Opal Dreaming

by Karen Wood

  ‘Yeah. Long time ago,’ said Luke.

  Jess was so shocked she couldn’t think of what to say. She ran her hands over his ribcage, wishing she could smooth them out and make that part of his history go away.

  He put his hand on hers and moved it away. ‘I don’t even think about that stuff when I’m out here, Jess.’

  ‘What do you think about?’

  ‘When I’m out here alone with the cattle I just look around and soak it all in. There’s no sense of time. It’s really hard to explain.’

  Jess looked around her. Out to their left, jagged rocks rose magnificently from the horizon like giant sleeping dinosaurs. A creature, timid and unseen, rustled in a shrub as they rode past. ‘It’s a really spiritual place,’ Jess murmured, hoping she didn’t sound too kooky.

  ‘Yeah, it is.’

  ‘I keep thinking I’m going to find answers in the land, like Harry used to say. I can’t stop thinking about Opal being a min min horse.’

  ‘Bob calls her the debil debil horse,’ Luke laughed. ‘But I think he’s only joking.’

  ‘Reckon she could be cursed? I have nightmares about her, sometimes.’

  Luke took a while to answer. ‘Did you know that there were tribes of people in ancient Britain who had horses and wolves as their totems?’

  ‘No.’

  ‘Maybe you have horse dreaming.’

  Jess thought of Filth and Fang and their desperate loyalty to Luke. ‘I think you definitely have wolf dreaming.’

  ‘Yeah, those dumb dogs. They appeared out of nowhere. I swear to God, it was as if they just chose me and I had no say in it.’

  ‘I feel like that with Opal.’

  ‘Maybe you have Opal dreaming.’ He pointed ahead. ‘There’s the turkey’s nest,’ he said, pointing to a big earthen dam, rising up out of the flat country. A rusty windmill stood motionless beside it, despite the gentle breeze. ‘Hope it’s got some water in it.’

  Jess noticed a shadow slink behind the base of the dam. She felt Luke stiffen. He had seen it too.

  ‘What was that?’ she hissed, squinting into the harsh morning sun.

  Another shadow slunk between the windmill and the dam.

  ‘There’s another one. It was a person!’ Jess whispered urgently. ‘There are two of them.’

  Luke gathered Legsy’s reins and slowed his walk. ‘You still got that rolling pin?’

  ‘Let’s just turn around and go back,’ she said. ‘It’s not worth it.’

  ‘It’s too late, they’ve seen us. Give me the rolling pin.’

  ‘Let’s just go, Luke. I want to go back. You’re scaring me.’

  Luke drew the horse to a halt and turned in the saddle. ‘Don’t be frightened. I won’t let them hurt you, Jess.’ He reached into her jacket and pulled out the rolling pin.

  ‘I know, that’s what scares me.’ She reached her arm through to the reins and grabbed one. ‘Luke, I want to go back,’ she pleaded.

  All of a sudden, Luke burst out laughing. ‘It’s a little calf! Two little calves; look at them!’

  Jess exhaled a huge billowing breath of relief. ‘That scared the life out of me!’

  Luke chuckled as he dismounted Legsy and led him closer to the bore. ‘Poor little fellas are just looking for a drink. The dam’s fenced off.’

  Jess slipped off Legsy’s rump and walked alongside him. ‘Any water in the trough?’

  Luke walked a few more metres before answering. ‘Nope!’ He looked up. ‘There’s something stuck in the wind-wheel.’

  ‘Gross, it’s a bird,’ said Jess, noticing the lump had feathers. ‘God, it’s huge, what is it? Do they get pelicans around here?’

  ‘Whatever it is, it must have been pretty dumb to fly into a windmill.’

  ‘Maybe it had heatstroke,’ Jess shrugged.

  ‘Birds don’t get heatstroke.’

  ‘It’s possible!’ she said, indignantly. ‘Global warming and all that!’

  ‘Oh, shut up,’ said Luke.

  ‘Hey, maybe it flew over from the Northern Territory because it was melting!’

  ‘Yeah, yeah, very funny.’ Luke took hold of the rusty metal frame of the windmill and prepared to climb. ‘Either way, I’ll have to go up there and get it out.’ He was about to start hauling himself up when Jess saw his eye catch on something in the distance. She looked behind her in the same direction.

