Horse Games (9 page)

Marie had spent months immobilized and lying flat in bed, and a lot of time since then doing everything her mother or therapist told her. Her very life had been controlled by pain and discomfort and by her grief at her
father’s death. She’d had no say in anything that had happened to her for a very long time. Now, in the saddle on Patch’s back, she was in charge. Patch, a very large animal, was doing exactly what she told him to do. And most important, it was fun.

“Okay?” Max asked, though Carole was sure he knew the answer.

“I’m fine,” Marie said quietly. “We’re fine.” She leaned forward and patted Patch’s neck. That was just what Carole would have done then, too.

The therapist interrupted with something about muscle groups and stretching. Max reminded Marie about riding in the two-point—or jump—position, meaning she was to let all of her weight sink into her heels, rise out of the seat, flex her knees, keep her back completely straight, and rest her hands on the horse’s neck for balance. The therapist nodded sagely. Mrs. Dana switched to biting the nails of her left hand, and Max said “Good.” Marie beamed.

So did Carole. She knew then that Marie would be in her class on Tuesday, at Horse Wise on Saturday and, with a bit of luck in the “distraction” department, that she would join the polocrosse team. Satisfied with what she’d seen, she returned her attention to Starlight. It was time for him to get some exercise.

“N
EED SOME HELP
with the saddle?” Lisa asked Marie on Tuesday afternoon before riding class.

“Just if you could watch and see if I’m doing it right,” Marie said. “It’s been a long time.”

Lisa watched. Marie took a bit longer than the others but she did just fine. Lisa had to pitch in a little to remind her about the buckles on the bridle, but it was obvious that Marie was eager to do it right. She’d learn without any trouble. And she seemed barely to notice her pain.

Lisa had tied Pepper up near the entrance to the out-door ring where class would take place. She helped Marie mount Patch and led the horse through the aisles of the stable.

“First things first,” she said. “And the first thing you need to do when you ride at Pine Hollow is to touch the good-luck horseshoe.” She pointed to the horseshoe nailed by the doorway. Marie touched it as instructed. “No Pine Hollow rider has ever been seriously hurt—and remember, Stevie’s injury wasn’t serious—if she touches this first.” In spite of her assurances to Marie, she made a note to ask Stevie if, by chance, she’d forgotten to touch the horseshoe on Saturday.

There were three spectators for the class. Stevie was there, watching, and obviously wishing she could be on a horse. Her swollen leg was still securely bandaged and her crutches were very much in evidence. In fact, Stevie seemed to be mastering the art of scooting faster than a speeding bullet with her crutches. Lisa hoped she wouldn’t hurt herself worse that way!

The other two spectators were Marie’s mother and her physical therapist. They leaned forward eagerly at the rail. Her mother appeared worried. The physical therapist was taking notes on her clipboard.

Class began. First, Max introduced Marie to the other riders. Then he began the instruction by working on gaits. They practiced changing gaits mostly between walking and trotting. Lisa suspected Max was taking it a little easy on the whole class because of Marie. Nobody else seemed to notice, though, and everybody benefited from the practice.

Max then had the whole class go through a series of leg-strengthening exercises. Again, Lisa thought these were primarily for Marie’s benefit. She could feel her own muscles responding to the activities and suspected they would help all of the students.

It was time then for a game, and the bright spring afternoon sun suggested shadow tag. Lisa glanced at Stevie. The sidelined girl’s face fell. Shadow tag was one of her favorites. She was really good at it.

“You’re It!” Max announced, pointing to Lisa.

The game was on. This wasn’t Lisa’s favorite game. She hated being It. She wanted to tag somebody as quickly as possible and then try to stay out of everybody’s way. She looked around. Marie wasn’t far from her. The temptation was great. After all, Marie was new at the game, new at Pine Hollow. She ought to be an easy target in shadow tag.

