Brumby Mountain (3 page)

‘You
have
been handling them,' Jess said, impressed.

‘Hasn't taken long,' he said. ‘Two weeks. Some of the older ones aren't so friendly but this guy loves me. I called him Buddy.' Luke ran a hand over the small horse's back. ‘Cos that's what you've been, haven't you? You've been my buddy.' The horse dropped its head and took another mouthful of hay.

‘Come in and meet them,' Luke said to her.

Jess joined him. A tall bay colt shied and darted to the opposite side of the arena, taking the others with him, but as they settled again, Luke moved closer to another chestnut. He approached calmly and ran a hand over the horse's shoulder, repeating the rubbing and scratching until he was picking up its feet and running his hands around its head and ears. The horse let out a long sigh.

Jess noted the size and stockiness of the horse. It was well put together, not at all like the melon-headed, ewe-necked brumbies she'd heard about.

‘That's a really nice horse,' she said, surprised.

‘It is, ay,' said Luke, still rubbing and scratching.

‘I thought they'd be ugly.'

‘Not the tablelands brumbies. There have been some good stallions introduced to their herds over the years, real good ones, and these guys have been trapped and carefully handled. We shouldn't have any trouble re-homing most of them.'

Luke kept talking as he walked through the herd and Jess marvelled at the way he moved among them, knowing when to approach, when to retreat, how to put their wild souls at ease. He had less success with a couple of older mares, who eyed him warily and turned their hindquarters at him, but he let them be, focusing on the younger, more receptive ones.

‘Can I come in too?' said a small voice from the sidelines. It was Grace, peering through two lower rails.

Luke hesitated. ‘All right, pat Buddy,' he said, nodding towards the little horse. ‘I've gotta go and unpack anyway.'

Grace joined Jess in the arena and together they moved slowly and carefully among the brumbies, eventually turning some buckets upside-down and sitting side by side, just watching them.

‘Where'd Shara go?' asked Jess.

‘To the movies with Corey.'

Jess nodded. ‘Not tempted by any of these fine steeds?'

‘Nah, but I'll help re-home them,' said Grace. ‘I might ask Lawson if I can start that bay colt. I'd want a cut of the sale price, though. He'd get good money for him.'

‘You sound like a horse dealer.'

Grace shrugged. ‘When my dream horse does come along, I want to be able to afford him.'

‘What about Luke's mob?' said Jess.

Grace arched both eyebrows. ‘I don't know what Luke's gonna do with that lot.'

Jess looked at the four bewildered horses, slamming up against each other in the nearby yard. ‘Nor do I,' she said.

Later in the afternoon, Jess found Luke sitting under the big coachwood tree near the round yard, staring at his mob of four brumbies. They were wild animals that had once galloped with the wind, knowing nothing but hundreds of kilometres of unfenced mountain scrub, deep ravines and trickling creeks, relying on fitness and speed for survival. Now they milled around in the muddy confines of a stockyard.

She sat next to him. ‘You okay?'

‘Yeah, just sitting here thinking.' He looked at her. ‘How good would it be to build a brumby sanctuary? We could rescue more horses like these.'

Jess resisted the temptation to make loud choking noises. ‘So how come you ended up with this lot and Lawson ended up with the others?' she asked.

‘Lawson said these ones were too far gone. But I just couldn't leave them. I know I can turn them around.' He looked at her suddenly with an earnest expression. ‘I was kinda hoping you would help me.'

‘How?'

‘Come and work with me, properly, you know, like full-time.'

Jess laughed. That was ridiculous. ‘I can't, I go to school, remember?'

‘So quit.'

‘Quit school?'

‘Yeah. I did it.' He took her hand and squeezed it. ‘We could re-home wild horses; stop them becoming pet food.'

‘My parents wouldn't let me. They'd freak.'

‘Can't they see how amazing you are with horses?' He paused. ‘If you could do absolutely anything for a job, what would you do?'

‘Train horses.'

‘See?' He shrugged. ‘How will school help you with that?'

‘But . . .' The idea of an education had been drilled into Jess's psyche for as long as she could remember. The plan had always been to go to uni. ‘What would I say to Mum and Dad?'

‘Just talk to them, they'll understand.'

But Jess wasn't as confident. ‘How would we afford to pay for all the feed and everything?'

‘Don't worry about that,' he said. ‘I've got it covered.'

‘But it's going to cost a heap to feed them and vet them. That colt needs gelding. They're all injured. They need worming and vaccinating . . . ' A huge list of bills was building in her head. ‘How come you could buy these brumbies in the first place? What happened about your dad? You were going to try to find him while you were down at Mathews' Flat. Why were you away for so long?'

Luke plucked at a piece of grass in front of him, hesitating. ‘My dad's dead. He died of cancer six months ago. I already knew before I left to get the brumbies.'

‘Hey?'

‘We stopped in at Armidale on the way,' Luke continued, ‘went to a solicitor, to sort out my father's will. Turns out he left me everything he had: a property at Mathews' Flat and a bit of money. It wasn't a lot. I used some of it to buy the brumbies.'

Jess looked at him, stunned. Luke owned a property in Mathews' Flat? That was miles away, interstate in fact – not even in Queensland!

