by Dave Warner
'Welcome back, my beautiful friend,' smiled Sarah-Jane, her eyes not on Leila but the TV cameras. Leila had a good mind to bunt her . . . but that chocolate cake did look tempting and after such a long flight with nothing but chaff . . .
She was just about to take a chomp when she noticed Joel Gold and Strudworth out of the corner of her eye. But where was Charlotte? She swivelled her head and caught sight of her behind a barrier. What was Charlie doing there? Leila broke away from Sarah-Jane and galloped towards Charlie. She wasn't even aware of the crowd's panic. She just wanted to see her pal. The barriers were about the height of a man's chest. Nothing compared to what Leila had been jumping at Thornton Downs. She launched herself and cleared it easily.
Charlotte witnessed Leila's charge towards her. She's not going to, she told herself. Surely not. But as people scattered left and right shrieking in fear, she knew exactly what was going to happen next. Leila leapt the barrier, landed beside her and shoved her head in her chest.
'What are you doing back here like nancy no-friends?' Leila whispered so nobody could hear.
'I'm just your groom.'
'No, you're my best friend.'
Reassured that Leila was no threat, fans and media came flooding back as quickly as they had left.
'Who's the girl?'
'Who are you, honey?' asked a young woman who looked like a bigger version of Hannah's Barbie doll.
Leila nudged Charlottte in the back, sending her towards the reporters.
'Um, I'm Charlotte.'
Witnessing this from the other side of the barrier, Sarah-Jane was not impressed. In fact she was livid. Who was this upstart? She hurled the cake away in disgust.
The forklift driver was trying not to pay too much attention to the crowd. Apparently some famous horse was arriving but it didn't mean all that much to him except extra hazards on the runway. He had picked up a crate from the hold of the cargo plane that was depositing Leila and was heading to the customs building when some dark sticky mass flew through the air and smashed into his face. Had he known it was chocolate cake he might have felt less threatened and perhaps would not have lost control of the forklift. But all he knew was one minute he could see, the next minute it was black. He reached up to gouge the stuff from his eyes. The forklift veered, striking a stationary baggage trolley.
Charlotte heard the loud crunch and turned with the rest of the crowd, to see the forklift merged and tangled with what a moment before had been a large baggage trolley. The damage was not major but the crate that had been on the forklift, labelled WILDLIFE PARK, toppled and fell, splintering apart on impact with the tarmac. Leila was among the many who burst into spontaneous laughter. It was one of those stupidly funny incidents hard not to laugh at. Very quickly, however, the laughter turned to frightened shrieks. People seemed a lot more scared than they had a few minutes before when Leila had leapt towards them. The Barbie look-alike reporter saw the reason for the sudden panic.
'Snakes!' she yelled. She turned to flee but her six-inch stiletto heel snapped and she toppled into her camera crew, who proceeded to fall into more people behind them. Charlotte's father often relaxed by making a house of cards and the effect was not unlike when one of them started to crumple. People toppled, causing those in front and behind to fall as well. To accentuate the problem the horses travelling with Warrior found snakes slithering towards them and began rearing. One broke free and ran to the back of the crowd of fans. What had been a lovely homecoming for Leila had degenerated into a potential disaster.
One thing that did not alarm Charlotte was a snake – poisonous or otherwise. Her hometown had earned the name Snake Hills because its hills literally did teem with snakes and Charlotte had been playing with them since she was a toddler. Leila, on the other hand, was a horse. Snakes scared her even more than a first-time make-up artist.
'Snakes!!!' She reared reflexively. That didn't help matters.
Charlotte could see people at the front of the barriers who had fallen were in danger of being smothered by those behind. Grabbing a sound boom that had hit the ground when the frightened operator had fled with a speed that suggested he was by now halfway to San Diego, Charlotte vaulted the barrier and strode towards the mass of squirming reptiles. She recognised them all pretty much immediately. Most were harmless but there were king browns, dugites and taipans, which could all kill a person with their poison. Using the boom handle, she circled the perimeter of the writhing mass, scooping the dangerous ones back into the pile whenever they tried to break free.
A policeman screamed in on his motorcycle and drew his gun, attempting to get a bead on the reptiles Charlotte allowed to flee.
