by Wood, Karen
Chance still seemed a bit sleepy. She stared into space.
‘Let’s teach her something easy, like nodding her head when I ask her a question,’ Kit said. ‘Bring me some carrots.’
Lexie handed her a plastic bag. As Kit reached a hand inside to get a carrot, Chance thrust her nose into the bag as well.
‘Hey!’ Kit laughed. ‘Stop that.’
But Chance kept on shoving. She inhaled the carrots like a giant vacuum cleaner, munching and slobbering until they were all gone.
‘Euwww,’ said Ruby. Chance had carrot juice dribbling from her mouth.
‘We need to teach her some manners before we teach her any tricks,’ Lexie said.
Grampy was walking across the field. ‘How is your new pupil?’ he asked. ‘Has she learned any tricks yet?’
‘She is remedial,’ Lexie said.
‘Beyond hope,’ Ruby agreed.
‘We just haven’t found her special talent yet,’ Kit said.
‘Have you tried riding her?’ Grampy asked.
‘Do you think she’s ready?’ asked Kit.
Grampy appraised the mare with an expert eye. ‘You’ve done wonders with her. She’s ready. Willing might be another matter.’
A few minutes later, Kit brought over a saddle, a saddlecloth and a bridle. She hung the saddle on a fence rail and started with the cloth. First she showed it to Chance to make sure she wasn’t scared of it. ‘I’m just going to put it on your back,’ Kit said, holding it out for the mare to sniff. Chance gave no response.
Encouraged, Kit slung the saddlecloth over her back and then reached to get the saddle. She took it in one arm and turned back.
The saddlecloth was lying on the ground halfway across the field.
‘Hey, how did that get there?’ said Kit. Ruby and Lexie were giggling. Kit glared at Grampy. ‘Did you do that?’
He opened his eyes wide and shook his head. Kit shot a look at her sisters, who were still chuckling. Didn’t they know how important this moment was? She charged off to retrieve the saddlecloth.
‘This is not funny!’ she said. ‘I’m trying to teach her something useful.’
This time when she put the saddlecloth on Chance and reached for the saddle, she watched out of the corner of her eye.
But what she saw what not what she was expecting. Chance reached around herself, took the saddlecloth in her teeth and flung it across the paddock. It sailed through the air like a giant white bird and flapped to the ground.
A sniggery snort escaped Ruby’s throat, and Lexie looked like she was in pain from trying not to laugh.
Kit stomped her foot. She couldn’t stop thinking about how much rested on Chance being able to prove her worth.
Next time, Kit held the saddle and the cloth together. But as she began to buckle the girth, Chance’s bottom dropped to the ground. She sat like an enormous dog, and the saddle slid down her back. It landed on the ground behind her with a thump and a clatter.
Kit’s jaw dropped.
Ruby squealed with laughter. Lexie exploded into chuckles. Kit turned and glared at the pair of them.
‘It’s not funny,’ she stormed.
Meanwhile, Chance lay down on her side, stretched out her legs and closed her eyes as though she was asleep.
Kit turned to Grampy. ‘Did you make her do that?’
Grampy could make horses do all sorts of things. But he shook his head.
Kit took Chance’s rope and pulled. ‘Come on,’ she said. ‘Please, Chance.’
But Chance did not move. She lay in the long grass with carrot slobber smeared all around her chin, looking rather pleased with herself.
‘She is a circus!’ said Grampy, chuckling.
‘Did you hear that, Chance? The whole family thinks you’re a joke.’ Kit kept pulling on the mare’s rope. ‘Get up, you naughty old horse!’
Chance rolled onto her back and waved her legs around in the air. As she did, she pulled Kit over. Kit squealed as she landed on the mare’s belly. She tumbled all the way over and landed on her backside in the mud.
This sent her sisters into a whole new episode of laughter.
Kit couldn’t help smiling. She wrapped her arms around the old mare’s neck. ‘What am I going to do with you, you old trickster?’
Eventually she clambered out of the mud and whistled for Kismet. When Kismet trotted up behind her, Kit brushed herself off and vaulted onto her back. ‘You can get Chance home,’ she said to her sisters, before turning Kismet and riding away. ‘If you think she’s so funny.’
