Spirit Riding Free: Abigail's Diary

by Stacia Deutsch

  UGH!

  Why did my parents get me a brother? Couldn’t they have gotten another horse instead? It would have been so much easier, and Boomerang would love a brother!

  UGH!

  Okay, Abigail, think….

  Here’s what I can do:

  1) Put Snips on a train back to Miradero. Nope… that won’t work. There’s no train station near here.

  2) Take him home myself. Nope… that won’t work because I’d have to leave camp to do it, and by the time I got back, I’d have missed everything!

  3) Send him home by himself. He followed us here, so he should know the way. Nope… what kind of big sister would I be if I let him go out into the frontier alone? Up that mountain, down the valley, following the riverbed? I’d be the worst sister ever. Which I shouldn’t be… even if he’s the worst brother ever.

  I have a very good idea. I’ll send him home in a hot-air balloon. The wind will carry him away from here and straight to Miradero. Sigh. That won’t work; I mean, who can predict the wind?

  I don’t have any more ideas.

  I asked Lucky and Pru for some thoughts about what to do with Snips. Pru said we could dress him like a Filly and pretend he’s part of our herd. But that won’t work because we don’t have an extra uniform. And Snips has never been good at blending.

  Lucky said Spirit could take him home, but then Lucky would miss the Boots and Bows competition, and I know how much she is looking forward to that one. So that won’t work, either.

  We’re down to my last idea:

  4) Let him stay.

  I KNOW! That’s crazy. It’s wacky. It’s a very bad idea. But it’s the only one I have left that might work.

  So… I’m going to tell Snips he can stay at the Jamboree, but he and Señor Carrots both need to stay hidden.

  He can’t show his face. No one can know he’s here. He’ll have to stay in our tent all day! Lucky, Pru, and I will bring him food. I’ll tell him it’ll be an adventure. He can play a game as if he’s invisible.

  I think Snips will go for it, because if he doesn’t… I am going to get a hot-air balloon!

  But I don’t want to be invisible!” Snips complained when he heard Abigail’s idea. “How will I be able to walk if I can’t see my feet? I can’t eat without my hands. Invisible? I want to be out-visible!”

  “Impossible,” Abigail told her brother.

  “Out-possible,” Snips retorted.

  They were all huddled in the Miradero herd’s tent, and Pru had zipped up the flap for a private meeting.

  Abigail shared a quick look with Pru and Lucky. She hoped they were reading her mind.

  “Fine,” Abigail told her brother. “If you don’t want to stay invisible, you gotta go home. That’s the deal.” Abigail pointed in the direction of Miradero.

  “I will not disappear,” Snips protested. “You can’t make me.”

  “Well, then, see ya, Snips. Travel safe.” This was a risky move, Abigail knew that, but she had to try. If he stayed, it had to be on her terms—not his. “Bye-bye, Snipsy. Don’t let the tent flap hit you on the way out.”

  Snips didn’t move. “Don’t rush me, lady. I’m thinking about what to do.” He seemed genuinely confused. “Ya see, I’ve got whatcha call ‘a problem.’ Mary Pat and Bianca are waiting for me at home. They heard you were away, so they wanted to keep me company the whole time.” Snips shivered as if repulsed by the very thought. “That’s why I snuck out the window and followed you.”

  “That’s a good reason to stay here,” Pru said. She looked hard at Snips. “All you gotta do is stay hidden and you don’t have to go back.” She smiled. “Or you can leave now. I’m sure the twins will still be waiting on the front porch when you get home. The weekend has barely begun….”

  Snips wrinkled his nose and thought a moment. Then he said, “Okay. I’ll take the deal. But not because you told me to. I’m staying here because the Miradero herd needs me.” He pointed to Lucky, Pru, and Abigail, one by one, then said, “I heard there’s a big, shiny trophy. I’m going to help you win it.”

  “No thanks.” That wasn’t what Abigail wanted. “We don’t need help,” she told Snips. “The deal is if you stay at the Jamboree, you have to stay hidden.”

  “I can hide and help, too,” Snips said. “I’ve got a lot of talents. More talents than fingers to count them on.” He waved his hands at her.

