Flame the Desert Pony Read online

  Mina nodded. “That’s what I think, too.” Then her face clouded over and she frowned. “But it’s odd. Hanna’s been grumpy lately,” she said. “I know she’s shy, but she’s not usually this quiet. I can’t figure out what’s wrong.”

  Chloe didn’t know what to say. Hanna hadn’t been very friendly toward her, but she was still Mina’s best friend!

  Mina turned one more corner, and then pointed to a house at the end of the street. “That’s where I live,” she said. “And there’s the stable next to it.”

  The house was so pretty! Its mud-brick walls were whitewashed, and a beautiful dome formed part of the roof. They entered a courtyard through an archway with patterns cut around the edge of the mud brick. Bright pink flowers were growing around the arch.

  Mina put the water jar down next to a doorway.

  “I’m home!” she called into the house, before leading the way across the courtyard to the stable. “I expect Flame’s tired,” Mina said. “She can rest in the stall next to Flicker for a while.”

  “That sounds like a good idea!” Flame whispered in Chloe’s ear. “Mina could be the person we’re supposed to help. The stable might give us some clues.”

  Chloe stroked her soft nose and straightened her creamy gold forelock. “Maybe there’ll be some nice hay, too,” she whispered back.

  Mina opened the stable door and was greeted with a friendly whinny. “Hello, Flicker!” she said to a pretty chestnut pony. “Say hello to Flame!”

  Chloe led Flame into the stall and slipped her bridle off. The ponies looked at each other with their ears pricked, then touched noses and blew softly at each other.

  “They’re going to get on perfectly!” Mina laughed. “Come on, let’s go to the tack room. I’m dying to show you my saddlecloth!”

  She skipped through another doorway, with Chloe close behind her. But the moment she stepped inside the tack room, Mina let out a wail.

  “Oh no!” she cried. “It’s ruined!”

  Chapter 4

  “What’s happened?” Chloe asked. She peered over Mina’s shoulder. A square of blue silk was lying crumpled on the floor.

  Mina stepped forward and picked it up.

  “Look!” she sobbed. “Someone’s completely wrecked it!”

  Chloe stared at the saddlecloth in dismay. The blue cloth was covered in mud and dust, and there were rips and tears all over the fabric. Worst of all, the beautiful silver and gold embroidery was all picked loose.

  “How awful,” Chloe said. “Who would do something so horrible?”

  “I don’t know.” Mina hiccupped. “But there’s no way I’ll be able to join the pageant now.”

  Chloe put an arm around her. Surely there was something she could do to help.

  “Could you help her make another one, Chloe?” called Flame, who was watching through the door.

  Chloe stared at the ruined saddlecloth. It might just be possible. “Mina, when’s the pageant?” she asked.

  “Tomorrow afternoon.” Mina sniffed. “It’s too late to do anything now.”

  Chloe shook her head. “No, it isn’t,” she said. “I can sew, too. If we both work really hard, we could make a new one. Where did you buy the cloth and the thread?”

  “The market,” Mina said, sounding more hopeful. “It’ll be closing soon, though…”

  “But it’s still open now, isn’t it?” said Chloe.

  Mina nodded.

  “Then wait here,” Chloe ordered. She ran back into the stable and took Flame’s bridle off its hook. Hurriedly, she slipped it over the pony’s ears. “I think I’ve found the problem!” she whispered. “I need to help Mina make a new saddlecloth. Can you remember the way back to the market?”

  “Of course I can!” said Flame, tossing her head. “Let’s go!”

  Chloe scrambled up onto her back, and Flame trotted out of the courtyard.

  “We won’t be long!” Chloe called over her shoulder to Mina.

  Flame set off along the winding streets. Chloe clung on to the saddle—with all the twisting and turning, she was worried she’d fall off!

  “Just sit up nice and straight,” said Flame. “Don’t lean forward too much. Then you won’t need to hold on so tight.”

  Chloe tried to do as Flame said, but it was difficult to think about riding and where they were going. She was glad Flame had such a good sense of direction, because she soon felt completely lost.

  “Look—there’s a tea glass on the ground. That’s where those men were drinking tea,” Flame puffed, and turned right.

