Rascal Read Free Page B

barked when Jamie was trying to talk, chased the other puppies during leash-walking practice, and tried three more times to steal the black puppy’s squeaky toy. “Rascal,” Jamie finally said, “I think you need a time-out.” She asked Lizzie and Charles to take him outside for a few minutes and let him “cool down.”
    Lizzie almost didn’t want to go back inside when the time-out was up. But Rascal needed training, and Lizzie needed help! “I’m really sorry,” she said to Jamie when class was finally over. “Maybe we shouldn’t come back next time.” Was Rascal going to be a kindergarten dropout?
    â€œOh, don’t worry about it,” Jamie said. “You should definitely keep trying. Believe me, I’ve seen worse. He’ll learn!”
    Lizzie was starting to wonder about that.

“Almost there!” Maria bounced up and down on the seat as her dad’s blue car rumbled down a long, bumpy dirt driveway. “I can’t believe you finally made it to the stable!”
    â€œMe, neither,” Lizzie said, hoping that the nervousness in her voice sounded more like excitement. Her first riding lesson was finally about to happen! Her mom had insisted that Lizzie deserved a break from Rascal, so she couldn’t use
that
excuse anymore. Within a half-hour she was going to be on the back of some gigantic horse. If she was lucky! If she was unlucky, she’d be lying in the dust after being bucked off. Lizzie shivered. Just thinking about it made her heart beat harder.
    â€œYou are going to
love
it here, I promise,” Maria babbled on. “Everybody’s so friendly, and the horses are the best. And Kathy is so, so cool! She knows everything there is to know about riding and caring for horses. Remember how I told you about that one horse, Tony, who hurt his leg? Kathy and Wayne have been taking care of him, and he’s almost ready to ride again.”
    â€œGreat,” Lizzie said. Maria barely seemed to notice whether she said anything or not. Her friend was so excited that she just kept talking. Lizzie wasn’t even sure which of the names Maria mentioned belonged to horses and which were people. Sally, Frankie, Tony, Kathy, Vanessa, Pokey, Sir Galahad . . . The names just blended into one another.
    â€œHey, gal, slow down,” Maria’s father said, patting his daughter on the shoulder. “Give Lizzie a chance to get to know the place in her own way.”
    But Maria just kept bouncing in her seat. “Here we are!” she sang out as the car pulled to a stop infront of a weathered old barn. Next to it was a riding ring, a dusty circle of dirt enclosed by a wooden fence. And next to that was the paddock, the grassy area where the horses grazed.
    â€œLook, there’s Tony!” She pointed to a white horse with big black spots. He was yanking grass out of the ground in the paddock, whisking his long black tail as he chewed. “He’s a paint. You know, like an Indian pony? Tony!” she called. She made a clucking noise with her tongue as she and Lizzie climbed out of the car, and Tony came trotting over.
    Maria’s dad waved and drove off. Lizzie watched him go, wishing she were still in the car.
    Maria handed Lizzie a big carrot. “Here, give him this and he’ll love you forever,” she said.
    Lizzie stood frozen in place.
    â€œGo ahead,” Maria said. “He won’t hurt you.”
    Lizzie laughed nervously. “I know that,” she said. “Here, I’ll go first.” Tony’s teeth looked awfully big when he took Maria’s carrot.
    Tony reached his nose through the fence and bumped it against Lizzie’s arm. “Hey!” she said.
    â€œHe just wants your carrot,” Maria told her.
    Carefully, Lizzie held out the carrot the way she had seen Maria do it, on her flat, outstretched hand. Tony took it gently. Lizzie didn’t feel a thing except his