A Horse Called Signs: A Sequel To Handsome Jack

By Jeff Hopkins

Charlize Thwaites is on the road home. Firstly, to South Africa, and then back to Western Australia where her beloved husband, Marnus, lies in Fremantle Cemetery.

A teenage indigenous boy from Broome, Western Australia, Koen Jandamurra, is on the road to a traditional initiation, and becoming a man within his Yawuru mob. He is also displaying skills as a talented swimmer under the tutelage of Warwick Taylor. Romanian gymnastics’ champion and coach, Katarina Jelkavich, thinks Koen might be an Olympic gymnast in the making.

Ray Ratcliffe is training the second riding prodigy in his long and turbulent career, and is on the road from perdition to redemption. Jack Burton is experiencing the thrills and spills of a champion

A thoroughbred entire called Signs, has already sired five fillies of his own. With a distinctive white blaze and three white socks, he loves to swim and run, and is on the road back from the breeding barn to the racetrack. All roads lead to a property in Serpentine in Western Australia, where all this will play out with some unexpected results!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tellwell Talent
• Release date: Feb 12, 2020
• ISBN: 9781922368393

Jeff Hopkins

Jeff Hopkins (1950) is a retired schoolteacher. He lives in Walyalup, Western Australia. Walyalup which means 'lungs' is the Whadjuk name for Fremantle, and is part of the Noongar Nation. As the drama master at Hale School in Perth, he wrote ten original musical plays and produced and directed them at the school.In 1992, he researched and wrote a family history, 'Life's Race Well Run', and after retiring in 2006 he has written twenty novels, a memoir, and three 'faction' biographies.

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JEFF HOPKINS

This is an IndieMosh book

brought to you by MoshPit Publishing

an imprint of Mosher’s Business Support Pty Ltd

PO BOX 147

Hazelbrook NSW 2779

https://www.indiemosh.com.au/

Copyright 2020 © Jeff Hopkins

All rights reserved

Licence Notes

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Disclaimer

This story is entirely a work of fiction.

No character in this story is taken from real life. Any resemblance to any person or persons living or dead is accidental and unintentional.

The author, their agents and publishers cannot be held responsible for any claim otherwise and take no responsibility for any such coincidence.

For:

All those who read the signs, and heed them!

Chapter 1:

Charlize Thwaites

Charlize Thwaites (nee Jooste), recently widowed, sat in the departure lounge at Perth International Airport, in Western Australia, and contemplated the long day she had in prospect. Sitting quietly, for the moment, in the chairs around her, were her three young children. James, the eldest at ten years old would cope best. He was a sensible boy. The two girls Annika and Caitlyn were problematical. At eight and six respectively, they would be restless, and there were two flights ahead of them. There was the added burden of a fourth child, as yet unborn, who Charlize had carried for six and a half months, five of those without the support of her dead husband, lover, and soulmate, Marnus. Charlize had already decided that if the new arrival was a boy she would name him for Marnus. If a girl she would call her Marnie which was a Hebrew name that meant rejoice.

There had been no choice about the departure time and it was not ideal. South African Airlines Flight 281 would take off at 11:45 p.m. local time. She had not insisted that the children rest during the day, and was hopeful that they would tire quickly and sleep most of the ten hours and forty-five minutes it would take to fly to Johannesburg. Flying east to west they would be crossing time zones and would arrive at 4:30 a.m. in Johannesburg. Then there would be a short wait of an hour and fifty minutes before they boarded Mango Airlines flight 525 to Port Elizabeth. Mango Airlines Ltd, trading as Mango, is a South African low cost airline based at Tambo International Airport, and is a subsidiary of South African Airlines. With no hold ups, Charlize hoped to be on the ground at Port Elizabeth an hour and forty-five minutes later at 7:55 a.m. Charlize reminded herself there are always delays with airlines on domestic flights in South Africa, but she simply hoped for the best with Mango. The positive was that one of her best friends, Hannah, and her husband, Aiden, would pick them up at Port Elizabeth airport. Hannah had insisted they stay with Aiden and her while they got settled.

