The Road Home

by Catherine Hapka

  “I agree,” Gramma Rose said.

  But Nina was already excited. This could be the answer! Why hadn’t she thought of it herself? “No, DeeDee’s right,” she cried. “It’s the easiest way to find out for sure who’s doing it!”

  “I’ll go with her,” DeeDee added before anyone else could protest further. “It’ll be fun—like a slumber party.”

  “Are you really that bored with Tim out of town?” Aunt Iris asked with a chuckle and a wink at DeeDee’s mother, Lou.

  DeeDee ignored her. “What do you say?” she said to Nina. “Want to give it a try? We could do it tonight if you want.”

  “Sure!” Nina said eagerly. Then she cleared her throat and glanced at her parents. “I mean, can we—please?”

  Her mother and father traded a look. “I don’t know . . . ,” her mother began.

  “Oh, let them do it,” Kim spoke up. “Why not? They’ll have their phones, and it’s not like some axe murderer is likely to be sneaking in to ride a pony.”

  “We’ll be careful,” DeeDee added. “Cross our hearts. Right, Nina?”

  Nina drew an X over her chest with one finger. “Promise!” she said. “Please, guys? I really, really want to find out who’s sneaking rides on Breezy, and the manager isn’t even sure when she might be able to find a camera, and what if something happens and Breezy turns up lame, or maybe disappears entirely? If that happened, I’d just—”

  “Okay, okay, you’ve talked us into it!” Her father held up both hands in surrender. “I know we’d never hear the end of it if anything happened to that pony.”

  “Hmm.” Uncle Oscar sounded disapproving as he stared at Nina and DeeDee. “This seems like a foolish idea to me.”

  “Color TV seemed like a foolish idea to you, Pop,” Cousin Jeremy said with a chuckle. “The girls are sensible enough not to get themselves in trouble.”

  “I hope so.” Nina’s mother still sounded dubious. She looked at DeeDee. “You’ll just watch, and not confront anybody, right? As soon as you see who’s doing it, you can sneak away and alert the authorities.”

  “For sure,” DeeDee said. “We’ll just peek and maybe snap a photo as evidence, right, Nina?”

  “You’ll have to get permission from that barn manager first, though, of course,” Nina’s father put in. “There might not be time to reach her tonight.”

  “Sure there is.” Nina was already reaching for her phone. “I’ll send her a text right now. . . .”

  Within minutes, permission had been granted. Some of the adults still seemed disapproving, but Nina’s heart was pounding with excitement as she shoveled the rest of her dinner into her mouth, hardly tasting Aunt Lou’s delicious red beans and rice. It was time to get to the bottom of this mystery—and tonight was the night!

  “Here we are,” DeeDee sang out as she expertly pulled her tiny car into a free spot on St. Charles. She cut the engine and grinned at Nina. “Ready for the sleepover?”

  “Ready!” Nina hopped out of the car and hurried around to open the hatchback. She pulled out her backpack and slung it over her shoulder, then grabbed the worn old picnic blanket they’d brought.

  DeeDee picked up her own bag, and then locked the car. The two of them had brought snacks, drinks, and a few other things along to make them more comfortable. It was already dark, but the moon and the streetlights lit their way as they hurried along the familiar paths toward the stable. It took a few minutes to get there, but Nina and DeeDee had discussed strategy and decided the extra walk was worth it. They didn’t want to park in the stable’s lot since that would alert the midnight rider that someone was around.

  When the stable buildings came into view beyond a row of live oaks dripping with Spanish moss, Nina slowed her pace and glanced at her cousin, putting a finger to her lips. DeeDee smiled and mimicked a cartoonish tiptoe, which made Nina giggle. Active, fun-loving DeeDee had always been one of her favorite cousins. But she hadn’t spent much time alone with DeeDee since her boyfriend, Tim, had come along a few years earlier. This was going to be fun!

  All the horses were in their stalls, most of them still working on the piles of hay the grooms had given them before leaving for the night. The barn felt warm and cozy and sleepy.

  “Where’s your pony?” DeeDee whispered.

  “Down this way.” Nina led her cousin around the corner into the aisle where Breezy’s stall was located. The pony poked his head out over the half door when he heard them coming, his ears pricked. Then he let out a loud whinny.

