Mary and Jody in the Movies Read online

  Praise for the

  Lucky Foot Stable Series

  “Dawson’s experience as an educator and director of an Equine Institute serve her well in these novels.”

  —Troy Michelle Reinhardt

  ForeWord Magazine

  “Anyone who enjoys a great tale of horses and youth will find this a fascinating read. This most entertaining story moves swiftly in a non-preaching way while dealing with some very real issues…peer pressure, decision making, responsibility, self-esteem, and learning to care about others.”

  —Ellie Mencer

  Lockhouse to Lighthouse Magazine

  “The author’s love of horses shines through as she captures the quintessential passion held by many young girls for their animal.”

  —Paula F. Kelly

  The News Journal

  “Combines adventure with valuable lessons on life and friendship. Dawson has created believable characters with a love of horses.”

  —The Equiery

  “Creates an entertaining way to teach young riders the value of horses.”

  —Stephanie Stephens

  Stable Management Magazine

  Mary and Jody

  in the Movies

  JoAnn S. Dawson

  Illustrated by Michelle Keenan

  ©2008 by JoAnn S. Dawson

  Cover and internal design 2008 by Sourcebooks, Inc.

  Internal illustrations Michelle Keenan

  Lucky Foot Stable illustration by Tim Jackson

  Sourcebooks and the colophon are registered trademarks of Sourcebooks, Inc.

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems—except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews—without permission in writing from its publisher, Sourcebooks, Inc.

  The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious or are used fictitiously. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental and not intended by the author.

  Published by Sourcebooks Jabberwocky, an imprint of Sourcebooks, Inc.

  P.O. Box 4410, Naperville, Illinois 60567-4410

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  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Dawson, JoAnn.

  Mary and Jody in the movies / Joann S. Dawson; illustrated by Michelle Keenan.

  p. cm. — (Lucky Foot Stable; bk. 4)

  Summary: Everyone is excited when the McMurray dairy farm is chosen to be the setting of a movie, especially best friends Mary and Jody who see it as an opportunity to show off their ponies Lady and Gypsy.

  [1. Motion pictures—Production and direction—Fiction. 2. Ponies—Fiction. 3.

  Horsemanship—Fiction. 4. Farm life—Fiction.] I. Keenan, Michelle, ill. II. Title.

  PZ7.D32735Mar 2008

  [Fic]—dc22

  2008008494

  Printed and bound in the United States of America.

  VP 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

  To Aunt Edie and Aunt Kathryn

  Lucky Foot Stable

  Contents

  Chapter 1: Invasion of the Movie People

  Chapter 2: Willie Explains It All

  Chapter 3: Annie Appears

  Chapter 4: The Farm Transformed

  Chapter 5: The Riding Test

  Chapter 6: Willie’s Request

  Chapter 7: Test Part Two

  Chapter 8: The Horse Auction

  Chapter 9: New Horses

  Chapter 10: Twister Mounts Up

  Chapter 11: Annie Has Trouble

  Chapter 12: Willie to the Rescue

  Chapter 13: Shooting the Scene

  Chapter 14: Annie’s Story

  Chapter 15: Willie’s Past Revealed

  Chapter 16: Caesar Arrives

  Chapter 17: Happy Endings

  Glossary of Horse Terms

  About the Author

  Back Cover

  1

  Invasion of the

  Movie People

  JODY HAD JUST put the finishing touches on Star’s mane, combing it just as Willie had shown her, while Mary vigorously swept the dirt floor of Lucky Foot Stable of wayward wisps of straw when they first heard the rumble. Star lifted his head, pricked his ears, and strained against the cross-ties to get a better look out the back doors of the little white stable. Finnegan, the cow-herding dog, suddenly awoke from a deep slumber and growled low in his throat as the rumble grew louder.

  “What in the…” Mary began, exchanging worried looks with Jody. Then, in unison, Mary threw down her broom and Jody stuck the comb in the crest of Star’s mane where it dangled dangerously. Racing down the aisle, they reached the open doors of the stable at the exact same instant and stared openmouthed at the spectacle before them.

