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thecandywrites · 1 year

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Monster March 2023 Day 31- Satyr. Part 3 Finalle

Too Perfect

At long last. I'm done. This is it. The last part to the last story of the last prompt for Monster March...in June. When I started on these back in January. So only...6 months to do 31 stories. For an average of 5 stories a month, when I started Monster March 10 days ahead. Life threw me several curve balls and killed off several people in my life in that time. We are officially up to 20 deaths in the last 26 months alone. I'm getting real sick of people just up and dying on me. My husband's grandmother's funeral is tomorrow and he will have officially won the race that was two years in the making. He lost all of his grandparents before I did. And he started this with more of them than I did. And it was not a race either of us really wanted to run in, let alone win. But, here we are.

As always, all the thanks to @borealwrites for their unbelievable support and patience as I work away at this. I appreciate you so much. This is what has gotten me through all of that loss. And while part of me is relieved I finally finished it. I kind of miss it already. Oh well, there's always Monster March 2024 right? It's only 9 months away lol! I should probably start now, I might be done on time for that one. Lol.

Enjoy.

Too Perfect

Thankfully, the sheep decided to start lambing the day that Marie came. Trip was relieved that Marie was more than ready and willing to help, even though Trip tried to warn her that not every lamb would make it but that there were tricks to try to help each lamb have a chance to make it, but if any lamb was born with deformities that would mean their lives would be lived in pain, suffering and agony, that it was the kind thing to simply, humanely euthanize them to keep them from suffering and to keep the mothers from being in distress either. Which, Marie completely understood and agreed with.

Trip expected Marie to cry with every lamb born who wasn’t born alive. But instead, she simply treated the bodies with care and respect, but focused on the lambs who were alive and helped him save as many as possible and learned how to help other mothers who had already lost their lambs, adopt and surrogate others who had had too many. And they barely had time to eat a sandwich or anything before it was just nonstop lambs all day. But Trip was so happy and grateful for the help, and felt like the reason he got to save as many lambs as he did, was because Marie was a quick learner and was able to do more and more on her own once she learned how to do each part of the process. And by the afternoon, he had made her- her own lambing case so that they could work independently. And by the evening, they were exhausted but had done so much.

“Ow, ow, ow.” Marie whimpered as she made her way over to his house where he had a dinner waiting for them in a crock pot once she washed her hands and got to clean up a bit before she eased down into a chair at the kitchen table but was happy and grateful to eat the best pork and beans she had ever had, with huge hunks of smoked pork shank.

“This is so good.” She praised as she felt like she inhaled it as she was delighted when she got to have a whole shank to herself in the large bowl.

“Thanks. I tried. And thank you so much for helping me today. I wouldn’t have been able to save half those lambs without you there helping me. I really appreciate it. I owe you big time.”

“What counts as “big time”?” Marie asked in amusement.

“I…whatever you want it to mean.” He stuttered in answer.

“Mmhmm.” Marie hummed before she continued to dig into her pork and beans but didn’t say anything more about it. And after she got done with dinner, she went back out to the lambing barn to check to see if any other mama’s had gone into labor and was still checking up on the other moms who had lambed that day before she saw another mom go into labor and helped her through that birth as Trip did the same with two others. And when Trip looked up. He saw Marie, asleep, holding a lamb, leaning against a mom and had tried bottle feeding the lamb but had fallen asleep with the lamb in her arms as the others were happy to get loved on from mom.

“Marie?” Trip asked but she didn’t move before he got into the trough and reached over to gently put his hand onto her shoulder.

“Marie?” He tried to gently wake her up, but she was out cold.

“Honey?” He murmured softly before she finally managed to wake up enough.

“Oh, hey, yeah, she…she did great. She should be able to handle three.” Marie sleepily offered before she managed to gently move the lamb to nestle next to the mom before Trip helped get her to her feet and gently helped her out of the pen.

But to his surprise, he woke up to the smell of breakfast being cooked and got up to see Marie dressed in his sister’s clothes, but looking practically perfect in his kitchen, her long, still damp hair hanging around her shoulders as she seemed right at home in his kitchen and was making a proper breakfast feast.

“I have a spare bedroom you could stay in, I don’t want you driving home if you’re this tired.”

“That would be…perfect. Thank you.” She tiredly offered before she went back into the house and managed to get up to the spare bedroom and only could strip out of her clothes and collapse into the bed before Trip went to check on her and noticed she barely had any covers pulled up before he put another over her, plugged her phone in and turned out the lights and went ahead and gently got into the dresser to get his sister’s spare clothes when she and her family would come and stay since her and Marie were similar in sizes when Savanah wasn’t pregnant herself and laid out some clothes and wrote a note of where the shower was and had set out some of his sister’s old clothes for her to change into when she would wake up and a note that she could read whenever she would wake up again in the morning.

“Well good morning Sunshine.” Marie greeted as she flipped a pancake with one hand and stirred the country hash in another pot before she got the perfect easy over eggs out of the pan and onto a plate.

“Good morning. Wow, is there anything I can help with?” He asked.

“Yup, you can get the biscuits out of the oven.” She nodded before he put on the oven mitts and pulled a dish of biscuits while the best cinnamon rolls ever came out too.

“Thanks for letting me sleep over last night. I slept great. That bed is really comfortable.” She thanked him graciously.

“Wow, great job on the cinnamon rolls.” He praised- as he nearly had to keep himself from eating them out of the pan and burning his hands and mouth doing so.

“Thanks, a trick I learned from working at Cinnabon in the city.” She smiled happily.

“I’m glad you slept good, I couldn’t have you sleeping in the barn with the sheep.” He shrugged as he tried not to smile too widely while his cheeks, he was sure were going to be permanently red from blushing.

“Well we only have 40 mamas today. Should be…” She began.

“Hey, hey, don’t…don’t say anything that would jinx us. It’s always the last ones that tend to be the hardest.” He cut her off worriedly.

“A bit superstitious huh?” Marie gently teased.

“Enough to know that you don’t tempt fate like that.” He shook his head as she hummed before she turned back to what she was cooking before he helped her finish it up and they sat down at the table to eat a good breakfast with some great coffee before they prepped that night’s dinner in the crockpot as she was happy he let her have her choice of what she wanted as she even added other spices than he was used to. But he was sure it would probably taste better her way anyway.

But while Trip tried to focus on the lambs. He felt like was falling behind just watching Marie with the Ewes and their lambs. She was just too beautiful and too cute and too perfect and too good at this for it only being her second time with this. He felt like he had to get a dozen lambings under his belt before he didn’t feel like a chicken running around with his head cut off. But, like a fish to water, she took to it like she was born and raised to do it. And the smiles she gave each lamb as it took it’s first breath and got to meet their moms was like watching the sunrise over and over again, each one just as beautiful as the last. And just as there was a small break, he managed to pull them back to the house to get some lunch.

“You’re too perfect with them.” He blurted just as she took her first bite of her sandwich as she paused to look at him with curious amusement.

“No, what I meant to say is- you’re a natural out there. I had to have three years of four lambings a year before I didn’t feel like a panicky headless chicken running around, not knowing which way was up or what the hell I was doing. Or how to do the thing I had done a dozen times before. But you, you only saw me do each thing once and automatically knew how to do it just from watching me once without any other instruction. If my parents were still alive, they would have practically drafted you into the family and hired you at the highest rate they ever paid anyone else before they would be talking all my brothers into trying to court you proper. And I…I’m just in awe, that’s all. And impressed and relieved and happy and grateful and I can’t talk and make sense to save my life.” Trip quickly sputtered off as his cheeks darkened again before he tried to shut himself up with his own lunch and shoving it in his face to keep him from saying anything else just as she finished her bite and swallowed and just looked at him in curious amusement as she seemed to wait for him to say anything else.