  “Breezy, hush!” Nina exclaimed softly, hurrying forward to feed him a treat. “We’re supposed to be stealthy here, buddy!”

  Behind her, she heard DeeDee snorting with laughter. “Yeah, we’re ready for the secret service, all right,” she said. “Come on, let’s find a spot to wait where your noisy pony can’t see us.”

  Nina had already thought about this part, deciding that the best place to stake out Breezy’s stall was the empty stall across the aisle. They would be able to pull the half door most of the way shut, so they could peek out but not be easily spotted by anyone entering the aisle.

  “It doesn’t matter if Breezy can see us or not, though,” she informed her cousin as they spread their blanket on the stall floor. “Horses have excellent senses of hearing and smell. He’ll still know we’re here.”

  “Okay.” DeeDee flopped onto the blanket. “Then tell him to keep quiet, or this whole crazy scheme won’t work.”

  “Crazy scheme?” Nina said with a grin. “Hey, it was your idea!”

  “Who ever said I wasn’t crazy?” DeeDee retorted, making Nina giggle. “Now toss me a root beer, would you? And let’s bust open those cheese puffs too. . . .”

  For a while after that, Nina and DeeDee stayed busy talking, eating, and slapping mosquitoes. The only other sounds came from the horses moving around in their stalls, the occasional bark of a dog, and the distant buzz of traffic outside the park.

  Nina was telling DeeDee about Leah’s recent weird behavior when she stopped suddenly, cocking her head at a new sound. “What was that?” she whispered.

  “What—this?” DeeDee imitated the sound Nina had just heard, a hoarse hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo. “That’s not your midnight rider. It’s just a barred owl.”

  “How’d you know that?” Nina asked, impressed.

  DeeDee shrugged. “I know everything.” She grinned. “Actually, I remember it from some nature walk I did with the church youth group in City Park as a kid.”

  Nina shivered as the sound came again. “It’s kind of spooky, isn’t it?”

  DeeDee made ghostly fingers at her. “Yes. Are you afraid it’s an omen that Great-Aunt Serena’s ghost is coming for yoooooooou?” she whispered in a dramatic voice.

  “Stop it!” Nina giggled and pushed her cousin’s hands away. “You know Serena and I are friends now.”

  She smiled, thinking back to the previous autumn, when she’d feared that the ghost of a Civil-War-era ancestor was haunting her. Even then, Nina had known that there was no such thing as a ghost. Still, on a night like tonight, in the darkened barn with spooky shadows on the walls and an owl hooting in the trees outside, it was a little easier to believe. . . .

  “Okay.” DeeDee settled back, cracking open another root beer. “But did anyone ever tell you the story about the time Gramma Rose swore that Great-Aunt Serena was stealing her socks from the clothesline?”

  After that, they swapped old family stories for a while, mostly of the ghostly variety. By the time they ran out of tales, Nina’s eyelids were growing heavy and she was yawning every few seconds. The moon had set, and it was dark and a little muggy in the stall.

  “What time is it, anyway?” she murmured, wiggling around to find a more comfortable position on the hard ground.

  DeeDee turned on her phone, the soft glow casting crazy shadows everywhere. “Almost midnight,” she said. “Want to pack it in? Looks like your secret rider might not be coming tonight after all.”

  “Yeah, you may b
e right. I—” Suddenly Nina sat up at a sound from outside—and this time it wasn’t an owl. “Shh! Did you hear that?”

  “Serena? Is that you?” DeeDee whispered back jokingly. Then her eyes went wide. “Hold it, I do hear something! Footsteps—and they’re coming this way!”

  She crawled to the cracked-open door and peeked out. Nina shoved in, peering out as well. The footsteps were louder now, crunching on the gravel outside the barn’s main entrance. Then came the sound of the big sliding door creaking open, followed by more footsteps, quick and light and hurried. . . .

  Nina held her breath, waiting for whoever it was to turn the corner and come into sight. She could see that DeeDee was holding her phone, ready to snap a photo, although she wasn’t sure it do any good without a flash. . . .

  She leaned forward, straining her eyes against the dark as a figure came into view. But it was impossible to see much, other than that whoever it was wasn’t much bigger than Nina herself. Gritting her teeth, Nina willed her eyes to cut through the darkness like a cat, or an owl, or even a horse. . . .

