Reposted by request
11-7-12
Seven Tails
Tail Three: Stable Boy
(Daniel and introducing David and Wendy)
One
The vinyl of the stool squeaked against the soft material of my pants as I sat and watched the process of my newest acquisition regaining consciousness. The first few hours were both critical and highly amusing.
And generally predictable. As an avid student of psychology I recognized that the new ones always followed the Kubler-Ross Model known as the "Five stages of grief".
1. Denial and Isolation. 2. Anger. 3. Bargaining. 4. Depression. And finally, 5. Acceptance.
We would typically be going through those stages several times in the next couple of days.
If I had wanted my life to be simple and easy, I would have found a way to skip the first four stages and go straight to acceptance.
But that wouldn't be anywhere near as fun.
I knew places where I could have purchased them already broken and trained, even willing and eager. All willing participants who had volunteered for this life.
In the beginning, that was how I had gotten my start.
But like I said, it wasn't anywhere near as fun.
I could tell by the slight changes in his breathing and the little involuntary twitches in his arms and legs that he was slowly coming around. He lay on his side on the warm hardwood floor, chains from his shackles spread out around him.
I often wonder if they appreciated the expense I went to in order to make them comfortable. It took me years to renovate the old barn; closing in all of the gaps in the outside walls, adding insulation, heat and air conditioning, installing almost five hundred square feet of temperature controlling pipes under the hardwood floor that kept them cool in the summer and warm in the winter. And all of the damned plumbing.
Not to mention the hours of sanding and varnishing to make everything smooth and splinter-free.
Real horse owners had it dead easy if you asked me.
He was in cage number four of the six I had built. Originally I had thought to put in twelve, but I had reconsidered before my greed got the best of me. If I had wanted to be a serious trainer, selling my stock to those who wanted such things, I had room to put in dozens of them. But that would require lots of work and hired hands and keeping records and all of that.
Sure, I could have made piles of money, but I didn't need it. I already had piles of money. Most of the stock for sale, if they were young and healthy and pretty enough, sold for hundreds of thousands each. I had spent nearly a quarter of a million for my first two and, after four years of hard training, sold them both as champion breeders for half a million. I briefly considered making it a business but, as I said, I didn't need the money.
I just wanted them for my own personal use. That was fulfilling enough. After all, there were only so many hours in the day.
I could hear soft sounds and the clink of chains moving across the floor in the other three cages. They all had their curtains drawn and, even though they were curious about the new acquisition, they all knew better than to reach through the bars and touch the curtains. Early on in training, I always instilled a healthy fear of the crop and the whip and even though they knew I would not mark them permanently, I knew ways of driving a lesson home so it would not be forgotten quickly.
"Sarabeth" I said quietly.
There was a quick intake of breath down the hall and a soft voice spoke. "Yes, Master?" I glanced at the first cage. There was a whisper of motion against the curtain and I could picture her on her knees, hands gripping the bars with her face pressed between them, straining for sounds.
"Are you dressed, dear?" It was a rhetorical and somewhat trick question. My pets were never allowed to be dressed in any way without permission.
"No, Master."
"Soft shoes and the leash, my love. I will be needing you soon." As an afterthought I added "And a tight braid, love. Take your time and make yourself beautiful for me."
"Yes, Master."
I scrolled through the touchscreen of my remote and opened the cabinet in Sarabeth's cage for her. She was my first solo acquisition and my most loyal and highly trained pet. I suspect at this point if I opened the cage and offered her freedom she would have closed the cage door herself and cried.
A quiet moan caught my attention and I saw my newest moving his head back and forth, trying to come awake.
Good. It wouldn't be much longer now.
It had been so easy, like they all were. It always amazed me how supposedly intelligent creatures could find themselves trapped so easily. And how careless society was with it's members. So many of them were never missed at all.
I had ranged around for a couple of hundred miles to the agrarian communities here and in the neighboring state and placed a simple want ad in some of the local trade newspapers:
"Wanted: Live-in stable hand for show horse ranch. Must be young and fit, willing to be trained and work hard. Some travel involved. Excellent compensation and benefits. No experience necessary."
All replies went to an anonymous post office box in a place that gave 24 hour access to the boxes and, more importantly, had no video surveillance. I, of course, paid for the box in cash, as I had the want ad. That was only one of over a dozen things I had going at the moment, looking for new stock.
I had gotten maybe a dozen replies to the ad and spent a week driving from place to place doing interviews. It was almost disheartening. Too young, too old, married and wanting to bring his wife along, etc. Part of me wanted to give it up as a bad idea but I had learned patience.
Number ten proved to be the charm. I met Daniel at a roadside truck stop near where he was living. He'd been working as a dishwasher at the truck stop for a couple of weeks and living in a friends camper down the road. He had been orphaned young and lived in a series of foster homes all over the state before growing too old and "aging out" of the system. He had finished high school and had actually started a nursing program at one of the local community colleges, which surprised me.
But luckily for me, he had run out of money and grants before he could finish the program and decided to take a year or two off to work and raise more money.
"Besides," he said "I was getting tired of being around all of these people all of the time. I always thought I'd like to work on a ranch with horses." Daniel paused and his eyes went soft and kind of misty for a moment. "When I was little," he said "I used to wish I was a horse. I'd see them on teevee and think 'Man! To be able to run like that would be awesome!' And I'd go outside and pretend I was a horse for hours." He smiled and shook his head. "I know it's a silly kids fantasy, but that was a dream of mine for many years."
A light went on in my head. Could he possibly be more perfect?
Add that to the fact that he was really cute and I figured the deal was sealed right then and there. Daniel had dark brown hair, cut fairly short and soft brown eyes that almost made me melt inside. He was small, only about five foot three and was pretty well built. He looked a few years younger than his twenty two years. I got him to roll up his sleeve and show me his bicep with the pretense that I thought he might be too small to handle my workload. That got his dander up just a little bit and gave me a glimpse at his spirit. Also, it gave me a good idea which handle I could grab to make him go the direction I wanted him to. Being small gave him a fragile ego that could be tweaked and used to manipulate him.
I was such a bastard sometimes.
He was young and pretty and muscular and intelligent and I decided right then and there that I had to have him.
I reached across the table and shook his hand and said "Well young man, it looks like I might just have a place for you in my stable.. How long do you need to pack and say your good-bye's and when can you leave?"
He smiled at me and said "If you can drive me down the road, I can be packed and out in ten minutes. There's not anybody here I really need to say goodbye to, if you know what I mean."
Oh yes. Perfect in every way.