How Green Becomes Wood

Dark smiled lightly at Alec's absolute joy at getting to participate in this new hobby that interested him, and followed him up the steps to their home. Although he himself wasn't sure how long Alec was going to be interested in this hobby or if it was going to end up being part of his future career, Dark was glad to see him so excited about something like this.

"Hi, habibi," Daizi said cheerfully, coming up to the hall to greet them and passing Ivy to Dark, "How did it go?"
 
"It was awesome!" Alec told her, hugging her. He excitedly told her all about what he'd learned, how the first time on the wheel had gone, and the people he'd met. However, the longer he talked, the more he seemed to be looking for someone. He wasn't doing it consciously. His eyes kept flickering back and forth, seeking the one person who wasn't here even when he knew full well that he wouldn't be here. There was still another hour before Xander expected to get home.
 
Daizi listened happily to Alec's story, asking questions where relevant, and occasionally praising him for stepping outside of his comfort zone while telling him how happy she was that he enjoyed it. As he spoke, though, she realized a subtle shift in his tone of voice, and after a little while of listening, she asked, "Are you okay? Did something happen?"
 
"No, no, nothing happened," Alec assured her hastily. He gripped his elbow with his opposite hand, realizing he'd let his attention wander. "It's all great, really, but I was wondering what you'd been doing while I was gone? You must have gotten up to so much mischief in the, what, hour and a half or so?"
 
She wasn't certain she trusted his response, but asking him more questions felt like a surefire way to get him to shut down, "Ivy knocked her peas to the ground. Or, tried to. They landed on Enkidu who is, as I'm sure you've noticed, quite a fan of Ivy learning to eat. But he was covered in peas, and although he cleaned what he could off of himself, Dark had to take him outside to give him an impromptu bath, which neither of them seemed particularly thrilled about, while I cleaned up Ivy in here."
 
"Oh no!" Alec laughed. "You had a far more interesting time than I would have thought. Although I think the most interesting bit is learning that Enkidu likes peas. When did that happen?" He heard a car and turned to look out the window, but it was Lex arriving home with Toby, not Xander in their driveway. He bit back his disappointment, mentally scolding himself for being so silly about this. He knew full well that Xander was not going to be getting home soon, and that was fine!
 
"Enkidu eats almost anything," Dark commented from the kitchen, where he was busy preparing dinner. Until his interjection, he had been talking to Ivy like she was his sous chef.

"It's true, and he is absolutely thrilled at how much has been dropped for him lately," Daizi chuckled and leaned in to Alec, "I'm not sure if Dark is grateful he helps cleans up, or if it's causing him extra work." She couldn't see him turn to look out the window, though, and as a result, didn't know to ask about it. "So far, it seems like she likes chicken, strawberry, and banana, did not like sweet potato," This was difficult to admit, because she had lobbied so hard for it, "and is... presently indifferent to peas." They had been waiting five days between introducing new foods, just to be absolutely certain of Ivy's reaction to it, although they knew a three day wait period would have been fine.
 
"Pease are much better with loads of seasoning, but the sweet potato might present an issue," Alec mused. He sighed quietly and returned Daizi's lean. "I'm glad she likes strawberry and banana, though. We can make her strawberry banana smoothies!"
 
"Our plan is to get her familiar with a number of basic foods and then we are going to start testing her with basic seasonings," Daizi explained to him, privately hoping they had the right idea, "It is complicated trying to decide what to give her at any time. Next we are going to give her quinoa so she will have had fruit, vegetables, meat, and grains. Then after quinoa, carrots."
 
"That makes sense," Alec agreed. "You know, until you taught him what good carrots tasted like, Xander hated them. He refused to eat carrots even if he had to go hungry. I hated them, too, but I was more willing to tolerate them. You season them so they are delicious!" He paused, turning to look out the window again. "He should be home soon," he mumbled to himself.

