Faster Than Lightning (2 page)

‘Is that who I think it is?’ Hannah said, straining to look out past the swarm of people clustered around the betting ring at two girls striding in their general direction.

‘What? Hey, Dad!’ called Angus. ‘We’re just going to look around.’

‘And there’s someone with her,’ Hannah continued, determined that Angus should take some notice of her.

Mr MacDonald nodded quickly and turned back to the horse and jockey in front of him.

‘Come on, Hannah,’ Angus said, folding his form guide and sticking it into his back pocket. ‘Too many last-minute instructions going on here.’

‘Did you hear a word I said?’ she asked, following Angus as he jogged past the horse stalls.

It was Teasdale Racecourse’s first meet of the spring season and the place was humming. Although it wasn’t as big an event as the city races, the meetings at Teasdale drew jockeys, trainers, horses and owners, as well as hordes of people, from all over the state. It was one of the biggest country meets in Australia and took place on the third weekend every month during spring. The Teasdale Cup always made it to the national papers.

A loud voice booming through speakers announced the placings for the previous race. Horses stamped their feet as they were saddled. Strappers moved quietly among them. Stern trainers, just like Angus’s dad, were talking to their jockeys and plotting the race that was about to start.

‘Are race days always like this?’ Hannah said, forgetting her brief moment of anger and stepping sideways to avoid some steaming green manure.

‘Yeah.’ Angus was busy looking at each horse as he passed. ‘This is what it’s all about.’ He sidestepped another small heap of dung without even noticing. Hannah fiddled with the binoculars hanging round her neck. Apart from a bit of neighbour spying, she really hadn’t tried them out. Horses were all right, she thought, but
I’d rather be up in the stand watching the crowd through the glasses. Not
boy
watching, just people watching. James Bond style.

‘I reckon we’ll be able to see the colour of a jockey’s eyes way over the back straight with these,’ she yelled to Angus, lifting the binoculars up and waving them at him.

She hadn’t noticed that he’d stopped, and walked straight into him. She spun around and, putting the binoculars to her face, scanned the crowd of people mingling in the trainers’ area, trying to get a glimpse of the two girls she thought she’d spotted a few minutes back.

‘There!’ she cried. ‘My God, would you
look
at that girl? Who’s she trying to impress?’

‘What are you talking about?’ Angus said, finally stopping and looking at Hannah.

‘Gabby. She’s dressed to kill.’ Hannah chuckled.

‘What? Give me a look.’

‘Oh, so now you’re interested?’ Hannah focused the lens. ‘She’s wearing high heels and just managed to avoid a big pile of poo. Oh, hang on. No she didn’t. She’s fallen over.’ Hannah chuckled again.

‘Give me a look!’ Angus grabbed at the binoculars but a commotion from further down
the line of stalls made him turn. Gabby and her high heels were forgotten. He let the binoculars go and quickly walked past the last few stalls. There were fewer people here. Someone was shouting.

Behind them, horses were being led out into the parade ring. Only one horse was left, a tall rangy black surrounded by arguing men. Angus pulled up, hidden by the wooden slats of the last stall.

‘Can’t you do anything right?’ hissed a short man in a black vest. ‘Rub it in hard.’

Angus strained to see what they were doing. A nervous strapper was holding a pot of something black and the short man was rubbing at the horse’s hooves. Maybe it has a sore leg, thought Angus. He looked again at the black stuff in the pot. Or maybe they’re trying to hide something. The horse was vaguely familiar to him…

The thoroughbred was suddenly trotted out of the stall, almost running Hannah and Angus over. The short man pushed roughly past them, frowning. Angus grabbed Hannah’s arm to stop her falling. She glared at the backs of the men as they hurried away.

‘Well, excuse
me
!’

‘Hey,’ said Angus. ‘They’ve dropped this.’ He bent down and picked up a small silver mobile phone.

‘It’s probably fallen out of someone’s pocket.’ Hannah took the phone from her friend. ‘Serves them right for being so rude.’ She fiddled with the screen display. ‘Latest model too. Worth heaps. Better than mine.’ She pulled her phone out of her pocket and looked at it ruefully. ‘But at least mine’s more techno than E.D.‘s.’

’Race four, race four,’ boomed the speakers. ‘Last call for race four.’

