Summer Horse

by Bonnie Bryant

  Stevie wished Lisa luck and then hurried over to congratulate Carole on her performance and tease Phil about his. When she reached the finish line, Carole was shaking her head, looking dizzy. Phil had already disappeared.

  “Good race,” Stevie told Carole. “Did you see where Phil went?”

  “Sorry.” Carole put a hand to her head. “I can’t see much of anything right now.”

  “Never mind,” Stevie said with a frown. “You don’t have to be dizzy to miss him these days.” She took Carole’s arm and led her to a vacant spot on the sidelines to sit down.

  “That’s better,” Carole said after a moment, when her head had cleared. “Now what were you saying about Phil?”

  “Oh, nothing,” Stevie said with a sigh, watching as Lisa and the others in her heat lined up. “It’s just the same old thing I’ve been saying all week. I’ve hardly seen him since we got to camp. So much for our month of romance.”

  “I thought I saw you talking to him after equitation class this morning,” Carole said.

  Stevie nodded. “I asked him if he wanted to sit together at the campfire tonight, and then walk down to the pond like we did the day we met.” She sighed again. “I just hope he doesn’t forget about it. I don’t seem to be the first thing on his mind these days.”

  “He won’t forget,” Carole assured her. “This is Phil we’re talking about, remember? He’s crazy about you. I’m sure he’s just been too busy this past week to show it. But I’ll bet he makes up for it tonight.” She winked. “A moonlit stroll down to the pond, a romantic kiss or two, and you’ll forget you were ever worried about him.” Her smile faded. “I just wish my problem was that easy to solve,” she added.

  “You mean Ditto?” Stevie asked, watching as the heat began and Lisa somersaulted her way into an early lead.

  “What else?” Carole said. “I’m dreading the start of the riding games. How can they possibly be any fun on a horse that’s no fun to ride?”

  Stevie hadn’t thought of that. “That’s too bad,” she said. “You and Starlight are so good at mounted games.”

  “I know,” Carole said. “It makes me miss him more than ever. Maybe I shouldn’t even bother to play. Barry would probably let me just watch and cheer you guys on.”

  Stevie paused long enough to watch Lisa cross the finish line in first place. Then she turned to Carole. “Don’t let Ditto totally ruin the day for you,” she advised. “Even if he’s not great at the games, it will still be more fun playing than watching.”

  Carole wasn’t so sure that was true, but she agreed to give it a try.

  TWO HOURS LATER, Carole was wishing Stevie had kept her advice to herself. She and Ditto had just finished dead last in an egg-and-spoon race, mostly because his trot was so choppy that she had had to hold him to a walk to avoid dropping the egg at every stride. It also hadn’t helped that he had stood stock-still for a good ten seconds after the other horses had started, once again failing to respond to her command to move ahead.

  She slid down off his back and handed her egg and spoon to a counselor. “That’s it,” she said as Stevie and Lisa walked toward her, leading Belle and Major. “I quit.” The egg-and-spoon race was only the latest in a series of humiliations for Carole and Ditto. They had taken part in more than half a dozen mounted games, from an obstacle course to a blindfold race, and hadn’t won a single ribbon.

  Stevie looked at her in dismay. “You can’t quit now,” she protested. “We need you for the costume relay. It starts in a few minutes.” The Saddle Club had planned to enter the relay race, in which riders had to dismount and change in and out of silly costumes, as a team, with Piper as their fourth member.

  Just then Piper joined them, already mounted on Tapestry. The mare’s shiny black coat gleamed in the sunlight. “Ready for the relay, girls?” Piper called.

  “Not exactly,” Stevie said. “I think we’re having a mutiny.” She pointed at Carole. “She doesn’t want to be in the race with us.”

  “You don’t want me in it,” Carole assured Piper. “This horse is hopeless. If we’re on your team, you’re guaranteed to come in last.”

  Stevie tried to think of a way to change Carole’s mind. She liked to win as much as anyone, but first place or last, she knew the race would be more fun if The Saddle Club was together. Before she could come up with anything, Piper spoke up.

