The children sat on the corral fence. Cookie and Bucky stood next to them, looking grim. Jessie sniffed, her eyes puffy from crying.
“Let me get this straight,” the policeman said. “This morning you told me that two of your horses were stolen. But then they came back?”
“Yes. A neighbor brought them,” said Cookie. “It turns out they weren’t stolen. They’d wandered off through a hole in the fence where a tree branch had fallen.”
Henry didn’t say anything. But he wondered why Honey and Bunny weren’t all scratched up from the tree branch, the way he was. And how had that heavy locust branch been blown so far? “Now,” the policeman said, “another horse is missing.”
This time, Henry did speak up. “Dragon was stolen for sure,” he said. “Those were his shoe prints outside the fence.”
“And the fence was rigged so it could be secretly opened and closed,” said Jessie.
“And someone dumped oats!” added Benny, “to make horses come to the fence. Horses love oats!”
“We think the thief unhooked the wire, stole Dragon, and then put the wire back,” said Violet.
The policeman jotted a few notes. “Who saw Dragon last?”
“I put Dragon in his stall after breakfast,” said Bucky. “Jessie here wanted to ride him. But Kurt said his leg was still bad. I put Dragon in his stall so the vet could take a look. That was the last time I saw him.”
“Has anyone talked to the vet?”
No one had. “Slim drove by when I was fixing the fence,” said Henry. “He was on his way to buy medicine for the horses.”
The policeman lifted one eyebrow at Cookie. “There’s lots of people working here,” he said. “Ranch hands, volunteers, these kids. Seems to me someone would notice horse thievery going on.”
“It was lunchtime,” said Cookie. “Everyone was in the dining room.”
The policeman pushed back his hat. “How would a thief know you’d all be eating?”
“I clang that lunch bell so loud you can hear it halfway to China,” said Cookie. “Whoever stole Dragon knew they had a lot of time to do it.”
“So everyone was in the dining room,” the policeman said.
“I wasn’t,” said Bucky. “I was in the stable cleaning up Honey and Bunny.”
“And Alyssa came in late,” said Jessie.
“Kurt and I weren’t there, either,” said Henry. “We were fixing a broken fence.”
“All right,” the policeman flipped to a fresh page. “What does this horse look like?”
“He’s black with a big white patch on his back that looks like a dragon,” said Jessie. “Wait! I have a photo!” She jumped down from the fence. I’ll print it out for you.”
She ran to the office to get her camera. It wasn’t on the shelf over the computer. But she was sure she left it there. Jessie looked under papers on the desk, then under the desk. She searched the cluttered shelves filled with horse trophies and horse magazines and books. Gone! Her camera was gone.
Her mind raced. The computer! She’d copied the photos on Cookie’s computer. Jessie raced over and turned it on. “Please be here,” she said, “please, please, please.”
The dark screen turned blue and Jessie crossed her fingers as the files appeared. Finally, “Jessie’s File,” came up. She clicked on it and the screen filled with small photos of each horse. There was Lots-o’-Dots and Lightning; Daisy and Jumpin’ Jack. She looked and looked, but Dragon was not there. Then she remembered—Bucky had taken Dragon to the stable before Jessie began taking pictures.
Violet and Benny came in. “Did you find Dragon’s picture?”
“I never took it,” said Jessie. “And my camera is missing.”
Violet gasped. “Are you sure?”
Jessie nodded. “Luckily, I made a copy of our photos on Cookie’s computer.” She began typing. “I’ll hide the photos where a thief won’t find them.” She made a file called Maple Syrup Recipes and moved all the horse photos inside. “No one will look for horses inside a Maple Syrup Recipe file.” She turned off the computer. “Let’s go break the bad news.”
“I’ll meet you at the corral,” said Violet, heading for the bunkhouse. “I need to get something.” She ran off before they could ask what it was.
At the corral, Jessie told everyone about the stolen camera.
“Tarnation!” thundered Cookie. “You’re saying a thief was in my house?” She stood nose-to-nose with the policeman. “You need to find that camera-stealing, horse-stealing, good-for-nothing, no-account—” Her face grew red.
“Easy there,” said Bucky, patting her shoulder. But that just made Cookie’s face turn redder.
“Who saw you taking pictures of the horses?” the policeman asked.
“Everyone who passed the corral,” said Jessie. “Wranglers, volunteers. And there was a man in the west pasture. A volunteer in a striped shirt. He said it was too dangerous for us to be out there.”
“That’s one of Slim’s helpers,” said Bucky. “The vet trains them to care for the sickest of the rescue horses. We don’t even see those horses until Slim says they’re well enough to come here to the corral. Slim’s helpers live at the old bunkhouse in the west pasture. They never come up here to the house, so they couldn’t steal your camera.”
