Opal Dreaming Read online

  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 317 1

  Cover photos by James Boulette / iStockphoto;

  Hugh Brown / 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 Linda and Graham Allen,

  de facto family for so many people

  over the years

  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

  ‘WOOHOO! ’ JESS SLID DOWN the front stair rail, her arms out wide, and landed expertly on the driveway. ‘Today’s the day!’

  For the first time in weeks, the sky was a clear blue, and the air was still, not a breath of wind. The sun was warm on Jess’s face and everything about the day seemed perfect. She skipped to the feed shed, hauled out some hay and threw it over the fence. ‘Come on, Dodger, it’s time to go and get Opal!’

  Dodger nickered to her and began snuffling at the hay. Jess stepped through the fence and gave the old stock–horse a big hug. ‘Eighteen months we’ve been waiting,’ she said, running her hands through his shaggy brown coat. ‘I can’t believe I can finally bring her home!’

  She took a brush to him, rubbing in hard circular motions as she talked. ‘Opal’s a very special filly. She’s connected to Diamond. You remember Diamond, don’t you?’

  As Jess rubbed Dodger’s back, the old horse curled his lip with pleasure. She combed out his tail, painted his hooves with grease, and pulled her phone from her pocket to thumb a message.

  U guys saddled yet?

  Before she could send it, Jess heard a shrill ‘Coo-ee!’ A clatter of hooves sounded along the road, gradually getting louder. From behind the hedge, she could hear her friends, chatting and laughing.

  ‘I thought you’d have that old stockhorse saddled up by now,’ Shara called as she rode through the gate on Rocko.

  ‘Sharsy!’ Jess squealed. ‘You’re home!’ The day was becoming more perfect by the minute.

  ‘Dad brought me home for the weekend,’ her best friend grinned.

  ‘How’s vet school?’

  ‘I’m their star student!’

  Rosie followed on her quarter horse. ‘You’re back on the legend, Jessy!’ she said, as she pulled Buster to a halt and jumped off.

  Jess gave Dodger a pat on the neck. ‘I will be in a minute.’ She picked up her new stock saddle and slung it over his back, pulled the girth through the rig and slapped the fenders down into place.

  ‘Are you excited?’ asked Grace, appearing on a leggy chestnut.

  ‘I couldn’t sleep last night,’ answered Jess, as she reached for her bridle.

  ‘Have you got a little halter for her?’ asked Shara.

  ‘We don’t need one. We’re just going to lead the mare and let Opal follow.’

  ‘What? All the way back to here without a halter?’ Shara sounded mildly alarmed.

  ‘Probably the best way. She’s never been touched by a human, let alone had a rope on her,’ said Jess. She pulled a face. ‘Lawson’s rules.’

  As part of the purchase agreement with Lawson, Jess had agreed not to handle Opal during her first six months. Lawson didn’t like foals being mollycoddled by girls. He said it made them ‘rude and disrespectful’.

  Shara snorted. ‘He’s such a killjoy.’

  ‘Not for much longer,’ said Jess. ‘As soon as she’s weaned, she’ll be mine! I’ll have three whole weeks to handle her before she goes out west to Longwood.’

  ‘Wish we could go on that trip,’ said Grace.

  Lawson had inherited a share in his father’s grazing property, Blakely Downs, and was taking several horses, including a mob of brumbies, out there for a droving trip. Opal, together with the other young horses, would be turned out onto the station to fatten up on the Mitchell grass. The older horses would be put to work on the stock route, droving fifteen hundred cattle to the saleyards.

  ‘Me too,’ Jess sighed. ‘Droving would be so much fun.’ She rammed a foot into a stirrup and sprang into the saddle.

  ‘Are you leaving Opal’s mum with her for a couple of days?’ asked Shara.

  ‘Yeah, just overnight to get her settled, then Lawson wants to get Marnie back into work for the droving trip.’

  ‘You’d better look after her,’ said Rosie. ‘Do you have any idea how much he paid for that mare?’

  ‘Mum reckons it was enough to buy a brand-new car,’ said Grace.

  ‘She’ll be all right,’ said Jess. ‘Lawson’s been over and checked the fences to make sure she can’t hurt herself.’

  At that moment a low rumbling noise rolled through the valley, making the ground tremble.

  ‘What was that?’ asked Jess, looking up at the cloudless blue sky.

  ‘Storm,’ said Grace. ‘It’s supposed to come through later this afternoon.’

  ‘Look, the sky’s turning green over there,’ said Shara, pointing beyond the mountains to the south. ‘It’s gonna be a doozy!’

  Jess gathered her reins and kicked Dodger on. ‘Let’s get going. We don’t want to get stuck in it.’

  The girls headed towards the river flats. As they followed a well-worn track to the crossing, they could hear thunder rumbling through the valley again.

  ‘That sky’s getting darker,’ warned Rosie.

  ‘It’s coming up over the hills,’ said Shara. ‘Look!’ Behind Mossy Mountain, the sky was turning an eerie mix of green and purple. It suddenly flashed white with the afterglow of distant lightening. ‘We’re going to get drenched.’

