Horse-Sitters by Bonnie Bryant Read Free Book Online

now, but they’re all supposed to stop in later to pick up their new lesson schedules. I wouldn’t want anyone fainting on me—you know how funny some people can be about lizards. But I suppose it would be all right to stick him in the empty stall on the end of the row. Nobody’s likely to look in there in the next few hours.”
    “Thanks, Mrs. Reg,” Lisa said. She picked up the cage, groaning under its weight. “We’ll make sure he isn’t there long.”
    She and Carole stowed the cage in the empty stall and then hurried back to Honeybee. Working together, they managed to have the old mare gleaming in a matter of minutes. It wasn’t easy—Honeybee insisted on nipping at every new piece of equipment the girls pulled out of her grooming bucket. Luckily, however, she seemed to have grown tired of nipping at the girls themselves.
    When Eugenia returned, even she had to admit that the girls had done a fine job. “Just see that she gets this kind of care every time,” she warned. “Not just when you know I’m coming to check up on you.”
    “Of course,” Lisa said politely. “We wouldn’t dream of shirking our duties.”
    Carole was glad Lisa had spoken up, since she was sure her own response to the old woman’s rudeness would have been much different. For one thing, she didn’t even know what“shirking” meant. But in any case, she was distracted by the sight of Stevie hurrying across the aisle toward the locker room. Stevie glanced down the aisle and caught sight of her friends, but she just gave them a quick wave and kept going.
    “Stevie’s finally here,” Carole whispered to Lisa as Eugenia, with some huffing and puffing, started lifting each of Honeybee’s thick hooves to make sure they were clean.
    “It’s about time,” Lisa muttered back. “Since she missed out on all this fun”—she nodded toward Eugenia, who had her back to them—“I figure she owes us one. So I think it should be up to her to figure out a home for our new friend Mr. Munch.”
    Carole nodded, forcing her face into a smile as Eugenia turned toward them again. “I couldn’t agree with you more.”

“I THINK S TEVIE ’ S off the hook,” Carole told Lisa a few minutes later as the girls led Honeybee toward the back paddock.
    “What do you mean?” Lisa asked, yanking the lead rope out from between the mare’s teeth. She opened the paddock gate and the mare wandered through it.
    “I mean, I figured out the solution to the iguana problem,” Carole replied, latching the gate behind Honeybee. “We’ll keep him right here.”
    “At Pine Hollow?” Lisa asked. “But where? I seriously doubt Mrs. Reg is going to want him in her office all week. And he can’t stay in that empty stall. He’ll be in the way.”
    “I thought of a better place. Right over there,” Carole said, nodding toward a small shed on the far side of the paddock.
    “The garden shed?” Lisa asked. The garden shed was where Max kept the equipment he and Red used to care for the stable grounds. It was full of rakes, hoes, grass seed, and all sorts of other things. It was just large enough for all that and the riding mower Red used to mow the lawns and empty fields. Slowly a smile spread across her face. “It’s brilliant! It’s close enough for us to get to easily—”
    “But enough out of the way so nobody else is likely to see him,” Carole finished. “We’ll just have to warn Red in case he decides to mow the lawn or something.”
    “It’s a great idea,” Lisa said. “I just hope Max goes for it. He’s been so unpredictable lately. I wonder if he’s back from his shopping trip yet.”
    “Maybe we should ask Mrs. Reg instead,” Carole said.
    Lisa shrugged. “She’s sure to check with him about something like that,” she pointed out. “We might as well just ask him ourselves. Or rather,” she said, grinning, “
Stevie
might as well ask him herself. She owes us one, remember?”
    The girls left Honeybee nibbling at the grass