Secondhand Horses Read online

  It took her a while to drag out the trampoline and confirm that, yes indeed, this tramp was still usable. While she lay on her stomach on it, propping up her head with her hands, her eyes drooped. The sun was sooooo warm on her shoulders and back. Raising heavy lids, she surveyed her domain. Some wooden boxes, the slatted kind from back in the day, were piled crookedly behind the tractor shed.

  The tractor shed. Her eyes flew wide open. She had to finish the tractor shed. The best place for the tramp would have to wait. She rolled off the tramp and hurried to the tractor shed where sunlight caught the remaining dust motes in streams. Almost magical. She sneezed. Now where had she put that broom? Not by the stairs. Hmmmm. In the back to the right, stairs leading to who knows where. First ranch hand, house helper, and now explorer. Uncle Dave was the best. When she and the girls woke up tomorrow, she would wear one of her uncle’s cowboy hats and take them on a Mystery Tour.

  She leaped over the buckets of old bridles and bits, tractor tires, a large coiled rope, a partial bale of old hay, plus bits of unidentified “shed stuff.” Up the stairs, she landed lightly on each wooden step. While delightfully creaky, they were solid.

  “Wow!” Her head popped up, and she viewed the wide-open space before her. Just ahead, a boarded-up window had cracks of light framing it. Once at the top, she took care to make sure each footstep landed on a floorboard and not in the gaps that filtered dust to the downstairs. “This would be a great S.A.V.E. Squad clubhouse.” Making a face, she shook her head. “If we cleaned all this stuff out.”

  The floor was loaded with “stuff.” An old engine machine-y thing stood against the wall. More old tires, parts of calendars, dried-out paint cans with little stuff in them. The previous owner didn’t throw out anything. Lots of mouse droppings. Sunny wrinkled her nose and scanned the ceiling. Old birds’ nests perched on the beams with white and green drippings. She would definitely have to show the girls this. The loft, not the droppings, although the white and green stuff would kill it for Vee as a clubhouse. Vee had this thing about bugs and doo-doo, thanks to her Twin Terror stepbrothers.

  A wooden frame with a side hinge signaled a window in the back wall. Sunny made her way to it and inspected the latch. How cool would it be to have a giant’s view of the back of the ranch? She jerked the latch. Nothing. She leaned on it and jerked again. A bit of a move then it slid back, and the window slowly began to groan outward with Sunny clinging to the latch. Half her body hung over the ground that seemed very far below, supported only by the splintery window that groaned louder with each passing second.

  Chapter 4

  Close Call

  Yiiikes!” Her left hand fumbled for the window frame. Yes! Relief, when she scrabbled onto the frame, then a big OW as the quick prick of splinters followed. Sunny hated splinters, but she would really hate falling to her death before the freedom of summer vacation just six short months away.

  With a deep breath and holding in her stomach for more backward muscle power, she squinched her eyes shut, told her legs to lock tight, and pulled back. Her foot slipped forward and waggled wildly, trying to get support from the air. Visions of James inheriting her room filled her head; she grunted and pulled back again.

  Finally, both feet connected with the edge, then further in, then all of her body back into the loft. With trembling fingers, she let go of the window, collapsing on the dirty floor, sending up poofs of dust and dead flies.

  “That was not a Great Idea,” she announced after she had convinced herself she truly was alive. A few more deep breaths and then she stood by the window’s right side. “But I do want to see what’s out there.” Pushing the window out and firmly gripping the left side of the frame, Sunny leaned out and looked below. Behind the shed lay more tractor tires and slatted wooden boxes leaning crazily. More stuff to clear out. She shifted her gaze to the tramp, down to the ground, and back to the tramp. She felt her eyes widen.

  Since the ceiling was low in this shed, the drop from the loft window to say, a trampoline below, would be about as long as Uncle Dave was tall. Six feet. A rocko-socko complete yayness seat drop. It would be worth tugging the tramp over to below the window.

  She had so many Great Ideas, she amazed herself.

  After placing the tramp in the absolute perfect position and rubbing her hands in glee at what the Squad would say, Sunny returned to her sweeping. No way could she get the floor clean without moving everything out. She’d put some boxes away inside the house instead; then later, before she and her uncle left to pick up the Squad, she’d move everything.

