Secondhand Horses Read online

  This time, if it was truly a Great Idea, she would do it right.

  Back at the ranch, she cleared her idea with Uncle Dave, who said she was amazing. Dad looked skeptical. Now, more than ever, she must make this happen. And finish. Then everyone would see that her Great Ideas could work out.

  Uncle Dave and Sunny shook hands. Deal.

  On Tuesday after school, Sunny’s mom drove out to the ranch with the S.A.V.E. Squad and their bikes crammed into the minivan. She visited with Uncle Dave—who protested he didn’t need 24-7 care—while the girls clipped on helmets and rode to the library. There, they helped Nadine select a very special pile of books for a very special field trip on Wednesday. Vee, Esther, and Aneta figured out Sunny’s Great Idea as soon as Nadine laid out the parameters for titles. Nothing like hearing your best friends say you’re brilliant. It was a good day.

  No Sweet Stuff today; afternoons were short and the light faded early, so bike riding had to be speedy. Back at the ranch, Aneta’s mom had arrived and was inside talking to Uncle Dave. In their riding lesson, the girls took turns learning their “seat” (which made them smirk) on Shirley, Mondo, and Mystery, and then everyone departed, leaving Uncle Dave and Sunny.

  “It would be handy to have one more secondhand horse so the Squad could all ride at once,” she remarked while they ate dinner watching an old Western movie. “We just need one more.”

  Her uncle rolled his eyes at her. He had been spending a bunch of time on the phone. It wasn’t going well, at least from the phone conversations she had overheard. Perhaps if she mentioned it nicely enough times, her uncle would see that a secondhand horse ranch—with its own petting zoo—was a more rocko-socko idea.

  He pointed to the TV. “Here’s the part where the hunted becomes the hunter. Love this part.” It was a deliberate distraction, and Sunny knew it. Okay, Uncle Dave, but don’t think I’m forgetting this. Uncle Dave loved Westerns. Although Sunny worried about the horses in the movies, she did like the good guys winning over the bad guys wanting to take over the town. “The good guy stops running from the bad guy”—Uncle Dave leaned forward on his couch—“and turns to chase him and fight.”

  Too bad nothing exciting like that happened anymore. The Squad would be great if a bad guy tried, say—her mind wandered—to take over the ranch. She could just imagine.…

  “You all set for tomorrow?” he asked, rousing himself to head for bed at the end when justice had been restored and the bad guys caught.

  “Yup. The kids will be here at four.”

  The Squad arrived one after another immediately after school, each still in school clothes.

  “I could not take the time to go home and change,” Aneta said in her uniform of plaid skirt, white button-front blouse, and navy school blazer. “I am too excited.”

  “Same here.” Esther pulled the school T-shirt over her navy capris.

  Vee agreed. “Except I wear the same thing whether I’m in school or not.”

  Half an hour later, the community center van rolled into the driveway. Sunny thought Bob the goat had done a fine job on the oval. Frank stepped from the driver’s seat, and eight children climbed out.

  “A ranch!” one said.

  “Nuh-uh! A farm!” another corrected.

  “I smell animal poo,” said a third.

  “Yep,” Frank said with a sigh, helping out the last two. “My day to drive one zoo to see another.”

  His wife, already hugging the Squad, looked at him over her shoulder and laughed. Nadine almost always laughed when Frank pretended he didn’t like his job. The girls and Nadine knew he loved it. Although the Squad had made him have doubts a time or two, Sunny thought. She hustled to get herself and the mini in position for their part of the Great Idea.

  Once Nadine had the kids seated on blankets on the oval, Nadine rummaged in the giant cloth bag made out of an old coffee-bean sack. Setting aside something next to her, she pulled out a book. “Petey the Pig Runs a Pizzeria,” she announced. A few chortles and much squirming.

  A few pages in, Nadine read a line from the book a little more loudly than the others.

  “Showtime!” Sunny whispered. With the mini standing patiently beside her in a place Sunny had never thought she’d see a horse, she looked toward the barn. Right on cue, Vee’s hand came through the barn doorway and tossed out some grain. Piggles emerged to begin snuffling his way toward Nadine.

