December Story Contest

A Country Life

by Alyssa & Cocoa     age  9

 

  I, twelve-year-old Ashley Johnson stared out the window of my car at the passing rolling hills and pastures. My parents had just decided to leave their big city life in New York and move to Virginia.  But I missed New York already. The high speed internet, the fancy hotels and restaurants, and also the riding stable where I had just started taking English riding lessons.

 

  “Here we are!” said my dad with a big smile. “Our new country life!” He turned the car into a long gravel driveway that led to a medium sized house. Beside our property, was a big stable with a house and a sign that said Dusty Lane Stables.

 

  The car came to a halt outside the house and my parents and I hopped out. My mom took in a big whiff of air. “I just love that fresh country smell! It's so peaceful here. Much different from New York.” I still was grumpy. What's the big deal about wide open space? I thought. “Ashley, I have a surprise for you,” said my dad. “Come with me.” I followed my dad into our neighbors' yard.

 

  A girl about my age came up to us. “Hi!” she said in a cheerful voice. “I'm Christina Howard. My parents own Dusty Lane Stables.” I wasn't sure if Christina was speaking to me or to my dad. “The surprise is right this way.”

 

  Christina led us into a bright red barn with white trim around it. There were stalls with horses on either side of the barn. Christina stopped in front of a stall labeled: Starling. Inside the stall was a beautiful Thoroughbred, cream colored mare!

 

  “She's yours, Ashley,” said my dad. “It's our present to you because you missed New York so much.” I couldn't believe my ears. Now, I actually owned a horse!  I turned around to thank my dad but he was gone.

 

  “I've got to unpack,” he called over his shoulder. “The moving truck has just arrived.”

 

  “Can we be friends?” I shyly asked Christina.

 

  “Sure!” she said. “And now, I have a job for us both to do.”

 

  “What's that?” I asked.

 

  “We have to herd the cows back into the main field for the night,” Christina answered. “We'll ride our horses. Meet you under the Dusty Lane Stable sign.”

 

  Christina walked off to saddle her pony, leaving me alone with Starling. “Okay, girl,” I said. “I just have to find the tack room and then I'll be right back.” Now where is the tack room? I wondered to myself.

 

  “Need help?” asked a boy's voice. I looked up to see a boy standing in front of me. “I'm Dylan. I ride here.”

 

  “Yes,” I said. “Do you know where the tack room is?” “At the end of all the stalls, the tack room is to your right,” he said. Dylan gave me a sweet little smile, making me blush, and then he was gone.

 

  I found the tack room and carried Starling's tack to her stall. I was surprised to find that it was a western saddle and bridle, not English. I saddled up Starling and rode her to the Dusty Lane Stables sign where Christina and another girl where waiting. I found western riding was very uncomfortable.

 

  Christina rode over to me on her brown Thoroughbred. “Looks like you need a little western riding lessons before you should ride,” she said. “Just wait right here, Mikayla. I'm just taking Ashley into the ring for a few minutes.”

 

  I followed Christina into the ring. She showed me how to hold the reins and ride western properly.

 

  “Okay,” said Christina finally. “I think you're ready to herd cows now.”

 

  “What's your horse's name?” I asked her.

 

  “Lightning,” she said.

 

  “Okay Mikayla!” she called. “We're ready to herd the cows now!”

 

  I nudged Starling with my heels and she broke out into a long-stride trot. I found the cows and trotted beside them, but they just went in the opposite direction. Christina and Mikayla laughed and laughed.

 

  “I'm sorry!”

 

  Christina sputtered and shook her head.  “You have a lot to learn about living in the country and being a cowgirl is all I can say!”

 

  The next morning I woke up early thinking, I'm so bored. What am I going to do today? But then I remembered Starling so I grabbed my clothes and a towel and went into the bathroom. I took a shower in warm water. Then I got dressed and combed my wavy brown hair.  I made myself a breakfast of cold cereal and then ran out the back door and into Dusty Lane Stables.

 

  Starling was whinnying at me as if she was saying, “Food! I want food!”

 

  “Okay, Starling!” I called. “I'll just get your breakfast!”

 

As I was rounding the corner, I went smack dab into Dylan. He smiled at me as I rubbed my head.

 

  “Are you okay?” he asked. “I'm fine,” I said. “Good,” said Dylan. Then he gave me a kiss, ever so gently on my cheek.  He blushed and then went away. I saw Mikayla standing nearby. My face turned beet red.

 

  “Don't worry,” she said. “Dylan has a crush on about every girl he knows at one point or another. He even had one on me! By the way, my horse's name is Tricky, short for: Tricked You!”

 

  “Can we be friends?” I asked shyly again.

