The man was talking, but I could barely hear his words over his breaths. He wheezed in and out, like a puffing steam train. I stood statue still, trying to catch what he said.
‘… serious problem,’ he was saying. ‘No doubt about it (breath) … life-threatening (wheeze) … deadly (breath) …’ He had the worst case of asthma I’d ever seen.
Mrs Bacton said something I didn’t hear. I leant in closer, being careful to keep behind the mango tree.
‘You better believe it,’ said the man. ‘I’m going to …’
I jumped. What had he said? Was it ‘kill them’? I frowned. It couldn’t have been. Who would a man like that want to kill?
The man thumped his hand down on the arm of his wheelchair, his eyes darting furtively between Mrs Bacton and his car.
Mrs Bacton tried to calm him down, but whatever she said didn’t help.
‘Of course I’ll have to shoot them!’ he shouted. ‘What else is there to do?’
My head went dizzy. I gripped the tree trunk for support. Kill them? Shoot them? This man was crazy. What was going on? We could be in danger. Real danger.
I expected Mrs Bacton to rush inside and call the police. No-one could go around shooting people, wheelchair or not. But instead of panicking, Mrs Bacton smiled kindly, walked over, and patted the old man’s arm. Hadn’t she heard a thing?
‘I appreciate the warning, Mr Shearer,’ she said. ‘I think it’ll be for the best if I keep the kids around the stables, at least until this blows over. Meanwhile, you do what you have to. I’m right there behind you. You have my full support.’
The man in the wheelchair nodded – at least I think that’s what he did. It was a bit hard to tell with all that wheezing and spluttering. Mrs Bacton helped him back into his car.
I edged forwards, eager to hear more. But I leant a little too far and tripped out from behind the tree. I knocked my foot against the trunk, making a loud clunk.
‘Hello?’ called Mrs Bacton. ‘Who’s that?’
I pressed myself flat against the mango tree. The bark was rough and scaly, with fuzzy white things growing across it. I held my breath, hoping they couldn’t see me.
‘Don’t worry,’ she told the man. ‘It’s probably one of the students.’
I didn’t want Mrs Bacton to know I’d overheard their conversation, so I kept dead still. But as soon as the black car drove off, she found me.
‘You’re up early,’ she said, beckoning for me to step away from the tree. ‘Is everything all right?’
‘No, actually,’ I said, planning to launch straight into my questions about the bats. But my brain had fogged up. All I could think about was the strange man in the wheelchair.
‘Was that man okay?’ I blurted. ‘I mean, he looked so angry.’
Mrs Bacton gave a small laugh. ‘That’s my neighbour – Mr Shearer. You might have passed his place on the way here. His stables are quite famous – Shearer’s Racing Stables? He breeds racehorses and sells them all around the world. Lovely man.’
The neighbour? The one we weren’t supposed to go near? Why would a world-class racehorse breeder want to shoot someone so early in the morning? He didn’t sound lovely. He sounded like a maniac.
‘He’s having a few worries at the moment,’ Mrs Bacton continued. ‘What with his health getting worse, and the bats …’
I didn’t hear the rest.
Mr Shearer’s health was getting worse? But he already looked so sick. He must have something pretty bad. Was it some sort of virus? Hendra virus? Is that why he looked half dead?
I gasped. If Mr Shearer had Hendra virus, then … his horses must have it too!
Shoot them. Kill them.
He was going to shoot his horses! What if Mrs Bacton’s horses were next? Mrs Bacton wouldn’t shoot Spud, would she? Not with the way he looked at me, like he and I were in on a joke? Not with how he did exactly what he wanted, not caring what anyone else thought?
A lump rose in my throat. No, they wouldn’t shoot Spud.
Would they?
I turned to Mrs Bacton in alarm.
But she was striding back to the house, no doubt a list of similar concerns reeling through her mind.
The others said I was panicking over nothing.
‘No, I’m telling you!’ I said as we walked to breakfast. ‘He was practically dead! I saw him, he had to get oxygen out of a bottle!’
‘Well, whatever it is, it’s not from bats,’ said one of the pink twins. ‘Humans can only catch Hendra from horses.’
