by Kate Lattey
I scrambled to my feet and looked at my wild pony.
“Jeez, Tani! What’s got into you?”
Taniwha snorted and showed me the whites of his eyes. I walked towards him, holding a hand out and wishing I had something to give him. He eyed my empty hand suspiciously, then swung away from me, flinging his head from side to side. A buzzing noise filled my left ear, and I swiped at it briefly, then noticed the wasp sitting on my shoulder.
“Get off there,” I told it, brushing at it with the back of my hand.
The wasp flew into the air and started circling my head angrily. I heard another one, and another, and then Taniwha threw his head up and went into reverse, snorting loudly. Somehow we’d disturbed a wasp’s nest, and we were under attack.
“Tani, stand,” I told the pony, moving quickly in his direction.
If I could jump on his back and ride like hell, maybe we’d get away from the wasps. Not that I was under any illusion that they wouldn’t be able to keep up with us, but I was hoping that they wouldn’t bother trying. I was almost by Taniwha’s side when he got stung. He flinched hard, squealed and spun around before bolting across the paddock with his tail in the air. I jogged after him as the wasps swarmed around my head, getting stung on the side of my neck, and again on my elbow. It hurt like hell, but I gritted my teeth and kept going, my eyes fixed on my frantic pony.
Taniwha reached the fence and looked like he was considering jumping it, then slid to a stop and started pawing the ground furiously. I ran across the paddock, stumbling occasionally on stones that were hidden in the grass, and made my way towards the gate which Tani hadn’t seen.
“Tani, c’mere!” I called as I reached it and unhooked the latch.
I was out of breath, and Tani was beside himself and not listening, so I raised my fingers to my mouth and whistled. It didn’t come out as sharp or as clear as I’d have liked, but it was enough for Tani to hear me. His head swung around to face me, his ears pricked forward, and he came trotting towards me at speed. I shoved the gate open and he broke into a canter, eyeing up the gap. I moved out of the way and got ready, hoping I could pull this off, knowing I only had one shot at it. Tani raced through the gate and I grabbed a fistful of his mane as his head came past me, then sprang off both feet together and flung one leg over his back. There was a moment where I thought I’d misjudged it, thought I was going to fall, but Tani slowed slightly and I managed to gain my balance. Then we were off again at full tilt through the long grass, Tani’s ears laid flat back to his head, my legs wrapped around his sides as I urged him on. His hooves thudded across the hard ground, and I had a struggle to pull him up as we approached the gate that led out onto the road. I managed it eventually, then jumped off him and dragged the gate open. Tani trotted through, barely waiting for me to drag it shut behind us. One or two wasps were still lingering around, and Tani stamped impatiently as I latched the gate. I vaulted onto his back again, and we cantered off down the wide roadside verge, finally leaving the wasps behind.
At home, I poured white vinegar on my stings, then took the bottle out to Tani and looked him over. I found two raised lumps on his neck, one on his rump and three on his left flank. No wonder he’d started bucking! I soaked a rag with vinegar and dabbed it on the welts, and Tani shivered under my touch, but let me tend to him.
“Good boy,” I told him as I finished, then reached over and rubbed him between the ears. He reacted violently, jerking his body away from me, and swinging his head around to whack me in the eye with his cheekbone.
“Ow!” I raised a hand to my face and gritted my teeth against the pain. I knew that the pony hadn’t meant to hurt me, but I took a moment to let both of us calm down a bit before I went back to take a closer look.
“Guess I missed one,” I told him, and sure enough, with plenty of patience and gentle persuasion, I discovered that he had been stung right behind his left ear. I doused that sting with vinegar as well, emptying out the bottle as I alternated between dabbing it on Taniwha’s welts and my own.
“Ew, what’s that smell?” Bella asked, coming outside with a wrinkled nose, Morgan trailing behind her.
“Vinegar,” I said, dabbing it on my neck once more and gritting my teeth against the burning sensation.
