Jasmine Helps a Foal (Pony Tails Book 10)

by Bonnie Bryant

  Jasmine liked her model ponies better, so this was not really true. But she didn’t want the doll to feel bad.

  She crossed her legs Indian style and put the doll in her lap. Her bed was covered with books about babies and baby-sitting. She picked up her favorite, Babysitters Club #102, Mary Anne and the Little Princess.

  “You’re really going to like this,” she said to the doll. “The plot is a zinger.” Jasmine wriggled until she and the doll were comfortable, and then she started to read out loud.

  Before Jasmine knew it, she had read an entire chapter. “I guess you liked that,” she said to the doll. “Your concentration is excellent.” Jasmine grinned because her teacher was always telling her class that they had the attention span of fleas.

  “How about another chapter?” Jasmine asked. The doll seemed to feel that this would be fine. Jasmine’s back was tired, so she lay on her side with the doll next to her. She began to read more and more slowly. She yawned. The words in the book seemed to stretch out forever.

  The next thing she knew, something sharp was poking her. She opened her eyes and saw that she was lying on a corner of the book. She had fallen asleep, she realized. She looked at the doll and saw that she was lying on her back, staring at the ceiling.

  “I’m really sorry,” Jasmine said. “I must have dozed off.”

  She sat up and pulled the doll into her lap. “You know what I was dreaming about?”

  The doll didn’t answer.

  “I was dreaming about riding,” Jasmine said. “I was having this really wild ride. We were galloping down the road.”

  The doll stared.

  “We didn’t even warm up,” said Jasmine with a grin. “If Max had been in my dream he would have been furious.”

  There was a knock on her door. It was her father.

  “Progress report,” he said.

  “Is everything okay?” Jasmine said with a sudden stab of worry.

  “More than okay,” Mr. James said. “Superbly okay. Stunningly okay.” One of the things about Jasmine’s father was that the more excited he got, the longer his words got.

  “She’s here!” he said. “The baby.” He let out a huge sigh of relief. “The most beautiful baby on earth.”

  “She?” Jasmine said.

  “Your new sister,” Mr. James said. “Sophie.”

  Jasmine leaped to her feet. And then she realized she was standing on the bed. She jumped down and ran over to her father and hugged him. He leaned down to hug her, and she felt something wet on her cheek. She looked up. Her father’s eyes were shiny. He was crying because he was so happy.

  “Come on,” he said, and took her hand.

  The hall with its shiny wood floor seemed long. Jasmine and her father tiptoed along it as if someone were asleep.

  “Why are we tiptoeing?” Jasmine whispered.

  Her father looked surprised. “Um …” He grinned. “Good question.”

  Jasmine giggled, and they both took regular steps the rest of the way.

  Jasmine stopped in the doorway of her parents’ bedroom. Her mother was sitting up in bed. Her hair had been brushed, and a pink ribbon was holding it back. Her face was shiny and clean. In her arms was the baby.

  At first all Jasmine saw was a white flannel bundle. It was large, bigger than Jasmine had expected. She stepped closer. At one end of the bundle was a tiny, grumpy red face surrounded by messy brown hair.

  “Oh,” Jasmine said. She thought there must be something wrong with the baby because it was so ugly.

  “Isn’t she beautiful?” her mother asked.

  “Totally,” Jasmine said, feeling sorry for her mother. Imagine giving birth to something like that! Jasmine looked up at her father. He was gazing at the baby with pride.

  Wait a second, Jasmine thought. If there was something wrong with the baby, her father wouldn’t look so proud. Jasmine stepped closer to get a better look. The baby had spiky brown hair that was all different lengths. Among other things, this baby needed a haircut.

  “Say hello to your new sister,” Mrs. James said.

  “Hello, Sophie,” said Jasmine.

  Sophie made a sound like a grumpy cat.

  Jasmine leaned closer because she knew that newborn babies can’t see very far.

  “I’m Jasmine, your sister.”

  Sophie let loose an ear-piercing scream. Jasmine couldn’t believe that someone so small could make such a horrible sound.