  The figure opened Breezy’s stall door, and the pony stepped toward her. As the figure led the pony out, Nina leaned closer to her cousin.

  “We have to do something!” she hissed directly into DeeDee’s ear. “We can’t just let her—”

  Then she gasped as the person leading her pony stepped into a section of the aisle that was dimly illuminated by the safety lights just outside. Finally Nina got a good look at Breezy’s midnight rider, and when she did, she immediately forgot all about being stealthy.

  “You!” she blurted out, leaping to her feet and pushing out of the stall in one quick motion. “I can’t believe it’s you!”

  CHAPTER

  8

  NINA STARED AT the pale, very familiar face in front of her. Behind her, she heard her cousin step out of the stall. “Nina, careful . . . ,” DeeDee began.

  “It’s okay. It’s just Leah. My friend.” Nina glared at Leah, who was clutching Breezy’s lead rope as if it were a lifeline.

  “N-Nina?” Leah blurted out, clearly startled.

  “You’re the one who’s been riding Breezy at night?” Nina exclaimed. “I can’t believe this!”

  “What? No, it’s not that.” Leah cleared her throat, her pale eyes shifting this way and that. “It’s just, um, I was at the barn today and I heard Breezy was acting kind of colicky. So I was in the neighborhood and decided to come check on him.”

  “You were in the neighborhood? At midnight?” Nina grabbed Breezy’s lead rope out of Leah’s hand and led the pony back into his stall, giving him a pat before unclipping the lead and closing the door. “Yeah, right. You live way over in the Marigny!”

  “All right, young lady,” DeeDee spoke up. She stepped over and flipped on a light switch nearby, causing both girls and most of the horses to blink at the sudden glare. “Why don’t you tell us what you’re really doing with Nina’s pony?”

  Leah glowered at DeeDee. “Who are you?” she demanded.

  “The person who’s asking you a question.” It was amazing how stern fun-loving DeeDee could sound when she put on that tone of voice—she was almost as scary as an angry Aunt Lou. “So let’s have an answer.”

  Leah stuck out her lower lip, narrowing her eyes at DeeDee and then glancing at Nina. “Nothing,” she muttered. “I mean, so what if I went for a little ride or two?”

  “So you admit it?” Nina took a step toward her. “You’ve been riding Breezy at night?”

  “Okay, yes, it was me!” Leah blurted out, her cheeks going red. “Now are you happy?”

  “Not really.” Now that Leah had admitted it, Nina’s anger evaporated, replaced by bewilderment. “Why did you do it? I mean, I always said you could ride Breezy anytime you wanted.”

  “Yeah. So that’s what I was doing.” Leah smirked. “See? So what’s the big deal?”

  DeeDee cleared her throat, looking annoyed. Nina could understand why—Leah was acting pretty rude. But she shot her cousin a be-quiet look, hoping DeeDee could read it. Nina knew Leah well enough to know that yelling at her probably wasn’t going to get them anywhere. That would just make Leah defensive and cause her to shut down.

  “Just tell me why—please?” Nina said to Leah. “I really don’t understand why you’ve been doing this, and not even saying anything to me about it.”

  “Yeah, well, maybe I was afraid to talk to you.” Leah was still smirking. “I mean, from what I hear around school, you’re a total klepto with a tail who eats cat food, right? Who wants to talk to someone like that?”

  Nina narrowed her eyes at Leah. “Wait,” she said. “I get it. That was you too, wasn’t it?”

  “What was her?” DeeDee put in. “What’s she talking about with the cat food stuff, Nina?”

  Nina didn’t take her eyes off Leah as she answered her cousin. “Somebody’s been spreading all kinds of mean rumors about me at school this week. And I think I just figured out who it was.”

  Leah returned her glare. “What do you care about a few silly rumors? I thought you didn’t pay attention to what anyone thinks of you,” she spat out. “In fact, I figured you’d love being the center of attention. Isn’t that why you wear all those weird old clothes and stuff?”

  Nina shook her head. “Whatever. This isn’t about my clothes, okay? Just tell me why you’ve been spreading all those lies about me.” She was more perplexed than ever by her friend’s behavior. “Seriously, Leah. Did I do something to make you mad?”

