Chapter 1
Too Busy
“Hey,
Andi!” Riley yelled. “Come see what I have.”
Andi did
not want to see what her friend Riley had. Not today. She was too busy. She was
leading her very own baby horse, Taffy, around the pasture.
Taffy’s
mama, Snowflake, was helping. Sometimes Taffy didn’t want to follow Andi. When
that happened, Snowflake gave her baby a push with her big, white nose.
Obey
Andi! Snowflake seemed to be saying.
Riley
climbed over the rail fence and jumped down. “Did you hear me, Andi? I’ve got
something to show you.”
Riley always had something to show Andi.
Sometimes he showed her a new riding trick. Sometimes he pulled a frog or a
snake out of his pocket.
Just last
week, Riley showed her a new litter of kittens in the barn.
Most of
the time, Andi liked to see what Riley had in his pockets. She liked to watch
him do tricks on Midnight, his big, black horse.
But not
today.
“I’m
busy,” Andi said. She pulled on Taffy’s lead rope and kept walking. “I’m
training Taffy. All by myself. Chad said I could.”
Andi felt
a lot bigger than six years old today. For once, her big brother Chad was not
helping with Taffy. He was too busy. He said Andi could do it if she was
careful.
Andi
wanted to be careful with Taffy. She wanted to show Chad she could do
everything just right. No mistakes. Then Chad would let her train Taffy by
herself on other days.
Maybe.
Andi was
much too busy to look at anything Riley had. Even if he had a fat, green,
extra-jumpy frog to show her.
Riley ran
across the pasture and grabbed her arm. “You have to see what one of the
cowboys gave me.”
Andi
stopped. She couldn’t walk very far with a big, eight-year-old boy holding her
arm.
Taffy
stopped walking too.
Andi
smiled and patted Taffy. “Good girl.”
“Don’t
you want to see what I have?” Riley asked.
Andi
frowned. It looked like Riley was not going to leave her alone. “What is it?”
Riley let
go of Andi’s arm. He reached into his back pocket. Then he pulled out a wad of
rolled-up papers. It looked like a book.
Andi
wrinkled her eyebrows. A book?
Books did
not make Andi feel very excited—especially since she couldn’t read.
Andi
squinted at the yellow-brown book in Riley’s hand. It looked old and worn out.
It looked like hundreds and hundreds of people had read it before Riley got it.
She let
out a big breath. “What makes you think I want to look at a book?”
Riley
bent close to Andi’s ear, like he was telling her an important secret.
“This
isn’t just any book,” he whispered.
“It’s a . . . dime novel.”
Andi
didn’t say anything. She didn’t know what Riley was talking about. It looked
like a plain old book to her.
What was
so secret about that?
She
shrugged. “So what?”
“Don’t
you know what a dime novel is?” Riley asked. Then he laughed. “Everybody knows about dime novels.”
Andi scowled.
She didn’t know what a dime novel was. And she didn’t care, either.
Andi was
not going to stand around and let Riley laugh at her. She was not going to let
him show off that he knew something she didn’t know.
Not for
even one minute.
“Come on,
Taffy,” she said, pulling on the lead rope. “Let’s get away from Mr.
Too-Big-for-His-Britches. He thinks he knows everything.”
“Wait!”
Riley said. He started talking fast. “It’s a book with a paper cover that costs
one dime. Just ten cents. The inside pages are a little worn out, but take a
look at this cover.”
Riley
stuck the book in Andi’s face.
That got
her attention.
The cover
of Riley’s book was full of bright colors and scary-looking Indians. The
Indians had war paint on their faces. They were sneaking up on somebody.
Andi’s
heart started beating fast.
She had
never, ever seen a book like this before!
Chapter 2
Dime Novel
Andi
dropped Taffy’s lead rope and gasped. She suddenly wished she knew how to read.
“What
does it say?” she asked.
Riley
pointed to some black letters on the cover. “THE INDIAN CAPTIVE. Isn’t
that a jim-dandy name for a book?”
“The
Indian captive,” Andi said softly.
