LITMIR.BIZ

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popcorn and her favourite pastime is doing tricks to make kids laugh. But now she’s hurt and she’s frightened, so we need to keep really still, really silent, while Mischka settles her down.’

      ‘You can’t …’ the cop snapped, but Mathew had been deliberately lowering his voice, lower and lower, until at the end the kids were straining to hear. The cop’s voice was like a staccato blast into the peace.

      ‘Shush!’ a pigtailed poppet close to Mathew scolded, and the cop looked from poppet to camel to Mathew—and, amazingly, he shushed.

      His gun stayed unholstered, though.

      Allie was inching towards Cleo. She was talking to her, softly whispering, growing closer, closer. Bernie was watching the cop, seeing the threat. Matt had a sudden vision of Bernie launching himself through the air at the gun, and he flinched and went right back to talking this down.

      ‘While we wait for Mischka to calm Cleo down, maybe I should tell you about camels,’ he told the kids ‘Cleo’s a dromedary. That means she only has one hump. Her hump’s used to store energy and water, meaning she can go for days without drinking. Two-hump camels are called Bactrian camels. They still roam wild in the deserts and mountains of Mongolia. You could ask your teachers …’ he smiled at the two young women, imbuing them with more authority than they seemed to have ‘… to show you Mongolia on the map. Camels were brought to Australia in the olden days to help the early settlers cart goods into the outback. There are lots of stories about the pioneer camels on the Internet.’

      And, just like that, he had the two trainee teachers on side. They stopped being hysterical teenagers and turned into the professionals they’d one day become.

      Allie had managed to reach Cleo. She was a slip of a girl holding Cleo’s halter and starting to soothe her. The cop’s gun was drooping, and Mathew kept right on talking, inexorably turning a Wild Animal into Educational Opportunity.

      ‘Camels were used extensively to open up this country,’ he said. ‘Cleo’s mother was a wild camel, but she’s descended from those first camels brought here all that time ago. When people started using trucks and trains, they let the camels loose to do what they wanted. But imagine all that time ago, girls and boys. These camels came from Pakistan. Imagine putting animals like Cleo onto boats not much bigger than the fishing schooners in our bay and bringing them all the way to Australia.’

      ‘They would have been as scared as Cleo,’ the poppet said.

      ‘Indeed they would.’ The older of the two trainee teachers finally had herself in hand, a professional in training, and, in the face of Matt’s calm, she was ready to take over again. ‘We’ll find pictures of them on the Internet this very day, and we might start a project.’ And then she looked at the cop—who still had his hand on the gun.

      ‘Can you please put that away,’ she snapped. ‘The children have had enough of a fright for one day. Will the camel be okay, Miss … Miss … Mischka?’

      ‘I think she’s been shot,’ Allie said and they all, without a single exception, turned to stare at the cop.

      ‘Hey, it wasn’t me …’ he started but Allie shook her head.

      ‘No,’ she said soothingly. ‘This is from air pellets. Someone’s shot her with an air rifle.’

      ‘And they’ve hurt her?’ another of the kids demanded and Allie bit her lip and nodded and turned back to Cleo.

      ‘Well,’ the older of the trainees said, ‘there’s wickedness everywhere, isn’t there, boys and girls, and yes, I saw that stone as well, Adam Winkler, and we’ll be discussing it as soon as we’re all inside. Which is where we’re heading now. We’ll leave these people to care for Cleo. Please let us know how she gets on, Miss Mischka. Thank you, Officer, for bringing us help so promptly. All right, children, right turn, quick march, back to class single file and we’ll leave Cleo in peace. Let’s go learn about camels.’

      The girl would be a good teacher, Matt thought appreciatively. He would have watched her usher her charges and her fellow trainee back into the school, but he was too busy watching Allie.

      The cop decided to guard the gate. He wasn’t leaving until the school yard was cleared of camel, but he didn’t want any part of persuading same camel into a trailer.

      Bernie elected to watch the cop.

      This was an act of sabotage and deliberate cruelty, Matt thought, as Allie settled Cleo some more. He had a clear idea now of what must have happened. The camel enclosure had been destroyed and the camels shot with air pellets to drive them crazy with pain. That there hadn’t been at least one tragedy was a miracle.

      ‘Have you had vandalism before?’ he asked Allie.

      ‘Not like this.’ She was picking daisies and feeding them to Cleo. Matt made a mental note to send a gardener in to make reparation before anyone noticed. ‘We have kids around the circus all the time, trying to get in to see free shows, checking out the animals, even trying to pinch things from our stalls. But this …’ She looked at Cleo’s flank and winced. ‘Someone’s come in during breakfast, which is when we have our performance meeting—it’s about the only fifteen minutes in the entire twenty-four when there’s no one watching. Everything’s securely locked but they used bolt cutters to knock down the enclosure. Then they must have deliberately shot them to make them crazy.’

      ‘But never before? Nothing like this?’

      ‘No.’

      She was rubbing behind the big camel’s ears but the hand she used was shaking.

      She was pale and growing paler.

      ‘It didn’t happen,’ he said, a little too sharply, enough to make Cleo edge away a little—but Cleo had daisies now, and her own personal person and she wasn’t about to tear away in fright. ‘Nothing dire happened,’ he said more gently. ‘Pharaoh and Caesar are safe, no one’s hurt and this wound on Cleo’s side seems like superficial grazing. Air pellets sting, but unless they hit an eye they don’t do lasting damage. I’ll call the vet now.’

      ‘The cop would have shot Cleo if you hadn’t been here,’ she said, just as dully. ‘I should say thank you.’ Then she seemed to haul herself together. She leaned into Cleo’s long, soft neck and sighed. ‘I do thank you. I’m so grateful.’

      ‘It’s all been a bit much to take in over twenty-four hours,’ he said softly. ‘I’m sorry.’

      ‘Me, too, for all sorts of reasons.’ She closed her eyes for a moment, leaned against the camel and let the warmth of the morning sun rest on her face. It was as if she was gathering strength, he thought, for when she opened her eyes again she looked different.

      Moving on.

      ‘How did you know how I found Cleo?’ she demanded. ‘And how did you know her mother was killed?’

      He’d known because Jenny had told him while they were waiting in the wings last night, but he wasn’t about to tell her that. He needed to make her smile.

      ‘Spies,’ he told her and she glanced sharply at him and saw he was trying to tease. She even managed a lopsided smile in return.

      ‘You have spies? Bugs on the dogs?’

      ‘On Tinkerbelle,’ he said promptly. ‘The tiny spot under her left ear isn’t a spot at all. If you ever use flea powder we’re doomed. It muffles reception no end.’

      She grinned. ‘Whoa, what a traitor.’

      But then her smile died. It was a weird time. They were standing in the schoolyard waiting for the trailer. The sun was warm on their faces, the camel was settling, the cop was on cop duty at the gate, making sure no wild animals got out or came in, and Bernie was making sure the cop’s gun stayed exactly where it belonged.

      In a moment the trailer would arrive, there’d be the vet to arrange, and the circus was due to start in an hour.

      In

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