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Horse lover
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« on: May 03, 2007, 04:17:28 PM » |
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“Hey girl, what’s up? Anna sent me down to help. I understand that your new?” it was a guys voice. It had a sort of country accent. I froze on the spot. I had just let someone sneak up on me. Then I relaxed it must be Charlie.
I slowly turned around and looked at him. He had brown hair and he was just a little taller than I was. He was wearing jeans and a solid white T-shirt. His eyes were dark chocolate brown. “Hi. You must be Charlie. I’m Mary.” I reached my hand out to his to shake.
He seemed stunned for a second because he didn’t reach out to shake my hand. “Um, hello? Charlie are you there?” I asked. My face was scared because I didn’t know if something was wrong with him.
He seemed to bring himself together. “Oh, forgive me. I was a little out of it there for a second. Yeah, I’m Charlie. It’s nice to meet you Mary. I’ll be right back with some leads so we can lead in the mares. The foals will just fallow.” he told me right before he walked away towards, I think, was the stables.
I leaned back on the paddock and waited for him to return. He soon came back after about 10 minutes. He was quick. “Ok, I’ll go and get the first mare and you go get one and follow behind me ok?” he explained.
“Ok, that’ll be fine.” I answered him. He opened the gate to the paddock and went in. I closed the gate behind him.
“Come on girls. Time to go.” Charlie called over to the mares and they all came up to him, their foals fallowing. He took a halter and put it on a palomino mare the had a buckskin foal beside her. He slowly led her out of the paddock and let me go in.
He waited silently while I walked up to a black mare and her black foal. I gently slipped the black halter over her face and clipped the matching black lead onto the halter and led her silently out of the paddock. Charlie closed the gate behind me. The was a look of triumph in my eyes and Charlie saw it. “So, your glad that you were able to get your first mare here?” he laughed.
I looked back at him and smiled. “Yeah, it was cool. What’s her name?” I wondered as I looked back at the beautiful mare I was leading.
“Her name is Blackened Beauty and her filly is Midnight Woman.” Charlie’s voice was calm and caring like the only thing that was ever special to him were the horses.
“You really care about them don’t you?” I questioned him thoughtfully.
Charlie seemed to ponder this for a while. “Yeah, I do. Anna and the horses are my family.” he answered, but I didn’t ask him any other questions. I could tell that mentioning family was a sore spot for him.
We led the rest of the mares in quietly and sooner than I thought, we were finished. I led in 10 mares with their foals at their sides. I could tell why Charlie loved them so much. It was hard not to.
We were leading the last mare and foal in when Charlie asked me a question that startled me. “Why did you come here Mary?” it was an odd question.
It took me a while to ponder this and by the time we had put the last beautiful mare in her spacious stall, I still couldn’t tell him. He was a wonderful guy, but I couldn’t just tell him. Charlie seemed to get the point and didn’t ask again.
We walked back toward the farmhouse, or better known as the farm mansion and went inside. Anna was sitting at the Dining room table with many of the stable hands I guessed. The dining room had a huge vaulted ceiling and there was a chandelier in the middle of it all.“Here she is everyone. I would like you to meet our new recruit. Her name is Mary Rennet. Mary this is Janet, Jerry, Mike, Lucy, Ron, Julie, Alison, Allen, Brandon, Violet, Annie, Stacey, Kelly, Sarah, Alyssa, Angel, Jack, Dillon, Jesse, Charles, and Charlie, who you have already met.” Anna introduced me to the stable hands that had stayed.
“Hi everyone.” I replied to them.
“Hi.” they all chorused back.
“Now that we have been introduced to those that stay after work is over, I would like to get everyone fed so that we can have a good sleep.” Anna informed everyone right before she ran into the kitchen. I could already smell the good food that was cooking over the stove.
“Hey Mary! It’s nice to meet you.” I Blond haired girl by which Anna had called her Janet, waved over to her.
I slowly walked over to her. Most of the other stable hands were in deep conversation with each other. “Hi Janet.” I said once I reached her.
“Hi Mary, come sit down. She patted an empty seat beside her.
I went to sit down and Janet put out her hand to shake mine. I shook it. “So, how long are you going to stay?” she asked me slyly.
