First up, there was an individual time trial in barrel racing. While I helped the campers saddle up, Pru and Abigail rushed to roll out three barrels in this pattern:
The horses had to gallop around the empty wooden rain barrels in a cloverleaf pattern.
Everyone loved it. Especially Lester, who was surprisingly fast on a gentle little horse named Malu. He flew around those barrels and beat even Turo, who’d had the fastest barrel time in town until then.
Next up, we moved those light barrels into a straight row, and everyone got an egg in a spoon. They rode the horses as fast as they could, weaving between the barrels. There’d be prizes for the quickest and then prizes for bravely trying, in case someone (like Stella) wanted to go real slow.
Lilly had a good start until her egg fell and shattered in the dirt. Snips won the timed event. That was, right up until Abigail discovered that he had cheated. Snips had put a drop of honey in the spoon to “glue” down the egg. We never would’ve known, except the blue ribbon for the event stuck to his hand! Stella, to our surprise, had the second-best time, so she won the spoon game. She isn’t so scared anymore… and that girl has such a brave streak, I never would have guessed!
As we set up for the boot relay, Oliver declared that he wasn’t participating. There was nothing I could do. Not as if I could throw him on a horse.
He announced that he was interested in riding only Spirit and no other horse. But that isn’t how Spirit works. I tried to explain that to him. Spirit does what Spirit wants. And I’m the only one who rides him. I told Oliver that he could pick another horse, but he refused and sat back down under that tree, where he’d been sitting every day since the beginning of camp.
Still, for a guy who was protesting everything, I did catch him glancing up to see what was going on. That was encouraging.
“Okay, everyone.” Pru began explaining the boot relay. “Stay on your horse, but slip off your boots and give them to a counselor. We’ll put them all in this wheelbarrow.” She pointed at the red wagon. “Abigail will take them to the end of the arena and dump them in a big pile.”
The kids quickly shed their shoes as we divided them into teams.
“You sure you don’t want to be on a team?” I asked Oliver as a last try before the O-Mok-See had to end.
He looked up at me sitting on Spirit, and shrugged.
So much for my thinking he might be softening.
“That’s not happening,” I said, and Spirit whinnied.
“Fine, then!” Oliver said in a big dramatic huff. “I’ll go make my own fun. I don’t need you.”
The frustration I had with him bubbled up. “Fine,” I countered. “Just sit here, and soon you can go with Julian to do some dangerous thing.” I said, sneering “Try not to get hurt.” He was so stubborn and I’d lost my patience. If he wanted to grow up to be just like his con man brother, then he should do that! I wouldn’t try to stop him.
I turned Spirit around, and we went back to the group.
“Ride on down to the far end of the arena. One at a time, riders from each team will gallop to the boots.” Abigail had spilled their boots and mixed them up in a pile. She was reading off the final rules now. “Jump off your horse, find your own boots, put them on, get back on the horse, and hurry back to your group.”
With a disappointed look at Oliver, I finished it up: “When you reach the group, the next rider goes. The first team to get boots on all the riders wins the day.”
“We’re riding horses without shoes?” Stella glanced down at her fancy riding boots, which she had so far refused to take off. They looked as if they were polished each night after camp. “I’m not wearing socks.”
I shrugged. “You can skip this one.” I didn’t like how I talked to Stella. I was just so frustrated with Oliver!
“I want to ride twice. I’ll go once for me and once for Stella,” Snips offered. “I can take my boots back to the other end of the ring and go again.”
“I guess,” Stella said. She seemed uncomfortable with sitting out, but she didn’t want to be barefoot in the horse ring, either.
“Okay, Snips goes twice,” Abigail said, leading Boomerang to the spot where the boots would go. “Let’s start this Boot Scoot Relay!”
“That’s so cute,” Pru said. “Who called it a ‘Boot Scoot’?”
Abigail smiled. “I just made that up.”
When Pru and I went to help the campers pile their boots, she told me, “You gotta stop worrying about Oliver.”