Kit spent the afternoon picking armfuls of fennel, dandelion, rosehip and goat’s rue that grew in patches around the flower farm. If she couldn’t train Chance then at least she could nourish her with a special tonic she had read about in Levinia’s diary.
Later, in the Windara kitchen, she brought a pot of water to boil. When it was bubbling, she tossed in the herbs and turned the flame off. The water went a pinkish colour.
Analita prepared dinner alongside her.
‘How did Chance go today?’ her mother asked as she chopped vegetables.
‘She’s not very smart,’ Kit answered, ladling the tonic she had made into some old glass milk bottles. ‘Are there IQ tests for horses?’
Analita laughed.
‘I’m serious,’ said Kit, screwing a cap onto a bottle. ‘All she wants to do is eat.’
‘She’s probably spent most of her life feeling hungry,’ her mother replied. ‘Neglect does terrible things to animals. Maybe she needs more time.’
The thought of Chance feeling hungry made Kit feel sorry for her. She felt bad for being so impatient. ‘Maybe she didn’t get enough healthy food growing up. It affected her brain cells or something.’
‘On the contrary,’ said Grampy, walking into the kitchen, ‘I think she is wickedly smart.’ He raised one eyebrow at Kit. ‘Maybe too smart for you, hey?’
Kit bristled. ‘I don’t care how silly or clever she is. I just want her to have a nice home where she will be loved and cared for!’
‘If I had the money, I would do that without blinking,’ said Grampy, his voice softening a little. ‘Don’t forget she descends from the great Magnifico. Trickery is in her blood. These are one-person horses. It will be difficult to make her cooperate.’
After dinner, Analita asked the triplets to clear out their schoolbags. ‘Can you get me your lunchboxes before you go to bed?’ she asked. ‘And give me any notices from school.’
Kit rifled through her bag and found the notice for the marine park excursion. As she was about to put it in the bin, Grampy took it from her hand. ‘What’s this?’ he asked.
‘Another outing we can’t afford,’ Kit said.
Grampy straightened out the sheet of paper. ‘An educational and fun seal show,’ he read aloud. ‘Watch these graceful creatures show off their natural talents, and learn about their marine environment.’
Kit opened her lunchbox and scooped a mushed banana into the bin.
‘I think you should go,’ said Grampy.
Kit nearly dropped the whole lunchbox into the bin. ‘Pardon?’
‘You should go,’ he said again. ‘Those trainers have some interesting techniques. You might learn something.’
Grampy reached into his back pocket and pulled out his wallet. ‘Here is twenty dollars. Your mum will sign the form,’ he said. ‘Go. Ask lots of questions and listen carefully to the answers.’
Kit nodded, still stunned. At the very least, a day at the marine park would be a lot more fun than a regular day at school.
Kit waved to Ruby and Lexie as the bus rolled away from the school. Her sisters looked glum, but they understood that all three of them going was out of the question.
Haylee White sat next to her. ‘Did I tell you I got kissed by a seal once?’
‘Only about five times,’ said Kit.
‘We also saw wild dolphins when we were out in Dad’s yacht.’
‘I would have loved to see that,’ Kit admitted
.
At the marine park, she got stuck behind two older boys in the very back row. She had to stretch her neck like a giraffe so that she could see. Below was a large tank of azure water. It was surrounded by rocks and platforms. All around her, children chattered excitedly.
Then Kit saw the shapes of seals beneath the surface, moving with slow, graceful thrusts of their tails. They began leaping out of the water. They did somersaults and flips and rolls.
The children began madly clapping. It was such a joyful sight, Kit clapped too.
A trainer walked onto the stage wearing khaki shorts and gumboots. A container was hanging from her belt. ‘Good morning, boys and girls!’ She reached into the container, pulled out some fish and threw them to the seals.
She began talking about the marine environment and its conservation. Another woman walked along the rows handing out marine literacy kits.
While the trainer talked, the seals rocketed through the air, leaping and twisting. They clapped their fins and walked on their hands. They nodded their heads and rolled over onto their backs. One pretended to be a shark, gliding through the water with one fin poking out.
