Greener Pastures - Alyssa Brugman [45]
Shelby thought Lydia's dad had a lot of ideas, and not all of them were good ones, but she nodded. 'OK, well, let me drop off this wheelbarrow and I'll show you around.'
Lydia and Lee followed Shelby to the poo pile. When Lee saw it he gasped.
'That's a lot of poo. That's a real lot of poo.'
Brenda Edel walked up behind them. 'Shelby, this is probably not the best place to start the tour.' She tried to steer Lee and Lydia away, but Lee was transfixed.
'What do you do with it all?'
Mrs Edel explained about the community garden.
'I'd be happy to take it off your hands,' Lee said. 'I have a landscaping business. I'd love to make my own composted manure. That would be great.'
Shelby had never seen him look so enthusiastic before.
'That sounds like a deal that would work for both of us,' Brenda Edel said, smiling.
Shelby cleared her throat. 'Lydia and Lee are the people you gave some advice to yesterday.'
'Advice?'
'About Chance,' Shelby said.
'Oh.' Mrs Edel took Lydia's hand. 'I'm so sorry. They hang around, though, I've found. You'll see him out of the corner of your eye sometimes, just saying hello.'
Lydia bit her lip and her eyes welled with tears. Shelby could see how hard she was trying to keep her emotions in check. Shelby felt herself start to cry too.
'Shel can take you out for a tour while I talk to your dad here for a bit. I think we can do business.'
Shelby showed Lydia the feed shed. While they made up the feeds together Shelby prattled on about which horses got which combinations of feed and why. She showed Lydia her board. Then she climbed up to the top of the hay pile and threw down a bale.
Lydia picked it up and plonked it on the end of the trolley as though she'd been doing it for years.
The two girls put the feeds into the waiting stables. When they came around the corner they met Lindsey, who had just finished mucking out the rest of the stables.
Shelby made the introductions. She explained about Lee's business and how it was likely that Lydia would be visiting more often. Lindsey nodded. She had met Lydia's dad when she emptied her barrow. The girls grabbed some lead ropes and then walked down the laneway to move the horses out for the day.
'There are so many horses here!' Lydia said. 'I had no idea.'
Three by three they brought the horses out. Along the way Shelby or Lindsey would tell Lydia stories about the horses.
'And you remember Bandit – Erin's horse,' Shelby said as they stopped by Bandit's yard.
'He's so gorgeous,' Lydia said, stroking his neck. 'Don't you think he's gorgeous?'
Shelby shared a smile with Lindsey. 'Yeah, he's pretty good. Come and meet the school ponies.'
The girls headed over to saddle up the riding school ponies. Blue sauntered over and snuggled in to Shelby. She laughed on the outside, but secretly she loved that he was being so affectionate with her. At the same time it made her feel desperately sad.
Lydia looked around the paddock. 'These are all yours?' she asked Lindsey.
Lindsey nodded. 'It's a lot of work, but I like it. Do you want to come on the trail ride with us?'
They had a group of fifteen for the trail ride that day. Lindsey asked Shelby to ride Cracker, after his unpredictable behaviour the previous weekend. She suggested that Lydia could ride Blue, but Shelby didn't want to. She couldn't explain to her friend without bursting into tears. Lindsey watched her closely, but didn't ask for an explanation. Shelby suggested Siete for Lydia instead and Lindsey agreed.
For all her inexperience, Shelby noticed that Lydia had a nice way with the horses. She murmured to Siete as she moved around him, letting him know where she was. She tightened his girth one hole at a time, instead of just reefing it up to the highest hole first go. She also remembered the names of all the trail riders. Shelby had never been able to do that.
They were just heading