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He only had one horse left to feed when he looked up to see two figures standing in the opening of the stable.
“Hey there,” he greeted them, one tall and one smaller. They were not holding hands, but they were obviously together. An older brother with his little sister maybe? He squinted, but the sunlight was behind their backs and they were in shadow.
“Good afternoon, mister. We’re here because we heard there might be a job available.” The taller figure spoke. A boy. A young teenager it looked like, maybe fourteen or sixteen.
“Come on in here where I can see you,” he invited, trying to sound friendly but not too friendly. He wanted someone who was responsible, not someone who was going to let the horses starve if he had to go to the NICU and couldn’t get away.
“I’m Rodney, and this is my sister, Becky.”
It was a little odd the way Rodney seemed to stumble over the word “sister.” But his face looked sincere, and Becky didn’t seem surprised to hear herself called his sister, so maybe he just tripped over his tongue. Sometimes Davis did that.
He closed the distance between them with his hand out. “I’m Davis. I’m pleased to meet you,” he said as the kid stuck his hand out and shook, looking Davis in the eye, which Davis had to admit impressed him.
He held his hand out to Becky, who didn’t shake with quite as much confidence. But she was a good bit younger if he had to make a guess. Although, it was hard to tell, since her eyes looked wise. Maybe twelve?
“Which one of you wants the job?”
“Both of us for now. But it’s my sister who’s really interested in horses.” Rodney spoke like he was used to talking to adults, with the confidence and assurance that made Davis almost feel like maybe he grew up with money. It was an odd feeling. Because Strawberry Sands was rather small and less affluent, and all the wealthy people pretty much lived around Blueberry Beach.
“You live right in town?” he asked, thinking about the few houses that lined Main Street and a couple more that sat on a back alley. If there were fifteen houses total in Strawberry Sands, he’d be surprised.
The boy hesitated, then he shook his head. “Just a little outside of town, but it’s an easy walk down the beach, and both of us are good workers. Becky especially loves horses, and she’ll do pretty much anything to be able to spend time around them.”
Davis wanted to go back and ask again where they lived; after all, it was a small town and he probably knew their parents, knew of their parents, or knew someone who knew their parents.
Something seemed a little fishy to him, but as he looked in the boy’s eyes, he seemed like an honest kid. But it was the girl that really struck him. He could see Kim falling in love with her. She looked a little bit standoffish, and she had her arms crossed over her chest like she was trying to be tough, but she also had a desperation about her that made Davis think that she really wanted the job. Needed it. Or else was just desperately in love with horses and would do anything to be around them. He knew girls like that. Back when he was in school. Vaguely remembered ones who loved horses as much as he loved dinosaurs and Mars.
Of course, he’d outgrown that, and Becky probably would too, but it was always better to have someone doing a job they loved rather than have someone doing it who would rather be doing something else.
“Do either of you have any experience with horses?” he asked. It felt like an obvious question. Although he supposed that they didn’t have to. It wasn’t like it took a lot of education in order to take care of them.
“I have some. I’ve ridden a bit. And Becky’s a fast learner. Aren’t you, Bekpek?”
The little girl glared up at the boy like he used the nickname that she hated.
But then she turned to him and said, “I’m a hard worker, mister. I know a little, but I’ll do whatever you want me to do, and I’m always on time. And I’m responsible. You can trust me.”
Interesting that that was the angle that she took. Like him trusting her was important.
He pursed his lips, knowing he was going to hire them but just feeling like everything wasn’t quite the way it seemed, but unable to put his finger on exactly what was wrong.
“All right. You actually have perfect timing because the horses just arrived today. I can show you what I’m planning to do, and we can go from there. How much are you going to charge me?”
He smiled when the little girl’s eyes got wide, and she looked up at her big brother, questions in her eyes.
He gave her a little smile, almost like he was saying “I told you so,” and then his head nodded just a bit toward Davis like he was telling her to look at him and tell him what she wanted.
“Whatever you give me!” she said.
“Becky means that she’ll work for minimum wage, or if you’d rather just pay a certain amount every week so nobody has to keep track of hours, that would be fine too.”
The boy had a little bit of a head on his shoulders, which impressed Davis.
“All right. I’m hiring both of you, right?” he said, wanting to confirm what the boy had said earlier. After all, it seemed like Becky was the one who was the most interested in the job, but she seemed a little young.
“For now. If we get to the point where you think that Becky will work out by herself, you can let me know. Not that I don’t want the job, it’s just that Becky would like to do it all.”
“I see. I’ll keep that in mind. For now, I won’t be around much, because my daughter’s in the NICU at the Blueberry Beach Hospital. Do you guys think you can start right away?”