Violet ran up. “Here,” she said, holding up a sketch of a horse.
“Dragon!” cried Jessie. “Oh, Violet, it looks just like him.”
“I was—” Violet gasped for breath, “I was drawing it—for your birthday—surprise.”
“It is a wonderful surprise,” said Jessie, hugging her sister. She showed the drawing to the policeman. “This is our missing horse. This is Dragon. Please help us find him.”
The policeman took the drawing and promised to see what he could do. The small group watched the police car pull away. “I know you’re upset,” said Cookie. “I am, too. But right now, you need to go tend to your horses.”
“But … but what about Dragon?” asked Jessie.
“When you live on a ranch,” said Cookie, “even if the sky is falling, the animals need to be watered and fed and groomed. That doesn’t stop for anything. Not ever. You all rode your horses hard. They’re tired. Bucky will teach you how to groom them. When you finish, I’ll drive you around to the neighbors. Maybe someone has seen Dragon.”
In the corral, the children took off their cowboy boots. They put on yellow rubber boots to keep their feet dry. Then they washed and groomed their horses. Jessie brushed Jumpin’ Jack. How she wished he were Dragon! Next to her, Henry combed a tangle of small leaves from Lightning’s tail. “It will be all right,” he told his sister. “We’ll find Dragon.”
Nearby, Violet braided Daisy’s mane with ribbons. “You look beautiful,” she said, running her hand down Daisy’s shiny coat.
“Lots-o’-Dots looks great, too,” said Benny. The little horse’s coat gleamed from brushing.
Bucky walked around them, inspecting each child’s work. “You’re doing a great job,” he said. “Now, here’s how to clean your horse’s hooves.” Gently, Bucky ran one hand down Lightning’s leg and lifted the foot. “You know how it hurts to have a sliver in your foot?” he asked. The children nodded. “Well, horses get things stuck in their hooves. You need to pick them out.” He showed them how. “When you finish, turn your horses out to pasture. They could use a little rest before your evening ride. I’ve got some work that needs doing.” He climbed on his horse, and rode off.
Carefully, the children picked dirt and stones and twigs from their horses’ hooves. “Wow!” said Benny, holding up something small and shiny. “This was stuck in Lots-o’-Dots’s hoof.”
Violet took it and held it up to the light. “It’s a glass bead,” she said. “Like the ones I string into necklaces.”
Benny cleaned a second hoof. “Here’s another one. And another!” By the time Benny finished, he found six beads. “Where did you get these?” he asked his horse. But Lots-o’-Dots wasn’t telling.
When the children finished, they ran to the house to get Cookie. “I’m in here,” she called from the office.
“We’re ready to go look for Dragon,” they said.
“I need a little more time.” Cookie worked at the computer. A tall stack of blank yellow paper sat on her desk. “I phoned the policeman who was here and had him fax this to me.” She held up a copy of Violet’s sketch of Dragon. “I’m making up flyers we can pass out to people. But it will take me about an hour.”
“An hour!” cried Benny, who hated to wait. For anything.
Cookie gave him a hug. “I hate waiting, too,” she said. “When I was your age, my best friend Trevor and I went to town every Sunday for ice cream. The days from Sunday to Sunday seemed to take forever.”
She started typing. STOLEN HORSE, she wrote, then she paused. “This hour will go faster if you keep busy,” she told the children. “Violet, maybe you can work on your drawing for the barn mural. And Benny, there’s an old bike behind the barn. You can ride around the ranch to see of any of the horses need more water. Jessie and Henry, you can muck out a few of the stable stalls.”
“Muck?” said Jessie.
“It means cleaning the stalls, clearing old bedding from the floors, scrubbing the walls, putting in fresh sand and hay. I’ll ring the cowbell when the flyers are ready.”
The children immediately set about their tasks. Violet took out her sketch of the horses grazing under the three big maple trees. She would add helicopter seeds to her drawing, as a surprise for Benny. And she would put in a honey locust with long brown pods.
Violet frowned. She couldn’t remember seeing a locust tree at all. That was odd—there had to be one. How else could a locust branch fall on the fence? Henry said a strong wind blew it down. But a strong wind would have broken branches off many different trees, and she hadn’t seen any. She would look again more closely the next time they rode out that way.
In the stable, Jessie and Henry got to work cleaning. Jessie loaded a broom and pitchfork into a wheelbarrow and walked to Dragon’s empty stall. “Where are you?” she whispered, her heart heavy. She forked the old straw bedding into the wheelbarrow, then swept the floor clean. Then she turned on the hose and scrubbed the walls. In a dark corner, someone had carved a small heart into the wood with the initials TA + LM. She showed it to Henry.
