Gift Horse (11 page)

After maneuvering over or around the few remaining obstacles, No-Name broke into a canter and raced to the finish line, where Lisa was waiting for her turn. Stevie was grinning uncontrollably. She knew they’d had a perfect round.

Stevie watched and cheered as the others made their way through the course. None of them did as well as Stevie and No-Name, but they didn’t make many mistakes. They ended up coming in second to the team from Fairfax Stables. Phil’s team came in third.

A few races later the three top teams—Pine Hollow, Cross County, and Fairfax—were neck and neck. The final two events, the four-abreast flag race and the costume race, would determine the order of finish.

In the four-abreast flag race, the four members of each team had to ride side by side, holding three separate flags between them. The flags were each about a yard long, and
they weren’t allowed to touch the ground during the race. That meant each team really had to perform as a team, keeping their paces and their spacing even. Since this took up a lot of space in the ring, the teams went one at a time. The team that finished fastest was the winner.

Cross County went first. “I hope you guys are ready for this,” Phil said with a grin as he rode past The Saddle Club on his way to the ring. “We’re about to set the time to beat.”

He turned out to be right. The Cross County team worked in perfect harmony, their horses cantering side by side without a misstep or a dropped flag the whole way.

“Told you,” he said, his grin bigger than ever, as he rode past Stevie again on his way out of the ring.

“Don’t worry,” Stevie assured him. “You’ve given us the time to beat, all right. And we’re going to beat it.”

But before Stevie could try to prove it to him, they had to wait for the other teams to go. The team from Linton Stables ended up dropping their flags twice and came nowhere near Cross County’s time. The other two teams did better but were still several seconds behind. Then it was Fairfax’s turn. Their final time was one second ahead of Cross County’s.

“Wow,” Carole said admiringly. “They were really good. That time’s going to be hard to beat.”

“Come on,” Stevie replied. “Let’s show them all how it’s done.”

The Saddle Club and Veronica entered the ring and lined up behind the starting line. Now they had to ride across the ring to the long table where the flags were laid out. They had to pick them up, turn the horses around, and head back across.

“On your marks,” Mr. Baker said, “Get set … GO!”

The team took off. Seconds later all four horses screeched to a halt in front of the table. Stevie and No-Name were on one end, next to Veronica, so Stevie only had to grab the end of one flag. She waited for the others to pick up their ends, then signaled No-Name to turn, raising the hand holding the flag as they twisted around. The mare obeyed the command perfectly, as if horse and rider were one being, and Stevie’s eyes wandered toward the stands where Chelsea was sitting. She wanted to make sure the other girl had seen how well Stevie and No-Name worked together—even if Chelsea didn’t realize No-Name’s true identity.

In that split second, Stevie’s concentration wavered—and in that split second, the flag slipped out of her grasp.

“Oh, rats!” Stevie cried, grabbing futilely at the fluttering cloth. Veronica glanced over and saw what had happened. She tried to help, waving her end of the flag to try to move the other end within Stevie’s grasp. But Stevie’s hand just missed it at every try. Meanwhile Garnet had started forward. If Stevie didn’t do something fast, this
would be a disastrous round for the team—it could mean the difference between winning and losing.

But before Stevie could do anything, No-Name stepped in. The mare looked around to see what was fluttering by her head. Spotting the waving flag, the mare grabbed it in her teeth and snorted. The cheering crowd burst out laughing.

Stevie’s eyes widened. “Let’s go!” she cried to her teammates.

Glancing over, the others saw what had happened. At Stevie’s repeated urging, they surged forward, the four horses moving as one. No-Name kept the flag clenched tightly in her teeth. The horses cantered across the ring and over the finish line to loud cheers from the crowd. Even when the race was over, No-Name seemed reluctant to give up her end of the flag.

“I guess it must taste good,” Lisa said as Stevie gently forced the mare’s mouth open and dislodged the well-chewed piece of cloth.

“That’s not why she did it,” Stevie corrected, giving No-Name a hug and a kiss on the nose. “She was just helping out the team.”

The others laughed. They really couldn’t argue with that.

After scratching his head and checking his mental rule book, Mr. Baker declared that he saw no reason why a nonhuman member of the team couldn’t carry the flag just
as well as a human one. And after all, the flag hadn’t touched the ground. The team ended up in third place.

“Not bad, considering the delay at the turn,” Carole said.

“I know,” Stevie agreed. “But we’ve got to win the last one. We’ve got to beat Phil.”

No-Name’s stunt had given the whole team a burst of additional energy. In the last event, the costume race, all four members threw the costumes on and off faster than ever before. Stevie and No-Name had the last leg, and they raced across the finish line a good six yards ahead of the rider from Fairfax, who came in second.

The judges conferred for a moment, then the results were official. The team from Fairfax was declared the day’s champion. Stevie, Carole, Lisa, and Veronica had finished second, and Phil’s team was third. Everyone cheered enthusiastically as the three teams lined up to receive their ribbons. Stevie shot Phil a triumphant look, and he gave her a mock salute and a sheepish grin in return.

As Stevie turned forward again, she noticed that even Chelsea was clapping and shouting for the winners. That made her feel a little strange, because it reminded her that this victory with No-Name, sweet as it was, would be her last. During the excitement of the last few races she had all but forgotten that.

“Congratulations, girls,” said Ms. Cleese, the director of Linton Stables, who was one of the judges. She presented
them with their red ribbons, clipping them onto each horse’s bridle.

As she stepped away from No-Name, the judge glanced down at her hands, a slightly puzzled expression on her face. Lisa saw that Ms. Cleese’s hands had dark brown smudges on them. The woman stared at her hands for a moment, then shrugged and wiped them off on her jeans. Lisa stifled a giggle and glanced over at Carole and Veronica, who were trying not to laugh as well.

