The Great Pony Hassle Read Online Free PDF

am!”
    It was getting late. Fireflies were coming out in the dusk. So were mosquitoes. Bruce slapped at his arms and looked longingly at the house. “Well, I guess I’m going to have to get busy and build your pony shed.”
    â€œIt doesn’t have to be ready till winter, Dad. Dad, we can go ahead and get Noodles now!” Paisley jigged up and down like the fireflies dancing over the grass. “Dad, can we? Can we go see them tomorrow? Please?”
    â€œYo, hold on! Who’s ‘them’?”
    â€œWhoever owns Noodles!”
    â€œWho or what is Noodles?”
    Staci stood off to one side, head down, slapping at mosquitoes. She knew she could have explained about Noodles in half the time it was taking Paisley, but she said nothing. She hated Paisley. At least she thought she still hated Paisley.… She didn’t seem to be able to pay as much attention to hating Paisley as she would have liked. She felt too miserable about being angry at Toni.
    Mr. McPherson finally figured out that his daughter had picked the pony she wanted already. “But what makes you think that these people, whoever they are, want to sell their pony?”
    â€œThey’re not pony people, Dad!”
    Mr. McPherson blinked. “How would you know? Have you talked with them?”
    â€œNo, Dad, but they’ve got Noodles in a fence made of barbed wire. Nobody who really cares about horses or ponies makes fences out of barbed wire.” Paisley was dancing from one foot to the other. “Can we go get him tomorrow, Dad? Please? Pleeze?”
    Bruce McPherson looked worried. “Don’t count your chickens, sweetheart.”
    â€œIt’ll be all right, Dad, I just know it! Pleeeeze, can we go?”
    â€œSure, we can at least try.”
    â€œAll right !” Paisley erupted into cartwheels across the lawn. Her bare legs swirled in air filled with fireflies that glowed the same color as a palomino pony’s mane.
    Staci watched all this in silence.
    â€œI’m being eaten alive,” Stirling complained, swatting at her arms. No one paid any attention. Stirling shrugged and headed toward the house. Staci didn’t want to stay out any longer either. She followed.
    Stirling went at once to the bathroom and began dabbing itch cream on a few mosquito bites. Staci drifted to the open bathroom door, waiting for her turn.
    â€œI’m glad it was you and not me,” Stirling said, not turning around.
    â€œHuh?”
    â€œWith Paisley when she found her precious pony.”
    Staci didn’t say anything, but she didn’t leave the doorway either.
    â€œIs he pretty?” Stirling asked, still talking to the wall.
    Something in Stirling’s soft voice let Staci tell this quiet, ladylike girl what she could not say to her own twin sister. “He’s cute as a—as a—he’s just too cute,” she said. The words came out choked. “I’m so mad I could bust.”
    Stirling looked at her then, but Staci didn’t mind, because Stirling didn’t smile. Stirling didn’t look as if she were going to make fun. In fact, Stirling looked as if she understood.
    Stirling said in the same soft way, “Why don’t you just tell your mom you want a pony too?”
    But it wasn’t that simple any longer. Staci couldn’t just say, “I want a pony.” It was Noodles she wanted. Noodles she dreamed about at night. During the day sometimes too.
    She thought of telling Stirling this, and then she forgot about how she felt, because she saw a familiar glimmer in Stirling’s dark blue eyes. Stirling more than understood about wanting a pony. Stirling—suddenly Staci knew that Stirling felt just the way she did.
    â€œWhy don’t you say you want a pony too?”
    â€œMe?” Stirling shrugged, turning away. “I don’t, not really.”
    â€œBut you do!” Staci was sure. She knew that look. Hey, she’d