Erastus: Replacing a lost story

2011-07-25T01:26:27Z

Replacing a lost story

New page

{{title|name= Serving the Sentence - Part 6/14|author=Erastus Centaur|user=Erastus}}

Professor turned the evening meal into a business meeting. "It
appears our season has been cut short. We will have to spend
tomorrow morning packing while I work out the details of how to get our horses back
to the States and get the rest of you assigned to other teams."

As the rest scattered to their evening tasks, Professor held a
meeting with the horses.

"It appears we have more than two years before this curse runs its
course. The question is what to do during that time.

"The first problem is what to tell your families. I can't answer
that one. It is up to you. I can put my official stamp on anything
you come up with.

"The second problem is where to live. Unless anyone has other ideas,
I will assume the easy part of the answer is that we go back to
Bozeman, buy a small ranch, and move you into it. Now we face the hard
part of the answer -- how to pay for a ranch. From David's youth, I
will assume he has no money -- meaning not enough to make a
difference. As for the rest of you, I will also assume that for the
next two years, your assets are frozen for the simple reason that
none of you can produce a signature."

Piet said, "I don't need a signature to get money out of an ATM."

"How much money do you have in that account and where is an ATM that
doesn't have a built in camera?" asked Amos.

"Oh," said Piet. "As you said, not enough to make a difference. And
you certainly don't look like me. Then again, ''I'' don't look like
me."

Professor continued, "Since I am the leader of this team, I am at
least partly responsible for your welfare. I have a proposal." He
paused to quiet an internal debate. "When we get back to Bozeman, I
will buy a ranch within commuting distance of the university with my
retirement savings. This will provide a place for you to live over
the next two years. Unfortunately, professors are never paid well
and finances will undoubtedly be tight on my salary. In return, I
ask that once you return to human form, you provide for my
retirement in some manner, perhaps by buying the ranch from me."

"Sounds fair enough," said Piet. "I thank you for your offer. I'm
sure we can agree on a way to keep you from being a pauper in your
old age."

David said, "I'd be glad to help out too, though I have no idea how
I might do that. But why not simply sell the ranch yourself when we
are done with it?"

"Because our offspring will need a place to live," said Zane. "The
only way we are going to return to human is to produce at least four
foals. I can't imagine we would want to sell them or otherwise
abandon them."

"I guess you're right," said David.

"I'll contact a real estate agent to get things rolling," said
Professor. "With luck, we'll have something by the time we get to
Bozeman."

{{Separator|stars}}

Ivan approached Professor as soon as the meeting with the horses
broke up and the five beasts had moved away. Ivan had his duffel bag
packed. He set it by his feet once he drew near to where Professor
sat.

"I must leave immediately," said Ivan. His eyes darted from horse to
horse. "What the trader said sounded like the old Russian
legends. I remembered a bit more. The legends told of men captured
by foreigners and turned into breeding mares. The foreigners then
took their captives back to wherever they came from. Such stories
are used to scare boys that are becoming men. Telling such a boy
that if he isn't careful, foreigners will ride out of the sunrise,
capture him, turn him into a mare where he'll spend the rest of his
life birthing foals is a highly effective way to get that boy to
obey you."

"It sounds like you heard that threat several times when you were
about thirteen," said Professor.

"Yes. Many times." Ivan shook his head and sighed.

"You're being irrational," said Professor. The curse cannot rub off
on you and the elder can't sing the curse anymore. It can't happen
to you."

"I can say with my brain that you are correct. However, my heart
says differently. Though it may be foolish, I can not stay in the
same country as this curse. I've already booked a flight."

"I suppose you need a ride to the airport."

Ivan nodded.

{{Separator|stars}}

"Oho!" said Taki. "What is this?" There was a note of triumph in his
voice as he held up a stuffed dinosaur toy he had pulled out of
David's cot. It was bright green, about the length of Taki's hand,
and had a small bandanna around the base of its neck. Much of the
velveteen had been worn away.

Since a good number of the team no longer had hands, the job of
packing everyone's personal belongings had fallen to Taki and Chaz.

"That's Sinclair," said David. "Please be gentle with him. I don't
think I could replace him."

"Sinclair?" asked Taki.

"Yeah. According to my mother there were Sinclair gas stations back
in the sixties. They used a green brontosaurus like this one as
their logo. Mom gave this guy to me when I was nine and I've kept
him ever since."

"And you still sleep with him?" The incredulity was dripping from
Taki's voice

"Well, yeah."

"But stuffed animals are for kids!"

Amos saw David's ears go back. "Cool it, Taki!" Amos said. "You're
supposed to be packing David's belongings, not commenting on whether
he fits your definition of manhood."

Taki turned to Amos and pouted, "Why pick on me? Jack does this kind
of stuff all the time!"

