“Why, Piper Jones! What a nice surprise! I haven’t seen you for two years.” I thought back to when I had seen her at a summer church picnic. Her memory was just fine. I introduced Addie to Miss Julie, who knew Addie’s mother from a book club they both belonged to. Miss Julie invited us inside. Her rooms looked very neat, and she had a lot of the old furniture I remembered from the farmhouse. My parents were still married then and drank iced tea with Miss Julie while I rode the pony.
“I thought this would be like a hospital,” I said. “It’s more like an apartment.”
“It is,” said Miss Julie, “except if I get hurt or sick, there are buzzers I can push and get medical help right away.”
“Cool,” said Addie. We all sat down on rose velvet chairs. I didn’t do well with antiques. Bad things just happened, and I got klutzy, so I was extra careful.
“Piper, you’re still wearing the horsehair bracelet we made! That brings back some wonderful memories. I’m sorry your parents got divorced, but I bet you’d rather I didn’t go on about it. What brings you here to see me today?”
I said, “Miss Julie, would you mind if I kept a pony in your old shed and paddock for a little while?”
“Why, of course I wouldn’t mind, honey. That would be fine.” She smiled at me and laughed. “I’m glad someone is going to get some use out of the old place. I couldn’t bear to sell it even if the real estate market was any good. I really miss living out there, but Sam never cared for living in the country, even as a boy. Did your dad finally get you that horse you always wanted?”
I had planned not to tell Miss Julie everything, but I didn’t want to lie to her. She was always good to me. I just had to start trusting someone besides Addie, but her eyes looked into me so that I couldn’t tell any more lies. I started talking and couldn’t stop. I talked and talked about Rosie and how we found her, and when I got tired of talking, Addie took over. As we were telling about Rosie, I noticed that Miss Julie sat up straight, like she was going to speak, but then kept quiet. She listened carefully to us, but she kept fidgeting, like she had something to say. Her hands played with the wires to her iPod tucked into a pocket. When we had told her the whole story, I was so relieved I actually felt lighter.
Afterward, Miss Julie was quiet. She moved slowly without the walker into her small kitchen and brought out a pitcher of lemonade, then got three glasses down. She poured us each a glass, handed them to us and sat on the couch with her own drink.
“Girls,” she said, “think very hard and very carefully. Tell me about the pony, how old she is and what she looks like.”
“I don’t know how old she is,” said Addie. “Jake called her an old nag.”
Miss Julie made a face. “I can see why you don’t like him. I don’t, either”
“I think she’s pretty old,” I said. “Her back is a little swayed, and the hairs on her muzzle are turning white. My dad could look at her teeth and tell, but I don’t know how to do that. Anyway, she’s young enough to run fast for a long ways. We should know, we had to chase her!”
“Tell me what she looks like,” said Miss Julie Applegate patiently. She had been a teacher and knew how to get answers from kids. I described Rosie the best I could by saying, “She looks exactly like the pony you used to have. She looks like Dotty.”
Miss Julie took a sharp breath and sat back. She closed her eyes for a moment and sighed. “It never sounded right, what Sam told me about that pony. Dotty wasn’t that old. She had a lot of life and love left in her for some child. Does Rosie have white tips on her ears?” I nodded. She looked at me then. “I think that could be my pony. Sam told me she died after I came to live here, but he never really said why, and he was so busy with his work, I didn’t like to keep bothering him. I wish I had now.” Miss Julie had a sweet face, but right now it looked hard. Her eyes didn’t twinkle any longer; they shone like polished stone.
“Why would Sam lie about it?” I asked. This was another time when grown-up reasoning was just beyond me.
“I don’t know,” said Miss Julie. “I can’t believe he lied. He’s not that way, but I’m going to find out; you bet I am.”
“What can we do?” I asked her.
“Well, I can’t talk to Sam about it unless I’m sure the pony is Dotty. So I guess I have to go take a look at her.”
