Saving Itsy Bitsy

by Rebecca Johnson

  ‘That’s good,’ said her father.

  ‘And, we’re going to a cattle auction in Gunnedah,’ said Abbey, excitedly.

  ‘Is that right?’ said her father. ‘That’s a long drive.’

  ‘Lucky I’ve got some of Mum’s snacks left over,’ she said. ‘By the way, are you guys okay with me training a dog for our talent quest?’

  ‘Sure,’ laughed Dad. ‘I won’t tell Bluey though. He’d get pretty upset.’

  ‘I miss you guys so much,’ said Abbey, her voice a little shaky.

  ‘We miss you too, love,’ said her dad.

  Hannah said she had no trouble talking her parents into letting her work with Drover, but Talika was a different story.

  ‘But Mother, he’s a really, really nice dog. He only attacked the sheep because he was starving.’ Talika rolled her eyes at her friends as she continued to talk. ‘He won’t, Mother. I promise.’

  Abbey had an idea. ‘Send her the picture,’ she whispered.

  Talika nodded. ‘Mother, I am going to text you a picture of him and you will see that he is a very polite dog.’

  Keeping her mum on the line, she quickly found the photo and sent it through. There was a pause while her mother must have been looking at the photo.

  ‘I told you he was,’ said Talika to her mother, smiling and giving the girls the thumbs up.

  ‘Yes, I will be careful, Mother, and I will wash my hands afterwards.’

  Abbey laughed into her hand.

  When Talika got off the phone they all hugged and jumped around.

  ‘Now all we have to do is train Drover!’ said Abbey.

  ‘And get this foul smell out of our room,’ said Hannah, leaning out the window to fetch the meatloaf.

  The next morning they jogged down to the stables and found Milly and Clare giving Bitsy another bottle. There were about three other little piglets squirming beside her cage, trying to get closer to what was going on.

  ‘How’s she going?’ said Hannah.

  ‘Really good,’ said Clare. ‘We just watched her and another piglet running up and down either side of the cage, as if they wanted to play.’

  ‘And Henrietta keeps coming over and sniffing her through the bars,’ said Milly.

  ‘Ah, girls,’ said Mr McPhail, emerging from the feed room. ‘I’m glad you’re here. I’ve had a visit from Ms Sterling. She came to see Drover.’

  ‘We were part of the test,’ said Milly. ‘We had to throw the ball over near the sheep pen, and get him to fetch it.’

  Abbey grimaced. ‘Was he okay?’ she asked nervously. She looked at Milly’s and Clare’s faces. They did not look very pleased.

  ‘No, he wasn’t okay,’ said Mr McPhail very seriously. ‘He was brilliant!’ Milly and Clare burst out laughing.

  ‘Gotcha!’ laughed Milly.

  Mr McPhail whistled and Drover appeared from the feed room. He licked the girls all over when he saw them.

  ‘So what do you think?’ said Mr McPhail, looking at each of the five girls in turn. ‘Should we risk letting your little piglet in with her family?’

  Everyone seemed keen, except Milly. Suddenly she looked really sad again.

  ‘Are you okay, Mil?’ said Abbey when she noticed.

  Milly nodded but Abbey could see she had tears in her eyes again.

  ‘Oh Milly, what’s wrong?’ said Hannah.

  ‘It’s silly,’ said Milly, wiping her eyes.

  Abbey felt that she had to speak up. ‘I’m sad that we won’t have Bitsy to care for any more, because for some reason, when we did, I missed my family less. Is that how you feel too, Milly?’

  Milly looked up at Abbey with big wet eyes. ‘Are you homesick too?’ she said quietly.

  Abbey nodded and noticed her two friends staring at her.

  ‘But you’re always laughing?’ said Milly.

  ‘It’s just my way of covering it up. I think we all miss our families, Mil.’

  The other girls nodded.

  ‘It’s funny,’ said Milly. ‘Knowing you guys are sad too makes me feel a bit better. I guess we can still come down and see Bitsy.’

  ‘And once Henrietta has accepted her back, you can hold her whenever you like,’ said Mr McPhail.

  ‘Thanks, sir,’ Milly said, and Clare gave her a big hug. ‘Will you stay in there with Bitsy and grab her out if there’s a problem?’

  ‘Of course,’ said Mr McPhail.

  ‘I guess we have to try it some time,’ said Abbey. ‘She’s just so little.’

