That Old Man. The Farm. The Visitors.

37 2 0
                                    


1

The sound of thunder rumbling through the sky makes you groan as you open your curtains to a darkened view of the rolling hills and brush that made up the family farm you worked on. It was days like this you hated with nearly everything that you are. When storms settled in with the wet season, it always meant more work. Usually you didn't mind a bit of rain, the farm could use some more water in the troughs it'd save you having to pay for a water truck. Four hundred bucks for a load and even then it might not be enough for all of the paddocks and your own home. (Your boss, Alfie Ricks, blames the shitty government for that; always Taxing the farmers for unnecessary shit like Cows burping or shitting. Stingy bastard just didn't want to pay for water) It was the lightning and thunder that bothered you about the weather. It meant spooked animals and broken fences to fix when it passes.

Seeing as it was only you and Old man Alfie on the farm these days; with everyone stuck in their homes waiting out the lockdown, you were left with the chore of checking for damages and runaway animals. It was a lot for one person. Alfie was getting too old to be driving quads (ATVs) around the steep hillsides. He must've been well into his eighties by now, you figured. Unlike everyone else the stubborn old man didn't want to leave his farm when Covid 19 crept into the country, to be with his family "What family?" He'd say. You weren't really given a choice as, unlike the other helpers on the farm, you had moved onto the property as soon as you'd started working for the Old man. You've lived there in the... generously large farmhouse on the Old man's 3000-acre (that's about 130,680,000 square feet) country estate, for around four going on five years.

He gained a ton in revenue with the villas that line the coastal part of the estate on the other side of Small Lake. Some of the other farm hands stayed there with their families when they made enough to pay for lodgings during the hols. The Old man definitely was the furthest a farm owner could get from being poor.

The Old man had hired you on as a farm hand when you'd dropped out of school at sixteen when the opportunity arose, as a favour to your Pops, who'd known him a long time. You'd never cared to ask how long. The man was like another grandfather to you when your Nan on your fathers side passed away you fully moved in with Alfie.

Staring miserably out the window to your room on the second floor of the easternmost part of the "farmhouse" - really it was too nice of a place to be called a farmhouse it was an estate - you watched the rain dribble down the window listening to the constant pitter pattering of it, before pushing yourself away from the pane. Shuffling over to your low drawers, you flinched as another bolt of lightning came down spilling a flash of light into your room, flicking the switch for the lights above the dresser on and rubbing a hand down your face you prepared yourself for a very wet and probably muddy day out on the expansive farm.

2

Honestly you should've stayed in school. Sure you loved animals well enough, but this. This was Hell. You thought as you whistled for the old farm dog, Sarge, while rounding off one of the main flocks of sheep with the quad bike. You loved watching the dog at work, the tan beardie cross seemed at home racing about the paddocks steering the flocks and herds towards the gates you needed them to go through, clambering over their backs whenever they were in need of drenching in the cattle yards or sheering in the wool shed in summer. He was a real riot for an old dog who'd been on this farm longer than you had.

"Alright, that's all of the bleating fluffy bastards. GET IN BEHIND SARGE! We'll wrap it up here and move on to the cows on the Far Side paddocks." You said as the dog leapt up onto the bike behind you after shutting the gates to ensure they wouldn't get too far outside the barn, as the last of the ewes squashed into the barn for however long the storm lasted. You'd come by to feed them the last season's crops tomorrow. You had had to put down a few that'd gotten fly blown in spring must've been, that hadn't been noticed until it was far too late to take any preventative measures. A few of the lambs that hadn't had their tails docked. 'Fucking Gorden the lazy arse, didn't do his job properly before lockdown. Poor animals.'

Disney Villains X Farmer ReaderWhere stories live. Discover now