Rip - Becoming Whole

Just a Kid, huh?

Jacob loudly whistled with two fingers between his lips for Rip's attention, when his latest clients drove their trailer onto the ranch on Saturday. Jacob had told him he might need his help in the afternoon with yet another troubled horse.

By the time Rip had put his shirt back on over his t-shirt, cleaned himself up a little and walked over to the small pasture into which Jacob wanted to unload the horse, they had already backed the trailer into position and Mr Dutton was leading the man and his daughter away towards the house. Jacob didn't like it when the owners of the horses stuck around at the unloading. More often than once they were the reason why their horses were anxious in the first place.

Rip could hear the angry or possibly panicked creature kicking inside. It was rare that a horse was that upset about being in a trailer and it reminded him of his own fear of confinement, wondering what had happened to the horse and how on earth did they get him into the box in the first place.

"Rip, stand over here. Just make sure he doesn't get out on your side, and then quickly close the gate when he is in!" Jacob instructed him. Rip nodded. He had helped Jacob lots of times with this. Unloading horses was not rocket science. This horse would rush out, that was a no brainer, maybe try to escape, or if he was really aggressive, he might even charge at one of them, but it was more likely that he would be disorientated and just back himself into the small enclosure.

"Are you sure the boy should be doing this? This is one darn aggressive animal and he's only a kid" the man asked, as they watched from the safety of the porch. Mr Dutton smiled faintly. He took pride in how Rip had no fear of these strong animals. No matter how wild and crazy they were, he had only respect but never seemed to fear them. It pleased him that like Jacob he could sense how the animal felt and had a way of soothing them, but most of all he was proud of how the two worked so well as a team. How Jacob had taken the boy under his wing almost like an apprentice and how Rip was willing to follow his son's guidance and instructions. Jacob had always preferred to work on his own, to such an extent that it bordered on sheer stubbornness, and in this way Rip was not that much different, but something had clicked between the two of them and it was comforting to watch.

The horse backed into the enclosure no problem, but they had a hell of a job trying to get the ropes of him, that were still on him from whoever managed to catch him and put him onto the trailer in the first place. He was one big and angry animal. He kicked out, he jumped and charged at them, he tried to bite. This was the most aggressive horse Rip had ever encountered and even Jacob said as much.

When they walked back up to the house, sweaty and exhausted, Rip asked Jacob if he knew what had happened to the animal. "Do you know what they did?" he nodded in direction of the porch where his uncle was serving the man and his teenage daughter coffee and lemonade respectively. "They didn't. They are the good guys. They rescued him, but he is too difficult for them." Jacob answered. "Why did they not just bring him to the horse sanctuary?" Rip asked him. "They are the horse sanctuary", Jacob laughed.

Rip hadn't recognised the girl right away, but when he walked up to the porch, she said hello to him using his name and that's when he realised he knew her from school. They had English together. Her name was Chrissy, and what he knew about her was that she was book smart and not at all shy. She had never been mean to him, but neither had she been particularly friendly towards him, and he had been equally indifferent towards her.

"I'm just getting myself a drink, Papa", Rip explained himself to his uncle not giving him a chance to point out that his workday was far from over yet. "That's alright son, stay. Take a break, you deserve one!" his uncle told him generously and handed him a glass of lemonade. "Thanks, Papa", Rip said.

"Do you two know each other?" the girl's father asked him, and Rip nodded. "Yes sir, School, sir!" he replied. "Daddy, this is my classmate, Rip, we have English together!" the girl introduced him to her father. Rip could literally see how the penny dropped. The man was not impressed and his face darkened, which made Rip look away. 'Who around here, wouldn't know who he was?' He asked himself

"How have you been?" Chrissy asked him in a kind and cheerful sort of a way. "Alright", he replied trying to sound unbothered by the question but at the same time tried to send her a message with his eyes in the hope she would cop on and not say anything else incriminating in front of his uncle. Unfortunately, he was more obvious than he had hoped, so both Jacob and his uncle shot him curious and suspicious looks. "Oh!", she nodded.

"Rip, show her where it is", his uncle instructed him, when Chrissy asked if she could use their bathroom. Once inside, she told him she was sorry and hoped she didn't get him into any trouble, "Were you not sick then?" she asked. He shook his head and looked away. It probably confirmed what she was already thinking of him, that he was nothing but a troublemaker. "God my dad would go so mad if I skipped classes!" she said smiling kindly at him. "I am already in so much trouble it makes no difference", he said with a faint smile and then added "I hope!"

"Huh, they all said your uncle just paid for the car you guys smashed", she said. "They say a lot things!" he told her bitterly. "For what it's worth, I don't believe all of it! And I am not the only one. Those guys have been always doing shit like that, but somehow they never get the blame!" she said before she walked off down the corridor to the bathroom.

When he got back outside there was only Chrissy's father left sitting on the porch. The man had made him feel uncomfortable earlier, so he told him he had to get back to work and said his Goodbye. "Stay away from my Chrissy", was the man's unkind reply as Rip was about to turn away from him. Rip felt his ears and face get red, and his mouth dry. He glanced back at the man and would have loved to be able to say something smart back at him but was too hurt and mortified to hold the eye contact well enough as to respond in any meaningful way. As he turned to walk away, he saw his uncle and Jacob stepping back out onto the porch. Intend on going back to digging the foundation of the arena, he tried in vain to rush past them. His uncle caught him by the arm and made him look at him, lifting his chin the way he always did when the boy tried to avoid his gaze. Seeing his uncle's soft eyes for him made him tearful and his lower lip started to quiver, but despite this he jerked himself forcefully out of his uncle's grip and walked away. He did not want to cry in front of this arsehole of a man nor his daughter.

"Just a kid, huh?" Mr Dutton remarked and then turned to go back inside, not coming back out to say goodbye to the man or his daughter.