The Great Pony Hassle by Nancy Springer

I said I wanted a pony, and he just sort of grunted.” Paisley gave her father a big grin. “Grunts mean ‘Yes.’”
    â€œYou rascal,” Bruce McPherson said. “So that’s how I ‘promised’ you a pony.” He could not help smiling. Aunt Caledonia clicked her tongue. Cathy rolled her eyes. Staci and Toni gawked at Paisley, impressed, but Stirling seemed unsurprised.
    â€œDon’t you girls get any ideas,” Mr. McPherson told them. “Now I’m stuck buying ponies for all of you. I don’t get fooled by the same trick twice.” He seemed not at all unhappy. “But as far as Noodles is concerned—”
    Paisley interrupted. “We thought it would be fairest if you three pulled papers out of a hat or something.”
    Though she had convinced herself she didn’t care as much anymore, Staci’s heart jumped like an Olympic hurdler. Noodles might be hers after all! One chance in three …
    â€œOr drew straws,” suggested Stirling calmly. How could she be so quiet? Staci’s heart was pounding like kettledrums.
    â€œOr flipped a coin,” said Cathy.
    â€œI have an even better idea,” said Aunt Caledonia. “Let the pony decide.”
    All around the table faces lifted, and everyone looked at one another and nodded.
    Staci and Toni and Stirling stood in the paddock, each holding a carrot. Bruce McPherson had lined them up so carefully that nobody’s carrot was even a millimeter in front of the others. The adults were enjoying all this. Staci was not. Her stomach was flipping so hard she couldn’t think.
    Aunt Caledonia stood at the other end of the paddock, holding Noodles by the halter. The pony had already scented the carrots, and he stood with pricked ears and eager eyes. “Okay,” Aunt Caledonia called, “you know the rules. Nobody call to the pony. Nobody move . All right? All right.” She gave Noodles a friendly whack and let go of the halter.
    Like a fat dog heading toward supper, Noodles trotted at top speed toward the three waiting girls.
    Please, please, Noodles, oh please choose me.… There was no danger that Staci would break the rules and move. She couldn’t move. She couldn’t breathe.
    Noodles stopped in front of her. Noodles, with eyes as big as the world.… Everything seemed to slow down. Staci noticed how short hairs shagged up from the top of Noodles’s creamy mane, perking in the breeze. She saw the palomino sheen on his fat belly and the snip of white on his pink nostril. She saw the crusts at the corner of his dark eyes, and she wanted to be the one to dampen the sponge and clean them away, the one to take care of Noodles and love him. Surely Noodles had to know how much she already loved him.…

    Maybe he did. With a flounce of forelock and a toss of his head, Noodles bared his teeth and took a tremendous chomp of her carrot.
    Staci heard noises, a cheer from the grown-ups and maybe from Paisley too, a shriek of joy from Toni—that was like Toni, to be happy for her sister—a softer squeal from Stirling. But Staci herself couldn’t scream, didn’t look around, didn’t see anything but white, as if she were floating on a cloud; she had thrown her arms around a golden neck and buried her face in a shaggy mane.

10
    Of Peace and Ponies
    The adults had gone inside. Paisley sat at the picnic table, with the bug repellent on the bench beside her, where Cathy had put it after making sure she used it. In the paddock, with happy yells, Toni and Stirling were taking turns riding Noodles around and around. His short legs trotted so fast, they seemed to blur. With his low build and all his fluffy mane he looked like a white-and-yellow caterpillar motoring along. When Noodles cantered, he bounced like a tennis ball. Watching, Paisley had to smile.
    The screen door slammed. Staci came out of the house carrying a newspaper, crossed the yard, sprayed her