Free Horse Talk by Bonnie Bryant

listening to
Horse Talk
. Max’s radio sat on the desk next to him. When The Saddle Club walked in, everyone in the office fell silent.
    “Max,” said Carole, “what if you woke up one morning and found a horse in your backyard?”
    Max started to smile, but when he saw Carole’sthoughtful expression he answered her seriously. “I heard your last caller,” he said. “I think you guys took the right approach answering her—I’m pretty sure that was supposed to be a joke.” He gestured toward the radio. “No offense, but I don’t think you should take any of those calls seriously. You guys handled yourselves well. You should be proud.”
    “We felt really sorry for you,” said May. “I’m sorry Deborah kicked us out—we wanted to call up and tell everyone else to quit being jerks!”
    “Rotten creeps,” added Jasmine.
    “We’re just a little worried about that last call,” Lisa repeated. “I know it sounded weird, but it wasn’t totally stupid. What if it was real?”
    “Nah,” said May. “Horses don’t just wander around the streets.”
    “Sometimes they do,” Corey Takamura said. “Don’t you guys remember when Sam ran away?” Samurai was Corey’s pony, and he’d been missing once for several days. He’d come back on his own, and they’d never discovered just where he’d been. “Sam could’ve been roaming through people’s backyards. He would have gone wherever there was good grass to eat,” said Corey.
    “That’s right,” said Janey. Stevie turned with a start. She hadn’t spoken to her little sister since yesterday’s lesson, and she hadn’t noticed Janey in the office. “A horse wandered onto my family’s sheep station once,”Janey said. “We couldn’t catch him, and he seemed pretty happy grazing with the sheep. He stayed a few weeks before we figured out who he belonged to.”
    “How did you figure it out?” Stevie asked.
    Janey shrugged, but she also smiled. “We just asked around—you know, other farmers, vets, the feed store. Most people notice when one of their horses goes missing.”
    “Great idea,” Stevie said with relief. “That’s what we’ll do. We’ll call the other stables and the feed stores, and Judy.” Judy was Pine Hollow’s veterinarian.
    “That would be fine,” Max said. “A few phone calls can’t hurt. But even if the call was real—even if this child thinks she saw a horse—I wouldn’t get too worked up about it. In the first place, she might have seen a deer or a really big dog. And second, she said she saw it a while ago. Any escaped horse has probably found its way home long before this. I’m sure any horse would be fine now.”
    “Sure,” Carole said. “We understand.” She wandered out of the office and went to give Starlight a hug. Lisa and Stevie trailed after her.
    “If Starlight ran away, I would just die,” Carole said fiercely.
    “I know,” said Stevie. “But Starlight wouldn’t run away. Horses know where their homes are. They’ve got great homing instincts, remember? So even if there was a missing horse, it probably did go home.”
    “That’s right,” Lisa said. Privately she was not convinced. The more she thought about the last call, the more she was convinced that the little girl’s story was genuine. And if there was a loose horse … “The caller said she thought the horse needed help,” Lisa said.
    From the pained expressions on Stevie’s and Carole’s faces, Lisa knew they were worried about that, too.
    “How would she know?” Carole said. “She was probably just saying that. She didn’t seem to know much about horses.”
    “That’s right,” said Stevie. “I’m sure she didn’t know what she was talking about. She probably saw a deer, anyway.” Stevie tried to sound convincing. What were the odds that the call would lead to a genuine horse in distress? Stevie knew that they had to be small. Still, she worried. What if the horse needed them?
    “I wish I hadn’t hung up on