Chapter 1
It was a warm summer evening at the Abbeyway Riding School, the customers had gone home and the staff were finishing the evening stables, sweeping the yards and checking stable doors were locked. Suddenly there was a shout and the sound of a number of buckets of water being thrown. Hilary walked round to the back yard to see her assistant soaked to the skin and fuming with a number of staff standing around her with empty buckets. Her white polo shirt was almost see through showing a black sports bra beneath and her black jodhpurs clung to her legs as she dripped.
"Oh you wait until I get you!" She snarled when there was a sudden whomp as two staff dropped a huge bucket of flour over her head. She vanished for a moment beneath the white cloud and then was ghostlike as the flour turned to a sticky dough all over her body. The staff screamed with laughter and ran off.
"Wow Sarah, what the hell did you do to wind them up?" Hilary could not help herself from laughing.
"This is your doing!" Sarah yelled.
"What?" Hilary sighed. She knew what would come next, I should of had your job, I am better qualified... Oh dear she shook her head. "No Sarah, you are just such a bitch that you get what you deserve."
Sarah screamed and ran at Hilary knocking her from her feet. She tried to wrestle her on the yard, but Hilary was stronger and knocked her back dropping her on her damp bum. "Oh grow up Sarah. And sweep this yard down when you are finished."
Everyone knew that there was no love lost between the stable manager and the assistant manager, they had been feuding for some months ever since Hilary had got promoted above her once best friend. Ever since then Sarah had been a total bitch to all of the staff and so they often got their revenge. She was often the butt of practical jokes, she had been covered with thick oil from a bucket left over the tack room door, she had been tripped up falling into the muck heap and in a particularly bad prank she was given a powerful laxative before she left for a six hour ride with horrible results.
The stables owner had finally had enough, and so an idea was hatched and presented to the assembled staff the next morning.
Chapter 2
The staff sat around the tack room waiting for the owner to arrive, Hilary and Sarah stood at opposite sides. The door opened and MrsFossington-Smyth stepped inside.
"Good morning girls." She smiled. "I have decided that we will be having a charity day, we will raise funds for a good cause and have lots of fun!" Some of the staff rolled their eyes. "Here is the flyer..." She handed round a photocopied sheet, there were murmurs from everyone...
An offering to the muck gods...
It has been decided that the gods that live in the stables muck heap must be appeased, so on the 1st August we will give a human sacrifice to them. The chosen person will be anointed with messy food and then be offered to the gods in a special ceremony.
To chose the victim, you need to pay Β£1 to nominate them and the winner will be picked on the 1st.
The staff muttered... "Of course the sacrifice will involve the person being chucked on the muck heap. It is an old tradition we had at my old Pony Club camps..." MrsFossington-Smyth smiled. "I will leave you to it..."
Hilary smiled to herself, the old girl had come up with a way to resolve the arguments on the yard, yes it was bizarre, but it should be fun... Especially if a certain assistant manager was the sacrifice. She sniggered, this could be very good. Unfortunately for Hilary, Sarah had just had a similar idea and so the fixing of the votes began.
* * *
Hilary smiled as she approached the group of staff who were chatting in the tack room. "Hello girls, have you nominated anyone for the charity event?" The staff smiled and generally said they had not decided as yet. "Well, how about you vote for Sarah..." She smiled. "None of you like her, it would be good to see her get messed up." The girls agreed and said they would vote for her. They watched Hilary leave and went back to their conversation which was interrupted again when Sarah came in.
"Hi there..." She paused. "Okay, I know you don't really like me... But what if I promised I would be nice to you." She smiled. "Really nice... If you just vote for Hilary..."
And so it went on, both Hilary and Sarah wanted the other messed up and the staff clubbed together to ensure that it would be a close race.
Chapter 3
The day of the charity event finally arrived, the voting box had been sitting in the office for the duration and had been sealed with a padlock only Mrs Fossington-Smyth would be able to open it and count the votes. She had been busy since setting up the event and had called in favors from people around the village to ensure that it would be a fun event. In the yard beside the muck heap there was a large tarpaulin laid out and beside it were boxes and buckets each containing food and other mess for the winner.
She clicked the padlock and quickly counted the votes. She double checked as a wide smile crossed her face, the result was better than expected.