Once upon a time in a small village of the Kings, there was a man called Simon and he was living with his little boy Aron. The boy’s mother passed away in the last earthquake happened in the village many years ago. Simon had only three goats as the remain of his inheritance from his father who was the farmer many years ago before their belongings were taken by the whites who came there when Aron’s father was still a little boy as Aron. Every morning Aron before he goes to school he had a duty of taking his father’s goats to the veld where they eat during the day. The little enjoys himself as he was given the duty because he ended up building a bond with is father’s little livestock and what he leant from that is that it didn’t gave him something to hold on but... it gave him a key to the pride of his father. Sometimes before he takes the goats to the veld his father sometimes milks the goats so they would have something to eat in the afternoon when Aron comes back from school. As the little boy so driven with enthusiasm he always made sure that nothing comes between him and his father’s livestock because it the only thing they can survive with. Simon as the father he knew that they can’t survive with just the goat milk so he tried by all means to search for greener pasture or anything he can do to better their living so what he did, he tried to look for something at the maize field and luckily he found himself a job in one of the maize field at the village and every day after work he was paid with a little money R50 a day. However, he never gives up but he tried all he can do to make sure his boy doesn’t lack nothing so he won’t notice that they are one of the poor people in the village. So Simon as the father to this little boy wished to sell the goats to people who will afford them but... he knew if he did that nothing will change their situation and it was going to make things even worse for them because they were getting fed by these goats so they don’t sleep with empty stomachs. Simon knew that one-day thing will be better and they will get out of this poor situation status perhaps he believed that the goats will produce eventually and they will have the life they wanted I guess the good life he wanted for his son but... wasn’t notice anything because his father played his role so well so that he wouldn’t notice the circumstances they were living under which wasn’t a good thing for people at all.
One afternoon the boy came from school to home as usually and there was no sign of his father around the house as usually so he went inside the house and there was nothing in the house to eat so he remembered that he can go and steal fruits from one of the nearest farms around his house. And he knew that he will look after the goats at the veld as usually and come home back with them before the sunset. So he managed to get the fruit and he went down stream to enjoy the view of the veld as he was watching over his father’s goats as well as making the livestock drinks water and eats as much as goats desire. The boy enjoyed being around his father’s goats and he believed that as he was given the right to watch over they also belong to him I guess traditionally he knew that he was going to inherit the goats as few as they were and he didn’t care at all. The boy suddenly fell asleep as he was watching over them and it is not a secret that goats are greedy as hell and they go as far as they can to get something to graze or browse. When the boy woke up in an hour he noticed that his father’s goats were nowhere to be found and the he thought that the jackals had already dealt with them but... he concluded his statement he started looking for the roaming around the veld and searching for his father’s only livestock. Well... luckily he found the goats near the maize field as they were looking for the way to get inside the field so what Aron did he took the goats to the stream to drink water then he went back straight home before he found himself in a serious trouble because of the goats he was asked to watch over by his father. He wanted to tell his father about what happened at the veld while he was watching the goats but his father wasn’t interested in such thing so he kept all what happened to him so he would find a way not to repeat such thing again. And he knew that if he doesn’t want such thing to happen again he must open his eyes not just his sleepy head however the boy realised that if he didn’t wake up in time his father’s goats were going to be captured for trespassing in another man’s maize field and they were going to be cost a fortune to get them back again. You can say the boy was lucky at some point but who knew that was the first and the last lucky he would get again. When the boy returned home his father was at the house preparing something for the evening to eat as he knew that when he left home in the afternoon there was nothing for the boy to so he can regain his strength. Aron was a strong boy who didn’t really give up so easy even if he knew that his father was trying all means to make sure at least there is something is his stomach before they go to sleep. And they were everything they can give each other to survive the day anyway they had this beautiful bond together and nobody can really mess up that bond I guess it is because Aron’s father had to be his mother and father at the same time and etc.


© Makaziwe Gotyana