“Ooh, did you get stung?” Morgan asked, looking suddenly interested.
“Me and Tani both did. We found a wasp’s nest. I think Tani stood on it, or kicked it or something.”
“Typical Tani,” Morgan said fondly. “He’s always tripping over stuff.”
Mum had followed them out of the cottage with Phoebe at her heels, and overheard our conversation. “Let me see you, boy.”
She inspected my stings with pursed lips, but was less interested in Tani’s war wounds, dismissing the pony’s needs as irrelevant. I explained what had happened as she checked me over, though I left out the part about falling off. My shoulder ached where I’d landed on it, but that injury was secondary just then to the burning welts. Taniwha was still irritable and restless, so I let him go off to graze. He stomped off across the back yard, stopping occasionally to snort and paw at the ground, his tail swishing frantically from side to side.
“Look at Tani,” Phoebe said, sitting on the ground with her legs crossed and her elbows on her knees, pointed chin resting on clasped hands. “He’s gone mad.”
“You stay away from him for a while,” Mum warned her. “All of you.”
“I’m going up to the farm,” I told her. “I should tell John about the wasps before he puts any stock into that paddock, in case they upset them.” Although the paddock had been empty, I was sure that John would want to know sooner rather than later, and I was eager to gain his approval by proving that I could be useful.
“It’s Mr Maxwell to you, and don’t you forget it,” Mum corrected me sharply. “Good manners will get you further in this world than you know, so you mind that you use them. And you’d better sit down and have some lunch first. I’m not having you go up there looking like death warmed up.”
It was well over an hour before I managed to get away from Mum. She’d made me change into clean – well, cleaner – clothes, brush my hair and wash my face before she’d let me leave the cottage.
“This is only a temporary situation,” she reminded me as I walked to the front door at last. “I’m not having him think that we’re filthy and half-starved, as well as homeless.”
I paused, one hand on the sagging doorframe. “What are we then?”
“We’re good people who’ve fallen on hard times,” Mum said sharply. “And who won’t be here any longer than we have to be.”
I jumped off the front step and saluted her. “Yes ma’am,” I said, practicing my good manners. I took a few steps, then turned around and walked backwards as I looked up at her. “And we’re not homeless anymore, remember?”
She just shook her head at me, and went back inside, shutting the door behind her. I shrugged off her ambivalence, unable to comprehend it. It wasn’t fancy, but neither was our old house. As far as I was concerned, it was a roof over our heads, and it had the best view in the world. What more could she want?
It was a warm day, and I walked quickly, trying to resist the urge to rub or slap at the wasp stings, especially the one on my neck, which was swelling up pretty bad. I was going to have to put some ice on it when I got home, and I felt sorry for Taniwha, who’d been stung so many more times than I had.
I turned into the Maxwells’ driveway, past the wooden sign on their gate with the name of the farm carved into it. PARAKAI. I wondered what it meant, and my mind was whirring as I walked around the corner past the hydrangeas and almost collided with Tess. She stumbled backwards with a cry, her arms tightening around something she was clutching to her chest.
“Sorry!” I said quickly. “I didn’t see you there.”
The bundle in her arms moved, and a black and white head popped out and turned to look at me. His dark pointed ears were sticking straight up and a bright pink tong
ue hung out of his mouth as he panted excitedly at the sight of a new human face.
“Oh wow, what a cute puppy!”
Tess smiled shyly and set the wriggling puppy down on the gravel. He immediately bounded up to me, and I crouched down to greet him. The puppy stood on his hind legs and balanced his front paws on my knee, then started licking me all over my face.
“What’s his name?” I asked, between licks.
“Colin,” Tess said.
I glanced up at her, and she met my eyes defiantly, as though daring me to laugh. There was a flash of determination on her face that I hadn’t seen before, and I grinned.
“That’s a good name,” I told her. “Hi Colin, it’s nice to meet you.” Colin yipped at me, and I scruffed his ears. “How old is he?”
“Two and a half months.”
