Opal Dreaming (3 page)

Lawson turned and rode away. Rosie and Grace shrugged apologetically at Jess and followed him.

Shara looked torn. ‘Just
try
riding away, Jess, and see what happens.'

‘You go,' said Jess flatly. There was no way she was leaving Opal.

Shara had barely turned Rocko when the filly plunged into the gushing water in a sudden burst of bravery. She landed knee-deep and took a few clumsy steps, bawling pathetically to her mother, before suddenly losing her footing and going belly up. In seconds she was swept downstream with her legs thrashing wildly and her head disappearing under the water.

‘Oh God, she's gonna drown,' screamed Jess. ‘I
knew
we should have put her on a truck.'

The filly crashed into a fallen log and came to a stop, her two front legs splayed either side of it. She sat there quivering, stricken with terror. Water rushed all around her.

Lawson rode back, breathed something inaudible through his teeth, and glared at the pathetic creature. ‘If it had a brain it'd be dangerous,' he seethed at Jess, as though everything was somehow her fault.

‘That's not helpful.' Jess was close to tears. ‘She's still your horse – don't you even care about her?'

‘Thank Christ I sold her,' Lawson muttered.

‘Thank Christ, all right,' Jess yelled back.

‘Yeah, righto, screeching at me's not gonna solve anything. What are we supposed to do with her now?' Lawson braced his hand on his thigh, surveyed the situation and then answered his own question. ‘We'll have to get some ropes and pull her out.'

Jess was horrified. ‘She's not even halter broke!'

‘Well, what do you want to do with her? Just leave her there to drown?'

‘I don't know, but I don't want to go roping her. There must be another way.'

Jess racked her brain for a solution. The trees lining the bank waved madly in the wind, bending and groaning as rain lashed in all directions. Chelpie was still screaming on the flats behind them. This was not how Jess had envisaged bringing home her long-awaited, once-in-a-lifetime filly.

A gigantic bolt of lightning split the sky and the bursting sound of simultaneous thunder nearly turned Jess inside out.

‘That was right on top of us!' screamed Shara.

As Jess wheeled Dodger around, a sudden gust of wind blasted her, catching her jacket like a sail and nearly pulling her out of the saddle. There was a wild hissing in her ears and the rain swirled in an eddy, lashing wet strands of hair across her face. Dodger pinned his ears back and reared into the rain.

‘Easy, boy,' she yelled.

A twister, white with rain, raced across the flats and smashed itself out into the trees.

‘Wild!' Jess shouted to Shara.

‘You're not wrong,' yelled Shara, reining a frantic Rocko back under control. As the rain began to pelt down even harder, she called out something else, but the wind snatched away the sound of her voice before it could reach Jess's ears.

Then Grace yelled something equally incoherent and pointed at the water.

Jess squinted at the rain-pelted surface of the river. ‘Oh my God, no!' she squealed. A slithery white snake was heading for Opal, borne along by the rushing water.

Jess had seen what a snake could do to a horse. One of Stanley Arnold's geldings had been bitten by a baby snake at a campdraft a year ago and it was still recovering in the paddock. And that was a fully grown horse. Opal was just a pint-sized foal.

In a blink, Lawson dropped the mare's rope and spurred Slinger into the water, his stockwhip drawn. In one swift movement he swung the whip over his head and snapped his elbow back. The cracker cut the surface of the water just as the snake was millimetres from hitting Opal. The sound of it nearly gave Jess a seizure.

Opal exploded out of the water as though a stick of dynamite had detonated under her. She jumped clean over the log and landed head-first in the water on the other side, rolled, scrambled to the edge of the river and pressed her trembling body against her mother's.

‘What was
that
?' cried Grace.

‘Albino snake,' Lawson shouted against the wind, reining his horse away from the river. ‘Dunno what sort it was but I doubt you'd want to hang around and find out.' He rode along the riverbank, collected Marnie's lead rope and pulled her alongside Slinger. A waterlogged Opal followed miserably behind. ‘Now, will one of you girls go and catch that ridiculous grey pony before she causes a real accident?'

‘It's white,' said Rosie.

‘I don't care if it's purple with yellow polka dots, just
catch
the stupid thing!' yelled Lawson.

