Post by Greywall on May 1, 2022 23:58:27 GMT -5
6 am.
The clock and its infernal ringing met with angered swearing and grunting, he leaned over the bed tired from the day before still and his body protesting and begging to return to the warm bed. On the other side of him his wife stirred and began getting herself ready she gave him a light swat to wake him up further but turned her head to give him a warm smile 'good morning love' that's what it said but she went into the washroom without saying a word. The man scratched his beard and stood up stretching and sending a chorus of unsettling pops throughout his body, he started to get dressed and made his way into the kitchen in the still dark house. The cold floor greeted his calloused feet as it creaked from years of age and use, he was the third to own it in his family along with the farm that awaited his labor outside. He put on some old leather boots before being hit in the face by a pair of wool socks, "put those on, your feet reek otherwise." He grunted at her but did as he was told, after putting the socks and boots on he left for the cold outside where the cool air wrapped around him and the soft sounds of birds singing slowly began to fill in the quiet void. He brought up a pail to a well pump and filled the pail with cool well water and brought it back into the house. The woman had turned the lights on in the kitchen and was already at work getting breakfast started, strips of bacon and some eggs on cast iron skillets on their gas stove began their earnest work as she turned to a new refrigerator and pulled out a glass of milk to pour into two glasses, the man grunted still tired as he took the pail of water to the counter "coffee love, I want coffee." He said softly, "Doctor says less coffee more milk" she retorted as she poured the milk anyway.
He walked back outside and lit a cigarette waiting for the sound of the motorized bike, it came as it always did 6:25 am over Shire's bluff hill making its damn racket and leaving a cloud of smoke behind it generated by the staol powered engine. The rider pulled up to the mailbox, said nothing, filled it with the contents he intended to deliver and waved as he drove off to his next house likely a mile or two away. The man walked up and opened the mailbox taking some letters out and what he sought after, the newspaper. He looked at the letters holding his name Melvin Hays, "Damn bills, damn junk, and...damn inlaws... fuck" he walked in and dropped the letters at the counter as his wife was nearly finished with her tasks, "yer mum wrote." She stopped and looked at the letters before looking at him, "almost done here, you want toast?" he nodded at her and sat at the small round table in the corner looking at the four chairs around it some sorrow, 'they used to be here with me, waiting' he grinded his teeth to fight back the thoughts and opened his newspaper. A minute passed and two plates were placed down on the table, he put the paper away and received his milk and a mug that had heat vapors coming off it, "try to limit it at least" she leaned in and kissed him on the forehead before sitting down herself to eat. He started to eat and slowly drink his coffee his thoughts drifting and not realizing his wife was asking him something, "MELVIN! gone adrift have ye?" he smiled sheepishly, "sorry, what you say Agatha?" she took her fork and cut through some eggs angrily shaking her head, "Jarvis will be in town this weekend, make sure you're freed up. He's bringing that girl he's been talking to." Melvin smiled, picking up his coffee right to his face but stopping "Best news i've heard all day hahaha" it had been a month since he had seen his oldest son who went to work on the railroad and make better money, "Gale is coming down too, but he's staying." Melvin was confused his youngest son had left for college to work in the agriculture field within the government, "is he done with his studies?" she ripped off some bacon before saying "no he flunked, he's coming home to work the farm til he figures life out." The silence in the room was deafening, Agatha was always blunt but even she felt hurt saying it outloud as she fought off tears wanting to stream down her face. Melvin stood up and walked over to her hugging her, "he'll be alright, just gotta be here for em and tell em he can try again is all." he went back to his breakfast and paper as they quietly enjoyed their morning.
