Crash Landing
WHIIRRR WHIIIRRR WHIIIIR WHIIIR BLAM! A streak of light shoots through the night. A UFO crashes to a halt in a field. Dark smoke rises and then dissipates as if magically quenched. The lights around the rim of the space ship flicker and then shut off entirely.
“Not again!” a voice cries out from within the flying saucer.
The door to the spaceship pops open with a hiss as the chamber decompresses. The door rises up like a Delorean. Slowly, out steps a teenage boy with the ears and tail of a wolf. He checks the damage to his ship and sighs in annoyance, slamming the door shut.
“Well! Guess I’m still stuck here…” the boy says. “Mom’s gonna be SO MAD when she finds out I accidentally plowed the field with my ship again…”
The boy digs in his pocket. There’s a small glowing amulet. It didn’t even get scratched in the crash. Annoyed, the boy tries to toss the amulet, but it immediately flies back to him.
“If I could get enough height…I could destroy this darned curse once and for all… Or I could take it to a volcano planet and throw it into the molten rock, never to be seen again!” the boy monologues. “But as long as the curse is active… No… I mustn’t think of what horrible things could happen… I just gotta find a way to fix the spaceship and get out of here…”
Feeling a bit parched, the boy abandons his spaceship. He heads back his farm house. Huh? Why is the lantern lit? Unfortunately his mom is awake. She crosses her arms and taps her foot… She DOESN’T know about the cursed amulet.
“Ummm, hey, uhhh…” the boy says, gulping nervously.
“WHY did I hear a spaceship crashing outside, young man?!” the mom asks, her foot tapping more furiously now.
“I, uhhh… I don’t know! That’s why I went out to check!” the boy lies, ears back.
“Your ears are telling me you’re fibbing,” the mom says.
“Okaaaaay, fiiiine… I attempted to run away from home again…” the boy says, a half lie.
“We’ve talked about this! Your place is here on the ranch!” the mom says, taking her son in for a hug. “I don’t want to lose you, okay?”
“I’m thirsty… I could use a tall glass of…water? Milk? Something…” the boy moans.
“Let me get you a glass of milk, then you best head back to bed. I expect you up before sunrise to clean up the mess you made,” the mom states.
“Well, I’d say NOW is before sunrise, but-”
“Do you WANT the whipping stitch?!” the mom asks.
“Not particularly, sorry, mom,” the boy says.
The mom pours a glass of milk. She hands it to her son and he just about chugs it, tail wagging happily. He accidentally spills a bit of milk down his chin and it runs down his neck into his filthy shirt. The mother sighs and rolls her eyes.
“Honestly, Josiah… What am I going to do with you?” the mom asks.
“Thanks for the milk. I promise. I’ll get to work after a quick rest…” Josiah says, handing back the empty milk glass.
“You BETTER!” the mom warns.
Josiah heads back to the sleep room. Josiah has 12 other siblings and they are all fast to sleep snuggled together. The family COULD build a new wing on the house and make a new bedroom, but that would eliminate space for raising animals. Currently, there is a large chicken pen on the other side of the wall where the family raises chickens for their eggs.
The other kids are Caleb “Kay” (18 years old), Victoria “Vicky” (21 years old), Wilhelmina “Mina” (24 years old Wolf Girl), Peter “Pete” (21 years old Wolf Boy), Cynthia “Thea” (14 years old), Franklin “Franky” (17 years old), Chrysanthemum “Chrissy” (17 years old), Zelda “Zel” (4 years old Wolf Girl), Matthew “Matt” (17 years old Wolf Boy), Josephina “Josie” (16 years old Wolf Girl), Vincent “Vin” (6 years old Wolf Boy), and Ursula “La-la” (16 years old). Franklin, Chrysanthemum, and Matthew are Josiah’s littermates who, unlike Josiah, were not mysteriously saddled by a cursed amulet. In this day and age, most kids are arranged with a lifelong partner by age 16-17, getting married as soon as the youngest member of the partnership is 18. However…a recent law was put into place by the king of the land. Being half-wolf is illegal and any hybrids seen in public will be eliminated. Because of this, the children, even those without obvious wolf features, have elected to stay on the ranch and never leave.
The next morning before sunrise, Josiah wakes up and peels himself out of the sleep pile. His stomach grumbles in hunger. Still, there is work to do. Eating can wait.
Josiah exits the farm house and heads out to the field with a lantern in hand, illuminating the area around himself. The spaceship is, luckily, still where he left it. He climbs back in and jostles it awake. Carefully, he pilots the damaged saucer back into the barn where he got it from in the first place.
With the ship stored away, Josiah goes back to the field. Briefly, he pulls the cursed amulet out of his pocket and glares at it. He can’t let anyone know about this… He sighs, puts the amulet away, and begins smoothening out the ground where the spaceship tore the soil up.
“Well, I better get breakfast or else I’ll pass out,” Josiah moans, holding his sweaty forehead with his filthy hands.
Josiah heads inside. Sure enough, his mom has cooked breakfast and everyone aside from him is eating. Josiah attempts to get breakfast and his mom scolds him, telling him he needs to wash his hands first. Unfortunately, Josiah passes out after washing his hands, having waited too long before eating.
***
“Hey, little brother…?” Caleb calls out, gently nudging Josiah.
“Mmmm…” Josiah groans.
“You passed out. Here, we saved you some food,” Caleb says, giving Josiah a plate of food.
“T-thank you… Man, I’m starving…” Josiah groans.
“You still have chores to do, so you better eat up and get to it. See you later, Joe,” Caleb says and leaves.
“Thanks, Kay…” Josiah says, beginning to eat his food.
