Suzuki Tadashi
“The hell!” I was disgusted as I looked at the ground. I looked at the butt of a horse from the open back door of the stable, and looked at the poop lying all around the wooden structure. I pinched my nose with my left hand, and started to sweep the floor with the broom in my right. But, since I couldn’t get a good hold with just one hand, I soon moved my left hand down and started to sweep with both my hands. I collected the poop on the left corner, and then swept it out all at once. I then turned to the right, looking at all the other horses left. “And then I have to do moping too, and then bath the horses, and a lot more stuff still left.”
***
The sun was high over the head this hot evening. The stable was full of sunlight coming in from the open entrance. Inside one of the stables, I was cleaning one of the horses. The man suddenly came and stood just behind the horse, at my left, looking at me as I wiped the back of the horse. “The fuck are ya doin’, eh?!” He suddenly exploded. I turned my head to the left, looking guiltily at the man. “The fuck is that, eh?! Is this what you call cleaning?! The people won’t buy the horse if it ain’t no hygienic enough!”
“O-O-Okay…” I turned my head to the horse again and nervously started to scrub it more.
***
“So, here is the horse, sir,” The owner of the stables said to another man in a white coat-suit. “This looks absolutely fine, isn’t it?”
The rich dwarf guy in a white suit stood in front of the entrance of the stable, with the owner of the stables right in front of him. On his left was the brown fine horse, standing obediently with his head tilted a little to his right.
“Yeah, Masuda-san, it’s a fine one indeed,” The rick dwarf guy said as he patted on the head of the horse. As he moved his hand back on his hips, he commented, “He looks in good shape.”
“So, sir, I take one coin for each hour,” Masuda said with a smile.
“Well, that’s not really a good price, you see, because I’d need the horse for the whole competition, you see. I need it for seventy-two hours in total, so I guess you’d be likely to lessen the price a bit.”
“Sir, I should have, but the horses are dear to me too. Their diet is of high quality, and they eat a lot.”
“Sir, I’d readily pay fifty.”
“Sir, a rich guy like you should not really bargain like this. Please sir, I’d like the whole seventy-two.”
I turned my head to the front, looking at the two guys talking with each other. I then turned my head a little down again, wiping the back of the baby horse standing right in the middle of the stable as it ate food kept in front of his mouth. As I wiped the back of the horse, I irritably thought, “This guy just eats and farts! How the hell was he managing running this barn before me?”
***
“Sun rose up, moon came up, sun rose up, moon came up, sun rose up, moon came up, sun then rose up again. Now, I was tired.”
It was evening and I fell on the ground on my back. I looked at the wooden ceiling of the barn, full of parallel lines of wood making big squares and rectangles. They were outlined by the shadow they cast upon each other. I was breathing in and out through my mouth. “HUFF. HUFF. HUFF.”
“Ahahaha, really?” Matsuda-san’s voice touched my ears. I moved my head to the right as I lay on the ground, looking at the entrance. The sky was becoming dark already, and it was half-blue. The street was peaceful and silent as some people walked here and there through the street right in front of the entrance. I looked at Matsuda-san coming in with a man in a blue coat. “Then, what did you do?” He said with a huge grin.
“I defeated that motherfucker,” The old man in blue said with a smile as he turned to the front.
Masuda-san turned his head to the sky, his right hand on his forehead. “BWAHAHAHA! Damn I knew it!”
I heard the faint voice of the rich guy, “How was that motherfucker even tryna embarrass me in the front of the whole crowd?! He bit the dust instead!”
“Buttering another one, eh?” I thought as I turned my head to the ceiling again.
The old man in blue frowned a little as he looked at me lying on the ground. He then nudged Masuda-san, bent a little towards him, and while pointing his finger at me, he asked, “Why is your worker dozing off during work?”
Masuda-san turned to the front, looking at me lying on the ground. He frowned, turned to the rich man, and said, “Wait here, sir.” He then started to walk toward me angrily. I turned my head up again, sitting upon the ground, and then I turned to the left. I looked at his angry face of him stomping towards me angrily. As he walked toward me, I asked, “What happened?” Masuda-san then moved his right leg up, and then swung it at my face.
