Born to run

By Stefan de Freres

As the sequel to CASA, 'Born to run' takes up, and concludes Stefan de Frères' epic story where CASA leaves off.
It finds the amazing little kelpie heading off on another of her mysterious calls to assist someone in desperate need of her help in the Australian inland port town of Echuca, on the border between Victoria and New South Wales.
This part of the story brings to vivid life the struggles that both autistic people, and their family members face when the social system fails them dismally, leaving them in a downward spiral of hardship and despair, but given a decent opportunity to make better of their lot in life they are able to show that disability is not the end of life, but a beginning.
Once again Ted and Dianne Markham find themselves in a unique position to assist others less fortunate than themselves, but at the same time they face difficulties that most everyday people would run away from when CASA is seriously injured after helping save the eleven year old severely affected autistic boy, Jason Clifford, from his own misguided error.
Together a group of newly formed firm friends work toward the goal of seeing CASA in a position to compete in the Royal Melbourne Show sheepdog trial championships.
The sometimes, hilarious antics and determined attitude employed by Ted Markham to get himself and CASA to such a supreme competitive level will have you laughing fit to burst and will find yourself not wishing to put this book down until you have read the final page.
This book has a delightful mixture of hardship, pain and sorrow, exquisitely blended with down-to-earth country life, side splitting humor, deep seated love and respect, and the will to succeed against seemingly insurmountable odds.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Moorna Publications
• Release date: Mar 23, 2011
• ISBN: 9780980862591

Book preview

Born To Run

Sequel to Casa

Stefan de Frères

Moorna Publications

Text copyright © Stefan de Frères2011

The moral rights of the author have been asserted.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted by any means or entity, including internet search engines or retailers, in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying (except under statutory exceptions provisions of the Australian Copyright Act 1968), recording, scanning or by any information storage and retrieval system without the prior written permission of Moorna Publications.

ISBN: 978-0-9808625-9-1

Published by Moorna Publications at Smashwords

This book is a work of fiction.

No part of the contents relate to any real person or persons,

living or dead

*****

Part One

Echuca

1

Before the time he'd reached the age of three years, Jason Clifford's mother had been telling him that he was her very special boy.

However, while he may have been considered as being special to June Clifford, he certainly hadn't been in his father's estimation.

Daniel Clifford had left, claiming that he 'Just couldn't handle it all', which in fact actually meant that he wasn't prepared to accept sharing the responsibility in the raising and caring for his own son.

He had disappeared from both mother and child's lives long before the lad had reached his second birthday.

Daniel Clifford was someone who would never grow up enough to take on the serious side of life, and could slide by and enjoy the good times while taking his pleasures wherever he found them open to him.

He'd opted out, leaving the burden of caring for a seriously autistic child to his wife, June, while he headed off into pastures anew where life held less by way of cares and responsibilities.

Since that time, June had found herself living within a helter skelter, runaway kind of lifestyle, while trying her best to make the most of things, as Jason's disorder made its presence felt more fully as the years passed.

The one Godsend of her son's disorder as far as June was concerned, was that he didn't suffer the debilitating verbal communications skill issues that many other severely affected autistics did.

However, he did suffer many of the other less desirable affects of autism; among them were fits of bad temper tantrums, eating issues, only ever referring to himself in the third person, and extreme self absorption.

At least June found she could communicate reasonably well with him, and even found some of his strange traits endearing at times.

No matter how much June loved her young son she continued to lack full understanding of the disorder itself. This meant that she would often fail to see that her growing child sometimes crossed a very fine line between being regarded as retarded in many respects by some people, and being a total genius in others.

Such a thing wasn't all that surprising really, as there was no access to computers, the internet, or any other forms of Hi Tech stimuli within the Clifford household.

It therefore meant that Jason's high IQ scoring interests - which placed him in the same sort of league as people such as H. G. Wells and Einstein, both of whom had also been known autism sufferers - could not shine out and show themselves clearly.

Somehow, Jason had developed amazing mathematical skills that would be able to stump most non-autistic people long before they got anywhere near to understanding, or solving high level mathematic problems.

This had led to a very embarrassing situation at one time when Jason had been left alone, and unsupervised for a number of hours sitting in front of a computer in the classroom of the specialist school he attended.

