Barefoot (17 page)

Toni unwrapped a piece of lemon cake and offered it to him, but he shook his head.

‘I need both hands to drive this thing. I’ll have some later. When we hit the motorway.’

She bit into the cake and discovered it was definitely dry and past its best, but ate it all anyway, licking the sugar off her fingers then wiping her hands on her jeans.  She sat back, satisfied, then glanced in the wing mirror and sat bolt upright again.

‘Oh, my God.’ Toni almost threw the lemon cake straight back up.

‘What?’  Cal glanced sharply sideways at her, then back to the road.

‘It’s a police car behind. Its lights are flashing, Cal!’

Cal hunched over the wheel, pushing the lorry up into third gear.

She couldn’t believe he wasn’t slowing down. ‘You’ve got to stop.’

‘I’m not exactly speeding.’

‘Perhaps they’ve discovered I’m missing. Or your dad realised the lorry has gone and he’s reported it stolen.’ Toni’s thoughts raced wildly. ‘Or maybe that guy at the petrol station got suspicious and called them.’

The police car was closer now.

‘I haven’t done anything wrong,’ Cal pointed out, stubborn now. ‘He can’t make me stop.’

Toni looked at him in alarm. ‘Slow down, Cal. Please,’ she begged.

To her relief he dropped the lorry back down into second gear, looking grim.

She felt really sick now and imagined the excruciating scene that was about to unfold. She was under sixteen. She must have broken some law, though she wasn’t sure what law exactly. She would be put in the back of a police car and driven back home to Arabella. And Buster would be sold for sure.

The police car flashed its lights again and Cal slowed down to a crawl as it drew alongside.

‘I’m sorry for getting you into this.’ The words rushed out, but she needed to tell him while she had the chance. ‘Really sorry.’ Toni longed to take his hand.

As the police car pulled in front, she waited for it to stop to block their way, but instead it kept going, flashing its hazards and sped away, until it had rounded the next corner and was out of sight.

Cal began to laugh.

‘Why isn’t he stopping?’ Toni couldn’t compute what was happening.

‘Don’t you see? He was thanking us for slowing down.’ Cal put on the handbrake. ‘All he wanted was to get past.’

Toni sat there feeling stunned. He reached for her hand, his touch warm and reassuring. ‘You alright?’

She nodded, still shaking from the adrenalin.

‘Let’s get a grip,’ he said firmly. ‘No one’s turned us in or reported you missing.’

‘I guess you’re right.’

‘But it’ll be dawn soon and then both our families
will
realise something is up. So we need to get a move on. OK?’

*****************

It was around four-thirty when they pulled off the motorway, and Cal slowed back down as the lorry rattled over the first cattle grid marking the start of the New Forest.

‘The grids are to keep the animals off the main road,’ he told her. ‘They put fluorescent collars on them as well, so drivers can spot them. But loads still get hit by cars.’

She felt more and more anxious now they had actually arrived.

‘So anyone living here can graze ponies?’

‘No, only if you live somewhere with commoning rights attached. And it’s not just ponies. Cattle, too.’

As if to prove his point, three dark shapes suddenly moved and lumbered in front of them, causing Cal to brake sharply. The shapes sprang into focus in the headlights and she saw they were cattle. They disappeared into the darkness again on the other side of the road.

‘So tell me about Ed.’

Cal shrugged. ‘There’s not much to tell. He’s my Dad’s cousin. He got left a cottage and it’s got commoning rights with it. And he set up a small campsite. We used to come down here a lot with Mum when I was younger.’

‘Is he expecting us?’

‘Me, yes. You and Buster will be a bit of a surprise.’

The sky grew lighter as dawn approached. The first trees were just visible, interspersed with dense black areas in between, which Toni guessed were the
commons. She had only been to the New Forest once when she was seven, but still remembered being surprised how much of it was open grazing land. She had always imagined it completely covered in trees.

They turned off into an even narrower lane which snaked between the trees. On the left, a wooden sign for a campsite pointed down a forest track.

Cal paused the lorry, the engine still running. ‘What time is it?’

Toni dug out her phone. ‘Just coming up to five.’

‘It’s a bit early to be arriving on Ed’s doorstep.’ He yawned. ‘There’s a car park a bit further along that’s off the road. Why don’t we pull in there for a couple of hours and get some sleep?’

‘Sure. Good idea.’ Toni didn’t think she would be able to sleep again, but it was clear he needed to.

Minutes later, he turned off and bumped slowly over a rough track, before stopping the lorry again, turning off the engine this time. He reached for her hand and clasped it tightly in both of his, then leant back to rest his head on the back of the seat and closed his eyes.

She turned and took the opportunity to study what she could see of his face in the half-light. The shadows emphasised high cheekbones, and full lips, cracked from working out on the farm all day. It felt so natural to be here with him. Safe. His breathing deepened as he slept and Toni soon found her own eyelids getting heavier as well.

