LMPYITP: The Random Passages

Don't Dream It's Over

Author's Note:

The song at the top really sets the mood for how this story feels I think and I wanted to make sure I got just the right one to match the emotion. I hope you enjoy it. Thanks again for reading!

...

Blue insisted we go to the auction barn. I don't know why but what Blue wants...well I don't mind giving it to her.

The building was filled with people. It was cold outside but with all the bodies inside, it definitely warmed things up. We almost had trouble finding a seat.

We ended up being sat by a group of Amish people. There were a lot of them where Jules was from and they all liked to go to this sort of thing. They'd load up in these big vans and pay these Americans big bucks to drive them to the shops and that.

The sale pen was down below us. It almost felt like being at a gig or summat. The seating was like coliseum style, fanned around the ring where the animals were brought out in.

Apparently this auction lasted most of the day, depending on how many animals they had up for sale. We'd gone and looked around before it started.

They had a walkway above the animals so you could look down and see them. There were so many cattle and pigs. I reckoned that was the majority.

They had a pen full of them black and white dairy cows all crowded together. You could see their hip bones and their sides were hollowed out but Blue said that was normal for dairy cattle. They had shit caked on their fur, on their sides and up and down their legs. They were a fucking mess and I could only imagine the smell.

Which wasn't too bad if I'm honest. But these were farm animals and it was only natural for that sort of thing. I didn't really understand it. I mean, I had family in Ireland who had farms and stuff but I don't know. Jules taught me a hell of a lot more.

Like how these dairy cattle were probably on their way to the knacker's. When they get too old for making milk, they turn them into hamburger. Not much else to do with them, I guess.

The next pen was full of beef cattle. Big black ones that looked all wide and blocky. Not as much shit on them but their noses looked wet and snotty.

Beyond them were some pigs. Biggest pigs I've ever seen. Pink ones with floppy ears pushing the dirt around with their noses.

But Jules didn't bring us there for any of that lot. She had her eyes on the goats. Naturally.

She promised she wouldn't ask to bring one home but when a couple little ones come out...small enough to fit in her carry-on...she quickly changed her tune.

"How high can I go?" She asked as she clutched the buyer's number in her hand.

"As high as you want." I replied with a nod as I leaned back to watch it go down.

She went high enough and ended up with two baby goats to take with us back to London. What we were going to do with them, I had no fucking clue but she was happy and that's all that mattered.

"Come on!" She said as she practically skipped along leading us back downstairs. "Let's go get 'em."

We ended up down by the loading bays where the trailers and that backed in to pick up the animals. The barn itself was pretty old and run down. The gates didn't look well enough to keep animals from escaping. A goat could easily slip through and take off and a cow would probably be able to just bust right through.