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Leilah hardly slept with worrying about what Mari might do. The woman wore honesty like a badge and wouldn’t be able to keep the news of Tane’s fight with Malcolm secret. Before dawn, she realised the futility of her concern. Most of their class saw the fight and would snitch to anyone interested enough to listen. “Tane better get his story straight,” she muttered beneath the covers. “And so must I.”
Two days passed before Hector returned. His trailer contained something which kicked up a dreadful fuss as he entered the property. Leilah ran out to the truck as she heard the huge wheels bounce over the rutted driveway, eager fingers unlatching the rear door before Hector could kill the engine.
“Slow down!” Mari shouted after her, more careful descending the porch steps after Leilah’s bounding figure. “Let the poor man get out before you mug him!”
“Horses first,” Leilah trilled, dropping the trailer ramp and standing back to admire Hector’s catch. Two bay Kaimanawa backsides occupied the stalls and two furry foreheads with wide, terrified eyes turned to face her. A tail flicked and the crashing of hooves resumed. Her brow knitted in confusion as Hector slammed his truck door and met her at the back. “We said no mares.” Leilah pouted, pointing an accusing finger at the smaller horse’s rear as she flicked her wispy tail. “Did you forget the difference?”
“Watch yourself, girly!” Hector warned. He nudged her shoulder with his ribs. “She’s beautiful and we got more people this year. They only caught this one colt and the organisers let me have him.” He jerked his head towards the filly. “It was her or nothing.”
“You should have got nothing then,” Leilah jibed. “They’re more trouble than they’re worth.” Her fingers strayed to the arm she broke unloading a mare the year before and Hector raised an eyebrow.
“A bad workman always blames his tools,” he retorted. With a tired sigh, he nodded to Mari before walking to the side door of the horse trailer.
“You want some kai?” Mari asked him and he shook his head. She knew the answer before he confirmed it.
“Na. Horses first.” Hector took his hat off and threw it through the open window of the truck. “Thanks for staying with her, Mari. You can go whenever you want.”
Leilah saw a flicker of pain cross Mari’s face and winced. Relenting, she bounced across and threw her arms around the other woman’s neck. “Love you, Mari,” she whispered. “Thanks for staying with me. I enjoyed it.”
Mari beamed, a puppy dog thrown breadcrumbs after a kicking. “Me too, Lei.” She waggled her blue fingernails as a testimony of their girly activities and grinned. “Come to the cafe tomorrow after school and I’ll make you cheese toasties with my new machine.”
Leilah’s eyes widened. “Ooh, you’ve brought one of those stitched up sandwich things. Yes please!” She kissed Mari’s cheek, feeling the crows’ feet beneath her lips. The thought of Mari aging pained her, synonymous with her father’s inevitable decline. Surely God wouldn’t be cruel enough to snatch anyone else away. Would he?
Mari’s old car rumbled along the driveway and Leilah helped Hector unload. The filly freaked at the stallion’s crashing hooves, backing down the ramp at speed and dragging Leilah behind her. At the thought of escape, the filly raised her head in the air, fighting the newness of a head collar and rope and forcing herself into a frenzy.
“Put her in with Lachie!” Hector called. He kept his voice level and Leilah nodded, hauling the filly towards a gate opened ready. She’d tied the old gelding to the fence inside and he strained at his rope, eyes like saucers at the sweating mess dancing across the yard.
“Steady,” Leilah crooned to the filly. She walked ahead, not buying in to the attempt to fight, but keeping the rope wrapped around her left hand. Awareness flooded her mind as she kept herself safe, hearing the birds calling in the trees and catching sight of a forgotten head collar flapping against a fence post. Though she studied every obstacle, her brain working overtime in anticipation of the filly bolting, her shoulders remained relaxed enough for the frightened horse to follow her. She baulked at the gate, as Leilah knew she would, hauling backward on the rope and trying to get enough length to raise her front feet.
“Enough now,” Hector sighed, speaking in a quiet voice from behind. The filly’s eyes flashed terrified white orbs before her feet gained traction in the dirt. She dashed through the aperture, sending Leilah scattering out of the way. At the final moment, she remembered to release the lead rope, feeling the knotted end contact her forearm as the filly galloped past.
She turned to Hector, anger budding in her eyes. “Dad!” she snarled, using his proper title for a change. “Why did you do that? Don’t you remember what happened last year?”
He jerked his head upward. “Yep. You broke your arm because you wrapped the rope around it after I told you not to.” His eyes flashed a warning. “Looks like you did it again today too.” His index finger jabbed at the mare as she reached the other side of the paddock. “Now you need to get that rope back.”
Turning on his heel, he closed the gate behind him and returned to the trailer to retrieve the stallion. Leilah heard the clatter inside cease and the steady thwack of obedient hooves reversing down the ramp. Her shoulders slumped in defeat as the stallion followed Hector like the meekest of lambs, cowed by the horse whisperer’s confidence in the face of wrath. “Marvellous!” Leilah grumbled. She watched as the filly felt the lead rope touch her knees and took off running. Clods of loose dirt fanned in an arc behind her. “Freakin marvellous.”