Sonrise Stable Page 7

  Carrie smiled and tossed her things on the top bunk. “Jessie?”

  “Nope, I’m Jamie.”

  “No, she’s not!” Jessie leaped up from the air mattress. “She’s trying to trick you. I’m Jamie!”

  Oh, brother. Rosie clapped her hand onto the top of her head. Jessie was stirring up trouble already. She pointed to the girl beside Carrie. “That’s Jamie. And that—” She pointed to the other twin as she ran out of the room, “was Jessie.”

  “I’m sorry,” Carrie said. “I’ll try not to get you mixed up again.”

  “It’s okay,” Jamie said. “It happens a lot. We’re used to it.”

  Rosie picked up a box from the dresser and showed it to the others. “Mom got this game for us—Horse-opoly. Tonight we can all play it before we go to bed.”

  “I’ve played that before,” Lauren said. “It’s fun, but it takes a long time.”

  ***

  When everyone was back at the barn, Grandma sat on the tack box with the kids gathered around her. “This week, you’ll each ride a different horse than the one you’re used to. It will be good experience for you. And, because Lauren doesn’t have a horse of her own—”

  “Yet!” Lauren interrupted.

  “Right.” Grandma smiled at her. “Yet. I’m putting you on Kezzie. She won’t give you any trouble. Rosie, you’ll ride Elektra.”

  Rosie’s eyes widened. She had ridden Aunt Julie’s horse once before, but only a few times around the ring.

  “Carrie will ride Pearl,” Grandma continued. “Jared, you take Scamper. That leaves Scout for Jessie and Patches for Jamie.”

  Rosie whispered to Jared, “Take good care of my horse.”

  Jared rolled his eyes. “Do you think I don’t know how to ride? I’ve been riding for longer than you have.”

  “He’s special,” Rosie said. “Be nice to him.” “Don’t worry. I’ll be careful with your little baby.”

  “Don’t let him hear you say he’s little. He thinks he’s a big horse.” Rosie wasn’t worried. Jared could have a bit of an attitude at times, but he was a good rider and loved animals.

  As Grandma finished the assignments, Kristy walked into the barn. “The guys are on their way to pick up the hay. They didn’t want my help, so here I am. What are you all sitting around for? Let’s get started!” She clapped her hands, and the kids leaped into action.

  Julie, Kristy, and Lisa helped them groom, saddle, and bridle the horses. When Julie finished saddling Elektra, Rosie stared at the stirrup. “There’s no way I can get on this horse by myself.”

  “Don’t worry. I can’t get on her either, without a mounting block,” Julie said. “Here, I’ll give you a boost.”

  When she was mounted, Rosie felt as if she towered over all the other horses and riders. “Elektra is so tall!” She remembered how, not that long ago, she had been afraid to ride Scamper for the first time. The months she had spent helping her grandmother train the pony had made her a more confident rider. Elektra was much taller than Scamper, but the mare’s height didn’t bother her. It would be fun riding Julie’s horse for the week.

  Everyone met in the arena. Kezzie and Scamper seemed surprised to be sharing their territory with the newcomers. The adults stationed themselves so they could keep an eye on everyone and give a few pointers here and there.

  They rode around the arena until everyone seemed comfortable, then Grandma called them into the middle. “We’re going to have a contest. Some of you have done this before. It’s called the egg and spoon race. Lisa will give each of you a spoon, then Kristy and Julie will pass out the eggs. Place your egg on the spoon. You must hold the spoon near the end of the handle. Hold the reins in your other hand. I’ll tell you when to walk, trot, and canter. As soon as you drop your egg, you’re out, and you have to stand in the center of the arena. The last one with an egg wins.”

  Rosie had been in egg and spoon contests before, but she had never won one. She looked around at the others, then patted Elektra’s neck. “Let’s win this. Okay, girl?”

  Chapter 13

  Eggs and Hay

  After Grandma finished giving the egg and spoon instructions, Jared slouched back on Scamper, looking as if he were bored with the whole thing. “What do I get when I win?”

  “When you win?” Rosie stared at him. Why did he assume he would be the winner? That only made her more determined to beat him.

  “Your name will be recorded in the Cousins Camp Hall of Fame as the first egg and spoon champion,” Grandma said.

