Welcome to Willowvale

by Rebecca Johnson

  Talika put her hand to her mouth and hid her face behind Abbey’s back.

  ‘Oh Poppet,’ said Abbey, crouching down beside the sheep. The two little lambs were squeezed into the corner, hiding behind their mother as the vet worked on her.

  ‘Hello, girls,’ said Dr Brown. ‘Now, we’ve got her sedated so I can clean this mess up, but I think she’s going to be fine. She put up a mighty fight, defending her lambs, and she has a few cuts, but it’s skin-deep only. She’ll be pretty sore for a little while, but that’s where you girls come in.’

  All three girls were on their knees now, gently stroking the injured ewe.

  ‘The lambs are hungry, and the ewe . . .’

  ‘You mean Poppet,’ interrupted Abbey. For some reason, it felt very important that Dr Brown knew her name.

  ‘Poppet,’ smiled Dr Brown, ‘will not be able to feed them properly for the next twenty-four hours. Once she’s up and about and eating, she’ll start to produce enough milk again and the sedative will have had time to work its way through the system so that it doesn’t affect the lambs, but in the meantime, the lambs will need feeding every four hours. Do you think you could help Mr McPhail with that? It should only be for a day or so until Poppet’s feeling better.’

  ‘Are you kidding?’ whispered Abbey. ‘We’d love to.’

  She looked over at the sweet little lambs tucked in behind their mother. Their tiny bleats sounded a bit like newborn human babies, and just as sad.

  The sound of the door clicking made the girls look around. Mr McPhail had returned with two glass bottles of warm milk, with little yellow teats squeezed on top.

  ‘Now, girls,’ he said quietly, ‘this is special lamb formula. The milk needs to be fed to the lambs every four hours at body temperature. I have spoken to the principal about allowing you to help out with the feeding, especially for tonight, as the ewe will need to rest for the next twenty-four hours.’

  The girls looked at each other and nodded vigorously. They couldn’t wait to hold the tiny lambs and feed them.

  ‘We’ll show you how to do it, then, just until tomorrow morning. Ms Sterling has said that she will allow the lambs to be kept up in the the boarding house. It’s warmer and will make it easier to feed them during the night. Miss Beckett’s going to assist with this.’

  Dr Brown looked up from her surgery. ‘If all goes well, tomorrow morning they can be re­united with their mother. She should be rested and well on her way to recovery by then.’

  Mr McPhail placed the bottles of milk on the ledge of the door. ‘I’ll slip in behind the mother and pass them out. They’ll be a bit frightened and wriggly, but hopefully when they taste the milk they’ll settle down for you. Just make sure you keep the bottle tilted up, so that they don’t drink air and get a tummy full of gas.’

  Talika and Abbey sat cross-legged on the straw, and Mr McPhail passed the first of the lambs to Hannah, who placed her gently in Abbey’s lap and handed her a warm bottle. At first the little lamb struggled and cried out, butting the teat away with its little pink nose.

  ‘Here, try this,’ said Hannah, crouching next to Abbey and squeezing a couple of drops of milk onto the lamb’s nose. A little pink tongue flicked out and licked the milk away. The lamb looked at the girls, and then the bottle, then it grabbed hungrily for the teat.

  ‘Look at her little tail!’ laughed Talika, and sure enough, the lamb’s tail was flicking happily as she guzzled the milk.

  ‘I think we should call this one Button,’ smiled Talika. ‘Look at her little pink button nose!’

  ‘And can this one be Snowflake?’ said Hannah as she pressed her cheek to the tiny white body of the second lamb before placing it in Talika’s lap.

  ‘Perfect,’ said Abbey. ‘Snowflake and Button, it is.’

  The girls sat quietly feeding their new babies in the stall, while Dr Brown carefully finished stitching their poor mother’s broken skin and sponged the bloodstains away from where the wool had been clipped back.

  Suddenly, Talika felt something pressing into her neck. She looked up at Hannah, who was right behind her.

  ‘What on earth?’ Talika said, trying to twist around and see what was happening without disturbing the feeding lamb.

  ‘Sorry, Tali,’ giggled Hannah. ‘It’s just that you had the best mozzie on your neck and I happened to have one of my vials with me. So now, we’ve got our first parasite! It’s even got blood in it.’

