Day 26
30 day/30 mintute writing practice
Whatsapp message from Theo this morning:
‘Sad news the goat die. Dogs kill her last night. So sad. I don’t have more now. But I’ll get rabbits’
Reminded me the time years ago when one of the village youth stole majority of Theo’s corn and Theo says. “next time I will plant more so he has to work twice as hard to thief.”When that didn’t work and a few years later the same youth stole one of his rabbits Theo went along with the fright the young man felt when he thought Theo did something to the rabbit because why else was the youth man feeling sick after eating the rabbit. He came to the house and begged Theo to tell him how much for the rabbit so he could pay Theo and find wellness again. And Theo telling him ‘if he dead he dead, there is nothing he could do.” The youth man begging Theo to call a price. When finally Theo gave him a price, the youth man paid more to make sure he’d wake alive the next morning.
I know it wasn’t that simple with this recent death of Theo’s goat as it wasn’t so simple with village youth stealing from him. First Theo loves his goats. To wake up in the morning to see dogs scoffing down his goat I can only imagine heart wrenching. A side note Maya and I not as attached to the goats as they are on the old piece of land and since moving across the village we have not developed a connection as we did to the other goats in the yard. We’ve also built resilience to our animals dying (we’ve had two dogs, Tricsky and Shake poisoned, one dog shot, Palo; he too was found running with other dogs and ate a man’s sheep and so was shot dead. We were grateful for the shot and not the poison. Another memory, many years ago we had one of our goats (Maggie) attacked by dogs. She survived the initial attack and spent three days under the house screeching in pain before she succumbed to the bites. Theo did not have the heart to put her down. He thought she would survive.
And secondly I know the thiefing of his corn and rabbit also hurt Theo, especially when he is accustomed to giving giving giving and so for someone he knows to thief from him was a blow to his expectations. I am happy to say Theo and this man’s relationship has repaired naturally over the years.Giving thanks for Theo and his ability to move through difficult times and not retaliate and not give up. i know another goat will be on the land soon and rabbits too and always corn!