Rodeo Rider (13 page)

The crowd was pleased with Carole’s idea, and Carole smiled to herself in satisfaction. Not only was it appropriately showy for a rodeo, but it was also another way to remind everyone about The Bar None.

“We’ve got two prizes for these girls,” the judge announced. “First, there’s the award for winning the competition. Their overall team score was the best by just one-half of one second. It’s not much, but it’s enough, and these girls deserve a big hand.”

Kate took the envelope and shook the judge’s hand.

“The other award that goes to this team, or rather one member of this team, is the fastest individual score. Our judges couldn’t believe their eyes when they saw this one, folks, so let’s have a big, big hand for a newcomer to rodeo riding, but a true champion in many circles, Miss Kate Devine!”

The girls thought that was something to cheer about, too.

D
INNER
THAT
NIGHT
was the biggest celebration The Bar None had seen since the Devines had bought the place.

“I just had the feeling I should have some bubbly on ice,” Phyllis said, bringing champagne out of the kitchen to accompany the gigantic sheet cake she’d made that said,

CONGRATULATIONS TO THE BEST, BAR NONE

There were six paying guests at the ranch for the rodeo weekend and they all seemed to be just as thrilled with the rodeo and the ranch’s victory as the riders themselves. Christine’s parents had been invited to join the celebration as well.

Frank poured champagne for the grown-ups and ginger ale for The Bar None Riders. Phyllis had just started cutting the cake when the phone rang.

Since Kate was the closest to it, she answered it. It was for Eli. She called him to the phone and returned to the dining room.

A few minutes later, Eli rejoined the group. There was an odd, flustered look on his face.

“Who was it?” Stevie asked.

Eli blushed. “It was the college,” he said.

“Had they heard about the rodeo already?” Frank asked.

“I didn’t know it, but their rodeo scout was there today. He came to watch me perform, but he had to leave right after it was over, so he didn’t get a chance to talk to me.”

“Boy, are you lucky!” Stevie said. “If you’d known he was there, you probably would have been so nervous you would have blown everything. I know I would have!”

“Well, I might have anyway,” Eli said slowly.

“What do you mean?” Frank asked in a concerned voice. “Didn’t you get accepted?”

“Yes, I got accepted.”

“No scholarship, then? Is that the problem?”

“Oh, no, sir. I got a full rodeo scholarship, including expenses, for four years.”

“Then I don’t see the problem here, Eli. What’s wrong?”

“Well, sir,” Eli began, stammering as he tried to collect his thoughts to explain himself clearly. “You know how it is between a cowboy and his horse, don’t you?”

“Oh, sure,” Frank said. “If you want to use one of our horses at school, Eli, why, that’ll be okay with Phyllis and me.”

“I may do that, sir, but that’s not what the problem is. See, today I found out that the same kind of thing can be true between a steer wrestler and his hazer—I mean in some special cases—like mine. I just don’t see
that I’d be doing myself any favors going to study rodeo work unless I could be with my rodeo partner—”

Everbody turned to look at Jeannie. She wasn’t blushing at all. She was grinning happily.

“Eli Grimes, you go call that man right back and tell him you’ll take the scholarship, every penny of it!”

“But Jeannie, without you—”

“What’s this ‘without me’ stuff? I’ll be there, too. I wouldn’t go to college anyplace but where you’re going. Besides,”—and now she did blush—“I applied there months ago. Now I can send in my acceptance, too.”

Stevie was the first to laugh. It was so funny that she’d thought she was helping to get Eli and Jeannie together. She’d undoubtedly pushed their romance, but she’d underestimated Jeannie by quite a bit! That young woman was way ahead of Stevie when it came to scheming!

Pretty soon everybody was laughing. It seemed that now there was even more to cheer about and celebrate.

“Well,” Eli said. “As long as I’ve got this full scholarship, Frank, I want you and Phyllis to have my rodeo winnings to help you out here, same as you’ve helped me out.”

He handed Frank the envelope. Frank shook Eli’s hand and then gave him a hug. “Thanks,” was all he could say.

Stevie nudged Kate. It was their turn. “Here, Dad,” Kate said, giving him the two envelopes the judges had given her.

“Why, Kate!” her mother said. “We can’t take the money from you girls.”