When the first and final boarding call was announced, Charlize gathered up the hand luggage. James was willing to help. Then she ushered the children towards the designated departure gate. At this moment, Charlize no longer regretted the decision to fly the whole family business class. It had been an expensive option, but given the circumstances she thought it would be money well spent. After all she did have the money. When the Flight Attendant, who was checking boarding passes, saw Charlize’s condition, she immediately waved a young male substitute into her role, and personally escorted the Thwaites family onto the aircraft and into their seats. It was a kindness that Charlize appreciated and she was effusive in her thanks.

At 11:45 p.m. precisely the Airbus A340 gathered speed on the runway, and when Charlize checked her watch she heard the tell-tale thud of the landing gear retracting into place. At least there had been no delays! As she had hoped, the children settled quickly, and with a little gentle care from the Flight Attendant in business class they soon slipped into sleep. Charlize ordered a brandy and dry and allowed her mind to drift. What a year it had been! She remembered Queen Elizabeth II once talking of an ‘Annus horribilis’, and Charlize knew she had endured something of the same. Marnus’s accident and him being pronounced dead on arrival at Fremantle Hospital was hard to bear, and she retraced events in her own mind, wondering how she had endured the rest. She was convincing breaking the news to the children that ‘daddy was not coming home, and that he had gone to heaven’, even though she had eschewed all religious belief at the end of her teenage years. Then the graveside ceremony at the sun soaked lawn area of Fremantle Cemetery, where everyone tried to be supportive and kind, but simply forced Charlize to be brave almost beyond breaking point.

After that the dispersal sale and farewelling the few horses they had. It had been particularly hard to part with Jeffreys Bay who had given Marnus and her such a thrill as their first winner in Western Australia. At least he was going to a lovely girl, Joanna Overton in Esperance on the south coast, who was just starting out as a trainer. Selling the property was heartbreaking. It had been Marnus’s dream and now it was shattered. The will, the lawyers, the insurance company the real estate agents, they all demanded her time, and their fees and commissions. Finally, she was heading back to South Africa to resume the life she had left in Port Elizabeth not so many years ago. A young widow with three children and one on the way in a matter of months. How would she cope?

The Flight Attendant brought her drink and switched on a subtle night light and then checked the children were comfortably asleep. Then with a reassuring word she left Charlize to her thoughts. Why had she decided to go back to South Africa and leave Marnus behind in a grave in Australia? Distance! That was her justification. Put all of the Indian Ocean between herself and the past. Start again! Charlize knew she was still young, and could be an attractive proposition for a second marriage. She wondered if any man would be prepared to take on another man’s four children? Probably not! Charlize also knew she would never have to worry about money ever again. Marnus had seen to that with two substantial life insurance policies. The proceeds from the horses and the property had paid all outstanding debts. If she wanted to, she could live a comfortable life, educate her children, and be a woman of leisure in Port Elizabeth society. Did she really want that for herself? Absolutely not!

When the Flight Attendant brought her second brandy, she had already decided that she would not wait around for a second husband to take on her and her four children. Charlize was going to settle in Port Elizabeth and seek a career. The rest of her life was not going to be that of a lady of leisure in polite society. What career? Now her late father’s words echoed into her head, and she concentrated to recall them as the A340 purred through the night sky heading west.

‘Charlize, if you don’t want to marry Marnus, and have his children, then pursue a career in an area that interests you, and make your work your passion! Marnus has the horses that is half the equation, what is going to be the other half to balance out your life, my darling?’

Charlize remembered her reply:

‘I will take Marnus and his horses, Daddy. That will satisfy me!’

In reality Marnus had already satisfied her, and she was pregnant with his child when they were married in the Catholic Church at 4 Springfield Road, Springfield, Eastern Cape, Port Elizabeth. Charlize recalled the day vividly. She could visualise the cloudless cerulean sky, and the smell of her red and white rose bouquet. Marnus and Charlize spent their honeymoon in Western Australia with an idyllic week of lazy summer days on Rottnest Island off the coast of Perth, before eight days of driving in the south west of that state. They fell in love with the place and determined they would come back one day. Their first born was James who slept beside her now.

