Thirty-five
‘What happened?’ Cap raced over with Mia and Willow hot on his heels.
‘Charlie said something’s not right with Atlas,’ said Dex. ‘It’s got the old man worried. He told me to find you, Bree, and Harper.’
‘Why?’
‘Charlie said Bree’s got her witch’s bag with her, and I want Harper to call her boss, the vet. I wish I had their numbers to call them. Have you got their phone numbers, Mia?’
‘No.’ She patted her overall’s pocket. ‘I only switched my phone on today.’
Cap didn’t have Mia’s number, either. They didn’t need them at the station, only using shortwave radios. ‘I have Ryan’s number. But I’m not calling him until I see what’s wrong.’
‘When this is over, we’re all swapping numbers.’ Dex ran off towards the show displays.
Cap led Mia by the hand into the large display tent where they passed the other assorted animal pens. On one side, half a dozen dogs paraded on leads in the shady arena for the judges. It was the show dog category.
‘Shouldn’t your dogs be a part of that presentation?’ Mia pointed. ‘That’s what my mum did.’
‘No. Atlas isn’t pretty enough for that. He’s enrolled in the agility trials, and then him and Fern are doing the muster dog trials.’ He looked at his watch. ‘We’ve only got an hour.’
He spotted Charlie inside the pen, squatting down to pat the dogs.
‘Charlie, what’s wrong?’ Cap flicked back the handle to swing open the gate, as an icy wash of dread trickled over his scalp. Atlas was on his side, panting as if short of breath. ‘What happened?’
‘He threw up and then fell over, and started panting like this,’ said Charlie. ‘He can’t get up.’
Atlas tried to get up, but his limbs were trembling.
‘Easy... I’m here, mate. Lie down.’ He gently coaxed his best mate to lie still as he dialled the local vet. ‘Come on, pick up. Pick up.’
‘Elsie Creek Vets.’
‘Ryan, are you at the campdraft? Or are you at your surgery?’ Over the phone Cap heard music and a crowd in the background.
‘I’m near the mechanical bull, trying to talk Cowboy Craig into a bet to ride the thing and not spill a drop of his beer.’ Ryan chuckled. ‘Where are you?’
‘As much as I’d love to be in on that action, I’ve got a dog down. I’m in the dogs’ tent. Other side of the stables.’
‘I know where it is. I’m on my way.’
‘Vet’s coming.’ Sliding his phone away, Cap patted his dog while checking out Fern, who was leaning against him. ‘It’s okay, Fern.’
‘It looks like lead poisoning to me,’ said Charlie.
Cap’s worry heightened, as his frown deepened. ‘Lead? How is that even possible? I only know of lead that builds up but that takes time. The only lead I know is in old paint.’
‘Liquidised lead, given in a sudden dose causes trembling limbs, panting, vomiting, and frothing at the mouth. I know the signs.’ Charlie’s grey eyes were adamant, that Cap believed the old stockman.
‘Pop, what’s wrong?’ Bree ran up with her large leather handbag.
‘Lead poisoning. Look at him.’
Bree rushed into the pen and checked over Atlas. ‘How could this happen? They’ve all been here.’
‘It doesn’t matter how, we’ve gotta race the clock, kid. Have you still got that turmeric on you?’
Bree began rummaging through her bag. ‘Never leave home without it.’
‘What does turmeric do?’ Mia hovered over their shoulders. ‘I’ve only used it for cooking.’
‘Turmeric has lots of health benefits, including anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties for humans and dogs.’ Bree rummaged through her bag and dragged out a simple spice jar containing orange powder. ‘May I, Cap? It’s only a short-term solution until you can get the dog to Ryan.’
‘What will you do?’
‘I’ll rub it on his teeth. It’ll make him lick it, hopefully ingesting it quicker to slow down the poisoning process. I swear it helps.’
‘How do you know this?’ Dex stood outside the pen, leaning against the rails with Ryder beside him.