  “Look!” One of the girls, who had never said a word at the library club meeting, pointed at Piggles. “It’s Petey from the book!”

  Suddenly, everyone’s attention was on Piggles as he reached the blanket. He had found the “something” Nadine had removed from her bag. He began to snuffle and eat happily.

  “It’s a real pig!”

  “Can I touch it?”

  “Hmm. Shall I read more about Petey the pig?” Nadine asked, as though a pig showing up when she was reading a pig story was completely natural.

  “Yes!” The answer was loud.

  Just. Like. She. Imagined.

  “We can pretend that this piggy is Petey.” The small, dark-haired girl with the glasses pushed them up on her nose. “It’s like it’s real.”

  “Petey’s the biggest pig ever,” squealed a boy.

  Who cares if the kid thinks Piggles is Petey, Sunny thought, stroking the soft nose of the mini. This Great Idea was going, well, great.

  When Nadine stopped again—strategically, the girls knew—there was an outcry for more of Petey. Piggles had finished his grain and had settled into the soft, inviting dust nearby.

  On the second book, the kids looked expectantly at the barn, but Esther and Which Way appeared from behind them, from the left side of the house. Esther acted surprised that a story was being read about a goose when she—why, imagine that—just happened to be carrying her goose. They petted the goose. The rowdiest boy from the library took hold of the goose’s foot, felt how warm it was, and said, “It’s like it’s on fire!”

  The third book, about a little goat who ran away from home, had them begging Nadine to read faster; they were sure they were getting an animal “for reals” with each story. Aneta rolled the big ball out of the paddock, the pygmy goat behind it, until just before the blanket. Then she let Bob take over. The goat chased after it, butting it with his head, and then walked on over to the blanket for ear scratches. Nadine didn’t get too far in that book, but two of the kids said they were going to check it out at the library the next day. “Now I know how cool a goat is!”

  Finally, it was time for the miniature horse story. That had been tougher, and Nadine had to go to a nearby larger library system to borrow a miniature horse story. Sunny had been listening to everything. At Nadine’s now-familiar slightly louder voice on one line, Sunny pushed open the screen door and walked out on the porch with the mini’s mini hooves clopping on the wood floor.

  Chapter 18

  Sunny Gets It Right

  It’s a little horse!”

  “Coming out of a house!”

  “Horses aren’t supposed to live in houses!” The rowdy kid didn’t know what to think of this.

  “Ohhhhhh!”

  As soon as the mini saw the children, he pulled away from Sunny and trotted over to the blanket. Nadine and Frank were smiling big smiles. I mean, really, who doesn’t love a cute little horse? Sunny grinned as she picked up the lead and followed.

  It was difficult for Nadine to keep reading about a miniature horse who saves the day, but she did. When her voice flowed over the kids’ delight at the mini, the mini’s ears perked up straight and he moved to her side, head dipping up and down as though he were reading along.

  That dissolved everyone in laughter. The shy little girl clasped her hands and murmured to herself, “Oh, I wish I could read to him.”

  The mini had found what he was good for.

  He was a reading horse.

  It was already dark by the time the girls and Uncle Dave finished supper. The girls put the three and a half hor
ses to bed as well as the zoo and gathered in the living room. Vee’s mom would soon arrive to collect her daughter, Aneta, and Esther, even though the three begged to be allowed to stay over and skip school the next day.

  “So then Nadine and Frank passed out books and all the kids read out loud.” Sunny took a swallow of water. Uncle Dave had watched from the kitchen window for as long as he could stand then retired to the living room. He’d missed the best part, Sunny told him as she and the Squad sat in front of him sharing cookies for dessert. “You’ll never guess what the mini did then.”

  “I hate guessing. Just tell me,” her uncle said.

  “As soon as he heard each kid begin to read, he walked over and lowered his head to their shoulder, like he was listening!”

  “He was the big hit,” Aneta said.

  “Nadine wants Sunny to bring him to the library for the Adventure Readers’ next meeting. Can she, Mr. Martin?” Esther asked.

  “Who would have thought Minor the mini would be useful. I mean, you can’t ride him, you can’t plow with him—” Uncle Dave’s tone was teasing.