  ‘Yes! My blood!’ protested Talika.

  Abbey started shaking with laughter, and Tom looked at the three of them weirdly, which made her giggle even more.

  ‘Why are you spraying Poppet purple?’ asked Talika, as Dr Brown covered the neat stitches with a bright purple spray.

  ‘It kills the bacteria, plus it keeps flies away and dries the wound out so that it can heal quite quickly.’

  ‘Poppet will be the envy of the flock when they see her purple wool,’ laughed Abbey.

  ‘What do you think did this to her?’ asked Hannah, nodding towards Poppet’s wounds.

  ‘A dog, I’d say,’ said the vet thoughtfully. ‘And my guess is it was acting alone. A pack of dogs would have been able to separate the ewe from her lambs.’

  The girls all looked at each other in horror as the same thought struck them.

  ‘I’ll bet it was that cattle dog!’ blurted Abbey.

  The other two nodded in agreement.

  ‘What cattle dog?’ asked Mr McPhail.

  The girls told Mr McPhail the whole story about the trip up the road the day before.

  ‘You should have reported that to me as soon as you got back to school. Any safety issues with horses are my concern.’

  ‘We were going to . . .’ said Talika.

  ‘But we . . .’ stammered Hannah.

  ‘Thought you wouldn’t let us ride down the road anymore,’ said Abbey.

  ‘Well, if it’s unsafe, that may well be my decision, but understand this, it is my decision to make, not yours. Next time you need to tell me immediately if there is a problem.’

  ‘Yes, sir,’ they said. Looking around, Abbey could see that the others were all as ashamed as she was.

  ‘I’m going to go and pay this fellow a visit and get this sorted out. Having a dog like that on the loose isn’t good enough.’

  Abbey was impressed. Mr McPhail could obviously be quite stern when he wanted to. She didn’t envy the man with the dog when her teacher came knocking.

  Dr Brown and Tom packed their kits and left, and the full little lambs were now curled beside their mother, asleep.

  ‘Good job, girls,’ said Mr McPhail, smiling. ‘Now you’d better go back to class because you’ll need to be back here at lunchtime for the next feed. By then, I’ll have had time to pay a visit to our neighbour.’

  All through their English class, the girls whispered excitedly about the dog and the lambs. When it was over, they rushed out, eager to get to science and hurry on lunchtime, and almost collided with Miss Beckett in the hall.

  ‘Oh girls!’ she babbled excitedly. ‘I hear we have some extra little boarders tonight. When Mr McPhail asked me, well, what could I say? We’ll keep them down in the laundry near the hot water system overnight, where they’ll be nice and warm. Mr McPhail has helped me to set up a corner for them. If you girls help me with the six pm feed, I will do the ten pm and two am feed. Then you can come down at six tomorrow morning for the last feed before they rejoin their mother. How does that sound? Good? Yes? Excellent. Must go. See you then.’

  And she was off down the hall, still talking to herself as she disappeared around the corner.

  ‘Well, I guess that’s sorted then!’ laughed Abbey. ‘Did anyone else notice how she blushed every time she said Mr McPhail’s name?’ Abbey held her hand to her chest and let out a long sigh.

  The other two laughed and Hannah gave
Abbey a shove. ‘You’re nuts!’ Then her face went blank. Abbey turned. It was Elizabeth, coming down the hall with two friends.

  ‘Captain,’ said Abbey with absolute sincerity and stood to attention as they passed. The older girls glared at her.

  ‘You are going to get me into so much trouble,’ whispered Hannah, smirking at her friend.

  ‘I just think she needs to give you a break. Enough of the glares across the room all the time! Don’t think I don’t see it,’ said Abbey. ‘What is her problem?’

  ‘It is like having your mother at school with you,’ said Talika sympathetically.

  The girls continued down the hall, subdued by their run-in with Elizabeth. When they walked into the classroom, everyone was milling around excitedly, holding up small vials.

  ‘I got this flea from my dog,’ said Bonnie proudly.

  ‘I got this head lice from my cousin,’ laughed Molly.

  ‘Ew!’ said all the girls, stepping back.

