Chapter 7

Ebony turned up the volume of the F-100's radio and bit into another red jelly snake. It was just on dusk and the farm was coming into view. Boston's red ribbon and Buddy's green one hung limply from the rear-vision mirror, and Ebony chewed contentedly. She was happily exhausted, proud of her boys, and thinking about getting them settled infor the night and taking a long hot shower. The headlights wove through the gate and down the drive and slid along Dale's station wagon, which was parked at an odd angle as usual, and spot-lit Spud who was trotting beadily up to the truck. Ebony pulled into the float bay and caught sight of Dale replacing the spare key which was always stuck to the underside of Spud's water-bowl.

“Mum! What are you doing here?!”
“Hello Bub! How did you go? How was the new boy? Ooh! Two ribbons: Wow!” Dale swept up to the driver's side door and kissed Ebony through the open window in a cloud of vermillion fabric and sandalwood.
“Yep” said Ebony jumping out. “They did well! Boston cleaned up in the Novice – I didn't think he was going to, but he did! And Buddy showed a lot of potential. He's such a trier.”
“I took Spud for a walk for you, Sweetie – hope you dont mind. I was going to the beach and I thought of him home alone, so i came and picked him up. He had a wonderful day.”
“Oh thanks Mum, he would have loved that!” Ebony hugged her Mum and glanced at the little orange mongrel, who was now systematically sniffing and lifting his leg on each of her tyres. “I usually take him, but this event was on private property. No dogs.” Ebony hopped down from the cab of the truck, stretched her aching back and offered Dale a jelly snake from the open packet.
“Mmm!” nodded Dale, picking a yellow one.
Ebony took two more snakes and offered one to each horse as she reached through the front access door of the float to untie them. Boston nodded his head and curled his lip appreciatively. He was such a sweet-tooth. Buddy slobbered happily on his snake dropping half on the ground, where it was promptly gobbled up by the lurking Spud.
“It's the quick and the dead round here, mate!” she laughed, patting the gelding's huge white face.

“I thought you might be late back, so I made up the feeds and stuck them in the stalls to save you some time. I hope I did it right...” Ebony sighed and thanked God once again for such a thoughtful person as Dale. She may not have been the typical horsey, pony club mum, but she supported her daughter where and how she could. “... I added a few drops of arnica which will help ease their sore muscles, and some vervain to calm them. I brought you some of my lentil lasagne for you to reheat for dinner. Actually you could use some arnica too...”
Ebony put Boss's lead rope over her forearm and shouldered open the roller door. A purple mass loomed in the end stall and Ebony stepped back. Boss threw his head up and planted his front feet in shock.
“Oh yes – that's the other reason I come over. Isn't it great? Amidoo and Nehara gave to to me! They're heading over to India for a few years to train with that yogi... some sort of buddhist reatreat with chanting and drumming and vegetarian food – sounds incredible! Anyway, it leaks and they dont know when they'll be back... I figure I might fix it up. Or maybe I'll strip it and donate it to the day care for a cubby for the kids...” Ebony looked at her mother in horror.
“What the hell is it?”
“Oh, it's a caraven. Little kitchen, little table, little bed... You dont mind, do you darling? It's just that it leaks so if I park it outside...”
Ebony looked incredulously at the round purple bulk squatting in her fourth stall. It was the colour of an eggplant, and rather the shape of one too. Nehara had made some purple and orange paisley curtains for the windows, and along its side ran the words 'Astral Travellers' in curly pink letters. Ebony let the air escape from her lungs.
“Whoa. WHOA. It's very... um... 'eye-catching', isn't it? Ha. No, I dont mind, Mum, you can leave it here. I hardly use that last stall anyway... only really when I'm too lazy to clean one of the others!” Laughed Ebony, leading Boston into his stall, where he buried his nose in his feedbin. He looked cautiously over at the big purple beast in the next stall, flattened his ears back and bearing his teeth in a 'I am so NOT sharing my dinner with you' gesture, and firmly turned his hindquarters to it. Dale lead Buddy into his stall and clapped his neck, bangles and bracelettes jangling. “So..... cuppa?”

After school on Monday afternoon, Ebony bounced along the dirt track out to Ryan's feed warehouse. The truck squeaked and rattled over the cattle grids, leaving clouds of billowing orange dust in its wake. Spud's orange face hung out the passenger window, his whiskery chops flapping in the breeze. His eyes watered as he strained against the wind, his whole body wagging excitedly in time with his tail. Ebony had gone home to change after school and grab the dog before heading out to Ryan's. She had laughed incredulously as she found herself undecided as to what to wear. 'I'm buying feed, for heaven's sake!' she chortled, and pulled on her favourite jeans and a black polo shirt. In true Ebony style, she of course noticed as she was halfway to the farm, that the reason the polo shirt had been discarded, was that it had a white blob of dried toothpaste down the front. Ebony licked a finger and rubbed fruitlessly at the mark. Useless. Oh well.

At last she pulled up to the feed warehouse, jumping down from the cab, followed at speed by a scrambling Spud, claws catching on the frayed seat covers. The place was still, and the building was cool and dark, but empty. Skirting around the side, Ebony caught sight of movement from the corner of her eye, and spotted Ryan chatting to Cathy beside a high-fenced cattle yard. She waved and wandered over.

“Heya.” waved Ryan, tucking his hands into his jean pockets and leaning back onto the fence. “Come round for that feed?”
“Yep. Hey Cathy!” Ebony nodded, looking into the cattle yard. “Who are these two critters?”
A pair of leggy young ponies stood warily at the far end of the yard. The smaller of the two was about 13.2 hands high, and a rotund little chestnut with a bushy mane and tail. The other horse stood close to 15 hands, a gold-coloured buckskin, with a springy black mane which stood straight up. The way his forelock stood up as if it had been hairsprayed gave his face a look of startled suprise.
“That's Ernie, and the the bigger one is Bert. I named them after the Sesame Street characters – you can see the resemblance, huh?” Cathy laughed. “Did I tell you? My brother Steve brought them up from Jindi for me...?” Ebony remembered and nodded. “Yeah, I told you. Anyway, this is them. My two baby brumbies. Totally wild and full of themselves,” she laughed.
“They're not bad sorts” Ebony said eyeing the horses critically, “good bone – that's a brumby thing – they'll be tough as nails. And brave. The chestnut one's a bit short, but that wont be a problem for you” Ebony gestured to Cathy's five-foot-two, tiny frame. “Bitch.” she added, jokingly.
Cathy laughed good-naturedly. “Its not so great actually. Mostly I have to shop in the kid's section of K-Mart, so it's hard to find clothes that fit me that dont have the Wiggles or Dora the Explorer on them.” She laughed. “Plus my horses have to carry so much lead when I event to make correct weight. I mean, better for them to carry a couple of kilos extra of 'live' rider, than a slab of lead.”
“As a sensitive new-aged male, I'm frightened to participate in this conversation regarding female weight” joked Ryan, holding up both hands in mock surrender. “Can I just nod neutrally and change the subject? The feed: let me show you what I have.” Ryan laughed, leading the way to the big warehouse, “Step into my office ladies.”