Spirit Riding Free: Lucky's Diary Read online

  “I still don’t see it,” Pru said.

  “They’re having so much fun,” Abigail said, pointing. The clouds had shifted, and the two fluffy children were floating in different directions. “They’re getting ready to play a new game!” she exclaimed.

  Lucky and Pru exchanged a baffled look. Neither of them saw what Abigail saw.

  “It’s like Red Rover,” Abigail told them. “Only it’s Prancing Ponies. Do you see the other cloud kids galloping like horses? It’s so fun, everyone wants to join in!”

  “That’s it!” Lucky suddenly sat up and pointed at the clouds. “We can make a day camp!”

  “For cloud children?” Abigail asked, staring at her. “Why do fluffy cloud children need a camp?”

  “Not cloud children,” Pru said, also sitting up as she caught on. “For-real children. The kids of Miradero!”

  “Oh,” Abigail said. “You’re right, cloud kids don’t need a camp. They can just have fun playing games in the sky.”

  “Exactly,” Lucky said with a giggle. “But Miradero children would love a camp. Parents could send the kids to us and we could take care of them all day. We could play games—”

  “Like Prancing Ponies!” Abigail put in.

  “Yes!” Pru said.

  “This is the best idea ever!” Abigail cheered. “I’ll get my mom and dad to sign up Snips! He’ll be our first camper.”

  “As long as he pays,” Lucky said. “PALs Adventure Camp can’t be free.” She started to figure out the details. “We can charge one dollar for each child for the whole summer. Then, we can split up everything we make three ways. By the end of summer, I’ll have plenty of money to buy a bottle, bottle top, and bubble bath for Aunt Cora, and I bet I can even afford something extra to decorate the barn. Do you think Spirit would like a pinwheel above his stall?”

  “I know what I’ll do with my earnings: I’m going to buy more ribbons,” Abigail said. “Boomerang wants a new set of rainbow ones. Last night, Señor Carrots ate the orange ones from the package.” Señor Carrots was Snips’s donkey.

  “I hope he’s okay,” Pru said. “Donkeys shouldn’t eat ribbons.”

  “He burped them back up later,” Abigail said, then squished up her face and said, “Eww.”

  “Boomerang deserves new ribbons,” Lucky agreed. She turned to Pru. “What are you going to do with the money we earn at camp?”

  “I’m going to—wait…” Pru paused, then looked down. She began to pick at the grass.

  “What’s wrong?” Lucky asked her.

  “I’m committed to Rancho El Paseo,” she said. “I can’t help with the camp.”

  “I think we should ask your dad,” Lucky said. “Maybe if we tell him all about our plans, he’d agree to let you stay. PALs Camp wouldn’t be nearly as much fun without you.”

  “It won’t be the PALs Camp if we’re not all here! If it’s just Lucky and Abigail, it would be… the LA camp. That doesn’t even make any sense!”

  Pru stood to get Chica Linda. “Come on. Let’s go ask him right now!” She climbed up, ready for the ride back to town.

  Spirit came for Lucky. She pulled herself onto his back and wrapped her arms around his neck. “We’re going to make a camp!” she told Spirit.

  Spirit raised his head and broke into a trot.

  “Wahoo!” Abigail shouted, as the PALs began the ride back to Miradero. “Race you home!”

  The three horses sped across the valley, back toward town.

  The best summer ever was back on track.

  Diary Entry

  He said YES! Pru’s dad said YES! I can hardly believe it.

  We are going to have a summer camp for the kids of Miradero! I’d sing a happy song, if I could, but I’ll leave the singing at camp to Pru because she’s great at it. Abigail is going to bring her best talent and teach the kids to bake. She’ll start with her grandma’s cherry pies. Grandma Stone’s pies are so yummy that they win all the baking contests in town. Then, there’s me. Since I am the only one who’s had a paying job before, I’ll be in charge of the money and the business stuff.

  There are so many things to do to have a successful camp, and the first thing is to get kids signed up. The more kids we have, the more money we’ll make.

  After Pru got the good news, we talked about what our flyers should say. I agreed to make them at home.

  We’re meeting in a little while to post them around town.