‘We don't have a halter,' said Jess, pushing Dodger up next to him. ‘But when we get to the Pettilows' place I'll run in and ask Katrina to grab her.'

‘Fine,' said Lawson. ‘Now let's get going, or we'll never get these horses moved.'

Jess led the group towards the Pettilows' property, then left them to canter up through a forested easement to the house. The empty carport suggested that no one was home, but Jess called out just in case, lest she be accused of trespassing.

She tied Dodger to a tree and walked cautiously up the front steps onto the verandah, where she spotted a coil of rope by a pile of firewood. She leaned over and grabbed it, then rode back to the flats. ‘I found this,' she said.

‘Here, hold Marnie, and I'll get a rope around Snow White.' Lawson passed Jess the mare's lead rope, not letting go until he was sure she had a good hold of it. He looked her dead in the eye and said, ‘Do
not
let go of my good mare.'

‘I've got her,' she assured him.

Lawson fiddled with the rope for a while, tying a loop in one end, then rode over to the wayward horse, who stood with her bony rump to the wind. He slung the rope around her neck and brought her back to Jess. ‘Take this pony back to the Pettilows' and put her somewhere dry. See if you can find a rug for her, too – she's got no meat on her bones to keep her warm. She'll get pneumonia. Catch up with us later.' He took Marnie's rope from her and rode off.

Chelpie stood her ground and refused to move.

‘Come on,' groaned Jess, pulling at the rope.

The little white mare put her ears back and tossed her head at Jess.

‘I'll come with you,' said Shara, riding up behind Chelpie and flicking a rein over her rump. ‘Get up, Chelpie.' The little mare lashed out with a hind leg and leapt forward.

Together, Jess and Shara dragged Chelpie back to Katrina's place and found a small stable joined to the shed. Inside, it was full of manure, as though it hadn't been cleaned for weeks. The lower slats of the door were broken and jagged pieces of wood hung from rusty nails.

‘She must just stand there chewing on the timber all day,' said Jess, looking at the teeth marks that ran around the entire surrounds of the window. The door latch, she noticed, was smashed.

‘It must be where Katrina keeps her so that she stays nice and white,' Shara said in disgust.

Chelpie began to pull away, pinning her ears back.

A waft of rancid urea stung Jess's nose. ‘You don't want to go in there, do you?' she said to the mare. ‘I don't blame you!'

Chelpie started rearing.

Jess gave the little horse a begrudging pat on the neck. It was the first time she had ever found any warmth in her heart for the horse. ‘It's all right, we won't make you go in there.'

‘There isn't one other animal here to keep her company, not so much as a chook.' Shara looked around the property. ‘What a lonely life.'

‘Can you imagine raising a tiny foal in that box all by herself without a mother?' Jess couldn't believe someone would do such a thing just to win a few ribbons.

‘No wonder she's a total fruitcake,' said Shara.

Chelpie stopped rearing and stood in the rain, looking miserable.

‘I wish I could take her back to Luke,' Jess muttered.

Jess handed Dodger to Shara while she tethered Chelpie in the carport and went looking for some feed. She eventually found a stack of sweet-smelling lucerne bales in a machinery shed, and stared at them in amazement. ‘Why doesn't Katrina give any of this to her horse?' she said, as she walked back out with an armful of hay.

The bedraggled white pony began to hoe into it. Meanwhile, Jess found some chaff bags and an old blanket to tie around Chelpie's belly with some baling twine. Jess shook her head. ‘Amazing what goes on behind closed doors.'

She jumped up into her saddle and trotted after Shara back to the others. The rain eased for a short moment, and she grinned through the water that dripped from the peak of her helmet. Only another kilometre or so up the river flats, and Opal, her once-in-a-lifetime horse, would be home.

3

JESS LEANED ON
the rails of her home yards and smiled defiantly into the rain that beat down on her face. She was completely and utterly saturated but she didn't care. She had her filly home at last, and they had the next three weeks to get to know each other.

Lawson walked up behind her, leading Slinger. Tiny waterfalls ran off the brim of his hat. ‘King tide. It's gonna be a big flood.'

