Ponies at Owls' Wood (8 page)

‘Yes,' said Hannah. ‘I suppose so. I do want to talk to her but she just talks about the choir. She doesn't even ask what we're eating. And I need to tell her about Delia.' In fact, Hannah knew that if she did get five minutes with her mum on the phone, she wouldn't be able to tell her what was really happening in her life. Her mum would be far too worried, and would put Dad on the case at once. Even worse, she might abandon her beloved choir and come home early, so that Hannah would collapse with guilt. It would be hopeless. Suddenly the choir didn't seem to be such a bad thing. Having a fully occupied and absent mother had its upside.

Hannah tried to imagine her mum standing in a sweaty hall and singing boring songs with a pile of other perfumed mothers, and she just couldn't understand why her mum would want to when there were so many other things to do in life? Like cook, or talk to your youngest daughter about her horse, or take her into town to the cinema. Loads of things.

Hannah set off for the field and found that she was looking forward to seeing Jess again. At least she could tell her all the things that were on her mind and know that she would be listened to. Instead, when she got there it was Tom standing by the gate.

‘Don't freak,' said Hannah, ‘but I went up to the farmhouse again yesterday, or at least I went to Owls' Wood. I've found out who put Jack in my field.'

‘Oh.' said Tom. He looked disappointed. ‘I would have come with you if you'd waited.'

It occurred to Hannah for the first time that Tom might have been looking forward to going with her. He spent so much of the day on his own – his parents seemed just to leave him while they went to work – and she guessed he was bored.

‘I see the patchy one's settling in,' he said, ‘you could start a business.'

‘What do you mean?'

‘Fatandscruffyhorses.com.' he said.

Hannah's sympathy evaporated. ‘Very funny. I'm going to take Polly out now, but I'll be back later and we can talk then. If you've got nothing to do today you could try and make friends with Jack? You know, the “patchy one”?' He's still really nervous but he needs his neck looked at. I've managed to get some ointment on him but you could see if you can get him to chill a bit.'

‘So what have you found out?' replied Tom instead. ‘And I do know the difference between your pony and the other one.'

‘I'll tell you later,' said Hannah. ‘But if you're going to live here you may as well get used to ponies. Just go and talk to him. Don't try and touch him unless he comes to you. And Tom, please will you keep an eye on the field?' She told him about Delia. ‘There are some terrible people about. I might need to ask for your help with something, but it's got to be a secret and you'll have to promise not to tell.'

‘I'll see when you tell me,' said Tom, looking doubtful. ‘I'm not sure about talking to the pony either, but I'll keep an eye on the field.' Then, unexpectedly, he smiled, and Hannah realised how much nicer he looked when he did.

‘Thanks,' she smiled back.

Hannah groomed Polly and got everything ready to go. She warned Jack that a tall, fair-haired boy was possibly going to try and talk to him. ‘I'm thinking he might be OK really,' she said, ‘and anyway, he's all we've got now Charley's gone. So be kind to him if he's kind to you.'

Hannah couldn't help feeling bad about leaving Tom out, however rude he'd been about Polly and Jack. He looked forlorn as he turned back towards his house and lifted one hand to wave. She must talk to Jess about him.

While she worked on Polly she kept looking at her mobile, but it was 10 o'clock before Jess's text came to say that Pete was safely out of the way.

She set off at a brisk trot and had a lovely canter up the Steeple Chase towards High Farm. There was no sign of the white van or the barking dogs. As Hannah turned Polly into the yard, Jess came out to meet her.

‘We can put your pony in the one of the back paddocks,' she said, ‘she'll be fine there. There's that mare of Pete's I was telling you about so she'll have someone to talk to. They can get to know each other over the fence.'

Jess was more talkative today, and Hannah was glad that her new friend was beginning to trust her. She realised that she felt more relaxed, too.

The two girls got Polly's tack off and led her through the farmyard and round the back. Hannah was nervous about leaving her. What if she got taken by mistake?

‘Will she be all right?' she asked Jess. ‘Sorry, but I'm really jumpy.'

She told Jess about Charley's pony being stolen and added, ‘I'm terrified that something might happen to Polly.'

‘Don't worry,' said Jess, ‘we'll be able to see her from the back of Gran's caravan. I was going to take you to meet Auntie Cyn as well,' she said, ‘but she's not feeling too good so we'll just stay at Gran's.' They crossed the yard together.

‘Don't mention the ponies,' Jess warned.

‘Is that you Jess?' A woman's voice called from inside the caravan as Jess opened the door without knocking and signalled to Hannah to come in. Hannah looked round, curious to see what the inside of the caravan would be like.

It was bright, warm and welcoming, but very small. Hannah had never seen so many china horses. They seemed to be on every surface, some in full harness with carts behind them. Horse brasses and pictures were all over the walls too. There was just about room to move.

‘This is the friend I told you about,' said Jess, presenting Hannah to her gran.

The old lady was sitting in a comfortable chair near the window, which, as Jess had promised, looked out over the paddocks where they had left Polly. Hannah held out her hand politely.

‘Hello, I'm Hannah.'

‘And I'm Grace,' said the old lady. She smiled, and shook Hannah's hand. Hannah looked at her. Grace was extremely fat, appearing to be more or less jammed into her chair by her size. Hannah wondered how she ever managed to move. She had a cheery face and a lot of white hair. A complicated-looking hearing aid was currently tangled up in it.

‘Sit down love,' she said, gesturing towards a small table and three chairs. ‘Jess, you go and put the kettle on. There's some cake in the tin.' Grace turned to Hannah. ‘I've a sweet tooth you know. It doesn't help my figure but an inch or so of butter icing on top of a good cake is a cheering thing, don't you think?' Hannah warmly agreed.