  Chloe caught a glimpse of the glass as they cantered past.

  “And there’s one of the goats we passed before,” said the palomino, pointing her nose to where a black-and-white goat was tethered. “We’re almost there!”

  “Well done, Flame!” Chloe gasped as they clattered into the market square. “You’re amazing. Now all we have to do is find the fabric stall.”

  Some of the stall owners were packing up. “Oh please let the fabric stall still be here!” Chloe pleaded out loud.

  “Are you looking for me?” called a cheerful voice. Chloe twisted around in the saddle—and there was a stall overflowing with beautiful fabrics! There were rolls of cloth in all colors of the rainbow—bright reds and yellows, brilliant greens and deep, luscious purples.

  Chloe slid down from the saddle. “I’m so glad I’ve found you!” she exclaimed. “My friend Mina bought her fabric and threads from you to make her saddlecloth. But now it’s been ruined and we have to make another one in double-quick time. The only trouble is, I’m not even sure which fabric she bought…” she finished, looking hopefully at the stall owner.

  The man smiled. He had lovely sparkling eyes. He looked just like Mr. Barker from the Magic Pony Carousel!

  “Oh yes, I know Mina,” he said. “And I remember what she bought, too.” He started lifting several rolls of fabric out of the way. “Now, where is it?” he muttered. “Ah! I think it was this one.” He pulled out a roll of silky blue fabric.

  “That’s right!” Chloe said.

  “She used this to make it soft for Flicker’s back,” he went on, pulling out a roll of thick gray-blue felt, “and this thread.” He pulled a box from underneath the stall and picked out a spool of silver thread. Then he scratched his head. “Now, where’s that gold thread?”

  Chloe watched as he hunted for the gold thread. At last, the stall owner shook his head and held up an empty spool. “I’m sorry. I’ve sold it all, I’m afraid,” he said.

  “Oh dear,” said Chloe. The saddlecloth wouldn’t be the same without the gold!

  “I have plenty of green and blue thread,” the stall owner offered.

  Chloe shook her head. Those colors wouldn’t show up very well on the blue fabric. “Never mind,” she said. “The blue cloth and silver thread will have to do.”

  She watched as he wrapped them in paper, while trying not to feel too disappointed about the gold thread.

  “The silver will look lovely on its own,” whispered Flame reassuringly.

  Suddenly Chloe’s heart skipped a beat. How could she have been so silly? She didn’t have any money! She’d left Mina in such a hurry that she’d forgotten to ask for some. Now what was she going to do?

  The stall owner handed her the parcel. “I—I’m sorry,” Chloe stammered. “I’ve made a horrible mistake…. You see I don’t have any…”

  The man smiled, looking more like Mr. Barker than ever. “Now, don’t you worry,” he said. “I know Mina’s family very well. They can pay me tomorrow.”

  Chloe breathed a big sigh of relief. “Thank you!” she cried. She took the parcel and turned to climb back into the saddle.

  “Wait a minute,” said the man. “Before you go, there’s one more thing….” He held up a little bag. “I’m sure you can think of something to do with these.”

  Chloe peeped into the bag. It was full of silk ribbons, all in different colors. “They’re perfect!” she cried. “I’ll be able
to weave them into Flame and Flicker’s manes, just like I do at the riding school!”

  “I thought you’d find them useful,” said the stall owner with a wink.

  Chloe climbed back into the saddle and waved good-bye.

  Flame set off at a canter, and Chloe held the reins in one hand, clasping her parcels tight with the other.

  “Good luck!” the man called after her.

  Chapter 5

  “You’re sitting much better now!” said Flame, as they clattered along the little streets.

  “Do you think so?” Chloe was delighted.

  “Yes. Just try to keep your lower legs still,” Flame told her.

  Chloe nodded and concentrated on her riding. Flame was the best riding instructor she’d ever had! But then, as they drew closer to Mina’s house, she began to feel worried. “What if Mina’s really upset about the gold thread?” she wondered. “She might not want to make a saddlecloth without it.”

  “Well, we’ve done our best,” said Flame. “The silver will look nice.”

  “But she was so proud of all that gold stitching,” Chloe said sadly.

