I was younger, like 15, and living on some
sort of commune, my roommates were
zot-fot-piq
and
yossarian. There was a chart hanging in
the hallway with the
job roster, it was my
week for washing dishes but I also had to sweep.
So it was branding day at the cattle ranch
but because we hadn't behaved, we had to
housetrain the new dogs. I'm not sure what we did
wrong, but it involved the laundry. We either
forgot to fold it or let it land in the mud
when we took it off the line.
Zot-fot-piq gave me one of the new
puppies to hold, she was teeny and defenseless.
I cuddled her and watched him do the
dirty work, he was the one who got us in
this mess to start with. He also had to give
immunizations which I can't do. I'm
no vet.
Things started to get hectic
right about then, a fresh load of cattle came
in and they wanted me to help with the branding.
They shoved a red hot poker in my hand and I
gagged, almost fainted but then zot-fot-piq and
yossarian came. They managed to talk the foreman
into confusion, I know they used the word shlong at
least twice. That scared me, I can't imagine them
doing that usually, so I figgered I was in a really
tight spot.
The man with the tattoo finally relented
into letting me go home to share a room with my sister's
babies. They started crying and that's what woke me up.