Friendships

Thanks to Tigerssman for helping me out by doing the editing for this story

A Note to the reader: As you can see this is a new series with the same core characters as MY RA (see timelord1963), I changed because there are just two students that remain who do not work at the ranch. I hope you enjoy the new dynamic.

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Hi there, it has been five months so let me try to catch you up on all the happenings. The gated community is up and looks great, each home had its own special touches, the carpenters hand carved the mantles and moldings, each one wanted to do an excellent job as if it was their own grandmother living there. The children helped with certain jobs.

Penny loved the 'Thanksgiving Bash', everyone joining together to make a new family was a great idea. She had just lost her brother while going to some stupid party at another campus. She and her date were going 120 miles per hour. No wonder they flipped into a creek. Her brother and his date were almost going as fast; they crashed into the 'Great oak', both died. Their dates were brother and sister as well. Being a sole survivor out of four people messes with your head.

Penny paid close attention to the wisdom of all the seniors. Penny said, "Can I ask a question? Why are you people so happy?"

A Skype alert came on.

Soon Joy's face appeared with Joshua on her lap, he was growing so fast.

The whole room said, "There she is Penny, you can blame her."

Joy said, "What did I do to you?"

The crowd said, "We blame you for all the happiness you brought to our children after the flood, we blame you for having all the students rebuild our homes so we can be happy, we blame you for almost all of the happiness you brought to our town, part of it has to go to our beloved Christmas Tree." Some solemnly bowed their heads at the mention of their beloved tree. Gone, but not forgotten.

Joy smiled," Just let me know if you want to blame someone again."

Penny remembered what Sarah said, "Penny, you are at a turning point in your life. The question is: Which way are you going to turn?"

Penny had no option, losing her brother was the last straw. She had to do something positive with her life. She had so much fun helping Daisy.

Joy was about to hang up when Penny said, "Can you wait a minute Joy? I haven't blamed you yet. You have helped me realize I really need to turn my life around and I can't be in the same places. So, I blame you and Daisy for showing me that this is the best place for me to be, the place where I can learn and to stop my bad ways."

After Joy hung up Daisy turned to Penny and asked, "Why are you blaming me Miss Penny?" Daisy felt hurt.

"Daisy, do you remember what I blamed you for?" Daisy shook her head.

"Daisy, I blamed you for this being the best place I could be. Is that a good thing or a terrible thing?"

"That is a good thing."

"I blamed you because I would be here to learn. Is that a good or terrible thing?"

"A good thing." Daisy started to smile.

I said I blamed you to stop me from my bad ways. Is that a good thing or a terrible thing?"

"A good thing."

"So, Daisy, was I blaming you or doing something else?"

Sarah walked directly across from Daisy and mouthed "She is thanking you."

"You are thanking me Miss Penny?"

"Of course, I am. I could not learn from anyone else until you taught me things, many things I did not know how to do. I think you need to be real smart and mature to be able to teach me all the things you have taught me. Don't you agree Miss Sarah?"

"I sure do. You must be real smart to be able to answer all the questions your students will ask, just ask Miss Dawn.

"Students trust their teachers to give them the right information and be a good example."

"You think I am a good example Miss Penny?"

"Well Daisy, you try to do your best at any job, even if you know you can't do it; you are honest and fair to everyone, people trust your judgement, people respect you because of that."

"Now, I think Miss Sarah is a good example. How many of those things apply to you?"

"All of them Miss Penny, but she has a lot more than I do."

"Daisy, you are just nine, you will grow into more."

At supper time Zoe asked, "Miss Sarah, tomorrow is a very light day. 'Friend' and 'Companion' have not run with each other for ages. Can we bring the twins and Penny to that park Miss Dawn likes? It is the beginning of spring migration."

Sarah said, "It depends. Are there four hands that would switch?" six hands rose, "OK then, Larry, Moe our Mechanic and Miss April will switch."

"Miss Zoe, Molly and I are not twins."

Miss Sarah said, "Daisy, you two are so close you could probably finish each other's sentences if you wanted to."

Daisy laughed at the mere thought of the idea.

It was early in the morning, there it was, just sitting on a post not bothered by the horses. It was so different than all the other birds they had ever seen. It was so very beautiful. Molly and Daisy were sporting their new binoculars and all the info the ranger gave Sarah in their saddle bags. Zoe had a great camera with a telescopic lens. Everyone was taking snaps. Zoe made sure she got many angles.