‘There's less to do in this caravan than there was in the big house, but my daughter and her boyfriend have that now. I suppose I should get out more, and walk about a bit. But I can't seem to be bothered. I'm glad Jess has met you,' she went on, ‘she has a lonely time of it here, with just me and Cynthia. Pete's no parent to her, and she misses her dad. It'll be good for her to get down to the village and meet other people. I expect you've got a lot of friends down there?'

‘Not really,' said Hannah, ‘my best friend Charley went off to live in Derbyshire a few weeks ago and I really miss her. There's a new family moved into the house opposite my pony's field, and Tom, that's the son, is about my age. But he's a boy.'

‘Oh dear,' said Grace, ‘but is he nice?'

‘I'm not sure yet,' said Hannah, ‘I can't make up my mind about him.'

To her surprise, Hannah found that she could talk easily to Jess's gran. The old lady listened to everything she said, and had a kind expression. Hannah went on to explain about Delia being stolen and how worried she was, not just for Delia but for Polly too. Hannah was sure from Grace's manner that she knew nothing of Pete's business.

Jess came back with the tea and the three of them sat companionably watching the ponies through the window by Grace's chair.

‘Gran taught me how to ride,' Jess told Hannah. ‘She knows all there is to know about horses.'

‘Hardly
all,'
said Grace. ‘But my father had shire horses after the war and I grew up with them. There was always a pony I could ride as a child and I wanted Jess to have that, too. She's a good rider Hannah. You should see her jump bareback!'

‘Wow!' said Hannah. ‘I'll look forward to seeing that.' She turned to Jess.

‘Could we go and have a ride together?'

‘I could take the mare,' said Jess, ‘Pete said it would be OK when I asked last week, and I've been on her already. What do you think Gran?'

‘I think you'd better go,' the old lady laughed. ‘There's always plenty of tack in the barn. I'm very pleased to have met you Hannah and I hope we'll see a lot of you here this summer.'

The girls were crossing the yard to look for head-collars when Hannah heard a knock from one of the windows in the big house.

‘Is that your aunt?'

‘Wait here!' said Jess, and ran off towards the house. ‘I won't be a sec.' But before she got to the doorway a woman appeared in it. Hannah reckoned she was about the same age as her own mum, somewhere in her forties, but she looked terrible. Her hair was unkempt, her clothes rumpled and not too clean, and even outside she smelt heavily of tobacco. Hannah noticed broken veins in her face, and lines around her eyes. She appeared tired and stressed.

‘I'm Jess's Auntie Cyn,' she said, transferring her cigarette to her left hand as she held out the right for Hannah to shake. She smiled, which immediately improved her looks. Hannah noticed how, in stark contrast to Grace, Cyn was as thin as a rake.

‘Don't stay out too long,' she said to Jess, ‘Pete will be back by four and he wants an early tea tonight.' She said this kindly, and Hannah warmed to her as she realised that she was trying to save Jess from trouble. But why on earth was she letting that horrible Pete live here? With her poor mother driven out from her house and living in a caravan? It didn't make sense to Hannah.

The two girls planned to ride down by the river, with Hannah stopping off at her field on their way back, leaving Jess to come home alone. Polly seemed pleased to have the company of yet another new pony. Jess thought the mare's name was Bridget, but wasn't sure. Hannah wondered how Jess could cope with getting fond of different horses and then losing them. She asked her about it.

‘It's just the way it is,' said Jess. She was quiet for a few moments then said, ‘I've got used to them coming and going. I think Gran would get me my own pony but I wouldn't want Pete near it so I always say no.'

Hannah wanted to ask lots of questions. Like why was Cyn looking so rough, and why did they all put up with Pete when he was so horrible? But she sensed that Jess didn't want to talk about it. Her new friend wasn't much for words, except when she talked about the ponies and the plan to rescue them.

As if she had guessed that Hannah was thinking about her family Jess said, ‘Gran and Cyn are kind.'

They rode in silence for a while, as Hannah tried to take in how bad things must be for Jess. She felt guilty at having complained so much about her own mother going off for a few weeks and promised herself that she'd never moan again. And she thought about her dad; he might be scatty but he was never mean.

‘My sister's a pain,' she told Jess, breaking her own promise almost straightaway. ‘She used to be nice but these days she just spends all day texting her mates. They're all into boys. It's really boring. She says I'll look like a horse when I grow up.'

‘What's wrong with that?' asked Jess.

‘She's pretty, like my mum. Mum never used to go out much, or at least she was always there when I got home, and she's a brilliant cook. But then she got into this singing thing and now she's gone off for weeks with her choir. She wanted me to join it – they do have some kids to do choruses and bits, but I said I'd rather die. Anyway, I've got Polly to look after. Dad's nice, but he's useless in the kitchen.'

‘Sounds like you like food,' said Jess, and Hannah wondered if she was trying to be funny.

‘Well, don't you?'

‘I don't really care that much,' said Jess.

It was a lovely day, and the girls were thrilled to be able to have a canter together along the river path. Polly kept up with Bridget and they all had a great time. When a group of ducks flew up from the water and Polly spooked, she soon settled again in the company of Jess's older mare, and on they went again. Hannah couldn't remember when she'd enjoyed a ride so much – not since Charley had gone, she supposed. Only when they slowed down to chat again did both their minds turn to the job they knew they had to do.

‘It's got to be tomorrow night,' said Jess, raising the subject first.

‘OK,' said Hannah, her stomach giving a lurch as she thought of what was to come. ‘But what shall we do about Pete?'

‘I've been thinking about that,' said Jess. ‘Pete often stays up long after Cyn's gone to bed, so getting out of the house without him hearing me won't be easy. I'm thinking that if I could get them both over to Gran's caravan for the evening I could come out to meet you before they get back. Gran would need to give them enough to drink so they forget about me.'