Spirit Riding Free--Pru's Diary

by Stacia Deutsch

  She didn’t have time to write it over again, so she decided that the photo in the newspaper would have to be a surprise for her parents—and she focused on clowning around.

  “Hiya, Pru.” Lucky came into the practice tent. Everything was ready for the circus now; the entire caravan was unpacked and Pru had signed up for “tent time,” since she wasn’t the only one who needed to get prepared for a show.

  Pru grunted at Lucky. Her time in the tent was running out, and she’d barely done anything.

  “You look frustrated,” Lucky said. “Can I help?”

  “I’m here,” Abigail said, popping her head into the tent. “I was going to help Solana with her practice tightrope, but I got tangled in the rope.” The practice tightrope was a long cord tied between two raised ladders. Not as high as the real one above the audience, but if you fell in practice, it wasn’t very far to the ground.

  Abigail went on. “Solana told me to take a break while she untangled it.” Abigail shrugged. “She said she’d come get me when she’s ready for my help…. ” Pinching her lips together, Abigail said, “The rope was pretty tangled, and I kind of knocked over one of the ladders, too. It might be a while.”

  “Or never,” Lucky whispered to Pru, who struggled not to laugh.

  “Oh, she’ll come,” Abigail said confidently, having overheard them.

  Boomerang was standing nearby, waiting for Pru to tell him what to do.

  Pru thought about home. When she was learning to ride, her dad would laugh when she fell—as long as she wasn’t hurt—and that would make her laugh, too. Giggling about mistakes made learning fun. She missed her dad’s deep and heavy laughter.

  “I haven’t fallen off a horse in a while, but maybe I should add that to the act,” Pru suggested.

  “Sounds painful,” Lucky said. “There must be something else you can do for the show.” She rubbed her chin as she struggled for ideas.

  The girls were standing quietly in a circle in the center of the tent when the flap opened.

  “Chica Linda!” Pru exclaimed. “How’d you get here?”

  “She must have jumped the corral fence,” Abigail said. And just then Spirit entered the tent. “It was a breakout!”

  Lucky giggled and ran to hug her horse. “Okay,” she told Pru. “We’re all here. Give us your best idea.”

  Pru opened her diary to where she’d written her brainstorming list.

  “No, no, no.” She didn’t even read the bad ones out loud. “The only half-decent idea here is to teach Boomerang to play an instrument.”

  “A one-horse band? That’s easy, since he can already sing,” Abigail said.

  “Huh?” Pru and Lucky both asked at the same time.

  “Go on, Boomerang. Show them how you sing,” Abigail told her horse.

  The girls waited.

  The tent was silent.

  “He’s shy,” Abigail assured them. “Let’s try the instrument idea instead.”

  “Maybe he can play drums with his tail?” Lucky suggested. She ran to the storage area and brought back two plastic buckets, a small yellow one and a bigger gray one.

  “If he can play, I’ll paint them,” Abigail said. “Fancy buckets for my fancy horse!”

  Boomerang nickered and Abigail kissed his nose.

  “Okay, you majestic steed,” she said. “Let’s hear your beat.”

  Abigail tried to turn Boomerang backward so his tail would swish the bucket, but he refused to budge. She moved the buckets around near his backside, and he turned around to face them. “This isn’t working,” she complained.

  “Let me try,” Pru told her. “He’s gotta do it with me anyway.” She showed Boomerang how to swish his tail down onto the bucket by grabbing hold of his tail and thumping it on the bucket bottom. It made a banging sound that reverberated through the tent. But once she set down the bucket, Boomerang wandered away, uninterested.

  “We’re gonna need a new idea,” Lucky said. The girls huddled to think of something else, but they couldn’t come up with anything.

  Estrella poked her head in the tent. “Girls, time’s up. The acrobats need to prepare their act.”

  Pru nodded sadly. “What am I going to do?” she moaned. “No new ideas!”

  “Your old ideas are working perfectly,” Abigail reminded her. “You get more laughs than any other performer.”

  Pru stared at her. “I’m the clown.”

  “I’m just saying,” Abigail said. “Your act is fine just the way it is.”

