Friendly Foal (15 page)

I thought about it most of the night. Summer had only invited me to her party because Hawk made her. Twice I got out of bed for a better look at Catman's star. It was there, shining right where it had been every night. Something about that made me feel better.

Dad was still asleep when I got up, but Lizzy and Geri weren't around. I figured they were prowling the snowy fields in search of creatures in distress.

I grabbed a banana for breakfast and had to take off its pointy hat and ribbon tie, ignoring the raisin eyes, before I could eat it. Lizzy and Geri had decorated the whole bowl of fruit.

Alone, all my midnight thoughts came back. So Summer Spidell didn't invite me of her own free will. So what? I could still have a great time. Hawk wouldn't be there, but other kids in my class were kind of nice. Like Kaylee, who sits by me in a couple of classes and always greets me with a smile. She'd get invited. And Grant. He was okay.

It was still a New Year's Eve party, and I was going.

The door burst open, and Lizzy and Geri stormed in.

“There she is!” Geri shouted. “Wait 'til you see what we got!”

Lizzy set a brown grocery bag on the table. “Sweet! But before you look, Winnie, just know that we're not done with it yet.”

I wasn't all that anxious for a look. I've seen the things Lizzy drags home—cockroaches, spiders, snakes.

“Go ahead! Open it!” Geri commanded.

I lifted the bag. Too light for a snake. Too heavy for a roach.

I opened the bag and peeked in. A big black piece of material was folded in the bottom. I pulled it out. It was a long, shimmery, black skirt, the same kind of cool material Summer wears.

“Lizzy found it at Goodwill! Can you believe it?” Geri sounded amazed.

It was perfect. Simple but fancy. Something a famous person would wear. “Thanks, you guys. I love it.”

“You have to try it on. I'll take up the hem, but it's your size,” Lizzy said.

I'm so short that Lizzy has to hem everything she gets for me. “I hadn't even thought about what I'd wear. How dumb is that?”

“I think she really likes it,” Geri whispered to Lizzy.

“I do! I love it.” But I was starting to wonder what I could wear with it. I mostly had sweatshirts and T-shirts and a couple of sweaters that were warm, but not fancy. And two dresses for church.

“What's the matter?” Geri asked.

I forced a smile. “Nothing. I'm just . . . trying to decide what I'll wear with it.”

“We've already thought of that!” Lizzy exclaimed. “Go on, Geri! Show her!”

Geri set
her
white plastic bag on the table. “Now, this was mine. But I only wore it once. Then I got a growth spurt, and the sleeves got too short. My mom was so excited somebody might get some use out of it. My grandmother gave it to me for—”

“Just give it to her!” Lizzy urged.

Geri pulled out a white blouse. But not just any old blouse. It might have been silk. The sleeves ended in a ruffle at the wrist. It had a high collar and tiny pearl buttons.

“Thanks, Geri.”

I tried on everything. The blouse fit great, and Lizzy pinned up the skirt. They even argued about how I should wear my hair and whether or not I could wear lipstick.

The morning kept getting better. Madeline brought Mason over as promised. And he was in the best mood. We spent a whole hour with the foal, doing all the imprinting with the filly standing beside Nickers. I don't think I'd ever seen Mason so happy.

We finished before 11, when Sal was supposed to come. About a minute after Madeline and Mason drove off, I heard another vehicle drive up.

Sal!
Right on time.

But the
ba-ru-ga
of the horn told me it was the Barker Bus.

I ran out to meet them. Barker and Catman piled out of the van. Granny and Mrs. Barker were in the front seat.

“You should be proud of Annie, Granny B,” I told her. “That goat has been letting the foal nurse all she wants.”

Granny Barker looked like she'd had her head stuck out the window on the drive over. Her snow-white hair framed her face like a cloud. “That's the good Lord's way.”

The rest of the van was filled with Barker's brothers and their dogs. Mrs. Barker let all of them come to the barn to see the filly. Mark carried Zorro, but the other boys had to leave their dogs in their doggy seat belts. Barker had each dog so well trained, though, that there wasn't a single bark out of them the whole time we were in the barn.

Finally Mrs. Barker rounded up her boys. “Eddy,” she called, as she started the Barker Bus again, “we'll come back for you and Catman after we pick up groceries for tonight. Bye, Winnie! Happy New Year, in case I don't see you!”

