Read Online Issie and the Christmas Pony by Stacy Gregg - Free Book Online

up, he shook his head. “Don’t get your hopes up,” he told her. “It’ll probably be coming home empty. I wouldn’t count on finding a horse at this auction. It will probably be full of the problem animals that their owners can’t get rid of any other way.” Issie knew that. And she was trying not to get her hopes up. But the harder she tried the worse it got.
    Bert had been gone for a week now and Issie really missed him. Being suddenly alone again without a pony was awful. How bad would she feel if she didn’t have a pony for the whole of the holidays? This was her last chance to find one before Christmas, and ifshe didn’t, her chances of making it to pony camp were pretty much non-existent.
    As the Range Rover cruised out of town and headed through the rolling farmland of Chevalier Point, Issie was one big ball of nerves. While her mum and Avery chatted away in the front seat she sat in the back feeling positively sick, overwrought with excitement.
    As he turned down Lone Pine Road, Avery passed Mrs Brown the road map. “Can you look up the address for me?” he asked.
    â€œDon’t you know where it’s being held?” asked Mrs Brown.
    â€œUh-uh. This is the first auction they’ve held at MacKenzie’s Farm,” Avery said. “I’ve never been here before.”
    Mrs Brown took the map from him and checked the address. “According to this, the farm should be about another two kilometres down the road,” she said.
    Issie looked out of the window ahead of her and was struck with a sudden sense of déjà vu . There was something so familiar about this road, the way the winding snake of grey tarmac cut through the faded hills. Issie felt a strange sense of premonition as she stared out at the bare, pale branches of the slender trees.
    Ohmygod! she thought to herself. I know this place!
    â€œPull over up there!” she told Avery. “Ahead of us, where that red barn is, there’s a gate that will lead you through to the farm.”
    â€œHow do you know that?” asked Avery.
    â€œBecause,” Issie said, “I’ve been here before.”
    She had been here. But when? How? Issie’s heart skipped a beat. The dream that she’d had-the grey pony! She remembered every detail of it so vividly. When she had woken up afterwards it had been so clear in her mind, as if it had really happened. Now here they were-this was the same place she had dreamt about! Everything was as she remembered it: the road, the ghostly trees, the red barn. The only difference was the sign that had been erected by the side of the road AUCTION TODAY and the fact that the metal gate was open this time.
    Avery drove straight through, nosing the Range Rover down the rutted dirt track towards the barn. “What do you mean you’ve been here before?” Mrs Brown said, turning around in her seat to look at Issie. “When did you come here?”
    â€œUmmm…school trip…last year…you know?” Issie said. Her mother arched a quizzical eyebrow atthis, but she didn’t ask any more questions. Issie hadn’t meant to fib to her, but she hadn’t known what else to say. “I saw it in my dream” would have sounded a little too kooky. Her mum might freak if Issie told her this was the place that gave her a nightmare the other night.
    As they pulled the Range Rover up in the marked parking area next to the barn, Issie stared out of the window at the spot where she had seen the grey horse appear in her dream. She was expecting him to canter round the corner of the barn at any moment and stand before her just as he had done that night. But the grey pony wasn’t there and the farm, which had been so eerie in her dream, was no longer quiet and empty. There were horses everywhere, being unloaded from trailers and trucks, with people grooming and fussing over them. Issie’s eyes searched frantically through