  The others nodded. ‘Let’s give it a go,’ said Hannah.

  ‘I’ll give Henrietta a big lot of slops to keep her happy and we’ll take it slowly,’ said their teacher.

  Mr McPhail filled the huge sow’s trough and then walked around to reach into Bitsy’s crate. All of the other piglets squealed like mad whenever they were picked up, but Bitsy simply snuggled in to whoever was holding her.

  The girls all gave her a pat and a tickle, then Mr McPhail climbed into the pen and bent down with her in his arms. After a while a few of the braver piglets came closer and he let them sniff each other. Abbey didn’t really know what to expect, but she held her breath as Mr McPhail placed the tiny piglet on the ground.

  Bitsy stood completely still and looked straight ahead. Then, without warning, she started to race around the pen, bucking and jumping about. The other piglets watched, then one joined in. Pretty soon all thirteen piglets were grunting and running around like mad things.

  ‘That’s hilarious!’ said Milly. ‘It’s like they’re playing chase.’

  ‘I think she knows she’s home,’ said Abbey.

  ‘Hey,’ said Talika, suddenly. ‘No, Boris!’

  Boris the boar had poked his head through the rails and was butting at the bag of meatloaf that hung from Talika’s hand. ‘You don’t eat meat!’

  ‘Well, actually,’ laughed Mr McPhail, ‘pigs love meat. They’re omnivores – plant and meat eaters.’

  ‘Why have you got meat in a bag?’ said Clare.

  ‘Um, we thought we would use it to train Drover,’ said Hannah.

  ‘I knew you didn’t really like eating that meatloaf!’ laughed Milly.

  Talika opened the bag and showed Mr McPhail, and they told him the whole story about dinner the night before. He reached in and retrieved one of the slabs of meatloaf and unwrapped it. He sniffed it and crossed his eyes, which made all of the girls crack up. Then he tossed it into Boris’s pen. The pig trotted over and gobbled it down happily.

  ‘Pity we don’t need Boris for the show!’ said Talika.

  ‘Please don’t feed that whole bag of muck to my dog,’ said Mr McPhail.

  ‘We won’t,’ said Abbey. ‘We’re going to cut it into little chunks and wanted to ask if you would mind storing it in the feed-shed fridge?’

  ‘Okay,’ said Mr McPhail, ‘but what’s left after two days goes to Boris. I don’t want it stinking up my whole fridge.’

  ‘Just one more thing before we start Drover’s training,’ said Abbey. ‘You wouldn’t have a plank we could borrow and a couple of crates?’

  ‘There might be some stuff round the back of the stables,’ he said cautiously. ‘But be careful with my dog.’

  Milly and Clare were happy to keep the first watch over Bitsy and her new playmates, while the girls fed and brushed their horses and let them into the field.

  Then they began in earnest with Drover’s training program.

  ‘Sit, Drover!’ said Abbey, and held out a small chunk of meatloaf when he obeyed. Drover sniffed the meatloaf, then gingerly took it from her hand.

  ‘He’s not exactly gobbling it down,’ said Hannah.

  ‘Well, would you?’ laughed Abbey.

  ‘It’s all we’ve got, so hopefully it’s going to keep him interested,’ said Hannah.

  Mr McPhail showed them how to make Drover roll over and they rewarded him with another ‘treat’. He ate it, but, once again, had to think about it first.

  They lugged two c
rates and a plank around from the back of the stables and set up a little bridge for Drover to walk along. Abbey put his front paws on the plank, and Hannah dangled some meatloaf in front of his face to encourage him to jump up.

  ‘Up, Drover, up!’ commanded Hannah.

  The dog would not move. When Hannah rubbed the meatloaf on his lips, Drover put his head under his paw.

  ‘It’s official!’ said Abbey. ‘Mrs Bristow’s meatloaf is inedible.’

  They tried lifting the dog, but he jumped straight off the plank. They pulled, they pushed, they begged and guided, but there was no way Drover was going to walk along the makeshift bridge.

  Abbey flopped back on the grass. ‘It’s hopeless,’ she sighed. ‘This is the easiest trick. How on earth are we going to get him to do the others if he doesn’t even want the reward?’

  ‘Maybe Mrs Bristow will give us some other type of meat?’ said Talika.

  ‘As if,’ said Abbey.

