by Rayna
(Surprise, AZ)
Alex sighed, yanking the brush through her scraggly brown hair that hung uselessly from her head. Frowning, she used her fingers to untangle a knot.
"Alex! Are you ready? You don't want to be late!" Her mom called from the kitchen. She pulled the brush through her hair one last time, before turning off the light, and shutting the door.
"I'm coming!" She called, after an exasperated sigh.
Today was Alex's 10th day working at the stables, and so far, she hated it. Alex wasn't much of a horse girl, so she didn't know much about them. And the worst thing about the job was that she spent most of her time shoveling manure.
"Well hurry up!" Her mom exclaimed, opening the back door.
"Do you have your lunch?" She asked, studying her daughter.
Alex frowned, and held up her dirty black lunch box that had a big hole in the corner.
"Good, Now come on or else Mrs. Barney will fire you!" Alex's mom had signed her up for this job because she was worried about her not getting out enough.
Alex groaned, and climbed into the old blue truck. Her mom climbed into the drivers seat, and put her hand on Alex's knee.
"Be happy Ally. This is good for you. You'll see." She gave her a worried smile, then started the engine.
5 minutes later...
"You're late." Mrs. Barney snorted, tapping her foot. "Is there an explanation?"
Alex opened her mouth to defend herself, but Mrs. Barney continued,"I don't want to hear your excuses. Do you want this job or not?" Alex opened her mouth again, but Mrs. Barney continued.
"Of course you don't, but I need you to keep this job, so go get to work. I'm sure that if I fire you, I can find a better employee." and she stomped off, leaving Alex defeated.
Alex clenched her fists. Mrs. Barney always treated her like a big smelly piece of horse dung, and she always threatened to fire her! It wasn't Alex's fault she didn't like horses!
She stomped out of the barn, and flinched against the hostile glares from the advanced riders. They treated her like manure as well. She spotted the "poo scooper" as she called it, and, grabbing it, she jogged into the smelly stable.
A horse on cross ties neighed, and Alex glared at it as she ducked under the cross ties. Alex finally came to the last stall,and she opened the door. They stall was unoccupied at the moment, but a rancid stench of manure filled the air. She groaned, plugged her nose, and went to work.
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by Rayna
(Mesa, AZ, USA)
Alex groaned as she heaved the last pile of soiled straw into the wheel burrow. Setting the "poo scooper" on the side of the stall, she paused. Alex glanced around.
A small square window cast golden rays of sunlight into the stall, setting off a warming orange glow. The sides of the stall were an oaky brown color, and the food and water buckets were in good shape.
"Get out of the way will you?" A voice came from behind Alex. She jumped, and spun around to find herself face to face with a huge, frightening, brown horse. She gasped and almost lost her footing.
"Go on, get out of here!" The lady holding the horse's halter demanded, tapping her foot impatiently. Alex, wide eyed, back slowly away from them. She stopped and cautiously watched the horse.
It was a deep chocolaty brown color, and it had white legs. It looked like it wore a white mask to cover the brown on it's face, and its hair and tail matched the chocolate brown on its body. Alex was shocked by how strange the creature looked as its pranced into it's stall.
She shook herself, and grabbed the "poo scooper" and the wheel burrow. She still had a lot more jobs to do.
(I'm terribly sorry it's so short!!!)