The Sad Pony

by Tina Nolan

  So, while Karl took Jerry and the Goodalls for a walk by the river, Eva helped Joel with Toffee and Fudge. “I’ll take their photo for the website,” she decided. “Joel, can you hold them, one in each hand? Look this way, you two. That’s it – smile!”

  “You know how to upload the picture yourself, don’t you?” Joel asked, taking a quick look at the result.

  “Yes. Shall I add their entry now?”

  “Feel free,” Joel said, hurrying on to his next job.

  So Eva sat at the computer. She put the cute picture on to the Animal Magic website, then began to type. “Toffee and Fudge.” She stopped to compose the next sentence, then began again. “Friendly and like to be picked up.” Hmm, I should mention how gorgeous and cuddly they are, she thought.

  Before she could add anything else, the phone rang and Eva picked it up. “Hello, this is Animal Magic.”

  “Hello, Animal Magic, this is Mark Harrison!”

  “Dad!” Eva gasped. “Where are you?”

  “In Miami Beach, in the best hotel in the world,” he said. “I’m sitting on a balcony overlooking the sea. It’s magic.”

  “Have you seen any dolphins?” Eva asked.

  “Not yet. How are you, Eva? How’s Karl? Is he there?”

  “No. He’s out with Jerry. We think we’ve found him a home.”

  “Good, fingers crossed. Did you like our surprise?”

  “You mean Joel? So cool!” Eva answered happily, smiling as Joel himself came across to take the phone.

  “Listen, Mark, you’re not allowed to ask any questions about work,” he warned. “This is your holiday, remember.”

  Seeing Karl come back into the yard with Jerry and the Goodalls, Eva ran to open the door.

  Mrs Goodall led Jerry in on the lead. “Good boy, Jerry. Sit!”

  He sat by her side, staring up at her with his big, brown eyes.

  “Well?” Eva asked.

  “He’s wonderful!” Mrs Goodall sighed. “I can picture us taking him for walks in the woods behind our house, throwing a stick and getting him to fetch it.”

  “In other words, we’ll take him,” her husband said with a smile.

  Jerry seemed to understand. He gave a yelp of pleasure, stood up and wagged his tail to a bright new future with Mr and Mrs Goodall.

  That night Eva slept soundly and woke early, well before she thought Karl or Jen would be up. She put on her dressing gown and crept downstairs into the kitchen to spend one-on-one time with Holly.

  “Hi!” she whispered.

  The puppy was thrilled to see her. She leaped from her basket and ran across the kitchen floor towards Eva. Eva picked her up and let her snuggle into her arms.

  “Sshh! Don’t wake the others,” she whispered, tiptoeing through into the sitting room.

  “No need to whisper,” Karl grinned. “I’m already awake!”

  Awake and watching TV, stretched out on the sofa with a bowl of cereal resting on his chest. Eva stared in disbelief.

  “No need to look like that. I’ve been up for a while.”

  In the background, the music for the start of the Tina O’Neill show began and the chat show host appeared on-screen. She ran through the items on the morning programme – an interview with a big movie director, and the chance to enter an exciting competition, but before that an item on a series of children’s pony books written by a famous actress.

  “Boring!” Karl sighed. He was about to switch channels when Eva stopped him.

  “Leave it on. I want to see the bit about the pony books.”

  “I can’t stand chat shows,” Karl said. But he gave way to Eva, and they watched the host introduce the celeb at home in her converted farm.

  Eva sat cross-legged in front of the TV with Holly in her lap. “Look at the ponies, Holly!”

  “It’s no secret that I love horses,” Tina’s voice went on, while the camera panned over a green field dotted with beautiful thoroughbreds. “But I still wonder what persuaded top actress Venus Hall to break into the world of pony books?”

  The camera settled on a tall, slim figure dressed in jodhpurs and long black boots. “Ever since I was a little girl I dreamed of having my own pony,” Venus replied.

  “Blah, blah!” Karl snorted.

  “So the books are a way of making your childhood dream come true?” Tina asked.

  “Exactly.” Venus nodded.

  “Holly, sit!” Eva said as the puppy leaped off her lap and barked at the TV screen. She leaned forward to pick her up, but Holly darted round the back of the TV. “Mind the wires!” Eva cried. “Karl, turn the TV off, quick, in case Holly gets an electric shock!”

