4 Animal Care & Memories

The morning comes as quickly as it normally does. The light of the early morning sun pierces through the white and pink floral curtains of my bedroom's window. Chickadees and Warblers sing their jovial songs outside amongst themselves, almost as if they were trying to awake their bedfellows with a serenade.

Birds have always fascinated me, as they are so self-contained. They do not worry for the next day; simply they live their lives in the moment. As they know that they can always find refuge— and fresh feed— on my land. Perhaps that is the reason that they keep coming year after year for as far back as I can remember.

A yawn escapes my lips as I lift myself up from the bed and unto the cold wooden floor. I change into some blue jeans that I had placed yesterday in the early morning, and a plaid button-down from the closet. I figured that if I'm going to be working with the horses, I might as well dress in something that'll shield me from cleaning their stalls.

The boots I have though, are getting a bit old. Their seams are starting to lose their stitching along side the bottom side. When I have time to go out to neighboring town I might as well stop at the local Bucks and Willows— a family owned supermarket that had opened up a few weeks prior to my return to this town.

Heading down the stairs that lead directly outside of the kitchen, I move towards the fridge to pull out some fresh eggs I got from the chicken coops a couple of days ago. Nothing beats a glass of orange juice in the morning and some eggs— sunny-side up— with a few slices of buttered toast. No matter how hard I try, they are never as good as my grandmothers. She always added the right amount of paprika in the eggs, but I can never seem to figure out what else she might have done.

Across the table I noticed that I sat an extra dish. I guess my mind is still subconsciously thinking that my wife is still here. I must be going mad if I'm still doing this. It's been a year since that disease took you away from me. That damned leukemia that turned our world upside-down a day after we started planning a family. It came just as quick as it took you away from me. My sweet Isabelle, I wish it was me instead of you. You didn't deserve that suffering up to those final moments.

Tears flow down my cheek. I'm not sure as to whether it's because of my selfishness or you being gone— probably a bit of both— to be fairly honest. I know she wouldn't want me to be living in the past like this. She always wanted me to be happy, and did everything in her power to do so. Isabella was more than just my wife, she was the best friend that anyone could ever wish for. She was my other half— she completed me.

I place the dishes in the sink to be cleaned later and head out the front door to begin the work day. The ranch has mostly coops for the chickens as well as a stable for the horses, and a barn for the cows. Although, when I got the farm, the cows became too old and frail to produce anything of good quality. I'll have to buy a few more in the future once I get a handle of what I'm supposed to do here. I was never alone when taking care of the animals.

There are some fields for crops, which I still have yet to decide on what to plant this season. Since summer is approaching quickly, I best come to an idea soon before it's too late. The days are becoming hotter each and every day that I wait is a potential loss of yield.

Inside the stable, three familiar faces greet me with a trio of nickers. The foal of the three, Amy, is probably my favorite. Getting her to trust me was as easy as giving her a fresh apple. The other two, Whisper and Jack, took a bit of bribing to come around to the idea of trusting me. Horses are cautious creatures, and don't come to trust new faces so easily.

Cleaning the stables always makes me gag, the smell of fecal matter and piss always gets to me. It is so overwhelming that I need to take a break or two in between each stall. It pays off eventually when I need to compost it for spreading over the fields later. After about an hour or so, I manage to pile the manure outside of the barn and refill the feed and water for Amy and the others.

Wiping away the sweat from my brow, my phone vibrates in my back pocket. I rip off my work gloves and toss them to the side on an old wooden stool sitting outside the stable's entry. Addie messaged me. What could she want so early in the morning?

"Hey, Jackson. Are you free today?" Addie's text said.

"Yea I am, I just finished taking care of the animals. Why do you ask?" I reply.

"Do you reckon I could stop by in a little?" Addie replied with another message, "Things are getting crazy at my place, I need to get out for a while."

"That'll be fine. I was planning on working the fields tomorrow anyway." Addie responded back with what looked like a smiley face. In the mean time, I might as well prepare something to drink. I might as well go inside and prepare some of my grandmother's sweet tea. Luckily she left her recipe book sitting on the kitchen counter.