2025-07-10, 04:13 PM
“Basti, when are you going to the show, actually?”
“On Sunday, Frank. We'll be leaving in the morning with the horses.” ”And when are you going?”
“Unfortunately, not until Monday after work. One colleague is sick and the other one is on vacation and won't be back until Tuesday. But the horses are going on Sunday and so is Tanja. Who are you taking with you, anyway?”
“All of them. After all, it's the Bavarian Championships of the VWB. You want to make an impression on the others,” I grinned at Frank.
“And Dennis is showing off in the VWB classes again?”
“Of course, but not only in the VWB classes, even if he doesn't know about his luck yet. And I hope you'll keep your mouth shut and not ruin my surprise.”
“Of course not. I want to live longer.” Frank bared his pearly whites.
“Good for you. I have to go. Mommy cooked and besides, I still have a few things to prepare at home. After all, the show lasts a whole week. I wanted to iron my outfit today and stuff.”
“Well, I won't keep you any longer, I have to go too. Tanja is expecting me, we wanted to go to the disco tonight. I wish you luck.”
“I wish you luck too, see you tomorrow.”
Frank got into his car and I grabbed my dog, Sam, a Golden Retriever cross, swung myself onto my mountain bike and cycled home. It was now 7 o'clock in the evening on this Friday in mid-May. But wait – some of you are probably wondering who I am and what I've just written here. So, let's start from the beginning. My name is Sebastian von Fahrenwald, but everyone who knows me just calls me Basti. I'm 17 and live near Munich, actually on the beautiful Lake Starnberg. My parents have a villa there, not far from our riding stable. Actually, it's a stud farm, but I hate that term. My parents are rolling in money. Enough that I could buy a horse every month and still have enough money left over for the next generation. Although my parents would probably have to turn to my older brother, who is now 19 years old, for that. He has moved out of our home because he is completing his training in Augsburg. He is also the only one who knows so far that I'm gay. I told him about half a year ago, just before he went to Augsburg. He took it pretty cool. Since then, he keeps asking me if I've finally found a boyfriend when he calls or stops by. How I hate this question. Worse than my grandma. But back to me.
I have been riding for as long as I can remember. I started with the little pony that my parents had in their stable. After that, I learned the art of English riding. Three years ago, I switched to Western riding. I saw a tournament that was held near us. We talked a little with my parents, and a month later, it was during the summer vacation, we flew to America, more precisely to Texas, and bought our first Quarter Horse. I have already mentioned this mare here. It is April (April Morning Dew). (Please pay very close attention to the fact that the name is pronounced in English.) I competed in my first shows with her, and I still do. Meanwhile, I have six of my own Quarter Horses, and I wanted to slowly retire April from showing, but she objected to that. Last spring, we wanted to go to a show and leave her at home for the first time. She went on a rampage in her stall and smashed everything that wasn't stable enough, so we took her with us to the show, and since then she has been shown again by us. I only show her rarely. My best friend Dennis usually rides her. There's another thing about her. In a way, you could compare her to the horses from Lord of the Rings. The Mearas that don't let just anyone ride them. Besides me, the only one who could ride April was Dennis. Anyone else who tried to put even one foot in the stirrup had to experience what it means to be left in the dust.
Dennis, still 16, had been with us at the riding stable for 5 years. His parents were not really poor, but they couldn't afford their own horse. Nevertheless, they respected Dennis's dearest wish, to ride. They paid for him to take riding lessons, first on an English horse, and later in the Western riding style. That was about a year ago. I can still remember exactly how Dennis would always stand at the fence with a dreamy look in his eyes and watch me ride. His eyes would light up especially when I rode April. At some point, he and his parents came to visit us at a show over the weekend. He was so fascinated that his eyes really stood out among all the spectators. A few weeks after this tournament, he was standing at the fence at our house again. I had just stopped to take off my sweater because I had gotten warm. He stared at April. I watched him as he couldn't take his eyes off her. Suddenly he looked up at me.
“You? Basti?”
“Yes?”
“Do you think I could maybe...? Would it be possible...? Would you mind...? “It was cute how he hesitated. I smiled to myself.