  I’m not a great artist, so I had Spirit help decorate the flyers. I spread them on the ground and explained. I had to stomp around to show Spirit what I wanted, and he totally got it. We dipped his hooves in black paint, and he walked all over the pages. When the paint dried, the flyers looked great!

  The flyers look like this:

  Here’s the rest of the to-do list:

  Clipboard, paper, and pencil to sign everyone up.

  Sign for the table.

  Tacks to put up the flyers.

  A money box.

  Check. Check. Check. Check. Yep. We’ve got it all.

  Time to meet the campers.

  I can’t wait!

  Put the last one on this tree.” Pru handed Lucky a flyer.

  Reaching down, Lucky grabbed the paper. She was standing on Spirit’s back to get high enough to post it.

  Abigail handed Lucky a couple of tacks, saying, “Don’t poke yourself. Believe me”—she held up her fingers, which all had little red prick marks, and sighed—“it’s not fun.”

  “Thanks for the warning,” Lucky told Abigail. Spirit stood still while she pressed a tack through the poster, attaching it to a tree.

  “Hee-haw!” Señor Carrots suddenly brayed. Since Snips was the first enrolled camper, Abigail had him pulling the donkey around town, helping advertise. Señor Carrots was wearing a double sign over his back that hung over each side. It said PALs Adventure Camp on one sign and We promise summer fun on the other.

  “I don’t think you should promise we’ll have fun,” Snips called out to Lucky. “Señor Carrots and I have very high standards.” He sniffled and wiped his nose on his shirt. “You shouldn’t make promises you can’t keep.”

  “We promise the camp will be fun,” Lucky assured him. She jumped down from Spirit’s back, put away the tacks, and moved over to a table in the street. Pru had borrowed the small table from her dad, along with three chairs for them to sit at it.

  “I agree with Snips,” a low voice said, coming from behind Lucky. “You shouldn’t promise fun.”

  Lucky hadn’t leaned back yet in her chair when she popped upright again. She knew that voice… but there was no way. Her cousin was at boarding school, wasn’t he?

  “Hello, RF,” Julian greeted with a low bow.

  “Julian?” Lucky greeted, sounding a little confused. “What are you doing here?!” It wasn’t the nicest greeting, but she was surprised to see him.

  “Nice to see you, too,” Julian said with a laugh. “Don’t worry, RF. I’m just here to visit Aunt Cora. I’m planning a great summer. Don’t you want to have a great summer, too, like me?”

  Lucky liked her cousin well enough, but he was so tricky. She reminded herself to tread cautiously where Julian was concerned. Whenever he came to town, he’d cause a big mess. He was a true-born con man—or rather, con boy as the PALs liked to say. She still wasn’t completely over the first time he’d visited Miradero and conned all the local kids into giving him their money to build a super-fast roller coaster… which just turned out to be a regular old mine cart.

  Still, family was family, and Lucky knew she should give him a chance. She wrapped her arm around him in a cautious hug. “That’s true. It’ll be nice to have you here… maybe.”

  “That’s better,” he said, gently pushing her back and greeting her friends. “Nice to see Lucky’s marvelous friends, too.”

  Pru and Abigail were a lot more welcoming. Especially Abigail, who didn’t always have the same suspicions about Julian’s motives.

  “Speaking of grea
t summers, it looks as if things are busy here in Miradero. Whatcha up to?” Julian asked, looking at the table. “What’s this fun camp all about, RF?”

  Lucky exhaled sharply. She’d asked him a million times not to call her RF. Julian thought it was funny. Rabbits’ feet were supposed to be lucky, so he made that her nickname. Ugh.

  “We…” she began slowly.

  “We’re having a summer camp for the kids of Miradero,” Abigail blurted out, and before Pru or Lucky could stop her, she added, “Lucky needs to earn some money to buy a crystal bottle for—”

  Lucky grabbed Abigail’s arm and tugged her back. She and Pru led her a few steps away from Julian. “Don’t tell him so much,” Lucky cautioned. “He’s still a con boy!”

  “Got it,” Abigail said, and sauntered back toward Julian. She whistled while her hands swung casually by her side.

  “So, you were explaining, Abigail, why does Lucky need the money?” Julian asked when the girls got back by the table.

  “’Cause she”—Abigail paused, looking over at Pru and Lucky—“needs it.”

