Cross-Ties by Bonnie Bryant

Author:Bonnie Bryant
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781497654099
Publisher: Open Road Media Teen & Tween

TEN

Lisa stared out the window of the minivan, wondering if a jury would really convict her for strangling two screaming kids. Especially when they were screaming in German.

Squeezing her eyes shut, she prayed they would reach the showgrounds soon, before she went completely insane. “Dieter! Hanni!” Greta exclaimed, turning around from her seat beside Peter, who was driving. “Hush, darlings. We will be there soon.” She glanced at Lisa with a slight frown. “Can you not keep them entertained for just a few minutes, Lisa?”

“Apparently not,” Lisa muttered. She glared at her sister-in-law, but Greta had already turned around again and was chattering at Peter in German. Lisa blew out a frustrated sigh, feeling very alone. Her father and Evelyn had both declined to come to the horse show—her father had claimed he needed to go into the office for a few hours, and Evelyn had decided it would be too long and tiring a trip for Lily.

“Lisa! Lisa!” Hanni bounced up and down in her seat. “Lisa! Sing us a song.”

“Hey! What happened to your seat belt?” Lisa leaned over to strap the little girl in again.

Meanwhile, Dieter poked her in the back. “Sing us a song,” he demanded. “Sing!”

Lisa scowled. The last thing she felt like doing was singing. She was seriously wishing she’d never agreed to go to the horse show. Still, there wasn’t much she could do about that at the moment. Taking a deep breath, she launched into her best rendition of “Tomorrow,” which she knew well from acting in a local production of Annie years earlier.

Within seconds, Hanni and Dieter were giggling loudly. They started shrieking to each other in some strange amalgamation of English, German, and French, finally getting so loud that Lisa broke off in midnote.

“What!” she demanded. “Or should I ask that question in French?” She promptly did so, dredging up everything she’d learned in several years of studying the language in school and adding a few choice French words about the proper behavior of young children in an automobile.

“Mama! Mama!” Dieter shouted. “Lisa’s going crazy!”

Hanni giggled. “Oui, Mama!” she cried. “She’s speaking some strange language. We can’t understand her!”

Greta turned around again, smiling indulgently at her children. “Now, now, Liebling!” she exclaimed. “Do not make Lisa feel bad because her accent is not richtig, all right?”

Lisa frowned as the children giggled and shot her amused looks. She was starting to get the feeling that it was going to be a very long day.

“Forget it, baby.” Stevie yanked Belle’s head away from a patch of weeds near the back paddock. “You know what that stuff does to you. No way am I letting you fall off the wagon.”

Belle shook her head, looking disgruntled, as Stevie led her on past the temptation of the weed patch. The mare was allergic to several varieties of weeds, and while Max and the rest of the Pine Hollow staff did their best to keep the area clear and mowed, a few weeds invariably escaped their attention and flourished here and there.

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