  Proceeding down the long gravel lane of the McMurray dairy farm were not one, not two, but four large, boxy white trucks, veering this way and that to avoid the deep potholes randomly pitting the driveway. Finnegan ran circles around the two girls and barked madly, all the while wagging his tail in anticipation of visitors as the trucks continued toward the McMurray’s stone farmhouse, raising clouds of dust as they went.

  “What in the…” Jody echoed. The girls linked arms and squinted to read the black words painted on the side of the first truck in line as it turned slightly at the bend in the lane.

  “Hanley’s…what does it say?” Mary asked impatiently. “I can’t see the rest of it. The dust is too thick.”

  “It says…it says…Hanley’s Film…Hanley’s Film and Cinema Equipment. I think that’s what it says,” Jody said doubtfully.

  “Film and cinema equipment!” Mary shrieked. “Of course that’s what is says! Jody, it’s the movie people! They’re here! They’re going to start the movie! They need someone to greet them! Let’s go!”

  With that, Mary took off at a gallop across the grass, and Jody started after her but suddenly stopped in her tracks.

  “Mare, wait!” Jody yelled. “I left Star on crossties! I’ve got to put him back in his stall! Wait for me.”

  It took all of Mary’s effort to stand still and watch as the trucks reached the farmhouse without her, but stand she did, jiggling impatiently as she waited for Jody to emerge from the stable. She had just started to bite her fingernails when Jody finally joined her, followed by the ecstatic Finnegan, who yipped excitedly in anticipation of a new adventure.

  “Mary, maybe Mr. McMurray doesn’t want us to greet the movie people,” Jody reasoned, linking her arm in Mary’s to slow her progress toward the trucks, now parked in a row in front of the farmhouse. “Maybe he wants us to stay away until he invites us to meet them. And don’t forget what Willie said.”

  “I know, I know, Willie said wait to speak until spoken to. But, Jody, what if Mr. McMurray isn’t home right now? And I know Willie is down in the barn with the cows. It’s milking time, and he won’t be done for another hour at least, even with Mr. Mooney helping him.”

  Willie had rarely missed a milking in the thirty years he had worked on the McMurray dairy farm, even after Mr. McMurray hired a younger man to help out around the barn. Mr. Roy Mooney had arrived the year before with his teenaged son, Jimmy, his daughter Annie, and a toddler named Heath. After Mr. Mooney’s wife died, he had been forced to sell his own farm, and Mr. McMurray had offered him the job helping Willie. Jimmy helped his father with the farm work while Annie watched Heath in the old house trailer where the family lived.

  “But, you know, Jody,” Mary continued, hardly stopping to take a breath, “Willie is just going to have to get used to the fact that he
can’t milk cows every day, now that he’s the wrangler on the movie. He’s going to have to work with the horses and the actors. Including us.”

  “Us?” Jody giggled. “Mare, we’re not exactly actors.”

  “Well, remember what Mr. Crowley said. They need us to be in the riding lesson scenes. And Willie will probably be there telling us what to do, since he’s the head wrangler, and…”

  Before Mary could finish her sentence, Jody grabbed her by the arm and stopped them both in their tracks. “Finnegan, stay,” she commanded the excited dog, who sat obediently but couldn’t help whining and wagging his tail so that his whole body wagged along. The girls had just about reached the farmhouse, where a crew of men was busy unloading the first of the four trucks. Mary and Jody watched in awe as two of the men grabbed the bottom of the back door of the third truck and shoved upward. The door buckled like an accordion and disappeared into the top section of the truck, revealing the equipment inside.

  “Just like a garage door,” Jody whispered. “That is so cool!”

  The double red doors of the stone farmhouse suddenly burst open, and Mr. McMurray appeared, strode down the steps, and beckoned grandly to the crew of men.

  “Come on in, then, we’ve cleared a space for you!” Mr. McMurray directed in his booming Irish brogue. “Right here, and over there…now what can I help you with?”

