The Butcher's Odyssey

It was the evening of another dark rainy day. The storm and the heavy rain had been catching up with each other over the past few days and had presented a dark and eerie overcast on the skies that was almost impenetrable for naked eye.

Yamir, the 6 foot 4 inches tall, heavily built 45 year old butcher was there right at the butchery corner of that hypermarket. Yamir had the luxury of viewing the fertile meadows visible from the window of the butchery. It always seemed that the fertile green meadows were boundary-less till the sight of the distant green mountain range. On that rainy day, Yamir tried hard to get a glimpse of the distant mountain range, but it was close to impossible as the thick dark clouds seemed to have opened a secret portal between the dark world and our world.

Yamir was planning his route back to his house as he anticipated heavy water logging in his usual route. While observing the weather curiously, Yamir thought deep inside his head to start from his work and reach home before it could get any worse. The extension phone rang hard - "briiimmm brrriimm.." and spoiled his planning and strategies. The intuition said attending this call might flood his plans, but his intellect said it could also pose a threat to his job which was recently under scanner. He had a family of four to feed, so risking the job was not on the menu.

He picked the call and was taken aback by the lousy voice of the store manager. The voice said, "I smell some evil plans of going home early. Coincidentally, we got an order. 25 pounds of Lamb chops from Mr.Tamura. They want it for dinner tonight. So please if you can rush your sorry brain and get to work, we can deliver our order. If not... Hehe.. You know the rest of the story well". End-of-call.

Yamir was disappointed. Dulled by his emotions, he assured himself that he certainly cannot negotiate with his boss as it's a matter of $350 and the fat business profit the store made for years from Tamura's family. He quickly buried his feeling and the popup of emotion under the cap and opened the knee-high door of the butchery. He put on the rain coat and headed bravely to the backyard of the supermarket.

As it was rainy, the drizzle of the rain was entering the livestock shed little by little. Two young sibling twin lambs inside the shed were feeling the wetness of the rain slowly. The young twin siblings were sitting near the door which gave way for the drizzle to exploit the shed. The young lambs were trying to turn their faces from the drizzle and saw each other with some sort of dismay. The head sheep of the flock was chewing soy-grass consistently in an addictive and never-giving-up manner. The young ones looked at the head sheep with hopeful eyes to place their plea to go further deep inside the shed. But the soy-addict was not in much interest to respond to the cribbing young ones. The young twin siblings continued to sit near the opening of the shed and received the drizzle to their tender faces.

Yamir had managed to wear a raincoat and braved the rain to reach the backyard. Even before he came near the shed, the lambs had detected his approach. There was an eerie cry from the head of the sheep flock. He has seen many lambs being taken from the shed. But he was not sure what happened to them.They somehow never returned back to the flock nor to the shed. The head was now sure that the arrival of Yamir always had a purpose as per the past. And was always resulting in the disappearance of a flock member. He tried to bleat hard in order to warn all the other souls. He bleated with full energy and sound so that the alarm would be understood by all and they could run to the corners of the shed. He never wanted anyone to go missing again for he was a silent but affectionate being.

All lambs got the message that something was wrong. The head never bleats so loud, if he does then some grave danger has come their way. The twin sibling lambs sitting near the door were shocked at the alarm. They could not understand the situation as it was new to them. Generally they sleep all night and jump out of the shed in the early morning to play joyfully and graze the grass to their heart's content. They used to play with each other and try to catch all the butterflies they could only without any success. The alarm from the head was panicky and was full of dread. The siblings thought going to the back corner could be safe, for they couldn't think of anything else during the emergency. They both ran as fast as they could and reached the far end of the shed's corner and leaned against each other's neck and felt a moment of safety and comfort. The siblings were happy that they got each other and so hugged each other making it airtight. The hug was like : "Everything is going to be alright soon.. This will be over".