Secondhand Horses Read online

  Gross.

  Sunny backed up.

  “Um, my friends are running after it.” She pointed at the backs of Vee, Esther, and Aneta, who were arranged in a triangle: Vee running backward in front of the goose to halt its forward flapping waddle; Aneta on one side waving her hands to keep it away from the midway rides; and Esther opposite, bending over with her hands out, biding her time to swoop in and grab the thing. Esther was bossy enough to think the goose would be okay with that. The goose was winning. The group disappeared behind a cotton-candy stand.

  The creepy carnival guy began mumbling and swung his gaze to the goat, who had calmed down and stood in the middle of the corral chewing something. “Get over here!” he yelled between gritted teeth and took a step forward. The goat stopped chewing and took an equal step away. That seemed to make the creepy carnival guy madder; he lunged for the goat’s head, twisting the tiny horns. The goat struggled silently to free himself.

  “Hey! Don’t do that!” Before she had time to think, Sunny yelled, pushing herself between the goat and the man. For a few body-stink, bad-breath moments, his three teeth—bared in a snarl—met the deadeye stare her brothers received when they took stuff from her room. Then he whirled and spat on the sawdust. “I’m through with these stupid animals. I’ll sell ’em all tonight for somebody’s dinner.” He disappeared into the crowd.

  The pig laughed. In a piggling way.

  When the miniature horse nosed Sunny from behind, she turned, scratched its nose, and frowned. “We have got to do something.” Quiet brown eyes blinked. “You need a nicer place to live. That guy is mean.”

  The Squad would figure out what to do. She ducked between the rails, heading in the direction where she’d last seen them chasing the goose. Moments later she found them.

  “Guys!” She slid to a stop, breathless. “You won’t believe this.”

  Esther, with a triumphant smile, held the goose who acted as though it had spent its whole life relaxing in the girl’s arms. Silly goose. Esther was panting slightly. When she saw Sunny, her happy smile melted into a frown. “Sunny, if you had distracted the goat like you said, none of this would have happened.”

  When had it become her fault? “What? I didn’t do anything. I was trying to help, for pizza sake. I had the red bandanna and was going to—” Was going to didn’t mean finished.

  Ughness.

  Vee was shaking her head. “Sometimes, Sunny, your big ideas are—”

  “Dumb.” Esther wasn’t letting this go.

  Warmth rushed to Sunny’s cheeks. If there was going to be a fight, it was usually between Vee and Esther. Sunny didn’t much like being the one in trouble. Especially since The Spaghetti Event.

  Trouble again.

  She sighed and pushed her hands through her hair then looked at the dusty hands. Now she probably had dirt streaks running through her curls. Could she do anything right?

  “Okay, I’m sorry. It seemed like a Great Idea. Kinda fun, like a matador …” Her voice trailed off then surged back in full Sunny power. “Forget the bandanna—you won’t believe what I heard from that creepy carnival zoo guy.”

  “Tell us.” Aneta’s smile made Sunny feel not quite so dumb.

  “He’s selling the zoo to be eaten!”

  “He’s what?” Esther clutched the goose so tightly it clacked its beak up at her. “You’re kidding.”

  “He can’t do that!” Vee’s head tipped toward Sunny, her eyes slanted in what Aneta had named the Vee Stare. “You ate too much cotton candy.”

  “We cannot let him do that,” Aneta said. Her usually gentle face looked like she was ready for a fight.

  Motioning the others to join her, Sunny spun on her heel and headed back toward the petting zoo. Aneta fell in step next to her.

  “She’s nuts. It can’t be true,” Sunny heard Esther mutter to Vee behind her.

  “Yeah, Sunny gets excited, but she’s never lied.” Vee’s voice was closer now, at Sunny’s side. No Esther yet. Glancing behind, she noted the shorter girl, still carrying the goose, standing next to a popcorn stand. Sunny frowned. The Squaders weren’t easy to convince, but they were usually willing to give it a try if it meant saving animals. It wasn’t like Esther to give up on the Squad and just stop and eat.

  She worked the inside of her bottom lip and stepped up the pace. How long would it take the creepy carnival guy to find a buyer for the zoo?

  In the next moment, Esther had zoomed past them, goose jouncing up and down. She flung these words at them: “C’mon! The popcorn guy—told candy apple girl—Glad it’s last night. He can’t wait to leave—boring Oakton. We’ve got to save the zoo now!”

