Lena gasps. “Are you all right, Fred?” she shouts down.
In answer, I do a little twirl to give Diamond time to pull ahead and out of our way. The crowd explodes with hurrahs and bravos.
“What do you think you’re doing, new girl?” Princess shouts from behind us. “Get out of this ring right now!”
Her mount, Royal, mutters a few choice words and threats of her own. Then she gallops up behind us and bites my rump. Princess laughs, and the pair move up beside us. Then the girl reaches over and shoves Lena.
The crowd gasps.
Lena manages to keep her balance. Then I feel her spin and twirl on my back and deliver a well-timed ballet kick to Princess’s leg.
The kick barely touches Princess, but the girl lets out a yelp and drops back in behind us.
“Wahoo!” Lena cries. “This is more fun than a pond full of penguins!”
With the other horses and riders taken care of, Lena and I fall into our old dance steps. We move as one, dancing around center ring, flying like Pegasus the Winged Horse.
How did this happen? My mind swirls with thoughts of Bessie and Moony, of little Mary, of Jonathan and Molly, and of Lena. It was helping them fulfill their dreams that made me end up here—right here, fulfilling my own dream.
In the limelight now, Lena and I swirl and twirl to the wild applause of the circus crowd. It feels as if my friend and I have been dancing like this forever.
I have found my home at last.
We’re almost to the end of our performance when the circus music grows dim, and my own music kicks in loud and true. Then in my heart, I hear my mother’s song:
Dance, dance, dance, Federico!
Dance, dance, dance to your own special song.
Sway and spin. Let the music in.
And the world will dance along.
Dream your dreams, Federico!
Dream your dreams, and of course,
Soon you’ll shine like the stars above—
Federico the Dancing Horse!
From that night on, the Greatest Show on Earth has a new headliner. If you come to the circus, you can’t miss the giant banner over the main tent. It reads:
Catch all the
Angus MacMouse Brings Down the House
Linda Phillips Teitel
Chris Kurtz
Monkey See, Monkey Zoo
Erin Soderberg
Dreams of a Dancing Horse
Dandi Daley Mackall
Text copyright © 2011 by Dandi Daley Mackall
Illustrations copyright © 2011 by Guy Francis
All rights reserved. You may not copy, distribute, transmit, reproduce or otherwise make available this publication (or any part of it) in any form, or by any means (including without limitation electronic, digital, optical, mechanical, photocopying, printing, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the publisher. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages
First published in the United States of America in October 2011 by Bloomsbury Books for Young Readers
Electronic edition published in October 2011
www.bloomsburykids.com
For information about permission to reproduce selections from this book, write to Permissions, Bloomsbury BFYR, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, New York 10010
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Mackall, Dandi Daley.
Dreams of a dancing horse / by Dandi Daley Mackall. — 1st U.S. ed.
p. cm.
Summary: Fred, a plow horse on an Oklahoma farm, dreams of being Federico the Dancing Horse, but his antics cause trouble and he is sent away, to seek not only his dream but a home where he might truly belong.
ISBN 978-1-59990-773-4 (ebook)
[1. Dance—Fiction. 2. Horses—Fiction. 3. Home—Fiction. 4. Voyages and travels—Fiction.] I. Title.
PZ7.M1905Dre 2011 [Fic]—dc22 2011005205