“Good job!” Carole said.
“Okay,” Max said. “Let’s do a little jumping.” He set up two pole standards in the center of the ring.
“Max!” Carole whispered, going to help him with the jump. “Are you serious? Amelia will feel so left out.”
“Why?” Max grinned. “She’s going to be jumping, too.”
Carole looked at him. She could hardly believe it. Amelia, jumping after only four months! But on the other hand, Lisa had started jumping just as quickly, and so had she. And Amelia was a good rider. “She’ll love it,” she whispered.
“I hope so,” said Max.
He set up a small cross rail with several poles spaced evenly on the ground in front of it. “Now, I want you to come through this one at a time,” he instructed the riders. “Go deep around the corner, get straight to the fence, and maintain an even pace throughout. Amelia, is this your first jump?”
Amelia’s face was a mixture of nervousness and excitement. “Yes,” she said.
“Then you go last, and watch the others. You should just concentrate on trotting Delilah exactly toward the center of the fence. Look over it, not at it. As you turn the corner, get into your two-point position, just as we practiced, and right before the fence, reach up and grab a handful of Delilah’s mane. She’ll do the rest. She knows all about jumping.”
“Okay.” Amelia took her place at the end of the line of riders.
“Come ahead, Jasmine,” Carole called. “Keep your heels down. Keep Outlaw steady. Good!”
One by one the kids jumped the fence. Joey lost his balance and had to catch himself on Penny’s mane, but everyone else jumped smoothly. They had all jumped before.
“Okay, Amelia,” Max said.
“Okay,” Amelia echoed. She gathered her reins and clucked to Delilah, who set off obligingly at a nice steady trot. Amelia guided her around the corner of the ring and headed her in a straight line toward the small fence.
Delilah tossed her head down, kicked her hind heels up, and jumped sideways. Amelia fought to keep her balance.
“Whoa!” commanded Max.
“Sit up!” yelled Carole. “Pull her head up!”
Amelia did all three and then added something on her own. She sat up, pulled Delilah’s head back up, and told the horse, “Steady.” Then she squeezed with her legs to make Delilah go forward. Delilah tossed her head. Amelia corrected her gently. With steely-eyed determination, she headed the horse straight for the fence. Delilah settled herself and jumped it.
Amelia brought Delilah to a controlled halt afterward, just as Max had told them all to do. “Way to go, Amelia!” May shouted, and the rest of the riders broke out in cheers.
When Carole reached Delilah’s side, she saw that Amelia was grinning from ear to ear. It was the first time that she’d seen Amelia look genuinely happy, she realized with a start.
“You did it,” Carole said. “Well done.”
Amelia patted Delilah’s neck over and over again. “I did, I really did!” she said. “I really jumped! Wait till my mom hears this!” To Max she added, “I think I know what’s getting her upset. The sun is making a funny reflection off the side mirror on that truck over there. I think Delilah’s just tall enough so it hits her right in the eyes.”
Carole ducked through the fence and adjusted the mirror. “Good thinking,” Max told Amelia. “I like the fact that you looked for a reason for Delilah to spook. She doesn’t usually, so you’re probably right about the mirror. I also really, really, liked the way you dealt with her and still took the jump. You’re a good rider, Amelia.”
Amelia beamed. “Can we jump it again?” she asked. “I mean, may we? Please?”
The whole group jumped the fence five more times before Max called it quits. Delilah didn’t spook again. “If Amelia smiles any harder, her lips are going to cramp,” Carole told Max.
“Can you remember your first jump?” Max asked Carole.
Carole laughed. “Yes. My lips probably did cramp.”
AS THEY WERE walking back into the stable, Max slapped his hand against his forehead. “Carole, I forgot!” he said. “Judy came here this morning to see Starlight, really early. She left a note for you in the office, but all it says is to call her. She wants to talk to you about him.”
Happiness drained out of Carole like water out of a bathtub. “Did she say what was wrong with him?” Carole asked.
Max shook his head. “I wasn’t here yet. Red let Judy in. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner. But you can use the office phone to call her.”
Carole went into the office and carefully shut the door. Her hands were shaking. She looked at the phone for a long time before she dialed Judy’s number. If it were something minor, Judy would have said so in her note. It had to be something bad. Navicular disease. Carole was sure.
