Starlight Christmas

by Bonnie Bryant

  Topside and Bluegrass seemed to nod greetings as they passed each other in the hallway. Bluegrass sniffed at the hay Topside had been munching. Then, satisfied that it was all right, he began munching himself.

  It had taken them a while to figure out what to do about Barq. He didn’t look like Garnet, so they couldn’t make a switch. In the end, they decided to swap Barq with a pregnant mare of similar coloring. She was far enough along that Max didn’t want her ridden anymore, but she wasn’t so gigantic that Elaine and Diana would notice her size. An evening in the paddock wouldn’t do her any harm. Lisa and Stevie swapped their stalls and the job was complete.

  The girls met in the hallway outside the locker room and stopped to exchange high and low fives before they entered. It gave them time to hear a little of what was going on.

  “Oh, I bet you’re a really good rider,” A.J. was saying. Stevie thought there was enough sugar in his voice to turn somebody’s stomach, but Elaine didn’t seem to mind.

  “Oh, no,” she cooed. “I’m just trying to learn. I’m not very good at all yet.”

  “But you will be. I just know it,” Phil gushed. “You, too, Diana.”

  “Me?” Diana said as if she wanted him to reassure her.

  He did. “Oh, yes. You’ve got a wonderful build for riding. Strong arms, long legs …”

  Stevie rolled her eyes. This was more than she had counted on. She had to put a stop to this before it made her sick!

  “Oh, hi, girls!” Stevie said, entering the locker room. “Merry Christmas to you!” Lisa thought Stevie sounded even more insincere than the boys had, but Elaine and Diana didn’t appear to notice. “I’m glad you all have met because we’ll be together on the Starlight Ride. Isn’t it going to be the most exciting thing?”

  Elaine and Diana agreed that it was going to be. Lisa sensed that they were a little uncomfortable, which didn’t surprise her. They were about to play a horrible trick on her and Stevie and Carole, and here they were pretending to be nice and friendly. Since she and Stevie were right there, it also meant the trick was going to have to be played under their noses. Lisa decided to make it easier on the girls.

  “Why don’t we go check on your horses, guys?” Lisa suggested. “It’s going to take us about fifteen minutes to off-load them from the trailer, isn’t it? Maybe we should do that now.”

  Stevie and the boys immediately understood what she was up to. “Great idea,” Stevie said. “The trailer’s out in front of the stable, isn’t it? It’s probably not a good idea to leave the horses so far away and completely out of sight of most of the stable. Let’s go get them now. We can turn them out in the little paddock off the riding ring that’s on the side of the stable.”

  Lisa almost laughed. Stevie was being anything but subtle. She was doing everything she could to assure Elaine and Diana that they were going to be far away when the girls pulled their little prank.

  “See you later!” Stevie said, waving to Elaine and Diana. The boys waved, too. The four of them left Elaine and Diana to their tricks.

  Teddy and Crystal were accustomed to trailers. They were off and safely turned out in the little paddock in less than three minutes. That gave the foursome time to stand on tiptoe and spy on Elaine and Diana through the windows of the stable.

  “There goes Chip!” Stevie said as Diana led her own mount through the stable to the large paddock on the far side. The four of them could hear the horse’s playful canter on the hard ground of the paddock as he frolicked to the far side of the hillock.

  “Bingo!” Lisa announced, peering through another window to see Bluegrass joining Chip in the large field. Finally, Elaine turned out the pregnant mare.

  “You mean to tell me that those two can’t tell the difference between a pregnant mare and a gelding?” A.J. asked, still not quite believing that their plan was succeeding.

  “That’s right,” Stevie said. “I knew they would be too embarrassed to check. Actually, I’m not sure it would occur to them. Anybody dumb enough to believe all that disgusting sweet talk from you boys …”

  “ ‘Disgusting sweet talk’?” A.J. said, pretending his feelings were hurt. “Why, we were just being sincere!”

  “Hmmmmph,” Stevie snorted. “So, if you’re so sincere, tell me your brilliant idea about Garnet. Just exactly how are we going to ruin Veronica’s Starlight Ride?”