  “Duh, not everything is all about you, Nina.” Leah rolled her eyes. “Don’t be so self-centered, okay? Now get out of my way, I have to go.”

  She started forward, clearly expecting Nina to step out of her way. But Nina wasn’t going to step aside—or back down. Not this time. She was usually pretty laid back, but Leah had pushed her to her limit.

  “Stop.” She stepped forward, preventing Leah from getting past. “You’re not going anywhere. Not until you tell me what’s really going on with you—with us.” She stared at her friend, though Leah wouldn’t quite meet her gaze. “We’ve been friends for a long time. You owe me that much, at least.”

  “Friends?” DeeDee muttered behind Nina. “That’s what you call this?”

  “Yeah.” Nina glanced over her shoulder at her cousin. “Friends. Ever since we met in first grade, and Leah shared her cookie with me after mine fell on the floor.”

  When she returned her gaze to her friend, she saw that Leah’s lower lip was trembling. Nina took a step toward her.

  “Leah?” she said, suddenly concerned. Leah might complain a lot, but she hardly ever cried. “What is it? Seriously, you can tell me—no matter what it is.”

  Leah let out one loud sniffle, and then burst into tears. “I—I can’t!” she wailed. “I can’t tell anyone about this.”

  Nina hurried forward, enveloping her friend in a hug. Leah tried to pull away, but when Nina tightened her grip she suddenly shuddered and collapsed against her.

  “No, really,” Leah mumbled into Nina’s shoulder, her tears already soaking her shirt. “It’s something really terrible.”

  “You can trust me,” Nina said, stroking her back. “With anything.”

  “Not with this,” Leah insisted with a sniffle. “I mean, don’t you get it? Why else do you think I’ve been avoiding everyone all week—especially you? That’s why I started those rumors, because I figured it would keep you busy and stop you from harassing me about stuff. . . .”

  “But what is it?” Nina clutched her friend more tightly, suddenly recalling her talks with Jordan. “Is it—are you sick? I mean, really sick? Like a disease?”

  “Huh?” Leah blinked. “No! Nothing like that, duh. I mean, I really can’t . . .”

  Her voice trailed off, and she looked at something over Nina’s shoulder. A second later DeeDee cleared her throat.

  “Maybe I’ll just step outside for some air,” Nina’s cousin said. “Leave you two girls alone to talk.”
>
  “Okay.” Nina shot DeeDee a grateful look, realizing that her cousin had just figured out that Leah might not be comfortable talking about whatever it was in front of her. “I’ll let you know when we’re done.”

  “Fine. Call me if you need me.”

  She hurried off. Leah pushed away from Nina, wandering over to collapse onto the little bench against the wall where Nina usually set her grooming tote. Nina followed, perching beside her.

  “So?” she said quietly. “Will you tell me now?”

  Leah took a deep, shaky breath and shot Nina a sidelong look. “Remember that phone call I got from my mom after our lesson?”

  Nina nodded, immediately remembering how Leah had rushed off after that call. “Yeah.”

  “Well, when I got home both my parents were waiting for me.” Leah picked at her cuticle, not looking at Nina now. “It turned out they had terrible news they wanted to tell me in person. We’re broke!”

  “Huh?” At first Nina didn’t understand what she meant. “Broke what?”

  “Broke! As in no money, poor, broke.”

  “What? How?”

  “I don’t know, I don’t really understand all the dumb details.” Leah shrugged and kicked at a stray strand of hay on the stable floor. “But my dad’s business partner did something sneaky and, like, totally illegal, and then skipped town. All our money’s tied up in it, pretty much. Plus Dad might go to jail if they can’t find his partner. . . .”

  Her lip was quivering again. Nina scooted closer, then slung an arm around her for another hug. “I’m sorry,” she said. “That’s horrible.”

  “I know, right?” Leah took a deep breath, clearly fighting back more tears. “Anyway, that’s why I had to drop out of lessons. We have, like, no money. Not even for groceries or whatever.” She shrugged. “The only reason they didn’t pull me out of our school yet is because they already prepaid tuition for the whole year. Next year’s another story. . . .”

  Nina was horrified. She was rarely at a loss for words, but this time she wasn’t sure what to say to make her friend feel better. “I can’t believe you’ve been dealing with this all on your own,” she managed at last. “What can I do to help?”