“Have you had him long?”
She shook her head. “He’s not exactly mine. Dad got him to be a working dog, but he’s too little to live in the kennels just yet, so he’s mine to look after until then.”
This was the longest conversation I’d managed to have with Tess, but I still hadn’t got her to smile. I was starting to see that as a personal challenge, but if anyone could help me achieve it, it was a cute puppy. I scooped Colin up into my arms, and he licked my neck, then yelped and squirmed away. I let him go, and he trotted off, pulling faces and sticking his tongue out. Tess looked at him in surprise, but I could tell by the stinging sensation on my neck that he’d just got a taste of the vinegar I’d dabbed on again before walking up the road.
“Are you okay Colin?” Tess asked, sounding worried.
At the sound of his name, the pup looked up at her and wagged his tail, the vinegar promptly forgotten. A butterfly flitted past, and he spun around to face it, then leapt into the air towards it, attempting to pin it with his front paws. The butterfly flew away as Colin slammed his paws into the ground, before peering underneath them to see what he’d caught, blissfully unaware of his failure. Tess and I both burst out laughing at him.
“He’s so cute,” I told her, and she smiled at last, revealing a mouthful of braces with bright green bands around them. “Hey, is your dad around?”
Tess nodded and pointed up the dirt road behind her. “He’s at the woolshed. It’s just up there a bit, past the kennels.”
“Cool, thanks.” I reached down and patted the puppy again as he came bounding back over to me. “Bye Colin. See you round Tess.”
“Bye,” she said softly, then turned and walked towards the house. “Colin, come on!”
The puppy, who had been snuffling around my ankles with interest, pricked his ears and ran after her.
I was almost at the woolshed when a red quad bike came racing up behind me, and I jumped to the side to avoid being flattened. The man riding it glanced at me as he went past, then accelerated on up the slope. I hurried after him, wondering what had happened that made him look so alarmed.
When I got to the woolshed, the quad was sitting outside with its engine still running, and I could hear raised voices coming from inside the building. The man came striding out again a moment later with John by his side. They were walking quickly, and they both looked angry.
John saw me first, and slowed.
“You again, is it?”
“Jonty,” I reminded him.
“You haven’t been leaving any of my gates open, have you Jonty?” he asked.
I started to shake my head, then paused, realising that I hadn’t closed the gate behind me after my flying vault onto Taniwha. We’d been too busy trying to outrun the wasps, and it hadn’t even occurred to me to go back and shut it.
“Well?” John demanded, catching the guilty look on my face.
“Um, I think maybe I did.”
John raised his eyebrows. Both men were standing in front of me now with angry expressions.
“Maybe?”
I swallowed hard. No point in lying about it. “I…did. I left a gate open down on the flat. But there was no stock in that paddock,” I added quickly.
John’s frown deepened. “There wasn’t then. There is now. Bloody hell. Shaun, head back down there and pick up a couple of dogs on your way. I’ll meet you in a few.”
John started walking away as Shaun jumped back onto the red quad and zoomed out of the yard.
“I’m sorry,” I called after John. He didn’t seem to hear me, so I ran to catch up to him. “Can I help you fix it?”
“Not unless you can undo the damage that eighty head of cattle will have done by trampling all across my best hay paddock,” he grumbled.
He walked into an outbuilding, and I stood still, deeply ashamed and furious with myself for making such a stupid mistake, racking my brains to think of what I could do to make it right. Moments later, John came zooming out of the building on another quad bike, narrowly missing running me over as I jumped out of the way.
“Go on boy, get out of here. You’ve done enough damage for one day.”
And he zoomed off down the driveway, leaving me in a shower of dust.
The worst part about it was that I never even got to tell him about the wasps. I was sitting on the front step the next morning, eating my toast and feeling sorry for myself when Phoebe came and sat next to me. She stared at me with big, unblinking eyes, and I glared at her.
“What do you want?” I asked her irritably.
