Stable Groom

by Bonnie Bryant

“What happened?” Lisa asked breathlessly, joining the others. Carole and Stevie looked at her, embarrassed.

  Red spoke up. “Listen, I know you’re trying to help, but I don’t need you to stand up for me or to tell Max that I’m doing my job, okay?” he said gruffly.

  “But, Red, that’s what you think. Just when someone becomes the most confident, that’s when they won’t notice what’s really going on,” Stevie said urgently. She didn’t want to annoy Red more, but the situation was getting desperate. The Equestrian Center seemed to be ignoring their letter, and Veronica, backed by her parents, was getting worse every day, while Max was turning into a wimp.

  “Yes, well, I’ll deal with anything that comes up,” Red replied. Leading Garnet, he headed toward the barn.

  Carole waited until he was gone a few minutes. Then she cried, “How could I have been so dumb? We made Red look stupid in front of Veronica.”

  “Hey, I’m the one who went to Max,” Lisa said. She let her breath out in a long sigh. “A lot of good that did.”

  “All right—no getting upset about this. We’re just trying to help Red. If he can’t appreciate that …” Stevie’s voice trailed off.

  Carole looked at her quizzically. “If he can’t appreciate that, then what?”

  “Well, too bad. Because our help is far from over,” Stevie said. “And when he passes the Equestrian Center test, he’ll change his tune fast.”

  “I hope so,” Carole said. “I think Veronica and I were on the brink of a fistfight!”

  As they walked the horses back, Deborah emerged from the stable. “I was hoping you’d be coming in about now,” she said. “I’ve got a favor to ask. Could you think of something to distract Max while I have another riding lesson?”

  “That’s easy,” Stevie said. “He’s been totally distracted all afternoon.”

  Deborah laughed. “It doesn’t surprise me.”

  After a quick Saddle Club conference, they decided that Carole and Lisa would put Belle away while Stevie found a way to occupy Max. Deborah thanked them and hurried off to change from her city reporter’s clothes into riding attire.

  Stevie racked her brains for the perfect foil. She gazed out at the driveway. A grain delivery truck had just pulled out and was waiting to let a flower delivery truck pull in. Stevie remembered hearing Mrs. Reg say something about needing to spruce up the jump course with some shrubbery. That didn’t help her think of anything. Then the grain delivery truck sparked her memory. She remembered a point Denise had made in her nutrition lecture. She clapped her hands together. She had it—the perfect distraction. She made a few preparations and went to find Max. Once again he was sitting in his office.

  “I’m sorry to bother you, Max, but there’s something I think you should look at. You know how Denise was telling us that it’s very important to look at the quality of each new grain shipment that comes in?” Stevie asked.

  “Of course. That was a very important point she made,” Max said.

  “Well, for practice I went and looked at the shipment we just got, and I don’t think the sweet feed is the same quality as the stuff we usually feed.”

  Max raised his eyebrows. “Really? That’s serious. I’ll go check it out.” Instead of seeming annoyed by the interruption, Max almost looked eager to have something to do. Stevie watched happily as he set off for the grain room. There she had set out eight buckets of grain for him to examine. To keep him busy, she had mixed in the remains of her lunch—a few crumbled-up cookies, a lettuce leaf or two, and a couple of sandwich crusts. When she peeked around the grain room door, she saw Max crouching beside the buckets, wearing a puzzled expression. She had to clamp her hand over her mouth to keep from cracking up. Max normally would have dispensed with her trickery in about two minutes. But today Max was being so flaky that she knew the hoax would keep him busy for at least the length of the riding lesson. Grinning impishly, she went to help Lisa and Carole.

  When she got to Belle’s stall, the mare was inside, cool and groomed. There was a note stuck to her nameplate: Gone to watch. Come join us when finished. L and C. She tore the note off, gave Belle a good pat, and headed out to the schooling ring.

  Lisa and Carole were perched on the rail. “She’s doing really well,” Carole whispered to Stevie as she climbed up. Stevie quickly filled them in on the grain hoax and then settled in to watch.

