Loyal Creatures Read Free Page A

Jimmy’d be right, as long as he didn’t get out of breath. He was more your slow and steady horse, Jimmy. Go all day at his own pace.
    He was fine. Dad got him through.
    Then it was my turn.
    â€˜You can do it, mate,’ I murmured into Daisy’s ear as we galloped at the first jump. She could be as cantankerous as a sack of chooks if she set her mind to it, so that was my way of saying please.
    Daisy was a champ that day. She might have looked a bit rough, but she went over those jumps like an angel. She probably wasn’t keen to see my miserable face for the next sixty years if she didn’t.
    â€˜Right-o,’ said the officer when we rode back. ‘They’re both army property now. You blokes get a medical.’
    Me and Dad looked at each other.
    Jimmy and Daisy were in. Now it was up to us.

    The army doctor was impressed by my private parts, I could tell.
    Not just the hair. I could also tell he’d noticed how that region was completely free of all fungal growths.
    He didn’t have a problem with my teeth either, or my feet, or my eyes.
    Just my chest.
    â€˜Breath in again,’ he said.
    I did, sticking my chest out like a scrub turkey with a mozzie bothering it.
    â€˜Just under the regulation minimum,’ said the army doctor, looking at his tape measure.
    I knew what that meant. Too skinny.
    â€˜Best of three,’ I said to him, holding my arm out for an arm-wrestle.
    The doctor didn’t take up the offer. But he sort of smiled to himself.
    â€˜You’ve got the height,’ he said. ‘Couple of army feeds’ll fill you out.’
    He stamped my form.
    â€˜You’re in,’ he said. ‘Welcome to the glorious crusade of the honourable and righteous against the dark pernicious forces of evil.’
    â€˜Thanks,’ I said.
    â€˜Don’t thank me,’ he said. ‘Not till you’ve been there and come back with everything still attached.’

    Dad was in like Flinders fence-posts too. His back was good that day.
    We took our forms to the recruiting officer so he could sign us up and arrange for the army to buy Jimmy and Daisy.
    â€˜Ages?’ said the officer, checking the forms.
    Me and Dad looked at each other. This was what we’d been worried about.
    â€˜Ages of the horses,’ said the officer.
    â€˜Daisy’s six,’ I said, relieved. ‘Jimmy’s twelve.’
    Soon as I said it I knew I shouldn’t have.
    â€˜Army doesn’t take horses over ten,’ said the officer.
    â€˜We’re a team,’ said Dad. ‘All or nothing.’
    The officer thought about this. I hoped he could see Dad was a bloke who meant what he said.
    â€˜Come on,’ said an impatient voice in the queue behind us. ‘The Huns and Turks’ll get sick of waiting and pack it in.’
    The officer sucked his teeth.
    â€˜Twelve’s close enough for a good mount,’ he said, writing something on the form.
    He gave me another hard look.
    â€˜When were you born?’ he said.
    â€˜Eighteen ninety-eight,’ I said. ‘May.’
    That was the date I’d worked out would make me the official army age.
    â€˜Best subject at school,’ said the officer, looking me in the eye, ‘clearly not arithmetic. It’s nineteen fifteen now. The correct number of years ago would have been eighteen ninety-seven.’
    â€˜That’s what Frank meant,’ said Dad. ‘Eighteen ninety-seven.’
    The officer looked at us both.
    â€˜Hey, you lot,’ said the voice behind us. ‘When you’ve finished your Country Women’s Association meeting, we’re getting old and dying back here.’
    The officer signed Dad’s form. He didn’t sign mine. Just folded it and stuck it into my hand.
    â€˜Go to the end of the queue,’ he said. ‘If we’re as slow as that whingeing blighter reckons, when you make it back here you’ll be a year