The Penny Pony (4 page)

“Why would Sam lie about it?” I asked. This
was another time when grown-up reasoning was just beyond me.

“I don’t know,” said Miss Julie. “I can’t
believe he lied. He’s not that way, but I’m going to find out; you
bet I am.”

“What can we do?” I asked her.

“Well, I can’t talk to Sam about it unless
I’m sure the pony is Dotty. So I guess I have to go take a look at
her.”

“It’s a pretty long walk,” said Addie, and I
nodded. Miss Julie started laughing. ”Girls,” she said, “I don’t
plan to walk out there! Did you ever stop and think I might still
be able to drive?” We just looked at her. I felt silly and Addie
was making her embarrassed face.

“Sorry, Miss Julie,” I said.

“Don’t be silly,” she said. “How are you
supposed to know what I can do?”

“Do you need to take your walker?” I asked,
thinking about the lumpy ground of the horse pasture.

“No, not for a short trip. I only use it part
of the time. Now give me a minute to turn off my computer and get
ready, and we’ll drive out there right now and see that pony.”

Chapter Seven

~ Reunion ~

We sped through the
town and out into the farmland around it in Miss Julie’s old blue
Cougar. I wondered why I had ever thought little old ladies drove
slowly. The windows were down and the warm breeze blew my hair all
over my face. I looked back at Addie, who got carsick sometimes,
and hoped that the speed and the rolling hills wouldn’t activate
her vomit machine. We arrived at the farm quickly, since Miss Julie
had spent a lifetime driving down that lane lined with oak trees
and a split rail fence. We pulled up in front of the big farmhouse,
and Miss Julie just sat there looking at it while the motor
idled.

“I spent a lot of wonderful years in that
house,” she said. “It was a good house to grow up in, and a good
house to raise a family in. It looks kind of sad with no one living
in it.”

She put the car into gear. We bounced down
the dirt lane toward the shed and Rosie’s paddock, with a cloud of
dust rolling behind us. When we stopped beside the gate, Miss Julie
tied the jacket of her track suit around her waist and walked over
to the corral, holding Addie’s arm. When the dust settled, the air
smelled like a mixture of clover, grass and hay, the best smells in
the world.

Rosie was standing under the oak tree in the
shade. She stopped grazing and looked up as we opened the gate and
entered her little world. She walked toward us, and as she stepped
out of the shade and the sun shone on her brown patches, I could
hear Miss Julie give a sigh. Rosie seemed a little perkier after
even one day on green grass, but she was still a sorry-looking
animal. She stopped a few steps from Miss Julie, ears pricked up
and alert, sniffing and tossing her head. There were tears in Miss
Julie’s eyes as she said, “Dotty!” The pony came right over, stuck
her nose in Miss Julie’s face and made a sound deep in her
throat.

“Oh, honey,” Miss Julie started scratching
and rubbing the pony’s forehead, neck, everywhere she could reach.
Addie and I couldn’t talk. I had an achy place in my throat, and
Addie sniffled while she rubbed her nose. Miss Julie hugged the
horse around the neck and gently touched the white-tipped ears.

“I need to sit down,” sighed Miss Julie. We
pulled one of the empty buckets out of the shed, turned it over,
and she sat on that. She shook her head and stared at the pony.
“You poor thing. Whatever has happened to you, you didn’t deserve
it. Poor baby.”

Then she looked at us. “Girls, it was a very
lucky accident that you found Dotty. I want to thank you for taking
care of her and for coming to me. Someone has treated her terribly,
and I’m going to find out who it was.”

“It was Jake,” said Addie. “He’s the one who
had her tied up in town. And I bet he stole her!”

“But how did he get her papers? Why would
Jake call the sheriff if he was the one who stole her?” I said. We
looked at Miss Julie watching the small pony nibbling purple clover
flowers in the grass. Miss Julie clamped her jaw and her breathing
was hard. She pulled out a red cell phone and started punching in
numbers.

“I need to ask Sam about that. I need to ask
him about a lot of things that have been going on since I left the
farm. He’ll be coming home for a few days tomorrow, but this can’t
wait.”

Holding the phone to her ear, Miss Julie
looked all around the shed, the paddock, the tree, but kept coming
back to the pony.

