Читать книгу The Grumpy Bridesmaid - Diane Redmond - Страница 6

Izzy broke the bad news to Crackers in the pony paddock.

“Hi, boy!” she called.

At the sound of her voice Crackers neighed loudly and trotted over to greet her. Izzy laughed as he cheekily poked his nose into her jeans’ pockets and snuffled about for a sweet.

“Here you are,” she said, offering him a mint on the flat of her palm. As he noisily crunched the sweet Izzy blurted out, “My big sister’s getting married on May 8th so we can’t do the gymkhana!” The thirteen hands silver grey tossed his long silky mane. “It really isn’t my fault,” Izzy added sadly.

To take her mind off the disappointment Izzy tacked up Crackers and took him into the field for a Chase me Charlie practice but neither of them had their heart in the race.

“There’s no point in practising if we’re not doing the real thing,” Izzy said to her friend Nina.

“Cheer up,” said Nina. “At least you’ll be going to church in a horse-drawn carriage.”

Izzy nodded. “I bet it will rain!” she said glumly.

A few hours later Izzy returned home, hot and dirty after mucking out Crackers’ stable. As she kicked off her riding boots she could hear Clare on the phone in the lounge.

“Hello, is that the pony and carriage hiring company? Good. I’d like to book an open-topped carriage for my wedding with a pair of silver ponies to pull it.”

Izzy grabbed a packet of crisps from the kitchen cupboard, then wandered into the lounge to listen in on her sister’s conversation.

“No silver ponies?” cried Clare, jumping to her feet.

Izzy raised her eyes to the ceiling. “I told you there was no such thing!” she said.

Clare waved her hand and mouthed the words, “Shut up!” then quickly turned her attention back to the person on the other end of the line.

“No, no! I don’t want a dark bay pair. No! I definitely don’t want a golden chestnut pair. I want silver to go with my dress and tiara!” On the point of tears, Clare shoved the phone into Mum’s hand.

“I’m sorry, my daughter’s a bit upset,” Mum said. Another pause as this time she listened. “Oh! So you’ve got one. A thirteen hands silver grey. Thank you, I’ll let my daughter know.” She put the phone down and looked at Clare.

“Well, they’ve got one silver pony,” she said.

“One can’t pull a carriage on its own,” grumbled Clare.

Izzy jumped up, her face pink with excitement.

“If it had a partner it could!” she cried.

Clare glared at her little sister. “Isabella, there’s only ONE pony!” she snapped. “They haven’t got TWO.”