Heads Up, Horses! Read online

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  CONTENTS

  Title Page

  Copyright Notice

  Dedication

  Meet the Wind Dancers

  CHAPTER 1: Kick Off!

  CHAPTER 2: Paddock of Dreams

  CHAPTER 3: A Mismatched (Soccer) Match

  CHAPTER 4: A Rigorous Referee

  CHAPTER 5: A Solo Sport

  The Winner’s Circle

  Preview: Horses Her Way

  Copyright

  For Mia, Ben, and Naomi—Sibley Miller

  To Susan Summit Cyr for her knowledge of horses and her artistic skills, both shared with generosity

  —Tara Larsen Chang and Jo Gershman

  Meet the Wind Dancers

  One day, a lonely little girl named Leanna blows on a doozy of a dandelion. To her delight and surprise, four tiny horses spring from the puff of the dandelion seeds!

  Four tiny horses with shiny manes and shimmery wings. Four magical horses who can fly!

  Dancing on the wind, surrounded by magic halos, they are the Wind Dancers.

  The leader of the quartet is Kona. She has a violet-black coat and vivid purple mane, and she flies inside a halo of magical flowers.

  Brisa is as pretty as a tropical sunset with her coral-pink color and blonde mane and tail. Magical jewels make up Brisa’s halo, and she likes to admire her gems (and herself) every time she looks in a mirror.

  Sumatra is silvery blue with sea-green wings. Much like the ocean, she can shift from calm to stormy in a hurry! Her magical halo is made up of ribbons, which flutter and dance as she flies.

  The fourth Wind Dancer is—surprise!—a colt. His name is Sirocco. He’s a fiery gold, and he likes to go-go-go. Everywhere he goes, his magical halo of butterflies goes, too.

  The tiny, flying horses live together in the dandelion meadow in a lovely house carved out of the trunk of an apple tree. Every day, Leanna wishes she’ll see the magical little horses again. (She’s sure they’re nearby, but she doesn’t know they’re invisible to people.) And the Wind Dancers get ready for their next adventure.

  CHAPTER 1

  Kick Off!

  It was a bright day in the dandelion meadow, but as she flew with Brisa, Sumatra, and Sirocco, Kona was feeling as blue as the sky.

  “I don’t know what we should do today,” she said with a sigh. She flew over to a branch of an oak tree and kicked an acorn. It sailed through the air and landed with a plunk in an abandoned bird’s nest in a neighboring tree.

  “Looks to me like you’re doing something already!” Sumatra said, impressed.

  “What do you mean?” Kona asked dully.

  “Hello? You just made a nest in one!” Sirocco pointed out. He kicked at the air, only to send himself into a wobbly double back-flip. “Whoa!”

  “As you can see,” Sumatra said dryly, as the Wind Dancers flew on, “not everyone has your kicking talent, Kona.”

  “That’s why you were such a star in Sumatra’s talent show!” Brisa added sweetly.

  “That’s nice of you to say,” Kona said, sighing again, “but lately, my kicking has kind of … lost its kick for me.”

  The horses had arrived at the school, which was surrounded by a tall, wooden fence. Idly, Kona reached out and tapped a hoof against a pinecone dangling from a nearby tree branch. The cone landed in a knot in the fence and stuck fast!

  Sirocco gaped at Kona’s bull’s-eye.

  “You’re such a kicker!” he sputtered.

  Kona tried to smile at Sirocco, but she feared it came out as more of a frown.

  “Here’s the thing,” Kona said to her friends. “Sumatra’s talent show is so last month. Now, I’ve got nobody to entertain with my kicking!”

  “But that doesn’t mean you have to stop practicing,” Sumatra said encouragingly to Kona. “With every kick, you’re getting better and better at hitting targets!”

  “But I think I’ve kicked every acorn, pinecone, and apple in this meadow,” Kona answered. She swooped down and kicked up a stone on the ground with her hoof. Then she rose back into the air, casually juggling the stone from hoof to hoof. “And I’ve kicked them at every tree knot, branch, and bird’s nest I could possibly find.”

