Horsing Around (2 page)

“Man, he’s going to puke,” Jeremy Fox said. “He just ate three tomatoes at once!”

“Go, Kevin! Go, Kevin! Go, Kevin!” The fourth-graders cheered even louder.

Kevin popped tomatoes seventeen, eighteen, and nineteen in his mouth and began to chew. Red tomato juice shot out of his mouth and across the table.

Now Mr. G. saw what was going on and put a stop to it. “Kevin, that’s disgusting and you could choke,” he scolded.

“Yes! Kevin, that’s super-disgusting!” Suzanne Lock shouted at him. “You almost got tomato gunk all over my new cowboy boots.”

Katie wasn’t sure how tomato juice could have flown over the table and landed on her best friend’s boots—which were
under
the table. She had a feeling Suzanne just wanted everyone in the fourth grade to notice she had new cowboy boots. That was kind of the way Suzanne worked.

“You got new boots?” Miriam Chan asked Suzanne.

“Let me see,” Emma W. said.

Suzanne smiled. She had managed to take the attention away from Kevin.

“These boots are just like the ones cowboys wear when they ride horses,” she said, sticking out her feet. “Well, cow
girls
, anyway. See all the fancy jewels on the sides?”

“Those are really cool,” Mandy said.

“Mega-cool,” Jessica Haynes agreed.

“They’re nice boots,” Becky Stern said in her slow, southern accent. “But they’re not the kind of boots I wear when
I
go horseback riding.”

All the girls’ attention switched to Becky.

“You go horseback riding?” Emma W. asked. “I always wanted to do that!”

Becky nodded. “I take lessons at the Cherrydale Stables.”

“I thought you took gymnastics classes,” Suzanne said in a not very nice tone.

“I do,” Becky told Suzanne. “But now I take horseback riding, too. A person can take more than one kind of class.”

Katie knew that was true. She took cooking classes at the community center. She also took art classes. And clarinet lessons, too.

“What kind of boots are for riding?” Zoe Canter asked Becky.

“They’re black leather,” Becky said. “And they go up to my knees. They’re what you’re supposed to wear when you ride English style. That’s the kind of riding they teach at the Cherrydale Stables.”

“Your boots sound sort of plain,” Suzanne huffed.

Becky shrugged.

“Do you have a horse?” Katie asked excitedly.

Suzanne shot her a nasty look. Apparently she didn’t like Katie talking to Becky about horseback riding.

But Katie didn’t care. She loved animals. She wanted to hear all about this.

“I don’t have my own horse,” Becky admitted. “I ride a pony who lives at the stables. He’s the sweetest pony in the whole world. He’s chocolate brown and his name is Brownie.”

“Brownie,” Katie repeated. “I like that.”

“Horseback riding is incredible,” Becky told the kids at the table. “I love that feeling of going up and down, up and down, up and—”

“Becky, stop,” Kevin said suddenly.

Katie looked over at him. His face had turned a weird greenish color.

“Oh, man,” Kevin groaned. “I feel sick.” He got up and ran from the table.

“I told you guys he was going to lose it,” Jeremy said. “Too many tomatoes.”

“You are always so sensible,” Becky cooed to Jeremy. She batted her eyes. “You’re the smartest boy in the whole grade.”

Now it was Jeremy’s turn to look like he was about to puke.

Katie felt bad for Jeremy. Everyone knew that Becky had a huge crush on him. They also knew that Jeremy did not have a huge crush on Becky—or even a tiny one!

“Um, Becky, is it hard to get up on a horse?” Katie asked, trying to turn Becky’s attention away from Jeremy.

“Well, Brownie’s a pony, so he’s not as tall . . .” Becky stopped for a minute and thought. “You know, I have a picture of me sitting on Brownie’s back. It’s in my backpack. I’ll go get it.” She jumped up from the table and ran out of the cafeteria.

Jeremy sighed and rolled his eyes as she left. “I wish she would just ride off into the sunset like those old cowboys,” he said. “Then I would never have to see her again.”

Katie’s eyes bulged. She couldn’t believe what Jeremy had just said. “You do not wish that!” she exclaimed.

“Oh, yeah, I do, Katie Kazoo!” Jeremy assured her.

Katie frowned. She really, really wished Jeremy hadn’t made that wish. Katie hated wishes. She had a good reason. She knew just how awful things could be when wishes came true.

Katie was in third grade when she first got into trouble with wishes. It started one terrible, horrible day when Katie lost a football game for her team. Then she’d fallen in a big mud puddle and ruined her favorite pair of jeans. Even worse, she’d let out a huge burp in front of the whole class. How embarrassing!