“He’s not answering. I’ll keep calling, but
if I can’t get him, well, first thing in the morning, when he’s in
town, I’ll get to the bottom of this!” Miss Julie started to get
up, then sat back down suddenly and closed her eyes.

“Are you okay, Miss Julie?” I was worried
about her. What would we do if she had a spell or a heart attack
way out here? Could I drive her car back to town? I hadn’t had
driving lessons yet. Mom wanted me to wait till spring.

“I’m fine, Piper,” she said. “I just
shouldn’t get all upset and excited about things. It isn’t good for
my blood pressure. But I’m fine. Don’t worry”

She stood up then, patted Dotty on her round
rump, and said, “See you later, sweetie. Let’s go, girls. We have
work to do.” Miss Julie marched over to her car, got in and slammed
the door. After I hugged and whispered to Dotty, we closed the gate
then followed Miss Julie and got in the car. As the Cougar bounced
down the dirt road and through the farmyard, I held on tight. Miss
Julie turned onto the highway and we sped into town. Thank goodness
there weren’t any police cars around! I had never been in a
speeding car before. Do they arrest the passengers? We were pretty
quiet all the way to town. Miss Julie dropped us off at my house
and drove away with a screech of her tires. “See you tomorrow,” she
called.

“I feel sorry for Sam when she gets ahold of
him,” said Addie.

“I don’t,” I said. “I just want her to be
careful not to have a stroke or something. And find out what
happened with Dotty.” I knew we would both call that pony Dotty
from now on. After all, it was her name.

Addie was quiet a minute. “Maybe we could
talk to Sam before Miss Julie does, so he doesn’t yell at her.
Because, he might. And we could find out if he sold Dotty to Jake.
If we have the proof right there, he can’t deny it when she asks
him. But how can we find proof? He’s out of town tonight.”

Sometimes Addie didn’t think as sneakily as I
did. Sometimes our brain connection didn’t work. “That’s perfect,”
I said, “because we can go into his office tonight after dark and
look without being interrupted.”

“We should look in Jake’s trailer, too,” said
Addie. “I bet he’s got something hidden in there. Something
illegal. Remember that creepy guy that went inside with him? But
that would be breaking and entering, and we could go to jail. We
shouldn’t do it.”

“I don’t think they put kids in jail,” I
said, but I wasn’t sure. “Anyway, do you want Miss Julie to have a
heart attack and Jake to get Dotty back and be mean to her
again?”

“Well, no...”

“Then we have to do it. It’s the only way.
We’ll get in and out fast, and no one will know,” I said, and I was
sure I was right about this. I hoped I was, anyway.

Chapter Eight

~ A Desperate Situation ~

What happened next
was only hard to believe if you didn’t know me very well. Addie and
I went home and had supper at our own houses, acting normal. I even
talked to my mom a little about the places she was sending job
applications. We had planned how we would watch some TV with our
moms then yawn and say we were going up to bed.

I snuck out the back door a while later and
met Addie just as it was getting too dark to see well. I thought
about how last week all I had to think about was chasing fireflies
and letting them go again. I felt a lot older. I was going to do
something that was against the law, and kept telling myself I had
to take care of Dotty and Miss Julie. I was responsible for Dotty
now and couldn’t let her be taken back to Oily Jake. I was sure she
would die if that happened.

We crept down the streets, cutting through
people’s yards, hiding behind trees. It felt like a game of hide
and seek, only serious. We saw houses all lit up inside, with
people moving around. The air was beginning to cool off, with the
moon coming up, huge and full. I had to be tough, though, and think
about what I was doing. When we reached the town square, we checked
for cars on the street then crept to the side of the hardware
store. I could see Jake’s old beat-up aqua and white trailer parked
in the vacant lot. The street light was a block away, so the
trailer was in the dark and didn’t look like any place you’d want
to visit. There was no sign of movement. It was still early, and I
didn’t think Ugly Jake would be in bed yet. He was probably out
finding another pony to abuse.

“Let’s go,” I said, and we ran through the
lot to the trailer. I opened the unlocked door and stuck my head
in.