  Her first attempt at finishing dinner was a blazing success and completely blotted out the Stinking Spaghetti of the previous night—at least in Sunny’s mind. She made boxed mac and cheese, watching the cooking macaroni like a hawk. She’d eaten the mac and cheese. Finished.

  It wasn’t her fault that Uncle Dave thought boxed mac and cheese should be banned in all fifty states and wouldn’t eat it. All in all, with the rocko-socko discovery of the tramp and cooking a homemade meal, it had been a great day. Tonight would only get better.

  The S.A.V.E. Squad was heading to the carnival.

  Chapter 5

  On Their Own

  What’s up, Sunny girl?” Uncle Dave shot her a quick look across the truck as she pointed out the turn to Esther’s house and told him how close the girls lived to each other and hadn’t known it until the end of the summer.

  “Oh, I’m just happy. You saved me from Deep Trouble last night. I get to be at the ranch. Trust me. That dinner disaster consequence could have been a lot worse.”

  “I remember when I was a kid—” Her uncle swung into Esther’s driveway. “Oh. Sorry. I know I hated it when adults used to trot out the ‘when I was your age’ stuff. I’m just glad for the help—especially with that shed.”

  Umm. That shed. Yes, well … she’d get on that first thing in the morning. Nothing would stop her from finishing tomorrow.

  Esther’s mother cupped her hands around her mouth at the open front door. “She’ll be out in a minute!”

  Turning off the truck, Dave nodded and turned back to Sunny.

  Now was a good time to change the subject away from the shed. “So were you going to say how you never got in trouble? That would not be helpful.”

  Dave threw back his head and laughed the rat-a-tat rifle laugh. It sounded like the blast of many bullets one right after another. She swallowed her chuckles. “Well?”

  “No, it wasn’t going to be that. Your mom would make sure you knew I was no angel. In fact, Sunny, they used to call me—”

  Dark blond Esther ran up to the truck, pulling the edge of her shirt down over her jeans. “Hi, Mr. Martin. Hi, Sunny. Carnival at night! By ourselves, right? Can’t wait!” Her hazel eyes were beaming.

  Her mother approached the truck to meet Uncle Dave—to make sure he didn’t look like a criminal, Esther whispered to Sunny.

  At Vee’s house, her mother and stepdad, Bill, waved from the front step as black-haired Vee barreled toward them, stuffing folded money into the front pocket of her jeans. She was smiling a smile that only showed up for rocko-socko events. Her almond eyes, so deep brown, sparkled. “Hi, Mr. Martin. Hi, Squaders! Aren’t you glad we all live so close? Just one more stop for Aneta. I want to ride the swings.”

  “I want to do the Death Drop!” Sunny bounced after buckling her seat belt. She turned to the girls in the backseat, who were also buckling themselves in.

  “You won’t get Aneta on that, for sure,” Esther responded seriously. “I think I’ll have to keep her company so she doesn’t get snatched by someone while you two are on the wild rides.”

  Trust Esther not to admit she didn’t want to ride a wild ride.

  As the truck turned into Aneta’s gated community, Sunny told Uncle Dave the gate code. He punched it in, hit the POUND sign, and the gate swung inward. She saw him take in each large house, many of which had its own pool. “Fancy,” was all Uncle Dave said.

  “Aneta�
��s mom is a lawyer,” Sunny said as they pulled into the driveway. “She is going to give you the third degree when you’re driving her daughter anywhere.”

  “She met me at that barbecue after the Great Cat Caper, remember? Besides, my honest face will automatically convince her.” He contorted that face into a monstrous expression at the same moment a cool, professional voice sounded next to his left ear.

  “Mr. Martin? You are driving the girls to the carnival and back to your ranch tonight?”

  Startled, he turned, his face still twisted. Aneta’s mom jumped back, equally surprised. Dave’s face fell into the crinkly rat-a-tat laughing face Sunny and her family loved. Aneta’s mother’s face, on the other hand, transformed into the no-nonsense lawyer face the girls had seen in their very first adventure. Sunny wasn’t a criminal, so it didn’t scare her. Okay, so maybe it scared her a little. Who she really felt sorry for was Uncle Dave. He had looked like a dope in front of pretty Margo Jasper.

