Star Rider

by Bonnie Bryant

  There were several problems with the scene. The first was that no good rider would do what Skye was doing. It was very bad practice to canter a horse up to the stable. A horse was always supposed to be cooled down before being dismounted and stabled. Usually the last ten or fifteen minutes of any ride should be at a walk.

  Lisa wanted to tell some of the people there about that, but nobody seemed to be interested in her horse expertise. Then it turned out that there was a worse problem, and it was Skye. According to the script, he was supposed to be excited and exhilarated by the ride. What he looked like was frightened.

  Pepper had a wonderful rocking canter, but nobody would know that looking at Skye Ransom. He rode Pepper as if he were Ichabod Crane being chased by the headless horseman. There was a look of pure terror on his face.

  “Cut!” Oliver cried out. “Something wrong, Skye?”

  “No,” Skye said, but it was clear that there was.

  “Is the horse going too fast for you?” Oliver asked.

  “No,” Skye said. Lisa could tell that Skye was very uncomfortable about something, but she also knew that he was too much of a professional to let his problems cause trouble on the set. “Lets try it again, Oliver,” he suggested.

  Oliver agreed and the scene was set up again. Lisa returned to the stable, prepared to step out on cue. From the shadows, she watched Skye’s approach. The second time wasn’t any better than the first. The problem was that Skye was scared, pure and simple. When he drew Pepper to a halt and Oliver yelled “Cut,” for the second time, Lisa tried to come to Skye’s rescue. She stepped forward and took hold of Pepper’s reins and began talking to the horse. She was really talking to Skye.

  “Come on, boy, you can do this,” she said. She patted Pepper on the neck and slipped a carrot stick in his mouth. “There’s nothing to be afraid of. That’s just a big old camera there, recording every beautiful, smooth move you make. Now, don’t you go frightening my friend, Skye, okay? Just give him a smooth cantering gait that so he can rock like a baby in the saddle, okay, boy?”

  “Okay, Lisa,” Skye answered. He sounded a little testy. Lisa thought maybe she was being a little bit of a busybody. She backed off and waited while Skye and Oliver talked.

  Maverick came over to her, wagging his tail eagerly. He was a welcome distraction to the discomfort around the set.

  After the conference between Skye and Oliver, they tried the scene again. This time Skye managed to smile and look exhilarated all right, but it was because Red O’Malley, Pine Hollow’s stable hand, made the mistake of driving a horse van right between Skye and the camera. Skye was laughing. When Red realized what he’d done, he jut drove off as quickly as he could. On the next take Maverick got distracted by one of the stable cats. And then it was Pepper’s fault. He threw a shoe. The farrier happened to be at Pine Hollow and was able to put the shoe right back on. Pepper and Skye returned to their starting point for another try. This time Pepper had decided it was time to quit. As soon as Skye signaled him to canter, he began galloping so he could get back to Pine Hollow in a hurry. The look on Skye’s face was anything but exhilaration.

  “Cut!” Oliver cried, now very frustrated. “This isn’t working, Skye,” the director said, holding the horse’s reins while Skye dismounted. “Is there something wrong with the horse?”

  Skye shrugged and looked to Lisa for an answer.

  “He could just be misbehaving,” Lisa said. “I’ll try riding him around for a minute to see if he calms down.”

  Lisa had learned that horses have moods just like people do, and sometimes when things start to go wrong, they get annoyed and misbehave. If that was what was wrong with Pepper, all she had to do was change his mood. She climbed into Pepper’s saddle and began walking him. Right away she could tell he was in a bad mood because he was ambling slowly and reluctantly. It was almost as if he were trying to pick a fight. She signaled him to trot. He kept on walking. She tried again. He refused. No wonder Skye was having such a rough time with him! Pepper had been taking advantage of him from the start. It was hard to look exhilarated and happy when a horse was taking you for a ride instead of the other way around. Lisa tapped Pepper on the flank with a riding crop. He kept on walking. She did it again, a little harder, and he finally broke into a lumbering trot.