Charlize drained her brandy and half smiled as she remembered how Marnus and her had jointly decided to emigrate to Western Australia to give their expanding family, which now included Annika and Caitlyn, the very best opportunities in education, and in life, that they could. Now she had left Marnus behind in Fremantle Cemetery and was reversing all those decisions. Was she doing the right thing? The Flight Attendant came by and asked politely if Charlize would like a third brandy, but she declined and snuggled into her business class seat and surpris­ingly there were no more conscious thoughts. She drifted to sleep alongside her children as the Airbus A340 navigated a course high above the Indian Ocean and onward to a new life, as yet wholly unknown.

Charlize sensed a voice was calling her and as she drifted back into consciousness she realised that a different Flight Attendant, this time a man, was speaking to her gently:

‘Mrs. Thwaites, we are going to serve a meal in the next few minutes. Your children have been awake for a little while now.’

‘Oh dear, I seemed to have slept for much longer than I intended to. Have the children been behaving?’

‘They have been perfect, Mrs. Thwaites.’

‘Where are we in terms of the flight?’

‘We are about two and half hours from wheels down at Johannesburg. We will serve what will be like breakfast for you.’

‘Are we on time?’

‘The pilot tells us that our estimated time of arrival is still 4:30 a.m. local time in Johannesburg, so yes we are very much on time.’

‘Oh, that is good news.’

Within minutes the sumptuous continental breakfast was served and the children ate heartily and seemed genuinely excited about the prospect of landing soon in South Africa. Charlize felt refreshed. She had slept for over six hours and felt she was ready for whatever presented itself. The pilot commenced the descent into Johannesburg, and just as the Flight Attendant had told her the wheels of the Airbus A340 touched the tarmac at 4:30 a.m. It was still dark as they taxied to the terminal but there was the promise of a dawn in the eastern sky. Strangely Charlize felt no sense of arriving home. Marnus was buried an ocean away and she was simply steeling herself for the next phase which would be the procession through customs and then the Mango Airlines flight to Port Elizabeth. She counted her blessings; the children were still bright and excited, and so far, there had been no incidents.

The family cleared customs in less than an hour and Charlize herded her charges to the twenty-four-hour fast food outlet where she let them order all the things she usually frowned upon, but for the moment she was prepared to relent to keep harmony in the group. When they had stuffed themselves full of French fries and thick-shakes and she had drained her own double shot cappuccino complete with an extra spoonful of sugar, they heard the first and final call for their Mango Flight 525 to Port Elizabeth. Charlize had been reassured that the luggage had been booked straight through to Port Elizabeth, and she summoned up some more energy to see the children safely to their seats for the last leg of the journey.

Riding a lot of airline good fortune Charlize checked her watch when the plane was airborne, and they were only a few minutes behind schedule. It seems that timetables were being heeded much more efficiently than when she and Marnus last flew in South Africa. A brilliant summer dawn exploded in a pastiche of pink and orange and then a glorious azure as they cruised at altitude for about an hour and a half and then the pilot commenced his descent into Port Elizabeth and the children craned to get a glimpse of the south eastern coastal city which was to be their home. Charlize fought back a tear as she glanced to the south where Jeffreys Bay would be, and thoughts of Marnus and the lovely gelding who had given them their first win flooded her mind. Pull yourself together girl, she told herself. This is the first day of the rest of your life. Look forward. There will be time for quiet reflection and the inevitable tears soon enough.

Hannah and Aiden were waiting in the airport reception area and they both moved enthusiastically to greet the Thwaites family. However, there was no smothering embrace. Hannah stopped short when she saw Charlize close up for the first time.

‘You’re pregnant!’

‘It is hard to disguise the fact, Hannah.’

‘Why didn’t you tell me?’

‘I will tell you everything all in good time. Now you can give me a hug; I am not that fragile.’

After hugs and kisses all round, Aiden suggested James accompany him to the baggage carousel and help recognise their luggage. The girls held tight to their mother and Hannah hugged them all!