  A spiral of dust was twisting out of the ground, sucking leaves and powdery red earth up into its vortex, and gliding over the ground towards them.

  ‘A willy-willy,’ said Luke. ‘Turn your back to it, Jess!’

  Jess turned and shielded her eyes from its dust as it whirled into her, grabbing at her clothes and messing up her hair, before dissipating quite suddenly into stillness and fading out.

  Where the willy-willy had cleared a path along the ground, a twinkling caught Jess’s eye. She bent and brushed away the dirt. A small piece of rock lay in the dry sand, craggy and grey.

  ‘It’s an opal!’ Jess picked it up and turned it over in the palm of her hand. Where it had broken open, the rough exterior encased a solid centre of red and turquoise, green and gold. It was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen. ‘Just like Dave talked about.’

  ‘See,’ said Luke. ‘You do have opal dreaming.’

  ‘Don’t be silly,’ said Jess. ‘Maybe it’s a floater. Usually you have to go digging for opals, but every now and then a chunk comes to the surface.’ She rolled it in her hand, fascinated by it.

  ‘Weird stuff always happens around you,’ said Luke.

  ‘Opal,’ said Jess, almost to herself. ‘It’s like I’ve found a little piece of her spirit.’ She carefully placed the stone into her jeans pocket. ‘Hey – can I borrow Legsy, while you deal with the dodo bird?’

  16

  ‘REMEMBER, LEGSY’S a stallion now,’ said Luke, as he gave her a leg up. ‘Don’t let go of him or you’ll never see him again. I don’t want him running off to join the brumbies.’

  ‘Are there brumbies around here?’

  ‘No, but you know what I mean.’

  ‘I promise I’ll be careful with him,’ said Jess, adjusting the stirrups. ‘I just want to go for a bit of a ride – see if the land has anything else to show me.’

  ‘Don’t go too far. You haven’t got any water.’

  ‘Legsy’ll look after me, won’t you, boy?’ She gave the stallion a pat. ‘See you in about an hour.’

  As Jess set out across an open stretch of patchy grasslands, she pulled her phone from her jacket pocket, switched it on, then she tucked it back into her pocket. She legged the stallion from side to side and he responded lightly to her touch. ‘Hmm, nice,’ she commented, and made her way to a small, open grove of stumpy mulga shrubs, sparsely dotted over the reddish earth. They had the bluntly cut ends and fuzzy new growth of trees that had been harvested.

  As Jess rode into the grove, the scenery became identical all around; with nothing to distinguish the way home, it was almost like being in a maze. The sun was getting higher and she made note of the shadows stretching from the western side of the shrubs. She reached out and snapped small branches from the taller of the trees to mark her way.

  Legsy walked with big ground-covering strides, brushing his legs through the silvery grey perennials that grew out of the dry land. Jess let him have his head and settled into the rhythm of his gait. ‘They don’t call you Legsy for nothing,’ she said, as she patted his neck and watched the ground roll along beneath, alert for anything shiny or out of the ordinary. It would be cool to find another opal. She passed an old car tyre, the occasional crushed beer can and a dead snake – nothing remarkable.

  As she drew further away from the bore, the occasional ironbark tree popped up and the trees became taller. She followed a cattle trail up and over a small rocky hill. When she got to the top, she stopped and pulled out her phone – still no reception.

  She rode on, coming down the other side; the trees suddenly opened onto a vast
stretch of knee-high pasture. Legsy snatched at mouthfuls of grass as he walked through it, taking advantage of the long rein Jess gave him. She took a deep breath as a small breeze cooled her face, rippling the grass gently in its wake.

  Legsy startled suddenly. ‘Whoa!’ Taken off-guard, Jess grabbed at the pommel of the saddle. The stallion came to an abrupt halt, snorting suspiciously, his legs set wide apart.

  ‘What is it, Legs?’ she said, quickly gathering the reins. She held onto his head as he began to turn in nervous circles.

  Jess pulled him back around and tried to kick him up, but he only shuffled backwards. She kicked him again, but he jumped sideways in a big frightened leap, snorting loud blasts of snot into the air.

  ‘Easy, boy,’ she soothed, wondering if she should take warning and head back. ‘What is it?’

  She scanned the countryside, hoping it wasn’t a black snake – or worse, a disgruntled ringer. Instead, she saw a small brown lump move through the long grass. ‘It’s a goat, you big sook!’ Then she saw several more. ‘Haven’t you ever seen one before?’

