Horse-Sitters by Bonnie Bryant

saw her friends.
    “No, the real party is going to be on Wednesday,” Carole told her, “when some extremely lovely ladies will be enjoying the lovely warm breezes and nibbling some lovely little sandwiches under the lovely apple tree.”
    “Uh-oh,” Stevie said. “She’s really excited about this stupid tea party thing, huh?”
    Carole nodded. “All I can say is we’d better make sure it’s just as lovely as she’s expecting it to be. We’re still on for grocery shopping tomorrow, right?”
    “Yep,” Lisa confirmed. “My mom will pick us all up right after school. We’ll have to hurry, though, if we don’t want to be late for riding class.” She sighed. “Boy, will I be glad when this week is over. Money or no money, it will be nice to have a life again.”
    And this time, even Stevie couldn’t help agreeing.

“D ON ’ T EVEN BOTHER to park,” Stevie told Mrs. Atwood on Tuesday afternoon. “We’ll be out in five minutes flat.”
    “All right, dear,” Mrs. Atwood said. She pulled the car into the loading lane in front of the supermarket and turned off the engine. “I’ll wait right here.”
    “Thanks, Mom,” Lisa said. She, Carole, and Stevie jumped out of the car and rushed inside. The girls were glad to see that the store wasn’t crowded.
    “All right, where’s that list you made?” Carole asked Lisa.
    Lisa dug it out of her pocket. “The things Aunt Eugenia specifically asked for I marked with a star, see?”
    “If we’re going to get everything and still make it to ridinglessons on time, we’re going to have to split up,” Stevie decided, scanning the list. Grabbing it from Lisa’s hand, she carefully ripped it into three equal pieces. “Here we go. Now let’s get started.”
    Carole read over her section as her friends hurried off. “Scones,” she read. She paused. She had no idea what that was, but it was one of the starred items. “Scones,” she said again, glancing around desperately. Maybe she should skip that one and ask Lisa about it when she saw her. The next item on the list was cucumber. Carole nodded happily. She knew what that was.
    A few minutes later Stevie was scowling at her list in frustration. She had already found sugar cubes, lemons, and gingersnaps, but the next item had her stumped. She didn’t even know how to pronounce it, let alone what it looked like or which aisle it might be in. “Pet—” she muttered, trying to sound it out. “Pet—it—”
    “How are you doing, Stevie?” Lisa said, turning into the aisle and hurrying over, pausing just long enough to grab a box of crackers off the shelf. “I’m more than halfway through my list. We might just make it to lessons on time after all.”
    “Don’t be so sure,” Stevie said. She pointed to the mystery item on her list. “What on earth is this?”
    Lisa looked. “Petit fours,” she read. “Oh, yeah, Aunt Eugenia was awfully definite about wanting those. They’re like little frosted cakes, about this big.” She held her thumb and forefinger about an inch and a half apart. “My mom always gets them forher bridge parties. They sell them here somewhere—maybe in the fancy-foods aisle? Come on, let’s check. I have to go there next myself.”
    “Great,” Stevie said. “Let’s go.”
    They didn’t even notice Carole as they hurried past the beverage aisle. She was standing in front of a huge wall of tea, dumbfounded. The list specified “loose tea.” Carole didn’t know what that was, but she would be surprised if they didn’t have it here, since they seemed to stock every type of tea ever invented or imagined. She glanced at her watch and gulped. They had already been in the store for much longer than the five minutes Stevie had promised. If they didn’t hurry, they would be late for their lesson. They still had to take all this food to the house before tacking up. After all, it wouldn’t do to let Eugenia’s lemon sorbet melt all over the locker room. Carole closed her eyes