"Actually, I pick on Jack too. It just never seems to do any good.
On the other hand, when ''you'' grow up --" David could hear the
sarcasm "-- I doubt you want to be just like Jack."

Taki went back to packing.

{{Separator|stars}}

The five horses couldn't ride in the jeeps so Professor kept his
cell phone humming trying to arrange horse trailers.

That's when he found out that when a Mongolian wants to get a horse
from one place to another, he rides the horse. Horse trailers were
unheard of. He had to rent a delivery van to hold two horses and a
flatbed truck for the other three. It wasn't all that safe, but there
wasn't a lot of choice.

Exporting five horses was time consuming, but routine, as horses
were a already a major export. Professor relied on forged documents
of clean health and of sale, graciously supplied by contacts
provided by the trader (with suitable payments, of course).

Chaz, Taki, Rose, and Lily left the team at the airport. They needed
a job for the rest of the summer and Professor had arranged for them
to join another paleontology team -- at the other end of Mongolia.

Professor arranged for a horse transportation company to fly the remains of his
team from Mongolia to Los Angeles. The fee for the horses was huge,
though it did include passage for Professor.

That didn't make the flight any shorter or make jetlag problems any
easier.

Once back in America, customs went fairly smoothly. The forged
documents didn't even cause the officials to blink. There was one
thing the horses simply could not avoid -- the three day quarantine
while their blood was checked for diseases.

There was a disadvantage of a horse with a human mind, that being
the boredom. The only thing they could do to relieve the boredom was
to talk -- but only when there were no humans around. And when
humans were around, David would get lost in his thoughts and come
close to panic as he contemplated his predicament. Fortunately, Amos
was in the next stall and could nuzzle him or whisper into his hear.

Jack spent most of the time sulking about the indignity of it all.
The other four took advantage of the time to get to know each other
and share life stories. They might as well -- they would be stuck
together for two years.

The most important part of the discussion was around one of David's
questions to Zane. "What did you mean when you said I had to ask the
trader that question because I was the stallion?"

Zane responded, "Though we have human minds, our sexuality is that
of a horse. If we are going to produce foals, we're going to have to
do it the horse's way. You are the stallion and we are the mares."

"This is gonna get weird. I keep thinking of all of you as guys. I'm
not into sex with guys."

"When we come into heat," said Zane, "Your body won't respond to us
that way. We'll be female enough."

"So I let my body do its thing, right?"

"It isn't that simple, David."

"Why not?"

"A mare rejects a stallion she doesn't consider worthy. He can't
just have the right equipment. He has to act like one too. At the
moment, you don't act like a stallion."

"How do you mean?"

"You're way too timid," said Amos.

Zane added, "A stallion is in charge of things. He protects his
mares from danger."

"You guys know so much more than I do. How can I protect you from
danger when you can recognize it so much faster than I can?"

Zane said to Amos, "I see our work is cut out for us." Amos nodded.

"We'll start with something simple," said Amos, "your name."

"What's wrong with my name?"

"I bet," said Zane, "that your mother always called you David."

"Well, yeah."

"So that is your childhood name. You are a stallion now. It is time
for an adult name."

"But that's the name on my birth certificate. Don't you guys use the
name on your birth certificates?"

"I do now", said Zane. "My childhood name was Zaney. I put a stop to
that as soon as I could. I think I was about eight at the time."

"So didn't Zane become a childhood name, since you were only eight?"
asked David.

"No, it didn't. Here's the distinction. When you are born, your
parents pick out an official name for you. But when you are young,
they rarely call you by that name. As they grow up, most people make
a break from what their parents called them. This amounts to a
declaration of independence. Their official name has nothing to do
with it. For some people, it is a time to take up their official
name, for others, it is a time to declare which nickname they
prefer."

"What about the rest of you? Did you also make that break?"

"My dad always called me PJ. The J is for Jarron," said Piet.

"My older sister called me Scooter," said Amos. "That was one of the
hazards of having the same first name as my father."

"My younger sister was called Betsy," said Zane. "She was only five
when she insisted on Elizabeth. It didn't take my brother and me
long to call her E-Lizard-Breath. She now introduces herself as
Liz."

David chuckled at that one, then grew serious. "So what do I choose
for a name?"

"Anything you want, kid. It's your choice," said Amos. "Though most
people choose a version of their official name. The important thing
is that it is your decision."

"I guess you can call me Dave."

"You ''guess''? A stallion is more definite than that," said Amos.

"My name is Dave."

"That's much better, kid," said Zane.

"And stop calling me kid!"

"Yes, of course," said Amos. She nodded appreciatively. "In return,
you will have to stop referring to your mares as, 'you guys'. For
the next two years, we are not guys."