“It’s a pretty long walk,” said Addie, and I nodded. Miss Julie started laughing. ”Girls,” she said, “I don’t plan to walk out there! Did you ever stop and think I might still be able to drive?” We just looked at her. I felt silly and Addie was making her embarrassed face.
“Sorry, Miss Julie,” I said.
“Don’t be silly,” she said. “How are you supposed to know what I can do?”
“Do you need to take your walker?” I asked, thinking about the lumpy ground of the horse pasture.
“No, not for a short trip. I only use it part of the time. Now give me a minute to turn off my computer and get ready, and we’ll drive out there right now and see that pony.”
Chapter Seven
~ Reunion ~
We sped through the town and out into the farmland around it in Miss Julie’s old blue Cougar. I wondered why I had ever thought little old ladies drove slowly. The windows were down and the warm breeze blew my hair all over my face. I looked back at Addie, who got carsick sometimes, and hoped that the speed and the rolling hills wouldn’t activate her vomit machine. We arrived at the farm quickly, since Miss Julie had spent a lifetime driving down that lane lined with oak trees and a split rail fence. We pulled up in front of the big farmhouse, and Miss Julie just sat there looking at it while the motor idled.
“I spent a lot of wonderful years in that house,” she said. “It was a good house to grow up in, and a good house to raise a family in. It looks kind of sad with no one living in it.”
She put the car into gear. We bounced down the dirt lane toward the shed and Rosie’s paddock, with a cloud of dust rolling behind us. When we stopped beside the gate, Miss Julie tied the jacket of her track suit around her waist and walked over to the corral, holding Addie’s arm. When the dust settled, the air smelled like a mixture of clover, grass and hay, the best smells in the world.
Rosie was standing under the oak tree in the shade. She stopped grazing and looked up as we opened the gate and entered her little world. She walked toward us, and as she stepped out of the shade and the sun shone on her brown patches, I could hear Miss Julie give a sigh. Rosie seemed a little perkier after even one day on green grass, but she was still a sorry-looking animal. She stopped a few steps from Miss Julie, ears pricked up and alert, sniffing and tossing her head. There were tears in Miss Julie’s eyes as she said, “Dotty!” The pony came right over, stuck her nose in Miss Julie’s face and made a sound deep in her throat.
“Oh, honey,” Miss Julie started scratching and rubbing the pony’s forehead, neck, everywhere she could reach. Addie and I couldn’t talk. I had an achy place in my throat, and Addie sniffled while she rubbed her nose. Miss Julie hugged the horse around the neck and gently touched the white-tipped ears.
“I need to sit down,” sighed Miss Julie. We pulled one of the empty buckets out of the shed, turned it over, and she sat on that. She shook her head and stared at the pony. “You poor thing. Whatever has happened to you, you didn’t deserve it. Poor baby.”
Then she looked at us. “Girls, it was a very lucky accident that you found Dotty. I want to thank you for taking care of her and for coming to me. Someone has treated her terribly, and I’m going to find out who it was.”
“It was Jake,” said Addie. “He’s the one who had her tied up in town. And I bet he stole her!”
“But how did he get her papers? Why would Jake call the sheriff if he was the one who stole her?” I said. We looked at Miss Julie watching the small pony nibbling purple clover flowers in the grass. Miss Julie clamped her jaw and her breathing was hard. She pulled out a red cell phone and started punching in numbers.
“I need to as
k Sam about that. I need to ask him about a lot of things that have been going on since I left the farm. He’ll be coming home for a few days tomorrow, but this can’t wait.”
Holding the phone to her ear, Miss Julie looked all around the shed, the paddock, the tree, but kept coming back to the pony.
“He’s not answering. I’ll keep calling, but if I can’t get him, well, first thing in the morning, when he’s in town, I’ll get to the bottom of this!” Miss Julie started to get up, then sat back down suddenly and closed her eyes.
“Are you okay, Miss Julie?” I was worried about her. What would we do if she had a spell or a heart attack way out here? Could I drive her car back to town? I hadn’t had driving lessons yet. Mom wanted me to wait till spring.
