InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "I didn't return them."

Eli Donovan (edonovan) wrote in oldwest_rpg,
@ 2008-05-17 00:23:00

Entry tags:

eli donovan, floyd huntington

New beginnings are usually messy
Who: Eli Donovan & Floyd Huntington
Where: stables, New Shelby
When: May 16, 1867, nearing midnight
Status: Incomplete
Summary: Trixie finally foals, and Eli needs a hand getting the new colt delivered and cleaned up.
Warnings: It's a foaling -- may be a little graphic and/or icky, ;)

---
The fact that most mares tended to foal in the middle of the night was really damned inconvenient, sometimes.

The rearmost stall in the stable had been cleared out, with fresh straw laid down for bedding. As soon as Trixie showed signs of going into labor, the rest of the horses were moved away to give her some privacy, and Eli started handing out tasks. They'd need strong coffee to stay awake through the night, if necessary, and boiling water would be needed for clean cloths.

The foal was already turned, as near as Eli could tell, and as soon as the water sac ruptured, he ordered the stable cleared of people. As long as everything progressed normally, it wouldn't be long before Trixie delivered, and she'd be more comfortable with fewer people around to watch. Anyone who did stay would have to keep back and out of her way as much as possible to let nature take its course.

Still, if there were complications, she'd need someone to supervise -- and he knew what to look for in case Doc MacKenzie needed to be called. And if the foal needed repositioning -- well, that was best done by someone with smaller hands than he.

Which was why he asked Floyd to stay. She may be a little thing, but the girl was strong as a horse herself, and not the least bit squeamish about such things. She had a better rapport with the horses than any of the other stablehands, and if anyone could help keep Trixie calm throughout, she could.

"Won't be long now," Eli announced conversationally, rolling up his sleeves. Foaling was a messy business, and he'd rather avoid completely ruining a shirt, even if he'd deliberately chosen one halfway to the rag bin already. "Shouldn't take more'n half an hour. If she goes longer, we'll have to send someone for the doc." He considered that a last resort -- no need to bother Doc MacKenzie's sleep unless absolutely necessary, after all.

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thebestmucker
2008-05-20 04:14 am UTC (link)

Damn inconvenient indeed, considering Floyd would still have to ride home that night to go to bed and then be right back here in the morning to get back to work. And of course, she didn't really mind, she felt like the horses were her friends and so she would always help out a friend. Damned if she wouldn't be tired tomorrow though, and if Eli even so mentioned about her coming in late she'd roll her eyes, give a snort and continue on in on time anyway. She was married to her job. She liked it like that. She'd proven herself as capable...it wasn't about her needing to prove that. She had an innocence about that anyway. Any time Eli would hire a new stable hand, they judged. What could the tiny little thing do? Lots of course!

Floyd couldn't blame Trixie really, honestly if she were about to pop a kid she wouldn't want a room full of people gawking at her. Give her a rag and a basin of water, some swaddling cloths and some scissors and Floyd was pretty sure she could give birth just by herself. She'd seen her sister's do it a million times over.... And really having a room that was emptied so you could have it to yourself....It was only just polite. She felt bad that she had to be here...wild horses gave birth all the time in the wild, she was sure Trixie could manage, but she'd never say, because it was important to the business that the foal turned out okay. She supposed at least, they were helping her out.

Floyd was sitting just outside of Trixie's stall, giving her the space she would need, on a bale of hay, dozing. She'd had a long day and the sun had beaten the rest of her energy out, but she'd never say no to Mister Donovan, not ever. She knew that she was needed and that was enough for her to say yes. His voice startled her though and she nearly fell over. "Right. Hour." She drawled in her Georgian accent, with a yawn, stretching from where she was sitting and then getting up on her knees on the bale, looking over the wall to where Eli was standing. She wondered idly if Shotstack was okay. She'd never stayed in the stables before this late. She hoped with all the commotion of the day she was getting some rest. It would be a long ride that night to get home, having to be more careful on account of it being at night.

“Anything else I might do so I don’t end up fallin’ asleep sittin’ here Mister Donovan?” She inquired. She knew there was waiting times when a horse was foaling, but that didn’t make it any less easy for her not to fall asleep just sitting there.

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edonovan
2008-05-20 08:17 pm UTC (link)

The likelihood for a late night foaling was precisely the reason Eli had been rotating out the stablehands in shifts for the past week or so, so someone would always there to keep an eye out for Trixie. Inconvenience aside, he lived right there, so he tried to make sure he had coffee and food for whomever pulled duty each night. Unfortunately, this was one of those rare cases where Floyd being female actually became an issue; it wasn't like she could crash in his spare room without half the town talking about it, and Eli would never think of putting one of his best stablehands in such a position.

He leaned against the low wall next to Floyd, one ear tuned to Trixie in her stall for any sign of distress. He'd never ask his stablehand to come in early for work after a full night's work like this, but he'd be up and in the stables by dawn himself, no matter how late the foaling ran. "There's coffee coming, if that helps," Eli told her easily. "At least it won't be much longer." He tilted his head back to rest against the column behind him and slitted his eyes closed. "How's your pony doing?"