  A riding crop wasn’t meant to hurt a horse, and she certainly hadn’t hurt Pepper. It was just supposed to remind him who was giving the orders. She tapped him again, and Pepper began to get the message. His trot perked up. For about five minutes Lisa rode Pepper around the paddock, changing gaits and directions. She wanted to fill his mind so full of her commands that he didn’t have time to rebel. Pretty soon he was doing everything she told him, responding instantly to the slightest leg pressure or weight change. That was the way Pepper usually behaved.

  “I think he’s better now,” Lisa said to Skye and Oliver. “He just needed to get a few kinks out.” She dismounted and held the reins.

  “Are you sure he’s gotten all his kinks out?” Skye asked. “I wasn’t having much fun, you know.”

  “Yes, we know,” Oliver said stonily. “We have a couple of thousand dollars’ worth of outtakes to prove it. And if we don’t finish up today, we’re going to have to hold over until tomorrow. We’re supposed to be packed up and out of here by tonight, Skye. Are you ready to try again?”

  Skye didn’t like being reminded that these mistakes cost money. Lisa could see him wince at Oliver’s testiness. He turned toward Pepper with a look of grim determination on his face.

  “Hi-yo Silver,” he said, trying to put on a bold face. He took the reins from Lisa, tightened up on them, and then grabbed hold of the saddle, putting his left foot in the stirrup. He shifted his weight onto his left foot and swung upward.

  Pepper was as glad to have Skye returning to the saddle as Skye was to be there. The horse took several steps forward. Lisa grabbed for the bridle, barely getting hold of it and bringing Pepper to a stop before the horse took off with the star of the movie dangling by a leg. Skye’s foot slid back out of the stirrup, his hands released their grip on the saddle, and he landed unceremoniously in the dirt. He glared at Pepper.

  The tension was thick, and Lisa felt as if she were in the middle of it. After all, she was supposed to be Skye’s riding coach, and she was the one who had said Pepper would behave. It seemed that Skye was about to start yelling at Pepper, and Oliver was about to start yelling at Skye. Lisa looked around desperately, hoping to find something like touching the good-luck horseshoe to break the mood.

  Mother Nature suddenly came to the rescue. There was a tremendous gust of wind, bringing a chill to the air. Lisa looked up at the sky. Enormous gray clouds billowed overhead. The second gust of wind brought the first burst of rain.

  The cameramen covered their equipment with tarps. Everybody else ran for cover.

  Lisa brought Pepper into the stable. The horse looked out at the downpour uneasily. She realized, looking at him, that his moodiness may have been partly caused by the impending storm.

  The whole crew stood watching the rain for about ten minutes until Oliver announced the obvious.

  “This isn’t going to stop soon,” he said. “Let’s change plans. We have an interior to shoot with some of the minor characters. You two,” he said to Lisa and Skye. “Go get some schooltime in, and if it clears up, we’ll try this scene again later. Otherwise, tomorrow.”

  Skye seemed very relieved. He turned and headed right for the makeshift classroom in Mrs. Reg’s office. Lisa took Pepper back to his stall and untacked him. She didn’t know if it was part of an actor’s job to untack horses in movies, but she knew if she didn’t take care of the horse, her “chaperone,” Max, would give her a hard time.

  It just took a few minutes, and when she arrived at the schoolroom, she found a history test in progress. The subject was Woodrow Wilson’s Fourteen Points and the end of World War I. Lisa had studied that last semester and had reviewed it with Sabina this week. She to
ok up paper and pencil and finished the test in a few minutes. Skye was done quickly, too. Alicia and Jesse took longer. The tutor excused Skye and Lisa. They withdrew to the tack room to talk. That way, Alicia and Jesse wouldn’t be disturbed.

  “Whew,” Skye sighed, sitting down on a stepladder.

  Lisa didn’t know whether the sigh was relief about the history test or the rain that had stopped the day’s filming. She looked at her watch. It was early afternoon. She was afraid that if the rain stopped, Oliver would want them to work late again. This was going to be her last chance to get to the mall with Stevie and Carole. She didn’t mind working tomorrow morning, even though it was the day of the birthday party. She just didn’t want to miss out on any more of the planning. She glanced out the window and was relieved to see the sky filled with dark and oppressive clouds.

