Cats in Cahoots (A Klepto Cat Mystery Book 18) (12 page)

She grinned. “The point is not what kind of animal it is; the point is…what?” she asked the children.

When they all stared back at her, she said, “The point is, do not…” she prompted.

Most of the children responded. “…feed other people’s animals.”

“Without…” she said,

“Permission!” some of the kids shouted.

“Very good,” Savannah said. “You’re fast learners. Now, I’d like you to all sit here on the tack room porch and we’ll talk about horse safety.” When she noticed that the children seemed rather wound up, she began to rethink her approach, finally saying, “Hey, I have an idea. How would you like to pretend you’re a herd of horses and run around in the riding ring for a few minutes? After that, we’ll bring out some refreshments, then maybe you’ll feel like sitting still for the safety lesson.”

“What kind of refreshments?” Timmy asked. “I can’t eat peanuts.”

Savannah looked at her sister. “Lemonade?”

When the children cheered, Brianna headed for the house, saying, “I’ll get it.”

“Can I help?” Tiffany offered.

Brianna nodded. “Sure, come on.”

When Tiffany started to take baby Allia out of her stroller, Melanie said, “Leave her. I’ll keep an eye on her.”

In the meantime, Savannah motioned for her aunt to join her as she walked with the children to the round corral. “Why do you have two horse pens?” Klara asked. “Do you have two horses?”

“Good question,” Savannah said. “No, we just have one horse. Peaches lives in the square corral near the tack room and she gets some of her exercise in this corral.”

“That other corral is not square,” Misty said. “It’s a rectangle.”

Savannah shrugged. “Yes you’re right. It is a rectangle and this corral is a circle.” When she saw the two five-year-olds enter the workout corral through the gate and start to trot, she asked, “What kind of horse are you, Aaron?”

“A…a…a…” he said,

“I’m a racehorse,” Misty called, joining her brother.

“Me, too,” Aaron said. “A racehorse.”

“Tommy, you look like a wild mustang,” Savannah observed. “Look how fast you can run.”

“Yeah, I am a mustang.” He then stopped and asked, “What’s a mustang?”

“A wild horse, silly,” Misty said.

“I’m a mustang, too,” Aaron claimed.

Savannah smiled. “Cool. Are there any ponies out there?”

“I want to be a pony,” Justin said.

When Justin slipped and fell, Timmy laughed at his younger brother. “A clumsy pony.”

“Can your horse run this fast?” Aaron asked Savannah as he whizzed past her.

She chuckled. “Almost.”

Gladys, who had just joined them at the riding ring, called out, “Wow, look at you go! What a stampede!”

When the children all seemed to be engaged in their activity, Savannah walked over to where her aunt stood watching with Melanie and whispered to her. After a few minutes, Margaret nodded, grabbed Gladys’s arm, and started pulling her toward the house.

“What are you doing?” Gladys complained. “Where are you taking me?”

“Shhh,” Margaret said. “We’re on a very important mission. Come on!”

Just then Kira and Klara stopped near the arena gate where Savannah stood, both of them trying to catch their breath. “I’m ready for lemonade,” Klara said.

“Me, too,” Kira agreed. “Can we sit down and rest on that porch now?”

Savannah nodded. “Sure.” When she noticed Brianna and Tiffany returning with trays of lemonade, she called to the others, “Whoa, horses and ponies. Time for your refreshments. Want to join us over at the tack room?”

For the next several minutes, the children sat relatively quietly, each with a glass of lemonade. Those who had gulped their drinks down asked for more and Brianna was there to refill their glasses. In the meantime, Savannah laid out the safety rules. Once she was sure everyone understood them, she asked each child to take a pledge to always use caution around a horse, to ask permission before approaching a horse, to never feed a horse or another animal without permission from the owner or a responsible adult, and to never tease or harm any animal. As she spoke, she glanced a couple of times toward the house, finally calling out, “Bri, would you go check on Auntie and Mom?”

“Why?” she asked, not knowing what Savannah had in mind.

“Just go. They’re taking care of something for me. They might need help.”

“Oh, all right,” she said, heading for the house.

“Okay now, if all you cowboys and cowgirls will line up, I’d like to introduce you each to Peaches. You can touch her and pet her. She likes to have her neck and her forehead scratched.”

“Can we ride her?” Klara asked.

Savannah looked at Tiffany and Melanie, who were both smiling.

“It’s up to you,” Tiffany said.

