A stick in the gate

The rain had stopped, which on this farm only means something else is now stuck.

A stick had wedged in the latch. Not a big stick. Just enough. The gate sat there looking open, which is worse than looking shut, because a cow will try it.

London tried it. London is the polite one. She queued at a gate that would not open, as if patience were a key. Canberra stood behind her, because a line is still a line even when it is going nowhere. Tokyo darted past, bounced off the rail, and darted back, which is how you discover a stick without admitting you found it.

The bull announced that the gate was open. Historic open. The most open gate. He stood on the crate that is not a stump and told them they could go whenever they liked, which they could not.

Spike ran at the stick. Faster is his whole idea of a plan. He grabbed. He shook. He put on the stare that works on cows and does not work on wood. The stick stayed. Spike stayed too, because a kelpie who has chosen a problem does not leave it.

Suzy did not grab the stick. Suzy sat at the latch, the long way, the way you sit when you have already decided the stick will come out in a minute if someone stops shouting at it. She waited. London waited with her, because queuing at a stuck gate is still queuing.

The stick came out because Spike pulled at the same moment Suzy stopped him pulling at the wrong angle. That is not a plan Spike would have written down. It is the plan that works.

The latch lifted. London went through first, because she had been first in the line the whole time, even when the line was a joke. Canberra kept the rest of them. Harare looked for greener grass on the other side, which was the same grass, wetter.

The bull said he had opened it himself. The stick lay in the mud. Spike shook rain out of his ears, very pleased with how hard he had pulled. Suzy sat where the latch had been, which was where she had meant to sit all along.

Eight months old. Still puppies in the head. Working dogs in the legs.

Some gates are open. Some gates have a stick in them.