  “Oh wow! What an honor!” Jared took an egg from Lisa. “What about some prize money?”

  Grandma walked over to Carrie.

  Rosie wondered whether her grandmother had heard Jared. Maybe she was just ignoring his question. She held out her spoon, and Lisa set an egg on it. Rosie placed her thumb over the egg to keep it from falling off before they even got started. She didn’t care what the prize was; she just wanted to beat Jared.

  “Everyone walk,” Grandma called out.

  As they began walking, Rosie stared at her egg as if watching it intently would keep it on the spoon.

  After several laps with all the eggs intact, Grandma asked them to trot.

  Almost immediately, Lauren’s egg hit the ground, and she walked Kezzie toward the center of the ring.

  “That’s okay,” Grandma encouraged her. “You’ll do better next time.”

  Rosie listened for her grandmother to call out the next gait. This was easy so far.

  “Canter.”

  Splat! Rosie saw Carrie’s egg fall to the ground when she tried to get Pearl into a canter.

  Carrie rode to the center and stopped beside Lauren. It looked like Jamie was also having difficulty. Her egg took a dive soon after Carrie’s.

  Rosie looked around, then whispered to Elektra, “Just a little bit longer. Only two more to beat.” Jessie would probably be the next one out, then it would be between her and Jared.

  “Whoa!” Grandma yelled.

  Scamper had been trained to respond to Grandma’s voice commands. Rosie smiled as she watched her pony slide to a stop ahead of her. The sudden stop caused Jared’s egg to sail over Scamper’s head and splatter on the ground.

  Rosie steadied her egg hand and pulled gently on Elektra’s reins. “What happened, Jared? I thought you were going to win.”

  Jared frowned. “That’s not fair! Scamper stopped before I told him to.”

  Grandma waved away his protests.

  Jared turned and stuck his tongue out at Rosie, then joined the girls in the middle.

  Rosie couldn’t believe Jared was out. Jessie was her only competition now. It shouldn’t be hard to beat her. Rosie pictured her name in the Cousins Camp Hall of Fame— wherever that was going to be.

  “Trot,” Grandma called.

  Elektra was usually ridden English at a faster trot than Rosie was accustomed to. They passed Jessie and Scout. The big gelding barely picked up his feet. His gait wasn’t much faster than a walk, and Jessie didn’t seem to move in the saddle.

  Rosie frowned and stood in her stirrups to keep herself from bouncing so much. “Easy, girl. Slow down. It’s not that kind of a race.”

  Bounce, bounce, bounce... Her egg wobbled with the rhythm of Elektra’s trot.

  “Reverse at a trot,” Grandma said.

  “Easy. Slow down, girl.” Rosie signaled the mare to turn, but Elektra refused. Instead, the horse began trotting faster. Rosie’s egg took a giant bounce. She tried to catch it with her spoon, but the egg fell to the ground.

  “Oh no!” Rosie tossed her spoon into the air. She couldn’t believe she’d lost to her younger cousin. Jessie would probably never let her forget it. Nevertheless, she had won fair and square. “Good job, Jess! Let’s have a rematch sometime, just you and me—only on our own horses.”

  Jessie grinned and nodded. “I’ll beat you again! Patches is even smoother than Scout.”

  “We’ll see,” Rosie said.

  “What�
�s next, Grandma?” Lauren asked.

  Grandma pointed to three trucks and hay wagons ready to pull in the drive. “The hay is here!” She opened the gate.

  “Everybody off. Let’s put the horses up, so we can help the guys with the hay.”

  Rosie followed the twins out of the arena. Jessie had her unbroken egg in her left hand and Scout’s reins in her right as they led the horses toward the barn. Before Rosie realized what Jessie was doing, the girl had fired the egg at the person in front of her.

  “Ow! What was that?” Carrie clapped her hand onto the back of her head. Sticky goo oozed through her fingers. “Ew, yuck!”

  Rosie and Elektra trotted until they caught up to Carrie.

  When Carrie whirled around to see who had thrown the egg at her, Jessie doubled over with laughter.

  “Why did you do that?” Carrie looked as if she might cry.

  Jessie laughed and shrugged.