  “You’re weird!” Sirocco said. “Can you imagine me saying, ‘Oh, I’ve eaten every kind of pie ever invented, so I’ll just stop now?’”

  Before Kona could respond, she heard a high-pitched voice on the other side of the fence.

  “Over here! Kick it!”

  “What?” Kona exclaimed. She was so stunned, she fumbled and dropped her stone.

  “You guys!” Kona said to her friends, breathlessly. “Did you hear that? It sounded like a girl. A girl wanting me to kick my stone to her!”

  “But how is that possible?” Sumatra gasped. “People can’t see us!”

  “Or … can they?” Kona said excitedly. “Maybe things have changed.”

  Together, the Wind Dancers flew nearer to the fence to get a closer look. As they fluttered in the air, they spotted the girl who’d called out to Kona.

  And she was—guess who?—Leanna!

  Her brown eyes sparkled, and her wavy, blonde hair bounced in a sporty ponytail.

  The Wind Dancers were too thrilled and excited to speak. Finally, Leanna was able to see them!

  Kona held her breath and waited for Leanna to say hello.

  Leanna looked straight at Kona and she shouted again.

  “I’ve got it, I’ve got it!” she called.

  “I’m confused,” Kona said to her friends. “What does Leanna mean—”

  “Look out!” Sumatra interrupted her.

  Kona followed Sumatra’s gaze and neighed in alarm. Then she darted to the side just in time to avoid being beaned by a giant black-and-white ball!

  Kona watched as Leanna skillfully fielded the ball, not with her hands but with her foot! She kicked it to a girl who was running toward her. The girl, in turn, kicked it toward a large, rectangular net. An identical net rested at the opposite end of the field.

  Kona was so fascinated by this game that she almost forgot to be disappointed that Leanna, as always, couldn’t see them.

  Until she looked at Sumatra, Sirocco, and Brisa.

  “Leanna wasn’t talking to us!” Sumatra said with a wail.

  “We’re still invisible to people,” Sirocco agreed glumly.

  “No matter how beautiful we are,” Brisa added, with a sigh.

  Searching desperately for something that would cheer up her friends, Kona pointed her hoof down at the playing field.

  “Isn’t that the most amazing game?”

  The other Wind Dancers glanced at the running, shouting, kicking kids.

  “They’re using their feet to catch that big ball,” Sumatra said, bewildered.

  “Or their heads!” Sirocco exclaimed, as one of the girls bounced the black-and-white ball off her forehead.

  “They look like they’re having such fun,” Brisa added.

  Kona’s eyes drifted back to the game. Leanna had the black-and-white ball again. She was dribbling it down the field. Half of the girls seemed to be chasing her, while the other half were protecting her from the ones who were chasing her!

  Kona caught her breath as Leanna forged ahead and punted the ball into the net.

  “Goal!” Leanna shouted, throwing her hands above her head. A few of her teammates gathered around her and cheered, while the kids on the other team kicked at the dirt i
n frustration.

  From the sidelines, a teacher shouted, “Good play, Leanna! The score’s one to zero!”

  “Wow!” Kona breathed, turning back to her friends. “Blocking goals. And scoring goals. And gaining points. This game takes kicking to a whole new level!”

  “I wonder what it’s called,” Sirocco said.

  “Wait here!” Kona told her friends. She zipped down to the playing field.

  Kona quickly figured out that each team wanted to kick the ball into the other team’s net. But it wasn’t as simple as that. There were lots of rules. You couldn’t foul (that means touch) another player to get the ball away from her, and you couldn’t go outside the lines of the playing field.

  Kona watched it all intensely.

  And that’s how she learned the name of this wonderful game.

  When Kona finally flew up to rejoin the other Wind Dancers, her black eyes were gleaming and her purple tail was arched high in the air.

  “The game,” she announced dramatically, “is called ‘soccer.’ And I can’t wait to play it!”

  CHAPTER 2

  Paddock of Dreams

  Kona waited for her friends to whinny in excitement. But instead, Brisa had an announcement of her own!

  “I know what that game reminds me of,” she cried. “Andy!”