Kit wondered what the trainer’s secret was. She could barely see her signals. But she did hear a funny click sound every time a seal did a trick. In the trainer’s hand she could see a small object. But what was it?
She flicked through the brochures in the marine literacy kit but found nothing.
‘Does anyone have any questions?’ the trainer asked when the show was over.
Dozens of hands shot into the air. Kit leapt out of her seat and thrust her arm up high, but no matter how much she bobbed up and down, the trainer did not pick her question. Instead, she listened to the other children’s.
‘How many seals do you have?’
‘What do they eat?’
‘Why do you like seals?’
‘Do seals have ears?’
Kit was dying to ask. ‘What is that thing in your hand?’
But after several more questions, the show ended and the children were ushered to a nearby garden to eat their lunch.
On their way towards the garden, Kit saw an open gate leading to the back of the seal stage. She checked over her shoulder for Mrs Alamango, but her teacher was busy talking to the park manager. So Kit slipped quietly away from the crowd.
All sorts of people worked behind the stage. A man in overalls was bent over a large pump with some tools. Another man chopped up fish. A woman hosed the concrete floor clean. Then Kit saw the trainer.
‘Excuse me!’ Kit waved. ‘Hello?’ She glanced over her shoulder, hoping Mrs Alamango hadn’t heard her.
‘Hi.’ The trainer smiled. ‘Are you meant to be back here?’
‘I just have one quick question,’ Kit stammered. ‘I was wondering, what was that thing in your hand, during the show?’
‘Oh this?’ The trainer pulled a small square gadget out of her pocket. When she pressed it with her thumb it made a clicking noise. ‘It’s a clicker.’
Kit could not imagine how it would be useful for training horses. But she remembered Grampy’s words.
Ask lots of questions and listen to the answers.
‘Do you use that to train the seals?’
The woman nodded. ‘Yes. When it makes a clicking noise, the seals think they are going to get a treat. So they love to make it click.’
‘How do they make it click?’ Kit asked.
The trainer looked doubtfully back towards the gate Kit had come through. ‘I don’t want you to get in trouble,’ she said.
‘I’ll go back to my class in just a minute, I promise.’
‘Come and I’ll quickly show you, then,’ she said. ‘My name is Terry, by the way.’
Kit hurried after Terry to a large pool where the seals swam.
‘I have been trying to teach Sidhar the Seal how to kiss people from the audience,’ said Terry. ‘Would you like to give it a try?’
Kit wasn’t sure. A kiss from a seal sounded kind of fishy and stinky. ‘Okay,’ she shrugged.
‘Sit on that chair,’ Terry instructed.
Kit did as she was told, and in seconds a large black seal slipped out of the pool.
‘Hi, Sidhar,’ said Terry. She pulled a fish from her hip container. ‘Would you like a fish?’
The seal began bobbing its head up and down excitedly.
Terry held out her clicker. ‘You have to make this go click.’ She pointed to Kit. ‘Kiss!’
Kit’s eyes grew wide as the seal flopped along the ground towards her. She hardly dared to breathe as Sidhar stood on his hind flippers and planted his wet, whiskery snout on her cheek. As he kissed her, Kit heard the click. She also smelled tuna.
Sidhar humped his way back to his trainer and collected a large slimy octopus. He slurped it into his mouth like cooked spaghetti.
‘But how did you make him kiss someone in the first place?’ Kit asked.
‘You have to watch the animals carefully and capture their natural behaviour,’ Terry answered. ‘When they do something you like, reward it with a click and a treat.’
‘Do you think I could train a horse like that?’
‘For sure,’ Terry said. ‘It’s used for lots of different animals; dogs, horses, even goats.’ She passed Kit the clicker. ‘Here, take this home and try it. Don’t worry, I have more of them.’
‘Thank you,’ said Kit. She could not wait to get home and try it on Chance. She ran back to join her class again.
All the way home, she rolled the clicker around in her hand, remembering Terry’s words.
… capture their natural behaviour …
‘First I have to teach her that a click means a treat,’ Kit said to Ruby and Lexie. She had Chance tethered in the barn.
