Charlotte and the Starlet (14 page)

A few minutes later, Leila had snuck out of the barn,
jumped four fences and made it through the bush
and onto the highway. Inside the bus shelter she
smelled baby powder. Odds on Charlie had been
there as recently as this morning. Probably the
buses didn't run in the evening and she'd had to
spend the night on the bench here. Leila had no idea
where the city was but given the air here was smogfree
she guessed it wasn't anywhere close by. Oh
well, looks like it was shanks's pony for now. She
trotted off down the road.

About half an hour later she caught a break. Parked
at a service station was a large truck carrying an empty
swimming pool. Fortunately, with her recent practice,
it was easy for Leila to jump up into the pool.

After about five minutes the driver came out of the
shop carrying a hamburger. He didn't notice Leila as
he bent to open his door.

'You heading for the city?' she called out, then
ducked her head.

'Yeah,' the driver answered. He looked around to
see who'd asked. There was no sign of anybody. He
shook his head, mumbled that he'd have to stop doing
these long hauls because they were making him nuts,
then he climbed into his cab and turned on the
engine.

Sleeping in the bus shelter didn't present any real
hardship to Charlotte. She'd slept on much rougher
ground with fire ants nipping at her feet. The city, on
the other hand, was so much noisier, smellier and
scarier than she'd ever imagined. The buildings were
so tall. She stepped onto the road to get a better look
and a car-horn blared so loudly she nearly jumped out
of her skin. With her heart pounding, she dived back
onto the footpath. The driver of a van shouted at her
as he roared past.

It was really strange here. There were so many
people but nobody looked at anyone else, they all
seemed to be too busy. Charlotte realised that
Strudworth might have told the police about her so
she kept out of the way of any policemen she saw. The
bus driver had pointed out the train station, which
she was relieved to see was only a few blocks from
where she had been dropped. But it took a long time
getting through the traffic.

When she stepped into the train station she began
to get excited. Soon she would be home with her dad
and Stormy. And she could stop lugging the saddle,
which was so heavy her arms felt ready to drop off. To
her dismay, the ticket office attendant told her the only
train that could get her to Snake Hills that day had
already left. The next one was at nine the following
morning. She decided to buy her ticket now anyway,
but the two-dollar fee to store her saddle was way over
what she had left, a meagre eighty cents. She'd save
that for a couple of bread rolls and lug her saddle. Oh
well, there were plenty of drinking fountains around
and water was all you needed to survive.

She thought of phoning her dad but realised he
would probably be out mustering. At least by the time
he got back she'd be there to surprise him. The
prospect of spending a night under the stars appealed
to her. She'd missed that at Thornton. What she had
to do now was fill in her day.

Leila abandoned ship, or the swimming pool at least,
in the city. She stood among the speeding, noisy
vehicles, the sound of rivet guns and sirens, and took
a deep lungful of exhaust fumes. It wasn't L.A. but it
was still dirty, noxious and wonderful.

Nobody even blinked an eyelid at her as she headed
for the train station. Everybody had their eyes
cast down at the footpath or stared ahead into nothingness.
Finally one businessman did a double-take.

'Hey, that's a horse. Shouldn't we do something?'

The only people who paid him any attention were
some kids on skateboards who explained to him it
was obviously some hidden camera stunt for television
and he'd just look like a doofus if he made a
fuss. So the businessman shut up and Leila trotted on,
unfettered.

Arriving at the train station, Leila headed for the
ticket office but pulled up when she saw a cop there.
She snuck behind a trailer load of luggage and
listened as the ticket guy explained that a girl
carrying a saddle had been through a couple of hours
earlier and bought a ticket for Snake Hills. So the
cops were looking for Charlotte. What if they found
her? If they arrested her for stealing then she would
never make the JOES and Leila would never be able
to forgive herself. She had to find the kid before the
cops and get her back to Thornton Downs to compete
in the JOES trials. She thought hard. Imagine you're a
country rube in the big city. You've got no money.
Where are you going to head to fill in time before
your train?

Charlotte lay on the grass in the sun, looking out at
the yachts on the river. It was so pretty. She wished
that her mum and dad could be here. All three of them
again like those picnics they used to have. Of course,
that could never happen now. She bit into the bread
roll she'd bought and thought of Thornton Downs.
Not a single person there would miss her. The only
friend she thought she'd had, had turned out to be a
lying sneak. For a little while there she had been
happy, she'd almost imagined herself in the JOES.
What a joke! She was disappointed she hadn't got to
know Todd Greycroft better but it was too late to
worry about that now.

Given time to kill, most kids Leila knew would go
to some amusement parlour, but that didn't seem
like Charlie's style. Maybe she'd go to a movie? Some
sweet, sentimental thing that would make Leila puke.

Leila trotted down the street until she found a
movie theatre. Before she had figured out how to
ascertain whether Charlotte was there she noted that
Show Pony
, a film she'd completed last year, was
playing, but only at the ten-thirty a.m. session.

What was this?

She couldn't wait to tell Mr Gold. How dare the
exhibitors restrict her film to just one session. Just as
Leila was contemplating what havoc to wreak on the
cinema, a mother walked by with a kid, sucking on a
milkshake.

'You want to see
Show Pony,
Chelsea?' asked the
mother.

'
Show Pony
sucks. Everybody knows that.' The girl
stated it with authority in between slurps.

Leila had a strong impulse to trample on the kid's
fat foot.
Sucks?
What would this twerp know?

The mother was equally surprised.

'I thought you liked Sarah-Jane and Leila?'

'I hate that whiny Sarah-Jane. I'd like to smother
her in honey and tie her over an ants' nest.'

Ah, the kid was discerning after all. Leila chuckled
at the image she'd conjured many times herself.

'And what about Leila?' asked the mother.

Leila's ears pricked up, waiting for the inevitable
compliment.

'Nah, Leila's a fake. She doesn't even do her own
stunts.'

At that moment, her pride sinking through the
floor, Leila felt the mother's eyes fall on her.

'My goodness! Isn't that Leila there?'

The kid shook her head.

'Nah, too skinny. These days Leila looks like a
lifebuoy.'

Leila's legs wobbled. It was all she could do to stop
collapsing. Was this what her public thought? Had
Feathers been right all along? Oh, how she wished she
had that bird brain there right now. Not only as a pal
to support her emotionally in this dark hour but
for practical reasons. He'd be able to do an aerial
reconnaissance for Charlie.

But he wasn't there. Nor was her mother, or
Tommy, or Charlotte. Leila felt suddenly more alone
than she had in her whole life. Darn it, she missed the
kid! Charlie had really cared about her. In Hollywood
there were plenty of hangers-on who cared about you
when you were hot but on the way down, oh, you'd be
lucky to find a flea prepared to suck your blood. Leila
had always known this, she'd just never considered
the possibility that she might ever be on the way down
herself.

One dumb no-neck bird, and one rube. Some fan
club. And maybe by now Feathers had forgotten Leila
anyway? She couldn't blame him. She'd taken him for
granted, giving him constant lip. Despite that, he'd
stayed with her. The fact he was stuck in a cage might
have had something to do with that but Leila held a
faint hope that maybe even if he hadn't been locked
up he would have remained. By now, though, he'd
probably found a new pal, one that was much nicer to
him than she had been.