“Um, I plan on staying for as long as I can. Why?” I wondered.
“Just because. Do you have a boyfriend back at home?” she questioned eagerly.
I was a little surprised by this question, but I answered nonetheless. “No, I don’t, but..” I didn’t get to finish because the food was being brought in. I looked around the table at people and I saw the Charlie was staring at me. He apparently saw me and looked away hurriedly, as if were really interested in the tablecloth on the dining table.
“Here comes the food. “ Janet pointed out as the food was bing passed along the table. There were large silver dishes filled with wonderful foods. There were mashed potatoes, corn, green beans, cream of mushroom soup, chicken, turkey, and some dishes that I couldn’t even name!
“Wow.” I mouthed as I saw all the food being laid out in front of everyone.
Janet saw this and laughed. “Yeah, I thought that too when I first came here. I left my family in pursuit of ths place, but that was 4 years ago. This is my home now.” Janet said Cheerfully. I wondered if I could stay that long. I hope I can. I thought.
People around me started to eat so I grabbed something and put a little of everything on my plate. I looked up to see everyone eating but Charlie and Charles. They were talking and Charlie seemed to have looked over here because he turned away rather quickly. Charles was laughing at him. It really was quite funny.
I began to eat and halfway through my meal, I heard my name uttered from somewhere over at the other end of the table, but I didn’t worry about it. “Hey, Janet.” I asked a little urgently.
“Yeah?” she answered.
“What’s the relationship between Charlie and Charles?” I inquired.
“Oh, they’re brothers. They came here about 5 years ago from what I’ve heard. They share everything together, but they barely ever tell us what they’ve been talking about. You shouldn’t worry about it, plus you’ll soon find out what their conversation is about tonight.” Janet explained while she got back to eating.
I wonder what they are talking about. I thought and then I got back to my food. I caught little snatches of conversations as I ate. Most of it was about the horses though. I couldn’t find out what Charlie and Charles were talking about though. They seemed quite keen to keep it as quiet as they could, so I gave up and engaged myself in conversation with a guy named Jerry that was sitting beside me.
“Hi Jerry. How long have you been here?” I started.
“Oh, not long. Just a few months. That’s nothing compared with other people that have come here before me.” he answered.
“Oh, well why did you come here?” I wondered.
“To get away from things. I had heard that anyone that came here was sure to be welcomed no matter their ast. Anna, she’s a great woman, she is. She gave me a job when no one else would.” there was something like fondness found in his voice.
“Yeah, she is.” I replied back.
Then there was a clinging of glass and all the conversations ceased. “Well, it seems that we are all full of this wonderful food, so I would like to ask if anyone would like to help Mary tomorrow, you know to show her the ropes of things and let her get a hang of it.” Anna’s voice rang out. Many people put their hands into the air. “Ok, so we’ll just all have to put our names in a hat and whoever is picked will help her along with things tomorrow.” and with that, as if Anna had been anticipating this, she took a tall black hat with horses covering it and set it in the middle of the table where no food lay.
“Everyone walked up and put their names in and once everyone was done, Anna stuck her hand in the hat and pulled out a tiny note and unfolded it. There was a small smile on her face once she had opened it. “Congratulations Charlie, you will once again be helping Mary with things.” Anna congratulated along with many others. I realized that this was always just a game to help whoever new came. I liked it. It seemed quite fun.
“Well, I’ll think that I’ll be going now. Make sure to show Mary to her room Janet.” Anna made her way out of the dining room and towards the stairs I had seen when I came in.
All the conversations started up almost immediately. A brunet haired girl by the name of Julie came over to talk to me. “Hi Mary, it’s nice to meet you. I hope you stay awhile.” Julie pulled up a chair and sat down. “So, you have a boyfriend at home?” she asked rather abruptly.
“No, but I.....” I started to say but I was interrupted.
“That’s good.” Julie interrupted.
Why does everyone keep interrupting me? I wondered. It was getting on my nerves. “Janet, can you point me towards my room. I think that I would like to go to bed.” I asked a little shyly. I wasn’t sure if I had just interrupted her conversation.
