A Week on the Farm

by Graeme

graemeaussie@hotmail.com

Dear Uncle George,

Mum and Dad said that I should write to you to thank you for letting Frank and me stay with you for a week. So, thanks! We had a wonderful time with you, Aunt Mabel and our cousin John.

There were so many great times that I’m not sure if I can list them all, but I think one of the best was when we made the scarecrows with the old clothing we found near the dam. I made a boy scarecrow and Frank made a girl one. He wasn’t happy about that — he wanted to make a boy scarecrow, too — but since we only found the two lots of clothes, there wasn’t a lot of choice.

We’re sorry about taking the two big pumpkins for the heads. We didn’t know that Aunt Mabel was growing them for the local big vegetable competition, but you have to admit that they looked good at the top of the scarecrows.

After we made the scarecrows, Frank and I weren’t sure what to do, but then we saw John running naked across the paddock and back to the house. It was such a warm day and we decided that must be a country thing to do, so we took off our clothes and started dancing around the scarecrows. It was a lot of fun.

John showed up soon after that wearing some old clothes and asked us where we got the things for the scarecrows from. He seemed upset, which scared Frank and me. But then he smiled and said he’d get us another set of clothes if he could have the girl clothing. Frank and I didn’t know what he wanted them for — John’s almost a man, and the girl clothing wouldn’t fit him anyway — but since Frank didn’t really want a girl scarecrow, we quickly agreed. John went back inside and came out with some old clothes and as soon as we undressed the scarecrow he took the girl clothes and headed back to the dam.

Speaking of the dam, Frank and I are really sorry about the quad bike. We really thought that with wheels that big that it would float. It was just as well that Frank and I know how to swim. Mum and Dad would have been proud of how well we swam back to the side of the dam after the bike disappeared under the water. And it was fun watching John diving in to attach a chain to the bike so you could pull it out with the tractor. Aunt Mabel did say that you could reuse the tyres, so it wasn’t a complete loss.

As for the tractor, I just want to say that you didn’t yell loud enough when I was driving it. I couldn’t hear you telling me to stop over the noise of the engine. And John said you had been thinking of pulling down the old shed, so there was no real harm done.

Frank and I both agree that John is the best cousin we’ve got and that we both want to be like him when we’re his age. He taught us a lot of things and the only thing he asked us to do in exchange was to keep quiet around his girlfriend Becky about him wrestling with that girl in the hay shed and the other girl we saw him with in the outer paddock.

I know Frank and I got into trouble for it, but the hay shed burning down wasn’t our fault! John was not teaching us how to smoke and we weren’t playing with matches. The hay just caught alight, all by itself. John said that happens sometimes. As he said, at least no one was hurt.

We also learned lots more stuff, such as making sure we close the gate properly between the paddocks with boy cows and the paddock with the girl cows. Frank and I learned a lot of new words that day.

Frank and I are really sorry that we won’t be able to stay with you, Aunt Mabel and John again. It seems that our farewell surprise was a little too good. John had told us that you get coloured wool from coloured sheep, so Frank and I decided to spray-paint the sheep you had put in the pen to sell so you’d get more money. After all, coloured sheep must be rare since we’ve never seen one before. You must have made a packet from selling the ones we painted, because Mum and Dad tell us that you’re off on overseas trips during all the school holidays for the next few years. While we’re disappointed, we’re happy that we did the right thing in the end.

Thanks again for a wonderful week. Frank and I will remember it for a long, long time.

Yours truly,

Mark Spencer