Savannah shrugged. “Well, I guess we could give short rides around the arena.” She spoke to the children. “I’m going to put a bareback pad on her so you’ll have something to hold on to. Can all of you line up at the arena gate? I’ll get her ready and bring her over there. Everyone will get a few minutes on her, then I have one more surprise.”

More than half an hour later, after the children had ridden the horse, Savannah noticed that some of them had chosen partners and were entertaining themselves. Misty and Klara were picking up strands of horse hair they found caught in the corral fence and on the ground. The boys were drawing in the soft dirt with sticks, all except for four-year-old, Justin, who had gravitated back to his mother. Kira, the last of the children to ride, walked with Savannah as she returned Peaches to her corral.

“That was so much fun,” Kira said. “I can’t wait to tell Luke I rode a horse today.”

“Is this the first time you’ve ridden a horse?” Savannah asked.

She nodded. “We’ve never lived where people had horses in their backyard before.”

Just then Savannah spotted Margaret, Gladys, and Brianna walking swiftly toward her. When she saw that Margaret carried something in her hands, she called out to the children, “Okay, now for the last surprise of the day. Will you all come back over here and take a seat on the tack room porch?”

“I want to line up right here,” Misty said from the round corral gate.

Savannah thought for a moment, then said, “Well, Peaches has a special gift for you and she’d really like to watch me give it to you. I don’t think she can see you very well over there.”

“Oh,” Misty said excitedly, rushing to where the other children were scrambling for seats next to their new buddies. She scooted in beside Klara.

In the meantime, Savannah asked Margaret to stand next to her. “Now, as I call your name, I want you to come over here where Peaches and I can hear you recite the rules. If you get them right, we’ll present you with a certificate signed by Peaches. She took one from Margaret and held it up. “See, it has her hoof print on it.”

“Cool,” Jacob said, his face lighting up.

Misty squealed, “Awesome.”

Once the ceremony was over, Margaret said, “Gotta get home. I’ll see you all tomorrow.”

“Okay, Auntie. Thank you for your help. You’re a lifesaver.”

“It was fun. Thanks for letting me be a part of it.”

As Margaret told the others good-bye, Tiffany walked up to Savannah carrying Justin. “You’re very good with children. You should consider teaching. We need good teachers.”

“Yeah, she’s bossy enough to be a teacher,” Melanie teased as she joined the two women.

Tiffany grinned, then said, “I saw you with your cat across the street earlier. Do you know Carol Pepper?”

“Just met her,” Savannah said. “We were returning things the cats had taken. Misty and Aaron found their loot-stash this morning.” When Tiffany looked puzzled, Savannah said, “You know, our cat has been getting out and running with that orange cat and they’ve been taking things from some of the neighbors. By the way, did you ever find out who the orange cat belongs to?”

“Luke,” Kira said as she walked up.

“Oh, Kira,” Tiffany scolded. She turned to Savannah. “He’s evidently a stray.”

“Well, if Kira thinks he belongs to Luke, maybe I should talk to him. Who is Luke, anyway? Where does he live?”

Tiffany grimaced and said quietly, “Luke is her imaginary friend.”

Savannah took a deep breath and glanced at the girl. “Oh. Well, maybe Sunbeam
is
a stray, then.”

“He is not ’maginary,” the girl spat before running off toward her house.

“It’s a touchy subject in our family,” Tiffany said. “Sorry about that.” She glanced around the yard at the rest of her children and called, “We’d better go get that homework done. Everyone thank Savannah for the fun afternoon.” When none of the kids spoke up, Tiffany frowned. “Does this mean you didn’t have a good time?”

“No,” Timmy said. “I’m not ready to go home.”

“Me either,” Tommy said. He rushed to his mother and asked, “Can Aaron come over and see my airplanes?”

Klara piped up. “Yeah, I want to stay here and play with Misty. Can I? Please?”

“It’s getting a little late, and I’m sure the Iveys and their guests have things to do. Maybe the next time they visit, okay?” She addressed all of her children and said, “Now tell Mrs. Ivey thank you for letting you meet and even ride Peaches.”

“Thank you,” the children chimed loudly.

“I really like your horse,” Jacob said. “I hope I get to ride her again.”

Tommy pointed at Rags, who sat in the kitchen window watching the outside activity. “I want to take that big cat for a walk. I saw him walking on a leash like a dog.”