  “Jessie, that wasn’t funny!” Rosie looked around. The adults were nearly at the barn. She thought about telling her mom or grandmother, but decided it wasn’t worth causing a big fuss and spoiling the first day of Cousins Camp.

  Jessie led Scout past them, still laughing.

  “I shouldn’t have come. Maybe Jessie wants it to be only the real cousins.” Carrie stared at the ground.

  Rosie shook her head. “No. That’s just the way she is. Didn’t I warn you about her? She likes to play jokes on people.”

  “If you’re sure. I mean, I don’t have to come tomorrow if she doesn’t want me here.”

  “I’m sure it didn’t have anything to do with that.” Rosie put her arm around Carrie’s shoulder. “Cousins Camp wouldn’t be the same without you. After we take care of the horses, I’ll rinse the egg out with the hose—although I think egg is supposed to be good for your hair.”

  “I’d rather stick to shampoo.” Carrie stared at the gooey mess on her hand, then wiped it off on her jeans.

  After the horses were all unsaddled, the kids led them to the pasture and turned them out. They squealed and ran around the field as they became acquainted with each other, but soon they were all grazing calmly together.

  Rosie made her way to the wash rack and flipped a bucket upside down. She waved to her friend. “Carrie! Come here.”

  Carrie and Lauren came running. Lauren looked at the hose Rosie held. “What are you doing?”

  “I’m going to rinse that mess out of Carrie’s hair.” Rosie motioned theatrically toward the bucket. “Welcome to my beauty parlor.”

  Carrie sat on the overturned bucket and wrapped her arms around her knees.

  Rosie stood behind her. “Lean back toward me.” She waved her hand backward. “A little more.”

  “If I lean any more, I’ll fall over.”

  Laughing, Lauren grabbed Carrie’s hands to keep her from tipping over.

  Rosie raised the hose to the back of Carrie’s head and began to rinse out the egg. “Ew. This is so gross!”

  Grandma started to walk past them, then stopped and stared. “It’s certainly a strange time to wash your hair. What in the world are you girls doing?”

  “I… Uh…” Carrie tried to explain. “I accidentally got some… um… egg in my hair.”

  Grandma shook her head. “I’m not sure I want to know.” She faced Rosie. “That better be all you’re using that hose for, young lady.”

  “Who, me?” Rosie looked up innocently. “What makes you think I would do anything else with it?”

  “Just a suspicion. This isn’t a good time for a water fight. I need you girls on the hay wagon.”

  “Okay, Grandma.” Rosie finished rinsing Carrie’s hair, dropped the hose, and ran to turn it off.

  The three girls hurried to the first hay wagon, and Rosie scrambled quickly to the top.

  Lauren raised her hand to shield her eyes from the sun and glanced up at her. “How’d you do that?”

  “Easy.” Rosie pointed to a brace at the back of the wagon. “Hang on to that bar and pull yourself up, then climb up the bales. When you get close enough, I’ll grab your arm and help you the rest of the way.”

  Soon all three girls were up.

  Lauren reached down to pet a calico cat that was prowling around on top of the hay. “What are you doing up here?”

  “That’s Jemimah,” Carrie explained. “She and her sister, Katy, love it when we get hay.”

  Rosie nodded. “That’s how Grandma got them. They were tiny kittens that came in a load of hay she bought a few years ago.”

  “What happened to their mother?” Lauren asked.

  Rosie shrugged. “I don’t know. Grandma said she must have been wild. They never found her. The kittens were so small. They barely had their eyes open. I helped Grandma bottle-feed them.”

  Rosie sat down and scratched the top of the cat’s head. “Every time we get a new load of hay, Jemimah and Katy search the wagon to see if their mother has come back for them.”

  “Aww, that’s depressing.” Lauren frowned. “Why did you have to tell me that story?”

  “Are you girls going to stand there gabbing all day?” Jared yelled. “Or are you going to start tossing hay bales down?”

  Rosie looked at her cousin. Was he planning to be this bossy all week? They hadn’t been talking that long. Had they?

  “Get down, Jemimah, before you get hurt.” Carrie gently shooed the cat down the back of the wagon, and the girls began pushing bales over the side.

