Tails at Vinnies or read to death!

Carmel Rowley www.carmelrowley.com.au

“I write about what I love and what I truly care about …” Carmel Rowley

I often shop at Vinnies in Toowoomba, it’s a treasure trove of wonderful stuff that includes clothes, books, clothes, books, clothes, furniture, and lots more. I look at everything but by now you realise what sections are highest on my list of priorities.

At present I’m in the middle of writing two new novels and when I write I read like a person possessed so the Toowoomba Vinnies is a frequent haunt for very reasonably priced books that can be simply returned once finished.

As a child I grew up collecting books from Op-Shops (Opportunity Shops) as they were then know in Melbourne. Hardly a Saturday passed without my mother and I visiting the Op-Shop in Chapel Street often with my grandmother and auntie. We would do the shops then enjoy a coffee. The coffee wasn’t really as it is today, although Melbourne always had wonderful cafes with equally wonderful coffee. Possibly the fact I was a child at the time keeps me from remembering how coffee tasted back then. I would had a milk shake not a coffee. Still the culture of meeting, eating and drinking coffee was firmly ingrained into my being from a very early age.

Sorry I digress …

The Chapel Street Op-Shop was where I found a never ending stream of children’s horse-books by authors such as Monica Edwards and the Pullein-Thompson sisters. It was also my first introduction to Anne Bullen, my all time favourite illustrator of children’s horse books. By the way I still have all the books purchased during those years.

Hence the habit to “find my favourite books in a charity shop” was born and it’s become more like a personal celebration when I find a book I’ve always wanted to read. I love these shops and still become excited when I find a favourite. Strangely, I view having a book in a charity shop as a milestone in a writers life and although I believe in the “anything is possible” catch phrase I never thought it could happen to me!

Last Friday, my friend Lois and I were off (yes, you guessed it) to have a coffee when we decided to stop by Vinnies on the way. We’re completely in sync when it comes to Vinnies. There are never any strange looks at one another and best of all our cars are set on auto pilot and know the way! Ha!

Picture this: here I am in the book section making my way down the Mystery aisle when I got the surprise of my life.

‘Look Lois,’ I shouted not daring to pick it up in case I was dreaming.

There sat the saddest looking copy of “Tails Carried High” I’d ever seen. It was a library copy. I picked it up and immediately it felt as if thousands of finger prints had jumped from the pages and found a voice, bombarding me with their opinions. The voices stopped as abruptly as they began and I smiled at the memory of this first edition print run and the dramas I experienced.

The cover was coming off the spine and the library identification code was cut out but what bliss – the realisation of a dream! Maybe not an exact dream but almost! In saying this I thought of all the people who’d read the book and their reactions. It didn’t matter whether they were good, bad or indifferent.

I flicked the pages and stopped on page 41 and read :-
“… The white horse, however, was easy to recognise. His gentle eyes were all knowing.
His was the name on the rusted plaque on the stable door at the end of the barn.
Jessikah said his name aloud, repeating it.
He was as magnificent as Picault’s statue of Pegasus with Bellerophon. Jessikah smiled.
She was obsessed with Pegasus, she thought, and why not?
How else to describe such beautiful horses?”

I repeated the words over and over in my head, ‘how else to describe such beautiful horses?’ I write about what I love and what I truly care about and here are the results, a book almost “read to death”. How great is that?

I realised Friday was a watershed moment, a quick visit back in time to the way I felt all those years ago as a child when I found a book to treasure. My hope is that someone will find ‘Tails’ in Vinnies read it, love it, tell others about it and pass it on.

Such a beautiful moment?

Horse Photographs by Carmel Rowley

Full brother and sister Soura Sihr (top) and Ashquar Sihr  by *Salaa Sihr dec from Simeon Shaina) (bottom)

Ashquar Sihr owned by Myth Haven Arabian Farm www.mythhavenarabians.com.au

Soura Sihr bred and owned by Pearsons View Arabians www.pearsonsviewarabians.com 

Soura resides at Myth Haven Arabian Farm