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| I would have picked Hawk.
The sarcastic bite in her mentality was not quieted by the task presented to her by this particular stall’s occupant. Hawk was notorious. A gangly, growing-into-himself three year old colt with the palest shade of coat that should still be termed palomino, he presented anyone who cared for him with immense challenges. Karita was staring at one of them right now.
“I don’t know how you do it, buddy.” She sighed and shook her head, then stepped out of the stall long enough to grab a halter and lead rope. Mud like that needed a bath, not a body brush.
She led the colt to the wash rack and he plodded along beside her - almost smugly, it seemed. Kari smirked as she clipped the cross-ties to his halter. “You are such a male, you know it?” The horse didn’t answer, of course, he just stood there, one rear hoof already toe-down as he settled in for his bath.
Kari didn’t think much as she first picked off the biggest mud clumps and then set the water temperature to wet him down; grooming was a fairly mindless thing to do and that’s what she wanted. But, as she popped open the shampoo bottle, thoughts started churning about as quickly as the suds on Hawk’s muscled shoulder. Her brow furrowed as she thought. What is it, anyway? Why can’t I just have a normal relationship with someone without feeling trapped? Her fingers expressed the intensity of her unspoken words as she moved from shoulder to back, using long strokes to offer a muscle massage along with a coat cleaning. Hawk shifted weight slightly and his lower lip began to hang. The horse was falling asleep.
A small smile danced across Kari’s face and she unconsciously started humming. A symbiotic relaxation continued as Kari scrubbed and Hawk snoozed until the colt was a sudsy dripping edifice ready for rinsing. Karita grabbed the hose and checked the water temperature as she rinsed her hands – Hawk hated cold baths with a passion. After assuring herself that it was warm enough, she began rinsing the colt from behind his ears and down his neck, periodically sloshing the water away to ensure that she was getting all of the shampoo out of his coat. She was about half done when a voice interrupted.
“He looks happy.”
Kari squeaked and dropped the hose.
Solomon laughed. “Wow, you were really into it, huh?” he bent, picked up the hose and began rinsing the horse as Kari stood there, gathering her composure, which was taking much longer than she would have liked.
After a couple of seconds, however, her mind re-engaged and she took the hose from the intruder of her serenity. “Thanks, I can handle it,” she said curtly, turning her attention back to the horse.
“Oh, aren’t we self-sufficient,” the teasing retort was accompanied by the flinging of sudsy water, which found a resting place on her cheek.
“Hey! Don’t forget who’s holding the hose here, buster.” The impish expression on her face belied any sort of ferocity Karita exuded.
“Uh huh. You can’t do anything because you’d upset Blondie, here.” Solomon smugly rubbed Hawk’s forehead while Kari glared. He was right and they both knew it, so she went back to rinsing.
“You missed a spot.”
“Ooh, would you just STOP!?” She whirled and Solomon gave a delighted little snicker as he mockingly ducked behind Hawk’s head again. Kari feigned disgust and finished her task; completely ignoring the presence of the dark-haired annoyance that was scratching the ears of her client. | | |
| Lies"You lie!" she screamed. Perhaps scream wasn't the right word. Her voice wasn't a high-pitched shriek of anger. Oddly enough, the tones seemed more like what the voice of a wounded animal would be - if animals could talk. "You lie! You're a man and you lie! It's what men do. They lie."
"Karita..." Solomon stepped towards her, hand outstretched, as if to comfort.
She flinched away. "No. You lie." The expression in her eyes wasn't physical. It ran so much deeper than that. A well of sorrow - betrayal, pain and mistrust - almost fathomless, if you knew what you were looking at.
Solomon's face began to mirror her own, sadness creeping into his countenance. "I thought.....aren't we friends?"
"I don't have friends," she snapped. Funny how pain and fear gave way so readily to a defensive anger.
That anger sparked the same ember in him. "Oh get off it, Kari! I've known you for how long now? You've gone through some of the darkest days of my life with me - and I know I've done the same with you, don't deny it. We ARE friends. And I'm not the only friend you have."
She scowled. He was right and she knew it. But she really didn't want to know it right now. She wanted him to go away. Why couldn't he just go away? If he did, he'd prove her right. She began to almost will it in her mind:Go away. Go on, you know you want to. Go away and leave me... He wasn't moving. Drat him.
"Kari?" He was probing now.
She wasn't caving. Not this time. "Go away, Solomon."
"What???" Now he was confused. What was it with her? The most fickle girl he'd ever known, it seemed. Gracious one minute, ferocious the next. Maybe he should listen to her this time. At least life would be less confusing.
Karita saw the flicker of hesitation in his eyes and waited. Just go, she thought. Just go and prove me right and leave me alone. Go.... He was still standing there. Dratit, would you GO?! Even while she thought it, she knew she didn't really want him to leave. Superficially, it would make things simpler, yes. But the further hardening of her heart would hurt more deeply. She knew it.
