"Sweet Jesus above. What happened last night?" Billy groaned, dangling halfway between couch and floor. His head was pounding and he felt extremely sick to his stomach.
Serena jumped backward out of his way as he bent over the trash can. "No idea," she said coolly. "But are you gonna see her again?"
"See who?" Billy choked.
"Penny." Chavez replied.
"Who the hell's Penny?" asked Billy, wiping his mouth off on his shirt sleeve.
Serena and Chavez looked at each other and they cracked up. Billy had looked so funny guiding the enormous stuffed penguin around the dance floor, singing sappy love songs at the top of his voice.
The rest of the regulators trooped into the house. They all looked hung-over, but none quite as severely as Billy. They started on the breakfast of toast and high-octane black coffee, doing their best to ignore the throwing-up noises coming from the den.
"'Rena!" Billy panted after a while. "'Rena! I think I missed."
"Oh hell no!" she spat.
"Billy, you're disgusting," said Dick.
Serena tossed a sponge into the living room, instructing Billy to clean up the mess he'd made.
"The second I move, I'll have to start cleanin' all over again," he protested.
"That's your problem." said Dick. "You drink like a fish, you pay the price."
John arrived in the doorway. His eyes roved over Dirty Steve and Charley fighting each other for coffee and ashen-faced Billy on all fours, sponging up vomit. It was obvious that no work would get done today. With a heavy sigh, he gave his workers the day off, but warned they'd have to be up before dawn the next day.
Serena, Harry, Ron, Dick, andChavez were still dead sober, so they began to think of activites they could do during the afternoon.
"We could all ride out to that creek and have a picnic." Serena suggested.
"No, thanks," said Ron. "Harry and I want to go practice Quidditch." He figured that the house was far enough from town they could get away with doing aerial stunts, something he'd been dying to try.
Dick shook his head. He was behind on his Bible readings and wanted to catch up.
"I don't suppose you're coming either?" Serena asked, turning to Chavez.
One look told her that there was nothing he'd like better than to come. Serena smiled, then they left for the barn. She slipped the bridle over Sergeant Elias's head, deciding suddenly she wasn't going to get his saddle. She loved to ride bareback and she hadn't had a chance to do it for ages.
Serena climbed onto his back, then positioned herself so her legs were just behind her horse's front legs. That was the way the Warm Springs Apache tribe had taught her. She waited until Chavez had mounted his war pony, Sparks, before leading the way across the pasture.
"You up for a race?" she asked Chavez.
He grinned widely at her, then urged the pony forward. Serena tapped Sergeant Elias's hindquarters with the slack from the reins; he began to pursue Sparks. Serena tapped harder; Elias ran flat-out.
She felt her hair flying off her face and Elias's hooves pounding the ground. Whooping, she lost herself in the joy of the ride. Before Chavez realized what was happening, Elias overtook his pony.
"Can't catch me now!" Serena yelled happily over her shoulder.
There was a fallen tree just ahead. Serena leaned into Sergeant Elias's mane for balance as he cleared the log in a spectacular leap. Chavez tried to follow, but was pitched onto the ground when his pony made an abrupt stop to graze.
"Damn you, Sparks," he grumbled.
He picked up the reins and tried to pull her away from the grass. Sparks whinnied, tossing her head defiantly. Chavez pulled again. This time, Sparks stomped the ground, missing his foot by an inch. She whinnied loudly, which spooked Sergeant Elias and caused him to rear. Serena nearly fell.
"What's wrong with her?" she asked. This behavior was atypical; Sparks usually listened to her owner's every command.
"I don't know." Chavez replied. "She's been acting oddly off and on for several months."
"Let me take a look at her," said Serena, sliding off Elias's back.
She talked soothingly to Sparks as she examined her. There were no stones in her hooves, no bite marks from flies or other horses, no sore muscles. Serena had one other idea... She placed the palm of her hand against Sparks's belly, which seemed larger than normal; she detected a sharp kick.
"Have you figured out what's wrong?" Chavez asked anxiously.
"Nothing's wrong with Sparks. She's pregnant." Serena declared.
"I wish I'd known," he said sadly. "I wouldn't have run her so hard. Let's go back to the barn and let her rest."
Serena thought that was a good idea. Sparks appeared to be pretty far along and since no one was sure when she'd become pregnant, the foal could be born at any moment. She spent the rest of the afternoon with Chavez and Sparks, trying to guess if the foal would be a boy or a girl and what its name should be.