  Vee broke into a jog. Sunny mustered up her muscles and merged into a full gallop. Now the Squad was together. That thought made her smile while she tried to remember to breathe and run. The jingling change in her pocket bounced with each step: Save. The. Zoo. Save. The. Zoo.

  While the corral was in sight, they still had some ground to cover to reach the animals. She saw the three remaining animals, but where was the creepy guy? Would the creepy carnival guy have a cell phone? What if he already called someone to come and tow off the zoo? What would happen to the big-eyed miniature horse?

  The guy must have a cell phone.

  Didn’t everyone have a cell phone?

  I can’t wait to turn thirteen and get a cell phone.

  Jingle, jingle. How much money did she have in there?

  No matter, once she got a cell phone—

  “Sunneeee!” Vee’s voice cut into her jumbled thinking.

  Ooops. Is this what her mother and father were talking about? Easily distracted. Life and death for the zoo and she was running along thinking 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. “Weirdne
ss 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 the window.” She crossed to the window and tugged it up. No screen. It was one of the things on Uncle Dave’s “I’ll have to take a look at it” list. If, of course, he ever wrote that sort of list down. He wasn’t the most organized of people. Vee was a lot better at it.

  Each girl sat on the sill and swung her legs over. “Good thing the ground’s higher back here,” Esther said, the last to swing her shorter legs up and out the window. She pushed off with her hands and landed on the ground.

  Sunny reminded them they would be passing her uncle’s bedroom window. They dashed toward the front as quietly as shoes on crushed stone could. A beat-up red truck with splotchy rust on the fenders parked in the driveway.

  Bang! A single kick vibrated the side of the dilapidated trailer.

  “I bet that’s the mini,” Esther said.

  The creepy carnival guy stood at the back of the trailer. Without a word, he undid the latches on both sides and let the ramp fall. Bang! Four animal voices responded.

  “You scared them,” Aneta said, stepping forward.

  The animals didn’t want help, only out. A second after the ramp landed, the goose flew out low with some serious honking attitude. The pygmy goat followed, bouncing, then a scamper of tiny hooves drummed on the wooden ramp. Both were soon by the right corner of the house where the drive led to the back corral and the—now Sunny realized—nearly endless forest and meadow.

  “Wait!” Four voices yelled, and four girls glared at the carnival guy.

  The miniature horse was next, bucking and kicking. It headed the same route as the other escapees. The pig was a little slower, both in coming out and following its zoo mates.

  The carnival guy shrugged. “Your problem now. I told you they was trouble.” Disappearing into the trailer, he reappeared with the roughly made wagon. “Now, where you gonna keep this?” If he was trying a friendly smile, he would have to practice. No matter what questions he had asked about the zoo being safe, he was still creepy. “You gotta keep the two of ’em together. That horse just loves this wagon. Understand?”

  Sunny jerked a thumb toward the barn. “Yeah, I get it. They’ll be in that barn over there.”

  “C’mon girls,” Vee said, taking off. “We’ve got to catch that zoo!”

  Esther and Aneta joined Vee in darting after the stampede. Amazing how fast a pig could run when motivated by its buddies disappearing out of sight.

  Great. Now the next worst thing would be Uncle Dave seeing the zoo before Sunny had a chance to explain. And get them washed. The quick parade of animals had shown they were even dirtier than last night.

  The dust from the beat-up red truck’s departure settled back onto the driveway while Sunny bounced up and down on her toes, thinking. Good thing Mom always said that her brother could sleep through a tornado. One had just swept through as a runaway zoo. It would be so fun to play with them, she thought, this new idea causing a little spin just thinking about it. If they were going to get them adopted, they would have to make them not grumpy by showing them kindness.

  “The S.A.V.E. Squad shall un-grump them!” She cracked herself up sometimes. Over her hilarity, she heard a pig snort to the left of the house. The problem again descended: Uncle Dave did not yet know he had a secondhand zoo.

  What to do?

  She first heard the groan, then the squeak, then Uncle Dave appeared, squinting on the front porch. Mom said Uncle Dave was the absolute last man to own animals, since getting up at dawn was his least favorite thing to do.

