The End of Summer Page 6

  “Well not much. What are judges supposed to do at shows to entertain themselves?”

  May

  “The more I think about it, the more I’m convinced it’s the right thing to do,” Major Holbrooke said.

  Dick wasn’t really listening. He was concentrating on driving the lorry which was not something he was accustomed to doing. In fact he had never driven anything larger than a Land Rover before today.

  “Are you listening?” Major Holbrooke asked indignantly. “It’s left here.”

  “I’m trying to,” Dick said.

  The major was talking about the next pony club rally, for which he had been endeavouring to secure an adequate instructor. This was being problematic, from what Dick could gather. They arrived at the junction and the entire pony club issue evaporated into nothing as Dick struggled with the horsebox’s seemingly unfathomable gear system.

  None of the horses in the truck belonged to Dick; he couldn’t forget that as he swung the thing round the corner. Christ! It was worse that riding Echo over a course of jumps. They were on the way home at least, but Dick had no idea where they were or how much further they had to go.

  “So who do you think would be best?”

  Dick was completely stumped. The major was looking at him; he could tell, even though he didn’t dare take his eyes from the road.

  “Perhaps I’ll drive the rest of the way.”

  Dick risked a glance at his passenger who was definitely looking at him, and frowning. “If you want to have an intelligent conversation that would certainly be an idea,” he said.

  Dick curled up on the far side passenger seat and went to sleep before Major Holbrooke was able to ask him anything at all.

  “Oh, I see, that kind of intelligent conversation,” the major said. He supposed it had been a long day for Dick what with driving the lorry, being groom and riding his two horses in the Novice. And it was easy to forget that just a few months ago Dick had been so ill everyone thought he might die. He was perfectly healthy now; too skinny, but always bursting with energy and quiet enthusiasm. Well, perhaps not always.

  And the major had already decided what he would do about the rally really, without needing any consultation. It was too depressing trying to teach large groups of children whose abilities to ride were so various, and there didn’t appear to be any benevolent experts lurking anywhere. No, the solution lay in the pony club itself; the older ones could teach the younger ones. Dick had proved himself as an instructor and was certainly up to taking the middle ride. Whatever protestations he might have, he would do as he was told.

  If only Susan hadn’t gone off to America the rest would be easy; Susan was the obvious choice to teach the beginners, but there were other options. Christopher would, of course, be utterly useless, but any of the other three older ones, Marion, Donald or Judith ought to be able to make a fist of it. Major Holbrooke decided to ask them all and see what happened.

  The lorry began to complain as the hill it was climbing grew steeper. Major Holbrooke pushed in the clutch and battled the gear lever into second. It had been a good day, but now he was going to have to think about what to do with Ariel. He had never intended to train Ariel as a serious jumper, but winning the Discovery class so easily, it seemed the horse was making the decisions for him. The box engine continued to complain. It looked like the major was going to have to do something about that too.

  Donald Edge dragged himself out of bed much earlier than he would usually choose to on a Saturday. He went down to the paddock to see how Seafire was getting on today. The pony had been sound again for the last few days, but Donald realised he had decided, somehow without really meaning to, that he wasn’t going to ride her any more. He was convinced that it was his riding her that had caused her to go lame in the first place, though the vet hadn’t agreed. But there was no way anyone could disagree with the fact that Donald had grown. He had grown up and he had grown out as well; he was much too large now to ride any pony at all.

  Seafire, the strong, solid grey mare stood contentedly with little Brandy, under the trees. She didn’t care if she was ridden or not. She probably preferred not and Donald wasn’t sure whether he didn’t prefer it too. He could just lean on the gate and look at her and be perfectly happy. But he had hardly got up at this hour to lean wistfully on gates! He was supposed to be going to Folly Court, getting there early even, so that he could teach impressionable young people how to ride. He wondered for a moment what he had been thinking when he had agreed to this unexpected request from Major Holbrooke, but then let that worry drift away. He didn’t know if he could teach children to ride because he had never tried it before. He would try it and find out. And anyway, Marion was going to be doing it too.

