But Lily had eyes only for Benjy. She sat as Ben was doing-the mud only sucked you in if there was a big weight on a small surface so she presented the mud with her backside. And prayed it was big enough. She was desperate to help but Ben had Benjy fast in his arms, fighting for the mud to give up its prize.
And it did. Slowly, gradually, Benjy was eased outward. Then, wonderfully, as his torso came free, the rest of him came in a rush and Ben sprawled backward, his arms full of mud and boy.
Lily reached for him but Ben wasn’t relinquishing him. They lay in the mud, a tangle of legs and arms and mud and pure emotion. Ben’s small shoulders were shaking with sobs and his face was a blotched and crumpled mess. He lay on Ben’s chest while Lily reached out and ran her fingers through his hair and felt her heart go cold at the thought of what might have been.
‘She kept pulling,’ Benjy sobbed at them, still cradled against his father. ‘I tried to take her to the nice grass but she wouldn’t come. And she keeps sinking more.’
‘Oh, Benjy. It’ll be OK.’
‘It’s not OK,’ Benjy managed, hiccuping on a sob. His small body might be crumpled against Ben, gathering comfort, but he was made of stern stuff, and he’d only slumped a little and now he was pulling away. ‘She’s stuck and we have to help her.’ He bit his lip, trying valiantly not to cry any more.
Enough. This was her baby. Lily sat up and tugged him away from Ben, into her arms. ‘Sweetheart, let’s think about you first. We’ll look after Flicker but we need to check you. Are you hurt? Were you kicked?’
‘N-no. Just stuck.’
‘So nothing hurts now.’
‘My dad pulled me out of the mud,’ Benjy whispered. ‘So I’m OK.’
‘It’s what your dad does best,’ Lily whispered back, holding him close. ‘He’s very, very good at making people OK. Just lucky we had him here, hey?’
There was a moment’s silence. Lily very carefully didn’t look at Ben-but it was a struggle.
‘Tell us what happened,’ Ben managed at last. He was sitting up too now, taking in the full mess the mare was in. Or maybe he was trying not to look at his son. He’d been rocked to the core, Lily thought, and she knew it because she was feeling exactly the same. The only difference was that she’d known she loved her son to bits.
Ben looked like a thunderbolt had hit him.
But Flicker needed them. Ben’s question was waiting to be answered and finally Benjy took a deep breath and told them.
‘Flicker was acting funny when Rosa and me came out this morning. She kept going back and forth by the gate, over and over. Rosa said maybe something’s happening, but then the helicopter came and she said stay with Flicker and she went inside. And no one came and no one came and Flicker was going back and forth and back and forth and I thought I’d start taking her down to the river like she wants. ‘Cos you’d know where I’d be. But she was still acting funny. She was whinnying and looking behind her all the time. And then she came the wrong way. She pulled and pulled and I couldn’t stop her coming here. Then she got stuck and every time she fought I went deeper and I couldn’t get out of the mud.’ His words ended on a frightened whisper. Lily hugged him close and looked at Ben, who was watching them as if…
As if nothing.
‘What can we do?’ This was no time for wondering what Ben was thinking, she decided. She didn’t have a clue. When had she ever?
‘Let’s check.’ Ben edged forward, lying by the mare’s flanks, keeping out of range of the churned mud at her head. She was still for the moment, but quivering in obvious fear. And pain? He ran his hand down her side and he frowned.
‘Maybe she’s in labour,’ he said, and Lily winced and held Benjy tighter still. Mare stuck in mud. In labour?
‘Throw us another complication, why don’t you?’ she demanded, and Ben managed a smile.
‘Sorry. But let’s assume the worst. We need equipment.’
What sort of equipment? Maybe putting the mare down was the kindest option, she thought bleakly. Oh, but Benjy…
‘It’s not time for that yet,’ Ben said, his smile fading, and she knew he’d seen the bleakness of her thoughts. ‘Benjy, I want you and your mother to stay here while I fetch what I need. I want you to stay calm and stay away from the churned-up mud, and I want you to try and keep Flicker calm as well. No more struggling. I’ll be as fast as I can.’
He hesitated, then he moved back to where they sat and touched Benjy lightly on the cheek. Then, with the same muddy finger, he touched Lily. It was a feather touch and why the touch of a mud-caked finger should warm her-why it reassured her that all was well-she didn’t know. But it did.
‘Great beside manner,’ she managed, and he smiled again.
‘The doctor will make it all better,’ he said. ‘Just keep on believing that, you two. But the doctor had better move. I’ll be back as soon as I can be. Stay calm.’
It was all very well staying calm and controlled when Ben was close, but the moment he disappeared it got a lot harder. But she was a doctor, too, Lily decided. So conjure up your own bedside manner, she told herself. Right!
‘We have to stay calm,’ she told Benjy sternly, and they both turned to looked at the mare. Her eyes were wild and fearful, and while they watched, Lily saw a ripple pass over her glossy hide. A muscle contraction? Labour?
Lily had been in some tricky delivery situations before but none surpassed this.
‘Ben will know what to do,’ she murmured, more to herself than to Benjy or Flicker. ‘He’s gone to get what we need.’ What did they need? A crane? Did farms have cranes? She knew the answer to that would be no.
She reached out across the mud and touched the mare’s nose, but Flicker snorted and flung back her head in alarm. ‘It’s OK, girl,’ Lily told her, but maybe the mare heard the lack of certainty in her voice.
‘I sang her a Kira song before you came,’ Benjy whispered. ‘She went down so far I thought she might go all the way. I was scared I’d be pulled down, too, and I didn’t know what else to do so I just held onto her and sang.’
‘That was a really sensible thing to do,’ Lily said, swallowing hard at the thought of the bravery he’d shown. She thought of what sensible things she could do and she came up with only one suggestion. ‘Do you think we could both sing?’
‘OK,’ Benjy said doubtfully. ‘I will if you will.’
So they did, and it was dumb but it seemed to work. They sat on the soft ground in front of the mare-but not so close as to alarm her or be sucked down as well. Lily held Benjy on her knee and they sang together the songs Kira had taught both of them, soft island songs, meant to pacify a child before sleep. They were songs that were meant to murmur that all was right with the world and it was safe.
All wasn’t right with her world, Lily thought, but Ben had saved her son and he’d save the horse as well-she knew it. So she held Benjy tight and she sang until finally Ben reappeared, driving the farm truck. He parked it just in front of where the ground became soft. While Lily and Benjy finished the song they’d started, he climbed from the cab and started unloading gear.
Planks. Lots and lots of wooden planks, each about six feet long. Spades. What looked like tarpaulins.
‘Let’s help,’ Lily said, but Flicker tossed back her head, her eyes fearful again. ‘Benjy, you keep singing while I go to help Ben. She’s your friend.’
‘OK,’ Benjy said. ‘But I’m scared.’
‘Ben’s here now. Flicker will be fine. The best person to be here in an emergency is an emergency doctor. You’ll see.’
By the time she reached him, Ben had almost finished unloading. He smiled at Lily as she approached, the same way he might smile at a terrified patient.