Buttercup Mystery Read online

  As they approached the Starlings’ place, Willa was trying to imagine Starbuck as a foal.

  “Hey, look!” Ben called. “There’s Bess. She’s feeding Buttercup again.”

  Willa blinked and tried to focus. Sure enough, the little girl was right back at the pasture fence. She must have escaped from Sarah’s supervision again.

  “We have to tell the Starlings,” Willa said, swerving her bike into the gravel driveway. Ben skidded to a stop behind her.

  She pushed the doorbell three times, fast. Then she ran toward the pasture.

  Ben was just a few steps behind her. Mr. Starling spotted him when he answered the door. “Ben Dunlap, are you playing a trick on me?” he called out. Sarah and Chipper’s dad had a jolly tone, until he saw Ben’s face.

  “It’s Bess,” Ben yelled. “She’s by the pasture, sir.”

  Willa was already kneeling down next to Bess, making sure she was okay. The little girl had been leaning over the bottom board of the fence, trying to get closer to her favorite horse.

  “For Buttercup,” Bess said, holding out another bouquet.

  “Yes,” Willa replied. “You picked clover for Buttercup.”

  Bess shook her head. “Buttercups for Buttercup,” she declared.

  Willa slowly took in the words. “Can I see?” she asked Bess hopefully.

  Bess nodded and handed over the bouquet with pride.

  Mr. Starling had arrived, with Ben and Sarah and Chipper close behind.

  Willa stood up and held out the bouquet. “I think we might have solved the mystery,” she said.

  It was hard to believe that Bess had been feeding Buttercup some of the toxic flowers. Willa called Grandma Edna from the Starlings’ house to get advice.

  “There was just one strand in the whole big bouquet,” Willa explained. “When we asked Bess, she said that Buttercup didn’t like the buttercup flowers, so she hid them in the clover. Bess wanted Buttercup to eat the buttercups because they had the same name.”

  Grandma said it was good news that the horse didn’t like the taste of the flowers. “Since she wasn’t that sick, I’m sure she’ll recover. She didn’t show any of the serious signs of poisoning. But you have to get the horse away from Bess. We can’t have the little girl feeding the horse any more toxic plants.”

  Grandma had come up with an easy solution: Buttercup should live at Misty Inn for the time being. The workers had fixed the fence. Willa and Ben’s mom had painted it. And there was a clean stall in the barn. Grandma called to make sure it was okay, and she promised to come by later to check on the horse. Willa was relieved that they’d solved the problem, but she doubted it was time to help Sarah win the bet. The parade was in just three days.

  “We’re going to have a horse living in our field? In our barn?” Ben could hardly believe it.

  “It’s awfully nice of your folks to take Buttercup in,” Mr. Starling said as he led the mare out of the pasture.

  “Bye-bye, Buttercup,” Bess said from her mother’s arms. She sniffed and leaned her head on her mom’s shoulder.

  “It’s okay,” Willa said in her kindest voice. “She’s not going very far. You can come visit her at our house.”

  Buttercup swished her tail and took her time on the short journey. Meanwhile, Amos yipped and ran circles around the whole traveling band.

  “That puppy seems to have adopted Buttercup,” noted Mr. Starling.

  “Yeah,” Ben said. “He’s always sneaking into the pasture to see her. They’re friends.”

  “It’s not as odd as you might think,” Mr. Starling said. “I’m afraid you might be getting more than one new animal as guests at your inn.”

  Willa locked eyes with Ben. Was Mr. Starling saying what she thought he was saying? Willa crossed her fingers. It was great, knowing that they could offer Buttercup a safe, happy home, but if getting Amos was part of the deal, that would be even better.

  Chapter 10

  GRANDMA EDNA HAD BEEN RIGHT. The solution was easy. Buttercup started to improve as soon as she was at Misty Inn. The very next day, she was playfully nipping at Amos again. Willa and Ben volunteered to look after the sweet chestnut horse. Taking care of her was too fun to seem like a chore!

  Willa couldn’t believe it, but even her parents agreed it was nice to have a horse in their field. “It feels right,” Mom said on Friday morning as she looked out the kitchen window.

