CHAPTER 18
It was early afternoon and Leo was alone in the field. He wanted time on his own: time to think, time to bring himself back to earth. And what better place! Zach Shanghasi – call me Zach - had arrived early as promised and they had spent the whole of the morning together.
‘You must have thought me a complete fool yesterday.’ said Leo, as soon as they were seated. ‘All I can remember saying is that I would give you the finest horses in the world: a fool of a parrot with an echo.’
‘Leo, I wouldn’t be here if I thought you were a fool. Anyway, how are your thoughts after a night’s sleep?’
Leo’s answer made Zach roar with laughter: ‘A night’s sleep!’ he repeated. ‘Not a chance! I’ve been trying all I know to wear this floor away the whole night through and from the look of her, Sara has done little better. Hour after hour with my mind a blur and all I can think to say to you this morning is that I shall give you the finest horses in the world.’
Zach really laughed, and though the morning continued with no shortage of humour, Leo was soon to realise he was dealing with Zach Shanghasi the man of business. Questions were in a torrent: sharp, penetrating, detailed questions that had Leo sitting straight-backed on the edge of his chair. Sara joined them after an hour – Pearl and Lilac were at the Rumble Tum helping Beth pack everything into boxes and she had taken Tiger Lilly and Mattie for a walk. A good idea, she thought; to leave Leo with Zach Shanghasi for while, but as soon as she returned she found herself deep in the thick of the questioning. For most of another hour the avalanche continued with Sara, sitting as straight-backed as Leo, hardly moving. Question after question until, quite suddenly Zach lifted himself from the table.
‘Leo, Sara,’ he said. ‘Thank you for your patience and the straightforward manner in which you have answered my questions and I think you will be happy to learn that is the last of them. At least all that are important, all that matter.’ He leaned back in his chair and gave a sigh, a sigh that told he was pleased with their answers.’
‘So what next you might well ask’ he said. ‘Well, I think we have done enough talking and that it is time to call in the lawyers and have them to draw up an agreement that will bring about our partnership; a partnership between Leo and Sara Santino and the Shanghasi International Corporation. It will of course be a business agreement, but I truly hope and believe that it will mark the beginning of many years of friendship between our two families. An ever growing friendship’ He reached to shake their hands. ‘Yesterday you told me you usually manage a bottle or two of wine each year. Depends on the rain, you said. Well, my friends, if there’s still some of it around, I think now would be a good tim to be opening a bottle. And my congratulations! Just one more thing, Leo Santino. ‘He gave Leo’s hand an extra shake. ‘I have no doubt that you will give me the finest horses in the world. No doubts at all.’
Leo continued hacking at the soil, instinctively turning his eyes to the cloudless sky. He could afford to leave this crop, turn his back on it and let it wither in the ground, but it was not his way, something he knew he could never do. Zach had suggested he send for Binnie and Taz to run the farm at least until the harvest was over, leave him free to concentrate on the new venture and he was more than happy to agree. No one would ever know how much he had always hated the thought of the relentless, backbreaking work they had been forced to do; so far from home, rarely seeing them – feeling their unhappiness whenever he did. They were good sons who deserved a better future and, no matter what Sara said, he had always blamed himself.
‘Enough.’ Leo said to himself, stopping to lean on his hoe. ‘Enough of this dreaming about my sons; about the new schools I will be choosing for my daughters, the dresses I’ll be buying for Sara. Yes, enough! So much planning to do, so many decisions to be made, problems to solve. Water was the main headache. Within a year or two, he could well have a hundred horses in his care, maybe more, and that would mean an endless supply of water, water in abundance with no regard to seasons. Should he then be thinking of moving to land north of Suchno, close to the reservoir or, as Zach had mentioned, consider the possibilities of deep-well drilling. Zach had left it to him to decide: ‘Your department,’ he had said, shrugging his shoulders. And then there was the question of . . . . Oh, so many decisions to be made: crucial, difficult decisions that only he could make; questions that promised no end of troublesome nights with little sleep - and Leo was a happy, happy man.
‘Dad! Dad!’ Leo turned to see Tiger Lilly standing at the edge of the field and pointing towards the gate. A coach had stopped and as he squinted his eyes against the sun, he could see a woman and a young girl stepping down onto the road. Sun or not, he recognised them right away: he dropped his hoe, shook his head. Life was suddenly moving so fast he could hardly think - one day a farmer, the next he had a royal princess paying him a visit. It was all he could do to stop from breaking into a run, but a flash of memory reminded him of the many times members of royal families from all over the world had visited his father’s stables without there being much fuss. Maybe because his dad was as famous as they were.
