have a real California feel to them.”

Carole and Lisa looked at each other. “You know,” Carole said, “I can kind of see what she means.”

“Didn’t we have a great time in California?” said Lisa, spreading out the four blue ribbons they’d won on the table. “I miss being there so much.”

“I do, too,” said Stevie. “I miss Stephan driving us around in that cushy limo. Now I’m stuck in the backseat of our station wagon again, riding with my bratty brothers.”

“I miss seeing all those wonderful horses at the Pony Club show,” said Carole. “Some really terrific competitors rode there.”

“I miss Skye,” Lisa said. “And the expression on his face when we told him what we’d done.”

“He did look pretty amazed, didn’t he?” laughed Stevie. “He knew we’d done something, but I don’t think he imagined in his wildest dreams that we’d switched Mabel and Prancer!”

“I don’t think Prancer ever imagined in her wildest dreams that she’d be switched with a movie horse!” added Lisa with a chuckle.

“Yes, but did you see the look on her face?” asked Carole. “She’s a retired racehorse, so it must have felt great to be back on the track, racing in front of a grandstand.”

“I know she loved going in that starting gate,” said Lisa. “I could tell that from where we were sitting.”

“And George and Marcella and Shev never suspected a thing!” cackled Stevie. “That’s the best part of all!”

“Skye said we really saved his career,” Carole said. “I think he would have done anything to repay us for all our help.”

“Yes, but we couldn’t have taken that money he offered.” Lisa smiled as the waitress brought their ice cream. “Friends can’t take money from friends for helping out like that.”

“He came up with a pretty great idea just the same,” said Stevie as she dived into her sherbet sundae. “I mean, hiring a totally different first-class van service to get our horses back to Virginia in two days was really something!”

“I think he put Jess on the case,” said Lisa. “Jess looked as worried about Skye as we were.”

“Well, they’re both great guys,” Carole said. “Skye’s career is zooming, Jess is happy, and we have our wonderful horses back home.”

“And they look happy and very rested,” added Lisa.

“Why shouldn’t they be?” asked Stevie. “They never had to do anything except ride around in a trailer and listen to Mozart.”

“That’s right.” Carole giggled. “We should be pretty rested, too. After we rode in that one competition,
all we did was get chauffeured back and forth to a movie set.”

Just then, TD’s door jingled open and Veronica walked in. She was wearing leopard-print pants with a fluffy white sweater. Bright green earrings dangled from her ears, and her eyes were shaded by dark wrap-around sunglasses.

“Uh-oh,” whispered Stevie as Veronica walked toward their table. “Here comes somebody who got more rest than anybody, thanks to her appetite for sweetbreads.”

“Hi,” Veronica said, giving them a thin smile. “How do you like my new outfit? I bought it on Rodeo Drive while you three were out pestering that poor Skye Ransom.”

“It’s great, Veronica,” replied Stevie. “It looks like something you’d see in the movies—although I’m not sure which one.”

“Here,” Carole said, pushing one of the blue ribbons toward Veronica. “See if this will go with it.”

“What’s this for?” Veronica asked dubiously.

“Remember that morning you were too sick to ride? Well, Skye rode in your place in the mounted games. Thanks to him, we came in first. I guess the ribbon really belongs to him, but somehow it wound up back here in Virginia.”

Veronica took the ribbon from Carole. “Thanks,”
she said. “I’m sure I would have won it anyway, if it hadn’t been for that weird California water.”

Without another word, she turned and sauntered out the door. The girls watched her, dumbfounded.

“I don’t believe that!” cried Lisa.

“I don’t either,” Carole said. “She actually took a ribbon she didn’t win!”

Stevie shrugged. “I don’t know why you two are surprised. When has Veronica
not
taken credit for other people’s work?”

“Well, I hadn’t thought of it that way, but I guess you’re right,” said Carole.

“It doesn’t matter,” Stevie said. “We know who really won the race.”

“Just like we really know which horse was the better actor,” giggled Carole.

“That’s true,” Lisa agreed. “And part of what we learned this week is that substitution isn’t always bad.”

“Particularly when it’s for an excellent cause,” added Carole.

“I’ll drink to that!” said Stevie, lifting her water glass high.

“And I’ll drink to The Saddle Club,” said Lisa. “Great friends to have in times of trouble, wherever you might be!”

B
ONNIE
B
RYANT
is the author of more than a hundred books about horses, including The Saddle Club series, The Saddle Club Super Editions, the Pony Tails series, and Pine Hollow, which follows the Saddle Club girls into their teens. She has also written novels and movie novelizations under her married name, B. B. Hiller.

Ms. Bryant began writing The Saddle Club in 1986. Although she had done some riding before that, she intensified her studies then and found herself learning right along with her characters Stevie, Carole, and Lisa. She claims that they are all much better riders than she is.

Ms. Bryant was born and raised in New York City. She still lives there, in Greenwich Village, with her two sons.