  “Andy?” Kona said. “You mean Thelma’s new foal?”

  Thelma was one of the giant, non-flying, un-magical horses the Wind Dancers had met on their very first day in the dandelion meadow. The chestnut mare lived in a paddock with two friends—Benny, a haughty black gelding, and Fluff, a little filly with a dappled gray coat. Now that Thelma had a baby colt, Andy, the big horses were a crew of four.

  Unlike the Wind Dancers, the big horses had human owners, who brushed them and fed them and took them out for rides. And they weren’t, of course, invisible to people the way the Wind Dancers were.

  The Wind Dancers thought it was all a bit strange.

  The big horses thought the Wind Dancers were a bit strange, too.

  But, the Wind Dancers and the big horses were all, well, horses. And they all lived in the same dandelion meadow. So, they were friends. Especially since baby Andy had arrived—and Brisa had fallen head over hooves for him.

  “Why don’t we go visit?” Brisa proposed with a grin. “Unlike people, Andy can see us. And he’s sooooo cute!”

  “Here Brisa goes again,” Sumatra giggled.

  “I love his little knock-knees,” Brisa said with a happy sigh. “And the way his forelock flops into his eyes. And—”

  “—and what about soccer?” Kona interrupted Brisa eagerly. “Don’t you think it would be so much fun to play?”

  “I don’t know,” Brisa crooned. “That black-and-white ball isn’t nearly as cute as baby Annnnndy.”

  Kona felt a little desperate. How could she get the Wind Dancers to play soccer if Brisa was so busy cooing over Thelma’s little colt?!

  “Brisa,” Kona cautioned, “I don’t know if Thelma’s going to want us hanging around Andy. You know how tough she can be!”

  “Oh, please!” Brisa scoffed, her eyes still dreamy. “A mommy just loves it when other horses fuss over her cute little baaaaby!”

  “He is adorable,” Sumatra admitted.

  “I wonder if he’s old enough to talk about guy stuff,” Sirocco chimed in.

  “Okay, okay,” Kona grumbled. “Let’s go visit the big horses.”

  The Wind Dancers fluttered in the air and headed for the big horses’ paddock.

  “You know what’s neat about soccer?” Kona said as they flew. “It’s just like kicking, but better! Because it’s got other players. Teams! Isn’t that great?”

  “Sure, I guess,” Sumatra said as she flapped her green wings evenly. “I don’t get the point, though. Why does one team want to score goals against the other?”

  Kona gaped at Sumatra.

  “Hello?” she exclaimed. “To win!”

  “Well, what do you win?” asked Sirocco. “A pie? If there’s food, I’ll sign up for soccer!”

  “You don’t win something,” Kona said with a frown. “At least, I don’t think so. The point is just to know that you’re the best!”

  “Uh-huh,” Sumatra yawned.

  “When you think about it,” Kona pressed on slyly, “a game where you don’t use your hands is perfect for us. We’ve got nothing but feet! In fact, I think we’d be soccer stars. After we visit Andy, why don’t we divide up into teams of two and play soccer against each other!”

  Sumatra stopped yawning and neighed in alarm!

  “Divide up?” she said. “Play against each other? Kona, ‘divide’ and ‘against’ aren’t very Wind Dancery words. The four of us are a team. You don’t want to break us up, do you?”

  Kona snorted dismissively.

  “Oh, Sumatra,” she said. “It’s just a fun game. Don’t you want to play? And win?”

  “Well, I’m not sure,” Sumatra countered. “If it’s just a game, winning shouldn’t be important, right?”

  “No, you don’t get it!” Kona insisted, shaking her head. “Winning is what makes playing a game fun!”

  Sumatra just looked at her blankly.

  Sirocco did another loop-de-loop.

  And Brisa zipped ahead, singing, “La, la, la! I can’t wait to play with the baaaaaby!”

  “Fine,” Kona said with a frown. “I guess soccer is just a game I won’t get to play.”

  * * *

  “Wheeeee!”

  Andy whinnied playfully from the big horses’ paddock when he saw the Wind Dancers approaching. He hopped up on his hind legs, pawing at the air.

