The Lonely Pony Read Free Page B

goats and sheep, so a tiny little horse wouldn’t even be that much extra trouble.”
    â€œPerfect! I’ll tell Kitty,” Janey said.
    â€œWait,”Dr. Goldman stopped her. Then she turned to Lolli. “I think we need to ask your parents about this. Do they have any experience taking care of horses?”
    â€œI don’t think so,” Lolli said. “But they’ve had lots of other animals.”
    Zach’s mom still looked dubious. “I know. But horses are a lot of work—more than most animals. You have to be careful about what you feed them, and they need their feet trimmed back every couple of months or so. . . .”
    â€œYes, that’s right,” Val put in. “We never did get around to finding anyone to do the foot trimming.”
    Tom nodded. “Been meaning to call the race trainer to ask for his help, but he’s awfully hard to reach.”
    â€œWe won’t have Lola long enough to worry about that sort of stuff,” Janey told Dr. Goldman. “It’ll just be for a few days.”
    Dr. Goldman scratched her chin. “Well, I suppose it’s up to your parents,” she told Lolli. “You’d better call them and see if they want to take this on.”
    â€œKitty? We might know about a foster farm,” Janey said into the phone. “We’ll call you back in a minute, okay?” She hung up and handed the phone to Lolli. “Call your parents right now. I’m sure they’ll say yes!” She crossed her fingers as her friend took the phone.
    Soon Lolli was talking to her father. She told him about Lola and what Kitty had said about finding a foster home. “She wouldn’tbe any trouble at all,” she finished. “The Pet Rescue Club would do all the work to take care of her. It will probably only be for a day or two.”
    Janey couldn’t hear what Mr. Simpson said. But when Lolli hung up, she was smiling. “Dad said it’s okay as long as we do all the work.”
    â€œOh, thank you!” Val exclaimed. “I can’t tell you what a load off our minds this is, kids.”
    Janey grinned at her. “You’re welcome. I’ll call Kitty and tell her.”
    When Janey hung up a moment later, Dr. Goldman stood up. “Thanks for the lemonade, Tom and Val,” she said. “We’d better get going if we want to get Lola settled in tonight.”
    â€œYeah, let’s go tell her the good news!” Zach exclaimed. He raced off down the porch steps. The little dogs all barked and raced after him.

    â€œCome back, you rascals!” Tom whistled loudly, and the dogs turned around and ran back to him.
    Adam patted a couple of them. “They’re well trained,” he said admiringly.
    â€œAnd cute.” Janey grabbed the smallest dog for one last snuggle. “Thanks for the lemonade, Mr. and Mrs. Valentine. We’d better go get Lola!”
    â€œWe’ll come along and say good-bye,” Val said. “Just let us put the dogs in the house first.”
    Janey waited impatiently while the couple herded the excited dogs back inside. Then the whole group hurried back down the road.
    When they arrived at the pen, Lola wasstill standing by the fence. “Look, she was waiting for us,” Lolli said.
    â€œShe must have known we were coming back to get her,” Zach said. “Come on, it’s time to go to your new foster farm!”
    Adam blinked. “Yeah, but wait,” he said. “How are we going to get her there?”

Travel Plans
    Janey didn’t know why her friends looked so worried. “It’s not very far to Lolli’s farm,” she said. “And Lola is little. Why can’t we just put her in the back of the car? That’s how we’d carry a dog the same size, right?”
    Dr. Goldman glanced at her hatchback, which was still parked beside the road. “Uh, I don’t think so,” she said.