  Flame slowed to a trot as they turned the corner into Mina’s street. Suddenly she stopped dead.

  “What is it?” Chloe asked in alarm.

  “I have an idea!” Flame whinnied. “You could use some strands of my tail instead of gold thread. They look very shiny in the sun.”

  “That’s a brilliant idea!” Chloe leaned down and hugged the pony’s neck. “You’re so clever, Flame. Come on, let’s tell Mina!”

  They found Mina sitting in the courtyard with the saddlecloth in her lap, picking at the ruined stitches. She looked up as Flame and Chloe rode in.

  “Did you get everything?” she asked.

  Chloe slid down to the ground and showed Mina the bag of fabrics and thread. “Nearly everything,” she said. “There wasn’t any gold thread left.”

  Mina’s face fell. “No gold thread!”

  “But I’ve got an idea,” Chloe went on. She knew she had to pretend it was her own idea—Mina would never believe she had a talking pony! “We could use some hairs from Flame’s tail instead.”

  Mina looked at Flame’s flowing golden tail and smiled. She stood up and planted a kiss on Flame’s soft muzzle. “Let’s get started at once. My mom’s given us a picnic dinner so that we can stay in the stable to make the new saddlecloth. Look!” She picked up a basket made of different colored reeds.

  It reminded Chloe of the bag she had. “And look what the stall owner gave me, too!” She pulled out a handful of slippery ribbons to show Mina. “I can weave them into our ponies’ manes.”

  “Perfect,” said Mina. “Everything’s going to be all right, isn’t it?”

  “Of course it is!” Chloe agreed.

  The two girls took everything into the stable, then settled Flame next to Flicker. Mina shooed her fluffy black cat out of the hay store so they could each make a soft pile to sit on. The cat watched them, licking its paws, as they snuggled into the hay and started work. It was such a cozy place to be that it didn’t feel like work at all! First, they embroidered the silk. Then they stitched the silk onto the felt underside, and Mina explained how she’d made pretty patterns with the thread.

  “Let’s do the silver part first,” she said. “We can weave the golden parts in afterward, with strands of Flame’s tail.”

  “All right,” Chloe said. “I’ll start at the opposite end so we meet in the middle.” Chloe’s grandma had taught Chloe how to embroider last summer.

  The girls worked in silence, concentrating hard. After a while, Mina looked up. “Are you hungry yet?” she asked.

  Just then, Chloe’s tummy rumbled, and they both laughed.

  “I think that’s a yes!” said Mina. “Here, have some bread. My mom makes it herself. And here’s hummus to dip it in, and baba ghanoush—that’s made with eggplant—and there’s some cold lamb, too.”

  The two girls quickly finished their meal and filled the rack in the stable with fresh hay so their ponies could have supper, too. Then they went back to the sewing. Soon it began to get dark, and Mina fetched oil lamps. They made the stable look really pretty, casting a gentle orangey-yellow glow on the walls. Chloe looked at Flame, who had finished her hay and was dozing with her weight on three legs and one hoof tipped. Her golden coat looked beautiful in the soft lamplight.

  The saddlecloth was beginning to take shape, though there was a lot of stitching to do. Once the silver thread was used up, Mina handed Chloe her sewing scissors, and she went over to Flame to cut some of her golden tail hairs.

  Chloe ran back to Mina and showed her the hairs from Flame’s tail. They shone in the lamplight, exactly like gold.

  “They’re beautiful,” Mina said. She threaded one through her needle. “I think I’ll do a bird first,” she said.

  Chloe threaded her own needle and joined in.

  At last, Mina sewed the final stitch—the top of a golden palm tree—and held up the cloth.

  “Wow!” Chloe whispered. “I can’t believe I’ve helped to make something so beautiful!”

  Mina gave her a hug. “Well, you did,” she said happily. She placed the saddlecloth safely to one side and sank back onto the hay.

  Chloe yawned, stretching her arms above her head.

  “I suppose we should go back into the house,” Mina said sleepily, “but it’s so comfortable here….”

  “I think I’m too tired to move,” Chloe muttered. She felt her eyes closing…closing…She wriggled deeper into the soft warm hay and fell fast asleep.