“Can you please talk? Every time I open my mouth I embarrass myself and I’m too shy and awkward and flustered and hot and bothered and I like you. I really do. I was going to ask you out and then Allen came along and only made it impossible for me to do that. Because if you knew him or any of my other brothers, then I’m screwed because they all have lady killer reputations and I hate it that all anyone ever sees is the one O’Donnel who don’t know shit about women, much less how to talk to one who I’m not related to. And along you come and you are too beautiful and too perfect and too good for the gods themselves and I don’t come from any kind of stock that’s at all- ever worthy and…” Trip tail spinned before Marie finally put an end to his suffering and leaned over and kissed him sweetly.

“I’m happy you’re the way you are. I’m happy you didn’t go straight to trying to jump my bones the first time you saw me. I’m happy you tried to make an effort to befriend me honestly. Because you’re an honest person. And you’re a good person. And it’s obvious you are doing what you are happy to do. And that while it’s hard work. You’re happy to lose sleep and push yourself to your limits to care for each of those ewes and each new precious lamb that’s born on this farm. There is nothing good in the world that you aren’t worthy of ok? If you like me and want to date me. I’m perfectly ok with that because I like you and want to date you too. I don’t look at you and see the fact that you’re a satyr and assume you’re some kind of casanova, the same way most have been painted to be in most of history. Just like orcs are painted to be blood thirsty warriors, or the way elves are seen to be detached snobs or dwarves as hairy artists, or mouras are seen to be pretty birds of paradise, always singing and dancing but fleeing at the first sign of trouble when they’re not breathing hellfire down on you for it. Or that dragonborn hoard wealth just as much as dragons ever do. Or that cantuars are always racing around or whatever. I told you that I like to take each individual as they are. And you are awesome and wonderful just the way you are. You are not responsible for your siblings who are grown adults and are responsible for their choices just like everyone else. Just like I’m not responsible for mine either in that respect. The only ones you are responsible are the sheep out there and you do a damn fine job of caring for them. And you’ve done a great job in preserving the farm and doing all you can to keep it, even if that means changing with the times and going commercial when that’s the only way to really go forward with the farm and it’s operation if you want to stay the owner of it. Even when all your other siblings would rather have the money than the responsibility. You didn’t shirk it. You welcomed it and worked hard to be strong enough to carry it. Even when you’ve had to do so by yourself for a while.” Marie offered and Trip barely had time to swallow before he leaned over and cradled her face in his hands and kissed her passionately and in only a few moments, suddenly Marie was moving the plates out of the way and climbing into his lap before he sat her down on the table and it was a flurry of hands to get the other undressed as the kiss morphed from sweet to desperate and hungry.

“You’re perfect, you’re perfect, you’re perfect.” Trip managed to say between kissing her and then moving his mouth from hers to her jaw and down her neck while she hurriedly began to unbutton the flannel shirt so his mouth could kiss more of her skin and when she finished and pulled it open, then her hands hurriedly went to her own pants to unbutton and unzip those and try to yank those down as his hands finally went to the clasp of her bra to undo it and finally meet the bosom he had been fantasizing about this whole time while his cock found her entrance as if it had a homing device installed already.

And her hear her voice moan and keen and whimper only made his hips buck up into hers that much harder and sharper while his hooves settled into the divots in the floor that had grown to be there over three generations of his family living in this house and doing what he was doing right now with Marie, and fuck over the same kitchen table.

Her strong legs wrapping around his waist while her soft belly touched his own only made it feel like they were always made for each other as his body seemed to fit just right against hers. And she was strong and soft in all the right places and had all those amazing womanly curves that got him all hot and bothered and ready to start humping air at just the thought of. And now that he was able to touch all of that, it was so much better than his imagination could ever do her and her body justice for.

And her own mouth seemed to find, on it’s own, every little spot that nearly had him losing his load every time her mouth seemed to zero in on it and kiss and lick and nip and even bite at- that had him groaning, moaning and keening and even growling in pleasured lust as he was pretty sure he was about to break the windows for being so loud but if anything, she seemed to match him in volume as the world shrunk down to be just big enough to fit just them and this blessed table in.

And when her orgasm crescendoed, her legs practically held him like a vice leaving his hips to grind out a few last strokes before he finally spilled some long awaited seed into her as he held his breath while his cock spurted rope after rope of seed into her as his whole body tensed and went rigid as he happily pillowed one arm under her neck to provide her head with something akin to a pillow while the other had grabbed ahold of her waist as way to hang onto her to keep him from fucking her up the whole table while he was just so happy to lay over the one he could, in all senses, call his own. And had she been well worth the wait.

#Monster March #Monster March 2023 #Monster March 2023 Day 31- Satyr #Monster March Day 31- part 3 #That's it.#That's all she wrote #literally #woo! I'm done!#And only 9 months till the next one! if I start now #I might be done in time lol

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thecandywrites · 1 year

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Monster March 2023 Day 31- Satyr- Part 2

Spunky Punk

As always thanks to @borealwrites for their Monster March 2023 prompt list. It took me six months to write all 31 prompts. But I got them done. Finally. Three months late, but better late than never.

Part 2

Spunky Punk

After that, Skip and Ashely encouraged Trip to go to the feed store and at least pay for Marie’s next round of feed she would buy while Ashely did more digging into Marie on Social Media and lowkey told the whole family that Trip’s self imposed celibacy was about to be broken by the perfect woman who just happened to be newly moved to the area.

And soon, it seemed Marie and Trip ran into each other, everywhere they went, often hitting up the same places, in particular a wing place in “town” on a Friday night, where they sat beside each other and ended up eating their takeout right there at the bar instead of taking it home.

“So how’s Spunky?” Trip asked between wings.

“I’ve started calling her Punk Spunk. Because she’s turning out to be a little spitfire. She’s finding she’s still small enough to get out of things the bigger ones can’t. And she uses it to her advantage. Thanks again for helping me get her out of bloat after she ate too much grain by the way.” Marie offered.

“It’s ok. It’s worse for horses, who usually eat way too much too fast before you can catch them. At least she paused to chew her cud in between gorging herself.” Trip offered.

“Well, don’t we all?” Marie chuckled before the waitress came back.

“Another hard cider?” She asked.

“Yes please! This pineapple hard cider is the best.” Marie readily answered before she looked to Trip.

“Another one Trip?” She asked as she nodded to his pint glass that was getting low.

“Sure, thanks.” He nodded before she smiled and came back a few moments later with the drinks in question.

“Do you just really like hard cider?” He asked her as he watched her drink her old one down in a few long chugs.

“I do. Because it’s the only thing I can drink and can enjoy. I can’t usually go much harder than this.” She admitted.

“Really? Just don’t like to drink or…?” He gently prodded.

“My liver doesn’t make the enzyme to break down alcohol. It’s called ADH which stands for alcohol dehydrogenase which turns ethanol into acetaldehyde.”

“Was that English?” He gently teased which got her to giggle but roll her eyes and subtly shake her head.

“It was, oldest version of the English there is- Latin.” She tossed back which got him to bark a laugh and nearly snort his beer.

“Touche.” He grinned.