“Yeah ok. I’ll be right back Lucy.” she told the black haired girl she was talking to and she began to lead me toward the same stairs that Anna had went up earlier. The stairs were beautiful marble and there were pictures of different horses all up the stairway. I recognized some from the mares I had led in and others like famous horses.
We had finally reached the top of the stairs and I gasped. There was a long hallway with many doors and the floor was pure marble. More horse pictures covered these walls in spaces that the doors did not. The doors were made out of gold. Small chandeliers came down from the ceiling. The chandeliers looked as though they were made of gold also. Everything matched perfectly. I hadn’t even noticed theat the picture frames that held the pictures of all the magnificent horses were made out of gold and the glass was 1 inch thick. Janet just smiled as she led me toward a golden door that looked brand new.
“This is your new room Mary, I hope you get comfortable alright. If you have any questions, I’ll be right across the hall.” she pointed to the door that was right across from mine.
I gasped once more when I saw my new room. There was a canopy bed that had lavender sheer curtains and the hardwood floor was cherry wood. There were pictures of horses in here too. There was another golden door that I presumed was the bathroom and another golden door led to what might be the closet. The bed linens on my bed were beautiful lavender purple with wonderful cream white sheets. The pillows were puffed up and a glorious white. The cherry wood dresser shined like newly polished wood and everything about this room was remarkable, from the floor to the ceiling.
“Just settle in now, and don’t worry. You’ll get used to everything being so nice, trust me, I have.” Janet explained once she saw the look on my face and she left the room, closing the golden door behind me with a soft click.
I slowly made my way towards the bed and gently stroked my hand over the fine silk. I sat on the bed and was extremely surprised to see that it was a water bed! I was so excited, but then I realized that I never brought any real cloths with me. I quietly tip-toed over to the dresser and opened it. Each drawer contained clothes or every kind of occasion! There were clothes for working out with the horses, clothes for dinnertime, clothes for going out, nightclothes, and many other clothes. Not to mention that they were all my size! I couldn’t believe it!
I calmed down after looking at all the things that were contained in the room and slowly got ready for bed. I slipped on a pearly white nightgown and slipped under the silky covers. I had always wanted a waterbed and this was perfect. I slowly slipped into a dreamless sleep.
I woke up abruptly the next morning to the sound of a blaring alarmclock at 5 in the morning. I hadn’t noticed it the night before, but all the same I got out of bed, remade the bed to like it was before I slept in it, and pulled on a pair of jean work shorts, a pair of white tennis shoes, and a tight purple t-shit. It was a little tight for my liking, but all the shirts were like that so I dealt with it.
I could hear the bustling of footsteps as people came out from their rooms, ready to start the day, so I hurried up and brushed my hair in front of the mirror. My long golden hair shined as bright as it always did as I pulled it back into a long ponytail and left the room to start work.
When I reached the end of the marble stairs, most people had already left to begin work. I went outside to meet the glorious sunrise. I peered around to see if anyone had been walking around and I didn’t se anyone. I just guessed that they were already taking care of the horses, so I went over to the mares barn.
I was a little surprised because all the horses were still in their stalls, but I still began to go down the isle looking for Blackened Beauty and her foal. I just loved them, they were so beautiful.
I finally found them and grabbed Blackened Beauty’s halter off the hook outside her stall and slowly opened the stall door. I had been around racehorses my whole life so I knew how they acted, but I wasn’t exactly sure if Blackened Beauty was a retired racehorse. I slipped the halter over her beautifully shaped face and led her outside into the morning. The sun was slowly rising above the horizon. Blackened Beauty’s filly followed right beside her mother as I led the to the mares paddock and quietly let them in.
I did this with each mare and their foal. It only took me about 30 minutes until I was on the last mare. Her name was Buckskin Beauty. I didn’t know what her colts name was. She was a beautiful buckskin horse as well as her colt. They made a great pair.
I had finally led them to the paddock and put them in when I heard someone calling after me. “Mary! Mary!” I stopped to listen. It was Charlie. “Mary, why weren’t you at breakfast this morning?” he asked a little out of breath.
“Oh, so that’s where everyone was. Well, I led all the mares and their foals to the paddock, so that’s taken care of. I said calmly.
