Stable Witch

by Bonnie Bryant

  Carole and Lisa didn’t try to stop Stevie as she hastily tossed money onto the table and fled from the restaurant. Both of them knew that it was no use. The only thing they could say was that she was right—they were doubting her. They slumped in their booth, staring at Stevie’s dripping sundae as if it, somehow, held the answer.

  IN SPITE OF all that had happened, Lisa hadn’t forgotten her goal for the schooling show. She had decided to work hard both at Pine Hollow and at home. That night she wrote out yet another list of things she had to work on with Prancer.

  When her alarm sounded the next morning, she flicked on her light and studied the list to remind herself of all of her problems. “Things I Need to Do in Order to Jump Better” was its title. So far it read:

  1. Keep eyes up.

  2. Keep heels down.

  3. Don’t lean too far forward.

  4. Don’t lean too far back.

  5. Don’t drop reins before the fence.

  6. Don’t hang on reins over the fence.

  7. Don’t rise up too high in saddle.

  8. Don’t sit too low in saddle.

  9. Don’t stiffen up.

  10. Don’t get nervous.

  11. Don’t be tense.

  12. Don’t worry about anything.

  Lisa wasn’t exactly sure how she was going to concentrate on numbers 1 through 8 without forgetting about numbers 9 through 12, but she figured that would work itself out.

  She got a ride over to Pine Hollow from her mother. The whole way there, she studied the list until she knew it backward and forward. She had wanted to consult with Carole or Stevie about it, but it seemed insensitive to be worrying about her jumping position when Stevie’s whole future at Pine Hollow was on the line. Besides, who knew if Stevie was even talking to Carole and her. She’d been so upset when she left T.D.’s yesterday.

  Lisa could hardly believe her eyes when her mother’s station wagon pulled into the driveway at Pine Hollow. Veronica was there, riding Garnet over the outside course as if yesterday had never happened.

  Lisa had her mother stop the car next to the ring so she could get out. There were a couple of questions she wanted to ask Veronica—like how she was able to ride with her supposedly “throbbing” cut, and how she had managed to recover so quickly. Lisa couldn’t wait to tell Stevie and Carole about Veronica’s being here.

  To Lisa’s frustration, Veronica pretended not to notice her standing at the rail, despite Lisa’s calls and waves. “I won’t be so easy to miss when I’m on a bigger horse than yours,” Lisa muttered.

  When she returned to the ring fifteen minutes later, mounted on Prancer, Veronica trotted over to say hello. “Back for some more schooling, Lisa? I’ll be happy to help you out again,” Veronica volunteered sweetly. “I’m sure you’re making a lot of progress with what we went over last week.”

  Lisa bit her lip hard to keep from snapping back. If she wanted to check out Veronica’s physical condition so that she could report back to The Saddle Club, she was going to have to put up with her fake sweetness and obnoxious comments. “Yeah, I thought we could use some more practice. I guess you were thinking the same thing?” she inquired.

  “Obviously. Yesterday was a complete loss for Garnet and me. The rest of you had the advantage of riding in front of the judges, whereas I spent the morning in the emergency room,” Veronica replied with a sniff. “I’ll be lucky if I can catch up.”

  Lisa smiled tentatively. “It sure is great that you’re recovering so fast,” she said.

  Veronica glowered, obviously taking Lisa’s comment for a sarcastic remark. In a split second, she completely dropped the nice act and spat out, “No thanks to your practical joking friend! If I wanted to, I’m the one who could sue! I could have been hurt a lot worse. I was lucky to escape with a few stitches and a couple of bruises. This time, Stevie Lake has gone too far—way too far. Everyone says so. I’ll bet she even feels guilty about what she’s done. I’ll bet if she could go back, she would never have put me at risk that way! You should thank your lucky stars I’m back riding today!” Veronica finished her attack in a high-pitched shriek.

  Lisa had kept her mouth shut during the tirade. She didn’t know what to think, and even if she had, she wasn’t about to share it with Veronica. Being one of Stevie’s best friends, she was already more involved in the mess than she wanted to be. Still, it was interesting to see how defensively Veronica had reacted to her simple question about recovering. It was clear that she knew how bad it looked to be back riding one day after the dramatic scene she had made.