“If you finally come out with your wish, then I can also say whether it is possible.”
“Well, it's a bit uncomfortable for me, but do you think I could ride April sometime? I'd like to try western riding.”
“Is it the western riding you're interested in, or April?”
I grinned at him, and he blushed.
“Well, don't look like that. You can try it. The only problem is that April only lets me ride her. At least no one else but me can get on her. But you're welcome to try your luck.”
While I was still talking, I had already dismounted and watched as Dennis climbed over the fence. He was visibly nervous, but also overjoyed that I had granted him his wish. He approached April cautiously. She watched him very intently. First of all, we adjusted the stirrups to the appropriate length. After all, I was 1.92 m tall, and Dennis was only 1.77 m. He took the reins hesitantly and put his leg in the stirrup even more cautiously. His whole body trembled. He grasped the horn of the saddle and slowly pushed himself up until he was finally sitting on April. Until now, this was always the point at which the rider was guaranteed to be back in the dust. But not with Dennis. April still stood quietly, her head turned slightly to the side, following his every move. I don't know if she realized how important this experience was to him, or if she just liked him. In any case, I have rarely seen a rider-horse combination that harmonized as well as these two. While he was riding off, I explained the first steps of Western riding to him. He was extremely adept. After half an hour, I almost had to pull him off the horse, he was so enthusiastic. His eyes were a little moist. And from that day on, he and I were best friends, too.
Last fall, he rode his first competition with April. I will never forget how happy he was about his first victory in Western Horsemanship. After that, he sat with April in her stall for another two hours, talking to her. He thanked her and fed her one carrot after another. April snorted contentedly and laid her head on his shoulder. At that moment, I had made a decision. Dennis should become her new owner. First of all, I discussed the matter with my parents at the show, after all, they were the ones who had paid the money, even though I was registered in the papers. My parents agreed immediately. They knew that Dennis would take good care of April. But now came the more difficult part of my plan. The morning after my conversation with my parents, I found Dennis' parents, Reinhard and Renate, at the spectator stands. They were watching a reining competition. I asked them to come with me to one of our two vans. This van looked like a normal truck, but it was a horse van and had room for six horses. In the front part of the truck was a kind of caravan with a table, shower, refrigerator, bed, etc. There was space for equipment between the living area and the horse area. A short time later, I was sitting in my “living room” with the two of them and my parents, offering them something to drink.
“I wanted to talk to you. It's about Dennis and April.”
“We already suspected something like that. You probably don't want Dennis to ride her anymore. We can understand that, but I suspect that it will be a real blow to him.”
“Well, Dennis' world will change a bit. However, you have to give your consent.”
“What should we give our consent for? It's your decision.”
“Renate, please let me finish. I, or rather we, need your consent to make this possible.”
“So, what our son wants to say,” my father intervened. ”He wants to give your son April. For his 17th birthday. And since the horse also needs to be taken care of, we need your consent.”
The two stared at us with wide-open eyes.
“There are no conditions attached to this gift either, just two requests. We want April to stay in our stable and be treated well for as long as she lives. And maybe a third request. It would be nice if I always had the opportunity to ride April, if I feel like it.”
It took a few more words from my parents, but eventually they were both convinced and we told them our plan. At the beginning of next year, the papers were to be rewritten in America, and then on the Saturday before the Bavarian Championships, Dennis's birthday, I was to hand over the papers to him. Unbeknownst to Dennis, he was to be entered not only for the VWB classes but also for the AQHA show. Everything went smoothly. A week ago, the papers arrived at Dennis' parents' house by mail and were given to me so that I could hand them over to Dennis tomorrow.
So I arrived at my house, lost in my thoughts about the show. A pleasant smell came from the kitchen.
“Hi Ma, I'm home. Is dinner ready yet?”
“No, not quite yet. You still have time to take a shower first.”
So I went back outside through the kitchen and crossed the small path that lay between the main house and my bungalow. I had been living in my brother Frederick's bungalow since he moved out. I went to my bathroom, put my clothes in the washing machine, and turned on the shower. After the water reached a comfortable temperature, I stood under it and rinsed the sweat of the day off my body. Fifteen minutes later, I was back in the kitchen, getting on my mother's nerves.
