Western Star Read Free Page B

baths, shower gels, and scented powders. None of them seemed like something she wanted to give to Stevie and Lisa. She decided to try someplace else.
    There was an earring shop. Some of the earrings were nice, but not nice enough; and on the ones that were nice enough, the price tags made her shudder. She moved on. Next she came to the toy shop. Her friends were much too old for toys—except for model horses. Lisa collected those. There was a nice selection, but Lisa had all of them already, except for one big one, and that was too expensive. Carole hoped Lisa’s parents were getting her that one for Christmas. She wondered if she should call them and tell them about it.
    She headed back into the main walkway of the mall. It was crowded, but what else would she expect on the last Saturday before Christmas? She had to work her way through the masses of people to be able to see into the store windows. There was little in them to interest her. There were scarves, but Lisa and Stevie had perfectly good scarves. Another window displayed a pretty sweater that might look nice on Lisa—if Carole had $180! Andthere was a coat Stevie would really love for $280. Not exactly in Carole’s budget.
    At that moment a cloud overhead shifted and sunlight streamed into the mall hallway, sparkling brightly on something. Carole blinked and looked ahead. There was something very shiny. Was it glass? She stepped forward to take a closer look.
    L ISA ’ S FAVORITE SHOP at the mall was the tack shop. She made a beeline for it as soon as her mother dropped her off. Surely it would have something right—and by that Lisa meant perfect—for Carole and Stevie. Where better than the tack shop?
    But what?
    Neither of her friends actually needed tack. They both had saddles and bridles for their horses. That was a good thing, too, because tack was very expensive. Unfortunately, they also didn’t need the inexpensive things she could afford. She said no to riding crops, horse shampoo, saddle soap, and polo bandages. There was a really good video on show jumping, but it was way out of her budget. There was one beautiful model horse, but she was the one who collected the models, not her friends. She hoped her parents knew about the big new model and that it would be under the tree on Christmas morning. There was, however, nothing here that she wanted to give Stevie or Carole.
    Her next stop was the fancy candy store. There were some really tempting goodies, but she didn’t like the idea of candy for her friends. It would be gone too soon (especially if she helped eat it), and then there would be nothing to remember of hers from this Christmas. No, she wanted something that would last, something that would make her friends think of her every time they used it or saw it.
    She thought again about the show jumping tape. Maybe she could get an advance on her allowance. No, that wasn’t practical. And she wanted to get something
now
, today.
    She left the candy store and wandered through the crowd, hoping for inspiration. And then she saw it—there, ahead, on a cart in the main walkway of the mall.
    “Perfect!” she said out loud, stepping forward, almost in disbelief that her wish had come true.
    “Lisa?”
    She stopped. She looked. It was Carole.
    “I thought you were washing your hair,” Lisa said.
    Carole’s hand flew to her head. “I, uh, I had to get some shampoo,” she said.
    Then another voice piped up. “Carole? What are you doing—oh, Lisa!” It was Stevie.
    “What about your ironing?” Carole asked.
    “My
what
? Oh, right, my
ironing
,” Stevie said. She gulped. “Well, you know when you use that spray starch,it just makes the ironing go so fast it seems like nothing.” Stevie turned to Lisa. “And
tea
with your
godmother
?” she asked. “That was pretty quick.”
    “We had éclairs,” Lisa said. “That’s French for lightning, you know, because that’s how fast you want to eat them. Mom and I cleared the platter in a