Aiden had insisted that they bring both cars, and a matching pair of BMW hatchbacks, one red and one blue, waited for them in the carpark. They needed both. Aiden packed all the luggage in the blue one and took James as his passenger, and Hannah drove Charlize and the two girls in the red one. Aiden led the convoy of BMW’s on the eight-minute drive to Summerstrand where there was a brief hold up while the automatic gates opened on the white walled, and grey roofed house, that was Hannah and Aiden’s home.

The house was a four bedroom two bathrooms dwelling and there was lots of space for the two families to live together in comfort, which they did as Charlize organised schools for James and the girls and then slowed down to prepare for the new child to arrive. Just like South African Airlines he was right on time and in due course was christened Marnus Jeffrey William Thwaites. After little Marnus was born Charlize wasted no time. She spent her days searching for a family home they could call their own. She fell in love with a property at 50 Louis Botha Crescent, Summerstrand, Port Elizabeth not all that far from Hannah and Aiden’s house.

50 Louis Botha Crescent, was situated in the older section of Summerstrand and was walking distance to the children’s schools. It was a double storey home consisting of a spacious renovated kitchen with granite tops, lots of cupboard space, and a large separate scullery and laundry. There was a sunny lounge with sliding doors to an undercover patio, a separate dining room, a family room leading out to a lush garden with a kidney shaped swimming pool. Downstairs there were four bedrooms, one ensuite and two separate bathrooms, plus a storage room. A feature stairway led upstairs where there was a large private suite overlooking the garden plus a study, which could be a sixth bedroom, but Charlize had already decided it would be her private work space.

An added bonus, which Charlize hardly needed was a one bedroom flat with an ensuite, open plan lounge and kitchen, it would have been perfect for an extended family, if Charlize had any, which she did not, but she did toy with the idea of using it as an ‘airbnb’ for extra income of which, at present, she had no need either. There was lots of parking and an undercover carport. The house was fully walled and had an excellent security system, and was close to the shops and a ten-minute stroll to the beachfront. It was on the market for two million, five hundred thousand Rand, but when Charlize worked out that was two hundred and fifty thousand Australian dollars; she bought it!

She was in a ‘devil may care’ state of mind and even if the house was far too big for their requirements, she would treat it as an investment for the future of her children. When they moved in Charlize made upstairs her private domain. The children each got a bedroom of their own downstairs, with one reserved for young Marnus when he was old enough to have his own space. The girls each had a bathroom of their own and James had a private ensuite for the moment. It really was quite civilised and a considerable step up in style from the property in Serpentine, Western Australia.

While Marnus was still a baby, and Charlize was still breast feeding, she enrolled in an online University course and initially upgraded and consolidated her nursing qualifications and then extended them dramatically. By the time Marnus was three, Charlize was ready to re-join the work force as a highly-qualified rehabilitation nurse practitioner with particular qualifications in the area of spinal cord injuries. Her speculative application to Port Elizabeth Provincial Hospital brought an almost immediate invitation to come in for an interview with the Head of Nursing. Port Elizabeth Provincial Hospital is a large government funded hospital situated in central Port Elizabeth. It is a tertiary teaching hospital and forms part of the Port Elizabeth Hospital Complex.

The Head of Nursing was impressed by both Charlize, and her qualifications, but was particularly drawn to a part of her curriculum vitae which said she had been a horse trainer’s wife in Western Australia.

‘Do you ride yourself, Mrs. Thwaites?’

‘I do. My late husband, Marnus, taught me even before we were married.’

‘Interesting. How would you feel about combining your spinal cord rehabilitation work with teaching riding for the disabled?’

‘I have never really thought about it. Do you do that sort of thing here?’

‘We certainly do. In fact, the person who did that type of work, before she left quite suddenly a few weeks ago, fostered the programme, and had some excellent success with it.’

‘Do you think you could carry it on, and perhaps expand it with greater ties between the Hospital and the ‘Riding for the Disabled School’ here in Port Elizabeth?’

‘What a wonderful challenge! I certainly would like to try.’