“What's for dinner?”
“Something sensible. You'll probably only eat hot dogs and stuff like that all week.”
“Mom, that's not true. I always eat my breakfast cereal. And that's very healthy.”
“It would be, if you would just give up the chocolate cubes and the chocolate milk.” my mother smiled at me. ”But now it's time for dinner. Why don't you get your father, I'll serve dinner in the meantime.”
So I went to get my father and we all went to eat. Sam also got his food, usually the only way to keep him from begging. Since nothing particularly exciting happened during dinner, I took the opportunity to make something clear. We may have money like air to breathe, but that doesn't mean that I didn't grow up very normally. Okay, I didn't necessarily have to watch the price when I went shopping, although I usually did, but we didn't throw our money out the window either. We don't have a housekeeper or a butler either. Just a gardener, because our property was really huge, and a cleaning lady who came once a week and helped my mother, because she works as a secretary for a lawyer three mornings a week. So she was actually always at home when I came back from school. On top of that, she also does the bookkeeping for the riding stable. I helped her occasionally, since I was supposed to take over the business at some point later on. My father is responsible for all other organizational matters. Strictly speaking, the two worked hand in hand and it was not really possible to draw a clear dividing line. We also have a few grooms and the like in the stables. Neither of us in the family shies away from mucking out a horse box.
Even if it may seem that I'm a spoilt brat, that's absolutely not true. I didn't get much more pocket money than the average either. OK, in terms of the pure amounts, it was more than most, but for that I also had to buy everything myself, apart from food and the costs for the tournaments. So also clothes and so on. I think that's actually quite good. That way, you learn how to budget your money for the entire month early on. And if I didn't have any money left at the end of the month, then I couldn't buy an ice cream at the nearest kiosk or anything like that. Begging my parents for money didn't help either. That only happened to me at the beginning though, by now I knew how to spend my money.
After dinner, I had a short discussion with my parents about how things should go on Sunday with the trip to the show, because it was well known that the day before departure was always extremely stressful and there was hardly any time for such things. After the briefing, I went to my bungalow and set up my ironing board because I still had to iron some shirts for the show. I was just about to start with the first shirt when my phone rang.
“Hi Basti, you're finally home? I've tried to reach you four times already.” Dennis hadn't been at the stables today because he wanted to celebrate his birthday with his parents. After all, he wanted to be at the stables tomorrow and then sleep at my place overnight because we had to leave quite early on Sunday. His parents were understanding and there were never any problems with it. So at least they didn't have to get up at 6 a.m. on a Sunday, since Dennis lived about half an hour from the stables.
“Why didn't you leave a message on the answering machine?”
“Like you check it. And secondly, I just wanted to clarify something about tomorrow.”
“Well, let's have it then.“ I waited eagerly to see what he wanted to clarify.
“Well, you better not get me anything great.” I smiled quietly to myself. “I don't want anything from you.”
“Well, you'll get something. But just a little something. That's what we agreed.” Don't tell on me.
“Then that's fine... I'll probably be there around noon. My grandma is coming over for lunch, and after that I'll be on my way right away. Fortunately, my parents are driving me tomorrow since I have so much luggage with me.”
“Well, your parents are worth their salt.”
“I agree. See you tomorrow then, I still have to finish packing.”
“I still have to do that too, but I was held up by some weird guy again.”
“Yeah, you too.”
“With pleasure.” If only he knew how true that was.
“Fine. So good night.”
“Nighty-night, big guy.”
And with that, our conversation was over. I went back to my shirts. After two hours, I was done with the roughest part of packing. The tournament clothes were neatly stored in three garment bags. The two pairs of chaps were added to the normal luggage, and the two hats were placed in the hat boxes, ready to hand. The duffel bag was packed, except for my toiletries. After I had let Sam, who was staying with me in the apartment, out the door again, I undressed and went to my bed. While I was still pondering which outfit I should wear for which start, I fell asleep.
