Pony Jumpers 9- Nine Lives

by Kate Lattey

  “Yeah, Tamati Fletcher’s here,” I told him. “And a few other guys, but I don’t know most of them.”

  “Okay. Get Fletch to wait with you. We’re on our way now.”

  “See you soon.”

  I ended the call, then turned around and looked at Harry. He was standing a few metres behind me, and he shook his head, looking annoyed.

  “You didn’t have to do that.”

  “Yeah, I did.” I walked back towards the group of boys, who appeared to be getting ready to disperse. I hoped Tamati hadn’t gone home already. “I told you no less than an hour ago, and I’m telling you again now, that I don’t want to be in another car accident.”

  Harry quirked an eyebrow. “Nobody wants to be in a car accident, AJ,” he said, still going for humour instead of apologising.

  “Really? Cause it kinda seems to me like you do.” I spotted Tamati in the group, and sped up slightly towards him.

  “I’m not even drunk,” Harry said again.

  I stopped and glared at him. “Do you know what the breath alcohol limit is for a driver on a restricted licence?” I demanded. “Zero. However drunk you think you aren’t, you’re not going to blow a zero right now. Have you really worked this hard to buy that ute and now you’re going to throw it all away on a couple of beers?”

  I watched some of the fight go out of his eyes and knew my words had hit home. I stepped closer, tilting my head to look up into his downcast eyes. “If you want a ride, I’m sure we can give you one.”

  But Harry’s pride was too strong for that. He wasn’t prepared to sit in the car with my brothers and get an earful from Anders, and we both knew it.

  “Nah. I’ll go with one of the boys,” he muttered.

  I couldn’t help asking. “Are any of them sober?”

  Harry rolled his eyes, hard. “Can you stop being so judgemental?” he snapped.

  “Only when you stop being such an idiot.” I stalked past him, heading towards Tamati. “But I’m not going to hold my breath.”

  By the time my brothers had arrived in the dented old family station wagon, the beach was almost deserted. The car pulled up next to where Tamati and I were sitting on the bollard, and Anders leaned out the passenger window.

  “Found you.”

  “Good job.” I stood up and smiled at Tamati. “Thanks for waiting with me.”

  “Yeah, no worries.” He returned Anders’s pro-offered fist bump, and nodded a greeting to Aidan as I climbed into the back seat.

  “Thanks, man. Appreciate it. You need a ride?”

  Tamati shook his head. “Nah, I’m good. Got the bike, eh?” He gestured towards his battered little moped, and Anders shook his head.

  “That’s a scooter, Fletch,” my brother told him. “You can’t keep calling it a motorbike to try and impress girls.” He narrowed his eyes. “Especially not if they’re my sister.”

  “Your sister’s too smart to fall for that,” Tamati said, glancing at me in the back seat and shooting me a smile, which I returned warmly. Tamati wasn’t my type, but he was a nice guy with a lot less ego than Harry. Maybe if I was smarter, I would be going out with him.

  “I don’t know about that,” Anders replied, echoing my thoughts. “She’s not blowing me away with her good taste right now. But she’s in enough trouble as it is without you sticking your beak in,” he added warningly.

  “As long as that’s all he’s sticking –” Aidan started to say, until I smacked him across the back of the head with the flat of my hand. He grinned over his shoulder at me, his hair still damp from the shower, and I felt a wash of gratitude as I settled back into the seat that I had brothers like these that I could call on when I needed them.

  Tamati waved as Aidan pulled out onto the road, and I leaned back into the seat.

  “Thanks for coming to get me.”

  “No worries,” Aidan assured me, grinning as Anders slapped the dashboard with his palm.

  “Dammit!”

  “Pay up, bro.”

  I stared at them, comprehension dawning quickly. “Were you taking bets on how long it would take me to thank you?”

  “If you know the answer, why ask the question?” Aidan asked me, rubbing his fingertips together in front of Anders’s face.

  “Couldn’t you have held out for ten more minutes, Poss?” Anders grumbled as he reached into his back pocket and pulled out his wallet. I leaned forward and peered over his shoulder, and he turned his head towards me. “What’re you doing?”

