Greener Pastures - Alyssa Brugman [47]
They had talked about Blue over the phone and agreed that the best thing to do would be to get him settled in his new place straight away. Brenda Edel had agreed to lend Blue's best friend Hiccup to Clint for a few weeks just while Blue acclimatised. But Shelby suspected they were doing that more for her than for Blue. The pony knew Clint very well; it seemed unlikely that he would fret.
There was no trail ride in the morning, but Lindsey told Shelby to go out into the Gully for a ride anyway.
Shelby saddled Blue and rode him along the laneway to the back gate. She halted Blue just outside. Where would she go on her last ride into the Gully? Where would Blue like to go most of all? She decided to give him his head, so she gently squeezed his sides, pushing him forward. Blue peeked at her over his shoulder.
'I don't mind, little guy; it's up to you.'
Blue turned left, following a winding trail down the hill towards the causeway.
First she told him about her conversation with Chad. Then she sang a song for him. She picked 'Blue Eyes', which was a daggy old Elton John song that Shelby's dad used to sing all the time when Shelby first got Blue. When her voice cracked she whispered it to him instead. Blue's ears twitched as he listened to her.
Eventually she said, 'I need to explain something to you.'
Blue plodded on.
She couldn't think of a way to sugar-coat it, and besides, sugar-coating would be dishonest.
'I have sold you,' she said. Her lip trembled so she rode for a while in silence, trying to get herself together.
After a while she began again. 'I wanted to explain to you why I have done that. Firstly, I am too big for you. You should be carrying a much smaller child. Also, that is what you do best in the whole world. You like teaching beginners.'
She raked her fingers through his mane. 'But I'm not going to pretend that I'm doing this for you. I'm doing it for me. You can't really do the things I want to do.'
Shelby felt an ache in her throat. She swallowed, trying to dislodge the lump there.
'So I have found the very nicest beginner that I can, and a dad who is the most knowledgeable person that I know. He might even look after you better than I can, and when the little girl grows out of you he will probably let you retire at his place. You won't be neglected, but you will have a peaceful life. I will ask him to let me know when . . .'
Hot tears filled her eyes, blurring her vision. She rode again for a long time not saying anything.
'When I leave school I'm going to buy a property and then maybe I could buy you back.'
Her lip trembled again. 'I promise that ...I will ask Clint to let me know if you should ever get sick, because I want to be there when . . .' Her voice was all crackly and thick. 'I want to have the opportunity to say thank you again, because you are a one in a million, and it has been an honour.'
Her throat was really hurting now, but she pressed on. 'It has been an honour to learn with you.' She wiped her face on her sleeve. 'I'm truly sorry for all the mistakes I made. I'm sorry and I love you.'
Shelby dropped the reins and cried into her sleeve.
Blue plodded on. She leaned forward slightly as he headed uphill. She couldn't see at all now. Then he stopped.
She wiped her eyes and blinked. She was standing in front of a new house – a Kensington. It stood where Blue's old paddock used to be.
She tipped forward and wrapped her hands around his neck, sobbing into his mane.
Shelby had given Blue his head and he had gone home.
27 Memorial
Hayley and Mrs Crook were already starting the barbecue when Shelby got back.
Shelby washed Blue in the wash-bay with warm water and shampoo. She also combed out his tail and trimmed it in a neat line straight across. She slipped on a fresh cotton combo rug and let him into the paddock with the other school ponies. Aside from the special bath it was just like any other day.
Lindsey took Shelby inside the house to wash her face, and also to lend her a tee-shirt and a clean pair of pants. Shelby's