The next morning, I woke up around nine o'clock. Overdressed, I put on a pair of shorts and a T-shirt and went to my parents in the kitchen. After breakfast, I packed my clothes in our Jeep, because we would load them later in the van. When I had filled the Jeep to bursting with my clothes, we drove to the stable. The boxes had already been mucked out and I got straight to work. Luckily, I had already twisted (thinned out) and cut the manes during the week, so I only had to correct them briefly. Which also took me some time. Then I started clipping the horses (the white hair on the feet is trimmed with the long-hair trimmer, the ears are shaved clean and the whiskers are also shortened). A quick glance at the clock told me that Dennis would probably be here soon. So I grabbed the giant bow that I had bought specially and tied it around April's belly, where the saddle is. Then I left the stables and leaned against the entrance gate, lit a butt and waited for the birthday boy to arrive.
Dennis wasn't long in coming either, and I gave him a warm hug and showered him with congratulations.
“So, now we come to your present. It consists of two parts. A big one and a small one.” Dennis looked confused and his parents grinned at me.
“Which one do you want first... Although the small one is the more valuable. I think we'll start with the big one.”
So I grabbed Dennis' hand, pulled him behind me into the stables and went straight to April's box. There April was standing in her box, nibbling happily on some hay. Dennis stared at her with wide-open eyes. Incredulous, he looked from me to his parents, back to April, and so on.
“You're all kidding me, right?”
“Not that I know of. This is my gift to you.”
“My parents would never allow that.”
“Yes, my son. Your parents also worked on Basti's plan,” Dennis's father intervened.
“Are you serious? April is my horse now? For real, completely?”
“I'm completely serious. And if you don't believe me, take a look at this.” I gave him the papers where he was listed as the new owner. His eyes became huge again. Then the tears came. He cried, he cried with happiness. Three happy faces looked at him as he went into the box and hugged his horse.
After what seemed like an eternity, he came out of the box and hugged his parents, thanking them profusely.
“Oh, and I'm not thanked at all,” I played, exaggeratedly offended.
“No, I don't know how I could ever thank you.”
“You already have.”
“Huh?”
“On Sunday, Frank. We'll be leaving in the morning with the horses.” ”And when are you going?”
“Unfortunately, not until Monday after work. One colleague is sick and the other one is on vacation and won't be back until Tuesday. But the horses are going on Sunday and so is Tanja. Who are you taking with you, anyway?”
“All of them. After all, it's the Bavarian Championships of the VWB. You want to make an impression on the others,” I grinned at Frank.
“And Dennis is showing off in the VWB classes again?”
“Of course, but not only in the VWB classes, even if he doesn't know about his luck yet. And I hope you'll keep your mouth shut and not ruin my surprise.”
“Of course not. I want to live longer.” Frank bared his pearly whites.
“Good for you. I have to go. Mommy cooked and besides, I still have a few things to prepare at home. After all, the show lasts a whole week. I wanted to iron my outfit today and stuff.”
“Well, I won't keep you any longer, I have to go too. Tanja is expecting me, we wanted to go to the disco tonight. I wish you luck.”
“I wish you luck too, see you tomorrow.”
Frank got into his car and I grabbed my dog, Sam, a Golden Retriever cross, swung myself onto my mountain bike and cycled home. It was now 7 o'clock in the evening on this Friday in mid-May. But wait – some of you are probably wondering who I am and what I've just written here. So, let's start from the beginning. My name is Sebastian von Fahrenwald, but everyone who knows me just calls me Basti. I'm 17 and live near Munich, actually on the beautiful Lake Starnberg. My parents have a villa there, not far from our riding stable. Actually, it's a stud farm, but I hate that term. My parents are rolling in money. Enough that I could buy a horse every month and still have enough money left over for the next generation. Although my parents would probably have to turn to my older brother, who is now 19 years old, for that. He has moved out of our home because he is completing his training in Augsburg. He is also the only one who knows so far that I'm gay. I told him about half a year ago, just before he went to Augsburg. He took it pretty cool. Since then, he keeps asking me if I've finally found a boyfriend when he calls or stops by. How I hate this question. Worse than my grandma. But back to me.