  “We don’t want to force you to play if you don’t want to, Carole,” she said. She turned to Lisa. “I bet that girl Melissa from Cabin One would ride with us. I don’t think she’s on a team yet.”

  Lisa nodded eagerly. “She’d be perfect. Her horse is super fast. With her on our team, we’d be unbeatable.”

  Before Stevie or Carole could say another word, the other two girls had ridden off to find Melissa and convince her to join their team. By the time Betty called the participants forward, it was all settled.

  Carole watched from the sidelines as the teams lined up for the race. She was relieved not to be taking part, though she was a little surprised that her friends had let her off the hook so easily. Still, it was true that Ditto would have drastically reduced their chances. Who could blame them for wanting to do well? She told herself she would return Ditto to his stall after she watched the race. In the meantime she let him wander freely at the end of his lead, nibbling at the grass.

  It was an exciting race, and the teams were neck and neck for the first three legs. But Melissa’s horse was just as fast as Lisa had said, and she pulled ahead in the final leg to clinch first place for the team.

  Lisa let out a cheer as Melissa sped across the finish line. “We did it!” she cried. “Another blue ribbon! It’s a good thing Carole didn’t ride with us, or we never could have won.”

  Stevie looked at her, surprised. What Lisa said was true, but the way she said it wasn’t very nice. Stevie was no stranger to competitive feelings, but she had learned the hard way that these silly games were more fun if you just relaxed and didn’t take them too seriously. Right now Lisa seemed to be taking them very seriously indeed. Stevie wondered if she should say something to her friend.

  As she was trying to think of the most tactful way to begin, she heard a loud, shrill whinny from a short distance away. She turned to see what was happening and immediately forgot all about Lisa. Carole was in the meadow nearby, desperately hanging on to Ditto’s lead line as he snorted and danced and tossed his head, trying to get away. Stevie could tell that it was only a matter of time before he started bucking or rearing—and when he did, Carole could get hurt.

  Stevie dropped Belle’s reins, leaving her ground tied at the end of the racecourse. Then she hurried over to help. Luckily Ditto wasn’t yet completely out of control, and with both Carole and Stevie there, he soon gave up and calmed down. A few minutes later he was nibbling at the grass as if nothing had happened.

  “Thanks, Stevie,” Carole said as soon as she had caught her breath.

  “What happened?” Stevie asked.

  “I was getting ready to take him inside when a grasshopper jumped right past his face,” Carole said. “At first he didn’t seem that scared, so I tried standing in front of him and speaking to him calmly and clearly. That always works with Starlight when he’s starting to spook.” She shrugged. “But it just seemed to get Ditto more upset. That’s when he really started to freak out.”

  “Well, I think the whole thing may have upset you more than it upset him,” Stevie commented, glancing at the horse. “He seems to have recovered completely.”

  Carole nodded. “I’m taking him inside,” she said.

  “You can’t quit now!” Stevie exclaimed. “There are only a few more games to go. And the next one sounds really interesting.” The next race was a new one to The Saddle Club. In it, the riders had to walk across the meadow on foot, followed by their horses. The trick was, they weren’t allowed to use a lead rope or lead the horses by the mane. In fact, they weren’t allowed to touch them at all. They had to convince them to follow using
only their voices and body language. After a long day of games, Stevie suspected that most of the horses would be more interested in stopping for a grassy snack than following their riders. It should be a lot of fun.

  “Right,” Carole said. “If Starlight were here, it would definitely be interesting. But I can’t even get Ditto to listen to me when I’m using all my aids. How am I possibly going to communicate with him when I can’t even touch him?”

  But Stevie wouldn’t stop wheedling and pleading until Carole agreed to try one more game. At last she gave in.

  “Fine,” she said. “We’ll try one more. But if we come in last again, this boy’s going straight back to his stall.” Stevie had to be satisfied with that.

  A few minutes later two dozen campers and their horses lined up for the no-hands race. Carole didn’t have much hope for a prize as she unclipped Ditto’s lead line and stuck it in her pocket. She just hoped her horse didn’t spook again and injure someone. But the Appaloosa looked perfectly calm as he stood among the other horses.