Carole spoke for them all. “Please take it, Phyllis,” she said. “We just entered the contest for The Bar None. Whether we won or lost wasn’t as important to us as doing something for the ranch. It’s our way of saying thank you, so the only thing you can do is to say ‘you’re welcome.’ ”

“And you
are
welcome. All of you, anytime,” Phyllis said.

“Say, girls, is there anything in particular you’d like to see us use this money for?” Frank asked.

“How about a game of Pictionary?” Stevie suggested. The other girls began giggling. “I mean, it’ll help you keep that competitive edge.…”

Frank looked at her curiously. Stevie hoped he wasn’t going to ask her to explain, because there was no way she could. But she didn’t have to. Frank smiled. “Sure thing, Stevie. Pictionary it is.” Then he turned to his other guests. “Now, I think it’s time to get on with our celebration. Who needs cake?”

“O
H
, I
HATE
reality!” Stevie complained three days later. She and Lisa and Carole were having a Saddle Club meeting at the local ice cream parlor, Tastee Delight, better known as TD’s, following their regular Tuesday lesson at Pine Hollow.

They were all back home in Willow Creek. The weather was still cold, and the schools were open again. In other words, home didn’t have too much going for it.

“Don’t you wish we were still relaxing on The Bar None?” Lisa smiled.

“Yes, I do,” Stevie said. “Being there is nicer than being here.”

“Especially when there’s no school?” Carole asked.

“That’s right. Definitely when there’s no school.”

The waitress arrived to take their orders. “Oh, it’s you,” she said when she spotted Stevie.

Stevie smiled sweetly at her.

“What’s it going to be this time?” the waitress asked. “Caramel on Bubble Gum? Bubble Gum on Blueberry Treat? Marshmallow on Watermelon Ice?”

Stevie was famous for ordering odd combinations of flavors. Her friends sometimes suspected she did it so other people wouldn’t take tastes of her ice cream. The waitress at TD’s seemed to think Stevie did it just to upset her stomach!

What Carole and Lisa liked best about Stevie’s orders was that she invariably did it with a straight face.

“Oh!” Stevie said to the waitress. “Have you tried the Marshmallow on Watermelon? Do you recommend it?”

The woman paled. Stevie smiled sweetly. “I have to think a minute,” Stevie said.

Lisa ordered a vanilla frozen yogurt with sliced bananas on top. Carole asked for a dish of chocolate ice cream with some almonds sprinkled on it. The waitress looked back at Stevie.

“I’ll just have a dish of vanilla,” Stevie decided.

“No sauce?” the waitress asked.

“No, just plain.”

The waitress smiled.

“Well, on second thought, I’ll have some chocolate sprinkles, too,” Stevie said. The waitress jotted that down. “And some almonds, too. Oh, and maybe a few banana slices, why not. And a touch of that blueberry syrup. And just a spoonful of marshmallow fluff. And a teeny smidgen of caramel. Do you still have the boysenberry sauce? Some of that, too. And then of course, a cherry, and—”

The waitress fled.

“Well, what’s the matter with her?” Stevie said.

“She probably needs a week’s vacation at The Bar None,” Lisa suggested.

“Probably,” Stevie said, recalling what they were talking about earlier. “It is restful there, isn’t it?”

Carole leaned forward and put her elbows on the table. “Well, that depends on what you call restful,” she said. “It seems to me we didn’t do an awful lot of resting while we were there.”

“We didn’t spend one minute of time in school,” Stevie pointed out.

“Yes, but we did an awful lot of other things,” Lisa said. “I mean, we began as a major spy ring at The Dapper Dude. We learned a whole new riding skill, barrel racing, we camped out on a mountain in the desert, we unearthed a wicked plot by the wranglers at the rival ranch, we rode in a parade, we won a whole rodeo event—”

“We helped save The Bar None, we welcomed a new member to The Saddle Club, western branch,” Carole continued.

“And we put a pair of lovebirds together,” Stevie said proudly.

“All in all, a pretty restful week,” Lisa joked.

“There’s one thing I’m wondering about,” Carole said.

“What’s that?” Stevie asked.

“If we’re so clever and can do all these things, how come we can’t make the pipes at our school burst more often so we can go back to the ranch soon?”

“Give me time,” Stevie said thoughtfully. “I’ll think of something!”

Carole and Lisa looked at each other and grinned. They had no doubt she would.

Bonnie Bryant is the author of nearly a hundred books about horses, including the Saddle Club series, the Saddle Club Super Editions, and the Pony Tales series.