“Oh, I spent a little time in the city years back. Worked with Twister on a movie with Jimmy Stewart. They shut a street down and made it look like the 1800’s. We wrangled the horses and coaches. Some of the horses were stabled at Fairmount. We did sleep in the stable, if I remember right.”
Mary and Jody stared at Willie, dumbfounded. It was still hard for them to believe that the old farmhand they had known for years was once a horse wrangler for major films. They had discovered Willie’s past when they worked on the movie at McMurray’s farm the previous summer, but it still fascinated them to hear the stories of his experiences on movie sets long ago.
“Do you think we’ll get to sleep in the stable too, Willie?” asked Jody, getting back to the subject at hand. “That would be so cool!”
Willie smiled. “I reckon not, they’re talkin’ about puttin’ everybody up in a hotel. You and Mary, your parents, and me.”
“All in the same room?” asked Mary, wide-eyed.
“No, no,” Willie chuckled. “I think they can afford separate rooms. Now, I got to get to the barn for milkin’. Roy’ll wonder what happened to me.”
“But, Willie, we have lots more questions,” Mary fretted. “What about the red carpet? Do we have to wear dresses? What if Lady and Gypsy have to go to the bathroom just about then? What if…”
“Calm down, girl. There’s plenty of time to figure all that out. I got to go. Now get yourselves up and take care of Star. He’s still got his saddle on, for Pete’s sake.”
Mary and Jody jumped up obediently from their seat on the hay, abruptly waking Finnigan from his nap. Jody opened Star’s stall door and Mary was about to loosen the girth on his saddle when a thought occurred to her. She ran to the back door of Lucky Foot Stable and cupped her hands around her mouth.
“Willie!” she yelled. The old cowhand, halfway to the big white dairy barn, turned in his tracks.
“You didn’t tell us when we’re going!”
“First of July,” Willie responded, and turned on his heel.
“First of July,” Mary whispered to herself. Then her mouth flew open wide. “Jody! That’s in two weeks!” she shrieked.
3.
Consulting with the Ponies
That night as Mary and Jody were leaving Lucky Foot for the day, they made a pact to meet early the next morning to plan their strategy for the momentous trip to New York City. Mary awoke even before her alarm sounded but it was Jody who arrived first at the stable doors, having peddled her bike as fast as she could from the end of the road. Out of breath, she quietly opened the back door of the little white stable and greeted Colonel Sanders, the old barn rooster, who was busy pecking at imaginary pieces of grain on the stable floor. A second later, Mary burst through the door, startling the old rooster so that he squawked and flapped his wings indignantly.
“Colonel! I thought you’d still be on your perch crowing your head off Jody how did you get here before me?” she exclaimed all in one breath.
“Guess I’m just faster than you,” Jody grinned. “I was just about to take some hay out to the paddock for Star.”
“You get the hay, and I’ll fill his water bucket,” Mary offered. “We have to get a move-on so we can talk about the trip.”
“Mare,” Jody chuckled, “there’s really not that much to talk about. We’re going to New York City with Lady and Gypsy for the movie premiere. We don’t have to stop everything to talk about it.”
“What do you mean?” Mary said indignantly. “We have to plan what brushes and tack we’re gonna take, how to pack it all, who’s taking care of everything while we’re gone, what we’re gonna wear…”
“What we’re gonna wear? Since when do you worry about that?”
Mary was silent for a moment, opening the dutch door to Star’s paddock before she answered. “Well…we have to look nice for the red carpet and everything…”
“Why?” Jody snickered, “’cause Brian McVey will be there?”
“No!” Mary shouted, turning beet red. “Like he would ever pay any attention to me anyhow.”
“Well, you never know,” Jody said, “just because he’s the star of the movie doesn’t mean he won’t at least say hi to us. He and Vicki really liked the ponies.”
Mary busied herself with scrubbing Star’s water bucket, trying not to think about the embarrassing episode she had suffered when Brian McVey had spoken to her on the movie set. She was determined that if she ever got the opportunity to speak with him again she would be suave and sophisticated, not shy and tongue-tied.
Jody cut open a bale of hay and separated three sheaves for Star while Mary filled his water bucket. The frisky colt, ready for his breakfast, hung his head over the dutch door and nickered impatiently.
“I wish Star could come with us to the premiere,” Jody said, pushing open the door just far enough to squeeze herself and the hay through. Mary followed with the water bucket.
“I know. It’s a shame he didn’t get to be in the movie. Hey, maybe they’ll do a sequel, and Star could be the star!”
Jody placed the hay in its usual spot in the paddock and went back into the stable to get a half scoop of grain from the grain bin for Star. When she raised her head from the bin and turned, Annie Mooney was standing in the aisle.
“Annie!” Jody exclaimed, startled by the sudden appearance of the freckle-faced girl. “Sorry, I didn’t see you there!”
“That’s ‘cause I just got here,” Annie said matter-of-factly. “Where’s Mary?”
“She’s…”Jody began, just as Mary entered the stable from the paddock.
“Hey, Annie,” Mary said cheerily. “What’s up?”
“I heard you’re going away in a couple weeks.” Annie said in her usual straightforward way.
Mary and Jody looked at each other awkwardly. “Well, yeah. We’re going to the movie premiere, ” Mary offered.
“I know, Jimmy told me,” Annie replied. “I just came over to ask you if you want me to take care of Star while you’re gone.”
Mary and Jody looked at each other again. They hadn’t had time to decide who would take care of Star and the other animals. And they automatically felt bad for Annie because they knew that she would give anything to go to the premiere herself. But she hadn’t really had a part in the movie, and she was too embarrassed to ever talk about the terrifying incident that had happened to her on the set last summer with Stumpy. Mary cleared her throat and scratched the side of her head, as Willie always did when broaching a difficult subject.
“Umm, well, Annie, we haven’t really figured out who’s taking care of what while we’re gone, but we were just about to go out to the pasture and visit Lady and Gypsy to discuss the matter,” she said. “Can we let you know later today?”
“Sure,”
