Horse Guest Read Online Free Page B

Grandma,” she said. “I’m glad you came.”
    After all the greetings were over with, the family moved away from the gate, heading toward the long hallway leading to the lot where Mr. Lake had parked the car. Stevie noticed that her grandmother was walking quite slowly.
    Mr. Lake noticed, too. “I have an idea,” he said. “I’ll run and fetch the car and meet the rest of you by that door right over there. No sense in all of us making that trek.”
    Grandma Lake nodded, once again looking grateful. “That would be wonderful, son,” she said. “My flight was exhausting. I wouldn’t mind sitting for a moment or two.”
    Mr. Lake handed his mother’s suitcases to Chad, then hurried off. As Mrs. Lake helped Grandma Lake find a free bench near the door, Stevie glanced at her brothers. She could tell that they were all thinking the same thing she was. Since when had their cool, commanding, active grandmother become such a feeble old woman?

    “I CAN ’ T BELIEVE she fell asleep in the car on the way home,” Chad said. “Especially after not seeing any of us for so long. She never would have done that in the old days. She would have talked our ears off—
we
would have been the ones who got exhausted from answering all her questions. I guess that should tell us something about how the last five years have changed her.”
    Stevie leaned back on her pillow. She and her brothers were holding a furtive emergency meeting in her bedroom while their parents showed Grandma Lake to her room. “I guess she is getting old and frail now, like we were saying earlier,” she said.
    “That means we really should be careful while she’s here,” Alex said.
    Chad furrowed his brow, looking worried. “You said it,” he said. “I mean, I know we were sort of talking about that before. But this is really serious now.”
    For once, Stevie was in complete agreement with her brothers. “No kidding,” she said. “Grandma probably can’t deal with too much excitement. We’ll have to make sure things stay calm around here while she’s visiting.”
    “Okay,” Michael said, nodding solemnly from his spot on the floor near Stevie’s door. “What do we do?”
    “First of all, we call a truce,” Stevie said. “No matter what anyone in this room did to anyone else, or what anyone
thinks
anyone did to anyone else …” Shepaused, starting to feel a little confused by her own phrasing.
    Chad stepped in and took over for her. “No fighting,” he said briskly. “No insults, no matter how funny.”
    “Got it,” Alex said. “So no matter how much Stevie stinks like a horse, we won’t say a word. We won’t even neigh and pretend it’s a cough.”
    Stevie made a face at him. “And no matter how many zits Alex has on his nose, I won’t make a single joke about Mount Vesuvius erupting on his face.”
    Chad frowned at them. “This is serious, you two,” he said. “We don’t want to make Grandma sick.”
    Stevie thought about that for a second. It would be terrible if their behavior endangered Grandma Lake’s health. And she was only here for two weeks. The least her grandchildren could do was make her stay as pleasant and as soothing as possible. “You’re right, Chad,” she said. “We’ve got to be on our best behavior. All of us,” she added, shooting a glance at Alex. “No pranks or practical jokes.”
    “No revenge plots,” Chad said.
    “No horsing around,” Alex put in.
    Stevie shot him another look, suspicious at his choice of words. But he spread his hands apologetically.
    “Sorry,” he said. “You know what I mean. We have to act civilized and stuff, like Mom and Dad were saying earlier.”
    “So for two weeks, all we have to do is act like good, quiet kids and not fight with each other, right?” Michael said.
    Stevie nodded firmly. “It won’t be easy,” she said, “but we have no choice. Grandma’s life may depend on it.”

T HE NEXT DAY was Saturday. Even though school was out for winter