  ‘We have to do something,’ said Talika. ‘We’ve only got three days until the talent quest.’

  When the alarm went off at five am and it was still dark outside, it took Abbey a few minutes to remember where they were going.

  ‘Time to get up,’ she groaned to her room-mates as she slid out of bed. ‘We’ve got to catch the bus to the auction.’

  Hannah muttered something and rolled over. Abbey leant down close to the ear that was poking out from under her floral quilt. ‘Don’t keep Mrs Bristow waiting,’ she said in a singsong voice. ‘Chuckles doesn’t like being kept waiting.’

  Hannah leapt out of bed in a heartbeat. When they joined the other girls who were going to the auction in the dining hall, they all looked as sleepy as one another. Mrs Bristow looked the same as always – cranky.

  They ate their breakfast and headed down to the bus where Mr McPhail and Mrs Parry were waiting. The girls had been told to bring their pillows for the long trip, and Abbey had a backpack full of snacks. For the first two hours of the trip, most of the girls were lulled back to sleep by the rocking of the bus as it headed down the range and out towards the open plains.

  But Abbey couldn’t sleep and instead watched the lush, leafy bushland slowly transform into flat fields of crops planted in neat rows, or open furrows of soil ready to be planted with next season’s crops. She felt good, because the scenery reminded her of home.

  When the bus finally pulled up at the auction there were cattle trucks everywhere and more Akubra hats and boots than Abbey could count. The yards were full of restless cattle and bawling calves, and potential buyers climbed up on rails and studied the beasts below. Some wrote notes, while others whispered to each other in low voices, tipping their hats.

  Mr McPhail and Mrs Parry split the girls into two groups, and they walked around the saleyards before the auction began. Abbey, Talika and Hannah were in Mrs Parry’s group. They were all hanging over the side of a yard when Abbey felt a tap on her shoulder. She turned around but no one was there. Then she heard a very familiar laugh and turned back the other way. Bradley, one of her brothers, was standing there with a huge smile on his face. Close behind him were her mother and father and even Bluey the dog.

  Abbey gasped, then launched herself off the rail at her father, who nearly toppled backwards as she landed in his arms!

  ‘Dad! Mum! Brad! Bluey!’ she said, not knowing who to hug first.

  Mr McPhail was standing behind them, grinning from ear to ear.

  ‘You did this?’ she said, beaming at him.

  ‘I might have let them know a few weeks ago that we were coming halfway to your property.’

  The auction was about to start so they climbed up into the stands of the main arena and sat together. Abbey’s parents really seemed to like Hannah and Talika, but Abbey never had any doubt that they would. Bluey was allowed to sit on the bench beside Abbey and laid his head on her lap as she twirled his ear between her fingers gently. Abbey felt so much better for seeing her family. It had been all that she’d hoped for.

  The auctioneer was a large man in an enormous white hat and checked shirt. He climbed up onto the stand and the first of the cattle were ushered in. He wasted no time getting started.

  ‘And-what-do-I-hear-for-this-mob-of-fine-Santa-Gertrudis-cows? You’re-not-going-to-get-any-this-side-of-the-range. Do-I-hear-two-thousand? Three-from-the-fellow-in-the-front-row. Three-five, I-see-three-five.’ The auctioneer pointed to each bidder as they raised a finger, nodded, tipped their hat or held their brochure in the air.

  Abbey had been to plenty of cattle auctions before, but this was Talika’s first, and she was astounded. ‘How on earth can he speak so fast?’ she said. ‘I can hardly work out what he’s saying, let alone how he knows who is bidding and who is just scratching their nose.’

  Abbey’s dad and brother laughed. Abbey’s mum opened the basket at her feet and brought out a huge box of cupcakes with lemon icing. Hannah’s and Talika’s mouths fell open as she handed them each one. They were allowed to pass the cupcakes down the row to the other Willowvale girls and teachers seated beside them.

  ‘My mum makes the best cupcakes,’ beamed Abbey, giving her mum a hug.

  ‘Mrs Mason, these are amazing,’ said Hannah, as the auctioneer slammed his hammer down and declared the beasts sold.

  The next group was brought in quickly as the cattlemen below herded the Santa Gertrudis cattle into a holding yard on the side.The auctioneer once again started his strange song. ‘We’ve-got-Jack-Brown’s-prize-Angus-yearlings-here. You-can-see-they’ve-been-raised-on-good pasture-and-are-already-all-carrying-plenty of-fat. Who-will-open-the-bidding-at-fifteen hundred?’

