by Karen Wood
KAREN WOOD
First published in 2011
Copyright © Karen Wood 2011
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publisher. The Australian Copyright Act 1968 (the Act) allows a maximum of one chapter or ten per cent of this book, whichever is the greater, to be photocopied by any educational institution for its educational purposes provided that the educational institution (or body that administers it) has given a remuneration notice to Copyright Agency Limited (CAL) under the Act.
Allen & Unwin
83 Alexander Street
Crows Nest NSW 2065
Australia
Phone: (61 2) 8425 0100
Fax: (61 2) 9906 2218
Email: [email protected]
Web: www.allenandunwin.com
Cataloguing-in-Publication details are available from the
National Library of Australia www.trove.nla.gov.au
ISBN 978 1 74237 315 7
Cover photo by Pip Blackwood / Wildlight
Cover and text design by Ruth Grüner
Set in 11.3 pt Apollo MT by Ruth Grüner
Printed in Australia by McPherson’s Printing Group
1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2
For Shara Alisye, Jessica Tara, Jessica Rose
and Jody Grace.
You’ll always have a place in my heart.
Contents
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
Acknowledgements
About the Author
1
‘HEY, DIMEY, you’re going on a holiday!’
Jess ran a soft brush over Diamond’s sides, making her gleam. The pony was a picture of health. ‘You and Rocko together, eating yourselves stupid for three whole weeks!’ Jess swapped the brush for a comb and began untangling Diamond’s thick black tail. Speckles and dots blanketed the pony’s Appaloosa rump and three distinct silver diamonds trickled down her hindquarters like falling stars.
Her phone buzzed and rumbled in her jeans pocket.
Shara: S^
Jess grinned and looked to the top of the driveway, where Shara would appear any moment. She gave Diamond’s tail a few more quick strokes and then pulled the pony’s lead rope from the fence.
Shara was her buddy, her bestie, and the two of them had just finished a brilliant season at pony club, competing as pairs in mounted games. They had spent every weekend vaulting on and off their horses, stabbing balloons, diving through hula hoops and shuffling in sack races while their ponies cantered along behind them. They’d had heaps of fun and won a stash of ribbons and trophies, including second place at the state championships, and now their ponies would be having a well-deserved break down on the grassy river flats.
Jess leapt effortlessly onto Diamond and trotted her bareback up the driveway. The little pony whinnied as they made their way out onto the road. Not far away, a horse answered with a long, throaty call.
‘Coo–ee!’ Shara waved as she appeared around a bend on Rocko, her chunky chocolate-brown quarter horse: a total basket case she’d bought cheap from the saleyards. She wore shorts and her old black helmet with horse stickers all over it. Her thick, straw-blonde pigtails poked out either side of her moon-shaped face. Hex, her part dingo, and Petunia, her half-blind cattle dog, followed. Shara’s animals were a motley lot of stinky, bad-mannered rejects, but she adored all of them. They went everywhere with her.
‘Ready for a holiday, Diamond?’ Shara said, leaning over and giving the pony a rub on her golden neck. ‘Packed your teeny weeny bikini?’
‘And her sunnies and fake tan,’ Jess laughed. ‘I’m going to go crazy not riding for three weeks. Don’t know what I’m going to do with myself.’
‘Same!’ said Shara.
They left the road and made their way down a grassy easement that ran between two properties, following a well-worn track to the first of many river crossings. The Coachwood River ran through the valley like a long, snaking highway, flanked with flat green pasture. The river flats had no permanent fences, but farmers often grazed their stock on the lush pasture using temporary electric ones.
‘I was thinking we should spend the next three weeks building a cross-country course down here,’ said Shara. ‘Dad could use the tractor to drag some logs out of the river.’
‘That’d be cool,’ said Jess, her eyes lighting up. ‘There are heaps more over by the sawmill. We could pile them up and make jumps out of them. No one would care.’
‘And I’m going to have a huge clean-up – my tackroom, all my gear, the feed shed,’ said Shara. ‘I’m going to get it all ready for the holidays.’ She ducked as she rode Rocko into the trees that ran alongside the river.
