Mine by Kim Hartfield

Author:Kim Hartfield [Hartfield, Kim]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-10-31T23:00:00+00:00

Twelve

The day after Margo shaved me, I tried to go about my daily duties and milk Harmony as if nothing had happened. I could feel the bareness of my skin, though, and even the slight itch of the hair growing back made my little bud harden. I’d satisfied myself last night – many times, and thoroughly – but it couldn’t compare to the real thing. I needed Margo desperately. I had to trust she’d let me have her soon.

Sitting on my usual stool, I tugged and squeezed Harmony’s teat like usual. Less milk was coming out, though. I was sure I wasn’t doing it any differently than usual – and I’d become a real pro at it over the past six weeks – so what was the deal?

I kept trying until Margo came into the barn. “What’s taking you so long?”

“About time you showed up. I’m getting less milk today.” I gestured at the half-empty bucket.

She nodded to me to get off the stool, then took my place. I watched over her shoulder, equal parts curious and nervous. If she could get more milk out of Harmony, that’d mean I’d failed somehow. But I’d done everything the exact same as usual!

She coaxed a few more trickles out of the goat, who bleated despondently with her last squeezes. “Well, she’s drying up,” Margo said, standing up. “Seems a little early, but I suppose it has been almost ten months since she gave birth.”

“Oh… so we can’t milk her much longer?” I remembered the lecture she’d given me early on about how precious Harmony’s milk was. “What happens now?”

“We’ll keep her until the feed we give her is worth more than the amount of milk that we get. Should be a week or two more.” She strode out of the barn and into the sunlight. “Then we’ll slaughter her.”

My eyes nearly popped out of my head. “Slaughter Harmony?”

She turned to look back at me with a perplexed smile. “Yes, what did you think was going to happen? I told you she wasn’t going to have any more kids.”

“I know, but…” The goat was so cute, with her big brown eyes and her soft, twitching ears. I’d gotten fond of her from milking her. I didn’t even mind going to third base with her every morning. “I guess I thought you’d keep her.”

“She’s not a pet, Cherry.” She brushed a hand over my arm as we walked toward the fields. “My little city girl… Harmony had to earn her keep. If she can’t give milk anymore, she has to do that in another way.”

I stopped short. “You can’t mean… You’re not going to…”

Margo stopped, too, raising her eyebrows at me. “Eat her? Yes, my dear. Where do you think meat comes from?”

“From the store,” I said in a small voice, picturing the sanitized flesh in shrink-wrapped packages. I never normally associated it with the actual animals it came from. “Or the restaurant.”

“This is the real world, my sweet Cherry. The food chain – eat or be eaten.

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