Secondhand Horses Read Online Free PDF Page A

of when she could get a cell phone. “What?”
    “What are we going to do when we get there? What are we going to tell the bad guy?” Aneta was running sideways.
    Jingle, jingle
went Sunny’s pockets again.
Save. The. Zoo
.
    “Don’t stop running!” Esther yelled. “We’ve got to stop this guy!”
    “Sunneeee!” Aneta’s voice dripped panic.
    Jingle, jingle
.
    A Great Idea burst into Sunny’s head.
A big, brilliant, BOUFFY idea
. She wanted to spin it was so brilliant.
    “We’re going to buy a zoo!” Sunny shrieked as she reached the corral, catapulted over the top railing, and landed smack in front of the creepy carnival guy.

Chapter 8
Trouble in a Truck
    I can’t believe we bought a zoo.” Early the next morning, Sunny sat hugging her knees on the bed.
    “That’s the fastest rescue we’ve ever done.” Esther sat next to Aneta on the inflatable mattress in Sunny’s ranch bedroom. “And cheapest.”
    “Fifty-four dollars and forty cents.” Aneta pulled out a plastic bag of hair accessories and began to comb her long blond hair.
    “I only had my allowance,” Esther said, flushing, then brightened. “But together our money convinced the creepy guy!”
    “Something’s not right about all this.” Vee stretched. She and Sunny had shared the queen bed. “It was too easy.”
    “Maybe we are getting good at rescues.” Aneta braided the right side of her hair into tiny braids while Esther worked on the left side. The plastic bag sat between them.
    “Yeah, Vee,” Esther agreed.
    “I thought it was cool. The guy even said he’d deliver them.” Sunny stood on the bed and turned in a wobbly circle, arms held over her head. “I sort of felt bad calling him the creepy carnival guy after a bit.”
    Aneta nodded. “He wanted to know what kind of building the zoo would be living in. It was kind of cute that he wanted to make sure the miniature horse kept his raggedy wagon near him at all times.” “Yeah, cute. So why would he sell the zoo?” Vee asked. “After all that?”
    The other three shook their heads. The softness of the mattress finally dumped Sunny on Vee, who shoved her off and stood up. “It’s just weird.” She held up her index finger. “Weirdness number one: four eleven-year-olds bought a
zoo
. Who does that?”
    “We did.” Esther grinned. “Last night.”
    Vee swung her head back and forth, holding up her thumb. “Weirdness number two: they’re going to live here and, weirdness number three”—she added a finger—“your uncle doesn’t
know
it yet, and”—another finger straightened to join the others—“the final weirdness: the guy drops them off
today
.”
    With barely concealed impatience, the man had written down Sunny’s rather long directions to get to Uncle Dave’s house and said he’d be there in the morning. When they ran to find Uncle Dave, however, he’d been deep in conversation on his cell phone and never got off!
    Sunny caught phrases like “mare delivery” and other horse words, which was pretty exciting. Uncle Dave was getting more secondhand horses. She’d been right that he’d be okay with a secondhand zoo. Pretty soon there would be enough horses for all the girls to ride one. She couldn’t wait. “I thought we could make a rocko-socko breakfast and tell him before the guy comes. Uncle Dave loves breakfast.”
    The girls agreed. After scrambling into clothes and brushing their teeth, they were in the hall outside Sunny’s uncle’s bedroom ready to thread their way through the boxes when a truck horn sounded outside.
    Too early!
    “Uh-oh,” Aneta said, speeding up.
    “Wait, back to the bedroom!” Sunny put her finger to her lips, pivoted, and ran on her toes back the way they’d come.
    “Why?” Esther wanted to know, but followed.
    When all three of them had joined Sunny, she closed the door.
    “What’s going on?” Vee asked.
    Sunny reminded them about the groaning front door and the squeaky screen. “We’ll have to go out