"I guess I can do that, though it will take some practice," said
Dave. "I hear your deep voices and my mind thinks about guys. Will
you ladies also change your names?"

"Well, actually, I'm rather fond of Piet. I think I'll keep it, even
if the gender is wrong." Amos and Zane decided to do the same.

The conversation paused for a moment. Then Dave said, "I got to be
thinking about what you said a moment ago. You described yourselves
as 'my mares'. My dad tried to make it clear that a man doesn't
possess his wife."

"In talking about humans," said Amos, "your dad is correct. However,
we are horses, at least for the moment. We form herds with a head
stallion. Human standards don't apply to us."

{{Separator|stars}}

"These quarantine quarters have got to be the most boring place on
earth," said Amos. "And it is only three days! I think I've now
gotten everyone's life story except Jack's. I can't imagine living
in a stable to be much better, though. My mind needs some
stimulation."

"I think I know what we need," said Zane. "A barn with an internet
connection. Well, five computers with internet connections."

"Do tell," said Piet.

"I'm sure that modern computers could come with voice activation, or
at least joysticks we can operate with our lips. Each of us could
have a computer in our stall and let the internet stimulate our
minds."

"There's a lot of garbage out there," said Dave, "and I've glanced
at a good deal of it. I doubt that a gal with a doctorate would find
it able to stimulate her mind."

"There are also a lot of very worthwhile things," said Amos. "For
instance, you could continue with your studies. I'm certain the
university has some online courses. And you will have four tutors on
hand."

"Nothing like being put on the spot!" said Dave.

Zane said, "All this is going to cost money. Professor said he is on
a tight budget."

Amos wiggled her ears. "I guess the first lesson will be in sales
and negotiation."

Dave was prompt in asking, "What do you mean, 'first lesson'? Who's
gonna do the sell job?"

"You are," said Amos. David looked at her in surprise. "You're the
stallion."

"I think I'm gonna get very sick of that phrase."

{{Separator|stars}}

"Here are your horses, sir; they've passed quarantine. I must say
they are the most ungraceful horses I've ever seen."

Professor had rented a horse trailer big enough to hold them all. As they filed in Zane was pleased to see it had been well stocked.

Once the trailer's door closed, Amos said, "Ungraceful, are we? Hey
Dave, make a note of that. We'll have to do something about it."

{{Separator|stars}}

At the first rest stop outside the Los Angeles area, Professor
opened the trailer to let the occupants out for a stretch. He was
probably disobeying several laws, but didn't care.

"I didn't want the quarantine manager hear me talking to you," said
Professor. "I have some news for you. The real estate agent in
Bozeman found a ranch for us that looks to be large enough, cheap
enough, and available. During the last three days, I was in Bozeman
and gave them a deposit. I also put my house up for sale.

"There's just one catch. Real Estate closings never happen
overnight, at least not honest ones. It may be a week or two before
we can move in. Fortunately, an old friend has space on his ranch
for a while."

It took three nights to drive from Los Angeles to Bozeman. Dave was
happy not to be in the horse trailer when the temperatures in the
desert hit 100 degrees in the June afternoons. They weren't in an
air conditioned building, but being under a scraggly tree was better
than inside the trailer. At least he didn't have to worry about
sunburn.

To keep Dave's mind off his situation, Zane had them singing all the
raunchy sailor and army songs he knew. Professor didn't pay any
attention to the stares from people in passing vehicles who had
heard singing horses.

{{Separator|stars}}

Luke met them when Professor rolled to a stop. He was amazed when
Professor merely lowered the ramp and said, "Here we are. Everybody
out," and five horses got themselves out the trailer in an orderly
fashion without any guidance from Professor. Luke was also amazed
that none of the horses had a halter and that Professor dismissed
his concern. He was downright astonished when he saw the five horses
in the light and could see the quality of horseflesh standing there.

"You old Devil," said Luke, "How in the world did you afford horses
of this quality on your teaching salary?"

"Let's just I'd like to keep an air of mystery."

"I bet no one has said that about you since before you married Bess,
God rest her soul. I've always appreciated that you work hard not to
be mysterious."

"Someday, Luke, I'll tell you how I came to own these fine animals.
But if I do, I'll either have to kill you or get you drunk." Luke
smiled as Professor winked.

Luke turned towards the house and shouted, "Hey, Stan. They're here!"

In a moment, a teenager appeared, looking like a young version of
Luke. Stan had sandy hair and a pretty decent moustache and goatee
in contrast to his father's flecks of gray and clean shaven face,
but the two had the same six foot height, narrow face, slim build,
blue eyes, and quirky smile.

Luke was saying, "Now that he's graduated from high school, it is
getting harder to keep him busy. Five more horses should do it."

Stan had veered from the men to the horses and was inspecting them
carefully.