  Sunny no longer wanted to spin. Okay, now what? Another pig grunt then a small bleat that sounded like “Baaahhhhhb.” Goats didn’t talk. Did they?

  “Did I hear a truck horn?” He rubbed both fists back and forth on his head. Despite the crisis, Sunny had to giggle. He wore his blond hair longer than Dad, and one side had a big poof of hair. The other flopped right back to flat after each knuckle rub.

  “A—a truck?” She widened her eyes and turned in a big, slow circle, shading her eyes as though searching. “Mom says you walked in your sleep when you were a kid, Uncle Dave.”

  Hooonnkkk!

  Sunny stood motionless, her back to her uncle. She had to do something. If the girls hadn’t gathered up the zoo, those goofy animals would scatter again, every which way, right in front of Uncle Dave. If the girls had the zoo under control—sort of—they’d herd that zoo right in front of Uncle Dave. Either way, if Sunny did not warn them, Uncle Dave was going to wake up faster than if she’d poured ice water on him. Now, while Sunny did not have a Great Idea, she did know the zoo parading in front of Uncle Dave right after he woke up was not any sort of a good idea.

  Finishing the turn to face her uncle, she froze. On the left, pushing through the evergreen bushes, was a dirty snout and Vee tapping the pig’s back with a stick. To Vee’s left marched Esther, the goose under one arm on one hip, her fist perched on the other hip. Uh-oh. To Esther’s left, Aneta held the rope leads of the goat and the mini. Even from many feet away in the driveway, Sunny saw Aneta was dirty and the closest thing to a glare she’d ever seen on the usually tranquil blue-eyed girl’s face. And Aneta was limping.

  Turning back to her uncle, she asked, “Are you awake?” She stepped to his left and took his arm with her right arm. With her left arm, she smacked desperately at the air, hoping the girls would read that as “go away, not now!” More than that, she hoped Esther wouldn’t decipher her arm and decide anyway to introduce the zoo to Uncle Dave because Esther thought it was the right thing to do. Trust me, Esther.… Sunny shot her a silent message and a quick AHHHHH! face as Uncle Dave yawned. It is not a good idea.

  “I hope not,” he said inside a second yawn. “Did you feed and water Shirley and Mondo yet?”

  Ughness.

  She’d forgotten her regular ranch chores with the horn blast that announced the arrival of the zoo. Sunnneeee! she yelled at herself. How would Uncle Dave say yes to the zoo when Sunny hadn’t followed through with the regular stuff? Ugh. Ugh. Ugh. Ugh.

  Darting around to his right side so he wouldn’t look at her and see the zoo still hovering by the corner of the house, Sunny ran through possible ideas. She could pretend to have a choking fit and make Uncle Dave help her into the house. She tried an exp
erimental cough. No, that wasn’t good. Then her uncle would want to know if he should call her mother to come get her. There’d be no escape from the house to tell the girls what to do.

  She shot a glance toward the girls. Esther was frowning. Vee was glaring, and Aneta was close. Since English was Aneta’s second language, Sunny figured that the “Sunny-arm speak” was probably something she didn’t understand. At least they had stopped moving forward.

  “I’m on it, Uncle Dave. And then I’ll come in, and us girls will make breakfast for you. So go back inside and sleep a little more, okay?”

  “Servants,” he muttered, following her obediently and yawning again. “I like the idea of servants. There’s eggs, bacon, and, um, stuff in the fridge.”

  “Right. You just leave everything to us.” She had him in the front door in another second and pulled the door closed. A whoosh of breath escaped.

  That was too close.

  Leaping off the porch, she flung her hands high and sprinted to the side of the house.

  “I don’t like this,” Esther said, shaking her head. The goose grumbled.

  Vee agreed. “I don’t think the pig does either.” She gestured to the dust that coated her legs up to her knees. “He didn’t want to come back. He was at work rooting up an old garden like he was hired to do it.” She brushed at her capris. “Now I look like I did the digging.”

  Behind her, Sunny heard the door begin its early groaning. “What? He’s coming back out?” She turned back to her friends and began to wave them backward. The mini bobbed his head and jerked the rope through Aneta’s fingers. She cried out and dropped the rope. Bending over to regain it with her other hand, she held the reddened palm up. “Sunny!”

  “Okay, okay, just don’t come out here. First, we have to wash them and make them look pretty. First impressions are important. Dad says that all the time.”