Chapter 180: An Old Friend

Friday came, and lunch was abuzz with excitement. The children were beyond thrilled that their performance would follow the noon meal. Mrs. Graves had worked with them to create billy goat costumes, and they’d even come up with a baggy pair of overalls and a plastic Viking helmet with horns to complete the troll outfit Angus would wear.

As soon as the beginning riders finished eating, they hurried off to join Anna at the barn. By the time Angus arrived, she had already set up some barrels toward the west end of the riding ring just across the rail from the low bleachers where their audience would sit, and she’d laid boards across the barrels to form the railings of the troll’s bridge.

Further down the ring and closer to the barn, the horses stood saddled and waiting. As the children clambered to enter the ring, their parents made their way to the bleachers.

Anna gathered the group of riders, by now bedecked in their makeshift costumes. “Okay, everybody, are we ready?”