Horse Power by Bonnie Bryant Read Free Book Online

love that movie,” Carole said.
    “Me, too,” Stevie agreed. “Do we have time to make popcorn?”
    “There’s always time for popcorn,” Carole assured her, heading for the kitchen. “You go and turn on the TV. I’ll be there in a minute.”

    “O H , THAT POOR monster,” Carole wailed two hours later, wiping tears from her cheeks. “Can you imagine? Why couldn’t they just leave him alone? How can people be so cruel to animals? Weren’t there any animal-rights people around?” she demanded.
    “It really is awful what people can do sometimes, isn’t it?” Lisa joined in while she and Carole tidied up the kitchen, putting their bowls and glasses in the dishwasher.
    “You guys!” Stevie chimed in from the den, where she was replacing the pillows and picking up stray pieces of popcorn. “It’s only a movie!”
    “I know it’s only a movie,” Carole said, calming down. “But it reminds me how people sometimes just use animals without remembering that they have minds and feelings, too.”
    “Maybe when you grow up, instead of owning a horse farm, you’ll be an animal-rights activist,” Lisa suggested.
    “Maybe I’ll be an animal-rights activist in
addition
to owning a horse farm,” Carole countered, leading Lisa to the stairs.
    “And in addition to being a vet? And a trainer?” Stevie asked, meeting them at the landing.
    “I don’t think I’m ready to make up my mind,” Carole said. “I just know I want to be with horses. That’s as far as I’ve gotten. What about you guys? You going to be a beautician?” she asked Stevie with a grin.
    “We’ll see about that,” Lisa said, patting the curlers to see if her hair was dry. It was. “Do your thing!” she said to Stevie.
    Carole hauled the sleeping bags out of the closet and arranged them on the floor while Stevie prepared to comb out Lisa’s light brown hair. When the sleeping bags were laid out, Carole perched on the edge of her bed to watch the unveiling. Carefully, Stevie unrolled each curler, figuring Lisa’s hair would wave gently to her shoulders, but that wasn’t what happened at all. As each curler was removed, the hair bounced right back into a tight curl, as if the curler were still there.
    “Is this okay?” Lisa asked dubiously.
    “Oh, sure,” Stevie said, but the look on her face showed concern. When the final curler was removed, she took Lisa’s hairbrush and began smoothing out the curls. Each time she brushed through Lisa’s hair, the curls rewound into their coils.
    “I’m getting a bad feeling about this,” Lisa said. “This isn’t what you had in mind, was it?”
    Stevie was doing everything she could to keep a straight face, brushing more and more vigorously at the tight curls, but when it became clear that it wasn’t going to work—that Lisa’s hair was determined to stay tightly coiled—she could contain it no longer. She simply exploded into giggles.
    For a second, Carole was afraid Lisa was going to be angry with Stevie, but looking at herself in the mirror, Lisa quickly joined Stevie. While she laughed, shebounced her head up and down, watching each curl behave like a Slinky.
    “It’s just not me,” she said between giggles.
    “It’s certainly
different
,” Carole said, joining in the laughter. “Maybe if you sleep on it—” she suggested.
    “I think I’ll wet it down first,” Lisa said. “And, the whole time I’m wetting it down, I’m going to be thankful I
didn’t
let you frost it!”
    “Me, too,” Stevie said, giggles subsiding. “Want me to help you wet it?”
    Lisa gave her a sidelong glance. “No thanks!” she said airily, heading for the bathroom. That got Carole and Stevie laughing again.
    By the time Lisa returned, wet-headed and straight-haired, Carole and Stevie were climbing into their sleeping bags. Lisa retreated to hers, a dry towel on the pillow to protect it from the dampness of her hair. Carole turned out the light and the girls settled in for some serious