'Those ones are harmless,' yelled Charlotte. She needed something to cover the poisonous ones pronto. Her eyes spied a limp banner, which, when extended between two poles, read 'Love U Leila' with the U in the shape of a horseshoe.
'Give me that banner. Now!!!'
The teenage girls holding it were too scared to refuse. They threw the banner over the barrier.
'Help me,' Charlotte yelled to the motorcycle cop, indicating he bring her the banner. The cop looked extremely apprehensive but did as he was told.
'You take that end, and on the count of three we drop it, right?'
They each took one of the wooden poles. She couldn't look at the cop because one spritely taipan had almost broken free. Charlotte had to dance over it before sliding it back like a hockey puck.
'One, two . . . three.'
They dropped the banner over the poisonous snakes, the poles providing enough weight on each of their sides to trap them at least momentarily. Charlotte quickly placed the boom across the third side of the moving canvas rectangle. That left only one side the serpents could attempt to escape from. That exit was quickly eliminated by some airport workers carrying one of the crowd barriers and placing it on that edge of the banner.
'That should hold them,' observed Charlotte calmly. A loud piercing scream split the air. Charlotte turned to find Sarah-Jane standing on the saddle of the policeman's bike.
'It's trying to kill me,' she screamed.
'If only,' thought Leila, who had watched proudly as Charlotte wrangled the snakes. Now she saw Charlotte advance towards the shrieking Sarah-Jane, bend down and pluck the offending snake by its tail.
'It's a python. Only dangerous if you're a rat,' said Charlotte, trying to reassure Sarah-Jane.
'What if you're a brat?' quipped Leila, in the safety of the crowd. Loud chuckles erupted around her.
Charlotte picked up the python and draped it over her shoulders. The crowd burst into applause. Sarah-Jane turned red.
'Three cheers for the snake girl,' yelled somebody in the crowd.
'Crocodoll Dundee lives,' called somebody else.
The Barbie reporter and her crew were already racing towards Charlotte, who was totally surprised by the reaction.
Clambering down from the police bike and watching the crowd mob the interloper, Sarah-Jane felt humiliated. And very angry. Her manager, who had been watching events from the safety of his Porsche, surmised that the danger had passed and hurried over.
'You all right, Sarah?'
Sarah-Jane's eyes narrowed at Charlotte receiving adulation.
'I better be,' she snarled, 'or you're down one very important client.'
Leila trotted to Charlotte's side, making sure the cameras got her best profile. Joel Gold was holding court.
'. . . all the way from the outback. She's Leila's equestrian rider and groom. And this is Leila's owner, the marvellous Caroline Strudworth.'
Strudworth shyly nodded to the multitude.
'Is Leila your favourite horse?' somebody asked.
Strudworth preened.
'I had a wonderful jumper, Zucchini . . .'
The reporters were in for a very long session. Leila surveyed the scene: Charlotte, with a dozen microphones shoved in her face; Joel Gold, working the moment for maximum potential; and even Miss Strudworth having her f
ifteen minutes of fame.
L.A. You had to love it!
Chapter 3
'Don't you ever try a stunt like that again. What if the ants had got into the cockpit and attacked the pilots? The plane could have crashed.'
'Your plane could have crashed,' Leila chuckled.
'Not funny.'
Leila purred. 'Come on, Charlie, aren't we being a tad dramatic? Kick back, look around you.'
Charlotte couldn't help but do just that, taking in the magnificent manicured lawns of Mr Gold's estate. They looked like acres of green felt, too neat to walk on. Leila and Charlotte were currently walking the perimeter of a fabulous fifty-metre swimming pool; its brilliant blue surface far more stunning than the smudgy sky overhead. A row of hedge-type bushes that had been clipped into the shape of the Oscar statuette surrounded the pool, offering them enough privacy for quiet conversation.
Leila sighed wistfully at what had once been her everyday surrounds.
'This is the land where we turn dreams into money.'
'You disobey me again and it'll be the land where I turn horse into hamburger!'
'Ouch!' Leila giggled. She nudged Charlotte with her muzzle.