‘Yes, but that’s what I’m saying! Mr Shearer’s a horse trainer, so he’s around horses all day. If they’ve got it, he’s got it. That’s why he came to get Mrs Bacton. He said “shoot them”. I heard him! He’s shooting his horses because they’ve got Hendra virus! Our horses could be next!’
‘Oh no!’ exclaimed Alice, her eyes huge. ‘Joey?’
‘As if,’ said Mikaela. ‘There’d be people in special blue suits everywhere, and we’d have been sent home or quarantined by now. Don’t be an idiot, Charli. As if you’d know.’
I shrugged and rolled my eyes. ‘Whatever,’ I said, as if I didn’t care, even though I did. She was wrong. I did know about Hendra virus. I’d seen it on the news. It killed horses, and, according to the pink twin, people could catch it from horses too! It was Mrs Bacton who didn’t seem to know anything. If she did, she’d have got rid of the bats by now.
6. Jumping
Not long after we’d finished breakfast, Mrs Bacton told us it was time to saddle up.
‘Jumping today!’ she said, as if Mr Shearer had never existed.
Mikaela scraped back her chair and stood up. The pink twins joined her.
Alice turned slightly white.
‘Don’t worry, we’ll start off nice and low,’ said Mrs Bacton, smiling at her. ‘I’ll make the first one ten centimetres off the ground, just for you. Easy peasy.’
‘We have to ask her about Mr Shearer and the virus,’ I whispered to Alice on the way to the yards. ‘She’s pretending like nothing happened.’
Alice smiled a wobbly smile but she hardly said a word as we caught and groomed our horses.
‘That’s it. I’m going to go talk to her,’ I said once Spud was ready. ‘I have to find out what’s going on.’
I turned to go, but Alice grabbed my arm. ‘Can you ask later?’ she pleaded. ‘Just … it’s jumping and … I … I … what if I fall off?’
‘But we haven’t even started. I’ll be back before—’
‘I know, but … please?’ Her bottom lip started to tremble.
‘Okay,’ I said. ‘But as soon as we’ve finished, we have to find out what’s happening. Horses’ lives are at risk. Our lives are at risk.’
Mrs Bacton set up a single jump in the middle of the arena. As she’d promised, the pole was super low. I stared at the jump, the bats and Mr Shearer slipping from my mind. What did ex-racehorses do when they jumped? Did they forget they were retired and rear and buck with excitement the moment their feet left the ground?
My stomach began to twist as Mrs Bacton asked us to wait over to one side and take turns. She waved Mikaela up first. Mikaela pushed Razz into a trot, keeping her hands quiet while crouching up in the saddle and tipping her body slightly forward.
Razz prepared to take off. Mikaela looked straight ahead. They cleared the jump perfectly, and Mikaela returned to our line with a triumphant smile on her face.
Next were each of the pink twins, and then the fly-spray girls had a turn. They all cleared the jump without a hitch and slapped each other’s hands in excited high fives when they came back to join us.
Only Alice and I were left.
‘You go first,’ she said, her upper lip beaded with sweat.
‘No, it’s okay. You go,’ I said.
Her eyes were fixed on the jump
. ‘I can’t,’ she whispered. ‘I’m going to throw up.’
Mikaela made clucking noises and flapped her elbows at her sides. Some of the others giggled.
Alice didn’t move.
Mikaela clucked some more.
Spud turned and rubbed his nose against my boot. He gave me his raised-eyelid look, as if telling me to hurry.
‘Okay, so here’s what we’ll do,’ I said to Alice. ‘I’ll go first, and you bring Joey in behind us. Keep close and focus on my back. Spud’s so big you won’t even see the jump.’
Alice peeked at me from under her helmet. She held my gaze for a second, and then gave the barest nod. I pushed my riding helmet firmly onto my head and gathered up my reins. I prayed Spud would forget he’d been a racehorse. If only he would just plop over the jump and …
I took a deep breath.
‘Girls! One at time,’ called Mrs Bacton when she saw us both trotting towards the jump. ‘Alice, Charli, wait!’
We were nearly there, Spud and I in front with Joey and Alice on our heels.
