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Pony Crazy
Pony Tails, Book One
By Bonnie Bryant OPEN ROAD INTEGRATED MEDIA
Copyright © 1995 Bonnie Bryant Hiller
All rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4976-5320-7
CHAPTER 1
Saying Good-bye
Jasmine James jumped up and down with excitement. "Go for it, May!" she yelled.
May Grover heard Jasmine shout. She could also hear the pounding hooves of Jackie Rogers's pony. Jackie had almost caught up with her. May leaned forward in her saddle.
"Come on, boy," she said to Macaroni. Her pony's yellow mane fluttered in the wind. He was going as fast as he knew how. Then, somehow, he sped up. They pulled ahead. May was going to win!
Her teammates were waiting for her at the end of the ring. They were leaping and waving at her. May was the final rider for the relay race and she had the red flag in her hand. All she had to do was get across the line.
May stayed low in the saddle. She gripped the reins tightly. She held on to Macaroni with her legs. She stared straight ahead at the finish line. With a final burst of speed she crossed it. She'd won!
"Yippee!" Jasmine yelled. She reached up and gave May a hug. Then she patted Macaroni on his neck. "If we can do this well in practice, just think how great we'll be in the real race next week!"
May shook her head. "By the time we have the real race, Joey won't be here," she reminded her friend.
The two girls looked at the boy who stood next to them. Joey Dutton just stared at the ground.
"It's not your fault that your family is moving," Jasmine said softly.
May, Joey, and Jasmine lived next door to each other. Joey lived in between May and Jasmine. They had been neighbors since they were born eight years before. But that wasn't all they had in common. They each had a pony that they kept in a stable in their backyard. Now all that was going to change. Joey's parents had sold their house. They were moving.
Joey and the girls had been dreading this day. Now here it was. While the three of them were riding their ponies, Joey's parents were helping movers load up a van. Dr. Dutton was coming to pick up Joey and his pony, Crazy, in a little while. Then they'd both be gone.
Joey was only moving two towns away, but things would never be the same. His pony wouldn't be in the backyard between May's and Jasmine's houses. And he wouldn't be at the Pony Club meeting every Saturday.
The three riders all belonged to a Pony Club called Horse Wise. Horse Wise met at Pine Hollow, a stable in Willow Creek, Virginia. Now Joey would have to join a new Pony Club—Cross County Pony Club.
May and Jasmine didn't like to think about Joey being gone.
Joey looked up at his friends. "Don't worry," he said. "There's no way I'll be able to beat you two in a relay race when I'm at Cross County."
"I'm not so sure about that," said May. "Who knows who Max will put on our team after you move?"
Max Regnery was their Pony Club instructor. He owned Pine Hollow and made his riders work very hard. He didn't care if they won their competitions. He said the important thing was for his riders to do their best. May still thought riders did their best when they won.
Now Max was trying to get everyone's attention. "Horse Wise, come to order!" he called out. "This was a good practice. We're going to do well against Cross County Pony Club in two weeks. Because Joey is leaving, I'll make up new teams and let you know what they are. That's all for now. It's time to untack your horses and ponies."
Untacking meant removing saddles and bridles. May, Jasmine, and Joey were good at that because they owned their own ponies and knew what to do.
Today they finished quickly. Then the two girls tied up their ponies and walked with Joey and Crazy to the driveway. His father, Dr. Dutton, was there, waiting with the horse van.
May could feel her eyes stinging. She turned away from Joey so he wouldn't see the tears. Instead of saying good-bye to Joey, she said good-bye to Crazy. She gave him a carrot. Jasmine gave the pony a hug.
Then Joey led Crazy up the ramp onto the van. He snapped the door shut.
"I'm going to miss you guys," Joey said.
"We'll miss you, too," said Jasmine. "Come visit us."
Joey nodded. He looked as if he wanted to cry, too.
"Time to go," said Dr. Dutton to Joey. Then he said good-bye to May and Jasmine. "Don't look so sad," he said. "Wait until you meet your new neighbor. She's very interesting."
"Bye," said Joey. He got into the front seat next to his father and waved.
"Bye," called out Jasmine and May as the van pulled away.
The van drove away. May swallowed hard. That was the last time Joey Dutton would be their neighbor. She knew Jasmine felt just as sad as she did. They stood there together until the van disappeared down the dusty road.
"What do you think Dr. Dutton meant when he said our new neighbor was interesting?" Jasmine asked as they headed back to the stable.
"Interesting usually means different," said May. "When my mother says dinner is interesting, she means it didn't come out right." She stopped and looked at Jasmine. "I hate to tell you this. But I think Dr. Dutton was trying to tell us that our new neighbor is strange!"
CHAPTER 2
May and Jasmine
When May and Jasmine went back into the stable, Outlaw tugged at his lead. He was Jasmine's pony and he was ready to get going. He knew he'd have fresh hay and water as soon as he got home.
