Of Cattle and Men by Ana Paula Maia

Author:Ana Paula Maia
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: of cattle and men;Ana Paula Maia;charco press
Publisher: Charco Press
Published: 2023-03-15T17:03:07+00:00

Chapter 7

Old Emetério scoops up the manure inside one of the empty pens with a shovel. He fills buckets with excrement and dumps them into a drum. He took up this new post a few days ago, when he had an accident with a knife he was handling in the rendering room. He’s grateful he didn’t get fired, or that he didn’t cut off his finger. His eyesight is no longer what it used to be, and his hands get stiff every day. His joints are rusty and painful, but the old man won’t let anything bring him down. He’s still ticking, with a wrinkly smile and straight back.

When he finishes filling a drum of manure, he rolls it to the storage location, where it will sit drying. In a few days it will be sold to a company that makes fertilizer, which sends a truck once a week to fetch large batches of organic matter.

On entering the storage shed, the old man finds Santiago bent over one of the containers.

‘What are you doing in here?’ asks the old man.

‘I just came to pick some mushrooms,’ Santiago replies, plucking a few white caps with his fingers.

‘Again? That stuff’s no good, kid,’ he says in his low, raspy voice.

Santiago returns his attention to the drum and continues picking the mushrooms he finds.

‘That stuff will drive you crazy,’ insists the old man. ‘Now scram.’

‘I just need a few more, old-timer. I’m almost done.’

Santiago holds a handful of white mushrooms against his chest and leaves the shed, excited.

‘Bastard,’ Emetério grumbles to himself.

Santiago keeps the mushrooms wrapped inside a piece of cloth in his cupboard. He plans on cooking them later. He pulls out a cardboard box and checks his belongings one more time. Everything is in order, and he takes the ski goggles from the bottom of the box. He checks the elastic band and the frames. They’re perfect. He locks the cupboard with a padlock, exits the dormitory and heads towards the stun box.

He straightens his cap and pulls the goggles over his eyes. He enters the box and, as soon as he sees Edgar Wilson, he whistles at him and holds up the goggles. Edgar rests his mallet on the ground. Santiago tosses the goggles to him.

‘Give ‘em a try!’ says Santiago, smiling.

Edgar Wilson grabs the goggles in mid-air and immediately slips the elastic band over his head. He fits them over his nose and looks around. He gives a thumbs up and closed-mouth smile.

‘Not a drop of blood in your eyes,’ Santiago says, warming up before motioning for the next in line to enter the box.

‘Never again,’ says Edgar Wilson, as his mallet strikes a cow’s forehead.

***

When the last man climbs into the back of the truck, the driver steps gently on the accelerator, and creeps toward the slaughterhouse gates. It’s half an hour before nightfall and the only ones around are the cleaners, who prepare the facility for the next day. No matter how hard they scrub, the place is always filthy and stinking.

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