‘Because we lost our dogs to lead poisoning.’ Charlie ripped off his hat. ‘Not again. We can’t go through this again, Bree.’
‘It’s okay, Pop. Atlas is healthy. He’s young, and we’ve caught it quickly.’ Bree sprinkled the bright orange powder into her hands and brushed it against the dog’s teeth and upper lip. The dog sneezed, but she did it again. ‘Good boy.’
He licked at her cupped hands holding cold water from her water bottle. ‘There you go, Atlas. What about Fern?’
Cap checked over Fern, her eyes clear, her nose moist and cool. ‘No obvious signs.’
‘That’s the problem. Lead poisoning can affect a dog in a day or an hour. Do you want to dose Fern?’ Bree held out the spice jar. ‘I swear it won’t hurt them. In fact, they recommend a small daily dose in their food to improve their overall health. I used to put it in the dog stew I’d make for ours. Ask Ryan. He was the one who recommended it to us as a bush medicine.’
‘And I know plenty of bushies who swear by it.’ Charlie worried his bottom lip.
Cap let Bree sprinkle the powder into his palm, then applied it to Fern’s teeth. ‘I’m so sorry, girl.’
The cattle dog sneezed and gagged.
‘Use one of these water bottles. They’re filtered.’ Bree passed him a large bottle she dragged from her large leather handbag.
The water was cool in his hand that Fern eagerly lapped up.
‘How did this happen?’ Cap poured more water. ‘My dogs only eat on command, and only our family knows those commands. It’s the first thing I teach all new dogs, so they never get poisoned by dingo baits.’
‘It can’t be the water at the station. We’ve been testing it regularly.’ Dex shrugged, looking at Ryder beside him.
Ryder leaned closer, with his voice low. ‘Listen, if it gets out that we’ve got a dog suffering from lead poisoning, it’ll ruin our reputation for cattle. No one will touch any of our projects—the tags, the dogs, or the nursery products we’ve all been promoting today. And if we’re not careful, we’ll also have the environmental department on our backs and our land value will drop.’
Cap felt his stomach plummet, sending a scurry of spiky prickles over his skull and down his spine.
Dex mirrored the look, obviously feeling the same.
Their home, their livelihood, their entire lifestyle, and their dreams were under attack.
‘I bet Leo did this.’ Dex scowled at the crowd as if searching for their neighbour.
‘But Leo was with us, arguing over Willow,’ said Bree, feeding water to Atlas.
‘So how did my dogs get sick?’
‘Cap, you don’t think anyone could’ve put something in there?’ Bree pointed to the water bowls. ‘Have any of you got your testing kits in your car?’
‘We have. Mia?’ Cap handed her the Tojo’s keys.
‘Got it. Here, watch Willow.’ She passed the dog lead to Dex. ‘I’ll be right back, Cap.’
He didn’t like her running off, but Atlas started hacking a hearty cough. ‘It’s okay, mate… Bree?’
‘Good boy, Atlas, get it all out.’ Her voice was calm, even her hand on his arm was calming. ‘Give him more water, Cap. We need to dilute the toxin.’
‘Where is that flamin’ vet?’ Charlie ripped off his hat, searching the crowd in all directions.
Dex scooped up the small spice bottle. ‘Why carry turmeric around?’
‘I made Bree do it,’ replied Charlie.
‘Why?’
‘Because if we’d had some with us, we might have saved our own dogs.’ Hat in hand, Charlie slowly shook his head, inhaling deeply as he watched over Cap’s dogs. The worry made the sun-hardened crinkles deepen around his grey eyes. ‘It was a slow and terrible death I wouldn’t wish on anyone.’ Charlie’s voice cracked and his bottom lip quivered. ‘They were in such pain that… She… Bree…’
‘I had to put them down. All of them.’ Bree’s voice was so cold. She then inhaled deeply and leaned down to cup Atlas’s furry chin and kissed his nose. ‘But we won’t be doing that today, Atlas. You hear me? We won’t be doing that today.’