Ranch Hands Read Free Page B

seconds for them to veto one of her plans.
    “… and maybe some days I’ll put a burr under your horse’s saddle,” Alex continued, totally ignoring Stevie’s announcement. “And it seems to me that your friend, Phil, ought to know that you wrote his name one hundred times in your history notebook. And then there were the other doodles …”
    Phil was Stevie’s boyfriend. She’d met him at riding camp. He had two sisters who teased him as much as Stevie’s three brothers teased her, so he was pretty understanding when Stevie’s brothers gave him a hard time. She really didn’t want him to know about her history notebook, though. She blushed just thinking about it. Then she took more direct action. She threw a pea at Alex.
    “Stevie!” her mother said sternly.
    “Alex!” Mr. Lake scowled.
    Pretty soon Stevie’s other brothers joined in the fray. It wasn’t clear who was taking which side. It was only clear that there was loud accusatory shouting going on.
    Stevie yelled at Alex, but she was also keeping aneye on her parents because she noticed that they’d exchanged a look.
    “You know,” Mrs. Lake said to Mr. Lake, ducking a flying pea, “maybe a month out West would be a nice change for Stevie.…”
    And that was how Stevie found out that she was Westward bound.

 

    T HERE WAS SO much to do and so little time to do it. Lisa hurried out of her mother’s car and darted through the crowd at the mall. She was meeting Stevie and Carole for a final Saddle Club meeting before she left for Europe.
    It still hurt to know that she wouldn’t spend the summer at High Meadow with her friends. It had taken her two days to be able to tell them. As it turned out, they’d all cried. It was a funny cry, too, because although Lisa was terribly disappointed not to be going to High Meadow, there was a part of her that was excited about going to Europe.
    “They do have horses in Europe,” Stevie had reminded her.
    “Not at the Cathedral of Nôtre Dame in Paris,” Lisa said.
    “Well, the Queen of England rides a lot,” Stevie said, trying desperately to find a bright side.
    “Yeah, and I’m sure to be invited for a hack with her in Hyde Park, too.”
    “You never know,” said Carole, joining in on the cheering-up work.
    “Oh, yes, I do,” said Lisa.
    Of course her friends knew she was right.
    The Saddle Club had only one more day together, and they needed to spend it at the mall—not that they minded. Each of them had a shopping list of essential items for the summer. And they could stop and have a sundae when they were done. That would be their farewell Saddle Club meeting.
    Lisa stood on tiptoe, looking over the crowd for her friends. She spotted them easily because Stevie was waving frantically. Another giveaway was the fact that Stevie and Carole were stationed in front of Riding Togs. Naturally, it was their favorite store.
    Stevie greeted Lisa with a brief hug and the announcement that Riding Togs was having a sale on cowboy hats.
    “Come on in. Help us choose!” Lisa followed gladly.
    They found Carole trying on an oversized black felt hat with a silver band.
    “I don’t think it’s you,” Lisa said mildly.
    “Definitely not, but isn’t it hysterical?” she asked, her eyes sparkling.
    Lisa nodded and then glanced at the selection. She was a logical thinker, and her sense of logic made her eliminate the impossible options: hats that were too big or too bizarre. It didn’t take her long to narrow down the selection.
    “Here, this tan one for you, Carole. And Stevie, I think you should go with a black. It’ll bring out the light colors in your hazel eyes.”
    Both Carole and Stevie took Lisa’s suggestions. They were tempted to buy the hats without even trying them on because Lisa was so convincing, but they did slip them onto their heads and agreed that Lisa knew what she was talking about.
    “Now to kerchiefs,” Stevie said.
    Once they’d chosen their hats, the rest was easy. They