  Marion arrived at Gay’s house before the girls were up so that she could have some time on her own with Columbine. She caught Sonnet and Biddy and tied them up outside the stable so she could ride Columbine in the field without distractions. Early mornings were best of all. Columbine went without any fuss, following Marion to the other end of the field with her ears pricked forward, stepping delicately through the dewy grass. There was something about Columbine that Marion could never describe, something that drew her to the mare irresistibly. She got on and began to ride circles, walking and trotting. Columbine would make a perfect compass-drawn circle when she was in that mood, the head-lowered, concentrating mood that made Marion’s heart burst with pride.

  Twenty minutes was probably enough. Then there were footsteps and voices and Columbine stiffened up and went alert. Marion slipped down and led the mare toward the others. It was a shame to have to stop, but then, if it wasn’t for Gay and Jean and their accommodation there would be no heavenly minutes at all.

  “Are you sure the major won’t mind us coming with you?” Jean asked.

  “I don’t see why he would.” Marion wasn’t sure though. Perhaps Major Holbrooke would be annoyed at her turning up so early with the girls and their ponies. Now she had come out of her morning haze she began to think about what she had committed herself to; teaching children to ride! She’d been so shocked when the major asked her she hadn’t known what to say, and she had been far too terrified to refuse.

  “Of course he won’t mind!” said Gay.

  It was strange to arrive at Folly Court in a car. Donald parked it on the drive and hoped that would be all right. He hurried into the stable yard, five minutes behind schedule, and found a confusion of horses and ponies and people.

  “We’re doing dressage, did the major tell you?” Dick was asking Marion.

  Donald didn’t really know Dick, but thin people always made him nervous; thin and efficient people doubly so. Donald felt huge and cumbersome standing there awkward with no horse or pony to hang on to, wondering how in the world anyone could possibly not notice him.

  Gay looked round. “Oh, hello!” she said. “Where’s Seafire?”

  “She had a previous engagement, I’m afraid.” Donald pulled himself together. “You’ll have to make do with just me.”

  “Thank goodness you’re here!” said Marion. “Now I don’t feel half as nervous.”

  “Oh come on Chris, there’s plenty of room. I’d feel awfully mean if we left the boys behind to hack the whole way!”

  “Well it’s your box I suppose,” Christopher said. He was feeling decidedly grumpy but he smiled anyway. “Watch out for Fireworks though, he’s a devil. Here, I’d better take him.”

  It was a fairly long way to Folly Court and there was nothing wrong with accepting a lift; it made sense. Patricia was all right. Here she was kindly offering to take his undeserving brothers and their ponies too, for example. And it was worth the trouble putting up with her irritating habit of calling him ‘Chris’ all the time to get to ride Cloud. Cloud was amazing; he was a proper showjumper, give or take a few rough edges.

  “How come you’re being so friendly and polite Christopher?” David asked in mock innocence. “Are you feeling all right?”

 
Christopher was incensed, but what could he do about it, with Patricia stood there laughing at him?

  “Crikey! Your new girlfriend has a swish pad Christopher!” piped Martin’s voice from the inside of the lorry.

  Christopher wanted to kill both of them, but that would have to wait till later. He had his hands full with David’s pony while all David was doing was lolling on the fence in fits of explosive mirth.

  Fireworks was a devil usually, but today he decided to behave like a lamb, letting himself be led up the ramp as if he, like Martin, couldn’t wait to explore the unimaginable luxury inside. They were all of them swept away by it, Christopher supposed. The inside of the box was simply incredible, with room for four proper sized horses, never mind David and Martin’s ponies. And only one stall occupied by the box’s actual owner. Christopher was shocked to see Sandy’s head looking up over the partition instead of iron grey Cloud whom he had been expecting.

