Beginner's Luck Page 4

  'He's fine, Shelby. We've all been checking on him,' her mother said.

  'What if I came back and he was dead, huh? Did you think about that?' She was breathing hard now, trying to keep from sobbing. 'You don't care about anything!'

  Shelby's dad's face went red. He opened his mouth and his voice came out loud and booming. 'My bromeliads are dead! My father gave them to me from his garden from sections that came from his father's garden, and they're both dead too! You don't have the patent on sentimental things, Shelby!'

  Blake put his hands over his ears and started to cry. His father rubbed the child's hair absently.

  'Blue is a living animal with feelings!' Shelby shouted.

  Her father's voice went up a notch. 'You don't think my bromeliads have a right to life?'

  'It's not the same!' Shelby countered.

  'No, it's not. It's worse!'

  Shelby could feel the vein in her neck throbbing. 'I hate you!'

  'Go to your room!'

  'I was going anyway! I don't want to look at your face!'

  'Good! I don't want to look at you either!'

  She stomped up the hall and slammed her bedroom door as hard as she could. The picture frames clattered against the wall and the window glass rattled.

  Shelby lay on her bed and cried. It was so unfair. None of her friends' parents would have put a few dumb plants over the welfare of a horse – not Mrs Crook, not Erin's mum, nor any of the parents at pony club. Lindsey's mum especially planted things in the fallow paddocks that she knew the horses liked eating. Shelby wished she had been born into a different family – with parents who understood. It wasn't her fault that the stupid company wanted to build the dumb Kensington, and now they were punishing her, as though she was the one who'd done something wrong.

  There was a knock on Shelby's door. 'Honey, it's me.' Her mother's voice was muffled through the wood.

  She rolled over on her bed to face the wall. 'Go away!'

  'Don't speak to me that way.'

  Shelby could have a shouting match with Dad, but her mum would never tolerate it. She sat up, wiping her eyes with her arm while her mother came in and sat on the edge of the bed.

  'Blue's fine. We took water to him every hour, and there was shade out there in the middle of the day, but he chose to stand in the sun. It wasn't that hot anyway.' She patted Shelby on the knee. 'He was perfectly happy. I've been watching him out of the window all day.'

  Shelby shook her head. 'It's not even that, Mum. I didn't do anything wrong. Blue hasn't done anything either. I know he broke Dad's plants, but he's not bad. He's the sweetest horse ever, and now it's all different. Dad's treating him like he's a pest. It's not fair!'

  'I know, honey. These things happen. You have to make the best of it.'

  'But why, Mum? Why do they happen?' Another tear leaked out of her eye.

  'Oh, honey.' Shelby's mum put her arms around her daughter's shoulders and squeezed. Shelby waited for an answer, but her mother didn't offer one. Instead she took a deep breath. 'I made some calls today. We might have a solution. You probably won't like it at first, but it could work for everybody.'

  'What is it?' Shelby asked.

  Her mum ran her hand across her forehead. 'I rang Lindsey's mother at the stables and she said they'd take Blue on for free.'

  'Free?' Shelby's eyes brightened. For the first time since the visit to the saddlery she felt a weight lift from her.

  'She said they're always looking for quiet horses for the riding school. They would only use him on weekends.'

  'No!' Shelby shouted. She rolled back on the bed.

  'Hear me out, Shel. I talked to Jill Crook too, and she said that you could help them show their ponies. If you do that you'll be busy on weekends anyway. You've always wanted to get into showing. Think about it, Shel. It works for everybody.'

  Shelby felt tight across her chest. She had a vision of Blue's face as some big dumb beginner pulled and tugged at him. 'It doesn't work for Blue! It will be awful for him!'

  'I'm sure that Lindsey and her mum won't let that happen. They asked if you could ride him up there next Sunday. That way he'll have a week to settle in before his first shift.'

  Shelby tried to think of an excuse. She needed more time. There had to be another way.

  'You can get a lift with Erin after school every day to visit Blue,' added her mum. 'You and Erin and Lindsey will have a great time together. There are other girls up at the riding school that you can become friends with too. I think it will be nice for you to have some company.'

