SOMEONE DIFFERENT (5 page)

The week ahead loomed over me like a bloodthirsty dentist, and I never, ever wanted that Monday to come.

7 – Jay

Martin took us to the stables on our first day. He’d told us to wear old clothes that’d keep us warm, but that was easier said than done. Old clothes were no probl
em; most of my clothes were old. Clothes that kept me warm though, were more difficult. But I did put an extra jacket on and wore my hat underneath the hoods.

He picked us up proper early and we drove for about thirty minutes, then we got to this junction where there was a shop and a pub called The Huntsman. We went left down a narrow lane, then left again on
to this driveway. You could see a big white house at the top of the hill in front of us and it looked like the driveway carried on right up to that, but we turned off before it.

I stopped and looked round when I got out of the car. It was funny; I’d never even known there was like proper countryside so nearby. One minute we were in the middle of our estate with all the graffiti and the litter, the grey concrete houses, smell of weed, and the sound of sirens. And half an hour later, we were there; totally surrounded by fields and trees, fresh air and silence.

Martin and Billy set off in front of me, and Martin jumped about three foot in the air when two black and white collie dogs flew round the corner. They barked like crazy, but their tails were wagging, and as I walked forward and put my hand out, they both wriggled towards me for some fuss.

‘Jess, Lady!’ A man’s voice sounded from across one of the fields. We looked over and saw an old guy leaning against a gate. ‘Come ‘ere,’ he shouted, and both dogs turned away and bounced back over to him.

We carried on to the stables then. Some were built round a big square with a concrete bit in the middle, then there were a couple more rows further back; probably about twenty-five all together. They were all painted white with black roofs and black wooden doors. In one of the corners there was a bigger building with a normal door instead of one of those split stable ones, and Martin led us towards it.

‘This’s the office,’ he said, knocking on the door then opening it without waiting for an answer.

A woman who was about thirty-five stood next to a desk. She wasn’t really fat, but she was pretty big. She had a mug in her hand and steam was rising up from it. ‘Hello,’ she said with this big smile.

‘Nice to meet you again,’ Martin answered, then he looked at us. ‘This is Becky, who’s the yard manager here. This is Billy and this is Jay.’ He pointed at us in turn. ‘They’re all set and raring to go, so I’ll leave you all to get started, shall I? You’ve got my mobile number, haven’t you?’

She nodded. ‘Yes, it’s on the referral forms you filled in. I’m sure they’re going to do just great, aren’t you, lads?’

Billy stayed quiet, so I made the effort to smile and nod a bit.

‘Oh, I nearly forgot.’ Martin reached into his pocket. ‘They’re both entitled to free school meals, so we’ll pay for their lunches; £2.03 each per day. I’ll leave enough for this week, and see how it goes after that.’

He handed over some money, she gave him a receipt, and he left.

‘Right then,’ Becky said, after she’d drained the drink from her mug. ‘Let’s get cracking, shall we?’

We went and stood just outside one of the stables. A massive white horse came forward, put its head over the door and stretched its nose right out towards us.

‘Whoa, look at that big bastard,’ Billy said, stepping back quickly.

Becky put her hand up and stroked the horse’s neck. ‘If you could try not to swear, I’d appreciate it. Neither the children who come here nor their parents would want to hear that.’

Billy didn’t say sorry, but he didn’t have a go at her either – maybe he was scared she’d set the horse on him.

‘So,’ Becky went on. ‘Martin says neither of you have had much contact with horses in the past, so we’ll start from scratch. This is Major. He is quite big, but he’s very sweet and very well-behaved. We’ll bring him out and you can give him a brush, then I’ll show you how to muck out.’

She got a rope and a thing that went round the horse’s head, then went into the stable. Billy shook his head at me. ‘I can’t fuckin’ believe we’re doin’ this,’ he whispered.

I laughed. ‘Ah-ah-ah; remember, no fuckin’ swearin’.’

For the first time that morning, Billy’s face broke into a smile.

Becky led the horse out and tied him up. She showed us how to brush his neck, his back and down his legs, then she gave us a brush each and told us to get on with it. Billy stood so far away he could hardly reach him. But for some reason, even though that horse’s head was way taller than mine, it didn’t bother me. You could just tell he was cool. His eyes were big and a bit dopey looking, and when he turned his huge head towards me and nudged it against my arm, his nose was right soft.

The more I brushed his smooth white fur, the more chilled out I felt.
Everything was sort of calm and quiet, and a lot of the crap in my head went away for a bit.

‘I think he’s dozing off.’ Becky’s voice surprised me. ‘Look,’ she said, nodding at Major’s head. His eyes were almost closed. His bottom lip had gone all floppy, and it was hanging open so you could see his big yellow teeth.

Becky took the brushes off us then, and showed us how to clean out a stable. It was hardly difficult though; if the wood shavings were wet or mucky they went in the wheelbarrow, if they weren’t, they didn’t. After we’d done each stable, we had to put some fresh hay in it, sweep-up outside and make sure the concrete bit she called the yard was kept tidy.

I got through a couple then went to see Billy.

He looked up and leaned on his fork as I walked into the stable. ‘This’s shit,’ he said.

‘Err, yeah ...’

‘No, I mean, like it’s shit; this place. Equine Studies my arse. More like shit shovelling studies, lugging hay about studies ... sweeping up studies. It’s a right skank. They get all their crappy jobs done for free and we get fuck-all.’

‘We get to stay out of a Young Offenders’ Institute,’ I said quietly.

Billy blew out a big breath and shook his head. ‘I need a fag.’

‘We probably ought to ask first – I’ll go,’ I said, and I went into the office to find Becky.