‘Same,’ groaned Jess. Her shed looked like ground zero. She would need to hire a bulldozer and a disaster response team to get it sorted out.
‘I might have to do some swotting, too,’ said Shara in a just-letting-you-know voice. ‘I’m going to apply for Canningdale College.’
‘Apply for what?’ asked Jess.
‘Canningdale – it’s the only school in Australia that does animal science in Year Ten.’
‘Never heard of it,’ said Jess, frowning. ‘Where is it?’
‘New South Wales.’ Shara gave Rocko a kick and pointed him straight down into a shallow crossing in the river.
‘New South Wales?’ said Jess. ‘What do you want to go there for? It’s full of cockroaches!’ She let Diamond stop beside Rocko to have a drink from the cool clear water.
Shara smiled. ‘It’s where all up-and-coming vets go, Jessy!’
‘And it’s freezing!’
‘So knit me some socks.’
‘But it’s so far away,’ said Jess, getting to the real point. ‘What would you do, go and live there?’
‘I’d board at the school and come home in the holidays.’
‘What?’ Jess squeaked. ‘Move away?’
‘Hang on, I have to get a scholarship first,’ said Shara. ‘It’s all just an idea at the moment.’
‘Would you come home for weekends?’
‘No, too far.’ Shara gathered her reins as Rocko brought his nose up from the water.
‘So, no mounted games?’ It was almost unthinkable. ‘No riding?’
‘I’d take Rocko with me. It’s an agricultural school.’
Jess was speechless. Until now, mounted games had been Jess’s and Shara’s whole lives. It was all they ever talked about, all they ever thought about, all they ever did. She’d just assumed life would always be that way.
‘Oh Jessy, don’t look so crushed,’ said Shara.
‘I am. I mean, I’m not, I mean, I’m really excited for you, but’—Jess tried to laugh—‘who will I hang out with at school?’ It seemed such a stupid, selfish question. ‘Who will I ride with?’
‘I might not even get in, you know. The scholarships are really competitive; I’d have to be, like, in the top five per cent in the state or something. There’s no way Mum and Dad could afford it otherwise.’ Shara turned Rocko onto the open grassy flats. ‘It’s a long shot.’
Jess rode alongside, her brain whirling. Shara always came top of the class without really trying, but did that mean she was in the top five per cent of braininess in the whole of Queensland? ‘You’d have to be some sort of freaky super-nerd,’ she said.
‘I would,’ said Shara. ‘Probably nothing to worry about.’
‘You’d look good with a stethoscope around your neck, though,’ said Jess, trying to make light of it.
‘Reckon?’ Shara giggled and held out her arms. ‘I rather like the latex gloves, myself!’
‘Right up to your armpits,’ warned Jess.
Shara pushed Rocko closer to Diamond, and with a funny little reshuffle, hopped up onto her knees and then crouched like a frog on his back. She leapt sideways and landed behind Jess on Diamond. Then she wrapped her arms around Jess and gave her a squeeze. ‘Gonna miss me?’
Jess elbowed her off, hopped up into a crouch herself, and jumped over and onto Rocko. It was the best way to mount him, she’d discovered. On the ground he often tried to bite or kick, but if you could bypass the teeth and heels, he was fantastic to ride. ‘No, I won’t have to,’ she laughed and pushed Rocko into a canter. ‘You’re not that geeky!’
Before she knew it, Shara was galloping past her on Diamond, heels flapping. ‘Race ya!’
‘Watch she doesn’t—’
She did. Diamond kicked her heels up into the air, and with nothing but a halter and rope to hold on to, Shara went sailing through the air and landed in the thick grass, squealing with laughter. Diamond skidded to a halt as she had been trained to do when her rider dismounted.
‘—pigroot,’ finished Jess, pulling Rocko up before he decided to join in the fun.
Shara stood and brushed herself off. ‘Give me my horse back,’ she demanded. ‘This one’s dangerous!’