“Oh, well that’s great. Now we can get started on the other horses and get finished faster. How about we go to the Stallions now? Their in the paddock right across from the mares.” Charlie suggested.
“Ok, that’ll be fine. I don’t mind.” I answered.
“Ok well I’ll show you the way then. Come on.” Charlie waved for me to follow. I quickly followed him toward the stallions stable. It was just as wonderful as the mares, but there were more stalls. I quickly ran to find Black Stallion Dream. He was in the last stall. I looked over the stall door to see him waiting to be taken to the paddock. His muscular muscles rippled beneath his coat. I grabbed the blood red bridle from outside his stall door on the hook and let myself in his stall. He calmly moved aside to make room for me as I slipped the bridle over his strong and beautiful head. He gladly let me slip it over his ears. I clipped the lead onto his halter and slowly led him out of the stall.
“Well, I see that you’ve found the great racer already.” Charlie called over to me.
“Yeah, Anna showed him to me yesterday. I really like him.” I called back as I led him up the isle.
“Yeah, he loves everyone even though he used to be a racehorse. Noone would have guessed that a horse with so much power on the track, is actually a real softy. He knows when it’s time to play and when it’s time to work.” Charlie smiled as he explained.
“Yeah, I love him. He’s so sweet. He’s really different than I thought he would be.” I replied as I led Black Stallion Dream to the paddock across from the mares. I opened the gate to the paddock, took off his blood red halter and let him loose. He ran across to the other side of the paddock just as quick as he had in races. I bet he missed being in races.
“Hey Mary, do you recognize this one?” Charlie called over to me. It sounded as though he were laughing though.
I looked at the horse he was leading and gasped. It was Silver Mist. He was a grand prize horse that had won many races against the top horses. “Oh. Wow! Silver Mist!” I ran over to Charlie. He had stopped so that I could pat Silver Mist before he let him loose into the paddock.
“Yeah, it’s Silver Mist alright. You might want to go and get some more of the stallions though. They’re getting a little restless standing around in their stalls.” Charlie informed me politely.
“Ok” I replied as I hurried back in to take the rest of the stallions out.
I had met some really famous horses like Devil’s Sin, Blazing Fire, and many others. I couldn’t believe it all once I was done with the stallions and moved onto the other stables. We only had to do one more because the work was split up evenly among the stable hands. Some led the horses out one day and the next, those that had led the horses out muck the stalls of the horses that they had led out the day before.
Next we had led out the yearlings. They were jumpy but calm at the same time. It was funny actually. They were calm as you led them to the paddock, but as soon as you let them out, they fire off all their energy.
It was about an hour later that we had successfully led all the yearlings to the paddock. It took us so long because they were very curious about things and tended to stop and investigate stuff.
Once the last yearling had been put in the paddock, it was around noon. I stood there staring at the yearlings, wondering how the yearlings at the farm were doing when I was startle out of my thoughts. “Whacha thinkin’ about?” he inquired.
“Nothing, just what might be going on back at home.” I said wistfully.
“Oh, well you’ll get the hang of it here. I did and it was really hard. My brother, Charles, led me here a long time ago when we had overheard our parents talking about moving. Charles couldn’t take it and I didn’t want to move, so we both came out here to live. Anna’s been great, but there isn’t one moment that I don’t wonder what my parents are doing now and where they’re at. Sometimes, I think about going to find them, but then I realize that I have too much here to leave. The horses are great and there’s always something to keep me busy.” Charlie’s voice was just above a whisper and it was full of sadness and hope.
“I keep on wondering whether or not they’re missing me, or whether the horses miss me at all. I just......” my voice trailed off.
“Mary,” I looked over to him. There was something like want in his eyes, but before I could look deeper, he closed his mouth over mine. I was shocked. What about John? What would he say? Why is he doing this. I love John, not Charlie, but John never said that he liked me. He never said that he wanted to be more. I thought painfully. It was hard for me to think about John, how hurt he must feel.
Before I knew it, Charlie deepened the kiss, as if waiting for me to kiss back. I didn’t kiss back. I knew that Charlie would be hurt, but I still loved John, not Charlie.
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