“I’m fine, Piper,” she said. “I just shouldn’t get all upset and excited about things. It isn’t good for my blood pressure. But I’m fine. Don’t worry”
She stood up then, patted Dotty on her round rump, and said, “See you later, sweetie. Let’s go, girls. We have work to do.” Miss Julie marched over to her car, got in and slammed the door. After I hugged and whispered to Dotty, we closed the gate then followed Miss Julie and got in the car. As the Cougar bounced down the dirt road and through the farmyard, I held on tight. Miss Julie turned onto the highway and we sped into town. Thank goodness there weren’t any police cars around! I had never been in a speeding car before. Do they arrest the passengers? We were pretty quiet all the way to town. Miss Julie dropped us off at my house and drove away with a screech of her tires. “See you tomorrow,” she called.
“I feel sorry for Sam when she gets ahold of him,” said Addie.
“I don’t,” I said. “I just want her to be careful not to have a stroke or something. And find out what happened with Dotty.” I knew we would both call that pony Dotty from now on. After all, it was her name.
Addie was quiet a minute. “Maybe we could talk to Sam before Miss Julie does, so he doesn’t yell at her. Because, he might. And we could find out if he sold Dotty to Jake. If we have the proof right there, he can’t deny it when she asks him. But how can we find proof? He’s out of town tonight.”
Sometimes Addie didn’t think as sneakily as I did. Sometimes our brain connection didn’t work. “That’s perfect,” I said, “because we can go into his office tonight after dark and look without being interrupted.”
“We should look in Jake’s trailer, too,” said Addie. “I bet he’s got something hidden in there. Something illegal. Remember that creepy guy that went inside with him? But that would be breaking and entering, and we could go to jail. We shouldn’t do it.”
“I don’t think they put kids in jail,” I said, but I wasn’t sure. “Anyway, do you want Miss Julie to have a heart attack and Jake to get Dotty back and be mean to her again?”
“Well, no...”
“Then we have to do it. It’s the only way. We’ll get in and out fast, and no one will know,” I said, and I was sure I was right about this. I hoped I was, anyway.
Chapter Eight
~ A Desperate Situation ~
What happened next was only hard to believe if you didn’t know me very well. Addie and I went home and had supper at our own houses, acting normal. I even talked to my mom a little about the places she was sending job applications. We had planned how we would watch some TV with our moms then yawn and say we were going up to bed.
I snuck out the back door a while later and met Addie just as it was getting too dark to see well. I thought about how last week all I had to think about was chasing fireflies and letting them go again. I felt a lot older. I was going to do something that was against the law, and kept telling myself I had to take care of Dotty and Miss Julie. I was responsible for Dotty now and couldn’t let her be taken back to Oily Jake. I was sure she would die if that happened.
We crept down the streets, cutting through people’s yards, hiding behind trees. It felt like a game of hide and seek, only serious. We saw houses all lit up inside, with people moving around. The air was beginning to cool off, with the moon coming up, huge and full. I had to be tough, though, and think about what I was doing. When we reached the town square, we checked for cars on the street then crept to the side of the hardware store. I could see Jake’s old beat-up aqua and white trailer parked in the vacant lot. The street light was a block away, so the trailer was in the dark and didn’t look like any place you’d want to visit. There was no sign of movement. It was still early, and I didn’t think Ugly Jake would be in bed yet. He was probably out finding another pony to abuse.
“Let’s go,” I said, and we ran through the lot to the trailer. I opened the unlocked door and stuck my head in.
“Go, go!” Addie’s whisper sounded frantic, so we slid through the door and shut it as quietly as possible. We stood in the tiny living room, an old beat-up couch taking up most of the space. Stale ashtray stink floated in the air, and we couldn’t see much but old pizza boxes.
“Check the kitchen,” Addie said, as we moved together the three steps it took to get into the kitchen. Bags of horse feed were piled there beside a table and chairs. On the table was a map that I recognized of Lake Serendipity, which was south of town, and a drawing of a funny-looking house. The house was all kind of squinched in on the second floor. Addie peeked at it, then whispered, “Why would Jake keep the feed bags in the kitchen?”
