Blue Skin [Book 2] by Steven Jenkins

Author:Steven Jenkins [Jenkins, Steven]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Vampires | Dystopian | Thriller
Publisher: Different Cloud Publishing
Published: 2018-05-07T04:00:00+00:00

17

The sun has almost set on yet another day at the farm.

I look up at the orange sky as I walk towards the barn, my blue wellies squelching into the damp ground. Katrina finally found me a pair. They’re three sizes too big, but beggars can’t be choosers.

There’s a little girl with curly, auburn hair standing next to the chicken enclosure. She’s wearing pink and white wellies, black waterproof trousers, and a puffy blue coat. My teacher for the day.

“You must be Cora,” I say, shaking her tiny hand. “I’m Freya.”

“Hi, Freya. Maggie wants me to teach you how to feed the chickens.”

“That’s right. You don’t mind, do you? I’d love to learn as much as I can about farming.” There’s a sentence I never thought I’d say.

Cora beams with bright, perfect teeth, ocean-blue eyes, and chubby cheeks rosier than a China doll’s. “I don’t mind. I love teaching people.” Her voice is laced with maturity and confidence. I guess living on a farm is an easy way to grow up fast, learn how to take care of yourself, cook, clean, raise chickens.

“Great!”

Cora picks up a bucket, and then steps over the metre-high mesh fence, her presence causing a group of chickens to scatter away from her feet. “Have you ever done any farming before?”

“No,” I reply, joining her in the enclosure. “Not since coming here. I watched Katrina milk a cow the other day, but that’s it.”

“Well, feeding chickens is really easy. And it’s fun!” She lifts up the bucket. “These are grains. Chickens love it. It’s like chocolate to them.” Her enthusiasm makes me beam. “You just sprinkle them on the ground as wide as you can.” She dips her hand into the bucket and scoops out a small pile, and then throws it in the air. The grain scatters equally across the grass. In a mass of feathers and clucking, the chickens scramble over to the food, devouring each grain in seconds. “Just like that.” She hands me the bucket. “Now you try.”

“Okay. Sounds easy enough.” I dig out a handful of grain, and throw it into the air. Once again, the chickens fight for every last one, shoving past each other without any regard for their cousins.

“Not bad for your first try,” she says with a thumb up to me. “But you need to spread it out more. Some of these chickens are really greedy. They like to steal all the food for themselves. And then the little chickens go hungry.” She points at the bucket. “Have another try. It takes a little practice to get right.”

“No problem.” I try again, this time managing to spread it out evenly.

“That was awesome! Well done, Freya. You’re gonna make a great farmer.”

“Thanks, Cora,” I say with a warm heart. “That really means a lot.” I follow her around the enclosure as we both shower more grain onto the ground. “How old are you?”

“Eight. But I’ll be nine in two months.”

“Oh, really? That’s exciting. So, how long have you lived here?”

Cora kneels down and lets one of the smaller chickens feed out of her hand.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.