  “—and so I’m at Uncle Dave’s for two weeks to practice finishing things!” Sunny took a bite out of her hot dog and then inserted a wad of blue cotton candy. Uncle Dave’s surprise carnival money was a nice treat. The girls sat at a picnic table just inside the chain-link fence to the carnival.

  Aneta nearly choked on her own cotton candy. “Your mouth and lips are blue, Sunny. Are mine?”

  After swallowing, Sunny nodded, and stuck out her blue tongue.

  True to his word, Uncle Dave had paid for their tickets and gotten “lost” as he promised so they wouldn’t be treated like little kids. “You won’t see me or hear me,” he said. “I hear a candy apple calling my name. If you want to watch someone walk off with two armfuls of stuffed animals, come find me. Plus,”—he patted his phone—“I need to talk with people about getting the ranch going. I’m set until it’s time to take you to the ranch.”

  Esther pushed her hair behind her ears. She pulled a wispy strand of pink cotton candy off the puffy mass and laid it on her extended tongue. The girls watched it melt and turn her tongue and lips a neon pink. “If it had been me forgetting things, I would have been grounded for life,” she said around the melting pile. It came out sounding like “whee forwetting hings, rounded—swallow—for life.” She cocked her head at Sunny. “Although usually they ground me from the computer. That’s a killer for me.” Esther was the computer whiz of the group and figured anything could be found on the Internet.

  Leaping to her feet, Sunny fluffed her curly hair until every hair was spinning on its own. “Everybody done? Let’s go find fun!” She began to spin until Esther grabbed one arm as it rotated past and held fast. She was short, but she was solid. Sunny stopped.

  “Okay!” Esther said as Sunny staggered a bit. Pointing Sunny’s arm forward, she said, “That’s the direction we go!”

  “What’s in that direction?” Aneta wanted to know. Of the four of them, she was the one who didn’t like diving into adventure. She’d rather have the adventure explained first. If she couldn’t have that, she waited until the other three were waiting for her then would smile nervously and join in.

  “We’ll find your fun!” Vee said, leading the way. “We won’t stop until we find it!”

  Esther hurried up next to the long-legged Vee. Sunny shook her head and slung an arm around Aneta’s shoulders. Those two. Always wanting to be first. Each of them thought they were the smartest S.A.V.E. Squad girl. Sunny knew they were both smarter than she was. Aneta was, too. For a moment, Sunny’s delight in the night dimmed. Were they smart because they finished stuff? And if they were, did that mean she was dumb?

  Chapter 6

  Sunny Starts Something

  Esther and Vee were waiting at a corner next to a sign pointing right: PETTING ZOO. The two girls danced around the sign, sweeping their arms toward it like game-show girls.

  “This is for us!” Vee said.

  “Perfect for the S.A.V.E. Squad!” Esther agreed with a happy bounce.

  “Petting zoo!” Aneta squealed.

  Sunny snapped her fingers and spun. “Let’s go!”

  A few more steps and they saw the large pen surrounded by little children. Inside waddled a goose that made Esther laugh with his disgust for some things he picked up, bobbled around in his beak, and then spit out.

  “Do you see what I see?” Vee was frowning.

  “Yeah,” Sunny said. “The animals are dirty, and the pen needs new sawdust.”

  Aneta pointed out a brown-and-white pygmy goat and a small boy nearby. “Look what that boy is doing. He will get bit if he keeps doing that.” Nearby, a large reddish pig with floppy ears seemed to snuffle in agreement.

  A sandy-haired boy about C.P.’s size—C.P. was a neighbor boy who was always eating and who had helped the girls out before—was jabbing a cotton-candy paper cone at the goat. Whenever the goat went to grab it, the boy would laugh and jerk it away. The goat stamped its foot, rising up on back legs silently, as though shadowboxing with the pest.

  “C.P. would never do that.” Esther placed her hands on her hips.

  Sunny glanced at Vee and Aneta, who nodded and made faces. When Esther planted her hands—or worse—her fists on her hips, you’d better watch out.

