Disclaimer:
Dear Mr. And Mrs. Handler:
I received your letter concerning my use of your establishment and the names of your son, nephew, and clients at Horseland in a fiction story with great dismay. I am writing back to inform you that you have no cause to be alarmed; I do not own Horseland, its subsidies, affiliates, or characters, which I should not have to tell you. These are not my characters; therefore, if you should imagine a legal problem and attempt to prosecute me under due process of law, don't say I didn't warn you!
Sincerely,
Iar-Sian
A light blanket of snow the consistency of powdered sugar had dusted the grounds overnight, and a mid-morning breeze had drifted it against the fence posts and trees in rolling hills of brilliant white. The sky was a near-translucent shade of mist, the effervescently roiling feathers of cloud occasionally disclosing a sliver of blindingly bright blue sky. A limousine slowly made its way along the main driveway, leaving the first tracks through the snow banks. Sarah Whitney pressed her forehead to the fogged-up window, the icy glass providing an instant brain freeze. The drive from the city had been tedious at best, dangerous at worst, what with the new snow covering the roads. Though several snowplows had been through, the wind continued to gust the snow over the road, obscuring the lanes and making Sarah's chauffer, Lucian, mutter in French under his breath. Oh, well, even if I can't ride today, I can still hang out in the barn with Scarlet. I can braid red ribbons into her mane and maybe cook up a batch of apple treats with Alma…
The limo veered sharply to the right, caught on a patch of black ice. Sarah was thankful for the glass separating the passenger seats from the cockpit, because she was sure she wouldn't have liked to hear the word Lucian had just expectorated. He brought the car back on course, his silhouette hunching over the steering wheel with concentration. The large gray-blue barn and Victorian house of Horseland Stables came into view, and Sarah breathed a sigh of relief. The limo rolled to a stop, and Sarah opened the door against a gust of winter wind.
"Thank you, Lucian!" she said sincerely. "The trip was harrowing, and I wasn't even driving!"
"My pleasure, Miss Sarah." Lucian gave her a nod, then gritted his teeth as he swung the car around and once again set off on his painstaking journey down the driveway. Their tire tracks had already filled with snow blowing off the pasture.
"Hola, amiga!" a voice echoed off the barn wall as Alma Rodriguez jogged towards Sarah, her boots crunching in the snow. Alma was wearing a lime green parka that would be hard to miss anywhere, and her usual riding boots had been replaced with sturdy, waterproof barn boots.
"Hey, Al—" Sarah's greeting was cut off by something cold and wet hitting her in the back. She whirled around, looking for her assailant.
"Hey, yourself!" Molly Washington grinned slyly, guarding a second snowball between her mitten-clad hands, arming herself in case her friend decided to retaliate. "Who's up for a snow ride today? As long as we watch the horses, I'm sure they would like to get out!"
"Molly! Did the bus make it through all right?" Alma asked, slightly unnecessarily. Unlike Sarah and Molly, Alma didn't have to worry about the roads. Since her father was the foreman, her family lived in the cozy foreman's cabin, only a five-minute walk from the main house and barn.
"The bus did make it through, but I had to walk, like, three city blocks up the driveway! I'm freezing my toes off!" Molly said jovially, not seeming at all concerned about the snow.
"We can go in to my house for some hot cocoa before visiting the horses! Will and Bailey are already there—they heard my mom was making empanadas today, so they're just waiting for them to come out of the oven!" Alma rolled her eyes. "We can see what Will thinks about a snow ride while we're there."
Will, thought Sarah. She had had a crush on her dreamy riding instructor and friend for quite a while, and even though at 16 he was three years her senior, she couldn't help thinking that she still had a chance with him.
The three friends jogged past the barn and up a shallow slope, the usual footpath covered in light snow, to the Rodriguez' cabin. They stomped their boots on the mat and entered to a gust of warmth and the aromas of cooking empanadas and chocolate.
"Yo vuelvo, Mama!" Alma said dramatically. Bailey, lounging on the Navajo-blanket-print couch, raised his eyebrows questioningly. "It means 'I return', and 'I return' means that you had better scoot over, because I brought company!" Alma said, plopping down next to him. Bailey obliged, making room for Sarah and Molly. Sarah glanced around Bailey's dark-brown-mulleted head to see Will, currently being smushed against the opposite arm of the couch, enveloped in a book.
"Watcha reading, Will?" Sarah inquired, trying to sound casual. Will looked up, smiled what was, in Sarah's opinion, one of the greatest smiles in the world, and answered, "It's the Horse and Rider's Encyclopedia. I've been researching stuff about riding in the snow, and considering that it doesn't look like it'll snow again for quite a while, there isn't ice underneath the snow, and our horses all have had their shoes removed, it doesn't look like there'll be any problem with going for a ride!" Cheers went up from the length of the couch before Will added, "Of course, as soon as it looks like there might be a snow storm on the horizon, we're going to skidaddle back here like we're leading a stampede. Snowstorms can come in like that--" he snapped his fingers for effect—"in the mountains."
Sarah could see that Will must want to go for a snow ride more than any of them. Will's dyslexia made it difficult for him to read, and if the time of Alma's report and the current time added up, he had been researching for quite awhile.
The door swung open, then shut with a bang as two figures came in on a blast of chilly air. "What is it, like, negative fifty degrees out there?" asked Chloe Stilton, both rhetorically and bad-temperedly. "My new peacoat got totally soaked through!"
"Ugh, and my cashmere scarf is all wet! Will somebody please tell me why snow was invented?" chimed in her twin sister, Zoey, if you could really call it 'chiming'. She finished her complaint, realized where she was, stopped dead and took a look around. "I hadn't realized that I'd never been in your house before, Alma. It's quite… quaint."
"Thanks…" Alma said, not sure whether this was meant as a compliment. You never knew with Chloe and Zoey—sometimes they could be regular human beings, but sometimes… well, most of the time, actually, they were snide, thoughtless, and inconsiderate. "I guess our hot cocoa can wait, because we were just planning a snow ride!"
"I'll need a new coat for that!" snorted Chloe, gingerly extracting her arms from the clingy, sopping wool of her stylish coat. "Do you have any extra ones, Alma?" Her voice had no hint of its usual incivility.
"Si, and one for you, too, Zoey?" Alma asked politely. Zoey nodded reluctantly, as if she was already chagrined about her subtle insult when her host was being so accommodating. Alma leapt over two pairs of legs and disappeared into a hallway, returning with two parkas. She tossed them to Chloe and Zoey, who put them on with a chorus of 'thank you, Alma's' and 'you're the best's'.
"Shall we?" Sarah asked, jumping up from the sofa and pulling Molly to her feet. Bailey and Will followed suit, and the seven friends pulled on coats, hats, boots, and warm riding gloves.
"Here we go, into the snow!" sang Molly, pushing open the door and leading the way down the hill to the stable. Sarah was excited to ride in the snow, but a little unsure about its hazardous nature. Oh, well, she thought. I'm probably overreacting. Scarlet will take care of me, and I'm sure Will knows what he's doing…she glanced over at Will. This had the potential to get quite interesting.