  Phil’s eyes danced. “Come on, we’ll show you,” he said, turning to go back into the stable. He and A.J. stopped at the trailer to get their horses’ tack and the other riding equipment they would need. “This is A.J.’s brilliant idea, but it depends a little bit on Garnet. Can we meet her?”

  “Sure,” Lisa said. “I’ll take you to her now.”

  As they entered the stable, Elaine and Diana greeted them, full of talk about how they’d both forgotten something at home and had to run, but hoped they’d be back in time for the ride. Everybody said good-bye. The boys waved very nicely. Stevie glared at Phil. He laughed, and finally, so did she.

  Garnet was standing contentedly in her stall, sporting her new Christmas blanket.

  “I have to admit that it’s a pretty blanket,” Lisa said. “Just Veronica’s colors.”

  “And the horse is a perfect color for our plan,” A.J. announced, clearly pleased.

  With that, he set down his bucket of grooming gear, reached into it, and pulled out a can of shaving cream.

  “This is a mare, not a stallion,” Stevie said. “I don’t think she needs a shave.”

  “It is now six forty-five,” A.J. said, checking his watch. “The Starlight Ride begins at seven-thirty, meaning that any rider with sense will be here by seven o’clock to be completely ready by seven-thirty, right?”

  Stevie and Lisa nodded.

  “Okay, then. We will take some of this completely harmless shaving cream, and before you know it, Garnet will be in a terrible lather!”

  “Oh!” Lisa said, understanding at last.

  “You are wicked!” Stevie said in total admiration. “Totally, wonderfully wicked!”

  While the girls stood lookout, the two boys sneaked into Garnet’s stall. The sweet-natured horse seemed to appreciate the attention she was getting. The boys talked to her, patted her forehead, and rubbed shaving cream all over her chest and belly.

  Within a matter of seconds, Garnet was transformed from a contented, healthy horse to a lathered-up horse. It looked absolutely genuine.

  It isn’t unusual for horses to build up a lather of sweat. Most horses get lathered to some degree, and many horses get lathered with only a small amount of exercise. But a horse who gets lathered up the way Garnet appeared to be, just standing in her stall with a good blanket on, was almost certainly quite sick—unless, of course, it was just shaving cream.

  “Perfect!” Stevie announced. “Now let’s get out of here!”

  Stevie and Lisa showed the boys where they could get dressed and leave their things. While the boys were changing, the girls checked their own tack, polishing here and there to make sure everything looked perfect.

  “This may be the most wonderful night of my life,” Stevie said.

  “Just one thing missing,” Lisa reminded her.

  Stevie’s face clouded. “I hope that old foal gets born safely so Carole gets here. I don’t want her to miss the ride. I don’t want her to miss out on all the fun we’re having. I sure don’t want to carry the torch for her. That’s her job.”

  “Well, even if she misses the ride, we do know one thing,” Lisa began. “And that is that—”

  “Aaaaaaahhhhhhhrgh!” Veronica diAngelo’s scream echoed through the hallways of Pine Hollow Stables, startling all the horses and astounding all the people—or almost all the people, anyway.

  “THERE ARE THE feet,” Mr. Michaels said.

  “It’s the hind feet, too, just like we thought,” Judy said. “This old mare needs some help and she needs it now.”

  She carefully and firmly took hold of the two little legs that were begi
nning to protrude and pulled downward, trying to hold on and help.

  When foals are born hind-end-first, they often cut off the oxygen supply from their mothers before their noses are able to supply it to them on their own. Every second counts.

  Carole watched in rapt fascination. There wasn’t anything she could do most of the time, although occasionally Judy asked her to hand her something. Most of the time she just watched and learned.

  The little foal and its mother were working very hard to bring it into the world safely. Judy and Mr. Michaels were working just as hard. This baby was another foal of the old stallion they’d checked the other day. The foal would be a brother or sister to Pretty Boy, the beautiful bay that Mr. Michaels was selling.

  Pretty Boy’s stall was across from the foaling box. He watched everything that happened, too.

  “Remember this?” Carole teased him. He didn’t exactly answer, but he did nuzzle her neck. Carole located the carrot supply and gave him one.

