Moonlit Mayhem

12

Chapter 12: Becky

"Hey Becky, I've been looking for you everywhere!" Emie said, running over to Becky, sounding slightly out of breath.

"Why?" Becky asked, ready for the conversation to be over.

"The new student that was going to try out today canceled. Her mother said that she had come down with the flu."

"And?" Becky asked, annoyed. "She was your student. What does that have to do with me?"

"Well I know it's been a while since you rode Triggerheart with your concussion and all, so if we finish up mucking out, you'll have time to ride before your shift is over."

"Why didn't you just start with that?" Becky demanded as she ran towards the shed where they kept the wheelbarrows and pitchforks.

Over the course of forty minutes, Becky had mucked out her half of the stalls aside for one. She took one last load of manure to the pile near the back of the property, before heading back to where Emie was working. Emie had three stalls left. It pained Becky how slowly it took Emie to grab some manure and bad shaving and put it in the wheelbarrow.

"C'mon hurry up!" Becky urged and she worked through her final stall.

"I am!" Emie insisted. "I'm doing my best!"

"Well, do better than your best!"

Emie shot her a glare and tossed a pile of three-hour-old manure into the wheelbarrow. Unfortunately for Emie, in her rush, all they managed to do was launch it at Becky and her perfectly white shirt.

"E-Emie!" Becky yelled, still gasping in shock. "You..."

Instead of finishing the insult as she had planned, Becky picked up some of the manure from her own stall and threw it back, hitting Emie square in the face.

"Wh—" Emie said, unable to form a sentence.

She grabbed more manure from their stall and threw it back at Becky, who had been laughing too much at Emie to notice. It took Becky a few seconds before she grabbed a good scoop of manure and launched it back at Emie, all the way across the alleyway. Before Becky knew what was going on, Emie was pulling manure from the wheelbarrow and throwing it back. To Becky, this meant war.

Insults were thrown back and forth just as much as the manure as the pair fought. By the time Becky reached into the wheelbarrow only to find it empty, she heard the sound of crunching gravel coming from the driveway. If it was who Becky thought it was, this was not going to end well. Becky ran to the front door and held it open, fearing the worst. Instead of Jennifer, Becky saw a very familiar face be helped out of the car, cast around their middle and leg.

"Kayleigh?" Becky exclaimed, rushing outside. "What are you doing here?"

"The doctors released me," he explained. "Nothing too strenuous, so I thought I'd see how you girls were faring." she glanced down at Becky's dirty shirt. "By the looks of things you've had your hands full."

"Um, have you ever noticed how dusty the arena fence is?" Becky blurted out nervously glancing down at her shirt, before attempting to brush off the manure. "Anyway, I'm going to go turn on the lights in the barn so you can have a look around. I wouldn't want you tripping on anything!" Becky said with a nervous laugh before heading back into the barn.

"Code red," Becky whispered to Emie. "Emie, code red!

Emie glanced up, looking confused. "I'm sorry, I've got no clue what you're talking about."

"Kayleigh just got out of the hospital," Becky said, glancing behind her to make sure that Kayleigh wasn't getting any closer. "Believe it or not, he's here."

"Shit!" Emie cursed, glancing around at the manure scattered everywhere. They rushed to grab a broom that was lying half-hazardously across the floor. Emie quickly started sweeping the manure into an empty stall.

"Don't just stand there! Do something! Anything!" Emie hissed when Becky made no move to help. Becky grabbed the wheelbarrow, repositioning it so it would look as if someone was mucking out a stall, before placing the two pitchforks inside the wheelbarrow.

"What else can I do?" Becky asked desperately.

"The wheelbarrow," Emie said. Becky stared at her in confusion for a few seconds before realizing that they were talking about the other wheelbarrow, which was tipped sideways. Becky hauled the wheelbarrow so it was standing correctly.

"Now what?" Becky asked.

"Turn on the lights, then stall for me," Emie said quickly.

Becky nodded, flipping on the switch, before heading over to where Kayleigh was leaning casually against his car.

"So, how are you feeling?" Becky asked.

"Better now that I'm not stuck in a hospital," Kayleigh replied. "So, did you turn on the lights?"

"Yep!" Becky replied, matching his slow pace. The slower limp gave Emie at least an extra minute to get things looking ordinary, Becky hopped. Kayleigh walked into the barn Becky in tow, biting her lip nervously. She gasped, making Kayleigh turn around to stare at her.

"Sorry, the barn just looks so much cleaner with the light on." Becky lied quickly.

"It does look quite clean," Kayleigh admitted. "What have you been doing? Mopping?" Kayleigh jokes, making Becky's tense shoulders drop in relief. "I'll be back in a week, keep up the great work girls." If only she knew what really had happened while she was gone. Becky thought.

Happy Friday! How has your week been? Mine has been great! We are signing the bill of sale as I type. Talk to you all next Friday!