Diamond Spirit (6 page)

‘They’re like something out of a movie. They’re beautiful.’

‘They’re twins. First I’ve ever had survive,’ said Harry. He looked proudly at the two colts.

‘They’re the first twin horses I’ve ever even seen,’ said Jess.

‘Want to see them draft some cattle?’ asked Harry.

‘Umm . . .’ Jess wasn’t really sure what ‘draft some cattle’ meant. She remembered that Shara had talked nonstop about something called campdrafting when she came back from a holiday in Darwin once. She was so taken with the sport that she had spent the next month chasing her parents’ purebred Droughtmaster cattle up and down their hilly property, despite their demands that she stop. Her dad had eventually grounded her.

Harry didn’t wait for Jess to answer. ‘Cut out a beast, Tom,’ he yelled, then turned to Jess and patted the fence rail. ‘Hop up, kiddo. You won’t see much from down there.’

Tom nodded briefly at Harry, and rode the horse into a yard full of cattle.

Jess climbed up onto the rail. She watched Tom single out a big, ugly cow and push it away from the mob. It trotted to the top of the yard, moaning loudly in protest, and then tried to dart back to the mob. Quick as lightning, the colt swung to the left and blocked its path. The heifer lunged to the right, only to have the colt spin on its heels and block it again.

‘Real cowy, these colts,’ Harry muttered as he climbed off the rail and opened a big set of gates. The cow lifted its heels and gave a clumsy skip with its hind legs as it bolted out of the arena. Tom held the colt steady as he cantered after it.

‘Go easy now, Tom. Just track after it for a bit,’ Harry called out.

After following the cow for a minute or so, Tom reined the colt in and brought him back to the others. Tom was as tall and gangly as the colt he rode and his white teeth were the only part of his face Jess could make out under his black helmet.

Luke gave his horse a nudge to make it step forward. He had the crumpled appearance of a teenager who did his own washing. Rusty-brown hair poked out from his helmet and his face was covered in freckles. ‘Want me to put Legs around, Harry?’ he asked.

‘Sure, Luke, let’s see what he can do,’ said Harry, opening the gate and waving him into the yard.

Luke walked the horse into the yard. He lifted the rein slightly and clicked it up. The colt bounded to the left as if on springs. With barely a shift in the saddle, Luke commanded it to halt, reined it back again and sent it leaping to the right as he singled out a cow.

‘Not a bad rider, ay?’ Harry winked at Jess. ‘That’s the more flighty of the two colts. Luke keeps ’em steady.’

Harry swung the gates open and let Luke, the colt and the cow into the large arena. He watched them work with a satisfied look on his face.

Then he turned to Jess. ‘Come on, Jess, I’ll show you their sire if you like.’ And just assuming she
would
like, he limped towards the arena gate, calling back to Tom and Luke, ‘Righto, boys, that’s probably enough for now.’

‘Are you going to show Jess Biyanga?’ asked Grace, jumping from the fence. ‘I wanna come too.’

‘Me too,’ said Rosie.

‘Get those horses watered first,’ said Harry. He motioned for Jess to follow him towards the barn.

Inside the big timber barn were twelve stables. The walls were built from hardwood slabs, thick enough to withstand a double barrel from a horse’s hind legs, and high enough that even a tall horse couldn’t see over them.

As Jess caught up, Harry glanced sideways at her. ‘So, what happened to your eye?’

At that very moment Katrina Pettilow emerged from a stable, leading Chelpie behind her. Every horse in the building immediately started whinnying and fidgeting.

Jess immediately forgot Harry’s question and confronted Katrina. ‘You saw Diamond’s accident happen, didn’t you?’

Katrina stared in disgust at Jess’s face. ‘No,’ she said, and turned away.

‘You did, I know you did,’ said Jess. ‘Why don’t you just tell me what happened?’

‘Why don’t you ask your best friend?’ snorted Katrina.

‘Best keep that mare away from the stallion, Katrina,’ interrupted Harry. ‘She in season or something? She’s upsetting all the other horses.’

Katrina kept her back to Harry and didn’t answer. She tethered Chelpie to a piece of hay twine that hung from the stable door. Jess felt a twinge of satisfaction when she saw that Chelpie’s tail still had a hint of green to it.

