by Karen Wood
‘Okay, let’s put these horses away and meet in the feedroom in ten minutes,’ said Rosie, leading Nosey towards the gate.
14
WHEN THE HORSES were hosed off and munching at their haynets, Jessica and her friends gathered in the feedroom. Grace peered down the stable aisle. ‘Just checking that the poo-magnet isn’t around,’ she said, closing the door. ‘I think she’s gone for a trail ride with Tegan Broadbum.’ She sat down next to Jess on a hay bale, wriggling her bottom into place.
Rosie turned a tall white bucket over and inspected its underside. ‘That’s very unkind, Grace,’ she said, dusting off some dirt. She placed the bucket upside down and sat on it.
‘I know. It was meant to be.’ Grace gave a wicked little chortle and nudged Jess in the ribs.
Jess gave her a semi-distracted grunt of approval. She was too busy imagining Walkabout with whip marks up her flanks, a cut and bleeding mouth and spur welts all over her ribs, as would surely be the case if Lawson Blake bought her.
‘Okay, guys,’ said Tom, bringing them to order. ‘We’re having this meeting so that we can help Jess save Walkabout.’ He pointed a straw at Jess, getting straight down to business. ‘So, Jess, when did you find out about this? Who told you Lawson was going to buy Walkabout?’
She was careful to tell the truth, the whole truth, and not to exaggerate as she told them about Lawson’s visit to the mares’ paddock with the stranger, and how the two men had roped Wally and forced her to the ground.
‘I can’t believe anyone could do that to a foal,’ said Grace, disgusted. ‘There was no need to go anywhere near her.’
‘Yeah, that’s what bugs me so much,’ said Jess. ‘It was just so pointless. Now she has terrible rope burns up her neck and she won’t let me near her to check if she’s okay.’
‘Poor little thing,’ said Rosie. ‘I hope she doesn’t think all humans are like that.’
‘I hate Lawson,’ said Grace.
‘You shouldn’t say that about your own cousin,’ said Rosie.
‘Well, he shouldn’t be so cruel. I don’t care if he’s the Queen of Sheba, I hate him,’ snorted Grace.
‘You mean the King of Sheba,’ Rosie corrected her.
Tom interrupted. ‘Jess, did you tell Harry about this incident? He’s responsible for that mare’s care while she’s here, and that includes her foal.’
‘I did,’ said Jess, ‘and that’s when he told me that the strange man was her owner and that Lawson was going to buy her.’
‘Harry does have the right to kick him off the property if he’s mistreating the horses.’
‘Harry had a look at her neck and said it should heal okay by itself,’ said Jess. ‘And anyway, I’d rather he didn’t do that. The guy would take Wally with him.’
‘Good point,’ said Tom, looking thoughtful. ‘And her price is two thousand, you say?’
‘That’s what Harry said.’
‘Reckon the owner would lower his price?’
Luke spoke up. ‘If there are two people bidding for her, he wouldn’t lower the price.’
‘But she would go to a much better home,’ said Rosie. ‘Surely that’s worth more than money.’
‘I don’t think the owner cares about that,’ said Jess.
Luke spoke again. ‘You could make things worse if you bid against Lawson. The price might go even higher.’
Jess was shocked. More than two thousand?
‘Do you have any money saved?’ asked Rosie.
‘Two hundred and forty-six dollars,’ Jess replied. ‘That leaves one thousand, seven hundred and fifty-four.’
‘Oh, is that all,’ said Grace.
The feedroom went quiet.
They were wasting their time. Wally was doomed.
‘Can you ride?’ asked Tom.
‘Of course she can ride,’ Grace snorted. She turned around and whispered to Luke. ‘She’s a really good rider. I’ve seen her at gymkhanas.’
Luke mouthed back, ‘Well, how come she never gets on a horse?’
Jess glared at Luke and Grace, who quickly stopped.
‘If you knew how to campdraft, you could win some money,’ said Tom, pointing his piece of straw at Jess again, as though sizing her up for the task. ‘Luke won eight hundred dollars last season. Didn’t you, Luke?’
‘Yeah, although I would have loved to win out at Longwood – there was fifteen hundred dollars up for grabs in the junior event,’ said Luke. ‘You gotta be pretty sharp to win out there, though. The kids out that way are born on horses, spend every day mustering cattle.’
