Cry, my beloved people

Challenges Part 66

Studying for the exams, made the weeks pass quickly and Gregory felt that he was well prepared when it actually started.   However, when he received his English paper and the tutor asked them to write an essay about the challenges that modern farmers have to face, he felt stuck.

He searched in his mind for the most recent problems on Phillip's farm and the vandalized fences came to his mind, then there were the little lambs that were rejected by their mothers.  Another problem was the droughts, he remembered his Grandpa told him about it.  He had to sell half of his cattle to enable him to buy food for the rest.

Grandma also told him that she had to look at how they killed all of her chickens and burned their carcasses because of an outbreak of New Castle disease.  Poor grandma, she cried for weeks afterward.

One of the most challenging disasters his grandpa had to face, was a fire that destroyed half of his farm and five hundred meters of new plastic water pipes. 

 He was busy preparing the trenches to lay them underground when a runaway mine worker built a hut in the dense bushes on the outskirts of the farm.  The fire that he started to cook his food, spread into the dense bushes.  It caused a runaway field fire blazed on by a strong wind, that destroyed half of the farm's grazing fields and his water pipes.

The more he thinks about it, the more of the challenges popped up in his mind, there was the hailstorms, floods, and diseases and then there was the stealing of crops and cattle.  The worst was the murders of farmers and the poisoning of their watchdogs.

It was strange to think about all the things that could possibly go wrong.  Still, there are people that would put their heart and soul into farming to provide whatever is needed to feed the average man in the street.  He was thrilled about his essay and expected to get good marks for it.

The rest of the exams went easy and he was pleased when the last school day of the term arrived.  He was anxious to see Jessica again.  Father John also wanted Gregory to help him with a youth camp.

On Sunday, after the service, Jessica came running up to him: "Gregory!" she cried and threw her little arms around his legs, "I missed you so much and I can say your name properly."

Gregory had to blink his tears away: "Look at you, you grew so much and you pronounce all your words properly. "I missed you too' Jess, are we going for ice cream?  I've got a few nice photos to show you."

"Yes, yes I would love that," she cried and hugged him.  He took her hand in his and together they walked to her grandma, who stood a few meters away, talking to a friend of hers.

They had their ice cream, and watched the photos, she loved the one with the little lambs, cuddled up together.  Then they went to the mall and he let Jessica ride on the fun riders in the kiddies area.  She enjoyed the squirrel and the horse the most.  This was so nice, he loved to see her so happy.