“I don’t have a lot of guests, sorry.” Trish mumbled.
“No, Trish, it’s fine. Thank you. Really.” Hogan assured her. He only had the clothes on his back. He was essentially homeless and was here only by her kindness. Had she not invited him to stay with her, he’d have been homeless, out on the street. He could have gotten a room, but with the credit card situation, he’d have been out of luck. He would have ended up at the newly established tent city. No, he was better off than he could have been. He’d make sure she’d not regret inviting him into her home.
“Let me give you the nickel tour, just let me know if your leg starts to bother you. This will really help me. Depending on the shifts I worked, I had to run home on my breaks to feed and tend to the animals. That usually meant I had to eat and run. A lot of times, the animals were left to fend for themselves. If we were slammed. But with you here, I can now leave it to you.” She grinned. Leaving the house, they walked out to the back, he saw a large barn, and was impressed. Though the house itself looked run down, the property was neat and well managed. The barn was faded but in good repair. The large pasture held five goats, which kept the ground well cropped. As they approached the pasture the goats came running toward them, bleating wildly.
“I guess they’re happy to see us?” He grinned. The pasture was surrounded by a wire fence, with posts every ten feet or so. There was a good-sized pond off to the side of the pasture, with cattails and he could hear frogs croaking. There were scores of dragonflies that hovered over the pond, their bodies glistening in the dull daylight. Soon, they would die off. He was surprised they hadn’t already.
“Yes, they think I have something for them. I do.” She laughed and pulled small apples from her pockets. Each of the goats was given an apple. The Billy had impressive horns and he stuck his head up to the wire. Trish leaned over and scratched between his horns. The animal closed his eyes in bliss and then turned and walked majestically away, the girls following in his wake, his long testicles swaying gently as he went.
“I spoil them. Over there is their shed. In the winter, they’ll go to the barn. Better insulation and safer from hungry predators. The shed is well built, I had it done when I’d first gotten the goats. Working shifts, I wanted to make sure they had a place to go if it got too nasty. It has plenty of hay for them to sleep on or munch on. They usually chew a bit. I have a large bin with their food, that’s in the barn. We can walk over, and I can show you. There is also a well pump, over there, near the house. Just use the bucket beside it to water the animals. They’ve got plenty right now. I usually fill their trough every other day.”
“Are those rabbit hutches?” Hogan asked, seeing a long low hutch by the barn.
“Yes, I only have a couple of bunnies though. I have processed everything for the winter. Come next spring, I’ll breed them and get more. You ever eat rabbit?” Trish asked.
“No. Good?” Hogan asked.
“Taste like chicken.” Trish sniggered and turned pink. He laughed. Trish had smooth light brown skin. She was near his age, but had fine lines, laugh lines. It was one of the first things he’d noticed when he woke up, what three days ago? Christ. It had been a week since the accident, since his world had ended.
“You okay?”
“Yeah, sorry. I was thinking it’s only been a week since the wreck, and the bombing. Yet, seems kind of longer, if that makes sense.”
“It does. Don’t be sorry. I can’t imagine how hard this all is for you. I think it will be getting worse for all of us in the days and weeks to come. Let’s go to the chicken coop, it’s behind the barn.”
They walked behind the barn and Hogan was immediately enchanted. Looking like a gypsy cart was the coop, which was on large colorful wheels. The chicken yard was a long low enclosure on smaller wheels that hugged the ground. The whole thing could be moved around, allowing the chickens to scratch and poop on new ground. The coop itself was brightly painted and had brightly colored nesting boxes, varying shades of blues, from deep cobalt to sky blue, with a hinged lid to access them. There were windows along the walls of the coop that had small colorful shutters, with tiny butterflies painted on them. There was gingerbread trim work, which was also colorfully painted.
He knew his girls would have loved this. He felt his heart shatter and felt the tears prickle. He swallowed hard. He was sure they were safe with Laura and her parents. It was hard to wrap his mind around the fact that he might never see them again. At that moment, he wanted to run to them, run and never stop until he reached them. The fact that he could not tore at his soul.
“Are you all right Hogan?” Trish asked softly, her hand on his shoulder. His throat was thick with emotion and he couldn’t answer her, but nodded his head.
“Let’s go back in. You need to rest. You’re just out of the hospital. You have a lot of healing to do, inside and out.” She led the way and he walked slowly behind her, trying to get himself under control. It was difficult. He thought that perhaps deep down, he knew he’d never see his family again. No matter how hard he hoped, he knew it was an impossibility. He was stuck