  She let him stop and have a look. His whole body had gone as hard as a rock, and he held his head high, ears jutting forward. One front leg trembled slightly. Jess patted him on the neck and he jumped out of his skin again, making her laugh. ‘Hey, you big baby!’

  After several minutes of letting the stallion become acquainted with a new species, Jess managed to coerce him to tiptoe gingerly through the herd, sidestepping with alarm and snorting mistrustfully each time a goat lifted its head and bleated at him.

  Safely through the goat herd, the stallion lengthened his stride and relaxed into a brisk walk again, through more small hills and narrow winding trails. She let him have his head for a while and marvelled at the intense blue of the sky and the clarity of colour all around her. It was as though someone had cleaned the air with Windex. Then Legsy shortened his stride again and lifted his head.

  ‘More goats?’ said Jess, bunching up the reins. ‘Just about time to turn back anyway.’ Before turning him about, she pulled out her phone and double-checked for any reception. ‘Useless thing.’

  Legsy sniffed the air again and began bouncing on his hocks. He arched his neck and a deep throaty rumble came from his chest.

  ‘You like goats now?’ Jess murmured, stuffing her phone back into her top pocket and taking her reins in two hands.

  Legsy nickered again and began prancing. His back rolled to and fro beneath her. ‘Who are you showing off to, fella?’ she said, running a hand down the length of his mane. As the words left her mouth she heard a distant whinny.

  Legsy immediately picked up his stride and began roaring and bellowing. Jess held him tight. ‘Oh, great. A mob of mares.’

  And then she caught a glimpse of movement in a thicket of sandalwood trees some distance away, a red and white rump, jumping about but not getting anywhere. ‘Wally?’ Her heart stopped momentarily. ‘Wally!’

  Jess knew that snow-capped rump anywhere. She pushed Legsy into a trot and struggled to hold him steady as he began cantering on the spot. ‘Whoa, big fella,’ she said soothingly, fighting for control. She struggled to get a better look through the trees.

  As she managed to coerce Legsy closer to the thicket, she saw that Walkabout was tied to a tree. The filly was pulling against it with all her might, twisting and shaking her head. Behind her, Jess could just make out a large flat thing – then she heard a familiar sound: horse hooves banging on a tail ramp. ‘Oh my God!’ she whispered, still fighting to hold the stallion steady. ‘They’re gonna put her on a truck!’

  Jess squinted as a man came into sight, and she recognised Clarkey’s black hat and scrawny frame. The air split in two with the sound of a stock whip as it lashed over Wally’s rump. Jess jumped as though she herself had been whipped, sending Legsy into yet another tailspin. She pulled him around to see the filly lurch forward and smash her shoulder into a tree. Legsy screamed loudly and Clarkey wandered out from the thicket.

  He saw her. For a split second, Jess’s eyes connected with his.

  In a blind panic, she turned the stallion and booted him. ‘Get up, Legs!’ she clucked madly. ‘Hah! Go!’

  The stallion leapt into a gallop and Jess steered him straight back to the hills. She rode flat chat, ducking the low tree branches, barely managing to steer Legsy along the small windy track, up and over the hill. Her feet jolted into her stirrup irons as he propped down the other side. Then, as they reached the open pasture a small white goat popped up its head and bleated.

  Legsy saw it before Jess did, and reacted with lightning-fast reflexes. In a single, terrified sideways leap, he collided with a tree, crushing her leg and smacking her head into a low branch. As Legsy rebounded off its trunk she tumbled from the saddle, landing shoulder-first on a pile of rocks.

  The last thing Jess heard before drifting into a haze was the rumble of Legsy’s hooves, retreating into the distance.

  17

  THE HOT AFTERNOON SUN blazed on Jess’s face, burning into her eyelids and forcing them to open. A buzzing sound went around and around in her head. She licked her dry cracked lips and tried to generate some moisture in her mouth.

  ‘My leg,’ she moaned, reaching down and finding her jeans torn. The leg beneath was grazed and sticky with blood. Flies crawled over it and she waved them off.

  A twig snapped near where she lay in the dust and she froze. Then a horse snorted softly down the back of her neck. ‘Legsy?’ She twisted her head around. ‘Wally!’

