Diamond Spirit by Karen Wood

Author:Karen Wood [Wood, Karen]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: JUV001000, JUV000000
ISBN: 9781742692241
Publisher: Allen & Unwin Pty Ltd
Published: 2010-12-31T20:00:00+00:00

17

WHEN JESS TURNED UP at Rosie and Grace’s place for the first time, she wondered if she had the right place. She’d expected a well-tended stud farm, but the Arnold house was surrounded by junk. There were crooked piles of old bricks, tangled steel, old engines and slabs of timber, all cluttered along the muddy, potholed driveway. There was just enough room for a vehicle to grind its way through.

Among the debris, an assortment of horses chewed on their morning feed. She recognised Buster, who stood out from the rest in a clean blue rug and a clean blue halter, eating out of a clean blue feed bin.

Fat red chooks waddled between the horses’ legs, pecking at the morsels of grain that fell from their mouths. As Jess rode up the driveway, the sour-sweet smells of manure in mud and hot, moist lucerne hung heavily in the still air. It was a smell that, before the rain, would have been quite delicious. But now, only hours later, it had a slightly decomposing edge that didn’t travel up the nostrils quite so smoothly.

There was a sudden frenzy of squawking and barking as a black kelpie chased a chook across the front yard. A woman brandishing a stick marched after them in old gumboots, wearing jeans and a baseball cap with black hair sticking out in all directions from under it. She was Grace and Rosie’s mum – Mrs Arnold. Jess recognised her from gymkhanas. She had the Blake nose. She was Harry’s sister; Lawson’s aunt.

Jess sat there on her horse, feeling awkward, as Mrs Arnold caught up with the dog and unleashed a string of colourful expletives. The dog spat out a mouthful of red feathers and darted off under an old tractor with its tail between its legs.

‘Stanley!’ Mrs Arnold shrieked. ‘Come and get this mongrel dog of yours before I shoot it!’

Yep, they’re related all right – gun freaks the lot of them!

Mr Arnold, who Jess had also seen at gymkhanas, walked onto the verandah, leaving the front door to bang behind him. He grumbled something and pulled on some Cuban-heeled boots.

Rosie and Grace appeared from under the house in oilskin jackets, each carrying a saddle.

‘Mum’s in a bad mood,’ whispered Rosie to Jess.

‘Yeah, let’s get out of here,’ said Grace.

Jess rode beside the girls as they walked down a dirt track that led to a large paddock by the river flats. ‘Where are Tom and Luke?’ she asked.

‘Luke’s saddling up Muscles, our stallion. Dad said he could ride him. Tom’s riding along the river flats. They’ll meet us down the paddock.’ Grace glanced back over her shoulder and said, ‘Poor Dad.’ Then she changed the subject. ‘We taught Handbrake to steer without any reins. I’ll show you when I catch her.’

‘Which one is Handbrake?’ Jess asked. She couldn’t keep up with all the different horses Grace rode.

‘She’s the bay filly we got from the saleyards. Dad called her Handbrake because she’s so lazy. He wants me to draft her and sell her on as a kids’ horse.

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