Daisy texted the ranger. "Can you tell us what this bird is?" Miss Penny got the GPS location. It just sat there for fifteen to twenty minutes; we have many pictures including many from Miss Zoe's camera."

The ranger consulted three bird books, it could only be one bird. The ranger called a good friend out on the West coast.

"Why are you pulling my leg with this, taking a picture from a book?"

"Would you believe some beginning birders found it, five different people, one with a camera with a telescopic lens and a GPS locator?"

"Let me call a friend, the top bird identifier in the world."

"Hello."

"Hi old man, want to have a good start to your morning?"

"Jeff, do you have any idea what time it is here?"

"Sorry old man, have a look."

The man sat bolt up straight, then ran to his desk to find his magnifier.

"WHAT THE HELL JEFF! This bird is extinct!"

"Well some beginning birders watched it for fifteen to twenty minutes. We have videos for the song and a massive number of pictures, we also have the GPS location."

"Hell Jeff, we could easily match the song to confirm and the pictures. They all will get an award for this."

The ranger was called and she texted Daisy, "Is it still there?"

Daisy texted back, "It just flew away, it was so beautiful. Miss Zoe got a video when it flew away."

The ranger texted, "I will call you right back, put me on speakerphone."

"Congratulations to the winners of the Northfield- Meadowbrooke bird identification contest. We must compare the song and video to confirm, but you guys just have too much evidence for it to be fake. That was an extinct bird! Be prepared for awards from all over the world."

Penny almost fell off her horse.

"GET THEM HERE NOW!"

The memory card was soon in the computer, projecting on a large screen with four people examining every pixel.

"What does the song say?"

"Well sir, once I filtered out the horse and iPhone noises . . . IT IS AN EXACT MATCH! It sang two songs which makes the sighting more credible. Sir, if it sang more than one song, is it possible, one song was to its mate or chicks?"

Daisy called Miss Sarah, "Miss Sarah you are on speakerphone. We are at the ranger station and won't be home for supper, Miss Penny almost fell off her horse. Here is Miss Ranger."

"Hello Miss Sarah, your friends have had a very boring day today. Could you please bring over some food for us, and some sleeping bags? This will be an all-nighter. We have ten experts flying in from all over the world as we speak."

"You see your friends saw a very pretty bird sitting on a post for fifteen to twenty minutes. Naturally they took a raft of pictures and videos and Miss Zoe had a camera and took all sorts of shots including every area a bird watcher uses to identify a bird."

"With all that plus two songs, GPS, and bird flight as it flew away, there is almost no doubt this is an extinct bird. It is too bad we could not get a tracker on it."

"Miss Ranger, can I put you on speakerphone and you say that into the general channel? I don't think they would believe me."

"Sure, tell me when."

"When"

"Hello everyone, out there, this is Miss Ranger. Listen closely, there is more than ninety-nine percent chance that your friends found an extinct bird today. Experts are coming to verify, but with all the evidence they collected it is almost definitive."

Eight hours later, all the experts had arrived and had a discussion. There was no evidence of tampering, especially, if you count the two songs. The bird lives.

Miss Ranger put articles out on all the social media and birding sites:

"TOP TEN BIRD EXPERTS CONGRADULATE NORTHFIELD FIVE for FINDING EXTINCT BIRD . . . ALIVE!"

Everyone was getting calls of honor, then a call came. "Hi Daisy and Molly, I am calling on behalf of all the children of Meadowbrooke, we concede the contest." Molly and Daisy looked at each other." Daisy had a great thought, "We accept under one condition: that you keep looking out for more birds, maybe you can see some babies."

"You really think so?"

"Miss Sarah just gave us some binoculars for spring migration; we saw that bird so early we have not used them yet. Ask your daddies to call Miss Sarah, then try to go on country trips on the weekends. They have good hearing, so you need to be real quiet and not run around. They can fly away by just smelling you."

"Miss April, can you help me put the name of this bird in my bird book? Miss Ranger gave me a really hard name."

"I will Daisy, but you need a special colored pencil you can read. Not even the top bird expert in the world has seen that bird, but you have."

