…

The assistant who drove him home turned out to be one of those calm individuals who are constantly surrounded by people that talk their heads off. Someone who manages to get by with a few nods and friendly words. Ben had feared that she was just like rest of them and sighed in relief when she didn’t even bother to make small talk. The only noises that could be heard, were those of the car and that was a pleasure.

“Here, your medicine”, she said after she had helped him out of the car and into the house. “You will probably stop taking these if they do not heal you in an instant. Take them anyway, just like prescribed, even if they appear to be useless.”

Baffled, Ben stared after her as she turned the car and drove away without a good-bye. 

…

The next day was a nightmare. His foot hurt like hell with every step he took, the medicines did not work at all and he had to limp around the stables with his crutches what felt like four zillion times. Fetching bucket by bucket of food and water and painstakingly mucking out the stables for every single one of the five horses. Only to then stand in front of a huge pile of shit with no idea how to move it away since he could not operate a barrow with crutches. 

Sighing, he simply toppled over a roll of hay in the courtyard, stuck the hose into a large bucket and filled it with water and let the horses out so they could tend to themselves. In the yard was also more space for the shit than in the boxes so if they stood here, he probably would not have to deal with mucking out quite so soon. Then he sat down on an old bucket and pondered the situation. 

He had almost no knowledge about caring for horses. The farm was his grandfather’s and all he knew about farm life came from a few weekends that he spent here. Mostly lying around in the hay and watching the sky fly past. His only real experience was when he had seen Fluffy being born the last year that he had visited his grandfather. He had spent three weeks here in the stables, nursing the freshly born foal and watching her grow before he threw himself into the world of money like his father wanted. 
It was where he was meant to be, no question. This was ridiculous. Maybe he could sell the horses? The stud farm probably needed mares and apart from that one single gelding, that was all he had. Yeah, they would be well cared for on a breeding farm, probably get a pleasure or two out of life and be happy romping around. And he could retreat to some Caribbean hideout and take a break like he was supposed to. Yeah. That was better than trying to do some shit here that he had no idea about anyway. 

Coming to a decision, Ben got up and limped inside the house. 

…