Fifteen hundred dollars!
‘When is it on?’ asked Jess.
‘In March. Harry will be taking Biyanga and the two colts,’ said Tom. ‘I’ve been training Nosey for months.’
‘I’m taking Legs,’ said Luke. ‘It’s a huge draft, twelve hundred head of cattle. We pack up the truck and go for five days.’
‘Dad’s taking us too,’ said Rosie, sounding excited. ‘It’s one of the biggest drafts in the district. I’ve never been before. I can’t wait.’
Grace leapt off her hay bale and faced Jess. ‘That’s it! Why don’t you come too, Jess?’ She did a crazy little pogo dance on the spot. ‘You could win fifteen hundred dollars!’
‘But I don’t have a horse,’ said Jess. ‘And I wouldn’t have a clue how to campdraft.’
‘Luke’ll teach you,’ said Tom. He looked at Luke, who shrugged. ‘And maybe Harry can find you a horse.’
‘I bet I could find you one in our paddocks at home,’ said Grace. Then she thought better of it. ‘They’re all a bit young, though.’
‘What about the bay gelding in the yard at your place?’ asked Rosie. ‘He looks like a stockhorse.’
‘No way. That’s my cousin’s horse. He’s crazy.’
‘Hey, didn’t you say he comes from out west?’ asked Tom.
‘Yeah, he does,’ said Jess. ‘He comes from . . .’ she paused. ‘That’s weird. He comes from Longwood.’
Grace gasped. ‘Oh my God! It’s a sign!’ She hopped from one foot to another.
‘Jess, I think it might be your destiny!’ cried Rosie.
‘Hey now, slow down,’ said Jess. ‘That horse is a rogue. I’ve only ridden him once and he reared up in my face.’ She looked at her friends. ‘You all saw my face when I first came here, right? Well, that was his handiwork.’
‘Is that how you got the black eye?’ asked Tom. ‘That was a mean one.’
‘Yes, he just kept tossing his head and snatching the reins,’ answered Jess, and before she knew it, she was telling them about the day down on the river flats – about Lawson and his gun, Shara being reckless and stupid, the gunshot and Dodger going crazy. Her friends listened with mouths agape. ‘I’m telling you,’ she concluded, ‘he’s a total fruitcake.’
‘Who are you talking about – Lawson or the horse?’ asked Tom.
‘The horse,’ said Jess.
‘Jess,’ said Tom. ‘Most horses would get a fright if someone let off a gun near them. I reckon it’s Lawson who is the fruitcake, not the poor horse.’
Poor horse? Does it matter to no one that Dodger nearly turned me into a pizza?
‘Did you give that horse its head?’ asked Tom.
Jess gave an exasperated sigh. ‘He was tossing his head around way before the gunshot. I have no idea why he kept doing it. He’s just stupid, I tell you.’
Four voices chorused back at her in perfect unison. ‘There’s no such thing as a stupid horse, mate.’ If they’d practised for months they couldn’t have parroted Harry’s voice any better.
‘I thought we were here to find a way to help Wally,’ Jess said stiffly. ‘I don’t see what Dodger has to do with that.’
Luke said, ‘Why don’t you bring Dodger over and try him at campdrafting? Let Harry have a look at him.’
‘Okay, okay,’ said Jess. ‘I’ll bring him down here and you can see for yourselves.’
‘Attagirl,’ said Rosie, lean
ing over and rubbing Jess’s leg.
Jess managed a smile, even though she felt green at the thought of getting back on Dodger.
‘Come on!’ said Grace, reaching for the door. ‘Let’s go and ask Harry.’
While the others went to put their horses away, Jess and Grace found Harry in the tackroom, fiddling with an old bridle.
‘Hey, Harry,’ said Grace, pushing Jess forward into the doorway. ‘Jess wants to ask you something.’
‘Hmmm,’ said Harry without looking up from a tricky buckle that wouldn’t come undone.
‘I was wondering if you’d have a look at that horse for me.’
‘What horse is that, Jess?’
‘The one I told you about, the one that reared in my face.’
‘Your cousin’s horse?’
‘Yeah.’
