Charlotte and the Starlet Read Free Page A

Sarah-Jane.
    'Aaaaa!' yelped Leila to herself. She hated that. It
hurt. And after all, she knew she was supposed to
gallop as soon as the board clapped.

    Leila galloped hard towards the low hedge she was
meant to jump. She could see one truck shooting in front
of her and knew there would be one behind. Good.
    'Move it, Leila,' Sarah-Jane yelled in that irritating
high-pitched voice of hers, digging her heels in again.
    I'll move it all right, you freckled freak, thought
Leila. As she approached the hedge, she suddenly
broke right and charged directly at a big oak tree with
heavy, low branches. On her back she could feel
Sarah-Jane fighting for control.
    Time for the kid to 'branch' out. Leila drove Sarah-Jane
into the lowest branch.
    She heard the impact of Sarah-Jane's helmet on the
wood, and felt the sudden weightlessness as she
tumbled off. Like the good horse she pretended to be,
Leila came to an immediate halt. She turned and
smiled, watching Sarah-Jane lying there, moaning.
That would teach her to dig her heels in.
    'People say it's hard to lose weight,' Leila tittered to
herself. 'Nothing to it.'
    The truck had stopped and Tommy and his crew
had jumped out.
    'Did you get the shot of her hitting the branch?'
asked Tommy of his cameraman in a careful whisper.
    'You bet,' came the reply.
    Tommy could feel things going his way. That was
going to look great on the big screen. And that
moment when she hit the branch, that was one of the
most satisfying in his whole life. There was justice in
the world. He ran for Sarah-Jane, sounding solicitous.
    'Sarah-Jane, are you okay?'
    'No, I'm not okay. That dumb nag just ran right off
course.'
    With a degree of satisfaction, Leila looked over at
Sarah-Jane shouting and throwing a tantrum. Good,
Tommy wouldn't like that. Plenty of other freckle-faced
kids waiting in the wings.

    Leila would not have been so happy had she known
that, at that moment, watching her from a distance
were two men who saw in Leila not a beautiful bay
filly but a large bundle of cash. One of the men was
big and fat. He didn't wash very often and he rarely
shaved so that his face resembled flypaper covered in
dead flies. His name was Ralph. Right now, he was
eating his third chocolate bar of the day. His friend
was skinny with a face like a weasel. This was Bobby.
    'You sure this is gonna work?' asked Bobby. He had
known Ralph for a long time and while Ralph always
had great ideas for easy money, they usually backfired.
Like the time they were going to steal money from a
vending machine. Bobby got his hand stuck in the coin
slot and they had to get the fire brigade to cut it out.
Then the police fined them and they had to pay for a
new vending machine as well. But Ralph had no doubts
about his new scheme. He tossed down the chocolate
wrapper and wiped his sticky fingers on Bobby's shirt.
    'Course this is gonna work. That horse is worth
twenty million bucks to Joel Gold. You think he won't
pay at least a couple of million to get her back?'
    Bobby didn't answer right then as two paramedics
walked past, carrying Sarah-Jane on a stretcher. She
was screaming at them. 'Keep it level, you bozos,
you're making me nauseous.'
    Tommy Tempest was following his young star. He
looked over to Ralph, who he knew as the plumber
who supplied the requirements on location. 'You get
the shower rigged yet?'
    Ralph nodded. 'Yes, Mr Tempest, all done.'
    When they were alone again Ralph whispered to
his confederate. 'Just make sure, no slip-ups.'
    Bobby hated the way Ralph acted as if he was
hopeless. 'I told you, I got it all figured out.'

Chapter 3
    Feathers was dozing on his perch, dreaming of a faroff
land where there were other pink and grey birds
like him circling in the sky, squawking merrily. A
particularly attractive female cockatoo was giving him
the eye and now he was flying up to her, showing off,
looping the loop and flying upside down. He could
see she was impressed ... then CRACK! Heck,
somebody was taking shots at