Free When Mum Went Funny by Jack Lasenby Page B

cows. The steers hadn’t been able to get at it because it was fenced off in a corner of the potato paddock.
    â€œWe won’t stay late,” Mum said. “But you never know, we might just spot whoever it is.” We looked at each other and grinned. Hiding in a haystack was the best cranky idea Mum had come up with yet!
    The outside of the hay was grey and felt too soft, as if it had started rotting. Further in, it seemed to be lighter-coloured and smelt like summer as we burrowed. Jimmy and Betty went to sleep at once. Blue lay with his head on my foot. I listened to Mum and Kate talking quietly, and must have fallen asleep, too.
    I heard Blue barking in my sleep. By the time I woke, he was chasing something down the creek, shadows that were there one minute, and gone the next. Mum whistled him in, and he came back growling at being called off. I remember hearing everyone’s voices, and must have gone back to sleep again. Next time I woke, the sky was clear, and it was cold, Kate was tugging my shoulder, and Mum was saying, “Weshould have gone home hours ago!”
    I struggled up out of the hay. Jimmy and Betty wouldn’t wake, so Mum and Kate piggy-backed them. Getting home seemed to take ages. I kept tripping as I followed the white tip on Blue’s tail past the shed and up to the house. Then we were inside and tumbling into bed.
    Old Rosie woke me with her mooing. She wouldn’t stop till I milked her, so I dragged myself out with the bucket. Back in the kitchen, Mum and Kate said they’d gone to sleep last night, too, and were wakened by Blue’s barking.
    â€œI thought I saw something.”
    â€œYou did,” said Mum.
    â€œWas it the spud thief?”
    â€œYes.”
    â€œWho was it?”
    â€œIt doesn’t matter. He won’t be back after that.”
    â€œWhy not?”
    â€œBlue gave him a good hurry along. I heard him yelp, so he must have got a couple of nips as he ran. And Blue thrashed one of his dogs as well.”
    Jimmy and Betty bounced up and down. “Why didn’t you tell us? Can we go and sleep in the hay again?”
    â€œDid you see his face?”
    â€œIt wasn’t light enough for that. But I’ve got a pretty shrewd idea who our bandicoot is.” Mum wouldn’t say any more.
    We had a few feeds of new potatoes, white and clear-skinned. The first couple of times, they were all we wanted to eat for tea, boiled and fresh-tasting. Mum cooked them with mint, and she let us put a bit of butter on them.
    Then the leaves started turning yellow, the stalks opened up, and the skin didn’t come off the spuds when we rubbed them. Mum said they’d keep now. We went along the rows with forks, and dug and bagged them, dragged the full sacks on to the konaki, and Old Pomp pulled them to the barn. We must have dug spuds for about two weeks before they were all lifted and under cover. Mum was pleased when it rained heavily as we put away the last load.
    â€œWe got a much heavier crop than I expected,” she said. “And we dug them at just the right time, before the rain.”
    â€œWhat does the rain do?”
    â€œIt can start new growth, then they go all mushy, and won’t keep.”
    We made gobbling and swallowing noises till Mum threatened to crack us over our skulls. But we grinned. It felt good, knowing we had enough stored to take us through the winter. And we forgot about whoever had bandicooted a few of our new potatoes.

16
Wanting to Run
    I
t was colder, getting up in the mornings. Once there was enough milk in it, I curled my bare feet around the bucket and shoved as close as I could get into Rosie’s side. I reckon you could sleep warm, up against a cow on a frosty night, so long as she didn’t roll over and squash you.
    It was getting colder, too, riding Old Pomp to school. His breath steamed white, and we puffed ours and said we were leaving contrails behind the Lancaster as we flew into Waharoa