Mac got a dispatch call after dark\u2013unusual. He joked that he had been with the Central Otago Sanitation Company since the drivers were expected to dump liquid sheep waste along the road\u2013and he had never received an after-hours alert. Still, he took the call, and dispatch gave him an address. Ten minutes later, his headlights lit up an old red barn and an old tall man hunched over. Mac climbed out, and flicked on his torch.<\/p>\n
\u201cRough time of it?\u201d Mac asked.<\/p>\n
\u201cNah. Just tired. I\u2019m Sam.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMac.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sam looked up. His face was covered in blood.<\/p>\n
Mac backed up a step, \u201cWhat\u2019s the problem then?\u201d<\/p>\n
Sam looked up and gestured towards the barn.<\/p>\n
\u201cShow me what we\u2019re working with, mate,\u201d Mac said.<\/p>\n
Sam sighed. He stood and pushed open the door.<\/p>\n
Dead sheep lay stacked a meter high.<\/p>\n
\u201cJesus.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWool price is shit, lanolin price is shit, no one even eats lamb anymore,\u201d Sam said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy didn\u2019t you just sell them?\u201d Mac asked, he swept the beam over the pile. Large flies bounced against the torch.<\/p>\n
\u201cCost to truck them, cost of processing, I lose $10,000. The only thing cheaper would be to cut a hole in the fence and let them be my neighbor\u2019s problem.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI think we\u2019re actually neighbors, we share the fence by the transmission tower.\u201d Mac gestured towards where the Manapuri hydro station threw its power lines across the island.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn that case, do you like sheep?\u201d A smile cracked through the dried blood on Sam\u2019s face.<\/p>\n
Mac grinned. \u201cMy truck\u2019s only certified for liquid effluvia, mate.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sam sighed. \u201cListen, you look like a country fella, someone that knows how to take care of things out here.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mac looked at the stars reflected in a ram\u2019s clouded eye. \u201cSure, but I would\u2019ve brought my flatbed then.\u201d<\/p>\n
Both men chuckled. The barn wafted death like a desecrated altar.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you can throw in a sixer then I can pop back to the garage and get my flatbed,\u201d Mac said, \u201cafter all, we\u2019re neighbors.\u201d<\/p>\n
They worked through the night, hefting corpses onto the truck. Their sweat and blood mingled together in a tangy bouquet. Finally they stopped for beer and cigarettes.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re over halfways anyways,\u201d Sam said. He tossed a bottle to Mac.<\/p>\n
\u201cWife\u2019s asleep then?\u201d Mac asked as he popped off the cap.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo wife.\u201d<\/p>\n
The moon had risen, fat and yellow.<\/p>\n
\u201cGot a bird then, a girlfriend mate?\u201d<\/p>\n
The power lines above them sang with corona discharge. Mac watched Sam\u2019s face light and disappear around the cigarette\u2019s ember. Sam\u2019s eyes were orange-flecked, like a carnelian, Mac decided.<\/p>\n
Sam started to stand, and stumbled.<\/p>\n
Mac moved to catch him.<\/p>\n
Sam caught his forearm. His grip slid down until their hands met.<\/p>\n
Somewhere in the barn, a lamb bleated.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
“You like sheep?\u201d A smile cracked through the dried blood on Sam\u2019s face. Mac grinned. \u201cMy truck\u2019s only certified for liquid effluvia, mate.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":182,"featured_media":22412,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3530],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21824","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-flash-fiction","writer-jt-peifer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mrbullbull.com\/newbull\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21824","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mrbullbull.com\/newbull\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mrbullbull.com\/newbull\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mrbullbull.com\/newbull\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/182"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mrbullbull.com\/newbull\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21824"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/mrbullbull.com\/newbull\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21824\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22413,"href":"https:\/\/mrbullbull.com\/newbull\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21824\/revisions\/22413"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mrbullbull.com\/newbull\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22412"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mrbullbull.com\/newbull\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21824"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mrbullbull.com\/newbull\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21824"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mrbullbull.com\/newbull\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21824"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}