I have been riding for as long as I can remember. I started with the little pony that my parents had in their stable. After that, I learned the art of English riding. Three years ago, I switched to Western riding. I saw a tournament that was held near us. We talked a little with my parents, and a month later, it was during the summer vacation, we flew to America, more precisely to Texas, and bought our first Quarter Horse. I have already mentioned this mare here. It is April (April Morning Dew). (Please pay very close attention to the fact that the name is pronounced in English.) I competed in my first shows with her, and I still do. Meanwhile, I have six of my own Quarter Horses, and I wanted to slowly retire April from showing, but she objected to that. Last spring, we wanted to go to a show and leave her at home for the first time. She went on a rampage in her stall and smashed everything that wasn't stable enough, so we took her with us to the show, and since then she has been shown again by us. I only show her rarely. My best friend Dennis usually rides her. There's another thing about her. In a way, you could compare her to the horses from Lord of the Rings. The Mearas that don't let just anyone ride them. Besides me, the only one who could ride April was Dennis. Anyone else who tried to put even one foot in the stirrup had to experience what it means to be left in the dust.
Dennis, still 16, had been with us at the riding stable for 5 years. His parents were not really poor, but they couldn't afford their own horse. Nevertheless, they respected Dennis's dearest wish, to ride. They paid for him to take riding lessons, first on an English horse, and later in the Western riding style. That was about a year ago. I can still remember exactly how Dennis would always stand at the fence with a dreamy look in his eyes and watch me ride. His eyes would light up especially when I rode April. At some point, he and his parents came to visit us at a show over the weekend. He was so fascinated that his eyes really stood out among all the spectators. A few weeks after this tournament, he was standing at the fence at our house again. I had just stopped to take off my sweater because I had gotten warm. He stared at April. I watched him as he couldn't take his eyes off her. Suddenly he looked up at me.
“You? Basti?”
“Yes?”
“Do you think I could maybe...? Would it be possible...? Would you mind...? “It was cute how he hesitated. I smiled to myself.
“If you finally come out with your wish, then I can also say whether it is possible.”
“Well, it's a bit uncomfortable for me, but do you think I could ride April sometime? I'd like to try western riding.”
“Is it the western riding you're interested in, or April?”
I grinned at him, and he blushed.
“Well, don't look like that. You can try it. The only problem is that April only lets me ride her. At least no one else but me can get on her. But you're welcome to try your luck.”
While I was still talking, I had already dismounted and watched as Dennis climbed over the fence. He was visibly nervous, but also overjoyed that I had granted him his wish. He approached April cautiously. She watched him very intently. First of all, we adjusted the stirrups to the appropriate length. After all, I was 1.92 m tall, and Dennis was only 1.77 m. He took the reins hesitantly and put his leg in the stirrup even more cautiously. His whole body trembled. He grasped the horn of the saddle and slowly pushed himself up until he was finally sitting on April. Until now, this was always the point at which the rider was guaranteed to be back in the dust. But not with Dennis. April still stood quietly, her head turned slightly to the side, following his every move. I don't know if she realized how important this experience was to him, or if she just liked him. In any case, I have rarely seen a rider-horse combination that harmonized as well as these two. While he was riding off, I explained the first steps of Western riding to him. He was extremely adept. After half an hour, I almost had to pull him off the horse, he was so enthusiastic. His eyes were a little moist. And from that day on, he and I were best friends, too.
Last fall, he rode his first competition with April. I will never forget how happy he was about his first victory in Western Horsemanship. After that, he sat with April in her stall for another two hours, talking to her. He thanked her and fed her one carrot after another. April snorted contentedly and laid her head on his shoulder. At that moment, I had made a decision. Dennis should become her new owner. First of all, I discussed the matter with my parents at the show, after all, they were the ones who had paid the money, even though I was registered in the papers. My parents agreed immediately. They knew that Dennis would take good care of April. But now came the more difficult part of my plan. The morning after my conversation with my parents, I found Dennis' parents, Reinhard and Renate, at the spectator stands. They were watching a reining competition. I asked them to come with me to one of our two vans. This van looked like a normal truck, but it was a horse van and had room for six horses. In the front part of the truck was a kind of caravan with a table, shower, refrigerator, bed, etc. There was space for equipment between the living area and the horse area. A short time later, I was sitting in my “living room” with the two of them and my parents, offering them something to drink.
