Some holiday!
Reluctantly Peter got out of the minibus. A whole week stuck with strange kids on a farm! In a small village named Twohouses. What a horrible idea! Even more so, since yesterday he had got some new computer games. He had not even had time to try them out.
„Hi, nice to meet you,“ a woman said. „I’m Katie“.
Katie did not look like a typical farmer’s wife, Peter thought, even though he had not met many famers’ wives before, being the townie that he was. She looked young and cheerful and wore an old flannel shirt, jeans and cowboy boots. Her hair was the colour of carrots.
„It is lovely that you want to spend your holidays with us. I assume your parents have already told you that this is not a normal farm. We call it a sanctuary.“
„What’s a sanctuary?“ a little girl asked.
„The animals that come to us, can live here until they die.“
„Don’t you eat them?“
Katie shook her head.
„Why are they here then?“ asked Tom, Peter’s little brother.
„They are here, because they didn’t have a good life,“ Katie explained. „Each animal has its own story. But I’ll tell you about about them later. Come with me now, I’ll show you where you are going to stay.“
She walked over to the farmhouse. The children followed. There were six children, Peter counted. Apart from him and his brother Tom, there were the twin sisters, another boy and a little girl.
The whole time a dog had crisscrossed among them. He waved his tail and sniffed each kid.
„That’s our Lucky,“ Katie said stroking him. „He’s a lovely dog, but a lousy guard dog!“
They entered the house. „You’ll stay upstairs,“ Katie explained.
They went up a staircase. „You’re going to share one room each with your sister or brother. The loos and the bathrooms are at the end of the corridor. I expect you downstairs in the kitchen within fifteen minutes. Then we’ll have supper. Everything alright?“
The kids nodded and Katie went downstairs. Peter and Tom took their luggage into their room. „How small is this!“Peter exclaimed. „There isn’t even room for a computer.“
Against one wall there were a bunk beds, against the other wall there was a wardrobe. Next to it there was a sink. Only a little light came through the small window.
„I want to sleep on the top bunk,“ Tom shouted.
„I don’t care,“ grumbled Peter.
He had already decided that he was not going to like it here. If only this week would pass quickly!
The door flung open and the twins looked in.
„Can’t you knock?“ Peter shouted.
„Sorry,“ one of the sisters said. „We only wanted to check whether all the rooms look the same.“
„Are you twins?“ Tom wanted to know.
„I’m glad you noticed,“ one of the girls jeered. „I’m Sarah and this is Jane. You can tell us apart by our ears. Jane’s are bigger.“
„That’s a lie,“ Jane protested.
Tom took a good look at both girls, „No, your ears are the same size.“
Peter rolled his eyes. „Anything else?“ he asked grumpily.
„What are your names?“ Jane asked, or was it Sarah?
„I’m Peter and this is my little brother Tom. I’m eleven and he is eight.“
„We are nine,“ the twins said at the same time.
„This is like play school,“ mumbled Peter. He started to unpack his things, just as Lucky burst into the room. He raced up to the luggage and sniffed it in detail.
„He is probably after food,“ said Tom.
But Lucky pulled a sock out of Tom’s travelling bag and ran away with it.
„Oi,“ shouted Tom and chased after Lucky, followed by the twins.
Peter took his computer magazines with the latest computer games out of his bag and sat down on the bed. But he did not get a chance to read them, because from downstairs Katie announced that the fifteen minutes were over.
From all the rooms the children ran downstairs and piled into the kitchen. The kitchen was much bigger than those they knew at home. In the centre was a table with two long wooden benches. On the table there was a plate with cheese sandwiches. „Only cheese “ complained Jane.
„We prefer sausages,“ Sarah said.
„We are vegetarians,“ Katie replied.
„Vege-what?“ asked Jane.
„Vegetarians. That means, they don’t eat sausages and meat,“ Peter explained.
The twins, in disgust, pulled faces. The children sat down and Katie put a pile of plates on the table. „Pass them on,“ she said. Then she brought over a tray with glasses. The children passed them on along the table. Katie worked her way around and poured each of them a glass of milk.
„We’d rather have a coke,“ Sarah said.
Jane nodded.
„That’s not available here. You will have to do without for a few days.“ Katie sat down at the head of the table. „Almost certainly you will miss a few things this week. But this is not hotel. Your parents sent you here, so that you will learn something about animals and nature. Maybe you will find cats and dogs in town. But a donkey? Or geese?“
The children shook their heads.
„Once I saw a rat in the underground“, Tom said.
„Ugh! How disgusting!“ the little girl shouted.
„Animals are not disgusting,” Katie said. „Only what people do to them... But I don’t even know your names yet. Come on, introduce yourselves. You start!“ she pointed to one of the twins.
Jane quickly swallowed the bite, which she had in her mouth.
„Mmh, we are Jane and Sarah. We are nine.“
„Are you twins?“ the boy next to Sarah asked.
„Of course not, you just have double vision“, said Sarah and the children laughed.
„Alright. I’m Miguel and I am ten. This is my little sister.“ He pointed to the girl next to him.
„I’m Maria. I have eight years.“
„You have to say, I am eight. You still don’t know proper English, “said Miguel. „By the way, we are from Spain.“
„Peter, eleven,“ said Peter. He pushed Tom. „Now you.“
„I’m eight and my name is Tom. Peter is my brother.“
„Right. I hope I can remember all your names,” Katie said.
The children ate with great appetite.
„The cheese tastes different than at home,“ Tom said.
„Well, it’s not from the supermarket but from a local farmer. He in return gets the milk we get off our cows,“ Katie explained. „When you’ve finished eating I’ll show you the farm.“
„That’s a strange car over there,“ Maria said.
The children looked out of the window. Close to the fence behind the paddock there was a vehicle. Two men leaned on it.
„That’s not a car, that is very expensive four-wheel-drive,“ Miguel said admiringly.
„And what’s a four wheel drive?“ Maria wanted to know.
„You can drive off road, across the fields with it.“
Katie got up from the table and looked out of the window too. „Those are Foulplay’s ruffians.“
„Who is Foulplay? And why ruffians?“ Tom asked.
„And what are ruffians anyway?“ Sarah wanted to know.
„Ruffians are supposed to scare people,“ Peter explained. „Are you being threatened?“
„Yes, I suppose that’s what’s happening,“ Katie sighed. „Foulplay is also called the ‚Chicken Baron’. He already owns huge poultry farms all over the country. He wants us to quit, so that he can build a chicken farm here.“
„But you already have chickens!“ Jane said.
„Yes, but he wants to keep thousands of chickens.“
„Thousands“, Maria was impressed. „That will be much eggs.“
"Many eggs,“ corrected Miguel.
„Indeed,“ said Katie. „These chicken farms are also called factory farms. And they require a large plot of land. That’s why he wants us to leave. For a few days Foulplay’s thugs have appeared in the afternoon. Their mission is to intimidate us.“
Jane und Sarah huddled together and held hands.
„Don’t be afraid. I’m sure they won’t do anything to us. They wouldn’t dare go that far. And,“ Katie said triumphant, „there are our guard-geese after all.“
„Guard-geese?“ the children asked.
„Like in guard-dog. Only in this case it’s geese,“ Katie laughed. „They are more reliable than any security alarm. But now let me show you around the farm!“
Next: So many animals!