  ‘I don’t care – I love riding in the rain,’ said Grace.

  ‘So do I, but I hope it doesn’t unsettle Opal while we’re trying to move her,’ said Jess.

  Grace scoffed. ‘Horses aren’t scared of rain.’

  ‘But what if the river rises?’ Jess squeezed Dodger into a trot. ‘We might not be able to get her through. I couldn’t handle having to wait until next weekend to bring her home.’

  Dodger swished his tail and gave a ski
p with a hind leg. He broke into a canter. Jess led the girls down the riverbank and they splashed through the knee-deep water.

  Shara cantered up on her shoulder. ‘Can’t that old gerry go any faster?’ she yelled, as she thundered past.

  Dodger seized the bit and took off after Rocko, with Buster and Milly following closely behind. Jess gave him the reins and let him stretch his legs. It felt fantastic to be flying along on him again, his hooves making a loud melodic rumble over the grassy flats. She laughed into the wind and kicked him on.

  Beyond the grassy flats at the Slaughtering Creek junction, the group reached Katrina Pettilow’s place. Her horse Chelpie stood listlessly on a timbered hillside. When the little white mare saw the girls, she pulled a horrible face and charged at the fence.

  ‘Have they weaned Tinkerbell already?’ asked Shara, pulling Rocko back to a walk.

  ‘About a month ago,’ said Jess. ‘Katrina wanted Chelpie back.’

  ‘Did she ever find out about Tinks?’

  ‘Nope. She didn’t visit Chelpie once in six months.’ Jess shook her head. Her friend Luke had used Chelpie to foster his orphan brumby filly when Chelpie had lost her own foal. The little mare had been a good mother, ferociously protective. ‘She’s done nothing but pace up and down that fence since Tinks was taken away from her. She looks terrible.’

  ‘Look how skinny she is,’ Shara said in disgust.

  ‘Katrina should sell her if she’s not interested in her anymore,’ said Rosie. ‘Poor horse.’

  ‘Chelpie’s so sour. Who’d buy her?’ said Jess. ‘I just wish Katrina would feed her a bit more.’

  She looked up at the bank of thick cloud that was swelling behind the mountains – it was moving unbelievably fast – and pushed Dodger into a trot. Chelpie called a screeching whinny as they departed.

  The weather caught up with them just as they rode around the bend alongside the old sawmill. Heavy drops speared into their oilskin jackets and rolled down their helmets. Up ahead, Lawson’s blue timber house stood as neat as a pin. Perfectly straight fences radiated from brick stables and, in the paddocks, the mango trees were heavy with ripening fruit.

  The girls walked the horses through Lawson’s fat red cattle dotted about the flats, then rode up the laneway and into the stable block. The rain was deafening on the tin roof, but it was warm and dry inside.

  Lawson pulled himself from beneath the horse he was shoeing and stretched. ‘I’ve got another couple of horses to trim before we can move that filly,’ he shouted over the din. ‘And I’ve gotta get the cattle in. That river’s gonna rise this afternoon.’

  Jess’s heart sank. Opal was too little to be swimming across rivers, especially fast-flowing ones. ‘Do you want us to bring them in?’ she yelled. ‘We can do it while you finish shoeing those horses.’

  ‘Yeah, righto, just don’t stir ’em up.’

  Shara grinned cheekily. ‘Would we do such a thing?’

  Lawson frowned. ‘You can go down on foot, Shara. Take a bucket of molasses and call them up. Jess, you get behind them on that old stockhorse and do a head count of forty-three.’ He raised his voice in the direction of Grace, who was at the other end of the stable block, tethering her horse. ‘Gracie, can you slip a halter on that grey out in the yards and bring her in? Leave the big gate open for the cattle to come through.’

  Jess rode back out of the building and quickly cast her eyes around the house yard for Luke. She barely saw him now that he was working for Lawson. He was usually out in the work ute, doing the trimming jobs. When he’d worked at Harry’s place, she’d always known where to find him, but these days their paths rarely crossed. Jess couldn’t see the ute. He must be out again.

  She rode down the laneway, Shara clomping behind her. Then, while Shara stood calling out and banging on the bucket, Jess made a wide circle around the cattle. Red and white baldy faces popped out from behind trees, and bellows came from around the bend, as the herd began to wander through the rain towards the molasses. Jess didn’t need to do much but sit there and count them as they plodded by. On the other side of the river she thought she could hear Chelpie’s distressed whinnying above the sound of the rain.

  Jess counted thirty-nine head of cattle, with four more emerging from the bushes below, and pulled her phone from her pocket to text Shara, who she could see pouring the molasses into the yard trough.

  going to check Chelpie, somethgs wrong

  She watched Shara pull her phone out, thumb a message and wave to her, as she opened the gate for the cattle.

  Buzz, rumble.

  Shara: will get Rocko + follow u down.

  Jess trotted back across the flats towards the river. The rain pelted at her and she had to keep her chin down to shield her face. As she ducked under tree branches, she could see the white pony in the distance, her hind legs pulling at the fence wire.

  Typical. Wish the Pettilows would fix their fences.