  Carole took a few steps forward, then turned to face him. To her surprise, Ditto was watching her, his ears pricked forward. Barry wasn’t using his starting gun for fear of spooking the horses. He stepped into the middle of the makeshift racecourse, lifted his hand, and let it drop.

  And the race was on—though it was hard to tell at first. The riders immediately began calling to their horses, coaxing and cajoling them forward in every way they could think of. For a few seconds the animals didn’t seem inclined to move. Several of them lowered their heads and began to graze, while a few snuffled at each other or gazed around lazily. The watching crowd laughed.

  “Ditto,” Carole called. “Come on, boy.” She held out her hand and tried to make her voice as friendly as possible as she continued to call his name. To her surprise, Ditto took a step toward her, then another.

  Carole backed up quickly. “That’s it,” she called to the horse. “This way, Ditto. That’s a good boy.”

  She couldn’t believe it, but Ditto was walking steadily now. Carole had to move quickly to stay ahead of him. By this time a few of the other horses were moving, too, including Belle and Tapestry. Most of the others, including Major, were still at the starting line. Phil’s horse, Teddy, had actually taken a few steps backward and so was technically in last place.

  Soon Carole and Ditto had enough of a lead to fight off all challengers. By the time they neared the end of the course, Carole had turned around and broken into a jog to stay ahead of Ditto, who was trotting. She kept an eye on him over her shoulder and continued to call him forward. A moment later they crossed the finish line.

  “We won!” Carole exclaimed in disbelief as a couple of her cabin mates who hadn’t taken part in the race came over to congratulate her. She was still muttering the same phrase over and over again when Piper and Tapestry crossed the finish line to take second place.

  “Sure you won,” Piper said, overhearing. She pulled Tapestry’s lead line out of her pocket and clipped it on to the mare’s halter. “You let your horse graze all during the last race. No wonder he wasn’t in the mood for any more grass.” She smiled, and Carole was pretty sure she was just kidding. But she didn’t quite know what to say. Luckily, Betty came over just then with Carole’s blue ribbon, and by the time Carole looked up from pinning it on her shirt, Piper was gone.

  Stevie, who had come in third, joined Carole a moment later. “That was great!” she exclaimed, giving Carole a hug. “Aren’t you glad I talked you into entering?”

  “I sure am,” Carole said, glancing up at Ditto. The Appaloosa was rolling his eyes at Belle, who was sniffing at him curiously. “I can’t believe it. For some reason he decided to listen to me this time. This could be a real breakthrough in our relationship. If he keeps it up, I might even survive another week without Starlight.”

  “Does that mean you’re going to play in the next game?” Stevie asked. “It’s break and out.” In break and out, the judge called out a gait, and the riders had two strides to get their horses into that gait. After a moment, the judge called out another gait. Again, riders had two strides to get their horses to make the change. Any horse that was too slow was eliminated, and the game continued until only one rider was left. The Saddle Club had played the game many times at Pine Hollow. “And I should warn you,” Stevie added with a grin, “Belle and I are the undisputed champions at this game.”

  “Not for long,” Carole joked back.

  Her jovial mood didn’t last long. When the game started, Ditto was back to his old tricks. He was eliminated in the very first round for cantering when he was supposed to trot.

  Carole decided to give him one more chance and entered the next and final race, a forward-backward-forward walking race. As the name indicated, competitors simply had to ride at a walk through three laps of the course, convincing their horses to walk backward for the second lap. But Ditto didn’t do any better in this race than he had in break and out. He refused to walk backward for a long moment. When Carole finally got him through the second lap, Ditto was far behind most of the others. Unbidden, he broke into a trot as if trying to catch up, and was eliminated.

  “I guess I was wrong,” Carole told Stevie and Lisa when they met in the tack room a few minutes later. “What Ditto and I had wasn’t a breakthrough. It was just a fluke.” The campers were all hurrying to put their horses away. As soon as they were finished, Barry was going to announce the grand prize winners. Then it would be time to gather around the campfire for dinner and a well-deserved rest.