  ‘We’re going to have to get serious about our parasite collection girls,’ said Abbey. ‘From now on, keep your eyes peeled for anything that sucks or bites!’

  Lunchtime couldn’t come quickly enough, and the girls were first in the queue in the dining hall. Mrs Bristow eyed them ­suspiciously from behind the counter.

  ‘You girls seem like you’re in an awful hurry. I don’t want to see any scoffing of food. Willowvale girls do not scoff, is that clear?’

  ‘Yes, Miss,’ they all replied obediently, and filled their trays.

  Back at the table, Abbey couldn’t help herself. She filled her cheeks with a huge bite of her roll and bulged her eyes and made scoffing noises, and the others at the table burst out laughing. Mrs Bristow was up behind her in a heartbeat.

  Abbey swallowed her mouthful in a huge gulp, before turning and gazing up sweetly at the head of the kitchen.

  ‘I’m so glad you came over, Mrs Bristow,’ she said with total sincerity, ignoring Hannah’s eye roll. ‘I was just telling the girls that this is honestly the best salad roll I have ever eaten!’

  Mrs Bristow stared at Abbey, obviously trying to work out if she was being smart.

  ‘Right. Well. Good. Eat nicely,’ she finally grumbled, as she turned and went back to the kitchen. The other girls stared at her with mouths open.

  ‘What can I say?’ grinned Abbey. ‘My ­brothers taught me every trick in the book.’

  When the girls were finally released from lunch they raced down to feed their lambs. Mr McPhail was waiting for them, and he didn’t look the least bit happy.

  ‘Did you go and see the man with the dog, sir?’ said Hannah.

  ‘I saw him all right,’ said Mr McPhail, ‘as he stood on his front verandah and let his dog bail me up. He didn’t make a single effort to call it off. When I yelled out to him, he pretended he couldn’t hear me over the dog! Just shrugged his shoulders and went back inside.’

  ‘Has he lived there for long?’ asked Talika.

  ‘No, he’s new to the area, probably looking for work. The neighbours said that the dog’s driving them nuts barking and chasing cars and kids on bikes. Apparently he goes out for a few hours after lunch each day, and that’s when the dog is at its worst. They’ve reported the dog to the council, but each time they come out, the dog is either not there, or inside the house.’

  ‘That’s ridiculous,’ said Abbey.

  ‘The ridiculous thing is that the council says the dog must be caught in the act outside its property before they can do anything except send a warning notice, which they’ve already done,’ said Mr McPhail.

  ‘So now none of the sheep are safe until it’s caught out?’ cried Hannah. ‘But that might be too late! Poor Valentina!’

  ‘Looks like we are going to have to come up with a Plan B,’ said Talika.

  The girls fed their lambs quietly in the stable beside their mother. Poppet was awake now, and sitting up with her legs tucked under her. But she still looked very sleepy, and she didn’t seem to have the energy to care that her lambs were being fed by someone else.

  ‘I’ll keep her in here tonight, and she’ll hopefully be much brighter tomorrow,’ said Mr McPhail. ‘Dr Brown is coming out again in the morning to check her over and spray the cattle for ticks. I’ll have to put the whole flock in the arena every night until this dog problem is sorted. It’s the only holding area we have that has solid sides.’

  The girls talked about the problem of the dog again on their way back up to class after lunch, and then again when they were exercising their horses in the paddock that afternoon. Quite a few of the other girls had come down too, and it was great fun all riding around together.

  ‘Your horse is amazingly fast around those barrels,’ said one of the senior girls as she rode past Abbey. Abbey patted Pep proudly on the neck.

  ‘I’ve got an idea,’ said Hannah, riding up to Abbey and Talika. ‘You know how Mrs Parry has got that high-powered microscope she plugs into her computer?’

  ‘Yeah . . .?’ said Abbey.

  ‘Well, if we could find where the dog might have pushed in under the school fence, there might be some hair. We could get a sample and cross-check it against the hair of the dog, then we can prove it’s leaving its yard.’

  ‘That is a wonderful idea,’ said Talika. ‘Maybe the other girls will help us look all around the perimeter of the fences. He has to have come in under the fence somewhere!’

