Pleasure Horse Read Free

you that I just might be trying to sleep?” she asked, her voice saccharine.
    Chad, Alex, and Michael paused for a millisecond. “No,” Alex said. They all burst out laughing.
    With a supreme effort, Stevie managed to restrain herself from attacking them with her train pillow. “Ha-ha, aren’t you funny, Alex,” she said. “I wish I could be that amusing.”
    “Maybe you could be if you didn’t spend eight days a week up to your elbows in horse manure,” Alex retorted.
    Pretending not to hear, Stevie clamped the pillow over her ears and pressed her head back against the seat. She glanced at her watch: two long hours to go. What could she do to distract herself for
two hours
?
    I know
, Stevie thought suddenly,
I’ll think—really think—about what to do about Samson.
That could take days, it was such a challenging case. If she thought of anything, maybe she could call Carole and Lisa from her cousin’s. Or better yet, maybe Angie would even have a suggestion on how to solve the problem. For it had become a problem. Even though The Saddle Club had been working patiently, the colt was no closer to accepting the strange swinging objects than he had beenthe first time. It was if something snapped in his brain whenever the stirrups came out of the tack room.
    Every lesson had gone about the same. First they would walk Samson to relax him. Then they would put the saddle on, hoping for the best. But as soon as the colt was tacked up, whether they had walked him for five minutes beforehand or for almost an hour, he would start to act up. It had gotten to the point where he started dancing around the minute he saw the saddle. The worst thing, Stevie knew, was that she and Lisa and Carole weren’t sure how to react. It was hard to know how to discipline a horse from the ground. They were used to
riding
horses that played around, but that didn’t seem to be helping.
    Still, Stevie hadn’t said anything to her friends, mainly because after a bad session with Samson, Carole always looked so dismayed that Stevie didn’t have the heart to rub it in. She knew how much it meant to Carole to be the one to train Cobalt’s son, and she didn’t want to be pessimistic. Besides, there was no doubt in her mind that the three of them
could
do the job. It just might take a little time.
    Brooding about Samson, Stevie didn’t notice the miles rushing by. Before she knew it, her parents were on their feet telling her and the boys to collect their luggage and prepare to get off the train because it was pullinginto Union Station in Philadelphia. Stevie’s aunt and uncle lived just over the Pennsylvania border in New Jersey.
    “Do we have time to run to the snack car one more time?” Alex asked.
    “Absolutely not,” said Mrs. Lake. “You’ve eaten enough junk between D.C. and here to pollute a small swamp. Now, shake a leg—the train is fifteen minutes behind schedule, and Uncle Chester and Aunt Lila will be waiting.”
    “Hold on! Wait for me—I can’t carry all my stuff!” Michael exclaimed.
    “What on earth did you pack?” Mr. Lake demanded, grabbing his youngest son’s two huge suitcases.
    “Just a few things to make me feel at home. My Nintendo Game Boys, my two soldier collections, my stuffed dog …”
    Stevie smiled. Family vacations were so predictable that, once in a while, it was almost comforting.
    The Lakes had barely set foot inside Union Station when they heard their names being called. Uncle Chester, Aunt Lila, and their daughter Angie descended upon them, arms outstretched. Uncle Chester and Stevie’s father were brothers. They looked a lot alike except for the fact that Uncle Chester was a little older and had a handlebar mustache. The two men clappedeach other on the back while the kids and the mothers greeted one another.
    “Angie!”
    “Stevie!” The two girls hugged enthusiastically. Then Angie turned to say hi to the boys. Suddenly Stevie noticed that her cousin looked different. Instead of the