‘Come on,’ said Angus. ‘We’ll miss Dad’s race.’

‘Hey, guys! Wait up.’

The two turned around to see Gabby come into view, wearing a tight white dress with a large pink belt and high heels, stumbling forward and being supported by her friend.

‘Hi, Gabby,’ Hannah called. ‘Saw you coming.’ She grinned.

‘H-hi,’ Gabby replied, slightly out of breath. ‘You obviously didn’t have time to dress for the races, Han.’ She looked over Hannah’s jeans and T-shirt.

‘Guess not. Who’s your friend?’

‘Oh, this is my cousin, Mae-Ling. Ling, this is Angus and Hannah, two of my bestest friends.’

Mae-Ling smiled shyly. Angus felt himself smiling back, caught by Ling’s dark eyes. He felt his face start to heat up.

‘Hi, Ling,’ said Hannah.

‘Gabby’s told me all about you,’ said Ling.

‘Hope it was good.’

‘Most of it was,’ Ling said, grinning.

‘Ling is staying with us for two weeks until her parents come back from their trip overseas. She normally lives in Sydney.’ Gabby looked sideways at Ling. ‘I was
trying
to tell you last night, Angus. I didn’t know myself—’

‘That’s great, Gab, but c’mon or else we’ll miss the race,’ Angus interrupted, turning away from the girls. ‘I’m going to find Dad.’

Hannah slipped the phone into her pocket and raced after Angus.

‘God, where to now?’ Gabby grumbled, turning around with difficulty.

Angus and Hannah charged up the stairs of the trainers’ viewing platform. Mr Mac was already there, watching his horse heading down to the starting stalls.

‘Got a chance, Dad?’ asked Angus, finding a seat.

‘As good as any.’

Squashing up to let Gabby, Hannah and Ling sit down, Angus pulled out his form guide and took one last look at the field running in the fourth. The sense of excitement and anticipation that he always felt just before a race surged through him. Even Gabby and Hannah were quiet, leaning forward in their seats and straining to see the starting stalls way off in the distance. Finally, the horses settled.

‘Racing!’ yelled the speakers.

Hannah trained her binoculars on the galloping horses gathering speed as they charged down the straight.

‘Cool, Angus! Check this out!’ She handed the glasses to him.

‘I’m okay, thanks.’ Angus stared out at the tightly packed group of horses thundering past the stands for the first time. He was watching two horses in particular—his dad’s lanky dark brown with their red star silks on the jockey’s back, and the black horse the group of men had been arguing over, running evenly in the middle of the field. The gold and black colours on the jockey’s back stood out in the afternoon sunshine.

The horses flew past the finishing post for the first time, slightly more spread out. Mr Mac’s
horse had eased back into fourth, but was looking strong. The black was a couple of lengths further back, galloping easily, its jockey relaxed like he was on a gentle training run.

‘Dad?’ Angus called, not taking his eyes from the track.

‘Fourth, but going okay,’ Mr Mac replied.

‘Yeah, I know. Do you know all the horses running?’

Gabby started counting. ‘They keep changing positions,’ she said, frustrated.

‘It’s a horse race, Gabby. That’s what happens,’ Hannah laughed.

‘No,’ Mr Mac said, after a moment. ‘There’s some here I haven’t seen before.’

‘Okay,’ Angus said. ‘Han, can I have a go of those glasses?’

Hannah passed them over as the horses swung into the back straight. Two or three had dropped off the pace, but it was still anyone’s race with the leaders running side by side. The jockeys were starting to use their whips to spur the horses on.

The leading four pulled further away as they entered the sweeping bend at the top of the back straight.

‘Hang tough, hang tough,’ Mr Mac muttered, his horse desperately trying to keep up with the
front of the group of chasers. Angus’s binoculars were trained on Mr Mac’s horse when suddenly the black came into view, sprinting wide around the outside. He kept the glasses on the black, following it closely as it sped up alongside the last of the four leading horses.

A roar of excitement erupted from the stand as it continued its daring run. In no time the black had surged into third place, without any apparent effort at all.

Then just as suddenly it fell back again. The jockey hadn’t once raised his whip. As the horses entered the straight for the last time, the black had slipped to fifth, and it was falling further behind as the horses charged towards the finish.