‘That is excellent Mrs. Thwaites. When would you be available to start?’

‘When would you like me here?’

‘Shall we say next Monday?’

After Charlize resumed full time employment she hired a housekeeper who cleaned the house every day, and also prepared the separate apartment for ‘airbnb’ guests. When the clients departed, the housekeeper stripped the bedroom and bathroom and put in fresh sheets and towels in preparation for the next visitors to arrive. There seemed to be a steady stream of them. Little Marnus went to day care and thrived in an early childhood education environment. With money seeming to be of little concern Charlize asked thirteen year-old-old James whether he would like to go to a private school for his secondary education. He said he would.

So, Charlize drove out to St. Dominic’s Priory School which was an independent co-educational Catholic Pre-Primary, Primary, and High School in Godlonton Avenue in the suburb of Miramar, in Port Elizabeth. It was founded in 1900. She was so impressed that she not only enrolled James, but also her two daughters, Annika and Caitlyn there. Arrangements were also made for Marnus to start pre-Primary School in the following year. St. Dominic’s was only twelve kilometres from the Thwaites’ home in Summerstrand and it was an easy school run drive of about sixteen minutes with just the one drop off and pick up point. In her heart, Charlize felt she was keeping faith with what her late husband, Marnus, would have wanted. He was brought up in the catholic tradition and now his children would be also. She was not religious, or even spiritual herself, but she felt she was fulfilling some sort of unspoken obligation.

Over the next five years the children did very well at St. Dominic’s Priory School and Charlize did even better at Port Elizabeth Provincial Hospital. She was steadily promoted, and by the time James was in his last year of secondary school she was Head of the Spinal Cord Rehabilitation Unit. Then a series of unexplained events changed the course of Charlize’s life. She stumbled across a Western Australian Government website announcing the completion and commissioning of the new Fiona Stanley Hospital in the southern suburbs of Perth. When she accessed the pull-down menu headed ‘Recruitment’ she saw they were advertising for a Head of the Spinal Cord Recovery Unit (SCRU). She bookmarked the site and didn’t think too much about it until on a hot early December evening, when no sea breeze had arrived, she sat on the edge of her swimming pool at home and watched the illumination from the floodlights that lit the area, coruscate off the surface of the water. Something, or someone, whispered in her ear, but there was no one there.

Within minutes she had accessed the website again and spent nearly an hour filling in the application form for the position at Fiona Stanley Hospital. She attached an updated CV and nominated three confidential referees all from Port Elizabeth Provincial Hospital. She made a note to ask them the next day whether they would support her application and act as referees. Within a week, she took a phone call at the hospital. It was David Irving, the newly appointed Administrator at the hospital in Perth. He asked if she would be prepared to fly to Perth and be interviewed by the selection panel. She agreed to do so. It was two weeks before Christmas. James was at Jeffreys Bay on a surfing holiday staying with the family of a friend from St. Dominic’s. The Housekeeper agreed to live in for a week and look after the girls, and make sure they didn’t get into any mischief and Charlize decided to take young Marnus, who was now eight, with her as an adventure for the little boy.

They landed in Perth in the early hours of Sunday morning having flown via Dubai, where the Emirates aircraft from Johannesburg had a brief one hour and fifteen-minute stopover. Charlize hired a car at Perth International airport and although weary, after an almost twenty-hour flight, she drove herself and Marnus to the Port City of Fremantle, where she booked into the Esplanade Hotel, a place she knew well because Marnus and she, with their young family, had stayed there when they first emigrated to Western Australia.

The next day she decided to walk into Fremantle and try and shake off the effects of jetlag. Young Marnus was fascinated by the quaint 19th century port city and Charlize didn’t think it had changed at all since she was last here. They walked side by side down the High Street and eventually were drawn to an Indigenous Art, Artefacts, and Clothing store towards the west end of the city. Charlize knew she would be expected to bring back gifts when she returned, but she couldn’t get anything too bulky. When she arrived at the swimwear section of the store she thought she had the perfect answer. There were board shorts, racing bathers and girls and ladies’ swimsuits all in unique and impressive Aboriginal art designs. A friendly shop assistant came across and asked if she could help. Charlize inquired.