Lisa and Pepper lunged at Marie’s shadow. Marie saw the attack coming. She checked her own shadow, judged Lisa’s distance, and did the only thing she could. She shifted her direction, forcing Lisa and Pepper to pass on her nonshadow side.

Lisa groaned in frustration. The rest of the riders applauded Marie’s clever move.

“Nice going,” Max said. Even Lisa was impressed.

Eventually Lisa tagged Adam, who tagged Betsy, who tagged Polly, who caught Carole off guard, and she tried, once again, to tag Marie.

Carole began to approach Marie from behind, but she hadn’t fooled Marie at all. Marie and Patch took off for the far end of the ring. Carole pursued them. Marie turned Patch to the right and circled back, cleverly keeping her shadow on the edge of the ring, almost impossible to reach. Nevertheless, Carole continued the pursuit. For a minute, it looked as if Carole would have Marie cornered, but Marie got Patch to dodge away, evading what seemed like an inevitable tag.

Carole gave up. Since all the other riders were just standing still watching the Carole and Marie Show, it was easy for Carole to tag Adam. He accepted the tag with good grace, but informed Carole immediately that he was smarter than she was because he wasn’t going to try to go after Marie, who was obviously better at this game than any of them. He was going to go after …

“Lisa! You’re It!” he announced.

A few minutes later, with Lisa still It, the game ended. Max called them to order and told them to pair up for the final exercise.

“You mean class is almost over?” Marie asked.

“Yes, it’s been an hour,” Max told her.

It was clear Marie couldn’t believe it. Lisa was really happy to know she’d had so much fun that the time had flown for her, as it always did for The Saddle Club.

Max lined them up and had them parade around the ring, once again going through their gait changes, this time keeping pace with their partners. Finally, it was time for somebody to pick the soda whip—Max’s way of designating one rider to bring a drink to all of the others—and the horses drew to the side of the ring for dismounting. Class was done.

From the edge of the ring, Stevie announced that polocrosse practice would begin in fifteen minutes for all members of the Horse Wise polocrosse team. Those who weren’t participating were invited to watch.

Of course, she meant Marie.

Max and the therapist were helping Marie get down from Patch’s saddle. “I’m okay, I’m okay. I can do it myself,” she said with a trace of irritation.

Her mother remained concerned. Her therapist just watched proudly. Obviously, she was happy with what was happening to Marie’s legs.

“Very good!” a familiar male voice said, admiring Marie’s dismount. It was Colonel Hanson. He’d arrived
early, just as The Saddle Club had planned. That was Carole’s cue, but she was in the stable. Lisa had to get her so she could tell her father she’d forgotten about polocrosse and ask if he would mind waiting.

Lisa shooed Pepper into his stall, tracked down Carole and Starlight, and reminded her about her part in the subterfuge. Stevie’s assigned job was to get Marie to stay to watch polocrosse practice.

Lisa followed Carole back out to the ring. They were both pleased to see that they had to interrupt a conversation between Colonel Hanson and Mrs. Dana.

“Oh, Dad, I’m so sorry!” Carole said. “I forgot all about polocrosse practice when I asked you to pick me up today. Would you mind sticking around? It’ll only be a half hour or so.”

“Wait? Here?” he said. “Well, Marie just told her mother she wants to watch the practice. Why don’t Olivia and I take a walk. We’ll meet you girls at TD’s after practice, okay?”

It was better than they could have imagined. TD’s was an ice cream parlor at the nearby shopping center.

“Fine, Dad,” Carole said. Then, she touched her own forehead lightly. “You know, Dad, I think I might have a slight fever. Do you want to check it for me?”

Colonel Hanson put the back of his hand on her forehead. “You seem fine to me,” he said. Then he offered Mrs. Dana his arm and the two of them walked off to the ice cream parlor together.

“Distraction,” Carole said to Lisa. “I told you, it’s the best route every time!”

The two of them burst into giggles and ran to find Stevie. They couldn’t wait to tell her!

