I live in a little black house a few miles away from the city. It's peaceful and quiet. I usually tend to my garden and read under my big oak tree. I have two cows, two chickens, one horse and one pig, I tend to them in the morning and at night, and making sure, they eat well and are healthy. I also have a German Sheppard named Juju. He's my best friend.
I stare up at the ceiling laying on my bed. I sigh and turn to my left. I hear Juju barking, I get up quickly and ran outside. He's barking at the tall grass. Someone or something is there. I get on my tippy toes and see a fox. It's probably after my chickens; I ran back inside and grabbed some meat. I go back outside, set the meat in front of me, and call the fox towards me. I tell Juju to sit by me and to stay. The fox looks at me and looks at the meat.
"Go ahead, I won't hurt you." I smile at it.
It takes one more look at me and starts eating the meat. I reach out to pet it and surprisingly it lets me.
"You must have been hungry little guy. You want some more!"
It walks towards me and sits on my lap. I pet it and smile.
"You are truly an amazing creature. I will name you, Kino! Do you like it?" I ask the fox.
The fox leans on to my chest, and licks my hand. I smile and pet its' head.
"Juju, I guess we have a new member in the family! Welcome Kino to our family. If you are staying here you must promise to not get my chickens, ok?!"
"Juju, Kino let's get inside to eat some breakfast!" I smile to them.
Juju leads Kino inside and they sit on Juju's bed in the kitchen. I start cooking my breakfast and some breakfast for the boys. I hum to a little song and Juju barks along. Kino just looks at us. I serve my breakfast and serve the boys breakfast.
"There you go! I hope my boy and my new little boy enjoys!" I smile and eat my breakfast.
I finished my breakfast and Juju bows his head, meaning he enjoyed it and thank you. Kino copies Juju and I giggle. I wash our plates and call Juju.
"Juju, it's time to tend to the others, come on!"
I put on my apron and walk into the small barn on the left of my house.
"Good morning everyone! I hope you guys slept well!."
They moo, buck, neigh and an oink back. I smile and pet them all. They all have been with me since they were little. I made sure to tend and care for them and never left them a day without eating. I rake some hay for the cows and the horse, get some food for the pig and some seeds for the chickens.
"Juju can you go get the buckets please, it's time to bathe everyone!"
Juju barks back and brings the bucket one by one. Kino helped as well.
"You catch on fast, huh Kino." I smile at him.
I fill the buckets and get a brush.
"Lucy, Buck! It's time to bathe!" I yell for the cows.
The come on over and let me bathe them. I finished with them and continue with the others. Juju and Kino are left to bathe.
"Juju, come here boy it's time to bathe!"
I clean up Juju and he shakes the water off, wetting me completely. I laugh and Juju barks happily.
"Kino it's your turn!"
I clean Kino and surprisingly he likes water. Therefore, he really enjoyed it. I let the animals roam around the house and barn for a while, as I supervised them from the oak tree.
"Juju, go play with Kino. If anything happens come to me quickly, ok?" Juju bows and goes off to play with Kino.
After about 1 hour, the animals wanted to go back inside the barn. I lead them back inside and make sure they each have water. I walk out of the barn and call back Juju and Kino.
"Juju! Kino! Come here boys!" I look around for them but I do not see them.
A wave of worry hit me. Where could they be? Juju always comes back or he at least barks so I can know he is ok. However, nothing, he did not bark at all. I ran into the tall grass, looking for them.
"Juju! Kino! Where are you guys?" I start to cry, looking for them.
I am freaking out, I am getting really worried. It's hard to look for them, when I have tears in my eyes. I run back to the barn and get my horse.
"Nate! We need to find Juju and Kino!" Nate starts running to look for them.
While I was on Nate, I looked around, hoping I would spot them. I call out there names repeatedly. Nate comes to a halt and neighs aggressively. I jump off him and he neighs at a little shed. I walk towards the shed. In front of the shed sat Juju and Kino looking at me. I hug them and cry.
"Oh thank goodness you boys are okay, I was worried sick!"
Juju start to walk inside the shed, I follow him inside. This shed is over 150 years old so it is slowly coming apart. I am surprised it lasted so long. Juju pulls out a chest. I look at him and he insists that I take it home. The shed's walls were full of pictures. Some pictures were of a little girl looking at a black house.
Hey, that house in the picture looks like mine. I look at all the pictures and the little girl repeats and so does my house. My house runs down my family generations, my house is a few years younger than the shed, but it is still old.
My great great great grandfather use to live in my house, then his son, then his son's son and so on so forth until we reach my father moved out in of the city but kept the house. He gave me the house before he died. I was 10 when he passed away. My mother died when I was 5. So most of my life, I lived taking care of myself.
I take some of the pictures and put them in my pocket. I carry the chest and hop on Nate. I ride off with him as Juju and Kino follow. As Nate runs through the fields of tall dry grass, I look around. It has been a long time since I have been this far and actually come to the shed. I use to read the book from the shed by a small magnolia tree.
We arrived and I lead Nate into the barn and thank him. I walk towards the house and Juju, Kino wag their tails happily. I open the door and the boys rush inside. I set the chest on the kitchen table and open it.