Melvin then made his way a few yards from the house to a large wooden structure, the white noise of hundreds of chickens filled his ears and he entered the building via a wooden door. The smell of chicken droppings would gag a man or woman new at this, but Melvin had worked this farm his entire life, he collected eggs for what seemed like hours from Gaelic bard rock hens a breed native to the islands that had white and black markings all over them. "259 today, not bad not great." He then took a shovel and scrapped the droppings to a corner to be bagged and sold as fertilizer, he looked over his batch of hens and checked them "you're good to sell, you're good, you need to grow some more and you fuck you can stay here I reckon." He marked the hens with some wool string to slaughter later for meat and sell at the market. He took the eggs one by one slowly and carefully outside and finally fed the large horde of chickens. He took the eggs and boxed them up into sets of 12, the boxes marked with .02 pounds a box as a price. He then took them to a old wooden shed near the house that contained a pickup truck and loaded them in the back, in the back was a wool blanket to soften the trip to town. After several boxes and some sweat starting to produce from his brow he finally finished, "Agatha! you ready!?" he looked at his pocket watch 7:59 am. "Ah bloody fuckin' AGATHA!" she came out wearing a spring outfit annoyed at her husband "I'm coming you fuckin' gob." Melvin laughed as he justled the keys in his pocket to unlock her door and opened it for her, she gave him a warm smile as she leaped into the truck. The door whined as he closed it and he walked around to enter it and leaned over to her as he put the keys in the ignition, "259. That's our number today." She pursed her lips and tilted her head, "been better days. Maybe time to let some chicks hatch?" Melvin fired up the truck and shifted it into drive, "gonna have to, can't go lower than 250 or we won't pay off the ice box." The truck strolled out and onto the dirt road that ran near their house and farm heading East.
The truck was a 1924 Berthel single cab, reliable quick start staol powered engine that could haul heavy loads and keep going after thousands of miles were put on it, but the ride was still rough the roads in Western Faroe weren't great and the truck didn't have the best suspension. After half an hour driving they came into town, a small country town called Dilmire, the truck smoothed out the more it got into town pulling into some proper brick roads as they drove past some houses and shops. They pulled up to a small building, 'Carmichael Grocery' it said on the front Melvin walked in as Agatha waited in the truck the cool air of the store and its new refrigerated coolers made it seem colder than outside somehow in Melvin's mind. A voice shouted out from behind the aisles of food at him, "Be right there Hays." a man with one leg propped up by crutches made his way to him smiling the entire time his bald head with some hair greying on the side and his kind eyes behind glasses with large lenses showing he was almost blind, "what's the quarry today?" he hobbled over to a stool near the front of the store in a small corner desk that was his makeshift office "259. Sell em two Shillings a box as usual." the man nodded, "those chickens getting lazy eh? fuck em, when you bringing meat?" Melvin grabbed some sunflower seeds off a counter near one of the front registers and dropped a shilling at the man's desk, "gods Elrich tomorrow maybe, didn't feel like bringing bloodied birds up today." Elrich chuckled and he slid the shilling to his drawer and began writing a check. "Folks like meat round ere, damn shipments from Roskana and Lusatia not reaching us and fish...well folks get tired of fish and want beef an chicken." He tore the check from its binder and handed it to Melvin, 51 pounds and 80 shillings he grabbed the check and nodded, "go buy Aggie something nice ya country bloke." Elrich slid the check binder back into his desk, he saw Melvin was distracted, "s'matter mate? you look like ya didn't just take me money" he laughed trying to lighten his friend up but Melvin pocketed the check and began on his sunflower seeds, "shouldn't keep the ole girl waiting, i'll unload the eggs and head back. Be around tomorrow with the meat same time." Melvin walked out leaving Elrich disappointed he couldn't do more, he handed the check to Agatha who lit up at the amount "thank inflation" Melvin said as he began unloaded the boxes into the store. As he finished the first customers began to show up, Elrich's sons and daughters had already move the eggs where they needed to be for purchase. "We need staol" Melvin said as he entered the truck tapping the fuel gauge, the pulled into a depot where some workers opened the engine and placed small bits of staol in the burner. "Pound an shilling sir" Melvin dug into his pockets producing a paper note and a coin, "bloody ell, those moths raise pricing again?" the worker ignored him and went back inside as Melvin drove back to his home. They pulled in and Melvin went to work on the farm while Agatha went to write and mail the check off to their bank in another town as Dilmire didn't have one. Melvin went to cleaning around the chicken barn when he saw it, blood. He followed it to around the building to find a mangled body of a hen torn into pieces. "Great...a fucking fox."