Josiah finishes his food and is sent off to do his daily ranch chores. Unfortunately, he’s still feeling a bit hungry. The young man brings a bucket of water with him to the little trough the chickens drink out of. Before giving them any, he sneaks and drinks a little bit of it.
“Here, chickies!” Josiah calls out.
Josiah pours the rest of the water into the trough. The chickens run up, bawking and clucking excitedly. Josiah smiles happily, sitting down on the ground and watching the chickens drink. Secretly…he wishes he could eat the chickens.
“That’s some good water, isn’t it…?” Josiah asks, leaning a bit closer.
“Joe! Are you terrorizing the chickens?!” Victoria asks, walking over.
“Oh! Hi, Vicky! I’m not terrorizing the chickens… I promise…” Josiah says, reaching over and gently petting a chicken.
“Don’t you have chores to be doing?” Victoria asks.
“Yeah, well, don’t you?” Josiah asks, getting up off the ground.
“Good point. See you later, Josiah. Don’t eat the animals,” Victoria warns.
Josiah walks away. He does a big loop and comes back around. Victoria is nowhere to be seen. He glances around nervously and picks up one of the chickens.
He’s about to gobble the chicken down, but he stops, sighs, and puts the chicken down. Instead, he goes and steals a few eggs. He cracks the eggs into his mouth and swallows the contents. His stomach grumbles loudly, complaining because he literally just ate raw egg.
However, it’s actually safer to eat raw egg fresh from the farm than to eat raw eggs from the store. Still not advisable, though. Josiah swipes the excess egg off his face. Then, he collects the rest of the eggs he finds, putting them in a basket.
The eggs Josiah didn’t eat are carried into the farm house. Some will be eaten and others will be sold. Josiah’s mom looks up from reading to Zelda. Josiah smiles, places the basket on the kitchen counter, and walks over.
“How’s Zel?” Josiah asks, grinning.
“I’m good!” Zelda exclaims with a squeal.
“I see you finally fetched the eggs like I asked you to AWHILE AGO,” Josiah’s mom notes.
“I fetched water for the chickens, first,” Josiah replies. “Okay, I gotta get back to work! Can’t wait for lunch, by the way!”
“Yeah, you BETTER get back to work! And no tinkering with that stupid spaceship of yours!” Josiah’s mom warns. “And wipe your pants! You have mud on your bum!”
“Oh! Yeah! Sorry!” Josiah says, leaving the farm house while swiping the mud off of his clothes.
Josiah gets outside. He transforms into a wolf and begins grooming his own fur. He licks and licks, flicking his tongue afterwards because the mud tastes terrible. Then, he shakes, fluffing his fur up before flattening it again.
“Farm work is dirty work,” Josiah notes, stretching in the early morning sunlight before transforming back into a humanoid. “But, gee, still a long time to go before lunch time.”
Josiah heads off to tend to the cows. The cows, like the chickens, are not meant for eating. When the cows have calves, they share their milk (albeit against their will) with the family. Unlike in dairy farms, though, the cows are allowed to keep their babies.
“Hey, cows! Got some milk to share?” Josiah calls out, whipping out a milking bucket.
“Don’t worry about the cows in the back! I got them milked already!” Wilhelmina calls out.
“Thanks, Mina!” Josiah calls out.
Look at those calves… Wouldn’t some beef be tasty right about now? Josiah shakes the intrusive thoughts away as he milks the cows. He sneaks and drinks some of the raw milk, sipping it from the milking bucket.
“Mmm…” Josiah accidentally moans out loud after sipping the milk.
“What are you doing over there?” Wilhelmina asks.
“Ummm, nothing…?” Josiah replies nervously.
“Are you…drinking the milk…?” Wilhelmina asks.
“Maaaaaybe…?” Josiah replies.
“Alright, whatever. Not my business. You probably shouldn’t, but I’m not about to stop you,” Wilhelmina says with a shrug.
Josiah sneaks another sip of milk. Some milk dribbles down his chin, down his neck, and into his already soiled shirt. He’s an absolute mess! Josiah finishes up milking the cows at the front of the barn. Then, the cows and their babies are turned lose in the pasture for exercise.
“Good job. Now you needs washing!” Wilhelmina announces.
“Oh, no, I got this. I can just clean my fur…” Josiah says.
“Oh, no, you will be thoroughly washed,” Wilhelmina announces, grabbing hold of Josiah.
The older girl drags Josiah off to the well. Quickly, she draws a bucket of water out and splashes it over Josiah to wash him off. Josiah sputters and squirms, but the mud is washed off of him. He sneezes and then shakes himself dry like a dog despite being in his humanoid form.
“There! All clean! See? Doesn’t that feel better?” Wilhelmina asks.
“Bleh! I got work to do…” Josiah says, glancing up and finding that it’s getting closer to afternoon now.
Next task? Get the horses some exercise. Josiah goes down to the stable and unlocks the stalls. He finds his favorite, a deep chocolatey brown mare, and mounts her. Time for a ride!
“Hey, Cocoa. You know that one saying, “I’m so hungry I could eat a horse?” that’s me right now,” Josiah jokes, gently stroking his horse.
“NEEEEIIGGHHHHH!” Cocoa complains.
“I’m joking! Though, I AM hungry,” Josiah says. “Take me to the trees over on the other end of the ranch. I’ll pluck you an apple or two. And get some for myself.”
Cocoa understands these words. She makes her way over to the fruit trees by leaping over the pasture fence. Peter leaps aside as Cocoa comes barreling through. He shakes a fist at his brother.
“WATCH WHERE YOU’RE GOING!” Peter yells.
“Sorry, Pete!” Josiah calls back.
