Horse Sense by Bonnie Bryant Read Free Book Online Page A

her it was time to get home.
    “I’ve got to go,” she said. “My mom will be expecting me.”
    “Me too,” Estelle told her. “My chauffeur is pickingme up here in a little while. Would you like a ride home?”
    Lisa was tempted. Really tempted. But her house was only a short walk and she really couldn’t wait any longer. “Another time,” she said.
    They paid their check and left TD’s. Lisa set off for home at a quick pace. She’d had such a nice time with Estelle that, for an hour, she’d completely forgotten about Carole and Stevie and how much they had hurt her. She’d forgotten about how much she’d been looking forward to discussing her rules with them. Talking to Estelle was like being swept away in the fantasy land of a wonderful book. Everything about her was so different, and so exciting!
    Lisa’s copy of the Club’s rules was in her tote bag. She hadn’t even taken it out at TD’s because there hadn’t been a meeting.
    But there
had
been, she told herself. She’d called a meeting at TD’s and just because two people hadn’t showed up it didn’t mean there hadn’t been a meeting. There was nothing in the rules that said that everybody had to be there for a meeting. So, she would simply tell Stevie and Carole that the meeting had taken place without them and the rules had been voted into effect. Unanimously.
    After all, that was true, wasn’t it?

T HE NEXT MORNING , Stevie slipped into the locker area of the tack room. She was really tired. After class yesterday, she’d spent about three hours trying to teach Nickel not to shy when he saw the Hula-Hoop twirl. The only thing she accomplished was getting him to shy as soon as he saw the thing, whether it was twirling or not. A Hula-Hoop race was definitely out. Today she’d try something with the baton from her closet. She couldn’t think of any use for the broken umbrella.
    She took off her sneakers and pulled on her riding boots. A lot of the time Stevie liked to ride in jeans and low boots, but in the summer, when she was spending five or six hours a day on horseback, breeches and high boots, though hotter, were a lot more comfortable.The high boots protected her legs from the straps and flaps on the saddle.
    When her boots were on, she tried to shove her shoes and her boot hooks into her cubby, but there was something in it at the back, blocking the way. She leaned over to look into the knee-high nook. She couldn’t see anything, but she also still couldn’t fit her shoes in. It wasn’t until she got down on her hands and knees and peered at the back of the cubby that she saw, crumpled and torn, the papers that Lisa had left for her the other day.
    She reached in and pulled them out. At the top it read:
THE SADDLE CLUB
Rules
    That was when Stevie remembered that Lisa’s note called for a Saddle Club meeting at TD’s. She’d gotten so busy with Nickel that she’d forgotten all about the meeting! She sat on the bench, staring at the papers. There was a dull, empty feeling in her stomach. She’d let her friends down.
    Just then, Carole came into the locker area.
    “Oh, Carole, I’m so sorry about yesterday,” Stevie began, serious for once.
    “What about yesterday?” Carole asked.
    “The Club meeting at TD’s …”
    Carole looked blank for a second, then gasped. “Oh, no!” she said. “I forgot all about it. What happened?”
    “I don’t know,” Stevie said. “That’s what I’m sorry about. I wasn’t there.”
    “You weren’t? I wasn’t either. I went over to the stable with Judy to check on that newborn foal. She was afraid the filly was getting sick, but it turned out she was okay. I looked for you to see if you wanted to come along, but I couldn’t find you.”
    “Yeah, well, I was pretty busy too, planning the gymkhana, but that means we left Lisa out in the cold. Unless maybe she forgot, too.”
    “No way, considering how excited she was about those rules. Boy, I feel like a worm! Let’s see if we