Horse Wise Read Free Page B

olives.
    “To me it is, Dad,” Carole said. “I mean I really don’t know what it’s about, but it has to do with riding, and anything that has to do with riding is important. Can you come? Please?”
    “Tell you what,” he said. “I’ll come to your meeting and then you and I can have dinner afterward at the Officers’ Club.”
    “Gee, what an interesting idea,” Carole said, pleased with his solution. It meant she’d have to wear a skirt to the meeting to be dressed properly for the O-Club dining room, but more importantly, it meant her father would be there. She felt giddy. “Do you suppose they’ll be serving anything special that night?”
    Her father grinned. Carole wondered if he’d known from the beginning that he would come. It didn’t matter. He’d be there.

L ISA WAS WORKING on algebra in the study hall when the door to the room opened. She didn’t even notice.
    X squared times X cubed equals X to the fifth, plus Y cubed times 7 times Y to the eighth power equals
—she chomped on her eraser. It tasted terrible and didn’t help at all.
    “Lisa Atwood?” the study-hall monitor called. Lisa looked up. “There’s a message for you.” The monitor brought her the note. She didn’t think she’d ever gotten a message in the middle of a study hall before—or in the middle of anything, for that matter. It made her a little nervous.
    “Please meet your parents in front of the school at the end of the day,” the note read. It was signed by the vice-principal of her school.
    Lisa stared at the note, reading it again several times. The message didn’t become any clearer on re-reading. Why on earth would her parents come to the school to pick her up? Their house was only a few blocks from school, a short walk that Lisa did by herself two times a day.
    She remembered when one of her classmates had gotten a note like this. Her mother had been very ill. Perhaps one of Lisa’s grandparents was ill? They’d all been very healthy when the family had visited them over the recent holiday weekend. But even if something had happened to one of them, why would her parents pick her up at school? It didn’t make sense.
    Lisa was a very logical person. It was one of the characteristics that helped her be an A-student. She applied all her logic to the situation, but nothing suggested itself as the answer. Logic wasn’t going to work, she realized. She decided to return to algebra.
    Y 3 times 7Y 8
 …
    “Why would anybody want to multiply
Y
times itself three times, then multiply that by 7 and
that
times
Y
times itself eight times?” she asked herself. It was clear logic wasn’t going to help her on that one either.
    The bell rang. Lisa folded the note, put it into her algebra book, and headed for her history class.
    “Hey, Lisa, is something wrong?” It was Carole. Although the two girls went to the same school, Carole was in the grade below Lisa and they rarely saw each other. If ever there had been a time when Lisa wantedto talk to Carole, this was it, but she had only three minutes between classes.
    “Something’s up with my parents,” she explained quickly as they walked toward their next classes. “They’re picking me up after school, but I don’t know why. I’ll call you tonight, if I can.”
    The look of concern on Carole’s face was unmistakable. Lisa realized Carole probably had gotten notes at school about her mother.
    “It’s probably nothing to worry about,” Lisa said. “After all, the note said they’d both be here.”
    “Oh, yeah, right,” Carole said. “Well, call me tonight.” She waved and headed for her English class.
    Lisa was glad she’d been able to make Carole feel better. She just wished she could do the same for herself. Who could concentrate on the Wars of the Roses when she had gotten a note from the vice-principal? She felt in her pocket. It was still there. It was real.
    The rest of the day was almost a total loss for her. She got three wrong answers on her