Horse Games Read Online Free PDF

Saturday.”
    “This
weekend
?” Stevie screeched. “But we won’t be ready. We’ll never win!”
    “No, I’m sure we won’t,” Max said quite calmly. “I wouldn’t expect us to win our first match in any event. So, think of it as an intense practice rather than a real match.”
    Lisa suspected that that was more than Stevie could handle. It was clear, within a few seconds, that she was right. As soon as the practice chukka started, Stevie started too—on the players.
    Lisa and Carole waited on the sidelines to be called in to play. Stevie was playing number 2, Center, for her team.
    “It was bad enough when she thought the match against Phil’s club was going to be in two weeks. Now that it’s this week, there’s no stopping her,” Lisa complained.
    “When Stevie gets an idea in her head—”
    “I know, I know. Even an atom bomb can’t blast it out. But if she doesn’t stop being so awful to everybody, somebody’s going to go to a lot of trouble to find an atom bomb somewhere …”
    “If we don’t just strangle her with our bare hands first.” Carole finished the sentence for Lisa.
    “Now there’s an idea,” Lisa said.
    Although she was interested in learning polocrosse, and even interested in at least putting on a good show for Phil’s team on Saturday, Carole just couldn’t get herself to care as much as Stevie. Right then, something, or rather somebody, else seemed more important, and her name was Marie Dana. Under the circumstances, polocrosse just didn’t seem very urgent.
    “You seem to be involved with something,” Lisa said, interrupting her thoughts. “It’s as if you’ve already left practice.”
    Carole smiled. Lisa had a way, sometimes, of knowing what people were thinking, even before they did.
    “I think you’re right,” she agreed. “I have, at least in my mind. Now I think I’m going to do it for real. Tell Stevie I’m sorry, will you?”
    Before Lisa could protest, Carole had Starlight trotting across the field—toward Marie’s.
    “Carole?” Max said as she passed him. “Where are you going?”
    “I’ve got to see somebody, Max. Right now.”
    “Okay,” he said. Max wasn’t the kind of person to pry.
    Carole was glad of it. Right then, she wished she could have said the same for her friend Stevie.
    “Where are you going?” Stevie demanded. “Practice isn’t over, you know. There are five more minutes left and you can learn a lot from watching as well as doing. You can’t just …”
    But she did.
    T HE QUIET OF the fields between Pine Hollow and Marie’s house was very welcome. Carole liked riding in any form, but being yelled at wasn’t high on her hit parade. As soon as she was out of range of Stevie’s voice, she wondered why she hadn’t left earlier.
    Things were still quiet at Marie’s house. Again, there was no car in the driveway and the house was closed up. Carole and Starlight circled the house. Carole paused at the rear, where she’d seen Marie at the window the day before. She allowed Starlight to nibble on the green lawn while she examined the house. The movement of a curtain again caught Carole’s eye. She squinted to focus with the afternoon sun blurring her vision. It took a second, but she saw Marie. The girl stood by the window and looked back at her. Carole waved. Marie just continued looking. Finally, she waved in return. Carole even thought she saw Marie smile.
    It was so little, but it was so much. Carole was tempted to dismount and ring Marie’s doorbell, but if she did that and Marie didn’t answer, what would that mean? Thatshe didn’t want to open the door? That she couldn’t? Carole decided not to raise the question.
    She gave a final wave and, once again, she turned Starlight dramatically and galloped out of the Danas’ yard and over the fence. This time, Starlight elected to walk back to Pine Hollow.
    Carole was glad for that. She hoped that the polocrosse practice would be done, the horses groomed, and the