The boss's partner’s note in the calendar for the prior day really bugged her “Jill's day off again.” They'd agreed in advance on six days a week for her assignment not seven so she could persue her artistic aspirations. Why this passive aggressive recording keeping?
On the upside, every day she had a happy hour with the accidental boyfriend, where they would drink a beer at the end of the barn, all their work finished, and watch the sun set together. The grasshoppers and lizards and frogs were good company too.
He commented that when Buddy behaved well they'd say oh he’s growing up. when he behaved badly they said Jill wasn't doing well with his training. She'd noticed too.
*"The boss is going to tack up his own horse later? The boss's partner is taking a day off? What is going on around here? It is NOT like other years." The blacksmith was obviously a long standing colleague/service provider, and was surprised at some new techniques on the farm.
In between telling Jill lots of backstory and his own education and background, he asked Jill if she got to fly home for the holidays. She changed the subject to how she was grateful when the big spooky grey was so brave he actually WANTED to go in the forest. She could sense it, he wanted to go, for the very first time, and so they went...
And she chatted with the farrier while they worked about how she was proud that Buddy listened to her verbal commands. When he was so good in the afternoon, halting on her command, she became annoyed with herself that she forgot to tell him whoa as he burst into his stall, dragging her, first thing that morning. Perhaps if she had spoken it would have worked out better.
It was a hard day.
After he got the beating, she'd wept all the way out to the far paddock leading the two other biggest chesnuts and she'd wept while she did stalls. The boss's partner had yelled at her “You are driving me crazy with stupid-ass questions!” when she'd been asking after the value of their practices and alternatives. She knew that she could be challenging and threatening to the insecure, or out of line etc. Knowing the boss felt flustered, maybe frightened, and thus lashed out, didn't take the sting out of it. But she tried to hold a clear vision and hold course to some kind of high road.
In just a matter of days, the boss had lost the financial sponsorship she'd understood was part of the deal, as well as the spot on the team and her respect. She liked Jim a lot, but she was suffocating under the pressure of the accidental boyfriend's attentions. And, she was homesick. She was getting word from her family about the holidays being her father's last, while she was stranded in a different country, unable to cross the border to get back home until her replacement id came by courier.
As she walked, head bent with tears, the accidental boyfriend had taken her picture. One that she would later use as a facebook profile pic.
No comments:
Post a Comment