Horse Trouble Read Free Page B

Stevie and Carole outside Pine Hollow. Without a word, the three girls entered together and walked straight to Mrs. Reg’s office. If they had to face the music, they wanted to get it over with and they wanted to do it together.
    Mrs. Reg’s office was still dark. The desk was still as neat as a pin. There was nobody there.
    “What are you looking for?” Max asked. There was a slight edge to his voice.
    “Where’s Mrs. Reg?” Lisa asked.
    “She’s gone for the week,” he said. “She had to go visit a sick friend who called her yesterday afternoon. She won’t be back until Friday, and there are a zillion and one things she left me to do. This is a very busy week—I’m training a new horse for one of my show riders who expects a perfect mount by Friday—and now I have to manage the stable as well. Never mindthat there’s a new class beginning and I don’t know what else. Mother said something about a list of things that have to get done. I don’t know how I’ll ever—”
    The phone rang. Max picked it up. He barely said a word, but as soon as he hung up, he dashed back out the door.
    “This is our chance, girls,” Stevie said.
    “Chance?” Lisa echoed. “What do you mean? You think this gives us a four-day head start on running out of the country?”
    “No,” Stevie said. “It gives us a four-day head start on finishing what we started last night. We’re going to run Pine Hollow for Max this week while Mrs. Reg is gone. Don’t you see? It’s going to be the perfect opportunity for the three of us to be everywhere, look everywhere, do everything. If that pin is here, anywhere, we’re going to find it.”
    “And if we don’t?” Carole asked.
    Stevie shrugged. “Well, then, we will have spent the week earning dozens and dozens of brownie points. How could Max and Mrs. Reg want to kill us when we’re indispensable?”
    Lisa and Carole considered the situation. Stevie’s suggestion had some merit. It was also a whole lot better than the explanations and apologies that Lisa hadbeen practicing, and it had the benefit of possibly accomplishing what appeared to be the impossible—finding the pin.
    “It’s worth trying,” Lisa said.
    Carole thought so, too. She thought about how hard the week would be as they tried to keep up a full schedule of classes and chores, plus manage the stable
and
find the pin. They would certainly be exhausted by the time Friday rolled around. She had an idea.
    “Then, after it’s all over” (and we’ve been banished from Pine Hollow for life, she thought, but did not say), “why don’t you plan to come to my house on Friday for a dinner and a sleepover? I promised Dad I’d cook for him, and I want to try a new recipe I saw for vegetable lasagna—”
    “I’ll make Rice Krispie treats,” Stevie suggested. It was one thing she was really good at cooking.
    “I think we should plan for crow on the menu,” Lisa said glumly.
    “No way,” Stevie said. “I think Carole’s right. We should be looking on the bright side of things. We’re going to do a wonderful job of managing the stable
and
we’re going to find the pin.”
    “First thing is convincing Max to let us do Mrs. Reg’s job,” Lisa said.
    Lisa and Carole both looked at Stevie. She had a lot of experience trying to convince Max of things. In this case they all thought it would be easy.
    “Oh, Ma-ax!” she called out as he dashed by. “I’ve got some good news for you!”

O NCE CLASSES WERE over and their horses were groomed and fed, The Saddle Club was ready to begin the real work of the day—filling in for Mrs. Reg.
    Stevie was the first one to change into street clothes, and so she was the first to arrive at Mrs. Reg’s office. By the time Carole and Lisa got there, just a few seconds later, their friend had already ensconced herself in Mrs. Reg’s chair and had it tilted back. Her feet were propped up on the desk.
    “It’s a good thing she doesn’t have a cigar,” Lisa teased.