 

  “Sure!” Mikayla said happily. “And when you're a good cowgirl, you can join The Country Club.”

 

  “What's that?” I asked.

 

  “Oh, just a club Christina and I have started for country girls,” she said casually.

 

  Just then Starling's high-pitched whinny sounded from the other side of the barn. “Okay, okay. I'm coming, I'm coming,” I told Starling. As I walked down the barn aisle, I thought, I better start to practice being a cowgirl so I can join The Country Club.

 

  Just as Starling stuck her head in the bucket, I heard a lady call, “Okay, boys and girls. Our lesson today will be Cross Country. It will be at  ten o'clock.” I left Starling munching on her oats and went over to the lady. On my way over there I ran into Christina.

 

  “Come with me,” she said. “I want to introduce you to my mother.”

 

  Christina led me over to the lady. “Howdy partner!” said Christina's mom.

 

  “Um, hello?” I said.

 

  “Howdy is how you say hello in the country,” Christina whispered in my ear.

 

  “You're the new student, Ashley, right?” said Christina's mom.

 

  “Yes,” I said.

 

  “What do you do in the lessons?”

 

  “Well, we practice jumping, barrel racing, herding animals, and anything else you would need to know when you're living in the country. You see, our goal is to teach kids everything they would need to know when being a cowgirl or cowboy.”

 

  “Thanks, Mrs. Howard,” I said. “Please, call me Judy.”

 

  I wondered  where everyone was after Judy had spoken. Mikayla grabbed me by the arms and pulled me down to the tack room. “We're having a lesson on how to polish saddles by Mark, Christina's dad while we wait for the food to digest into the horses' stomach,” she told me.

 

  I quickly sat down beside Christina and Mikayla and listened to Mark talk. Finally he said, “okay. Now practice what you've learned on you own tack. I'll come around and help you if you need help.”

 

  I tried to scrub the polish-covered rag against the leather saddle, but I just didn't seem to get it. Mark came over to me and showed me how to do it. “You need to gently rub the rag against the saddle and the polish will do the rest,” he told me. I tried his advice and it actually worked! Slowly, the dirt began to rub off the saddle's surface.

 

  When I was done, the saddle looked just as if it was brand new! Mark got up from his seat and stretched. “Okay guys,” he said. “That's all for today. Tomorrow we're learning how to clean bridles. Now shoo! Your lesson with Judy starts in fifteen minutes.” We all scurried out of the tack room and into our horses' stalls.

 

  Starling whinnied at me and bobbed her head at my pocket. I laughed. “You know I have a treat for you,” I said. “But that's not until after the lesson.”

 

  I led Starling out into the aisle and put her on the cross ties. I ran the brush swiftly over her sleek coat. Then I put on her saddle blanket, saddle, and bridle. I mounted Starling and then realized how glad I was to be back in the saddle.

 

  I walked Starling over to the arena but Christina called, “We're not having a lesson in the arena today. Since we're doing Cross Country, we try to always do it in the forest where we can jump over logs and  old fences and other stuff like that.”

 

  I trotted Starling up alongside Christina and Lightning.  The Thoroughbred's chestnut coat shone brightly in the sun.

 

  “Want to have a race over to the little clearing in the forest?” asked Christina, smirking.

 

  “Sure!” I said.

 

  “Go!” I took the lead and then I heard the thudding of hooves coming up behind me. Christina and Lightning galloped ahead of me and disappeared into the forest.

 

  “Come on, Starling!” I shouted. We rounded the curve in the trail and there was Christina, Lightning, Judy, and all the rest of the group in the clearing.

 

  I breathlessly pulled Starling over to Christina. “You knew, didn't you?” I said. Christina smiled. “Lightning always wins when it comes to races,” she said. “Mikayla doesn't do races with me anymore because Lightning always wins, but I thought I'd try it out on you.”

 

  “Ahem!” Judy was looking sternly at Christina. “If you don't mind, we'd like to start the lesson now,” she said.

 

  “Dylan, you can go first and remind everyone how to do Cross Country.” I watched as Dylan and a dapple gray soared over the fallen trees, small fences, and even a small brook!

 

  “Ashley, you can go next.”

 

  “Um, Judy,” I said nervously. “What do you want me and Starling to do?”

 

  “Just the same, Ashley.” My body was very stiff as I started jumping the course. As I cantered Starling over the two tree trunks, my body stopped being stiff and tense and I smiled. Jumping things was fun!  As Starling jumped the brook, her hooves went in the water a little and little bits of water splashed around my legs. Oh, how I loved that feeling! When I was finished jumping the course, I rode over to Judy.

 

  “Can I do it again?” I asked.