  “Mmm-hmm,” Dad murmured from behind the stove, where the final pot of chili was brewing. The carnival was the next day, and Dad wanted his chosen recipe’s flavors “to blend and deepen overnight.” Whatever that meant.

  Willa and Ben thought it was funny that no one ever talked about how, in the process of taking in Buttercup, they had also adopted a puppy—a feisty, funny puppy who was happy to race in the field and sleep in the barn.

  What everyone did want to talk about was the parade. Mr. Starling decided not to ride Buttercup. He wanted to give her time to recover. He did, however, agree to let Sarah ride Sweetums. “This way, I can walk right by your side,” he told his daughter. “The parade can get kind of crazy.”

  Grandma Edna had said the exact same thing, and she had meant it. But she had been so impressed with how Willa and Ben had helped around the farm and cared for the ailing Buttercup, she was willing to make an exception. She told her grandkids they could ride in the parade too. Willa would be on Starbuck and Ben on Jake, and she would walk with them, just to be safe.

  On the morning of parade day, Mom dropped the kids off at Miller Farm. They planned to put on their costumes in the barn and ride down to Main Street. There, they would meet up with Sarah and her dad.

  “We’ll be watching for you near the carnival grounds,” Mom reminded them. “Be careful and have fun!”

  “Be careful and have fun” seemed like the slogan for the parade. It was what all the adults said to them, but Willa and Ben were not worried. First of all, Grandma Edna would be there. Second of all, Willa trusted Starbuck and Ben trusted Jake. They had both spent a lot of time with the horses to make sure the animals trusted them, too.

  As they marched toward Main Street, Willa could not stop smiling. She was dressed like Annie Oakley, the famous sharpshooter from the Old West. Starbuck even looked a little like Annie’s horse on the TV show. Ben was dressed like a Jedi Knight, with a long brown robe that covered his whole backside and most of Jake’s, too.

  Grandma made tsk-tsk sounds when she saw the crowd in front of the hardware store. “If you told me this time last year that I’d be leading my two grandkids in this mess, I never would have believed you,” she said. Willa worried that Grandma might just turn them back around. Grandma was stubborn, but she was also a woman of her word. “I see Lloyd Starling over there. Let’s go.”

  Sarah looked almost magical in her Glinda the Good Witch costume. She was excited to see Willa and Ben, but she was almost more excited to see Jasper Langely.

  “Hey, Jasper,” she called out. “Guess who owes me a Triple Fudge Caramel Brownie Surprise?”

  Jasper tapped his finger to his chest. “Me,” he said.

  “Is that Wrangler?” Willa asked, looking at the horse Jasper was riding.

  “No,” he admitted. “My dad decided to ride Wrangler at the last second. This is Snacktime.”

  Willa nodded. The bay horse had long whiskers on her chin and a full round belly. “I like her name,” Willa said genuinely. “It fits her.”

  “You’re telling me,” Jasper said, and he patted the horse’s tummy. “She could eat two of those sundaes, no problem.”

  The local drum corps and brass band signaled the start of the parade with the song “Seventy-Six Trombones.” Ben could feel the beat of the drums in his chest. He sat tall on Jake’s back. Willa gave Starbuck a reassuring pat and wrapped her fingers in the pony’s coal-black mane.

  The parade made its way right through the center of town. Both neighbors and strangers lined the streets, cheering and waving as the horses passed. Bunches o
f colorful balloons bobbed in the air, marking the parade path. Willa saw clowns, teenagers on stilts, and some women in long skirts on old-fashioned bicycles, but the ponies and horses were the real stars of the show.

  As they neared the carnival grounds, Ben and Willa spotted their parents. Mom waved as Dad took pictures. Grandpa Reed was there. Lena, Chipper, and the rest of the Starlings yelled from the crowd too.

  Once they reached the end of the parade route, Grandma took Starbuck’s and Jake’s reins. “These two have done their job for the day,” she said, feeding each an apple slice. “I’ll take them home and then come back. You kids have fun. You’ve earned it.”

  Willa threw her arms around her grandma. “Thank you,” she said into the sleeve of Grandma’s jean jacket. “Thank you so much. This has been the best day I’ve had since we moved.”

  Grandma Edna put her hand on Willa’s head. “Of course, dear.”