She dialed Judy’s number by heart. The answering machine picked up. “Judy?” Carole said. “This is Carole. I’m calling from Pine Hollow. Please call when you can.” She set down the phone and went in search of Lisa and Stevie.
She found them in the tack room, cleaning their saddles after their trail ride.
“Hey,” Lisa said instantly. “Why are all the campers giving Amelia high fives in the aisle? We asked, and she just smiled. What happened in that lesson? She looks like an actual human being.”
“She fell off Delilah, for starters.”
“Is she hurt?” Lisa asked.
“No—”
“Hysterical?”
Carole grinned despite herself, remembering the lesson. “No, she was very calm, and she got back on and started jumping.”
“Jumping?” Lisa asked. “Honestly?”
“Honestly,” Carole said. “Six cross rails.”
“Fantastic!” said Stevie.
“This calls for a celebration,” Lisa said. “TD’s, on me.”
“Great!” Stevie said, quickly returning her saddle to its rack. “You know we’re always happy to celebrate—and this is a terrific reason.” TD’s was a fantastic ice cream parlor not far from Pine Hollow. The Saddle Club went there often.
Lisa put her saddle back, too, and gathered up the saddle soap and sponges. “Let’s ask the Pony Tails, too. I can’t help but think that Amelia would like them, if she just gave them a chance.”
“She might be ready to do that now,” Carole said. “It was a pretty good riding lesson.”
“If you’re paying,” Stevie said to Lisa, “you can invite the whole stable.”
Lisa laughed. “Let’s not go too far.”
THE PONY TAILS were more than happy to eat ice cream instead of the bag lunches they’d brought with them. It wasn’t long before all seven girls were crowded into TD’s largest booth, happily consuming turtle sundaes, which were the special of the day. Even Stevie had ordered one—although she’d asked that strawberry sauce and crème de menthe be added to the caramel and hot fudge.
“That’s disgusting,” Amelia said, staring as Stevie lifted the first brown, pink, and green spoonful to her lips.
“Just don’t watch her eat it,” Lisa advised. Stevie always ate the strangest sundae combinations.
Carole took a big bite of ice cream and closed her eyes. When she opened them, she smiled at her friends. “Okay,” she said, as if telling herself that she would be okay.
Lisa looked at Carole. Suddenly she could see how on edge Carole was. Not about the riding lesson, or Amelia. Starlight. It had to be. Lisa’s heart sank. What had Carole learned?
Amelia dug into her sundae. “Isn’t it funny,” she said, “that this morning I didn’t even want to ride Delilah?”
“Yeah, but why not?” Corey demanded. “Delilah’s really sweet.”
Amelia traced the outline of her place mat with her fingertip. “I wanted to ride Prancer,” she explained.
“But that’s silly,” May interjected. “Prancer’s too big for you—and she’s really strong. She’d buck you off and throw you twice as far as Delilah did.”
“I wouldn’t ride Prancer for a hundred million dollars,” Jasmine added.
“You would never have gotten to jump on Prancer,” Corey said.
“Lisa rides Prancer,” Stevie said softly.
“But Amelia’s not Lisa,” Corey argued.
“That’s exactly right,” said Lisa.
“I know,” Amelia said. “I guess I know that now. But see, my mom and dad are always talking about Lisa. Like she’s perfect or something. So.” Amelia looked up, and the Pony Tails nodded as if they understood. Lisa understood, too. How hard it must have been for Amelia to have her parents bragging about Lisa, and then to have Lisa be so unfriendly. Lisa felt ashamed of her behavior. At least it all seemed to be working out now.
Amelia stirred her melting sundae until it was a thick brown puddle of goop. “Thanks for not laughing when I fell off,” she said. “I bet it’s been a long time since any of you fell off a horse.”
Stevie and May burst out laughing before they could help themselves. After a moment Lisa, Carole, Corey, and Jasmine all joined in. “Like, we’ve all fallen off, like, half a hundred times,” May said, through her giggles. “My last time was Friday.”
“Remember the time Jasmine fell off right in that big patch of mud?” Corey said. She laughed so hard she had to cover her mouth.