  “I was just trying to be nice,” Jasmine said.

  “It’s probably her diaper,” Mrs. James said. “Maybe it needs changing.”

  “Let me do that,” said Mr. James, rushing forward.

  Mrs. James gave Mr. James the baby. The nurse-midwife rushed over with a package of baby wipes. Mr. James laid Sophie on the changing table and unwrapped her clothes. First there was the white flannel layer. And then a yellow cotton one. And then another white one. And then Sophie was wearing a cotton T-shirt with an undershirt beneath it. Talk about the layered look, Jasmine thought.

  Inside was a tiny body with wiggling arms and legs.

  Sophie let out a yell. She waved her fists and kicked her feet. Her face turned purple with rage.

  Sophie might be little, Jasmine thought, but she sure knew how to get attention.

  4 A Family Welcome

  “Not like that,” Jasmine said. It was amazing. Her father was an ecologist. He had a doctor’s degree in biology, but he still didn’t know how to make a proper veggie burger.

  “You use both hands,” Jasmine said, showing him how to pat the top and bottom of the burger at the same time.

  “I’ll never get it,” he said, looking gloomily at the plate of burgers.

  “It takes practice,” Jasmine said. “You do the last one.” She passed the bowl to him. Carefully he lifted out the gloppy veggie mix.

  It was quiet now. The nurse-midwife had gone home, and Mrs. James and Sophie were asleep. The refrigerator was giving off a comfortable hum. Picklepuss, Jasmine’s cat, was snoozing on top of it.

  Mr. James finished the burger and stepped back to take a look. The burger was lumpy. “It’s not as good as yours,” he said.

  “You did your best,” Jasmine said. She carried the burgers over to the stove and sprayed a tiny amount of cooking oil in a nonstick pan. She put the pan on the burner, laid the burgers in the pan, and turned on the flame.

  “You really know what to do,” her dad said.

  “No big deal,” she said, going back to the kitchen table to snap the green beans. She pulled out her chair and sat down. “Would you believe there are kids at school who don’t like veggie burgers?” she said.

  “Inexplicable,” Mr. James said. “Incomprehensible.” What he meant was that he was surprised.

  They settled back in their chairs. So far this day had been pretty exciting. Jasmine was glad to have a moment of peace.

  “I like my doll,” Jasmine said. “She’s really cute.”

  “It’s good to practice,” her father said. “When you were born I didn’t know what I was doing. I was a total ignoramus.”

  “A what?” Jasmine asked.

  “A total dummy,” her father said. “When they gave you to me in the hospital, I was afraid I was going to drop you. I held you so awkwardly, you started yowling.” He smiled. “I was afraid they were going to fire me as a father.”

  “They don’t fire fathers,” she said.

  “You never know,” he said with a grin. One of the nice things about her father was that he had a great sense of humor.

  “It’s so much better this way,” he said. “In the hospital I didn’t know how to behave. I felt like I couldn’t do anything right.”

  “It’s like gymnastics class!” said Jasmine. “I’m always sure I’m about to fall on my head.”

  Her father nodded sympathetically. “You’re so worried about whether you’re doing the right thing, you do the wrong thing.”

  “You should see me turn cartwheels,” Jasmine said. “It’
s pathetic.”

  She began to relax.

  “Sophie is cool,” she said.

  Her father nodded.

  “I was kind of worried about having a new baby in the house,” Jasmine said.

  “But now you see how great she is,” her father said.

  From upstairs came a high-pitched wail, like a frightened cat. Then it changed to a deeper note, like an enraged cow. Sophie might not be able to do much, Jasmine thought, but she’d learned how to scream.

  Mr. James jumped to his feet. “She’ll wake Mom.” He ran out of the room. Then Jasmine could hear him taking the stairs two at a time.

  The veggie burgers were sizzling. Jasmine went to look at them. She could tell from the crisp, toasty smell that the first side was done. She got the spatula and turned the burgers over. She checked to see if the water for the beans was boiling. When she saw that it was, she dropped the beans into the pot. She set the table for two. Then she waited for the food to cook. She thought about her family, which was growing, and Corey’s family, which was shrinking. One thing about families, she thought—they’re always changing.

