TERRITORY

Random House Australia - ISBN 9781741665956

It is gymkhana day at the Bullalalla Races, and wealthy cattle station owner, Terence Galloway, decides to teach his young English wife, Henrietta, a lesson. She has disagreed with him in public and he is displeased. She will not ride the feisty Florian in the event for which she is entered, she will ride the old house pony Seldom Awake.

….. 'You could hurt yourself,' he said. 'Florian's very difficult to hold,' he loudly announced to the company assembled in the grandstand, 'she's come off him twice before.'

'That was two years ago!'

'Please darling,' he kissed her lightly and there was the world of concern in his voice, 'for my sake.'

But his eyes were dead. He was playing a game with her. She was to be publicly humiliated. Put in her place.

'All right, Seldom Awake it is.' She laughed as she turned to the others. 'I'm terribly sorry about your bet, Foong Lee.'

Buff Nelson announced the event through his loudhailer. It was a ladies' race and the rules were simple. When he blew his whistle, the twelve competitors were to gallop to the far end of the oval, dismount and pick up in their teeth the stick which rested on their individual 44 gallon drum. They would then remount and return, and after crossing the finish line, the first to gallop to the rostrum and personally present him with her stick would win the race. Everyone applauded, these events were the fun part of the day.

Henrietta lined up with the others, hardened outback women wearing battered men's hats, sitting easily on feisty horses, all prancing and raring to go. Seldom Awake's hooves were planted firmly in the dust, and Henrietta sat perched on his broad back, feeling silly in her jodhpurs and smart riding helmet. She and Seldom heaved a joint sigh of resignation, it seemed they both knew what they were in for.

Buff blew the whistle and they all took off, including Seldom, he was an obedient animal and he knew the rules. But he took off at a snail's pace and, as the stock horses burst into a gallop, he continued to plod, Henrietta's frantic heels in his well-padded sides raising him finally to a trot and that was as fast as he'd go.

Jackie appeared from out of the crowd and ran alongside them. He urged the horse on in his foreign tongue and amazingly Seldom broke into a canter. A lazy, sloppy gait. He was not used to cantering, but for Jackie's sake he was trying.

Even Jackie's incantations could not work miracles and, in the distance, through the swirling dust of the others, Henrietta saw the women dismount and pick the sticks up with their teeth whilst their horses snorted and danced impatient to get back in the race. One rider dropped the reins and her mount left her behind to take off after the others. Henrietta was only halfway to the 44 gallon drums when she met them on their way back. Sticks in their mouths, they waved to her and she waved in return as Seldom lumbered on.

The crowd was laughing and cheering with delight. This must be the comic turn. The stockmen were laughing at Jackie Yoorunga, speaking in the tongues of horses to a fat, lazy animal who wasn't listening, and everyone else was laughing at the station owner's wife, in her jodhpurs and smart riding helmet, making a fool of herself. They'd never seen anything like it.

Henrietta dismounted by her 44 gallon drum. Beside her, Seldom waited patiently not moving a muscle. 'Good boy,' she muttered, but Seldom was only too grateful for the brief respite. Henrietta picked the stick up between her teeth, her mouth dry and tasting of red dust, and re-mounted.

'Don't drop him, missus,' Jackie said, and he pointed to the stick. Then he sprinted off, reaching the finish line before Seldom was halfway there.

Seldom plodded his weary way back, the crowd roaring its approval. Without Jackie's influence, he refused to canter and even slowed from a trot to a walk. Henrietta gave up and simply sat on his back, waving to her right and left and grinning inanely with the stick in her mouth. She felt like a retriever dog, but if they all wanted a laugh then fine, she would join in the joke.

As she reached the finish line, the outback women who had long completed their race, were waving their sticks in the air and cheering. Henrietta felt the whole world was laughing at her. But, strangely enough, she didn't care. If this was what Terence wanted, so be it. If she did not show her humiliation, then he would have no victory.

'Good boy, Seldom,' she muttered through her teeth which were clenched firmly around the stick, and she patted the horse's neck as he obediently plodded up to Buff Nelson who was standing on the rostrum.

'The winner!' Buff yelled through his loudhailer and whilst Henrietta presumed this was all part of the joke at her expense, he explained to the crowd.

'The rules were clear,' he yelled, 'each rider must report to me with her stick in her mouth. The other contestants took their sticks from their mouths before reporting to the judge, they are therefore disqualified.'

The rules hadn't been at all clear, Henrietta thought. She'd been so self-conscious she'd simply forgotten about the wretched stick. She looked at Jackie who stood by the rostrum, smiling his gappy-toothed grin. Was this Jackie's doing? Or was it Buff's? The smile on Buff's leathery face was just as broad. The female riders were waving their sticks and grinning too. And the crowd was applauding generously. Everyone was delighted that Henrietta had won. What a good sport the boss's wife was, they all thought.

The joke was on Terence, Henrietta decided as she dismounted and walked up the steps to the rostrum.

'The winner!' Buff roared again as she took the stick from her mouth and presented him with it. 'Mrs. Terence Galloway!' And he held the stick aloft as evidence of her triumph.

Henrietta pulled off her riding helmet, shook her hair free, and curtsied as men whistled and women cheered. She played up to the crowd, bowing and blowing kisses in every direction, particularly towards the grandstand.

'Well done, my darling.' Terence embraced her when she returned. On her way back to the grandstand, she'd shaken hands with drovers and their wives and people from town, she'd been the most popular person present, she realised with a sense of surprise and delight.

Now, as Terence embraced her and the family cheered, she looked for the sign of his disapproval. His eyes should be dead, but they weren't. There was even a touch of admiration in them as he said, 'You did very well. Didn't she, Hans?

Henrietta sensed it was a test she had passed. He admired her for it, certainly, but the rules remained his.