“Not today,” Tiffany said. “Thank you so much, Savannah. The children won’t soon forget this day.”

“I hope they remember the safety rules, too,” Savannah said, waving to the family as they traipsed back to their house.

“That was fun,” Melanie said, walking with Savannah toward the wraparound porch where Ron, Brianna, and Gladys sat chatting.

Misty and Aaron ran past the two women and up the porch steps. “Dad, look at my certificate!” Misty shouted.

“I got one, too,” Aaron said, when he caught up to his sister.

Ron looked at the documents. “Very nice. Do you remember the rules?”

“Be nice to horses,” Aaron said, “’cause they might bite your fingers.”

Everyone laughed.

“Mom, can I have a cookie?” Aaron asked.

“I think we’re going to have dinner soon. Can you wait until after dinner?”

“How about a tangerine?” Gladys suggested, standing and heading for the door.

Melanie nodded. “Sure, that would be okay.” She watched as the children followed their aunt into the kitchen.

Suddenly, Ron squinted toward the orchard. “What’s that?”

“I wish I knew,” Savannah said when she heard the faint haunting sound. “I hear it every once in a while and haven’t been able to identify it. I originally thought it was a dog—maybe a beagle.”

“Is it some sort of machinery—the whine of a sander or leaf blower?” Melanie asked.

“I don’t think so,” Ron said, straining to hear more clearly.

Brianna shuddered. “Sounds spooky.”

“What sounds spooky?” Gladys asked as she stepped out to join the others.

“Oh, it stopped,” Savannah noticed. “Well, it’s getting late; shall we go in and get ready for supper?”

****

Almost everyone was up bright and early the following morning. Only Brianna and Melanie lagged.

“They stayed up laughing until after midnight,” Ron explained.

Savannah grinned. “Good. I’m glad they got a chance to catch up with each other. Wish I could have stayed up. I turned in around eleven thirty.” She smiled at Lily. “This one’s ready to rise with the chickens, no matter how late Mommy stays up.”

“Are we going shopping today?” Gladys asked.

“Yeah, I like shopping,” Misty said. “Dad, can I spend my Christmas money? Huh?”

“Let’s see if you find something you can’t live without, first, okay?” When he saw the disappointed look on the child’s face, he said, “Hey, maybe Cousin Savannah would like us to feed the horse this morning.”

“Yeah!” she shouted. “Can we? Can we?”

“Sure, that would be great,” Savannah said as she placed a pan of the rolls Max had made into the oven. “Just give her a flake.” When she saw the uncertainty on Ron’s face, she held her hands six inches apart to show him. “About this much off that open bale.”

“Oh boy,” Aaron said. “I want to give her some hay.” He spun toward Savannah. “Can the dog come? What’s her name?”

“Lexie. Yeah, she can go with you. Just keep an eye on her. She’s not allowed out of the yard, okay?”

“Can the cat come?” Misty asked.

“Oh, I don’t think that’s a good idea. You’ll have your hands full with the dog and the horse.”

“Where’s the coffee?” came a groggy voice from the doorway. “Lead me to the coffee.”

“Good morning, Bri,” Savannah said. “Stayed up too late, did you?”

“Yeah, not used to the night life.”

“Here’s your coffee. Sit down.” When she looked up, she noticed another figure in the doorway. “Oh, hi Mel. Did you sleep well?”

“Yeah, after I settled down from all the excitement yesterday.”

Brianna chortled. “You think we had an exciting day yesterday, you should have been here the night before.”

Melanie poured herself a cup of coffee and sat across from Brianna. “Now what could be more exciting than watching a horse-safety class with a dozen wild kids, making a klepto cat return his loot, and seeing cousins I haven’t seen in years—and one I haven’t met before at all?” she said, smiling at Lily.

“Well, let me tell you,” Brianna said. “How about someone breaking into the house, holding you at gunpoint, accusing you of taking a diamond necklace, taping your hands behind your back, and threatening you?”

“And the cat showing up wearing the necklace,” Gladys added.

Melanie gazed into Brianna’s face, then glanced at Gladys. “Oh, you made that up.”

Before Brianna could respond, Misty burst into the kitchen shouting, “There’s a hurt cat out there!”

“Where?” Savannah asked.

“Don’t touch it,” Melanie warned, as Savannah looked out the window.

“Dad’s trying to catch it,” Misty said breathlessly.

By the time Savannah moved toward the door, Ron walked in, Aaron following behind with Lexie at his heels.