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Just Jack
Just Jack
Just Jack
Ebook164 pages

Just Jack

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All he needs is half a chance ...
All he needs is half a chance ...Wee Jack Baines is tired of living on a farm in his brother's shadow, and absolutely hates being called Wee Jack. Luckily for him, his Uncle Onslow notices that, as well as being short, Jack is very handy with horses, and so he arranges an apprenticeship for Jack with a trainer in Napier. Determined to prove himself to his family, and especially his doubting mother, Jack sets out for the city with high hopes and dreams of success. Instead he finds a harsh and unforgiving boss, back-breaking drudgery, and a vindictive stable-mate who sees him as a rival. His spirit is shattered when he realizes that the boss sees him as nothing more than a cheap stable-hand, and he despairs of ever becoming a winning jockey. But as the long, hot summer drags on, powerful forces are at work that will change his life forever. Will he have the courage - and the luck - to survive?Age 9-12
LanguageEnglish
Release dateFeb 1, 2011
ISBN9780730494072
Just Jack
Author

Adele Broadbent

Adele Broadbent is a new HCNZ author who lives in Napier with her husband and children. An experienced author for the educational market, she has written readers previously but this is her first full-length novel.

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  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Great NZ story set in and around the time of the massive Napier earthquake in 1931. It was nice to read from a males pov for a change. Great read

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Just Jack - Adele Broadbent

Chapter 1

‘Wee Jack!’

I looked down the railway platform to see Uncle Onslow weaving in and out of the crowd. He hung on to his hat as he leapt over a pile of suitcases, apologizing at the same time to a woman who scuttled backwards in fright.

‘Made it,’ he gasped. Dad gave a big sigh behind me, but my uncle and I just grinned.

‘I thought you’d forgotten,’ I said.

‘Forgotten? Would I miss saying goodbye to my favourite nephew and a future champion jockey of New Zealand?’ The train whistle blew, making us all jump.

‘Come on, Wee Jack,’ said Dad. ‘You’d better get a move on.’

I nodded, turning to my family. Mum swept me up in a hug. ‘Are you sure this is what you want, son? You don’t have to go.’

‘Of course it is,’ said Dad. ‘He’s fourteen now, dear. Old enough to go out into the world.’ Mum let me go and dabbed her eyes with a screwed-up hanky.

‘He’s only going to Hastings,’ said Robert. My big brother punched me on the shoulder. ‘Anyone would think you were going half way round the world.’

My little sister Annie pushed Robert away and wrapped her arms around my middle, smiling up at me. ‘He’s just jealous because you’re leaving Ormondville and he has to stay on the farm. I heard him telling his cobbers.’

‘Why, you—’ Robert grabbed at her scarf. She squealed and dashed off down the platform with him close behind.

Dad handed me my suitcase. ‘Grandfather says to give you his regards. He couldn’t be here. Farm business.’

I glanced at Uncle Onslow, who just shrugged. I hadn’t really expected Grandfather to come anyway.

Dad stuck out his hand. ‘Make us proud, Jack. Remember how we raised you, and work hard. This is your chance to make something of yourself.’ He pulled me close for a quick hug, then stepped back as the train whistle blew again.

Uncle Onslow walked with me to the carriage steps. ‘You’re a natural, Jack. Just remember that. You’ll be racing in no time.’

I lugged my suitcase up the steps and shuffled inside along the aisle to my seat. When I looked out my window, Robert and Annie had returned. All but Robert smiled and waved. He stood with a scowl on his face and his hands shoved deep in his pockets. I stared down at him. You should have stayed home with Grandfather, I thought. Just wait, big brother. I’ll show you both. I’ll be just what Uncle Onslow says. I’ll earn my colours and win races by ten furlongs. You’ll see.

I grabbed the seat in front of me as the train jerked. Mum clung to Dad’s arm as another whistle blast filled the station and the train began to move.

I waved for as long as I could see them, then sank back into my seat. I was on my way. It was really happening.

When Uncle Onslow told me he’d found me a jockey apprenticeship, I’d hardly believed it. I’d been working with his horses for a while when he first said I had a gift. Every chance I got to escape the farm work, I’d spend time with him at the stables. When I was with him and the horses, I felt different. Sort of free.

‘You know, Wee Jack,’ he’d said one day, stroking his wiry beard, ‘you have a way with horses. Something about you makes them trust you.’ He nodded, thoughtful. ‘And you being small, I reckon you’d make a fine jockey.’

I’d felt like a thousand pounds that day. No one had ever said I’d make a fine anything, let alone something as marvellous as a jockey. I never believed for a minute that it would actually come true, though.

I stared out the window at the sheep dotting the paddocks. Cows gazed up at the train as we clattered by. Grandfather’s voice bellowed in my head over the sound of the train wheels. ‘How can you be so good with horses and so useless with farm stock?’ I shut my eyes against the memory. I’d never got the hang of docking or shearing.

Milking wasn’t much better, as Grandfather and Robert reminded me constantly. Dad would sigh and shake his head. ‘Why can’t you be more like your brother?’ I just shrugged it off.

There was no way I could compete with Robert. He wasn’t much older, but he’d always been much bigger and stronger than me. Rugby and cricket trophies lined his bedroom shelf, and medals from the local rabbit-shoot hung on the wall.

But now it was going to be different. Dad was right. This was my chance to do something well for a change. And I was going to make the most of it.

My stomach swayed with the movement of the train. I wasn’t sure whether it was nerves or hunger. With all the excitement of packing, meeting the train and saying my goodbyes, I hadn’t thought much about who was going to meet me at the other end.