“I wanted to talk to you. It's about Dennis and April.”
“We already suspected something like that. You probably don't want Dennis to ride her anymore. We can understand that, but I suspect that it will be a real blow to him.”
“Well, Dennis' world will change a bit. However, you have to give your consent.”
“What should we give our consent for? It's your decision.”
“Renate, please let me finish. I, or rather we, need your consent to make this possible.”
“So, what our son wants to say,” my father intervened. ”He wants to give your son April. For his 17th birthday. And since the horse also needs to be taken care of, we need your consent.”
The two stared at us with wide-open eyes.
“There are no conditions attached to this gift either, just two requests. We want April to stay in our stable and be treated well for as long as she lives. And maybe a third request. It would be nice if I always had the opportunity to ride April, if I feel like it.”
It took a few more words from my parents, but eventually they were both convinced and we told them our plan. At the beginning of next year, the papers were to be rewritten in America, and then on the Saturday before the Bavarian Championships, Dennis's birthday, I was to hand over the papers to him. Unbeknownst to Dennis, he was to be entered not only for the VWB classes but also for the AQHA show. Everything went smoothly. A week ago, the papers arrived at Dennis' parents' house by mail and were given to me so that I could hand them over to Dennis tomorrow.
So I arrived at my house, lost in my thoughts about the show. A pleasant smell came from the kitchen.
“Hi Ma, I'm home. Is dinner ready yet?”
“No, not quite yet. You still have time to take a shower first.”
So I went back outside through the kitchen and crossed the small path that lay between the main house and my bungalow. I had been living in my brother Frederick's bungalow since he moved out. I went to my bathroom, put my clothes in the washing machine, and turned on the shower. After the water reached a comfortable temperature, I stood under it and rinsed the sweat of the day off my body. Fifteen minutes later, I was back in the kitchen, getting on my mother's nerves.
“What's for dinner?”
“Something sensible. You'll probably only eat hot dogs and stuff like that all week.”
“Mom, that's not true. I always eat my breakfast cereal. And that's very healthy.”
“It would be, if you would just give up the chocolate cubes and the chocolate milk.” my mother smiled at me. ”But now it's time for dinner. Why don't you get your father, I'll serve dinner in the meantime.”
So I went to get my father and we all went to eat. Sam also got his food, usually the only way to keep him from begging. Since nothing particularly exciting happened during dinner, I took the opportunity to make something clear. We may have money like air to breathe, but that doesn't mean that I didn't grow up very normally. Okay, I didn't necessarily have to watch the price when I went shopping, although I usually did, but we didn't throw our money out the window either. We don't have a housekeeper or a butler either. Just a gardener, because our property was really huge, and a cleaning lady who came once a week and helped my mother, because she works as a secretary for a lawyer three mornings a week. So she was actually always at home when I came back from school. On top of that, she also does the bookkeeping for the riding stable. I helped her occasionally, since I was supposed to take over the business at some point later on. My father is responsible for all other organizational matters. Strictly speaking, the two worked hand in hand and it was not really possible to draw a clear dividing line. We also have a few grooms and the like in the stables. Neither of us in the family shies away from mucking out a horse box.
Even if it may seem that I'm a spoilt brat, that's absolutely not true. I didn't get much more pocket money than the average either. OK, in terms of the pure amounts, it was more than most, but for that I also had to buy everything myself, apart from food and the costs for the tournaments. So also clothes and so on. I think that's actually quite good. That way, you learn how to budget your money for the entire month early on. And if I didn't have any money left at the end of the month, then I couldn't buy an ice cream at the nearest kiosk or anything like that. Begging my parents for money didn't help either. That only happened to me at the beginning though, by now I knew how to spend my money.