 

  “Sure!” said Judy, smiling. “I'm glad you enjoy our Cross Country class.” I went again and then let Christina have a turn. After all the kids had at least two turns, Judy suggested that it was about time for us to go back to Dusty Lane Stables in time for lunch.

 

  When I got back, I unsaddled Starling and gave her the carrot she had been waiting for. Then I sat down in the tack room and started rubbing the sweat off the saddle. After I was done, I went inside for lunch.

 

  My mom had made grilled cheese sandwiches with some apples. I kindly saved one apple for Starling.

 

  “Ashley, you have your first country dance class today and it starts in twenty minutes!” called my mom.

 

  “But I wanted to spend the afternoon with Starling,” I told her.

 

  “You can see Starling after dance class,” said my mom. “Now hurry up and change into those new country clothes I bought you.”

 

  “Mom, I'm already wearing them.”

 

  “Okay, than let's get into the car and head for the town of Friendly Cove.”

 

  Reluctantly, I got into the stuffy, smelly car and we started driving the ten minute drive to Friendly Cove. Now, let me tell you a bit about Friendly Cove. I guess you can tell by the name that the people who live there are friendly. Friendly Cove is famous for it's gold mining history and lots of wide, open space. Friendly Cove is medium sized town and about 25,000 people live there. We live just ten minutes out of town on the west side of it. My dad picked to live in Friendly Cove because he loves to go looking for gold, and he also loves wide open space. (I talked my parents into moving to New York.)

 

  “Ashley, we're here,” said my mom. “Do you want me to come inside with you?”

 

  “No, I'm okay,” I said. “Bye mom!” I don't know anyone here. I hope someone will be friendly to me, I thought. I walked in the swinging glass doors. I looked around in the room and went through a door labeled: Dance Floor.  In the room, I saw the dance instructor standing in the middle and some strange kids sitting on the bleachers.

 

  “Okay, everyone,” called the dance instructor. “Is anyone here and this is there first time country dancing?” I looked around and saw that no one else had their hand raised. My hand shook as I raised it a little.

 

  “Well,” said the dance instructor. “Ashley, you'll just have to try and copy what the others are doing and you'll soon catch on.” I nodded solemnly. 

 

  “Alright, then,” said the dance instructor. “Now that we're all settled, we'll try the song Cotton Eyed Joe.” A cheer came from all the kids as a fast, country song came out of the sound system.

 

  “Ashley, come over here!” called a girl. “We always do this song in groups of three.”

 

  I walked over to them and asked, “so how do we do this song?”

 

  “We all hold hands or link arms. Then we take three fast steps forward and tap our feet three times. We do that three times and then do all the same things, accept we do it backwards. Then we repeat that over and over again until the song ends. We all go around in a circle,” answered the girl. That doesn't seem too hard, I thought to myself.

 

  As we marched around the room, I found myself having fun! Western dancing was now going to be one of my most loved hobbies, (beside horseback riding.)

 

  At the end of the lesson, I asked the girl who had invited me to dance in her group, “what's your name?”

 

  “Sylvia,” she answered. “That's Janice.” Sylvia pointed to the girl standing next to her.

 

  “Hi!” I said. “Hi,” Janice said back. We both shook hands and then I went over to my mom's car that was waiting in the parking lot. 

 

  “So, how was dancing class?” asked my mom when I got in the car.

 

  “Great!” I said enthusiastically. I reached into my pocket and found the apple I had saved for Starling. When I get home, I'll take Starling for a long ride to make up for the part of the afternoon I missed, I thought.

 

  When I got home, I made a dash towards Dusty Lane Stables. As I walked into the barn, something was missing. It was strangely quiet. No hustle and bustle of cars in the parking lot and people going in and out of the barn. When I got in the barn, I was surprised to find all the horses' stalls empty except for Starling's. Oh, well, I thought. At least Starling is still here so I can take her for a ride.

 

 “Hey, girl!” I said to Starling as I tacked her up. “Were you lonely while I was at dance class?” Starling whinnied sadly just as I tightened the girth and mounted her. I looked at my watch and realized that it was four o'clock, time to herd the cows into the barn for the night.

 

  Then I cantered Starling into the pasture that the cows were in last time, but they weren't there. I searched three different pastures before I finally found the cows.

 

  It was almost dark. I directed Starling behind all the cows and said, “giddy up!” And then I cracked the whip I'd brought with me. (I would never use it on Starling.) The herd of cows took off at full speed towards Dusty Lane Stables. I tried to keep up with them, but Starling got so tired I had to let her have a rest. By the time she was ready to ride again, it was so dark I couldn't see where Dusty Lane Stables was.

 

  Soon Starling and I were lost in the dark, away from home. I called and called for help, but no one heard me. I called, “help! I'm lost!” One more time and then I couldn't yell anymore. I dismounted Starling and sat down against I tree trunk. I looked to my right and saw the moonlight reflecting on the water of a lake.