I didn’t have time to wonder because we heard a terrible buzzing snore coming from the back of the trailer.
“He’s here! Creepy Jake is here!” I whispered, as my heart thumped. “Let’s get out!” As long as the snores continued, we were safe. I almost fell over Addie as we tried to get out the door without making any noise. We ran back across the vacant lot and stopped at the side of the hardware store, shivering and panting.
“That was close,” said Addie. “I can’t believe he was in there.”
“Me, neither,” I said, waiting for my breathing to slow down. This was why I didn’t like the rides at carnivals. I didn’t like being scared. I had a red place on my arm tonight from twisting my horsehair bracelet.
I was certain that something I had just seen didn’t make sense and was important. I would have to think about it later. Right now we had one more thing to do.
“Are you ready for Sam’s?”
“I’m ready if you are,” Addie said. She didn’t quit on me even when I knew she wanted to. I thought, that’s what brave means.
We snuck from building to building, working our way around the square to Sam Applegate’s office. I checked again for cars or people, then ran into the alley behind the office. We only waited a minute before creeping up the steps to his back door.
I had seen on TV once that a crook used a credit card to open a locked door, so I had my library card with me. My hand shook and my mouth was dry as I slid the card down the crack in the door, wiggled it and ta da! the door opened. I could hear Addie whoosh with relief behind me as we eased the door open and went inside. It was very dark, but Addie had her old Girl Scout flashlight out and shone it around. We were in a storage room that opened into an office. Addie went first and found a tall filing cabinet beside a large wooden desk.
“Where do you think we should start?” said Addie.
“Let’s check the desk first, then the files,” I answered, licking my lips and breathing fast.
“What about the computer? Maybe there’s something in that”
I was a little afraid to start searching through computer files, since I didn’t really know how. This didn’t feel good at all. I was beginning to think we should have done this a little differently.
We had just opened the top drawer of the desk and my hand was pulling out some papers when the lights went on. Addie screamed. I jumped and dropped the papers.
“May I help you?” a deep voice asked. There was a man leaning in the doorway with his arms folded, a handsome, dark-haired man with familiar-looking, angry blue eyes.
I just stood there with my mouth open, and so did
Addie. My heart was beating way too fast and I was cold all over. I wondered if fifteen-year-old girls ever had heart attacks.
“You don’t look old enough to be criminals, but then you never know,” he said. “Do you realize you are breaking and entering? Are you looking for some money? I don’t keep any cash around this office.”
This was Miss Julie’s son, Sam. No wonder the eyes looked familiar. They were the same as hers.
“Um, we...” I could only stammer. Addie started crying at the same time the sheriff’s car pulled up outside, its lights flashing through the front window of the office. She looked at me and I thought of scared rabbits as I twisted my bracelet like crazy.
Sam Applegate opened the office door, and Sheriff Harvey Martin clomped in, holding a cigar in his teeth. He frowned at me.
“Good Lord, girl,” he said. “You just keep on looking for trouble. The first time in two years we’ve gotten a prowler call and it turns out to be you and your partner in crime here. Sam, this here’s the Jones girl. What’s your name again? Patsy? And your friend is Annie?”
“No, sir, it’s Piper and Addie.” I squeezed the words out of my throat.
“You two gals had better come with me. Your folks are gonna be plenty upset with you! I’ll take care of it, Sam, and thanks for calling. You might want to check and see if anything’s missin’ or broken.”
As I was pulled through the door, I turned and looked at Sam, the liar, the cheat, the scum! “Don’t think you can get away with it,” I said. “Miss Julie is onto you!”
The sheriff put us in his patrol car and took us to his office, the same one we stood in yesterday, trying to uphold the law and prevent animal abuse. Only now we were the criminals.
He sat us down in big wooden chairs while he called our parents. Addie and I could only look at each other. What would happen to us? Grounded for a year, probably.
The Penny Pony Page 3
