Driving Team (7 page)

“I don’t know. In her stall, I suppose,” snapped Veronica.

“You were supposed to bring her out, too, Veronica. A team of horses implies that there will be more than one horse.”

“So?”

Stevie felt her face heating up with anger. “So go get Belle now, like you promised, while I finish with this tack.”

“Oh, whatever.” Veronica unclipped Danny’s lead
line and walked slowly back to the stable. A few moments later she came out with Belle walking beside her. “Here’s your beast, Stevie,” she said, flipping the lead rope in Stevie’s direction.

“Thanks,” Stevie muttered, giving Belle a reassuring pat on the neck.
If there’s any beast in this paddock
, she thought,
it walks on two legs and answers to the name of Veronica
. She took a deep breath and whispered the word
patience
three times.

“Why don’t we try to get them into this harness first?” Stevie suggested. “All this stuff needs to fit properly.” She held up one bridle. “This goes on the horse who pulls on the right.”

“Well, that will have to be Belle,” Veronica sniffed.

“Why?” asked Stevie.

“Because the left horse is the lead horse, and Danny needs to be the lead horse.”

“Why?” Stevie asked again.

“Because he’s high-strung. He needs to lead.”

Stevie frowned. “If he’s that high-strung, maybe he should follow. He might spook being in the lead.”

“If he’s not in the lead, he probably won’t pull at all,” Veronica warned.

“He can’t help but pull, if Belle’s in the lead and she’s pulling, too.”

“It doesn’t work like that.” Veronica turned her mouth down in a stubborn line.

“How do you know? How many wagons have you driven?”

Veronica’s green eyes flashed. “About as many as you have.”

Stevie took another deep breath and whispered
patience
again. “Well, why don’t we just try longeing them together like this and see what happens?”

“I don’t see the point in longeing them if they aren’t going to pull the wagon in the same way.”

“Well, then, let’s get the rest of the tack adjusted on them,” Stevie suggested. “Then we can decide who pulls where.”

“Oh, all right.” Veronica walked over and looked at the tack Stevie had cleaned. She picked through it, choosing the best pieces for Danny and leaving the more worn bits for Belle.

“Hey!” cried Stevie. “Let’s divide this up more equally. It’s not fair for Danny to have all the best pieces.”

“Why not?” asked Veronica. “He’s obviously the best horse.”

Stevie opened her mouth to give Veronica a large dose of her opinion about Danny when Max’s voice rang out.

“Veronica!” he called, cupping his hands around his mouth. “You’ve got a call in the office! They said it was important.”

“Thanks,” Veronica replied. She tossed Danny’s lead rope to Stevie. “Here. You can hold him till I get back.”

Seething with anger, Stevie watched as Veronica hurried into the stable and Max sauntered over to the fence.

“How’s it going?” he asked.

Stevie led both horses over to him. “Max, Veronica has just hit a new low in being the most obnoxious person at this stable. She won’t cooperate over anything. Danny has to lead. Danny has to have the best tack. Danny can’t be bothered with longeing with Belle. I don’t think this partnership is going to work!”

“Oh, I bet it can,” Max replied calmly.

“No, it won’t. Not when Veronica acts like the biggest, most stubborn jerk who’s ever pulled on riding boots!” Stevie’s voice rose so high that Belle jumped.

“Well, did you ever think it might not be much fun to be Veronica? You don’t know what’s going on in her life right now.” Max frowned at her. “Stevie, you shouldn’t judge people until you’ve ridden a mile in their boots.”

“I wouldn’t ride a mile in her custom-made boots even if I could!” cried Stevie. “They’d probably cut off my circulation!”

“Well, you two work it out.” Max patted Stevie on the shoulder and walked back to his office.

“I’ll do my best,” Stevie whispered as she led the horses back to the center of the paddock.

She fit the bridle and blinders on Belle first, then worked on Danny. He was as cooperative as his owner was uncooperative. Just as Stevie made the final adjustments on his tack, Veronica walked back into the paddock.

“Hi,” Stevie began. “I gave Danny the better bit, and Belle the better—”

Veronica wasn’t listening. She walked directly over to Danny and wrapped her arms around his neck, burying her face in his dapple gray coat and giving him a long, affectionate hug.