  “Yep.” Sunny wasn’t going to let him win. “He can’t mow the oval or root up the back garden either. But he can be a reading horse and help kids learn to love reading. Ha!” Then a thought struck her. “And I think you should stop calling him Minor the mini. I think he has a name now.”

  The girls leaned toward her.

  “Well?” Esther asked.

  “Not Minor the mini. Major the reading mini!”

  “Major?” Vee cocked her head to the side. “Yes, it’s good.”

  “Major the reading mini!” Aneta clapped her hands. “Yes!”

  “Another Great Idea, Sunny,” Esther said, smiling as she uncrossed her legs to get more comfortable.

  Uncle Dave tipped back his head and drilled out his rat-a-tat laugh. “You win, Sunny. The minor is now a Major! Maybe I should—”

  A hoarse, nasal screeching from the direction of the barn interrupted his maybe.

  “What was that?” Vee twisted toward the kitchen, placed her hands on the floor, and popped to her feet. At the kitchen window, she announced. “I see a light—like a flashlight. Someone’s in the barn!”

  Chapter 19

  Which Way Sounds the Alarm

  One after another, the girls covered the few steps to the front door.

  “Hey, girls! Don’t go running off half-cocked!” Uncle Dave hollered, grabbing for his crutches, but Sunny had already wrenched open the front door. She banged the screen door with her fist and cleared the steps, hitting the ground at a run. Should she yell? Stay quiet and hope to catch the intruder?

  Her question was answered a second later when she heard the bitty goat bleat, “Baahhhhhb!”; heard a high, shrill male voice screaming, “No, no, stay away from me! Ahhhhhh!”; and a figure—who ran like a boy—beat feet out of the barn, the goose so close behind him with its neck and wings outstretched that the guy stumbled as the goose bit the calf of his leg.

  “Stop!” Esther’s biggest, bossiest voice bellowed behind as Sunny sprinted after the shadowy figure, who had made it past Uncle Dave’s room and was heading for the pasture. She had to get him before he disappeared into those stands of trees where the girls played hide-and-shriek.

  Pounding feet sounded behind her, and then it was Vee passing her. Of course it was. Vee was pouring it all on now. Arms were pumping, held close to her body, knees were up, and eyes were on the dark blob of the man. Sunny’s heart felt like it would either pop out her armpit or out her throat. She came to a gasping halt. Esther joined her.

  “Um,” Esther said as Vee quickly shortened the distance between her and the intruder.

  “Yeah?” Sunny raised her hands over her head like Vee had told her. It helped you catch your breath. “What?”

  “Sunny.” Turning, Esther looked worried. “What is Vee going to do when she catches him?”

  Oh no! If the intruder would break into a barn, what would he do to an eleven-year-old girl who told him to stop? Even if Vee used her Twin Terror stepsister voice, what would the guy do? Stop and say, “Okay, kid, you got me. I’ll follow you back to the police”?

  For a long, paralyzing moment, the two girls stared both slack jawed and bug eyed at each other.

  Then, “Vee!” They screamed their long-legged friend’s name in unison and began running after her. “Stop! Stop! Don’t catch him!”

  “I see footprints. Bigger than the girls’.” Sheriff John Bucholtz, who looked more like a pirate than a policeman, squatted and checked out the marks on the barn floor’s collection of dust, sawdust, and straw. “The animals don’t appear to be messed with.” Casting a look around, he continued, “It’s the rest of the barn he was after.”

  While the sheriff scrutinized each stall, Sunny and the girls scoured the corners for clues. They even climbed into the haymow. Nothing but hay and the rustle of mice. Backing slowly down the ladder, Sunny heard the sheriff add, “That goose ruined the intruder’s plan, for sure. Nothing much better than a watch goose. They’re nasty things when they’re mad.”

  The last zoo member to show what it was made for. Now she was the only one who needed to know.

  Out of the corner of her eye, Sunny saw Esther’s mouth open and knew—just knew—Esther was going to tell the sheriff this was not the first time the intruder had tried to get into the barn. She caught the other girl’s eye and shook her head a tiny bit. Though Esther frowned, she closed her mouth.

