Horse Blues Read Online Free PDF Page A

purposefully late to a Horse Wise meeting, then Mrs. Reg tells a
short
, pointless story, and now you two are turning down a trip to Tastee Delight?”
    “I promised my mother I’d go home and start my embroidery project right after we rode,” Lisa explained. Mentally she added,
Which I wouldn’t have had to do if you hadn’t said anything, Stevie
.
    Stevie looked down at the floor, wishing shecould take back her remark to Lisa’s mother. “What’s your excuse, Carole?” she asked. “Where do you have to be?”
    Carole looked awkward. “It’s just—well—I don’t have to be anywhere. But if I go to TD’s, I’ll want to get ice cream, and I can’t, since that’s junk food.”
    Stevie glanced at her friends. “You know what I think? I think we should just …” Stevie paused. She could feel Lisa’s eyes on her. She had been about to say, “I think we should just forget all about these silly resolutions.” But Stevie didn’t want to be the first one to quit. Lisa would think she had no self-discipline, that she only wanted to get out of her resolution. And why should she look bad? Being nice to Veronica was a piece of cake so far.
    “You think we should just what?” Carole asked hopefully. She had an inkling of what was on Stevie’s mind. If only Stevie would spit it out! Then she could tell them about eating the doughnut. They could laugh about it and forget these stupid resolutions.
    “I think we should—I mean, I think
you
should come to TD’s and—and order a diet soda or a fat-free frozen yogurt,” Stevie finished lamely. “And Lisa, can’t you call your mother and tell her you’ll be an hour late? The embroidery can wait, can’t it?”
    “I don’t know, can it?” Lisa said cryptically. She didn’t want to look as if she was trying to cheat on her resolution, especially since the resolutions had been her idea in the first place.
    “Of course it can!” Stevie said. “It’s barely noon. You’ll have all afternoon to embroider!”
    Right
, thought Lisa,
after I empty the dishwasher, set the table
 … Still, she didn’t want to be left out. “I’ll go if you will, Carole,” she said.
    “We-e-ll, I guess so,” Carole replied. If Lisa went to TD’s, then wouldn’t she sort of be cheating, too? Maybe she would keep putting off the embroidery and finally forget all about it. Then Carole could forget about not eating junk food!
    Feeling relieved but still somehow uneasy, the girls hung up their bridles and saddles and headed for the door. As Carole opened it, Veronica diAngelo flounced in. Veronica was dressed in new riding clothes from head (the newest-style velvet hunt cap) to toe (custom-made tall boots).
    Before they could get a word in, Veronica started to talk a mile a minute. “Hello, girls! Did you have an exciting New Year’s Eve? Mine was the best ever! I guess you heard I went on a helicopter ride over the city? It was just marvelous! Me, my family, and a special friend. We stayed out way past midnight. Ofcourse, I’m sure watching TV or whatever boring, humdrum thing you and your little club did was fun in its way—”
    “Aren’t you running late, Veronica?” Stevie broke in abruptly, gritting her teeth. The nerve! People like Veronica were the reason Horse Wise was failing! Stevie would have liked to tell Veronica off, but she couldn’t—at least not in front of Lisa and Carole.
    “Late? Why, no,” Veronica replied. “I don’t think so. My jumping lesson with Johannes Wendt doesn’t start till twelve-thirty. One of the stable hands should have Danny ready by now, so I’m actually early. But then, unlike you, I make it a point to be on time.”
    Stevie clenched her hands into fists. That was a low blow, and Veronica knew it. Stevie was already upset about her tardiness, but she didn’t have maids to get her dressed and a chauffeur to drive her places and—
    “You’re having a lesson with Johannes Wendt?” Carole breathed. Wendt was a four-time