Stevie (14 page)

Hi, Stevie! Happy Monday. I know your report is due in exactly one week, and as I was thinking about that today I had a great idea. I went to the school library during my study
hall and did a little research on horse racing. It’s no big deal, just a few notes—I typed them onto one of the school computers and then put the file on a disk. I was going to give it to you at Pine Hollow today, but since you didn’t show up I figured I could just attach the file to this e-mail. It’s a little long, so it may take a while to download. But I’m sure you’ll find lots of stuff you can use in your report. Feel free to just include the whole thing if you want.

As I was researching the topic, I realized how much we learned about racing in just the short time we spent at the track. For instance, before we went I never knew that when the horses all come out on the track before the race it’s called the post parade, or that those people who lead the post parade are called outriders. I was also surprised at how much smaller the saddles are than the ones we use, and how much higher the stirrups are. I found a whole bunch of more specific information on racing tack, which is included in the file, along with some interesting info on the history of racing and training methods and some more technical stuff.

Anyway, happy writing! I’ll see you tomorrow at lessons. (You’re coming, right? I mean, not even I would miss a riding lesson because of a school paper!)

Welcome to My Life …

During the whole time I’m writing about, Carole was spending a lot of time with Judy on her rounds. One day they went back to Maskee Farms for another check on Mr. McLeod’s racers, and they found out that Prancer would be
racing in just over a week. And the best part was that Mr. McLeod and Judy invited Carole to go to the racetrack to watch her! Lisa and I were really happy for her when she told us at our next Saddle Club meeting, though of course we couldn’t help being a tiny bit jealous, too. I had seen plenty of horse races on TV, and they always looked so exciting.

In fact, Lisa and I were still thinking about that when we got to Pine Hollow the next day. At least I still was. I couldn’t believe Carole was really going to have the chance to see all those gorgeous Thoroughbred racehorses at the track and be a part of all that fun. I mean, all horses are born to run. But Thoroughbred racehorses are bred and trained for it, too. It was sure to be a memorable experience, especially for a horse-crazy girl like Carole.

Lisa and I went to Starlight’s stall. We had agreed to take over his care that day so Carole and Judy could get an earlier start. As we were hosing down his leg, I was still thinking about Carole’s big news.

“Isn’t Carole lucky to be going to the racetrack?” I commented, giving Starlight a pat.

“She sure is,” Lisa agreed. “Have you ever been to a racetrack?”

“No, but my parents go sometimes,” I said. “As a matter of fact, they were talking about going again soon.”

“How soon?” Lisa asked quickly.

I glanced at her. Suddenly I realized what she was thinking, and I couldn’t believe I hadn’t thought of it myself. “What a great idea!” I cried. “I’ll start nagging them about it right away!”

“Do you think it’ll work?” Lisa asked.

I was pretty sure it would. My parents had always enjoyed their trips to the track in the past, and once they heard about Carole being there I figured I could talk them into taking us. In fact, I could only think of one potential problem. “But will your parents let you go?” I asked. Lisa’s parents can be—well, let’s just say they’re conservative. They tend to get nervous whenever Lisa’s out of their sight for more than two seconds.

But Lisa didn’t look worried at all. “You know my parents, Stevie. They think your parents are wonderful. If your parents say it’s okay, they’ll let me go.”

We continued with Starlight’s treatment, massaging his swollen leg after we finished hosing it. Then we took him back to his stall and started to replace the wrap on his knee. A few minutes later, Max stopped by. “How’s it coming, girls?” he asked, leaning on the half door of the stall.

“Just fine,” I told him. “We think the swelling is going down. Maybe. A little bit.”

Max chuckled. “Glad you’re so certain. But as long as it’s not getting worse, it’s a good sign. When you’re waiting for a horse to heal, patience is a good quality.”

“At least
he’s
healing,” Lisa put in. Her voice sounded kind of angry, and I guess Max noticed, too, because he shot her a surprised look.

I suspected that Lisa’s harsh words had something to do with her feelings about Pepper. Max must have been thinking the same thing, because he asked Lisa how her first ride on Comanche had gone.

