Lucky joined them on the grass.
“I still don’t see it,” Pru said.
“They’re having so much fun,” Abigail said, pointing. The clouds had shifted, and the two fluffy children were floating in different directions. “They’re getting ready to play a new game!” she exclaimed.
Lucky and Pru exchanged a baffled look. Neither of them saw what Abigail saw.
“It’s like Red Rover,” Abigail told them. “Only it’s Prancing Ponies. Do you see the other cloud kids galloping like horses? It’s so fun, everyone wants to join in!”
“That’s it!” Lucky suddenly sat up and pointed at the clouds. “We can make a day camp!”
“For cloud children?” Abigail asked, staring at her. “Why do fluffy cloud children need a camp?”
“Not cloud children,” Pru said, also sitting up as she caught on. “For-real children. The kids of Miradero!”
“Oh,” Abigail said. “You’re right, cloud kids don’t need a camp. They can just have fun playing games in the sky.”
“Exactly,” Lucky said with a giggle. “But Miradero children would love a camp. Parents could send the kids to us and we could take care of them all day. We could play games—”
“Like Prancing Ponies!” Abigail put in.
“Yes!” Pru said.
“This is the best idea ever!” Abigail cheered. “I’ll get my mom and dad to sign up Snips! He’ll be our first camper.”
“As long as he pays,” Lucky said. “PALs Adventure Camp can’t be free.” She started to figure out the details. “We can charge one dollar for each child for the whole summer. Then, we can split up everything we make three ways. By the end of summer, I’ll have plenty of money to buy a bottle, bottle top, and bubble bath for Aunt Cora, and I bet I can even afford something extra to decorate the barn. Do you think Spirit would like a pinwheel above his stall?”
“I know what I’ll do with my earnings: I’m going to buy more ribbons,” Abigail said. “Boomerang wants a new set of rainbow ones. Last night, Señor Carrots ate the orange ones from the package.” Señor Carrots was Snips’s donkey.
“I hope he’s okay,” Pru said. “Donkeys shouldn’t eat ribbons.”
“He burped them back up later,” Abigail said, then squished up her face and said, “Eww.”
“Boomerang deserves new ribbons,” Lucky agreed. She turned to Pru. “What are you going to do with the money we earn at camp?”
“I’m going to—wait…” Pru paused, then looked down. She began to pick at the grass.
“What’s wrong?” Lucky asked her.
“I’m committed to Rancho El Paseo,” she said. “I can’t help with the camp.”
“I think we should ask your dad,” Lucky said. “Maybe if we tell him all about our plans, he’d agree to let you stay. PALs Camp wouldn’t be nearly as much fun without you.”
“It won’t be the PALs Camp if we’re not all here! If it’s just Lucky and Abigail, it would be… the LA camp. That doesn’t even make any sense!”
Pru stood to get Chica Linda. “Come on. Let’s go ask him right now!” She climbed up, ready for the ride back to town.
Spirit came for Lucky. She pulled herself onto his back and wrapped her arms around his neck. “We’re going to make a camp!” she told Spirit.
Spirit raised his head and broke into a trot.
“Wahoo!” Abigail shouted, as the PALs began the ride back to Miradero. “Race you home!”
The three horses sped across the valley, back toward town.
The best summer ever was back on track.
Diary Entry
He said YES! Pru’s dad said YES! I can hardly believe it.
We are going to have a summer camp for the kids of Miradero! I’d sing a happy song, if I could, but I’ll leave the singing at camp to Pru because she’s great at it. Abigail is going to bring her best talent and teach the kids to bake. She’ll start with her grandma’s cherry pies. Grandma Stone’s pies are so yummy that they win all the baking contests in town. Then, there’s me. Since I am the only one who’s had a paying job before, I’ll be in charge of the money and the business stuff.
There are so many things to do to have a successful camp, and the first thing is to get kids signed up. The more kids we have, the more money we’ll make.
After Pru got the good news, we talked about what our flyers should say. I agreed to make them at home.
We’re meeting in a little while to post them around town.
I’m not a great artist, so I had Spirit help decorate the flyers. I spread them on the ground and explained. I had to stomp around to show Spirit what I wanted, and he totally got it. We dipped his hooves in black paint, and he walked all over the pages. When the paint dried, the flyers looked great!
The flyers look like this:
Here’s the rest of the to-do list:
Clipboard, paper, and pencil to sign everyone up.
Sign for the table.
Tacks to put up the flyers.
A money box.
Check. Check. Check. Check. Yep. We’ve got it all.
Time to meet the campers.
I can’t wait!
Put the last one on this tree.” Pru handed Lucky a flyer.
Reaching down, Lucky grabbed the paper. She was standing on Spirit’s back to get high enough to post it.
Abigail handed Lucky a couple of tacks, saying, “Don’t poke yourself. Believe me”—she held up her fingers, which all had little red prick marks, and sighed—“it’s not fun.”
“Thanks for the warning,” Lucky told Abigail. Spirit stood still while she pressed a tack through the poster, attaching it to a tree.
“Hee-haw!” Señor Carrots suddenly brayed. Since Snips was the first enrolled camper, Abigail had him pulling the donkey around town, helping advertise. Señor Carrots was wearing a double sign over his back that hung over each side. It said PALs Adventure Camp on one sign and We promise summer fun on the other.
“I don’t think you should promise we’ll have fun,” Snips called out to Lucky. “Señor Carrots