"Don't worry, boy. We'll be home soon," Jasmine said. Outlaw sniffed curiously at her pocket, looking for a treat.
Outlaw was a solid brown color called liver chestnut. He had a white face that looked like a mask, which was why Jasmine had named him Outlaw. He was a Welsh pony with a long mane. He could be frisky. He could even be temperamental. May said he and Jasmine were a perfect combination because they were so different from each other.
Jasmine thought May and Macaroni were a perfect match, too. Macaroni was a sweet pony. He never nipped at May and he always did exactly what she told him to do. He was the color of May's favorite food—macaroni and cheese, which was how he'd gotten his name.
The girls collected their ponies and headed back down the driveway.
"I hope Dad gets here soon," said May. "Last time he picked us up, he was an hour late."
"That was because your sister Ellie had soccer practice," Jasmine reminded her.
"It was because she got into trouble in soccer practice and had to stay late," May said. May had two older sisters, Ellie and Dottie. Neither of them loved ponies the way she did. She couldn't understand how anyone could not love ponies. Her mother loved them. So did her father. Her father trained horses for a living, so the stable in their backyard always had lots of horses and ponies in it.
Jasmine didn't have any brothers or sisters. She lived alone with her parents. Although May said being an only child would be nice, Jasmine liked being around May's family. They were loud and rowdy and always seemed to be having fun, even when they were arguing. There were always lots of people around. Mr. Grover's work was in the stable in the backyard—and in the riding ring attached to it—so he was always at home. While he worked, he had a radio blasting out old rock music so he could sing along.
Jasmine's house was very quiet. Her father worked for an environmental group, which meant his job was to help protect the planet. Her mother was an artist. She had a studio in their house and while she worked, her radio played chamber music.
May and Jasmine's personalities were just as different as their families. May was stubborn; Jasmine was gentle. Jasmine liked to dress up; May liked to wear jeans best. May was always in a hurry; Jasmine was patient. Jasmine finished her homework as soon as she got home from school. May finished it just before she went to bed—sometimes later if her mother didn't notice her light was on.
The two girls also looked very different from one another. Jasmine was taller than May and thinner. She had long wavy blond hair and blue eyes. She liked to wear her hair in braids or in a ponytail. She always looked neat and tidy. May had very straight brown hair and brown eyes. When she wore a ponytail, her hair would straggle out of the ribbon. She had a ski-jump nose and in the summertime it was covered with freckles.
Even though they didn't look alike or act alike, the girls were best friends with one big thing in common. They both loved ponies more than anything in the world. In fact, they were totally pony crazy.
May and Jasmine both heard Mr. Grover honk at the same time. He was driving a station wagon, which pulled a van for the horses. He hopped out of the car and went to open the van for Macaroni and Outlaw.
"Hi, girls," he greeted them cheerfully. Then he noticed their sad faces. "What's wrong?"
"Joey's gone," they said at the same time.
That made both girls so sad that they couldn't even do what they usually did when they said the same thing at the same time: Give each other a high five, a low five, and then say "Jake!"
Today, without Joey on their team or living next door, there was nothing to laugh about.
CHAPTER 3
May Gets Suspicious
At home May led Macaroni into her family's stable. They were greeted there by Mrs. Grover's bay gelding.
"Hi, Dobbin," May said to the horse. Dobbin had the first stall in the stable because he was the most curious. He put his head over the stall door every time he heard a sound. He kept it there until he found out what had made the sound.
May patted his soft nose with her left hand. Macaroni sniffed at Dobbin. Dobbin sniffed at Macaroni.
"Hello, Rascal," May said to her father's horse. Rascal winked at May and Macaroni as they passed.
"Nice to see you, Hank," she said to the gray horse in the next stall. "And greetings, Vanilla," she said to the Thoroughbred in the stall across from Hank. Vanilla belonged to one of her father's customers. He was staying at the Grovers' for a few months while Mr. Grover trained him.
"Dad says that one day you're going to be a great jumper," May told the beautiful horse. "I'll be able to say I knew you when you were just a beginner!"
Vanilla eyed her suspiciously. Vanilla often looked suspicious. Her father had told May not to touch Vanilla because he was very temperamental. He could even be dangerous. It was hard to think of such a pretty horse being dangerous. But May had seen him rear once when her father was riding him. Her father had almost been thrown off the horse's back. May wouldn't want to be anywhere near Vanilla when he was that upset. She waved at the horse and walked on by.
May groomed Macaroni in his stall and gave him fresh hay and water. Then she gave him a final pat and left, saying good-bye to Vanilla, Hank, Rascal, and Dobbin as well. She didn't want to leave anybody out.
On her way back to the house, she couldn't help looking over at Joey's house. It was completely empty.
I wonder if Joey likes his new house, May thought. His old room had looked out on his old stable. She hoped he had a window that looked out onto his new backyard stable. That way he could see Crazy whenever he wanted.
