Rip - Trust (Completed)

River Ponies

Rip left his shirt on and went into the ice-cold river for a swim alongside his uncle, who had to laugh at the noises he made to cope with the cold and his hectic strokes attempting to get warm.

Mr Dutton had not expected him to stay in the water for more than a few minutes, but he was wrong. The boy turned out to be a strong swimmer and was very comfortable in the water.

Nevertheless, he kept a close eye on him, the current although not strong at this particular stretch could still be tricky, and the river was deep, so he swam alongside him in the beginning.

After a while he stopped though and ended up just keeping a watchful eye on the boy going from A to B and back again or circle around him. He reminded himself of Jacob standing in the middle of the arena trying to connect with his unruly horse by turning with it and using his whip as an extension of his arm.

After a while the boy became aware of his uncle watching and turning with him, and started to make a game of it, changing direction suddenly, or diving below the water, so that Mr Dutton had to quickly turn around in search of him.

When he emerged on the surface he did so with a big open smile, that Mr Dutton only had seen once before on the boy, when he galloped after Jacob up a steep hill and along the edge of the forest one afternoon. Rip had given him a terrible fright on that day, racing after Jacob like this. Mr Dutton had not yet known how good a rider he had become. When they eventually returned to him, he scolded both, which left Jacob of course unfazed but wiped the smile right off Rip's face, never to be seen again.

He was glad to have found it again today. Their game went on for quite some time and they both seemed to equally enjoy this peaceful dance until Rip suddenly just decided to stop and turned himself on his back stretching out and letting himself float in the water. The soft current brought him straight to where Mr Dutton was who held out his arms to receive him, but when they connected it startled the boy, and he kicked and lashed out, scratching Mr Dutton's neck. He swam away in a panic.

"For god sake Rip, you were told to cut those darn nails," the man shouted after him. He turned his back to the boy and headed for the riverbank. He was annoyed and wanted to get out of the water.

As he headed for the bank, a little rock landed beside him in the river with a plop. He turned around ready to let another roar at the boy and go after him, but just in time realised that the stone was not thrown with the intent to hit him. The boy, as usual biting his lip and his eyes filled with the fear of rejection merely threw it as a playful way to entice him back into the water.

With a sigh and a smile, he wagged his finger and said, "I am going to get you."

The boy carefully watching him, not sure if he was in trouble or all was well started to swim away from him and their dance started again, but this time Mr Dutton swam around the boy, never changing direction but slowly bit by bit drawing closer.

They were watching each other cautiously. He kept circling the boy, drawing nearer and nearer until he was close enough to have a chance at catching him. He gave the boy a wink with a smile, but in a flash the boy dived away, and did not emerge again from below the water until he was well out of reach, thus starting the game all over again.

After a while Rip stopped again and let himself float into his uncle's arms on purpose, and this time instead of panicking he let himself be caught. The man held him in his open arms for just a few short moments, supporting him rather than holding on to him and allowing him to dive away only to emerge again on the surface with the most heart-warming smile.

When they got out Mr Dutton went straight into the cottage to look for some towels for them. Inside he inspected the scratch on his neck in the mirror and wondered if this little mountain lion could ever really be fully tamed.

He found a shirt belonging to Jacob. Realising that Rip would probably not change into it in front of him he went outside to call him in to get changed but was surprised to see the boy sitting on the riverbank waiting for him, shirtless.

Drawing closer he was relieved to see that other than the crude swastika on his left upper chest the boy's torso had no more scars. He sat down beside him and handed him the shirt and towel, but the boy was hesitant, and Mr Dutton could see fear and shame in his eyes, biting his lips as usual when he was very anxious.

Instead of taking the towel and shirt, Rip held out his open hands, showing Mr Dutton two old scars, one in each palm, the size of a dime, and five smaller ones on the inside of his right forearm starting at his wrist spaced out going all the way up to the inside of his elbow. Mr Dutton took hold of the boy's right arm with one hand and with the other he gently stroked each scar one at the time with his thumb, as if trying to convince himself that the marks were really there and not something that could be just wiped away.

Mr Dutton was numb and did not know what to say, or how to react. The boy then pulled away and turned his back to him. At first he thought that Rip simply needed to retreat because he had reacted wrongly, but then he lifted up his long hair exposing yet another cigarette burn in the middle of his neck, in the little dip, just below the hairline. Again, Mr Dutton touched the scar rubbing it with his thumb, but then pulled the boy gently into his arms by the back of his neck and put his arms around him. "I got you Rip", he quietly said and just held him for a little while, and the boy let him.

There was nothing more to be said, so they silently got dressed and went back to the house. As promised Mr Dutton released Rip after their swim but Rip stayed with him for the rest of the day nevertheless, and so did Taylor who wanted to be just as close to Rip as Rip to him.