  Sipping from the water bottle the girls had brought her, Vee shook her head. “I can tell you it was a guy, but he had on a dark hoodie with the hood up. Couldn’t tell what color the hoodie was or anything. Shirt was hanging out, but I didn’t really see what it looked like. Then these two”—she waved an arm at Esther and Sunny—“caught up to me and told me to stop chasing him. I could have caught him.” She sucked more water.

  When Sunny noticed Uncle Dave swaying on his crutches, she rushed over and put a hand on his arm. “You need to lay down, Uncle Dave. We’ll have the sheriff come in and talk to you.”

  He didn’t protest. Slowly, and with a few mutterings of Sunny’s new favorite word ughness, her uncle made his way back to the house. Getting up the three stairs to the porch took some doing. Sunny could tell he was in a lot of pain. Anger at the intruder burned through her insides like a summer wildfire. Dumbhead crook. What could a barn full of a secondhand petting zoo hold for a criminal?

  “I’ll skip the couch. I just want to go to bed for a while.” Uncle Dave continued moving toward his bedroom, forehead furrowed with pain.

  Sunny settled him in his bed, adjusted his pillows, and then dashed to the kitchen. She took a glass from the cupboard by the dishwasher and dropped ice cubes into it before filling it with water. She hurried back, water sloshing over the top. Her uncle lay with his eyes closed, and for a moment she thought he’d already fallen asleep. Then his voice, low and scratchy with pain, caught her attention.

  “You didn’t forget to shut the barn door the first time it was open, did you.” It wasn’t a question. His eyes opened. He looked at her with that same look Mom had when trying to get the straight story from the brothers. The one that said, “Don’t even think about not telling the truth.”

  It caught Sunny off guard. She’d thought that with his pain medicines, her uncle hadn’t noticed much of what had been said or happened this last week and a half.

  Vee, Esther, and Aneta crowded the doorway. The sheriff’s SUV crunched out of the driveway.

  So. If she told her uncle that he was right and she hadn’t forgotten, he might think it was too dangerous for the girls to be out here anymore. That wouldn’t work for Sunny. While she’d been standing next to the sheriff and using what her brother called “the eagle eye,” she had seen something that everyone else had missed.

  Another Great Idea was forming, and this one would prove once and for all that she, Sunny Quinlan, was good at Finishing. Two Great Ideas finished in one day. Yeah. That
was her gift. Great Ideas.

  While Sunny wondered how to answer, her uncle’s eyelids began to flutter, and then he was out, breathing deeply. The hobbling had been too much for him.

  Sunny motioned to the girls.

  Around the big table, she stood while they sat. Leaning forward and pressing her palms on the table, she said, “New Great Idea.” She bobbed her head like Major.

  “I thought—” Esther turned to the other two as if for confirmation. “You said you weren’t going to have Great Ideas anymore—”

  “Because you kept getting into trouble,” Vee finished, folding her arms across her chest and leaning back in the chair.

  “But Major the reading mini was a Great Idea, and there was no trouble,” Aneta put in with a nod that sent her ponytail bouncing.

  Sunny waved her arms to dispel Vee and Esther’s doubts. “It’s okay to have a Great Idea as long as you finish.” Pulling a fabric scrap from her pocket, Sunny dangled it in front of her friends. “This! I found this in the tractor shed. Even the sheriff missed it!”

  The girls drew closer to inspect Sunny’s prize. A triangular piece of material with rough edges, as though it had been torn from something bigger.

  “Well?” Sunny watched Vee’s face. If Vee, the only one who’d been close enough to the intruder, reacted as if fire ants were eating her toes, Sunny had been right and that scrap hadn’t been in the shed for a bazillion years.

  At first the dark-haired girl merely scrutinized the fabric. Then her eyes widened, and she gasped and lunged at the scrap. “The shirt—under the hoodie!”

  “Exactly!” Sunny tossed the scrap onto the kitchen table where the girls regarded it as though it were a key to a treasure chest. She lowered her voice. “So that gave me an idea.”

  The other three leaned in.

  This was more like it. Sunny stepped back and spun. Oh, it felt good to spin!

  “Esther.” She turned to the shorter girl who was folding and unfolding the fabric. Esther looked startled.