Snow Ride (12 page)

But we’re not alike, Stevie told herself. I’m not afraid of getting into a little bit of trouble, but I’d never do anything unsafe—unless I had to. Well, she relented, not anything
really
unsafe. Besides, although Stevie occasionally took risks she didn’t have to, she’d never tell anybody else to do something that was unsafe.

That was the problem. If Jodi had gone out on the trail by herself or with them, that would have been one thing. The fact was that Jodi had let them go out by themselves, knowing that the trail had been closed because it was always unsafe in the winter.

That wasn’t just dangerous, that was reckless. And they’d been covering for her.

Stevie looked back up at the mirror. “Mrs. Slattery,” she began, “we should have known better. It was a really stupid thing to do. Just because somebody else says something is all right doesn’t mean that we should go along with them. I’m sorry. I’m truly sorry.”

That was the truth. It was that simple.

The Slatterys’ car pulled into the driveway. Dinah climbed carefully out of the backseat. Stevie descended the stairs quickly. She wanted to talk to the Slatterys before they lowered the boom on Dinah.

“Are you okay?” she asked Dinah.

“Yes, I’m fine,” her friend replied. “In fact, the doctor admired the leg wrap. I thought you’d want to kow that.” She smiled. Stevie felt terribly relieved. She turned to Dinah’s parents.

“Mr. and Mrs. Slattery, there’s something I need to say,” she began. “This wasn’t Dinah’s fault, really. It was mostly mine. It wouldn’t have happened if I hadn’t been here.”

“Thanks, Stevie,” Mr. Slattery said. “Dinah told us everything. We have an idea where the fault lies. We understand what the two of you were doing and why you were doing it.

“We even appreciate the fact that it must have been hard to come clean this morning when you learned what was at stake. We wish both of you had known you could
trust us and had told us right away. Most of all, though, we’re relieved to know no serious damage was done. We’re also pretty sure nothing like this will ever happen again.”

“You mean you’re not going to punish Dinah?” Stevie asked.

“No, we don’t mean that,” Mr. Slattery said.

Stevie’s heart sank.

“Dinah won’t be allowed to ride for a month,” he told Stevie. “I mean a month
after
all her cuts and bruises heal.”

A month?
It seemed like a lifetime, but it wasn’t; it was just a month. Dinah would be riding again before summer!

Stevie tried not to look too happy. After all, she didn’t want the Slatterys to get the idea that she didn’t think that was a harsh punishment.

“I want to change my clothes now,” Dinah said. “Help me upstairs, will you?” she asked Stevie. Stevie was only too happy to do so. She had to get out of there before she grinned!

“Isn’t it great?” Dinah asked as soon as the door to her room was closed. “It was all I could do to keep from cheering. I was just sure they’d tell me I couldn’t ride at all. My parents are really okay.”

“It’s almost too bad you didn’t get a chance to hear the speech I’ve been working on since I got home. It’s a convincing
one, but it centers a lot on the idea that banning you from horseback riding for the rest of your life is too cruel. There’s even a point in it where I suggest that a year would be sufficient!”

“Keep it to yourself!” Dinah said. She put on some clean clothes and then the two girls collapsed on the twin beds in the room in total relief.

“I’ve been thinking about Jodi,” Stevie began hesitantly.

“Me, too,” Dinah said.

“I’ve been thinking that she was wrong, too.”

“You bet she was,” Dinah said, anger rising in her voice. It surprised Stevie, who had expected that Dinah would defend Jodi.

“She shouldn’t have let us go out on the trail, and she shouldn’t have asked us to keep the secret.”

“That, too,” Dinah said.

“What else?” Stevie asked.

“What she said to me that night …,” Dinah began.

Stevie thought back to the cool night outside the Sugar Hut when the clearing was filled with all the kids playing Frisbee by moonlight. Everybody there was laughing and having fun—everybody except Dinah.

“Is that what made you cry?” Stevie asked.

