Horse Named Dragon (8 page)

“I’m so mad at myself,” Kurt said. “I should have seen that Slim was a fake.”

“You were too busy trying to get Alyssa fired,” said Cookie. “You weren’t paying attention to your work.”

Kurt turned to Alyssa. “I’m real sorry about that,” Kurt said. “I was just trying to help my friend get a job.”

“You let Honey and Bunny go, didn’t you?” said Henry. “Then you broke the fence, and put the tree branch there to make it look like it was an accident.”

The cowboy hung his head, ashamed. “I thought losing a couple of horses would make Alyssa look bad. I had to make it look like she let them wander away from the pasture.”

Bucky smiled. “Those two lazy bones didn’t wander far. Slim’s brother confessed that he saw them wandering along the fence. He was afraid that a couple of missing Dare to Dream horses might bring the police. And he sure didn’t want the police sniffing around this ranch. Not with all the stolen horses they’d hidden in the old pasture. So he loaded Honey and Bunny into his trailer and brought them back.”

Cookie narrowed her eyes at Kurt. “I should fire you right this minute,” she said. “For all the trouble you’ve put Alyssa and the rest of us through.”

“I’m all right,” Alyssa said. She turned to Kurt. “I’m tougher than you think. And maybe a little smarter. Last night I went to the library to find that book Slim said he wrote,
How to Raise Dogs.
I wanted to read it today on my day off. The librarian couldn’t find it anywhere. So, I drove here to ask Slim if I had the right title. I saw that big horse trailer sitting in the west pasture. Slim didn’t tell me he had horses coming in or going out. So I went to check it out.” She looked at the children. “When I saw your horses saddled up and wandering loose in the hay field, I knew something was wrong.”

Kurt took off his hat and held it over his heart. “Cookie, Alyssa, I’m sorry for all the hurt I caused,” he said, sadly. “But I would like a second chance.”

“I don’t know …” said Cookie.

“Don’t be too hard on him,” said Bucky. “We all make mistakes. At least his mistake was done out of friendship.”

Benny squirted mustard on his hot dog. “Bucky, you said we all make mistakes. Did you make mistakes when you were my age?” he asked.

“Sure,” said Bucky.

“Like what?” Benny asked.

Even in the light of the campfire, the children saw Bucky’s face turn deep red. “Well,” he said, “like when I was a boy, just a little older than you, I moved away from my best friend in the whole world. And I never once picked up a pen and paper to write her a letter. I never once told her … how much I missed her.”

Cookie leaned forward, staring hard at Bucky’s face. “Trevor?” she said. “Trevor Austin? Is that really and truly you?” The old man nodded. Cookie jumped up. “Why in tarnation didn’t you say something?”

“I wasn’t sure you’d remember me. I thought if I came here and volunteered, you’d get to like me. It’s been fifty years. I never once wrote. I wasn’t sure you’d want to see me.”

“Want to see you!” She reached out and gave him a giant hug. “I’ve spent the last fifty years wondering what in the Sam Hill happened to you. Of course I want to see you! You’re my best friend, always and forever.” They hugged and hugged until Benny had to remind them it was time to make s’mores.

Later, as the fire cooled, Cookie sat next to Bucky, both of them glowing in the campfire’s light. Henry put one last piece of chocolate on one last graham cracker and added one last marshmallow on top. “I think I figured out the mystery of the hearts carved into the maple tree and in Dragon’s stall,” said Henry, “the ones with
TA
and
LM
carved inside … Trevor is you, Bucky—Trevor Austin.”

Bucky smiled shyly.

Henry went on. “And, Cookie, I know your last name is Miller. But what is your real first name?”

Cookie tilted her head to one side, a secret smile on her lips. “Well, now,” she said. “Folks have called me Cookie since I was knee high to a grasshopper. I’m afraid my real name is one mystery the Alden children are just going to have to leave unsolved.”

And they did.

G
ERTRUDE
C
HANDLER
W
ARNER
discovered when she was teaching that many readers who like an exciting story could find no books that were both easy and fun to read. She decided to try to meet this need, and her first book,
The Boxcar Children,
quickly proved she had succeeded.

Miss Warner drew on her own experiences to write the mystery. As a child she spent hours watching trains go by on the tracks opposite her family home. She often dreamed about what it would be like to set up housekeeping in a caboose or freight car — the situation the Alden children find themselves in.

When Miss Warner received requests for more adventures involving Henry, Jessie, Violet, and Benny Alden, she began additional stories. In each, she chose a special setting and introduced unusual or eccentric characters who liked the unpredictable.

While the mystery element is central to each of Miss Warner’s books, she never thought of them as strictly juvenile mysteries. She liked to stress the Aldens’ independence and resourcefulness and their solid New England devotion to using up and making do. The Aldens go about most of their adventures with as little adult supervision as possible — something else that delights young readers.