In the yard, Dodger, Buster, Rocko and Milly stood tethered, their heads down, rumps turned into the wind and the rain. Marnie and Opal took shelter in the small lean-to. In the paddock beyond, courses of water were forming rapidly flowing rivulets down towards the flats.

‘It's lapping at the bottom fences already,' said Jess. ‘Lucky we live on a hill. I've never seen it rise so quickly.'

‘We won't be able to get these horses out of here tonight,' said Lawson. ‘We might have to leave them here, and pick 'em up when the river goes back down.'

‘We've only got one small yard and the grazing paddock.' Jess wished some of her fencing fantasies were already in place. She would love to be able to offer her friends somewhere better to put their horses. ‘Rocko will have to go in the yard – he's too vicious to put with the other horses.'

Lawson nodded in agreement. ‘Sounds like a good idea.'

Jess's father ran out towards them, his bandy legs bare below a hooded raincoat. ‘Put them out in the paddock, Lawson. I'll get some hay for them.'

‘Thanks, Craig,' said Lawson, He led Slinger to the paddock gate.

Craig joined Jess at the yards. ‘Happy now you got your baby home?' He put an arm around her shoulder and gave her a squeeze, causing a new trickle of water to run down her back, making her shiver.

‘Isn't she beautiful, Dad?' she said, smiling at him. ‘See the three markings on her shoulder? Just like Diamond's.'

They watched as Lawson opened the yard gates and let the mare and foal out into the big paddock. Marnie ran her nose along the ground and snorted at all the moving water. Opal tottered nervously behind.

Jess turned to go inside. There was always a sense of excitement when the river flooded. People got holed up and life was put on pause for a day or two. Part of her was glad that Rosie, Grace and Shara were all trapped at her place by the floodwaters. They could have a sleepover.

As she sloshed her way back to the house, she remembered Chelpie. ‘Don't let me forget to ring Katrina, Dad. We caught her horse running feral down on the flats. She's tied up in their carport.'

‘What,
again
?'

‘Katrina's too busy chasing boys to look after her horse these days.'

‘Well, when
you
start running after boys, I hope you will still look after Opal properly.'

Jess slung her halter playfully at him. ‘I would never run off after a boy and forget my horse.'

‘Oh yeah, that's what you say now,' he teased. ‘But don't worry; your mother and I will look after Dodger in his old age when Mr Spunky-pants comes along.'

‘I promise you, Dad, if I ever run away from my horses, it won't be with someone called
Mr Spunky-pants
.'

‘Come on,' Craig chuckled, ‘you'd better look after your visitors.'

Jess found Shara, Grace and Rosie taking shelter under the house. They had dumped their saddles in a big pile near the back stairs. ‘Dad said you can all stay overnight.'

‘Hey?' said Craig from behind her. ‘How come I don't remember saying that?'

‘You said I'd better look after my visitors,' Jess shrugged. ‘It's the same thing.'

‘Great!' said Shara. ‘Where will we put the horses?'

All three girls began to text their parents.

‘I'm going to drop Lawson home while I can still get the car through the floodwaters,' Craig said. ‘Get those horses turned out and then go inside and dry off, hey?' He turned and headed for the ute.

As Lawson hopped into the passenger seat, he said, ‘Look after that mare for me, Jess. She's going droving in a few weeks.' He sounded uncharacteristically jolly.

‘I will!' she smiled.

Lawson looked over into the paddock at the mare and foal. ‘Bring Opal over to Harry's place once she's weaned and we can put her in with Luke's foals. They can buddy up before we let them go on the station together.'

Jess gave a reluctant nod. She didn't want to start planning Opal's departure yet – she'd only just got here. Three weeks seemed like such a tiny amount of time to handle and get to know her. But Jess knew Blakely Downs would be a fantastic start in life for Opal, running free in a big mob on good-quality pasture, and she tried to remind herself that they'd have the rest of their lives to be friends.

When the horses were turned out and fed, her friends piled into the bathroom to get showered off. Jess made a phone call while she waited her turn.

‘Hello, Mrs Pettilow? This is Jess Fairley.'

After a short pause, a cold voice answered her. ‘Yes, Jessica?'

‘I was riding past your place today and Chelpie got out. She was galloping around the—'