‘This way,’ said Harry. ‘So, what happened to your eye?’ he repeated.

‘A horse banged his head in my face.’ Jess answered quietly so that Katrina wouldn’t hear her. There was something about Harry that she instantly trusted. Katrina Pettilow, however, was a different story. She glanced over her shoulder and saw her brushing Chelpie. Jess wished she’d had more time to grill Katrina before Harry led her away.

‘Hmmm,’ said Harry.

At the end of the stable aisle was a loosebox. It was twice the size of the others and had a door opening out into a large yard at the back. Harry pointed at the adjoining feedroom. ‘Pick me out a nice big biscuit of hay, would you, Jess?’ He unlatched the stable door and called out, ‘Hey, big daddy-o!’ He motioned for Jess to take the hay inside. ‘In you go.’

A fat black and white pig came trotting into the stable, grunting and squealing. He nudged at Jess, demanding the hay, and nearly bowled her over. She gave a surprised laugh. ‘Is this Biyanga?’ she asked, fighting off the hungry pig as it ripped at the hay and made it spill all over the stable floor.

‘That’s Grunter, his stablemate. Ryan saved him from the dogs on a hunting trip and gave him to Annie – that’s the missus – to fatten up for Christmas.’ He laughed. ‘Nice gesture, but we don’t have a sty. I had to lock him in here or Annie was gonna stick him in the freezer.’ Harry rolled his eyes. ‘Biyanga’s fallen in love with him. He won’t go anywhere without his pig. He comes to all the campdrafts with us.’

Jess gave the pig a scratch along his back and he wriggled with delight.

Who’s Ryan?

At that moment, the stallion walked in.

He was hooded and rugged so that all Jess could see were four jet-black legs poking out from below his rugs, a black nose with white markings, and the same soft, kind eyes as the colts. He gently nuzzled the pig, then pushed it away from the hay. It squealed in protest.

‘They’re like an old married couple, can’t live with or without each other,’ said Harry. He hobbled into the stable and began to unbuckle Biyanga’s rug. With one big pull from the back end, it slid off into his arms, unveiling the most impressive horse Jess had ever seen.

He was the stuff dreams were made of: as black as black, with a thick, wavy tail, powerful hindquarters and flawless straight legs. He had a long, elegant neck and a perfectly symmetrical, thin white stripe running down his face.

Harry stood back and admired him. ‘What do you reckon?’

‘He’s so fat he can hardly walk,’ said Grace, appearing at the stable door. ‘Look, he’s got cellulite on his bum.’ She giggled, ducking a swipe from Harry.

‘Cheeky little brat,’ he chuckled.

Jess stepped forward and ran a hand over Biyanga’s glossy neck. He squealed suddenly and rushed to the door, slamming her against the wall of the stable. She lost her footing and fell into the sawdust, just inches from the stallion’s front feet.

Harry took a step forward, placing himself between Jess and the stallion. ‘Easy does it, fella,’ he soothed. ‘She’s not for you.’ He reached a hand down to Jess and pulled her up, and then turned to Katrina. ‘I’ve told you ten times not to bring that mare in here while she’s in season.’

‘She’s not
in
season,’ argued Katrina. ‘And I need to talk to you about her stable.’

‘Well, you don’t need to bring the horse with you. Get her out of here now.’

‘Her stable is filthy,’ said Katrina, ignoring him. ‘She’s a true white. We’ve paid all this money and . . .’

Biyanga let out another short cry and lunged at the door with his teeth bared. Chelpie squealed and rushed towards him, ears back.

‘Didn’t you hear me?’ said Harry. ‘I said,
get her out!
’

Then he turned to Jess and looked anxiously into her face. ‘You all right, kid?’ he asked. When she nodded, he breathed a sigh of relief. ‘I thought you were gonna pass out on me for a minute there.’

Jess managed a smile and said, ‘I’ll be okay.’

Harry guided her to the stable door. ‘Hang on a minute.’

In the aisle there was a clatter of hooves on concrete. Katrina pulled on Chelpie’s lead rope, but the mare was too strong for her. The rope slid straight through her hands and she fell over backwards, narrowly missing a fresh pile of poo.

Grace came out of nowhere and made a dash for the mare’s rope. She pulled Chelpie to one side, flicked the tail of the rope at her flank, making her turn away from the stallion, and led her out of the stables.