He'd been at the tender age of nine years old at the time, but had somehow managed to hack into an 'online' insurance company's computer system, which was supposed to have been considered totally hacker proof.

While Jason couldn't have explained to anyone else how he achieved such a feat, he had quite simply used his extraordinary mathematical skills to crack the computer language codes. This had enabled him to enter the company's system via a previously undiscovered porthole.

The most amazing part of it all was that the boy hadn't even been trying hard to do anything. He was merely following what his inbuilt genius level math instincts told him was the path to follow.

Had the matter been made public, it would have caused the insurance company massive public embarrassment and humiliation, and would no doubt have cost them multi millions of dollars in fraudulent losses if the hacker had been out to gain a pecuniary advantage.

The insurance company had rushed to breach the gaping hole in their online security system the moment the alarm had been raised. They also suddenly developed a charitable conscience and making a public issue of it, dashed to the 'charitable aid' of the special learning difficulty school Jason was attending. Privately however, it was more a matter of securing the teaching staff's silence and co-operation in ensuring that none of their youngsters were ever allowed to be in a position to create a repeat performance via the school's online learning programs.

While the school administrators put on an outward face of alarm and concern over the whole matter, they were not ready to admonish the lad for not having been doing exactly what he had been supposed to be doing at the time. Nor did they make any issue of it with his teacher of the time for failing to ensure the child had been under constant supervision.

Jason's bored mind had simply taken him off in a totally different direction, when it was supposed to have been working with one of the more basic learning difficulty programs he’d set by his tutor.

*****

Jason was now aged eleven, and had become more disturbed and difficult to work with during the previous month since his little old 'Heinz fifty seven' breed mongrel dog, Tricks died.

It had been Tricks that the boy had related to best throughout the entire life partnership of boy and dog, who had now passed on and gone to join all the other wonderful little mongrel dogs in the 'Great beyond'.

This left young Jason totally cut off from everything he had been able to relate to, and communicate through, including his own mother, June.

Before his death Tricks had been Jason's constant companion whenever he was at home.

The dog had been the only living being that could break into Jason's locked away world where his mind dwelled during his waking hours.

Whenever Tricks was around, June felt a kind of security that her son was being watched over and was safe. Wherever the dog was, Jason was sure to be somewhere very close by.

Tricks had been one of those very special creatures who more than made up for their lack of beauty and physical appeal with an over abundance of natural love and caring, unquestioning understanding, and affection.

From the very moment they'd met, the dog seemed to recognise Jason was a special person. That first meeting of the two had taken place through the wire mesh fence of a dog pound.

If June hadn't have bought the dog when she did, he would have undoubtedly been put to sleep as just another unwanted animal. Adopting families would always choose cute little puppies before adult animals.

Poor Tricks had been one of those dogs that the majority of people wouldn't have looked at twice. He had no desirable qualities going for his tiny, scruffy wirehaired body. That small body looked as if it were made up of all the little bits and pieces that no other dog wanted when they entered the world

The very instant the three year old Jason, as he'd been at the time, set eyes on Tricks through the wire mesh fence of the dog pound kennel, it had been love, or more probably, a deep, joint understanding, of each other at first sight.

It had been as though both boy and dog somehow knew they had things in common that no one else could ever understand.

Now however, Tricks was gone, and Jason was rapidly becoming more than June could handle. His violent outbursts were taking their toll on his mother to the point where she was rapidly getting to the very edge of cracking up under the strain.

The very last thing June wanted to do to her son was to start pumping heavy medications into him every single day, just for the sake of bringing him back from the edge of some terrible place that she just couldn't fathom.

She knew something had to give one way or another very soon, but had no idea what to do about the situation that was threatening to tear both hers, and her young son's lives apart.

June Clifford was rapidly sinking into a world of utter despair.

As sadly all too often happens, those at the lower end of the social-economic scale are the neediest of all, and at that point in time, the young Clifford family unit most certainly were one of the neediest of all.

From the moment Daniel Clifford had walked away from taking any responsibility, including never paying a single cent toward the upkeep of his baby son, June had struggled each and every day to try and make ends meet.

At the time of Daniel Clifford's leaving, June and her growing son had been living in a small rented unit in the inland Victorian port city of Echuca.

After finding herself slipping farther and farther behind in rent payments, and other general cost of living bills, June had managed to find an old two bed roomed fibro cement clad cottage about ten kilometres outside the town. The cottage had once been a farm worker's tied residence, but was no longer required as being so.

