A Medallion

Chapter 11

Vanessa's POV:

The arrival of new horses prompted a chorus of nickers.  Curious heads popped out of wide stalls to watch the newcomers pass by.  The air-conditioning brought immediate relief from the hot temperatures outside.

"These three stalls here are free, you can put them in there," I said as I pointed, then stepped back to allow them to enter.  

As Lacy led Russo in, she squealed and said, "Oh Tessa, they have those fancy automatic waterers!"  

I nearly chuckled at her enthusiasm.  

"Really?"  Tessa led Challenger in and let him sniff the shavings as she looked skeptically at the automatic waterer.  

"Is this one of those where the horse has to push down on it in order to fill it up?"  She asked me.  

I nodded.  "Yep, the newest state of the art automatic waterers.  They're really nice, no lugging buckets ever again."  

Tessa's eyebrows were still raised as she looked back at it.  "Okay..."  

She unclipped Challenger's lead rope and whispered something to him, then put a kiss on his brow and stepped out of the stall.  Challenger snorted and pawed at the shavings.  She glared at him.  "Don't you dare roll."  

She hung Challenger's lead rope on the bar by his stall and turned to me.  "Well, what now?"  

Just then Ms. Festor came walking up, and I introduced her to the group.  She flashed that wide smile of hers and said, "Why don't the adults come with me and you girls can go out on your own?"  

The adults were agreeable, no doubt wanting to talk about boring things like how much this place had cost to build and how many horses were in it, etc.  Me, Tessa, and Lacy were left to our own devices.  

I clapped my hands while they walked away.  "I'm so excited to show you everything we have here at Vantage Point.  Shall we start with the barn?"  

"Yeah," said Lacy excitedly.  Her head was turning in all directions, she could hardly take it all in.

Tessa, on the other hand, was more calm, her face closed off.  "How many horses do you have here?"  She asked.  

"In this barn we can fit about twenty-five," I said breezily.  "There are two other barns and they can fit thirty-five each.  This barn is more private."  

Lacy was already on the move, gravitating towards the grooming bays.  "Ooooh, you have a solarium!"  

"Two, actually."  Tessa and I followed her over.  

"Each grooming station is equipped with whatever you may need, in case you happen to loose something."  I pointed to the saddle and bridle rack.  "You can put your tack there so you're all ready to go once you're finished grooming.  Of course, if you don't want to tack up your horse or don't have the time, you can always have one of the grooms do it for you."  

"Do you have grooms do the tacking up for you?"  Asked Tessa, leveling me with piercing gaze.  

I debated about lying.  I had a feeling Tessa wouldn't like it if I said that sometimes I did. But I decided honesty was the best policy.  "Sometimes.  It depends on my schedule and if I feel like it that day."

"How many grooming stations do you have?" Asked Lacy.  

"Six here, and six more down at the end to ensure that everyone can use one if needed, and so that you wouldn't have to walk half a mile to do so."