Thursday, September 22nd, 4:37 P.M.
On the outer edges of Dha Chathair sat my
destination, the home of Samuel Nongbu.
Samuel's home isn't like most of the homes in a city of large gray
buildings made of concrete and steel.
First of all, Samuel's property is much larger than your usual office
building. The property easily takes up
an entire city block. Also, things are
grown on this property. Not things like
well manicured grass or flowers planted more for their beauty than their
usefulness. Things like corn, wheat,
soybeans, and barley. On the outer edges
of Dha Chathair sat a farm, a fully functioning farm.
I felt a sense of bewilderment walking onto the
farm. The last time I was on a farm was
when I was a kid, and the only reason I was on the farm was that I was using my
osher skills to steal corn. I walked
down a road running down the center of the property, looking at all the people
working the fields of this farm. Off in
the distance were people packing trucks full of crates with different
vegetables poking out from the top.
Verbrechers and opfers, young and old, all of them working this farm in
harmony. I know I should be uplifted by
this sight, but I can't help but think the only reason that all these people
are working together like this is because of the church. No way would these people be working together
otherwise.
As I was making my way up the road, one of the
workers came to talk to me. "Hello,
brother." That felt odd to me. The only times I had been called
"brother" like that was when Sakoshi was being annoying on purpose.
"Hi."
"Can I help you with something?" This guy was being cheerful and helpful,
which, for some reason, always disturbs me.
"I'm looking for Samuel Nongbu."
"Oh, Farmer Sam." Upon hearing my contact's name, the guy
became even more cheerful, as if that were possible. "Sam's working in the barn today. Just follow this road up to the house up
there and turn right."
"Okay, thank you."
"No problem." Looking back on this exchange, I probably
should have been as cheerful to this guy as he was to me. I'll have to work on that in the future.
I made my way down the road and took the right into
the barn. Once I got inside the barn I
didn't see anybody in it. So, I called
out, "Hello!" No
response. "Hello? I was told Samuel Nongbu was here. Hello?"
I continued walking into the center of the barn, calling out for someone
I didn't know. Then I heard a loud thump
behind me. Quickly I turned around and
saw a verbrecher man about as big as I am had landed behind me. I didn't think, I just reacted. The uppercut that connected with his jaw gave
me just enough time to do a more thorough scan of the barn. Then the man began to speak.
"Eugene told me you might do that."
Still prepared for a fight, I responded,
"What?"
"He told me I shouldn't do my usual spooking
bit 'cause you might clock me one, but I didn't listen to him. The name's Sam, Samuel Nongbu."
Guilt started going through my body when the man
identified himself. "Oh. Oh shit.
I'm sorry. I am so sorry about
hitting you like that."
"Don't worry about it. That'll learn me to sneak up on you like
that. I haven't seen a punch like that
since I stopped watching boxing."
Sam started walking out of the barn.
I didn't know if I should follow him or not untill Samuel said,
"Come on, Hato, I'll show you around." I followed Sam as he showed me all of the
grand and plentiful fields that he found so completely interesting and I
didn't. "Over here is our tomato
harvest. This year we got a bumper crop
of tomatoes."
"Oh.
Neat."
"On the left is out corn fields. They say that an ideal height for a corn
stalk is as high as an elephant's eye, but I dare say ours is taller."
"Yeah, I bet."
"And over there is our soybean field. I'm not a big fan of soybeans, don't see much
use in them, but we sell a lot of them to places in Amcan."
"Speaking of Amcan, when are you going there
again?"
"What, for a shipment?"
"Sure, or whatever."
"Well, Amcan is kind of far away. We only make shipments out there every couple of months or so."
"What about your next shipment?"
"The next one is a shipment of corn to Moenia
Prima. We should be setting of-"
I stopped Sam mid-sentence because I am in no way
interested in going back to Moenia Prima.
"How about the one after that?"
"Ah, that one's a big one. We've got corn, tomatoes, and barley going
out to Trebyer."
I grasped upon that statement. "Yes, Trebyer. When's that going out?"
"Four weeks."
That statement didn't strike me well. "Four weeks? That's a month!"
Sam calmly replied, "Yes, four weeks is a
month."
"Can't you go sooner? Or Amcan, why can't you go there?"
"We don't have a buyer out there right
now. You're going to have to wait."
"To hell with that. I need to get to Amcan now!"
My swearing must have triggered something in
Sam. When he heard what I said, he
stopped the little your of his farm, turned to me, and grabbed me by the
collar. "You are going to wait,
because the work we are doing here is more important than your little
quest."
"Not to me, it isn't."
"Yes, to you your quest is the most important
thing in the world, but to me and everyone who works on this farm, this is more
valuable than anything in this world.
The work we do here, the people we employ, the church programs we fund,
the people we feed, all of that has a significance that we don't want to
sacrifice. Do you understand,
Hato?"
As I looked at Sam's face, exuding with
determination, as well as the slowly gathering crowd of farm workers, I came to
realize that if I wanted to continue in my journey these are the people I had
to work with. "Yes, I
understand."
Once he heard my understanding, Sam let go of my
shirt. "Good. Now, if you want to go on the shipment with
us, I'll ask that you work with us. You
don't have to but-"
I interjected, "It'd be nice if I did."
"Exactly, but that can wait for tomorrow. For now, I invite you to go up to the
house. Get something to eat, maybe take
a shower and get a fresh change of clothes, and, most importantly, relax for a
bit. What you've been through I wouldn't
wish on myself or, for that matter, anyone."
With that, Sam left to go tend to his fields as I
walked toward the house Sam had given me invitation to. What Sam said is stuck in my head, although I
don't think he really needed to say it.
I know that what I went through in Moenia Prima is terrible, that's why
I need to get to Amcan to tell people about it.
That's why I'll be working on a farm for a month. Not because I want to, because I have
to. Telling the people of the world
what's happened and what may still be happening in Moenia Prima is something
that must happen.
Later.
Hato Shurtleff
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