  There was a scuffle behind the TV before Eva emerged triumphant. “I’ll take Holly back into the kitchen – it’s safer there,” she decided.

  “Good, now I can switch channels,” Karl grunted.

  Back in the kitchen, the phone was ringing. It was Annie, wanting to know if Eva would like to ride Guinevere.

  “When?” Eva asked.

  “Now,” Annie told her.

  “OK, I’ll check with Jen.”

  Luckily, Jen had just come downstairs in her dressing gown. Quickly, Eva asked permission, then spoke into the phone again. “Give me five minutes to get dressed,” she gabbled, “and I’ll be right there!”

  Out in the Brookses’ field, Eva found that her friend had already saddled Guinevere, but was struggling with the bridle.

  “Gwinnie keeps on raising her head so I can’t reach her mouth,” she complained.

  In the stable next door, Rosie gave a shrill neigh and a hefty kick at the door.

  “Hi, Rosie!” Eva replied cheerfully. She took the bridle from Annie and slipped the reins over Gwinnie’s head. “This should do the trick,” she promised.

  Sure enough, the horse felt the reins hanging loose around her neck and saw Eva waiting patiently with the bit in her hand. Obediently, she lowered her head and waited for Eva to slip the bit between her teeth.

  Annie nodded. “Cool. Here’s the hard hat. You have first turn,” she offered.

  Eva put on the hat while Annie opened the stable door and stood back.

  Another kick at her door told them Rosie wanted to come too.

  “Stay here, Rosie. We won’t be long,” Annie told the Shetland, giving her a quick stroke.

  “How long has she been kicking the door?” Eva asked, as she put her feet in the stirrups, and set off slowly down the field.

  “For a couple of days. Listen, Mum wants us to stay in the field,” Annie told Eva. “She says not to go above a trot.”

  So Eva rode steadily, letting Gwinnie take her time. Back at the stable, naughty Rosie was still kicking and banging, and the back door to Annie’s house had opened.

  “Uh-oh, I bet Mum’s mad,” Annie muttered, leaving Eva to ride and jogging back up the hill. But before she reached the stable, Rosie had landed an extra-hard kick and forced the bolt. The stable door flew open and the little pony barged out in a bid for freedom.

  “No, go back!” Annie yelled.

  By now Linda Brooks had come out into her garden and started to run down the path towards the field.

  Taking no notice of Annie, Rosie tried the same trick as the day before. She galloped towards the fence, looking for all the world as if she was going to clear it and land in the yard at Animal Magic.

  “Oh no!” Annie wailed.

  Her mum sprinted down the path.

  “Come on, Gwinnie, trot on!” Eva cried, urging the horse to catch up with Rosie. Guinevere’s long legs quickly covered the ground. “Oh no you don’t!” Eva shouted, getting into position to cut Rosie off again. Just in time, she got to the right spot and stood her ground.

  Once more, the pony threatened to jump and stopped at the last second. She lowered her head so that her shaggy brown mane covered her eyes, then she glanced up cheekily at Eva.

  “It’s not funny!” Eva sighed, signalling to Annie that everything was OK.

  Annie w
aved back, then ran to tell her mum.

  But it was her dad who greeted her from the garden.

  “Where’s Mum?” Annie asked. The last she’d known, her mum had been sprinting down the path to see what had caused the rumpus in the field.

  “Your mum’s had a fall,” Jason Brooks explained over the garden fence. “She slipped on the ice.”

  “Mum, are you all right?” Annie gasped, spotting Linda leaning heavily against a low garden wall.

  Her dad shook his head. “She’ll be OK, but I’m going to drive her to hospital to have her leg X-rayed. It’ll be best if you stay with Eva.”

  “Can’t I come?” Annie begged.

  But her dad told her she had to stay. “I’ll call you as soon as we have any news,” he promised, rushing off to help Linda into the car.

  By the time Eva had ridden up and slid out of the saddle, Annie was in tears.

  “It’s all Rosie’s fault!” she cried. “Mum’s had an accident.”

