Just the Two of Us

5

Luke reached his location and drove into DKM Equestrian, parking in the almost-empty lot.

He cringed at the smell of horses, manure, and hay as the aroma was unfamiliar to him. Once Luke walked into the stables, 20 horses looked towards him as if they had never seen him before. It was true, though. They had never seen him before.

"You must be Luke!" A guy wearing a jean jacket and black heeled horse-riding boots called from a horse stall close by, closing the door. "I'm Michael." The guy who looked around Luke's age put his hand out and Luke shook it gently with respect.

"So, since you applied for the job online and my dad gave you the job, he told me to ask you if you have had any other experiences with horses other than riding a pony."

"Um..No, not really. If you want me to leave I can because I'm like -"

"No, stay. We need more people to work on weekdays anyways. For these horses, all you really need is strength, a big attention span, energy, and obedience," Michael explained, walking to the board with printed writing. "So first, here are the rules."

" 1. Shoes; Riders and everyone else (but staff) are required to wear heeled riding boots! No running shoes, sneakers, sandals, or winter boots. Staff have to go by this rule if they are riding. Always remember to wear closed-toe-shoes!
2. Helmet; Riders are required to wear a certified and approved helmet! Safety is always first!
3. Respect the horses and everyone else.
4. Please put the horse tack and grooming kits back in the tack room when done. Don't forget to clean the tack, too!
5. Please ask staff for help when you need it! :) "

"Okay, so we have 20 horses here and they are put in their assigned stalls based on who should be fed the food first. So all the way over there, on the other side, those horses should be fed first or they will start neighing and jumping and banging their stall doors. The horses over here are the calmer ones that'll just be thinking, 'what the hell are those fucktards jumping around for?' And yeah. This is Rio, my favourite horse." Michael put his hand on the Palominio gelding's forehead, then moved on to the horse in the next stall.

"This is Ollie, this is Bentley, this is Finlay and she bites so be careful, this is Bryson, this is Michael, who was named after me, this is Snip, this is Mac, this is Ozzie, Trent, and last but definitely not least, is Rex, who is the tallest horse here, and one of the most energetic."

Michael walked into another room with a lot of saddles, bridles, girths, half and square pads, and toolboxes. "So this is the tack room and this is where all of the grooming kits, saddles, pads, and bridles are. There's a sheet on the wall that says which saddle, half pad, and girth each horse is supposed to have."

"Why can't you just get a random pad and saddle and girth? And what's a girth?"

"Well, not all of the horses are the same size and get the same comfort every time a random half pad and saddle is on. The saddles have different shape cussions in the bottom and the halfpads have different amounts of thickness and fluff. And a girth is this belt kind of thing that keeps the saddle on. They're in different lengths and widths because some horses are fat, some horses are skinny, and some horses have a small martingale loop."

This guy is boring me to death, Luke thought.

"Kay. Are you still with me?" Michael asked, and Luke nodded. "Okay, so I'm gonna teach you how to put the tack on so let's put it on Rio. If we look at the paper, it says that Rio needs Saddle 8, and half pad D. D pads are gray so go look for a half pad with the letter D on the top." Luke felt like a little kindergartener, being told what to do by a guy who looks younger than him.

Luke found a gray half pad and Michael told him, "Now just take a square pad. It doesn't matter which." Luke took the white pad from the top of the pile and Michael continued ordering Luke to get more things.

Once Luke got all the tack and the grooming box, Michael asked, "Do you want a helmet?" And Luke shook his head, struggling to hold everything in his hands and arms.

- - - -

"Actually Luke, it would be great if you knew how to ride so you'd be able to help the riding students here."

"Yeah, it would," Luke imagined himself cantering on his horse, and jumping over a 6 foot-tall jump. "Would I be able to apply for lessons here?"

"Yeah, sure! I'll charge you halfprice for each lesson."

"Thanks," Luke smiled, then ran his fingers through Rio's hair. "Are Saturdays okay?"

"Yeah, it's when the intermediate lessons are. So, let's talk about your work hours. You have to be here at 7:30 in the morning and you can finish off at 8 in the evening."

"Oh, um, I have a little one at home and she has classes starting at nine so can I be here at 10?" Luke asked, hoping Michael would allow it.

"Do you have a little sister?"

"No. I have a 5-year-old daughter," Luke answered awkwardly.

"Is the mum not able to take care of her?"

"The mum left."

"Oh..I'm sorry..Well, then yeah you can come here later. You can go and pick her up from school when you need to and um..my mum or my girlfriend can take care of her for the rest of your work hours."

"Really? You think you can do that?" Luke asked, and the other boy nodded. "Thank you." As Luke checked his iPhone his eyes grew wide and he ran out the stall, quickly telling Michael that he needed to pick his daughter up.

"My dad'll email all the information to you tonight and you start tomorrow!"

As Luke parked in the lot of the elementary school, he glanced at his phone again to see that he was 20 minutes late. He ran in through the door and through the halls, looking for the Kindergarten section. Once he made it to the door, the teacher sat in her chair playing a game of patty cake with Katianna.

Miss Martin looked up to Luke who looked disappointed.

"I see you finally made it," She rolled her eyes, and Kat ran up to Luke, hugging his legs.

"Sorry, I was applying for my job today and I was going a bit behind schedule."

"Yeah! You kinda forgot to put 'pick up child' in there!" Miss Martin was extremely annoyed.

"I said sorry. Let's go Kat," Luke carried Katianna's backpack and they left. "So, how was today?"

"It was fun! Me and Yvy built a really tall tower and Miss Martin told us that her name is really Teagan, not Miss Martin."

"Cool..I guess," Luke answered awkwardly. Once they got to the car, Kat buckled herself up and Luke made sure that the seatbelt was snug enough.

Once they got home, Luke lounged in the couch and Kat turned to her favourite show, The Wiggles. She turned the volume down and said,

"Hey..Daddy, in the beginning of class, Miss Martin told us to sit in a circle and tell everyone about our families. I only said I have a daddy but the teacher asked if I have a mum and I said I don't know. Do I have a mummy, daddy?"

***

THE QUESTION HAS COME

Sorry for the boring 'Michael explaining boring stuff' chapter but I didn't think it would be good to skip Luke's three-hours-of-free time so yeah..NEXT CHAPTER I PINKY-SWEAR-PROMISE THAT IT WILL BE GOOD CUS I HAVE SOME AWESOME STUFF PLANNED!

Oh, yeah, don't forget to vote/comment :P