Chapter 10: Wage War

“Are ya’ll ready for an inspection?” Emma Shmidt rode up astride.

“Good morning, Emma. Didn’t know you were planning a surprise inspection. So, there ain’t no way we could have prepared for it in advance, not knowing about it in advance. Reckon we’re as ready as can be expected under these circumstances.”

“Where’s the cattle?”

“Hiding in the brush.”

“Why do you let them out of the pastures to run wild in the brush?”

“Cattle knows what they like to eat. The pastures ain’t locked up. Grass is available to them as an option.”

“What do you think the find preferable in the brush?”

“Berries, cattails, fiddle-heads, wild mustard, bamboo shoots, acorn mast, and new spring leaves.”

“I suppose you’ve witnessed them browsing on such fodder?”

“Yes ma’am, I have.”

“What are you planning to plant in this freshly plowed up area?”

“A rough tumble mix of corn, cowpeas, sorghum, and millet, all seeded together. It’s already been planted. Let it grow like a jungle.”

“Reason for it?”

“Silage.”

“You have some strange ideas about cattle ranching. Won’t you need a silo for storing the silage? A silage cutter, and some method of loading it into the silo?”

“Planning to erect a few silos, out of stacked concrete culvert pipes. Build a cutting table at the top, for chopping silage so it tumbles right in, then the table slides over as the top, like a boat hatch.”

“Think you’re smart don’t you?”

“Hope so.”

“How much is this going to cost me?”

“How much are you planning to pay us for our labor?”

“Labor? Wages? You get free room and board, that’s worth something.”

“I haven’t seen a single day of room and board. There’s no house or roof over our heads provided by you. We sleep aboard our boats which are not on your property. They float on the river, and you don’t own the river. You haven’t provided a single can of beans, or a single dollar to buy beans since we began working for you. We paid for the power pole and pay the electric bill. That’s not a result of your beneficence either. Tell us why, we should expend one more calorie of energy for you? We get nothing for our sweat and effort.”

“If you are smart, you can subsistence farm. Get yourself some chickens, a milk cow, couple of pigs, raise a garden. You declined my offer to move a mobile home onto the trailer pad for you.”

“Buying life stock costs money. Paying mortgage payments on a trailer costs money. You offered to pay us double what Dakota was going to pay us, and since she fucked us, you fucked us double.”

“You got pretty good sex from both Dakota and me. That’s worth something.”

“We neither sell sex, nor buy it. It is a fair trade even steven. We gave as good as we got. It has nothing to do with owing us wages.”

“I promised no wages, and kept my promise. What’s your beef?”