“Well, it just means that I go from tipsy to blood alcohol poisoning in one sip. So hard cider, wine coolers. That’s my speed. Plus, they’re sweet and delicious. And honestly, I think it’s fitting and fair that I’m practically allergic to the stuff.” Marie hinted.

“Why?” He asked.

“My great grandmother was an alcoholic. She was…a very mean, vicious woman who never should have been a mother. And I think it’s just fitting that it’s all the way down into my DNA that the world went- ‘one of you being an alcoholic is enough, you’re done’ and did so with my whole family. All of my siblings have it to some degree or another. I have one sister who can digest wine better, and I have another who digests beer better, and another who only can break down hard alcohol. But it’s me, the former bartender who can’t handle any but the lightest of light stuff.” She admitted.

“You were a bar tender?” He asked with a tilt of his head.

“Yup. Went to school for it and everything. But I got sick of being hit on all the time and stalkers and all that so I quit it and got out. And thankfully no one has been able to track me down. But the pub I worked at worked with a lot of farmers who brought in a lot of local produce and that’s how I got into farming and now instead of being a bartender. I get paid to supply the same pub with my produce. And, the butcher who buys your sheep? He supplies the pub with all their meat products. So it’s worked out to be a small world.”

“I didn’t realize you knew Bob.” Trip blinked.

“No, not Bob- Grant. Bob runs the butcher shop, but it’s Grant, Bob’s brother- who makes most of the deliveries. I even dated him for a hot minute. Learned how to pick out good meat, but caught him cheating with one of the other barmaids. But Bob is nice. Very sweet. His wife Matilda is awesome. She’s the one who introduced me to Emelia who had the goats. Where I got Snicker and Doodle from.” Marie specified.

“Oh, then if you knew grant, then you’ve met my brother Allen.” Trip realized.

“I did. He tried really hard to get me to rebound with him, but I was far from interested. So if your brother Allen ever sees me again, he’ll know me as Bella’s Bar Basketcase.” Marie insisted.

“Oh, I’m so sorry.” He apologized.

“Why are you apologizing for him? It’s not like it was Allen that took my heart and threw it into a blender.Grant did that. And Grant paid dearly for it. Bella made him give her half off their order because the moment I discovered he was cheating on me and cheating her on the prices, she threatened to cancel the contract with Bob and got the discount and a whole free order when I quit the bar over it. All Allen ever did was try to offer to bang the sadness out of me. Which, honestly, looking back, was awfully sweet of him to offer because he just saw a girl bawling her eyes out by the dumpster. But I’m just not that kind of girl who needed or wanted that kind of thing. His intentions were good though, because he ended up gifting a steak and a twice baked potato to me to eat in the booth. So he ended up just buying me dinner instead. Which was nice. Haven’t run into him since though. Hope he’s ok.” Marie shrugged off before she got to her new bottle of pineapple flavored hard apple cider and took a swing before she finished that wing and went for a pretzel bite and dipped it into the pretzel cheese.

“Yeah, don’t worry about him. You know that old saying that a sailor has a girl in every port and every girl has a guy on every ship? He’s the living embodiment of that. Bob needs to charge for Allen fucking his way through all the better restaurants to get them to pay the premium prices for their premium beef.” Trip offered which got Marie to giggle.

“Well ok then. Thanks for that. Good to know. Good to know. Is that why you’re single? Learning from your brother’s behavior?” She asked.

“Yes.” He nodded.

“That and most people think I’m one of my brothers and assume I’m just like them.” He added.

“Nothing could be further from the truth. I mean, you are sweet and you have really good and pure intentions. But you’re a very careful, deliberate and thoughtful person, but the biggest difference is that you’re genuine. With Allen, he was only trying to help me feel better because my distress was distressing him because he’s incredibly empathic. So if anything he was only trying to help himself. You genuinely want to help others without any thought or notion of being paid back or helped in turn. It’s what makes you the best friend I’ve made yet.” Marie smiled fondly as Trip blushed even harder and had to hide his face.

“Trip?!” Allen asked as he spotted his brother from across the bar.

“Speak of the Devil.” Trip muttered as Marie snickered a laugh and nearly spit out her hard cider.

“Hey Allen.” Trip greeted with a sigh of defeat.

“Are you on a date?” Allen asked as Marie inhaled to answer but Trip beat her to it.

“Nope. Just talking with the woman who bought Spunky.” Trip shook his head no, not catching Marie’s silent exhale as she simply put on a polite smile for Allen and the young woman beside him.

“Hi Allen.” Marie greeted.

“Wait, I know you…but this isn’t your usual place…” Allen said as he looked at Marie and tried to remember how he knew her.

“Bella’s Basketcase?” Marie offered.

“Oh, nice. Well you can’t find a better person to get sheep from in the state. Seeing as how Trip is 10 time state champion and four time national champion.” Allen praised with a pat to Trip’s shoulder.

“Oh! Hi! Oh it’s been a while. How are you?” He asked.

“Better. I bought Spunky off of Trip to be a glorified lawnmower. We were just catching up about her.” Marie excused as she gestured between herself and Trip.

“Oh, I didn’t know that. Congratulations on that.” Marie blinked in pleasant surprise.

“Yep, and if you got a sheep named Spunky, you’re gonna be in for a treat, Trip doesn’t take naming his favorites lightly. He’s practically worked his way through every baby name book in every library in the county. Most probably think he has a thousand kids for checking out so many library books, but alas, it’s not for the kids most people think they are.” Allen teased as Trip just blushed harder.

“Well it’s obvious he cares about each one as if it is. Which is a great thing. It means that they’re all well cared for instead of just a number and a price tag the way most livestock farmers view, which is very refreshing these days.” Marie nodded.

“Are you single? Because if you are, let me just say, Trip is very shy and if you’re single, you’re just the girl he’s been looking for all his life, and if this isn’t a date, it should be. Because if that’s the way you feel, you’ve just found Mr. Right in Trip here.” Allen began as Trip looked mortified as Marie’s eyebrows went up slightly but her smile grew.

“Ok, well I’m sure we can cross that bridge when we get there. We’re both happy being friends at the moment. And we did just meet. So let’s see how being friends works out first.” Marie carefully but politely responded.

“Ok, you’re just wasting time then.” Allen offered as he put his hands up in surrender.

“Well, speaking of time, I’m sure she would like to spend more of it one on one with you Allen.” Marie noted as she gestured to the young lady standing there, rather impatiently too.

“Yes, well it’s great to see you again Spunky Mommy.” He fingered gun with a click of his teeth before he took his “date” elsewhere for the evening, preferably somewhere a bit more private.

“Sorry about that.” Trip offered as he rubbed at the back of his neck.

“It’s ok. At least you didn’t go ‘Yes we’re dating, in fact, we’re engaged!’ Had a guy do that to me before on a first date when his parents caught us on said date. That was incredibly awkward and practically painful. I’m all for helping friends who need a plus one to a sibling’s wedding, but that was a bit too far.” Marie tried to smooth over.

“Well, I better get going home to Spunky anyway. Miss? Can I get my check please?” Marie asked.

“No, I got it. It’s the least I can do for…well, Allen being Allen.” Trip insisted as he pulled his card out of his wallet and handed it to the bartender.

“No it’s ok, you don’t have to…” Marie tried to argue.

“Yes I do. You saved Spunky remember? It’s the least I can do.” He offered.

“Well, in that case, thank you.” Marie caved.

“And speaking of lambs. When is your next batch due?” Marie asked.

“In only about four days. Which means they could start anywhere from tonight to a week from now.” He answered.