  “Good,” she said, almost involuntarily.

  “My feeling, exactly,” Skye said. “I don’t blame you for being angry with me.”

  “I’m not angry,” Lisa said. “I’m just glad that it looks like it’s going to keep on raining, because I want to leave on time today.”

  “What are you doing?” he asked.

  Lisa told him about her conversations with Stevie and Carole earlier in the week and how they were all going back to the mall to go shopping for the colonel—no matter what time she got out.

  “It’s just that the earlier, the better,” she added.

  “You really love doing that kind of thing, don’t you?” Skye asked.

  “Any kind of thing is more fun to do when I get to do it with Stevie and Carole.”

  Skye nodded knowingly. “I can see how that would be true.” He sounded genuinely envious.

  “Would you like to come along?” she asked. “Stevie and Carole would think that was a blast.”

  “It would be great,” Skye said. “But remember our trip to the ice-cream place? It could be like that—only worse.”

  “Oh, yes,” Lisa said, recalling the nightmare vividly. Lisa leaned back to consider the matter. If only there was a way to disguise Skye. Then a thought occurred to her. How hard could it be to create a disguise with all the facilities of a professional movie company at your disposal?

  “What’s that funny look on your face?” Skye asked.

  “What look?” Lisa asked.

  “It’s sort of the way Stevie looks sometimes,” Skye said.

  Lisa giggled. “It must be because I’m getting an idea for a Stevie-type scheme. See, if you hang around somebody long enough, you start to think the way they do.…”

  “And?” he asked expectantly.

  “And Stevie just came up with a wicked good idea to get you to the mall this afternoon.” She grinned proudly. Then she stood up. “Let’s get over to makeup and wardrobe.”

  “It’s been tried before,” Skye said, getting the idea. “And it usually doesn’t work.”

  “It hasn’t been tried the way The Saddle Club is going to do it!” Lisa told him.

  TWO HOURS LATER the girls and Skye were ready. Oliver had called off filming Lisa and Skye’s scene because of the rain, which was still pouring steadily. While Stevie and Carole made the final costume selection, Skye and Lisa enlisted Jeanette’s aid.

  With the help of a wig, Skye’s straight sandy brown hair became unruly and blond. His eyes turned brown with contact lenses. A little bit of putty gave his nose a disjointed look, and some masterful strokes with pencils and brushes transformed his smooth, big-screen good looks into something that looked as if it had just stepped out of a dented pickup truck—and ought to be sent back to the farm as soon as possible!

  “Do you want to be seen in public with me?” Skye asked, looking at the results of Jeanette’s genius.

  Lisa looked carefully at the none-too-appealing results. “Better in public than in private,” she told him. “You definitely don’t look like a movie star. People will be staying away instead of thronging after us. Can you stand it?”

  “Hey, look at the T-shirt I found!” Stevie said, arriving breathlessly from the wardrobe trailer. Carole was close behind, carrying some ratty jeans and a pair of work boots to complete Skye’s outfit. Stevie took the T-shirt and unfolded it. She held it up for everybody to admire. It read:

  KORMAN’S EXTERMINATING

  We get the bugs out!

  “We’re going to have the whole mall to ourselves!” Stevie said proudly as their newly invented friend, Gavin, slipped the T-shirt over his head carefully, so as not to disturb any of his makeup.

  “WHERE TO FIRST?” Skye asked The Saddle Club as they walked through the doors of the mall. It was a little difficult for him to talk with the wad of bubble gum he had in his mouth—Stevie’s final touch on his “disguise.” Skye blew an enormous bubble. A woman hurried past him as if she were afraid she might, catch something from him.

  “Anywhere we want,” Stevie said conspiratorially.

  “Then it’s pizza,” Skye announced. “I haven’t been able to have a good oven-fresh pizza at a mall for a long time.”

  “This way,” Carole said. “It’s at the far end of this aisle.”

  The foursome walked together, pausing to check out some funny buttons and a collection of more moderate T-shirts than the one “Gavin” was sporting.