The old mare stood with her head low, staring at the wall. Kit clicked the clicker and then gave Chance a piece of carrot. She did it three more times. Click and treat. Click and treat. Click and treat. Soon Chance realised that every time Kit clicked, she got a treat.
Chance’s ears pricked up. Kit smiled. This was a very good sign.
‘Well done, Chance,’ said Kit. ‘Now I just have to wait for you to do something interesting.’
‘Like sleeping?’ said Lexie.
‘Or eating,’ laughed Ruby.
Chance pawed her foot and kicked the feed bucket. Kit clicked. ‘Like kicking things,’ she said.
Chance kicked the bin again and Kit clicked. She gave her some food.
It didn’t take Chance long to realise that every time she kicked the bin, the clicker went off and she got some food.
‘Let’s see if you can do that outside,’ said Kit. She led Chance to the garden and found an old soccer ball. She placed it at the mare’s feet and waited.
Chance stood there.
Kit held the clicker in her fingers, waiting.
Suddenly Chance lifted her foot and knocked the ball. Kit quickly clicked and gave Chance some food. Next time, Chance booted the ball halfway across the garden. Ruby and Lexie ran over and kicked it back. Within an hour, Chance was playing soccer. Kit could scarcely believe it.
‘That is amazing,’ said Ruby.
‘I never would have believed it,’ said Lexie.
‘There is a school fete in a couple of weeks,’ said Ruby. ‘If Chance could do some tricks and get a few coins in the hat, then maybe Grampy would let her stay a bit longer.’
Kit cast a glance at Grampy. He stood in the veggie field, surrounded by mouldy plants.
‘Let’s ask him,’ said Ruby.
Kit followed, knowing what the answer would be.
‘I don’t think that’s a good idea,’ he said, before Ruby had even finished asking the question.
‘But maybe she could earn a few coins and help around the place,’ Kit suggested. ‘And then she could stay.’
Grampy shook his head. ‘You can’t do tricks on her, she’s not fit enough.’ He took up his hoe and continued pulling out the mushy cucumber plants. ‘
She’s too old.’
‘Please?’ said Kit. ‘We won’t ride her, we’ll just do a few ground tricks. Nothing hard.’
Grampy thought for a while, watching the old mare grazing in the garden. ‘She doesn’t know any ground tricks.’
‘We’ll teach her,’ said Kit. ‘Oh Grampy, please!’
He shrugged. ‘Okay, okay. You can take her to the fete,’ he said, then muttered under his breath. ‘Maybe someone there will want to give her a nice home.’
‘Thank you, Grampy.’ Kit would show him just how clever Chance was. And maybe, just maybe, Chance would earn enough coins for Grampy to let her stay.
Kit spent every spare moment over the next couple of weeks teaching Chance more tricks. She taught her to sit on command and to twirl on the spot like a ballerina.
But Kit’s bracelet still changed from cool to warm and back again whenever she was around the mare. Sometimes it seemed that Chance was almost recovered. Other times, it seemed she was still quite poorly. Kit could make no sense of it. She worried about making the old horse perform while she was still mending.
Each morning she put more calendula ointment on Chance’s skin, and the bald patches quickly grew over again. She poured special tonic she had made into a bucket and found the old mare loved it. ‘I think this is making her smarter,’ Kit said to her sisters.
She combed out Chance’s mane and tail and wove fresh flowers through her forelock to make her feel beautiful.
Kit continued reading through Grandma Levinia’s diary looking for other helpful remedies, but found nothing new. On Friday afternoon, she put Chance into her stable and noticed that the old mare still seemed tired. ‘Only a couple of hours at the fete,’ said Kit. ‘Anything more will be too much for you.’
She went to get Chance some hay and found there was only one bale left.
Grampy walked in with a grim face. ‘I don’t know how we will pay for the next lot. The crop is completely ruined from the rain.’
‘Chance has a wonderful show to perform,’ Kit said, trying to sound confident. ‘She will earn us some money.’
‘I have a lady coming to look at her on Monday,’ said Grampy. His voice was gentle. ‘She wants a horse to keep her goat company. It would be a kind home.’
