Nightmare by Bonnie Bryant Read Free Book Online

wasn’t really in a hurry (except for not wanting to get embroiled in the “brown pony” melee with Red). She could sit in Mrs. Reg’s office for a few minutes and see if either Max or Mrs. Reg came by and had a few minutes for her.
    Carole went into the office and picked a book from the reading shelf. It was
A Horse Around the House
by Patricia Jacobson and Marcia Hayes, and it was the most useful general reference book about horses and horse care that Carole knew. She flipped it open randomly and began reading. It didn’t matter what section she’d opened to; she’d learn something useful. This time she found herself learning something she hadn’t known about braiding.
    She was reminding herself how to sew mane braids to keep them tidy when the phone rang, startling her. It didn’t surprise her that she’d gotten so deeply into what she was reading that she’d lost all track of where she was, to the point that the phone made her jump. After all, she’d been reading about horses!
    She ignored the phone for two rings. Pine Hollow had strict rules about who was supposed to answer the phone. Number one was Mrs. Reg. It was her phone and her job to answer it. But it wasn’t ringing in the field or the paddock where Carole knew Mrs. Reg was with Mr. Terban.
    Number two was Max. Max was in the schooling ring with Mrs. Johnson. He would have no idea that the phone was ringing at all, nor would he consider leaving a student, even a good one like Mrs. Johnson, for a minute to do something as mundane as answer the telephone.
    That left Red—now probably totally tangled in the reins of three sets of tack, trying to get the ponies ready before three little girls killed one another.
    And then there was Carole. She was in the office, she wasn’t busy, and she knew she could be responsible. She picked up the phone on its fourth ring.
    “Pine Hollow Stables, this is Carole Hanson speaking,” she said, trying to sound adult and professional.
    “Uh, this is Elaine Thomas from Hedgerow,” the woman began. She seemed a little upset.
    “Oh, I was just visiting Delilah,” Carole said, glad of the opportunity to thank Mrs. Thomas for taking good care of the horse during her stay. “She seems just great. She got back here safe and sound. I can’t wait until we learn if she’s carrying a foal. I’m just sure—”
    “No, hold on. That’s not what I’m calling about.”
    “I’m sorry,” Carole said. She picked up a pencil and a clean pad of paper so that she could take a message. She promised herself to write neatly. She wanted to be sure the message was complete and legible.
    “It’s about King Perry,” said Mrs. Thomas. Carole wrote
King Perry
on the pad.
    “Isn’t that the stallion that Delilah was mated to?” she asked.
    “Yes,” said Mrs. Thomas. “But … But—”
    “He’s okay, isn’t he?” Carole asked.
    “No,” said Mrs. Thomas. “He’s dead.”
    “Dead?” Carole wrote the word on the pad as she spoke, but it looked odd to her. How could the stallion that had so recently been mated with Delilah be dead? “Was there an accident or something?” she asked, though she thought it was a dumb question. Of course there had been. How awful it must have been!
    “No,” said Mrs. Thomas. “He was sick. The vet was just here. She says it was swamp fever. Tell Mrs. Reg to call me, will you?”
    “Sure,” Carole said. The phone went dead in her hand. She hung up, made a note on the pad that Mrs. Reg should call Mrs. Thomas, and then scratched her head as she often did when she was trying to remember something.
    Swamp fever.
It didn’t sound good, but there were so many fevers and infections horses could get that she couldn’t always remember which was which. She turned to the book she’d been reading, checked the index, and opened to the section on infectious diseases.
    There it was—
swamp fever.
Her eyes scanned the page, and then she gasped.
Swamp fever
was the common name of a disease