Free Horse Play by Bonnie Bryant Page B

too long. Stevie, never very good at keeping secrets anyway, couldn’t hold it any more.
    “That’s what we trying to help with!” Stevie blurted out. “You should be able to spend your time teaching and running the stable and not worrying about Mr. diAngelo!”
    “What’s
he
got to do with this?” Max asked.
    Carole poked Stevie in the ribs. Stevie clapped her green-nailed hand over her own mouth.
    “Nothing,” Carole said. And then to switch subjects as quickly as possible, she asked, “What was it you didn’t tell Mrs. Reg that you should have told her?”
    “Huh? Oh, that,” he said. “Well, that’s what I want to talk to you about. I thought it should be a surprise, but I’m beginning to get the feeling that surprises aren’t always a good idea.”
    He paused. Carole had the distinct feeling that that was as much of a lecture as they were going to get. It was enough, though. They all certainly got his point.
    “You remember me talking about my student, Dorothy DeSoto?” he continued.
    Of course, they all knew who Dorothy DeSoto was. She was one of Max’s most famous students. She’d gotten her start at Pine Hollow and had gone on to be a very successful and famous rider. She’d even been on the last Olympic team and had gotten a silver medal.
    “Is she coming for a visit?” Lisa asked, awestruck.
    “Better than that,” Max said. “She’s coming to do a demonstration for all of my students, especially you three. I’ve been planning this with her for weeks and it’s scheduled for exactly the same time as you girls want to do your drill show. Dorothy is a very busy woman and I can’t ask her to change her schedule—”
    “But Max, we put all those signs all around town. Lots of people are going to show up for it.…”
    “Most of them relatives,” Max suggested.
    Of course, that was true. The girls hadn’t liked to think about it, but the chances of luring a lot of total strangers to an amateur drill show by three young riders were actually pretty slim.
    “And those who do come will have the
extra
treat of watching Dorothy DeSoto do a dressage demonstration.”
    “Extra?” Carole asked suspiciously.
    Max smiled slyly. “Sure, why not? We’ve both planned something for the same time. We can do both. Dorothy’s demo will take about fifteen minutes. We’ll put the two together and really give the audience a treat.”
    “You mean we’re going to be on the same bill as Dorothy DeSoto?” Stevie said, obviously stunned. Carole thought it was very theatrical of Stevie to refer to it as “being on the same bill,” but then, Stevie was a very theatrical person.
    “Yes, that’s what I mean,” Max said. “Six o’clock on Friday. Don’t be late. Don’t make any mistakes. You’ll gofirst.” Max stopped abruptly and looked at Lisa in surprise. She was so excited about the idea of performing for an Olympic rider that without thinking about it, she’d pulled her hands out of her pockets and was holding them against her cheeks.
    “Go and stop?” Max asked. At first, Lisa didn’t know what he was saying. Then she realized that she’d revealed her silly fingernails. Blushing deeply, and unable to answer, she shoved her hands back into her pockets.
    “It’s part of the drill exercise,” Carole explained. “Has to do with left and right.”
    Max nodded. The answer seemed to satisfy him. “Anything to make things simpler,” he said. “Now I just wish somebody could make
my
life simpler.”
    “That’s what we were trying to do,” Stevie said. Knowing that Stevie was reverting to her earlier topic, Carole glared at her. It sometimes seemed that Stevie’s worst enemy was her mouth.
    “How’s that?” Max asked.
    “I mean, putting both demonstrations on the same bill,” Stevie stammered.
    One of Max’s eyebrows went down; the other went up. The look on his face was of total skepticism. “That doesn’t make sense,” Max announced. “Why don’t you tell me what you