  It took a while for Eva to understand, but when she did, she quickly unsaddled Gwinnie and put her in the stable. In the background she heard the sound of Jason Brooks’s car driving out on to Main Street. “Wait here while I get Rosie back into her stable,” she told Annie.

  Soon all the horses were inside and Eva took Annie back to her house. She led her into the kitchen where Jen was cooking bacon. “Linda’s had an accident,” she explained. “Rosie was trying to escape again. Linda tried to stop her and she slipped on some ice. I’m not sure, but I think Rosie’s limping too.”

  Jen quickly took control. “Karl, you can finish making your bacon sandwich, can’t you? I’m going to pop next door and take a look at Rosie. Eva, you stay here to keep Annie company.”

  It seemed like ages before Jen returned, but at last the kitchen door opened and she appeared.

  “You’re right, Eva. Rosie’s lame,” she confirmed. “Her right knee is swollen. Did she knock it against something?”

  “Against the door,” Eva told her, nodding. “Poor Rosie – she kicked it so hard she forced it open.”

  “In that case, I’ll give her a painkiller and something to help bring down the swelling, and then she’ll need box-rest. With luck she won’t have done any real damage.”

  Relieved, Eva turned to Annie. “Let’s hope we get some good news about your mum, too,” she murmured.

  But when the phone went an hour later and Jason spoke to Annie, the news was bad. “They’ve just X-rayed your mum’s leg and found she’s broken it in two places,” he told her, sounding upset.

  Shocked, Annie handed the phone to Eva.

  “Tell Annie not to worry,” Jason Brooks insisted. “Her mum will be fine. The doctor will put her leg in a plaster cast and she’ll be on crutches for a couple of months. But the leg will get better, tell her.”

  “I will,” Eva promised.

  “And say we’ll be home by lunchtime.” Mr Brooks concluded. “Tell her everything is going to be fine.”

  Gradually, the shock of Linda’s accident wore off.

  “It could have been worse,” Jen told Annie. “And I’m sure the hospital is taking good care of your mum.”

  “It could happen to anyone,” Karl said. “The Accident and Emergency department must be full of people who’ve slipped on the ice in weather like this.”

  “Does it hurt a lot when you break your leg?” Annie asked anxiously.

  “Only until the doctors give you a painkiller,” Jen explained. “A bit like the medicine I gave Rosie.”

  Talking things over, they waited patiently for Jason to bring Linda home. Then, as soon as Annie heard their car, she said a hurried goodbye and ran to meet them.

  A few minutes later, Joel’s Beetle appeared in the yard and Eva rushed out to tell him what had happened.

  “Whoa!” Joel cried after Eva’s garbled account. “Who broke their leg – Rosie or Linda?”

  “Linda. But Rosie’s lame, too. I don’t know what got into her, charging the fence like that.”

  “Twice!” Karl added. He’d followed Eva out of the house with Holly.

  “She’s usually so good,” Eva insisted. “But she seemed to think that if she jumped the fence she could get back to Animal Magic.”

  “Hmm. I wonder why.” Joel agreed that it was a mystery. “But listen, you two, we’ve got work to do. Dogs and cats to feed, small animal cages to clean out, a website to update…”

  Eva was glad to be busy. Sunday afternoon was filled with chores, and when they’d finally finished at the rescue centre, Eva and Joel paid a visit to Rosie in her stable. It was already growing dark and there was no sign of Annie, Linda or Jason.

  “We’ll check the swelling on Rosie’s leg without bothering the Brookses,” Joel told Eva. “They probably want a quiet evening to get over the shock of the accident.”

  So they went into the stable to find Rosie standing in a corner looking sorry for herself. She was keeping the weight off her injured leg and blowing softly through her nose.

  “There!” Eva said gently. She stroked Rosie’s neck while Joel ran his hand over the swollen knee.

  “It feels warm,” he reported. “The joint is inflamed, but she’s not too uncomfortable when I touch it.”

  “There, Rosie,” Eva breathed. “You hear that? You’re going to be fine.”

  “I’ll give her a thorough examination while I’m here,” Joel decided. He looked for the light switch outside the stable door.

  “Hello there, Joel.” Jason Brooks appeared round the side of the stables. “I was in the garden throwing grit on the path. I heard noises.”

