By Wednesday Maggie's ankle was almost back to normal. She was out
feeding calves when Tim and Jodi's car drove in.
They ran over, and Jodi pointed at Maggie's purple ankle. "What
happened?" she asked.
"The horses knocked me down," Maggie said with a sigh. "And now Dad's
going to sell them."
"But Molly is your friend," said Tim.
"Yes," said Maggie, "but Mom never wanted Dad to buy them. When I got
hurt, he said he would sell them."
"How soon will they go?" Tim wondered.
"Soon," said Maggie. "Mr. Croon already said he wants to buy them."
"Then we have to ride Molly today," Tim whispered.
"Children!" Tim's mom called. She and Maggie's mom looked excited.
"Aunt Betty says the blackberries are ripe. Let's all go pick some for
supper."
Maggie looked at Tim and made a face. Normally she liked to pick
blackberries, but not today.
"Do we have to?" asked Tim. "Maggie said her ankle hurts." Maggie
wondered what he was talking about. He added, "And you know how whiny
Jodi can get."
"I don't whine," Jodi protested. But then she caught on to what Tim
had in mind. "Well," she added, "maybe I would with the mosquitoes and
sticker bushes and all."
"Why don't you two go by yourselves?" said Maggie.