Chapter Six

~ Miss Julie ~

 

I tried to be calm while eating my cereal and milk the next morning, but I was so excited about seeing Rosie I could hardly hold my spoon. Mom came in with a resume to redo and sat down at the table.

“What are you going to do this morning?” she asked.

“Oh, I think I’ll go over to Addie’s and we’ll try to figure out where the pony might have gone.”

“Okay, but if you find it, you let me or Dad know. That Jake character is not someone I want you around.”

“Yeah, I don’t want to be around him either,” I said as I snagged an apple and slipped out the garage door. Easing my way out of the garage, I couldn’t let Mom see the plastic bucket and purple dog brush I had with me. We used to have a Sheltie with a really thick coat, so that brush was a good solid one

Rosie whinnied when she saw me and came over. Her limp was gone and she looked much happier today. I rubbed her forehead and chest while she ate her apple. I whispered what a good girl she was and led her to the barn for a drink. I checked the sores on her legs, which had scabbed over. After we came back to the shed, I brushed Rosie with the dog brush and told her how good life was going to be for her from now on, away from Jake. Rosie nodded, enjoying the scratching of the brush. I sang as I walked back to town in the morning sun. I had a plan. I needed to ease my conscience and let one particular adult know what we were doing.

I whistled under Addie’s bedroom window. Addie poked her head out, her gaze darting around to see if anyone was listening. “What happened last night? I saw the sheriff’s car at your house.”

It took a few minutes to explain everything, and by that time Addie was climbing out her window. Her mother was at work, but Addie always liked to climb out. I thought it made her feel dangerous. I told her that we had to go find Miss Julie Applegate in the retirement home and get permission to keep a pony in her shed. We had to trust her not to tell on us, but at least then if we were arrested for stealing, they couldn’t add trespassing to the charges.

The Serendipity Springs Retirement Home rested on a quiet, shady street. It was a one story, red brick building, new-looking with small trees planted around and lots of bright red, purple and pink flowers.

Inside, it was cool, after the heat of the sun, and was decorated in cheerful colors. It seemed like a happy place to live if you needed to be in a home with someone to help you. We tiptoed to the front desk and asked for Miss Julie. The smiling receptionist said she lived in Apartment 10 and we could go knock on her door.

“How old is Miss Julie?” said Addie as we walked down the hall.

“I don’t know,” I said. “One time my dad said she wasn’t all that old and could have stayed at the farm if Sam had stayed with her. But he wanted to live in the city.” I had really good memories of riding on Dotty with Sam leading her. It broke my heart back then when I realized that my parents were not going to buy Dotty and let her live in our backyard.

We found a wooden door painted the color blue my mom called Wedgwood. There was a gold number 10 and some silk flowers in a glass holder on the door. We knocked softly. The place was like a library, where you didn’t want to be loud. The door opened and there was Miss Julie. She was thinner, grayer and older than I remembered, in her purple track suit, but Miss Julie’s smile and bright blue eyes were the same. She leaned on one of those silver walkers with rubber tips on the feet, and took her earbuds out of her ears.

“Why, Piper Jones! What a nice surprise! I haven’t seen you for two years.” I thought back to when I had seen her at a summer church picnic. Her memory was just fine. I introduced Addie to Miss Julie, who knew Addie’s mother from a book club they both belonged to. Miss Julie invited us inside. Her rooms looked very neat, and she had a lot of the old furniture I remembered from the farmhouse. My parents were still married then and drank iced tea with Miss Julie while I rode the pony.

“I thought this would be like a hospital,” I said. “It’s more like an apartment.”

“It is,” said Miss Julie, “except if I get hurt or sick, there are buzzers I can push and get medical help right away.”

“Cool,” said Addie. We all sat down on rose velvet chairs. I didn’t do well with antiques. Bad things just happened, and I got klutzy, so I was extra careful.

“Piper, you’re still wearing the horsehair bracelet we made! That brings back some wonderful memories. I’m sorry your parents got divorced, but I bet you’d rather I didn’t go on about it. What brings you here to see me today?”

I said, “Miss Julie, would you mind if I kept a pony in your old shed and paddock for a little while?”

“Why, of course I wouldn’t mind, honey. That would be fine.” She smiled at me and laughed. “I’m glad someone is going to get some use out of the old place. I couldn’t bear to sell it even if the real estate market was any good. I really miss living out there, but Sam never cared for living in the country, even as a boy. Did your dad finally get you that horse you always wanted?”

I had planned not to tell Miss Julie everything, but I didn’t want to lie to her. She was always good to me. I just had to start trusting someone besides Addie, but her eyes looked into me so that I couldn’t tell any more lies. I started talking and couldn’t stop. I talked and talked about Rosie and how we found her, and when I got tired of talking, Addie took over. As we were telling about Rosie, I noticed that Miss Julie sat up straight, like she was going to speak, but then kept quiet. She listened carefully to us, but she kept fidgeting, like she had something to say. Her hands played with the wires to her iPod tucked into a pocket. When we had told her the whole story, I was so relieved I actually felt lighter.

Afterward, Miss Julie was quiet. She moved slowly without the walker into her small kitchen and brought out a pitcher of lemonade, then got three glasses down. She poured us each a glass, handed them to us and sat on the couch with her own drink.

“Girls,” she said, “think very hard and very carefully. Tell me about the pony, how old she is and what she looks like.”

“I don’t know how old she is,” said Addie. “Jake called her an old nag.”

Miss Julie made a face. “I can see why you don’t like him. I don’t, either”

“I think she’s pretty old,” I said. “Her back is a little swayed, and the hairs on her muzzle are turning white. My dad could look at her teeth and tell, but I don’t know how to do that. Anyway, she’s young enough to run fast for a long ways. We should know, we had to chase her!”

“Tell me what she looks like,” said Miss Julie Applegate patiently. She had been a teacher and knew how to get answers from kids. I described Rosie the best I could by saying, “She looks exactly like the pony you used to have. She looks like Dotty.”

Miss Julie took a sharp breath and sat back. She closed her eyes for a moment and sighed. “It never sounded right, what Sam told me about that pony. Dotty wasn’t that old. She had a lot of life and love left in her for some child. Does Rosie have white tips on her ears?” I nodded. She looked at me then. “I think that could be my pony. Sam told me she died after I came to live here, but he never really said why, and he was so busy with his work, I didn’t like to keep bothering him. I wish I had now.” Miss Julie had a sweet face, but right now it looked hard. Her eyes didn’t twinkle any longer; they shone like polished stone.

“Why would Sam lie about it?” I asked. This was another time when grown-up reasoning was just beyond me.

“I don’t know,” said Miss Julie. “I can’t believe he lied. He’s not that way, but I’m going to find out; you bet I am.”

“What can we do?” I asked her.

“Well, I can’t talk to Sam about it unless I’m sure the pony is Dotty. So I guess I have to go take a look at her.”

“It’s a pretty long walk,” said Addie, and I nodded. Miss Julie started laughing. ”Girls,” she said, “I don’t plan to walk out there! Did you ever stop and think I might still be able to drive?” We just looked at her. I felt silly and Addie was making her embarrassed face.

“Sorry, Miss Julie,” I said.

“Don’t be silly,” she said. “How are you supposed to know what I can do?”

“Do you need to take your walker?” I asked, thinking about the lumpy ground of the horse pasture.

“No, not for a short trip. I only use it part of the time. Now give me a minute to turn off my computer and get ready, and we’ll drive out there right now and see that pony.”