"So what are their names?" said Luke.

"The stallion is David. The mares," Professor pointed as he ran
through the names, "are Piet, Amos, Jack, and Zane."

"Mares with guys' names? I thought you were more traditional than
that."

"Hey, I didn't name them."

Stan gave a low whistle. "Mighty impressive horses, Professor. But I
can't help but notice a couple strange things."

"Do tell," said Professor.

"Someone gave their manes and tails a strange trimming, and I don't
know anyone who would trim the feathering of a Clydesdale like
that." Stan did a bit of a double take. "Not that I've ever seen a
Clydesdale this color before." He pulled up Dave's left forehoof.
"And I've never seen a horse without shoes that had a hoof in this
great of shape." Stan stood and stroked Dave's neck. "I can call the
farrier and have him come next week."

"Sounds good," said Professor.

Dave looked at Professor with alarm. Professor ignored the look.

By this time Stan had worked his way up to Dave's head. "No halter?"

"You won't need it," said Professor. "Tell them what you want and
they'll do it."

"Weird," said Stan.

{{Separator|stars}}

When Professor came to visit a few days later, Dave ambled over, but
made sure Stan was in the barn before speaking. "Oh, man. That barn
sure stinks in the morning! It is a good thing that Stan is prompt
about mucking it out."

"Besides that, how is everything?"

"Stan's a good guy. For a horse, it's a great place. The problem is
that I'm a horse."

Professor stroked Dave's nose. "Still feeling panicky about that?"

"Yeah. Stan's been good about giving me a good scratch when I come
up to him, though every time he does so he calls me Davey. I don't
like that name. Stan also knows how to give a good brushing, that's
the best... I hear him coming."

Stan came through the barn door, "Oh, hi, Professor!" He came over
and put his arm around Dave's neck. Dave lowered his head a bit so
Stan could idly scratch between the ears. It was obvious to
Professor that man and horse did this a lot.

"I gotta tell you, Professor, I've never seen such beautiful horses
or such weird ones."

"Weird in what way?" said Professor. Dave could see him suppressing
a grin.

"I've never seen housebroken, um, barnbroken horses before. Their
straw is clean each morning, but as soon as I let them out, they
relieve themselves in the corner of the field."

Professor let his grin show. "Barnbroken horses. Anything else
weird?"

"Yeah. You were right. It seems they understand every word I say."

Professor only nodded.

"And here's the really freaky part. I took old Blue around the
paddock to put him through his paces and soon your horses are in the
middle of the paddock and seem to be studying what Blue is doing.
Pretty soon, they seem to be trying it for themselves, like they've
never done it before. I shifted Blue to a trot and I can see all
five of them practicing the trot. I shift Blue to a canter and all
five of them are soon trying the canter, though they don't seem to
be doing it well. I let Blue open up to a gallop and they watched
that one for a long time before trying it. The brown mare, um Jack,
is still having trouble with anything faster than a walk. But this
one," he patted Dave's cheek, "was soon switching easily between the
various gaits." He concentrated on stroking Dave's nose for a
moment. "About the only gait this fella doesn't know -- and only
because Blue can't do it -- is the harness racing gait."

Professor thought he could see a blend of questioning and challenge
in Dave's eyes. "And what's that?"

"Oh," said Stan, "that is a trot in which the legs on the same side
move together."

Dave pulled his head away from Stan's fingers and moved off a few
yards. He stood there a moment as if deep in thought. Then he
carefully stepped forward with both right legs and then both left
legs. Soon he picked up speed and was trotting smoothly around the
paddock. After a full circuit Dave came back and welcomed Stan's
fingers between his ears.

While his fingers worked, Stan stared at the horse with his mouth
hanging open. It was a full minute before he found his voice.
"That's incredible! You're such a smart horse, Davey. Perhaps you
could be taught dressage."

Professor could see the hint of pleading in Dave's eyes. "Stan, I
don't think he likes to be called Davey." Stan snapped his head
around to stare at Professor. "Do it too often and he might step on
your toes, and I daresay a ton of horse resting on those toes won't
feel so good."

A second later Stan snapped his eyes to his left boot. Dave had
shifted his weight and was now using a forehoof to exert a gentle
pressure on Stan's toes.

Stan gulped. "Okay. Dave it is." He looked Professor in the eye. "So
are you going to tell me where you got these guys?"

"Perhaps when you're old enough to drink."

"That's still three years away! Why wait that long?"

"Because you'll want a drink after I tell you the story."

[[User:Erastus/Serving the Sentence - Part 5|Part 5]] * Part 6*
[[User:Erastus/Serving the Sentence - Part 7|Part 7]]

User:Erastus/Serving the Sentence - Part 6 - Revision history

Erastus: Replacing a lost story