Free Hobbyhorse by Bonnie Bryant Page A

People change a lot in three years.”
    “Please,” Stevie said. “She’s still a brat, Lisa. You can’t deny it.”
    “I know, but right from the start, I haven’t been nice to her. At home, I mean. And when I brought her here, Ididn’t act like she was somebody special, like I really wanted you guys to meet her. I can tell she wants to have friends, but I didn’t help her make friends at all, and I think I should have.” Lisa sighed. “The truth is, I was pretty annoyed about having her come during my vacation. I’m a lot nicer to all the Pony Tails than I am to my own cousin.”
    “The last I checked,” Stevie said, “the Pony Tails weren’t mouthing off to you because Max wouldn’t give them the horse they wanted.”
    “The Pony Tails have their own ponies,” Lisa said. “Amelia and I don’t. I know she can’t ride Prancer, and I don’t think she should, but I do know what it’s like to want to have one special horse.”
    “So you think we should let her off the hook?” Stevie asked. “Pretend none of this happened, just like with the hobbyhorse?”
    “No.… I don’t know. I just don’t know.” Lisa sighed. “I didn’t expect this to be so confusing!”
    “Stevie,” Carole said softly, “you’ve been in trouble a few times yourself—”
    “A few hundred,” Stevie said with a laugh.
    “If you were Amelia, wouldn’t you want a second chance?” Carole continued. “I bet she’d behave better now. And Lisa’s right, you know, we were all expecting her to be a brat. If she were a horse and she misbehaved, we wouldn’tjust punish her. We’d try to correct her.” Carole thought about the enormous patience that horse training required. Probably rider training took the same amount of work.
    Stevie shook her head ruefully. “I can’t believe that you two are passing up the one perfect chance to get Amelia out of our lives. Wait. No, I can believe it. And you’re right, Carole, Max has given me lots of second chances.
    “Besides,” she added, “you almost lost your assistant instructor job over this. If you want to let Amelia keep riding, I’ll go along.”
    “Me too.” Lisa put out her hand and pulled Stevie to her feet.
    W HEN THEY WALKED back into Max’s office, Lisa was surprised to see that Amelia’s face was deathly pale. She jumped to her feet when they came in and stared at them with wide, anxious eyes.
    Max smiled. “Well?”
    Lisa nodded. “We all agreed. As long as she behaves from now on, she can still ride.”
    Amelia blinked hard. “Thanks,” she said, moving shakily toward the door. Her eyes widened, and she struggled not to cry. Suddenly Lisa had the feeling that these tears were more real than any of the others Amelia had shed recently. “Thanks very much,” Amelia said. She wiped the back of her hand across her eyes and tried to smile nonchalantly.“I’d better go saddle up, since I’m riding. Delilah, right, Max?”
    “Wait a minute,” Max said. He gave The Saddle Club a proud smile and put his arm around Carole’s shoulder. “Amelia,” he said, “meet Carole, my assistant instructor. I’m putting her in charge of you.”

“O KAY ,” C AROLE SAID , “first you go for the big piles.” She leaned over the door of Delilah’s stall. Behind her, Stevie and Lisa suppressed giggles. The first part of each day of camp was called stable management—a fancy name for manure mucking, tack cleaning, and all the other chores done around a stable. Amelia was the only camper who had never cleaned a stall before. The big pitchfork looked awkward in her small hands.
    “Be careful not to get the wheelbarrow too full,” Carole cautioned. “It’ll be too heavy for you to push it. You’re going to have to make several trips.”
    “Oorgh,” Amelia muttered. Her pitchfork tilted, and itscontents dropped back onto the stall floor. “I can’t do this!” she cried in frustration.
    “Of course you can,” Carole said cheerfully. “Look at it this