Chapter Seven

~ Reunion ~

 

We sped through the town and out into the farmland around it in Miss Julie’s old blue Cougar. I wondered why I had ever thought little old ladies drove slowly. The windows were down and the warm breeze blew my hair all over my face. I looked back at Addie, who got carsick sometimes, and hoped that the speed and the rolling hills wouldn’t activate her vomit machine. We arrived at the farm quickly, since Miss Julie had spent a lifetime driving down that lane lined with oak trees and a split rail fence. We pulled up in front of the big farmhouse, and Miss Julie just sat there looking at it while the motor idled.

“I spent a lot of wonderful years in that house,” she said. “It was a good house to grow up in, and a good house to raise a family in. It looks kind of sad with no one living in it.”

She put the car into gear. We bounced down the dirt lane toward the shed and Rosie’s paddock, with a cloud of dust rolling behind us. When we stopped beside the gate, Miss Julie tied the jacket of her track suit around her waist and walked over to the corral, holding Addie’s arm. When the dust settled, the air smelled like a mixture of clover, grass and hay, the best smells in the world.

Rosie was standing under the oak tree in the shade. She stopped grazing and looked up as we opened the gate and entered her little world. She walked toward us, and as she stepped out of the shade and the sun shone on her brown patches, I could hear Miss Julie give a sigh. Rosie seemed a little perkier after even one day on green grass, but she was still a sorry-looking animal. She stopped a few steps from Miss Julie, ears pricked up and alert, sniffing and tossing her head. There were tears in Miss Julie’s eyes as she said, “Dotty!” The pony came right over, stuck her nose in Miss Julie’s face and made a sound deep in her throat.

“Oh, honey,” Miss Julie started scratching and rubbing the pony’s forehead, neck, everywhere she could reach. Addie and I couldn’t talk. I had an achy place in my throat, and Addie sniffled while she rubbed her nose. Miss Julie hugged the horse around the neck and gently touched the white-tipped ears.

“I need to sit down,” sighed Miss Julie. We pulled one of the empty buckets out of the shed, turned it over, and she sat on that. She shook her head and stared at the pony. “You poor thing. Whatever has happened to you, you didn’t deserve it. Poor baby.”

Then she looked at us. “Girls, it was a very lucky accident that you found Dotty. I want to thank you for taking care of her and for coming to me. Someone has treated her terribly, and I’m going to find out who it was.”

“It was Jake,” said Addie. “He’s the one who had her tied up in town. And I bet he stole her!”

“But how did he get her papers? Why would Jake call the sheriff if he was the one who stole her?” I said. We looked at Miss Julie watching the small pony nibbling purple clover flowers in the grass. Miss Julie clamped her jaw and her breathing was hard. She pulled out a red cell phone and started punching in numbers.

“I need to ask Sam about that. I need to ask him about a lot of things that have been going on since I left the farm. He’ll be coming home for a few days tomorrow, but this can’t wait.”

Holding the phone to her ear, Miss Julie looked all around the shed, the paddock, the tree, but kept coming back to the pony.

“He’s not answering. I’ll keep calling, but if I can’t get him, well, first thing in the morning, when he’s in town, I’ll get to the bottom of this!” Miss Julie started to get up, then sat back down suddenly and closed her eyes.

“Are you okay, Miss Julie?” I was worried about her. What would we do if she had a spell or a heart attack way out here? Could I drive her car back to town? I hadn’t had driving lessons yet. Mom wanted me to wait till spring.

“I’m fine, Piper,” she said. “I just shouldn’t get all upset and excited about things. It isn’t good for my blood pressure. But I’m fine. Don’t worry”

She stood up then, patted Dotty on her round rump, and said, “See you later, sweetie. Let’s go, girls. We have work to do.” Miss Julie marched over to her car, got in and slammed the door. After I hugged and whispered to Dotty, we closed the gate then followed Miss Julie and got in the car. As the Cougar bounced down the dirt road and through the farmyard, I held on tight. Miss Julie turned onto the highway and we sped into town. Thank goodness there weren’t any police cars around! I had never been in a speeding car before. Do they arrest the passengers? We were pretty quiet all the way to town. Miss Julie dropped us off at my house and drove away with a screech of her tires. “See you tomorrow,” she called.

“I feel sorry for Sam when she gets ahold of him,” said Addie.

“I don’t,” I said. “I just want her to be careful not to have a stroke or something. And find out what happened with Dotty.” I knew we would both call that pony Dotty from now on. After all, it was her name.

Addie was quiet a minute. “Maybe we could talk to Sam before Miss Julie does, so he doesn’t yell at her. Because, he might. And we could find out if he sold Dotty to Jake. If we have the proof right there, he can’t deny it when she asks him. But how can we find proof? He’s out of town tonight.”

Sometimes Addie didn’t think as sneakily as I did. Sometimes our brain connection didn’t work. “That’s perfect,” I said, “because we can go into his office tonight after dark and look without being interrupted.”

“We should look in Jake’s trailer, too,” said Addie. “I bet he’s got something hidden in there. Something illegal. Remember that creepy guy that went inside with him? But that would be breaking and entering, and we could go to jail. We shouldn’t do it.”

“I don’t think they put kids in jail,” I said, but I wasn’t sure. “Anyway, do you want Miss Julie to have a heart attack and Jake to get Dotty back and be mean to her again?”

“Well, no...”

“Then we have to do it. It’s the only way. We’ll get in and out fast, and no one will know,” I said, and I was sure I was right about this. I hoped I was, anyway.