“Go, go!” Addie’s whisper sounded frantic, so
we slid through the door and shut it as quietly as possible. We
stood in the tiny living room, an old beat-up couch taking up most
of the space. Stale ashtray stink floated in the air, and we
couldn’t see much but old pizza boxes.

“Check the kitchen,” Addie said, as we moved
together the three steps it took to get into the kitchen. Bags of
horse feed were piled there beside a table and chairs. On the table
was a map that I recognized of Lake Serendipity, which was south of
town, and a drawing of a funny-looking house. The house was all
kind of squinched in on the second floor. Addie peeked at it, then
whispered, “Why would Jake keep the feed bags in the kitchen?”

I didn’t have time to wonder because we heard
a terrible buzzing snore coming from the back of the trailer.

“He’s here! Creepy Jake is here!” I
whispered, as my heart thumped. “Let’s get out!” As long as the
snores continued, we were safe. I almost fell over Addie as we
tried to get out the door without making any noise. We ran back
across the vacant lot and stopped at the side of the hardware
store, shivering and panting.

“That was close,” said Addie. “I can’t
believe he was in there.”

“Me, neither,” I said, waiting for my
breathing to slow down. This was why I didn’t like the rides at
carnivals. I didn’t like being scared. I had a red place on my arm
tonight from twisting my horsehair bracelet.

I was certain that something I had just seen
didn’t make sense and was important. I would have to think about it
later. Right now we had one more thing to do.

“Are you ready for Sam’s?”

“I’m ready if you are,” Addie said. She
didn’t quit on me even when I knew she wanted to. I thought, that’s
what brave means.

We snuck from building to building, working
our way around the square to Sam Applegate’s office. I checked
again for cars or people, then ran into the alley behind the
office. We only waited a minute before creeping up the steps to his
back door.

I had seen on TV once that a crook used a
credit card to open a locked door, so I had my library card with
me. My hand shook and my mouth was dry as I slid the card down the
crack in the door, wiggled it and ta da! the door opened. I could
hear Addie whoosh with relief behind me as we eased the door open
and went inside. It was very dark, but Addie had her old Girl Scout
flashlight out and shone it around. We were in a storage room that
opened into an office. Addie went first and found a tall filing
cabinet beside a large wooden desk.

“Where do you think we should start?” said
Addie.

“Let’s check the desk first, then the files,”
I answered, licking my lips and breathing fast.

“What about the computer? Maybe there’s
something in that”

I was a little afraid to start searching
through computer files, since I didn’t really know how. This didn’t
feel good at all. I was beginning to think we should have done this
a little differently.

We had just opened the top drawer of the desk
and my hand was pulling out some papers when the lights went on.
Addie screamed. I jumped and dropped the papers.

“May I help you?” a deep voice asked. There
was a man leaning in the doorway with his arms folded, a handsome,
dark-haired man with familiar-looking, angry blue eyes.

I just stood there with my mouth open, and so
did Addie. My heart was beating way too fast and I was cold all
over. I wondered if fifteen-year-old girls ever had heart
attacks.

“You don’t look old enough to be criminals,
but then you never know,” he said. “Do you realize you are breaking
and entering? Are you looking for some money? I don’t keep any cash
around this office.”

This was Miss Julie’s son, Sam. No wonder the
eyes looked familiar. They were the same as hers.

“Um, we...” I could only stammer. Addie
started crying at the same time the sheriff’s car pulled up
outside, its lights flashing through the front window of the
office. She looked at me and I thought of scared rabbits as I
twisted my bracelet like crazy.

Sam Applegate opened the office door, and
Sheriff Harvey Martin clomped in, holding a cigar in his teeth. He
frowned at me.

“Good Lord, girl,” he said. “You just keep on
looking for trouble. The first time in two years we’ve gotten a
prowler call and it turns out to be you and your partner in crime
here. Sam, this here’s the Jones girl. What’s your name again?
Patsy? And your friend is Annie?”

“No, sir, it’s Piper and Addie.” I squeezed
the words out of my throat.

“You two gals had better come with me. Your
folks are gonna be plenty upset with you! I’ll take care of it,
Sam, and thanks for calling. You might want to check and see if
anything’s missin’ or broken.”