Opal Dreaming (2 page)

‘Look how skinny she is,' Shara said in disgust.

‘Katrina should sell her if she's not interested in her anymore,' said Rosie. ‘Poor horse.'

‘Chelpie's so sour. Who'd buy her?' said Jess. ‘I just wish Katrina would feed her a bit more.'

She looked up at the bank of thick cloud that was swelling behind the mountains – it was moving unbelievably fast – and pushed Dodger into a trot. Chelpie called a screeching whinny as they departed.

The weather caught up with them just as they rode around the bend alongside the old sawmill. Heavy drops speared into their oilskin jackets and rolled down their helmets. Up ahead, Lawson's blue timber house stood as neat as a pin. Perfectly straight fences radiated from brick stables and, in the paddocks, the mango trees were heavy with ripening fruit.

The girls walked the horses through Lawson's fat red cattle dotted about the flats, then rode up the laneway and into the stable block. The rain was deafening on the tin roof, but it was warm and dry inside.

Lawson pulled himself from beneath the horse he was shoeing and stretched. ‘I've got another couple of horses to trim before we can move that filly,' he shouted over the din. ‘And I've gotta get the cattle in. That river's gonna rise this afternoon.'

Jess's heart sank. Opal was too little to be swimming across rivers, especially fast-flowing ones. ‘Do you want
us
to bring them in?' she yelled. ‘We can do it while you finish shoeing those horses.'

‘Yeah, righto, just don't stir 'em up.'

Shara grinned cheekily. ‘Would we do such a thing?'

Lawson frowned. ‘You can go down on foot, Shara. Take a bucket of molasses and call them up. Jess, you get behind them on that old stockhorse and do a head count of forty-three.' He raised his voice in the direction of Grace, who was at the other end of the stable block, tethering her horse. ‘Gracie, can you slip a halter on that grey out in the yards and bring her in? Leave the big gate open for the cattle to come through.'

Jess rode back out of the building and quickly cast her eyes around the house yard for Luke. She barely saw him now that he was working for Lawson. He was usually out in the work ute, doing the trimming jobs. When he'd worked at Harry's place, she'd always known where to find him, but these days their paths rarely crossed. Jess couldn't see the ute. He must be out again.

She rode down the laneway, Shara clomping behind her. Then, while Shara stood calling out and banging on the bucket, Jess made a wide circle around the cattle. Red and white baldy faces popped out from behind trees, and bellows came from around the bend, as the herd began to wander through the rain towards the molasses. Jess didn't need to do much but sit there and count them as they plodded by. On the other side of the river she thought she could hear Chelpie's distressed whinnying above the sound of the rain.

Jess counted thirty-nine head of cattle, with four more emerging from the bushes below, and pulled her phone from her pocket to text Shara, who she could see pouring the molasses into the yard trough.

going to check Chelpie, somethgs wrong

She watched Shara pull her phone out, thumb a message and wave to her, as she opened the gate for the cattle.

Buzz, rumble.

Shara: will get Rocko + follow u down.

Jess trotted back across the flats towards the river. The rain pelted at her and she had to keep her chin down to shield her face. As she ducked under tree branches, she could see the white pony in the distance, her hind legs pulling at the fence wire.

Typical. Wish the Pettilows would fix their fences.

As Jess approached, she saw that Chelpie's legs were caught. Jumping down from Dodger, she checked for injuries and found none, so she carefully untwisted the wire and lifted Chelpie's back feet out of the tangled mess. As she slipped off the last of the wire, the mare squealed and lashed out with both hind feet. Jess only just managed to duck, and Chelpie's hooves connected instead with Dodger's flank. Dodger jumped sideways and, finding himself loose, trotted off across the flats with his reins dangling. Chelpie cantered after him.

‘Oh, don't run away,' moaned Jess. ‘
Dod
ger!' She pulled her phone from her pocket and messaged Shara.

can u grab D?

She tucked her phone away and stood waiting, hands on hips. Moments later, Shara emerged from the river on Rocko, leading Dodger behind her. ‘What happened?' she asked. ‘You okay?'

‘It's the last time I help that stupid horse,' said Jess. ‘Now we'll have to stuff around for hours trying to catch her.' Her boot squelched with water as she stepped into the stirrup, and a trickle of water crept under her collar and ran down her spine. Her saddle was like a wet sponge.

