Read Brumby Mountain for Free Online Page B

put an arm around her shoulder.
    â€˜You don’t have to hang around,’ she said. ‘Lawson and John will take care of it.’
    â€˜I want to be here. It wouldn’t be right for me to cop out.’
    â€˜Mind if I do?’ She had enough bad memories of horses being destroyed without adding to them.
    He shook his head.
    â€˜Don’t do it where his mares can see,’ she said quietly.
    Jess left Luke at the yards and set about finding jobs to do. She saw John’s four-wheel drive pull up at the front gate and made herself busy, trying not to think about what was happening in the stallion’s yard. She went to the stables and did a poo patrol, trying to ignore the hum of a backhoe engine and the tractor putting outside. She tried to block out images of the creamy stallion being dragged down the laneway, his feet in chains and head dragging behind. His blue eyes, she knew, would be open and empty as he was thrown into a big hole and then buried forever, away from his mares, away from his mountains. It was too depressing.
    Luke didn’t come up for lunch. Jess walked down to the stables and knocked on the door of his flat. Fang nudged the door open with his nose and wagged his tail when he saw Jess. The flat was a small square stable with a concrete floor, now converted into a room. A long, bench-style table sectioned off the kitchenette, which had one sink, a toaster oven and a bar fridge with stickers all over it. There was stuff all over the bench – farrier’s tools, jumpers, empty soft-drink cans, a few dirty plates and mugs.
    A small two-seater couch and an old cable reel with a TV on it were all that could squeeze into the rest of the flat. Luke lay on the couch with his boots hanging over the armrest and his arms around Filth, staring at the wall like a ghost. When Jess came in, the dog gave a single lazy tail-wag and closed his eyes again. Luke hid his face behind Filth’s long shaggy body.
    â€˜You okay?’
    Luke kept his face buried in the dog’s chest. He shook his head twice.
    â€˜Want some time to yourself?’
    He shook his head again. ‘I want to go back there.’
    â€˜Go back where?’
    â€˜To Mathews’ Flat. I can’t stop thinking about it.’
    â€˜About your parents?’
    â€˜Yeah, and the property and the horses. All of it. I want to stop whoever’s running those brumbies.’ He looked up at her suddenly. ‘Come with me, Jessy. I don’t want to leave you behind this time. I miss you too much. We could throw some hay on the back and take the horses.’
    â€˜I can’t just take off. I have school and home, horses to take care of and a job – and so do you. What about Lawson? What about all these brumbies?’
    â€˜She’s right, Luke.’ Annie appeared at the doorway of the flat. Judy Arnold stood next to her. ‘I’m responsible for Jess while she stays here. I told her parents I’d take care of her.’
    Luke looked annoyed. ‘Next weekend is a long weekend. I’d have her back in time for school the following Tuesday, I promise!’
    Annie shook her head. ‘Not without her parents’ permission.’
    Jess sighed. There was no way her mum and dad would let her take off to another state without an adult. There’d been enough drama about that when she had wanted to go droving last year. It was only when Mrs Arnold had agreed to . . . ‘Mrs Arnold!’
    Judy Arnold scowled. ‘What?’
    Jess smiled sweetly. ‘Fancy a brumby-spotting holiday?’

6
    GRACE’S FACE APPEARED through the tiny window of the flat. ‘Brumby-spotting?’ She looked at her mum. ‘How good would that be, to see them in the wild? Can we go?’
    Mrs Arnold looked taken aback. ‘Where?’
    â€˜I know a place,’ said Luke.
    â€˜Oh, here we go,’ she said, heavy with cynicism. ‘I know a place too. In fact I know hundreds of