  In the ring, Deborah was cantering Delilah. It was clear that she had learned a lot. She looked fairly confident in the saddle. The wind had picked up, and her red ponytail bounced on her back. When Red told her to trot, she sat up and steadied the mare with her seat, legs, and hands. Delilah broke evenly into a trot. Deborah sat quietly for a few seconds and then began to post. She started off on the wrong diagonal but quickly corrected herself. Red praised her for noticing the mistake.

  “She looks a hundred times better,” Stevie murmured.

  “Thanks to Red’s being such a great teacher,” said Lisa. They all knew that Deborah’s own motivation was a big part of her success, but that was a given. Red had taken her from a total beginner to someone who had the basics down pat. She could walk, trot, and canter, change leads, and post correctly. That was more than enough to be able to join Max on a trail ride or school with him in the ring.

  The sound of a car pulling into the driveway interrupted The Saddle Club’s thoughts. They had gotten so used to noting every single car that drove onto the property that they turned automatically. “Hey, I’ve never seen that car before,” Lisa said. It was a dark blue sedan.

  As they watched, the car stopped and a well-dressed woman got out, carrying some papers and a notebook. She looked around vaguely. Stevie squinted in the sun, trying to see if she recognized the woman. Then she did a double take. The car had an Indiana license plate!

  BECAUSE HER SIGNATURE was first on the letter, Stevie figured she should be the first to introduce herself. As she trotted over she could barely catch her breath, she was so excited. It was perfect! Red was already in the middle of giving a lesson, so the test could start right away.

  “You’re the judge, aren’t you?” she asked excitedly.

  “Yes—yes, I am,” the woman said. She seemed a bit taken aback by Stevie’s enthusiasm.

  “We’re so happy you could make it!” Stevie exclaimed.

  “Naturally I could make it. It’s my job, after all,” the woman replied.

  “It’s just that Pine Hollow is so far away. We were worried you might not come,” Stevie explained.

  “It’s not that far,” the woman said. “Believe me, I’ve gone much farther.” She looked Stevie up and down. “And, ah, who might you be?” she asked.

  “I’m Stephanie Lake,” Stevie said.

  “And what exactly is your role in all this?” the woman asked.

  “I take riding lessons at Pine Hollow, board my horse here, do Pony Club—everything, I guess you could say, so I’ve really gotten a great chance to get to know the people who work here,” Stevie said.

  “How nice for you,” the woman said vaguely.

  Stevie felt that some explanation was in order. “If I seem a little overenthusiastic, it’s because we’ve been waiting and waiting for you.”

  The judge gave her a look. “Really? But I’m right on time,” she said.

  “You’ve got that right,” Stevie said. “We couldn’t have asked for better timing.” Another couple of days, she thought to herself, and Red might have been gone.

  The judge looked through her stack of papers quickly. “Well, I guess I’m all ready to go. Where is the lucky man?”

  Stevie pointed to the schooling ring, where Carole and Lisa were waiting in anticipation. “He’s right out there, teaching a lesson.”

  “Oh, I see. Teaching riding must be very important to him,” the judge observed, half smiling.

  “It is. He’s a wonderful instructor,” Stevie gushed.

  “And is that the fiancée?” the judge asked.

  “The fiancée?” Stevie repea
ted.

  “Yes, riding the horse,” the judge said.

  “That’s right,” Stevie said. She was amazed that the woman had done so much preliminary research that she knew about Red’s present to Deborah. Then again, the more the examiner knew about Red, the less they would have to fill her in on his character.

  There was an awkward pause. The woman seemed to be waiting for Stevie to say something. “All right, then,” the judge said finally, “why don’t we get them to come over here.”

  Stevie was ready for this. After they had hurt Red’s pride by trying to stand up for him, she wasn’t about to let him know what was going on until the test was finished and his certification was a done deed. That way he couldn’t get annoyed. “Oh, no,” she said. “It’s really better if you stay over here. They’d both appreciate it—better for the nerves, you know,” she said.

  The judge looked skeptical but said, “I do know how nervous some people get. But the procedure doesn’t take long at all.”

