Photograph

“Jedda is my horse! You can’t just let your friend ride her! Especially since that friend of yours can’t even ride!” I shout angrily at Dillon. He glares up at me. I climb off of him. And glare right back. His friend that lives a couple of miles down the road, I think he may even be a neighbour…but anyway, he came over and they got out the horses and went for a ride. We have a dozen horses, but he had to take out Jedda; my pride and joy. One of the best horses we have. Brothers are the pits. I storm out of the room. Walking down the hallway, I grimace. It’s covered in photos of my two brothers and I. Cole and Dillon are twins, so I look out of place in all the sibling shots. I walk out the kitchen door and across the red dirt towards the stable. Jedda looks at me with calm, knowing amber eyes. Her jet black, silky sheen was gone, covered by dirt from the ride with those two terrors. I brush her mane and clean her up. Something that Dillon obviously couldn’t be bothered to do, on a horse that wasn’t his.

“Oi! Nate! We need your help!” I hear my uncle’s voice call out. Uncle Ant was from Sydney, where I wish I was. I had the option once to go with him, and go to school there for awhile, but that involved leaving Jedda and my parents couldn’t or most likely wouldn’t pay for me to take her with me. I pack up quickly and run out of the stable. Dillon and Cole are standing behind Ant, waiting for me. Dillon is looking sulky and Cole was looking like his cheerful self. Judging by the camera in his hands, he wanted pictures to take back to the cousins. He led us away from the house, the shed, the stable, right out to the back fence. He hoisted Dillon and Cole onto the top bar of the weathered fence and got me to stand in between them. We looked at him and smiled. But obviously he saw threw our cheesy smiles, and scowled at us and told us to be natural.

“Come on, look natural” he stated for the third time, five minutes later. Making it the third time I don’t get it. We are natural. We and everything around us is natural. I kick the dirt and watch the red cloud settle. Sighing I lean back, only to jump forward as a handful of splinters lodged themselves in my arm. I really shouldn’t have rolled up my sleeves. Cole and Dillon snigger. The later was louder though.

“Yeah, we’ll see how funny it is when they’re in your butts” I snap. Cole sees this as reasonable and stops, but Dillon starts cackling evilly at me. I roll my eyes. Uncle Ant is just standing back, smoking, while waiting for us to be…natural, if this isn’t natural then I’ll eat my boot.

I look up at the darkening sky. No matter how dark it gets, it’s still pure and perfect. People often say that nothing is perfect, but those people have never looked at the night sky. I look down at my dusty boots and smile. The red dirt, tough plants and rough rocks contrast brilliantly with the heavenly sky.

It feels good to know that it will always be here. Always hot in the day. Always cold at night. Always with a clear blue sky and dusty red land just like my family will always with me family along side of me.

Click!

“Perfect. Just perfect” Ant smiles at his digital camera. Yeah, it was perfect out here in the outback. Well it would be. I catch up to Dillon and put my arm around his shoulders. He looks at me suspiciously.

“Sorry about before. You and that bad luck Jones kid can ride Jedda whenever you want” I say apologetically. Dillon sees the sincerity in my eyes and smiles.

“Nah Nate…Nick broke his arm today while riding Jedda. I don’t think he’ll want to ride her for awhile. That’s why I didn’t have time to clean her. And next time I’ll ask or use one of the older mares” he grinned up at me.

Yeah, everything was perfect. I can’t believe I ever wanted to leave this place. I also can’t believe it took a photograph to make me see it.