  'But it's only temporary, isn't it? What about getting a job?' She looked hopefully at her mother's face, but she wasn't reassured by what she saw there.

  'I've decided to start by enrolling in a part-time course. We'll see what happens after that.'

  'No!' Shelby cried again. She put her pillow over her face. 'It's not fair! It's not my fault! Why is this happening to me?'

  Her mother frowned with irritation. 'What's the problem, Shelby? You wanted to keep him up at the stables for free and now you can! All this has happened with very little inconvenience to you. Everyone is going out of their way for you. Can't you see that?'

  Shelby sighed. She bit her lip trying to think of a comparison. 'What's the most precious thing in your life?'

  'My children.'

  'What else?' Shelby asked.

  Her mother looked up at the ceiling, thinking. 'I suppose a roof for my family is important too, so maybe this house.'

  'Can you imagine if you had to leave this house every weekend and some other family – a different family every time – came and lived here and went through all our stuff and broke things, and they didn't care because they were never coming back again? Can you imagine how it would be every Monday when you found what had been wrecked this time?'

  Her mother pondered it for a moment. 'Yes, I think I understand, Shelby. I imagine it would be terrible – but Blue can't stay on the front lawn forever. If you can think of another way around it, then I'm happy to hear it.'

  Shelby sat up again. 'The competition next Saturday! I can win a thousand dollars! That will pay for Blue's agistment for a little while, just until you get a job.'

  'What's this competition?'

  'The Matchstick Town. It's a riding competition. Nobody's ever won before, but I can.'

  Her mother shrugged. She didn't look very confident. 'You can try, honey, but if you don't win then you'll have to consider this as an alternative.'

  Shelby knew when her mother said 'consider' she actually meant 'accept'. She pursed her lips. 'Well, I'll just have to win, then.'

  8 Plans, Deals and Secrets

  At school on Monday, Erin was overtired and remorseful. Shelby met her at their spot near the weather-sheds before lessons started.

  'Do you think people had a good time? I had fun, and I thought everybody else did, but now I'm not sure. Nobody rang after to say it was good, but they didn't ring and say it sucked either. Was the magician dumb?'

  'No, I thought he was great,' Shelby reassured her.

  One of the boys walked past on his way to the canteen. He had his hands thrust deep into his pockets. 'Cool party, Erin,' he said.

  She shaded her eyes with her hand. 'Thanks.' As soon as he was out of earshot she whispered to Shelby, 'Do you think he was being sarcastic?'

  'Stop panicking, will you? It was fine.'

  'Just fine?' Erin had an expression of quiet desperation on her face and Shelby wondered why she cared so much what other people thought, especially since she seemed to pay so little attention to what came out of her mouth most of the time.

  'It was the most excellent ever.'

  'Really?'

  'Yes!'

  Shelby told Erin about her mother's plan for Blue.

  'It's not all bad, you know,' Erin said. 'If Blue's up at the stables we can ride together more often. At the moment you have to ride halfway across the Gully first.'

  'Would you want Bandit to be a riding school pony?' Shelby asked.

  'Not at most places, but Lindsey and her mum are really good. All their riding school ponies are rugged and fed twice a day. They don't stand around in their saddles all the time like at some places. Blue's pretty small so you're not going to get any big, stupid grown-ups who think they know what they're doing. Besides, Lindsey watches the whole time and she looks after each of those riding school ponies as if they were her own . . . which they are, if you think about it.' Erin grinned. 'And you'd get to show with the Crooks. They win everything. You could go to the Royal.' She tilted her head to the side. 'It's kind of the best of both worlds, Shel.'

  Shelby sighed. She had thought that Erin would understand. 'I just want everything to go back to normal.'

  Erin looked out into the playground. 'I don't think what you had before was normal. It's a bit like a mobile phone plan. When you first sign up you get all this free stuff, and then for the rest of the contract you have to pay heaps, but because you're used to using it like crazy for nothing, you think they're ripping you off.'

