The horses arrive
Soon everybody was busy. The parents put some money together and Mr Bean started to look for suitable horses at the knackers. Swimming lesson were planned, and later on there would be shooting lesson.
Hoomey couldn't believe that this awful thing was really going to happen. "Well, when we learn to shoot," he said miserably to Bean. "Those guns are too small. They wouldn't kill a cat."
Nutty,as the team captain, told them.
She went with the boys to the first awimming lesson. It was not a great success. Gary could swim well, and Jazz showed promise, but the swimming teacher shook his head.
"This is going to need a lot of work," he said to Nutty. "Three nights a week for the next year, and I really don't have time to do it."
"But you've got to!" Cried Nutty. "Some must."
Gary's older brother, Nails, was swimming at the other end of the pool. He could swim like a fish and he and Gary were at the pool every night. But nobody liked Nails. He was hard and dangerous and was always in trouble with the police. The others were afraid of him, the teachers hated him and he had no real friends. Nails an Gary had no mother. She had left home, and they lived with their father, who did not care what they did. But Gary was nicer than Nails and he laughed and smiled sometimes. Nails only laughed if someone had an accident or got hurt.
Nutty was watching Nails. He could swim really fast! Perhaps he could help them? But how could you get someone like Nails to help?
Hoomey hadn't been in the water yet, and the swimming teacher shouted, " Get in, young Rossiter!"
As Hoomeyvslid into the water, he thought that his last hour had come. He felt the water close over him like death, and he opened his mouth to scream. Suddenly Nails appeared. He caught Hoomey by the chin and pulled his head up out of the water. "You stupid fool!" Nails shouted. "Use your arms!" Then he swam away. Nutty stared after him thoughtfully.
That evening Mr Bean's horses arrived. The plan was to keep them in an old, unused factory on the edge of the town. All the buildings around the factory had been destroyed and grass was growing where there were once housed. So, after tea, Nutty went down there on Midnight. When she arrived, Sam Sylvester and the boys were already there, with some of the parents.
They stood in silence as the truck with the horses in it moved slowly down the road and stopped beside them. Mr Bean got down from the driver's seat, smiling happily. " Here we are, then," he said. " they don't look much, but they were good horses once . Three of them were racehorses and the other was in a circus. He'll be all right if they don't play " God Save the Queen". He lies down when they do that!" Mr Bean laughed. " Well, let's have a look at them, then. But don't get too exited," he added. " Just give them three mouths with good food and you won't know them."
The parents went to open the back of the truck and Hoomey stood there, trying to pretend that he did not really care. But why were his legs shaking like that? Perhaps he was really ill. Perhaps he should go to the doctor and...
" Mind your backs! Mind your backs!"
A very large horse was pulling Mr Bean down from the truck. It slid onto the roed, looked for the nearest bit of grass and went straight towards it, pulling My Bean after it. Hoomey happened to be standing on that bit of grass, thinking was safe. He saw the horse's big hungry mouth coming towards his ankles and he jumped back. Then he stood there, unable to speak, as Mr Bean pushed the horse's rope into his hand.
" He likes you. He's chosen you really, hasn't he? Here, he's yours," Mr Bean said to Hoomy.
The horse was hungrily eating every plant and every bit of grass that it could find. It was brown, and Hoomey could see all its bones. It's legs were covered with old cuts, and there were some new ones too that were still bleeding. It's eyes were red. Hoomey stood there, holding the rope. He was too frightened to move. But the horse wanted to move on to some new grass. It lifted a foot as big as a dinner plate and put it down near Hoomey's shoe. Hoomey jumped.
" It could break your foot like that. It's dangerous. I don't want it," cried Hoomey, frightened.
". Well, you've got it, haven't you?" Said Jazz. " I hope mine's prettier."
" Yours is the circus horse," laughed Mr Bean.
Jazz watched miserably as Mr Bean brought out an extraordinary white horse covered in black spots. It wasn't as big As Hoomey's, but it was as thin. It stood there, looking very sorry for itself, and refusing to move.
" You don't see one like that every day," said Mr Bean.
" You'll have to call him Spot," he laughed.
Nutty sat on her beautiful Midnight, who was very different from from these poor sad horses. "It's what you make of them," she said, trying to cheer the others up. " Midnight looked awful when we bought him. You've got to remember that they've come straight from..." But she stopped there. They wouldn't want to remember that the horses had come from the knackers.
Gary an Bean were beginning to worry now. Their eyes were fixed on the truck. Mr Bean looked a bit worried too.
" this one could give us a bit of trouble," he said. "it's frightened. Needs a bit of love."
There was a lot of crashing and banging from inside the truck- then a shout and a lot of bad language.
A horse shot out and hit the road. It slid round, looked around it with eyes dark with eyes dark with fear, and stood there, shaking.
It looked a better horse than the others, but also more dangerous. Gary and Bean stepped back.
"Gary, it's the best of them all," said Nutty, getting down from Midnight. " Take it . It's only frightened because of the journey."
She spoke softly to. The horse. But Gary was as frightened as the horse. His face was while. Hoomey, watching, felt a bit happier. At least his horse was only large and hungry. He decided to give him the name of Bones.
But Nutty was pleased. This one looked like a dog cross-country horse. "You're lucky'" she said to Gary.
" But I want to live," he replied.
The last horse was Bean's. It had come half-way down from the truck, and it stood there watching them with friendly, sleepy eyes. It refused to move any further, and it's front feet were planted hard on the ground. It was a very big, thin, tired brown horse.
Just then Nutty saw her sister Gloria and two boys-Seb and his friend- watching from the road, and laughing at the horses.
"If you've come to spy,you can go away again!" Nutty shouted at them angrily. " And don't laugh at the horses-they may not look much now, but they were all famous once."
Hoomey wondered if this was true. Was his old Bones really a famous racehorse?
The parent were busy getting the fsctory ready and Hoomey began to realize that horses made work. Oh, well, the parents were probably going to do it all.
When everything was ready, the parents stood and watched as the horses were taken into their new home. There were a lot of old fridges in one corner of the factory, and the parents had pushed these together to make walls. Each horse now had its own little stable, filled with deep straw.
Bean's horse had been given the name Whizzo, because he moved so slowly. But he managed to move a lot faster when he realized there was food waiting for him in his new stable. And when the horses were comfortable and had eaten, a feeling of quiet happiness filled the old factory. Pleased,the parents left. Mr Bean started up the truck, shouted goodnight and drove away. The four boys were alone with Nutty.
"Right. That's it for tonight," said Nutty. " Tomorrow you'll have to given the horses their food and clean them out."
The boys looked at her in surprise. "Us?"
"Yes. I'll meet you here at seven o'clock."
"Seven?"
" I get up at six for Midnight, and I'm only a girl. So be here at seven. Or there'll be trouble."
And she got back on Midnight and rode off.