  As Jess approached, she saw that Chelpie’s legs were caught. Jumping down from Dodger, she checked for injuries and found none, so she carefully untwisted the wire and lifted Chelpie’s back feet out of the tangled mess. As she slipped off the last of the wire, the mare squealed and lashed out with both hind feet. Jess only just managed to duck, and Chelpie’s hooves connected instead with Dodger’s flank. Dodger jumped sideways and, finding himself loose, trotted off across the flats with his reins dangling. Chelpie cantered after him.

  ‘Oh, don’t run away,’ moaned Jess. ‘Dodger!’ She pulled her phone from her pocket and messaged Shara.

  can u grab D?

  She tucked her phone away and stood waiting, hands on hips. Moments later, Shara emerged from the river on Rocko, leading Dodger behind her. ‘What happened?’ she asked. ‘You okay?’

  ‘It’s the last time I help that stupid horse,’ said Jess. ‘Now we’ll have to stuff around for hours trying to catch her.’ Her boot squelched with water as she stepped into the stirrup, and a trickle of water crept under her collar and ran down her spine. Her saddle was like a wet sponge.

  ‘She’s headed towards Lawson’s place,’ said Shara, turning Rocko. ‘Hope she doesn’t make trouble.’

  ‘Great,’ mumbled Jess, as she watched Chelpie prancing about in the pouring rain with her tail in the air. ‘That’s all we need.’

  2

  WHEN THEY GOT BACK to the stables, Jess took off her helmet and coat and shook her head like a dog, sending sprays of water across the stable. Down the aisle she saw Marnie’s head poking out of a stable door.

  ‘Marnie’s in the stable!’ said Shara, rushing down the aisle. ‘Let’s see Opal!’

  ‘I brought her in for you, Jessy,’ said Grace, hanging a halter on the hook outside her stall. ‘Opal just trotted in right behind her.’

  Jess ran down the aisle after Shara to the mare’s stable. Marnie lifted her nose and sniffed at the girls as they approached. She had the kindest, softest eyes Jess had ever seen on a horse. Jess gave her a pat and peered into the stable at the filly sidling up nervously beside her.

  ‘She’s gorgeous,’ said Shara, leaning an elbow on Jess’s shoulder.

  Opal peeped out from behind her mother, her long-lashed eyes wide in wonderment at her new surroundings. She had never been inside a building before.

  ‘Hello, little one,’ said Jess, beaming. She hadn’t seen Opal this close up since the day she was born. She cast her eye over the filly and found her to be every bit as beautiful as she had hoped. She was a rich liver chestnut, glistening gold around her flanks and muzzle, with no white markings except – there they were – the three white diamonds, cascading down her shoulder like falling stars, just like the ones Diamond had had on her hindquarters.

  Jess’s heart flipped in her chest. ‘You’re so perfect,’ she whispered, running her eyes over the filly’s long, elegant neck, straight legs and muscular hindquarters.

  ‘She looks like her daddy, doesn’t she?’ said Grace from behind them. Grace was very proud of her father’s
stallion, Muscles.

  ‘They’re the same colour. I love liver chestnut,’ answered Jess.

  The stallion’s coat changed colour with the seasons. In winter he was dark, almost chocolate brown; after he’d moulted in spring, he turned a brilliant reddish copper. Then, over the hotter parts of summer, he faded to a golden orange. Jess hoped that Opal’s coat would do the same.

  ’What did you decide to call her?’ asked Lawson, walking down the stable aisle and joining them at the stable door. He looked over Jess’s shoulder at the little chestnut filly.

  ‘Opal,’ said Jess, gazing, besotted, at her once-in-a-lifetime horse.

  ‘Bad-luck stones,’ grunted Lawson.

  ‘That’s total rubbish,’ said Jess. ‘Can’t you ever say anything nice?’

  Lawson shrugged. ‘She’s a well-put-together horse. She’ll be an athlete.’ He looked at Grace and smirked. ‘Gets that from the mare’s side.’

  ‘Well, she’ll have good cattle-sense too, which will definitely come from the stallion’s side!’ Grace poked her tongue out at him.

  Lawson cuffed his little cousin on the head. ‘Hope she hasn’t got the stallion’s temperament.’

  ‘Muscles is one of the best stallions in the country,’ Grace said indignantly. ‘There’s nothing wrong with his temperament.’

  There was a faint buzzing noise above the hammering of the rain and Jess stuck her head out of the stable doorway. It was Elliot Duggin on his minibike.

  ‘Vet deliveries,’ said Shara.

  Grace ran to the doorway. ‘I’ll get them. I know where everything goes.’

  Elliot reached the stable door and turned around to the back of the bike. He pulled the lid off a large tub that was secured with occy straps. Jess could hear him mumbling something from under his helmet.

  ‘What?’ Grace yelled. She knocked on his visor and laughed. ‘I can’t hear you!’

  Elliot pulled off his helmet and blinked at Grace. He always blinked a lot when he wasn’t wearing his glasses. ‘There’s a huge storm on the weather radar. I have to get these deliveries done before it comes over. I did a 3D simulation on the Bureau’s Stormwatch game, and it’s going to be huge!’