‘Give me back my horse,’ Katrina yelled angrily after Grace. She clambered to her feet and accosted Harry. ‘I was coming to speak to you about my horse’s welfare. Her stable—’

Harry interrupted her. ‘Her stable is cleaned every morning, Katrina. If you had any concern for your horse’s welfare, you’d let her out into the paddock for the day so the poor thing could have a pick of grass.’

Katrina’s face went tight and pointy. ‘I’ve told you before – she gets too wild when she’s out in a paddock. She gets through fences and tries to escape to the river. She needs to be stabled. That’s what we’re paying you for.’

Harry stared at her with disbelief and lowered his voice to a slow growl. ‘Now you listen to me, kid. This is my property and I make the rules – mostly for the safety of my guests. If you can’t obey those rules, then I suggest you find somewhere else to keep your pure white pony.’ He stood up and walked back towards Biyanga’s stable.

Katrina marched back down the aisle. She snatched Chelpie’s lead rope from Grace and tugged. ‘Come on, Chelpie.’

Grace pulled a face at Katrina’s back. ‘Poo-magnet!’ Then she walked back to Biyanga’s stable. ‘Are you all right, Jess?’

Jessica opened the stable door, leaning on it to keep her balance as she swung it back and bolted it shut. ‘Yeah, I’m okay,’ she said flatly. Her whole head throbbed. ‘I might go and sit down for a bit.’ She felt angry at herself for being such a sook. She didn’t want to see the foals anymore. She just wanted to go home.

Every time she went go near a horse these days, she was a total disaster. What was she thinking, coming over here with a bunch of people she didn’t know?

She pulled out her phone and switched it back on.

Mum, can u pick me up?

Before Jess could switch it off again, the phone rumbled in her hand.

She glared at it for a moment, then pressed the view button.

Shara: yes, but I can explain, pleeease, we have to talk!!

Jess’s first instinct was to smash the phone on the concrete floor. Instead, she sank to the ground and sobbed.

9

ON SUNDAY MORNING,
Jess rolled over in bed and stared at the clock. It was six o’clock. She’d had a weird dream that three bright lights were chasing her through a paddock, calling her name.

The sound of hooves clattered beneath her window.

Shara?

Since yesterday’s text message, Jess had blocked her – from her phone, from email, from Facebook, and any other possible place she could think of.

If she thinks I’m going to talk to her, she’s wrong.

She pulled herself up onto her knees and peeked out through the curtains. At the bottom of the verandah steps, Grace sat on a brown horse, looking like a turtle with her neck craned forward and an overstuffed pack on her back. Jess tossed off her doona and shuffled to the front door, squinting in the sunlight.

Grace motioned for her to come outside. ‘Your hair has gone crazy,’ she noted as Jess reached the bottom step.

‘Well, I’m still half asleep,’ Jess grumbled. ‘Do you always get up this early?’

‘Harry’s registering the foals today,’ Grace replied.

‘I guess that’s a yes.’

‘He lets Rosie and me help to name them. And we found that mare that went missing down on the river flats. She had her foal and it’s an Appaloosa!’ she said excitedly.

‘What mare that went missing?’

Grace lowered her voice and said in a dramatic voice, ‘The foal looks a bit like Diamond!’

Jess immediately woke up. ‘Wait for me.’ She ran back up the stairs and rummaged through the knee-deep squalor that was her bedroom. ‘Joddies, joddies, where are my joddies?’

Hastily dressed, she crept into her parents’ room and whispered to her snoring father. ‘Dad!’

‘What is it, honey?’ asked Caroline from the other side of the bed.

‘Can I go with Grace Arnold to look at the foals again? There’s one that looks like Diamond!’

‘At this hour of the morning?’ said Caroline.

Craig opened his eyes. ‘Where exactly are you going?’

‘To Harry’s place, to look at the foals. I went there yesterday, remember? There’s a new one that looks like Diamond.’

Craig sat up. ‘Who’s Harry?’

‘He’s Grace and Rose’s uncle.’

‘Harry who? What’s his last name?’

Caroline saved her. ‘They’re nice girls, Craig. We know them from pony club. Go on, Jess. But have some breakfast before you go.’

Jess flew out the door before her father could object.