  “Well, Jode, I guess Mr. McMurray is here,” Mary said, disappointed that they weren’t needed as greeters after all.

  “And boy, he sounds happy, too!” Jody said, smiling as she watched the kindly farmer bustling around the trucks of film equipment.

  “Of course he’s happy!” Mary agreed. “This movie is going to save the farm, after all.”

  It was only a few months before when Mr. McMurray had fallen ill and undergone an operation on his heart. The medical bills that followed had forced him to consider selling the farm, until the miraculous day when Mr. Ted Crowley, movie location scout, had arrived, looking for a dairy just like Mr. McMurray’s to use in a motion picture.

  “And it’s going to save Star and Willie and us, too, in a way,” Jody murmured.

  The girls watched in silence then as the men continued unloading blue and yellow metal boxes of all shapes and sizes, long black poles, ladders, fat green and black extension cords, and all manner of things Mary and Jody had never seen before. Just as the last box came off the truck and disappeared into the McMurray farmhouse, Finnegan suddenly spun around to face the gravel lane and once again set up a howl. When Mary and Jody turned to see what the commotion was about, their mouths flew open for the second time that day.

  Roaring up the gravel lane, one after the other, came a whole caravan of trucks, the first in line pulling a long flatbed trailer. And sitting atop the trailer was a huge yellow bulldozer. Following that, a flatbed truck with piles of wood posts and boards secured to the truck with thick metal straps. Then a long, white, enclosed truck with the words A&C Tent Rentals emblazoned on the side. Finally, a shorter black truck and trailer bearing a drawing of a smiling cat next to the words ThomCats Catering, Movie Division.

  Mary and Jody watched openmouthed in amazement as the caravan made its way to an open field between the farmhouse and the big, white dairy barn. This was where Mr. McMurray usually parked his farm equipment, but Mr. Mooney had moved everything the week before to make room for the movie crews.

  “Shut yer mouths, yer catchin’ flies,” a familiar voice suddenly commanded frombehind the two girls.

  “Willie!” Mary shouted, spinning to face the cowhand. “Oh my gosh! Did you see all those trucks? And all the men? Did you see all the stuff they unloaded?”

  “Do they need all that stuff just to make a movie?” Jody chimed in.

  “All that stuff? Why, they ain’t even half finished yet. That’s just part of it. And there’ll be a lot more crew members here before it’s all over.”

  “But, Willie, what about the bulldozer? And the boards and the posts? Are they building a whole new pasture field?” Mary asked.

  “No, not a pasture field,”Willie replied mysteriously.

  “Well, what then? They must be getting ready to dig up the ground for some reason and build a fence,” Mary reasoned.

  “Well, what else can you think of that needs a clear space, and a lot of dirt, and maybe some sand, and has to be closed in with a fence?” Willie replied with a smile.

  The girls looked at each other quizzically for a moment. Then the light of understanding dawned on Mary’s face, and she grabbed Jody’s arm and began wordlessly jumping up and down.

  “What, Mare? What is it?” Jody giggled as Finnegan yipped and jumped right along with Mary.

  Jody giggled as Finnegan yipped

  and jumped right along with Mary.

  “Jode! What do you think? It’s a ring! A ring for us to ride in! Just like at the horse shows!”

  Jody’s eyes flew open wide and she turned again to Willie. “Willie, is it true? Are they really building a real ring? Will we be allowed to ride in it?”

  “Well, I guess they are, and sure, you’ll be riding in it—that is, if you behave yourselves and don’t act simple. They want people in the movie that they can count on to act right and listen to what they say,” Willie explained, looking pointedly at Mary.

  “Willie, you know I can be quiet and listen when I have to,” Mary pouted. “Like just now, I did what you said. I didn’t speak to the movie people. I’m waiting for them to speak to me.”

  Upon hearing this speech, Jody crossed her arms and shot Mary an agitated look, which Mary promptly ignored.

  “Hmmm,” Willie smiled, comprehending the reason for Jody’s dismay. “Well, just remember what I said and don’t make nuisances of yourselves.”

  “We promise, Willie,” Jody said confidently. “I’ll make sure of it.”