Out of their saddles and in a frenzy of activity, the jockeys urged their mounts on for one final effort to the finishing post. The rider with the gold and black silks was also standing in his saddle but didn’t seem to be pushing so hard. Maybe he was just an apprentice, Angus thought. Or maybe there was something wrong with the horse.

But for a moment the black had looked like storming past the field.

‘Sixth!’ Mr Mac called, not sounding too disappointed, as he watched his own horse ease up after the line.

‘Yeah, and he beat the black,’ Angus muttered, his binoculars still trained on the black and gold silks of its jockey. ‘What
was
going on there?’ he mumbled.

Only Hannah heard his soft voice.

‘What?’ she said.

‘That horse I was watching.’ Angus took out his form guide again. ‘He’s called Lightning Strikes. From Tom Bentley’s stables. Jockey was soft on him.’

Hannah shrugged, her eyes on the phone. ‘Maybe he’s tired.’

Angus didn’t answer. He wondered if anyone else had seen the horse ease back at the top corner. There was probably nothing in it. Angus looked at his dad, but he had eyes only for their horse.

‘Not a bad run,’ said Mr Mac. ‘I’ll go down to him. See you at the stables.’

The viewing platform emptied until only a few people were left. Angus glanced over at the horses milling about in the dismounting yard. A man was giving the poor jockey on the black horse a good going over. Angus grunted: he felt he could have ridden a better race himself.

‘Wow, how cool was that?’ Gabby said, clapping her hands. Ling smiled. ‘So where would we collect our money from?’

Hannah had taken the phone out of her pocket and was scrolling through its contents. She looked up at Gabby.

‘Money? Did you place a bet?’

‘Actually, no, not on that race. But we’re going to, aren’t we, Ling?’ Ling opened her mouth to speak but Gabby interrupted her.
‘I
look old enough.’ She frowned at Hannah as if it was so obvious that Hannah didn’t look old enough. ‘Oh, by the way, we’re having a barbecue over at my place tonight. To welcome Ling. Will you come, Angus? And you, Hannah? I’ve tried to ask you a few times.’

‘Sure,’ Angus said, standing up to head back down to the stalls.

‘Great. Come on, Ling. Let’s go check out all the fashion and hats.’

‘It’s not the Grand National or the Melbourne Cup, Gabby,’ Hannah said, trying not to laugh. She pushed a button on the phone and a photo flashed up. Before she could get a good look, Angus had snatched it away. ‘Hey!’

‘Have a look at that,’ Angus said. He held the phone up. On the display screen was a picture of a black horse standing in a paddock. It looked like Lightning Strikes except that the animal in the photo had white socks on its back legs.
Angus studied the paddock it was standing in. ‘I’ve been there,’ he said quietly.

‘Where is it?’ Hannah asked.

‘I don’t know, but I’ve been there.’ Angus was slowly shaking his head, trying to remember where.

‘What do you think
that
means?’ Hannah pointed to the text message under the picture:
jst lke th real thng.

‘Would you look at that?’ Hannah sighed, staring at the enormous pool in front of them. Crystal-clear water, still as glass, shimmered gently. ‘Every time I see it I get shivers up and down my spine.’

‘Dad had the pool done up over the winter. We’ve got fully upgraded pool hydraulics, with the latest filtration system,’ Gabby said as if it was the most boring thing in the world. She walked across to an electronic console. ‘There’s a fully tiled interior with a vanishing edge. It stays heated to 22 degrees, no matter what the weather is. And—’

‘I think it’s just plain gorgeous,’ said Ling, putting her hand on her cousin’s arm to stop her talking. ‘What do you think, Angus?’

‘What?’ Angus was standing at the edge of the pool looking over the fence to
Brookwood.
He could just make out his own house from here. I wonder if Dad’s fed the young horses yet, he thought to himself, completely forgetting the girls.

‘Angus!’ Hannah pushed him in the back and he nearly toppled into the pool.

‘Maybe we’ll go inside, then.’ Gabby glared at him. She flicked a switch and suddenly a series of lights lit the bottom of the pool. ‘It’s like a water wonderland when you’re in the pool,’ she said. She closed the cover of the console.

Angus smiled awkwardly at her and wandered off in the direction of the house.

‘The only downside is the caps,’ Gabby whispered to Hannah as they headed for the door. ‘Caps?’