  Stevie thought for a minute. Unable to contain their curiosity any longer, Carole and Lisa came up and joined her. They introduced themselves politely. “When’s it going to start?” Carole asked.

  “Why, as soon as possible,” the judge said.

  “I was just explaining to the judge that Red would be happier if she stayed over here,” Stevie said, elbowing the two of them.

  Catching on right away, Lisa came to the rescue. “Oh, definitely. When it’s all over, Red will thank you.”

  “Besides,” Carole put in, “if you stay here, you can see how perfectly the two of them work together. That’s important, isn’t it?”

  “Certainly. But, really, there are some formalities to be observed. I have a few questions to ask them,” the woman said firmly.

  “Oh, that’s no problem. We can answer any questions you have,” Stevie said.

  “You can?” the woman asked.

  The girls nodded. “You see, we’ve known Red for years and years,” Lisa said.

  “Well, all right,” the judge said dubiously. She took out her book and began to fill in spaces. “What did you say the man’s name was?”

  “Red O’Malley,” Stevie answered promptly.

  The judge looked surprised. “Is that some kind of a nickname? It doesn’t sound like what I was told.”

  “Oh, of course!” Carole exclaimed. “How could we be so silly. It’s Redford O’Malley. That’s his full name.”

  Lisa and Stevie exchanged glances, relieved. They had completely forgotten about changing Red’s name in the letter. Carole’s quick thinking had saved them.

  But the woman frowned. “That doesn’t sound right either,” she said.

  “Yes, it’s a strange name—a family name,” Lisa said as casually as she could. She sneaked a look at Carole and Stevie. They looked as ill as she felt. Not only were they certifying Red without his knowing it, they were also making up names for him.

  After an agonizing pause, the judge shrugged and wrote down “Redford O’Malley.” Then she asked, “And the fiancée?”

  “You have to know her name too?” Stevie said. “She’s just a beginning student.”

  “Whether she’s a beginner or an Olympian makes no difference to me,” the woman said, starting to sound exasperated. “I still need to know her name.”

  “It’s Deborah Hale,” Lisa supplied hastily. She shot a warning glance at Stevie. The less fuss they made, the more quickly Red would be certified. Now was no time to question the judge’s demands.

  “So, I guess you’d better get started, huh?” Carole suggested. They were all petrified that Max would appear at any minute and ask what was going on. Then Red would be embarrassed again, since it was none of his doing, and their whole plan to help him would be ruined.

  “I suppose so. Although it’s going to be very difficult to communicate. The whole thing is highly irregular.” The woman paused to sigh. “People get stranger and stranger—they want to do it all sorts of ways these days.”

  “Listen,” Lisa began, thinking on her feet. “We could relay the information back and forth. It will be much more accurate that way.”

  “Accurate?” the judge asked. “I would think just the opposite.”

  “No, you see, if you stood by the rail, they would both get nervous, and you wouldn’t see them as they really are. This way, they’ll stay as relaxed as always,” Lisa said.

  “I suppose that makes sense,” the judge agreed finally. “I’m not eager to get my suit dirty, and it seems to be quite dusty in the ring with all the wind. I must say, I wasn’t expecting them to be having a riding lesson when I arrived.”

  “So, you usually start off unmounted?” Carole asked with curiosity. She wanted to understand the certification process as fully as she could in case she was ever up for it.

  “Of course we usually start off unmounted!” the judge snapped. “And finish that way, too!”

  Carole bit her lip. She hadn’t realized it was such a stupid question, but now that she thought about it, she realized that the examiner would naturally want to see how the candidate started his lesson—whether he could teach his students to tack up and mount, two of the most fundamental elements of riding.

  “But in this case,” the judge continued haughtily, “I suppose I’ll have to make an exception.”

  Lisa jumped in. “Great, then we can begin whenever you’re ready,” she said. She knew these examiners could be extremely picky about running things their way, and she didn’t want to give the judge a chance to change her mind. She and Carole and Stevie spread out in a fireman’s chain between the judge and the ring with Lisa closest to the judge.