“Or what about the time Carole landed in the creek?” Stevie hooted.
“Really,” Carole said, “Starlight was very young then. And we won’t even discuss Belle’s little incident with the hay baler.”
“Stevie rode her around the corner of the stable,” Lisa said, wiping tears of laughter from her eyes, “and she was bareback, and Belle saw this big, fearsome hay baler—”
“—a really scary, monstrous machine—” Carole added with relish.
“—smaller than your average tractor, and turned off, for Pete’s sake, it wasn’t making any noise or anything. I could have killed that mare—” Stevie sputtered.
“Belle whirled so fast that Stevie was hanging on by one leg and a handful of mane, and then Belle ran back into the stable and slammed to a stop—” Lisa laughed so hard she couldn’t continue.
“—and I slammed to the ground, and landed right at Max’s feet,” Stevie concluded. “It was a little embarrassing. But I bet Lisa never told you about her first ride at Pine Hollow—her first ride ever.”
“Did she fall off?” Amelia asked in amazement.
“No, I stayed on—barely,” Lisa told her.
“Lisa was riding Patch in the indoor arena,” Carole said. “And Veronica diAngelo slammed a door inside the stable, really loudly, and Patch spooked and took off running inside the arena. Poor Lisa didn’t know what to do at all.”
“It felt like half an hour before that horse stopped,” Lisa remembered. “Part of me was scared to death, and part of me thought, Wow! This is fun!”
Amelia sucked on the end of her spoon. She seemed to be thinking about Lisa’s story. Then her face lit up.
“I know exactly what you mean,” she said excitedly, leaning forward. “A couple of weeks ago my instructor, Ruth, took our class out to the field that’s across the street from our stable. It’s across a really busy road, but the field’s fenced, so it’s safe. I ride after school, and by the end of the lesson it’s always getting dark this time of year, and I guess the horses started thinking about their dinner, because when Ruthie told us to canter, all the horses took off for home!
“The worst part was, Ruth forgot to close the gate! So they were all galloping right for the road. Ruth started screaming, ‘Sit up! Get them back! Turn them! Sit up!’ ”
Amelia yelled so loudly that several of the people in the restaurant turned around and looked at her. She paused to eat a spoonful of her sundae goop.
“What happened?” Corey asked.
Amelia grinned. “At first I thought, I’m being run away with, I’m going to fall off, I’m going to die. But then I realized that I wasn’t falling off—my heels were down, like they were supposed to be, and I felt pretty balanced. And then for a second it was really fun to be going that fast. And then I saw the road with all the cars on it just ahead, and I thought, No, I am going to die.” She slurped another spoonful of sundae.
“Then what?” May asked impatiently.
“Well,” said Amelia, “I thought, I don’t really want to die, so I sat back, pulled on the reins, and told Star she had to turn in a circle. And she really is a nice horse, even if she did try to run back for her dinner, and she slowed down and turned. I was in front of the rest of the class, and when Star stopped the other horses stopped, too. Nobody got hurt and nobody fell off. But one of the other girls was crying. I didn’t feel like crying. I thought, When I get good, I’ll ride that fast on purpose—only not toward a highway!”
Everyone at the table laughed. Lisa looked at Amelia’s excited, transformed face. Despite her brattiness, there was suddenly something likable about her.
Apparently the Pony Tails thought so, too. “That’s a great story,” May said contentedly. “I like to ride fast, too. Maybe some day this week you could come over to my house and see the horses my dad is training. He’s got a gelding that just came off the racetrack. It’s wild.” May took a sip of water and gave Amelia a saucy grin. “You can’t ride him, though, so don’t ask.”
Amelia turned a little pink. “I’d like to see him,” she said. “That sounds fun.” She took a deep breath and added, “I’m sorry I made fun of your jodhpurs, May.”
“That’s okay,” May said cheerfully. “When you’ve been riding long enough, yours will look just as disgusting.”
Lisa could tell Amelia had never thought of it like that. She couldn’t believe the change this one conversation had seemed to make in her cousin. Amelia was acting like a member of the human race. Maybe she just needed a little help making friends, Lisa thought.