‘She's headed towards Lawson's place,' said Shara, turning Rocko. ‘Hope she doesn't make trouble.'

‘Great,' mumbled Jess, as she watched Chelpie prancing about in the pouring rain with her tail in the air. ‘That's all we need.'

2

WHEN THEY GOT BACK
to the stables, Jess took off her helmet and coat and shook her head like a dog, sending sprays of water across the stable. Down the aisle she saw
Marnie's head poking out of a stable door.

‘Marnie's in the stable!' said Shara, rushing down the aisle. ‘Let's see Opal!'

‘I brought her in for you, Jessy,' said Grace, hanging a halter on the hook outside her stall. ‘Opal just trotted in right behind her.'

Jess ran down the aisle after Shara to the mare's stable. Marnie lifted her nose and sniffed at the girls as they approached. She had the kindest, softest eyes Jess had ever seen on a horse. Jess gave her a pat and peered into the stable at the filly sidling up nervously beside her.

‘She's
gorgeous
,' said Shara, leaning an elbow on Jess's shoulder.

Opal peeped out from behind her mother, her long-lashed eyes wide in wonderment at her new surroundings. She had never been inside a building before.

‘Hello, little one,' said Jess, beaming. She hadn't seen Opal this close up since the day she was born. She cast her eye over the filly and found her to be every bit as beautiful as she had hoped. She was a rich liver chestnut, glistening gold around her flanks and muzzle, with no white markings except – there they were – the three white diamonds, cascading down her shoulder like falling stars, just like the ones Diamond had had on her hindquarters.

Jess's heart flipped in her chest. ‘You're so perfect,' she whispered, running her eyes over the filly's long, elegant neck, straight legs and muscular hindquarters.

‘She looks like her daddy, doesn't she?' said Grace from behind them. Grace was very proud of her father's stallion, Muscles.

‘They're the same colour. I
love
liver chestnut,' answered Jess.

The stallion's coat changed colour with the seasons. In winter he was dark, almost chocolate brown; after he'd moulted in spring, he turned a brilliant reddish copper. Then, over the hotter parts of summer, he faded to a golden orange. Jess hoped that Opal's coat would do the same.

'What did you decide to call her?' asked Lawson, walking down the stable aisle and joining them at the stable door. He looked over Jess's shoulder at the little chestnut filly.

‘Opal,' said Jess, gazing, besotted, at her once-in-a-lifetime horse.

‘Bad-luck stones,' grunted Lawson.

‘That's total rubbish,' said Jess. ‘Can't you ever say anything nice?'

Lawson shrugged. ‘She's a well-put-together horse. She'll be an athlete.' He looked at Grace and smirked. ‘Gets that from the
mare's
side.'

‘Well, she'll have good cattle-sense too, which will definitely come from the
stallion's
side!' Grace poked her tongue out at him.

Lawson cuffed his little cousin on the head. ‘Hope she hasn't got the
stallion's
temperament.'

‘Muscles is one of the best stallions in the country,' Grace said indignantly. ‘There's nothing wrong with his temperament.'

There was a faint buzzing noise above the hammering of the rain and Jess stuck her head out of the stable doorway. It was Elliot Duggin on his minibike.

‘Vet deliveries,' said Shara.

Grace ran to the doorway. ‘I'll get them. I know where everything goes.'

Elliot reached the stable door and turned around to the back of the bike. He pulled the lid off a large tub that was secured with occy straps. Jess could hear him mumbling something from under his helmet.

‘What?' Grace yelled. She knocked on his visor and laughed. ‘I can't hear you!'

Elliot pulled off his helmet and blinked at Grace. He always blinked a lot when he wasn't wearing his glasses. ‘There's a huge storm on the weather radar. I have to get these deliveries done before it comes over. I did a 3D simulation on the Bureau's Stormwatch game, and it's going to be huge!'

‘It already is huge,' said Grace.

‘Well, it's going to get huger,' said Elliot.

‘How long have we got?'

‘A few hours. It just hit Brisbane.' He put his helmet back on, saluted Grace and turned his bike out of the doorway.