‘The filters. Hair. You have to wear caps to keep the hair out of the filters, and let me tell you, finding the right colour cap is a nightmare.’ Gabby linked her arm through Hannah’s and led the way inside. ‘Can’t I just show you my trophies again?’ They were passing a long glass cabinet attached to the wall.

Angus paused at the door as Gabby started to describe the swimming races she’d entered to earn the ribbons, medals and trophies on display.

‘I’ll show you another time,’ she said, glancing at Angus, who looked slightly bored.

Ling smiled. ‘Good idea, Gabby.’

‘Come upstairs. Dad’s put a bar fridge in the games room so we can get something to eat.’

They walked up a wooden spiral staircase and into a huge room with a pool table in the middle, a flat-screen TV at one end and a computer at the other.

‘Wow, Gabby. This is cool.’ Angus ran his hand along the soft felt of the pool table. ‘New computer?’

‘No way! This one’s the old one.’

‘The only thing I miss about school is the internet.’ Angus shrugged. ‘We still haven’t got it at home.’

‘You’re free to use one of ours. My father’s computer is probably the quickest—’ Gabby began.

‘Could I have a go on it?’ Angus said.

Gabby shook her head. ‘He’d kill me if he caught us in his study.’ She walked across the room to a closed door. ‘Use mine.’ Gabby opened the door with a flourish.

The door led to the pinkest room Angus had ever seen. In the corner by an ice-pink dressing table was a—

‘Is that a
pink
computer?’

Gabby shrugged. ‘You can get any colour if you really want.’ She looked at Ling and Hannah. ‘Do you think I should have got fuchsia instead of musk?’

Ling took the question seriously but Hannah rolled her eyes. She walked over to the computer and switched it on. ‘There you are, Angus. It doesn’t bite.’

Angus walked carefully across the sea of pale, plush carpet and sat at the desk. The computer booted quickly and Hannah soon had a search engine up.

‘What’s your favourite site, Angus?’ Gabby asked.

Slowly, he typed in
Champions of the Australian Turf.
There was a millisecond pause and the home page flashed up, bearing a proud picture of Phar Lap.

‘Oh,’ said Gabby. ‘Horses.’ She sounded as interested as Angus had been in the swimming pool.

‘It’s a great site. You can look up any horse that ever won a major race on any Australian
racetrack.’ Angus started clicking on icons. ‘If I see a horse that I reckon is going to be a winner—maybe I’ve seen them run a spectacular race—then I look up their bloodlines to see if I can trace them back to someone famous. There was a horse last season that turned out to be Leilani’s grandson!’ He looked up at the girls and grinned. Gabby looked blankly back, Hannah was staring out the window, but Ling smiled at him.

‘That horse we saw on the track today—he’ll be a winner one day. I reckon he’ll be descended from something great. The form guide listed his sire and dam.’ Angus frowned in concentration. ‘I think they were Tsunami and Stormy Girl.’ He tapped the names in. ‘I’ve never heard of either of them.’

‘Neither have I,’ said Hannah, but her sarcasm was lost on Angus.

Ling leaned over Angus’s shoulder, her black hair falling on the keyboard. Angus stopped typing, not wanting to touch her hair.

‘Sorry,’ said Ling and stood up again.

‘Well, I’m just going down to see how the barbecue’s going.’ Gabby stared at her cousin for a moment, then started walking out of the room. ‘Maybe Mum needs some help in the kitchen. You coming, Ling?’

‘I might just stay and have a look at this,’ Ling said.

Gabby paused. ‘Okay then. I’ll be back in a minute. Anyone want any snacks?’

‘Yeah, I’ll have something, Gab,’ said Hannah, but Gabby wasn’t looking at her. When Angus didn’t answer, Gabby turned suddenly and went out the door. Hannah shrugged. ‘Found anything yet?’

Angus shook his head. ‘Nothing under those names. I’ll try the horse’s grandsire. It was Hurricane.’ He started typing again.

The screen listed ten other horses with names that started with H, but none called Hurricane. Angus shook his head. ‘I could have sworn that horse would have come from a good bloodline.’

‘Maybe it isn’t Australian?’ Ling said.

‘It was; I saw its brand.’

‘You’ll have to ask around at the track,’ said Hannah, walking around Gabby’s room and looking at her bookcase. ‘She’s even got pink books in here!’

