Saddlebags Read Free

I guess I don’t really want my parents
in
on everything.”
    Carole tried to reassure her. “Just because your parents are coming with us doesn’t mean they have to know everything about what we do. They’ll probably leave us alone sometimes and go off by themselves.”
    Stevie yawned. “Yeah. You’re probably right. I still think it’ll be fun to bring them along, but it might feel a little strange, that’s all. I just hung up with Lisa. She’s nervous about her mom and dad too.”
    “You two need to stop worrying so much,” Carole said. “By the time we’re packed and ready to go, I’m sureyou’ll be too excited to care who comes with us—even if it’s your brothers.”
    Stevie laughed in spite of her worries. “Don’t even suggest that!”
    C AROLE THOUGHT THE following weekend would never arrive. All week long the trip to the Bar None was all she could think about. She couldn’t wait to see Kate and Christine, plus she was excited about showing the Bar None to her father—even if he might embarrass her a little. Finally the day arrived.
    On Sunday morning, as they were taking their suitcases out to the Lakes’ car, Carole told her father about the strange dream she’d had the night before.
    “You were riding this Appaloosa bareback,” she said, “and you were galloping along, roping a runaway steer!”
    “Sounds plausible,” the colonel answered, his brown eyes twinkling.
    “Get serious, Dad,” Carole answered, “that’s something even
I
couldn’t do!”
    She called hello to the Lakes and lifted her suitcase into the back of the station wagon. Her father had laughed about her dream, but Carole couldn’t help wondering if he’d actually try some daredevil riding stuntslike steer roping. She hoped not. Sometimes he liked to joke around and show off, but he didn’t have nearly enough riding experience to tackle anything much beyond a trail ride.
    When her friends pulled up in the Lakes’ station wagon, Lisa was waiting impatiently on her front steps. She grabbed her duffel bag and ran down to stow it in the car.
    “Mom’s running a little late,” she called, rolling her eyes. “She and Dad are having trouble closing the suitcase. I think she packed fourteen different outfits.” She climbed into the back next to her friends. “Last night I had a dream about Mom making a disgusted face at Dad while Phyllis showed them their bunkhouse. Then she called the curtains quaint right to Phyllis’s face!”
    “You think that’s bad,” Carole said grimly. “I dreamt my father was acting like a rodeo daredevil!”
    The girls exchanged uneasy glances.
    “Maybe we can ignore them,” Stevie began. “Maybe once we’re out West they won’t even—”
    “ ‘Oh, give me a home, where the buffalo roam, and the deer—’ ”
    Her father’s cheerful voice crooning “Home on theRange” interrupted Stevie’s short-lived burst of optimism.
    “Aaaaaaaagh!” cried Stevie.
    Mr. Lake stopped singing. “What’s wrong, honey? Don’t you like my voice?”
    “You just reminded me of a dream I had last night!” Stevie cried. “Actually, it was more like a nightmare!”
    “Were we in it?” Stevie’s mother asked. “Singing cowboy songs?”
    “You were both singing ‘The Streets of Laredo,’ as a matter of fact!” was Stevie’s reply. Everyone burst out laughing.
    “Well, pardners, westward ho!” Mr. Lake called out. Then, while the three girls huddled in the back, hands over their ears, the rest of the parents joined in the song.

L ISA SAT IN her favorite rocking chair on the porch of the girls’ bunkhouse at the Bar None and looked out at the sky. It always surprised her how huge it was. She knew it was the same sky she saw in Willow Creek, but here it seemed to go on forever.
    She sighed. Eight days ago she had no idea she’d be out here. Now here she was, with her best friends—
and her parents!
For a moment she stopped worrying about her mother or anticipating seeing John