A cicada bleated in the back acreage as Sandra stepped out onto her porch. She lifted a hand to shield her eyes from the sun, and scanned the horizon. Summer's heat blanketed her, and she felt herself getting far too hot and sticky within just a few moments. She stepped off the porch, the wood creaking beneath her flip flops as she looked westward.
Dustin was nowhere in sight, but the field had been tended to already. She glanced over at the stable, and saw that the doors were wide open. She walked towards it, scanning the ground until she noticed hoof prints-still fairly fresh-leading towards the barn. As she came close, she poked her head inside and said "Dustin? You done with the field? It looks good out there."
Dustin-a stocky centaur, with a spotted coat and rippling labor man's muscles, stepped out from behind a wall. He patted his brow with a towel, and gave a solemn nod. His nostrils flared as he panted, and his tail idly flicked at the flies near his rump. Sandra placed her hands on her hips, and jerked her head towards the wall.
"You got enough water there? Need some ice? Maybe a beer, something like that?"
Dustin snorted, and shook his head. He gave a weak smile, and said "No ma'am. I'm fine."
Sandra grit her jaw, and gave a nod. Dustin was awkward to work around-not because he kept to himself, or stayed mostly in the barn, but because of what he was. A mountain of a man, and the feet of an ass. The way he stamped and snorted when he worked hadn't helped matters. But Sandra shrugged, and pulled herself from the door frame. She adjusted her flip flops, and sighed.
"Well, dinner will be on after a while. 'Reckon I got plenty for myself, so you're welcome to join me if you like." she said, placing her hands on her hips.
Dustin slapped a hoof against the dirt, and shook his head. His hair, a wild mop of black and brown, smacked against his shoulders, splattering sweat against the wall.
"Nah, ma'am. I'll be fine. Don't worry about me."
Sandra tilted her head, and began to speak. Before the words left her lips, she closed her mouth and nodded. She turned around, walking a few paces from the barn before looking back over her shoulder.
"Well, if you change your mind, it's salad, pork, and beans, okay?"
Dustin nodded, and turned, his enormity disappearing behind the stable wall. Sandra heard the slap of water in a trough, and figuring the farmhand was giving himself a bath, walked back to her home. She stepped onto the porch, and made a note to have Dustin look at it the next day. She turned, and eased herself into a rocker.
She hadn't lifted a finger today. It'd all been Dustin, and he'd completed cutting forty acres of grain without machinery or stopping. As her rocker creaked against the wood, she stared at the stable door and racked her brain for what she really knew about the centuar. About centaurs at all, really. They were strong, and had stamina, sure. But Dustin was the only she'd ever encountered-and he was quiet, unsociable, and smelled like sweat at almost every hour.
She then thought of who else she could hire to fill his role, and came up empty. Dustin agreed to work for her on the grounds she built him a stable, and gave him food and water. Money had never exchanged hands, and hadn't in the two years she'd retained him. But she knew next to nothing about him. She'd tried talk to him, just as she had moments ago. She'd attempted to treat him as an equal. But the fact remained that Dustin refused to give her much notice after the stable was built. He spoke in mono-syllabic, one to four word sentences. He never smiled, and seemed to display two distinct states of being-rested and exhausted.
She stood, and smoothed the edges of her shorts as she opened her back door.She went up to her bedroom, and opened her roll-top desk. She booted up her laptop, and went to a job posting website. Her hands ran mad across the keys as she typed up an ad for a farm hand, deleting the line about the pay three times before settling on "Call for details". She hit enter, and the ad was posted immeadiately. Sandra let out a sigh, and let loose her hair from the bun atop her head as she walked towards her bed. She stripped and pulled the covers over her, and fell asleep thinking of how she'd let Dustin know he was out of a job the next day.
****
The bang was loud enough to reach the second story of her house.
Sandra opened her eyes. She faced the window on her mattress, and slung her legs over the side of her bed. She walked towards the window, and rubbed her eyes before looking past the panes.
The window faced the back forty. The stable was lit, albeit from inside. Dustin was still awake. Another bang-this one louder than the first-echoed through the stable, reaching her window again. Sandra stared at the barn as two more rapid knocks came from inside. She turned, and walked towards her bed, reaching for her flip flops at the foot of it. She slid them on, grabbed her robe from a nearby chair, and walked down and out into the yard. The porch creaked beneath her, but she paid it no mind as she hurried towards the open stable doors.
As she approached, she noticed that the only light that was on was the overhead bulb she'd installed where Dustin slept. It swung back and forth, jolting as another bang echoed into the night. This time, Sandra was close enough to see the beams of the stable shudder with it.
"Dustin, what in sam hell is going on out here? Why are you making such a racket?" she yelled, her voice bouncing against the walls and back. The stable grew still, and a moment passed before Dustin replied.
"Sandra, that you?" he said.
"Well, yeah, who else would it be? The tax man? What's going on, Dustin?" she said as she gripped her robe tighter. She gazed around the barn, and that's when she saw them. Hoof prints. Big ones, slammed into banisters and beams, deep enough to crack and splinter.
There weren't any animals big enough on the property to make them. And only one strong enough to embed them that deep into the wood.
"Sandra," said Dustin, a tremor in his voice, "You need to go. Now. I mean it."
Sandra took a step inside, and swallowed as she felt the damp heat of the stable cling to her. She began to sweat beneath her robe, and cursed as she took another step forward.
"Dustin, look. I don't know what's set you off, but ain't no reason to beat the beams like that. Now come out here and talk to me. Let's work this out." Sandra said.
The stable grew still once more, and even the overhead bulb stopped swinging. She saw his hands, thick with hairy, callused fingers wrap around the wall as Dustin came around. His flanks were slick with sweat, and he was panting, chest heaving as he came past the wall into full view. The tendons of his legs were trembling, and he swallowed before speaking to her again.
"Sandra, please. Now is not a good time. I'm fine, really. You need to go though. Now."
Sandra couldn't help but laugh and walk closer. She smirked at Dustin, and said "Dustin, what the hell could have you so riled up that-"
It was just a chance look at the floor, but that's when she saw it. Huge, massive and pink, Dustin's stallion cock dragged the floor. It pushed hay and dirt aside, and with every throb it smacked against the earth. Sandra's face paled, and when she looked up, Dustin towered over her, his chest mere inches from his nose.
"Sandra, don't say I didn't warn you." he said as he gripped her shoulders, hauling her over him as he walked into the back of the stables. She screamed, and beat against his shoulders, but as he slung her against the wall, she stopped. The wood here was broken in twain, with a three foot hole knocked clean through the south wall. She gazed up at the massive centaur, and scuttled into a corner. Her hands searched the floor for anything to grab, but there wasn't so much as a stray splinter. Her shoulders fell slack, and she looked up at him.
"Dustin, look. If this is about money-"
The veins in his arm pulsed as he tightened his hands into fists, and snorted. His cock smacked against the ground again, and Sandra stared at it for a moment as she felt her cheeks flush.
"It's not." Dustin said.