The 'Northfield Five' went to the 'South Hill Academy of Natural Sciences' about halfway through the exhibits; the kids were getting bored.

Miss Penny said, "Molly stay right here, Daisy go up seven animals."

"Now come back three animals.

"Now how many animals are between you and Molly?"

Daisy triumphantly said, "Four."

Miss Penny said "Seven minus three is four, now come back two. Now many now?"

"Two."

"Now go five animals the other way . . . does that animal look familiar?"

Penny whispered to Molly to move up one animal.

"This is where I started, seven animals."

"Are you sure there are seven animals between you and Molly? You better count."

Daisy counted three times and always got six. "Hey, no fair Miss Penny, you told Molly to move one animal."

When a little boy heard the names Molly and Daisy he looked up. "Mommy, Mommy look it's them. He raced over to Daisy. You are one of the ones who found the birdie aren't you?"

By now, the group had caught up with Daisy and the parents with the boy.

"Yes, I am, along with my friends."

Soon everyone was trying to find a piece of paper. Extra security was called for.

"OK folks, step back. Daisy has a challenging time writing, so we will go one at a time.

They figured out it was easy to get Penny, Zoe, Molly and Anne to sign first, then stack up the maps and such to give Daisy the time to write her name.

Anne called Sarah, "Sarah, note to self: Never go to an Academy of Natural Science Museum right after you find an extinct bird. Daisy is doing well with the autographs, but I think the standing ovation will draw a lot more people here."

"So, Anne, are you trying to tell me to go to the store to get the ingredients for milkshakes all around plus ice cream with real whipped cream and cherries?"

"I guess I am, and get the girls and confetti."

When everyone came through the door, red, silver and blue glitter was everywhere. Sarah said, "I never have been a groupie before, this is fun."

Sarah saw Daisy was a little upset. "Why are you upset Daisy?"

"NO ZOO!"

Sarah looked up for help.

Anne said, "We all got free lifetime memberships for all the museums around here. Unfortunately, that does not include the Zoo."

Sarah picked up Daisy, "Did you know the zoo sells yearly memberships and I am sure a nine-year-old can get in cheap. Isn't that right Miss Dawn?"

"That's right." Miss Dawn walked over to Daisy and she start putting her arms around Daisy, "And they have snakes that wrap themselves all over you until you can't breathe anymore."

The four girls screamed.

"We only like nice animals Miss Dawn." Four little heads nodded firmly in solidarity.

After dessert, Miss Dawn brought out her plans. Michelle added some color so it was not dull and boring.

Dawn started, "As we all know, we almost lost Molly, but she had been teaching 'Spirit' how to jump over logs and creeks for fun. Now the game is serious, we are all going to learn how to jump. Fortunately, I know someone who can teach us."

Then the volley began, "Ha, she probably hasn't even taught her own horse to jump yet.", "Aye, what is up with that?", "I bet, she doesn't even have a jumping corral at her ranch." Everyone was smiling at Dawn.

Miss Sarah howled, "You left the barn door wide open for that, my friend."

"Well we are going to get a new corral, two jumping corrals for different learning levels. It will have semi-movable jumps that are adjustable."

Dawn had taken much longer to heal from her broken ribs than they first thought. She wanted to jump right in and start putting posts up, but instead she had to settle for a ground-breaking ceremony. The doctors wanted Dawn to take one more month of light work to make sure everything was healed properly. She took on a lot of the DIY area. Daisy was in charge of 'Chief' and 'Angel'.

Because everyone learns in many ways, having Daisy write about things she could relate to was letting her progress with her schoolwork. The library had loads of kids' books about birds, horses and farms. Refrigerator magnets were a fun way to learn. Every night, Miss Sarah would read one of the many books Daisy had collected.

The book Molly gave her was read often, Daisy knew every word by heart. Miss Sarah always got caught when she wanted to skip a few pages.

Daisy's Mom was impressed with how the people at the ranch were helping Daisy. The school could never help her like that.

After she heard that Miss Sarah was Molly's guardian, she thought that made a lot of sense as Daisy lived there, Miss Sarah accepted.

She totally misread Molly's dynamic with the entire town; Molly was unique. She could still see Daisy was hurt because she would not let Daisy call Molly back.

Penny said to Zoe, "Can you please teach me how to ride at least as good as Daisy, then no one would be falling behind in the classes."

