Landuse

Around The Farm

The next day, Alex was watching dubbed cartoons. It was weird compared to the normal english in America. Spongebob's voice was higher, and of course, different language.

Alex is quite the city girl. Even though she grew up in the Philippines, she still feels uneasy. She prefers New York City. She only comes back when her school year is done.

"Hey, you wanna come with?" asked Kate.
"Yeah sure, anything to get out of this sauna.." she headed to her room and saw Roger flat on the matress, still sleeping like a pig. She looked at her watch, 9am and he's still there on the bed.

"What are you doing?"
"Changing."
"You don't have to."
"Aren't we heading out?"
"Yeah!"
"Then?"
"Heading to explore the farm."
"Oh.."
Well, better than this warm hobbit hole I guess..

They headed off through the tomato patch, taking selfies along the way. They also started picking mangoes.

Grandma started to tag along along the way, followed by her 2 brown dogs.

"Well, we got chillis and mangoes, can we go back now?" Alex asked, impatiently. She wanted to go back also because she was uncomfortable with the red ants crawling right below her feet.
"This isn't why we went here for." Kate said.
"Then?"

They headed further from the house. Further from the crops.
"See that? That's the same lake." Sam pointed. "Woah.. That's amazing.."

They went closer. The dogs tumbling about in front of them. Grandma telling them to stop playing.

They reach the lake once again. They take more selfies and landscape pictures. Alex was also a part time photographer. She took up journalism in college too. She always bring a DSLR along.

She saw tiny tadpoles and frogs the size of her fingernail. She began taking pictures. Clear shots.

After, they began crossing the river to get to the opposite bank. It was much wider than expected.
"We could buy this side too." she heard her mom say.
She was busy taking pictures of more tiny frogs.
"It will cost so much more than our budget can handle" replied her father.
"Yeah, besides, you don't need this part. If you're making that resort, this part is useless. This lake is the main attraction." said her grandma.

"Resort? How are you gonna make a resort here?" asked Alex, stood up, released from her squatting position and the tiny frog scared off.

"But it'd be nice to add some for like landscaping." Ignored by Sam.
They continued talking. She just listened and tried to make up what they wanted to do with the river.
"Yeah and they could swim here. We can make a big hole here."
"That's not enough for a swimming pool. What if we get more customers?"
Swimming pool? Out of this beautiful river?
"Then we dig bigger holes! Duh."
This will be a tradegy..

"Don't the townspeople need this?" Alex finally butted in.
"Yeah but were sharing it with them." replied Kate.
"It will be comtaminated and it won't be pretty anymore."
"They take baths here too. It's no different. We're just earning money from it and they're not."

They walked further, with the adults conversing along the way. Suddenly, Alex spotted two children in the distance. They were showering in the river. They went closer.

"Did you make this?" Sam asked them, pointing at the big hole, which looked like a natural jacuzzi in the middle of the river, where they were on rubbing soap on their bodies.
"See Alex? Same difference."
Alex sighed and went back to the big land with the nice landscape. She took pictures. Lots of them. Suddenly, in the viewfinder, she saw a tall man wearing a blue shirt.

She zoomed in with her camera and realised that it was the handsome boy. She took a picture. The boy ran away before she had a chance to put down her camera.

She looked at her picture. Clear. She zoomed in. It IS him.. He was staring at the camera. It must mean he was looking at her. At least if I can't see him again I'll have this picture.