not make a sound. She looked at Mary, and then at Jody. She looked down at Heath, who was rolling the ball up to Star’s hoof, trying to make him kick it again. Finally she crossed her arms and looked up at the sky. Still she didn’t speak.
“What do you say, Annie?” Jody asked anxiously. “Do you want to come?”
Annie looked at the ground again, and as the girls waited for a reply, they saw a single lone tear trickle from Annie’s eye and drip from the end of her nose to the ground.
“Yes,” she said quietly.
Mary and Jody looked at each other awkwardly, not sure what to say. It was Star who broke the silence, sniffing at Annie’s face and then snorting wetly all over the three girls.
“Star!” Mary yelled, Heath giggling as they all wiped their faces. “It’s settled then. You’ll come with us and we’ll have all sorts of adventures!”
“But, but, I have to ask my Dad…and who will take care of Star if I’m not here?”
“That’s all settled, too. We talked to Mr. McMurray on our way back from our ride, and you won’t believe it, Annie, he said that while we were gone Star could go out in the pasture with the cows! We just have to turn him out with them gradually for the next few days so his stomach can get used to the grass.”
“And we’re hoping that when he’ll be able to stay out there with Lady and Gypsy after we come back,” Jody added. “Besides, Willie said something about having more grass pretty soon, or something like that. Remember, Mare?”
“Yeah, but he wouldn’t say why. You know how he is, he won’t tell us until he’s good and ready.”
Annie wiped her face with the back of her hand, picked up the ball and handed it to Heath, and turned away. “I’ll ask Dad and let you know,” she said, her back to the girls. Just as he reached the trailer, she turned suddenly and smiled. “Thank you,” she said flatly, and disappeared through the screen door.
Mary and Jody looked at each other and shrugged. “I guess she’ll let us know,” Mary said, a little disappointed at Annie’s reaction to her generous invitation.
Jody gathered up Star’s lead rope and the girls turned back toward the barn with the frisky colt in tow. “You know how Annie is, Mare,” Jody consoled. “I think she’s afraid if she gets too excited about things, and then they don’t happen, she’ll be really, really disappointed. I think she’s probably been let-down a lot in her life, so she tries to not expect much.”
“Well, thank you for your expert opinion, doctor… I guess you’re right, though. Anyway…Star, quit it, for pete’s sake,” Mary giggled, pulling a lock of her hair from Star’s inquisitive muzzle. His habit of nibbling on her long curly hair had yet to be cured. “When we get back to the barn, we have to start packing up for the trip. Willie said we have to be organized.”
“I can’t wait to see the truck and trailer we’re going to use. Do you think it’s the same one the movie people got for us to go to the horse auction? Remember how nice and…”
“Hey, look!” Mary interrupted, “isn’t that your dad’s car by the stable?”
“Yeah! I wonder what he’s doing here? Come on, Star, pick up a trot!” Jody urged, pulling on Star’s lead and picking up a trot herself. The colt didn’t need much encouragement, trotting easily between the girls. In no time they reached the back doors of Lucky Foot and peered inside.
“Dad! What are you…”Jody began, and then gasped, “What is that?”
Jody’s father was in the middle of the aisle with his arms crossed and a smile on his face, leaning against a beautifully lacquered rectangular wooden box with brass handles. “What do you mean, what is that?” he asked, standing aside to give a better view. “Haven’t you ever seen a tack trunk before?”
“A tack trunk? For…for us?” Mary asked, running her hands over the smooth wood of the lid.
“Well, I thought you two might need a good place to put your stuff for the trip. This is big enough for your brushes and tack and everything. Jody, put Star in his stall and I’ll show you all the compartments I built into it.”
“Dad! You built it?” Jody cried, leading Star into his stall. “It’s beautiful!”
“Come look,” he said, carefully lifting the lid. Just inside the top of the trunk nestled a wooden shelf with various compartments for the different sizes of brushes and currycombs. A handle attached to the middle of the shelf, when lifted, revealed a space underneath which could accommodate two saddles side by side. Between the space meant for the saddles and across from each other on the inside wall of the trunk hung two bridle racks. And just above each rack, a tiny brass plate, one engraved with the name “LADY” and the other “GYPSY”.
Mary and Jody peered inside the trunk, open-mouthed but speechless. Finally Jody turned to her father and wrapped her arms around his waist in a bear hug.
“Mary, it’s from your mom too. We worked on it together. It was her idea to add the brass plates, and she helped design the saddle racks. She’s becoming quite the carpenter,” he said, blushing with pride.
“I can’t believe she didn’t tell me!” Mary cried. “She’s usually really bad at keeping secrets.”
Before the girls could say another word, a low rumble could be heard coming from the gravel lane outside the stable. Finnegan, who had slept through the entire tack trunk surprise, suddenly leapt from his bed of straw in the corner and ran barking out the back doors.
“What in the world…?” Mary frowned, scrambling through the doors herself, closely followed by Jody and her dad. There, grumbling noisily up the lane in a cloud of dust, came the second surprise of the day.
“Well, what do you know,” Jody’s dad said with a grin. “Girls, here’s your transportation to New York City.”
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