  “Fine?” Pru’s frustration was rising. “If I’m going to be in the newspaper, where all Miradero will see me, I have to be better than fine!” She took a deep breath and apologized to Abigail. “I don’t mean to yell; it’s just that Catalina is in my head. It’s as if we are competing, even though I know the circus isn’t a competition.”

  “I get that—” Lucky began, when suddenly a boom-boom drum sound filled the tent.

  The girls looked over to find that Chica Linda was playing the bucket drums. She wasn’t using her tail to make the sound, but rather her hooves. She’d hit one drum with her hoof, then turn slightly to hit the other one.

  As Chica Linda figured out how to beat the drums, her rhythms got faster.

  Pru rushed over to her. “Chica Linda! You’re amazing! Can you do that in the circus?”

  Chica Linda quickly backed away from the drums and moved toward the tent flap, leaving the same way she’d entered.

  “No, wait!” Pru hurried after her.

  “That horse does not want to be in a circus,” Lucky told Abigail as they both got their own horses. “She might be the best drumming horse in the frontier, but there’s no way she’ll perform.”

  “Can Spirit drum?” suggested Abigail.

  “I’m not even going to ask,” said Lucky. “Clowning around is not really Spirit’s thing. We’ve gotta get Boomerang to do it.”

  Abigail swung up on Boomerang’s back. “I think I’d have better luck convincing him to sing.”

  “Looks as if we need something else for Pru and Boomerang to do,” Lucky said. “Let’s go for a ride and we can think more about it.”

  They went to get Pru and found her, with Chica Linda, hiding behind a large painted wagon from the Mexicali Circus.

  “Why are you hid—” Lucky started.

  “Shhhh!” Pru whispered.

  Lucky and Abigail smushed next to Pru. The horses tried to tuck in, too, but it was crowded and they bumped one another.

  Pru peeked out of the hiding spot. “It’s Catalina,” she whispered.

  The girls and their horses all glanced around the wagon. Abigail and Boomerang bent to see from underneath in the gap between the wheels.

  “Who’s she talking to?” Abigail asked.

  Catalina was standing with a tall woman. Dark skin. Brown hair. She had a pencil tucked behind an ear and was holding a notebook. Catalina leaned forward and laughed at whatever the woman was saying.

  “It’s gotta be Lydia Sebastian,” Pru said. She grunted. “Catalina said she knew her.”

  “Looks as if they’re friends,” Lucky said.

  “I know!” Pru blurted that a little loud, drawing Catalina’s attention. They all quickly pulled back tighter into the hiding space. Pru whispered, “Catalina has an advantage because she already knows Lydia and has been in the paper before.” She put her hands on her hips. “That’s why I have to do the best show I’ve ever done!” Pru handed Abigail Chica Linda’s reins and took Boomerang’s. “Come on, Boomerang, there’s no time to lose. We need to practice—something.”

  Pru began to walk away.

  “We were going to go for a ride,” Lucky called after her.

  “You’ll have to go without me,” Pru said to her friends. “Boomerang and I have too much to do to get ready.”

  Diary Entry

  Ideas

  1. I ride sitting backward and juggle at the same time.

  2. I put a lion’s mane on Boomerang and try to repeat the l
ion tamer’s show.

  3. Horse ballet

  4. Horse badminton

  5. !!!!

  Dear Diary,

  I’m stuck. The first few ideas aren’t bad, but for every one of them, I have a reason it won’t work.

  1. I can’t juggle.

  2. Lion taming—not my thing.

  3. Would Boomerang wear a tutu? Where would I even get one?

  4. I stink at badminton.

  5. Yeah… I’m all out of ideas.

  Tomorrow is Friday. My act is the last one before the closing ceremony on Sunday. That means I have to stop being so negative and to convince Boomerang into one of those ideas—fast! Just one. Maybe the ballet. That seems the easiest, since I don’t need to juggle.

  Truth is, I’m no closer to coming up with the most awesome idea ever, but it’s late and I promised Lucky and Abigail that I’d meet Solana with them and we’d all go out.

  Tonight is the big welcome dinner for all the circuses.

