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Max was behind her until he spoke.
    She turned around. “Not so good,” she said worriedly. “Last week I thought it was just the cold weather that was making him so listless. But he doesn’t seem much better now that he’s inside. Do you think he’s sick?”
    “I’ve been worried about Pepper, too. That’s why Iasked Judy Barker to look at him the last time she was here.”
    “What did she say?” Lisa asked. Carole had told her friends lots of stories about the vet’s work, and the way she had healed horses with all kinds of seemingly mysterious ailments. Lisa hoped Judy could do the same for Pepper.
    But Max was shaking his head. “She didn’t feel there was much to be done. Pepper is old. Very old. He’s just getting tired out.”
    Lisa knew that since his retirement, Pepper hadn’t had as much energy as he used to. She figured that she’d just have to get used to this calmer personality of his. Besides, Pepper had been staying inside for only a few days, and he had spent one night out in freezing temperatures. It would probably take him a while to recover from that, especially at his age. She just wished that she had thought to ask Max to bring Pepper inside earlier, as soon as it had started getting chilly at night.
    Still, she thought that Judy should be doing something for Pepper other than calling him old. “Did she give you any medicine for him or anything?” she asked.
    Max put one hand on Lisa’s shoulder. “The only medicine Pepper needs right now is to know that he still has friends like you who care about him.”
    “Oh, I do,” Lisa replied fervently. “I’ll make sure he knows it.” As Max headed back to his office, Lisa picked up a body brush and let herself into Pepper’s stall. Talkinggently to the old horse, she started to groom his already spotless coat. She knew that most horses, including Pepper, enjoyed being groomed whether they needed it or not. They just liked the attention and the feel of the brushes. Lisa had often thought of it as being a lot like a massage. Now she made sure she took special care to hit all of the spots Pepper most liked scratched.
    By the time she left Pepper’s stall, Lisa was sure that the old horse looked happier than he had when she’d arrived. He even moved to the front of the stall and watched as she walked away. She knew that, because she turned around at the end of the hallway to blow him a kiss. He gave a little nicker, as if he understood what she was doing.
    Lisa smiled as she headed outside to meet her friends. Max was right. All Pepper needed was more attention. He had probably been bored out there in the pasture by himself all the time. She vowed to spend some time with him whenever she came to Pine Hollow.

T HAT NIGHT AT the dinner table at Stevie’s house, the talk was all about Thanksgiving and the Lakes’ upcoming trip to visit Mrs. Lake’s sister and her family in Darlington, Maryland. They were leaving the next afternoon right after school. Stevie had been so busy at Pine Hollow lately that she hadn’t started packing yet, but she figured she’d do it right after dinner. Stevie never wasted much time on boring things like packing.
    Stevie always looked forward to this yearly trip, despite the fact that her aunt’s Thanksgiving dinner had to be among the worst in the country. Aside from the turkey and stuffing, the whole dinner always consisted entirely of root vegetables—turnips, parsnips, rutabagas, and the like. Over the years, Stevie and her brothers haddevised plenty of ingenious ways of slipping the worst of these vegetables to the family dogs.
    Even though Thanksgiving dinner didn’t rank high on Stevie’s list of fun things in life, seeing her cousins definitely did. There were three of them, and they were all girls, which meant that for once Stevie’s brothers were outnumbered.
    Stevie’s other favorite thing about the trip was going to the Darlington Fall Festival, a small country fair that was held every year