Miss Warner lived in Putnam, Connecticut, until her death in 1979. During her lifetime, she received hundreds of letters from girls and boys telling her how much they liked her books.

The Boxcar Children Mysteries

T
HE
B
OXCAR
C
HILDREN

S
URPRISE
I
SLAND

T
HE
Y
ELLOW
H
OUSE
M
YSTERY

M
YSTERY
R
ANCH

M
IKE’S
M
YSTERY

B
LUE
B
AY
M
YSTERY

T
HE
W
OODSHED
M
YSTERY

T
HE
L
IGHTHOUSE
M
YSTERY

M
OUNTAIN
T
OP
M
YSTERY

S
CHOOLHOUSE
M
YSTERY

C
ABOOSE
M
YSTERY

H
OUSEBOAT
M
YSTERY

S
NOWBOUND
M
YSTERY

T
REE
H
OUSE
M
YSTERY

B
ICYCLE
M
YSTERY

M
YSTERY IN THE
S
AND

M
YSTERY
B
EHIND
THE
W
ALL

B
US
S
TATION
M
YSTERY

B
ENNY
U
NCOVERS
A
M
YSTERY

T
HE
H
AUNTED
C
ABIN
M
YSTERY

T
HE
D
ESERTED
L
IBRARY
M
YSTERY

T
HE
A
NIMAL
S
HELTER
M
YSTERY

T
HE
O
LD
M
OTEL
M
YSTERY

T
HE
M
YSTERY OF THE
H
IDDEN
P
AINTING

T
HE
A
MUSEMENT
P
ARK
M
YSTERY

T
HE
M
YSTERY OF THE
M
IXED
-U
P
Z
OO

T
HE
C
AMP
-O
UT
M
YSTERY

T
HE
M
YSTERY
G
IRL

T
HE
M
YSTERY
C
RUISE

T
HE
D
ISAPPEARING
F
RIEND
M
YSTERY

T
HE
M
YSTERY OF THE
S
INGING
G
HOST

M
YSTERY IN THE
S
NOW

T
HE
P
IZZA
M
YSTERY

T
HE
M
YSTERY
H
ORSE

T
HE
M
YSTERY AT THE
D
OG
S
HOW

T
HE
C
ASTLE
M
YSTERY

T
HE
M
YSTERY OF THE
L
OST
V
ILLAGE

T
HE
M
YSTERY ON THE
I
CE

T
HE
M
YSTERY OF THE
P
URPLE
P
OOL

T
HE
G
HOST
S
HIP
M
YSTERY

T
HE
M
YSTERY IN
W
ASHINGTON
, DC

T
HE
C
ANOE
T
RIP
M
YSTERY

T
HE
M
YSTERY OF THE
H
IDDEN
B
EACH

T
HE
M
YSTERY OF THE
M
ISSING
C
AT

T
HE
M
YSTERY AT
S
NOWFLAKE
I
NN

T
HE
M
YSTERY ON
S
TAGE

T
HE
D
INOSAUR
M
YSTERY

T
HE
M
YSTERY OF THE
S
TOLEN
M
USIC

T
HE
M
YSTERY AT THE
B
ALL
P
ARK

T
HE
C
HOCOLATE
S
UNDAE
M
YSTERY

T
HE
M
YSTERY OF THE
H
OT
A
IR
B
ALLOON

T
HE
M
YSTERY
B
OOKSTORE

T
HE
P
ILGRIM
V
ILLAGE
M
YSTERY

T
HE
M
YSTERY OF THE
S
TOLEN
B
OXCAR

T
HE
M
YSTERY IN THE
C
AVE

T
HE
M
YSTERY ON THE
T
RAIN

T
HE
M
YSTERY AT THE
F
AIR

T
HE
M
YSTERY OF THE
L
OST
M
INE

T
HE
G
UIDE
D
OG
M
YSTERY

T
HE
H
URRICANE
M
YSTERY

T
HE
P
ET
S
HOP
M
YSTERY

T
HE
M
YSTERY OF THE
S
ECRET
M
ESSAGE

T
HE
F
IREHOUSE
M
YSTERY

T
HE
M
YSTERY IN
S
AN
F
RANCISCO

T
HE
N
IAGARA
F
ALLS
M
YSTERY

T
HE
M
YSTERY AT THE
A
LAMO

T
HE
O
UTER
S
PACE
M
YSTERY

T
HE
S
OCCER
M
YSTERY

T
HE
M
YSTERY IN THE
O
LD
A
TTIC

T
HE
G
ROWLING
B
EAR
M
YSTERY

T
HE
M
YSTERY OF THE
L
AKE
M
ONSTER