‘These are quite striking designs. Are they genuine indigenous art?’

‘Indeed, they are. An aboriginal woman from Broome in the Kimberley designs them. They are a popular, and one of our best-selling lines.’

Charlize selected board shorts for James and Marnus in a design that was magenta with a black turtle motif. The shop assistant called it ‘Turtle Dreaming’. Then she selected swimsuits for Annika and Caitlyn. For Annika, she chose a white suit with a distinctive snake-like design which was called ‘Serpent’ and for Caitlyn a sand coloured background with large white shells surrounded by orange half shells as the design. The informative assistant said this was called ‘Pearl Shell’. Then she chose an essentially aquamarine swimsuit for herself that was decorated with various sea creatures. Charlize was told this was ‘Ocean Dreaming’. As a final thought, she bought Marnus a pair of racing bathers which he could wear in his swimming coaching classes. They were dark blue with a swirling indigenous dot painting design. The shop assistant said this was called ‘Clay Pan’. The items were quite expensive, but Charlize admired the quality and the unique designs and she was happy to pay the premium price.

The Fiona Stanley Hospital interview was scheduled for late morning the next day. Charlize and Marnus went to the hairdressing salon, located in the hotel, and a lovely young girl cut Marnus’s hair in a modern style, while Charlize had her own hair combed out and set. Charlize chose a simple yellow sleeveless summer dress for the interview and wore matching shoes. Marnus was dressed in smart casuals. They waited in the Administrative section of the hospital before Charlize was ushered into the Conference Room where a three-person panel were preparing to interview her.

The selection panel consisted of Hospital Administrator, Mr. David Irving, Chief Spinal Surgeon, Mr. Constantine Theodorakis, and the Head of Human Resources, Ms. Deborah Smith. It was all business.

‘Thank you for coming all this way to meet with us Mrs. Thwaites. We have interviewed all the local and interstate candidates for the position. I can tell you that you are the only International applicant.’

The questions came from all directions, and they were essentially technical. Qualifications, experience, philosophy about how a Spinal Cord Rehabilitation Unit in a new hospital might be run and developed. Then some personal questions about family and how big a disruption it would be to relocate from South Africa to Western Australia. Finally, Mr. Constantine Theodorakis threw in a ‘curved ball’.

‘Could I ask you, Mrs. Thwaites, why did you make the decision to apply for this position?

Charlize considered her reply for a moment and then fired back.

‘Do you believe in ‘signs’, Mr. Theodorakis?’

‘What omens and portents, that sort of thing?’

‘Yes.’

‘No, Mrs. Thwaites. I am a surgeon. I live in a world of realities, the art of the possible. I don’t believe in luck, omens, or signs. My focus is just what I know and think I can achieve.’

‘I was like you, Mr. Theodorakis, I was neither religious nor spiritual, until recently, when I sat poolside in Port Elizabeth and something or someone whispered in my ear that I should pursue this direction.’

‘How interesting.’

David Irving summarised, and then asked if Mrs. Thwaites would be kind enough to step outside while the selection panel discussed the situation. She sat with Marnus in the waiting area for almost half an hour and then was called back into the conference room where Mr. David Irving presented the panel’s decision.

‘You are without doubt the most outstanding applicant we have interviewed for this position, Mrs. Thwaites. Your age profile, your qualifications and your relevant experience all fit our criteria. There are two other factors that have proved telling in our deliberations. Your associated rehabilitation work with ‘Riding for the Disabled’ and the fact you have lived in Western Australia, but have gone overseas and gained valuable experience in another system are both positive factors. In short we would like to offer you the position commencing on Monday the 3rd of February next year.’

Charlize accepted the position, and the remuneration package and relocation expenses were laid out for her. There were some official documents to sign and then it was all over. The Thwaites family were going to move back to Perth. Charlize took Marnus to a fast food restaurant and they had a rather unusual and restrained celebration. There was so much to do.

In the following days, Charlize took Marnus out