Free Cowgirl by G. R. Gemin Page B

love,” she replied. “Well over a grand, a good cow like Jane is worth. I haven’t got that kind of money. Wish I had.”
    “What’ll Mostyn do with them?” I asked.
    “He’ll take ’em into his herd, calf them once ortwice maybe, and then straight to slaughter. He just wants his field back and the money he’s owed.”
    “The miser,” said Roger.
    “I love having that cow here,” said Gran, “and so do the neighbours.” She nodded to the others, who all started talking.
    “Lovely cheese she makes,” said Roger with his mouth full.
    “She brings us peace,” said Mr Banerjee.
    “Aye,” agreed Morris.
    “The cream I made from that milk was like nothing I’ve ever tasted,” said Polly.
    It went quiet and I couldn’t bear it. “So? What’s happ’ning?”
    “Well,” said Gran, “they don’t know where Jane is as yet, so we decided, or Kate has suggested, that we take the rest.”
    “How d’you mean, the rest?”
    “We want the whole dozen down here, on the estate. It’s all hush-hush though.”
    I stood there gobsmacked. “You want to bring eleven cows down here,” I asked. “On to the Bryn Mawr?”
    “That’s right. We’ve got takers for every single one,” said Gran. “We didn’t say anything before, as we wanted to be absolutely sure. So we put the wordout, and this morning Kate and I interviewed all those interested to make sure they were serious and had enough room in their back gardens or yards. In the end, we had so many takers we had to draw lots. We’ve got a good home for every cow. We’re going to hide them, Gemma. Hide them until we can find a long-term solution to help Mr Thomas. We want those cows to live longer and happier – a lot longer than Mostyn will keep ’em alive.”
    I couldn’t believe they were serious.
    “You can’t hide twelve cows on the Bryn Mawr estate!”
    “Why not?” said Roger.
    “But how you going to get ’em down?”
    “Same way that I got Jane here,” said Kate. “I know a route that’ll take us all the way to the bridge over the motorway. There’s a field just past that, then we’ll take ’em to their new homes a few at a time.”
    “But they’ll be spotted. Someone might tell.”
    “Tell what?” said Gran. “I saw a cow in town? Unless one of them goes into a shop for a pint of milk no one’ll care.”
    “When are you thinking of doing it?”
    “Tomorrow.”
    “Tomorrow?”
    “Yeah, and I’ll need your help, Gemma,” said Kate.“It’ll be safer and quieter on a school day. Will you do it?”
    They all stared at me. “I think you’re all bonkers,” I said. “Mad, you are…”
    I thought of my fight with Sian and the anger everywhere. I realised I’d prefer to be bonkers than angry.
    “Yeah, let’s do it!”
     
    That night I was trying out the flute, and for the first time I managed to get a decent sound out of it. Then Darren came in. “Get out!”
    “I wanna go,” he said.
    I held the flute at arm’s length. “No.”
    “Not on that. I want to go with you and help with the cows tomorrow.”
    “What you on about?” I said, pretending I didn’t know what he meant.
    “Don’t mess, Gem. I heard Roger talking. All the cows are coming down on to the Mawr.”
    “Darren. You got to be in school.”
    “But you won’t be, why can’t I?”
    “Because if I don’t show we’ll get away with it, but not both of us.”
    “I’ll tell Mam.”
    I sat up. “Look you, if you mess up this mission…”I couldn’t believe I called it a mission. “If you mess this up, Gran will lose Jane.”
    “I won’t … I won’t…”
    “Then stay out of it.”
    “No. I wanna help.”
    “Why?”
    I can’t remember the last time I saw my brother looking bashful, but there he was, stood at the end of my bed with his eyes on the floor. “John Wayne,” he said.
    “Who?”
    “I was watching a film about these boys on horses moving cattle. John Wayne was teaching ’em.”
    “We haven’t got horses.”
    “We got