Ride by Moonlight

by Michelle Bates

  “Nick looked furious,” Jess added.

  “Are you all right?” Tom looked concerned.

  Charlie took a deep breath. “It’s Napoleon...he bolted with me,” he started. “I took him out for a ride, only I couldn’t hold him,” he said, embarrassed.

  “You took Napoleon out for a ride?” Tom said.

  “Yes.” Charlie didn’t know what to say as he looked at his friends. Izzy stood back from the crowd, looking decidedly sheepish. She was the only one who didn’t say a word. Shamefaced, Charlie turned away and walked off to the tack room, the unanswered questions ringing in his ears.

  9

  AN UNEXPECTED GUEST

  It was several hours before Nick arrived back at the yard – several hours that Charlie spent anxiously waiting in his room. The long summer day had drawn to a close and his friends had gone home. The dusk cast an eerie light over the stables. It should have been a happy end to a successful day for Sandy Lane. Tom had won the Open Jumping as expected, and the others had brought back a collection of rosettes from the gymkhana. But no one was really able to enjoy it.

  Charlie jumped to his feet the moment the Land Rover arrived back and rushed down the stairs to the kitchen, but when Nick appeared at the door of the cottage, Charlie could tell by his expression that he hadn’t found Napoleon. Helplessly Charlie stood, shuffling his feet about, not knowing what to say.

  “Any calls?” Nick asked on entering the kitchen.

  “Not a thing,” Sarah answered. “I’ve rung the police every hour, on the hour. They’re sick of the sound of me.”

  “And I’ve looked about everywhere I can imagine,” Nick added. “So all we can do now is wait for news. I’m going to have a shower.” He squeezed behind the kitchen chairs and made his way to the stairs.

  “I’m sorry I yelled at you,” he said, looking back at Charlie’s pinched face. “It’s just that I’m worried.”

  “I know, and I’m sorry for what I’ve done,” Charlie answered. Nick’s kind words were making him feel even worse and he felt a lump rising in his throat. “I didn’t know what else to do, you see–”

  “Not now, Charlie,” Nick said, gently. “We’ll talk about it later.”

  Charlie nodded and sat down. “Is there anything I can do to help, Sarah?” he offered.

  “Well you could lay the table for supper,” Sarah said. “Even if there has been a calamity, we still have to eat, and maybe it’ll take our mind off things.”

  Charlie nodded and got up from the table to reach for the cutlery. In a daze, he counted out the knives and forks against the background hum of the television. Slowly, he made his way over to the window sill to get the table mats. It was dark outside and he couldn’t see anything very clearly in the yard, but something stopped him. Was that a noise? He paused, mats in hand. No, his mind was just playing tricks on him. He was jumping at everything.

  But there it was again, and louder now. This time Charlie was sure there was something outside.

  He pressed his face against the window, staring out into the gloom of the night, and then he had the fright of his life. For there, on the other side of the window, a familiar face peered in at him. Charlie’s heart skipped a beat. It was Napoleon! Napoleon was standing in Nick and Sarah’s garden. Charlie gulped. If he was quiet, he might be able to creep around the back and catch him.

  “What is it, Charlie?” Sarah said, looking up from the pan she was stirring. “You look as though you’ve seen a ghost.”

  “Sshh.” Charlie motioned to his lips and pointed to the window. Shuffling slowly across the stone kitchen floor, he headed for the door. “Have you got a carrot?” he whispered.

  Sarah nodded at the vegetable rack, and quickly Charlie grabbed a large carrot. He slipped out of the back door, and around the side of the house.

  The bay horse stood perfectly still, munching contentedly at the grass. He had lost his saddle, and his reins trailed, muddy and broken, by his side, but he appeared to be in one piece.

  Charlie walked slowly and lightly so as not to disturb him.

  At that moment Napoleon seemed to sense Charlie’s presence. He lifted his head, his ears twitching inquisitively.

  “Come on boy,” Charlie said softly. “Nice carrot here for you.”

  Napoleon looked wary as Charlie leaned forward, but still he didn’t move. Charlie hardly dared breathe. And then, with a swish of his tail, Napoleon stumbled over and gratefully accepted the offering. Before he even had a chance to move away, Charlie had grabbed the reins.