“Could I help?” Marie asked.

“You sure? It’s really long days in the barn and it’s non stop chaos sometimes.” He asked.

“Yeah. I know others start between four and five in the morning.” Marie offered.

“Oh, I don’t get out there until about 5.” He answered.

“Awesome. I’ll see you then- then.” She giggled when she had to repeat that word twice for the sentence to make sense before she wiped her hands off on the wet nap and got her purse and waived her goodbyes before she left.

“Ok. I’ll be there. Four days right? How about I come day after tomorrow, just in case some decide to come a day early.” She offered.

“Well, I’m not gonna turn you down.” Trip answered.

“Really?! You’re just gonna let Miss Perfect slip through your fingers like that?” Allen chided as he seemed to reappear out of nowhere and scared Trip half to death.

“Asshole! You put her on the spot and embarrassed her.” Trip shoved his brother’s shoulder.

“No, I put you on the spot and embarrassed you because you’re too chicken. That’s why you’re angry. She was downright disappointed it wasn’t a date. She deserves a great guy like you. She dated Grant for crying out loud and he did her dirty. Like really dirty. You’re letting your own shyness and your own issues with self worth and your own guilt over our brothers and their reputation get in the way of you really living your life and getting with Miss Sweetheart. There is more to life than your sheep and that far. I know you know that. Plus, if she already bought a sheep from you, means she’s into farming. What more could you ask for?” Allen asked.

“She’s too good and probably too young for the likes of me.” He tried to excuse.

“You’re not that old. You’re younger than me. And if I can still pull in any girl I want, you should be able to too. Or do you just not like her?” Allen reminded him.

“No, I do, I just..I get around her and I get all panicky and cotton mouthed and sweaty and tongue tied and the less I can say the better because I’m not good with women. Our family has too much of a reputation as it is.” Trip practically pouted.

“Trip. I’ve been watching you come in here for a decade. The girl is into you. It’s not too late, you still have plenty of opportunities to try again.” The waitress insisted as she handed him his card and receipt back.

“You sure?” Trip asked.

“Yes! Make her some of your mother’s best home made dishes she taught you when she was still alive. It’s not just men who have ways to their hearts through their stomachs ok. You make her your grandma’s biscuits and gravy? Or anything else from her recipe box. You’ll get her coming back for more than just the food.” She predicted.

#Monster March #Monster March 2023 #Monster March 2023 Day 31- Satyr #Monster March 2023 Day 31 Part 2

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thecandywrites · 1 year

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Monster March Day 31- Satyr- Part 1

Sheepishly Mine- Part 1- Spunky

At long last. It is here. My last offering for Monster March. Three months later- in June. But hopefully it was worth the wait.

As always, thank you, thank you, thank you to @borealwrites for their Monster March 2023 Prompt list. I'm sorry it's taken me- I shit you not- six whole months to do 31 stories because I started all the way back in January. And while a shit ton of crap happened, I was able to perservere. even if I feel like this at the end.

But we did it! We made it to the end. Also, I want to say, this was inspired by Sandi Brock and her channel Sheepishly Me. She is a sheep farmer in Canada and is phenomenal and is so honest about what it's like to have a farm. Especially an animal one, where ideally, in a perfect world, each ewe has two perfectly healthy lambs and are born on time and don't have any health problems and whose mom didn't have pregtox and has plenty of milk and loves both of her babies.

But that's not real life. And I adore Sandi for showing the good, the bad and the ugly and even the heart breaking days where lambs unfortunately die before they ever get to be born. And she does, absolutely everything she can, going above and beyond for her sheep and does what she can to help the mamas and the lambs and she even bought a wheelchair for one even. And she has her Golden Girls (go Billy's Mom, also Tomatoes was totally the inspiration for Spunky) her older, retired ewes that she puts on a seperate farm to live out the rest of their days in a big, green pasture with super comfy bedding and even grain and corn and gives them pets and scritches. And when I saw this prompt list, I immediately wrote- Sheepishly Me! next to the prompt. this was one that I knew exactly what I wanted right when I saw the prompt six months ago.

And while that provided the beautiful wholesome start for this, you can obviously guess where this will eventually go. Because, I am, a Lemon Flavored Factory. But that's not until Part 3. Also, for my Star Trek fans, yes, that is Conner Trinneer. Who played Trip in Star Trek and Jolene Blalock who played T'pol. The Authorities may have canceled the series but my love for the Trip/T'pol ship will forever burn because the show did them dirty and they deserve better. And when I named my lead guy Trip, my brain automatically assigned Trip from Star Trek Enterprise which ran from 2001-2005 that had Scott Bakula as Captain Archer. And Trip, being that perfect Southern Gentleman from Georgia and his voice- Heaven help me was just so soothing. And fit perfectly for the mood I was going for. So think of this is as something of fanfic for that too.

So, enjoy.

Monster March Day 31- Satyr

Sheepishly Mine

Spunky

Trip loaded up the last of the January lambing market lambs into the trailer and drove down to the auction house before he saw a new face going from pen to pen, petting the lambs as she went, as she seemed to be looking for something in particular among the sheep. Occassionally stopping to talk to the owner of the sheep in said pen if they were standing by and making notes in a notebook as she went.

“Who’s that?” Trip asked Ruth, one of the other older sheep farmers who had come to do the same as him today, sell off the last of their market lambs from the last lambing before the spring lambing would start as the beautiful woman in question neared the pens he had loaded his market lambs into, one of the ewes and one for the young rams.

“Probably some Lookie Lou.” Ruth waived off before she took another sip of her coffee and went around to see who else brought what into the auction barn today.

But soon, the young woman came to his pen and smiled when all the lambs came up to her to sniff her hand and get pets.

“Aww, aren’t you adorable?” She cooed and Trip nearly fell over- he swooned so hard.

“Are these your sheep?” She asked him as she looked over at him as he watched her intently interacting with the lambs.

“Yes Ma’am.” He confirmed.

“Did you name any of these?” She asked as she gestured to the lambs in question.

“Well, actually, I did name a few, this one is Spunky…” He admitted before he pointed out which ones he had named. And then before he knew it he had practically told her about how he had helped deliver them, who their mother’s names were, if they were a hard pull, if their mom had any issues like pregnancy toxemia and things like that. And how most of them had been bottle babies because their mothers couldn’t handle to have more than two to three lambs per ewe and how many of the mamas had given birth to quads this time, which was why they were so small and took so long to get up to market size.

“So I see a few pretty small little runts here.” She noted before he had to admit that they had been preemie and bottle babies and had issues with thriving and had to have a lot of tender loving care to live, let alone make it to this point, thus the names.

“How much were you wanting for them?” She asked.

“Oh, um, just..fair market value.” He answered.

“Ok. Can I buy them now or do you want to put them in the ring to see if they’ll get a higher price?” She asked.

“Oh, well, what were you wanting them for?” He couldn’t help but ask.

“I’m starting a hobby farm. I'm trying to turn it into more of a homestead and subsistence farm. I’m specifically looking for glorified lawn mowers and decent wool producers. I already have a couple that I’ve specifically gotten just for wool production so I can make my yarn goods and supplies and stuff and I already have a few alpacas for that purpose too." She began as Trip blinked in surprise but couldn't help but smile in delight to hear it.

