Free Holiday Horse by Bonnie Bryant

practicebraiding Belle’s tail, too? Great! Then I won’t have to do it.”
    All three girls laughed at that. None of them was the least bit surprised that all of them had thought of horse-related resolutions.
    “Speaking of braiding,” Carole said, “which reminds me of tails, which reminds me of our tail hitching experiment the other day”—she paused for a breath before she went on—“have either of you thought up any more good ideas for the gymkhana? It will be here before we know it.”
    “Good point,” Lisa said. The gymkhana was scheduled for the weekend before the girls’ school vacations ended. “We’ve got to come up with some fun games.”
    “I wonder if Britt will want to ride in the gymkhana?” Carole said.
    Stevie shrugged. “Of course she will,” she said. “She may be shy, but that doesn’t mean she’s crazy. Who would want to miss it?”
    “It would be great if we found her the perfect horse before then, wouldn’t it?” Lisa mused. “I really hope we can help Ms. Lynn surprise her.”
    “Me too,” Carole said. “I really think we should check out Hedgerow’s horses first. When I was there with Judy a few weeks ago, I was very impressed with a couple of them. Maybe we can figure out a way to get Britt over there after New Year’s without telling her why.”
    “Sort of a Welcome Wagon tour of the neighborhood?” Stevie offered.
    Carole nodded and smiled. “Something like that.”
    Meanwhile Lisa was peering down at Maxi, who had stopped moving around in her arms. The baby’s eyes were at half-mast. Lisa carefully plucked the almost empty bottle from her mouth. Maxi let it go without protest.
    Noticing what Lisa was doing, Carole and Stevie kept quiet. Was the baby falling asleep at last?
    Lisa stood up slowly and walked toward the stairs on tiptoes, gracefully avoiding the toys in her path. She had almost reached the stairs. Maxi hadn’t moved. Her eyes were now all the way closed. Lisa held her breath.
    Ring!
    The shrill noise startled Lisa even more than it startled Maxi. And that was a lot. “The phone!” she cried as the loud ring came again. Maxi’s eyes flew open, and she started to wail. “Get the phone!”
    Carole looked toward the kitchen in confusion. But Stevie had suddenly remembered dropping the portable receiver on the chair. She also remembered that Phil had said he might call a few minutes early. It was twenty minutes to nine—maybe that was him now. She jumped to answer the phone.
    “Hello?” she said breathlessly, speaking loudly enough to be heard over the crying baby.
    Instead of Phil’s voice, she heard Deborah’s on theother end of the line. “Stevie? It’s me again,” Deborah said.
    “Oh,” Stevie said, disappointed. “Um, I mean, hi. Where are you?”
    “We’re still at the restaurant,” Deborah said. “We just ordered dessert and coffee. Is that Maxi crying in the background?”
    “No, it’s Lisa,” Stevie joked weakly. “She lost at Monopoly.” She decided there was no point in trying to hide the fact that Maxi was still awake. The baby was making that as clear as possible. Stevie stuck her finger in the ear that wasn’t pressed against the phone. “Actually, Maxi doesn’t seem very sleepy right now.”
    “She’s all right, isn’t she?” Deborah asked, sounding concerned. “We could head home right now if you think she might be sick—”
    “No, no,” Stevie said quickly. “She’s fine. The phone just startled her, that’s all.” In fact, Maxi was quieting down already. Lisa had given her the stuffed horse to play with, and the baby let out a few more sobs and then stopped crying.
    It took Stevie a few minutes to reassure Deborah that things were really all right. But finally Deborah seemed convinced. “Okay, then,” she said. “Sorry about waking her up. Believe me, I know how she can be when she doesn’t feel like sleeping. Anyway, the stage show here starts at around nine-thirty, so I probably won’t have