“And I’m sorry I said Sam was funny-looking, Corey,” Amelia added in a rush. “He’s really cute. I wish I had a pony just as cute.”
Corey grinned, then asked Lisa what time it was. “Gosh,” she said when Lisa told her, “we’ve got to be back at Pine Hollow in half an hour, and there’s this great new pony training book at the bookstore. I wanted to go look at it while we’re here.”
“Let’s go!” Jasmine said, pushing back her chair. “C’mon, Amelia!” The younger girls all jumped up and clattered out the door.
The Saddle Club looked at the four empty chairs and four empty sundae dishes. “Here’s your check,” the waitress said cheerfully, slapping it on the table.
“I think we just got stiffed by the Pony Tails,” Stevie said with a groan. “And I’ve only got three dollars. Carole?”
Lisa slapped a twenty-dollar bill on top of the check. “You can’t have forgotten that this is my treat,” she said. “Or, more precisely, my mother’s treat. My mom gave me that this morning in case Amelia or I needed anything today.”
“I think a celebration sundae was definitely necessary,” Stevie said.
“I’m sure Amelia will still be a brat,” Lisa said.
“But now she’s a jumping brat,” Stevie said.
“Carole,” Lisa said softly, “I can tell something’s wrong. What happened?”
Carole covered her face with her hands. After a long moment she steadied herself, dropped her hands, and set them firmly on the table. She looked at Lisa and Stevie. “I don’t know anything yet,” she said. “But I think it must be awful. Judy left me a note to call her, and she didn’t say what was wrong.”
“That doesn’t mean it’s bad,” Stevie argued. “She just might have been in a hurry and didn’t want to take the time to write.”
“Maybe she needs to give you instructions on how to take care of him,” Lisa suggested, “and it was too complicated to write down.”
“Or maybe she just wants to break the bad news to me in person,” Carole said. “I’m so afraid that Starlight will never be right again.”
“You shouldn’t worry about th
at until you know for sure,” Lisa said.
“Remember,” Stevie urged. “His hoof was hot. That must mean it’s an abscess.”
Carole took a deep breath. “When my mother got cancer,” she said, “they did some tests first. Then when they got the results back, her doctor wouldn’t tell her over the phone. He made her come into his office, so he could tell her in person.”
“Right,” Stevie said. “But Judy is going to tell you over the phone, so it can’t be bad news. It’s not the same.”
“It’s a lot the same,” Carole said. “He could be permanently lame, Stevie. He really could be. I’ve thought so all weekend.”
The waitress brought their change to the table. Lisa picked a quarter out of it. “Carole, I won’t argue with you because you’re right. It could be bad news. The only way we’re going to find out is to call her, right now.”
They went to the phone booth outside TD’s and all crowded in. “She was gone when I called before,” Carole said.
“If she’s not in now, we’ll walk back to Pine Hollow and try again,” Lisa said firmly. Carole nodded. She dialed Judy’s office.
“Hello? Oh, Judy, it’s Carole.” Stevie held up two fingers, crossed for good luck. Lisa held her breath. “He does? He is? Oh, wonderful!” She cupped the phone against her shoulder. “He’s got an abscess! He’ll be fine in a week!”
“LISA!” THERE WAS a pounding on the bedroom door. “Lisa, are you up yet?”
Lisa rolled over, pushed the covers off her face, and blinked sleepily at her bedside alarm clock. “No!” she said. “It’s too early!”
“Lisa, you have to be awake if you’re talking! We have to hurry! Can I come in?”
“Okay,” Lisa muttered. She sat up just as Amelia rushed into the room. “Oh, geez,” Lisa groaned. “You’re already dressed. It’s only seven o’clock, and Horse Wise doesn’t start until nine. And we can’t ride until after that, I already told you.”
“I know.” Amelia bounced on the corner of Lisa’s bed. “I just couldn’t sleep. Can’t you get up yet?”
“And you’re getting my bedspread dirty.”
Amelia looked down at her grimy jodhpurs. She’d quit asking Mrs. Atwood to wash them. “Oops. Sorry.” She bounced herself off the bed and plunked down on the floor. “Can I look at Black Beauty again? Are you going to get up?”
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