  “I thought you were bringing Cloud today,” he said to Patricia out in the sunshine again after depositing Fireworks as quickly as he could. He tried hard not to sound annoyed and hoped it was working.

  “Oh, but we’re doing dressage today,” Patricia said.

  “Are we?” How could she possibly know that?

  “Yes I rang up Major Holbrooke to find out. He was awfully nice about it. He said we were going to be practising lateral work and then doing a dressage test in the afternoon. I’m not entirely sure what that entails but I’m perfectly game for it. Except not on Cloud; he’s hopeless at dressage.”

  “Whatever have you got in there?” Margaret asked James.

  “What?” James clearly wasn’t listening.

  “I said, what’s in the bag?”

  James was carrying a rather large rucksack he had borrowed from his father. He managed to mount Rocket with it and got himself settled in the saddle. “Oh nothing much,” he said. “Just some stuff to take to Sebastian’s house. And lunch, you know,” he added after a pause.

  James was going home with Sebastian after the rally to stay the night, but Margaret couldn’t imagine what he’d want to take that would require such a large bag to fit in. Oh well, if James wanted to be secretive then he could be, she supposed. She just hoped he wasn’t going to get into any more trouble.

  Sebastian was dismayed to find that everything had changed. His hack to the rally, despite the lingering fear that still curdled in the pit of his stomach, had been entirely uneventful; there had been no chattering girls to contend with on the way. He didn’t even think to wonder where those girls had got to until he saw them in the yard, part of the great confusion of everyone being organised into the right places. But the organisation was all wrong. His ride was being taken to the usual place all right, but by a pair of entirely unusual people.

  Sebastian peered at those people. One of them was the girl who had come into the yard that other time, with the dapple-grey horse. The other one was a boy he was sure he had never seen before, a boy who was extraordinarily large and synthetically cheerful. He caught a glimpse of Dick disappearing in a different direction.

  There’s no reason to worry, he told himself. He wasn’t even sure if he was worried. It was possible that what he was actually feeling was cheated; angry even. Most of his thinking had been taken up, for days now, with the plans he and James had made for tonight, but not all of it had. Since he was determined to ride Idris he was equally determined to do so properly. James could ride much better than he could; there were things James could do with Rocket that Sebastian had never even thought of. And Dick was calm and steady and understanding. Sebastian couldn’t imagine how that anxious looking girl and that lump of a boy would be able to teach him anything.

  Today seemed to be slowly turning into a nightmare. Patricia stood chatting to David and Martin, letting Christopher unload everything, but he found he didn’t care. He would rather be with the horses anyway; at least they didn’t get his name wrong. Sandy was a nice enough horse, Christopher supposed. He had good manners generally, but not much personality. Christopher doubted he would be up to very advanced dressage. He was fed up about the dressage as much as anything else. He had thought he was going to get to try Cloud over the major’s show jumps and see what he could really do.

  “Hurry up Martin, you’re the last!” Dick called.

  Christopher looked over. He was up on Crusoe by now and the massive horsebox had gone, leaving an abundance of space where it had been. Martin was still tightening his girth before mounting, taking an age as usual, but what was Dick doing with Martin’s ride? The usual beginners with their hopeless, stodgy ponies were assembling in the yard ready to go off to the schooling field, and Marion was there with them, and Donald Edge of all people!

  But Christopher’s own ride was about to start. He hurried Crusoe into the school and began warming him up.

  “What’s going on with the Yeomanry?” he asked Judith Quayle as he walked alongside her and Frolic.

  “Oh, Marion and Donald are teaching them today. Don’t you think they’re brave? The major asked me too, but I just couldn’t! I would get it all wrong and the parents would demand their subscriptions back or something!”

  “Don’t be an ass!” Christopher said. “All they do is walk and trot round and round, how could you possibly get that wrong?” He looked over to Marion again, seemingly unable to help it. Marion was showing a small girl how to hold her reins properly. “I wonder why the major didn’t ask me.”