  “I wanna see if moths really do fly out when you open it.”

  Aidan cracked up laughing, and Anders aimed a swat at me that I quickly ducked. “Be nice, or I won’t give you any.”

  I sat back quickly, immediately repentant. “Sorry.”

  Aidan looked at me in the rearview mirror. “You seriously got this miserly bastard to lend you money? How the hell’d you manage that?”

  “Natural charm and charisma.”

  Anders snorted as I stretched my legs out and rested my heels on the console between the front seats.

  “Hey, you never told me that Jesse had a kid,” I told him.

  He was nonchalant. “Didn’t I?”

  “Jesse Murdoch?” Aidan asked in surprise.

  “Glad I’m not the only person who didn’t know,” I said, and Aidan huffed out a surprised breath and shook his head, clearly trying to imagine little Jesse Murdoch with a baby of his own. I wondered if he was having as much trouble picturing it as I was.

  “Cleopatra,” Anders said randomly as he wound his window back up.

  “What’s she got to do with anything?”

  “That’s his kid’s name.”

  “It is not,” I said. “Is it?”

  “Hand on heart,” Anders said.

  Aidan shook his head. “Who names their kid Cleopatra?”

  “Jesse, obviously,” Anders replied.

  “Please tell me it was entirely his girlfriend’s decision,” I pleaded, leaning forward again. “Please tell me it wasn’t Jesse’s choice.”

  Anders shrugged. “I don’t think any of it was his choice, to be honest.”

  “Aside from the obvious,” I said. “I mean, he made a choice at some point to stick –”

  “Yeah, okay,” Anders interrupted. “I told you you’re a bad influence on her,” he told Aidan, who shrugged.

  “She’s not five. She does know how babies are made,” Aidan said, before meeting my eyes in the rearview again. “You do, right? Please tell me that someone’s had that talk with you, and that’s not something else we’re going to have to do on our parents’ behalf.”

  “You’re safe. I’m fully informed,” I reassured him. “So what’s she like?”

  “Who? Cleopatra?”

  “No, egg. Jesse’s girlfriend.”

  Anders shrugged. “She’s not his girlfriend.”

  “But they have a kid.”

  “Doesn’t mean they’re still together.” He twisted around and looked at me. “Why do you care?”

  “I like Jesse,” I said, and Anders rolled his eyes skyward in horror. “I don’t mean I like him, like him,” I clarified. “But he’s a nice guy.”

  Anders grunted, but said nothing, making me wonder again what had happened between them to break up their friendship. I wanted to dig deeper, but I didn’t want to start a fight with my brother. It wasn’t worth it. One thousand dollars, I reminded myself, and leaned back against the seat, watching the dimly-lit, winding road ahead as we drove up the hill and back to Havelock North.

  13

  COUNTER CANTER

  Two days later, I was riding out of the yard on Tori when I heard Katy calling my name.

  “AJ, wait up!”

  I drew the black mare to a reluctant halt and turned to see Katy leaving the arena on Puppet and trotting up to me. “I’ll come with you.”

  “Okay.” I looked at her slender pony, who was dripping with sweat. “Puppet been working hard?”

  “He thinks so. I dec
ided to teach him counter-canter today, and he found the whole thing very stressful.” She leaned forward and stroked his neck. “Didn’t you Pup? Sorry, but it’s for your own good.”

  “Counter-canter is just cantering on the wrong leg, right?” I asked as Tori started walking again, and Puppet scurried to keep up with her long strides. “What’s so hard about that? Squib’s been doing it for years.”

  Katy laughed. “It’s a bit more than that. I mean, that’s the basic idea, but it’s about having the horse straight between leg and hand, cantering around a corner with outside flexion, and maintaining balance and rhythm.”

  “But what’s the point?”

  “To improve balance and strength,” she said. “Get the hindquarters underneath them, get them using themselves correctly.”

  “Well, Puppet looks like he’s been using himself, that’s for sure,” I said, glimpsing white foam between his buttocks as he jogged slightly ahead of Tori. She flattened her ears and snaked her neck at him, her teeth bared, and Puppet leapt sideways, eyeing her warily.