May glanced up at the window that had been Joey's. It was dark. Empty. Or was it?
May blinked. Then she blinked again. Had she seen something moving in the house?
There it was again. A light flashed on—then off. It did it again, this time for longer. That's strange, thought May. It almost seemed like a signal. But who would be sending a signal? And to whom?
Then May remembered what Dr. Dutton had said about the new neighbor. He'd said she was strange.
No, May reminded herself a second later. He'd said she was "interesting." She and Jasmine had decided that "interesting" meant strange.
May stood watching in the twilight. But the house seemed empty again and completely dark. May shrugged and continued on toward her own house.
Just as she reached the back door, she heard the sound for the first time. It was a shriek. It was a howl. It was both. And it was coming from the Duttons' house!
May didn't wait around to find out what had made the noise. Instead she ran as fast as she could. And she didn't stop running until she was inside, upstairs, with her bedroom door shut tightly behind her.
CHAPTER 4
The Moving Van
May took a deep breath. "There are no such things as monsters," she told herself.
Then she listened carefully. There were no strange sounds coming from outside. All she could hear were her sisters Ellie and Dottie arguing. Mrs. Grover was telling them to stop it.
May let out her breath.
"Aaah-ooooooooow!" came a sound from outside her window.
May gasped. She crouched behind her bed. She was scared but also curious. She wanted to know what was making the sounds and what was flashing the lights on and off.
She crept around the end of her bed and crawled all the way to the window. Then she heard tires screech. She stood up to see outside. There was no car screeching its tires. There were no cars in the street at all.
But parked outside the Duttons' old house was a great big truck from Frank Stein's Moving and Storage. The side door was open and there was a ramp leading to the ground. On the front of the van, it said We Move Anything!
Two men came out of the house. In the streetlight May could see that their shirts read Stein's. They must be the moving men, thought May.
She watched as they took a couch into the house, then came out again a moment later.
"Let's get the big one," said one of the men.
The big one? May wondered.
They disappeared into the truck.
When they returned, they were carrying a cage. It was a big cage.
May tried to think. It was too big for a hamster or a bird. It seemed too big for a cat or a dog. It was big enough to hold a ...
"Aaah-ooooooooow!" came the sound again.
A monster?
May dropped to the floor.
No way. There were no such things as monsters. Monsters only existed in movies and books, not in real life.
She made herself look out the window again. Now the men were carrying a great big stainless steel table into the house. And a big machine with dials, lights, tubes, and arms.
That's the kind of stuff a crazy scientist uses for weird experiments, May thought.
Was this Dr. Dutton's idea of an "interesting" neighbor?
May looked again at the moving van. This time she noticed the sign on the side of the truck.
Frank N. Stein's Moving & Storage. Frank N. Stein? That sounded just like Frankenstein!
"Oh my gosh," May said out loud. "Wait till I tell Jasmine about this!"
CHAPTER 5
Jasmine Hears Something
Jasmine blew on the final spot of paint. She was finally finished with her diorama for school. It was called "Women at Work." It showed women working in the United States Congress.
Jasmine stood a doll in front of the diorama. She had made a navy blue suit for the doll so it would look like a Congresswoman.
It's perfect, she thought happily. She hoped her teacher would think so, too. But as Jasmine admired her work, the doll's head tilted to the right. Jasmine frowned. She straightened it out. Then the doll's head tilted to the left. Oh no, she thought. Maybe this won't work after all.
She heard a buzz. It was her walkie-talkie. May was calling her.
"Hi, May," she said. "What's up?"
"We have to meet," her friend replied.
"I'm in the middle of—" Jasmine began.
"Right now!" said May.
Jasmine was surprised by the sharp sound of May's voice. It must be something important, she thought.
"Where?"
"Macaroni's stall." Then May clicked off the walkie-talkie. She was gone.
Jasmine put the doll down. She could fix its head later. Her friend needed her now.
Jasmine told her mother she was going over to May's, and hurried out the back door. The girls always crossed through the Duttons' yard to get to one another's houses. Jasmine was almost halfway to the Duttons' stable when she remembered it wasn't the Duttons' house anymore.
At least it's dark out, she thought. Maybe no one will notice me.
Jasmine walked close to the barn where Joey's pony used to live. For a moment she thought she could almost hear Crazy nickering and stomping in the stable. Then she listened more carefully. There was definitely something in the stable. Maybe the new neighbor had horses. That would be great!
"Aaah-ooooooooow!"
A loud wail Gut through the twilight.
Jasmine took off for the Grovers' stable, running all the way to Macaroni's stall. She was glad to see that May was already there. She didn't want to be alone.
(Continues...)
Excerpted from Pony Crazy by Bonnie Bryant. Copyright © 1995 Bonnie Bryant Hiller. Excerpted by permission of OPEN ROAD INTEGRATED MEDIA.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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