The Horse Rescuers

by Patricia Gilkerson

  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 door opened and Sam Applegate strolled in.

  “Somethin’ else you need, Sam?” asked the Sheriff.

  “Yeah, I just wanted to ask Patsy what she meant about my mom being on to me and me getting away with something.”

  “My name is Piper,” I stated with as much dignity as I could, “Piper Jones. You should know me. You used to give me rides on Dotty. And you know what I meant. Dotty is alive, even though she was almost murdered by Creepy Jake. She could have died from cruelty and neglect! You lied and told Miss Julie she died, so it’s all your fault.”

  “Piper Jones, yeah, I remember you. Your parents got divorced last year.”

  I rolled my eyes, but Sam looked puzzled.

  “Dotty is alive? Are you sure?”

  “Miss Julie saw Dotty today and knew it was her horse right away. We rescued her.”

  “But, I sold her to a man in Louisville for his little girl. He told me later that Dotty died. I had no reason to think he was lying.”

  Sam seemed worried all of a sudden. Maybe he wasn’t a liar and a cheat. But I was still mad at somebody.

  “You should go get Nasty Jake and make him tell you where he got her. I bet he stole her.” Then it clicked. The something I had seen earlier that didn’t make sense. “You should ask Ugly Jake why he has bags of horse feed in his kitchen, too, when all the rest of the feed is outside by the fence.”

  Sheriff Martin and Sam Applegate looked at each other.

  “What do you think, Harvey?”

  “I don’t know, Sam, but after I get these little ladies sent home, maybe I’d better have a talk with Jake. He was nasty about losing that pony, but if he can’t prove that he owns it, then could be Miss Julie is the legal owner.”

  “I’d like to talk to him, too. I’ll follow your patrol car,” said Sam.

  Chapter Nine

  ~ A Confrontation ~

  I had to sit there in the sheriff’s office for a while and think about going to jail. Addie’s mother came to pick her up, crying and biting her nails. Addie was crying and biting her nails, too. Like mother, like daughter, I guess. My mom came and got me about twenty long minutes after that.

  “Don’t talk,” she said through her teeth. “Just don’t talk yet.” She had a look in her eyes that I’d never seen before. A mother bird must get that look before she pushes her chicks out of the nest. They don’t really do that. I hope.

  When we got home, Mom sent me to my room and called my dad. Even though I was in my bedroom with the door shut, I could hear the yelling. Putting the pillow over my head didn’t work this time. The phone kept ringing and so did the doorbell. It felt like the entire neighborhood was there to watch me and Addie being taken to the penitentiary in chains. I wasn’t sure what a penitentiary was, but I knew it was a prison sort of place. I hoped there was a wing for kids, but didn’t know because I never paid attention to those things before. I wasn’t worried about myself, but I didn’t think Addie could deal with being in prison. She liked to run a lot and I didn’t think they’d let you do that in prison. I thought about sunshine and fresh air, and hoped they would let my parents visit me. And I worried about this really messing up my parents, so they wouldn’t speak to each other anymore...or me.

  Mom came in then and asked me to come downstairs. That terrible eat-your-young look in her eyes was gone. It was late and I was really tired, but wanted to get it over with. Maybe the beds in prison weren’t too hard.

  My dad was standing at the bottom of the stairs with Sheriff Martin, who was talking on his phone. I was not surprised to see Addie and her mother Sandy sitting in my living room, but I jumped a little when I saw Miss Julie beside them. Addie was holding tightly to a wad of tissues and wiping her eyes. Sandy Davis was wiping her eyes, too. Behind Miss Julie stood Sam Applegate. I guessed that he was here to press charges against me and Addie. But why was Miss Julie smiling at him?

  My dad stood beside me and cleared his throat, so we all looked at him. He stood there with his hands hanging down. He cleared his throat again. I twisted my bracelet like crazy.

  “I don’t know how to start,” he said. “Piper...you scared your mother and me more than we’ve ever been scared in our lives. And Addie, you did too. You won’t know that fear until you have children of your own.”

  “And they do crazy things without thinking first,” added my mom.

  I looked at the floor, which was suddenly blurry.

  “On the other hand, I’ve never been so proud of anyone in my whole life,” my dad went on. “You saw a situation that was unacceptable and none of the adults you went to would help you.”

  Was I hearing wrong? This sounded...not bad.

  “You took control of the situation and helped that pony, got her somewhere safe and took care of her. You may have saved her life,” Dad went on, but this time he smiled and shook his head. “Breaking and entering with a library card and a Girl Scout flashlight!”

  I stared at my dad. He was actually smiling at me.

  “If you ever do any of those things again,” Mom said, “I will ground you for the rest of your life, and you will never get a driver’s license. But you did what you did for the best of reasons, and some good things came out of your actions. Your dad and I maybe didn’t do so well at being married to each other, but we sure raised a wonderful kid. You never cried when we got divorced, and I sometimes wondered if you had lost your ability to cry. Now I see you were just saving it for that pony.”