  All the circuses are bringing a food item from their region of the country or spot in the world. I never thought I’d want to travel much outside of Miradero, but being here, and with the circus gathering, has made me think more about seeing the world. I mean, I love the frontier, and frontier foods. I hear the Mexicali Circus performers are making something called sopaipillas—like puffy donuts with honey. There’s a trapeze group from Greece that is bringing spanakopita, which is a spinach and cheese pie. The acrobats from India are cooking up curry. Chinese tumblers are bringing lo mein, a spicy noodle dish. And the Italian animal trainers are making pizza in a brick oven. I can’t wait for that! Each circus is made up of so many people, from all different backgrounds and cultures, and they each provide their own flair.

  Of course, El Circo Dos Grillos is repeating our offering of delicious, fresh fire-roasted corncobs, and on Abigail’s insistence, adding s’mores, which have become a staple for late nights on our circus circuit. Everyone knows s’mores aren’t a Mexican tradition, but we love them all the same.

  Anyhoo, the foods, the people, the cultures—I definitely want to travel the world someday. Maybe the PALs can take our adventures around the globe! Wouldn’t that be incredible? I’m not ready for it yet—but the day will come when I won’t miss Mom’s green-bean casserole so much, and that’s when I’ll know I’m ready to go out, across the sea, with my friends.

  For now, I am going to have my world adventure here at the circus gathering.

  I can’t wait.

  I think we should start with the treats at El Circo Dos Grillos’s campfire….

  This way!” Lucky pulled Pru’s arm. She wanted to go into a colorful tent where loud music was booming.

  “No, this way!” Abigail took Pru’s other arm. She wanted to go into a quieter tent where artists were showing new costume ideas.

  Solana laughed as Pru was pulled tight, like a rope in tug-of-war.

  “Help me,” Pru begged Solana. “They’re gonna rip off my arms!” They weren’t really, but Pru didn’t want to be in the middle of the fight.

  “I vote for the big purple tent where the Clydesdale horses are kept,” Solana said, pointing at a large billowing tent in the distance.

  “I hear horses!” Lucky cheered. She and Abigail both dropped Pru’s arms and hurried toward the purple tent.

  Pru and Solana followed.

  Inside the purple tent, they were welcomed by the Circus on Wheels. The name meant they had a huge caravan and traveled great distances to perform. They’d had to cross a dangerous mountain range to get to this gathering.

  Pru was excited by the way the Appaloosas pranced in unison around the circus ring, lifting their legs at the exact same time in perfect harmony. They pulled a wagon and had a short parade before the circus ringmaster announced, “This is just a sample of what you’ll see our horses do during their exhibition performance!” He then reminded everyone that the grand opening ceremony of the circus gathering was the next night. It was the first time the public could see all the circuses in the same place. Pru couldn’t wait—there were so many tents they’d already seen but so many they hadn’t! This was her chance to catch a glimpse of everyone in the valley.

  After the Appaloosas, Lucky wanted to go check up on Spirit. “It’ll just be a few minutes, then we can get back to exploring,” she told the others. Abigail wanted to go along, too. Pru wasn’t worried about Chica Linda. There was something she wanted to do, but she was embarrassed, so if everyone left her alone for a few minutes, she could make a quick stop.

  “Solana,” she said, turning to her friend, “can you give an apple to Chica Linda for me?”

  “I’d be glad to,” Solana said. “But where are you going?”

  “Uh.” Pru glanced around. “The bathroom?” It sounded more like a question than a statement. “The bathroom,” she corrected. “Drank a lot of water today.” There were outhouses nearby.

  “Pru…” Lucky gave her a serious eye.

  “Oh, fine.” Pru admitted the truth. She could never lie to anyone, especially not her friends. “I want to peek in on Catalina. I know she’s working on something for the show, and I just want to see what she’s up to.” Catalina’s circus tent was the opposite way from their own circus.

  “We’ll go with you,” Abigail suggested. “We could be spies, like Boxcar Bonnie. I can get a magnifying glass, and Lucky can write clues in a notebook—Oh, Pru, can we borrow your diary to use as a notebook? We’ll give it back after we are done.”

