Horseshoe by Bonnie Bryant Read Free Book Online

Horseshoe. What’s better luck than the Pine Hollow horseshoe?” She grinned at her friends.
    “I like it,” Carole said slowly. “I really like it!”
    Stevie nodded. “Me too. You know, Chad’s got anold tent from Boy Scouts that we could use for the booth. We can get some silver stars and whaddyacallems—zodiac signs—and decorate the outside.”
    “And a giant horseshoe,” said Lisa. “And a sign.”
    “I’ve got this great purple scarf that looks just like a Gypsy scarf,” Carole said. “And I think my mom had some big dangling hoop earrings—like people wore in the seventies. They’d be perfect!”
    “And my dad has a paperweight in his office that looks just like a crystal ball,” said Stevie. “I’m sure he won’t care if we use it—especially if we don’t tell him about it until after we’re done.”
    “What else do fortune-tellers do?” asked Carole.
    “They read tea leaves. We could get some tea,” suggested Lisa. “Not instant, or the stuff in bags—it needs to be loose tea, like I had in England. You get clumps of leaves left over in your cup, and you swirl them around—the swirls are supposed to mean something.”
    “Like what?” asked Stevie.
    “Oh, I don’t know,” Lisa replied impatiently. “It doesn’t matter.”
    “We could get some books and try to find out. There must be books somewhere that explain this stuff.” Carole looked thoughtful.
    “Not on your life,” replied Stevie. “Between gettingBelle ready for the drill and getting all of this Gypsy stuff together, I’m going to have quite enough to do this week. I certainly won’t have time to go to the library.”
    “Anyway,” interjected Lisa before Carole could begin to argue, “if we needed any sort of books, they’d be on acting, not on fortune-telling. Everyone knows that fortune-telling is just for fun. What we need to do is make our fortunes sound believable, so everyone feels satisfied and we draw a big crowd. The important thing is raising money for CARL.”
    Carole thought about this. “We’ll need cards,” she said finally.
    “You mean tarot cards?” asked Lisa.
    Carole grinned. “It doesn’t matter,” she said, “since none of us can read them anyway.”

“O HH - HH , M ICHAEL ! I didn’t know I was going to be lucky enough to see you today! Have you joined my riding class?”
    There were times, Lisa thought disgustedly, when Veronica diAngelo positively purred. She watched Veronica sidle Garnet up to Michael Grant’s side. Across the ring, Stevie took one hand from the reins and made gagging motions. Lisa nodded and made Delilah trot across the ring, away from the revolting pair.
    As she passed them she could hear Michael say in a perfectly ordinary tone, “No, I haven’t joined your class. This is an extra Horse Wise practice.”
    “You mean you’re doing that stupid drill—I mean, you’re practicing your drill exercise?” Veronica asked him, fluttering her eyelashes alluringly.
    “Looks like she’s got a twitch,” Stevie said to Lisa.
    “Well!” Everyone could hear Veronica’s reply to Michael’s murmured assent. “I’m not sure why I wasn’t told! After all, this is supposed to be my riding lesson!”
    Lisa knew exactly why Veronica hadn’t been told—because of her earlier tantrum, she’d left Horse Wise too soon to hear Max announce the extra drill practice. Max, however, was conciliatory.
    “I should have called to tell you the schedule changed,” he said to Veronica. “Since you’re already in the saddle, why don’t you just ride around the ring? You know the drill well enough to stay out of everyone’s way. Afterward, I’ll set up some cavalletti for you and Garnet to work through.”
    That, thought Lisa, was more than fair. Veronica, however, didn’t seem to agree. With her nose held high, she began riding Garnet in circles around the ring—regardless of where the other Pony Clubbers were riding.
    “Hey!” shouted May, pulling Macaroni to a