Tight Rein by Bonnie Bryant

best behavior. None of them wanted to be grounded. Stevie thought they were all fiends. As soon as her punishmentwas over, she was going to get them, and good! She was making a list in her bedroom of ways to get revenge, and she was already on her third sheet of paper—in small handwriting.
    But Lisa and Carole were working on a plan, and Stevie wasn’t about to mess it up. She wiped her face with her napkin and set it carefully beside her plate. For another chance to go to camp, even she could behave for a week.
    “Should I do the dishes?” she offered in a particularly well-behaved and pleasant voice.
    “It’s Chad’s turn!” Stevie’s twin, Alex, protested. Stevie couldn’t help grinning. Alex was on her side in this one. Lately he hadn’t been getting along with Chad, either.
    “Yes, it is Chad’s turn,” Mr. Lake said. “Thank you for offering, though. I agree,” he continued, turning to his wife, “this has been a remarkably pleasant meal. Maybe we should ground one or two of them all the time.” He chuckled.
    Stevie groaned. It was just like her father to pick the worst possible time to find a sense of humor. Why hadn’t he been amused when Carole and the ladder had fallen into the pool?
    The phone rang just as she was heading back upstairs. Her mother answered. “Oh, hi, Max!” Stevie heard hersay. Stevie paused at the foot of the stairs. Why was Max calling? Surely Lisa and Carole had explained about her being grounded—and anyway, she’d made the note for Belle’s stall.
    “Yes, okay,” her mother said. “I’ll tell her. Thank you, Max. Good-bye.” Mrs. Lake hung up the phone. “Stevie?” she called. “That was Max. He said to tell you that Judy’s coming out to look at Belle. He said you’d know about it—something about her mouth. It was a strange word he used. Is Belle having trouble eating? He said you’d understand.”
    Chad had stopped rinsing dishes the moment he heard his mother say “Max.” He stood motionless while she relayed the message to Stevie.
    “I understand, Mom,” Stevie said. “Thanks.”
    Chad heard the stifled sob in her voice. Turning, he just managed to catch a glimpse of Stevie’s face—pale and scared—before she ran up the stairs.

C AROLE STOPPED OUTSIDE Starlight’s stall. “Good morning, you beautiful darling,” she said. Starlight lifted his muzzle from his manger of grain. Seeing Carole, he took a few steps toward her and thrust his nose into her hands. “No carrots right now,” Carole said, giving him a loving pat. Starlight didn’t look disappointed; he simply went back to his breakfast.
    Carole looked around her happily. In every stall, every horse was nose-deep in breakfast, content. Down the aisle Red had just wheeled the feeding cart back into its position under the grain chute. He waved to Carole andbegan filling buckets with water. It was early Tuesday morning, and everything was as it should be. All the horses looked great—including Belle. Stevie’s mare looked as fresh as a summer flower. She poked her nose over her stall’s half door and whinnied at Carole.
    “Good morning to you, too,” Carole said, laughing. “But you’ll have to act less happy than that, you silly horse, if you want Stevie to take you to camp.” Belle pricked her ears at the sound of Carole’s voice. Max always said horses couldn’t understand English. But that never stopped Carole from talking to them as if they could understand. She thought they liked to listen to friendly voices, just as they liked being groomed and fussed over.
    “How does she look?” Lisa asked. Carole turned. Lisa was walking down the aisle holding a coffee mug carefully in her right hand. Over her left shoulder was a big canvas bag.
    “Super,” Carole said.
    Lisa snorted. “Today, that’s not necessarily good.”
    Carole grinned. She knew Lisa didn’t mean she wanted Belle to be sick or unhappy. “If Belle’s like Stevie,” Carole said, “she’s got enough of