Greener Pastures - Alyssa Brugman [40]
'My chips are probably ready,' she said, jumping up.
They walked back across the road together. Shelby collected her food and then they stood outside the shop looking in opposite directions. The heat of the chips was burning her arm, but still she stood there.
'I'm glad that you will be here when I'm here,' she said. Their eyes met and she quickly looked away again.
'Me too,' he said.
'See ya!' she said, and jogged up the hill. When she was a few hundred metres away she turned around to see if he was still watching, but he had gone.
22 Sunk
On the way home Shelby's dad asked whether they minded if they stopped in at the Alfa workshop to pick up a car part he had been waiting on. Aunty Jenny, sitting in the front, said she didn't mind.
Shelby was in no hurry to get home. She was wrapped in her own thoughts.
She thought briefly about Lydia as they turned into the industrial estate, but then her mind went back to her own problems. She would definitely message Chad when she got home, if he was online.
The problem wasn't so much moving any more. Now that she had seen the room she could imagine living in it. And she was a bit excited about going to London. The problem was Blue. The stupid camel club wasn't right for him. Would there be time to find another place before they moved? What if Dandelion Flat was the best place? She wished she could find somewhere up there that was set up like Clint's place. That would be perfect – especially when they were away overseas.
The workshop was off by itself at the end of the block. Shelby's father turned the corner and then slowed down. 'What's that in the road?' He leaned over the steering wheel peering through the windscreen. 'Is that a horse?'
There, lying on his side in the middle of the road, was Chance. Lydia was hauling at the reins and crying. Shelby had the window open and could hear her from inside the car. Before the car had even stopped, Shelby jumped out and ran towards her classmate.
'Get up! Get up, you stupid thing!' Lydia screamed. Her breaths were coming in huge gulps. Her face was a deep red and wet with tears. Her hair stuck to her cheeks in tendrils. She pulled at the pony's head, her arms and shoulders white with tension. She grunted with the strain.
With every haul Chance's head would lift off the ground, but as she got close Shelby could see the vein throbbing in his neck. He was so sweaty that Shelby could see the coloured pattern of his skin underneath. His eyes were wide and panicked, but at the same time, dull and dead inside.
And Shelby knew it. It was the look that her great-aunt had told her about. The little pony stared at the sky, as though he was wishing for it all to be over. He stared with such concentration that he almost seemed catatonic.
Shelby grabbed Lydia by the shoulders. 'What happened?'
Lydia looked at Shelby, noticing for the first time that she was there. She spoke between sobs. 'I was just riding along, and then all of a sudden he just crumpled up. He crumpled in a heap and I can't get him up again. He won't.' She hauled at his head again. 'He has to get up! Get UP!' She pulled at the reins again.
'Lydia!' Shelby grabbed the reins from the girl. Lydia went around to the side of the pony and dropped to the ground, burying her face into his shoulder. 'Chancey, get up. Please!' She bawled into his hair.
Shelby turned back to the car, but her dad was already on the mobile phone. He snapped the phone shut and walked towards them. Aunty Jenny was standing halfway between Chance and the car. She had her hands on her cheeks.
'Can you tell the vet to . . .' Shelby started. 'Can you tell her to . . .' Her voice trailed off. She felt the tears welling in her eyes. She looked down at Chance. He was