Dinah nodded. Stevie could tell from the way she was talking that even now the memory was painful. She didn’t cry, however. She just talked.

“Jodi found me outside, behind that tree. She’d figured the reason we’d gone outside was because I didn’t want to take off any overclothes and show my cuts. I guess she was afraid I’d change my mind, so she came over to convince me it wouldn’t be a good idea to change my mind.”

“What did she say that upset you so much?” Stevie asked.

“She told me that if I told anybody, she’d see to it that I’d never ride Goldie again. She also said that I probably didn’t deserve to ride Goldie anyway because if I couldn’t stay on a horse like Goldie, I was never going to be a good rider. I had this awful picture of spending the rest of my life riding in circles in a little ring. I’m on a pony and Jodi Hale has the lead rope. It was just awful! She swore it was going to happen, too!”

“That’s so mean!” Stevie said. “No wonder you were crying. And no wonder you didn’t want to tell me. Well, let me tell you something: I may not be the best rider in the world, but I’m pretty good, and I’ve had a lot of experience. Just about nobody could have stayed on Goldie at that moment. If a horse is totally determined to lose his rider, he’s going to lose his rider, and I never saw a horse more determined than Goldie was right then. I couldn’t have stayed on him. Even Carole Hanson would have gone flying. The miracle was that you stayed on through that trememdous rear. You were fabulous!”

“I was?” Dinah looked astonished.

“You were. And you are.” Stevie gave her a very careful hug. “You’ll be riding again soon, and you’ll be better than ever. And if I’m any judge of sap, you may even be riding Goldie.”

“You think so?”

Stevie nodded. Then she shrugged. “Let’s put it this way: I
hope
so.”

“You know what the best news is about today’s whole mess?” Dinah asked.

“You’ll be riding before summer,” Stevie said.

“Maybe, but even before that, the best news is that I won’t have to wear my hair over half my face anymore!”

“You don’t like the latest hairstyle à la Mademoiselle Stevie?” Stevie asked, pretending to be hurt. Then she shifted into the character of Mademoiselle Stevie. “Wees zees air-style, Mademoiselle Dinah could be zee belle of zee balle, eef only zare were a balle to be a belle of!”

“Oh, but there is!” Dinah declared, her eyes suddenly lighting up in realization.

“A ball?” Stevie asked, reverting to her usual self.

“Yes, tonight is the annual Sugaring Off Square Dance!”

They had both completely forgotten all about it. Now they had only a few hours to get ready. Dinah headed for her closet; Stevie made a beeline for the curling iron.

S
UGARBUSH
S
TABLES SEEMED
to have been completely transformed. Stevie almost didn’t recognize it when she got there that night with Dinah and her family for the Sugaring Off Square Dance. For one thing, the outside of the stable was festooned with hanging lanterns. It looked downright summery—except for all the snow on the ground. The lamps swayed in the gentle breeze, and the light danced invitingly on the snow.

The girls had spent the afternoon and early evening putting together their outfits for the night, when they weren’t on the phone with Betsy, explaining everything. As the whole story unraveled, Stevie and Dinah felt awful about a lot of things, but the worst part was having lied to a friend.

“I was worried,” Betsy said. “I knew something was wrong, but I didn’t know what.” She told them she’d also suspected Jodi was part of it. “That made it even worse because anything to do with Jodi that’s a secret has got to be bad news. I’m just glad it came out all right.”

“You’re not angry with me?” Dinah asked.

“No,” Betsy assured her. “How could I be? In spite of everything, with Stevie on our team, I think we’ve got a chance to win. Who needs you?” she teased. “Anyway, I know that what you did wasn’t easy. Keeping a secret is tough, but it’s not as tough as letting it out. You might have just saved my parents, and Mr. Daviet. I ought to be thanking you.”

“You’re welcome, but I promise we’ll never do it again.”

“Deal,” Betsy said. “See you tonight!”

