Show Judge by Bonnie Bryant Read Free Book Online

suddenly occurred to her that they weren’twhere she had left them. She had put them in her cubby. With growing concern she quickly thumbed through the papers. Something was wrong. She was almost certain that someone had been going through them.
Why would someone do such a thing?
Carole wondered. An even better question was:
Who
would do such a thing?

S TEVIE ARRIVED AT Pine Hollow on Sunday morning, running behind schedule as usual. She spotted Carole standing in the stable yard, clipboard in hand. Even though there was no official class scheduled, young riders were hustling here and there, trying to get in as much training time as possible. Stevie hurried over, attempting to retuck her shirt as she went. “Hi, Carole. Have you seen Corey around?”
    “A little late, aren’t you?” Carole said, scribbling something in her notebook.
    Stevie felt a twinge of resentment as she watched Carole write. “A little,” she admitted reluctantly, “but the good news is I think we’ve figured out a present for my parents.”
    Carole looked up. “Excellent. What did you decide on?”
    Before she could answer, Stevie spotted Corey coming out of the stable, looking a little forlorn. “We’ll talk later,” she said, rushing off to help Corey before Carole could make any more notes.
    Corey’s face flooded with relief. “Stevie! I thought maybe I got the time wrong.”
    Stevie felt a little guilty. “No, it’s my fault,” she apologized. “How’s Samurai coming?”
    “I think he’s ready to be saddled, but I wanted you to check to make sure I groomed him right first.”
    “Let’s go look him over,” Stevie said, cheerfully putting an arm around her charge. “Then I think we’ll start with some ground work in the indoor ring.”
    It was almost an hour later before Stevie felt she could leave Corey to practice on her own. She spotted Lisa and Carole over by the outdoor ring and hurried to join them. “Good news, guys.”
    “I hear you’ve solved your problem,” Lisa said. “What did you and your brothers decide on?”
    “And how did you all ever manage to agree on
any
thing?” Carole teased.
    “I think the pizza did the trick,” Stevie said, grinning.
    “I’m sure they never saw that coming,” laughed Lisa.
    “Anyway, after we ate we were wandering around the mall when Michael started complaining about having to get dressed up for all the pictures Mom and Dad would want to take that day, and that did it!” Stevie snapped her fingers. “We’re going to buy them a camera. A digital camera!”
    “Oh, wow! I’ve seen those things demonstrated at the store,” cooed Lisa. “They’re amazing.”
    “The way your parents love to document every moment of your lives, I’m surprised they haven’t bought one for themselves before now,” Carole said, nodding approvingly. “Congratulations, Stevie. It really is the perfect present.”
    “I didn’t realize you and your brothers had that kind of money saved up,” Lisa said.
    Stevie shrugged. “Apparently they’re not that expensive.”
    Lisa looked surprised. “You don’t think three hundred dollars is expensive?”
    Stevie was puzzled. “Who said anything about three hundred dollars? Chad said it would be around eighty.”
    Carole put her hand on Stevie’s shoulder. “I think he meant apiece. Eighty from each of you would come to around three hundred dollars.”
    Stevie went pale, then red. “Where does he think I’m going to get that kind of money? He may have thatkind of cash, but Alex, Michael, and I sure don’t!” she fumed.
    “What are you going to do?” Lisa asked sympathetically.
    “I’m going to the office to make a phone call,” she answered grimly.
    “Mrs. Reg won’t let you use that phone, Stevie. It’s only for emergencies.”
    “This
is
an emergency!” Stevie declared, striding away.
    L ISA ’ S EYES WERE drawn back to the ring, where Jasmine was working over four cavalletti set at their lowest level. The idea was for the