Two months had passed since Zanna, Emily and James had arrived at George Meredith’s house on Baildon Moor. In that time, the three had become incredibly close with each other and with the other inhabitants of the house. Zanna and Emily had managed to get to know Nanny better, finding that they even got on quite well with the old Dragon, that is, when she wasn’t in one of her moods where everyone except her was wrong. The trio had also come to know the rest of the house staff.
Soon after arriving, they had met Minne, the maid who kept the Kitchen nice and ran errands for Nanny in the town not two miles from the Manor House. Zanna got on particularly well with Minnie, who, when she was younger, had never learnt to read or write. So Zanna had helped her and the two had formed a strong friendship with each other.
There was also Tim, the gardener and his son, Jim, whom they all called Jim-Bob for the fun of it. The two lived in accommodation provided by Mr. Meredith on the grounds and James had appreciated the presence of a second boy, as he found that he was still rather awkward with girls, even though he was spending much more time with the fairer sex.
On that particular morning, Zanna, Emily and James were going into the garden to go sailing when they had found Jim skipping stones on the lake, a basket of Apples by his feet.
“Hullo, Jim-Bob!” Zanna called out, shielding her eyes from the sun. “What are you doing here? We don’t normally see you in the mornings.”
Jim turned around, his round, freckled face smiling at his three friends. His messy brown hair was tucked under one of his father’s Tweed caps, which Jim had taken a liking to. Jim was quite the bit older than Emily, who was the oldest of the three. He was eighteen years old and he was a strapping figure of a young man. From the work he did on his Father’s farm and working on Mr. Meredith’s grounds, he had strongly muscled arms and legs. He was quite handsome, really.
“Hullo, Zanna, James, Emily,” he said, doffing his cap to the three. “I just stopped by ‘ere, ‘oping to find you three, actually. Y’see, Mr. Meredith has got some ‘orses in a field nearby, and I feed ‘em in the mornings and I thought that you three would like to come down and see ‘em. That is, if yer not too busy with yer sailin’ and all that…” he said, smiling hopefully at his three younger friends.
Zanna and James looked at each other, trying not to laugh. They then glanced at Emily, whose eyes had lit up at the mere mention of horses. She was horse-mad, and she hadn’t let Zanna nor James forget it. At this point, she was nodding eagerly.
“Of course we want to see the horses, Jim!” she said, beaming up at him. “Don’t we, Zanna. Don’t we James?” she said to the others as she gripped them tightly by their shoulders.
Zanna and James couldn’t take it anymore. They just burst out laughing. Emily saw why they were laughing and even laughed at herself.
“Yeah, of course we want to see the horses, Jim-Bob!” James said, trying to prise Emily’s hand off his shoulder. “However, I think it would be more enjoyable if I could feel my arm.”
Laughing, the three friends followed the strapping farm-lad to the wooden gate on the side of the grounds of Mr. Meredith’s house. They crossed the quiet road and jumped over the gate into the field, as Jim-Bob instructed them.
“Pass the apples, Zanna,” he said before Zanna hopped over the fence. Zanna did as she was told and then scrambled over the fence. Catching her shorts on the side, managing to trip herself over as she tried to come down on the other side, landing in a heap on the ground, laughing at her own, silly plight.
“…Smart, Zanna. Very smart,” James said, trying to stop himself from laughing too much. Eventually, he just gave up and laughed long and hard, helping Zanna up to her feet.
Emily thwacked James lightly on his shoulder to get him to shut up. Rolling her eyes, good-naturedly, Zanna carried on following Jim, Emily and James in tow, laughing so hard that their sides were splitting.
Jim stopped and gestured to the three magnificent horses that were sunning themselves in the field. Emily immediately hurtled towards the nearest horse, squealing with delight at seeing the glorious horse.
“That ‘un’s Victor,” Jim said to Emily as she stroked the chestnut horse’s sleek back. Its mane was a deep brown and the horse was completely chestnut all over, except for his legs, which were splattered white as they became his hooves. It looked almost as if Victor had walked through a bucket of paint and the paint had never come out of his fur.
“He’s gorgeous!” Emily said as she fed him an apple from the basket. “You like that, don’t you, boy?” she whispered in the horse’s ear. Victor whinnied in reply, almost as if he was saying, “yes, yes I do.”
Zanna was immediately drawn to a black horse that had interesting markings. It looked like an artist had come up to the horse with a brush loaded with white paint and flicked away with joyful abandon, until the horse was covered with paint splats. She stroked the horse’s muzzle, turning to Jim-Bob, wondering what the horse’s name was.
