The Army Comes Calling by Darrell Maloney

circle of life.
         The two made a new habit of walking through the tunnel to the mine every evening after they finished their dinner.
         Hannah watched each day as Markie measured out four scoops of chicken feed and dumped it into a bucket.
         Then she stood back and watched as he strolled among the chickens, tossing out the feed as though he were on a parade float tossing candy to masses of children.
         “You only get a little,” be said as he tossed half a handful in front of a very aggressive hen. “You always try to steal everybody else’s anyway.”
         Hannah stifled a laugh. Little Markie was getting more and more like his father every day.
         And he was getting inquisitive too.
         “Mommy, how will we know when Rusty the bull is gonna have a baby?”
         “Oh, honey. I told you never to name the animals.”
         “How come?”
         “Because if you name them, you may get too close to them. And some day, when it comes time for your daddy and Uncle Bryan to kill them so we can eat them, then it might make you sad.”
         “It won’t make me sad. I love hamburgers.”
         “Still, let’s not name the animals, okay?”
         “Okay.”
         He paused, but for only a short moment.
         “Well then, how do we tell when the bull I used to call Rusty is gonna have a baby?”
         “Bulls don’t have babies, honey. Only cows have babies.”
         “How come?”
         “Well, they’re sort of like people. With people, boys can’t have babies. Only girls can. Bulls are like boys and cows are like girls. Now do you understand?”
         She was hoping he would, and would move on to another subject.
         She wasn’t so lucky.
         “So, how do you know which ones are boys and which ones are girls?”
         Hannah rolled her eyes and wondered why Mark was never around when she needed him.
         “Well, honey, they look different. Underneath. Like, for example, if you look at Rusty the bull underneath, he looks different than Daisy the cow.”
         “I thought you said we weren’t supposed to name the animals. How come you can call him Rusty and I can’t?”
         She was a little bit relieved that he changed the subject, and hoped it wasn’t only temporary.
         “You’re right. I shouldn’t call them names either. Fair is fair.”
         “When you said they look different underneath, did you mean because one of them has a penis and the other one doesn’t?”
         Hannah was just a bit shocked, and stammered for the right words.
         “How… where did you learn about penises, young man?”
         “From Uncle Bryan. He told me all about them. Do you wanna know what else he taught me about?”
         “No… definitely not. Let’s get back to the cow question you asked. Boy cows, or bulls, cannot get pregnant. Only girls can. And you can tell they are when their tummy starts to swell. You’ve seen women who were pregnant before, right?”
         “Nope. Never.”
         “Well, I mean, you’ve seen some women in movies who were pregnant, right?”
         “Like Mrs. Haney in Blind Man’s Bluff ?”
         “Yes. Exactly.”
         “Her tummy got gynormous. Is Daisy the cow gonna get like that? I mean, is the cow that doesn’t have a name gonna get like that?”
         “Maybe, maybe not. We’ll have to wait and see. But let’s talk more about that later. Right now we need to finish up so we can get back to the big house.”
         “Why, Mommy? Why do we have to hurry back?”
         “Because Mommy wants to beat up your Uncle Bryan.”
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    Chapter 16
     
         Weeks went by and calm, as well as a bit of monotony, returned to the compound.
         Colonel Montgomery never returned, the team caring