"And I’ve gotten a guard llama, who came with the alpacas, among other things, who is very, very good at what she does. But I planted a small orchard on my farm as well as a few groves of blueberry bushes and things and I’m needing weed and grass control between the trees and between the vines on the vineyard portion of the farm. I got two goats, but they have a habit of climbing the trees and bushes themselves to eat the foliage and fruits and just about stripped a few of my good trees bare as well as the bushes too. I was looking for something to keep their hooves, mostly on the ground. And your runts would be perfect for such a thing." She explained.

"I know they won’t fetch as high a price as some of your bigger market lambs would, even as sweet as they are, but what I have now is too much for the animals I have to keep up with- without sacrificing the trees and bushes themselves.” She explained and Trip was ready to get on one knee and propose right then and there as all the ewes in the pen tried to climb over the gate to get pets and hugs from her as it was clear those lambs had practically instantly fallen in love with her.

“Take as many as you want and any that you want.” He urged her.

“For how much per sheep?” She asked.

“Whatever you can pay or want to pay. It would take twenty dollars an hour to hire someone to mow your lawn. And they’ll be needing that much more care and attention than the service you would be needing them for. But they like you, and if you can save them from the butcher’s block, then I’ll happily let them just move to their new forever home.” He offered.

“But I only brought $200 dollars with me. I was only going to be able to buy one or two lambs, depending on how big they were. But I really want Spunky most of all.” She said as she practically hugged said lamb who soaked up her love happily.

“Well, that two hundred dollars can buy you the whole pen of ewes if you want them. With the ewes, you don’t have to worry about them fighting like the rams can. And with no sires, you don’t have to worry about them lambing or anything. Just sheer them like you do your other sheep and alpacas and they’ll happily do what you want them to and the cross in them will give you decent wool too because they're Corriedales, which are one of the standard dual purpose breeds. And they still have thier first virgin fleece on them so you'll get the best wool they can give you.” He urged her.

“But this pen easily has over a thousand dollars worth of lambs in it! This is how you make your living and care for your family. I couldn’t possibly do that to you. Really, if I could only buy the three runts I would be happy with that. Even though they are all just, the most darling…” She tried to argue but the lambs were already trying to find ways to get out of the pen just to get to her.

“Nah, this is just my left overs from my January lambing before my next lambing group lambs and then once they've weaned, they get to move into the lamb barn themselves. I didn’t have a whole lot of hopes for this group anyway. And honestly, you're probably the best buyer possible for them. Heck, you don't even have to give me that whole $200, even $20 would be enough for the pen, since they're just going to be mowing the lawn anyway.” He waived off.

“But wouldn’t your wife…” She began to try to argue.

“Ma’am, I don’t have a missus, nor children, it’s just me and the sheep on the farm. So there is no one back home to get angry about what I do with my own sheep. You want them, they want you, it’s a done deal in my book. And it sounds like you have more than enough grounds to keep them well fed through the spring and summer and as long as you can get the hay and feed in the winter and they won’t be a burden to you to keep- they're yours. You’ll just have wool coming out of your ears come shearing time.” He offered.

“Ok fine, you drive a hard bargain mister. Let me bring my truck and trailer around to this spot and I’ll load them up and give you what I can for them, but they are obviously worth more than $20. Please let me pay at least that $200.” She offered before she tried to gently push the sheep back into the pen and say she needed to leave for a quick second but would be right back.

“Well you drive a hard bargin Miss, but deal.” Trip offered her his hand to shake.

“Thank you Mr…?” She shook his hand firmly.

“Trip O’Donnel at your service Ma'am.” He offered as he shook her hand.

“Jolene- Marie Burke, friends just call me Marie.” She introduced herself before she got into her purse and handed him all the money she had on her, which amounted to $223.45 but he refused to accept anything more from her once she tried to pull out her checkbook. Before he put sold on the lot just before the meat buyers came to look at the ram pen anyway.

Trip noticed Jolene-Marie got her phone out and began recording herself as she giddily and hurriedly walked out of the auction house to get her truck with it’s horse trailer and it’s bail of hay already in it before she drove it around where his pen was where he had parked nearby after unloading them.

And thanks to Trip helping her back it up, she was able to back her trailer into the pen before he helped her load them up into her trailer, with some grain as an incentive as they were all happy to get in and lay down in the soft straw and begin to nibble on the hay and bits of feed corn she had put down on the hay itself.

“Thank you so much Mr. O’Donnel. I um, I have a Youtube channel, it’s called Burke’s Barn. I try to upload at least once a week, so you can watch them finish growing up and any adventures they might have at my farm.” She sheepishly offered.

“I’ll have to check that out.” He nodded before she seemed to be overcome with emotion and hugged him, which he was pleasantly surprised but accepted all the same as whatever she washed her hair and body in smelled so good, like walking through a flower garden.

“Thank you so much for such precious little angels. They’ll be very well cared for and loved.” She promised before she let go and then drove off in the mid morning sun as he quickly looked that up and found her channel on Youtube. It was very much a ‘slice of life’ and encouraging people to not let every farm be a commercial one. But that even if all you had was one pot, you could grow something and grow something you liked and that enriched your life more than money ever could.

And if Trip had swooned before, now he was smitten as he tried to look her up to see if she was married or had any other family but didn’t really see much sign of her being married or in a relationship. But at the same time, he was just a humble sheep farmer, who didn’t have a whole lot to offer someone like her.

But he still subscribed to the channel and after a few days, he got a notification that she uploaded a new video, showing off all the sheep he had sold her.

He sat in his recliner, trying to fight off sleep as he watched as she did her health inspections and went ahead and named any who didn’t have names and began to practice good husbandry skills with them. He was nearly crying when she showed herself walking backwards, through her little orchard and letting the sheep munch as they went, cooing to them and encouraging them as she went and called everyone back to the barn when it got to be really hot so they could cool down in the shade of the barn and chew their cud while she finished with her other chores for the day. She was just too cute, and too beautiful and too precious and adorable.

She talked about the benefits that the manure would do and how it would really help with the farm’s needs as a whole. And how now, it was more or less complete, even though she seemed keen on finding new ways to improve it. And then- named him by name as the super sweet, wonderful sheep farmer who sold her the sheep and how all of his sheep were super sweet, very well behaved, and were personable and tame and even handleable, and in excellent health. And that it was clear that he had been an excellent sheep farmer and still treated his animals with care and dignity and not just some living cash crop to make a buck off of.

After that, suddenly he had people coming in from all over, just to buy his sheep. He had no idea that the market to get glorified lawn mowers was so big. But Joleane-Marie had quite the following of other people who were getting into farming as a new kind of eco friendly, self sufficient lifestyle and any money he had potentially “lost” when he first sold that pen of sheep, he made back- ten fold with the others.

And he, for the first time felt like being in the family farm- sheep business was paying off. His new customers all practically gushed at him about Jolene-Marie, or just- Marie, rather. How inspiring she was and how honest and forthcoming she was about all aspects of farm life. Including the not so fun bits about putting animals down, when they were sick and beyond saving and suffering. Or how you needed to put a lot of planning and work in- if you were going to live that kind of lifestyle. And how, just one pest, or one disease can devastate your food supply and how hard it was to keep a balance. And how Jolene- Marie had already lost so many good potential partners in life because of her passion for farming. And that was when Trip knew he had to at least take a shot and at least write to the post office box she received gifts to.

‘Hello Miss Jolene- Marie Burke, this is Trip O’Donnel, the sheep farmer that sold you…” He began to list off all the sheep he had sold her, and which ones he had watched her name on the video. He felt awkward though, trying to cold write to her and ask her out on a date. So instead, he offered that should she ever want any advice or more help with the sheep, that he was available and wrote down his address so that she could come see him, if she wanted to. He had to take forever to write it in his best penmanship so that she could at least try to read it, even though he felt like his own nerves made the words a bit wiggly. But he tried. And wondered how long it would take before she would even get to see it, let alone be able to read it. Knowing she probably had a mountain of fanmail she probably got on a daily basis.