  Soon the campers were gathered in the meadow again, forming a large semicircle around Barry and Betty. Betty held the ribbons and trophies, preparing to hand them to Barry as he called the winners’ names.

  Barry announced the two-footed winners first. “In third place we have Lisa Atwood!” Lisa walked forward to receive her prize ribbon, but Stevie thought she didn’t look very excited. Barry awarded second prize to a boy The Saddle Club didn’t know. “And finally, the one you’ve all been waiting for,” Barry said, holding up a large blue ribbon and a small plastic trophy, “our two-legged champion … Phil Marsten!” Phil grinned and did a little victory dance as he went forward to claim his prize.

  Next came the four-legged winners. “There was a lot of close competition for this one,” Barry said, glancing at the piece of paper he was holding. “Several names should be mentioned as runners up, including Todd Prather, Lisa Atwood, and our two-footed champ, Phil Marsten.” The campers clapped politely. “But now for our prizewinners. Third place goes to Helen York. And Piper Sullivan was a close number two.” He paused to hand out the yellow and red ribbons. “In first place, as our four—no, better make that our six-footed champion, is Stevie Lake, with a little help from the lovely Belle.”

  Stevie hurried forward. With a grin, she waited as Barry pulled a felt-tipped pen out of his shirt pocket and crossed off the word four on the ribbon, writing six in its place. “Are you happy now?” he asked with a smile as he handed it over along with the trophy.

  “Very,” Stevie replied.

  “This is great,” Carole said to Lisa as they watched Stevie head back toward them. “You both won something.”

  Lisa shrugged. “Stevie won,” she said, her voice so low that Carole could hardly hear her over the noise of the other campers. “I just came in third.”

  Stevie had just reached her friends. “See?” she said, waving her blue ribbon. “Phil and I are both champions. This is just another sign that he and I are meant for each other.” She waved at him across the clearing, and he waved back with a grin. “Maybe he’ll finally remember that at the campfire.”

  The tired and hungry campers walked down the length of the field and gathered around the campfire that a couple of the counselors had started at the far end. Stevie looked around for Phil, sure that he would be saving her a seat. But when she spotted him, she saw to her dismay that he was sitting on the ground surrounded by Todd and a whole crowd of other boys, talkin
g and laughing.

  She walked over to him. Maybe he was expecting her to find them good seats. “Hi, Phil,” she said.

  He looked up and smiled at her. “Oh, hi, Stevie,” he said: “Congratulations on your trophy.”

  “You, too,” she replied. She waited, but Phil didn’t say anything else. He went back to talking to Todd about a skateboarding competition he had seen on TV.

  Could it be? Had he really forgotten their date? Stevie decided to try one more time. “Hey, Phil,” she interrupted. “It looks like some of the burgers are almost ready. How about it?”

  He glanced up again. “Huh? Oh, that’s okay, you go ahead,” he said. “I’ll get one in a few minutes.”

  That was that. He had forgotten their plans again. As Stevie spun on her heel and stomped away to find her friends, she vowed that this would be the last time Phil would have the chance to forget. If he didn’t want to spend time with her, that was fine. She didn’t want to spend time with him, either—ever again.

  AS STEVIE ENTERED the mess hall the following evening, she saw Phil waving at her from his usual table. He gestured at the empty seat next to him, but Stevie turned away as if she hadn’t seen. She was determined to stick to her vow.

  “Come on,” she said to Carole and Lisa. “I think I see a table over there.” She pointed to the farthest corner of the hall.

  When the girls were seated, Carole glanced across the room at Phil and saw that he was looking in their direction, a puzzled look on his face. She felt a little sorry for him. “Are you sure you shouldn’t give Phil one more chance?” she asked Stevie.

  “Are you kidding?” Stevie said, sprinkling salt on her food. “I gave him more than enough chances already. He used up the last one when he forgot about our plans last night.”

  “Maybe it was a mistake,” Carole protested. “It was a pretty exciting day, and—”

  “If that’s true, then he’s been making mistakes all week,” Stevie interrupted.