‘Hey. Wake up.’ Something brushed the top of her head and she surfaced from her sleep to find her head resting on his shoulder.

Did he just kiss me?

Toni sat up, feeling stiff, her eyes gritty from lack of sleep. Her mouth tasted foul and she wished she had thought to bring a toothbrush. Or some chewing gum at least.

‘What time is it?’

‘Half-seven. I reckon Ed should be up by now.’

She turned and looked through the window to the rear of the lorry to check on Buster. He stood dozing, but his head shot up as soon as Cal started the engine again. In daylight, Toni could see the car park was little more than a woodland clearing, predictably empty so early in the morning.

‘Look.’ Cal pointed. ‘Your first New Forest ponies.’

They were so well camouflaged; at first she couldn’t even see them at all. Then a flick of a tail and the nod of a head gave them away. A group of about seven, two of them fluffy foals. The mares seemed terribly thin with protruding ribcages.

‘They look starving.’ Toni was horrified.

‘They’ve just survived a bad winter and had foals,’ Cal pointed out. ‘They’ll put on weight soon enough.’ He started the engine and headed back towards the track leading to the campsite again.

Toni imagined Buster, sleek and well fed, joining these animals and was dismayed.  But what was the alternative? To let Arabella sell him to the first stranger who came up with the price and may not take good care of him. She felt trapped between two alternatives, neither of them happy ones.

Another group of ponies stood along the side of the track, grazing on holly bushes.

‘They get used to hanging around the campsites because people feed them. They don’t realise it just encourages them to bite,’ Cal snorted with contempt. ‘I even saw one woman give a horse a banana once.’

There was a small yard on the other side with a red-brick farmhouse at one end. A corral built of half-round timber stood at the other, holding a dark bay pony with a long mane and tail. Toni hopped down to open the gate and a Jack Russell ran over instantly, barking and snapping at her heels.

‘Get back here!’ A man appeared from inside a barn, with a hammer in one hand. He whistled to the dog and it raced obediently back to his side. The man was in his early sixties, with the same weather-beaten and tough look as Cal’s father. He seemed just about as welcoming.

Cal pulled the lorry in and Toni shut the gate behind, waiting until he had jumped down from the cab.

‘Ed.’

‘Cal.’ There was a pause.

Cal put an arm around her shoulder. ‘This is Toni.’

Ed nodded. She could feel him assessing the situation.

‘You didn’t mention you’d have company.’

‘I was hoping you could do us a favour.’

Ed put down his hammer, wary. ‘Try me.’

Cal turned to Toni. ‘Do you want to explain?’

The man’s silence made her feel even more nervous. Toni found herself babbling.

‘It’s complicated. You see, I’ve got a pony – a New Forest. He’s called Buster. And the thing is my mother wants to sell him.’

‘So you thought you’d just bring him down here and what? Turn him loose?’ Ed shook his head in disgust.

Toni looked at Cal for support.

‘You have commoning rights,’ Cal pointed out. ‘You could turn him out with yours.’

‘I have to pay for each one,’ Ed said. ‘It’s illegal otherwise.’

‘I can pay,’ Toni leapt in quickly.

Ed seemed to be considering it seriously. ‘Let’s take a look at him then.’

Cal strode over and let down the tail ramp and led Buster out. He picked his way carefully down the ramp, neatly hopped off at the bottom, then raised his head and looked round the forest, inhaling the new scents.

Ed walked over and inspected him.

‘I’d have to cut his tail…’

Toni flinched.

‘Fix him with a collar.’

He paused.

‘Then I’d have to brand him.’

‘No!’ Toni almost shouted in spite of herself. She looked to Cal wildly. ‘No! You can’t brand him.’ The reality of what she was thinking about doing really hit her.

‘Think of it from his point of view.’ Ed sounded kinder now. ‘I’m guessing you wrap him up in a rug most nights. Feed him twice a day.’

Toni nodded miserably.

‘Best of winters down here they live on practically nothing and can be skin and bone by spring. Last winter it was minus ten. You think you’d be doing him a favour turning him loose?’

Toni sank down on the step to the lorry and hugged her knees in despair.

Ed sighed. ‘Tell you what. Put him in there with Bramble for a few hours.’ He nodded to the corral. ‘Then come on into the house. I was about to make myself some breakfast anyway.’

Inside, the farmhouse was little more than one room, with a stone flagged floor and two armchairs. The Jack Russell ran in ahead and claimed his space on one of them immediately, a low growl warning Toni and Cal to keep their distance.  The air was thick with the heat from a log-burner, and at one end was a kitchen of sorts, with a kettle and an ancient gas cooker.

Ed struck a match and lit the grill, then took a packet of bacon out of the fridge and began peeling off the rashers.

‘It might look to tourists as if horses are just running round all over the place,’ he explained. ‘But we’re more organised than that. A strange horse would be spotted and picked up in a couple of weeks.’