~~

Meanwhile, out at the horse ranch, Xander had just finished listening to the introductory instructions and had answered all the questions and filled out all the forms. He wouldn't be riding today, but the instructor assigned to him had taken him on a tour of the barns and introduced him to the horses he might be working with. They liked trying to pair horses and people with compatible personalities, hence not riding the first time and all the questions, but they didn't always get it right on the first try. Xander assured them he was fine with trying more than one horse if they needed to. Now that the tour was over, he was getting put to work in one of the smaller barns.

Pam - a cheery woman in her late twenties with brown hair and blue highlights - led Xander through one of the outbuildings that currently housed only a couple of horses. "This is our quarantine barn at the moment. It's not the best option, but our actual quarantine barn is getting a new roof! Eventually. There's been some miscommunication with the roofers, apparently. Anyway, I don't want you in the stalls with any of these gents as they are still pretty new and untried, but the empty stalls need mucked and the rest of the building swept out, including the walls. Think you can do that?"

"Yeah, I can do that," Xander agreed, glancing at one of the horses as they passed. He was a pony standing with his head no higher than Xander's shoulder, but there was a sharp look in his eye as he paced back and forth. "Do these ones ever get to go out?"

"Absolutely!" Pam assured him. "In our actual quarantine barn, the stalls have doors that open directly out into small paddocks. It needs to be small in case they are sick or injured, but we do get them out. Since this is just a temporary set-up, we take them out one at a time to the hot walker or the kiddy area so they can at least have some sun."

Xander indicated the horse in the stall. "That one looks like he could use a hot walk."

Pam sighed. "That's Jinx. He's got a bad hoof and needs to be easy on it, but even when he's not in pain, he likes to inflict pain on others. Keep out of his reach. He's already bit three of our employees and two guests. We're not giving up on him, don't worry, but he's in need of some advanced training."

"I can understand that," Xander snickered.

Pam gave him a sharp look. "As long as you remember that this isn't some silly horse show where just because you share similar traits, you'll have a magical bond where you won't get your butt kicked by the horse."

Xander raised his hands. "I like all my fingers just as they are, and I'm not going to say I have a way with animals."

"Good," Pam said, looking genuinely relieved. "Anyway, the tools are just down here."

Xander followed Pam toward the back, but he slowed when another horse caught his eye. This one was a giant. If Xander had been standing next to him, the top of his shoulder would have been even with the top of Xander's head, and his neck alone was easily as thick as Xander was wide. Xander stopped to take in the sheer size of the horse, but the more he stared, the more he realized this was not a healthy horse. The horse stood in the back corner with his head facing the wall, his reddish-brown coat dull and patchy along his sides and back. His pale-colored main and tail were free of tangles but hung limp and unkept. Bones stuck out where bones should not be showing. More than just his physical appearance, the horse's very air was that of dejection and resignation felt like a blanket of darkness in the corner.

"Ah, yeah," Pam said, making Xander jump. He hadn't realized she'd returned. "That's one of our newest acquisitions from the kill pens. We got him about a month ago, and things aren't looking so good."

"What do you mean? Is he sick?" Xander frowned.

"He's been neglected and abused for a long time, but I think more than that, he's given up his will to live," Pam shrugged. "That happens sometimes with these old Amish trade-ins."

"Amish trade-ins?" Xander repeated quizzically.

Pam nodded toward the big horse. "The Amish around here tend to deal in one of two kinds of horses: the heavy drafts that are like their tractors, and the smaller sporty horses like Saddlebreds for their carts. When the horse gets too old or worn-out to work, or just not as flashy, then they'll trade them in for a newer, younger model. Like how some people deal with cars. A lot of the horses, even if they're in good shape, then end up in kill pens, scheduled to head down to Mexico for the slaughter unless someone buys them off the lot."