Stevie’s mouth fell open. She’d never seen Veronica display any kind of affection toward any animal, ever. She almost turned away, embarrassed, but then Veronica let go of Danny and looked at Stevie. Again Stevie’s jaw dropped. She could have sworn she saw actual tears in Veronica’s eyes. She shook her head.
You must be dreaming
, she told herself.
You got up way too early this morning and you’re still dreaming. Only people who have hearts cry, and all Veronica has inside her chest is some kind of weird pump made of eighteen-carat gold
.

Still, they looked like real tears glistening in her eyes. “Veronica?” Stevie asked softly.

“Let’s get to work.” Veronica briskly turned her back
to Stevie. “Danny’s very smart. He gets bored just standing around doing nothing.”

“Okay,” agreed Stevie. “Let’s see if they’ll longe together.”

“Only if Danny can be on the left,” insisted Veronica.

“Fine.” Stevie gave up and clipped the right end of the checkrein to Belle’s bridle.
Being upset enough to cry sure doesn’t make her easier to get along with
, she thought as Veronica fumbled with the longe line.

Finally they got the line sorted out and walked to the center of the paddock. “Here,” Veronica said. “Give the line to me. I want to drive first.”

Stevie handed the longe line to Veronica and stood back to watch. Veronica cracked the long driving whip loudly and clucked to both horses. Belle started out at a trot, but Danny immediately leaped into a canter. They bumped halfway around the paddock, knocking into each other at both turns.

“Slow them down, Veronica,” warned Stevie. “Or at least get them both in the same gait.”

“I know what I’m doing,” Veronica said. “This is the way Danny likes to get started.”

“But Belle doesn’t know what to do,” cried Stevie.

“Well, that’s obvious. Belle’s certainly not the horse Danny is. I wonder if she’s even fit to pull a wagon with him.” Veronica cracked the whip again.

“She’s every bit the horse Danny is,” Stevie retorted. “Maybe even more.”

The horses continued around the paddock. Veronica’s constant cracking of the whip made Belle shift to a canter. That gave Danny the idea that they were racing. As Belle cantered past, he dipped his head and nipped at her shoulder. Belle gave a high whinny of pain and reared back, pawing at Danny with her front hooves.

“Veronica!” Stevie cried. “Stop them!”

“I can’t!” Veronica screamed, dropping the longe line completely.

Now both horses were out of control. Belle reared up again, trying to hit Danny with her hooves. Danny’s head darted low as he snapped at Belle’s legs. Finally he twisted the longe line and wedged himself sideways behind Belle and started kicking at the paddock fence with his powerful back legs.

“Stop it, Danny! Stop it!” Veronica shrieked. “You’re going to get killed!”

Stevie didn’t know what to do. She knew it was dangerous to get between two angry, out-of-control horses, but if she didn’t do something fast they were both going to get badly hurt. She ran across the paddock and grabbed the longe line that held them together. She unclipped Belle, who raced to the other side of the paddock, and then she put all her weight on Danny’s
line, forcing him to stop kicking and stand on all four legs. Both horses were streaked with sweat, and their ears were slapped back against their skulls.

“Hey, what’s going on here?”

Stevie looked around to see Max leaping over the paddock fence. “Is everything okay?”

“I think it is now,” replied Stevie, breathing hard. She was so scared she was shaking.

“What happened?” Max demanded, scowling with concern.

“Veronica got them going too fast,” gasped Stevie. “Danny thought they were racing and tried to bite Belle. Then she freaked out.”

Max frowned at Stevie, then at Veronica. “Look, girls. I don’t intend to have either of these horses injured over this project. Are you two sure you’re mature enough to handle this?”

“I certainly am.” Veronica picked up the driving whip. “And so is Danny. It’s just Belle. She’s such an obviously inferior horse of mixed breeding.”

“No, she’s not, Veronica,” Max replied sternly. “Belle is an intelligent animal with a lot of heart. Anyway, it’s not the horses I’m worried about. I thought you and Stevie were up to this challenge, but maybe I gave you too much credit.”

“We’re sorry, Max,” Stevie apologized. She glanced at Veronica. “I know we can do this safely. I think we
just need to work on our communication skills a little bit.”

“Are you sure?” Max sounded unconvinced.

Stevie nodded. “Give us one more chance. We’ll do it right. We promise.”

“Okay,” Max said, relenting. “One more chance. But if I hear as much as a whinny from this paddock, the only thing you two are going to be allowed to do at that joint meeting is hand out cookies and lemonade.”