  The worst part about meeting up with Veronica was that now Lisa was stuck riding with her. At first, she actually felt glad for the opportunity to prove herself to Veronica. She was tired of feeling that everyone doubted her ability, and this would be the perfect chance to redeem herself and Prancer—or so she thought.

  All too soon, however, she realized that the morning was going to be a repeat of their previous session. Veronica did fine although, Lisa told herself, not as well as Stevie or Carole would have done. She still looked flashy as opposed to confident. At any rate, her cut didn’t seem to be bothering her or affecting her riding at all.

  For some reason, though, Lisa simply could not get herself together. The more “help” Veronica gave her, the worse she did. She felt discombobulated, couldn’t concentrate, and had several refusals. The thought of her list of problems only discouraged her further. Veronica stood in the middle of the ring, making a zillion suggestions all at once. “Sit deeper! Don’t lean that far forward! And watch your elbows! Don’t forget to release in midair! Look up! Now look for your next fence!”

  Lisa tried to swallow her pride and listen, but it was all she could do to stop from screaming with frustration. She knew everything Veronica was saying, she just couldn’t do it all at once. Today she could hardly do any of it.

  The only reprieve came when Veronica finally got her fill of lecturing and headed in. By that point, Lisa was so worked up that she just rode on the flat for a few minutes, trying to salvage some small success for the morning. Even riding alone didn’t do the trick this time, though. Finally she let Prancer walk on a loose rein. Again and again she went over her efforts to improve, wondering what on earth could have gone so terribly wrong in the past few sessions. When she went to dismount, Lisa was convinced that she was riding and jumping worse than the day she had started at Pine Hollow.

  Totally discouraged, she put Prancer away and went to change in the locker room. Veronica was inside changing, too. She immediately jumped on Lisa with a ton of suggestions. Lisa nodded blankly from time to time. Sheer exhaustion kept her from telling Veronica not to bother, that she couldn’t absorb another riding tip in a million years.

  “And so if you work really hard for the next few days, you’ll have a chance of getting around the course. I’m sure of it,” Veronica concluded with a condescending smile. She finished tying her tennis shoe and stood up, picking up her bag. As she rose, something long and gray fell out of the bag. Whatever it was landed near Lisa, who reached down automatically to pick it up. Before she could grab it, though, Veronica shoved past her to get to it first. In the process, she accidentally kicked the object under the row of lockers, out of reach. Lisa gave her a questioning look.

  “Oh, it’s nothing,” Veronica said, shrugging off Lisa’s curiosity. “Just something I picked up at the beauty parlor. Now, I’d better scoot. I have to go breeches shopping today.” With that, she picked up the pair she had been wearing when she fell. The tear went straight up the leg, so it was clear that they really weren’t reparable.

  “It’s a good thing I was wearing my oldest pair,” Veronica went on. “I hate to think of how mad Mother would have been if I’d wrecked one of my European pairs. At least these are replaceable,” she added, dropping the breeches into the garbage and walking out.

  Lisa wasn’t sorry to see her leave. In fact, being alone in the locker room was such a relief that she lay down on the bench
to think for a minute or two. As she lay there with her eyes closed, she thought about the morning’s horrible practice. Although it had been very, very disappointing, Lisa was still far from wanting to give up. She planned her next practice in her mind, visualizing the jumps. Her eyes would be up; her hands would be steady.…

  Opening her eyes a few minutes later, Lisa found herself staring at the gray object underneath the lockers. Why had Veronica tried to get it so quickly? Lisa got down on her hands and knees and felt for it, but it was out of reach.

  Suddenly Lisa felt a bit foolish. What would she say if Mrs. Reg walked in? Yesterday it had seemed as if everyone at Pine Hollow felt sorry for Veronica. Mrs. Reg would hardly tolerate any nonsense that involved her, especially if it came from a member of The Saddle Club. This time, Lisa decided, she would have to do as her mother always suggested, and let sleeping dogs lie—that is, not stick her nose into something that wasn’t her concern.