Miss Dawn was jumping out of her skin when the machine pulled into the driveway; it was here to make the post holes. Miss Dawn told Daisy to put small piles of bird seed to mark where the holes went.

There were so many holes, it looked like a golf course. Slowly all those holes were filled and cross bars were affixed. It was an amazing transformation. The jumps were much harder to make than Miss Dawn thought it would be, chiefly because they were made to move as well as to hold fast.

No one could figure out what Miss Dawn was doing. She had three jumps across and three jumps long ways but none had rails. She would then use 'Apache' to feel how the course felt, then made some adjustments.

The classes were mandatory, even the hands hand to attend, as their horses did not know how to jump. For many of them, this was a new experience.

After all assembled, and Penny was on an exercise horse, Dawn said, "Most of our horses don't know what to do when something is in front of them. We should train them."

"Just a few things about jumping, you start your jump as far back as the top of the jump is high. Eventually, your horse will want to stretch its neck when making a jump, this is totally natural. Don't restrain your horse, drop your reigns into your lap. This is known as 'Release'. Later I will set up both the other corrals the same way so more people can practice. Daisy, I don't think 'Angel' can do three rails like most of us will be doing in a month or two. Two rails are more than enough to get over logs, guardrails, stone walls, and some creeks."

No one else knew it, but Dawn had already signed up for three dressage events for the 'Memorial Day Horse Show and Fair'. She would have to be careful about how hard she trained 'Apache'; this time records will fall.

'Apache' was a natural, it did not hurt that Dawn knew all the tips and tricks for jumping. 'Apache' was already doing two rail jumps with ease, two weeks ahead of schedule. Dawn eased back on training, both days and time. 'Apache' knew what Dawn wanted and when she wanted it. He was up for a new challenge she would give him.

One-day Dawn walked into the club after putting 'Apache' in the stable. It was one of those few days when Daisy could play with her friends at the club all day long.

Dawn said, "Let me see a show of hands of who would like to go to a 'Horse Show and Fair'" Only about one third of the kids raised their hands.

"What if I was entered in the show?"

As they say, 'The crowd went wild.' Both children and parents had both hands raised.

"I must warn you, the events I am in gets pretty boring. Everyone doing the same thing, time after time. People try to go as fast as they can around a course without knocking over any rails or having your horse not want to jump it. They call those penalties, they add time to the ride you did. You can go from first to sixth in no time."

"There is lots of other things to see and do there. There is a Ferris wheel and different games you try to win prizes at."

With a week to go 'Apache' finally made it to the four-rail fence. Problem: Dawn had to give 'Apache' three days' rest before the event, it was a huge risk, but she just had to hope the limited training would be enough.

All the children said, "Your Mommy will be watching over you Miss Dawn."

It was a comforting thought. Dawn remembered a trade secret that only her Mom knew to get any horse over a four-rail jump with ease, legally. It would take more time but 'Apache was fast and could make up the extra time, there were only two four rail fences

Over the next few days the children were going to be mega-surprised.

Everyone knew Miss Dawn was up to something; her eyes gave her away. The next day Miss Sarah had the same look; they were plotting something.

The day before the race all four of the girls got a complete set of riding gear. They were told Miss Sarah had to be there real early and they had to go with her, in their riding gear. Part one of the surprise was set.

After Sarah picked up the girls the next day, and Molly in town; a horse trailer came in to pick up the other horses. The only reason 'Peaceful',' Courage', 'Spirit', and 'Angel' had to go to the show was if they were in the show

The four girls were surprised that Miss Dawn signed them up for the kid's events. 'Angel' had two events, the rest had three. They were in different events so all could do well in all of them.

Daisy was up first; they had two rounds, best six times goes to finals, order will be picked out of a hat.

While Daisy and 'Angel' were walking to the corral she heard a tremendous amount of screaming. There were two women jumping up and down flailing their arms around, "GO, DAISY!", "'ORLANDO' sends you his love!" Yes, it was Elsa and Anna, wearing their Disney Ball gowns no less.

Daisy was very nervous. She had never done anything like this but Miss Dawn had faith in her. Ten of the children were there to cheer her on. 'Angel' was energized.

Anna and Elsa knew all the other children who knew they would be in the finals did not push in the first round, saving all the energy for finals.