  When the food was cooked, Jasmine arranged a platter with the burgers in the middle and the green beans in a ring outside. It looked almost like a restaurant dish, she thought proudly. She waited and waited. Sophie wasn’t crying anymore. Jasmine wondered what had happened to her father.

  There is nothing worse than a lukewarm veggie burger, she thought. She decided she had to do something.

  She climbed the stairs.

  Her father was sitting in the rocker next to the bed. He must have changed Sophie and given her to Jasmine’s mother. Mrs. James was nursing Sophie.

  Sophie wasn’t an angry bright pink anymore. She was a beautiful, healthy shade of white that had a little bit of pink in it.

  “I bet Petalpuss is going to have a big burp after this,” Mr. James said with a happy smile.

  “I think so,” said Mrs. James. Gently she smoothed Sophie’s hair.

  “What did you call me when I was just born?” Jasmine asked Mr. James.

  He looked up with a grin. “Petalpuss. Because your face was like a flower.”

  That’s great, Jasmine thought. He took my nickname and gave it to Sophie without even asking.

  She stood up. “I guess I’d better eat my veggie burger,” she said. “There’s nothing worse than a cold veggie burger.” This was a hint. She was hoping her father would come and eat his burger.

  “I’ll be down in a minute,” he said. But Jasmine could tell from the sound of his voice that it would be a very long minute.

  When she got downstairs, she served herself a burger and a heap of green beans. She took a bite of the burger, but it tasted bland. She went to the refrigerator and got a bottle of ketchup. She slathered the burger with it. Then the burger had a sour ketchupy taste.

  She sat there poking at the pieces of her burger, wondering why she was stuck down here when everybody else was upstairs. How come her father hadn’t asked her to bring the veggie burgers upstairs so they could all eat together?

  Jasmine knew the answer. Her parents didn’t care. They had forgotten about her.

  Picklepuss, the cat, stretched, stood up, and jumped off the top of the refrigerator. Without making a sound, the cat headed out the kitchen door and up the stairs.

  Great, Jasmine thought, she’d rather be with the new baby, too.

  Jasmine got up and scraped her plate into the garbage. She rinsed the plate and put it in the dishwasher. She rinsed her glass and put it in, too. They looked pretty lonely there. Jasmine wondered if it was going to be like this all the time—one lonely meal after another.

  Then she had a wonderful thought. The Pony Tails would understand. All she had to do was call them.

  Jasmine stepped over to the phone, which hung on the wall next to the refrigerator. She picked it up. But instead of a dial tone, she heard her father’s voice. He was talking to Jasmine’s grandmother.

  “She’s the greatest baby in the world,” Mr. James was saying excitedly. “She’s beautiful. She’s brilliant.”

  “Hi, Grandma,” Jasmine said.

  “Jasmine,” her grandmother said. “You must be tickled pink to have a new baby in the house.”

  Jasmine wondered what her grandma meant by tickled pink. She figured her grandma meant pleased.

  “It’s nice,” Jasmine said. “She’s cute. You know what, Grandma? There’s a new foal at Pine Hollow.”

  “It’s that time of year,” her grandma said cheerfully. “Now tell me everything about Sophie.”

  Jasmine realized that her grandma was talking to her father, not to her.

  “She has the bluest eyes,” Mr. James said. “And she has the curliest hair.”

  “I can’t wait to see her,” Jasmine’s grandma said. “I’m going to give her the world’s biggest kiss.”

  5 A Newborn in Trouble

  Golden light slanted through the fence, and the air was filled with the sweet perfume of budding flowers.

  “I can see why animals like to be born in spring,” said May. “It’s a great time of year.”

  In a paddock at Pine Hollow horses were munching grass and frisking in the warm spring air.

  “When I left home, Mom and Sophie were snoozing next to an open window,” Jasmine said. “They looked really happy.”

  “Sounds good,” said May.

  “It wasn’t like that when I was born,” Jasmine said gloomily.