Sara was placing a jug of lemonade on the table by the time he arrived at the house. ‘Pearl and Lilac are at the circus, helping with the packing and I can’t tell you how unhappy they will be that they missed you,’ she was saying as she poured the lemonade into glasses. That was Sara – took everything in her stride. If he did decide they had to move, she would simply turn and start to pack.
‘Our fault, we should have checked they would be here, Princess Serena replied. ‘But please, Mrs Santino, would you tell them how sorry I am. About everything, especially about your daughter Pearl being locked up for the night. It must have been horrible for her. Really and truly I had no idea I was going to cause so much trouble and, please, will you tell her how much I regret all I did?
‘Yes and may I say it was the Princess’s idea to come here in person to apologise to you all,’ added Miss Penny. ‘Her idea completely.’
‘Well I think it very thoughtful of you and I also think it was a very brave thing you did in court,’ said Leo ‘and I know that Pearl thinks so too – we all do - and I thank you for coming here. It is a great honour and one we shall always remember. Yes, thank you.’
‘And what is more,’ added Miss Penny, ‘it looks like something really good is about to come out of the whole affair. I don’t know the full story, but I do know that the Prince is quite excited about it all. And a strange thing! Would you believe I can clearly remember hearing the name Santino as a small girl and I knew, even before the Prince told me, it had something to do with horses?’
‘Yes, the name Santino was a famous name before the war and we hope to make it so again.’ said Leo with increasing pride.
‘Horses! Horses! What’s this about horses?’ Tiger Lilly had been sitting quietly in a corner, her eyes fixed on Serena’s shoes. Never had she seen such shoes, but in an instant, the shoes were forgotten. ‘Oh, don’t tell me we are going to have a horse! Oh no! Such great big, lumpy things and clumsy so you wouldn’t believe. We had a horse here last year, came to plough the top field – awful it was, came close to knocking me over and not just the once. Oh, I like the kind of horses the Princess has – well, who wouldn’t! – but the ones they have on farms are the size of houses, far too big to ride and who would want the job of looking after it? Not me for one. Actually, I know someone who had a horse and you would never believe the trouble they had with the stupid thing. Take for instance the day they were taking it out on to one of their fields. Hardly through the gate when . . . .’
‘Tiger Lilly, please!’ exclaimed Sara using her-how-many-times-do-I-have-to-tell-you look ‘There are things we wish to discuss with you, but not now - important things that affect all of us and we thought it best to wait until your sisters are home from the circus. In the meantime, why don’t you and the Princess take your lemonades outside? She might like to see the new chickens or perhaps you can sit under the big tree and ha
ve a chat. I doubt she knows that you were both born on the same day, so there’s something to talk about.’
Tiger Lilly took another look at Serena’s shoes, decided that the Princess was unlikely to have much of an interest in chickens and took her to the seat her father had made under the big oak tree. She often wondered why they called it the big oak – it was the only tree they had. Always forgot to ask.
‘When are you coming back to say sorry to Pearl?’ she asked the Princess the moment they were seated’
‘Come back? No. Why should I? I’ve already asked your mother if she will explain to Pearl how sorry I am and how shocked I was to learn she had not been allowed home that night.’
‘Have you ever been locked up for the night?’
‘Course I haven’t. That’s a silly question.’
‘Not as silly as someone who thinks it good enough to do nothing more than leave a message saying whoops, sorry, didn’t really mean it. No, I think that is just terrible.’
‘You don’t like me very much, do you?’
‘No.’
‘Well that’s good because I don’t like you either.’
They were silent a while.
‘Why?’ asked Serena suddenly.
‘Why what?’ asked Tiger Lilly.
‘Why you do not like me.’ said Serena. And anyway, how can you possibly say such a thing when we have never met before, never been together?’
‘Well yes, if you don’t count the time at the magic bench and that was when I decided we could never be friends. Never ever!’
‘Is that because of the way I was that day with Miss Penny?’
‘Yes and I have never heard anyone speak like that before, not to an adult and not to someone who was trying so hard to be patient and kind. I thought you were awful, just awful.’
‘Well that shows you don’t know all you think you do. Shows you know exactly nothing! If you really want to know, I told Miss Penny how sorry I was that very same afternoon and she said she understood. I love Miss Penny and I know she loves me and it is none of your business what we say to each other.’