  “Oh, Andy,” Kona said with a laugh, as she fluttered up to the colt. “You can’t fly!”

  “But you’re adorable, anyway,” Brisa quickly assured the foal, stroking his silky ears with her nose. “Even without wings.”

  Thelma trotted up, her nostrils flaring!

  “Even without wings?!” she repeated indignantly. She turned to her little colt.

  “Andy, trust me, you don’t want wings,” Thelma told him. “Galloping on the ground is much more dignified than whizzing through the air like tiny horseflies. Using your hooves is just more … horsey. You’ll understand when you’re older.”

  “Well, I’m older and I still don’t understand,” said a quiet, raspy voice from behind Thelma. All the horses turned and saw Fluff, the dappled gray filly.

  “I wish I could fly, too!” Fluff added with a shy smile.

  Thelma rolled her eyes and neighed over to the last of the big horses, the gelding, who was on the other side of the paddock, pointedly ignoring the group.

  “Benny,” she called. “Will you talk some sense into Fluff? She’s filling Andy’s head with silly Wind Dancer dreams.”

  The Wind Dancers looked at each other and rolled their eyes, too.

  Oh, Thelma! Kona thought with a smug grin. She doesn’t understand how amazing it is to be magic.

  Then her smile dimmed as she added to herself, Just like Sirocco, Sumatra, and Brisa don’t understand how magical it can be to play soccer!

  Meanwhile, Benny trotted up. He tossed his black mane proudly.

  “Ah, Fluff,” he scoffed. “Why would you want to be a puny little Wind Dancer when you’re a big, beautiful horse?!”

  “Maybe because we have magic halos, for one!” Sumatra suggested.

  “And we’re beautiful!” Brisa added, spinning so her magic jewels sparkled in the sunshine.

  “And … and … we know about a sport called soccer!” Kona burst out.

  Benny snorted. “Whatever—hey, wait a minute, what was that last one?”

  For the first time since the Wind Dancers had arrived, Benny looked at them with more than a little interest.

  Kona felt a glimmer of hope. Benny was always looking for a way to prove that the big horses were better than the little Wind Dancers. Maybe she could get him to agree to play soccer! (And by the time he realized Kona was a
champion kicker, it would be too late!)

  “Soccer,” Kona explained, “is the best game ever!”

  “Hmmm,” Benny said thoughtfully. He sounded intrigued.

  “You see,” Kona went on excitedly, “you make a line down the center of the field. Each team starts on opposite sides of the line. But once you kick off, you can run anywhere you want! Then you use your hooves or your head to pass a ball to your teammates and try to score goals!”

  As Kona continued to explain soccer to Benny, the bouncy foal began to play with a big, red Jolly Ball.

  “See?” Kona said with a grin. “Andy is showing us his toy ball! He gets it! The only other things you need to get a soccer game started are two goals.”

  Excitedly, Kona flew to one end of the oval paddock. There was a nearly empty water trough next to the fence.

  “One goal,” she announced, pointing to the trough with her nose. On the other side of the paddock was a hay manger. She winged over to it and declared, “Two goals!”

  “But Kona,” Sumatra protested, sounding hurt, “remember what we said about dividing and conquering before?”

  “I do remember,” Kona replied, her eyes gleaming. “But I’ve just realized how we can play soccer and still be a team. We can play against the big horses!”

  Sumatra’s mouth dropped open. Brisa’s wide, sparkly eyes got wider and even more sparkly. And Sirocco did a back-flip in the air (which Andy, clumsily, tried to imitate).

  “I guess I can’t argue with that,” Sumatra admitted.

  “Four against four!” Sirocco declared. “That’s perfect!”

  Then he looked at Benny and Thelma and said, “That is, if you big horses are up for the challenge!”

  “Oh,” Thelma began haughtily, “I don’t think so—”

  But Benny cut her off with a competitive neigh.

  “We are so ready,” he neighed at Sirocco. He pawed at the dirt with his hoof while Andy kicked at the Jolly Ball with a giggly whinny.