Hot Potato (Shelby and Blue) - Alyssa Brugman [37]
She stayed still in the long grass until the veranda light went out. Her cheek was throbbing now and her head pounded. What she wanted to do most of all was lie still and sleep. She thought about how cosy it would be lying in bed. But first she had something to do, and she'd come this far.
This time as she walked across the paddock the two horses ignored her completely. Typical, she thought.
She crept around the back of the stable block, out of sight of the house. She could hear the horses moving around inside and she hummed softly, so as not to startle them.
Soon she could see Ajax's stable at the end of the row. In the gloom she could just make out the big gelding standing in the stable with his ears laid back. He was leaning his weight on one hind leg, and it made his rump look even more sloping and bony than normal. She slipped through the gate.
'Hey there, big fella. Aren't you just the meanest boy in the whole world?' she said, trying to sound bright. Shelby edged around the front of him, keeping her hand on his chest or shoulder. Once she was past him Ajax swished his tail.
Shelby pulled the fifty-dollar note out of her pocket and crumpled it in her hand.
The tack room door creaked as it swung away from her hand. Shelby could hear Ajax's hooves rustling through the rice hulls as he moved around behind her. She tossed the note underhand. When it landed on the wooden floor it unfurled like flower petals.
All done! Shelby smiled. That was much easier than she had thought. Now she could go home to her wonderful, warm, snuggly bed.
She turned and took a step forward. She didn't know what had happened at first, but she was moving backwards and she couldn't breathe. She felt the second blow full in the stomach. One hoof hit her in the guts – right over her belly button. The other slid across her hip. She felt like throwing up.
Shelby raised her arms and tried to take a step backwards to regain balance, but the back of her calf caught on the tack room doorsill and she fell into the room.
A brief image appeared in her mind of the appaloosa filly stuck in a corner of the paddock, squealing with fear and panic, then the doctor's face, like a ghost, in front of her eyes, saying, 'Keep away from horses for at least four to five weeks.' Inside her head, she heard her own voice telling Erin on the phone, 'I just can't go in with the bad horses,' and then the back of her head hit the wooden floor.
26 Busted like Custard
'Wake up!'
Shelby swam back into consciousness, and immediately wished for sleep. Her head pounded and her cheekbone felt as though it was so swollen that her skin would burst like an overripe tomato.
Her chest hurt too, and there was a rattling sensation inside when she breathed. That was a new one to add to the list of pains, along with the ache in her stomach, and the sharp stabbing sensation over her hip.
Two strong arms gathered her up – one around her shoulders and the other under her knees. She could smell a leathery scent, like the smell of the saddlery, but crossed with a musky aroma. She opened her eyes.
'Clint,' she mumbled.
'Don't move. Let's get you inside and then we can have a proper look at you.' He swept her up and carried her across the stable and into the laneway.
It was still quite dark, although Shelby thought the light had a pinkish-grey quality, as though it was not far from dawn. She must have blacked-out for hours! Then she remembered she had awoken at some stage during the night, but her head hurt, so she lay still until sleep washed over her again.
'It looks like you might have broken your cheekbone. You'll be lucky if he hasn't fractured your skull. I'll get Brenda to phone an ambulance. He's a monster, that horse. Maybe this time they'll shoot him. I'll shoot him myself!'
'No! You don't understand.' Shelby struggled. 'I broke my cheek before. Please don't take me inside. I'll be fine. I just need to get home.'
Clint wasn't listening. He was almost running now. 'Lord knows how long you've been lying there! I'm sure