All I knew was that I’d be working for a man named Mr MacKenzie and he’d been looking for an apprentice for a while. ‘He’ll see you right, Jack,’ Uncle Onslow had told me. ‘You’ll learn a lot from someone who’s been training horses since before you were born.’ With the promise of working with horses all day, every day, I hadn’t thought much about it, but suddenly I wondered how old Mr MacKenzie was. I shrugged to myself. Didn’t matter. He was going to train me to be a jockey.

Mum had asked dozens of questions about it all. Uncle Onslow told me that convincing her to let me go and live with a stranger was as hard as getting the apprenticeship in the first place, especially me being only thirteen. But once I’d had my birthday and Mum learnt that Mr MacKenzie boarded with a lady near to his stables and it was all ‘quite respectable', she eventually gave in.

Grandfather gave his usual nod when Dad told him. It wasn’t like I expected him to be happy for me or anything. He was probably pleased to be rid of me.

My stomach growled again. This time I fished out the sandwiches Mum had made, and ate them as the paddocks flicked by.

I’d hardly slept a wink the night before, and the steady clacketty-clack of the train soothed me into a doze.

I woke when something bumped into my seat. Passengers were pulling their cases off the racks, and some were already shuffling down the carriage aisle. The train had stopped.

I quickly looked out the window to check the platform sign.

HASTINGS.

Crikey! I scrambled for my case and squeezed my way into the aisle. What if I’d missed my stop? From the carriage steps I peered down at the people swarming the platform. Which one was Mr MacKenzie?

Chapter 2

I waited. Each time someone approached me, I would smile and be ready to shake their hand. But they all rushed past to greet someone else.

Soon the platform was empty. Even the train had left for the next stop. I stared up and down the platform. Was I early? Or late? Perhaps Mr MacKenzie had been and gone? Thinking he might be waiting outside, I dashed out to the front of the station. Besides a skinny stray dog sleeping under a seat, there was no one. As I gazed up and down the street, it began to rain. Great.

‘Jack Baines?’ I spun around to see a man in uniform.

‘Yes? Are you—’

‘Hastings Station Master. I have a note for you. Sorry, I’ve been busy with other matters.’ He passed me a small brown envelope and scuttled back inside.

I quickly tore open the note, my heart thumping.

Jack.

Can’t make station. Follow street directions on reverse and I’ll see you at stables.

Mr H MacKenzie

I flipped the note over to see a list of street names and directions. My heart beat even harder. I’d been to Hastings only a handful of times, and always with Dad or Uncle Onslow. How on earth would I find Mr MacKenzie’s stables?

Again Grandfather’s voice echoed in my head: ‘… useless’. I shook the thought away and read the note again. It seemed straightforward enough. I followed the first instruction and found a signpost at the corner. Pulling my jacket collar up and my hat down against the rain, I checked the street name on my note.

I gritted my teeth. I could do it myself. I had to. Because even if I had a return ticket, I couldn’t go home to Ormondville.

My suitcase seemed to get heavier the further I went. I swapped it from one hand to the other, but after h alf a dozen blocks my arms ached. When I realized I’d taken a wrong turn and had to double back, I thought about leaving my case somewhere to fetch later.

I stood at another street corner, the fine, cold drizzle trickling down my neck. The note was now soggy and the ink had begun to run. There were only two street names left on the directions, so I figured I must be close.

I turned left into Pepper Street just as a boy on a bicycle cut the corner. ‘Hey!’ he cried, cxskidding in the wet. He tumbled off his bike onto the grass verge.

‘Are you all right?’ I said, dropping my case to help him up.

He shoved my hands away and scrambled to his feet. Mud smeared his pants and boots. ‘Look what you did !’ He wiped at his knees, then looked from me to my suitcase. ‘Are you Jack?’

‘Yes,’ I said. ‘I’m looking for Mr MacKenzie. He’s got stables near here.’

‘You’re late,’ said the boy with a scowl. ‘Old Mac sent me to find you.’ He cxpicked up his bike and checked the wheels for any damage. ‘Follow me. And make it quick if you don’t want the sack on the first day. Mac’s been waiting for you at the house.’

I stared after him as he rode up the street. Who was he? Another apprentice? How many were there? The more, the better. As long as they weren’t all like him. I snatched up my muddy case and followed. Just before the corner, he looked back before riding in behind a high tin fence. By the time I reached it, he was gone.

A long, muddy driveway stretched down one side of the fence, and a small, white house sat on the other. Brightly painted flower-pots perched along the veranda railings. I checked the letterbox number against my note, but it was torn and too soggy to read. Was this the house? I jumped as the front door flew open.

‘You must be Wee Jack!’ A woman swept out onto the veranda, long skirts swishing around her. ‘cxAdmiring my pots, I see,’ she said, smiling down at her flowers. ‘They’re my little darlings. I love to watch them grow.’ She waved me inside. ‘Come in out of the rain, dear. You’ll want to be rid of that case.’

My nickname sounded wrong coming from a stranger. ‘It’s just Jack,’ I said. ‘I’m looking for Mr MacKenzie.’

‘Oh, he’ll be busy with Kenny at the stables. He loves those horses like I love my flowers.’ She pointed at a row of hooks by the door. ‘You can hang your jacket there.’

Kenny? The boy on the bike? I peeled off my jacket and followed her inside, down a long, dim hallway.

Without warning, she stopped and spun around. ‘Aren’t I a silly? I haven’t introduced myself. I’m Mrs Davis. Welcome to my home.’ She grandly waved one hand. ‘Mr MacKenzie and Kenny board here with me. It suits them fine, their work being so close. And I love having company.’ She put her hand to her mouth. ‘Oh, I am sorry. Listen to me prattling on. My Arthur would always say …’ She gazed into space, then suddenly turned

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