  “Careful.” Rosie held her arm out toward Carrie and Lauren. “Don’t get too close to the edge.”

  As the girls unloaded the wagon, Jared and the adults carried the bales into the barn and stacked them.

  Since the bales weighed nearly as much as the twins, and their parents wouldn’t allow them on top of the wagon, they had gone to wade in the creek while everyone else worked. Rosie could hear them yelling to each other.

  After filling the hay storage area in the lower part of the barn, Julie’s husband, Jonathan, hooked his tractor up to an elevator they used to send the rest of the bales up to the hayloft.

  There were so many people helping, that Grandma didn’t have to carry any bales herself. She bustled around, passing out water bottles and encouragement.

  When they were almost finished, Jonathan, peeked out the hayloft door. “Are you girls about to the bottom of that wagon? It must be 120 degrees up here.”

  Rosie laughed loudly when she saw her uncle. His sweaty face and arms were coated with so much dust and bits of hay that she barely recognized him. A few minutes later, her dad, her uncle Robert, and Jared came to the door for a breath of fresh air. They all looked just as grimy as Jonathan.

  “Rosie will show you where the hose is so you can clean up,” Grandma said. “I’ll go throw some hamburgers on the grill. I’m sure you’ve all worked up an appetite.”

  The hose? Rosie grinned. Maybe she could start a water fight after all!

  Chapter 14

  Barn Campout

  Rosie licked her lips, savoring the last bite of buttery, salty corn on the cob. After everyone had eaten their fill of the grilled corn, hamburgers, and homemade potato salad, Rosie approached her grandmother. “All of us kids thought it would be fun to camp out in the barn tonight. Can we?”

  “It’s fine with me as long as it’s all right with your parents.”

  Once they had their parents’ permission, the kids raced upstairs to grab their gear. It took two trips to move everything from the house to the barn—sleeping bags, pillows, flashlights, a camping lantern, Horse-opoly, water bottles, and snacks. Everyone climbed to the top of the newly stacked hay except Jared and Jessie. They stayed below and threw the sleeping bags and pillows up.

  Jessie picked up a battery-powered lantern from the barn floor and cocked her arm to throw it up to Rosie.

  “No!” Jared grabbed her arm just in time. “Are you crazy? You could kill someone with that thing.”

  “We can use that lunge line to pull the bigger stuff up.”
Rosie pointed to an extra-long nylon lead rope hanging from a hook on the barn wall.

  “Perfect.” Jared picked up the coiled rope, slipped his arm into the loop and pulled it up over his shoulder. He climbed the stack of hay, then leaned out and tied the line to a rafter. “Okay, Jess. When I drop this down, tie your end to the handle of the lantern. As soon as you’re ready, tug on the line, and I’ll pull it up.”

  When Jessie had the rope tied, Jared pulled the lantern up. The girls placed it in the center of the assortment of sleeping bags and switched the light on.

  “Turn off the barn lights,” Rosie yelled down to Jessie.

  The lantern gave off plenty of light in a circle around them, and Rosie could make out the shadowy figures of the horses in their stalls below. She had worried that it might be too hot on top of the hay, but it had cooled down that evening and was quite comfortable in the barn.

  “I hope the batteries don’t run out,” Rosie said. “I should have brought an extra set.”

  Jared sent the rope back down. “Jess, tie a bucket to that, and put the rest of our stuff in it, then I’ll pull it up.”

  After a couple of bucket loads, they had pulled up the Horse-opoly game, flashlights, snacks, and bottles of water.

  Jessie scrambled up the bales to join the others. “I wanted to sleep in the hayloft.”

  “It’s packed full of hay right now,” Rosie said. “Maybe this fall we can have a campout up there. After we feed some of the hay, there will be room for us.”

  As Jared untied the bucket, he looked at the rope attached to the rafters and then down to the ground.

  “Oh no.” Rosie rolled her eyes. “What are you thinking?”

  Jared grinned. “I bet I could swing down on this.”

  “Yeah, and slam right into Scamper’s stall and break every bone in your—.” Rosie stopped. That sounded exactly like something her grandmother would say. She wasn't sure whether that was a good or bad thing.

  “I just need to aim down the aisle instead of straight across. Jessie, would you go turn the lights back on for me?”