  “Tori, don’t be such a witch,” Katy muttered.

  I reached forward and patted the mare. “She’s okay. She’s been really good lately.”

  Katy looked sceptical. “Define good.”

  “She hasn’t bucked me off,” I said. “That’s good, right?”

  “Only by Tori’s very low standards.”

  “She’s improving daily,” I told my friend. “She’ll be even better by the time you get home from Ireland,” I promised. “You won’t even recognise her by then.”

  Katy shrugged. “If she’s even still here by then.”

  My heart thumped, and I felt suddenly cold. “You’re not still thinking about selling her.”

  “Kind of. Mum wants to, but Dad doesn’t. I’m kinda caught in the middle right now, but honestly, I’m leaning towards Mum’s side.”

  “You can’t sell her,” I pleaded.

  “Why not? I can’t ride her. And I don’t think Dad wants to keep her around just for you to hack out. Sorry,” she added belatedly. “I know you like her, even if I don’t understand why.”

  “Maybe I’m a sucker for the underdog,” I said, then shortened my reins as we reached the bottom of the hill. “C’mon, let’s trot.”

  I wanted Katy to see Tori move, wanted her to be reminded how special the horse was. Tori plunged forward at the touch of my leg, leaning on the bit as she forged ahead. Puppet’s presence was unsettling her, and I struggled to keep her attention focused on me. Katy clicked her tongue to Puppet, encouraging him to keep up, and as his head drew level with her shoulder, Tori swung her hindquarters in his direction and lashed out with both hind hooves. I heard Katy cry out, and my heart thumped as I struggled to bring Tori back under control.

  “Are you okay?”

  I turned to look behind me at Katy, who had brought Puppet back to a walk. She nodded, much to my relief.

  “Yeah, she missed us. Barely.” I’d convinced Tori to walk, but Katy was keeping her distance. She gazed down at her leg, then back at me. “She almost got me in the kneecap.”

  She didn’t have to say anything more than that. I knew enough now about knee injuries to know what that could have meant – and at the very least, it would’ve spelled the end of her trip to Ireland.

  “Sorry.”

  “It’s not your fault,” Katy said. “I should’ve seen it coming.” She ran a hand down Puppet’s sleek neck. “This isn’t a very calming ride for you, is it Mr Pup?”

  “Sorry,” I said again. “We’ll be okay on our own, if you want to go back.” But even as I said it, I started to doubt my words. Tori was becoming increasingly agitated, and felt like a different horse to the one I normally rode. She was tense and strong, and I couldn’t shake the sensation of sitting on a bomb that was about to explode.

  Katy eyed Tori’s prancing walk, and shook her head. “Let’s just loop around and go back along the bottom of the valley,” she suggested. “I’ll stay behind you, and several metres back.”

  “Sounds like a plan.”

  We rode a little way in silence, then Katy spoke again. “So has Harry apologised yet?”

  “Nope.”

  “Seriously?”

  I shook my head, gazing at Tori’s long neck and distant ears. “He’d have to talk to me to apologise to me, and I haven’t heard a word from him since that night on the beach.”

  “Ugh. Boys are stupid,” Katy declared.

  “Not arguing with that.”

  I’d expected it to take a little while for Harry to sober up and wise up and beg for forgiveness. He wasn’t exactly the most humble person I knew, and I’d defied him in front of his mates and called my brothers to take me home. His dignity had been wounded, and while I had no doubt that I’d been in the right, I knew him well enough to know that he would need a few hours of sobriety before he’d admit to his mistake. But it had been two days now, and I was starting to get impatient. I’d gone from simmering with anger and planning my most scathing comments, to debating whether to slap him in the face or refuse to accept his apology, to wondering whether he’d decided to cut his losses and never talk to me again. Maybe he’d decided I was too much of a goody-good to bother with. That thought had only occurred to me last night, but it had been niggling at me ever since. If that was the case, then good riddance to him, but I couldn’t deny that it stung. It was one thing to decide to break up with someone – it was something else entirely to have them not even want to win you back.

  “Your parents know about it yet?”

  “Nope.” I glanced back at her, felt Tori’s back twitch irritably and quickly faced forward again. “And they’re not going to.”