'Come on, I'm sorry, okay? You saw what Sarah-Jane was like. Trying to shoe-horn in on my moment of glory.' Leila perfectly mocked Sarah-Jane's voice, '"Oh look, Leila wants to dance with me." I wanted to dance all right, all over her stupid fat head.'
'Sarah-Jane?'
A man's voice came from behind one of the herbaceous Oscars. Charlotte threw a nervous look at Leila, who whispered, 'Tommy Tempest.'
Charlotte knew Tommy was the director of Leila's films. She had seen him when he had come to Australia to collect Leila. On that occasion Leila had bitten him and Joel Gold in a ploy to get them to leave her at Thornton Downs. Tommy emerged from around the bush. He was a freckly faced, sandy-haired man and was on crutches. His face registered surprise.
'Oh, hi. Charlotte, right?'
'Yes. Hello, Mr Tempest.'
'Saw you on the TV. Nice job with those snakes. Hi Leila.'
Leila moved over to give Tommy a big lick but wary from the last time he'd encountered her, he moved backwards, too quickly for his limited expertise with crutches, and fell in a heap.
'Ah. Darn things.'
Charlotte helped him up.
'Thank you.'
'I'm sure Leila won't bite you again. Will you, Leila?'
As Tommy regained his balance, Leila nuzzled him gently.
'Thank goodness for that. Wouldn't want to be spending the next five weeks with a psychotic animal.' Leila was tempted to mention he'd be doing just that with Sarah-Jane. Tommy's brow creased and he looked about him. 'Did I hear Sarah-Jane before?'
Charlotte improvised. 'Actually, that was me.'
Tommy was impressed. 'Really? Wow. It sounded just like her. Do it again . . .'
Charlotte was saved from disaster by approaching voices. She looked over to see Joel Gold with Miss Strudworth and two men in suits.
'My goodness, Tommy, what happened?' asked the taller of the two men. He was grey-haired and about Mr Gold's age.
'Accident on the lot, Mr Martinez. Somebody driving a golf cart ran into me.'
Martinez turned to the other newcomer. 'Fired the culprit I presume, Hawthorn?'
Hawthorn was thin with short, jet-black hair. 'I would if I could find him. It was a hit and run.'
Martinez shook his head sadly. 'It could have been a terrible disaster.'
Tommy said, 'Luckily it was only a bone in my foot.'
Martinez waved that away, 'No, I mean it could have delayed the movie. We're on schedule, Joel, right?'
Mr Gold nodded strenuously. 'Yes, Hector.'
Hector Martinez visibly relaxed. Charlotte noted that he shared that anxious look her father got when there were cattle missing from the herd.
'That's what I want to hear. I don't need to tell you I'm under pressure from the board. If we have a setback, well, I could be out of a job and there'd be no guarantee the new studio boss would bankroll your film.'
'No guarantee at all,' offered Hawthorn in a show of solidarity.
'I'm on very shaky ground,' added Hector.
'. . . hanging by a thread,' said Hawthorn.
Hector shot him a sharp look. 'Let's not exaggerate, Hawthorn.'
Hawthorn looked suitably apologetic. Martinez turned his attention to Charlotte.
'Ah, Crocodoll Dundee herself. Your airport antics have put us front page on Variety's website. Nice work.'
He offered his hand and Charlotte shook it. Miss Strudworth did the introduction.
'Charlotte, this is Mr Hector Martinez, president of the movie studio.'
'He's my boss,' joked Mr Gold, 'the one who pays my bills.'
Strudworth continued, 'And this is Mr Hawthorn, vice president of the studio. Charlotte Richards, one of my best students.'
Charlotte pretty much understood the pecking order. Tommy told the actors and crew what to do, Mr Gold told Tommy what to do, Hawthorn did whatever Mr Martinez told him to do and Mr Martinez had to answer to some board about whether his movies were making any money. Mr Martinez wagged a finger at Charlotte.
'You should get your agent to talk to our TV people. They're kicking around a show, kids' Survivor type of thing. You'd be perfect for the host. Don't you think, Hawthorn?'
Hawthorn nodded like one of those bobbing toy dogs that the young men of Snake Hills liked to put on the dashboard of their cars.