“Yes, sir.” Stevie looked at the ground as her dream of triumph disappeared. This was hopeless. Veronica was going to do everything she could to blow Stevie’s chance at impressing Phil at that meeting. Phil had even been hinting that he was going to do something special for the show, and here was her only big chance to do something even more special, and this idiotic girl was going to spoil it. They would be relegated to handing out cookies with the D-level Pony Clubbers, and it would all be Veronica’s fault. Stevie stood silently with her fists clenched until Max disappeared into the barn. Then she turned to Veronica.

“How dare you imply that my horse has inferior breeding!” Stevie cried. “She’s got Arabian blood, mixed with some Saddlebred, and that makes the best combination in the world. She’s kind, she’s smart, and who would blame her for rearing up when another, bigger bully of a horse tried to bite her? She was just
defending herself! Anyway, Veronica, you wouldn’t know good breeding if it bit you on the nose. If anyone in this paddock suffers from a rotten pedigree, it’s you!”

Stevie glared at Veronica for a moment, waiting for her reply. But instead of pulling herself up into her usual haughty stance, Veronica seemed to sag. She covered her face with both hands and burst into tears, crying as if her heart were breaking.

For a moment Stevie didn’t know what to say. She still felt angry, but she’d never seen Veronica shed a single tear, much less burst into loud sobs. “Veronica?” she finally asked. “What’s going on?”

“You wouldn’t understand,” Veronica sobbed.

“Yes I would,” Stevie said more softly. “Try me.”

“No you wouldn’t.” Veronica gave a loud sniff.

“Yes I would,” Stevie insisted.

“You wouldn’t care, anyway,” Veronica said in a thick voice.

“I might care a lot if you’d tell me.” Stevie took a step toward her.

Veronica looked up and wiped the tears from her eyes. She gave a resigned sigh. “You know that phone call I got yesterday?”

Stevie nodded.

“That was my mother telling me that she had to take our little white poodle, Robespierre, to the vet. He’s only six years old, and he’s got a champion pedigree
and he’s a wonderful dog. The vet thinks it’s serious—he had to stay in the animal hospital last night.” Veronica teared up again. “I’m just so afraid he’s going to die!”

“Oh, Veronica, it’s probably not that bad.” Stevie figured the dog had probably just gotten into the diAngelos’ caviar when they weren’t looking and Veronica was milking it for all it was worth.

“And just a few minutes ago, Dr. Takamura called and said that Robespierre was in a lot of pain, and we need to think about putting him to sleep!” Veronica began to weep again.

“Oh, no,” Stevie said softly. Now she knew Veronica wasn’t kidding. If Doc Tock called and said that, little Robespierre must really be in bad shape. “I’m so sorry, Veronica. Why don’t you go sit on that bale of hay? I’ll get the harness off the horses.”

“Okay.” Veronica said, sniffling.

Stevie unhooked Belle and Danny from their driving tack and tied them to the fence near Veronica. They seemed to have forgotten their fight—both were content to munch on some hay in the paddock, side by side.

Stevie walked over and sat down next to Veronica. She’d stopped crying, but her nose was red and her eyes puffy.

“Are you feeling a little better?” Stevie asked sympathetically.

Veronica nodded. “It always helps to talk to someone. Especially someone who knows about animals. Sometimes I don’t think my parents understand.”

“I know what you mean.” Stevie smiled. “I know my brothers think I’m crazy for loving Belle like I do.”

“Sometimes I think when I’m grown up and have my own money, I’ll buy a lot of horses. You know, mistreated ones, and just let them run around my big farm and have a good time.”

“That would be a great thing to do,” Stevie agreed.

“My father would think I was crazy,” Veronica said. “He thinks I’m crazy to be so upset about Robespierre.”

“It’s always sad when a pet is sick,” Stevie replied. “But Doc Tock is the best vet around. She won’t let Robespierre suffer. And who knows, maybe Robespierre will recover. You never know about these things. It’s important not to lose hope.”

“I know.” Veronica leaned over and gave Stevie a sweet smile. “You’re absolutely right.”

A soft beep echoed through the air. Veronica dug in her pocket and pulled out her cell phone.

“Hello?” she said. Stevie couldn’t help overhearing the call. It was obviously Veronica’s mother, and the subject was Robespierre.

“Great,” said Veronica. “I’ll be out front in ten minutes.” She switched off the phone and smiled again at Stevie. “That was my mother. Dr. Takamura says
Robespierre’s condition has stabilized and he can have visitors. Mom’s going to pick me up and we’re going over there to see him.” Her eyes clouded up again. “I only hope it won’t be for the—the last time.”