He who does not work (Cumberland Saga)

The birds were chirping and the sky was brightening when Walter rolled the two boys out of the sack.

Evan insisted that he wasn’t going to work with the men today. “I can barely move and I have a splitting head-ache.”

“And you can’t make me work with that hillbilly kid. He is psycho” Evan finished.

“I have other plans for you today” Walter said.

Abe’s hopes were dashed when Walter continued “...but you have to work with the men.”

“What about the psycho?” Abe asked, angling for a day off.

“Did you have a problem with him before you tried to fight him?” Walter asked.

“No” Abe admitted.

“Did your brother have a problem with him before he called him a ‘muther-fucker’?” Walter asked.

“No” Abe admitted, again.

“Then don’t call him a muther-fucker and don’t start a fight with him and you will probably be fine” Walter finished.

Abe couldn’t leave it alone. “Probably?”

Walter mentally rolled his eyes. Pick, pick, pick, pick at the details.

“Don’t say anything that is not literally true and don’t lay a hand on him or throw anything at him. Got it?” Walter said.

Walter had the sudden perception regarding why the word “Literally” aggravated him so much. It seemed like kids now days used the word “Literally” to preface a sentence that they really wanted the listener to believe (not that it was actually any more factual than any other sentence they uttered). When he grew up, words were for conveying truth but his kids used words to exaggerate, bend and distort reality. 

Part of his realization that it wasn’t so much “when he grew up” but “where he had grown up”. The need to exaggerate is a linguistic clue that a person feels powerless. Walter and Amira had been raising their children in a society where nearly everybody was conditioned to be powerless.

“I still hurt too much to work” Evan insisted.

“No worries. You will be riding around in a truck” Walter assured him.

That was much more to Evan’s taste.

Blain knocked on the door as the two boys were finishing breakfast. “Come with me” he told Evan.

Together, they walked over to Gregor’s truck where he was waiting.

Evan sat on the bench seat between the two men, a factor that made him extremely uncomfortable. For one thing, they smelled like sweat rather than fancy laundry products. For another, Gregor would not let him even touch the knobs on the radio. Bastard!

Gregor drove over to the trailer which Blain hooked up. Then Gregor drove down the two-track toward the road. During the night, somebody had pushed the boulder out of the drive enough so Gregor's truck could squeeze past it.

“Where are we going?” Evan asked, hoping for a chance to eat some fast-food.

“We are going to the chicken farm” Gregor informed him.

“Is that a restaurant?” Evan asked. Chicken wasn’t his favorite but maybe they had breakfast sandwiches with sausage and eggs and processed cheese spread!

“Nope. It is a real, honest-to-goodness chicken farm” Gregor assured him.

“What are going to do there?” he demanded.

“We are picking up chicken-shit” Blain said.

Evan made a face that showed his disgust.

“Why the hell would you do that?” he asked.

“First of all, you haven’t earned the right to use words like ‘hell’ and ‘fuck’ so stuff a sock in it. Second of all, you and I are going to be shoveling shit today to fertilize your garden so you have something to eat this year” Blain informed him.

If Evan hadn’t been bracketed in by the two men, he would have opened the truck door and jumped out in spite of the fact that it was moving.

“You can’t make me” Evan challenged him.

Blain looked calmly over at Evan as Gregor slowly motored toward the chicken-farm.

“Your mom and dad and I had a conversation last night while you were sleeping” Blain informed him. “Your mom is a wizard at writing up forms.”

That was a fact that Evan was well aware of. At one time she had tried to get him to sign behavior contracts.

“Your parents granted me power-of-attorney to act in their behalf as a surrogate parent to you. Nice word, ‘surrogate’, don’t you think? In return, they agreed to not feed you unless I explicitly tell them that you satisfied my requirements in terms of behavior and the work you performed” Blain said.

The reason Gregor was driving slowly was because he had made arrangements to have the trailer loaded. He was aiming to hit the loading dock at exactly 7:59 AM and be on his way back to Copperhead Cove at 8:01 AM. Amira and Walter would just have to add the limestone by hand.

Neither of the men left the cab of the truck. Gregor slipped the gentleman who loaded the trailer with the skid-steer by lowering the window a crack and slipping him a sawbuck. Evan had no chance of making a bolt for freedom.

Arriving back at Copperhead Cove, Gregor piloted the truck and trailer down the two-track to a plot that formerly belonged to Constanze. He turned off the truck and pocketed the keys.

Blain got out and pointed at the pitch-fork and scoop-shovel that were waiting for them. “We empty out half here and then Gregor will pull up to the next plot and we empty the rest there.”

“I am not getting out of this truck!” Evan declared.

“The truck is my property. If you don’t get out, I will reach in and throw you out” Gregor said. “And I promise you I will NOT be gentle.”

Evan decide that this was not the time to be stubborn. There were no other people who would witness the child abuse and he really did not like pain.

Evan got out and stood at the back of the truck.

“Grab the shovel” Blain said as he removed the tail-gate of the trailer.

“Get your own damned shovel” Evan said.

“I will be using the fork” Blain said. “And what did I tell you about using adult language?”

Evan refused to walk over and pick up the shovel.

After putting the tail-gate to the side, Blain picked up the pitchfork and walked over to the back of the trailer and waited, expectantly.

Gregor grinned and tossed Blain the keys and walked off. It looked like Evan and Blain would be standing there a while.

“What?” Evan said, confused, looking around.

“These are your family’s garden plots. I am helping you. But I am not going to do any more work than you do. That is what ‘helper’ means. I will take one fork-full for every shovel-full you take off this trailer” Blain said.

“All we have to do is to empty out half the trailer into a pile, move the truck and then empty the other half” Blain said.

“Well, I guess we are done here” Evan said. “You can just leave because I ‘ain’t’ gonna touch that shovel.” deliberately drawling out the word ‘ain’t’ to mock Blain.

“I am not going anywhere” Blain serenely informed Evan. “I have to report whether you met my expectations. And if we don’t shovel it today, we will shovel it tomorrow.”

“And if I don’t shovel it today, why would I shovel it tomorrow?” Evan sneered.

“Probably because you will not have eaten lunch, dinner or tomorrow’s breakfast” Blain suggested. “Being hungry is a great motivator.”