“Happy New Year, Mrs. Barker!”

Catman and Barker played with the foal while I cleaned Amigo's stall. I kept listening for Sal to come, but she didn't.

“What time is it, Barker?” I asked when I finished mucking.

“High noon,” he answered.

Sal was an hour late. “I can't believe Sal is doing this to me again,” I complained. “Every day she says she'll come over. Then she doesn't.”

Barker looked sympathetic, but he didn't say anything. He'd never say something bad about anybody.

Friendly nudged Catman, who pretended to tumble down. Then the filly sidled over to Annie and started nursing.

I pictured Sal the day before, giving me her word that she'd be over at 11. “You know,” I said slowly, as the words came back to me, “Sal told me herself that if she didn't show up today, I could go over and drag her out of bed. I think I'll take her up on that offer!”

Two minutes later, I was galloping Nickers through the snow. I'd left Barker and Catman in charge of the barn. But the filly was so intent on getting her lunch from Annie that she didn't even fuss when I sneaked Nickers out.

I could tell Nickers was worried, though. Her muscles tensed, and she snorted with the wind as we crossed the pasture toward the other side of town. We would have made even better time, but a light snow began to fall, bringing a white fog.

With every
thump
of Nickers' hooves, I grew angrier and angrier at Sal. Did she think I didn't have anything better to do than sit around and wait for her?
I
was going to the same party
she
was. I had things to do too. I had a life.

Well, I wasn't going to let her get away with standing me up again.

By the time Nickers pulled up in front of the little house at the far edge of Ashland, I was fuming. “Stay,” I told Nickers, sliding off her back into the snow.

I knocked harder than I needed to on the old, splintered door.

Nathan opened it. “Winnie? What are you doing here? Is that your horse?”

“Can I come in, Nathan?”

“Sure. Gram isn't here, though. We're going to a party across the street. At Slick Hair's. That's what Sal calls him. I don't really want to go.”

I felt sorry for Nathan. He wasn't a bad kid. “When will your parents be back?” I asked.

The TV was blaring from the living room, which might have been smaller than ours and didn't have Lizzy to clean it. Nathan turned off the TV, and I followed him in.

“Who knows when my parents will be back? We didn't even know they were leaving.” He plopped on the striped couch and let the newspapers fall to the floor.

“What do you mean, Nathan?” I sat down with him.

“Well, we never know when Dad comes or goes. Not since he got married again.”

“Your dad got remarried?” I wondered if Hawk knew.

“Yeah. He's got a little baby even. A boy. He's pretty cute. I saw him right after he was born, but they wouldn't let me hold him. Andrew. That's his name.”

I couldn't imagine my dad remarrying and moving away and having a baby named Andrew. “What about your mom?”

“I think she thought we were spending Christmas break with Dad. The first day school got out, we went over there for one night. The next day, Dad said they were going to Ellen's parents' in Pennsylvania, I think. Sal was still asleep, so Dad said we could go back to Mom's whenever we wanted to. He even left money for a taxi.”

“So what happened?”

Nathan shrugged. “We took the taxi back, but Mom wasn't there. Sal said she'd gone off somewhere for a vacation with Beer Belly. That's what Sal calls him. We stayed there by ourselves for two days until we ran out of food and I called Gram Cracker. Sal was so mad she didn't speak to me, not even on Christmas Day.”

From the roof came a sound like glass breaking. Sleet . . . or hail.

“I'm sorry, Nathan.” Lizzy would have known exactly what to say, but I didn't.

We sat there for a minute. “Hey, Nathan. I never got to thank you for talking your grandmother into giving me a chance with Amigo. He's doing great. You should come over and see him.”

“Okay.”

We were quiet another minute. Then I asked, “Is Sal still asleep?”

“Huh-uh.”

“Is she still in her bedroom?”

“Uh-huh.”

“So will you go get her for me?”

Nathan shook his head hard. “Huh-uh.”

“Nathan! Why not?”

“Too scary. I heard her yelling and went up to see what was wrong. She threw her boot at me.” He pointed to his arm, but I couldn't see anything. “She got me. See?”

I stood up. “Which room is hers?”

“She doesn't have a room. She's in Gram's. Second door on the left. Good luck. It's been nice knowing you, Winnie Willis.”