“I’m trying,” I replied. “It’s hard not to worry.” My anger at him for not even trying was mixed with disappointment that I couldn’t convince him to give the O-Mok-See a go.
Pru nodded.
Abigail called everyone to the side of the ring. She was helping Snips pull off his boots, when she yanked so hard she tumbled backward.
“Hey! If Stella wants some socks so she can ride,” Abigail reported, looking at Snips’s feet, “I think Snips is wearing at least five pairs.”
“I like them stacked for warmth,” Snips replied, even though it was a hot day.
“I’m not wearing his socks.” Stella plugged her nose.
“I will!” Bianca cried.
“Eww!” Snips was horrified at the thought of giving up one of his many socks.
The shoes were in the pile.
At the last minute, Stella decided to ride. She announced that she’d wash her feet twice later.
The groups were divided into boys versus girls:
Turo, Snips, and Lester versus Bianca, Mary Pat, Stella, and Lilly.
Since Oliver was out, the teams were uneven, but at least Snips got to go twice.
I approached Oliver. “Are you sure you don’t want to join the boys’ team?” I felt as if I’d make one last try to get him to play. I was even close to seeing whether he could ride Spirit, but when I reached toward Spirit, he reminded me with a huff that he called the shots.
Oliver huffed, too, and turned away.
The horses and their riders were ready at one side of the ring. The boots were waiting at the other.
“Riders, take your mark,” Pru called out. “GO!”
It was Snips versus Mary Pat. She grabbed her boots and slipped them on easily while Snips was struggling to pull his over all his socks. By the time he got back on Señor Carrots, Mary Pat had already tagged her sister.
“Like the wind,” Snips told Señor Carrots, who is surprisingly fast for a donkey.
Turo picked up speed against Bianca, and the two of them were neck and neck, when…
“Time’s up! It’s noon!” Julian was hanging by the gate to the riding ring. He leaned a shovel against the fence and dropped his canvas pack.
Turo yanked so hard on the reins of his horse, Junipero, that the stallion nearly threw him off. Bianca took advantage of the confusion by jumping off her horse and running for the boots.
Julian stopped her. “Hey, little lady, it’s time to go on a real adventure,” he said. “Enough of this boring horse stuff.”
I was surprised at the campers’ reactions.
“It’s not boring!” Bianca said.
Mary Pat echoed her. “We’re having fun.”
Snips told Julian that he was messing up the competition, and that he’d better get out of the way.
I will admit: I was proud of the campers. They were holding their ground.
“There are other team competitions we can do,” I told them, giving a side-eye to Julian. The mood had shifted, and I was feeling pretty good.
I rattled off a few more games, like flag tipping, and a game in which teams have to ride fast while tossing balls in a bucket.
“Ooohh,” Snips said. “Bucket ball…”
Julian raised his shovel. “But I’m taking everyone to Dusty Dan’s grave. Let’s eat lunch fast now, because we’re going to dig for treasure. Everyone loves searching for treasure, right?” He looked around. No one argued.
“Especially when Julian gets the rewards,”
I muttered. Then, as Pru and Abigail came to stand with me, I said out loud, “Let’s make this fair. You should go on the treasure hunt if you want, but don’t forget what happened last time.”
When they got back, we’d have our vote.
I could see the campers struggling with the decision to leave the barn.
Finally, I encouraged them to stay, asking, “Who wants to find out who wins the Boot Scoot?”
A cheer went up from every single camper.
Stella wiggled her toes in the dirt. “I’d like to get my boots,” she said. “And win for my team!”
“Now, who wants to go on a real adventure?” Julian asked.
No one replied to Julian’s question, so he asked it again.
“Maybe you didn’t hear me: Who wants to go on an adventure?”
Julian’s booming question was met by uncomfortable silence.
There wasn’t even a peep from the one kid I expected to eagerly whoop and holler.
I turned around. There was no one under the tree.
I asked Julian what happened to Oliver.
He answered slowly, scanning the horizon. “I don’t know.”
Julian’s pack and shovel were still sitting by the fence.