  Abbey passed the bag of paper napkins to Talika to wipe the icing off her chin. Talika grabbed one from the bag and waved it in the air. ‘Does anyone else need a napkin?’

  Mr McPhail threw himself across Mrs Parry to try to stop her, but it was too late. As he grabbed the napkin from her hand the auctioneer pointed and said that’s fifteen hundred from the third row.

  Abbey gasped and they all stared at Talika.

  ‘What just happened?’ she asked.

  Abbey snorted. ‘Talika, I think you may have bought some yearlings!’

  ‘And-I-hear-two-thousand, thank-you, in-the back-row. Two, two-fifty-from-you, sir! Well done. Do-I-hear-three?’

  ‘It’s all good,’ said Abbey’s dad, removing his hat to wipe the sweat from his brow. ‘You’ve been outbid.’

  ‘So now I don’t own any?’ said Talika, almost looking a little disappointed.

  ‘No, you don’t own any,’ said Mr McPhail with great relief. ‘That would have been a fun phone call to your parents.’

  ‘I’m sure my parents would not have minded too much. Cattle are sacred in India, you know.’

  Abbey couldn’t help but laugh. Her dad bought two very nice-looking Hereford cows right before the lunch break, and they all climbed down from the stands to see them more closely.

  Talika took a photo of her ‘almost’ herd to send to her parents.

  ‘I’m busting to go to the toilet,’ said Hannah.

  ‘Talika and Abbey, you go with her,’ said Mrs Parry. ‘We’ll meet you under that tree for lunch.’

  The girls weaved through the mass of cattle trucks that were crammed in together and made their way to the restrooms.

  ‘I’ll just wait round the side here,’ said Talika. ‘I want to send this picture to my mother and father.’

  But after Abbey had finished and was washing her hands, Talika rushed into the bathroom and grabbed her by the shirt, dragging her into a cubicle. Abbey didn’t even have time to turn off the tap.

  ‘Talika!’ gasped Abbey, but her friend put a hand over her mouth before she could say more.

  ‘Hannah,’ whispered Talika. ‘Please, don’t come out of the toilet. Shhhh.’

  ‘Um, okay,’ she whispered.

  Abbey wondered what was going on.

  All she could hear was the running water. Talika put her finger to her lips, a
nd Abbey noticed her hands were shaking.

  ‘What is it?’ she mouthed.

  Talika shook her head. Then she climbed up on the toilet seat and peeked over the top of the cubicle. She quickly stepped down and grabbed Abbey’s arm. ‘He’s coming in,’ she whispered.

  At first, Abbey had thought that her friend might have been playing a joke. Now she knew Talika’s fear was real.

  Abbey held her breath. There were slow, deliberate footsteps into the room. The tap was turned off slowly and then there was silence. Through the crack between the door and the wall, Abbey could see a figure of a man walking towards the stalls.

  ‘Excuse me!’ came the voice of an older woman. ‘What on earth are you doing?’

  There was the sound of a scuffle then the woman screamed. Abbey, Talika and Hannah all burst out of the toilets together to find the poor woman on the floor.

  ‘He ran off!’ she said, trying to catch her breath.

  ‘Are you all right?’ said Hannah.

  ‘I’m fine,’ said the woman, letting the girls help her up.

  Another woman came in and Talika ran over to her. ‘This is an emergency,’ she said. ‘Can you please stay with this lady? I have to get help.’

  Talika turned to her friends, her eyes wide with fear. ‘We have to find the others. I saw the truck!’

  ‘Which truck?’ said Hannah, looking totally confused.

  ‘The one that stole the cattle!’ said Talika. ‘The one with the weird tyres.’

  Abbey was finally starting to understand what was going on.

  The three of them shot out of the toilet block like bees from a hive and sprinted over to the tree where they had been told to meet.

  Abbey could see Mr McPhail and her father talking, and there were three other people there as well. Abbey and her friends charged towards the group, all yelling at once.

  ‘Mr Mason, Mr McPhail, it’s the truck. It’s the same truck!’ screamed Talika.

  ‘Talika, settle down. What on earth are you talking about?’

  ‘The truck that stole the cattle . . . Do you remember I took a photo of the tyres because they were unusual?’