  She woke up with a jolt. The lamps were still burning, and it was very dark outside. Mina was asleep beside her, curled up on the hay. Chloe sat up. Something had woken her up. She listened carefully, her heart beating faster. Yes—there it was again! A soft noise just outside the stable.

  “Flame!” she whispered, and the palomino twitched her ear to show she was awake. “Did you hear that? It sounded like footsteps.”

  Flame snorted. “I think I heard something,” she said. She pricked her ears, listening. “It’s stopped now. Don’t worry, I’ll keep one ear open. You can go back to sleep.”

  Chloe lay back on the hay. She wondered what she could have heard. Perhaps it was Mina’s mom or dad, checking that they were okay. Or perhaps it had been nothing at all. She rested her head on her arm and soon fell back to sleep.

  “Wake up, wake up!” called Mina’s voice. “It’s time for breakfast!”

  Mina was shaking Chloe by the shoulder. She opened her eyes. Daylight was streaming into the stable and Flame and Flicker were munching a fresh batch of hay.

  “It’s pageant day!” Mina sang. “Come on. I bet my mom has cooked a delicious breakfast for us. She always does on pageant day!”

  Chloe rubbed her eyes. “That sounds great,” she said, scrambling to her feet. “How does the saddlecloth look in daylight?”

  Mina’s eyes lit up. “It’s gorgeous,” she declared, holding it up.

  She was right. Sunbeams danced over the silver thread and the golden strands of Flame’s tail, making them glint and sparkle.

  Mina put the saddlecloth down and tried to open the stable door. But it didn’t move. “That’s funny,” she said. “It never usually sticks!” She gave it another push. It still wouldn’t move!

  “Let me try,” said Chloe. She leaned against the door and pushed with all her strength. The door didn’t budge one tiny bit.

  “It must be locked,” Mina said in dismay. “Someone’s locked it from the outside!”

  “That must have been what we heard in the night, Chloe,” said Flame, who was standing behind them. “You thought it was footsteps, didn’t you?”

  Chloe frowned. It was hard to believe that someone would lock them in. “Could it have happened by accident?” she asked Mina.

  Mina shook her head. “You have to push the bolt across. What’s going on, Chloe? First my saddlecloth was ruined, and now this!”

  �
�I’m sure there must be an explanation,” said Chloe. She wondered if she should tell Mina about the footsteps, but Mina seemed worried enough already. She ran her hand over her hair, trying to think of something that might help. Her hand brushed against her butterfly barrette.

  “Could you use your barrette to unbolt the door?” Flame asked, watching her.

  Chloe caught her eye and nodded. It was worth a try. She pulled the barrette out of her hair. “I could try sliding the bolt open with this,” she said to Mina.

  Mina frowned. “How?” she said. “The bolt’s on the outside.”

  Chloe inspected the door. “Look, there’s a little gap between the door and the frame. I can just see the knob of the bolt. I should be able to slide the barrette through it and push against the knob. It will slide the bolt back.”

  She opened the barrette and pushed the silver part through the gap. Then she wiggled it around until she could feel the side of the knob.

  Mina peered anxiously over Chloe’s shoulder. “Is the bolt moving?”

  Chloe wiggled the barrette some more. “Yes! I just felt it slide back a little bit!”

  “Keep going!” Mina said.

  With a final twist of the barrette, the bolt slid back and the door swung open. “Hurray!” Chloe shouted. “We did it!”

  “You did it,” Mina corrected her, giving her a hug. “I don’t know what I would have done without you!” Then her face grew serious. “But we still don’t know why these horrible things have happened.” She shook her head. “Why would someone want to stop me from taking part in the pageant?”

  Chapter 6

  “Whoever is doing these things, we’ll find him,” Chloe promised. “Maybe we should go for a ride after breakfast to look for suspects.”

  Mina nodded. “Good idea,” she said. “Come on. Let’s have breakfast, then go and find Hanna. She loves detective stories. She’ll help us to track the culprit down!”

  “I love detective stories, too!” Chloe exclaimed. It was nice to find out that she and Hanna had something in common. It might make it easier to get to know her.