Lisa shrugged. “Okay, I guess.”

“You know,” Max said, “I just stopped by and checked on Pepper. He seemed a little restless. Would you have time to take him out on a trail ride—say half an hour—if somebody could go with you?”

“Like me? On Topside?” I asked.

“Like you, on Topside,” Max confirmed.

I did my best to keep a straight face as I nodded. “I bet we could squeeze it in.”

We quickly finished up in Starlight’s stall, then rushed to get our horses ready. We tacked up Pepper and Topside in record time and were soon mounted and riding off across the rolling fields behind Pine Hollow.

I glanced over at Lisa as we rode along at a sedate walk. She looked happier than she had in days. “I really love this horse,” she said, her eyes shining. “He’s just so gentle.”

I glanced at Pepper. At that second, he nodded his big gray head up and down, as if agreeing with Lisa’s words. I couldn’t help smiling at that.

It was a gorgeous day, perfect for riding. After a while, I could tell that Topside was getting a bit bored with walking. At least I was pretty sure he was. And I was
very
sure that I was. Max had told us not to overwork Pepper, but I didn’t think a short trot would do him any harm. “Want to trot?” I suggested.

“Of course,” Lisa agreed quickly. Soon both horses were trotting, with Pepper seeming to enjoy the exercise every bit as much as Topside did.

We slowed down again when we got to the woods. “That was wonderful,” Lisa said.

I smiled, glad that she sounded so happy. “I think Pepper enjoyed it as much as you did.”

“More,” Lisa said. “And, you know, it turns out that Pepper has been enjoying this kind of thing with lots of people for a long time. Remember that essay I wrote?”

How could I forget? It was all she had talked about for days. But I just nodded. “Didn’t you get an A?”

“Yes, I got an A, but that wasn’t the thing I wanted to tell you about. Ms. Ingleby read it out loud in class. She did it because she liked Pepper. And it turned out that practically every kid in my class had ridden Pepper at one time or another. A lot of them were pretty upset that Pepper is getting old. One girl was even crying.”

I wasn’t surprised that a lot of people felt so strongly about Pepper. He was a pretty special horse. I still loved him myself, even though I hadn’t ridden him in ages.

Lisa wasn’t finished. “Even Ms. Ingleby had ridden Pepper when she was a little girl. That’s why she read my essay. It was kind of neat. It’s like this one horse ties a whole lot of people together. Isn’t that odd? I mean, how many riders have sat in this saddle, on this horse, and enjoyed it as much as I’m enjoying it now?”

I tried to imagine the answer. “Hundreds, I guess,” I said. “It makes it seem all the more as if Pepper has earned his retirement, doesn’t it?”

Lisa smiled. “Too bad we can’t give him a black-tie dinner
and a gold watch to take to Florida,” she joked. “But I think he’d be happier with some warm mash anyway.”

I almost didn’t hear what she said next. I had just had one of those ideas—the kind that I knew was destined to be one of those stupendously wonderful, earth-shatteringly fantastic ideas that everyone would remember practically forever. It was so perfect I could hardly keep myself from shouting with joy that I had thought of it.

But I didn’t tell Lisa about it. I knew it would be even better if it was a surprise, to her at least. I would need a little help from a few other people. Max, for one …

I was still thinking about it when I got home that day, trying to figure out how all the details would work. I was humming as I entered the kitchen to scrounge up a snack.

Then I saw my mother sitting at the kitchen table reading a magazine, and I remembered our racetrack plan. I gave Mom a big, loving smile.

“Hi!” I said brightly. “How’s my favorite mother in the whole wide world?”

She lowered the magazine and gazed at me through slightly narrowed eyes. “Suspicious,” she replied. “What do you need? Money? Or is today report card day?”

I laughed. Mom has a terrific sense of humor sometimes. “Very funny,” I said. “Actually, I was thinking about how you and Dad were just saying that we should do more things as a family.”

Mom raised one eyebrow. “Yes?”