  It seemed like a good idea, but the minute the woman asked her first question, Lisa knew that there was a problem with her plan. With the high winds, she could barely hear the judge. The human “telephone” was a bad connection. Lisa made a split-second decision not to say anything. Max could figure out Stevie’s prank any minute and come to find out what they were all doing. It just wasn’t worth the risk.

  The first thing the judge asked was some lengthy question having to do with Deborah’s wanting to spend time with Red. Obviously the center was interested in finding out if the instructor was popular with his students. “Just ask Deborah if she thinks Red is a good teacher!” Lisa yelled. Carole and Stevie passed the question down the line to Deborah.

  Deborah looked surprised by the sudden interruption of her lesson, but she responded with a resounding yes. Red glowered at Stevie, the closest to the ring, but continued with the lesson. So far, so good, Stevie thought. Obviously Red thought that the question was a stupid reason to disrupt the lesson, but there was no way he could have guessed what it was leading to.

  When the next question came, it sounded to Lisa like “Mumble, jumble, blah, blah, Redford O’Malley, blah, blah, blah.” Trying to keep Red’s annoyance to a minimum, she shouted, “Just tell Red to say yes!”

  Stevie tried, but Red walked angrily over to the rail. “What are all these questions about?” he called.

  “Routine testing!” Stevie called back, hoping it sounded okay. She knew that Red would want to avoid disrupting Deborah’s lesson at all costs, and she was betting on that to keep him relatively quiet.

  “Can’t it wait?” Red cried.

  “Sorry, no—the woman has to leave as soon as possible!” Stevie yelled.

  Red shook his head in disgust but said nothing further.

  Then, all at once, two things happened. Max came out of the stable and headed for Stevie, a menacing expression on his face, and a huge gust of wind whipped through Pine Hollow.

  The strange scene Max saw stopped him in his tracks: His fiancée was taking a riding lesson with his head stable hand, The Saddle Club was standing in a line, yelling to one another, and a well-dressed adult whom he had never seen before was trying desperately to hold on to a stack of loose papers that were fluttering all over the place. Registering all these particulars, Max’s expression changed from pleasant
surprise to annoyed curiosity to total confusion.

  As he stared, dumbfounded, the gust picked up one of the woman’s papers. She swatted at it but missed. It floated high in the air above the girls’ heads. Carole reached up and snatched it. She scanned a few paragraphs, hoping to find some information about the sneaky questions the judge would be asking Red when they got to the hard part. But when she realized what she was holding, she let out a shriek. It was a nearly complete State of Virginia marriage certificate, uniting Red O’Malley and Deborah Hale in matrimony!

  The next question came from the judge. Lisa yelled to them to tell Red to say yes once again. Carole stood frozen, staring at the certificate. In the back of her mind she heard Stevie instructing Red to say yes.

  “No!” Carole yelled at the top of her lungs.

  “No what?” Stevie cried.

  “Tell Red to say no!” Carole shouted.

  “But I just told him to say yes!” As she yelled to Carole, Stevie suddenly caught sight of Max. He was running toward them. The examination would fail unless Red answered at once. “Red—say yes!” Stevie yelled.

  At the same time, Carole hollered, “Red—say no!”

  And that’s what he said, just in the nick of time.

  “NO, NO, NO—I will not answer any more questions until somebody tells me what on earth is going on!” Red declared.

  “Exactly what I was going to ask,” Max said, rushing up.

  The judge folded her arms across her chest expectantly.

  The Saddle Club ran to join the group. Explanations started bubbling. Nobody seemed to know who had the answers. Hearing the commotion, Denise emerged from the stables, bridle pieces, saddle soap, and sponge in hand. When she saw the group, she hurried over. “Is anything wrong?” she asked.

  “We’re waiting to find out,” Max replied.

  Red managed to get the floor first. “As far as I’m concerned, I was just trying to give Deborah her wedding present,” he said.

  Deborah looked down at Max, embarrassed, from Delilah’s back. “Thanks to Red’s generosity, I was just trying to learn to ride before our wedding. Red is teaching me, and I’ve had to take lessons whenever the two of us could squeeze them in. It was supposed to be a secret from you until we were married.”