  Shelby didn't have a mobile, but most of her friends did, and she'd seen the plans advertised on television, so she got the gist of what Erin was talking about. 'But I didn't sign up for anything,' she protested.

  'No, you took it without asking. It's a little bit like stealing.'

  Shelby's mouth dropped open. 'No, it's not!'

  Erin shrugged. 'Whatever.'

  Shelby frowned. It was fine for Erin to make judgements. Her mum and dad paid for her agistment. She didn't even have to think about it.

  The bell rang and they headed towards class. As they were jostling in the crowd of students in the hallway, Shelby told Erin about the Matchstick Town Challenge. She decided not to tell Erin that she already knew wh
ere it was.

  'So if I find it I will win the money and I can pay for Blue to stay in one of the spelling paddocks for almost six months, and hopefully by then Mum will have a job.'

  'Sounds like fun. When is it?' Erin asked.

  'This Saturday.'

  'Cool,' said Erin, smiling. 'We should all go in it together. Hayley won't come but we can ask Lindsey.'

  Hayley wasn't allowed to go trail riding with the other girls. Mrs Crook had let her go a few times, but she was always worried that their horses would get scratched or injured, and then they wouldn't be any good for showing.

  Shelby stopped walking. 'But I'm doing it for the money, Erin. If I win then I need to use all the money. I can't share it with you and Lindsey.'

  'I tell you what,' suggested Erin. 'If you see this Matchstick Town first then you can have it all, and if I see it first then I'll split it three ways. When we see Lindsey we'll make a deal with her too.'

  Shelby frowned.

  Erin grabbed her by the sleeve and dragged her along the corridor. 'Come on, Shel. We're not going to find it anyway. It probably isn't even real. Don't you think we would have found it before?'

  'I suppose.' Shelby didn't like lying to her friend. It made her feel yucky in the stomach, and worried too. Telling lies was hard work. Shelby spent every day at school with Erin, and now she would have to concentrate every time she opened her mouth.

  9 A Chance Meeting

  On Wednesday it rained all day. A whole bunch of students from her year had been playing touch football on the oval. After lunch the classroom smelt like a dirty laundry basket and everyone was quiet – even Erin.

  Shelby decided to take Blue for a ride when she arrived home. She wanted to check the route to The Pocket and see if there was a place on the trail where she could ditch Erin and Lindsey if she had to.

  'You want to go now?' asked her mother as Shelby pulled on her boots in the lounge room. 'It's pouring!'

  'He's been tied up all day.' To that stupid peg, she thought. 'He needs to stretch out.'

  'OK, but don't go for long. I don't want either of you to catch a cold.'

  Shelby saddled up. All the leather straps were slippery and sticky with the wet. The rain dripped down Blue's paint sides, making his white patches a grey-brown colour with dirt. While she was tightening the girth, Blue peered at her over his shoulder, his expression rephrasing her mother's words. You want to go out in this weather?

  Once they reached the trails Blue plodded along with his ears out to the sides. Every now and then he would shake all over like a dog. Rainwater ran along the corrugations in the track, like little streams, and the air smelt strongly of eucalypt. Shelby could hear the drops of rain hitting the top of her helmet, and when she looked down the rain trickled off the peak and onto her hands.

  The water rushed quickly across the causeway at the bottom of the Gully and Blue stepped across it cautiously, as if he was worried about being washed away. They cantered up the hill on the other side, although Blue moved more slowly than usual.

  Shelby rode past the back gate of the stables and on towards where she remembered the storm water tunnel to be. Along this part of the trail there was a fence between the bridle path and Gully Way, and she was pleased because Blue seemed anxious. If something spooked him and he skipped about, at least the fence would stop him from shying onto the road.

  He looked around with his ears pricked, and every now and then he would swivel his head around to look at her, as though asking for reassurance. She gripped tighter with her knees in case he shied.

  'It's OK, little man,' she said, patting him on the neck.

  They stopped at the mouth of the storm water tunnel. A steady flow of grey-coloured water spilled down the slope from the road, and all around the entrance of the tunnel the water had swollen into a murky pool with sticks and leaves floating and spinning along the surface.

