Gift Horse (4 page)

“I guess that could have happened,” Carole said. “No-Name was one of a group of horses that Mr. Baker bought, right, Stevie?”

“Right,” Stevie agreed. She put down her spoon, her face turning white. She had been dismissing the girl’s claims as totally ridiculous. But now her friends seemed to be coming up with a lot of possible explanations that could mean they were true. “But that kind of thing probably doesn’t happen very often,” she said.

“I’m sure you’re right about that. And it’s not like No-Name is a Thoroughbred with a lip tattoo that can be
easily checked,” Lisa pointed out. “It could be hard to figure out if she’s really that girl’s horse. I mean, even if it were the same kind of situation.”

“Which we definitely don’t know that it is,” Carole added, hoping to make Stevie feel better. “It seems pretty farfetched.”

Stevie shook her head. “Even if it is, and even if No-Name is the right horse, there’s no way I’d sell her back to that girl,” she declared. “No way at all. No-Name is
my
horse, and that’s that. End of story.”

Before the others could answer, the little bell above the door tinkled and Veronica walked into the restaurant. She spotted them immediately and came over to the booth. “Hi there, teammates,” she said. “Pretty good rally today, huh?”

“It sure was,” Carole replied. She noticed that Veronica’s brown hair had some new lighter streaks in it that hadn’t been there earlier that day. “Did you just come from the hairdresser?” she guessed.

“Yes,” Veronica confirmed, running a hand through her hair. “I figured I’d get some highlights to celebrate our near-victory. It was expensive, but I think it was worth it, don’t you?”

“Sure,” Carole said. She exchanged a furtive smile with her friends. So that was where Veronica had disappeared to after the rally when everybody else was at Pine Hollow working hard. It was just one more sign that Veronica hadn’t changed her personality completely.

Veronica gestured at the seat beside Stevie. “Mind if I join you?” She didn’t wait for an answer before sitting down—which was a good thing, because the other three girls were speechless with surprise. No matter how nice Veronica had been acting lately, none of them could believe that she would actually want to hang out with them outside the stable.

“So, what were you talking about?” Veronica asked, looking around the table.

“Um, not much,” Stevie replied evasively.

Lisa could tell that her friend didn’t want to share the real topic of their conversation with Veronica. She jumped to the rescue. “We were just talking about—about buying and selling horses,” she explained quickly.

Veronica’s face fell. She gulped and looked down at the table. “Oh,” she said quietly, her eyes suddenly welling up with tears.

“What’s the matter, Veronica?” Carole asked, astonished at the other girl’s reaction. She couldn’t imagine what had upset Veronica so much so quickly.

“Well,” Veronica began. She gulped again and swiped at her eyes with her hand. “It’s just, you know, Garnet and all—” She shrugged.

“What about Garnet?” Lisa prodded gently.

“It would just be really, well—it would hurt a lot to give up Garnet,” Veronica said softly.

The others traded surprised glances. “Who says you have to give up Garnet?” Stevie asked.

But Veronica didn’t answer. “I’ve got to go,” she said, jumping up from the table. “I’ve got to, uh, catch the bus. I see it outside.” She ran for the door.

The Saddle Club watched her go in surprised silence. Then Stevie found her voice. “You know what I said before about
Invasion of the Body Snatchers
? I take it back,” she said. “Veronica is definitely possessed.”

“I know what you mean,” Carole said. “She really seemed upset at the thought of losing Garnet. I didn’t know she could care about anything that much. Other than herself, I mean.”

“Well, I didn’t know she even knew what a public bus was, let alone that she’d ever consider taking one,” Stevie said. “I doubt she’s set foot on one in her whole life.”

Lisa nodded. “This must mean that the rumors about the diAngelos’ financial problems are true,” she pointed out. “Why else would Veronica have to get rid of Garnet? Her parents must be talking about selling her.”

“Well, that would definitely explain her reaction,” Carole said. “I can’t say I approve of the way Veronica takes care of Garnet—”

“Doesn’t
take care of her, you mean,” Stevie interrupted.

