Horse Power (8 page)

“About last night …” Stevie said, “I feel bad about not setting your hair right. I’ve got a crimper at home. I could bring it over to your place and we could try that—”

Lisa just gave Stevie a withering look. Then they both burst into laughter.

From where she sat, Carole laughed, too, and then she explained the joke to Kate.

“Your friends are really nice,” Kate said.

“Yeah, and you’re going to love riding with them,” Carole told her.

Kate was quiet for a moment. Her eyes were on the black colt and his mother, but Carole knew her mind was somewhere else. Idly, Kate plucked a long stalk of grass from the knoll and chewed on the end of it.

“Carole,” Kate began with a sigh, “I don’t ride anymore.”

“Well, I know it can be tough sometimes when your dad is stationed at a base without horses, but once you’re moved into Willow Creek, you’ll be able to come to Pine Hollow.”

“No, that’s not what I mean. I mean that no matter where we live, I don’t want to ride anymore. I’ve told my parents. I told them after my last show.”

“But you’re good enough to go to the top!” Carole said, astonished by Kate’s announcement.

“Maybe,” Kate said.

“Just because you lost one show doesn’t mean you should quit!”

“But I didn’t lose,” Kate said. “I took a first in three events, a second place in two. I’ve got a wall full of ribbons and a cabinet of silver cups. I’m no loser.”

Carole shook her head in confusion. “I don’t understand,” she said. “I mean, I decided to quit riding once, when Samson’s father had to be put down and I thought the world had come to an end. But after a while, I realized that I just loved horses too much.”

“I love horses, too. That won’t stop. It’s riding I don’t like.”

Kate stared thoughtfully at the sky and continued chewing on the stalk of grass. Carole waited. There were times to ask questions. But Carole sensed this was a time to wait, so she watched the foal until Kate was ready to speak.

Samson flicked his tiny tail furiously, trying to get rid of an annoying fly, but the fly apparently was unimpressed with the colt’s efforts and kept pestering him. Wisely, Samson sidled over to his mother. As soon as Delilah spotted the fly, she brushed her long tail around her foal’s hindquarters, and the fly retreated.

“I’ve done all the riding I ever want to do,” Kate said finally. “I know how
you
feel. I know how much
I
used to love riding, but I don’t anymore. I’m done with it. Period.”

How could anything be that final?
Carole wondered.

How could such a thing have happened at all?

O
N
M
ONDAY MORNING
, Stevie and Lisa were eager to talk to Carole. They wanted to hear all about the rest of her visit with Kate.

“Oh, she’s so neat!” Lisa said. “I really like her. And her clothes. You know, there’s just something about the way she walks and talks. She’s older than we are, but not much. She’s only fourteen, but she’s so grownup!”

“I think you grow up fast on the competition circuit,” Carole said. “We talked about it a little, and she said it’s like you’re always on display. Actually, she didn’t really want to talk about riding.” She looked at her friends seriously. “In fact, she’s quit.”

“Quit?! How could somebody so good—a champion—quit?” Stevie asked.

“She didn’t want to talk about
why
, but she’s definitely made up her mind. And, she’s determined.”

“Hah!” Stevie huffed. Lisa and Carole looked at her. “This sounds to me like a job for The Saddle Club!”

“What are you talking about?” Carole asked.

“We’ll just have to show her how wrong she is,” Stevie said.

“Come on, you can’t interfere with somebody else’s life,” Carole told her.

“Oh, yes you can!” Stevie retorted. “When you see somebody making a
terrible
mistake, and it’s your friend, well, you’d just
better
interfere. That’s what we do for each other, isn’t it? I mean belonging to The Saddle Club means helping friends—even when they don’t know they need your help.”

“But Kate isn’t
in
The Saddle Club,” Carole reminded Stevie.

“Not yet,” Stevie said.

“I think I’m beginning to like this idea,” Lisa said. She looked at Carole for a reaction.

“I don’t know,” Carole said. “But I guess it’s worth a try. And experience shows that when we three work together—”

“Just what I had in mind.” Max Regnery’s deep, booming voice interrupted them. “You girls have been nagging me for weeks about being on the same team at the gymkhana. Well, I’m going to grant your wish. I want to see what you three
can
accomplish together.”

“Oh, wow!” Stevie said. “We won’t let you down,
Max! We’ll be terrific. We’ll probably win all the prizes.”

“That’s not what I have in mind for you to accomplish.”

The three girls got a queasy feeling. Max had a way of getting his riders to do things they never thought they could, just because he told his students he expected them to be able to.

“Just what do you want us to accomplish?” Stevie asked.

“The gymkhana teams each have four riders on them. Your team now has three, and you are all good riders. In order to even up the teams, you need a fourth. I’m assigning the newest, greenest rider in the stable to your team as well. I want you girls to work with the new rider closely, and cooperatively. Can you do it?”

“Well, sure,” Carole said. “We always help the new girls.” She spoke eagerly, until she caught the grim look on Stevie’s face. Max’s next words confirmed her friend’s apparent suspicions.

“This one isn’t a girl,” he said. “It’s a boy, and his name is Chad Lake.” He paused while the full weight of his pronouncement sank in. “In fact, here he comes now, girls. Why don’t you help him get ready for class. He’s had an awful lot of trouble with his tack.”

“That’s an understatement,” Stevie grumbled. “He’s been here a week and he
still
can’t tell a halter from a bridle!”

“Yes, he’ll be a challenge for you,” Max said matter-of-factly. “But I’m sure you’re up to it. See you in class. Fifteen minutes now. Don’t be late.”

