I pulled my coat tighter around me. It had no effect whatsoever. The winter had firmly planted its roots and was here to stay. At least my first lone emergency call out of my first ever job was to a freezing hilltop farm, where nobody would be able to see me shaking from nerves as well as from the cold.
On the 8 mile drive up I’d had visions of a myriad of disasters that could befall an unsuspecting, newly qualified vet. What if I’d taken too long to get here and the foaling had ended without me in complete disaster? What if I got there on time to intervene and it still ended in disaster? What if I unwittingly caused it to end in disaster when everything might have been fine without me?
I took a deep breath, and tried to shake off the remnants of my paranoia. I would be fine. After all, I was qualified. I was trusted by my new boss.
And I’d volunteered to go it alone. My youthful bravado sneaking in for just long enough to drop me in the mire.
I decided I could procrastinate no more. It was inevitable that I would face something difficult at some point, so where was the harm in getting it over with now?
I took another deep breath and exhaled slowly, the plume of steam reminding me of the chill that would obligingly hide my nerves. I pushed open the gates to the yard and walked apprehensively across to the imposing stable block in front of me. As I got closer the air seemed to become stale, heavy, stifling…get a bloody grip, man, I told myself sternly.
Just then a stout, middle aged man with a terrifying handlbar moustache emerged from one of the loose boxes, an enormous grin lifting the facial hair up so high I thought it would poke his eyes out.
“Well then young man!” he called breezily. “Don’t look so terrified! She’s done it all without you!”
I amazed myself by being highly disappointed in the mare. How could she?!
graveyardmuse 