  On the way out, Lisa stopped by Max’s office to ask him if she could work with Prancer after school the next day. Because she didn’t own Prancer, Max occasionally used the horse for other students or turned her out for the afternoon. As Lisa approached his office, she noted that the door was closed—a rarity at Pine Hollow, a stable that prided itself on its welcoming, open atmosphere.

  Lisa could hear Max talking on the phone, so she sat down on a hay bale to wait. Max’s voice carried through the door, and before she knew it, she was listening to his end of the conversation.

  “I realize that, Mrs. diAngelo,” Max was saying, “but I have to be fair to all my students, not just your daughter. Right now, there’s no proof that Stevie Lake was the perpetrator … Yes, I know you’re convinced that she was, but do you really want me to bar her from the show based on a hunch?… I have to say it seems a bit premature … I can’t give you a decision right away … Of course, of course I will punish the wrongdoer, just as soon as we find out who that is.…”

  It was all Lisa could do to stop herself from banging through the door, wresting the phone from Max’s hands, and yelling a blue streak at Veronica’s mother. How dare the woman demand that Stevie be denied the right to compete in the show? The idea that Mrs. diAngelo would presume that just because someone had—

  Mid-thought, Lisa paused. Just because someone had—what? A chill went down Lisa’s spine. Just because someone had slashed a stirrup leather, that was what. Just because someone had tried to sabotage Veronica. Just because, she realized, someone had risked putting both a horse and a rider in extreme danger. This was serious business. Whoever had taken that kind of risk didn’t deserve the honor of competing with other riders.

  But just what did that say about Stevie?

  AS FAST AS she could, Lisa gathered up her stuff and tore out of Pine Hollow. She ran toward home, her head spinning, but there was one clear thought in her mind: she just had to talk to Carole. That was her only chance of sorting through this horrible mess.

  What would Stevie say when she found out that she might not be allowed to ride in the show? And what if Carole and Lisa didn’t defend her to Max? Would she ever talk to them again? But what could they say to Max when they didn’t know what to think themselves? Lisa ran faster and faster.

  As she ran, jumbled-up bits of Max’s conversation and her own thoughts floated back to her. “Have to be fair to all my students—no proof that Stevie Lake was the perpetrator—both a horse and a rider in extreme danger—extreme danger—both a horse and a rider …” The words ran through Lisa’s head almost faster than her feet ran over the ground. Something was wrong with the picture. Something was definitely wrong, but she didn’t know what. Her burning lungs forced her to slow to a jog. Why couldn’t she figure out what was bothering her?

  Then it came to her. Someone had risked putting both a horse and a rider in extreme danger. How could she have been so blind? Lisa came to a complete standstill. She stood panting by the side of the road, as her mind went over and over the evidence.

  Stevie wouldn’t be above doing something that would make a fool of Veronica diAngelo, any more than she’d be above serving plaster of paris pancakes or expecting Lisa to climb into a saddle without stirrups. Humans could take a knock or two and be fine. Making them look stupid was part of the joke.

  But there was no way, ever, at any time, that Stevie would do something to imperil a horse. And yet, sabotaging a stirrup leather would do just that. If a leather broke in the middle of the jump, unseating the rider, the horse could become equally imbalanced. A jumping horse who took a spill could break a leg! As sure as Lisa had brown hair and freckles, Stevie Lake was innocent.

  Never had the thought of a horse’s breaking its leg made Lisa so excited. She forgot all about her spent lungs. Remembering the unfair assumptions about Stevie that everyone—including her and Carole—had made spurred her on, and she sprinted flat out toward home.

  Carole picked up the phone after one ring. Breathlessly, Lisa poured out her story of overhearing Mrs. diAngelo’s call. “All the way home, I felt like a sleuth in a mystery story who knows she’s heard enough to crack the case but just can’t sort out the information. But it’s simple, really. Veronica got so hysterical that everyone focused on how hurt she was. The only thing that happened to Garnet was that she got scared and ran around the ring. But think about what would have happened if the leather hadn’t broken when Veronica was mounting. What if it had snapped, say, in midair, over one of the fences?”