“That there is our only Mare. Her name is Twister, because she looks like she got caught in a twister, so her colours are all muddled.”
“Twister…” Zanna repeated with wonder, staring into Twister’s eyes. Zanna stroked the side of Twister’s muzzle, reaching to the basket of apples to give Twister her treat. As she turned away, Twister nipped playfully at Zanna’s hair, whinnying as if she was laughing. “Here girl,” Zanna said softly, giving Twister the apple. “You like that, don’t you, girl. You’re a beautiful girl, aren’t you…” Zanna whispered to Twister.
James, meanwhile, had already gone directly to the horse he knew the best. When he’d last seen Spitfire, he’d been a foal, merely the previous Summer, when James had come up with his Mother. James had named and raised Spitfire during the holiday.
“Hello there Spit,” he whispered to Spitfire, patting him on the back. “You’ve grown, eh, boy?” he said, grabbing a brush from the stables, Spitfire following him. James started to brush Spitfire’s speckled grey coat, making it shine in the morning sun. Zanna and Emily were still fawning over Victor and Starshine, so James decided that he might as well ride Spitfire. He hadn’t done so before, but by the looks of it, Spitfire had been ridden before.
With expert hands, James saddled Spitfire and had mounted him quickly. He flicked the reigns slightly and Spitfire moved out of the stables, whereupon James quickly broke into a gallop, whooping at the top of his lungs as he galloped out onto the massive expanse of fields with his own horse. He relished the feeling of the wind blowing through his mop of messy hair, making the tangled red bird’s nest fly out behind him as Spitfire galloped around the field.
Zanna looked up when she heard the sounds of galloping hooves and chuckled when she saw James riding on his horse, Spitfire, whooping with sheer delight. Zanna had never ridden a horse before, and was keen to learn, but not quite yet. She was enjoying fawning over Twister, not to mention the fact that Twister was enjoying being fawned over.
Jim cheered as James galloped off on Spitfire. James was like the younger brother that Jim had never had, and he enjoyed his company; it was good to be able to muck around with another boy.
“Emily, Zanna, do you two want to come and learn how to groom the ‘orses?” Jim asked as he patted Victor’s muzzle gently. “I’m sure they’d enjoy it.”
Zanna and Emily grinned at each other at the prospect of grooming the magnificent horses. Twister gently nudged Zanna in the back as she stood up, Jim passing a brush to Zanna. She took it and started to brush down Twister’s gorgeous coat, making it shine in the light. She enjoyed feeling Twister’s sleek coat under her other hand as she gently stroked Twister’s side.
“You like that, don’t you girl?” Zanna murmured into Twister’s ears. Twister whinnied in reply, kneading the ground with one of her hooves. “Do you want me to ride you, girl?” Twister snorted at Zanna, sending her ponytail flying about her head. “Jim-Bob, could you please teach me to ride her?”
“Aye, I can teach you. Just let me get yer saddle, Zanna,” Jim said as he finished grooming Franklin, Nanny’s personal horse.
Soon, Jim was showing Zanna how to fasten the saddle around Twister. Once the saddle was fastened, Zanna managed to hoist herself into the saddle, swaying as she tried to balance in the unfamiliar position.
“Grip with yer knees, Zanna, and… try not to fall off.” Jim said as he led Twister out in the field.
Zanna was careful at first, but she soon got used to the feeling of moving with Twister’s motion. She knew that she wouldn’t be as good as James for a long while, but it was still fun. In time, Zanna would come back every day and would eventually learn how to ride properly.
James trotted back towards Emily and Zanna who had finished feeding Twister and Victor and were waiting for him to come back. Dismounting, James beamed at his friends.
“I can’t tell you just how long I’ve been waiting to do that,” he said as he came out of the stables, having groomed and fed Spitfire. “I’ve really missed Spitfire, and it was just great to ride him again.”
“Jim-Bob!” Zanna called to their daydreaming friend. “We’re going to go back to Mr. Meredith’s place now, so we’ll see you tomorrow!”
“Aye, enjoy yerselves, friends!” Jim called after them as they jumped over the wooden fence and ran across the road back into the grounds of Mr. Meredith’s manor house.
Zanna, whose legs were feeling quite painful, had started walking in a bow-legged fashion, which had Emily and James laughing at her.
“Oh shushy, you two!” Zanna said, thumping them lightly on the arms to stop their laughing. “I can’t help it that I’d never ridden a horse before.” Zanna said as she rubbed her bare arms, trying to warm herself up. The warm summer day had given way to cloudy skies and it looked like it was going to rain soon.