“Exactly.” Carole nodded. “Still, it would be tough on anyone to have to sell their horse.”

“Anybody human, you mean,” Stevie corrected. “I’m not sure Veronica qualifies.”

“It’s true,” Lisa said. “Even though she’s been ten times better lately, helping on the team and all, I still can’t help remembering all the rotten things she’s said and done up until now.”

“I know what you both mean,” Carole said. “But just now I really had the feeling she cared—a
lot
—about keeping Garnet. And I don’t think it was just because she’s the most expensive horse in the stable, either.” She shook her head. “I think we need to give your body-snatcher theory some serious thought, Stevie.”

The girls finished their ice cream in silence, doing just that.

A
FTER RIDING CLASS
the following Tuesday, Stevie, Carole, Lisa, and Veronica remained in the ring. They had arranged with Max to use the ring to practice their mounted games skills. Stevie still hadn’t forgotten about Horse Wise’s loss to Cross County at Saturday’s rally. She was determined not to let the same thing happen at the rematch, and had gotten her teammates to agree to work extra hard to prepare for the event.

“Okay, what should we do first?” Lisa said when the rest of the class had left the ring.

Stevie thought for a second. “Well, we have no way of knowing exactly what games they’ll throw at us on Saturday,” she mused. “So I guess we should brush up on everything we possibly can before then so we’ll be prepared for anything.”

“Good idea,” Carole said. “How about starting with the water race? Starlight and I had some trouble with that one the last time we tried it.”

“Sounds good to me,” Stevie said. “Let’s get set up.”

“I’ll go get the water,” Veronica volunteered. She dismounted, handing Garnet’s reins to Carole, and hurried inside. A moment later she returned carrying a bucket, which she filled at the outside spigot near the door. Then she set the bucket, now brimming with water, on the barrel that Lisa had just dragged into the ring.

Veronica and Lisa remounted, and all four girls gathered on the far side of the ring.

“Ready?” Stevie asked. The others nodded. “Okay, I’ll go first.” She urged No-Name forward. The goal of this event was to race up to the bucket, pick it up, and ride back to the finish line without spilling any of the water. The first rider then handed the bucket to the second rider, who had to ride back and return it to the barrel. Then she rode back and the third rider started, and so on.

The mare’s ears perked forward. She seemed to understand exactly what Stevie wanted. She cantered up to the barrel and came to a dead halt directly in front of it. Then she reached forward—and took a drink of water from the bucket.

“Hey!” Stevie exclaimed, surprised. A second later she started to laugh. When No-Name had slaked her thirst, Stevie picked up the lightened bucket and rode back at a
trot to rejoin the others, who were doubled over with laughter. Stevie handed the bucket to Lisa. “Here you go,” Stevie said, deadpan. “We didn’t spill any.”

That made the other girls laugh even harder, because Stevie was absolutely right. Still, they had a feeling the judges at the rally might not agree with the interpretation!

After that, the practice proceeded smoothly. All four riders did as well as they’d ever done at all the games. Stevie and No-Name, especially, were unbeatable. The mare seemed to understand all the games—and more than that, to enjoy them. When Stevie was putting on a jacket to simulate a costume for the costume relay, No-Name actually grabbed at the jacket with her mouth as if helping Stevie pull it on. In another horse, Stevie would have worried about encouraging nipping by letting her do it. But in No-Name it was clearly part of the spirit of the game. She just wanted to help. Stevie was bursting with pride in her horse by the time they decided to call it quits.

“Good practice, everyone,” Carole declared as they headed inside.

“Absolutely,” Veronica agreed cheerfully. “We’re a shoo-in to win on Saturday.” She glanced at her watch. “Whoops, I’d better hurry. My mother is picking me up in fifteen minutes.”

Stevie, Carole, and Lisa glanced at one another. If Veronica was in a hurry, that meant she’d have to move quickly to take care of Garnet. And for Veronica, that
usually meant moving quickly to wherever Red was and demanding that he take care of the horse for her.

