Farm Sense - The Door

“Hi Andrew.  Nice day.”

Andrew: “Yeah, the weather is good, but the day is kind of stressful.”

“I see that.  What’re you doing?”

Andrew: “Closing the door.”

“I see.  Heard from your kids at school lately?”

Andrew: “Yup.  They seem to be getting along pretty well.  Mind you, sometimes I think I’m the last to know.  But, yeah, things seem okay with them.”

“What’re they taking again?  Mechanical Engineering and Medicine?”

Andrew: “Kenny’s in Medicine and Terry’s in Engineering.”

“Kenny’s the older?  I should remember that, I know, but I haven’t seen them in a while.  Maybe I haven’t had enough coffee yet today.”

Andrew: “It’s okay.  You remembered that correctly.”

“So are you going to be at this for a while?”

Andrew: “I don’t know how long this will take.  Probably a while though, from the look of it.”

“Would you like me to bring you a coffee?  What do you take in it?”

Andrew: “Thanks.  Just black is fine.”

“Here it is.  Hope you don’t mind, it’s a large.  I brought this little lawn table to set it on.”

Andrew: “Thank you.  I’ll get to it in a minute, before it cools you know.”

“How long you been at this?”

Andrew: “Started at about 6:00 I guess.”

“Crikey!  It’s 10:15!  So, if this takes a while longer, I’d like to help.”

Andrew: “No, actually the only way to make this work is for me to do this myself.  But thanks anyway.”

“Look, I’m taking a break today.  No one else is home.  I could use the company.  I’ll bring lunch, refrigerator surprise you know.  We have that table here, might as well use it.  That okay?”

Andrew: “Yeah, that’d be nice.  I expect to be here so, yeah that’d be nice.”

Meanwhile not too, too far away, there is another conversation underway.

Race: “Wow!  It is nice out here!  Been running, a lot.  Feels good to be out here in the sun.”

Saw: “Nice food here too.  You having some of this?  It’s really got a great green flavour.  You know what I mean?”

Race: “Yeah, I know that stuff is sorta addictive.  Too much gives me the trots though.  Not used to it anymore.”

Saw: “How long have you been out here?”

Race: “Since about sunrise I guess.”

Saw: “That’s pretty good.  Like it?”

Race: “Actually makes me kind of nervous, but yeah, it’s good.”

Saw: “I hardly ever see you.  How some you’re out here today?”

Race: “I got sorta scared, so I came here.”

Saw: “What scared you?”

Race: “I dunno, musta been something.”

Saw: “What happened?”

Race: “Hard to say.  It was just weird.”

Saw: “What was weird?”

Race: “The door was open.”

Saw: “What!  The door was open?  Why?”

Race: “I don’t know.  It’s almost never open.  I always figured the door was closed to keep things out and there it was, open.”

Saw: “Wonder what could be out here that would be so scary there should be a door to keep it out.”

Race: “Why’re you out here?  Aren’t you scared?”

Saw: “I get outside quite a lot.  Wasn’t scared until now.  All this talk has me upset.”

Race: “So, I wonder what might be out here to be scared of.”

Saw: “I dunno.  Hey, there’s Wild.  He seems to be out all the time.  Let’s ask him.  Hey!  Wild!  Can you come closer?  We need to ask you something.”

Wild: “I guess.  How are you guys?”

Saw: “I’m good.  You know, good.  I guess.”

Race: “Me too.  I guess.  How’re you?”

Wild: “Fine, really fine.  So what’d you guys want to ask?”

Saw: “Well, Wild, we were wondering about something.  Race here had the door open this morning and it made him nervous, afraid you know.”

Wild: “That so?”

Race: “Yeah.”

Wild: “Why nervous?  Why afraid?  I don’t like that place, but I figured, all the food you can eat, no big storms to worry about.  Might have its benefits.”

Race: “Yeah, that’s just it.  I don’t know.  I hardly ever get out here so I don’t know what there is out here.  Then I thought the door was to keep whatever is out here from getting in, so whatever is out here must be scary.”

Saw: “So, the all this talk from Race and he made me nervous, afraid, you know.”

Wild: “Actually I prefer it out here.  However, that does not mean there aren’t scary things out here.”

Race: “Like what?”

Wild: “Ever heard of cougars?  Bears, especially grizzlies?  Dogs?”

Saw: “Dogs?  I have dogs around and they don’t seem scary.”

Wild: “Well sometimes dogs in packs can be scary.”

Race: “So, Wild, you’re telling me I had reason to be scared.”

Wild: “Hadn’t really thought about it, but I suppose so, yeah.”

Saw: “So, what are you gonna do Race, go back in?”

Race: “Can’t really.  As long as that door is not closed, I can’t.  Too scary.  What if something comes in and I can’t get away?  Not worth the risk.”

Wild: “So what are you going to do about it?  How do you make sure the door is closed when it’s supposed to be?”

Race: “Well, I’ve got the man closing the door.  Had to get him to do that to teach him to keep the door closed.”

Wild: “How will you know when he’s learned to do that?”

Race: “Well, I’ll be in there and the door will be closed.”

Meanwhile back with Andrew

“Well, Andrew.  This has been a more interesting day than I was expecting.  Thank you.”

Andrew: “Really?  I’m afraid I thought you would think it’s kind of dull.”

“I do have a question.  How long do you think you should keep this up?”

Andrew: “No choice.  As long as it takes.”

“How will you know when you’re finished?”

Andrew: “Race will be inside and the door will be closed.”

“I see.  Where is Race anyway?”

Andrew: “Not sure exactly, but I think he’s in the paddock.  I think I saw him with Saw and Wild.  They’re not actually together.  The fences are separating them.”

“It seems to me closing that door as hard as you do is making an awful racket.  Do you think Race will come near here with that going on?”

Andrew: “No choice.  Gotta make a point.  Race has got to know I’m mighty unhappy with him going off like that.”

“I see.  So the door slamming is a sort of punishment for Race?”

Andrew: “Yup.  Gotta make sure he remembers.”

Meanwhile

Wild: “So Race, how long you gonna stay out here?”

Saw: “Yeah, I mean, Crikey!  You’re gonna have to go back in there through all that noise.  It’s not going to be easy to get through that.  And every time the door slams, it gets opened again and slammed again.”

Wild: “You could stay out here with me, but you’d have to get over that fence somehow.  Think you can do it?  I’m know, I don’t think I could.  But I’ve seen you jump over some pretty high stuff, and with that man on you.  Maybe you could.”

Race: “No.  I can’t live like you do.  Too scary.  I don’t know what I’m going to do.”

Meanwhile

“You know Andrew, I hate to bring this up, but it seems to me, you really have only one choice, you’re going to have to give Race to someone else.  He’s not going to come in past this noise.  You’re not going to go out and get him and bring him in because you’re door slamming has yet to show there’s been any improvement from Race about staying inside.”

Andrew: “You’re not correct about that.  Actually, this is none of your business, so seeing as you can’t keep your advice to yourself, take your table, coffee cup and lunch stuff and leave.”

So, I did.