Free Horse Magic by Bonnie Bryant Page B

to the horse and listened, still automatically rubbing Prancer’s velvety muzzle. Lisa frowned. The noise seemed to be coming from an unoccupied stall just across the aisle, and it sounded like whispering and giggling.
    “I’ll be back in a second, Prancer,” Lisa whispered to the mare. Prancer just blinked calmly in response and stepped over to her feed bin. Lisa’s familiar presence had settled her down already.
    Lisa tiptoed across the aisle, still listening intently. She flattened herself against the door of the stall next to the one the sounds were coming from. The voices were a little louder now.
    “Oh, come on, Phil!” exclaimed one of them. It was Dinah’s voice.
    “No, I’m serious,” Phil’s voice came in return. Then he laughed softly. “Anyway, I’m sure she has no idea. Now come on, we’d better get out there before someone gets suspicious.”
    Lisa’s eyes widened. Whatever they were talking about, it didn’t sound like magic—black, white, or otherwise. And it didn’t sound like good news to Lisa. She quickly backed away from the stall and tiptoed back across the aisle. Seeing that Prancer was now munching placidly at her feed bin, Lisa gave her a quick pat and hurried away around thecorner of the U-shaped stall area. She didn’t want Phil and Dinah to know she’d caught them once again. And she also didn’t want anyone else to know this time. She wasn’t ready for another lecture from Carole.
    Lisa paused when she was a safe distance away and leaned against the wail, wondering what to do. If Dinah and Phil really were up to no good behind Stevie’s back, wasn’t it Lisa’s duty as a friend to tell Stevie about it? She wasn’t sure. And the worst part of it was, she wasn’t sure Stevie would believe her even if she did tell her. It was just her word against Dinah’s. Lisa knew that Stevie trusted her, but she seemed to trust Dinah, too, and she’d known her a lot longer than she’d known Lisa.
    A snort from the stall behind her interrupted Lisa’s thoughts. A second later, a soft nose pushed at her head. Lisa turned around and couldn’t help smiling in spite of her dark thoughts. “Hi, Belle,” she said, patting the friendly mare. “How’s it going?”
    Belle snorted again and backed away. Lisa peered into the stall after her and caught a glimpse of an unfamiliar gleaming object in the feed bin. Lisa sighed and unlatched the stall door. “Looks like our friendly neighborhood poltergeist has been at it again,” she muttered, taking the cordless phone out of Belle’s feed bin and heading down the hall to return it to Mrs. Reg’s office.

“I’ M NOT SURE she’s ready for this,” Lisa said worriedly, stopping in front of Prancer’s stall and looking in. “She seems fine now, but I’m afraid that having a lot of strange kids around might spook her again.”
    Carole nodded, reaching out to stroke Prancer’s smooth neck as the mare came over to greet them. “I don’t blame you for being worried,” she said. “Prancer is still very young, and these kids aren’t used to being around horses. They could spook her and not even realize they’re doing it. It wouldn’t be safe for them or for her.”
    “I know.” Lisa sighed. “I’d really love to ride her today—I’d really love to ride her just about any day of the year—but I think this time I’d better not.”
    “Don’t worry,” Carole said with a smile, giving Lisa a friendly squeeze on the arm. “She’ll be here for you to ride tomorrow.” She could sympathize with her friend’s disappointment. Carole hated to be deprived of riding Starlight for even one day. He was relatively young and inexperienced, too, but thanks to Carole’s hard work with him she was confident he was up to the task ahead. But she couldn’t say the same about Prancer, and she knew that Lisa was making the right decision.
    “I guess I’ll go ask Max which horse I should ride instead,” Lisa said. “Then we can tack up so