  “Didn’t he? I thought he asked everyone. Perhaps he rang up and you were out or something.”

  Perhaps that was it. Judith moved off to lope round at a pace she possibly thought was a trot; really she was just as hopeless as Donald. Christopher wondered why he was bothered about not being offered the opportunity to teach beginners to ride, he couldn’t honestly think of anything worse.

  Marion was laughing and the sun was shining on her blonde hair. Christopher had hardly seen her since he’d had Crusoe at home. He wondered suddenly what she’d been doing all that time. It was easy to imagine that when one didn’t see people they did nothing and just stayed the same, but that didn’t seem to be the case with Marion. He would sit with her at lunch, he decided, and find out all about it.

  Gay looked sternly between Sonnet’s ears and concentrated. She’d been trying to ride Sonnet more, and to get her fit and it was working, she told herself, only it hadn’t exactly worked yet. She was supposed to be extended trotting, but Sonnet seemed to want to quicken her step instead of lengthening it. Gay kept her legs on grimly, and on and on. She felt as if she was about to collapse with exertion.

  “You’re doing more work than she is,” Major Holbrooke remarked.

  It had been fun, Marion decided. They didn’t seem to have stopped laughing the whole morning, though she wasn’t sure the children had learned very much. Dick had suggested they try lots of exercises like ‘round the world’ and touching toes which had been hilarious, especially with Donald’s dry commentary. Donald turned out to be a really good teacher once he had got over his nerves and the children had certainly enjoyed it, all except that bored looking boy who rode the big bay with all the mane, Sebastian.

  The members of the Yeomanry all knew their way to the barn so Marion was able to slip away easily to the deserted stable yard to find Columbine, except the yard was not quite as deserted as she had supposed. Major Holbrooke came out of one of the boxes in the other wing.

  “Hello!” he said. “How was instructing? Did you enjoy it?”

  “Oh, yes! It was fun. Thanks for asking me.” She stood awkwardly, looking at her feet.

  “Well you are cordially invited to lunch in the house if you’d like; instructors always are, though they very rarely take me up on it.”

  “Oh!” Marion said, feeling an utter fool. “Actually I was going to ride Columbine, in the school if that’s all right? I wanted to try the test.” There was no point stopping now she’d started. “Just the easiest one, the one our ride is doing. To see i
f she can do it.”

  “That’s an interesting idea,” the major said. “Mind if I come along and watch?”

  “Of course you can, though it’s likely to be a complete disaster.” She couldn’t decide whether she actually minded or not.

  “Your Major Holbrooke certainly has a temper doesn’t he?” asked Patricia.

  “The major doesn’t belong to me,” Christopher said irritably.

  Patricia didn’t seem to notice his irritation. “All I said was that Sandy was a perfectly well-trained show horse and that he didn’t know how to do any of those fancy tricks. I don’t see what was so wrong with that!”

  Christopher didn’t know what to say without being rude. Sandy would have been able to half pass easily if Patricia had used the right aids. The major had explained clearly, if perhaps a little more loudly than was necessary what the aids were, but Patricia never used any aids at all. He sighed. “Major Holbrooke does get tetchy from time to time,” he said. After all, it was true. “You’ll get used to him.”

  The whole morning had been maddening. It was bad enough being in a ride with people like Patricia and Judith who could hardly get their horses to do anything, but Crusoe hadn’t gone as well as Christopher would have expected either. He didn’t seem able to bend enough when he circled and his head carriage had been too high. The major hadn’t said much about it; he’d been too busy yelling at Patricia and goading Gay. But when he had been looking at Christopher he’d done so with what seemed like a resigned look, as if he’d given up. Perhaps the old boy’s getting past it, Christopher thought.

  He looked around for Marion. He’d seen her on his way out of the school, giggling with Donald, but he had to put Crusoe away before lunch and by the time he’d done that she was nowhere; disappeared.

  “Sonnet’s going better, isn’t she?” Margaret said to Gay, making her jump out of her daydream.