Well, this beautiful spring day, Titch and I saw a lot of dead things. A dead crow, a dead sheep, a dead rabbit. You find this kind of thing hereabouts, but they alarm Titch no end.
Titch: OMG! More dead things! It's an epidemic!
Me: No, it's the coutryside. Stuff happens in the countryside.
Titch: Well, what about that thing in the road?
Me: What thing in the road?
Titch: That red and white striped thing.
Me: Oh, that was just a traffic cone. Someone had knocked it over.
Titch: Looked dead to me.
I tried to explain about things that are usually alive (sheep) and things that aren't (traffic cones), but Titch wasn't having any of it. To him, anything lying motionless on its side - whether it be a cone, a lamp post, a wheelie bin (especially a wheelie bin) - is dead. And whatever killed it, might be coming after him. He has a kind of Me Next mentality. So I thought I'd entertain him with the story of the dead lamb.
This happened some years ago, when I was out riding (different horse), and we came across a lamb that had drowned in a water trough. I found the farmer, and told him of his loss. I expected - what, exactly? Not grief. That would have been over the top, but perhaps an element of disappointment, maybe tinged with sadness for the unnecessary passing of something so young; even a passing regret for the loss of future revenue? But not a bit of it. A slow smile spread over the farmer's face. "He did well to get in there, didn't he?" he said proudly, and went about his business.
Titch thought this was very hearltess, and for once, I had to agree with him.
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That was heartless indeed!! Poor little lamb!
ReplyDeleteThis post appeared on my dashboard before, but then everytime I clicked it, it said "This page does not exist" or something like that...
Yes?.........Mmmm! This is a terrible dilemma for a horse. Is it me next? Thats what mine is like. Does my head in! One minute she`s walking as calm as you like, then she cat jumps 300 feet, and for no other reason than there is a dead Badger at the side of the road!
ReplyDeleteMy total sympathy is with you.
Librarian, the reason for that was Blogger problems. Now sorted (I hope).
ReplyDeleteCheyenne, I can't imagine what the reaction would have been if we'd seen a dead badger!
He certainly sounds rather heartless. I sometimes wonder with people though. Smiling is not a natural thing to do in the circumstances. Human nature being what it is perhaps he was trying to display quite the opposite so that either you would not think him soft or, possibly, because he knew it would upset you (making him an even more heartless person). People are strange creatures.
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