Chapter 2

“Hey Ruth, could you come here for a second?” I turned around and my friend Sara was waving me over. We worked together at a department store, and seeing that she was with a customer, I figured that she probably needed me to reach something high up.

I adjusted my glasses and made my way over and saw that the customer’s eyes grew wider as I got closer. She must have never stood next to a minotaur before. I’d gotten used to that reaction since I came to the city six years ago. Most humans weren’t used to standing next to someone eight feet tall, though I was actually rather small for my kind.

“May I help you?” I asked as disarmingly as I could.

“Y-yes. Could you reach that that shirt? I’d like t-to try it on.” She stammered while pointing at a flowered shirt on one of the upper racks.

“This one?” I touched the one it looked like she was pointing that.

“Yeah, t-that one.” I pulled it down and gave the best approximation of a human smile that Sara had helped me practice, and the customer looked a little more at ease as I held the top out for her.

“Thank you, miss...”

“Argus. Ruth Argus.”

She looked over at another nearby rack. “Miss Argus, could you, maybe, get another one too...?” She asked, this time with just a little less hesitancy.

“Of course.” She pointed to another shirt hanging up high. I got it for her and held it out like I did with the other one. The woman smiled nervously.

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” I replied with another smile. She took the shirts and headed to the fitting rooms.

“She was totally shaking in her boots.” Whispered Sara.

“I know...” I replied, flicking my tail in agitation under my under my skirt. Sara patted me on the arm.

“The aggressive, territorial stereotype totally isn’t fair, but hey, you got her to ease up a bit. That’s something!” I glanced back down at her.

“Unfortunately that stereotype does fit most bulls perfectly,” I corrected.

“But that completely ignores women, and that’s not fair!” I sighed. We’d had this same conversation many times before. I shot her a look that reminded her that I didn’t want to talk about it.

“You know, some of the other girls are going to get some drinks tonight after work, do you want to come?” She offered, changing the subject.

“I’m not sure I’d like that...” I replied slowly. “I don’t fit easily in most places, and money is tight.”

“Ok then, the first couple drinks are on me,” she offered. “Pleeeeease! You stay home most Friday nights, it’ll be good for you to not be antisocial once in a while!”

“I think you mean asocial,” I corrected with a sigh, “but fine, I’ll come. But I’m going home to change first.”

“Yay!” Squeaked Sara. “You’ll have a good time, I promise!” My ears twitched in skepticism, but I didn’t reply.

“We should get back to work.”

The rest of the day was thankfully uneventful, and a few hours later I was home. I checked the bottom of my hooves for debris in a tilted up mirror I kept near the door and brushed them off before putting on my leather slippers to keep my hooves from scuffing the floor. It was supposed to be a super durable tile designed for centaur hooves, but the installer must have gone with a cheaper alternative because I left a rather large scrape only one week after moving in, despite my weight being only a fraction of most adult centaurs.

I sat down in the only piece of furniture in my living room, a comfy armchair, and started flipping through the mail I’d picked up on my way in. Most of it was junk, but one of the envelopes was from my landlord.

Opening it, my heart sank as my rent was being raised again. I was barely getting by as it was, and without even going over my budget I was sure the extra cost was going to be more than I could afford! One thing was for sure, I wasn’t going to be drinking any more than Sara would pay for tonight! With a sigh I got up and headed to the bedroom