On Our Own

Chapter 3

"Ezhno," I hysterically call out. "Ezhno!"

I run into the barn, searching all of the stalls in a state of panic. I come to the last stall, and breathe a sigh of relief at the sight of Ezhno.

A pretty, girl with short, blonde hair steps out from behind him.

"What do you think you're doing? I thought he was stolen or- or worse," I yell, my blood boiling.

"I- I'm sorry," she stutters. "I saw y-you tie him up and ask about the j-job, and figured you'd want to board him here."

"It's okay," I say, feeling awful. "I shouldn't have yelled at you- I'm just really protective about my horse. I've been through a lot with him."

"I get it. I'm Serenity, by the way." She reaches her hand out towards me, and I shake it, smiling.

"I'm Taylor, and I guess I work here now. Um, I was supposed to find you and get you to show me the ropes."

"No problem. Well, this is where you can keep your horse- this side of the barn is for boarders."

She closes Ezhno's stall, and walks to the other side of the barn. "These are the horses that the barn owns- we do lessons and trail rides on them. Of course, people can always choose to use their own horses."

"Some of the horses have special diets, and you can get all of that information for their clip boards that hang on the stall doors. You can also find any special needs or grooming requirements on the clipboards. For example, a boarder might pay extra for their horse to be bathed weekly, or something like that. Some boarders might require no grooming, because the owners want to do it. Always, always, always check the clipboards."

She leads me into a large tack room. "This is the tack room with all of our tack. The boarder tack room is on the other side of the barn. The only thing you can use from that room is the grooming supplies of the boarder horses who we have to groom. All of the tack for the horses we own is in here, labeled and fitted for each horse. We have a plethora of saddle pads, and those can be used on any horse- they aren't labeled. We often let the guests pick their saddle pad, especially children."

"It seems like you've done this before," I laugh.

"Yeah. We've gone through quite a few stable hands, but most of them quit," she replies.

"Why?" Serenity looks around, as if making sure no one is around. Then she turns her green eyes to me.

"Some of the boarders can be very... snobby. And Corrine- oh my gosh, do not get on her bad side," she cautiously whispers.

"I'll try," I laugh.

"Ok, now I'll take you to the cottages and show you how to clean them."

We start walking, and Serenity continues, "We're in our off season right now, but once summer rolls around, we'll be very busy. We don't have anyone staying here right now, but we have a family coming in the day after tomorrow. We have five cottages in total, but we used to have eight."

"I know- I'm going to be fixing up one of the ruined ones, and staying in it," I cheerily reply.

Serenity looks at me wide-eyed, her mouth gaping open.

"You're staying in one of the ruined cottages? How in the world are you going to fix it up?"

"Well, I have some pocket money, and Corrine's giving me two hundred dollars to fix it. Trust me, I can handle it."

Pocket money is and understatement- with the money I took from Tina, the money Carter gave me, and what I've earned- okay, stolen- over the past two months on the road, I have well over a thousand dollars. To be fair, I only stole about 50 dollars- I took the tips left for waiters and waitresses off of the tables in restaurants I ate at.

"Wow. Well, good luck with that. After I show you the cottages I'll take you to the least damaged of the three, if we have time. There's a trail ride scheduled at 3," she tells me.

We get to the cottages, which are all lined up in a row. They look very rustic and homey. They each have a small, fenced in yard. Serenity takes me into the first one.

"All of the cottages are basically the same, although some have more beds. Your duties will be to make the beds, dust the furniture, empty the trash, replace the amenities like shampoo or soap, and get rid of clutter. That's it," she informs me.

We leave the cottage, and walk down the little dirt path. There are four cottages on each side.

She points to the last two, and the second to last on the right. "Those three are the ruined ones. This one," she says, pointing out the second to last on the right, "is the least ruined of the three."

"It doesn't look so bad," I say. There's a small, easily repairable hole in the roof, and it could use a fresh coat of paint, but overall, it's fine.

"Yeah, on the outside," she chuckles. Serenity opens the door, and I immediately smell mildew. Leaves and dirt are caked onto the floor, that was once hardwood. All of the fixtures need to be polished, but they aren't rusty. The bath/shower is full of dirt, and the toilet is clogged.

I climb the ladder up into the loft, and see that everything up their is perfectly fine, aside from the smell. Their is a twin bed, a lamp, and a small dresser. If I wash the sheets, spray febreze and lysol, sweep, and dust, the loft will be livable until I get the full cottage cleaned up.

I look down at Serenity, and call out, "I can handle it. What stores do you have close by?"

"Well we have a Home Depot and a Target in town. There's a few other stores, but they won't do you any good- things like PetSmart, Winn Dixie, and a book store. I can take you this evening if you want, after my trail ride," she offers.

"That would be fantastic," I say, smiling.

After I climb down from the loft, we head back towards the barn. It's about time I give Ezhno a nice, long bath and a full groom.


A/N Srry that it's so long and a little boring. But it's a necessary chapter. What do you think about Serenity?