  “You bad, bad boy,” Charlie said in a gentle voice, relief flooding through him now that the horse was safely caught. “Where have you been all day? What have you been up to? We’ve been worried sick. You had me in serious trouble.” Charlie turned round to find Sarah standing behind him.

  “Thank goodness,” she said. “He’s back.”

  There was a sound of feet pounding down the stairs and suddenly Nick appeared at Sarah’s shoulder. A grin spread across his face.

  “I don’t believe it,” he said.

  “I don’t know what he can have been up to, but he’s absolutely caked in mud,” Sarah laughed.

  Charlie turned around and looked properly at the horse now. It was true. His coat was matted in whorls where he must have been rolling, and briars and twigs were twisted in his mane. Still, at least he was back in one piece.

  “I’ll take him back to his stable and groom him,” Charlie offered. “I know I’ve got a lot of explaining to do,” he mumbled, without looking directly at Nick.

  “We can talk about all that over supper,” Nick said seriously as Charlie led the horse off.

  Charlie nodded. The thought of sitting down and actually going through the whole story with Nick and Sarah filled him with dread. But he’d have to do it. They’d been so patient with him. He owed it to them. He’d have to tell them the truth...about everything.

  10

  THE TRUTH OF THE MATTER

  “That’s quite a story, Charlie,” Nick said calmly. “It explains a lot – why you wouldn’t ride, the way you’ve been acting. Losing a horse is a very traumatic experience, and one I can completely relate to. If only you’d told us, I wouldn’t have put so much pressure on you.”

  “I just didn’t know what you’d say.” Charlie looked despondent. “I thought you’d blame me. I can’t believe you’re being so good about it. You see I told Tom, and he was shocked.”

  “Tom? Well it’s probably a bit harder for someone to understand when they haven’t actually been through it all before.”

  Charlie looked up expectantly. Sarah stood up at that moment. “I’m beat, I think I’ll go to bed. I’m glad it’s all out in the open, Charlie,” she said. “Goodnight.”

  As the door closed on Sarah, Nick started again. “You see, something like this happened to me,” he said. “A horse of mine, Golden Fleece, died in an accident too, so I sort of know what you’re going through.”

  “Golden Fleece DIED?” Charlie was shocked. He’d heard so much about the amazing racehorse from Nick’s National Hunt days, but he didn’t realize she’d been killed in an accident.

  “Yes, she died,” Nick said sadly. “I don’t like talking about it much. I stopped racing soon after it happened. I remember thinking at the time that I would never even ride again. But I was wrong about that, it just took time.”

  Charlie opened his mouth to speak, and then closed it again, judging it best to keep quiet and let Nick tell the story in his own way. “Well, you’ve never really told any of us what happened, Nick.”

  “It upsets me,” Nick began. “Even now I don’t like talking about Golden Fleece.” He took a deep breath. “It happened a while ago, but it’s still clear in my mind. It was a long time before I could truly put it behind me,” he sighed. “It’s the real reason I gave up racing altogether and set up Sandy Lane. You see, when Golden Fleece fell and broke her leg, I thought I was somehow responsible, and I couldn’t forgive myself for that. It took me
some time to realize that it wasn’t my fault. Who could have predicted that the leading horse would fall in front of Golden Fleece and bring her down? Who could have predicted that she would land so awkwardly? And me – well I wasn’t even hurt – not seriously.”

  Charlie looked embarrassed, seeing the pain in Nick’s face.

  “But accidents do happen, Charlie,” Nick went on. “In all walks of life. Racing, like any other sport, has its fair share of them, but they’re one-offs – chance happenings that we should learn to accept rather than dwell on too deeply.”

  Nick stared into the distance. “I’ve made another life for myself now, but you – you’ve got your whole racing career ahead of you. Don’t throw it away.” He stopped abruptly. “Look, I’m afraid I’m going to have to get on with my reading tonight if I’m going to be up to date for this course tomorrow, but when I come back from the course, I’ll phone Josh and find out what really happened. Try not to worry. Horses don’t just die for no reason at all. We’ll sort out a training programme for you. Try not to think about this O’Grady. I’m sure he was just upset. I’ll get you riding again, you’ll see,” he said.