  “Hey, this one’s cool,” Stevie said, showing it to Skye. It was tie-dyed in long, sweeping arcs of rainbow colors.

  To Stevie’s surprise, Skye bought it.

  “You never know when it might come in handy,” he said, tucking the bag under his arm. They proceeded toward the pizza restaurant.

  It took only a few minutes to come to an agreement on the toppings they wanted on their pizza.

  “Extra cheese all over, ditto the pepperoni,” Skye began, describing the pie they’d decided on. “Then, we want mushrooms on half and green peppers on half, but overlap the mushrooms fifty percent. Then, on the part that only has green peppers, add onions, okay? And sausage on the part that only has mushrooms. Got that?”

  The waitress stared at him. Her eyes seemed to pierce right through him—and right through his disguise. The girls were sure she had recognized his voice and was about to reveal his identity. Stevie slid lower in her seat. Lisa tried to give Skye a menu to hide behind. Carole’s eyes focused on a grease-stained map of Italy taped to the wall beyond their table. Skye, however, was fearless. He stared right back at the waitress.

  The waitress drew in a deep breath. “You’re going to take it the way we make it and you’re going to like it,” she said without blinking.

  “Yes’m,” Skye said, nodding meekly.

  When the four of them were pretty sure the waitress was out of earshot, they exploded into laughter.

  “Best performance in a supporting role!” Stevie announced when the laughter had died down.

  “Aw, pshaw!” Skye said.

  “Not you. Her!” Stevie told him. That made them all giggle some more.

  When the pizza came, it was delicious, although nobody could tell, or remember, which slices were supposed to have which ingredients on them. The extra cheese covered everything and nobody cared.

  They wanted to talk about the party as they ate, but they got sidetracked by talking about Colonel Hanson. The girls tried to describe him for Skye.

  “He loves old movies,” Carole said. “We sometimes stay up really later, munching popcorn, and watching the golden oldies. He likes anything about the Marine Corps, particularly if it stars John Wayne.”

  “Sands of Iwo Jima!” Skye blurted out.

  “Number-one favorite,” Carole confirmed.

  “Me, too,” said Skye.

  “He also likes anything that has to do with the fifties and sixties,” Lisa told Skye. “He can sing all the verses of everything Elvis Presley ever recorded. And the Everly Brothers, and even Bill Haley and the Comets.”

  “ ‘Rock Around the Clock’!” Skye said. “I love it!”

  “You’re going to love him,” Carole said. “I’m sure of it.�
�

  “Especially if you like the old jokes he tells,” Stevie said. “He can go for hours with shaggy-dog stories, and elephant and grape jokes.”

  “What’s big and purple and lives in the sea?” Skye asked Stevie.

  “Moby Grape,” she answered immediately. “Yes, indeed, you have passed the test. You’re going to love Colonel Hanson.”

  “If we manage to put together a birthday party for him,” Carole said ominously. “Now, where’s your list, Lisa?”

  Lisa stuck her hand into her pocket and produced her list. It was neatly written and organized.

  “Okay,” she began. “The first part of the list is the menu, and then there are the things we need to buy for that. That section is followed by everything we need to make this a real birthday party.”

  Stevie looked over her shoulder. “Crepe paper? Snappers? Hats? What is this—his fortieth or his fourth?”

  “Who cares? It’s a birthday party, isn’t it?” Lisa said.

  “What a great idea! What are you going to put in the goody bags?” Skye asked.

  “My personal favorite is candy corn,” Lisa said. “But I could be talked into bubble gum or licorice.”

  “We’ve got some serious shopping to do,” Skye said. “Where to first?”

  “This way,” Stevie said, pointing to the checkout counter at the restaurant.

  They each chipped in and paid their bill. Then they began their work in earnest.

  They found a paper specialty store that had great party hats and balloons. They bought one of each for each guest. Then Skye suggested they get some noisemakers.

  “Where will we go for that?” Lisa asked.

  “I think I remember some in the party section of the variety store,” Carole said, recalling her trip to the mall earlier in the week with Stevie. “It’s over this way.” She took them to the left.