  “You said she wanted to buy something,” Julian asked. “What?”

  “Don’t we all want to buy things?” Abigail responded. “Shoes, coats, hats, horse blankets, crystal bott—” She stopped herself again, then asked, “What do you want to buy, Julian?” Abigail tipped her ear to listen.

  “I’m not shopping,” Julian answered. “And yet, like you, I need to make some money this summer. When I got permission to come to Miradero for the summer, I had to promise my mother that I’d get a job. If I don’t find a job, she’ll make me come back home and work at our neighbor’s insurance office.” To show what he thought of that job, he yawned.

  “Sounds as if you’ll be an insurance man, then.” Lucky snorted. “I’ve asked everyone in town. No one is hiring.”

  “I heard about that,” Julian said, leaving Lucky to wonder if Aunt Cora had told him her woes. “I’m not going to break my promise to my mom. I have a plan.” He picked up the PALs’ camp sign-up form and began reading the names and addresses of their new campers, before Lucky swooped it right out of his hands. Smiling at Lucky’s dramatic dive for the sign-up sheet, Julian said, “I believe I have something that can help you with your camp. I saw you only have seven kids.”

  “Well, six, actually,” Abigail corrected. “We have Snips, Bianca, and her twin sister, Mary Pat. And then we have some new kids in town whose parents work for the railroad: Lilly and Lester. And then there’s Maricela’s little cousin, Stella.”

  “And Turo is coming to help!” added Pru, before giving Lucky a bashful glance. Turo was too old to be a camper, but he wanted to help out his friends, so he signed up.

  Now, including the information that Turo wasn’t paying, Julian did the math. “It would be better if you didn’t have to split your earnings, because once you divide the money… you each won’t earn very much, will you?”

  This wasn’t news. Lucky was aware that they needed at least two more kids if she wanted to get the bottle for Aunt Cora, fill it, and have a little money left over. She didn’t reveal that, but Abigail did.

  “We need to raise two more dollars,” she said. Then, realizing she was once again oversharing with Julian, she put a hand over her own mouth and muttered, “Darn it.”

  “I see…” Julian said, glancing over his shoulder toward the ice cream parlor. “Do you want help from your old cousin Julian?”

  At first, Lucky thought he wanted to be a counselor, too, but he assured them he felt that Lucky, Pru, and Abigail would be much better counselors than he ever could be. “Plus, I wouldn’t want to ask you all to split your profits!” Julian added. “No, no… I’ll find my own job for the summer.…”

  Lucky wanted to know what Julian was up to. “Then what do you have in mind?” she asked, slowly eyeing him for any funny stuff behind his answer.

  “Two dollars,” he said, tapping his pants pocket as if he already had money there. “I’ll pay the price for two kids, and all you need to do is take one.”

  Just then, the door to the ice cream parlor opened.…

  “Be quick,” Julian said, glancing behind him. Lucky thought he might even be a bit nervous. “You have to decide right now. Yes or no?”

  “Whatever it is, we’ll do it!” Abigail stepped between Pru and Lucky before either of them could ask any more questions or turn the deal down. At their look, she said, “It’s two dollars! All our problems will be solved.”

  Pru gave in as well. “And for just one kid.”

  Lucky didn’t understand why someone would pay more than the normal cost of camp, but her friends had already agreed. “Who’s the camper?” she asked Julian.

  Aunt Cora stepped into the sunlight. Behind her was a young boy. He had an ice cream cone in one hand while Aunt Cora balanced two more cones.

  “Here’s your ice cream, Julian,” she said, handing the cone to him. “Oh,” she said, seeing Lucky and her friends for the first time. “Would you young ladies like some ice cream, too?”

  “Sure,” Abigail said, answering for all of them. “Thanks, Miss Prescott.”

  “Happy to do it. I’m having a wonderful day now that Julian and Oliver are here,” she gushed. “I didn’t tell anyone they were coming. I wanted it to be a lovely surprise. I haven’t even told your father yet,” she told Lucky.

  Aunt Cora was very proud that she’d kept this big secret. “Oliver, stay here and get to know your cousin.” She stepped back, humming happily. “Ice cream for everyone. I’ll be right back,” she said, quickening her steps toward the parlor.

