Free The Fox Hunt by Bonnie Bryant

fish. Ugh!”
    “Fish?” Carole echoed innocently. “I can’t imagine why.”
    Lisa gave her a withering look. They did both smell of fish. There was no way they could lie their way out of it.
    “It’s my fault,” Lisa said. “We were taking a shortcut here from Pine Hollow and ended up near the bait shop. I was curious about the chum in the back of it. I made the terrible mistake of opening the barrel. Now it’s going to take weeks to get this smell out of our clothes and hair.”
    “Remind me to stay away from you until then,” Stevie said. “You smell like my brothers when they go fishing. Ugh.”
    “What’ll it be, girls?” the waitress asked. When she saw Stevie, she paled. Stevie was famous for ordering outrageous combinations of ice cream and toppings.
    “Just a dish of vanilla for me,” Stevie said. “There are enough odd flavors and scents around here to turn my stomach already. Who needs the usual pistachios and cherries?”
    The smell was getting to Lisa and Carole as well. They agreed on vanilla, too. Relieved, the waitress disappeared.
    “And speaking of my brothers,” Stevie said. “I’ve changed my mind. I’m now absolutely sure that theyare going to try some kind of revenge on me—and it’s going to be bad.”
    “What makes you think so?” Carole asked.
    “It’s just a feeling,” Stevie said.
    Lisa sighed contentedly to herself. For once, she was as sure about something as Stevie was, and this time what she was sure of was that Stevie was wrong.
    “Oh, I wouldn’t worry about it,” Lisa said confidently. “If your brothers were going to get revenge, they would have done it already.”
    Stevie looked unconvinced, but she dropped the subject and dug into her ice cream. Across the table Lisa caught Carole’s eye and gave her a conspiratorial wink.

C AROLE GAVE S TARLIGHT a big hug before she took him out of his stall for his daily exercise on Monday. She loved doing special things on horseback, like the mock hunt and the upcoming junior hunt, but best of all, she just loved being with her horse, working with him and riding him. Any time she was with Starlight, it was special. Now, because of all the worry and confusion having to do with the hunt and Stevie, it seemed particularly nice to be doing nothing in particular with her horse.
    “Let’s go work on gait changes,” Carole said. Starlight seemed to think that was a good idea.
    It was raining out, so Max had given permission for them to work in the indoor ring. Lisa was already there. She and Carole had come directly from schoolas they usually did. Lisa was doing some work with Samson.
    Samson was a young horse, born to a mare at the stable named Delilah. He was a coal black foal that the girls had helped deliver. They felt very close to him and were thrilled when Max had suggested that they could help with his training. He wasn’t anywhere near ready to have riders on him yet, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t time to get him used to tack. The girls had already gotten him accustomed to the feel of a bit in his mouth. Now Lisa was trying out a saddle, without stirrups.
    Carole walked Starlight to the entrance of the ring and mounted him just before she entered.
    “How does Samson like the saddle?” Carole called.
    Both Lisa and Samson looked up at her. “He almost doesn’t seem to notice it,” Lisa said. “I think he just thinks it’s a heavier-than-normal blanket.”
    “Very good,” Carole said. “That means that you’ve left the girth nice and loose.”
    “Just like you suggested,” Lisa said. “When it comes to horses, you’re always right.”
    “I wish that were so with people,” Carole said. “They are much more complicated.”
    “That’s for sure,” Lisa agreed. She and Samson continued walking in large circles in the ring.
    Carole walked Starlight around twice, allowing himto warm up a bit. Then she put some pressure on his belly with her legs, and he began trotting. They would work on his