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NEW AUTHORS SHOWCASE
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05-03-09 12M p8 |
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Think-a-Lot Farm by Gramps |
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A nasty accident; a farmer who has lost the will to work; a mischievous piglin (half pixie/half goblin) whose magic is a confused mixture of his parents’ powers; a sausage and mash language; a Spell Master (as you KNOW you can’t DO spells unless you CAN spell), three shady visitors; a modicum of bottom burping and, above all, a boy and five animals with strange names who not only talk but also have different ways of thinking. Wink-a-Lot Farm earned its name by appearing to wink at you from the hill when the Sun went behind the clouds and came out again. It was a happy place. Now the farm is in danger and the Think-a-Lot Club must try to save it. But CAN they!!!
Crates Story - fragment
“We don’t seem to be getting anywhere Crates,” said Metrocles. “You said you had four ideas. I hope your last idea is a good one.” “It is.” said Crates, “It’s the simplest and the best idea of all.” “Yes, BUT WHAT IS IT?” cried Metrocles impatiently. Crates waited for a very short while, because he wanted everyone to share his excitement. “WE SOW THE FIELDS WITH CORN OURSELVES,” he said at last. There was a long pause. Nobody knew what to say. At last Descartes said what they all felt. “Thank you for trying Crates, but we CAN’T plough the field or sow the corn. We just don’t know how.” All the animals, except Crates, slowly got up from where they were perched, or raised themselves from their hay beds and sadly walked towards the barn door. “Goodbye Metrocles, I don’t suppose we shall see much of each other when the farm is sold,” said Hipparchia. “NOW JUST A MINUTE!” said Metrocles. “What’s the name of this farm?” “Think-a-Lot Farm,” said the animals. “And why do we call it Think-a-Lot Farm?” “Because we DO think a lot,” replied Diogenes. “THEN LET’S START THINKING. WHY do we feel Crates’ idea is a bad one? WHAT’s wrong with it? Aren’t there ANY good things about it? WHAT do we need to find out before we can make it work?” This was the first time the animals had heard the words ‘Let’s start thinking’ and it sent a thrill through the barn. They were proud to be thinkers. And YES, if there was a way to make Crates’ plan work, they would find it. “Well,” said Diogenes, “There is ONE good thing. IF we can find a way to do the work ourselves, we can start right now. We don’t need to wait for anybody else.” “Suddenly I’m very excited by this idea,” Hipparchia clucked, “We need to find out how the work is done.” said Diotima the Duck, “Does anyone know how Jack does it?” “Well,” replied Metrocles, “there are three jobs. First we have to rake the ground to make furrows where the corn seed can be buried. Then we have to scatter the corn over the ground. Then we have to put the earth back over the corn so that the wild birds don’t eat it before it has a chance to grow.” “How do you rake the ground?” asked Diotima. “You drive a tractor which pulls a metal rake behind it which cuts up the earth.” “ This is our first problem” said Descartes. “I don’t suppose anybody knows how to drive a tractor?” “Metrocles does,” said Diogenes, “I’ve seen him watching his father.” “That’s our second problem,” the donkey added, “Metrocles isn’t big enough to reach the pedals, and if we lowered his seat he wouldn’t be able to see over the tractor engine and, even if he could, he wouldn’t be able to make the pedals work because of his bad legs.” “He could teach one of us to drive the tractor,” said Diogenes. “That’s our third problem,” said Descartes, who was enjoying the fact that now, every time he said something was a bad idea an animal came up with a new one. “None of us has hands to hold the steering wheel or feet with toes that would make the pedals work. Even if Metrocles told us how the tractor was driven we wouldn’t be able to make it go.” “I’ve seen, in some of the very old farms, a horse pulling something that makes furrows in the ground,” said Diotima. “It’s a pity we don’t have one of those.” “We do,” said Metrocles, his face suddenly brightening, “There’s an old horse-drawn rake in the other barn which we could connect to a harness for a horse to pull it with, but I’ve never seen how it’s fitted together.” “I know that,” quacked Diotima the Duck excitedly. “I’ve watched it being done. I could tell a horse what to do and fit the harness. In fact I’ll do that just as soon as we’ve finished thinking. But I’ll need some help. I can’t do any lifting with these wings.” “I can use my mouth,” said Diogenes. “So can I,” said Descartes’ “And I can use my hands,” said Metrocles, “even though my legs don’t work.” “And I’ll find out if any other animals can help,” said Diotima. “This is going to work.” Hipparchia flapped excitedly “There’s just one last serious problem,” Descartes added. Everyone looked at him anxiously. “We don’t have a horse on the farm.” They continued to look at Descartes and he suddenly realised why. A huge Donkey grin spread across his face. “All right,” he said. “I’ll be your horse, but only for the next two days.” This was a very generous gesture on the part of Descartes, The next couple of days would be extremely hard work. The animals continued to look at Descartes gratefully and then suddenly broke out into a huge cheer to show their appreciation. If a donkey could blush with embarrassment then Descartes would have done so but since they can’t, he didn’t. “This is what we’ve decided so far then,” said Metrocles. “We can do the raking, but we can’t sow the corn and we can’t flatten the ground afterwards. So what we need to know is How are we going to sow the corn?” “How’s it done on the farm NOW Metrocles,” asked Diotima? “We’ve got a machine to do it but it only works with the tractor and we’ve already discovered that we can’t drive that.” “What does the machine do?” said Diotima. “It spreads the corn into all the grooves that the rake has made so that it grows over the entire field and not just in one place,” said Metrocles. “Can you ride a horse?” Crates asked the boy, with a smug grin on his face. Descartes swished his tail. Since there was still no horse on the farm he knew that he was about to be given even more work. “Not very well. I have to use some special straps, which I tie on, and which hold me tightly onto the saddle because I can’t grip with my legs.” “And if you were strapped in and had a bag of corn in front of you and the horse rode you all over the field, could you throw the seed where it needed to go?” said Crates. “I can’t throw very far Crates because I can’t use some of the muscles in my back. I could only really drop piles of corn on the ground. I’m sorry. I’m not helping you very much.” “Don’t worry, Metrocles. Whatever you CAN do will be fine.” Then Crates, with the happy grin still covering his face, asked Hipparchia and Diotima to come down from where they were resting to stand in front of him. He told them he wanted them to flap their wings as hard and as fast as and as long as they could. Diotima and Hipparchia looked at each other as though they thought that Crates was mad but decided to do as he asked. They flapped their wings wildly and the hay rose and the dust rose and small pieces of earth rose and when they stopped, exhausted, the animals couldn’t see each other for a full three minutes until the dust had settled all over the barn. “We’ll just get Hipparchia and Diotima and the other ducks and hens and geese to flap their wings when you drop the corn and it will fly into the air and spread all over the field.” said Crates. “But how do we level the ground?” “Oh that’s easy,” the pig replied. “We just let all the farm animals run around in the field for the two days after we’ve sown the corn and they’ll flatten it for us.” There were a few small problems still to be sorted out of course. There always are. The sacks of corn were quite difficult to pull onto Descartes’ back but they somehow managed by asking him to lie down on his stomach and dragging the sacks across his saddle. Metrocles was given a knife to cut the sacks open when he wanted to start dropping the corn on the field. These and all of the other little problems were solved because the animals were thinkers and proud of it….
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