‘Girls! Stop. Oh, for goodness sake. Look up! Heels down. Alice, hands DOWN, elbows in. Charli, heels! Elbows!’
I bounced around in the saddle. Blood pounded in my head.
We approached the rail. My fingers fumbled with the reins.
Spud took off.
The ground passed below us. I closed my eyes. Air rushed past my face. After the longest second ever, we landed with a thud back on the ground.
I opened my eyes.
‘Hurray!’ shouted Alice from behind us. ‘We did it!’
‘Girls!’ said Mrs Bacton. ‘What on earth got into you? That was extremely dangerous! One at a time – please!’
‘Good boy, Spud,’ I whispered when we were back in the line. I turned to high five Alice. She was grinning so hard I thought her face would split in half.
Mrs Bacton raised the pole – not much, but enough.
‘Everyone keen for another go?’ she asked.
Mikaela adjusted her crop.
‘How about letting someone else go first?’ suggested Mrs Bacton, which made Mikaela huff.
‘Go on, Charli,’ whispered Alice. ‘Spud will hardly notice the difference.’
The jump wasn’t much higher than before. And now that I knew Spud wouldn’t dump me …
‘Yeah, okay,’ I said.
Mikaela curled her lip as I gathered Spud’s reins and guided him back towards the jump. I pushed my heels down, kept my elbows in, and focused my eyes to the front. I grabbed a chunk of Spud’s mane, and over we went.
‘Excellent!’ said Mrs Bacton.
‘Brilliant!’ cheered Alice.
‘Good boy, Spud!’ I gave him a scratch as we plodded back to the group.
Mikaela snatched up Razz’s reins. Without a word, she trotted him towards the pole, her hands tucked smartly in her cream calfskin gloves, her legs hardly moving. Razz’s flaxen mane and long, creamy tail streamed behind him like ribbons of silk.
‘She’ll win the gymkhana for sure,’ sighed Alice.
‘She is pretty good,’ I admitted.
‘Apparently, it’s the first thing her parents ask when they pick her up. I heard her tell one of the twins.’
‘Ask her what?’
‘Whether she’s won the gymkhana. They don’t reckon camp’s worth the money if she doesn’t.’
‘Well, that’s pretty dumb,’ I said, watching Mikaela clear the jump. ‘I’d like to win too, but my parents wouldn’t care if I came last. I mean, they’re pleased for my brothers when they win at hockey, but they never …’
‘Shh, here she comes.’
Mikaela joined us at the edge of the arena, her crop twitching in her hands. After that, she made a point of looking at me every time Mrs Bacton raised the jump, and her face grew darker and darker whenever Spud and I cleared it. Eventually, the pole was as high as Mrs Bacton’s knees.
Only Mikaela and I were still jumping.
‘Wait a minute, girls,’ she called as Mikaela prepared to go. ‘I’ll just be two secs.’
She ran towards a car pulling up in the driveway.
A shiny black car.
I froze.
‘It’s him!’ I whispered. ‘The neighbour! The one with …’
Alice peered towards the car, her hand rising to her mouth when she saw Mr Shearer’s face. ‘Oh wow. You’re right, he’s very sick. Poor man. Do you think …?’
‘Shh, what’s he saying?’
We strained to hear, but the wind blew the words away.
‘I told you I should have talked to her. Now look …’
‘Would he really shoot our horses?’ asked Alice, her voice hardly more than a squeak.
‘I don’t know, but … oh, it’s okay, they’re saying goodbye.’
As Mrs Bacton gave him a final wave, Mr Shearer’s car slid silently from the driveway. Sleek and black. Just like the bats.
‘Last round, girls,’ said Mrs Bacton when she rejoined us. ‘Then it must be time for lunch.’
I hardly heard her – I was too busy worrying about Mr Shearer – and Mikaela dived out in front of me. She and Razz started off as they had before, but this time, when Razz approached the jump he raised his head in the air, pulling at the reins.
Smack!
I instantly forgot about Mr Shearer. Had Mikaela just flicked her crop across Razz’s shoulders? The smack was sharp and sounded like it hurt.