Oliver was missing.
What are we going to do?” Abigail, Pru, and Lucky were meeting while Julian rushed around the barn, calling Oliver’s name.
“I don’t think he’s in the barn,” Pru said, piecing her thoughts together. “I’m starting to think Oliver’s just been pretending he wanted to ride Spirit, knowing no one can ride him except Lucky. In fact, I think he’s afraid of horses! I bet he threw that apple so he wouldn’t have to hand it to the horses like Stella did!” She put her hand on her head as it all became perfectly clear. “That’s why he sat under the tree, even after the jig was up with Julian. He wouldn’t participate in the O-Mok-See because he was scared!”
Lucky considered that. Certainly he hadn’t ridden another horse, but was he scared? She had seen him interact with the horses only once. “He washed the horses with Julian.”
“With Julian,” Pru repeated. “But he didn’t get wet. I don’t think he helped much at all.” Lucky nodded. She’d noticed that Oliver’s shirt was completely dry while Julian’s was wet. Pru went on: “That kid wants so desperately to be like his brother, if Julian said ‘go swim in the creek,’ he’d try to turn into a fish.”
Lucky sighed. “I guess I never really had a shot at changing him, did I?”
Pru shook her head with a supportive look. “Nope. But I didn’t want to ruin your dreams.”
Abigail was catching on. “If he wants so desperately to be like Julian, do you think he went to Dusty Dan’s grave site on his own? To try to impress him?”
“I think we should check it out,” Lucky said. “The other kids didn’t want to go with Julian, so maybe Oliver wanted to prove to Julian that he was still his biggest fan.” Lucky whistled for Spirit. “Abigail, you’re a genius!”
“Uh, hello…” Pru pointed to herself.
“Also a genius,” Lucky agreed. Spirit was ready to go to Dusty Dan’s grave site, when Julian came out of the barn, leading Malu.
“We have to go to Dusty Dan’s,” he said, preparing to climb into the saddle.
“Dusty Dan?” Snips stuck his head into the conversation. “But we agreed to finish the O-Mok-See.” He whined. “We voted.”
“Democracy is a complicated work in progress,” Stella moaned. “It’s a sad day when voting doesn’t mean anything.”
Lucky climbed onto Spirit. “Abigail and Pru can continue with the O-Mok-See,” she told the campers. “Julian and I will search for Oliver.” She looked out in the direction he would have gone. “He can’t be that far on foot.”
“We aren’t staying back,” Pru said, with a determined expression. “You might need us, and I doubt that city-boy Julian is the handiest on horseback.” Pru paused and turned to speak to the campers. “Listen up! Looks like we’re all going on a treasure hunt after all. There’s only one thing on the list: Oliver! He’s—uhh—hiding, so we can find him!”
“Let’s go find my friend Ollie!” Snips cheered. “Tomorrow, he’ll be on our team, and we will beat you all!”
“Except that Ollie doesn’t ride,” Pru whispered to Lucky.
She thought about that. “Maybe… we’ll see…”
“See what?” Pru asked, but Lucky was already busy getting the campers on their horses.
There was a mighty cheer from the kids, and they began to chant, “Ollie! Ollie! Ollie!”
As soon as everyone was ready, Lucky and Spirit led the way from the stables toward the path to Dusty Dan’s. “Yee-haw!” She pressed into Spirit’s flank and he began to gallop.
Julian pulled up beside her. “A treasure hunt, eh?”
“You were the one who convinced Oliver they were boring,” Lucky said.
“I see that might not have been the best idea,” Julian said. He was hiding it, but Lucky could clearly tell that losing Oliver had shaken him up. “I wish I’d encouraged him to look for horse bridles and pinecones,” Julian admitted. “Then we wouldn’t be in this mess.” He bit his lip. “What are we going to do?”
“We’ll find Oliver,” she said, “then you’ll do your best to convince him that PALs Camp is plenty exciting.”
Julian agreed, nodding.
She pressed Spirit even faster, ready to make the turn for the creek, when Pru called out, “Lucky! You’re going the wrong way!”