  “One more, girl, one more,” Judy said calmly, urging the mare. The mare seemed to want to oblige. This wasn’t her first birth. She’d done it lots of times. It had just never been as hard before.

  “One more time!”

  Judy wrapped rags around the foal’s legs to get a better grip on them and she resumed her tugging. The mare was lying down, trying to help. Judy put constant pulling pressure on the foal, tugging downward, toward the mare’s ankles.

  “It’s coming!” Mr. Michaels said excitedly.

  Judy nodded, but concentrated on her work. It was hard, physical labor. Even in the cool stable, a sweat broke out on Judy’s forehead. Carole suspected it was from both physical exertion and worry. This was Christmas Eve. It was supposed to be a time for joy, singing, happiness, even merriness. There was a part of Carole that didn’t believe that anything terrible could happen to anybody she cared about, horse or human, on Christmas Eve. But there was a part of her that also knew that wasn’t necessarily the case. She hoped the first part would be right.

  “It’s coming now, it’s really coming!” Judy announced. Then, while Carole watched, the entire foal emerged. Judy almost collapsed onto the straw after it came out. She recovered quickly, however. Her work wasn’t done. She needed to be sure the newborn was able to breathe.

  Quickly, she cleared the foal’s nasal passageways and began rubbing the baby vigorously to stimulate its breathing. There was silence. The foal wasn’t breathing!

  “Come on, baby, you can do it!” Judy said, once again checking that the nose wasn’t clogged. She rubbed again. Then, with a start and a snort, the little baby took in one great big, deep, lifesaving breath of fresh air.

  To Carole’s surprise, she felt a tear run down her cheek. She hadn’t even known she was crying.

  “Nice work, Doc,” Mr. Michaels said. “You got me a healthy foal!”

  Judy finished rubbing the moisture off the foal. “I hope you wanted a girl, because this old lady’s just delivered you a filly.”

  Then she stepped back and let the mare sniff her own baby. It was time for them to get acquainted.

  Judy leaned against the wall of the foaling box, relaxing for the first time in more than an hour. She looked proudly at the newborn and her mother.

  “It never changes,” Judy said. “It’s wonderful every time.” She signed contentedly. Then, as if on cue, the beeper on her belt began whining. She glanced down at the display.

  “The call’s from Pine Hollow,” she said, recognizing the number. “It’s the phone in the stable.” Judy looked at Mr. Michaels. “Can I use your phone here to see what this is about?” she asked.

  “Of course,” he said.

  Judy reached for the phone and punched in the number.

  Carole could hear the shrieking at the other end of the phone from where she stood. She couldn’t imagine what was going on.

  “Well, what does Max say?” Judy asked. “Oh, of course, he’s out checking the trail. Is Mrs. Reg with him?… All right, all right. What about fever, pulse, respiration, those things, Veronica?… How can you not—? All right. Look, I can’t come right now, but I’ll send my assistant, okay? I’ll be there as soon as I can myself, but I’m on an emergency here.… Doesn’t sound like it to me, Veronica. I saw Garnet earlier today and she was fine.… I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

  Judy hung up the phone. There was a puzzled look on her face. “I guess you heard,” she said. “There’s something wrong with Garnet. Veronica’s too irrational for me to make much sense out of it, but since she seems to have forgotten how to check a horse’s vital signs—oh, listen to me. I don’t want to complain. It’s Christmas Eve and it’s not Garnet’s fault that Mr. diAngelo selected her for Veronica. Carole, can you go check out the situation and call me back here if there is a real emergency? I can’t leave the mare and foal just yet. There’s still some watching to do.”

  “I’d be glad to, Judy. One problem, though. How am I going to get there?”

  Judy started laughing. “You’re so grown-up sometimes that I forget you aren’t an adult. I was going to offer you the truck.”

  “I can’t leave here, either,” Mr. Michaels said. “But I’ve got an idea. If you can’t drive, why don’t you ride?”

  “A horse?” Carole asked.

  “Either that or a bicycle,” he said, smiling. “But I think the bike would be awfully bumpy over the fields this time of year. Sure, a horse. I’ve heard about you, Carole Hanson. Everybody around here has. You’re the girl who’s going to be a champion one day. You can certainly ride a horse across a couple of fields over to Pine Hollow, can’t you?”

