Marriage of Necessity

~28~ Reminder

The next two days follow much the same pattern. We work from the moment the sun rises, till our heads hit the pillow at night.

I have never known such exhaustion in my entire life.

Once all of the wheat is harvested, it's time to thresh it—That's a treat.

We all sit in the barn, and smack the wheat against the sides of a bin, making the heads fall off and leaving the straw behind. Then we take the straw and put that to the side to use for later.

We save some of the wheat for hay, and thresh the rest. The sneezing out of me is becoming unbearable—I'm having such a hard time with all the dust.

"That sneezin' is gratin' on my nerves," Remi snaps one afternoon as I sneeze loudly, spooking a few goats nearby.

"Sorry. I'll be used to it soon," I sniff, blotting at my eyes with my apron. Lands a mercy this isn't fun.

"Pa, can I have another job? Sittin' next to her is tryin' my patience, and if I haf'ta sit here much longer, I'm liable to get myself into trouble," she says darkly.

Matthew scratches his nose, trying to hide a smirk as he mulls that over.

"The pigs could use their slop," he finally says.

She nods as she silently stands up and leaves, escaping my constant fit. I'd leave too if I could.

"Sorry," I say as I sneeze again. "I've never been so sneezy before."

He gets a handkerchief out of his breast pocket and hands it to me.

"You'll get used to it."

"How much longer till we finish you think?" I ask.

"Clear as I can tell, we should be done with this part tomorrow. We still have to sort and bag everythin', and then butcherin' needs to get started after that."

I crinkle my nose and make a disgusted face. Killing chickens is one thing, but butchering cows and pigs is completely different. I've gotten attached to a few of them.

"Can we spare Tiger Lilly? That one's grown on me."

"You can't get attached to food, Sophie," he says sternly.

"Oh I know, but she's friendly."

He gives me an incredulous stare, looking as if I just let my hair down in broad daylight.

"Don't. Get. Attached. To. Food." He says again, emphasizing each word.

"Then how's come you name them?" I ask with more attitude than I should have.

Once his eyes go from a calm serene ocean, to rough and choppy waters, I jump off the ship and focus on this blasted job once more.

I really like Tiger Lilly the pig. It's gonna be weird frying her up as bacon.

After a few minutes, I hear Matthew sigh.

"I ain't butcherin' her until next year. She's still a young sow, so I can breed her for one more year. If I go any longer than that, the meat won't taste as good. Quit gettin' so attached, or next year will be hard for ya. I ain't keepin' her as a pet."

I nod, as I continue beating the wheat against the bin. The cloud of dust fills my nostrils, bringing forth yet another sneeze.

Living on a farm is hard. Back home, I didn't have time to get attached to the fish before I ate them. I see these critters every blasted day. I don't want to eat them for supper.