Charlotte and the Starlet (16 page)

Miss Strudworth looked out of the window. Soon it
would be light. They would be holding the dressage
trials today. Normally she would be excited at this but
not today. She just prayed Richards was safe for she
couldn't help but feel that she had failed the child
in some way. Life was harsh and Strudworth liked
to prepare her charges for that reality rather than
mollycoddle them and leave them vulnerable when
they had to make their own way in life. But perhaps
she could have and should have done more. After all,
one was always learning. Strudworth prayed this
lesson would not be too harsh a one for all concerned.

The truckload of men arrived at the demolition site as
dawn was breaking. The foreman jumped out and told
his men he expected them to be very careful, as they
were dealing with dynamite.

'Lay the charges around the building and then take
cover behind the truck,' he ordered.

The good part about the sun coming up was that it
made it easier for Leila to try to spy Charlotte. Even
so, thought Leila, it was like trying to find a needle in
a haystack. Uggh, she shuddered at the thought.
Chomping into a bale of hay and getting a needle in
your mouth, what could be worse?

Ah choo! The sneeze came out of nowhere. It had
stopped raining a while ago but ... Ah choo! There
was another one. Oh, and her nose was all sniffly. Just
what she needed.

She had been trotting alongside a chain link fence,
which isolated a block of bare ground inside it. Now
she came to a point where a section of fence had been
flattened. She stepped over it for a sticky-beak and
saw what looked like a rubbish tip about a hundred
metres in. Drawing closer, she saw somebody had
made a shelter with tin sheets. She noticed something
on the ground by the fence on the other side that gave
her a jolt. It was the plush toy from Charlie's saddle.
Leila's heart skipped a beat. She looked around. The
kid must be here somewhere. 'Hey, Char-lie,' she
yelled out. But her voice just echoed around the
deserted buildings.

The foreman's name was Charlie too.

'You call me?' he asked his explosives man as he
appeared at the truck rolling out a long explosives
fuse that stretched all the way to a deserted factory.

'Nope,' said the explosives man.

'Okay then,' said the foreman. 'Let's start the
countdown.'

Charlotte woke and stretched. Thanks to the sunlight
streaming through the window she could now see her
surroundings a lot better. It was simply a big bare
room with a concrete floor and pockmarked brick
walls. She checked her watch. Just after six a.m.
Plenty of time to make the train. As she lay there
hungry, she envisaged the other girls back at
Thornton, full from a big breakfast, just leaving the
stables now, getting ready for the dressage trials. She
felt a pang of regret but put it out of her head.
Sometimes it didn't matter how hard you tried, you
didn't succeed. Look at her mum. She'd fought with

every ounce of strength she'd had to beat the cancer
that had put her in hospital but she didn't succeed.
She wished her mum were here. She wished she
could hold her and feel her heart beating next to hers.
Automatically her gaze travelled to her saddle,
looking for the plush toy, but there was just a piece of
ribbon dangling there now. She sank even lower,
recalling the fight with the dog. It must have fallen off
along the way. And then she started to cry. She had
told herself she would never ever cry again. After her
mum died she had cried for weeks. Sometimes it had
seemed she would never be able to stop. But she had.
Up until now. And here, out of nowhere, in the
middle of nowhere, she was bawling her eyes out
again.

Leila stood at the perimeter of the fence, scanning for
any sign of life.

'Char-lie!' she called again. Nothing. She would
have to find a way through the high fence on this side
before she could investigate those buildings. As she
was about to start off she heard a man's voice in the
distance call out.

'Dynamite set.'

DYNAMITE! Leila looked over and saw the
explosives crew donning earmuffs and taking shelter
behind the truck. She noticed the foreman nod to
another man who then lit a long fuse. The little
sparking star began its snaking journey towards the
derelict buildings.

Charlotte forced herself to stop crying. It didn't help
one bit. She was looking for something to dry her eyes
with when she imagined she heard somebody calling
her name. She shrugged it off. Then, there it was
again. It sounded like ...

No, it couldn't be! Leila?

Charlotte got to her feet and poked her head out of
the window. In the distance was some sort of truck but
there, just a few hundred metres away, Leila stood
behind the wire fence. Charlotte blinked, suspecting
she might be dreaming. But when she opened her eyes
Leila was still there.

Charlotte felt warm inside. Low-down sneak or
not, she'd missed her. She waved out the window and
yelled.

Leila followed the sound. Her eyes bulged from her
head. There was Charlie! Waving from the building
that was about to be blown up. A hollow fear gripped
her. No point yelling at the crew, they were all wearing
earmuffs. Leila's eyes travelled to the top of the high
wire fence. It looked sharp. She would have to jump
the fence but if she landed on it she'd be horse kebab.

Okay, it wasn't cardboard but nor was she some
useless Hollywood bimbo. She was Leila, a star,
descended from the greatest stunt horse and most
athletic mare the world had ever seen, and she was the
only chance Charlie had. Leila felt she had been born
for this moment. She had to save Charlotte. If she
could do that then maybe her selfish and shallow life
wouldn't have been a complete waste.

She galloped fast at the fence, the fuse growing
shorter by the millisecond, the fence looming
massively ahead. Closing her eyes, she made herself
think Tinkerbell, just like Charlotte had taught her.
She pushed off with her back legs. Up, up, up she flew.
The top of the fence passed under her, grazing her
belly, but she cleared it and landed in full stride on the
other side.

Her eyes flashed open. The moving spark was still
running ahead of her. She reached it, trying to stamp it
out, but with this darn cold her reactions were a
fraction slow and she kept missing ... and the fuse
kept burning.

She yelled at the window for Charlie to jump but
the kid had disappeared. The lit fuse was at her feet.
The dynamite would blow any second. Leila tried the
left hoof, missed, the right hoof, missed ...

There was nothing for it. She sat her backside down
on the fuse.

OUCH! That hurt.

She smelt burning flesh – hers! But finally the
hissing stopped. She got up and confirmed the fuse
had been extinguished. Phew.

Now Leila could see that the door was padlocked.
Big deal. She turned and battered the door in with her
sore rump. She found Charlotte waiting for her with a
dopey expression on her face.