The clock and its infernal ringing met with angered swearing and grunting, he leaned over the bed tired from the day before still and his body protesting and begging to return to the warm bed. On the other side of him his wife stirred and began getting herself ready she gave him a light swat to wake him up further but turned her head to give him a warm smile 'good morning love' that's what it said but she went into the washroom without saying a word. The man scratched his beard and stood up stretching and sending a chorus of unsettling pops throughout his body, he started to get dressed and made his way into the kitchen in the still dark house. The cold floor greeted his calloused feet as it creaked from years of age and use, he was the third to own it in his family along with the farm that awaited his labor outside. He put on some old leather boots before being hit in the face by a pair of wool socks, "put those on, your feet reek otherwise." He grunted at her but did as he was told, after putting the socks and boots on he left for the cold outside where the cool air wrapped around him and the soft sounds of birds singing slowly began to fill in the quiet void. He brought up a pail to a well pump and filled the pail with cool well water and brought it back into the house. The woman had turned the lights on in the kitchen and was already at work getting breakfast started, strips of bacon and some eggs on cast iron skillets on their gas stove began their earnest work as she turned to a new refrigerator and pulled out a glass of milk to pour into two glasses, the man grunted still tired as he took the pail of water to the counter "coffee love, I want coffee." He said softly, "Doctor says less coffee more milk" she retorted as she poured the milk anyway.
He walked back outside and lit a cigarette waiting for the sound of the motorized bike, it came as it always did 6:25 am over Shire's bluff hill making its damn racket and leaving a cloud of smoke behind it generated by the staol powered engine. The rider pulled up to the mailbox, said nothing, filled it with the contents he intended to deliver and waved as he drove off to his next house likely a mile or two away. The man walked up and opened the mailbox taking some letters out and what he sought after, the newspaper. He looked at the letters holding his name Melvin Hays, "Damn bills, damn junk, and...damn inlaws... fuck" he walked in and dropped the letters at the counter as his wife was nearly finished with her tasks, "yer mum wrote." She stopped and looked at the letters before looking at him, "almost done here, you want toast?" he nodded at her and sat at the small round table in the corner looking at the four chairs around it some sorrow, 'they used to be here with me, waiting' he grinded his teeth to fight back the thoughts and opened his newspaper. A minute passed and two plates were placed down on the table, he put the paper away and received his milk and a mug that had heat vapors coming off it, "try to limit it at least" she leaned in and kissed him on the forehead before sitting down herself to eat. He started to eat and slowly drink his coffee his thoughts drifting and not realizing his wife was asking him something, "MELVIN! gone adrift have ye?" he smiled sheepishly, "sorry, what you say Agatha?" she took her fork and cut through some eggs angrily shaking her head, "Jarvis will be in town this weekend, make sure you're freed up. He's bringing that girl he's been talking to." Melvin smiled, picking up his coffee right to his face but stopping "Best news i've heard all day hahaha" it had been a month since he had seen his oldest son who went to work on the railroad and make better money, "Gale is coming down too, but he's staying." Melvin was confused his youngest son had left for college to work in the agriculture field within the government, "is he done with his studies?" she ripped off some bacon before saying "no he flunked, he's coming home to work the farm til he figures life out." The silence in the room was deafening, Agatha was always blunt but even she felt hurt saying it outloud as she fought off tears wanting to stream down her face. Melvin stood up and walked over to her hugging her, "he'll be alright, just gotta be here for em and tell em he can try again is all." he went back to his breakfast and paper as they quietly enjoyed their morning.
