Diary Entry

Dear Diary,

Lucky and Abigail said they wanted to surprise me with the show, and boy was I surprised! It was amazing. I was so proud of my friends, now I just want them to be proud of me as well.

We spent hours with Lydia. Once I got to know her better, she wasn’t intimidating anymore. And there were some big surprises—like, she loves s’mores almost as much as Abigail does. They had a little contest to see who could eat more toasted marshmallows. I love a challenge but was glad I skipped that one!

After the eats, we decided to go to the corral and check on the horses. Lydia doesn’t ride, but she loves horses, so she tagged along.

Lucky started calling the reporter “Stomach of Steel” Sebastian because she was totally feeling fine after eating more than thirty marshmallows, while Abigail, who’d managed only one more, was moaning, holding her belly, and insisting she needed to lie down. We got to the corral and Abigail made herself a bed of hay.

She was babbling. “Don’t worry about me. I’ll just lie here stuffed like a pillow. Lucky can have Boomerang if I explode. I can’t move…. I’m never eating another marshmallow again!” Which we all knew wasn’t true. “Just leave me here till morning.” She was going on and on, while we went to put nighttime blankets on the horses.

Lydia took care of Boomerang for Abigail.

While we made sure the horses had enough hay and water, Lydia became super chatty, like Abigail. I hadn’t realized how similar those two were!

Lydia told us that she’d always wanted to be a writer. Whenever she had a pencil or pen, she’d write—on chalkboards, paper, napkins, even walls if there wasn’t anywhere else to put down her thoughts. When she got a chance to cover the circus, she jumped at the chance and, all these years later, still loved her job.

Abigail, who was listening to us talk, shouted from the hay bales. “I used to like writing, too, before I got so stuffed I couldn’t lift my hands.” She wiggled to show us how her hands were weighted down. “Miss Flores is going to be mad.”

I laughed.

Lydia said that the town she lived in was a lot like Miradero. Copper Springs has only one school, so older kids were in the same room with younger ones, and their version of Miss Flores was Mrs. Goldfarb.

Catalina and Lydia were in the school together—they were kind of like Turo and Snips, where Turo is the oldest kid at school and Snips the youngest.

A couple of years ago, just as Lydia was graduating, Catalina’s parents took her from school and left Copper Springs to be in the circus full-time. They’d kept in touch.

Part of me worried that there was no chance for me to be in the paper. The bond between Catalina and Lydia was strong. She told us that there was even a song they both loved and whenever they saw each other, they’d sing it and think of home.

I knew that song.

It goes like this:

The heartbeat of the stallion

Nickers in the breeze.

The wind gallops in four-beat stride

And the herd calls through the trees!

I’d have sung it, but I felt nervous around Lydia and didn’t want to be embarrassed.

Though she didn’t mean to worry me, Lydia’s stories put me on edge. I know that I can compete with Catalina in the ring, but I can’t compete with friendship. I glanced at Abigail, who was dramatically moaning and rolling around in the hay, and Lucky, who was giving Spirit an apple. I understood the bonds of friendship, and if I had to write an article about the PALs or someone else, I was pretty sure I’d pick the PALs.

I frowned.

Lydia noticed and assured me that she’d be an impartial judge of who gets into the paper. Knowing Catalina wouldn’t give her an edge.

But then… she added the one thing that stuck with me all night.

Lydia said that Catalina seems sad. Last year, when they met at the exhibition, Catalina was loving her life in the circus and couldn’t stop talking about it.

But this year, she’s quiet, withdrawn, and always alone.

Catalina told Lydia that a lot of her circus friends had left the caravan to go to boarding schools or simply gone back home. She was one of the only girls her age still on the circuit. Apparently Catalina also asked Lydia if she’d been back to Copper Springs. Lydia had and told Catalina about the haunted hotel, the abandoned mine, and the new playhouse that she’d never seen.

Catalina had so many questions about Copper Springs, it seemed odd. Especially given how much she used to love the circus. Lydia wondered what was wrong.

And that made me wonder, too.