“I saw a heart just like that cut into a maple tree,” he said. “Maybe Cookie will know who TA and LM are.”
The two children carried in a bale of fresh straw and spread it on the floor. “We’ll find you,” Jessie whispered as they left Dragon’s stall. “I promise.”
Benny pedaled the rickety bike around the ranch. He rode to every X on the map, adding water to buckets that needed it, stopping to say hello to the goldfish. His last stop was the brown pony’s shed.
“Hey, Brownie,” called Benny. But, this time, the little pony didn’t peek out. Benny turned on the hose and pointed the water at the sky. “It’s raining, it’s pouring,” he sang. Still, no brown pony. Benny climbed through the fence. Near the shed, he smelled something familiar, like when Grandfather polished his shoes.
“Brownie?” he said, walking inside. But the pony wasn’t inside. An empty bottle of brown shoe polish lay in the straw on the ground. Were you supposed to polish a horse’s shoes? He didn’t think so. And where was the little pony? Did someone steal him, too?
Benny jumped on the bike, pedaling hard toward the ranch. As he reached the top of a hill, he saw Slim the vet walking a big White horse. “Have you seen Brownie?” asked Benny.
The vet furrowed his brow. “Brownie?” he asked.
“The little brown pony in the shed,” said Benny. “I call him Brownie.”
“Oh, oh, yes, Brownie. He’s, um, he’s been adopted. The family picked him up just awhile ago,” said Slim.
Benny remembered the trailer carrying a brown pony and big black horse. He thought it belonged to the neighbor who brought Honey and Bunny home. But it must have been Brownie’s new family. “I’m glad he wasn’t stolen like Dragon,” Benny said.
The smile vanished from Slim’s face. “What?”
“Someone stole Dragon,” Benny said.
The vet cleared his throat. “Why, that’s terrible.” His Adam’s apple jumped up and down. “Who would do such a terrible thing?”
“We told the police and we’re going to pass out flyers,” Benny told him.
“Really?” Slim took out a handkerchief and wiped sweat off his face. “So everyone will be looking for Dragon. Why, that’s wonderful.” A loud horn blasted as an eighteen-wheel truck barreled along the road near the ranch.
At first, Benny thought it was a moving van. Then he saw big holes all along the sides. “What kind of truck is that?” he asked.
“Truck?” said Slim, “Hmmm. Looks like a cattle truck. Moves cows from one place to another. Those holes let air in so they can breathe. Yup. Cattle truck. Well, I’d better get Lucy here back to the old corral.” He started walking away.
“Why don’t you ride your horse?” Benny asked.
The vet’s eyebrows shot up. “Ride? Why, yes. Love to ride. I was born in the saddle. Heh-heh.” He put one foot in the stirrup and tried to climb on the horse but it kept walking around and around in circles. Slim hopped, one foot up in the stirrup and the other foot on the ground. “Easy, girl. Oh-oh. Easy, now.” Around and around he hopped. Finally, Slim hauled himself up into the saddle.
“See you later,” he said. And gripping the saddle horn tightly with both hands—the way Alyssa had told Benny not to—Slim bumped along toward the west pasture.
The cowbell rang. Benny jumped on his bike and peddled to the stable. He and Jessie and Henry quickly changed out of their work boots into their cowboy boots. Jessie set their yellow boots on the rack. “Our boots have stains, just like Benny’s,” she said. “Except his are brown and ours are black.”
Where did the stains come from? They looked down the long narrow stable. Stalls lined both sides. The ground was wet in front of the stalls Jessie and Henry had washed down. A dark stain ran out of Dragon’s stall. Henry bent down and touched it. “It smells like shoe polish.”
“I saw shoe polish in Brownie’s shed,” said Benny.
“Maybe cowboys use it to shine the saddles,” Jessie said. “Or their boots.”
The bell rang again. The children hurried to Cookie’s car. It was time to search for Dragon.
Cookie and the children drove from ranch to ranch, farm to farm, house to house, handing out flyers. In town, they put flyers in all the store windows. Cookie treated them to a quick dinner at Big Herm’s Hot Dog Palace, and then they went back to work.
They tacked flyers on the bulletin boards at the library, the community center, and the sheriff’s office. They slipped them under the windshield wipers of cars parked at the grocery store and shopping center.
It was late when they finally pulled into the Dare to Dream Ranch.
“Do you think our flyers will help find Dragon?” Jessie asked.
“I hope so,” said Henry.
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