  Carole nodded. “Sure I can,” she said. Then she thought about the most exciting part. “But which horse should I take?” she asked, holding her breath while she waited for the answer.

  “Seems to me that one there, Pretty Boy, has taken a shine to you. Want to try him?”

  “You bet I do!” Carole said. “I’ll take good care of him, too. I know you’re about to sell him. I’ll make sure that the new owner has nothing to complain about.”

  “I know you will,” Mr. Michaels said warmly. “Here, I’ll show you the tack to take. It’s an old saddle, but it’s the one I’ve been using for training. He’s familiar with it.”

  It took a few minutes for Mr. Michaels and Carole to tack up the horse. Mr. Michaels explained that Pretty Boy wasn’t fully trained and he might give her some trouble. “I’m sure you’re a good enough rider to handle it, though. Most of the time, if he acts up a bit, it’s because he’s the one who’s scared. Just show him he doesn’t need to be.”

  “He’ll never need to be scared with me,” Carole said. Soon she had mounted the big bay with the lopsided star and was ready to leave. Judy loaned her a stethoscope and checked to be sure she knew the way. That was no problem. The fields were familiar to Carole. She wasn’t at all concerned about that. She was more concerned about Garnet.

  “I’ll call you when I get there,” Carole said. “After I check Garnet.”

  Mr. Michaels jotted his phone number down on a piece of paper, handed it to her, and opened the rear door of the stable to let her out into the starry, cold night.

  The last thing she heard from Mr. Michaels’s stable was loud warm laughter. She thought that probably meant that the little foal was trying to stand up and get something to drink.

  IT WAS SEVEN o’clock and all was well, Stevie felt. In fact, things were going just perfectly. Veronica was hysterical, Elaine and Diana’s horses were in the field, Phil and A.J. were saddling up. It was time for Lisa and her to do the same. She collected Topside’s tack from the tack room and proceeded to Bluegrass’s stall, where Topside was temporarily residing.

  She had slipped the bit into his mouth and was just buckling Topside’s bridle when Elaine came by, carrying Bluegrass’s tack.

  “What are you doing?” Elaine asked.

  “Tacking up my horse,” Stevie said sweetly.

  “This is my horse!” Elaine pro
tested. “Go tack up your own horse—if you can find him!”

  “Oh, but this is my horse. This is Topside. He’s the horse I always ride.”

  The look on Elaine’s face was definitely confused. “But then where’s …?”

  Stevie loved every single second of it.

  CAROLE LOVED RIDING Pretty Boy. He was very tall and strong. A horse’s height usually didn’t say much about the kind of horse he was, but Carole liked the feeling of being high off the ground. She also liked his strength. She could sense it in his movement and in his response to her signals. As soon as she put any leg on him, he spurted forward, responding immediately.

  “Whoa, there, Pretty Boy,” she said. “We’re just walking out here tonight. Maybe a fast walk, but a walk. The ground’s too hard and unpredictable for us to do anything else. Just a walk.”

  With every word she spoke, the horse’s ears flicked around attentively. To Carole, that was always a good sign. It meant the horse was alert and receptive.

  It was fully dark out now. It was cold and the snow, which had been falling since early afternoon, tapered off, leaving a blanket of white on the Virginia countryside. The velvet black sky was studded with stars, and on the horizon the moon was beginning to rise. Carole had been looking forward to Pine Hollow’s Starlight Ride for a long time. Now, she was finding that she was on her very own Starlight Ride and maybe even liked it better.

  A cool breeze lifted a swirl of snow from the ground. Pretty Boy flinched and backed up. “Take it easy,” Carole said, putting some pressure on him to get him to go forward. “That’s just the wind. There’ll be more of it before we get where we’re going. Hold on there and go straight ahead now.” The horse stood still. Carole put more pressure on him and then tapped him with her crop. He got the message and was soon headed straight for Pine Hollow.

  “WHERE’S CHIPPEWA?” DIANA whined. “What did you do with him?” she demanded. She stood outside Chip’s stall with her hands on her hips, glaring at Lisa.