  “Well, I don’t know,” Charlie said, tentatively. Nick frowned.

  “No honestly. It’s just that I’ve tried everything to get riding again, and I just don’t think I can do it,” Charlie went on.

  “Yes you can,” Nick said firmly.

  Charlie smiled, but didn’t say anything more as he got to his feet. He felt a whole lot better now that everything was out in the open and, as he cleared the table, he realized how grateful he was that Nick had been willing to listen.

  “I’ll do the washing up,” Charlie offered.

  “Thanks,” Nick said as he made his way into the adjoining sitting room with his book.

  Charlie wiped the last plate dry and looked at Nick in the chair. It had been a long day and he seemed tired. Charlie felt bad as he watched him trying to keep his eyes open to read.

  “I’m going to bed now,” Charlie called to Nick.

  “OK,” he answered. “Oh Charlie,” he called him back. “Make sure you look after Sarah for me while I’m away, won’t you? You know what she’s like – she’ll start grooming or mucking out before you know it, and with the baby due in three weeks it’s important she doesn’t take on too much. I wouldn’t put it past her to try getting on a horse!”

  “I’ll do my best,” Charlie answered.

  “And don’t be afraid to phone me if you need to,” Nick went on. “Although I’ll be telephoning Sandy Lane regularly to keep a check on things anyway.”

  “OK,” Charlie answered, knowing full well that it would take a real emergency before he’d bother him at the course. Nick had been waiting ages to get a place. Charlie didn’t want to trouble Nick with anything that might mess it up.

  “Well goodnight then,” Nick said. “Do you think you could try to be up early so we can go through rotas and things before I leave?”

  “Yes of course,” Charlie said, anxious to do anything to help. “Goodnight Nick,” he answered, closing the door and heading up the stairs to his bedroom.

  It was a muggy night, oppressively hot and still, and Charlie’s head felt fuzzy as he walked over to the desk in his room and pulled open the top drawer. Settling down onto the bed, he curled his feet back under him. Slowly, he leafed through the brochure he had taken out, flicking through page after page of glossy pictures.

  It was the British Racing School prospectus, now rather well-thumbed and worn. But for Charlie, it held a glimpse of what his future might hold. He hadn’t looked at it for three weeks now...three whole weeks. Suddenly he had a flashback to Tom’s words before the Colcott Show.

  “If you’re not going to ride, you ought to give up your place at racing school...give someone else a chance of getting in.” Tom had said it in anger, but it had stuck in Charlie’s mind.

  He paused for a moment as he leafed through the prospectus and stared at the phone number on the back. Could he believe Nick when he’d said he’d get him riding again? Or should he call the school in the morning and withdraw?

  Slowly, Charlie got up from his bed and walked back across the room. He wouldn’t do it just yet. He’d trust Nick on this one. Quickly he stuffed the prospectus firmly back in the drawer it had come from and turned the key.

  11

  STORM BREWING

  When Charlie woke the next morning, it was to a very different day from the one before. It was grey...thunderously grey and dark, and the sky had a murky green tinge to it. Charlie was tired after all the emotion of last night, and longed to roll back into sleep, but he knew he had to get up. Nick was off today, and had specifically asked him to be up early to help.

  Charlie heaved himself out of bed and crossed the room to open his bedroom windows. A heavy smell of rain hung in the air. He pulled on his clothes and hurried down the stairs to where Nick and Sarah were sitting at the kitchen table.

  “Morning,” Nick said. “Are you ready to go over everything?”

  “Sure Nick,” Charlie answered.

  “Well, I’ve cancelled all the lessons while I’m away, so there are only hacks going out.” Nick got straight to the point. “And Tom’s agreed to take care of those. Of course Sarah will be around all the time, but if you could bring the horses in from the fields as usual, and give them their morning feeds, that would be great.”

  “All right, Nick,” Charlie said, grateful that even though he wasn’t riding, Nick was still giving him tasks to fill his time.