After begging the farmer owner of the property to allow her and Jason to go live in the cottage for a peppercorn weekly rent, they had moved in. June had then set about making the run down place into the best possible home she could for herself and her growing child.

One of the major drawbacks of living in such a place was the young mother and needy child family unit became even more cut off from the services they so desperately needed.

While they'd been living in Echuca and Jason was attending his special school, June had been able to pick up a much needed extra few dollars doing a bit of cleaning work in town office buildings. She was now too far away from things to make it worth while running her little old bomb of a Datsun car in and out of town, so even that little extra source of income, and form of social outlet for her ceased to exist altogether.

Jason, on the other hand appeared to thrive while being totally cut off from almost everything.

The cottage stood well back from the main road between Echuca and Cuhuna, where dairy cattle grazed the paddocks between the main road and fenced in surrounds of the cottage. More dairy cattle still grazed the paddocks lying between the cottage grounds and the Murray River which ran past; well to the rear of where the old cottage stood.

June felt Jason was far safer in such an environment away from the busy main road. She thought that if they were closer to the busy road, he may have just wandered outside without thinking, and may have come to harm.

He'd long had a habit of just wandering off without knowing where he was going, and caring even less about it.

June couldn't watch over her son every single second of every hour he was at home, so at least the living arrangements at the old cottage offered her some slight form of relief in the need to stay alert constantly.

*****

When June had first set eyes on the small kelpie bitch trotting up the dirt driveway toward her cottage home she hadn't taken a great deal of notice of it. She had assumed that it was one of the working dogs she'd often seen around the surrounding dairy farmer's paddocks that helped move his cattle around from place to place at various times.

The dog leaped over the closed farm style gate that actually led into the bit of grassed area, passing for a garden, which immediately surrounded the old cottage, and made its way directly toward Jason.

June wondered what the animal's intentions were, so stopped what she'd been doing to observe more closely, and to see how Jason, who was strutting up and down talking to himself, would react.

The dog came to a halt less than half a metre from the boy, sat down right in front of his busily strutting path and looked straight at him. This forced Jason to stop dead in his tracks and stare down at the animal.

Had June been standing close enough to the dog and boy to hear the first words that passed between them they would have puzzled her.

If she'd also been able to read the single four letter word engraved into the stainless steel dog identity disc hanging from the dog's collar she'd have been totally confused. She was well aware of the fact that her son was so badly affected by his condition he wouldn't have considered looking down at it to read what the word spelt out, even in fact if he had noticed the disc itself.

Jason took a single step closer to the kelpie saying, Where have you been Casa, you know that Jason has been calling you for ages.

The pretty little bitch cocked her head to the one side as she listened intently to the sound of his voice.

It was if she was checking that the voice speaking to her now was the same one that had been calling to her over the distances before she'd even taken her first step to travel from Bendigo to be with the person the voice belonged to.

As if deciding that it was indeed the correct person and owner of the voice, she barked once as if answering the boy and bidding him hello.

Come Casa, they're in Jason's bedroom inside that house over there. The boy told the dog as though they had been discussing some important matter only moments before.

With that Jason swung about on his heel and strode away from the dog in the direction of the cottage. It was as if he knew without a shadow of doubt the dog would follow his lead, just as Tricks had done so many times in the past.

By the time boy and dog reached the cottage, Casa was so close to Jason's heels that he could have reached out to touch her if he wished to.

As they entered the house Jason made as if to walk straight past his mother and directly on into his own bedroom with the strange dog in tow, but June pulled him up short.

Where do you think you're going with that strange dog Jason? she asked him just as he reached out for the handle of the always-closed bedroom door. It was Jason who insisted it should remain so at all times.

Casa is not strange mother, Casa is Casa, and Casa is coming into Jason's room to look at books with Jason. He answered rather sharply as though his mother should have known such information without needing to ask.

Wherever did you come up with a name like Casa for a dog Jason? June asked smiling despite the fact that she was slightly annoyed at his sharp tone of voice and attitude toward her.

The boy looked across the room toward his mother as if looking at an imbecile as he testily replied, Jason didn't come up with anything mother, it's just Casa's name. he stated in a matter of fact manner.