Melvin then made his way a few yards from the house to a large wooden structure, the white noise of hundreds of chickens filled his ears and he entered the building via a wooden door. The smell of chicken droppings would gag a man or woman new at this, but Melvin had worked this farm his entire life, he collected eggs for what seemed like hours from Gaelic bard rock hens a breed native to the islands that had white and black markings all over them. "259 today, not bad not great." He then took a shovel and scrapped the droppings to a corner to be bagged and sold as fertilizer, he looked over his batch of hens and checked them "you're good to sell, you're good, you need to grow some more and you fuck you can stay here I reckon." He marked the hens with some wool string to slaughter later for meat and sell at the market. He took the eggs one by one slowly and carefully outside and finally fed the large horde of chickens. He took the eggs and boxed them up into sets of 12, the boxes marked with .02 pounds a box as a price. He then took them to a old wooden shed near the house that contained a pickup truck and loaded them in the back, in the back was a wool blanket to soften the trip to town. After several boxes and some sweat starting to produce from his brow he finally finished, "Agatha! you ready!?" he looked at his pocket watch 7:59 am. "Ah bloody fuckin' AGATHA!" she came out wearing a spring outfit annoyed at her husband "I'm coming you fuckin' gob." Melvin laughed as he justled the keys in his pocket to unlock her door and opened it for her, she gave him a warm smile as she leaped into the truck. The door whined as he closed it and he walked around to enter it and leaned over to her as he put the keys in the ignition, "259. That's our number today." She pursed her lips and tilted her head, "been better days. Maybe time to let some chicks hatch?" Melvin fired up the truck and shifted it into drive, "gonna have to, can't go lower than 250 or we won't pay off the ice box." The truck strolled out and onto the dirt road that ran near their house and farm heading East.
The truck was a 1924 Berthel single cab, reliable quick start staol powered engine that could haul heavy loads and keep going after thousands of miles were put on it, but the ride was still rough the roads in Western Faroe weren't great and the truck didn't have the best suspension. After half an hour driving they came into town, a small country town called Dilmire, the truck smoothed out the more it got into town pulling into some proper brick roads as they drove past some houses and shops. They pulled up to a small building, 'Carmichael Grocery' it said on the front Melvin walked in as Agatha waited in the truck the cool air of the store and its new refrigerated coolers made it seem colder than outside somehow in Melvin's mind. A voice shouted out from behind the aisles of food at him, "Be right there Hays." a man with one leg propped up by crutches made his way to him smiling the entire time his bald head with some hair greying on the side and his kind eyes behind glasses with large lenses showing he was almost blind, "what's the quarry today?" he hobbled over to a stool near the front of the store in a small corner desk that was his makeshift office "259. Sell em two Shillings a box as usual." the man nodded, "those chickens getting lazy eh? fuck em, when you bringing meat?" Melvin grabbed some sunflower seeds off a counter near one of the front registers and dropped a shilling at the man's desk, "gods Elrich tomorrow maybe, didn't feel like bringing bloodied birds up today." Elrich chuckled and he slid the shilling to his drawer and began writing a check. "Folks like meat round ere, damn shipments from Roskana and Lusatia not reaching us and fish...well folks get tired of fish and want beef an chicken." He tore the check from its binder and handed it to Melvin, 51 pounds and 80 shillings he grabbed the check and nodded, "go buy Aggie something nice ya country bloke." Elrich slid the check binder back into his desk, he saw Melvin was distracted, "s'matter mate? you look like ya didn't just take me money" he laughed trying to lighten his friend up but Melvin pocketed the check and began on his sunflower seeds, "shouldn't keep the ole girl waiting, i'll unload the eggs and head back. Be around tomorrow with the meat same time." Melvin walked out leaving Elrich disappointed he couldn't do more, he handed the check to Agatha who lit up at the amount "thank inflation" Melvin said as he began unloaded the boxes into the store. As he finished the first customers began to show up, Elrich's sons and daughters had already move the eggs where they needed to be for purchase. "We need staol" Melvin said as he entered the truck tapping the fuel gauge, the pulled into a depot where some workers opened the engine and placed small bits of staol in the burner. "Pound an shilling sir" Melvin dug into his pockets producing a paper note and a coin, "bloody ell, those moths raise pricing again?" the worker ignored him and went back inside as Melvin drove back to his home. They pulled in and Melvin went to work on the farm while Agatha went to write and mail the check off to their bank in another town as Dilmire didn't have one. Melvin went to cleaning around the chicken barn when he saw it, blood. He followed it to around the building to find a mangled body of a hen torn into pieces. "Great...a fucking fox."