'Absolutely.'
Much as Leila was happy for Charlotte to get attention, she drew the line when it was at her own expense. This should have been about her, not Charlie. She was contemplating a theatrical dive into the pool to win their attention when Hector Martinez turned to her.
'And here's our star!'
Got that right, Hec. Leila showed all her teeth and batted her long eyelashes. Martinez extended his arms wide to Leila, who wasted no time nuzzling his chest. She'd always liked Mr Martinez. Whenever a film wrapped he'd be sure to come to her trailer with a bag of pineapple doughnuts. And at every premiere, he always sent her a huge bouquet of flowers. Hawthorn's phone buzzed. He took the call like a frog snatching a fly and moved away from the others. Martinez turned to Joel Gold.
'So, Joel, when can I see a script?'
'Soon as I can. You know Honey Grace, she always cuts it fine.'
Hawthorn snapped his phone shut, leaned over and whispered into his boss' ear.
'Not again!' groaned Martinez. He turned to the others. 'Sorry, got a little Russell Raven problem to iron out.'
Leila chuckled to herself. Russell Raven was notorious. She wondered what he'd done this time. His last effort would have been hard to top. He was so sick of paparazzi staking out his place that he had the driveway replaced with quick-drying cement. Then he purposely had the gate left open. Those paparazzi that snuck in were all literally set in stone. Russell wouldn't allow the jackhammers in to free them for two whole days.
You had to admire a star like that. Hector Martinez and Hawthorn took their leave, with Martinez reminding Mr Gold there couldn't be any slip-ups.
'I'm serious, Joel. All our necks are out on this one.'
Joel Gold and Tommy headed up to the house to talk through some casting suggestions. Miss Strudworth announced she had some calls to make and strode off towards the bungalow where she was staying. This left Charlotte and Leila alone again.
Charlotte decided she would saddle up Leila and go for a ride around the estate.
Leila was not enthused.
'Do we have to? I mean, why don't we just kick back, have a little float in the pool, smell the smog.'
'Because in five weeks when this is over, we'll be back at Thornton Downs in competition and I don't want to have to work with a whale like last time!'
Leila was offended.
'A whale?'
'Yes, a lazy, pizza-addicted whale.' Charlotte could feel resistance but she knew how to press Leila's buttons. 'An
d I'm sure Warrior would agree with me.'
Hmm. Warrior . . . the kid had a point, best keep in trim. Leila trotted towards her stable.
'All right but no jumping and for every minute I exercise you have to promise to groom me two.'
'Deal,' said Charlotte. She would have stretched it to three but she wasn't letting Leila in on that.
The estate was large with tall wooded trees providing a shady grove. Charlotte realised that Mr Gold was very rich and probably capable of supplying whatever she needed to keep Leila fit.
'I might ask Mr Gold to put up some jumps while we're here.'
Jumps! Leila thought quickly to dampen the suggestion.
'You won't be allowed to jump me. I'm a star. They can't afford anything to happen to me.'
As Leila spoke, something rocketed out of the sky towards them, too fast for Charlotte to take evasive action. The object headed straight for Leila, veering up at the last second to clip her ear.
'Owww,' howled Leila.
The object slowed, hovered above them and spoke in a harsh, gnarled voice.
'You been here three hours and you haven't even said hello, you ungrateful starlet.'
'Hello, you feathered fathead. That what you wanted?' Leila was trying to sound angry but couldn't keep the hint of affection from her voice.
'You're Feathers!' said Charlotte, delighted to meet the bird she had heard so much about. The parrot looped the loop and landed on Charlotte's shoulder.
'In the feather, Charlotte. Nice job at the airport. By the way, I brought you a present.'
'Really?'
From under one wing Feathers dropped a small plastic gold star onto Charlotte's lap.
'For putting up with Sleeping Beauty here.'
Charlotte laughed.
'Does she still snore?' asked Feathers.
'Snore? I don't snore!' protested Leila.
Charlotte ignored her. 'You mean like this?' Charlotte did a brilliant rendition of Leila's normal snore, a high whistle that ended with a double pig grunt.
Feathers laughed loudly. 'Down to a T!'