  Lucky looked to Abigail. “I’ve got this. Let me explain.” She smiled. “Snips, this isn’t the winning kind of trophy. It’s the Hungerford Heart, and you earn it—well, you don’t really earn it, you kind of just act really, really good and then if you are the best at being really good, the herds can vote to give it to you for one year.”

  Snips looked confused, but Abigail grinned. “Exactly!” She gave Lucky a high five.

  Pru turned to Snips. “So, the deal is, if you stay, you stay hidden. No helping, no noise, no… nothing.” She glanced out the tent flap. “If you don’t like it, you’d better leave before it gets dark. I bet Mary Pat and Bianca have big plans.”

  Snips gave in. “Oh brother. Fine. I’ll do it your way.” He spit in his hand and held it out for a shake. “I’ll be indivisible.”

  “Invisible,” Abigail corrected, spitting into her own palm.

  “Sure,” Snips agreed. He pressed his palm against Abigail’s, then repeated the spit shake with Lucky and Pru.

  “Well, then,” Abigail said, wiping her wet hand on her pants. “We’re going to lunch. Snips, you stay in the tent, and we’ll bring you back a sandwich.”

  “Don’t forget an apple for Señor Carrots,” Snips reminded them. He flopped down on Abigail’s sleeping bag, put his feet on her pillow, and called out after the PALs, “Yes sirree, I’ll be so invisible, no Fillies are gonna know I’m here….”

  Lunch was served from a chuck wagon near where the Boots and Bows archery course was set up. Abigail could see Ms. Hungerford standing with a couple of counselors near four large targets. They’d get a chance to earn their first badge that very afternoon.

  “I can’t wait!” Abigail looked out at the targets. They were large circles set on wheeled carts that could be moved. Ms. Hungerford was studying a clipboard, deciding where the targets would be placed.

  “I hope she decides to have them in a big circle,” Lucky said. “Then the horses can gallop around the circle, stopping at each target so we can hit it with an arrow.” She grinned. “Of course, Spirit and I aren’t going to stop.” That’s what they’d been practicing.

  Pru took a lunch tray and led the others toward the fire pit, where the herds were sitting to eat. “I’ll admit it: I’m a little worried about getting the Boots and Bows badge,” she said. “Shooting arrows while riding isn’t really my strongest skill.”

  “You need to hit only three out of four targets to get the badge,” Abigail told her. “You can do that!” She added, “No pressure, but I think we all need to earn all the badges so we can be in the running for the Hungerford Heart. It says in the handbook that ‘earning badges is one way to show you’re a virtuous herd.’”

  “We are a virtuous herd!” Lucky said. She touched Pru’s arm. “You can do it. I know you can.”

  Logs were placed in a circle around the fire pit where the girls could sit for lunch. Pru picked the end of a long log and sat down. “I’ll admit that I have been so worried that I started practicing a little at home….”

  “What?!” Abigail and Lucky exclaimed at the same time.

  “I’m not saying I’m as good as Lucky, but I’m not as bad as Abigail, either,” Pru teased, laughing a little.

  “Hey!” Abigail began to protest, but then she gave in. “All right. I stink at riding and shooting arrows at the same time. It’s too many things: I don’t understand how to stay steady on Boomerang while pulling back the bow, placing the arrow, and aiming.” She shrugged. “It’s a lot to do all at one time.” She raised her chin and announced, “But I’m focused and ready. If earning the Heart means
I gotta hit those targets, I am going to do it!”

  “Be happy with the badges, because you don’t have a shot at earning the Hungerford Heart,” said Ana, from the Golden Valley herd. She balanced her tray on her knees and sat by Pru. Olivia and Riley joined Lucky and Abigail on the next log over.

  Abigail said, “It says in the handbook, page thirty-one, second paragraph, that the Heart is given to the herd that embodies the four virtues. That could be anyone.”

  “True,” Ana said. Her long blond hair was a darker color than Abigail’s, and she was still wearing the bandanna around her forehead. “But ever since there was a Hungerford Heart, the Golden Valley herd has taken it home—”

  Riley interrupted. “In fact, before us, Jimena’s mom was in the Golden Valley herd and they held the Heart for years, until Jimena was old enough to come to the Jamboree, and then our herd got it.”

  “We always get the most votes,” Ana said.