  “You’ll need to make sure the horses are fed at lunchtime too,” Nick started, talking through a mouthful of cereal. “But don’t let any of them go out for at least an hour afterwards, OK?”

  “OK.”

  “Good,” Nick grinned. “Well, I’m going to be off in about half an hour, so let’s go and get the horses in.”

  “OK,” Charlie answered.

  “I’ll leave the phone number of where I’m staying on the pin board.”

  “That’s fine,” Charlie answered and, as Nick got up from the table, he followed him out into the yard.

  It was quiet outside as Charlie grabbed a bunch of head collars and followed Nick into the fields at the back.

  Quickly, all of the horses were caught and put in their stables. As Charlie led Storm Cloud across the yard, he looked up to see Izzy cycling up the drive. Quickly, she skidded to a halt. She looked expectantly at Charlie.

  “Well?” she said, as she propped her bike up on the water trough.

  “Well what?” Charlie looked puzzled.

  “Well – is Napoleon back?”

  With everything else that had happened last night, and all the rushing around that morning, Napoleon’s disappearance had clean flown out of Charlie’s mind.

  “Yes, he’s back,” Charlie grinned.

  “Phew, thank goodness.” Izzy looked relieved. “You don’t know how guilty I felt when I heard what had happened.”

  “It wasn’t your fault,” Charlie said fairly. “How were you to know I’d bodge everything.”

  “Oh, you didn’t–” Izzy started, embarrassed. And so she changed the subject. “I couldn’t even call you last night either – not with Nick and Sarah hanging around. I wanted to be here early to talk to you. What happened?”

  “I’ll tell you later, Izzy,” Charlie said. “I didn’t ride, but I’m more determined than ever now, and Nick’s going to sort out a training programme for me when I get back. It’s just that I can’t bear to go through the whole story again.”

  “Oh.” Izzy looked a bit put out, but knew when to keep quiet. And then Tom appeared, cycling into the yard. Charlie watched as Tom walked over to Nick and they stood, flicking through the appointments book.

  “Charlie,” Nick called across.

  Reluctantly, Charlie ambled over to them. Things just hadn’t been the same between him and Tom lately.

  Tom didn’t say a word at his approach, just stood there, hands deep in pocket
s. Charlie shifted his weight from one foot to the other as Nick started doling out the rest of the instructions.

  “That’s the lot then,” Nick said. “Do you think you can manage it between you?”

  “I should think so,” Tom said confidently.

  “Yes that’s fine,” Charlie added.

  “Good, well if you want to go into the tack room, you can decide how you’re going to divide up the chores,” Nick said firmly, looking from one boy to the other.

  The two of them nodded as Nick held out the book.

  “I’m just going to nip back into the house to say goodbye to Sarah, and then I’ll be off.”

  “OK,” they said in unison.

  Neither of the boys said anything to the other and Charlie hurried off to Napoleon’s stable. Five minutes later, Nick appeared at the cottage, holdall in hand.

  “Bye everyone,” he called, striding over to the Land Rover. “See you Wednesday. And remember – call if you need me,” he added.

  “OK Nick,” everyone answered.

  “Well, I’d better get a move on if I’m going to get Chancey ready for the 9 o’clock hack,” Tom said, quickly turning away.

  Charlie made his way to Napoleon’s stable.

  “Hi, Charlie,” Rosie called across the yard. “I hear Napoleon’s been found. That’s great news.”

  “Yes, Nick told us you did well to catch him,” Alex added.

  Charlie felt pleased that all of the gang were together, and for the first time in ages he felt more a part of it. “Well he found us really,” he said modestly. “I think he knew that the best grass in the area was in Nick and Sarah’s garden.”

  “Well, at least he’s back safe and sound,” Alex said, good-naturedly. “And I don’t know about you, but Tom’s given me my jobs for the day – four loose boxes to muck out, five haynets to fill, two horses to groom...that should keep me going for a while,” he grinned. “How am I ever going to find the time to ride?”

  Charlie laughed at Alex’s mock-serious face. Awkwardly, he turned to Tom.

  “Where shall we start then?” he asked.