  The water inside the tunnel was moving swiftly. She could hear the heavy rushing sound as it poured down the slope on the other side.

  She pressed her heels to Blue's side. He halted, snorting, and staring at the water with his eyes wide, as if he was thinking, 'You've got to be kidding! I'm not going in there!'

  'Come on, Blue. We've done this before. We don't have to go all the way. I just want to see what's on the other side.'

  He took one step into the stream and then another. They were half in and half out of the tunnel now, and then he stopped. She squeezed harder. 'Get up! It's not like you to be a scaredy cat.'

  He took another tiny step and stopped again, snorting. His feet were planted wide apart. Shelby had sometimes seen horses stand like that at pony club, refusing to budge, but her Blue had never been so bad-mannered.

  'Oh, for heaven's sake!' she said, swinging her leg over his back. As she stepped down she immediately lost her footing in the water and the soles of her boots slipped from under her. She hit the concrete bottom with a thump and a pain flashed up her side. Suddenly she felt herself being carried forward further into the tunnel. She threw her arms out, trying to find something to keep her from being swept away.

  Blue thrust his head down and she had just enough time to grab one of his reins. She heard him grunt as his head took the full weight of her body. He stood with his legs splayed, leaning backwards. She could see now that the water was much deeper than she had thought. It was over Blue's knee, and sweeping along. It could carry them both over the edge. How far was that drop at the end of the tunnel? She tried to remember. Five metres at least – maybe even ten.

  Shelby took a breath and some of the water filled her mouth. It tasted dirty and gritty. She spat and coughed.

  'Back,' she called to him. The word came out like a bark, and it reverberated off the tunnel walls. She could see the whites of Blue's eyes and his dilated nostrils. He kept his head very still and, ever so slowly, he lifted up his hind leg and shifted backwards. As he moved, his bridle started to slip halfway over his ear. If it came off she would be washed away. How deep was that pool underneath? I'll never survive. I'll hit my head and drown.

  'Whoa,' she grunted. A stick whisked past on the surface of the water, scratching her face. She grunted, flailing her other arm, trying to grasp hold of something – anything. Blue stopped. He was looking her right in the eye and there was such concern there that she felt a wave of emotion rush over her.

  I love you too, little man. I don't know what to do.

  Ever so slowly, centimetre by centimetre, Blue raised his head up and to the side, drawing her closer to him. Shelby reached for the side wall of the tunnel with her other hand and her foot and she pushed against it.

  'Just a little more,' she gasped. She grabbed for Blue's leg and found it. Her weight shifted his foot off the ground, and for a moment he slipped forward, but then he leaned backwards and stood still – a rock in the stream. Shelby used his leg like a climbing rope, hand over hand, until she was upright. She put one hand on the tunnel wall and gripped the stirrup leather with the other hand, trying to get her breath back. She could feel the water tugging at her, trying to wash her legs away.

  'All right. We're going to be OK,' she panted.

  Very slowly, with six legs between them and only one raised at a time, they moved step by tiny step backwards and out. When they got to the shallows, Shelby threw her arms around his neck. 'You are the best and smartest pony in the whole world. I'll listen to you next time, I promise.'

  Blue lifted his head up, as if shaking her off. 'What is it?' she asked.

  He snorted, and she could see he was looking away down the trail. She righted his bridle and then led him back to the trail. She was about to climb into the saddle when she saw Lindsey jogging around the corner on one of the riding school palominos.

  'What are you doing here?' Lindsey asked, looking Shelby up and down. 'Did you come off?'

  Shelby looked down at her clothes. She was soaked through and one side was splattered with silty mud.

  Lindsey looked at the mouth of the tunnel and back at Shelby again. 'You didn't try to go in there, did you?'

  'No!' Shelby said. 'Do you think I'm crazy? No, I just fell off. He shied. It was stupid really. I haven't fallen for ages.' She brushed her hands on the thighs of her jodhpurs. She wondered why she'd lied to Lindsey. It might have been because she was embarrassed, but it was more than that – she didn't want Lindsey to know where she was really going.