Dream Horse Read Free

okay, really,” Stevie said, pushing herself to a sitting position.
    “Here, I’ll help you up,” Lisa offered. Stevie took her hand.
    “Boy, I can’t believe Veronica would be so incredibly stupid as to cause an accident like this!” Lisa snapped. “Every time I think she’s reached the limit, she finds another limit to reach!”
    A genuine look of puzzlement crossed Stevie’s face. “Veronica? What’s she got to do with this? How could a nice girl like Veronica cause something like this to happen?”
    Lisa and Carole looked at one another.
    “Call a doctor,” said Lisa.
    “No, call an ambulance,” said Carole.
    “I already did,” said Deborah, tucking her cellular telephone back into her pocket.

“L OOK , HERE IT IS ,” Lisa said, flipping open her mother’s family medical encyclopedia.
Concussion
. That was the word the emergency medical technicians had used as they’d put Stevie into the ambulance at Pine Hollow.
    Deborah had been allowed to ride with Stevie to the hospital. Lisa and Carole had to stay behind. They’d used the time well. First, they’d untacked Belle, groomed her, and put her back in her stall. Then they’d hurried over to Lisa’s house, where they knew they would get word on their friend. Waiting for phone calls was hard. Lisa had suggested doing some research. “Not that wedon’t trust the doctors,” she had said. “But we know Stevie better than they do.”
    Carole had agreed. It had only taken them a few minutes to locate the encyclopedia and look up
concussion
.
    “It says here a concussion results from impact to the head,” Lisa read, her finger running down the column of fine print.
    “Check,” Carole said. “She definitely had an impact to her head.”
    “There’s usually a headache,” Lisa read.
    “Check,” said Carole, recalling how Stevie’s hand had flown up to massage her sore head when she awoke.
    “And sometimes loss of consciousness and memory,” Lisa concluded.
    “Double check,” said Carole. “I can’t believe she didn’t remember Veronica’s part in the accident.”
    “Even if she didn’t remember it, how weird was it that she called Veronica ‘a nice girl’? I mean, that isn’t memory loss—it’s a change of personality!”
    “Does it say anything about that?” Carole asked.
    Lisa finished scanning the entry in the encyclopedia. “Not a word,” she said. She closed the book and was returning it to the bookshelf when the phone rang.
    Carole answered it. “It’s Chad,” she said to Lisa. Chad was Stevie’s older brother. Carole turned her attentionback to the phone. “It’s definitely a concussion,” Carole reported. “Doctor says it isn’t too serious. She’ll stay overnight in the hospital to be on the safe side.”
    “Can we visit?” Lisa asked. Carole relayed the question.
    “Sure,” Chad said. “But the doctor doesn’t want anyone to stay too long. She’s supposed to get rest.”
    “Okay,” Carole agreed. “That makes sense. Is there anything she needs, anything we can do for her?”
    “As a matter of fact, there is,” Chad said. “She wanted me to ask you to call Phil and let him know. I told her I’d be glad to call him. For some reason, I don’t think she trusted me to do it.”
    “Do you think that might have something to do with the time you told Phil the family couldn’t wait until the two of them got married so you could have Stevie’s room?” Carole asked.
    “It was just a suggestion,” Chad protested.
    “As I recall, Stevie didn’t think it showed good judgment,” Carole reminded him. Stevie’s actual reaction had been somewhat stronger than that. She’d talked seriously to her parents about putting Chad up for adoption.
    “Yeah, right. But anyway, can you guys call Phil?”
    “Glad to,” said Carole. “And thanks for letting us know she’s okay.”
    A few minutes later, Lisa had Phil on the telephone and told him what had happened.
    “I’ll get to the hospital in about an