  How could I tell her how much I had cried when I was alone? All I could do was hug her hard. I looked over at Addie, who kind of smiled a little at me through her tears.

  “Piper and Addie,” Miss Julie spoke up, “you made me wonder about Sam, but then tonight he called me back. He wanted to know what I knew about two girls who had broken into his Serendipity Springs office, saying things about him. He wanted to know if the pony really was Dotty. I told him I was one hundred per cent sure it was Dotty and also about how you girls rescued her.”

  When Sam spoke, his voice was deep and sad. “When I sold Dotty to a man I knew in Louisville, he told me she was going to his daughter who’d wanted a pony all her life. I gave the guy Dotty’s papers, not suspecting anything. When I bumped into him a year later, he told me the pony had died, so that’s what I told my mom.” So Sam wasn’t a bad guy at all. And he was kind of cute. I wondered how old he was. Maybe Mom was crabby because she was lonely. Maybe if she
had a job and a boyfriend she’d be happier. I mean, she and Dad had been divorced over a year now. She could move on.

  Harvey Martin hung up his phone. “I’ve been talking with the state police. Seems Jake has a long criminal record of drug-related offenses. There’s a warrant out for his arrest in three counties. When we catch up with him, he’s going to have some explaining to do.”

  “You didn’t find him?” Dad asked.

  “We went to his trailer, but he’s long gone. Left everything but the feed sacks and scrammed out of town. If I knew who he had contacts with in town and where, I’d go find him and arrest him.”

  “I know where he is,” I blurted out. This was what had been nagging at me. “I saw a map to a house by the lake.”

  “Where did you see it, Piper?” asked Mom. I realized they didn’t know about that break-in.

  “Um, maybe peeking into his trailer.” Was I never going to be able to quit lying?

  My dad looked at me for a long time. “Uh, huh. Piper, are you training for a life of crime?” he asked softly and I felt ashamed of what I had done.

  “Seriously, Piper, Addie, where were you and what did you see? This guy could be really dangerous,” Dad said.

  “Um...so...me and Addie were checking out his trailer because we saw him go in earlier with a sleazy-looking guy, and they were probably up to no good. We saw all the feed sacks in the kitchen and there was a map on the table. There was a funny-looking house drawn on the map.”

  “And,” added Addie, “we got a really good look at the roads around the lake. Then we heard him snoring and got out fast.”

  “And,” I said, taking a deep breath, “I will never break into anywhere again. Or lie about anything. Ever. And I will always think before I do something. Or I’ll try to.”

  Sandy Davis stared at Addie and cleared her throat hard. Addie swallowed and promised all the same things, too. We looked at each other and knew we might be off the hook soon if we didn’t say anything stupid or sassy.

  Harvey Martin pocketed his cell phone and looked at me. “Makes me wonder what was in them sacks. But we don’t have the map. It was gone by the time I got there.”

  I realized that I remembered most of the map and the drawing of the house.

  “I saw the map. I would know the house if I saw it and I can show you where it is,” I said.

  “He probably took it to find that house. But I remember the roads,” said Addie.

  “Oh, no,” my mom said, “you two can’t go there. This is getting too dangerous.”

  “Way too dangerous,” said Addie’s mom.

  “Your daughters don’t seem to be worried about a little danger,” said Sam. Wonder of wonders, my mother smiled at him.

  “I can’t see getting the girls involved here,” said my dad. “We’re talking real criminals who probably are wanted in other parts of the country.”

  The grown-ups argued for a while, but Harvey finally said, “Look, people, I didn’t want those kids to get involved either, but they are. We need to find that house and find Jake before he leaves the state. How ‘bout if Patsy just rides with me and helps find the house? She can wait in my car with the doors locked until I check it out.”

  “Not without me,” said my dad, and Mom looked relieved.

  “Or me,” said Sam.

  “Okay, Sam and Dan, you can back me up,” said Harvey. “I’m the only one on duty tonight and I don’t want to do this alone.”

  “I have to go, too,” said Addie. “You can’t take Piper without me. I’m her backup.”

  More arguments followed, but finally everyone agreed that Addie had seen the map and the picture, too, and might be able to help spot the house. My mom, Miss Julie and Addie’s mom decided to stay at my house and worry together.

  “You call me, Dan,” Mom said to Dad. “Right away, no matter what.”

  So, Sam in front, and Dad, Addie and me in back, we piled into Harvey Martin’s squad car and went in search of Sweaty Jake.

  Chapter Ten

  ~ Warrior Princess ~

  We drove south of town and down the winding road around Serendipity Lake. Trees closed in along the road; the moon shone silver on the water. It would have been a beautiful night drive, except that we were trying to catch a criminal. Addie and I looked at each other now and then, but mostly we kept quiet and watched the houses we passed. Things were looking good for us now. I didn’t think we were still in trouble, but helping to catch Jake would help us be on everyone’s good side again and would save Dotty forever. I was scared, but also excited, and I could tell that Addie felt the same.