“Dan’s grave is over here,” she called back, sensing Chica Linda slowing behind them.
Pru had not only changed directions; she was leading the campers on a new path—away from Dusty Dan’s grave!
Lucky and Spirit swung around. Julian and Abigail followed.
“What’s going on?” Lucky asked Pru when she caught up. “Why’d you stop?”
“Oliver wasn’t going to Dusty Dan’s,” Pru answered, climbing down from Chica Linda.
“You can’t stop now,” Julian told her. “Get back on the horse. Oliver needs me.” He corrected, “I mean, he needs us.”
Pru had more experience in tracking than the others. She ignored him and said, “We need to go on more than a hunch.” Taking a handful of dirt, she let the sand sift through her fingers. “Oliver didn’t go to Dan’s grave.”
“Of course he did,” Julian countered. “He wanted treasure.”
Lucky realized something then. “If he wanted the treasure, he’d have taken the shovel to dig. I saw it before we left! It was still by the fence.”
“He also didn’t know the way and wouldn’t be able to get there without Julian guiding,” Pru went on.
Abigail looked at Julian and asked, “You didn’t take him there before today, did you?”
“No,” Julian admitted.
“Okay, campers,” Lucky announced. “Who has an idea how to find Ollie?”
Diary Entry
This is not going to be easy.
Think, Lucky, think!
I’m writing down all the campers’ clues.
Lilly: “Oliver went somewhere he knew!”
Lester: “Somewhere dangerous.”
Snips: “Somewhere fun and exciting.” They were all solving the mystery together.
We finally put it together. Oliver is at the rocky outcrop.
This is not good.
That place is actually dangerous.
Pru found shoe prints in the dirt.
Lucky had hoped to catch her young cousin along the path, but by the time they got to the place where the footprints faded into the first ridge of boulders, Oliver was nowhere in sight.
The kids all scanned the higher rocks, while Lucky warned them, “Be careful. Those rocks can slip and cause an avalanche.” As she said it, two small stones came tumbling down from a place high on the ridge.
“There!” Julian called out. “I see him.” His brother was a speck clinging to a high rock. The top of the outcrop loomed high above him. He�
��d made it about halfway up the large pile of stones. “Oliver!”
“Ollie!” Snips called.
“Oliver… Ollie…” the hills echoed.
Lucky sprang forward with Spirit, but each step that Spirit made dislodged more stones.
“Stop,” Pru ordered.
“We’ll get crushed if you go up that way,” Abigail said, pushing the campers back a safe distance.
Julian dismounted from Malu and started on foot up the way Oliver had gone. He also sent rocks falling with every step.
“You can’t go that way,” Lucky told him, pulling Spirit back to the bottom of the hill.
Suddenly, Oliver’s voice echoed down the hillside. “Help! Julian! Help!”
He’d seen them all below.
And from where they were, they all could see him, too. Feet dangling, Oliver was clinging to a large, ragged rock. Several medium-size stones rolled down from where he was, and the group had to move back farther to avoid being hit as the rocks tumbled fast and crashed into the brush.
“Oliver!” Julian cried.
Oliver managed to swing himself to a safe place, but he was clutching the boulder like a spider, unable either to climb farther up or slide back down.
“This is all my fault,” Julian said, starting forward again. “I’ll go up there and get him.”
“No you won’t,” Lucky said. “You’ll start an avalanche, and we’ll all be in danger.”
She gathered with Pru and Abigail. “What do we do?”
“There’s a horse path to the top,” Abigail said. “It’s pretty safe that way, but we need to lead the horses carefully. If they knock one stone, it might hit another and another and… kaboom!” She used her hands to show the damage an avalanche would cause. Booming, like an explosion.
“We don’t want a kaboom,” Julian said, joining them.
“So here’s what we’ll do.” Lucky spelled it out. “Pru, Abigail, and I are going to ride up the ridge and rescue Oliver.”
Spirit Riding Free: Lucky's Diary Page 6