  Jess scrambled to her feet and looked around for the ringers, her eyes darting from tree to rock to shrub. Wally stepped back out of her way. All Jess could see were short, stumpy mulga trees. The sun beat down, casting shadows directly beneath them and giving no clue as to east or west. There were no sounds apart from the tweeting of birds and the rustle of leaves in the breeze. A long way away, a cow mooed.

  ‘Wally,’ Jess said gently. The little horse hung her haltered head, a broken rope dangling between her front legs. Her flanks were sunken with thirst and she was in a lather of sweat. ‘Oh my God, Wally! What have they done to you?’ Jess stumbled as she went to the filly’s side. ‘Whoa, I feel woozy.’

  When she managed to get her balance, Jess ran her hands over Walkabout, inspecting every inch of her for injuries. The horse had large welts on either side of her rump and rope marks around her hocks. ‘They tried to get you onto that truck, didn’t they?’ Jess said, rubbing Wally’s neck. ‘You’re a good, brave girl for not going on.’ She unbuckled the halter, which was too small for the horse and squeezed tightly. Jess threw it on the ground in disgust and rubbed at the cruel marks that ran around the filly’s nose.

  Then a terrible realisation hit her. ‘Oh no, Wal, where’s Legsy?’

  She scanned all around her again. Beyond the mulgas were tall, jagged rocks and tussocks of grass sprouting from the parched land.

  ‘And Marnie. Is Marnie with you?’ Jess’s heart sank as she failed to sight the mare. ‘Where are the horses?’ she moaned, walking directionless into nowhere. Her leg hurt and her head pounded. ‘Oh, Wally. What have I done?’

  When she couldn’t spot a single landmark she recognised to give her a clue to the direction of the bore, she stopped and looked back to Wally. ‘Which way do I go, Wal? I have to find them!’

  Walkabout stood motionless, her ears following Jess’s every move.

  Jess took hold of her mane. ‘Easy, Wally,’ she said. ‘I need some help, little one.’ Facing the filly’s tail, Jess took one step forward and threw her leg up and over the filly’s back, landing as softly as she could. Wally’s skin quivered and Jess ran a hand quietly down her neck. ‘You know where they are, don’t you?’

  Walkabout took a few tentative steps, then stopped. Jess stayed quiet for a moment and let the young horse continue at her own pace until she stretched her legs into a relaxed walk, away from the rocks. ‘That’s it,’ said Jess. ‘You lead, little buddy. Find Legsy.’

&nbs
p; Jess sat passively on Wally’s back, letting the filly find her own way. Her head pounded and her skin felt as though it was shrinking in the intense heat. The rocking sensation of Wally’s gait began to make her feel woozy and she held onto the filly’s mane to steady herself. As long as she could stay on Wally’s back, she was sure the filly would lead her to the camp.

  It felt like hours before Jess heard the crack of stockwhips and saw the army of red cattle marching through its own dust. Through the dust cloud she could make out Lawson and Stanley on their flanks, heading them towards the bore.

  She cupped her hands over her mouth. ‘Coo-ee!’

  Both men immediately looked up. Lawson launched Slinger into a canter and headed her way.

  ‘Jessica! Where’ve you been? There are people out looking everywhere. Legsy came thundering back without you. Luke’s out of his head, he’s galloping around everywhere trying to find—’ He stopped, spotting her torn jeans. ‘Are you hurt?’

  ‘Oh, thank God you found Legsy,’ Jess said in a wave of relief, then shook her head, making it throb even worse. ‘I’m just thirsty.’

  Lawson dismounted, pulled a water canteen from his saddlebag and handed it to her. ‘Where’d you find Wal?’

  Jess guzzled the warm plastic-tasting water, blissfully wet against her parched throat, and imagined it flowing straight to her brain cells, plumping them up and re–hydrating them. She wiped her mouth. ‘She found me.’

  ‘I see you broke her in for me,’ he said, sounding unimpressed.

  Jess bristled. ‘I started her ages ago. Like you promised I could,’ she reminded him, then muttered. ‘Don’t bother thanking me.’ She finished off the last of the water.

  ‘She okay?’ Lawson ran a hand over Wally and found the welts on her rump. ‘What the— Who’s been flogging her?’

  ‘Clarkey. I found her tied to a tree—’ She paused, the words stuck in her throat. ‘They had a truck.’

  ‘Did you see Marnie?’ he demanded.