Diamond Spirit (14 page)
‘Well, Mr Donaldson tells me you
were
chasing the breeding stock,’ said Craig.
‘What? That’s not true! Who told him that?’ she said, knowing full well who had.
That pair of poo-magnets.
‘It doesn’t matter who told him. You shouldn’t have been in his paddocks,’ said Craig. ‘How would you like someone coming into your paddock and chasing your horse around while you weren’t home? You’d be livid. It’s trespassing. It’s wrong.’
‘But we were getting Mr Arnold’s bull out of there. He asked us to,’ argued Jess.
That didn’t seem to placate her father one bit.
‘Who is this Mr Arnold? Isn’t he the one who is supposed to be taking you all the way to Longwood for a horse show?’ said Craig, his voice getting louder. ‘What sort of responsible adult is he?’
‘He
is
responsible, Dad. Rosie said he will talk to Mr Donaldson and explain. He’ll be grateful that we got the bull out.’
‘I spoke to Mr Donaldson and he wasn’t grateful at all. He was very annoyed.’
‘Only because those two evil witches lied and said we were chasing the breeding stock. Mr Arnold—’
Craig cut her off. ‘Mr Arnold should have spoken to Mr Donaldson
before
he sent you down there to chase those cattle. I don’t know about you going off to Longwood with these people, Jessica. I don’t like you going off for miles with people we hardly know, and besides, you’ve already got a horse. Now put Dodger away and get your tail up to the house.’
Jess was horrified. ‘But I
have
to go to Longwood, so I can buy Wally,’ she said, running after her father and leading Dodger behind her. ‘Dad, Mr Arnold is going to talk to Mr Donaldson. It’ll all get sorted out, you’ll see. Katrina and Tegan are just trying to get us in trouble.’
‘Just because a person seems nice doesn’t mean they’re responsible,’ he said. ‘I’ve heard some pretty crazy stories about those Arnolds, Jess, and they don’t sound like the sort of people you’d want to pin your hopes and dreams on. Apparently the wife is a total eccentric.’
‘She’s not coming.’
Craig shook his head. ‘I don’t know, Jess. I’m concerned about this whole new scene you’ve become involved in. I barely see you these days. Your mother and I will have to think about it. Meanwhile, you’re not to ride until you’ve apologised to Mr Donaldson.’ He began to walk up the front steps.
‘But he’s away in the city!’
‘Well, you’ll just have to wait until he comes back. You’ll be starting school on Monday, which is a lot more important than riding horses and chasing people’s cattle. I think you should be focusing on that, don’t you?’
‘But it’s the last few days of the holidays!’
‘Today is Thursday. It won’t kill you to spend three days at home, Jessica,’ said Craig, walking through the doorway.
‘Da-a-ad! Can’t I even go over to Harry’s?’ Jess called out after him.
‘No!’ he yelled back.
‘CAN’T I GO
and see Walkabout this afternoon?’ Jess whined. She had been trying on uniforms, picking up books, sorting out her old wardrobe and spring-cleaning her room. She hadn’t ridden Dodger or seen her new friends for three days, and it was sending her crazy.
‘No, darling, your father has grounded you until you apologise to Mr Donaldson,’ her mother answered.
‘But that is so unfair!’ cried Jess. ‘Katrina and Tegan made up a pack of lies. As soon as Mr Donaldson gets back and Mr Arnold talks to him, you’ll understand, and I’ll have been grounded for nothing.’
‘You have not been grounded for nothing,’ said Caroline firmly. ‘You were chasing his cattle without permission. Breeding stock or no breeding stock, you were trespassing.’
‘Why can’t I just apologise over the phone? What if Mr Donaldson decides not to come back from the city this weekend?’
‘Jessica, you are to apologise in person. That is the decent thing to do.’
Jess sulked. ‘Am I at least allowed to exercise Dodger on a lunge rope? He’ll lose all his fitness otherwise.’
‘In one week?’
‘Yes, it’s only six weeks until the campdraft and he’s badly out of shape. I need all the time I can get or he won’t be fit enough. And what about me? I can’t afford to lose a whole week of training, Mum.’
‘Oh, okay. You can lunge him, but don’t you dare get on him,’ said Caroline.
Jess breathed a sigh of relief. ‘Thanks, Mum.’
She grabbed a drink and went and sat by the old coachwood tree to speak to Diamond. ‘Dodger is going to help save Walkabout, Dimey, so it is very important that we look after him,’ she explained to the patch of mulga seedlings. ‘So, I might have to let him stay in your stable.’ She knew Diamond would understand. Actually, since getting to know Dodger, Jess had become sure that the two horses would have been quite good friends.
After clearing it with Diamond, she decided to freshen up the lean-to for Dodger. First, she hauled out the old straw and spread it around the veggie patch. Then she pulled out three new bales of straw and fluffed them around. When the stall was perfect, she set about cleaning up the old stock saddle that Harry had lent her. She went over all the stitching with a toothbrush, polished the brass buckles and rubbed its fenders down with glycerine soap. Then, when she had removed the teeniest speck of dirt and grime, she went over it with leather dressing until it was flopsy and supple.
She took Dodger out into the big paddock on a long lunge rope and he trotted and cantered around her, grateful for the company. He soon picked up on her voice commands and she found she could send him over logs and other small jumps. He jumped off the old loading ramp and ran up and down gullies.
When she brought him back to the yard, she spent hours grooming him, giggling at how he waggled his top lip when she rubbed at an itchy spot. He followed her around the yard nibbling at her back pockets while she filled water buckets and picked up poo. One morning when she went down to his stall early, she found him lying down with his legs curled under him and she knelt down next to him and scratched behind his ears. He closed his eyes again and after a few minutes began to snore. Jess had never heard a horse snore before and Dodger woke with a start when she burst out laughing.