Jess rode up next to Diamond and leapt back onto her. ‘Not like your little angel.’
Shara took Rocko’s rope and gave him a hug. ‘He’s just misunderstood, poor boy,’ she said, as Rocko screwed his nose and bared his teeth at her. She pushed his sour face away and sprang onto his back.
They walked and talked and laughed, and all the while, Jess pushed aside a gnawing uneasiness in the pit of her stomach. Surely Shara wouldn’t really leave Coachwood Crossing?
After a while they reached the pile of fencing gear. Then, with the horses tethered, they staked out the new paddocks and ran tape around the perimeter. Jess marked out a large square that crossed over a section of creek and had a few shade trees. She ran three strands of tape around the star pickets and pulled them good and tight, taking care the electric current wouldn’t short out on any tall clumps of grass or overhanging branches. Shara put Rocko’s paddock away from the riding trail so passing riders wouldn’t be tempted to pat him.
When the paddocks looked like little horsey heavens, the girls released their ponies and watched them sniff around, roll gleefully in sand patches and then snatch greedily at the sweet green grass.
Seeing Diamond so happy brought a smile to Jess’s face. ‘You deserve it, girl,’ she said. ‘You’re the best horse ever.’ The little horse stared straight at Jess and cocked her head slightly to one side, her mouth full of grass. Her golden coat shone like liquid metal in the sun.
‘Second best,’ said Shara. ‘Come on, race you to the creek. Let’s have a swim!’ She bounded off across the river flats, leaping over the long grass with her arms flapping madly.
Jess rolled her eyes, laughed and ran after her.
2
TWO WEEKS LATER, Jess sat in the sunroom out the back rubbing an oily rag over her saddle. It was Saturday, the big day – Shara was sitting her test. Jess had tried to be as supportive as possible and give her friend space when she needed to study. If she didn’t get in, Jess didn’t want to be blamed for distracting her.
In between swot sessions, they had built an amazing cross-country course. Jess just couldn’t wait to get a saddle on Diamond and try it out. One especially tricky jump was like a ski ramp on the bank of the creek. They would jump it downhill and land in the water. Wicked!
Diamond was fat and happy down on the river flats; so happy, in fact, that she barely raised her head from the grass to say hello to Jess each day.
Bang, bang, bang.
Jess registered a noise from the front of the house. She glanced up at the line of trophies along the picture rail and the scores of ribbons hanging on the wall. Only one more week and she could ride again.
She dipped her rag into the oil, lifted the flap of the saddle and kept rubbing.
Bang, bang, bang.
Someone was knocking at the door. No one ever knocked around Coachwood Crossing. She heard voices: her father’s and another man’s.
‘Jess!’ called her father. ‘You’d better come out here, love.’
‘Hang on,’ she called back. ‘I’ll just finish my saddle.’
‘Jess, come now. It’s Diamond.’
Jess dropped her rag and ran to the front door. ‘Diamond?’
A man she had never seen before stood holding the flyscreen door open. Her father was pulling on his boots.
‘Do you own an Appaloosa pony?’ asked the man.
‘Yes.’
‘It’s stuck in the cattle grid down near the old drovers’ yards. I nearly ran over it.’
‘My pony is about a kilometre up the river from there. It wouldn’t be her.’
‘Is it a buckskin Appaloosa with spots all over it?’
Jess’s blood ran cold. She pushed past the man and grabbed her boots, then ran down the front steps after her father, who already had the car running.
‘Why would Diamond be down near the drovers’ yards?’ she cried, as she jumped in. ‘Her paddock isn’t anywhere near there.’
‘She must’ve got out,’ said Craig.
‘She was behind three strands of electric tape. I checked her this morning. It can’t be her.’ Jess’s stomach churned. Cattle grids and horses were not a good mix.
‘We’d better go and find out,’ said Craig. ‘Thanks, buddy,’ he called out to the man, before ramming the ute into gear and accelerating up the driveway.