The door opened.

‘Come on, you guys,’ Gabby called. ‘The barbecue’s cooked. Mum says we have to come down now.’

‘Great, I’m starving,’ Hannah said, leaving the books and running for the door. Angus didn’t move, staring at the screen.

‘What else can you look up?’ Ling said, turning to him.

Angus sighed. ‘I can’t get onto the thoroughbred registration site because I’m not a member.’ He clicked back to the home page and started flicking through the photo archives.

‘Are you two coming down?’ Gabby said, tapping her foot.

‘In a minute,’ Angus replied. ‘I’ll just have a quick look through these.’ He turned to Gabby. ‘It’s just that I won’t get back on the web for a while.’

She looked at him. ‘Don’t be long then.’ She pushed the door wide open and stomped after Hannah.

‘Check out all these horses.’ Angus rolled his chair over so that Ling could see the screen better. ‘They’re all pretty famous.’ He scrolled through them.

Ling watched the array of horses. Some of the pictures were old, black and white. Some were recent, showing fabulous race finishes. Every horse was at the peak of its condition, with shining coat and lean, muscular body.

‘What was the name of the horse in the race?’ Ling asked.

‘What? Oh, Lightning Strikes. He’s all black, except for his face. And he has a thin white stripe on his nose.’

Ling didn’t appear to be listening. She took the mouse from Angus and scrolled back up the page. She stopped at a photo of a horse standing proudly next to a finish post. ‘This horse is black with a white nose.’

‘Lots of racehorses are black,’ Angus said, standing up—a move he suddenly regretted, as he was enjoying sitting here with this new girl, Ling. He sat down again and looked at the screen, partly to hide his reddening face. ‘This horse has two white socks.’

‘What?’ said Ling.

‘On his legs. See? White marks. Otherwise, he does look quite a bit like Lightning Strikes.’ Angus sat up suddenly. ‘What’s this horse’s name?’

Ling scrolled down a bit further. ‘Gale Force.’

‘Gale Force? I think I’ve heard of him. Can you get his pedigree up?’

Ling pulled a chair over and sat herself next to Angus. There was silence as she went back to the home page and found what Angus was looking for.

‘Gale Force died in 1936,’ he said. ‘His sire was Cyclone and his dam was Forceful. But look!’ Angus pointed to the screen.

‘What?’ Ling tried to guess what he was pointing at. ‘Is he descended from Phar Lap or something?’

‘No! Phar Lap was a gelding.’ Angus smiled at her. ‘But Gale Force is descended from Carbine.’

‘Is that good?’

‘Yeah! Well, I reckon it is. Carbine’s in New Zealand now.’

Ling looked amazed. ‘You mean, the horse is still alive?’

‘No, his
head
is in New Zealand. In a museum.’

Ling tried not to look horrified but Angus noticed. ‘Sorry if that sounds a bit weird. He was meant to be in an exhibition I saw once that showed parts of dead racehorses, but they wouldn’t move him because of quarantine. Maybe I saw part of Gale Force there.’

Ling looked even worse so Angus changed the subject. ‘Gale Force might look like Lightning Strikes, but there isn’t any relation between them.’

‘We’d better go down to the barbecue,’ Ling said, looking directly at him.

‘Okay.’ Angus turned his head and closed down the internet. He had never been the best on a computer and Ling sitting next to him was making him more nervous than ever. Shutting the computer down took longer than it should have. Finally, Ling said, ‘I’ll do it.’

Angus stood up and let her finish it off.

Someone called their names from downstairs.

‘Coming right now!’ Ling yelled back. ‘Aren’t you hungry?’ she asked as she started for the door.

Angus walked behind her, glad to be getting out of the overpowering pink bedroom. He was halfway down the stairs when he suddenly stopped. ‘Wow,’ he said.

‘What’s wrong?’ Ling paused and looked back at him.

‘That horse we just saw on the website.’

‘Gale Force?’

‘He might not have looked like Lightning Strikes, but he sure looked like the photo on the phone.’

‘Maybe it was him,’ Ling said reasonably. ‘Maybe it was an old photo on a new phone.’

Angus stood still for a moment, then nodded. ‘You could be right.’

Ling smiled and started walking down the steps again.

Angus followed. An old photo? Maybe. And then again, maybe not.