Free Dream Horse by Bonnie Bryant Page B

making the towline taut, and then he began to taxi. It didn’t take long. In less than a hundred yards, theglider lifted up off the ground, trailing behind the still earthbound tow plane. A few seconds after that, the tow plane was in the air, too.
    Without thinking, Phil held his breath. It was as if he didn’t want anything to interfere with his concentration on the extraordinary fact that he and Uncle Michael were flying through the sky and in a few minutes they’d be on their own—just the two of them in a beautiful glider with an eighty-four-foot wingspan and nothing but air to hold them up.
    “You okay?” Uncle Michael asked over his shoulder.
    “Never better,” said Phil. And he meant it.
    V ERONICA LOOKED AT the neat little plane she and Hubert were going to fly in. She couldn’t imagine why anybody would fly in a plane without an engine. What did Phil see in gliding around? Then again, she wondered what Phil saw in Stevie Lake. Veronica had much nicer clothes. Perhaps Phil hadn’t noticed, any more than he’d noticed her father’s bank’s very expensive airplane. Well, she could see to it that he did notice. She could see to it that he noticed a lot of things about her, in fact.
    “Are you ready now?” Hubert asked.
    “Oh, yes,” said Veronica.
    He opened the small door of the plane and helped her up the cute little set of steps and into a seat. It seemedlike a very small seat—much smaller than she was used to in first class on a commercial airliner. But this wasn’t a commercial airliner. This was Daddy’s bank’s plane. And Veronica was going to remind Phil of that.
    “Anywhere in particular you want to go, Miss Veronica?” Hubert asked politely.
    Veronica looked up into the sky. She could still see the tow plane that was launching Phil and his uncle. In fact, as she watched, she saw the long towline drop from the nose of the glider. The glider found a patch of rising air, circled upward on it, and then floated regally to the east.
    “That way,” said Veronica, pointing west.
    “As you wish,” said Hubert.
    Of course it’s as I wish
, Veronica thought.
You work for Daddy. You go where I tell you
.
    She smiled, listening to the efficient rumble of the engine as it sparked to life. Wasn’t Phil going to be surprised!

C AROLE PEERED CAUTIOUSLY around the door of Stevie’s room.
    “There you are!” Stevie said excitedly, welcoming her friends. “I’ve been waiting for you for hours! Do you have any idea how lonely it is just sitting here in bed, wondering when my friends are going to arrive?”
    Lisa breathed a sigh of relief. Now
that
sounded like the Stevie she knew and loved.
    “It’s only a few minutes past noon,” Lisa reminded her. “And your mother said you just woke up half an hour ago. How lonely can you get in half an hour?”
    “Very,” Stevie assured her. “But now that you guys are here, I’m not lonely anymore. I’m just happy as can be to see you. Tell me everything that’s been happening in the world without me there to make it interesting.”
    Carole burst into giggles. It felt wonderful to have Stevie back in form. She was relieved, too. Maybe the doctor was right that there had never been anything to worry about.
    “Well, nothing very exciting since the sign on Veronica’s back and our visit to Mickey Denver’s horse ranch,” Lisa said. “We did have a mounted Horse Wise meeting this morning, and it was a lot of fun. More fun than usual, in fact. I wonder why.”
    “There’s only one thing that would make Horse Wise more fun than usual, and that is if Veronica isn’t there,” said Stevie.
    “How did you know?” Carole asked her.
    “So she wasn’t there?” Stevie responded.
    “No,” said Lisa. “How did you know?”
    “It’s just logical,” Stevie said simply. “Veronica’s a damp rag on any party. We all know that.”
    “Yes, but you seem to know things we all
don’t
know,” Carole said.
    Stevie rolled her eyes up at the ceiling.