Harry turned and gave her a questioning look. ‘What for?’
‘To see if maybe I could ride him.’
Harry grinned. ‘Good on you, Jessy.’
15
THAT NIGHT, Jess tried her best to muster up some Christmas spirit by helping her parents decorate the tree. Everything had been left late this year. Aunt Margaret had phoned to say her family wouldn’t be visiting and without anyone coming to share it, Christmas had nearly been overlooked.
‘Talk about doing everything at the last minute,’ said Caroline, as she rummaged through boxes of Christmas decorations. ‘Fancy not having our tree up. You usually badger us nonstop if we don’t have it up on the first of December.’
Jess tried her best to smile. ‘I’ve just had a lot on my mind, I suppose.’
Craig gave her a squeeze. ‘You have had a tough year, honey, losing your horse.’
‘And my best friend,’ said Jess. She didn’t know which was worse.
‘You haven’t lost Shara,’ said her mum. ‘All you have to do is give her a ring. Why don’t you just send her one of those thumb messages with your phone, like you always used to?’
‘She lied to me,’ said Jess flatly. ‘She hid the truth from me.’
‘You don’t know that, Jess. You haven’t even listened to Shara’s side of the story. She’s your best friend; you should at least hear her out.’
‘She didn’t even care when my horse got hurt. Now Diamond’s dead and I can’t ever get her back.’
‘Would you do anything to have Diamond back?’
‘Of course I would.’
‘Would you do anything to have Shara back?’
Jess was quiet even though she knew the answer. She changed the subject. ‘I wish Hetty had come. You’d think she’d want to see Dodger. Christmas is going to be a total non-event.’
Caroline sighed and let herself be fobbed off. ‘No, it won’t; it’ll be extra special with just the three of us.’
Later, as Jess tossed about in bed, she thought more about Dodger than the joys of Christmas. She wondered what had made him behave so badly that day on the river flats. Then she thought of Shara – she knew Rocko had done it, the whole town knew.
She would give her one chance to explain.
Jess rolled over and flicked on the light, then rummaged around in a pile of dirty clothes for her phone. It hadn’t been charged for days and was dead as a doornail. She plugged it into the charger and was horrified to remember she had erased Shara’s number from her phone book. She didn’t know it off by heart.
She fired up her computer, found it in the address book and punched it into her phone.
do u still want 2 talk? I was 2 upset before.
I want 2 no wot hapnd.
Jess collapsed backwards onto her bed and stared anxiously at the phone. Shara always slept with her phone in her hand. She’d answer immediately.
Buzz rumble.
Jess’s heart hammered as she flipped her phone open.
systems admin: Your message was unable to be sent.
‘The cow has blocked me!’
Jess leapt out of bed and brought up her email. She had erased Shara’s email address too, but rockorocks@ freemail.com was an easy one to remember. She typed it in, repeated her message and hit Send. But before she could log out, a new message pinged at her. Its subject line read Returned mail – email address not found.
On Christmas morning, Jess shuffled out of her bedroom wearily. She’d had an awful night’s sleep.
Craig sat in his favourite armchair, fully dressed, drinking coffee. ‘Oh, finally!’ he said, when Jess walked into the lounge room in her pyjamas, yawning. ‘We’ve been waiting for hours. Come on, I want a prezzie.’
‘Can’t I get a drink first?’ said Jess, rubbing her eyes.
‘Here’s some fresh wheatgrass juice, darling.’ Caroline came out of the kitchen with a glass of green frothy stuff.
Jess grimaced. ‘It’s Christmas morning, Mum.’
‘No? I thought you liked it.’
Jess gave her a pained look.
‘What would you like, then?’
‘Coke.’
‘Stop tormenting your mother, Jess,’ said Craig.
Jess chuckled as she reached under the tree and grabbed two presents wrapped in homemade paper with horses drawn all over them. ‘Created by my own fair hand,’ she said with pride, as she passed one to her father and the other to her mum.
Craig tore at the wrapping and pulled out a pair of huge socks that Jess had knitted in craft classes at school. ‘Surfboard covers!’ he exclaimed, holding them up.
She laughed. ‘You’re not supposed to wear them under your shoes. They’re more like slippers.’
