The Lonely Pony (6 page)

“Rise and shine, pony girl!”

Lolli cracked one eye open and saw her mother opening her window shades. “What time is it?” she mumbled.

“Time to go out and take care of the pony,” her mother replied cheerfully. “You'll have to hurry to get everything done before it's time to leave for school.”

“Okay.” Lolli yawned and sat up. It felt as if she'd barely slept at all! But she knew Lola needed her, so she dragged herself out of bed and pulled on her clothes.

Lolli woke up a little when Lola spotted her coming and let out her cute high-pitched nicker. The goats and sheep trotted over to
say hello, too. Being out with the animals so early in the morning made Lolli feel like a real farmer!

“Good morning, Lola,” she said with a smile. “Ready for your breakfast?”

She pulled more hay off the bale and carried it out to the pen. While Lola was eating, Lolli picked up the pony's manure as fast as she could. Luckily there was still plenty of water in the tub, so Lolli figured her friends could help her dump out the leftover water and then scrub and refill the tub after school. By the time she finished everything her arms were tired from picking up manure and scratchy from the hay, and she was pretty sure she didn't smell her best. But there was no time for a shower if she
wanted to be on time for school.

“Got to go, Lola,” she said, blowing the pony a kiss. “See you this afternoon!”

By the time she arrived at school, Lolli was already yawning. But she felt more alert when Janey rushed over with big news.

“We're getting tons of hits on the blog post about Lola!” Janey reported, holding up her tablet. “See? It's just like I predicted—tons of people want to adopt Lola already!”

“Really?” Lolli smiled, knowing all her hard work that morning had been worth it. “Hooray!”

“Did any more messages come in about Lola?” Lolli asked Janey after school.

The two girls and Zach were waiting for Lolli's father to pick them up. They were going to Lolli's farm to do the afternoon pony chores. Adam was meeting them there after he finished taking care of his afternoon dog-sitting clients.

“Yes—three more since I checked this morning,” Janey reported. “Let's read them
and see which person sounds the best.”

She brought up the first message and scanned it. Lolli was reading over her shoulder.

“Wow,” Lolli commented. “I'm not sure this one is serious.”

“Yeah,” Zach said. “The girl thinks she can keep Lola in her bedroom like a dog or a cat.” He laughed. “She must not know how much a little pony can poop!”

“Ew!” Janey made a face at him. “Never mind—here's another one.”

She scanned the next message:

I always wanted a pony like Lola! But I need to change her name to Rebel. That's because I'm going to take her to the rodeo and use her to rope cows like a real cowboy. Please write back and tell me when you can bring her to my house. Thanks, Robert.

“Roping cows at the rodeo?” Lolli said. “I don't think Lola would be very good at that!”

“Yeah,” Zach said. “Roscoe would be a better rodeo horse than Lola.” He laughed. “My cat Mulberry would probably even be better!”

Lolli took the tablet from Janey and scrolled back to the earlier messages, reading over them quickly. “Some of the people who wrote earlier sound okay, at least,” she said. “This girl says she has a really big backyard with lots of grass. And this other one says she's ridden ponies at the fair a bunch of times so she knows all about them.”

“Okay,” Zach said. “So how do we decide who gets her?”

“We'll figure it out,” Janey said. “But let's wait a little longer so more people have a chance to see her.”

All day Tuesday, Lolli couldn't stop yawning. She and the rest of the Pet Rescue Club went to her farm right after school to take care of Lola. Lolli started pulling some hay off a bale, but she had to stop and yawn three
times in a row.

“Are we keeping you awake?” Zach joked. “Maybe you should take a nap on that hay instead of feeding it to Lola.”

“Sorry.” Lolli stifled another yawn. “I'm not used to getting up so early every day to do chores.”

Adam nodded. “I know what you mean. When I first started dog-walking before school, it was hard to wake up sometimes.”

“Never mind,” Janey put in. “We got a bunch more messages about Lola today. Some of them sound pretty good.”

Zach grinned. “No more rodeo riders?”

“No more rodeo riders.” Janey rolled her eyes. “I wrote back to that kid Robert and told him Lola didn't want to be a rodeo pony.”

“So how are we going to figure out who
gets to take Lola home?” Lolli asked.

Janey bit her lip. “I'm not sure,” she said. “Maybe we should ask Ms. Tanaka for help.”

“Our homeroom teacher?” Adam looked surprised. “Why?”

“She told us she used to ride horses when she was younger, remember?” Lolli said. “Asking her is a great idea, Janey!”

She only wished Ms. Tanaka was there to ask right away. Maybe that way Lola could find a home today and Lolli wouldn't have to wake up early again tomorrow!

But when she looked at Lola nibbling her hay, Lolli decided she really didn't mind one more early morning. Not if it meant finding the perfect home for the sweet little pony.

By the time school ended on Wednesday, several more messages had come in about Lola. “Good,” Janey told Lolli as the two girls walked outside together. “That way Ms. Tanaka will have plenty to look at. Look, there she is!”

Ms. Tanaka was one of the bus monitors that day. Janey and Lolli waited until she'd finished helping some first graders get on their bus. Then they hurried over and told her what was going on.

“You took in a pony?” Ms. Tanaka looked impressed. “Wow, I didn't realize you kids knew how to take care of horses!”

“We don't,” Lolli admitted.

“At least we didn't,” Janey added. “We're learning fast.”

“Yeah. But we need help figuring out who should get her,” Lolli said. “Can you help us?
We were hoping you could read the messages and help us figure out who sounds the best.”

“Sure, I'll take a look. Just give me a minute to finish up here, okay?” Ms. Tanaka said.

Ten minutes later all the buses were gone and Ms. Tanaka was scanning the messages on Janey's tablet. The more she read, the more worried she looked.

“Oh, dear,” she said at last. “To be honest, kids, I'm not sure any of these sound like a good home for a horse—not even a tiny one.”

“Really?” Janey's heart sank. “Are you sure?”

“Sorry.” Ms. Tanaka scanned the messages again. “Most of these people sound nice and well-meaning, but none of them mention having any experience with horses.”

“What about the girl who says she's ridden lots of ponies?” Janey said.

Ms. Tanaka shook her head. “Going on pony rides at the fair isn't the same as taking care of a pony full time,” she explained.
“Lola needs a knowledgeable caretaker to keep her healthy and happy.”

“But we didn't know anything about taking care of ponies,” Janey argued. “And look how great Lola is doing with us!”

“It's only been a couple of days, right?” Ms. Tanaka said gently. “That's not the same as committing to a pony's lifetime.”

“Oh.” Lolli bit her lip. “So how do we find someone knowledgeable about ponies?”

The teacher scrolled back and read Janey's blog entry. “Well, you might need to adjust your ad a little,” she said. “Focus less on how cute Lola is, and more on her needs in a home.”

“Okay.” Janey sighed. “Could you help me do that?”

Ms. Tanaka smiled. “Sure. But in exchange, you have to let me meet Lola. Okay?”

Janey smiled. “It's a deal!”

“Truman!” Janey cried as a cute little dog jumped out of Ms. Tanaka's car.

The Pet Rescue Club was at the farm again. While waiting for Ms. Tanaka, they'd done the afternoon chores. Lola was eating her hay while Lolli brushed her. Lolli's father was there, too, fixing a piece of the fence that had come loose.