What he didn’t expect was a letter back two days later.

Not only had she gotten his note, she was touched by his generosity and was still, so grateful for the sheep and invited him to her farm so she could get some feedback on how functional her own set up was.

He nearly fainted and jumped so high his head nearly hit the ceiling.

That paper was barely out of the envelope when he was punching in the address to see how far away she lived. And wouldn’t you know it? She lived only in the next town over. Because the rual area they lived in, was one larger "town" that boasted of one of just about all the major chain fast food "restaurants and a Walmart and a Kroger and TSC. And "town" or the largest of the "cities" surrounded by smaller small towns that were lucky to boast of a Dollar General as a local grocery store. Maybe a streetlight or two and a gas station or two. He always called them 'blink' towns. Because if you were driving around and 'blinked' you could miss them. He must have seen her around before and never realized it and was only an agonizing 20 minute drive away.

Suddenly as he pulled up, he realized it was one of his parent's old friends farm. Only the husband had died of a heart attack and had unfortunately gotten a reverse mortgage so the bank took back the house before they could ever fix the old place up, which was something they were supposed to have done 20 years ago, at the very least. He could see her in her garden, planting things from her own greenhouse, covered in dirt, not a speck of makeup and her hair up in a pony tail through her old baseball cap and she could not have been prettier.

Trip just kind of let his truck slow down a crawl, barely aware he was driving in the first place before an Emu up and charged him and his truck before he yelled and slammed on the breaks and slid in the gravel of the driveway before the noise alerted Marie that he was there before a damn herd of dogs came barking and surrounding his truck on all sides. Then a llama came over keeping the sheep and alpacas at a safe distance.

“Barbara Strissand!” Marie barked before she came to his rescue.

“Really Barb? You’re gonna kick his truck? Did you actually dent it and I get to fix that now? Really? I invite a guest and you all gang up on him! Stop, enough, off, off of him!” Marie chastised as she pulled the Emu off of the truck and pushed the bird by the neck backwards.

“This is why I don’t let you out of your pen. But no, you had to go and hunt snakes around the coop and help Lenora hunt for racoons and coyotes. You’re done, you’re going back into the pen.” Marie urged the large bird as she prodded the large bird to a nearby pen, with the help of most of her dogs who helped herd the large bird back into the pen.

“Ladies, it’s ok. It was just Barb being a bitch. It’s ok.” Marie tried to coo to the chickens who had taken refuge under what they could when they heard Barb hiss and kick at the truck.

“I’m really sorry about Barb, Trip. Let me see what she did to your truck.” Marie tried to say as she came back to his truck to see which dents in the side, her bird had been responsible for.

“It’s an old truck door. I’ve dinged the door more at the gas station myself more than she could ever try to ding it.” Trip tried to waive off and stood on the other side of the door to keep her from seeing the sad state of the old truck anyway.

“It’s ok, you’re not responsible for anything, it’s ok. I’m here for the sheep and I can already see from here that they’re doing just fine.” Trip said he gently turned her to face the sheep who recognized him and were starting to jump and bound over to him.

“There’s the lucky girls!” Trip cooed to them as he took a few steps and met them half way and started petting them affectionately once Marie still looked at the truck door and took a quick picture before she joined them.

“The heat of the summer decided to come a little late this year, so I just got done shearing them the day before yesterday. They probably look awful. I’m still pretty new at the shearing thing too so they were pretty uneven when I first tried and I had to go over them again to try to even them out.” She offered.

“Oh, well they look fantastic. I never would have known if you hadn’t told me.” Trip waived off as he began to scratch each one between the shoulder blades as the sheep began to wiggle their lips, ears and tails in delight.

“And they’re obviously very well fed too. Look how they’ve grown!” He beamed happily to see each one already pretty plump but building strong muscle from being outside and getting exercise.

“Growing just as fast as my weeds.” Marie tried to chuckle.

“Because spring decided to come so late and we just kept having frost after frost before the weather decided to skip spring and jump from winter into summer, I feel like I’m so behind on everything.” Marie admitted.

“Well what do you need help catching up on?” Trip asked before Marie felt like she was speed talking as she listed it all off.

“Well, I got my chores done already this morning, let me help you with yours.” He offered.

“No, I just wanted your opinion on a few things…” She tried to shake her head no.

“Oh nonsense. This is quite the set up, it would usually take a family of at least six to do everything you’re trying to do.” He waived off.

“Are you sure? I feel like I would just be taking advantage of you again.” Marie winced.

“Nonsense. You’re the last kind of person who looks to take advantage of anyone. You did me a favor by trying to save my favorite girls from the butcher block. But from a business perspective, it wouldn’t make any sense to make them into replacement ewes, for fear all their lambs would be just like they were.” He tried to waive off.

“Yeah, but your time is still valuable and I don’t want to be abusing that or using you for that matter.” Marie tried to contest.

“Miss Jolene-Marie, you tell me what you need and where you need it or I’ll just pick something and start on it on my own.” He lightly teased before she seemed to chuckle and shake her head.

“Ok, you’re gonna be hurting and regretting that but ok.” She finally caved and led him to the green house and directed where she needed what planted on her garden plot as he was quick to dig in with her and practically work shoulder to shoulder as he helped her plant her garden and her other crops.

“Wow, you have some old antique equipment.” He noted as he looked at the old mechanical farming equipment.

“Yeah, old equipment that doesn’t need software updates every year or else it won’t run.” Marie answered and that seemed to be a lightbulb moment for Trip as he took that information and blinked a few times to wrap his head around that.

“Planned obsolescence is getting a bit out of hand lately.” Marie noted.

“Yes it is!” He nodded before they began to talk some more about how more and more farms were either going out of business or having to go more commercial to stay afloat. And how the land itself is sprayed and stripped and devoid of any life not artificially planted there. As Trip found himself agreeing with more and more she talked about.

“So how did you get into this?” He asked.

“I grew up really poor in the city. That thanks to WIC and food stamps and all that, that’s how my family survived. And growing up with food scarcity and not knowing where your next meal will come from is quite traumatic for any child. And then I got into a program where kids from my school could volunteer at a horse ranch with other underprivileged kids and especially the special needs kids could have horse therapy. And I fell in love with it. Then from there, I worked detasseling corn on a commercial farm and I got to see first hand how fewer and fewer farmers were still in the business and had to change to commercial farming if they wanted to keep the family farm in the first place. And then from there, I worked on all the other kinds of farms that they would hire me on, mucking out stalls and picking fruit and caring for other people’s farms and watched how if an animal wasn’t immediately able to make money off of, they would just kill it to keep it from being a leech on precious resources and that’s where I’ve gotten just about all the animals on my farm. The Emu though, I hatched her from an egg. Heck, all of my quail, I hatched from eggs in farmers markets and most of my chickens were little hatchlings who were going to be culled and thrown away. And then I got to make some friends in the cooking community and how there’s this huge push for more farm to table places. So most of what I grow that doesn’t feed myself, I can sell to the chefs who want to use it in their restaurants. And then when the last housing market crash, I was able to afford to buy this place with my life savings. And thanks to Youtube and my subscribers and add revenue and all that, it’s how I can afford to live here and afford this simple lifestyle. Granted it means I have very few private things in my life. But it’s how I’ve managed to survive. And while things are tight now and I’m still learning and still getting the hang of…all of it. There are days when it sucks and mother nature is cruel, and other days it’s nice and she’s kind and despite everything, I still manage to keep a roof over my head, the lights on, food in my pantry, clothes on my back, shoes on my feet, mostly thanks to subscribers to the channel and patreon backers and my online for the yarn and soaps and stuff.” Marie explained as she rinsed all the dirt off of her hands and arms from the hose and took her garden shoes off to rinse off her feet before she took a rag and wiped off before she invited him inside to have lunch once they had made quick work of her garden before she made them a simple but delicious lunch. The house was obviously a bit eclectic and very few things matched and lots of things had been upcycled but Trip found he liked it that way.

