Feeding Time!

I wish Pa didn’t slaughter our animals for food. They are the only friends I have in this whole wide world. For him to just kill them off like he’s doing is just… Well, I just can’t take it any longer. I have to strike out on my own. Many kids have done it in the past I’m sure of it. It makes no never mind if I succeed or not anyways. So long as I don’t have to sit for another holiday feast. All of their exaggerated smiling faces with remnants of my friends stuck to their obnoxious teeth makes me sick to my stomach.

“John Jr., Get your behind on down here! Got lots of work to do da day!”

“Yes Pa”

Little does he know, today will be the last he sees of me and I of him. Don’t reckoned he will miss me at all anyhow. All I’s is to him is an extra work hand on this here farm.

“Hurry on up, John Jr., Like I say, we got ourselves a full day da day now!”

“Ok, ok, I’m here Pa, I’m here!”

“Good, now sit on down and eat ya some breakfast.”

“Whatcha make?”

“Got us some good’ol eggs with grits and some of that left ova meat from the slaughter.”

“Ughh!, I’ll pass!”

“Look here now boy, you can’t be no vegetarian now. You needs to eat yourself some meat so you’s can have some strength in them there muscles.”

“Pa, you know how I feel about this. Billy was my friend and you murdered him!”

“Now you listen here Jr., I did no such thing! Now you can’t murder no animal! That’s just nonsense talk! Besides, them animals is our livelyhoods! It’s how we’s survive!”

“Well, it’s not how I’m going to survive! I’m out of here!”

“John Jr.!..., John Jr.!..., Don’t spend too long out there with those animals now!”

He will never ever understand me! All he does is treat me like I’m a little kid! That is not all that I am! I have a heart and my heart has feelings!

Maybe I shouldn’t have stormed out like I did though. I don’t want to alert him of my plans to leave this farm once and for all later. Who am I kidding? He won’t be alarmed. He doesn’t even take the time to notice me and could care less what’s going on in my mind. He has no idea of my thirst for adventure and exploration. I want to see all the world and what it has to offer. There just has to be more to life than this farm and working from sun up to sun down every single day.

I am going to miss my friends though. They are the only thing that I like about this farm. Pa thinks that they are ugly creatures, but I think they is beautiful!

“Here want some bread? Come, come, come get some bread. Here David, here Tracey, here Tyrone, here Elizabeth.”

How could anyone set out to hurt such beautiful things. Sure, it is a bit weird how they stand up right on their two legs. But I just love everything else about them. I love how their bodies only has hair on certain parts. I love those cute little opposable thumbs and how they use them to grasp things. I love their cute little toes too. How they go from their stubby big toes all the way down to their little itty bitty pinky toes. Oh, but what I love most of all about them is…

Creeeak! Annabel cringes a little at the sound. The old door needs new hinges. She’s been meaning to replace them for a while now. Along with everything else on this run-down old barn. It holds the goats, that’s really all that matters.

“Feeding time! Feeding time! Come and get it!”

She notices one of the little kids is startled out of its sleep. It seems to be in a daze for a moment before it shakes its head and gathers itself. It then gets up and runs around in a circle three times before quickly running to join the other goats to eat its hay. The farmer smiles.

“Must’ve been one heck of a dream.”

She walks off to tend to other animals leaving all the goats to enjoy their vegetarian meal.