Horse Wise Read Free

began.
    “No, I want the meat first,” Chad interrupted.
    “What’s the meeting?” Mrs. Lake asked.
    “At Pine Hollow,” Stevie began again. “It’s on—”
    “Oh, here we go with good old Pine Hollow,” Alex teased.
    “Sounds like Marsh Mallow to me,” Chad added. “Hey—do you think that’s Stevie’s favorite food because it reminds her of horses?”
    “No, I thought she liked to take pills because they remind her of her boyfriend, Phil!” her little brother, Michael, piped in.
    Stevie sighed, but she didn’t let it show. Phil Marston was her boyfriend from riding camp. He lived about ten miles away and she didn’t see him often. She did, however, hear about him a lot from her brothers! It wasn’t easy living with three brothers. It was made harder by the fact that she was the only one in her family who cared about horses and horseback riding. Chad had tried it once, but it wasn’t because he liked horses. It was because he’d had a crush on Lisa and wanted to get her attention. Now, all three of her brothers seemed to be ganging up on her to keep her from telling her parents about the meeting. As far as Stevie was concerned, that was just the inspiration she needed to persist.
    Stevie raised her voice a notch. “I said, there is going to be a meeting next Tuesday at Pine Hollow, after riding class.”
    “You can go as long as your homework is done,” her mother said.
    “If that includes her book report on
Silas Marner
from last spring, she’ll never make it!”
    “Shut up,” Stevie said. Only a creep like her twin brother would remind her parents about that book report at a time like this. “I know
I
can go to the meeting. What about you, Mom?”
    “Me?” her mother asked, taking the bowl of potatoes out of Chad’s hands before he could empty the entire dish onto his plate. “Am I supposed to go?”
    “And Dad,” Stevie said, looking at her father, who was studying the pattern Michael had made with his squash. Michael often tried to make his food look as though he’d at least tasted it by spreading it around his plate so he wouldn’t have to eat any more of it.
    “Tuesday, dear, can you make it?” Mrs. Lake asked Stevie’s father.
    “That’s my soccer game,” Chad said before his father could answer the question.
    “You weren’t invited,” Stevie said.
    “Yeah, but Mom and Dad were invited to the game.”
    “To watch you warm the bench?” Stevie asked.
    “I scored two points last game!”
    “Yeah, for which team?” Alex snorted.
    “So, I kicked it the wrong way, so? You want to make a federal case out of it?”
    There was a second of stunned silence at the table. Then everybody burst into laughter—including Chad, though he had the good grace to blush as well.
    “Who are you playing against this time?” Michael asked.
    “Same team,” Chad said. “Coach said they begged us for a rematch!”
    “I’m not surprised,” Mr. Lake said.
    “Next Tuesday?” Mrs. Lake asked. Stevie nodded. “We’ll be there.”
    Stevie felt a rush of relief. Things had to be much easier for only children.
    “N EXT T UESDAY ?”
    “Yes, Dad, next Tuesday,” Carole said.
    She and her father, a Marine Corps colonel, were in the kitchen of their house on the outskirts of Willow Creek. It was the home the two of them had shared alone since the death of Carole’s mother when Carole was eleven. She and her father both missed her mother terribly, but were glad to have each other to share their sadnesses and their joys. In spite of a few weird habits and hobbies, Carole thought her father was probably the greatest guy in the world.
    “That’s Navy-Bean Soup Night at the Officers’ Club,” he said.
    Navy-bean soup was one of his weird habits.
    “Dad,” Carole said with a touch of exasperation in her voice.
    “Well, what’s this meeting about, hon?” Colonel Hanson asked.
    “I don’t know, Dad. If I knew, I promise I would tellyou. All I have is this letter that Max gave us. It