Stable Hand

Philip knocked on the door of the stable office nervously with his left hand, his right hand fiddling with a piece of string.

Sasha opened the door and smiled at the boy standing there.

"Hello, May I help you?"

Philip's mouth was dry. He was never good at talking to people.

"Hi," he said, and winced. His voice had squeaked! he cleared his throat. "Uh, hello. I wanted to... um, you know... help out with the horses... if - if that's, you know, okay."

"Of course," Sasha smiled, "Would you like to come in and we will talk about it?"

Philip nodded, and stepped in. He pocketed his piece of string to avoid looking like a baby, and pushed up his glasses.

Sasha closed the door behind him and then went to a desk, against the wall, turning the chair to face another and sat down, "Please sit down," she smiled at him, gesturing to the other chair.

"I'd rather, uh, stand," Philip said.

Sasha smiled and nodded, "whatever makes you more comfortable," she got a pad and paper.

"Now, what is your name and can you tell me why you would like to help, if you have had previous experience?" she smiled.

"My name is Philip. Uh, Philip Carson-Jones And I've looked after horses before, uh, you know? My family own horses. Um, Father used to go out hunting on them," Philip said, his pasty skin slowly deepening in colour to a hearty blush. "I like horses. Um... yeah. I like being around them. I don't mind, um, mucking them and that sort of, uh, thing..."

Sasha smiled and nodded, jotting something down, "Okay, and what sort of times can you come and help?"

"Uh, any time. I mean, not when I'm in, um, lessons, you know? But otherwise all the time - not, not Thursdays, I have chess. But otherwise, you know... whenever."

Sasha smiled and nodded, once again writing something down and then looking up at him and smiling, "That is great. I will take you to meet some of the horses, see how you get along with them, and then if all goes okay, I will put you in the rota."

"Wicked! I mean, uh, um... excellent," Philip said, pushing his glasses back up his nose again.

Sasha smiled and stood up, outting the notepad on the desk. She went to the door, "If you will follow me, I will take you to the horses."

Philip nodded to show he had understood, and followed Sasha obidiently.

Sasha smiled and led him out off the office and to the first section, opening the door and leading Philip inside, closing the wooden door after them. Inside in the corner was a chestnut brown mare.

"This is Cydney."

Philip raised an arm in front of him, palm open and face-up. Fingers relaxed. He made a soft clicking sound with his tongue.

Sasha stood back and watched.

Cydney moved around a bit and then walked slowly towards Philip.

Philip just waited until Cydney had sniffled his hand, before slowly starting to stroke down ehr muzzle.

Cydney moved a bit, tail swishing a bit, but stayed calm and fairly still.

"Hi there, cydney," Philip murmured. "It's nice to meet you."

Cydney pushed her muzzle against Philip's hand in response.

"How old is she?" Philip asked, sounding mroe confident.

"Two years," Sasha smiled, still standing back.

"Oh, she's still a filly then," Philip murmured. "You going to start training her next year, then?"