Madeleine Tennant-McKindy

Oct. 18, 2020, 2:07 p.m.

We are great at doubling

Madeleine knew from some of her books that show horses had really interesting names. They had to be long and unique, and there were all kinds of other rules too that Madeleine didn’t know the exact details of. Once Madeleine had spent a whole afternoon coming up with names she would use if she had a racing horse, like Detective Patch (for a pinto) and Constellation Jane (for a black mare with white speckles) and Pixie Dust (for a winged brown or grey horse).

“That would be amazing,” Madeleine said. Wynonna definitely seemed like best friend material. Not that Madeleine had one best friend—choosing from her friends which one was the best just sounded so mean. All of them were the best. Best friend was a tier, not a person. And it would be so great if Madeleine could go to her new best friend’s house and see and maybe ride the horses.

“Maybe over midterm?” she suggested. “My brother Drew gets to go visit his friends’ houses on the breaks sometimes so maybe I could visit your place. Or if you want to stay here over midterm,” Madeleine didn’t know whether the Wakefields were the kind of family who all got together and celebrated holidays in the winter, “then I could go in the summer. It’s really cool here in the winter, the house elves do all these decorations and make special food and stuff.”

It sounded like sycamore was as good a fit for Wynonna as English oak was for Madeleine. “Very happy,” Madeleine reported. “They really do pick us, don’t they? The wands? Do you think the cores help pick too, or just the wood?”