Read Online Bella's Run by Margareta Osborn - Free Book Online Page B

than people. Harry could take the most recalcitrant, wild-eyed steed and in a couple of hours have that same animal lying on the ground with Harry sitting on its belly whispering sweet nothings in its ears. He was known throughout Queensland and the Territory for his horse whispering.

    Looking across the table, Sheila could see Rob’s uncomfortable expression. No doubt he was thinking he was now down a ringer, a gardener and a fill-in cook. It served him right. If he couldn’t keep his wife’s spitefulness in hand, he deserved all the trouble he got.

    There was quite a crowd to see them off, something the girls hadn’t expected. Sheila and Jack, having got over his missing loader by now. Rodney along with Jimbo the cook.
    Harry Bailey turned up at the last minute to give both girls a handmade leather wallet, each engraved with their name; a souvenir from their time in outback Queensland. Tears came to both girls’ eyes as old Harry handed over his presents. ‘I’ve been making them for a while, but finished them off last night after I heard you were leaving. Now don’t you go forgetting, Bella me girl.’ Harry leaned in and gave her a rough hug.
    ‘Don’t forget what, Harry?’
    ‘How to lace that bloody girth.’
    Bella burst out laughing, making everyone turn in their direction, while Harry ducked his head in embarrassment.
    ‘We use real stock saddles in Victoria, Harry. With proper girths that have buckles. You come on down one day and I’ll show you how we do it in the mountains.’
    ‘Now, Bella,’ cut in an amused Patty, ‘don’t you think he’s a bit old for you? Plus I think a certain brother of mine might get jealous.’
    The whole crowd around Patty’s red Holden ute roared and Harry didn’t know which way to look. ‘Just kidding, Harry, just kidding,’ said Patty as she gave the old man a hug. ‘And I promise, if I win the whip-cracking championship at the Nunkeri Muster again this year, I’ll give you a ring.’
    ‘You do that, girlie. Be nice to hear all those Sundaymorning practice sessions didn’t go to waste.’
    ‘What’s this, Harry? You haven’t been giving her lessons, have you?’ Bella pouted at the old man. ‘Patty was impossible to beat last year, without having a master like you to help her.’
    Sheila stepped forward next to offer a hug. ‘By the way, girls, Knackers rang this morning. Looks like Max will be let out of hospital tomorrow. They’re all going on a holiday in the Whitsundays. Knackers sounded so excited. Just like a big kid himself really.’
    Patty laughed. ‘Knackers in shorts? I’d like to see that! His legs have never seen the sun. Ever. Oh God, those white chicken legs.’
    Bella tried to swallow her giggles but the vision of a red-faced Knackers, broad-brimmed hat on his head, big barrel chest clad in a striped cowboy shirt sauntering down the sand with psychedelic board shorts on was too much. Unfortunately the Queenslanders standing around them couldn’t see the joke.
    ‘Well, something’s funny,’ said Rodney, looking puzzled.
    Sheila smiled. These two girls really had brought a ray of sunshine to Ainsley Station, even if she couldn’t understand some of their jokes. They would be missed. ‘Good luck, you two. Stay in touch.’
    Piling into the fully laden ute, the girls flung kisses from the windows as they spun the wheels on the track for the last time.
    ‘Well, that’s it,’ said Patty, as she nosed her ute through the gateway of Ainsley Station. She pulled up beside the forty-four gallon drum mailbox. ‘Which way do we go? We’re running a couple of months early.’

    ‘Well, I’ve been thinking . . .’ said Bella, and Patty buried her face in her hands.
    ‘Last time you thought , Hells Bells, we got fired.’
    ‘Yeah well, we had a good time doing it, didn’t we?’
    ‘Too right we did. That liquor was top-shelf stuff.’
    ‘As I was saying, I was thinking we could pool our bucks and still have a little holiday on