 

  Suddenly Starling whinnied. Two other horses whinnied back. I heard the thudding of hooves on the ground and saw two flashlights pointed right at me. “I'm here!” I called to the people.

 

  “Ashley, are you alright?” called one of the riders. I knew that voice right away. It was Christina. She and Mikayla rode over to me on Lightning and Tricky.

 

  “I'm okay,” I whispered, my voice hoarse from called for help.

 

  “What happened?” asked Mikayla as she and Christina sat down next to me.

 

  “I came back to Dusty Lane Stables after lunch and nobody was there,” I began. “Then I realized it was time to herd the cows back home so I found the cows and began to herd them back to the stables. But they went so fast, Starling couldn't keep up. So I let her rest and by the time she was ready to ride, it was dark. I couldn't find my way around so I just waited here and called for help until you found me.”

 

  “Oh, the reason why we weren't at the stable was because mom and dad organized a picnic by this lake,” said Christina. “Where were you, anyways?”

 

  “I was at a country dance class in town,” I answered.

 

  “I used to take country dancing,” said Mikayla. Then she realized I wanted to go home.

 

  “Alright,” she said. “Let's get you home, Ashley. Just follow Christina and I.”  I think Starling knew we were going home because she was happy to follow Tricky.

 

  The next morning I woke up with the sun shining through my bedroom window onto my bed. My clock said 8:54am, which meant that I'd slept in. (I normally get up around  seven o'clock.) I quickly had my shower and rushed downstairs, out the door, and into Dusty Lane Stables.

 

  I nearly ran into Judy because I was in such a hurry! “Well, well, well,” she said. “Are you recovering from that little episode last night?”

 

  I blushed. “I'm fine, really,” I told her.

 

  “Good,” said Judy. “Just making sure that all of our riders are in good condition.”

 

 As I was walking towards Starling's stall, Christina grabbed me by the arm and pulled me outside towards the field. “Look!” she whispered, her eyes glowing with excitement.

 

I looked where Christina was pointing and saw Starling, Lightning, and Tricky all standing together and touching noses. “They're friends already! Even though Starling just came here two days ago, they're already friends!” I nodded speechlessly.

 

  Mikayla came up beside Christina and I. “How about we go for a ride together?” she asked. “Just the three of us.”

 

  “Can I come?” asked Dylan as he came up behind us.

 

  Mikayla turned around and said, “no, Dylan. This ride is for girls only. No boys.” Dylan pretended to sulk away like Mikayla had hurt his feelings, but I knew it was fake.

 

  “Bring  your swimming suit too,” she added as Christina and her walked away to saddle their horses. “We're going swimming!”

 

  I ran into the house at full speed and charged up the stairs. “Ashley!” called my mom. “We do not run in the house. It's not lady-like!” I slowed down a little and went into my room. I searched through my drawers until I spotted my light blue swim suit. I put it on with a T-shirt over top and went into the barn.

 

  I saw that Lightning and Tricky's stalls were empty which meant that Christina and Mikayla had already left. Then I realized that Tricky's stall was right beside Starling's! I led Starling to the cross ties outside her stall door and gave her a quick brushing. Then I  rode her over to the Dusty Lane Stables sign. Where are we going swimming? I wondered. Mikayla never told me where to go. I remembered seeing a lake where I was lost last night.

 

  “We're probably going swimming there,” I told myself. I tried to remember in which direction the lake was. I then let Starling lead the way to the lake, (because horses can see in the dark and people can't.) 

 

  After a while Starling entered a clearing where a lake was. Lightning and Tricky were tied up to the trees, but where were Christina and Mikayla? I tied Starling on the tree next to Lightning and thought, oh, well. Even if Mikayla and Christina aren't here, I could still use a swim. I pulled off the T-shirt and did a cannonball into the cold, sparkling water. Oh! How good it felt to be swimming! I just dived underwater when two things landed on  top of me. I swam to the surface and saw Christina and Mikayla. “Surprise!” they shouted. “Here's your surprise!” I teased them. Then I splashed them. “No fair!” shouted Christina as she meant to splash me, but splashed Mikayla instead. Mikayla splashed her back as we continued the water fight.

 

  Finally Mikayla got tired and climbed out of the water. I got out and sat beside her. “Hey!” Christina called from the water. “Where'd everyone go?” I laughed. Then Mikayla motioned to Christina and they both walked over to Tricky and Lightning. They came back carrying a big horseshoe cake. “Welcome to The Country Club!” they said.

 

The End

 

I hope you like this story. Did you enjoy this story and think it's exciting? Then read the next adventure of The Country Club called: A Competition Adventure