  “Hi, Mr Brooks,” Eva broke in. “Joel and Jen both think that Rosie’s injury isn’t too bad. She’ll just need box-rest for a few days.” She noticed that Annie’s dad seemed to be frowning in the sudden glare of electric light.

  “And how’s Linda?” Joel asked.

  Jason sighed. “She’s in bed. Her leg’s in plaster up to the hip and the painkiller really seems to have knocked her sideways. I’m hoping she’ll get a good night’s sleep.”

  “Let’s hope so.” Joel realized how tired Jason must be. “Is it OK for me to top up Rosie with another dose of painkiller in her evening feed?”

  “Yes, go ahead.” Jason watched Joel mix the sachet into Rosie’s feed bucket. “Linda and I were talking on the drive back from hospital. I said that I thought perhaps she’d taken on too much. Three horses need a lot of looking after.”

  Instinctively, Eva put her arm around Rosie’s neck.

  “Give Rosie a chance to settle in,” Joel suggested. “She won’t be any trouble in the long run.”

  “I’m not so sure,” Jason argued. “Apparently she spent the whole of yesterday evening trying to kick her door down, and she was at it again early this morning. That’s how Linda fell – she was hurrying out to see what the fuss was about.”

  “Sshh!” Eva told Rosie as the pony raised her head and gave a shrill neigh.

  There was a long pause before Jason spoke again. “Linda and I are both surprised by what a handful Rosie can be.”

  “She’s not usually…” Eva began to protest, but Joel gave her a warning glance.

  “I’m sorry you feel that way, Jason. But you need to give it time.”

  Jason Brooks seemed too upset to take any notice of Joel’s reasoning. “There’s not much point now that this has happened,” he argued. “Linda’s leg is in plaster and it’s going to be impossible for her to look after three horses.”

  “Does Linda agree?” Joel asked.

  No! Eva prayed she wasn’t hearing this. She wanted to wind back time to before the accident, then play it through again, this time with a happy ending for Rosie.

  “She sees the sense of what I’m saying,” Jason replied. “And we agree that Rosie doesn’t seem to have settled in as well as we’d hoped.”

  “I see,” Joel said calmly. He stood back to watch Rosie feed. “I think we understand what you’re telling us, don’t we, Eva?”

/>   Eva bit her lip. Please, Mr Brooks, don’t do this! she thought.

  Jason sighed. “I’m sorry, but Rosie’s too much for us to handle. So I’m afraid we’ll be sending her back to Animal Magic – the sooner the better.”

  Both Annie and Eva were in tears over Rosie.

  “Please persuade your dad to change his mind!” Eva begged. She’d run into the Brookses’ house after Jason had broken the news and found Annie sobbing in her bedroom. “Tell him you have to keep Rosie!”

  “I’ve tried,” Annie cried. She sat cross-legged on her bed, covering her face with her hands. “Honestly, Eva – he won’t listen.”

  “But your mum’s accident wasn’t Rosie’s fault. It was the ice on the path that made her slip.”

  “I know!” Annie cried even harder. “Oh Eva, this is all my fault. I shouldn’t have blamed Rosie for Mum’s accident. I only did it because I was so upset.”

  “No, it isn’t your fault either,” Eva insisted. “But listen, when your dad has calmed down, maybe you can talk to him again. Tell him I’ll come twice a day to help with the mucking out. We can do it between us.”

  Just then, Jason Brooks passed Annie’s bedroom door. “I know you mean well,” he told Eva, “but even before Linda had her accident, we were beginning to think that Rosie wasn’t happy here. Now it seems that something – fate, or whatever you like to call it – is definitely telling us that we’re not the right owners for her.” He shook his head sadly, then walked on.

  Annie sobbed quietly. “Dad means it, Eva. He won’t change his mind.”

  Eva wiped her cheeks and sighed. “OK, I’ll tell Karl.”

  “Tell him what?” Annie sniffed.

  “To put Rosie’s details back on the Animal Magic website. Starting tomorrow, we’ll look for another home for her.”

  The silence after she spoke hung heavy in the air. They both thought of Rosie with her shaggy mane and mischievous eyes, her jaunty trot and cheeky habit of snuffling at your pocket for an apple or a carrot.