Stevie and Dinah then turned their attention to their makeovers, or in Dinah’s case, her
un
makeover. Although Stevie was most comfortable in jeans, and felt that they were appropriate for a square dance, Dinah had convinced her that it would be more fun to have a skirt that could swing to the music while she sashayed across the dance floor. Dinah herself wore jeans. She could go to the dance and have fun, but she was still much too sore to swing with a partner.

Although Stevie had wanted to try some new hairdos for both of them—she was inclined toward long bouncing
sausage curls because it seemed sort of Early American—Dinah had talked her out of it. Both of them ended up looking remarkably normal, not counting the fact that a skirt wasn’t “normal” for Stevie.

As soon as they got out of the car, they hurried into the barn, normally a storage area for the stables. Tonight the entire floor had been cleared of tractors, wagons, and sleighs. In their place were more than a hundred people, a great big long table full of refreshments, and a real country square-dance band.

“Now, everybody grab a partner,” the caller insisted. Before Stevie even had a chance to wonder whom she might dance with, one of the boys who’d been in on her Frisbee game came up and took her hand.

“If you can dance as well as you catch a pie plate, we’re going to have fun,” he said, introducing himself as Michael.

“We’ll just see,” Stevie said, following him to join three other couples on the dance floor to make a square.

Stevie had been at square dances, but never when it felt as authentic as this one did. For instance, she’d never been at a square dance on a winter night in a barn. It should have been cold, but the place was warmed by the presence of all the people and the animals who lived below. The smell of sweet hay permeated the place. There was also the pleasant smell of the regular tenants. As far as Stevie was concerned, the two best smells in the world
were horses and hay. She was quite content. Of course, it might have been more perfect if she had Phil there.…

The caller explained the dance they were about to do and had one of the squares demonstrate.

“Ready?” he asked.

Michael winked at Stevie. She winked back. The dance began. At first the caller went through the dance slowly, letting the dancers get the idea of what they were doing. The second time through it was a little faster, and the third time through they were flying! When it was over, Michael suggested they get something to drink, and Stevie was very happy to see that the refreshment table had an ample supply of cider.

The problem was that Stevie barely had a chance to take a sip before another one of her Frisbee mates came and asked her to dance. How could she say no? She guzzled down the rest of the cider and returned to the dance floor for the next set.

Dinah found a soft seat and moved it behind the refreshment table. Even though she couldn’t dance, she could help the dancers by keeping the cider cups filled.

It seemed that everybody in town was at the dance, and, Stevie thought, everybody wanted to dance with her. It wasn’t exactly true. The fact was that there were more men there than women, so just about all the women danced every dance. That was fine with Stevie. She was having a wonderful time.

“May I have this dance?” a man behind her asked. Stevie turned and was surprised to see that it was Mr. Daviet. She could feel herself blushing. Mr. Daviet was one of the people who had been hurt by their secret. He was a nice man. It hadn’t been fair to him.

“You really want to dance with me?” she said.

“Certainly, I do. I want to ask you about the miracle cure you got for your recovery from surgery.”

“Surgery?”

“Your leg,” he said. “If I recall correctly, you had surgery on a leg recently. Betsy told me all about it when she asked if you three could take the sleigh to put out your buckets.”

It all came back to Stevie. So much had happened since that first day that she had completely forgotten about the little fib her friends had told.

“Fresh air,” she replied quickly. “Like I told you, it’s the best medicine there is. Plus exercise. Shall we dance?”

He smiled at her and nodded. “I suspected a miracle cure in the offing when the girls described the surgery to me. I was going to offer you the sled anyway. Since you’ve never been on snowshoes before, you would have been at a terrible disadvantage. Now, let’s go,” he said, offering Stevie his arm. They went off to do-si-do in style.

Finally the band took a little break, and Stevie wasn’t
sorry for a chance to sit down and chat with Dinah. “This is just wonderful,” she said.

“Ah, and the best part is yet to come,” Dinah said rather mysteriously. Stevie liked the sound of it. She was about to ask Dinah what she meant when she heard Dinah’s name being spoken harshly.