At the Premiere. JoAnn S. Dawson

herself. The colt didn’t need much encouragement, trotting easily between the girls. In no time they reached the back doors of Lucky Foot and peered inside.

      “Dad! What are you…”Jody began, and then gasped, “What is that?”

      Jody’s father was in the middle of the aisle with his arms crossed and a smile on his face, leaning against a beautifully lacquered rectangular wooden box with brass handles. “What do you mean, what is that?” he asked, standing aside to give a better view. “Haven’t you ever seen a tack trunk before?”

      “A tack trunk? For…for us?” Mary asked, running her hands over the smooth wood of the lid.

      “Well, I thought you two might need a good place to put your stuff for the trip. This is big enough for your brushes and tack and everything. Jody, put Star in his stall and I’ll show you all the compartments I built into it.”

      “Dad! You built it?” Jody cried, leading Star into his stall. “It’s beautiful!”

      “Come look,” he said, carefully lifting the lid. Just inside the top of the trunk nestled a wooden shelf with various compartments for the different sizes of brushes and currycombs. A handle attached to the middle of the shelf, when lifted, revealed a space underneath which could accommodate two saddles side by side. Between the space meant for the saddles and across from each other on the inside wall of the trunk hung two bridle racks. And just above each rack, a tiny brass plate, one engraved with the name “LADY” and the other “GYPSY”.

      Mary and Jody peered inside the trunk, open-mouthed but speechless. Finally Jody turned to her father and wrapped her arms around his waist in a bear hug.

      “Mary, it’s from your mom too. We worked on it together. It was her idea to add the brass plates, and she helped design the saddle racks. She’s becoming quite the carpenter,” he said, blushing with pride.

      “I can’t believe she didn’t tell me!” Mary cried. “She’s usually really bad at keeping secrets.”

      Before the girls could say another word, a low rumble could be heard coming from the gravel lane outside the stable. Finnegan, who had slept through the entire tack trunk surprise, suddenly leapt from his bed of straw in the corner and ran barking out the back doors.

      “What in the world…?” Mary frowned, scrambling through the doors herself, closely followed by Jody and her dad. There, grumbling noisily up the lane in a cloud of dust, came the second surprise of the day.

      “Well, what do you know,” Jody’s dad said with a grin. “Girls, here’s your transportation to New York City.”