  Lucky shrugged. “Maybe your luck is changing.”

  Jimena arrived with her tray. She sat down between Abigail and Ana.

  “I hear you’re going to try to get the Hungerford Heart,” Jimena said to Abigail. There was a challenge in her voice that Pru responded to.

  “We’re noble and honest and the other stuff,” Pru chimed in. “We’ll show you.”

  “Noble isn’t part of it,” Jimena said, finishing her sandwich. “But you can try.”

  “We will!” Pru said so firmly that Lucky had to put a hand on her leg to keep her from jumping up off the log. “The Heart will be ours this year; you’ll see. We’re gonna be so virtuous that there’s no doubt in anyone’s mind that they should vote for us. We’ll win that trophy!” She turned to Abigail. “I need you to teach me all about the Heart. I need to wrap my head around what we need to do.”

  “I’m in, too,” Lucky told Abigail. “Teach me, too!”

  Abigail wasn’t sure what they could do exactly to prove they were virtuous and get the votes they needed, but she’d do her best. “We’ll start tonight,” Abigail told her friends.

  “Challenge on,” Jimena said. “May the best herd take home the Heart.” She shared a laugh with Ana, Olivia, and Riley.

  With that, the girls settled back to focus on lunch. Jimena looked down at her tray. “Hey,” she said, “where’s my apple?”

  A girl from across the fire pit realized half her sandwich was gone.

  Another girl was missing her chips.

  The entire Silver Springs herd had chosen carrots, and all their carrots were missing.

  Almost everyone was missing food… but no one had seen who’d taken it.

  “It’s like a ghost or someone invisible!” Olivia exclaimed.

  “Invisible? That gives me a bad feeling,” Lucky whispered to Pru and Abigail. “Someone invisible got hungry….”

  “And his carrot-loving donkey, too,” Pru whispered back.

  The three PALs stood up and slowly moved away from the fire pit to sneak back to the tent. They were going to try again to explain to Snips what invisible meant. But before they could get away, an apple core hit Jimena in the back of the head.

  Jimena picked it up. “My apple.”

  Abigail was pretty sure she knew who’d thrown the apple. She looked around, and, sure enough, there was Snips, peeking out between two trees, grinning and waving at her. “Drat,” he said, loud enough for her to hear. “I missed.”

  From that, Abigail knew the apple had been aimed at her head, and she knew he’d try again. Determination ran in the family blood, like honey through a beehive. When she looked again, Snips had disappeared.

  A second later, a sandwich crust flew past Abigail’s ear and hit a girl from Battersea in the eye. The girl didn’t get mad. She laughed and threw her own sandwich crust at the girl who she thought threw it. That girl threw an apple core, which hit another girl, and after that… the food fight picked up speed.

  “Oh no!” Abigail exclaimed. She ducked as half a banana nearly hit her in the face. “I didn’t even know there were bananas at lunch! I like bananas much better than carrots.”

  “We’ve got to do something,” Lucky said. “How do we stop this?”

  Pru tipped up her tray to use as a shield. “We gotta find Snips!”

  The girls ran fast and were almost at their tent when Ms. Hungerford stepped into their path. Abigail skidded to a stop so suddenly that Pru and Lucky bumped into her back.

  “Eep,” Abigail said as she looked up into the stern, unhappy face of Ms. Hungerford. “U-uh,” she stuttered, unsure of what to say. “Hi.”

  “Going somewhere, girls?” Ms. Hungerford asked, putting her hands on her hips. “A herd who truly wanted to earn the Hungerford Heart would tell their friends to stop throwing food around.”

  “Right,” Abigail said, glancing over at their tent. Snips waved at her from the trees. “Okay.” She turned back toward the food fight. “We’ll stop this.”

  “But we didn’t start it,” Pru argued.

  “Sni—” Lucky began, when Abigail grabbed her hand.

  “We’ll take care of it, Ms. Hungerford,” Abigail said, and in a blink she was leading her friends back into the war zone.

  The problem with stopping the food fight was that everyone was having a great time. Jimena had a slice of turkey in her hair and was laughing. Ana was tossing an apple core back and forth with a girl named Sophie from Copper Point.

  “Stop!” Pru called out. No one listened.