Stevie hadn’t even noticed what had happened, though. She was already getting ready to lead No-Name away, back to the van. The last thing she wanted was to give anyone, especially Chelsea Webber, the chance for a close-up look at No-Name.

As soon as the ribbon presentation was over Stevie headed back across the grounds to the Pine Hollow van. She untacked No-Name and led her into her compartment in the trailer. Then she spent a few minutes petting and talking to the horse.

“It was really great to ride you again,” she told the mare softly. “Even if it was the very last time.” In response, No-Name nibbled on Stevie’s sleeve and snorted. “You don’t even realize yet that they’re going to take you away from me, do you?” Stevie whispered. She swallowed hard to hold back the unshed tears that were suddenly threatening to spill over once again. She wanted to enjoy this day as long as she could. There would be plenty of time to be sad later.

After a few more minutes, Stevie reluctantly left the horse alone and headed back toward the ring. She knew that Phil was scheduled to give a demonstration, and she didn’t want to miss it.

As she walked back across the nearly empty grounds toward the crowded stands surrounding the ring, she heard voices from behind a nearby van. Stevie took a few more steps and then stopped in her tracks, staring in surprise. There, deep in serious conversation, were Veronica diAngelo and Chelsea Webber.

Stevie furrowed her brow. What was going on? After the way Veronica had described her last conversation with Chelsea, Stevie couldn’t believe the two girls would have anything polite to say to each other. But the discussion they were having now looked polite enough. Neither girl noticed Stevie watching them. A moment later Chelsea nodded, said something else, and then handed Veronica a piece of paper. Veronica patted her riding breeches but then seemed to realize they had no pockets. She dropped the paper into Garnet’s grooming bucket, which was sitting on the ground at her feet. Then she picked up the bucket, nodded to Chelsea, and hurried away toward the Pine Hollow vans. Chelsea walked away in the opposite direction, toward the ring.

Stevie followed slowly, her mind a whirl. But at that moment Mr. Baker’s voice came over the PA system, announcing that Phil Marsten was about to begin his demonstration.
Stevie ran the rest of the way to the stands, sliding into the seat Carole was saving just as Phil entered the ring on his horse, Teddy.

“Check this out,” Lisa said, leaning over to talk to Stevie. “Phil’s going to demonstrate shooting a water pistol at a target while riding bareback.”

“Didn’t you teach him how to do that, Stevie?” Carole asked.

Stevie grinned, forgetting all about Veronica and Chelsea. “You bet I did.” She watched as Phil rode over and shot—bulls-eye! “See what a good teacher I am?”

The rest of Phil’s demonstration went just as well. Stevie enjoyed it, but she found her mind wandering frequently back to the spirited mare in the horse trailer nearby. It still didn’t seem fair that she and Stevie would be separated soon. Stevie’s mind kept going around in circles, trying to figure out a way to keep it from happening. But another part of her mind knew it was useless. She had ridden her horse for the last time.

As the demonstration ended and the crowd began to disperse, Max found Stevie. “Young lady, I’d like to speak to you for a moment,” he said, pulling her aside.

Stevie glanced back at her friends and gulped. Just because Max had let her ride No-Name in the rally didn’t mean he wasn’t going to chew her out for the stunt she’d pulled. She just hadn’t expected him to do it so soon.

“Max, I’m really sorry for trying to trick everyone like
that,” she began. “It’s just like I told you, though—I really wanted to ride her one more time, and—”

“Stevie,” he interrupted, holding up one hand. “That’s not what I was going to say. I think you know the risk you took by disobeying the restraining order. And I think you know better than to try anything like that again. You could have gotten yourself, your friends, and me into a lot of trouble.”

Stevie nodded meekly. “I know. I’m sorry.”

“What I wanted to say,” Max said, with just the hint of a smile, “is that you’d better make sure to get that mare cleaned up as soon as we get back to Pine Hollow. And Topside, too, if you did something crazy like painting socks onto him.”

Stevie’s face turned red. She nodded.

Max broke into a full smile. “I see. Well, then, clean him up, too. If we’re lucky, nobody else will ever have to know a thing about this. Now come on, let’s get to work.” He and Stevie headed toward the area where the Pine Hollow vans were parked. “By the way, Stevie,” Max said as they walked. “You and No-Name were great together today. It’s rare to see a horse and rider so perfectly matched.”

Stevie turned to look at him. He looked back, his expression somber. Stevie realized that although he might not show it, Max knew what she was going through. “Thanks, Max,” Stevie whispered.

*   *   *

L
ATER
,
AS THE GIRLS
rode back to Pine Hollow in the Hansons’ station wagon, Carole, Lisa, and Veronica chatted about everything that had happened that day. Stevie sat in the front seat, silently fingering her red ribbon and remembering the important role No-Name had played in their victory.

She looked ahead at the horse van trundling down the road in front of the car. It was nice to think that No-Name was in that van just ahead of them, and that when they arrived at the stable she’d be waiting for Stevie to take care of her. Even if Stevie had ridden her for the last time, No-Name was still hers for a little while longer.

Stevie tried to convince herself to be happy about that. But it was all she could do to keep from bursting into tears. No matter how wonderful the rally had been today, it was over now, and Stevie knew that in a few short days No-Name would be taken from her and she would never see her again. She promised herself she would stay away from No-Name because she couldn’t bear the thought of watching Chelsea Webber on her mare. Instead she would face the future bravely, without her very special, very own, wonderful spirited perfect horse. She could almost see that future now, stretching ahead like the wide black road they were driving on, bleak and empty.

O
N
T
UESDAY
, S
TEVIE
went straight home after school instead of heading over to Pine Hollow as usual. Today was the day the judge was supposed to decide officially whether No-Name and Punk were, indeed, one and the same horse.