Drink With The Devil by David Woods.
Category: Fiction
Paperback: 278 pages
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1905203306
ISBN-13: 978-1905203307

"It was 5.30 am on a wet April morning. Jim Grainger reached out from the small single bed, grouping around until he found and silenced the alarm clock. He rose quickly to avoid going to sleep again and sat on the bed staring at his feet. Outside the wind was gusting and beating against the window. When he remembered what day it was, his heart sank. Sale Day. All the cows and calves were to be old this morning. He sat a while longer, recalling the conversation he’d had with his boss, Andrew Jones, six months earlier.

Jim had just come in for breakfast. Andrew and his wife Ruth had obviously been up for some time because there were cold dregs in the bottom of the dirty cups on the kitchen table. Jim looked at his boss rather nervously.

"Well Jim. We’ve come to a decision. The farm’ll be sold in the spring. We’re getting on now, and it makes sense to sell up while I’m still young enough to get a job."

Jim was staggered. All he could think of to say was, "Why?"

"I’ve been offered a job as a storeman at the machinery dealers in town. We’ll buy a small house nearby."

"And what the hell am I supposed to do?"

"You’re a clever chap. And lucky enough to be able to turn your hand to almost anything."

"All I want is to work here. With the animals."

"You could get a job with another farm, and stay here with us in the meantime."

Jim had thought about this for a minute and known immediately he could not face a living in a town.

Ruth Jones had given him his breakfast. "Don’t worry, Jim. You’re only nineteen and can get another job anywhere.

"Oh yeah. But it’s not going to be the same."

Jim had known he would miss the couple who had taken him and given him a home after years in a orphanage. His own parents had been killed in a car accident when he was a baby, and he had now other family. This situation did not worry him, but but occasionally he wondered how his parents would have looked by now. Their old wedding photograph, the only one he had, indicated they were bath tall and dark haired and Jim had grown himself into a tall, well-built man with blue eyes and thick black hair.

After shaking himself into a trance, he got dressed. The cows greeted him as he walked into the warm and humid cowshed, the heat generated by twenty-five hot bodies. Some of them mooed gently as he closed the door behind them and then preparing the milking machine buckets.

He fed the first cow a large scoop of cow cake and then put the teat cups on. He talked to a young cow gently, as he stroked her back leg. "You’ll be fine on another far, ole girl." She turned her large head towards him, breathing heavily on his back, and he felt her hot, moist breath on the skin exposed between the shirt and the trousers. The teat cups were holding on all right, so he let go off them. Before he could stand up the cow gave him a lingering lick, which felt like a hot wet rasp being dragged across his back. He stood up slowly, trying not to act startled, and rubbed her behind the ears.

Milking seemed to go on forever, and he talked to each cow as he gave each one an extra scoop of cake. They seemed to respond to his soft voice, watching him with their large eyes and their ears cocked forward. They moved as he approached to milk them, and when he had finished and was alone in the cowshed, he felt his world was coming to an end. These cows had been his friends for four years and he would face losing them very shortly.

His solitude was shattered by Andrew entering the dairy, all bright and cheerful. "Good morning, Jim. I’ll give you a hand to wash up."

&quor;Okay, I’ll clear out the cowshed." He walked out quickly to hide his misery.

Conversation over breakfast was almost non existent, with Jim just picking at his food. Ruth was worried about him and spoke softly. "The cows’ll be well looked after on a larger farm."

He just nodded. "I suppose so.""