Chad sauntered up to his sister and her friends. “Good morning, teammates!” he greeted them.

“Oh, groan!” Stevie said.

“Come on, Stevie,” Carole said. “Let’s get ready for class. You promised to help me check Diablo’s hooves for pebbles.”

“I did?” Stevie asked, confused.

“Definitely,” Carole said, grabbing Stevie’s sleeve and yanking her through the tack room toward the other aisle of horses.

“What were you talking about?” Stevie hissed at Carole when they were out of Lisa and Chad’s earshot.

“If you’re busy with me, then
Lisa
can help Chad,” Carole explained.

“Ooooh, I
get
it,” Stevie said, seeing the light. “But what’s wrong with Diablo’s hooves?”

“Nothing,” Carole said, rolling her eyes. “Let’s just get ready for class, okay?”

“H
ERE
, C
HAD
,” L
ISA
said. “Remember now how to hold the bridle while you’re putting it on? You have to kind of reach up under the horse’s neck—”

Chad stood next to Patch, the bridle dangling awkwardly from his outstretched hands. Patch had a look in his eye that said “No way.”

“Right, then first, the bit,” Chad said.

“Uh-uh,” Lisa corrected him. “Bring the crownpiece up first with your right hand, and then …” Her voice trailed off because there was no point in continuing. Chad had dropped the crownpiece and was grasping the bit. The whole bridle was a tangle. Patch blinked his eyes languidly. If he could have spoken, Lisa was sure his words would have been “Give me a break.”

“I guess I’d better do it for you,” Lisa said, reaching for the tangle of leather. “You watch, though, so you can do it yourself next time.”

“I’ll try,” Chad promised while Lisa deftly slid the bit into the horse’s mouth and then slipped the crownpiece over his ears. “I’ll really try. I just don’t seem to have much aptitude for this, though, you know?”

“You’ll learn,” Lisa assured him, buckling the final straps on the bridle. “It’s just a matter of time. This stuff was really confusing for me, too, at first. Pretty soon, you’ll get good at it.”

“Maybe,” Chad said, taking the reins from her. While he held the horse, she tightened up the girth. “Um, Lisa,” Chad began. “Would you like to go to a movie, or something, like after riding tomorrow?”

With a start, Lisa realized that Chad had just asked her out on a date. Her mind raced.
A date
. She could wear her favorite pink top over the denim skirt and the sandals her mother had bought for her—but they were yellow and that didn’t go at all.… Flushing with embarrassment,
Lisa realized Chad was waiting for her to answer him.

“Me?” she said, her heart beating so fast she was sure he could hear it.

“Yeah, you,” he assured her.

“Well, sure,” she said, suddenly grinning. “I’d like that.”

“Great,” Chad said. “There’s a neat movie at the Triplex. We can just walk over from here after we’re done.”

So much for my pink top and denim skirt
, Lisa thought to herself. She was going on her first date in riding clothes. Well, what did that matter? At least she was
going
on it.

“What’s the movie?” Lisa asked.

“
Revenge of the Mummy, Part Six
. Did you see the other parts?”

“No,” Lisa said, shaking her head. “I’m afraid I missed them.”

“I’ll tell you about them,” Chad said. Lisa opened Patch’s stall so that Chad could lead his horse toward the indoor ring, where his class was about to begin.

“I can’t wait,” Lisa said.

“So far, my favorite was
Part Three
,” Chad told her. “That was the one where the archaeologist gets trapped in the ancient burial room with these bones, see, and he thinks they’re just bones, but it turns out—”

“All beginner students proceed to the indoor ring!” Mrs. Reg’s voice boomed over the P.A. “Class is about to begin.”

“Hey, that’s me,” Chad said. “See you later, okay?”

“Right, later,” Lisa said. She watched the horse and rider walk away toward the ring.

Revenge of the Mummy, Part Six? Lisa said to herself.
How could there be six parts of a revenge? Of a mummy? How could somebody care—six times?

It was time for her to get Pepper ready for class, and Max wouldn’t like it if she was late. She hurried to the tack room, collected her horse’s gear, and carried it back to Pepper’s stall. By the time she’d gotten the bridle on, she had succeeded in convincing herself that if somebody nice, say Chad, liked mummy movies, maybe she’d really been missing something all along. She decided to keep an open mind.

“C
HAD
,
IF YOU
don’t hold the spoon level, the egg is never going to stay on it,” Stevie said in total exasperation.

It was Tuesday, and Chad and The Saddle Club girls were trying to practice for the gymkhana. Every time Chad did something wrong, Stevie got crankier and crankier. Lisa was feeling very uncomfortable with the whole situation. As soon as this practice was over, she and Chad were going to the movies. The problem was that Lisa hadn’t told Carole or Stevie about it, and she was sure Chad hadn’t mentioned it to Stevie. It wasn’t exactly being dishonest with her best friends, but, she had to tell herself, it wasn’t telling the truth, either.

Chad came bounding up on his pony, Half Dollar, to where Lisa stood at the far end of the ring, and
stuck out a spoon. Lisa supplied him with the egg for the gymkhana practice—which he promptly dropped.

“Big deal,” Chad grumbled as Stevie rolled her eyes at him.

“It
is
a big deal to us,” Stevie told her brother. “Now try it again.”

Once again, Chad turned his pony and retreated to the starting line. Carole, aboard Quarter, gave the signal to start. Chad told Half Dollar to “giddyup,” which inspired the pony to a grudging walk. Carole clicked her tongue until the pony broke into a trot. Chad, surprised by the sudden speed, nearly tumbled off the back end of his pony.