“Come on, girls,” James said, noticing Emily who was also shivering. “Let’s get inside. It looks like rain. I’m sure we can find something else to do.”
A clock chimed in the ornate hall as they walked in through the kitchen door. It was already one o’clock and time for lunch. Hurriedly the three washed their hands at the sink. They quickly ran to the dining room where Nanny was laying the table, hoping that they wouldn’t get told off for not being punctual. Zanna dried her hands on her shorts, trying not to let Nanny see that she was.
“And where, might I ask, have you three been?” Nanny asked without looking up from the table. “I have searched all over the grounds for you, and you were nowhere to be found.” Nanny turned to face the children, a disapproving look plastered to her face. “So, now this has led me to wonder, where in the world might three young children be?”
Guiltily, the three looked at each other, not wanting to look at Nanny.
“We were with Jim, riding the Horses.” James mumbled, looking up at Nanny.
A smiled tugged at Nanny’s mouth. She also loved the horses, and had a soft spot for them, especially as she had always been in trouble for being late for meals. She looked at the three children with a twinkle in her eye, and her grim demeanour softened, and she hugged the children close to her.
“Well, never mind children. I, too, love horses and was always in trouble with my parents for staying out too late with Franklin. Just, next time, please tell me first before you go gallivanting off with Jim.” Nanny said, smiling kindly. “Now, go sit down for lunch. You look positively starving.”
The four of them, Nanny included, dined on an absolute treat of a meal. They had a fantastic Toad in the Hole that Diana, the cook, had prepared. Zanna hadn’t eaten Toad in the Hole like this since she had left home. And, as if that hadn’t been enough, the group had a scrumptious Apple and Rhubarb crumbled that was drenched in steaming hot custard. Zanna had eaten her fill and felt so satisfied that she felt very much like having a long, relaxing snooze.
“Thank you so much, Diana,” Zanna said as she took the plates back to the kitchen. “It was absolutely delicious. I haven’t tasted Toad in the Hole so delicious since I was back home with Ma.”
“I’m glad you liked it, dear,” Diana said as she took the plates from Zanna’s hands. “Toad in the Hole was always one of my specialities at your age, and still is.” Diana said, her plump face breaking into a smile. Diana was the type of women who had a warm face. She wasn’t all that tall, not much taller than Zanna, who was short for her fourteen years. Diana was rather plump as well, and she joked that she was as wide as she was tall, which never failed to make Zanna laugh. Diana was so like Zanna’s mother, and was always there for Zanna when she felt homesick.
“Do you want me to help you with the cleaning up, Diana?” Zanna asked, going towards the sink.
“Don’t worry, dearie, there isn’t much to clean up today. Go and have some fun with your friends.”
Zanna quickly hugged her and rushed off, back up the several stairs to the floor where the three had their bedrooms. Hurtling down the corridor, Zanna came to a sliding halt inside the girls’ bedroom. Emily was sat near the windowsill, sketching a swallow that had perched on the branch of the tree outside their window. Quietly she sat down on her bed, not wanting to scare the bird away, thus ruining Emily’s drawing.
On Zanna’s bed there were two letters, both addressed to her. The first was from her parents, sending news. She opened it up and read it quickly. She smiled when she saw her mother’s precise writing of a shopkeeper, feeling comforted and warmed by it. According to her Mother, their shop was doing fantastically. It was one of the few undamaged buildings in Great Russell street, where her family lived.
The next one made Zanna even happier. It was from Eric. Since they had met on the train, Zanna and Eric had grown close to each other via letter writing. Whenever she received a letter from Eric, Zanna always got butterflies. She wasn’t the type to fall in love, especially as she was only fourteen, but she did have feelings for the boy.
She tore the envelope open and read the letter full of news. She smiled to herself and quickly grabbed her pen and wrote a reply to Eric, filling him in on the news as well. As she wrote the date, she realised she only had two weeks until Mr. Meredith sent them to school in Baildon from the second of September.
“Crikey, Emily, we’ve only got two weeks until our hols end. That’s only two weeks of crazy happy fun-times!” Zanna said as she finished her letter.
“I know, Zanna. We don’t have that much time to have fun in the holidays, but we might as well do all we can for the fun of it.” Emily said, finishing her sketch and signing it. “What are we going to do in that time?” she said as she took out her watercolour paints and started to paint the swallow.
“Well, we’ve been sailing and swimming most days, so I thought it might be fun to go camping in the fields on the other end of the lake. It’ll be fun, and we can do all sorts of things. It will be great!”