"Wow. Brilliant. Excellent way to deal with your animals. That really sets a great example for your religion," Xander said in disgust. "Remind me to never-"

"Wait, hold on before you say something you might regret," Pam warned. "Don't go tarring a whole people group with the same brush. I said a lot of the traded horses, not even close to all. Some of the people who follow the Amish way of life really don't seem to care about their animals, and that's a real shame, but no different than if anyone from any other way of life treated them poorly. A lot of those people truly don't know any different because that's how they were taught, but there's a couple of horse rescues that reached out to them and offered to take their horses whenever they had room, and a bunch of Amish jumped at the chance. They were the ones who didn't like parting with their horses that way, but it was the accepted thing to do, so when someone offered them a better way, they took it. It doesn't make what happened to the horses that came before any better, but every human being deserves a chance to learn from their mistakes and make better choices, right? Besides, without people who live a lifestyle like the Amish, breeds like the Belgium there probably would have gone extinct along with several others thanks to technology taking over the jobs done by horses."

Xander stared at the big horses quietly. No, it wasn't right what had been done to this horse, but Pam was right. He of all people should know better than to judge all based off the actions of some. It was better to focus on what was right in front of him and fix that problem than to go around trying to find other mistakes and errors. There was a horse right here in need of care, and he was getting that care. That was what mattered. "So, what's his name?"

Pam shrugged. "We've been arguing about that for a while now. It's hard to name rescues like this until their true personality starts to show, and this boy here just wants to hide. So, some of the other employees think we should name him Goliath." At Xander's questioning look, she explained, "Goliath is from a Judeo/Christian story about an enemy army facing off against the Jewish nation, and they had at their head a literal giant named Goliath. All the good guys were terrified until a young shepherd boy says that if they really believed in their god, they wouldn't be so scared. Then he steps up with only a sling and shoots the giant in the head with a rock. Giant dies, enemy flees, the Jews have a victory."

Xander stared at her. "You want to name him after a dude who's only known trait is being a really scary enemy who dies to a kid and his toy?"

"Well, that's not exactly... when you put it like that... maybe we should rethink it," Pam admitted, blushing slightly. "You're supposed to be cleaning this place, not picking on our name choices!" She made a face at him to show she wasn't really serious.

Xander snorted but went to fetch the wheelbarrow and pitchfork so he could clean out the empty stalls. He glanced back toward the big horse once more. He knew just the person to ask about mythical giant names.
 
"I think it's sort of funny when I eat carrots," Daizi said, squinting slightly as she thought about it, before grinning slightly, "People say to eat carrots to improve your eye sight, and that's not exactly how it works, but every time I have them, I think, oh perhaps this will grow my optic nerve. And maybe one day, if I finally eat enough, it will."
 
"I read somewhere that the myth of carrots helping your eyesight came from World War, um, two when they invented the radar," Alec said. "They didn't want the enemy to know how they were spotting them, so their said their soldiers ate lots of carrots. Something like that. I wonder how much carrot sales rose after that statement!"
 
"They've got vitamin A, which I know helps vision, but not in some miraculous way." Daizi commented, "I hadn't heard about the myth until I came to the US. When Cooger met me, his response was, 'Did you not eat enough carrots growing up or something?' and a few times since then, I've heard parents tell their kids, 'Do you see her? She didn't eat her carrots.' Now when I overhear that I reply with, 'No, I stared at a solar eclipse.'"
 
That startled a laugh out of Alec. "Really? That reply is fantastic! But so rude. The parents, I mean, not you. That's perfect for you." He bit his lip and tried not to look at the clock. He failed and looked. The minute hand had barely moved since the last time he'd looked. Torture!
 
"You would be horrified to learn how often I'm used as a life lesson," Daizi said, her tone one of placid acceptance, "I'm less bothered by the 'eat your carrots,' and 'don't look at the sun,' remarks, but when they use me as a reason for their kid to stop making a silly face, that irritates me more. I understand not wanting your kid to be blind and to take care of their eyesight, even though they aren't going about it the right way. I don't like hearing parents use looking like me as a threat. Sometimes Dark gets, 'If you do not behave, I am going to sell you to that man,' purely because he can be scary if you don't know him."
 
Alec blushed and ducked his head. "Um, you know, just watching the time for... when Xander gets home," he admitted. "I bet he's having a great time and not even thinking about us at all."
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top