They sped along the dirt road until they reached an overgrown easement that ran between two properties and down to a small tributary of the river called Slaughtering Creek. Craig put the ute into four-wheel drive and let the bull bar push through chest-high weeds. Just before the line of trees that marked the river was an open gateway leading onto the old droving route that had once followed the river. Behind the gateway were some dilapidated cattle yards that hadn’t been used for years.
‘I can’t see any horse,’ said Jess, stepping out of the car.
‘Well, there are no other cattle grids around,’ said Craig.
Jess swore out loud. In the ditch next to the grid, Diamond lay with her head back, eyes blank. ‘Oh my God, Diamond!’ Jess squealed. She ran to the ditch.
Jess’s eyes darted frantically over her pony’s body and legs. Her stomach twisted when she saw the two front hooves jammed between the steel rails. She looked up desperately for her father. ‘Dad, her legs are stuck. They’re in the grid!’
Her dad knelt beside her, hand over mouth. He closed his eyes and swallowed.
‘Dad,’ Jess said, her voice starting to quaver. ‘We’ve got to get her out. Her legs, Dad. Look at her legs!’
Diamond’s legs were wedged tightly and bent at a weird angle.
‘How are we going to get her out?’ Jess looked urgently to her father for answers.
Craig took a deep breath. ‘Okay, let’s get it together, Jess,’ he said, firmly. ‘We won’t be any use to her if we fall to pieces. Do you have your phone on you?”
Jess patted her empty back pocket and cursed again.
‘Grab a halter from the car.’ Craig took a step towards the pony and muttered something under his breath. ‘And stop swearing.’
Jess ran to get the halter. She put it down beside her father and ran her hands over Diamond’s neck. ‘It�
�s okay, we’re going to get you out, Dimey. It’s okay.’ She took a large gulp of air and willed herself to keep it together. ‘Hang in there. It’ll be all right.’
‘She must have really galloped through it. Her feet have gone straight through the rails and her body’s just kept going, I reckon.’ Craig took hold of one of Diamond’s feet. ‘It’s wedged in so tight!’
Diamond groaned.
‘Don’t hurt her,’ sobbed Jess. ‘Be gentle.’
‘I’m trying to, honey, but we need to get her out of here. These rails’ll cut off her circulation. Who knows how long she’s already been in here?’
Another car rumbled through the easement. Craig looked over his shoulder. ‘It’s your mum.’
Caroline stepped out of the car in an old sarong and ugg boots. ‘I ran into some strange man in our driveway. He said that—’ She looked down and saw Diamond lying in the ditch. ‘Oh crikey, Diamond. What have you done to yourself?’
‘Caroline, can you race back to the house and ring the vet? Then hook up the horse float and bring it back.’ Craig turned to Jess. ‘Get that halter on her head, while I try to get her legs out.’ He continued to push at the pony’s legs.
Jess lifted Diamond’s head and slipped the halter over her nose. She stroked her neck. ‘It’s okay, beautiful girl. I’m here. We’re going to get you out,’ she whispered as she buckled it along the pony’s jaw with trembling hands. Diamond’s eyes rolled to the back of her head. ‘She’s not moving, Dad. Why isn’t she moving?’
‘She’s probably in shock,’ said Craig, still working at the pony’s legs.
‘Why don’t we cut the bars?’
‘Do you know what it would take to cut through steel that thick?’
Behind him, the car door slammed and Caroline’s car engine started up again.
‘Bring some bandages back too,’ called Craig.
‘Okay,’ said Caroline, as she pulled away and roared back towards the house.
‘That’s it. I’ve got one out,’ said Craig, giving a final push. Blood spurted from the front of Diamond’s leg as it squeezed out between the rusty steel.
‘You’ve cut her!’ squealed Jess. ‘You’ve split her leg in half!’
‘It’s the only way I can get her out,’ said Craig. ‘Flesh can be healed, Jessy, bones can’t. It’s better than leaving all her weight hanging on those legs while they’re twisted like that.’ He took a breath and shoved the other leg out from the bars.