  2

  Willie Explains It All

  BY THE END of the day, enough trucks and trailers had rumbled up the McMurray farm lane to fill almost the entire field where the farm equipment had once been. Mary and Jody watched the unloading process from afar, taking heed of Willie’s orders not to make a nuisance of themselves. But Mary was about to burst, wanting to get closer—especially to see what was contained in the trucks that were yet to be opened.

  “Jody, maybe Mrs. McMurray needs help gathering the eggs this afternoon,” Mary said innocently, just as the last truck was parked securely in the field. “We could go up to the house and ask her.”

  “Mare, you know Mrs. McMurray doesn’t need help with the eggs,” Jody said sternly. “You just want to go up to the house to see what’s going on.”

  “Well, don’t you?” Mary fairly shouted. “We could just go up and look around a little bit!”

  “I have a better idea,” Jody replied sensibly. “Why don’t we go bring Lady and Gypsy in from the pasture and groom them. Star’s still in the stable all by himself, so I’m sure he’d like the company. And besides, it’ll keep our minds off of the movie for a while!”

  “Oh, all right,” Mary agreed reluctantly. “I guess we have been neglecting them for the past few days, we’ve been so busy working with Star.”

  Star of Wonder, the ornery colt, was just going on nineteen months old that July, and with Willie’s help, Mary and Jody had finally trained him well enough to begin putting a little bit of weight on his back. He was already accustomed to the saddle and bridle, and the girls had been placing burlap sacks filled with hay across his back to get him used to the feel of it, in anticipation of riding.

  “Gypsy! Ladabucks! We’re coming to get you!” Mary called in a singsong voice as the girls trotted across the pasture toward the weeping willow tree that shaded the two ponies from the hot July sun. The black and white dairy cows in the field raised their heads curiously, chewing their cuds as the girls went by. Then, they lowered them again and continued grazing.

  “Hey, Jode! I just got a great idea!” Mary said enthusiastically, clipping the lead rope onto Gyps
y’s halter. “Why don’t we ride the ponies up to the house so the movie people can see how beautiful and well-behaved they are for riding in the movie?”

  “Mary,” Jody groaned impatiently, “first of all, I don’t think the men unloading the trucks are the ones who make the decision about which horses to use in the movie. And second of all, I promised Willie I would keep you under control.”

  “Oh, you’re such a party pooper!” Mary yelped, her feelings hurt. “And besides, you don’t have to keep me under control. I can do that just fine by myself, thank you.”

  Jody felt sorry for what she had said, but she led Lady toward the gate without a word, Mary following with Gypsy. The girls entered Lucky Foot Stable in silence and cross-tied the two ponies in the aisle, gathering up their brushes from their tack boxes.

  The only sounds to be heard in the little white barn were the gentle snores of Finnegan asleep on a pile of straw in the corner and an occasional cluck-cluck from Colonel Sanders, the old barn rooster, glaring down at the girls from his perch on the top board of Lady’s stall.

  Mary and Jody were so intent on brushing the ponies and not talking to each other that they didn’t hear Willie enter the stable.

  “Why’s it so quiet in here?” Willie asked suddenly. “You might think somebody died or somethin’.”

  The girls continued grooming without a word. Willie hobbled over to Star’s stall and began scratching him behind the ears.

  “Well, does anybody want to hear some good news?” Willie addressed the air. Mary and Jody still didn’t speak but slowed their furious brushing and pricked up their ears.

  “Hmph, well, I guess not. I’ll just have to keep it to myself,” he said and turned to walk out the back doors of the stable.

  “Willie, I want to hear the good news!” Jody called, unable to keep quiet a moment longer.

  “Me, too!” Mary chimed in, dropping her brushes and joining Jody in the back of the stable, proud of herself for not being the first to break the silence.

  Willie turned to face the expectant girls, trying his best to hide the smile that had crept across his face. “I talked to the film producers today,” he began, tugging on his earlobe as he always did when he had news to share. “Or I guess maybe I should say, they talked to me.”