Her mum picked piously at the wrapping, admiring the drawings before unveiling two pairs of tie-dyed undies that Jess had also made in craft class. ‘A beautiful hat!’ exclaimed Caroline, pulling one pair onto her head.
‘You guys are so childish,’ said Jess.
Next, her father leaned over and passed Jess a large flat parcel. ‘This is from both of us.’
Jess felt it all over. ‘A soccer ball, right?’
‘Very funny,’ said Craig.
Jess began unwrapping and saw a familiar pair of horse’s ears. She stopped with her hand inside the paper.
Caroline shrugged. ‘You begged me for it, remember.’
I didn’t know how much things would change.
Jess pulled back the wrapper and revealed a large professional photo of herself and Shara at the state championship, on their horses, grinning madly as they held their second-place trophy in the air.
It had been the best and happiest moment of her life. Jess had begged her parents to get her a huge framed copy of it for Christmas. She knew it would have cost them a fortune. She looked at Shara’s goofy face and could almost hear the shrieking and laughing the pair of them had gone on with.
How could you betray me like this? We were besties.
Jess wiped at the tears that were sliding uncontrollably down her face.
Caroline shifted around next to her and put a hand on her shoulder.
‘I miss her so much,’ Jess whispered.
‘Shara or Diamond?’ asked Caroline.
‘Both.’ Jess let a few more tears escape and then pulled herself together. She wasn’t going to let the past spoil this day for her. It was history. She wiped at her face. ‘Sorry, I didn’t mean to spoil it for you. Thanks, guys.’
‘It’s okay, we knew you’d find it difficult to open.’ Her mum reached under the tree again. ‘Have some more prezzies.’ She passed over two bulky parcels wrapped in red paper. Inside one was a new pair of riding boots, and the other contained an Akubra hat.
‘Cool! It’s just like Gracie’s,’ said Jess, pulling it onto her head. It was a perfect fit too.
‘Not as stylish as mine,’ winked Caroline, who still had the tie-dyed undies on her head.
‘And there’s an envelope for you from Margaret and Paul,’ said her dad, passing it to her.
Please let it be money!
Jess pulled out the card and held it in front of her, ready for wads of cash to rain
into her lap.
A folded piece of paper fell out, which she read aloud.
Dear Jess,
We were so very sorry to hear about you losing Diamond. As Hetty will be going to university next year, we would like to give you Dodger. We know that no horse is ever as special as your first, but he has always been a reliable mount, and we hope you get the years of pleasure with him that we did. We know you will take good care of him.
Enclosed is a small packet of mulga seeds. They are a fodder tree that we grow out here to feed the livestock. Dodger loves them. We thought they might be nice to plant over Diamond.
All our love,
Auntie Margaret, Uncle Paul,
Hetty and Simone
Jess was stunned. They obviously hadn’t heard what a disastrous partnership she and Dodger had formed so far. What was worse, there was now no way she could justify buying Walkabout.
Silence fell over the lounge room and they all looked at each other. ‘Dodger’ had become a dirty word since that day on the river flats.
‘You don’t have to accept him if you don’t want him, Jess,’ said Craig.
Jess thought about it for a while. ‘It’s okay, I’ve asked Harry to have a look at him anyway.’
Her parents both stared at her in surprise. ‘Really? Do you think he’s safe?’ asked Craig. ‘He went mad last time you rode him. Look what he did to your face.’
‘I don’t know why he behaved so badly for me, Dad,’ said Jess. She had been wondering about that all night. ‘Harry said he might be able to work out what’s wrong with him.’
‘I’m not keen for you to ride him all the way to Harry’s place, Jess,’ said Craig.
‘I’ll just lead him over. I won’t get on him unless Harry thinks it’s safe.’ Plunging on, she added, ‘I need a horse to ride so I can go to the Longwood campdraft in March.’
‘The what?’
‘The Longwood campdraft. It’s a sport where you round up cattle. There’s really good prize money.’
‘Rounding up cows in Longwood? What on earth are you talking about?’ said Craig.
‘We thought that I might be able to win enough money to buy Walkabout.’
‘Win two thousand dollars? Jess, I don’t think you realise how much money that is. Besides, how are you going to get to Longwood?’