P
OLOCROSSE PRACTICE, COACHED
by Stevie Lake, was unlike any experience the riders had had with polocrosse before. Stevie was a changed person. She was all business, with no yelling, no screaming, no putting down.

She had designed a number of exercises to develop polocrosse skills.

“The game is primarily won with good pickups, passes, and catches. We all already know how to ride a horse. What we need to learn is to handle the racquets and balls. When we can do those things, we can defend, attack, and score. Now, first, pickups.”

Stevie had been studying hard and she shared her knowledge well. Still sitting at the edge of the ring, because she couldn’t even be on horseback with her sore ankle, she showed how to sweep the racquet just along the surface of the ground to pick up the ball.

“See, if you swat down at it, all you’re going to get for your trouble is a racquetful of dirt—if not worse.” There were laughs. All the riders practiced leaning forward and sweeping the ground with their racquets. Then Stevie had each of them pick up the ball, first standing still, then walking, then trotting.

“Hey, it gets better!” Lisa declared, proudly showing off the trophy in her racquet’s net.

“Not
it
—you,” Stevie corrected her. “When you practice, you get better. Next, throwing.”

She led them through her program of exercises. With throwing, that included underarm tosses, sidearm tosses, and overhead heaves. Then it was time to practice catching. The riders faced each other on horseback and threw the balls back and forth. At first, catching was a disaster. Polocrosse balls were flying everywhere except into partners’ racquets. But then, it changed. By the fourth or fifth attempts, the riders learned how to control their racquets both as throwing and catching instruments. They were a long way from being good, but they were learning and that was something they hadn’t done much of in their first week as polocrosse players.

When the half hour was up, all of the riders thought they had done a lot of work and that it had been good work. Everybody wanted to thank Stevie for her coaching. She had run a really good practice.

The riders untacked and groomed their horses, fed them and gave them water, and then changed into street clothes and shoes. Within a very short time, there were only four girls left at Pine Hollow—The Saddle Club and Marie.

“Where’s my mother?” Marie asked, suddenly realizing she hadn’t seen her since the end of class.

Lisa, Carole, and Stevie looked at one another mischievously.

“I think she got distracted by something,” Stevie said, putting a lot of emphasis on the word
distracted
.

“By some
one
,” Lisa corrected her friend.

“What are you talking about?” Marie asked.

All eyes turned to Carole. “If you can believe it, my father invited your mother to go with him to the ice cream parlor.”

A grin crossed Marie’s face. “You know what?” she asked. “That’s the first time in almost four months that I haven’t known exactly where my mother was. I mean, she didn’t even leave an emergency phone number!”

T
WO DAYS LATER
, Carole was tightening Patch’s girth for Marie. She handed the reins to Marie. “Let me just bring Starlight to the doorway and then I’ll help you into the saddle,” she said.

Marie’s eyes were twinkling with excitement. She was obviously eager to get going.

Carole had arranged to take Marie on a trail ride. All she had had to do was promise Max that she would watch her every second and pledge to Mrs. Dana that she wouldn’t let Marie’s horse go faster than a walk.

Within a few minutes, all the work was done and they were ready to go. Carole led the way to the stable’s entrance. They each brushed the good-luck horseshoe and they were off.

The two girls rode through the fields behind Pine Hollow
side-by-side. Soon, they were talking easily, as if they had been riding through fields together all their lives.

“This really is wonderful,” Marie said. “I spent so many months indoors that I had almost forgotten how nice fresh air is, how wonderful the fields smell in the spring, how beautiful the sky is when it’s filled with fluffy clouds, how—oh, I guess I must sound foolish. Is that what you were thinking?” she asked, blushing suddenly.

“Not at all,” Carole said. “I was thinking how much you’ve changed.”

“I have?” Marie asked.

“You don’t know?” Carole was surprised.

Marie shook her head.

“Well, when I first met you a few weeks ago, you didn’t want to talk, much less admit that anything was wrong, or even ask for help. Now, you’re having fun, aren’t you?”