  Carole, who would rather have broken her own arm than seen Starlight with a sniffle, didn’t need much more prompting than that. Her train of thought followed the same path Lisa’s had, and she came to the same conclusion. “Stevie would never put Garnet at risk like that!” she cried. “She would never make the horse an innocent victim of her feud with Veronica.”

  “Exactly,” Lisa said, relieved that Carole was now as convinced as she was of Stevie’s innocence. “We forgot that cutting the leather was an attack on Garnet, too.”

  Now that the two girls realized that they were back on Stevie’s side where they belonged, a huge weight seemed to have been lifted off them. They could hardly believe that they had truly doubted their friend. And now there was one thing they had to do and do it right away: call Stevie and apologize. It wasn’t going to be fun, but both Carole and Lisa knew their friend deserved the apology.

  Lying on her bed at home, Stevie stared up at the ceiling. She had spent practically the whole day in her room, feeling awful. There was a knot in her stomach that wouldn’t go away. It was one thing to know that the biggest snob at Pine Hollow had it in for you, but it was another thing entirely when your friends betrayed you. She had seen the doubt in Lisa’s and Carole’s eyes, and it hurt. She couldn’t believe that they, of all people, thought she was capable of such an attack. Since running out of T.D.’s, she had racked her brain trying to find a way to convince them of her innocence. But the fact was, it made her mad to have to convince them at all. If they were going to join the diAngelo camp, then nothing could stop them.

  With a sigh, Stevie rolled onto her stomach, letting her left arm drop to the floor. She knew she couldn’t just stay there forever. Without Saddle Club plans, though, it was hard to get motivated to do much of anything.

  The shrill ringing of her bedroom phone broke through Stevie’s thoughts. She had nearly fallen asleep, she was so exhausted with worry.

  “Stevie, it’s for you!” Mrs. Lake called.

  “Who is it?” Stevie yelled back.

  “Who do you think it is? It’s Lisa and Carole!” Mrs. Lake answered.

  Listlessly, Stevie sat up to take the call. She really didn’t feel like talking to Lisa and Carole. There was nothing they could say to her that would make any difference if they were still unsure about whom to believe. And it would only make her feel worse to listen to them avoiding the subject. After a long pause she picked up the receiver. “Yes?” she said curtly. “What do you want?”

  Lisa jumped right in with the story of Mr
s. diAngelo. “She’s really trying to persuade Max to keep you out of the show because of what happened to Veronica. Max was defending you, but he’s under a lot of pressure. He hasn’t decided what to do yet, and we’ve been thinking—”

  Before Lisa could explain the purpose of her call, Stevie broke in, furious at her friends. “Well, I’ve been thinking, too!” she practically yelled. “And you know what I’ve been thinking? That one of the rules of The Saddle Club is that we be willing to help each other out in any kind of situation. Or is that not one of the rules anymore? If you guys think I shouldn’t ride in the show, fine!”

  Stevie’s fingers were trembling as she gripped the receiver, waiting for Carole and Lisa’s reaction to her angry torrent. She hated to talk that way to her friends, but Mrs. diAngelo’s attempt to keep her out of the show was the last straw. How could The Saddle Club just stand by and let it happen?

  “Stevie?” Carole asked quietly.

  Stevie could hardly respond. Finally she managed to get out a choked “Yes?”

  “We were calling to tell you that we’re sorry we ever doubted you, we believe in your innocence one hundred percent, and we’ll stand behind you no matter what,” Carole said.

  Stevie stared at the receiver suspiciously. “But, I don’t get it—why did you change your minds?” she asked.

  In a rush, Lisa and Carole explained how they had come to their conclusion. They had known that Stevie would do anything to beat Veronica—or at least almost anything. What they hadn’t realized until today was that a trick like slashing the stirrup leather was just as dangerous for Garnet as for Garnet’s rider.

  “We know you’d never do anything that would put a horse at risk,” Lisa finished.

  Again there was a pause, as Stevie tried to absorb everything that her friends were saying. It was funny, but she had been so surprised that someone else seemed to have it in for Veronica, she hadn’t thought of Garnet either. And now it was nice to hear her friends apologize, but the memory of yesterday still stung. These were her two best friends in the world, and their doubting her had hurt—badly. Stevie couldn’t just put on a cheery face and pretend everything was perfect.