High Horse by Bonnie Bryant

then there was a sound outside the tent. Stevie caught her breath. It must be Lisa. She didn’t want Lisa to know that she had read the journal. Never. No way. She put it where she found it.
    When Carole came in, her hair was stuck to her forehead and her nose was shiny. “It’s bad out there,” she said. “The horses are getting spooky. It’s not that they couldn’t handle the rain at first, but there’s been so much. They feel like it’s never going to end.”
    Stevie yawned. “Rain always makes me sleepy. I thought I’d come in here and take a rest.”
    “Really?” Carole said, looking at her with surprise. “With all that noise?” Carole glanced at the bedroll where Stevie was sitting, noticed that it was Lisa’s, and wondered what was going on.
    “So what is Max going to do?” Stevie said quickly.
    “He’s going to move the horses into the forest,” Carole said. “It’s safer there. The only problem is thatit isn’t going to be easy to move them. They’re on the edge of panic.”
    Carole took off her boots and then her socks. Underneath, her feet looked pale and wrinkled. She rubbed them. “The dampness really gets to you.”
    “You can say that again.”
    Carole looked at her. “Are you okay? I mean, is there something wrong? You look a little funny.”
    “No,” Stevie said. “I’m great. No problem. Feeling excellent, as a matter of fact. I’d better go help with the horses.”
    Stevie put on a dry sweater and then pulled her rain jacket over it, tightening the drawstring of the hood. Outside, the oak tree was black with rain, and the grass had disappeared under a sheet of mud.
    Stevie took a deep breath and pushed her way through the rain.

L ISA HAD TRIED everything, but nothing had worked. Teddy was getting more and more edgy, and she could feel from the tension in his neck and legs that he was about to take off.
    Suddenly Phil and the other hikers appeared from the edge of the forest.
    “Phil,” Lisa said. “Help! I’m so glad to see you. The horses are getting skittish, and we have to move them under forest cover, but Teddy won’t budge.”
    Phil came over and took Teddy’s halter and put his arm around his neck and whispered something in his ear. Teddy snorted, but listened.
    Stevie, holding Topside a couple of yards away,tried to hear what Phil was saying, but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t. Phil leaned close and muttered something else, and Teddy suddenly seemed to relax.
    Walking close to Teddy and still talking, Phil led him out the paddock gate toward the forest.
    All the other horses were watching the scene. Suddenly Stevie felt Topside relax. It was just like her brother Michael’s behavior at bedtime when he was little, Stevie realized, grinning. He would argue and argue, but once he realized that he had to go, he would get kind of floppy and easy, and then go right to bed.
    Stevie and Topside walked through the gate after Phil and Teddy, with the other riders and horses following. Phil led them into the hemlock forest, where it was dark and cool.
    “Thanks, Phil,” Max said, leading Garnet into the group of horses. “We’re lucky to have you on the overnight.”
    “I’m enjoying it,” Phil said. “I’m learning a lot.” He looked pointedly at Stevie.
    What does he mean by that? she wondered.
    “The last thing you want to do is let horses panic in a storm,” Max said to the riders. “When they run infear, they can hurt themselves, especially when it’s slippery.”
    There was a quiet moment while everyone thought of what would have happened if the horses had bolted from the paddock.
    “Look,” Phil said.
    There was a glint of sun overhead, one sunbeam, as clear and sharp as an icicle.
    “Oh,” Amie said.
    The sunbeam shivered and split until it was a cluster of rays reaching through the trees.
    “It’s like being inside a Christmas tree,” Amie said.
    What a perfect image, Lisa thought, as everyone stood watching the sunlight spread