Rowan's eyes felt unfocused, his eyelids taking more and more strength just to keep up. But he finally gave in
and decided to just rest his eyes.
What a workout... On my gums. Rowan thought, looking around the stall. It was big enough for two horses, if
they were standing and packed together. The walls were still too close for comfort. He looked down for a
moment and noticed the dirt, and just starting toying around with it for quite some time. He managed to spell
out Rowan wants a burger, it's all he could think about. Some so called human food, specifically meat. He
laughed silently in his head, hoping tomorrow would bring a better day.
- - - - -
The next day, Rowan awoke when he heard a loud clank, followed by the creaky swinging of a door of some sort.
"Good morning to ya, boy." A familiar voice said, the source of said voice patting Rowan on the muzzle. "You
did good for your first tug. Those rich ol' biddies also gave us a big ol' tip. I guess having such a pretty
boy for a horse is good too. Ya look strong, but get so huffy about pulling my cabs. Now, let's get started."
The cab driver grabbed at Rowan's muzzle and bottom jaw, opening up his mouth. Rowan just wanted to shout WELL
EXCUSE ME and bite down, but that probably wouldn't be wise. The cab driver put on an old garden glove and
began poking around in Rowan's mouth, the taste of ancient dirt stinging Rowan's taste buds.
"The cuts are healed. Good news, I'm pulling your teeth. I just used some of the tip money to widen the---What
in the world?" The cab driver looked down, puzzled. "Rowan wants a burger. . . The door was locked. How did
this get here?"
Rowan whinnied and rolled his eyes, catching the cab driver's attention.
"You understand English? Right? Nod, nod!" The cab driver was elated, to say the least. Rowan rolled his eyes
once again and nodded 5 times. Rowan then used his hooves to flatten out the dirt in front of him, erasing his
'amazing work of English'. He took some time to write out the letters, but he managed it. They spelled out
Name?
"Name?... Name, oh, I'm Roger. Get it?" Roger said, staring at Rowan with anticipation shining in his eyes.
Rowan nodded and Roger nearly exploded. "Ohohoho, genius horse, genius horse! This is amazing, that Asian sure
missed out on a gold mine. Imagine all the people who'd want to see a genius horse and then get a ride around
the city."
Rowan rolled his eyes again and wanted to write out HELP or something, but Roger was too excited. He pulled
Rowan out of the stables and hooked him up. This time, everything fit slightly better, but still didn't feel
too great about wearing it all.
"Pull it forward by ten steps." Roger demanded, Rowan obeyed just to satisfy his owner. "Which way is Main
Street?"
Rowan turned the carriage around and walked a few yards towards where Main Street was, causing Roger to act
like he won the lottery. Even though one could say he did, just in another way. He then paused and thought
about yesterday, he wasn't exactly easy on Rowan and thought he was just breaking him in. He figured if the
horse was this smart, it could do things without being taught. Roger, just a simple cabbie, didn't exactly see
this is as very odd or suspicious. Rowan began spelling things out, but Roger pulled out a carrot and shoved
it in front of Rowan's nose. "I don't have any burgers. I'm pretty sure horses can't have those, but you can
have this big carrot. Today's going to be a great day. Imagine people seeing a horse going through the city
without any direction."
Rowan sighed, coming out as a series of loud P noises, though Roger didn't notice. Rowan still didn't feel too
great after being worked so hard and he fell asleep standing up, which he wasn't used to. He was basically
running on empty.