She was on the phone when I went in, but she smiled and pointed to a chair so I sat down and waited.

On the desk in front of her there was a metal box thing. The lid was open, and a load of ten and twenty pound notes were stuffed inside. Roughly, I added it up in my head; two hundred and fifty, three hundred quid, easy? And all just shoved in, not like
in organised piles or anything; I bet she didn’t even know how much was in there. For a second, I wondered where it got kept, but then quickly decided it might be better if I didn’t know; I couldn’t screw-up that soon, not if I wanted to stay out of court.

Becky’s hand pushed the lid down, and I realised she’d finished on the phone and she was looking at me.

‘So how’s it going?’ she said.

‘OK, yeah.’

‘I know some of the jobs can be a bit boring, but I hope you’ll think it’s worth it when you get chance to spend time with the horses. People are usually a bit nervous around them at first, but you handled Major really well.’

Really well?
Nobody had ever told me I’d done anything
really well
before. I smiled at her – but only for a second, cos my face got hot and I had to look away. I stood up again. ‘We were wonderin’, is it alright if we go for a fag?’

‘Mmm, course
– you’re entitled to a break. But not on the premises I’m afraid; health and safety, insurance and all that. You’ll have to go back out of the drive and on to the lane.’

‘OK, cheers.’

Billy whinged the whole time we were having a smoke. In fact, he whinged non-stop for the rest of the day. He whinged cos it was cold, he winged cos we had to walk to the shop at dinnertime, and he whinged cos we still had to do stuff outside when it rained.

By about half three, his face looked like a baboon’s arse.

‘I’m gonna see Martin,’ he said, leaning against this gate into one of the fields. ‘No way am I doin’ this again, it takes the piss.’

I looked at him. It hadn’t really bothered me, being cold and working hard. I sort of liked it; being somewhere different, doing different stuff and seeing all the animals. But Billy was tapping the gate with his hand, and his breathing had got quicker. The last thing we needed was him losing it and going on one; being back in court for criminal damage or assault or whatever else it might lead to would be a right bloody nightmare.

‘OK,’ I said. ‘We’ll talk to Martin, see if there’s somethin’ else we can do.’

He looked round at me and said something,
but I’m not really sure what, cos this massive horsebox thing pulled into the yard and its engine blocked out his words.

We both turned to watch as an oldish guy, a tarted-up woman and a lass got out and walked round to the back of the horsebox.

Becky was already there, getting ready to let the ramp thing down. ‘Are we ready, then?’ she said to the others.

The woman nodded. ‘Absolutely! It’s so exciting to finally have her home.’

Becky lowered the ramp slowly and a black horse shot its head up. It snorted and its hooves banged against the horsebox floor as it stamped about on the spot.

‘She looks a little unsettled,’ Becky said. ‘Would you like me to bring her out?’

The lass said, ‘Yes please.’ I know she did cos I heard her. But nobody else seemed to.

‘No, no. I’m sure Annabel will be fine.’ The woman said. ‘It’s really important that they form a strong bond from the beginning.’

The girl didn’t budge though. She looked at Becky, then the guy, then the woman, but the woman just nodded as she put her hand on her back and shoved her forward. ‘Go on, darling. Get her out and lead her around the yard a few times, give her chance to get used to her new surroundings.’

You could actually see the girl’s hands shake as she walked up the ramp and tried to undo the rope. The horse’s head must’ve been a good foot above hers and its powerful shoulders were wet with sweat. Eventually, the kid managed to untie the knot and she turned the horse towards the ramp. They got to the top, but then it wouldn’t move any further.

The girl’s face went white. She looked at the woman, who I think must’ve been her mum, then she reached up, stroked the horse’s neck and whispered something to it. She came halfway down the ramp and pulled the rope again. The horse leaned right back on its hind legs, took a huge jump forward, and cleared the ramp in one go. Its hooves clattered on the concrete yard, and the girl opened her eyes and breathed out. She still looked like she’d got a crocodile on the end of that rope instead of a horse though.

‘That’s it,’ her mother called. ‘Now walk her around, but be sure to keep a tight hold.’

Their first circle of the yard went alright. The horse still snorted and danced about a bit, but that was all. But then, a sweeping brush that Billy’d left leaning up against a stable door, slid down and clanged into a metal wheelbarrow. The horse rolled its eyes so you could see the white bits, then it reared into the air, almost straight up on its back legs. As it came down again, its front hooves just missed the kid’s head.

The girl glanced at Becky with her big eyes, and Becky went straight towards her. But before she got there the horse shot off across the yard, dragging the kid after it. They bombed towards us with the girl struggling to stay on her feet. Billy jumped over the gate into the field. But I just knew I had to try and help her.

Stepping forward, I grabbed the horse’s headcollar thing as it was about to fly past. It pulled a bit, but then stopped dead; looking completely terrified.

‘Shush,’ I said quietly, and I stroked its face with my other hand. It was still breathing right hard, but not as hard as the lass standing next to it.

‘Are you alright?’ I said.

She nodded, but her cheeks were soaked with tears.

‘I’ve got her now, if you wanna let go?’

She stared at me, but didn’t move, so I reached over and gently unfolded her shaking fingers from around the rope, then we both looked down at the bright red, gaping burn mark across her palm.

‘Bloody ’ell,’ I said, cringing.

She smiled, even though her huge blue eyes were still streaming. ‘It’s OK, it’s not that bad.’ Then in a whisper she added, ‘Thanks to you.’

I was still holding her hand when everybody else got there.

‘Annabel, darling, are you hurt? You should have let her go ...’ Her mother put her arm round her shoulder and her hand slipped out of mine as she got whisked away.

Becky took hold of the horse. ‘That was amazing, Jay.’