After dinner, I had a short discussion with my parents about how things should go on Sunday with the trip to the show, because it was well known that the day before departure was always extremely stressful and there was hardly any time for such things. After the briefing, I went to my bungalow and set up my ironing board because I still had to iron some shirts for the show. I was just about to start with the first shirt when my phone rang.
“Hi Basti, you're finally home? I've tried to reach you four times already.” Dennis hadn't been at the stables today because he wanted to celebrate his birthday with his parents. After all, he wanted to be at the stables tomorrow and then sleep at my place overnight because we had to leave quite early on Sunday. His parents were understanding and there were never any problems with it. So at least they didn't have to get up at 6 a.m. on a Sunday, since Dennis lived about half an hour from the stables.
“Why didn't you leave a message on the answering machine?”
“Like you check it. And secondly, I just wanted to clarify something about tomorrow.”
“Well, let's have it then.“ I waited eagerly to see what he wanted to clarify.
“Well, you better not get me anything great.” I smiled quietly to myself. “I don't want anything from you.”
“Well, you'll get something. But just a little something. That's what we agreed.” Don't tell on me.
“Then that's fine... I'll probably be there around noon. My grandma is coming over for lunch, and after that I'll be on my way right away. Fortunately, my parents are driving me tomorrow since I have so much luggage with me.”
“Well, your parents are worth their salt.”
“I agree. See you tomorrow then, I still have to finish packing.”
“I still have to do that too, but I was held up by some weird guy again.”
“Yeah, you too.”
“With pleasure.” If only he knew how true that was.
“Fine. So good night.”
“Nighty-night, big guy.”
And with that, our conversation was over. I went back to my shirts. After two hours, I was done with the roughest part of packing. The tournament clothes were neatly stored in three garment bags. The two pairs of chaps were added to the normal luggage, and the two hats were placed in the hat boxes, ready to hand. The duffel bag was packed, except for my toiletries. After I had let Sam, who was staying with me in the apartment, out the door again, I undressed and went to my bed. While I was still pondering which outfit I should wear for which start, I fell asleep.
The next morning, I woke up around nine o'clock. Overdressed, I put on a pair of shorts and a T-shirt and went to my parents in the kitchen. After breakfast, I packed my clothes in our Jeep, because we would load them later in the van. When I had filled the Jeep to bursting with my clothes, we drove to the stable. The boxes had already been mucked out and I got straight to work. Luckily, I had already twisted (thinned out) and cut the manes during the week, so I only had to correct them briefly. Which also took me some time. Then I started clipping the horses (the white hair on the feet is trimmed with the long-hair trimmer, the ears are shaved clean and the whiskers are also shortened). A quick glance at the clock told me that Dennis would probably be here soon. So I grabbed the giant bow that I had bought specially and tied it around April's belly, where the saddle is. Then I left the stables and leaned against the entrance gate, lit a butt and waited for the birthday boy to arrive.
Dennis wasn't long in coming either, and I gave him a warm hug and showered him with congratulations.
“So, now we come to your present. It consists of two parts. A big one and a small one.” Dennis looked confused and his parents grinned at me.
“Which one do you want first... Although the small one is the more valuable. I think we'll start with the big one.”
So I grabbed Dennis' hand, pulled him behind me into the stables and went straight to April's box. There April was standing in her box, nibbling happily on some hay. Dennis stared at her with wide-open eyes. Incredulous, he looked from me to his parents, back to April, and so on.
“You're all kidding me, right?”
“Not that I know of. This is my gift to you.”
“My parents would never allow that.”
“Yes, my son. Your parents also worked on Basti's plan,” Dennis's father intervened.
“Are you serious? April is my horse now? For real, completely?”
“I'm completely serious. And if you don't believe me, take a look at this.” I gave him the papers where he was listed as the new owner. His eyes became huge again. Then the tears came. He cried, he cried with happiness. Three happy faces looked at him as he went into the box and hugged his horse.
After what seemed like an eternity, he came out of the box and hugged his parents, thanking them profusely.
“Oh, and I'm not thanked at all,” I played, exaggeratedly offended.
“No, I don't know how I could ever thank you.”
“You already have.”
“Huh?”