Her cheeks heated with pleasure, and she dropped her gaze to the steaming cup of soup sitting next to her on the hay bale. “I like that,” she murmured. It was getting too mushy in here, so she offered him her most charming grin and finished with, “You’re smarter than you look.”
He belted out a single laugh and shook his head, then dug into his next sandwich.
He finished way before her and began explaining everything about chicken care. He was very knowledgeable. He told her, “You’re going to work hard today and learn a lot, and you aren’t going to give me a single complaint, understood?”
She packed the empty thermos, lid, and trash back into the cooler and stood. “Yes sir!”
Then they went to work. She pitched the rest of the hay from the coop into a wheelbarrow and hauled it outside to what Aux called ‘the burn pile.’ It was already very high with dried limbs and old pallets. Her muscles were burning and she cursed herself for skipping the gym too much lately, but it felt good to not just sit in his house and focus on the throbbing in her face or pondering the direction her life had taken. This was feel-good work.
Aux showed her how to hold Willamena and she only got pecked twice more. Chicken kisses didn’t hurt if she had a jacket on. There were six eggs in a nesting box on the wall, and she got to collect them! Aux was good about only rolling his eyes two times when she was jumping up and down celebrating with an egg in each hand. And he did good at not insulting her when she told each of the chickens how good they were at laying eggs. They cleaned out the waterer and after she spread fresh hay across the coop, he let her give them a handful of grain. She was completely normal and squatted down to spread the grain in a circle around her so she could pretend she was the queen of the chickens.
Next were the pig pens. Some had two pigs in them, and some had mommas with little babies. Some were white, and some were black, and some were white and black spotted.
“Do you breed them?” she asked.
He nodded. “The piglets go for $200 apiece. This breed is too small to be good for meat, but there are a lot of farms in these parts and people go nuts for the pet pigs. It’s a good supplemental income. I get a salary for clearing the roads, but it’s nice to get some extra cash when the babies are ready at eight weeks.”
“They’re so so so cute,” she murmured, leaning over a stall gate where one of the mommas had a ton of babies running around playing. They were all polka dotted! “I like that little one!” she said, pointing to one in the corner by itself.
“That one’s a runt. I’m not sure if he’ll make it yet. He gets bullied at feeding time. He’ll probably be dead by morning.”
“What?” she asked, horrified. “No, he’s amazing. He can’t die.”
“It’s survival of the fittest, Gwen. I let nature take its course on this stuff. I don’t raise weak pigs.”
“Haven’t you ever heard of mercy?” she asked. “You could save him. Just because he’s weak as a baby doesn’t mean he’ll always be that way. Can I hold him?”
Aux frowned thoughtfully at the little critter, then shrugged up a shoulder. “If you want. Five minutes and then we get back to cleaning the pens.”
“Five minutes and I’ll be the best pig pen cleaner in the world. I swear.”
Aux grinned. “Go on and catch him then.”
“Me?”
Aux opened the gate just wide enough for her to get in, then lifted his phone when she was inside. “Your five minutes starts now.” He poked a stopwatch function on his phone screen and oh crap, her snuggle time was counting down.
“Okay, catch a pig. It’s no big deal. The one I want is lethargic, and slow, and—Aaaah!” she screamed as the mom jumped up and joined her piglets’ chaos. She was at least eighty pounds of lightning speed. “Is she going to eat me?” Gwen screeched.
Aux was laughing.
Stupid boy.
She ducked out of the momma pig’s way and aimed for the piglet in the back corner who was trotting along the back wall now. “Come here, Samson!”
“Samson?” Aux asked.
“That’s my pet pig’s new name!” she called, keeping her focus on the little runner. For a half-dead thing, the little fucker was fast.
She lunged, missed him, and got knocked in the leg by the momma. It felt as if she’d been hit with a bowling ball. She went down hard to the soundtrack of Aux’s laughter. Grrrrr.
She scrambled up, rolled up the sleeves on his oversize jacket, and trapped the little pig in the corner. She scooped him up and high-kneed it out of the pen, avoiding all the other babies and the spastic mother.
“Awwwwww,” she crooned as she brought the baby piggy into the warmth of her jacket. He struggled and squealed an ear-piercing noise, but that was okay. “I would be scared too, but look, I’m Gwen and I wouldn’t hurt a fly. Well, maybe a fly. Or lots of flies. They’re gross. But you aren’t a fly! You’re much cuter than a fly. Look at your wittle nose!”
He settled down after a minute and Aux disappeared into the front of the barn. She made a shushing noise and rocked back and forth as Samson laid there frozen in her arms. He couldn’t weigh more than a couple pounds. How could anything be this cute?
Aux returned with a little bottle and had her sit on a rocking chair he dragged up. Then he showed her how to bottle feed the little guy, who was truly hungry.
Aux didn’t say anything while she was feeding the baby, just watched her with those unsettling silver eyes. She was getting more used to the color now.
“Is my time up?” she asked, feeling like it was getting close.
“You can have a few more minutes with him. I’ll show you how to make the bottles if you want to feed him later.”
“You do know what mercy means,” she crooned to Aux as she stared down at the little pig. “Why else would you have bottles? You care more than you let on.”
“Mmm,” he rumbled.
“Can I have him?” she asked brightly.
“You already have a chicken. The pigs are to sell, they aren’t pets. If you keep him alive, you can have the money I make on him. How ‘bout that?”
It wasn’t nearly as good as keeping him, but she had a secret plan to pester and bother Aux until he sighed, gave in, and said Samson was hers until she left. She could be very annoying when she wanted to be.
They spent the next two hours cleaning pig pens. It was gross, but kept her mind busy as she got more comfortable being around the animals.
She thought they were done for the day after that, but nope! Aux took her out in the freezing cold and gave her an hour-long lesson in the art of chainsawing. She didn’t know if that was even a word.
Gwen adjusted her safety glasses and finished another cut on one of the burn pile branches, then laughed like a psychopath as she lifted the chainsaw into the air in triumph.
“All right, ya nut,” he said. “Cut that pallet up safely, and we can move on.”
“Move on to what?” she asked excitedly.
“You’ll see.”
Exhilaration bubbled up in her chest and she handed him the chainsaw just like he’d taught her, by the handle with the blade facing away from both of them. Then she dragged the pallet out of the pile.