  Addie sat up. “There,” she said. “Turn left.” We made the left and drove slowly along the narrow road. Rocks crunched as the blacktop turned to gravel. We passed lots of old lake houses with mailboxes stuck out at funny angles. I could hear rock music coming from one of the houses where it looked like there was a party. It seemed odd that someone was having a party when we were looking for criminals. The lane turned again and went down a hill to where there were no other houses around. The cool air from the lake made me shiver.

  “That’s it!” we both said breathlessly together. There was the funny, squinchy house, completely dark except for a light on in just one room. There was what my dad called a beater car parked in front of it. The sheriff passed the house, stopped the car and said, “You girls wait here. Sam and Dan, ready?”

  “You bet!” said Sam Applegate as he got out of the car. My dad got out, too, and said, “Lock the doors, and stay here!” to Addie and me as he closed his door softly.

  Dad, Sam and Harvey walked back to the driveway and toward the house. They knocked on the front door, and stood there, but no one answered it. Addie nudged me, and I looked where she was pointing. A shadow was sneaking through the trees away from the house. It was Jake. He wasn’t looking at us, but was watching the house as he slipped through the woods.

  I looked at the three men in front of the house. One of them had started to walk around to the back, but none of them could see Jake sneaking away.

  “It’s him! He’ll get away!” I said, grabbing Addie’s arm.

  “What should we do?”

  “We have to stop him,” I said, reaching for the door.

  “No! You can’t go out there. We have to let the adults handle this”

  I stared at Addie and she stared back.

  “If we don’t stop him,” I said, “he’ll get away and somehow get Dotty back, and then Dotty will die. She can’t take that treatment any longer. And Miss Julie will have a stroke or heart attack or something and she’ll die, too. It’s up to us.” By now I had totally convinced myself of the urgency for action.

  The large shadow was moving more quickly through the trees now and would disappear and be gone soon.

  “We have to stop him! Wait a couple of minutes and start honking the horn so the guys come,” I said and was out the door, then running. I cut through some tall bushes, scratching my arms, but making very little noise. I ran at an angle toward where the shadow had been. Then I was in the trees, looking around. The moon was bright, but tree shadows made it hard to see where I was going.

  I couldn’t see Jake anymore, so I slowed down, walking carefully and trying not to rustle any dead leaves. My mouth was dry and the pounding of my heart covered up any other noises I might have heard. I tried running again, along a dry streambed that followed the curve of the hill down to the lake. Branches grabbed at my face so that I had to shut my eyes partly. I couldn’t see because of that and because of all the moon shadows, which was why I tripped on the big twisty branch. I fell hard on my left shoulder and scraped my knees on some rocks when I went down. Luckily, I caught myself with my hands so I didn’t hit my head.

  Hearing some noises, I looked up. A large figure was bearing down on me in the dark. All I could see was his shape because the moon was behind him, but I would have recognized the puffing and wheezing anywhere. It was Disgusting Jake.

  “Stop,” I yelled. “T
he police are here! Give yourself up!” I didn’t have time to plan what to say and suddenly realized how big he was compared to me. I was on the ground and he was standing in front of me. Why wasn’t Addie honking the horn? Where was Dad?

  “What?” he said. “You!” He reached to grab me, but I ducked and jumped out of the way, smelling his sweat and my fear.

  “You brat!” he yelled. “That was you that snuck into my trailer! You stole my pony and ruined my business. I’m leaving this dumb town and taking that horse with me, but not before I make you pay for what you did to me, you stupid little brat!”

  “No! You cannot have her! She deserves better than you!”

  I had turned and was gasping for air, scrabbling away in that dry stream bed, hoping it wouldn’t hurt too much when he caught me. I could hear him coming behind me and smell his nasty breath as I crawled up the hill. I lost my balance and landed face down in some leaves. I closed my eyes and prayed, but as I prayed I grabbed a big, flat rock that my hand found. Standing and turning around, I threw the rock and someone yelled, “Dad!” There was a terrible smacking noise and then silence as I collapsed on the ground. That’s when I fainted. I’d never fainted before, but things blinked out for a minute, and when I opened my eyes, everyone looked blurry.

  With a groan, I sat up and looked around. Icky Jake lay flat on the ground, holding his head.

  There was Addie standing beside me. “Do you think you should hit him again?” she asked.

  “No,” I heard Sheriff Harvey Martin say. “I think he’s out for a while.”

  “Why didn’t you honk the horn?” I whispered as my eyes closed again.

  “Piper,” Addie shouted, “please be all right! I didn’t honk the horn because I couldn’t let you chase him by yourself. You needed me for your backup, so I followed you.”

  “You’re hurting my head,” I said. “Quit shouting. But Addie, if I don’t make it, you have been a true friend. I want you to have my Breyer horse collection. And my Taylor Swift poster.”