I shrugged. “Well, I think it’s a great idea. We should do something together this weekend. Say Saturday afternoon.
Of course, the boys wouldn’t have to come,” I added quickly, shuddering at the thought of Chad, Alex, and Michael at the racetrack. They always make fun of everything having to do with horses, mostly because they know it bugs me. That’s how immature they are. “Actually, maybe Lisa could come instead. She’s been kind of depressed lately because Pepper’s retiring. She could use some excitement. So she should definitely come with us.”

Mom was looking slightly confused by now. “Where are we going?”

I smiled. “Why, to the racetrack of course,” I said.

“Hmmm,” she said.

I felt a twinge of nervousness. It’s hard to tell what Mom is thinking when she says “hmmm” like that. Maybe it was time for the direct approach. “So can we go?” I asked. “Please? Carole is going to be there because Judy’s the vet for some of the horses that are running on Saturday and they asked Carole to come along because one of the horses really likes her, not that that’s such a surprise, since every horse ever foaled just adores Carole from the second they meet her, but still, it’s kind of a big deal, so of course Lisa and I don’t want to miss it, and we were talking today about how it would be really cool to surprise Carole by showing up and so I remembered how much fun you and Dad had when you went to the track last summer and you were saying a couple of weeks ago that you should do it again now that racing season is here, and—”

“Stop!” Mom cried, holding up both hands in a position of surrender. “Please, enough already! You’ve convinced me.”

“Really?” I could hardly believe it had been that easy.

She nodded. “On one condition. Well, actually two. First, if your father agrees.”

“And second?”

She let out a mock groan. “If you promise to stop explaining!”

I grinned and pretended to zip my lips shut with my finger. Then I unzipped them just long enough to say, “Thanks, Mom!” before skipping out of the room and heading upstairs.

I was thrilled. I couldn’t wait to go to a real racetrack and see Prancer. Carole had been talking about her so much that Lisa and I felt as though we knew her already. And now we were going to get to watch her run!

But I couldn’t spend too much time thinking about it. I had other things to do. It was time to start working on my other plan—the plan that would make a whole lot of people happy. And somehow, just at that moment, bringing more joy and pleasure to the world seemed more important than anything else—even studying for my math quiz.

Hello, Stephanie,

This is Miss Fenton writing from the school computer. I
write to remind you that your extra-credit assignment is due exactly one week from today. I trust you are already hard at work and that this message is completely unnecessary. However, I know that your life is full of many distractions, so I thought it prudent to send you this friendly reminder. I expect to see your completed report on my desk bright and early next Monday morning.

Happy writing!

Welcome to My Life …

While I was making my plans and Lisa was continuing to worry about Pepper, Carole was learning all kinds of stuff while working with Judy. Most of it isn’t really relevant to this assignment, though of course it’s all very interesting and I would be glad to discuss it if you’re interested, Miss Fenton.

Carole and Judy went back to Maskee Farms for one final health check on the horses that would be racing that weekend, including Prancer. When they got there Mr. McLeod told Judy that he was afraid Prancer might be favoring one of her hind legs. I wasn’t there, of course, but Carole told me all about what happened next (several dozen times, actually), so I’m pretty sure it went something like this:

First Judy looks over Prancer in her stall and doesn’t find anything wrong. So she steps back. “Let’s get her moving,” she says. “Somebody lead her out.”

Mr. McLeod points at Carole. “You,” he barks. “Lead her out.” He tosses a lead rope at her.

Carole catches it and goes to Prancer’s stall. The beautiful filly is overjoyed to see her. Her deep brown eyes light up, her gentle face nudges Carole’s hair, her dainty ears prick forward eagerly. Carole clips the rope on her and leads her out. She leads her past Judy and Mr. McLeod, first at a walk and then at a trot. The two adults peer intently at the horse’s legs, watching for any sign of hesitation or discomfort.

“She looks good to me,” Judy says at last.

“Hmmm,” Mr. McLeod says. “Better safe than sorry. Let’s try her at a faster gait. But there’s no one here to ride her. At least no one small, like a jockey …” Suddenly his gaze falls on Carole. “You!” he barks. “Can you ride?”

Carole’s jaw drops. “M-Me?”

“Of course she can,” Judy says. “Carole’s a terrific rider. Let’s saddle ’er up!”