  “I’m not looking for clues,” Pru said. “This isn’t a mystery.”

  “Besides, Bonnie’s a detective,” Lucky explained. Boxcar Bonnie was the heroine of her favorite mystery novels. “It’s different from being a spy.” She considered it and added, “Though she does sneak around sometimes.”

  Pru paused, wondering if they all should go, but then she blurted out, “I need to go on my own,” Pru told them. “I’m just going to take a quick peek and I’ll hurry back to the corral. We can go from there to get curry.”

  “Yum,” Abigail said, rubbing her belly. “I was there when they were cooking it. I might have had a taste… or two.”

  “Go,” Lucky told Pru. “But you have to tell us everything.”

  “I will,” Pru replied. “I promise. Just a little look to see what she’s up to. I think it’ll take the pressure off me to come up with something new. Maybe I’m already better than her. I just gotta find out. I need to know!”

  “Pru?” Solana had a question. “What if Catalina is out enjoying the foods at the tents, exploring and having fun tonight—like us?”

  “She’s not,” Pru said, feeling assured. “She’s like me.” She looked at her friends. “If I didn’t have the most wonderful friends taking me around, I’d be back in our practice tent practicing, too. I know she’s there…. ”

  Lucky, Abigail, and Solana took off toward the horse corral, leaving Pru to her detective work. She told herself it wasn’t a spy mission—just friendly snooping. Pru didn’t feel bad. She actually assumed that Catalina had probably snuck by earlier to see what she was doing, too—only to discover that Pru wasn’t doing anything but writing bad ideas in her diary!

  Hopefully, Pru would feel more confident after seeing whatever Catalina was up to.

  Pru heard the music before she reached Catalina’s circus tent. It was… awful. As if someone were banging on a piano with their forehead. Slam, crash, bang. She held her ears and shuddered.

  “What is going on?” Pru quietly inched toward a slit in the tent fabric. She peeked through the slot and saw Catalina. “I was right,” she whispered to herself. Catalina was there, alone, standing in front of a piano, practicing… but practicing what? Pru moved to a larger gap in the tent where she could see better.

  Now she could tell that Catalina was not alone. There was a horse with her. It was clearly a palomino, like Chica Linda, but darker in color and a little smaller overall. Pru stuck her face almost all the way into the tent gap, struggling to he
ar what Catalina was saying to her horse.

  “Come on, Milton, you know what to do.” Catalina pulled the horse’s reins toward the piano. Pru could see that Milton was resisting. “Come on, please?” Catalina begged. “For me?”

  Pru swallowed a laugh. Begging didn’t generally work with horses.

  Then there was the music. Pru had been right! Someone was banging their head on the piano. It was Catalina. She was showing Milton how to bang his own head on the keys.

  “Oh!” Pru spoke so loudly she had to step back from the tent so Catalina wouldn’t notice her there. When she felt the coast was clear, she leaned in again to confirm what she’d seen. It was true!

  Catalina was stealing Pru’s act. Well, okay, so Pru was trying to get Boomerang to play drums and Catalina was trying to get Milton to play piano—and they were both failing—but still! Getting the horses to play music for the clown act was the same thing!

  Pru’s head was spinning with questions:

  Had Catalina seen Pru’s act and decided it was a good idea and stolen it for herself?

  Did they both just have the same idea?

  Why wouldn’t Milton play piano? Pru had to admit, that was a better idea than the drums. It would be easier to teach a horse to bang on a piano.

  And then, there was one last question burning in Pru’s head:

  What was she going to do?!

  Obviously, the musical instrument idea was out now. It would be too weird if she and Catalina had the same act. And Pru recognized the determination in Catalina’s eyes. She often had that same look, and it meant just one thing: Catalina would get Milton to play—eventually. He’d play the piano and he’d play it well….

  Pru also had to admit that although a horse creating music was still the best idea she had, Boomerang wouldn’t play along—that’s why she’d been looking for alternatives.

  She needed something as good as the music idea, but not the music idea!

  This was frustrating and terrible, and there was so much pressure.

  Pru ran back to the corral, where her friends were waiting.