Sunday, October 7th, 1973
The Menagerie, by the Kneazles
5:07am
During the colder months, it wasn't surprising if Ren woke up before the sun rose. In fact, he made a habit of walking around and finding a spot to read during the golden hour. It was one of the perks of being an early bird.
But setting his alarm to 5:00am in the morning was not something he was accustomed to. He was also not accustomed to physical labor at that hour either. But there was no getting around it.
It's what he signed up for.
After making sure he packed a change of clothes and some extra supplies, he sighed heavily and mentally prepared himself for his walk to the Menagerie.
5:21am
Having made decent time on his walk from the dungeons to the menagerie, he moved towards the Kneazle encampment. This had been his task since about two weeks ago, and waking up every morning had been harder than the next. Luckily, the kneazles were probably the easiest part of the assignment.
Although the first couple of feedings had Ren on edge, the kneazles proved to be everything Professor Maddox said they'd be. Wary of strangers, but appreciative of the food being given to them. Two weeks ago they'd been eating while keeping one eye on Ren. The boy had taken the hint after the first few stares from the creatures, backing away as soon as their food was in place.
The two weeks had pass without incident, and Ren continued the feedings as usual. He looked forward to feeding the kneazles, and even started naming some of them in his head. Occasionally, he even muttered to himself in their presence, hoping that they'd become accustomed to the sound of his voice.
After 10 days of successful feedings, the boy had asked Professor Maddox if he could clean around, in addition to feeding the kneazles. He didn't like leaving the kneazles to eat by themsleves, although Ren was sure the beasts really didn't mind. But in that time, Ren was awake and wanted to put his early morning to good use.
That's when the poop came into play.
9:45am
Ren slammed the tip of the shovel into the ground, breaking ground and leaving the tool right up. He leaned on the nearest tree, and slinked down to sit on the grass, wiping the sweat from his forehead. It was fifty degrees outside, but Ren had only a single layered shirt on with his sleeves rolled up. He looked at the black wheelbarrow next to him, his trust but smelly companion in cleaning the stables of the wingered horses for the last three hours.
"Thank god, I thought the poop would never end..."The sentiment escaped his lips, as he remembered cleaning the pens out just as the winged horses first woke. Although they hadn't warmed up to him as much as (he thought) the kneazles had, they were more gentle and he's already been given the go ahead.
The beasts took that opportunity to wait until the boy cleaned the stables to go about their business.
And then the cleaning had to start again.
The boy rested for a while, letting the cool winds smack him across the face. they gave him life in every gust, and he appreciated the wind more so now than ever. Mostly because he was upwind from the collected pile.
He got up, putting his hands on the tree to climb his way back to his feet. The muscles he'd used were sore. Whatever he thought was sore before, he was sorely mistaken.
'Ha, SOREly, mistaken. Haha..owww..' He grabbed the shovel, beginning to start the last of his job in carrying and storing all the tools. Just then, for the first time this Sunday morning, he saw his first human of the day.