But as Monday got closer, no amount of time with Dodger could distract her from thinking about Shara. Would she be there at school, or would she be starting at Canningdale College?
Despite being forewarned, Jess was stunned to find there was no Shara. She had been accepted into the selective high school.
Jess was flattened. Everyone at school but her seemed to already know. Katrina Pettilow told her, in a smirky voice, and called her
Nigel-no-mates
. Jess wanted to slap her. Twice. Once for the nasty name and a second time for being a dobber. She wished she could go to Rosie and Grace’s school in the neighbouring district. There were heaps more horsey girls in that school. Most of the girls in Jess’s class were surfers or emos, except for Katrina and Tegan. She found it hard to talk to them, even though most of them were friendly enough.
She spent all week lying low and trying to concoct a genuine-sounding apology for Mr Donaldson. At home, she tried to win brownie points by helping with the washing, doing the dishes at the first request rather than the fifth, and by cleaning the bathroom and toilet unasked. She was willing to lower herself to any level to get to that draft. But every time she asked if she was allowed to go, Craig said, ‘I haven’t decided yet.’ He was milking her for all the housework he could get, she was sure.
Friday finally came and Craig drove her to Mr Donaldson’s farm after school. She had never met him before and wasn’t at all sure what to expect. As it turned out, he was in his nineties and seemed confused about exactly who she was and why she was talking about his cattle. When the conversation became a labyrinth of twisted and confused communication, Jess figured she’d done her bit and left him scratching his head outside his front door. She ran back down the driveway to her father, who was waiting in the car.
‘Manage to redeem yourself?’ asked Craig in a stern voice.
Jess pulled a confused face and put her arms in the air. ‘Who knows? He’s a day older than God. I couldn’t understand a word he said!’
Craig looked concerned.
Jess backtracked quickly. ‘Yes! Yes! He’s cool with everything! He’s fine – I told you he would be!’
Her dad seemed to relax a little.
‘Can I have a lift down to Harry’s place now?’ She was absolutely busting to see Wally and catch up with her friends.
‘Yes, I want to meet these people and find out more about this campdraft,’ answered her father.
Craig introduced himself to Harry and, like Jess, was made to feel instantly welcome. There was much handshaking and nodding and talk about tractors and rain. When Harry discovered Craig was a tree-changing ex-accountant and Craig found out Harry was a retired diesel mechanic, they soon realised there was some handy bartering to be done.
‘He’s a sensible bloke,’ Craig commented in the car on the way home. ‘Seems to know a bit about tractors. He’s going to have a go at fixing the PTO on ours. I’ll help him with his books in return.’ He looked chuffed.
‘Is he sensible enough to take me to the draft?’ asked Jess.
Craig cuffed her on the head. ‘Well, what sort of a dad would I be if I didn’t let you at least have a shot at it?’
SCHOOL WASN’T TOO BAD,
even without Shara’s close friendship. Jess found her biology classes quite interesting, and was thrilled when her teacher let her choose horse genetics as her topic for the major project.
Katrina Pettilow chose the same topic. ‘I need to study up on genetics for when I go to Canningdale College,’ Jess overheard her telling Tegan in the library. ‘It’s very relevant to the animal science I’ll be studying there.’
‘In your dreams,’ Jess muttered as she walked past.
Katrina looked up and glared at her. ‘Luckily
my
parents can afford to send me and I won’t have to
beg
my way in like some people.’
‘Winning a scholarship is hardly begging,’ said Jess, assuming she was talking about Shara. ‘And anyway, it’s still selective.’
And who’d select you?
‘Defending her now, are you?’ Katrina retorted.
Jess refused to bite. ‘Why aren’t you there now if you’re so cashed up?’
‘They don’t start vet science till Year Ten,
der
,’ said Katrina, ‘and then, who knows, maybe I’ll make a new best friend there!’
Jess burst out laughing. ‘I doubt it.’ The idea of Katrina and Shara getting chummy was ludicrous.
For the next few weeks, Jess was driven to study hard and get a higher mark than Katrina. She got lost for hours on the internet reading about different spotting genes in Appaloosa horses. Her new-found study ethic seemed to earn good brownie points with her dad and Jess came to a good working arrangement with him. She could keep Dodger at Harry’s place and train for the campdraft after school if she promised to do her homework first thing in the morning. She found it much easier to wake up early and focus on her studies when she knew that Dodger had been trained the evening before.
In the afternoons, she would jump off the school bus near Harry’s place. Tom was often on the same bus, and they would run down to Harry’s together. Once there, she would usually find Luke closing a gate behind a yard of cattle. Grace and Rosie would be in the tackroom, ripping off their school uniforms and wriggling into their jeans.
Katrina would often float around the arena on Chelpie, looking like Princess Perfect, but she rarely had a go at drafting. When she did, it was disastrous. Chelpie rushed at the cattle with her ears flat back and bit them. In the yard, the little mare became so aggressive that the cows nearly jumped out of it. Tegan’s pony was frightened of the cattle and way too small to be campdrafting. Harry quickly banned both of them from working any cattle. Jess couldn’t imagine how either of them would ever ride in the draft.
Craig came to pick her up from Harry’s each afternoon and often turned up early. Jess loved having him watch her ride Dodger for a while before they drove home. He constantly told her how proud he was of her and how well she was riding, but she sensed that he still doubted her chances of winning. Jess couldn’t wait to show him how Dodger handled cattle. He’d soon change his thinking.