Since the crepe paper was going to be blue, the sugar lumps could also be blue. What a great idea, she thought, jotting that down on her list of “To Do’s” right next to slicing apples. They’d have a very busy night,indeed, and then, tomorrow, they’d have a wonderful party.
“Okay, here we are,” Carole announced.
It didn’t take very long then. Stevie had the two of them ride under the grape arbor, side by side. It was just a little bit low for them, but as long as they ducked, ever so slightly, there was no problem. They fit.
“It’s going to look
lovely
,” Stevie said.
“She’s gushing again,” Lisa remarked.
“Just like a mother of the bride,” Carole said.
Stevie knew it was true. The fact was that she did feel like the mother of the bride. She was taking a very personal attitude toward this party. She’d done some work on the other chores her friends had completed this week, but most of her attention, and all of her heart, was invested in the success of this, her ultimate April Fools’ joke. She didn’t want to admit it to her friends, but one of the reasons this was true was that she had decided not to play any other April Fools’ jokes on anybody this year. Not even her brothers. That had been a very difficult decision for Stevie, who considered her brothers to be perfect targets of April Fools’ jokes. The fact was that she
wanted
to play jokes on them all year round, but the only time she stood a chance of getting away with it was onApril Fools’ Day. That meant that this “wedding” was a big sacrifice for her. She wanted it to count. She was sure it would.
Stevie looked at her watch. It was almost eight o’clock, and that meant it was time for them to un-tack the horses and hurry to school. Fortunately, their schools were all within easy walking distance of Pine Hollow, so they’d probably be on time. There were four other things Stevie had wanted to get done, but they were out of the question. At her school, tardiness meant detention, and this was no day for detention. There was too much to do.
“Hurry up!” she chided Carole and Lisa, who gave her very dirty looks.
T HAT AFTERNOON AT Pine Hollow, there was no question of wedding rehearsals. There were too many people around, and one of them, Max Regnery, would immediately know something was up. The girls worked instead on trying to complete as many of the jobs he’d given them as they could.
Lisa was given the job of sorting out the various extra stirrups that had been collecting in a corner of the tack room. She was supposed to make them into pairs, whenever possible, and fasten the pairs together with a twister. She found the task was very similar tosorting socks out of a load of wash. She enjoyed it every bit as much.
“Is this close enough?” she asked, holding up a slight mismatch.
“No,” Stevie and Carole said in a single voice. Lisa looked again.
Carole’s job was to sort out the medicine cabinet. It seemed that Max had collected hundreds of bottles of many different kinds of medicines for his horses. Carole knew that veterinary medicine was very different from human medicine in many ways. One of the ways was that medicines could be administered by owners and the prescriptions weren’t handled the way human prescriptions were. Max had a large collection, so that if Pine Hollow’s vet, Judy Barker, prescribed a common medicine, chances were that Max had it on hand—if he could find it. He’d allowed his medicine chest to get into a frightful state. The biggest problem, Carole found, was that a lot of the medicines had passed their expiration dates and had probably lost strength. There would be no way of telling what proper doses would be. Carole began throwing out all the out-of-date medicines. It took her a while to figure out how to organize the ones that remained. Finally she decided on alphabetical order. It was, at least, order.
Stevie’s job was to dust all of the saddles in the tackroom. That
“Okay, here we are,” Carole announced.
It didn’t take very long then. Stevie had the two of them ride under the grape arbor, side by side. It was just a little bit low for them, but as long as they ducked, ever so slightly, there was no problem. They fit.
“It’s going to look
lovely
,” Stevie said.
“She’s gushing again,” Lisa remarked.
“Just like a mother of the bride,” Carole said.
Stevie knew it was true. The fact was that she did feel like the mother of the bride. She was taking a very personal attitude toward this party. She’d done some work on the other chores her friends had completed this week, but most of her attention, and all of her heart, was invested in the success of this, her ultimate April Fools’ joke. She didn’t want to admit it to her friends, but one of the reasons this was true was that she had decided not to play any other April Fools’ jokes on anybody this year. Not even her brothers. That had been a very difficult decision for Stevie, who considered her brothers to be perfect targets of April Fools’ jokes. The fact was that she
wanted
to play jokes on them all year round, but the only time she stood a chance of getting away with it was onApril Fools’ Day. That meant that this “wedding” was a big sacrifice for her. She wanted it to count. She was sure it would.
Stevie looked at her watch. It was almost eight o’clock, and that meant it was time for them to un-tack the horses and hurry to school. Fortunately, their schools were all within easy walking distance of Pine Hollow, so they’d probably be on time. There were four other things Stevie had wanted to get done, but they were out of the question. At her school, tardiness meant detention, and this was no day for detention. There was too much to do.
“Hurry up!” she chided Carole and Lisa, who gave her very dirty looks.
T HAT AFTERNOON AT Pine Hollow, there was no question of wedding rehearsals. There were too many people around, and one of them, Max Regnery, would immediately know something was up. The girls worked instead on trying to complete as many of the jobs he’d given them as they could.
Lisa was given the job of sorting out the various extra stirrups that had been collecting in a corner of the tack room. She was supposed to make them into pairs, whenever possible, and fasten the pairs together with a twister. She found the task was very similar tosorting socks out of a load of wash. She enjoyed it every bit as much.
“Is this close enough?” she asked, holding up a slight mismatch.
“No,” Stevie and Carole said in a single voice. Lisa looked again.
Carole’s job was to sort out the medicine cabinet. It seemed that Max had collected hundreds of bottles of many different kinds of medicines for his horses. Carole knew that veterinary medicine was very different from human medicine in many ways. One of the ways was that medicines could be administered by owners and the prescriptions weren’t handled the way human prescriptions were. Max had a large collection, so that if Pine Hollow’s vet, Judy Barker, prescribed a common medicine, chances were that Max had it on hand—if he could find it. He’d allowed his medicine chest to get into a frightful state. The biggest problem, Carole found, was that a lot of the medicines had passed their expiration dates and had probably lost strength. There would be no way of telling what proper doses would be. Carole began throwing out all the out-of-date medicines. It took her a while to figure out how to organize the ones that remained. Finally she decided on alphabetical order. It was, at least, order.
Stevie’s job was to dust all of the saddles in the tackroom. That
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