  Corey and May turned to look at her with surprise.

  “How do you know how things were when you were born?” May asked. “Do you remember?”

  “My father told me,” Jasmine said. “He says it was a real nightmare.”

  “How could it be a nightmare? It was your birth,” Corey said. “Your parents must have been happy.”

  “My father thought he was going to be fired as a father,” Jasmine said. “It was that bad.”

  Corey and May exchanged looks. Jasmine sounded pretty down.

  “Horse Wise, come to order,” said Max Regnery. Horse Wise was Pine Hollow’s Pony Club. All the serious younger riders at Pine Hollow belonged to Horse Wise.

  “I have two announcements to make,” said Max, his blue eyes twinkling. “First, I want to announce that Jasmine James has a new sister. Her name is Sophie.” He pulled a piece of paper from his pocket. “At birth she weighed about seven and a half pounds.”

  The riders looked puzzled because usually babies came in exact pounds and ounces.

  Max raised his hand. “I know you’re wondering why she’s about seven and a half pounds. It’s because she was born at home. To weigh her, Mr. James got on the bathroom scales to see how much he weighed. Then he got on again with Sophie in his arms. He subtracted the first weight from the second weight and got Sophie’s weight.” When the riders looked puzzled, Max explained, “The weight of Mr. James holding Sophie, minus Mr. Jame’s weight, gives Sophie’s weight.”

  “Hey, it’s like a math problem,” said May.

  The members of Horse Wise cheered. They turned to Jasmine to applaud her not just for having a new sister, but for having such a smart father.

  Jasmine grinned. She was tired from getting woken up twice the night before by Sophie’s crying, but hearing everyone cheer for Sophie made her feel better.

  “And now for the other baby,” Max said.

  A ripple of anxiety ran through Horse Wise. Everybody knew about the colt. Everybody knew the colt was an orphan.

  “The colt was born last Sunday,” Max said. “Judy Barker did everything she could to save the mother, but it wasn’t possible.”

  A gloomy silence descended over Horse Wise. There was nothing worse than the death of a horse, especially a mother horse.

  “A mare gives more than milk to her foal,” Max said. “She also provides love and security.”

  The riders nodded.

  “A mare makes her foal feel safe.”

  Jasmine thought of the white pick
et fence around her family’s house, the tulips blooming beside the back door, and the mudroom with its orderly rows of boots and shoes. That was what her parents did, she realized. They made things safe.

  “How can he feel safe if he doesn’t have a mother?” May asked.

  “Good question,” said Max. “It’s difficult, but not impossible. If all of you help, we can give this colt a good beginning. Come with me. I want you to see him.”

  Max led them to the foaling box, which was a large stall that had been layered with clean straw that was built up on the sides to keep out drafts.

  The colt got to his feet, wobbling on his long legs.

  He had big, soft eyes that cried out for love. And long ears. Those were ears a mother should lick. He had a little stubble on his chin. And his nose was running a tiny bit. Max pulled a tissue from his pocket and gently wiped the colt’s nose.

  The colt put his nose next to Max’s arm and nudged it, as if he were looking for something.

  “He misses his mother,” Max said.

  A sigh went up from the riders.

  “Can I hug him?” said one of the younger riders.

  “You can later. This colt is going to need lots of hugs,” Max said. “But right now he wants to eat.”

  The colt turned from Max to Jasmine, who was standing next to him. The colt put his nose next to Jasmine’s face and nuzzled her. She could feel his scratchy whiskers and his warm, steamy breath. She put her arms around his neck and hugged him. His heart was beating fast. He was nervous. She brushed the forelock out of his eyes. His eyes locked onto hers. She felt as if he was saying “I’m scared. Help me.”

  “I’m going to show you how to feed him,” Max said. He led them into the tack room, where there was a big white box. “This is a bottle warmer,” he said. “An hour ago we milked the mare that already had a baby. We put the bottle of milk in here so it will be warm for the colt.” Max lifted the bottle and shook it, sending a couple of drops onto his left wrist. “It’s just the right temperature,” he said. “The milk should never be too cold or too hot.”