That night, Katie had wished she could be anyone but herself. There must have been a shooting star overhead or something, because the next day the magic wind came.

The magic wind was a super-strong, tornado-like wind that blew only around Katie. It was so powerful that every time it came, it turned Katie into someone else.

The first time the magic wind appeared, Katie turned into Speedy, the class 3A hamster. She’d escaped from her cage and wound up inside George’s stinky sneaker. YUCK!

The magic wind came back again and again after that. It turned her into all kinds of people. Once it turned her into her grandfather! Katie had hair coming out of her nose and ears and her muscles ached all the time.

Another time the wind switcherooed Katie into Jeremy’s kitten, Lucky. That time Katie had gotten into a fight with her own cocker spaniel, Pepper. He’d chased her right up a tree!

The magic wind followed Katie wherever she went—even all the way across the Atlantic Ocean! When Katie was in Italy on vacation, the wind turned her into a gondolier. She had to paddle a boat through the canals of Venice. Katie didn’t know her way around the canals. She got a whole boatload of tourists lost. Katie didn’t speak Italian. That made it hard to ask for directions!

Wishes could sure make life difficult. That was why Katie never made them anymore. But she couldn’t tell Jeremy about the magic wind and switcheroos. He wouldn’t believe her. Katie wouldn’t have believed it, either, if it didn’t keep happening to her.

So instead, she just said, “Why don’t you go out to the yard for recess
now
, Jeremy?”

“I haven’t eaten my dessert yet,” Jeremy pointed out.

Katie shrugged. “What’s more important? Green Jell-O or getting out of the cafeteria before Becky comes back?”

Jeremy didn’t have to think about that at all. He just leaped up from the table and galloped out of the cafeteria.

Katie giggled. When it came to hiding from Becky Stern, Jeremy didn’t horse around!

That afternoon, Katie went to Suzanne’s house for a playdate after band practice. When Suzanne opened the door, she was balancing a big basket of fruit on her head.

“What are you doing?” Katie wondered.

“I’m working on my posture,” Suzanne explained. “My modeling teacher told me to walk around balancing a big book on my head. But that hurt. And besides, this is much more colorful.”

Katie tried hard not to laugh. She knew Suzanne was taking this very seriously.

Suzanne reached up to the top of her head. “You want an apple?” she asked Katie.

Katie couldn’t hold it in anymore. She started giggling.

For a minute, Suzanne looked surprised. But then she caught a glimpse of her reflection in the mirror. She started laughing, too.

Bam!
The basket of fruit fell to the floor. An orange rolled under the couch.

Suzanne was crawling under the couch to get it when—

Ding-dong.
The doorbell rang.

“Suzanne, can you get that?” Mrs. Lock called from upstairs. “I’m changing Heather.”

Suzanne frowned. “I can’t wait until that baby can change herself,” she groaned as she stood up and peeked through the window to see who was at the door. “That’s weird,” she told Katie. “It’s George.”

That
was
weird. George and Suzanne were definitely not friends.

“George,” Suzanne said as she opened the door. “Why are
you
here?”

Katie rolled her eyes. Suzanne could be so rude sometimes.

“I’m here to talk to your mom, not you,” George answered.

Sometimes George could be pretty rude, too.

“Why?” Suzanne asked, without inviting George inside.

“It’s about my new business,” George said.

“What business?” Katie ran over to the door.

“Katie Kazoo, I didn’t know you were here,” George said. “Your house is next on my list.”

“For what?” Katie wondered.

“My new leaf-raking business,” he explained. He looked out at Suzanne’s lawn. It was covered with dried, brown leaves. “You guys sure have a lot of leaves to rake.”

“My dad’s been busy,” Suzanne told him. “He didn’t have time to rake this weekend.”

“That’s why I’m here,” George said. “I’ll do it instead.
For a price
, of course.”

Suzanne yawned. Katie figured she was bored with the conversation. After all, it wasn’t about modeling, fashion, or herself.

“I’ll get my mom,” Suzanne said.

 

A few minutes later, George was busy raking up the leaves in the Locks’ front yard. While Mrs. Lock made dinner, the girls played with Heather. They were dressing her up like she was going to a fancy party.

Suzanne got bored playing with her baby sister, but Katie loved it. Katie was an only child. She had no one to play with at home except Pepper. He could play fetch. And he could cuddle up with Katie when she watched TV.

But having a dog wasn’t the same thing as having a little sister. Pepper never would have let the girls dress him up in a party dress and a hat. Actually, Heather didn’t seem to enjoy it a whole lot, either.