Sea Horse by Bonnie Bryant Page B

She had a beautiful new horse all her own. She was dividing her time between the wonderful world of animal medicine, where she was assisting Judy to save horses’ lives, and training and riding her very own horse. Stevie could see Carole helping Judy as she tended to a gentle horse stricken by some terribledisease, the worried owner standing by. Carole would hand Judy the instruments and report on the horse’s vital signs until the wonderful moment when the animal, now fully healed, could stand on its own and nuzzle Carole to thank her for saving its life. But that was just the half of it! Carole was also working with Starlight, perfecting his perfection. Stevie imagined the satisfaction Carole must be feeling as she taught him to respond to the slightest command—a weight shift, the minute movement of her heel, a twitch of her hands. She’d be garnering blue ribbons at every horse show in the county come spring.
    Stevie reached for the plate. No more Oreos. She reached for the phone instead.
    It only rang twice before Carole picked it up.
    “You’re home,” Stevie said, surprised and pleased.
    “Finally.” Stevie thought she heard some relief in Carole’s voice. That didn’t make sense. She must have been mistaken. Before she could ask, Carole went on, “I’ve been thinking about you all day. Haven’t you been at the mall?”
    “Yeah,” Stevie said.
    “Did you find it—you know—The Dress?”
    “Not yet,” Stevie said.
    “Oh, it must have been fun, trying on all those beautiful dresses!”
    If only she knew,
Stevie thought.
    Carole continued, almost without pause, “I had this image of you finding exactly the right one, though, of course, in my image, I didn’t figure out how you’d pay for it, but you’ll find a way—you always find a way to solveproblems like that—and I know whatever you pick, Phil is going to think it’s just dreamy. You know what I saw on television last night? There was a girl going to a dance and she was wearing shoes that were just about invisible. I wonder if you could find any like that. Wouldn’t it be something?”
    “Sure would,” Stevie said. “Especially if the price were invisible, too!”
    Carole laughed. Stevie always had a way of finding something funny and wonderful, and no matter how tricky it could be to find exactly the right dress for the occasion, she knew Stevie would.
    “I’ve been thinking about you, too,” Stevie told her.
    “You have?”
    “Oh, sure, all the wonderful experiences you must be having with Judy, working with horses and their owners and, best of all, having the opportunity to work with Starlight as much as you want, teaching him good manners and tricks, and subtle signals and things like that. It makes such a difference if you know you’ll be the only rider your horse ever has. You must be having a blast.”
    If only she knew,
Carole thought.
    “I wonder how Lisa’s doing,” Carole said, changing the subject.
    “Fabulously, I’m sure,” Stevie said. “I was just having this image of her—” She told Carole about her daydream.
    “Sounds just like what would happen to Lisa,” Carole said wistfully.

I F ONLY THEY knew,
Lisa thought. She hadn’t been able to get her mind off Stevie and Carole, knowing they were back home where things were right, and fun. Stevie was probably having a great time trying on every dress in the mall and would have no trouble finding the right one. And Carole was probably riding Starlight every day without worrying about who else would ride him and what might happen while somebody else was on him. He was hers, forever. How wonderful that was! And then Lisa thought about herself. Here she was, on this beautiful island having such an awful time, and wishing more than anything that she were home again or that her friends were with her. They’d make it fun for her. They always did.
    Lisa lay in bed with her hands clasped behind her head, unable to sleep. The light of the full moon streaked