Well... it didn’t end there but as the time went by and Susan ended up going to back to her house and she never had the chance of doing what she had come there to do, just because it became the last thing on her mind suddenly I guess what was the side effects of mixing business with pleasure. By the way even Simon didn’t get the chance to look at the kraal to see whether the livestock is already or what for his own check-up as the head of the house. Moments later Aron arrived home and he was just as tired as he wished for a sleep so he would wake up the next morning for his first paper of exams and asked him just one question that the goats are already in the kraal and he lied and yes... while he knew that that was just lies he was feeding his father. It was just about week now since the goats were not coming back home for quite some time and Aron knew the reason why but... he wasn’t telling his father. The old Dutch man was going capture the goats for a month if nobody came for them he was going to take them by force and they were going to belong to him because it was the rule he set for all the people’s livestock trespassed in his maize field because he wasn’t just planting there to feed his family but it was also his business with other local market owner who wanted to something from him. So he always believed as much as these goats caused him his business and he had all the right to do whatever he wanted after a month in that case he was going to fill in that was ruin in there trespassing. The old Dutch man as he was waiting someone to come forward and take the consequences for such trespassing. He also sent a request from the other villagers including his workers to look for anyone who had the missing number of goats in their houses or somebody who once had goats and how they became gone suddenly. So the workers before they sent the message to the other villagers they sent the message to the neighbouring villages around the Kings like Westville and Eastern Knights. And those villages none of their villagers was seemed to have the missing numbers of goats or anything that was funny about their livestock in both villages so the workers knew for sure that these goats were from their own village and to find out who they belong to I guess they had to find out their right person to tell about the situation just in case they didn’t notice the missing of their goats. In their minds they were thinking because whether somebody who owns the goats has large number of goats to realise the missing numbers. Luckily the baby goats were with mother goats so nothing was making them suffer besides... the fact that the old Dutch man wasn’t giving Simon’s goats the right treat they deserve and that was causing a little complication for the baby goats to survive in such harsh condition of being locked in the shed with no enough food and water so they can bring back the stamina for survival. Even mother goats were not producing enough milk for their off springs to drink so they would get the type of proteins they need to grow as well as they stay healthy and well. The workers who were told to send the message to the villagers’ find the good puzzle to what they went looking for and all they heard point them straight to Simon’s house and it was so hard for them to find Simon’s house because it was with last houses in the village. So they went to his house on the same day they found the information because it was already late for them and they were not going to make time to come back in time and the sun was already setting. The next morning, they woke up early and they arrived at Simon’s house just before Aron went to school and by the time before they were talking with Aron’s father it is when Aron was coming out from the kitchen in school uniform as he greets the men. One of the remembered him when he was roaming around the maize field looking for his father’s goats and he remembered he told himself that they are captured by the old Dutch man called Mr Van Roebuck for trespassing but... the man chose to say nothing on his presence. As they still talking with Simon, Aron rushed to school as he was in the progress of the exams and such other school work that needed his attention. The worker told what they came for I Simon’s house and they told him about his captured goats at the Mr Van Roebuck’s shed where all the trespassing animals were kept to be collect by their owners. Simon was indeed shocked to hear such thing after his son Aron was feeding him lies on lies about the goats’ whereabouts. What almost killed him because of shock is that he was told they were capture there for almost a week now and the old Dutch man is thinking of selling to them so he can replace his loses. In Simon’s mind he was thinking that about not what these men came to his house talking about. And he remembered all this time he was busy entertaining Susan the lady he just met in the few past months he knew that he won’t able to blame anyone for that but... himself. As he was thinking the plan of rescuing his goats from the old Dutch man’s shed he had to raise some money so he can pay the fine and when he looked around himself the only money he had in his pocket he paid some guy who he was owing for months of paying him. However, he told Susan about the matter hoping that she was going to help him but... she was saying another story and she was going to him the money when it was the month’s end. And she was feeling bad she couldn’t help him at that particular time. Well... Susan accompanied Simon to the old Dutch man to check whether it is really his goats so he can raise money of something he knows about. Before that the old Dutch man’s men gave him just another week to make sure that he does the right thing or else it will be lost of his livestock because they knew how heartless the old Dutch man can be to people who are trespassing in his properties even as they were telling him they were begging him to act in time because the old man is not somebody to mess with if you want to survive in the village of Kings. Simon’s fear was that what if he didn’t get the money in week time, does it mean that he will lose his pride? However, when they arrived at the old Dutch man farmhouse where they were told to wait for Mr Van Roebuck in one of the living rooms in the house because the old man was on the side of the house having breakfast and everybody knew that as he doesn’t want to be interrupted in whatever he is doing in his spare time. As waiting in the other living rooms they were offered refreshments and cookies by one of the helpers. Few moments later, the old man joined them as they were there for the goats and the old man took them at the shed where he kept them they can see whether it is what they came for and they were shocked to find them as thin as bird’s bones.


© Makaziwe Gotyana