  A horse, standing in the middle of the enclosure, was a perfect miniature of a horse in Western movies—a dapple gray, a showy silver tone.

  “Oh, look, Esther! A miniature horse.” Sunny tried to distract her.

  The little horse swished its tail and waggled its head to dislodge a pesky fly. Sunny’s brows slammed together. That horse should have a flowing full mane and tail. His coat should shine. It would if it were brushed, but the tangled mane and tail held wisps of hay and small clods of dirt. The horse was quietly chewing a mouthful of hay from a meager pile on the ground near a half-empty bucket of gunky water. The horse’s gaze flickered over to Sunny, bobbing its head in a friendly way.

  It was too late, though, to sidetrack Esther. “Hey, kid!” Esther marched over to the boy. “Don’t do that. It’s mean.”

  “Mean!” Aneta echoed. She was right behind Esther, and, as the tallest Squader, towered over the boy. About the only thing that would make Aneta leap in without thinking was someone being mean to animals. That’s what made her such a good S.A.V.E. Squader.

  “You’re not the boss of me!” The boy poked the goat again.

  “I’ll distract the goat, and the kid will leave.” Sunny grabbed an oversized red bandanna tied to a rail on the metal corral. She would flap the bandanna like a matador with his cape. The mini horse raised its head and neighed, the cutest miniature neigh Sunny had ever heard.

  “Aww! You’re just the cutest.” Sunny dropped the red kerchief on the ground as she slipped through the fence to pet the little horse. She stroked the small velvety nose and whispered, “I wish you could live in my backyard. Hey, why not my room?”

  Large brown eyes, fringed with heavy eyelashes, looked up at her. The horse ducked its head—in agreement, Sunny was sure—then stamped its foot right on Sunny’s.

  “Yow!” She yanked her foot out from under the mini’s. The horse hopped backward. Teetering on one foot, Sunny collided with the goat who had backed away from the annoying kid. He bumbled into the boy who, by now, had leaned half his body through the middle rail, waving the paper cone. Boy and goat heads connected with a craaack.

  Sunny winced. That’s going to leave a mark. Just like her foot. Flapping her arms, still on one foot, she lost her balance and dropped into the dirty sawdust. The goose, disturbed from its food hunt, flapped its wings, rose up, and dive-bombed the nearest part of Sunny—

  Her T-shirted stomach.

  Chapter 7

  Loose Goose

  Ow! Help!” Sunny immediately exchanged that plea for another one: “Knock it off, goose. We’re trying to help the goat!” The goose appeared not to care, darting in and out at Sunny. “Help! Vee! Esther! SOMEBODY!”

  The pig began snorting. It sounded like, well, like the big ol’ pig was laughing.
r />   Vee stepped through the rails to shoo away the goose, and as she did, the goose turned its snaky neck and beak toward her. Sunny, whose howls had turned to nervous laughter, saw her friend turn around and dash for the rails, the goose in hot pursuit. Scrambling to her feet, Sunny watched as Vee rolled under the lowest rail. The girl who did not like bugs and other icky stuff was not going to be happy with what had smeared on her back.

  The goose followed.

  “Oh no!” This was worse. “Loose goose!” she yelled. “Look out—loose goose.”

  “I don’t care!” Vee yelled back, getting up and brushing off her knees and elbows. “That goose is mean!” She reached behind her and peeled her shirt from her back. “WHAT IS WET ON MY SHIRT?”

  The bandanna lay crumpled and beaten into the ground by animals and girls. Sunny bit her lip. She was supposed to get that goat away from the kid. If she hadn’t gotten distracted, none of this would have happened.

  “Hey!” A rough voice at her elbow caused her to jump sideways. A man no taller than herself glared and then gestured to the corral before bending to step between the rails. A very strong smell—a horrible stench—preceded him. “What’s going on? Where’s the goose?” He glowered at Sunny like she had tucked the fowl into her back pocket. He had three teeth in the front, holes on either side of the three, and a big mole on his nose. A dirty, red-striped, long-sleeved shirt with the sleeves rolled up hung off his skinny shoulders. He spit when he talked.