“Not at all.”
“Can you call me Tony? That’s what I prefer.”
“Not Jacobs?” Lloyd asked with a look of confusion. “That’s how Marcia always refers to you.”
“Yeah, no. That was because we called everyone by our last names in our unit.”
“Unit?” Clark asked in confusion.
“This is Anthony Jacobs,” Lloyd said. At his confused look, he smiled. “The man that Marcia always referred to as her older younger brother.They served in the same National Guard unit back in Pennsylvania.”
“I was the guy that hit the side of the mountain with her.”
“Oh, shit, damn, I heard about that. You look surprisingly good.”
“Yeah, well, I still have restrictions.”
“What are they?” Erin demanded. “Lloyd will take you to New Double, and explain to you where Broken Two is located. You’ll be meeting with a guy named Dr. Caleb Lassiter. He’s a physical therapist, and he’s going to be working with you. He’s not a medical doctor, but along with his therapy, he’s also a chiropractor. That’s what he’s a doctor in. And earlier this week, a former colleague of his arrived, and together, they make prosthetics.”
“Well, I don’t need any of those, I just get stiff if I sit for too long, and if the weather is too cold, sometimes it’s hard to get out of bed in the mornings. I do it, but I’m slow.”
“Are you on pain meds?”
“I am, however, I try not to use them unless I absolutely have to. I’ll take some tonight so I can sleep, I didn’t take any the entire trip here. I’m feeling it now.”
Erin turned a confused look toward Lloyd. “You don’t have to answer this, but does thishappen to Marcia?”
“It does, but like Tony said, she only takes the meds when she absolutely needs them.”
“I can’t speak for Ramos,” Tony said, “But I was given some pretty heavy-duty pain medication from the doctors over at the VA. I don’t want to become addicted to them, so I use them only when I have to.”
“Good for you, but I’m not going to push you right off the bat. You’ll have time to adjust to this way of life. I won’t lie to you though, working with and taking care of horses is a job. Fun, rewarding, messy, back-breaking, and strenuous at times. You’ll be working with Ann. She’s a former military person, but she knows horses. Cole Mercury is the manager over there, and he’s been with these horses for decades. He came to New Double from Wyoming with the horses and equipment. Clark, do you want to tell him about that.”
Clark explained how New Double came about, and Tony sat there in awe by the time he was finished. Erin then told him how The Broken Wheel, and Broken Two came about. By the time he was ready to be taken over to New Double his mind was full of all this information.
Lloyd had him follow him and they left the parking area, then went back out on the road. When Tony started to feel like he was being led into the wilds to be left, they slowed down, and pulled into a driveway. He continued to follow Lloyd, and they finally parked next to a barn. After getting out andmaking sure he was steady on his feet, he joined Lloyd and together they walked into the barn. This was the first time Tony had seen a horse up close and personal.
“Lloyd,” an older man said as he came forward. “What brings you here? I thought you had to work in the sex barn today.”
“Excuse me?” Tony looked at the men like they had several heads, and as they laughed, they explained what the older gentleman meant by his statement.
“You can do that? You can collect the sperm from a horse?”
“Yep,” they laughed. Then Lloyd looked at Cole. “Cole this is Anthony Jacobs, he prefers to be called Tony. He’s your new hire. Tony, this is Cole Mercury, he’s been with these horses for over forty years. Not all of them, but you get what I’m saying.”
“I do,” they shook hands, and Tony liked Cole immediately when he asked his first question.
“What challenges do you have?”
“Stiff and sore most days. I’m slow, but persistent.”
“What happened to you?”
“Parachuted into the side of a mountain, shattered hip, shoulder, knee, and ankle. Last count, eleven operations to repair it all. I hope you don’t have a metal detector around here, becauseI’ll set it off every time with all the hardware they used to put me back together.”
“That’s good to know. I’m going to start you out slowly. Like you’re going to be feeding the horses so you can get to know them. You’ll also be working with Ann. Don’t think you’ll get out of mucking out their stalls, but I think until you limber up from your drive, that can wait for a couple of days. Do you know horses?”
Tony looked at Cole with a gigantic grin. “The end with the teeth is where they eat, the end with the tail, is where they shit and piss.”