Razz mustn’t have liked it either. He laid his ears back flat and swung sharply to the left. He dodged the jump and tipped Mikaela to one side. She didn’t fall off, but she yanked at his mouth, pulling him hard around and lining him up with the jump again. She raised her crop as they approached the pole.
Smack!
‘Mikaela! Stop!’ shouted Mrs Bacton. ‘Stop that, straightaway!’
But Mikaela didn’t stop. She kicked Razz hard in the stomach, forcing him towards the jump.
I clenched my fists.
‘Stop!’
Razz readied to launch. Smack! His back legs collected behind him. Smack! He ducked his head down and …
Stopped.
Dead.
I clamped my hands over my helmet.
Alice screamed.
Mikaela was jerked forwards and sailed over Razz’s head and over the top of the jump, landing with a thud on the sand. The crop went flying. Razz stood where he’d stopped, the reins hanging loosely over his neck, his nostrils flared and the whites of his eyes huge. He pricked his ears towards Mikaela while the other girls and I watched in silence.
Mrs Bacton raced over to Mikaela. ‘Are you okay? Anything broken?’ she asked.
Mikaela shook her head. Ignoring Mrs Bacton’s outstretched hand, she stood up by herself and brushed the sand off her legs.
She reached to grab Razz’s reins.
Mrs Bacton blocked her way. ‘I don’t think so, young lady,’ she scolded. ‘That’s no way to treat your horse!’
Mikaela stamped her foot. ‘Did you see him? He was being an idiot!’ she shouted.
The girls around me whispered. Mrs Bacton shook her head. ‘Being the best isn’t everything, Mikaela. Why don’t you go wash up, and we’ll talk about this later?’
Mikaela clenched her hands into fists. Then she snatched up her crop and stormed away towards the bunkhouse.
Mrs Bacton led Razz over to us. ‘Girls, just to make it one hundred per cent clear, mistreatment of animals isn’t tolerated here. Our animals won’t hurt you, and you shouldn’t hurt them. Riding camp isn’t about winning and being the best. It’s about looking after each other and having a good time. Is that clear?’
Everyone nodded.
‘Good. Now, Charli, one last go?’
No-one could talk about anything but jumping as we sat eating our
lunch. What was the highest jump we thought anyone could clear? When would we be able to jump again? Everyone said Spud and I looked like naturals and that we even had a chance of winning the jumping in the gymkhana.
Mikaela’s eyebrows practically slid down her nose.
I didn’t tell them it was Spud doing all the work. All I had to do was hang on, and he did the rest. He made it look easy. Mrs Bacton had been right: Spud was a great horse, and he was definitely looking after me. Now, I had to make sure I looked after him. I had to find out if Mrs Bacton knew about the Hendra vaccinations.
Halfway through lunch, Mrs Bacton came in and said she had an important announcement to make.
I put down my sandwich and sat up straight. ‘Shoot them. Kill them’ hurtled through my brain.
‘Look folks, bit of bad news,’ she said.
I raised my eyebrows at Alice. Here we go. She was finally going to tell us about the virus.
‘Something’s come up, and I’m going to have to cancel our lesson this afternoon.’
A disappointed groan escaped from the group.
‘Yes, I know. I’m sorry, but I wouldn’t go if it wasn’t an emergency. My neighbour, Mr Shearer, is having some strife over at his place, and he’s asked me to pop on over to give him a hand. I’ll only be an hour or so, but meanwhile, I need you lot to play like wombats.’
She paused and looked at us one by one. ‘That means keep your heads down and stay in the cool. No riding. No monkey business. There’re plenty of other things to do round here. You can clean tack, brush horses, watch videos, play cards or read books. Stick in your pairs, but absolutely no riding. Is that clear?’
‘Yes, Mrs Bacton.’
‘So, while I’m gone, I’m going to leave …’ she gazed around our group. Her eyes rested a moment on Mikaela, but then moved and settled on me. ‘I’m going to leave Charli in charge. If there are any problems, Charli, you’ll need to duck into the main house and call me on my mobile. The number’s on the kitchen wall, beside the phone. Anything at all, just call. Okay? I’ll be as quick as I can.’
Spud & Charli Page 3