“I really like what you’ve done with the place.” He motioned around the kitchen table.

“Thanks. Welcome to my ‘there for last chance clearance sale on…everything’ and driving to many- a thrift store.” Marie chuckled as she gestured to her kitchen where nothing matched itself. But the food she had was obviously home grown, humble but incredibly delicious.

“I love the bean soup.” He praised.

“Thanks. It’s my ‘put this in a crock pot overnight so you have food tomorrow and you will have something to eat when you forget to take time to cook and eat anything else cause you’ll be too busy’ kind of meals.” Marie smiled gratefully.

“I really like food like this. Something simple but delicious yet comforting and filling and satisfying, with soul and substance.” Trip added, although he wasn’t sure if he was complimenting the cooking or her as a person. His cheeks darkened and he tried to scoop as much of the soup into his mouth to keep himself from saying anything else that would give away his attraction to her. But he was a satyr, meaning he was always attracted to women, but most usually only thought because he was a satyr, it was almost expected of him. Heck his brothers were living proof of that reputation. And thus, why they were always bouncing from relationship to relationship and drowning in childcare payments. And there was a reason why his parents had chosen him to take over the farm, because he wasn’t like his other brothers and took the farm seriously and would rather get up early and farm and take care of the sheep, than stay out late and party.

But something about Marie, she was such a marvelous, vibrant, passionate and driven woman. And that’s what appealed to her the most.

After the bean soup for lunch, she walked him around the farm, showing him where she had what and how she had it set up and why she did it that way and he was in awe that- for being mostly self taught, she had figured out so much on her own and was beginning to be a Jill of All Trades for how much she was learning how to care for what equipment she had, that with some good upkeep and some good maintenance, could probably outlive them all. She had seemed to find all the really good sweet spot as far as machinery was concerned. Not so old that ordering a new part wouldn’t be impossible. But not new enough that it needed digital electrical equipment. She preferred analog for electronics because digital needed software and near constant software updates. And he felt bad because she already had everything just how he would have it if this was his place. It was all very well planned, organized, executed and she had great follow through with execution of her decisions.

“Well, I’m sorry I can’t be of more help. You already have it all well underway and better organized than even my place is. If anything, you’re giving me ideas of how to improve my place.” He offered once they were done.

“Well, just hearing that is a relief. And knowing I’m not creating a perfect storm of a disaster is a comfort honestly. So that is incredibly helpful. Sounds like you’ve done this for a while and you know the tried and true methods of most things.” She smiled happily.

“Well you’re more than welcome to come to my farm and see for yourself.” He invited.

“I would love that actually.” She smiled happily before he gave her the full address and directions on how to get to his farm from hers. As well as the better feed places that were much, much cheaper than TSC, which she appreciated.

He went home and for hours, cleaned, re-organized what he could, all while the sheep seemed to watch on curiously.

And the next morning, just as he was leaving his house with his thermos of coffee, there she was, pulling up in her truck.

“Well good morning, did you get a good breakfast? I made extra.” He offered as he gestured to his house.

“Oh, I already ate.” She excused.

“It’s biscuits and gravy.” He added before she caved.

“Ok, yes, I would love some biscuits and gravy.” She caved as she came into his house and smiled to see it antiquated but adorable and nearly picturesque. She loved the bright, sunflower yellow walls and the sunflower boarder on the walls. And she adored the antique gas stove and nearly squealed and gasped as she fawned over his cast iron collection. And even the curtains his mother had sewn when he was little and practically gawked at all the family pictures around the house.

“So what are we doing today?” Marie asked.

“Well, we’re going to mix up some feed rations and feed the sheep. And then we’re gonna get them ready for ready for their pre-lambing sheering.” He answered before she joined him as he walked from the house to the barn and was greeted by the bah’s of nearly a thousand ewes in four groups.

“Oh, my, wow.” She blinked in surprise.

“Wow, they look like they’re about to pop.” She noted from the pen of pregnant ewes.

“Well they still have just a couple more weeks. But yeah.” He nodded and for once, it was wonderful to have a helping hand with the ewes as he introduced her before he got into the front loaded and started it up and began to dump various scoops and bags of feed into his feed ration mixer as she simply was content to throw the empty bags from the pellet bags in the garbage as she noticed that- for being a big operation and being such a big barn, it was surprisingly clean and well maintained and even had new modern features which made it easier for just Trip to handle - mostly on his own.

“How do you do this all on your own?” Marie asked.

“Well, not all on my own, in the summer, my nieces and nephews come to help a lot and it’s kind of considered a summer job for them. But in the fall, winter and spring, I usually hire help. But my last assistant went to college this past fall and I just haven’t really gotten a chance to hire a replacement.” He admitted.

“But don’t you have like 9 siblings? Why don’t they help?” Marie asked.

“Because there’s no way any amount of money could ever entice them back into this barn. We grew up doing this with no pay, because our parents demanded it until we were old enough to strike out on our own. And everyone else went to college for anything but farming and moved as far away as possible. So by the time I came along, my parents were desperate and basically had to use the farm itself as a sole inheritance to try to keep us younger siblings here. It only worked on me. And when they got too old to care for themselves, let alone anything else. And they had to go into a nursing home, everyone pushed me to cut bait, sell it all off and split it evenly among us all. But by then, the family will was already written and notarized and I couldn’t change their wishes. So it honestly, put a big wedge between me and the others. And it’s only the kids of my two closest siblings that come to help. The older ones are too far away and swore off farming altogether and moved to big cities and got big city jobs and houses in the suburbs and are content to go to grocery stores and I’m pretty sure their kids just assume meat comes prepackaged in the store, and not off of any other living animal.” He admitted.

“That’s so sad.” Marie frowned.

“In my family, all of us were so poor, we hardly didn’t have anything and what little we did have, we shared. And right now, they’re just happy to get eggs, and, I’m the same way, in the summer, all my nieces and nephews come out but I can’t pay them anything, but they’re just happy to get out of the city and off the streets and away from any dangerous associations that they normally can’t escape while they’re in school. And right now, all my siblings are simply doing everything they can to get them into every other program they can- just to get them out of the public schools and into private ones just to give them any advantage they can and use the summers that the kids are here- to get second and third jobs so they’re working all the time and they’re just happy to get the very foods that my nieces and nephews helped grow and then can and preserve what they can, cause every penny saved is then stretched to max. They consider me to be the lucky one who got out of the cycle and didn’t go into the never ending cycle of working a job that you hate but it’s the best job with the best pay you can get and have to kiss ass to people you despise. And while we all work, probably too hard, at least we have each other and at least we help when we can. But that’s only because no one else in the family has anything the others want or are willing to go to war over.” Marie explained as she watched as the ewes got fed and ate as the barn quieted down quite a bit.