‘Lawson wanted me to put all the money in the bank, lock it up for years in some account and do nothing with it. But finding those brumbies was like some weird sort of calling. It was just too much of a coincidence that they were from Mathews' Flat.' He shrugged. ‘I felt a really strong connection with them.'

‘And you got a property? You mean, like a house?'

‘Yeah, with forty hectares of land. It was my father's place,' said Luke. ‘He's buried in the cemetery nearby. So is my mum.' He looked at her with troubled eyes. ‘It's where I was born.'

So, it was like . . . home . . . to him?

Luke never spoke much about his childhood, but Jess knew it had been all over the place and mostly unhappy. His mum had died when he was two, then his father adopted him out when he was four. He'd lived with several foster families before he finally came to Harry and Annie's place.

‘Did you go and look at it?'

He shook his head. ‘Not yet. I will when I'm ready. But I want to do something about these brumbies first.' He stood up and held out a hand for her. ‘Speaking of which, the vet's here.'

Jess followed him back to the yards, her head spinning like a flywheel.

By the time all the brumbies had been vetted and assessed, it was nearly dark.

Luke's brumbies were pushed into the cattle crush and sedated with a dart gun so John Duggin could stitch wounds and generally patch them up. It was a horrible process which Jess found almost as distressing as the brumbies did.

Sapphire, the creamy stallion, had to be knocked out cold so that John could clean and stitch the gaping wound on the horse's face.

Sapphire was left in the big arena to slowly wake, with his herd standing groggily nearby. When he did, he seemed more traumatised than before, and charged around, roaring at the other horses through the fence.

‘Should just put him down,' said Lawson, watching from the sidelines. ‘It's cruel keeping him alive.'

But Luke refused. John sedated the stallion again in case he broke his stitches, and those of his mares, and left them to it.

Jess walked back to the stables. The night-time sounds of bats and possums mingling with whinnying brumbies, clinking gates and friendly and familiar voices made her smile. For some reason, she always seemed to feel happiest when she was utterly knackered.

‘Do you need a lift home?' asked Grace, wandering up behind her. ‘Lawson said he's leaving in ten minutes.'

‘That would be great,' said Jess. ‘Don't fancy riding home in the dark. I just want to say goodnight to Luke and then I'll come up.'

Luke was sweeping the stable aisle with a big, wide broom, making long swishing noises that echoed against the quiet night. The feedroom was closed and locked and the horses were quiet except for an occasional sleepy snort. He propped the broom up against a wall when he saw Jess.

He put his arms around her shoulders and breathed into her hair, making a big warm cocoon around her that she wanted to stay curled up inside forever.

‘You're like one of those therapy pets,' he said. ‘You know, the ones they take around to old people's homes.'

‘You calling me a dog?'

‘An old Labrador,' he said teasingly. ‘A nice one, though, a girl one, one that gets washed a lot.'

‘Thanks,' she grumbled. ‘Hey, I'm really sorry you didn't get a chance to meet your dad.'

Luke sighed. ‘So weird. I always thought once I was eighteen I would just look him up and find out what happened, but I never imagined he wouldn't be there.'

He looked into the yard, where the brumby stallion still paced frenetically. ‘I'll be all right, though. So will that stallion, once he gets used to the idea.' He looked at her happily. ‘You and me, Jessy. We'll sort them out.'

Jess gave an awkward laugh. Surely he didn't really expect her to just drop out of school?

4

THAT NIGHT JESS
lay on her bed and gazed at the ceiling. She pulled out her phone and stared at Luke's photo for a while. Then she messaged Shara.

I want to leave school.
Huh? Why?
I want to work with Luke and brumbies.
Don't be insane. You're too brainy.
Mum probably wouldn't let me anyway.

Within seconds her phone rang. ‘What's going on?' said Shara.

‘Luke wants me to leave school and work with him full-time.'

‘Yeah, right,' said Shara. ‘And who's gonna pay you? Isn't he supposed to be doing a farrier's apprenticeship?'

‘He could still do that.'

‘What about you? You wouldn't earn any money.'

‘I don't care about money. Some things are more important than money, Sharsy. ' ‘Yeah, like an education. Surely you're not serious, Jess.'

Jess groaned. ‘School gets in the way of
everything
!'

Shara laughed. ‘
Horses
get in the way of everything. So do boyfriends. Corey is the biggest distraction. I don't know how I'll ever become a vet with him hanging around. But seriously, Jess. Don't go blowing off school for something that can wait.'

‘But it can't wait. Luke needs me now and so do the brumbies.' She told Shara about Luke's father and his inheritance: the property in the tablelands of New South Wales. ‘What if he wants to move down there, Shara?'

‘So
that's
what this is about,' said her bestie. ‘He wouldn't leave you, would he?'

‘I don't know.'

‘Nah,' said Shara, brushing it off. ‘Luke would never move away from Coachwood Crossing. It's his home. He loves it here. And he's totally crazy about you.'

‘Maybe I could just take a gap year,' said Jess, wishing she could feel as confident as Shara. ‘Everyone takes a gap year.'

‘Everyone takes a gap year
after
Year Twelve, and I was kinda hoping to spend
my
gap year with
you
!'

Jess was silent.

‘Jess, you can't give up your whole life just because you're scared Luke will leave you. That's insane.' Shara changed to her feminist career-woman tone. ‘Get a bit of guts about you, Jessica Fairley. A woman's destiny must be her own!'