I’m hoping most people will get more than twelve sponsors. I’m sure it will all balance out in the end.”
“Maybe,” Phil said, sounding a little dubious. “But do you think all the sponsors are going to want to shell out three bucks a fence?”
“Good point. For eighteen fences …” Lisa quickly did the math in her head. “That’s fifty-four dollars total. That’s a lot of money, especially when we have such a short time to convince people to sponsor us.”
“Never mind that,” Carole said. “I just thought of another problem. Barry wanted us to keep the camp’s sale a secret, remember? He’s never going to let us do this.”
But Stevie had already thought of that, too. “There’s only one person who’s going to have a secret kept from him, and that’s Barry,” she said. “Well, better make that Barry and the rest of the staff. We’ll just spread the news quietly among the kids. I’m sure everyone will want to help out when they hear. Once the show is over and the money is ours, we’ll break the good news to Barry. There’s no way he can be mad at us then, right?”
“Right,” Todd said. A smile spread across his face. “You know, Stevie, Phil keeps telling me what a dullard you are, but I think he’s wrong about that. You’re a genius!”
“I know,” Stevie replied modestly. She turned to Carole and Lisa with a grin. “Well? What do you think?”
“I guess it’s worth a try,” Lisa said. “It’s certainly the best plan we’ve come up with so far.”
It wasn’t exactly a rousing statement of support, but Stevie decided it would do. “Carole?”
Carole took a deep breath. “Let’s do it,” she said with a grin. “There’s just one more thing I think we need. I think we have to confide in at least one adult about this—you know, to help us with the financial stuff.”
Phil nodded. “I think that’s a good idea,” he said. “We’ll need someone to help us hammer out the details.”
Stevie thought she had hammered out most of the details pretty well already, but she decided the point wasn’t worth arguing about. “Okay, if you insist,” she said. “But who? It has to be someone we can trust.”
“How about Betty?” Todd suggested.
“No way,” Stevie said. “She and Barry are like this.” She crossed her fingers. “She’d definitely rat on us.”
Carole thought about the rest of the staff. “I’ve got it,” she said after a moment. “Mike!”
“You mean Mike the stable hand?” Lisa asked. Mike was a laid-back, cheerful young man who had been working at Moose Hill for several summers. He was a favorite with all the campers, including The Saddle Club.
Phil nodded. “He’s cool. I’m sure he’d help us out.”
“Well …” Stevie still didn’t like the idea of bringing an adult into their plan. But Mike was awfully great. Infact, most of the time he hardly seemed like an adult at all. “I guess that would be okay.”
The five friends hurried into the stable. They found Mike in the tack room cleaning a bridle. “Yo,” he greeted them with a smile.
The others glanced at Stevie, waiting for her to start. “Mike, we’ve got a favor to ask you…,” she began, then proceeded to tell him the whole story.
When she got to the part about the developers, Mike nodded. “Can’t say I’m totally surprised,” he admitted. “I’ve seen the suits hanging around, and, let’s face it, Barry’s mood has been a real roller coaster lately. I was starting to put two and two together.” He sighed. “It’s a real shame. This is a great place, and it’s been a lot of fun for me. I’ll hate to see it end.”
“That’s kind of what we wanted to talk to you about,” Stevie said. “We want to make sure it doesn’t end.” She told him about her plan, speaking so quickly that her words started to get jumbled together.
Mike seemed to understand every word anyway. By the end of Stevie’s speech, he was nodding. “Awesome plan,
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