Solomon didn't know what to do. He knew that she shouldn't be alone, but she obviously didn't want him there. He didn't understand her, and didn't care to try and understand her, really. Stupid complicated females. He didn't know how they lived with themselves. It was hard enough trying to figure out how to deal with them on the limited scale that he had to. Maybe he could change the subject...
How to get out of this....her thoughts were screaming for an open door and there wasn't one to be seen. With a small sigh, she created one of her own. "Nevermind, I'm sorry. I'll catch ya later, k?" With that, she flashed a small "trust me, the world is fine and I'll be mellowed in a couple of hours" smile and turned for the door.
Her attitude and demeanor indicated that her smile was lying, but he didn't know what to do besides let her go. So he watched as she strode out of the room and down the hall. He could follow her or guess where she was going, but it would be of no use and he knew it. Sighing again, he grabbed his mp3 player and started for the gym. A run and some weights would do him good - no head games and wonderment. Straight up physical effort was something he could understand; women were something else entirely.
After she left the office, Karita headed for her favorite place: the barn. She half wondered if Solomon would show up, but immediately hardened herself. She knew where those thoughts would lead, and that was a path she had no desire to travel again. She picked up a brush, ducked into a stall and began focusing intently on grooming. This she could do . . . | | |
| I am writing the first of my mere three (*gasp*  WHAT ON EARTH?!) papers this semester. Thus far, it has proved to be . . . interesting.
What do you think about terror being justified?
In cooler news, God rocks and has been teaching me more about Himself - though I'm still confused about just what I'm supposed to do, I know that if I keep seeking Him, there's nothing to fear
The Lord is my light and my salvation - whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life - of whom shall I be afraid? When evil men advance against me to devour my flesh, when my enemies and my foes attack me, they will stumble and fall. Though an army besiege me, my heart will not fear; though war break out against me, even then I will be confident. One thing I ask of the Lord, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to seek Him in His temple. For in the day of trouble He will keep me safe in His dwelling; He will hide me in the shelter of His tabernacle and set me high upon a rock. Then my head will be exalted above the enemies who surround me; at his tabernacle will I sacrifice with shouts of joy; I will sing and make music to the Lord. Hear my voice when I call, O Lord; be merciful to me and answer me. My heart says of You, "Seek His face!" Your face, Lord, I will seek. Do not hide Your face from me, do not turn Your servant away in anger; You have been my helper. Do not reject me or forsake me, O God my Savior. Though my father and mother forsake me, the Lord will receive me. Teach me Your way, O Lord; lead me in a straight path because of my oppressors. Do not turn me over ot the desire of my foes, for false witnesses rise up against me, breathing out violence. I am still confident of this: I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord. ~Psalm 27
And this is one of the most awesomest devotional entries I've read in a while. Check it out!! | | |
| I have a lull in my day and so much that I want to remember and convey . . .
Working on the Hill is great. I absolutely love it. Even though I'm pretty well exhausted and fighting a headache at the moment, there's a certain excitement working in an congressional office that I haven't found in any other job as of yet. For the most part, I'm a receptionist I answer phones, sort mail, change addresses in the database, boring stuff like that (though the phones aren't necessarily boring. Good grief. People really expect their congressman to fix everything for them; it's pathetic ) I have had a few interesting other projects, though Last week I did some research on the availability of drugs online - veeeerrrryy interesting. And today, I wrote a form letter Ok, so that's kinda lame sounding, but it was pretty cool to write something for a practical purpose. It was on abortion, too, so I got to use strong words like "barbaric" hehe. There's so much that happens here every day; today John Boehner was elected new majority leader, which threw our office into a tizzy because Norwood had supported Blunt
Politics.
Aside from the internship, there's PLENTY of stuff going on. Free Indeed started this week; we're singing Blessed Are You again this semester That song . . . *sigh* don't get me wrong, it's a great song. The alto line is just . . . .monotonous. I'm trying to squeeze driver precepting in during spare time so that I can become a released driver with the Squad (I'm really excited for this summer - EMT B) HSLDA has gone crazy - conferences are picking up and graduation supplies are, well, they're graduation supplies and they'll be the death of me yet And what else? Oh. Yeah, classes I love [most of] my classes I already have plenty of anecdotes from Freedom's with Stacey this semester and we're only a couple weeks in. hehe.
Of course, none of this would be anything without the roomies Bethy and Nat have been absolutely wonderful Nat's off-campus housing has provided us with a refuge for insanity (hehe, yes for insanity, not from)
Anyway, I've gotta go catch a bus; just wanted to update ya'll - especially my family, since I've been pretty impossible to actually talk to lately
Love you all!  | | |
| 
Forgive the blurriness; just a simple cell phone camera. Fuzzed words are:
Naomi
Johnson
Rep. Norwood
9th GA
INTERN
109th Congress | | |
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