  The rest of the girls were more than happy to join in the search. They were all worried about their own sheep and the story about the attack horrified them. Everyone fanned out and rode around the paddocks, looking for any sign of dog hair caught on the bottom of the barbed wire fences.

  ‘He’s a border collie,’ said Abbey in frustration, when no sign of entry could be found. ‘They drop hair everywhere!’

  ‘We’ll just have to come up with another plan,’ said Hannah as they turned their horses and headed back.

  ‘BINGO!’ said Abbey, slapping her leg.

  ‘Can you see where it got in?’ said Talika, trying to stop Pudding from eating the grass while they stopped and studied the fence.

  ‘Nope,’ she beamed, ‘but I’ve just caught my first parasite for our collection. A juicy horsefly!’ She held up the large grey fly by the wing.

  ‘Ahh,’ said Talika. ‘I was studying parasites in the science textbook during the homework session yesterday. I saw some pictures of those.’

  ‘Do we actually have a science textbook?’ said Abbey with a grin. ‘Here, can you hold him while I get my vial out of my saddle bag, Han?’

  ‘Ew . . . do I have to?’ grumbled Hannah. ‘It doesn’t look too hygienic. Are you sure it’s a parasite, and not just a dirty big fly?’

  ‘Yep, and I even know it’s a girl,’ smiled Abbey, studying her kill. ‘The males are like male mosquitoes – they don’t bite. Only the females bite because they need the blood for their eggs. I learnt that without ever looking in a textbook.’ She winked.

  ‘I am going to need to read a lot of books if I am going to be a laboratory scientist and discover cures for all kinds of animal diseases,’ sighed Talika.

  ‘I think I’m going to be ill,’ moaned Hannah, as Abbey carefully passed over the specimen and reached into her saddlebag for her vial. ‘I cannot believe I am holding it.’ Hannah quickly dropped the horsefly into the vial.

  ‘That is two we have now!’ beamed Talika.

  The girls unsaddled their horses and brushed them down, then collected their feed to tip into their bins.

  ‘Pudding, stop pushing me!’ snapped Talika. ‘I cannot tip it in any faster than I already am.’

  Mr McPhail appeared at the stable door, shaking his head at the greedy pony. ‘Right, girls, I’ll bring the lambs up just before I leave at around five-thirty,’ he said. ‘I’ve already been to see Miss Beckett to drop off all the milk yo
u will need. We’ll all meet in the laundry, okay?’

  The girls nodded eagerly and then headed back towards their room to start their homework.

  ‘Ugh, more algebra,’ sighed Abbey, trailing behind the others. ‘It is definitely my least-­favourite subject.’

  An hour later, Talika and Hannah were finished their maths, and Abbey had her head in her hands.

  She stared blankly at the posters with formulas written on them that Hannah had taped to the wall.

  ‘Here, let me help you,’ said Talika, pulling her chair up next to Abbey. ‘The trick is to just try and really understand the four basic rules and the terminology, so that each time you come to a problem, you know which rule to use.’

  After a few questions, and with Talika’s help, Abbey began to get the hang of it. They worked through all of the problems together, and Abbey’s confidence slowly began to grow.

  ‘Thanks, Tali,’ she sighed. ‘I’ve always been pretty rubbish at maths.’

  ‘And I am rubbish at riding,’ said Talika. ‘Let us help each other to both get what we want. It would be quite symbiotic!’

  ‘Mrs Parry would be pleased,’ said Hannah.

  ‘Yep, no parasites here. Unless . . .’ Abbey leaned forward and peered at Hannah’s hair.

  ‘Cut it out!’ snapped Hannah, laughing.

  The girls arrived at the laundry right on five-thirty. Mr McPhail and Miss Beckett were already there, each holding a lamb. Miss Beckett’s smile was even bigger than normal.

  ‘Well, aren’t these little darlings!’ she said, hugging her lamb close.

  ‘They are so cute, aren’t they?’ cooed Hannah.

  ‘Their bottles are here, ready to go,’ said Mr McPhail. ‘If you feed them at six, you should make it to dinner by six-thirty.’

  ‘We wouldn’t want to upset Chuckles by being late,’ said Abbey without thinking, as she tickled a lamb’s chin.