  “Thanks, Grandma,” Ben said as he handed her his helmet. “It was fun.”

  Willa looked at her brother and rolled her eyes. “It was more than fun,” she said. “It was the best.” She gave Starbuck a kiss, and they went off to find their friends.

  After cotton candy, corn on the cob, and lemonade, they hardly had any room for chili. But they still went to the Greater Chincoteague Chili Cook-off booth.

  Even though there were ten different chilis, Willa knew which one was her dad’s. So did Lena. “It’s the recipe with extra oregano,” Lena said. “It was a good choice. I voted for him to win.”

  Willa did too.

  When the winner of the chili contest announcement was made, the crowd wasn’t surprised that Lena’s father managed to win again.

  “It’s okay, Dad,” Willa said as Mom pinned the red second-place ribbon on Dad’s T-shirt. “Lena said Mr. Wise has a secret ingredient, and he uses it every year.”

  Dad sighed. “I figured as much,” he said. “It tasted a little bit like chocolate. Maybe next year I should compete in the chowder cook-off instead.”

  Now Mom sighed and laughed. “At least we have a year to prepare,” she said.

  “Willa, Ben, come on!” The Dunlap kids looked up to see their friends pointing toward the Ferris wheel.

  Willa, Sarah, and Lena sat together. Chipper and Ben were in the car just below. Willa drew in a deep breath, and she could smell the carnival: the horses, the chili, the funnel cakes, the salt from the ocean.

  Once they were near the top, she could see all the way to their house. Buttercup was grazing in the field! She couldn’t see New Cat or Amos, but she knew they were there, just as she knew the wild horses were over on Assateague.

  It felt good. She reached out and took one of Sarah’s and one of Lena’s hands in hers. Willa was starting to believe her family belonged on the island, and their house was starting to be a real home—filled with people and animals that she loved. They really did feel like Chincoteague kids now.

  KRISTIN EARHART grew up in Worthington, Ohio, where she spent countless waking and sleeping hours dreaming about horses and ponies. Eventually she took riding lessons and had her own pony . . . then her own horse. They were two of the best friends a girl could have. These days she lives in Brooklyn, New York, with her husband and son, who are also her good friends. She has a sweet and surly cat—but no horse, at least for now.

  Marguerite Henry’s Misty Inn is inspired by the award-winning books by MARGUERITE HENRY, the beloved author of such classic horse stories as King of the Wind; Misty of Chincoteague; Justin Morgan Had a Horse; Stormy, Misty’s Foal; Misty’s Twilight; and Album of Horses, among many other titles.

  ALADDIN

  SIMON & SCHUSTER, NEW YORK

  authors.simonandschuster.com/Kristin-Earhart

  authors.simonandschuster.com/Marguerite-Henry

  Read all of

  MARGUERITE HENRY’S

  books!

  #1 Welcome Home!

  #2 Buttercup Mystery

  And coming soon:

  #3 Runaway Pony

  This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  ALADDIN

  An imprint of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing Division

  1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020

  www.SimonandSchuster.com

  First Aladdin paperback edition June 2015

  Text copyright © 2015 by The Estate of Marguerite Henry

  Illustrations copyright © 2015 by Serena Geddes

  Also available in an Aladdin hardcover edition.

  All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form.

  ALADDIN is a trademark of Simon & Schuster, Inc., and related logo is a registered trademark of Simon & Schuster, Inc.

  For information about special discounts for bulk purchases, please contact Simon & Schuster Special Sales at 1-866-506-1949 or [email protected].

  The Simon & Schuster Speakers Bureau can bring authors to your live event. For more information or to book an event contact the Simon & Schuster Speakers Bureau at 1-866-248-3049 or visit our website at www.simonspeakers.com.

  Designed by Laura Lyn DiSiena

  Jacket designed by Laura Lyn DiSiena

  Jacket illustration copyright © 2015 by Serena Geddes

  The text of this book was set in Century Expanded.

  Library of Congress Control Number 2015937387

  ISBN 978-1-4814-1417-3 (hc)

  ISBN 978-1-4814-1416-6 (pbk)

  ISBN 978-1-4814-1418-0 (eBook)