'Guess what? I just had a ride on a Clydesdale. So much fun! I might get one of those when I grow up.'
Her mother nodded, but kept concentrating on her paperwork. Shelby looked out the window to the garden. Her father was tending to his vegetables. Sliding the back door open, Shelby slipped out onto the back patio.
'I had a ride on a Clydesdale,' she told him.
Her father shoved his trowel into the soil and wiped his dirty hands on the back of his shorts. He gathered up a handful of vegetables that he had picked from the garden and walked around its wooden border. 'Really? That's one of those big ones, isn't it?'
'Yeah, he was huge! We doubled,' she said.
'Is it for hire?' he asked. 'You kids can ride it to school when you miss the bus,' he said, smiling.
Shelby shook her head. 'So where's your car anyway?' she asked him.
Shelby's father put his hands on her shoulders. 'I sold it to get your horse back.'
'Dad! Don't be silly!' Sometimes his jokes weren't funny at all. As if he would ever sell the Spyder.
Her father followed her, turning into the kitchen to wash the carrots he had picked. He shook the water from them over the draining board and twisted their green tops off.
'Want to see a magic trick?' he asked.
Shelby shrugged.
He held the carrots up in his hands, two in one hand and one in the other. Then he twisted them around. 'Presto magico,' he said, then he tucked the carrots into Shelby's pockets. He waved his hands at her, palms out. 'They've disappeared!'
'Yeah, good one, Dad,' she said, pulling the carrots out and throwing them on the bench.
'Don't you want to give them to your horse? I'm offended. I grew them myself. They're organic, you know.' He picked up the carrots and juggled them. 'You know, with all the fuss you've made about getting him back, I thought you'd be more excited.'
'You didn't really sell the Spyder,' she said.
He sighed 'No. It's at the mechanics, so we might not need the sulky after all, as long as your Aunt is happy to double.'
'What are you going on about?'
'Your Aunt Jenny just bought your horse, so you'll have to share him now.'
'No way! You're not being serious!'
If it was a joke it was an awful one.
'No. I'm just kidding. I don't think Aunt Jenny will want to ride him. She lives too far away.'
'Did she really . . .?' she asked, not trusting herself to finish the question.
'She did,' her father replied.
It couldn't be true. 'Really? Really?'
'Really, truly!'
Shelby turned to her mother. 'Is this a joke?'
Her mother shook her head. 'No joke, Shel, he arrived about an hour ago.' She smiled. It was such a lovely, sunny smile.
Shelby jumped up and hugged her dad, and then she jumped up and down on the spot. 'Oh my God! You're the best!' Then she turned on her heel and ran back down the hallway and out the door.
'Me?' he called after her. 'I had nothing to do with it!'
She heard the screen slam as it hit the wall at the front of the house, but she was already halfway down the driveway and onto the road.
She sprinted faster than she could have imagined, taking the corner, and then heading down the home straight. Looking ahead she could see the sliprail across the front of the paddock, just the way it should be, and behind it she could see a shaggy, blunt face attached to a long thin ewe-neck.
'Blue!' she called out.
He stepped forward and leaned over the rail waiting for her, just like he always had. Shelby threw her arms around him. 'It really is you!' she said, rubbing her hands along his neck, as though she couldn't believe he was real.
Blue pushed his nose towards her pockets looking for something sweet to eat.
'Oh, Blue. I don't have anything for you.'
Blue nudged at her again and when she looked down she saw in her jacket pocket three small carrots. Her dad must have slipped them into her pocket when she hugged him.
'I will never, ever let you out of my sight again!' she said, squeezing Blue. 'Hayley's not the luckiest girl in the world – I am.'
About the author
Alyssa Brugman's first novel, Finding Grace, was shortlisted for the NSW Premier's and Queensland Premier's Literary Awards and the Children's Book Council of Australia Book of the Year (Older Readers). It was a Commended Book in the 2002 Victorian Premier's Literary Awards and has been translated into Dutch (for which it was short-listed for the 'Gouden Zoen' Award), Danish and German.
Walking Naked, Alyssa's second novel, was short-listed for the Victorian Premier's Literary Award and awarded Honour Book in the 2003 CBCA Book of the Year (Older Readers). Alyssa's third novel for young adults, Being Bindy, was a Notable Book in the CBCA Book of the Year Awards, and short-listed for the Children's Peace Literature Award.
Alyssa lives in the Hunter Valley, where she writes full-time and keeps four horses. Shadow, her first pony, is a bay mare in her early thirties. Istana Kazrah is a chestnut Arab mare. Greenwood Elizabeth is a six-year-old grey Riding Pony mare. Reddy is a bay thoroughbred gelding who belongs to Alyssa's sister.
Alyssa had great fun writing For Sale or Swap. To make it more real, she went for lots of rides in the bush around Sydney, and tried to incorporate what she saw, smelt, heard and experienced while she was out there. She also competed in a few local shows to see what had changed since she was last in the show ring.
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