Rip - Becoming Whole

Sense

"I swear to God! He is going to be the death of me," Mr Dutton gasped, shaking his head in exasperation and sheer disbelief. The three men were standing at the entrance to the barn. They were sheltering from the still very heavy rain, under the little overhang of the roof above the side entrance, leaning against the bottom half of the door and looking in on the peacefully sleeping boy.

Despite their weatherproof clothing they felt soaked through to the bone. The harsh wind from earlier had been beating the heavy rain into their faces and drenched their jeans. Naturally, Mr Dutton's heavy jacket had not offered any protection from the wetness of the cold sweat that saturated the shirt on his back from the inside.

They had been looking for Rip for almost two hours, called him even a few times but in the storm their voices did not carry. As the evening drew closer and the weather was getting madder, panic had started to set in amongst them and they enrolled more and more workers to participate in the search. He even went down to the river to look for him.

It was Frank in the end who decided to look in the barn for just 'one more time'. Because it should have been the first place to look, everyone just assumed everyone else had already checked there. For the past three weeks, they had started to keep Chip and Thunder in the barn together. Rip had felt for his equine friend because he was spending more and more time with Thunder. This way he could look after both horses at the same time. Frank was all for it. The open space suited Chip as well who had always been mischievous and preoccupied with trying to get out of his stall as soon as he was put into it. They had been a little bit worried if the two horses would get on together, but they needn't have, the new arrangement had a calming effect on both in fact. Chip became much better behaved, and Thunder started to let them handle him with more ease.

So, there they found him. Fast asleep curled up under an old horse blanket, on a hay bale, at the other end of the big barn. The two horses were standing on three legs with their fourth non-weight baring leg relaxed, eyes half shut, taking a nap, beside their little human friend.

"At least he had the sense to take off his wet clothes," Robert said, pointing to the pitchfork that stood up against the wall, holding up Rip's trousers and shirt which left a puddle underneath, beside Rip's heavy boots.

Mr Dutton was torn between wanting to march in and violently shake the boy for the worry he had caused him and hugging him in relief. He couldn't do neither. Because the horse was still volatile enough with everyone else but Rip and Frank, he had to content himself with waiting and watching.

"What happened?" Robert asked his father, keeping his voice low as to not wake the boy and spook the horses.

"He wouldn't talk to her!" Mr Dutton replied with a sigh and a shrug of his shoulders.

"Did you expect him to?" Robert asked, eyebrows raised, looking at his father.

"Not really," Mr Dutton said shaking his head with a quiet chuckle but then sighed sadly, as he was looking back at Rip.

"I saw you earlier talking to him. What was that all about?" Robert asked cautiously, not looking at his father and wringing his hands that were hanging over the wooden barn door.

Mr Dutton paused and sighed before he replied, scratching the back of his neck he was contemplating whether he wanted to talk to his son about it. Rip had upset him, more than he wanted to admit, and he had a feeling he wouldn't get any sympathy from his son.

"He rang her. A few weeks ago. He wanted to visit Wheeler in prison," Mr Dutton told him, purposely avoiding his son's gaze by looking towards the ground, kicking a stone out of the way from the entrance with his boot, while holding onto the barn door with one hand for balance.