  “Oliver?” Lucky said, looking at the boy. He had short brown hair that he swept to the side like Julian’s, and he was wearing a jacket that was very similar, too. “Is this your brother, Julian?” she asked, though it was pretty obvious.

  “Of course.” Julian put a firm, protective hand on Oliver’s shoulder. “Best brother in the world.”

  Lucky was excited to finally meet her cousin. “Hi,” she said to Oliver.

  The boy started to smile, but then Julian whispered something in his ear and instead, Oliver frowned and stepped behind Julian.

  Lucky was about to crack a joke to try to break the ice when Snips called out, “I’ll help Miss Cora carry cones!” Snips rushed toward the ice cream shop, where Cora had just pulled open the door. “I’m coming, Miss Cora! Señor Carrots likes to share strawberry.”

  Even though she couldn’t see her aunt’s face, Lucky could just imagine Cora’s horrified expression at the idea of Snips and his donkey sharing an ice cream cone. Aunt Cora and Snips went into the parlor, leaving Oliver with Julian.

  “A deal’s a deal.” Julian leaned over and wrote Oliver’s name on the list before taking another long look. “Here’s my nine-year-old brother for your camp this summer. You two are going to have a blast.”

  “I didn’t know Julian had a brother,” Abigail told Lucky while Julian was busy writing down the information.

  “Is he nice?” Pru asked.

  Lucky looked at Oliver, who pulled back farther into Julian’s shadow. “I’ve never met Oliver,” Lucky admitted. “He’s never come to town before now. Julian usually comes alone. I guess this summer Oliver is finally old enough to stay with Aunt Cora.” She glanced at the boy again, remembering how he’d frowned and pulled away from her. “I don’t really know if he’s nice or not.”

  Julian raised his head and set down the pen. “Wait till you all get to know Oliver. He’s wonderful. I’m teaching him to be just like me.”

  “That’s adorable!” Abigail cooed. “He’ll grow up to be a little cousin Julian! So classy!”

  Ugh. Lucky didn’t think that was adorable. It sounded terrible, not good.

  Julian tapped a finger on the sign-up sheet and told Lucky, “I’m not paying yet.”

  “Really? That’s not how it works.” She stared at him. What was he up to? Everyone else paid half at sign-up, with the agreement they’d pay the other half
at the end of camp.

  “Now, come on, Lucky! You know I’d never back out on a promise, especially to you! But I also promised my mom and Aunt Cora that little Oliver here would have a fun summer—and now I’m entrusting his happiness… to you. So before we get into the matter of payment, I want to make sure Oliver likes the camp. It wouldn’t be fair if he didn’t have just as good of a time with you as he would’ve with his big brother, now would it? You gotta earn this money.” He patted his pocket again, which made Lucky wonder if he really did have two dollars in there.

  Just then, Aunt Cora and Snips came out of the ice cream shop juggling cones for everyone. As they handed them out, Aunt Cora gushed to Lucky, “It’s going to be a wonderful summer.”

  Lucky looked hard at Julian. “Yes, it will be, Aunt Cora.” But she had some doubts. What if Oliver really was just like Julian? Someone like that, a mini-Julian con child, could ruin everything! Then again, they really did need the two dollars.

  “Come, Oliver, time to unpack and settle in.” Aunt Cora led the way. Lucky noticed a spot of ice cream on Oliver’s nose when he took one last long glance her way.

  His expression was both cute and sad, kind of like a lost puppy. It looked to Lucky as if Oliver didn’t want to be leaving with Cora. As if he wanted to stay with her and her friends. In that instant, Lucky felt her heart reach out toward him, and she knew she was being given a big opportunity. This was about more than money!

  She had a brilliant idea. Maybe if Oliver was around all summer, she could save him! Pru and Abigail and Lucky would make sure that Cousin Oliver turned out nothing like his sneaky older brother.

  Lucky watched Oliver and her aunt walk to the corner, close to the place where the horses were enjoying some afternoon shade. Cora walked on, but Oliver paused to look at Spirit and let Julian catch up.

  Then there was something odd that Lucky didn’t understand. Julian seemed to hand Oliver something shiny from that money pocket of his. She saw the object glint in the sunlight before Oliver put it in his own pocket. Only then did they hurry after Cora. Weird; but everything about Julian was a little weird.