SANDY LANE STABLES, BOOK 5 - DREAM PONY

CHAPTER 3 THE UNFAIRNESS OF LIFE

"So you didn't win your precious dream pony then," Jack laughed as he read the local newspaper. "What was that?" Jess looked at her brother over the top of her horse book. "You didn't win that competition - the one you made Mum sign the form for," Jack started again and grinned annoyingly. "Give me that." Jess scowled, grabbing the Daily Advertiser out of Jack's hands. Quickly she turned to the page Jack had been looking at and scanned the article. Sure enough, the winner of the 'Win a Dream Pony Competition' was announced. So that was that then. Jess threw down the paper and sighed. She'd known there was no chance of winning, but a little part of her had half-hoped that she might. Jess picked up the paper again and scrutinised the word mournfully. "Local girl, Amanda Fisher, twelve 

years old and now the proud owner of her dream pony..." Jess read aloud. "Ah, the unfairness of life." Jack swallowed the last of his toast and grabbed his coat from the back of a chair. "It's a valuable lesson to learn," he said. "The Jess Adamses of this world never win the competitions. It's always the Amanda Fishers." He was out of the door before Jess had time to throw a cushion at him. At school the next day, Rosie mentioned the competition too. "I saw that the pony had been won by someone local. Lucky girl, whoever she is." "Isn't she?" Jess replied. "Of course I knew I wasn't really going to win, but there was no harm in hoping." Rosie smiled sympathetically as Jess shrugged her shoulders and moved on in the lunch queue. "Well, yours was a good tiebreaker, Jess," Rosie said as she slid her tray along the canteen shelf and put a plate of salad on it. "Still, just think of that two hour hack Nick's got lined up for us on Saturday." "That's true," Jess grinned, piling her plate with chips. "Things aren't so bad, are they?" "Jess Adam!" Miss Gregory, the maths teacher, appeared at her elbow. "If I don't see your homework on my desk by the end of the lunchbreak you'll be doing it after school under my supervision." Jess made a face at the teacher's departing back and Rosie laughed reassuringly. "Come on," she whispered. "I'll help you finish it. It's not that difficult actually." 

By the time school bell signalled the end of the day at 4 o'clock, Jess had almost forgotten about the competition. With Rosie's help, she had finished her maths homework and handed it in on time. Then they had had double English till the end of the day. "Very good, Jess," the English teacher, Mrs. Peters, had commented, staring over Jess's pad. "I'm sure you'll make an excellent artist." "What? Oh-" Jess reddened. "I-I-" "Hmm, well don't let me catch you doing it again. But Mrs. Peters was smiling as she walked up to the front of the classroom. "Sorry," Jess mumbled as she packed up her things and left the classroom, hurrying to catch the bus home. As Jess turned down the path to the ramshackle old cottage where she lived, her mother opened the front door. "Hurry up Jess," she called, waving the telephone receiver in her hand. "There's a phone call for you." "Who is it?" Jess cried, flinging down her school bag in the hallway. "Wait and see," her mother said mysteriously as she handed the receiver over to Jess. "Hello," Jess said, a little breathless from the run. "Is that Jess Adams?" said a friendly female voice at the other end. "Hi, I'm phoning from Browne's Department Store. You recently entered out 'Win a Dream Pony Competition' -the one sponsored by Vrai Vert Cosmetics?" "Yes, yes I did," Jess said, her heart beating faster as she waited for the woman to go on. "Well, congratulations," the voice continued.

"You're now the proud owner of the pony." "What?" Jess's heart was in her mouth. "But I-I thought someone called Amanda Fisher won it. It said so in the paper." "She did," the woman said. Only unfortunately what we didn't find out until today was that her parents hadn't actually given her permission to enter." Jess's heart started to beat faster. "But didn't they sign the entry form?" she asked. "I'm afraid that Amanda Fisher forged her mother's signature," the woman went on to explain. "And her parents don't want her to have a pony. So that disqualifies her - we cannot give her a pony if her parents don't agree. It's very sad for her, but good news for you as first runner-up. I only wish we'd found out the truth before it had gone to press." 'Good news for you.' The words rang in Jess's ear. "Jess, are you there?" The woman started to speak again. "Yes, yes, I'm here," Jess said, excited. "Well, I was going to be phoning you anyway with the news that you'd won some runner-up beauty products," the woman explained. "But I'm afraid this means you won't be getting them now." Jess almost laughed out loud. Imagine Rosie's face if she had won those! But that didn't matter. And now the woman was starting to talk again. "Needless to say, I had a word with your mother, but it seems that her signature on your entry form was genuine, although I get the impression she was a little taken aback. Of course there's free stabling for a year at Rychester Riding Stables and the pony's tack is part of the prize too... anyway, I've popped all the details 

in the post. You should get them tomorrow. So well done Jess... Jess? Are you still there?" Jess hadn't heard much of what the woman was saying but one word had jumped out at her - Rychester. Had she heard correctly? Had the woman really said Rychester? Jess stood rooted to the spot, butterflies darting and spirialling in her stomach. "But I ride at Sandy Lane Stables," she started slowly. "Can't I keep the pony there?" "I don't think that woud be possible," the woman said. "You see the deal's already been arranged." "But couldn't it be changed?" Jess pushed, starting to panic. "Not at this stage, I'm afriad." "Oh. "Jess didn't know what to say. It was a dream come true to have won a pony, but to have to stable it somewhere other than Sandy Lane and worse still - Rychester! Suddenly Jess pulled herself to her senses. She was being silly. Here she was, being handed a prize pony on a plate, and she was arguing about the stabling. How selfish of her! "Rychester it will have to be then... yes thanks," Jess said, quick to remember her manners. Gently her mother took the phone away from her. From what seemed like miles away from Jess could hear her mother's voice, wrapping up the conversation. "Yes, thanks for ringing. We'll wait for the details. Of course Jess will be happy to do some publicity photo-shots. Yes that would be great. Speak to you soon. Bye." And than she had put the receiver down the turned to Jess. "Well," she said finally. "I'd never have signed that

 form if I thought there was a chance you'd actually win the wretched thing. I don't know what we'll do when the years up and the free stabling comes to an end, but I suppose we'll have to cross that bridge when we come to it." But she was smiling, and Jess could see she wasn't cross. "We'll talk about it when Dad gets home. Are you all right, Jess?" "All right? All right?" Jess let out a whoop of delight and flung her arms around her mother. "A pony! A pony!" she cried. "My very own pony! I can't believe it. This is the happiest day of my life. It's everything I've ever dreamed of!"