‘Maybe not, but you seem to have to spend a lot of your time having to say sorry to people.’
There was an even longer spell of silence.
Then Serena said: ‘What are those numbers over there. Chalked on the flagstones?’
‘That’s our hopscotch. Lilac and me. We play it a lot. You want to have a go?’
‘No, I do not. Looks like a childish game to me – not for a nine year old I wouldn’t have thought.’
‘Is that because you are no good at it, or is it because you have never heard of a hopscotch before? Yes, I bet that’s what it is.’
‘So there’s another thing you know absolutely nothing about. If you really want to know, I must have played it hundreds of times when I was five or six and, far as I can remember, I was quite good at it. Got bored with it, best I can remember.’
‘Right then! Show me.’
‘You are really very silly, do you know that? How can I possibly play a game like that in a dress this long? I’d be tripping all over myself from the start. Honestly!’
‘You could tuck the bottom of the dress in your belt. Or maybe that’s just an excuse.’
‘Right!’ Serena lifted her dress, tucked it round her waist and strode purposely to the hopscotch. ‘You had better remind me what I’m supposed to do – it’s a long time since I played this childish game.’
‘What to do? I would have thought it obvious,’ replied Tiger Lilly, her eyes rolling to the sky. ‘Hop on the single numbers, step both feet on the doubles and take a flying turn at the end and come back again.
‘There, how’s that?’ said Serena on her return.
‘Two! You stood on two cracks. Not so good at all.’
‘I did not. I did not step on any crack. Not one’
‘You did!’
‘I did not.’
‘Yes you did! Twice!’
They went back to the big tree, shared another silence.
‘Is that a dead chicken over there by the wall?’
‘A chicken, course it isn’t. It’s a shuttlecock my sister Lilac made from a cork and some chicken feathers.’
‘Did it work?’
‘No. But that’s because our racquets were old and saggy - my dad’s when he was a boy.’
Tiger Lilly paused a while before she asked ‘Could I have a ride in your coach? I’ve never been in one, not ever.’
‘A ride in my coach! Whatever for? I hate coaches. They are nothing but rattly, bumpy things and all that would happen is you’d be shaken to pieces. I’ll ask Miss Penny if it is really something you want, though I must say it seems a strange thing for someone to want. Least it is to me. Not normal. And where would we go, for pity sake?’
‘We could go to the magic bench.’
Serena gave a long, weary sigh. ‘I suppose you mean the log where I hid the necklace – will it ever be forgotten! - but don’t tell me you actually believe in magic.’
Tiger Lilly sat back, folded her arms, took her time with the question. ‘All right, so when you were sitting on the log that day, did you by any chance wish a wish you really wanted – and don’t say no without having a good think about it. Lilac knows all about magic and says if it is a really, really important wish and one you have been carrying in your heart for a longest of time, then it is bound to come true.’
‘I wanted my mother’s locket.’ said Serena. ‘But I went to the log to hide the necklace, not to make a wish. Anyway I didn’t know anything about it being magic at the time, did I? It just seemed a good place to hide things, that’s all.’
‘Did you get it, your mother’s locket I mean?’
‘Yes, my father said he was going to give it to me all along, said he was sorry he had taken so long’
‘There you are then,’ said Tiger Lilly. ‘You got your wish. And while we are talking about magic, I might as well tell you there’s a wish I‘ve have been wishing for so long that I’ve even thought of giving up trying. Told myself to forget about it and that there is no such thing as magic, but just before you arrived, I was watching my Dad working in the field and I’ve decided to give it another try next time I’m at the bench. Also, Lilac says I’ve simply not tried hard enough before and may be she is right.
‘Can you tell me what it is?’
‘ No. Wishes are to be kept secret. Least I think they are. I’ll ask Lilac.’
Serena looked thoughtful: ‘I suppose magic can do anything, no matter what,’ she said.’
‘I suppose,’ said Tiger Lilly. ‘Nothing bad of course’
There was another pause, the longest of all. ‘Do you have many friends?’ Serena asked.
‘Yes, lots. How about you?’
‘Yes, lots. How about a best friend?’
‘Not really. Just Lilac and Pearl,’
Serena stood, stared at the top of the tree for a while then turned towards the house. ‘I’ll go ask Miss Penny about you having a ride in my coach,’ she said.