  “We gotta clean up!” Lucky shouted. No one listened.

  Lucky started catching half-eaten carrots as they flew past her, while Pru began swiping half-eaten scraps that were skidding across the ground.

  Abigail shook her head. “We’ll never earn the Hungerford Heart this way.”

  “Enough!” Ms. Hungerford whistled loud and clear. The girls all fell silent. “I see that I have to take matters into my own hands. Lunch is over. Food fights are not in the handbook, and I expect my Fillies to behave better.” Her glare fell on Jimena and the Golden Valley herd. “You are the keepers of the Hungerford Heart. What do you have to say for yourselves?”

  Jimena looked at the ground and stayed silent.

  Abigail was horrified. She could feel the trophy slipping from her dreams. Boldly stepping forward, head high, she said, “I’m so sorry, Ms. Hungerford. Don’t worry. The Miradero herd will clean everything up.”

  “What?! But we didn’t do—” Pru started, but Lucky held her back.

  “Of course we will,” Lucky said. Then to Pru she whispered, “We’re helping Abigail.”

  “Right.” Pru nodded. She stepped next to Abigail.

  As the other herds hurried away to change clothes and get ready to earn the Boots and Bows badge, Abigail, Pru, and Lucky cleaned up bits of food from the ground.

  “Why’d you volunteer to clean up?” Pru asked Abigail, while stuffing apple cores in a metal bucket.

  Abigail paused, and then she said, “Snips started the food fight. We can’t tell anyone about Snips, so that means it’s as if we started the food fight.”

  “Does that make sense?” Pru asked Lucky.

  “Maybe?” Lucky shrugged.

  “Food fights are fun when you get to play along,” Pru said with a sigh. “Cleaning up isn’t.”

  “We can make this more fun,” suggested Abigail. “Let’s play a game. Hold up your bucket.” Pru did so and Abigail tossed in apple cores. Pru moved around to make it more challenging. Lucky got into the fun, and they took turns holding the bucket and tossing in food. In no time, it was all cleaned up.

  “We have to hurry,” Lucky said, looking over at the field where girls were already gathering with their horses.

  “Boomerang and Chica Linda both need saddles,” Pru noted.

  “You two go on ahead of me. I want to yell at Snips,” Abigail said. “I’m a good yeller. I’ll do it fast.” She rushed to the tent, but when Abigail opened the tent flap to have a heart-to-heart about the Heart with her troublemaker bro
ther, she was surprised to find the tent was empty.

  Snips was gone.

  Diary Entry

  Dear Diary,

  Jimena’s herd is going first for the Boots and Bows badge, so even though we hurried over, now we wait. I have time to write a few thoughts.

  I’m worried that Ms. Hungerford is mad. That’s gotta change. I don’t know how to make things better, but I think if we stick like maple syrup to living by the virtues in the handbook, we’ll not only survive this weekend but still have a chance at the Hungerford Heart.

  We’ve looked all over the campsite but can’t find Snips. I don’t know where he is, but just wait till we get back to the tent tonight! He’s gonna wish he was still hiding! Yeah…

  Speaking of tonight, I am going to teach Pru and Lucky more about the values, so I thought I should prepare a little. Just like Mrs. Prescott, I’m gonna act like a teacher. A Frontier Fillies teacher.

  First I’ll remind them that it’s easy to remember HCVH. I think Pru should remember it by the sentence Hero Chooses Velvet Halter. Lucky could remember the letters by using something about Spirit’s wild herd—maybe Herd Champion Visits Horses.

  I think I’ll stick with Hot dog, Cake, Vegetables, and Hamburger.

  So, starting with Hot dog—I mean, Honor. Honor means having the guts to do what’s right, even if others aren’t doing what’s right. It’s about showing consideration to everyone. A person with honor stands up against trickery and does not brag about their successes. Honor is the opposite of what Snips is doing. He’s not standing up against trickery—he’s causing trickery! You know who does have honor? Horses. All horses. Everywhere. They do what is right, not because they have to or because they get to brag about it at the herd meet-up later, but horses are just good and noble all the time. That is what honor is all about. I’ll tell Pru and Lucky: Be like a horse and not like Snips. They’ll totally get what I mean.