‘We'd better head off soon,' said Grace, turning to the others. ‘Otherwise the river is going to rise and we'll never get through.'

‘It's already up to Dodger's knees,' said Jess, looking out the doorway and up at the overflowing gutters. ‘It's absolutely belting down!'

‘Hey! If the bridge floods over, we won't be able to go to school!' said Rosie as she walked in from the rain, two empty halters in her hand.

‘Oh
derrr
, Rosie. It's Saturday!' said Grace.

‘Oh, yeah.' Rosie pulled a tube of lip gloss out of her pocket and uncapped it.

‘You must be in love,' said her sister. ‘You're going soft in the head over Tom again.'

‘You can talk,' said Rosie, running the gloss around her lips and smacking them together. ‘You nearly fell over yourself to talk to Elliot.'

‘As if,' said Grace, screwing up her nose. ‘So, what are you putting
lipstick
on for?'

‘I don't know, Grace; what are you such a
feral
for?' her sister retorted.

Lawson led a big chestnut gelding out of a stable. ‘Come on, Slinger.' He turned to the girls. ‘I'll trim those other horses later. Let's get that filly across the river before the storm hits.'

Relieved, Jess untied Dodger and led him from the stables. A gust of wind pulled at her clothes as she left the shelter of the building.

Lawson rode down the laneway on Slinger, with Marnie behind him on a lead rope, Opal trotting anxiously at her heels. Jess hunched into her jacket and rode after them into the wind and rain.

‘Wait for me,' called Shara, vaulting onto Rocko and cantering to catch up. Grace and Rosie rode out of the stables in matching oilskin jackets, and soon the four girls had formed a tightly ridden posse, following Lawson, Marnie and Opal towards the first crossing.

As they rode onto the river flats, Chelpie appeared again. She trotted up behind Opal and wheeled about, tossing her mane and inviting her to play. Jess frowned as she watched the filly turn and trot off behind Chelpie, snorting playfully.

‘We should have caught her,' said Shara, as Rocko bumped up beside Dodger. ‘She's going to cause trouble.'

‘We would have been there all day,' said Jess. ‘She's in no mood to be caught – look at her.'

The two horses cantered about the flats, skidding and sliding on the greasy mud, moving further and further from the group.

‘She's purposely trying to lead Opal away,' said Shara.

‘Marnie will call her back in a minute.' Jess looked hopefully at the mare, who pranced about on the end of her rope, gazing fretfully across the field at Chelpie and Opal. ‘It's funny how Chelpie loves foals but she never mixes with other adult horses. She's totally weird.'

‘She's spooky,' said Shara.

‘Evil,' agreed Jess.

Marnie screamed out to her filly as they reached the first crossing, and Jess was relieved when Opal came cantering back.

Lawson went through the river first, leading the mare. Instead of following, Opal stood at the top of the bank, looking at the gushing water with curiosity. As she watched her mother splash through, she squealed questioningly. Marnie whinnied back to her.

Opal gingerly put out a hoof and recoiled in fear as water rushed around her leg. She spun and galloped off to the flats with her tail clamped firmly between her hind legs.

‘Get out of the way,' said Lawson, waving the girls away from the bank. ‘You'll only make her more nervous!'

The girls made room for the filly to come through. Marnie stood in the middle of the river, water swirling about her knees, and let out a shrill cry. Opal trotted back to the edge of the river with noticeably less ping in her stride. She paused on the bank and sniffed at the wild white water. Marnie nickered encouragement.

Everybody stayed still and waited for the filly to make her move. ‘Come on, little girl,' whispered Jess. ‘You can do it.'

The filly put one, then two unsteady hooves into the rushing river. And there she stood, trembling, snorting and flicking her ears, poised to leap out again at the slightest provocation.

Jess groaned inwardly. This was going to take all day. She moved Dodger away from the river, took a deep breath and tried to mentally arrange herself into a more patient frame of mind, which wasn't easy under the lashing rain.

‘Okay, everyone just ride through the river,' said Lawson. ‘If we leave her on her own, she should follow.' He was beginning to look annoyed.

‘No, no, wait,' said Jess.

‘Come on, you lot,' said Lawson to the other riders, ignoring her. ‘Let's ride on.'

‘But you can't just leave her there!' said Jess, in disbelief.