She pouted, then stood up and pushed my shoulder. There wasn’t a lot of force behind it, but my shoulder was still sore from my fall yesterday, and it hurt more than it should have.
“Ow! Phoebe!” I cried, grabbing her arm and shaking her. “Go away! Can’t you leave me alone for five minutes?”
Phoebe burst into tears and started howling. I let go of her and stood up, shoving the last of my toast into my mouth as I jumped off the front step, but Mum was already on my case.
“Jonty, what’d you do to your sister?”
“Nothing!” I said, then caught her look. “She started it.”
“She’s five!” Mum pointed out. “What kind of man are you, picking on a five-year-old?”
“A crap one, obviously!” I shouted, kicking at a tuft of grass and stubbing my toe. “I can’t do anything right around here.”
Mum frowned, one hand patting Phoebe’s back as my little sister clung to her leg, still sobbing.
“What’s the matter with you? You’ve been in a black mood since you came back in last night. Phoebe, that’s enough. You’re not hurt. Stop making a fuss.”
Phoebe quit wailing and shuffled inside, wiping her eyes. Mum came down the step and walked over to me.
“Tell me what happened.”
I shrugged, looking down at the ground. “I left a gate open when Tani and I were getting stung. I would’ve shut it behind me, like I know I’m supposed to, and I always do, honest.” I looked at her intently, and she nodded. “But there were wasps all over us and we would’ve got stung even worse if we’d hung around. I was going to go back and shut it, I swear.”
That last part wasn’t exactly true. If I’d remembered about the gate, of course I’d have gone back – although on foot, and cautiously. But I’d forgotten it completely.
Mum was frowning. “Did Mr Maxwell notice that it was left open?”
I nodded. “His cattle got into the hay paddock, and he said they’ve destroyed it.” I could feel my throat tightening up, and I swallowed hard. I’d walked up to that paddock before breakfast and seen the acres of trampled grass.
“Does he know it was you?” Mum asked.
“Yes. He asked me and I told him the truth.”
“Well, surely he understands that you couldn’t have just stayed there to get stung,” Mum said sharply, looking annoyed. “What did he say about the wasps?”
I felt my neck redden. “I didn’t tell him. He didn’t give me a chance!” I said. “I told Tess though, when I ran into her on the way up there. She might have told him.”
“She might have,” Mum agreed. “But maybe you s
hould make sure he knows, and go tell him yourself.”
I must have looked as alarmed by that prospect as I felt, because she smiled sympathetically. “I’ll go with you, if you like,” she offered, but I shook my head. Somehow that would be even worse, taking my mother along for moral support.
“No, I’ll go.” I took a breath, then let it out.
Mum patted my shoulder. “He can’t be mad at you for telling him the truth. Just go back up there and explain what happened, tell him you’re sorry-”
“I already did!”
She kept talking, ignoring my interruption. “Tell him you’re sorry, again if you have to, and then at least you’ll know that you’re not the one at fault.”
I rubbed the sole of my foot on the grass. “Yes I am. I left the gate open.”
“You made a mistake,” Mum agreed. “But you’re only a boy, and you’ve owned up to it. He can’t expect any more than that.”
I walked much more slowly up to the house this time, but somehow the walk seemed shorter. When I got there I hesitated, wondering whether I should go and knock on the door, but I thought that Hayley might answer it, so I decided to go and check the woolshed first. I could hear sheep bleating from that direction, and as I got closer, I heard dogs barking as well, and men’s voices. I rounded the corner to discover a hive of activity. The yards were full of penned sheep, and there were people everywhere. I looked for John, but I couldn’t see him right away. I noticed Tess sitting on the edge of one of the yards, watching the sheep milling around below her. Colin was snuffling around in the long grass nearby, and he saw me before anyone else did. He started yipping, then appeared to recognise me and came bounding over, his little tail wagging excitedly. I crouched down to greet him, then looked up to see John come out of the sheds and stand next to his daughter, leaning over on the railing and talking to her.
