Thinking back to the days when kids
were running around here,
when cows were mooing, roosters
crowing, dogs barking and cats
meowing – life.
Unlike now when there’s only
mechanical clatter of machines –
sometimes.
– Leonard Blumfeld (© 2024)
Note
This was written to accompany the photo, which shows a tree next to the remains of what used to be a farm (Lazio, Italy, southeast of Rome).
That was one particular April in 2014, when it had been drizzling, raining cats and dogs and hailing in turn and I was working at this farm somewhere in the boonies of southern Germany, where the rough charm and ruddy looks of one Mr. Rolf Pralad had brought me. One of his favorite songs was Neil Young’s “A man needs a maid” – he’d told me that before I arrived there, but I had no idea how literally he understood the title.
I learned to get up early, feed the animals, milk the cows, make breakfast, clean the place, etc. In turn I initially got some loving, but that faded after a short time.
It was towards the end of April, and it was still raining, I kid you not, when he tossed me out because his old girlfriend had come back.
“I don’t deserve this, Rolf!”
“A matter of opinion.”
“What has she got that makes her better than me?”
“Well, for one she is blonde, and I prefer blondes, and then –”
“Then what?”
“I don’t want to insult you, Karo.”
“Well, you’ve done plenty of that already, Rolf. I deserve better.”
“You don’t. Get lost!”
Upon which he threw out my suitcase, pushed me out the door and slammed it shut in my face.
But his dog Pummel followed me, and now, ten years later, I still have that dog – a heavenly creature compared to his former master.
– Kathleen Mulholland (© 2024)
Author's note: Story not my own. Loosely based on a video game (see lo-fi clip above).
