Farm Living Ain’t Giving

 

“Look at you go Kai! You got some real workmanship in you.”  Farmer Darrel clapped his hands. Two muscled black men out soaking up the sun, one’s clothing more put together than the other.

“Are we done yet?” Kai rested his arms on the back of the truck. Trying not to look as angry as he felt. 

“Done? The sun just rose and we barely started.” The farmer clapped back. “Workers aren’t done until the sun is going down.”

“But I’m not a worker.” Kai defended.

“You're a worker until the spell wears off, and I’ll treat you as such. Don't like it, don’t tip over my cows.”

“That wasn't me, it was Jericho. You know the redhead kid, talks a lot. He was bullying me. Him and his little gang forced me to come out here.”

“Then why aren’t they workers?” The farmer asked.

“Because they ran away when the weird lightshow started and I was face down in the dirt.” Kai sighed.

“Well, even if what you said is true, young men like that will get theirs. Nothing but boys playing pretend.” The farmer smiled. “Besides, we shouldn't let all this potential go to waste.” He clapped Kai on the back and a sound like a drum rang through the open space.

Kai’s body moved, already knowing what to do. He couldn't believe his dumb luck. Somehow, he had gotten his bullies’ punishment. He remembered the glowing light that rose from the ground last night and how he couldn’t look away. He remembered hearing his clothes tear and pop but being unable to move. His bones lengthened, while his body got heavier. The life of a farm hand working its way into his body, aging it perfectly with the best form for the job. In the end the only thing he had left were tattered white briefs. He passed out in the field. 

When he woke up that morning, he was more than a foot taller, 200 pounds heavier, and sleeping in a barn.  Farmer Darrel, strutted in hands on his belt, a pair of jeans across his right shoulder. Kai tried to block the light behind him as the Famer tossed him the jeans and belt. He had tried to explain what had happened over breakfast, but the farmer didn’t want to hear it. Kai tried to give reasons he had to go back, school, his parents. Farmer Darrel said, no one would notice that he was gone if he chose to go back. 

Kai asked what did he mean ‘if’?’ The farmer was adamant that the change had unearthed so much latent potential in the lad there was a chance he’d prefer it. Kai thought it sounded like BS when he first woke up, but the more the day went on the easier he fell into the lull of farm work. His body had the knowledge and the power, like a whole another person guiding him. He was milking, feeding, nailing, and fixing all over the place. 

“Alright!” Farmer Darrel shouted loudly, “Boys and men like trucks, right? why don’t you hop on that tractor?” Though Kai’s body was absorbing the tasks and repetitiveness, each one making the next feat easier, didn’t mean he loved it. The sun was higher now and all he had was a cowboy hat. His underwear, ratted from his bodily changes, sat out, his bulge too large to stuff inside the ill-sized jeans.

 

Kai’s body moved with a purpose and intentionality to get the job done. Even as the sun set his body was too well equipped and built to give in to exhaustion. His mind was more than just the boy who had been transformed on the farm. Kai the farm hand was staking his claim.

The work was boring and monotonous, but was necessary. Wasn’t it better than being beat up by bullies, and having to go to school to face them?  If Kai looked like his farm hand self all the time no way anyone would mess with him. In that position wouldn’t it be better to just stay that way?

As the sun set, Kai rested on the back of the truck taking off his jeans. Work was over. He was free to rock out in his briefs. Farmer Darrel came up to him, eye not quite meeting him.

“Kai, I won’t mince words,  We’ve got a bit of an issue. I’m not sure how all this mambo jumbo works but  I think ya shoulda turned back by now. The fact that you haven’t might mean you're gonna be a farmhand for a while.Maybe permanently” The man sighed. 

“No big deal.” Kai sighed not happy about it, but the farmhand’s life was now a part of him and in that aspect it was just like any other day. “Besides I have a feeling, next time there'll be more workers. I’ll be waiting tonight. ”