But Veronica was still full of surprises. She managed to untack and groom Garnet, and even carry her tack to the tack room, before her mother arrived.

“See you guys tomorrow,” Veronica called as she climbed into her mother’s Mercedes. “And I’ll try to remember to bring along a lid for that bucket so No-Name can’t cheat again!”

The others laughed and waved. As the car pulled away, they walked back into the stable to clean their tack.

Carole shook her head. “Did you guys ever think we’d be joking around with Veronica diAngelo?” she asked.

“No way,” Stevie replied. “Veronica almost seems human.”

Lisa glanced around as they entered the tack room. Her gaze fell on a sweat-stained saddle that had been dropped carelessly onto its rack. “Well, don’t get too excited about it yet,” she said dryly. “She still isn’t human enough to clean her own tack.”

A
HALF HOUR
later Stevie was walking home through the fields beside the road, whistling cheerfully. She was pleased with the way the practice had gone, and especially about No-Name’s part in it. Stevie had given her horse an extra ration of carrots to reward her for her trick in the water
race. One of the things Stevie loved most about No-Name was the horse’s sense of humor. But then again, there really wasn’t anything much about the mare that Stevie
didn’t
love.

The fact that Veronica had continued to act like a normal person, even joking around with them, made Stevie feel even better. Stevie wondered if Mr. diAngelo’s downfall was going to mean a permanent improvement in his daughter’s personality. What a thought!

Stevie was still whistling as she reached her house. It was almost dinnertime, so she hurried upstairs for a quick shower, arriving back in the kitchen just as the rest of the family was sitting down around the table. Everyone looked up as she entered.

“Sorry I’m late,” she said, sliding into her seat. She waited for some kind of rude comment from one of her brothers, but none of them said a thing. That was strange. Usually the three boys couldn’t stop teasing her when Pine Hollow made her late for dinner. In fact, usually they couldn’t stop teasing her at all.

Stevie glanced around. Her three brothers stared back at her solemnly. Stevie couldn’t read their expressions. “What’s wrong with everybody?” she demanded.

Her father cleared his throat. Stevie looked at him. “Well, Stevie,” Mr. Lake began. He cleared his throat again. “We received a letter today—”

“Oh, is that what this is about?” Stevie interrupted before
he could go any further. She took a deep breath. “I had a feeling my gym teacher would tell you. But you have to hear my side of the story. See, I only made that red inkstain on my gym uniform so I wouldn’t have to do Modern Dance. I hoped she’d think I was bleeding from a serious cut and let me out. And you have to admit, Modern Dance is hardly the kind of thing we should be doing in gym class. It’s not like playing softball or basketball or …”

Stevie’s voice trailed off. Judging by the puzzled looks on her parents’ faces, she had a sudden sinking feeling that that wasn’t what they were going to say at all.

She swallowed hard. “What were you going to say, Dad?”

Her father glanced at Mrs. Lake before continuing. “Actually, Stevie, the letter is from a Mr. Anthony Webber. His daughter, Chelsea, is the owner of a bay mare, half Arabian and half Saddlebred, with uneven socks, long on the left, short on the right, and a stripe and a snip that resemble an upside-down exclamation point. The horse is named Punctuation for the exclamation point—Punk for short.”

Stevie gasped. As hard as she had tried since the rally to forget about the blond girl, she hadn’t quite been able to put the girl’s outrageous claim out of her mind. Now every bit of worry she’d felt over the past few days came rushing
back at once. How could this be happening? What did it mean?

With an almost superhuman effort, she managed to remain quiet and wait for her father to continue.

Mr. Lake had slipped into his lawyer voice by this time. “Several months ago,” he continued, “Punk was stolen from the Webbers’ barn. The family offered a thousand-dollar reward for anyone supplying information leading to the recovery of the mare, but no one came forward. Then, at the rally, Chelsea spotted No-Name. You, Stevie, appear to be the new owner of a horse who very much resembles Chelsea’s Punk.”