But how do you know it's her name Jason? June pursued her line of questioning, no matter how curt and sharp the boy came back at her.

Jason doesn't know how he knows, Jason just knows Casa's name is Casa and that's all there is to it. He told her as if he were about to lose control of his temper.

Now can Jason and Casa go look at Jason's books or not? he asked more as statement of his intention to do so no matter what his mother had to say about it.

June had long ago come to accept this form of exchange between them; she had long ago finished with the child's detestation of being addressed in any other form than his full Christian name, rather than a shortened version.

Names such as Ja, Jay, or whatever, and any form of endearment such as love, dear, or sweetheart, would make him stop dead in his tracks to tell the offending person that his name was Jason, Jason, Jason, and nothing else.

June wasn't put out in the slightest by his present manner.

Yes, I suppose so Jason, but can I just say hello to Casa first? June asked as though he was the owner of the dog.

Yes mother, if you want to. The boy replied formally as though speaking to a stranger.

June reached out to pet the dog, but as she did she slyly reached out for the name tag hanging down from the animal's collar and quickly turned it over back and forth in an effort to quickly read what may be written on it.

Only the single word CASA appeared on the one side of the stainless steel disc, instantly throwing June completely as she knew her son wouldn't have read the name, but none the less knew it already.

June made no further comment as she stood up from petting the very friendly little kelpie bitch.

Two seconds later Jason was shut away behind his closed bedroom door along with the dog, and neither one of them would be seen again until June called her son out of the room to eat his evening meal in the small dining area of the cottage.

All meal times in the Clifford household followed a strict order and routine, as this was yet another part of the peculiarities of the severity of the boy's disorder. These included the detestation of any form of changes within his living routine and the demand for constants in every section of his life.

Casa followed Jason into the bathroom where he washed his hands and face as June had ordered him to do, then again she followed the boy into the open plan living area where Jason took his place at the dining table. The dog then took up a sitting position on the floor beside him as if he'd ordered her to do so without saying a single word.

June was totally baffled and stunned at the actions of both the dog and her son and decided to risk Jason's easily provoked temper by asking, Do you know where Casa lives Jason? then followed the question up quickly with, Because she may want to go back to her own home now.

A tiny grin lifted the corners of the child's mouth, You are silly mother. He told her without looking in June's direction. Casa lives here with Jason of course. Where else did you think she lived?"

But Casa can't do Jason. We've never met her before today, have we? June put forward logically.

Yes Jason has mother. I could see her in here. The boy touched the side of his head with a single finger to indicate that he meant inside his own head. But Casa won't be living here for very long anyway. He informed his mother bluntly.

Why's that Jason? June asked, almost scared of hearing what might come out of the eleven year old boy's mouth next.

Why must you keep on asking Jason silly questions mother? he asked in a tone of voice that showed his irritation at being asked questions he thought completely superfluous.

He answered as though attempting to humour his mother, or just to shut her up, Jason doesn't know why yet because Casa hasn't told Jason yet, but it may be because Casa and Jason are going soon to live somewhere else mother.

Such a reply alarmed June. It made her want to ask even more questions as to the why's and wherefore's of her son's thinking processes.

However, she thought it may be better to leave things where they stood for the time being as she could sense that Jason was on the verge of losing control of his short fused temper, so she simply replied, We'll talk about that later Jason, but for now just eat your dinner up so we can get you bathed and ready for bed.

Yes mother. Came back the short, sharp, obedient response.

Two hours later Jason Clifford was bathed and lying in his bed, with Casa stretched out on the floor beside it as though she'd spent every single night of her life sleeping there.

*****

The following day was a Saturday, the first day of a week-long break in the fiscal school year. The dog followed the lad inside and out of the cottage as Jason lead the way in whatever matters he found important to occupy himself at the time.

As the Sunday followed much the same pattern, with Casa making no signs of wishing to return to her rightful home and owners, June began worrying as to where her son's newly found shadow companion belonged.

During that weekend, June gladly fed the pretty little kelpie bitch with the dry dog food that had remained in the large plastic container since Tricks' days within the Clifford household

The very last thing she wanted happening was to have the farmer, who owned the cottage they lived in and all the surrounding land, hammering on her door angrily demanding that she hand back one of his working dogs before ordering them to vacate the cottage once and for all.

When she noticed her landlord out in the paddock just in front of the cottage during the following Monday morning