Andi knew
what an Indian captive was. It was when you had to live with the Indians. Even
if you didn’t want to. Only, she didn’t know why the Indians would want to
capture somebody and take them far away.
That
sounded mean . . . and scary.
Andi pushed the book away and picked up Taffy’s lead rope. “It’s just an old book,” she said. “And I can’t read.”
She
didn’t want to tell Riley that it looked like a scary book.
“Dime
novel, Andi,” Riley said. “It’s a dime
novel. It says so right on the cover. Dime novels are different than other
books. Dime novels are full of adventure—not like the books at school.”
Riley
made a face to show Andi what he thought about school books.
Andi
perked up. Full of adventure! That
sounded exciting. Andi loved adventure.
Even if
it might be a little bit scary.
Every
night before bed, Andi’s sister Melinda read out loud from a book with no
pictures. Andi didn’t know what was going on in that book. She always fell
asleep when Melinda was reading.
“I
wouldn’t fall asleep if Melinda was reading this dime novel,” she said.
“Nope,”
Riley agreed. “You sure wouldn’t. You would stay awake for sure.”
He rolled
the book up and stuffed it back in his pocket. “If you want, I can read it to
you sometime. I read real good.”
“Is that
why you didn’t have to go to school last year?” Andi wanted to know. “’Cause
you can already read?”
A sudden
idea popped into her head. Maybe if Riley taught her to read, she wouldn’t have
to go to school in the fall.
Before
she could tell him her great idea, Riley laughed. “Even if you can read, you
still have to go to school. But Uncle Sid lets me work on your ranch instead.
He’s the best uncle in the whole world!”
Then
Riley stopped laughing. His eyes turned sad. “When my mother gets well, I’ll go
home,” he said softly. “Then I’ll have to go back to school.”
Andi did
not want Riley to leave the ranch. Not ever. He was a good friend. He let her
ride Midnight. He made her laugh.
Andi felt
a little sad inside. She knew Riley missed his mother. He had to live with his
Uncle Sid, the ranch boss, until she was well again.
“When I
say my prayers at night, I always say one for your mother,” Andi said. Even though I don’t want you to leave the
ranch.
But she
didn’t say that part out loud.
“Thanks,”
Riley said. He pulled out the book again. “Do you want me to read it right now?
You’ll like it. It’s exciting.”
Andi
frowned. She did not want to stop training Taffy. She wanted to lead her little
foal around the pasture all day long.
But then
she looked up. The sun was high in the sky. It was almost lunchtime. She
remembered what Chad told her at breakfast.
Go
slow, Andi. Train Taffy a little bit at a time. Don’t wear her out.
For once,
Chad did not sound bossy. He sounded like he knew what he was talking about.
“Okay,”
Andi said. “We can go up in the hayloft. You can read me your dime novel while
I play with the kittens.”
Riley
gave Andi a big smile. Then he dashed to the fence. “Hurry up!” he yelled.
Andi did
not feel like hurrying up. She was not sure she wanted to hear a book about
Indian captives.
Even if
Riley said the book was exciting and full of adventure.
She took
off Taffy’s halter. “You can play with Coco until I get back,” she said.
Taffy
galloped over to her mother. But before she took a drink of her mother’s warm
milk, the baby horse touched noses with Andi’s pony, Coco.
“Maybe you can make Coco gallop,” Andi told
Taffy. “Then he won’t be so pokey.”
She waved
good-bye, climbed over the fence, and skipped all the way to the barn.
Riley was
waiting for her.
Andi
climbed the ladder to the hayloft. She picked up a kitten and plopped down in
the dry, golden hay. It smelled good—just like summertime.
The
kitten purred.
Andi felt
sleepy. Training Taffy was a lot of work.
But as
soon as Riley started reading, Andi’s eyes popped wide open.
Riley was
right. His dime novel was full of adventure. It was exciting. Indians rushed
around. They sneaked up on people in their cabins. They captured them.
Then
Riley stopped reading. He looked at Andi.
Andi felt
shivers go up and down her arms, but she said, “Keep reading, Riley!’
So he
did.
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