“I’m sure if there was a big and probably pretty valuable asset like this, and the farming equipment alone is worth millions. This farm with all of it’s acreage, that’s millions of dollars in of itself. But you don’t look at the fields and think how much it’s worth, you look at your fields and see what crops you can use said land to produce to feed the sheep. You see them as friends and tools rather than piles of money.” Marie reasoned.

“That’s true, I do. And while I know you’re not wild about commercial farming, I hope you can see that at least for me, it’s not just all cash crops. It’s all for the sheep. Because they’re like my kids, my friends, my purpose. And I love ‘em. They’re funny and spunky and when the lambing is done and you’re just watching all the kids grow up and it’s feeding time, watching all the kids run and jump and bound up and down the pens while the moms are eating. Or when they get into big sleep piles taking naps, then they’re just precious little angels. And then I have a place that’s down the road. I call it the Hill View Retirement Community. All the ewes that I’m particularly attached to, they get to live out their last years over there, just eating and basking in the sun or getting shelter in the barn when the weather is not so nice, they’re my soft spots and my guilty pleasure. And some of these older ewes, once they make it through this lambing, they’ll retire and join them in Hill View. And even though, that hill ain’t much more than a prairie dog hill, it’s still nice for them to walk up and down on.” He shrugged.

“Can we go see them?” Marie asked hopefully.

“Yeah, sure.” He agreed before he invited her to ride with him over to them and introduced them all by name as Marie was giddy to meet a sheep with the same name as her.

“Well hello there Merry Marie.” Marie giggled as she scratched the ewe between the shoulder blades and giggled as the sheep’s lips curled and her ears wiggled and her tail wagged to get the love and attention as Sunsugar nearly butted her head into Marie’s hip to get some pets herself.

“Oh my goodness, you’re green with envy? What, no one can get any pets without you getting some too?” Marie teased the sheep as she used her other hand to scratch the same place between the sheep’s shoulder blades as Trip put down fresh “sheets” aka- straw for bedding down in the area that they bedded down on as Trip damn near sighed dreamily.

“There you are!” His nephews nearly bleated when they got off of school and came home to the house that was across the street as Trip nearly jumped out of his own skin and made the most undignified yelp which caused Marie to come around the corner to see Trip clutching his chest and bracing himself against the wall as his nieces and nephews easily jumped the fence to gather around him before they noticed her.

“Who are you?” They asked when they noticed her.

“Hi, I’m Marie Burke, I just bought some sheep off of your…uncle?” Marie supplied.

“Oh! You’re the super pretty farmer in Damsey! Hi, I’m Billy…” The oldest realized as all the kids immediately left their uncles to come around Marie and introduce themselves and get to meet her and ask her all kinds of questions because apparently, Trip was not the only newest subscribers to her channel, so were they. And they were all eager to see if they could appear in a new video of hers.

“Well, I would have to get permission from your parents.” Marie began.

“Uncle Trip! You can give the permission right? I mean you pick us up from school and can take us to doctor’s appointments and stuff.” They all pleaded with him with their big doe eyes and hopeful smiles.

“No, that’s definitely something your mom and dad are gonna have to give permission for.” Trip shook his head no gently with an apologetic smile.

Before the kids turned back and wanted to know everything about Marie and her farm and then ask about her family and how she had nieces and nephews but no kids herself and then came the question Trip had wanted to ask but couldn’t bring himself to get the courage to as he got the kids back to his farm by having them pile up in the bed of his truck as they all helped him and Marie with his other chores in the barn. And having Marie there with the kids, they were much more eager to do everything she wanted to help with and work alongside her.

“So how come you’re not married with kids of your own?” Billy asked.

“Because I haven’t found anyone who wants to farm the way I do. Or thinks that my way of doing things is impractical in the modern world or only sees animals, land and food as a way to make money, not a way to support and sustain life.” She answered.

“Well then you should date Trip! Because that’s how he farms too!” The kids urged her.

“Oh I should, should I?” She seemed to smile and laugh.

“Unless you don’t like satyrs.” One of the girls, Maddie- sheepishly offered.

“Why wouldn’t I like satyrs? Aren’t you guys normal people, just like everyone else?” Marie posed innocently back.

“We are, just most people don’t see it that way.” Maddie frowned.

“Well, I’m one of those kinds of people who takes everyone as an individual and I don’t always assume that just because of the kind of person they are- will mean what that person is too. Humans are known for their ruthlessness, viciousness, violence and aggression as much as they are known for their humanity, kindness and nurturing. Same could be said about anyone and everyone else. People have always been people, no matter the kind. And so far, what I’ve seen between you guys and your uncle and others that I’ve met since I moved out here, is that while this is a mostly rural community, it’s a very honest, honorable, very hard working and close knit community. But they’re happy with life’s little pleasures and are usually easily contented. That most people are happy to help each other out, even if they appear to be strangers, but are happy to make new friends. And even do what they can to lift each other up instead of pushing each other down just so they get ahead in life because of how competitive they are. And even though I’m the first person and first generation in my family to farm, I feel welcome and among equals when I’m with people who have been doing it all their lives and for countless generations. And are more than ready and willing to share everything they have, including knowledge and know-how and wisdom as they are with a cup of sweet tea and sitting on the front porch while I pick up leftovers from yard sales and barn sales. And then they get to be friends and are happy to share family recipes and little tricks of the trade and are happy to exchange favors for small things up to big things. Like trading planting plants from a greenhouse for the chance to play with big pregnant ewes.” Marie smiled.

“Wait, so you went to her farm? Is it as nice as the videos?” All the kids asked Trip.

“Yup.” Trip nodded as his cheeks darkened again but his little smile was particularly adorable.

And then, before he knew it, his brother and his wife were wandering into the barn, just as Trip got done with what he could in the barn to set up for shearing day the next day.

“Well hello there, I don’t think we’ve met. Ashley O’Donnel, the mother to- all of them.” Ashley said as she reached her hand out towards Marie after she gestured to her kids while she had another toddler on her hip while her pregnant belly swayed with her boho skirt.

“Hi, nice to meet you Ashley, I’m Marie Burke. I bought some lambs off of Trip and was getting to know more about sheep husbandry, and the kids have been fantastic teachers, I’ve learned more from them in an afternoon than I have the last three years of researching.” Marie explained as Ashley nearly blinded Marie with a bright happy smile.

“Really? Which ones did you get?” She asked.

“The stragglers from January.” Trip answered.

“Oh, even the runts?”

“Especially the runts, the runts were what I was after.” Marie answered before Ashley practically squeezed the soul out of Marie with a happy delighted squeal.

“Really? Oh I’m so happy you got Spunky!” She cooed.

“Yeah, Spunky is quite the character, she’s been really fun to have.” Marie smiled.

“Oh, please tell me you can stay for dinner, we are only going to be having a bucket of fried chicken but, I would love to have you stay for dinner. You too Trip.” Ashley warmly invited.

“As long as we wouldn’t be keeping Marie from anything.” Trip offered.

“Nope. Not at all.” Marie shook her head and smiled.

“Perfect!” Ashley beamed and practically pulled Marie into her vehicle while her husband went and got said fried chicken from the local chicken joint.

Over dinner, Ashley was eager to try to welcome Marie into the fold and into the family while Skip gave Trip a few scheming smiles and nudges and looks to show he was all for this new development.

#Monster March #Monster March 2023 #Monster March 2023 Day 31- Satyr #Monster March 2023 Day 31- Part 1

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