  “They’ll figure it out when he stops coming over,” she pointed out.

  “If he comes over any time soon, he’ll have my brothers to contend with,” I told her. “Never mind my parents – they’re the ones he’s going to have to watch out for.”

  “I fully support that,” Katy declared as we reached the end of the trail and got to the back gate into the creek paddock.

  I maneouvered Tori out of the way while Katy opened the gate from Puppet’s back. Tori barged through the gap behind him, whacking my ankle against the wooden gate post and making me wince. Katy was trying to convince Puppet to push the gate shut with his chest when Tori decided to have a tantrum. She swung her hindquarters to the side and started trying to yank the reins out of my hands.

  “Woah, Tori. Just stand.”

  “You okay?” Katy asked, looking at me worriedly as Tori started rocking back onto her hocks and pretending like she was going to rear.

  “I’ve been better,” I admitted. “Just hurry up with the gate. We’re not in a patient mood today.”

  “She’s never in a patient mood,” Katy muttered, but she got the gate shut and I let Tori carry on. I had to admit that she wasn’t much fun to ride when she felt like this. The power that was so intoxicating to ride was now being used against me, and I didn’t like it one bit.

  We were almost home when we reached a narrow creek, and Tori baulked at the flowing water. I clicked my tongue and nudged her with my legs, but she wouldn’t move.

  “C’mon Tor. We’re nearly there.”

  But she had made her decision, and she wasn’t changing her mind. The more pressure I put on her, the more stubborn she became, and I realised that I had a losing battle on my hands.

  “Can you give us a lead?” I asked Katy, who’d stayed mercifully silent, although she couldn’t quite disguise her smugness over being right.

  She gave Tori a wide berth as she rode Puppet past.“It’s a low moment in everyone’s lives when Puppet is being asked to be the fearless leader,” she said as the black gelding eyed the water suspiciously. “Come on mate, you’ve been through this a thousand times before.”

  But Puppet was clearly of the opinion that if Tori wasn’t going near it, he wasn’t either, and he dug his heels in alongside her.

  “Oh,
for crying out loud.” Katy put her reins in one hand and used the long end of the reins to slap Puppet on the shoulder, and the pony plunged forward desperately, splashing through the shallow water and up the other side.

  “See?” I told Tori. “Puppet can do it. Now it’s your turn.”

  She still didn’t respond, so I gave her a small kick with my heels. Offended, Tori cow-kicked at me with a hind leg, and I felt her hoof connect with the bottom of my boot. Katy gaped at me from the other side of the creek.

  “Flippin’ heck. I was about to say maybe try getting off and leading her through, but I’ve changed my mind,” she said. “She’ll probably kick your head clean off. And I mean that literally.”

  “I don’t know what’s wrong with her,” I complained, staring down at the dark neck and mane that I’d become accustomed to. I’d just started to feel safe and comfortable on her back, and now this.

  “Honeymoon’s over, I guess,” Katy said, having given up attempting to disguise her triumph. “I did warn you.”

  “Yeah, yeah.” Time for a different tactic. I already knew that Tori didn’t like to be told or forced to do anything, so I loosened the reins and gave her a pat.

  “Now what?” Katy asked.

  “I don’t know. I guess we just wait until she gets bored enough to change her mind.”

  Katy groaned and lay back, resting her head on Puppet’s rump. He twitched his hindquarters nervously, and she sat up again. “It’s okay, pea brain. Keep it together.” She pulled her phone out and checked the time with a frown. “I’m supposed to be going to the movies in like, an hour.”

  “What’re you going to see?”

  Katy pulled a face. “I don’t know, some movie that Mum wants to see. She keeps saying we need to have a girls’ night out before I go away. As if that’s something we’ve ever done before.”

  “Is it because of your dad?”

  “Yeah, because I’m spending more time with him, which is something she keeps making me do, by the way, so you’d think that if she was upset about it then she wouldn’t let me, but whatever. I know why she’s doing it, I just wish she would realise that she doesn’t need to bother. She’s my mum. She drives me up the wall, but I would never in a million years choose my dad over her.”