Part 1: Chapters 1-3
Chapter 1:
Corrupted Circumstances
“Yes, I did pay them for air conditioning!”
“Of course they have breaks! Do you see them spitting out guts?”
“What? I don’t even have a whip!”
“Alright, case settled.” As the words of the judge were projected across the room every time. Sometimes the judge would be disdained by the shouting of Cletus, yet that still didn’t stop the farmer from winning the case. Farmer Cletus would always find an ugly excuse to force workers with no wage to work for him. Hours and hours would go by each day, with poorly treated meals and sleep. The laborers would frequently attempt to escape, but all that resulted in where they started with, or perhaps worse. Cage was among one of these unfortunate workers. To make matters worse, Cletus often ridiculed and joked about Cage’s name, and spoke: “Cage, nothing short of a perfect name for a unperfect person. Fitting for someone living in a cage.”
Despite Cletus with his ordinary mockery, Cage would often find a motive to work and live. He thought that even though his circumstances are quite horrid, the angels would soon pick him up and allow him to live a happy and unlabored life. The last time he had met his family was years ago. So long that Cage had lost track. As a youngster of the group, he instinctively was more talkative. He often interacted with his coworkers but was eventually cut off by Cletus. Occasionally, he would pause his work to go ask his coworkers a random question, but more than often, they would either mumble a word or even ignore him. He often acknowledged his coworkers’ lack of response since Cletus had terrible punishments for the slightest things. Every ounce of move required a pound of thought. The pound would normally grow to 5 pounds, due to the harsh work that was given.
Chapter 2:
The Sweat Pond
Just because Cage’s work was inhumane, did not mean it couldn’t go worse. On a particularly scorching day, Cage was already sweating gallons, carrying bricks to build the new shed. The sun stared intensely at Cage, as if he was Cletus himself. Just as Cage was set for a little break, stormed came Cletus with a crooked smile. The sinister Cletus, decided to assign Cage an even harsher job. That job was: creating a pond. Cage in his mind knew he could possibly fill up the pond with his sweat alone, but he crossed away the thought and implemented a more pleasant and optimistic mindset.
“Oh it’s just a small pond right? Possibly a little place for birds to drink water,.” thought Cage. Little did he know, he was about to build a pond bigger than his bedroom. His utilities: a beat-up shovel and his determination, or, lack of determination. Due to the heat, the ground was dry and hard to shovel.
Yet, for the first few minutes, Cage was blazing through the job. He was a smart guy and learned that if he sprayed water on the dirt, it would be easier to dig and stabilize, perfect for the pond he was building.
His merry-go-round thoughts quickly came to a stop when he reached the second layer of the soil, which seemed almost like rock. For hours he attempted softening the rock, but it was almost useless. He sprayed water, he smashed the rock with his shovel, but nothing worked. The most noteworthy thing was that his shovel partially cracked. Cage still knew he had to be looking on the bright side, so even then he decided to ignore the fact that he spent hours on almost nothing. In the evening, the sweltering sun set, so his workload was reduced a little.
He ventured to the shed, a mysterious cabin built in the middle of the farm. His objective was to find a tool that could fix his problem. The door of the shed had its paint peeled off, and with holes resulted from the weather. The creaks of the door were painfully loud, as if it was never oiled, which most likely was the case. The miniscule light source came from the moon, and projected a portion of the shed. In the very corner of the shed, a big hammer laidaid against the wall, full of spider webs and cobs. A label sticker was half torn off, and had the words: Crack Hammer! Obliterate rocks in a matter of seconds!
A rush of thought flooded into Cage’s head. Can this be the tool that he needed? Sprinting back to his worksite, he summoned all his strength, and smashed the hard layer of rock, and chunks of rocks shattered off the stone. The success of each trial gave him more strength, and soon he was able to do it for hours. His perpetual hammering soon absorbed his strength, and there he laid in his dugout.
“Get up you crusty musty dog! You have work to do!” Cletus shrieked at Cage. Remembering his midnight successes, the previous day, Cage obediently got to work, and was pretty optimistic, once again. His work was about halfway done, in terms of digging, and with pace, he could have days to spare. However, knowing Cletus, he would just assign him more workload due to the fact that Cletus can’t stand seeing Cage hang around and soak up the time. Ignoring the side-thought, Cage went on to work.
His coworkers were on the other side of the farm but were oblivious to Cage’s Pond works. They’ve been working on a plantation, where they were full out in the sun. Cage had a little shade, as a cluster of trees blocked the reigning sun. Growing plants during this extreme heat would need bountiful amounts of water, so a reservoir was also needed. The temperatures were always in the hundreds, sometimes a hundred and ten degrees. The boys were all obviously outworked and exhausted from the heat. Dehydration was a common problem and caused sicknesses often.
Chapter 3:
Knowledge is power; without the knowledge
Ironically, Cletus was inside enjoying himself with air conditioning and his cable television. Cletus was increasingly lazy, every day enjoying himself with bags of microwave popcorn, and drinking soda. He became so obese that one of the workers were able to escape, due to Cletus being overweight and slow. Cage had considered escaping but realized his conditions would be worse if he escaped.
Here, he had a guaranteed shelter and food, but out there? It was a 30-mile radius to the nearest farm, which, who knows, may be even worse. The food served here wasn’t the best, but for farmers, it was okay. Usually, it would consist of one corn on the cob, milk, a small slice of chicken, and a banana. The food was all grown in their very own farm, which was surely organic.
Chapter 1:
Corrupted Circumstances
“Yes, I did pay them for air conditioning!”
“Of course they have breaks! Do you see them spitting out guts?”
“What? I don’t even have a whip!”
“Alright, case settled.” As the words of the judge were projected across the room every time. Sometimes the judge would be disdained by the shouting of Cletus, yet that still didn’t stop the farmer from winning the case. Farmer Cletus would always find an ugly excuse to force workers with no wage to work for him. Hours and hours would go by each day, with poorly treated meals and sleep. The laborers would frequently attempt to escape, but all that resulted in where they started with, or perhaps worse. Cage was among one of these unfortunate workers. To make matters worse, Cletus often ridiculed and joked about Cage’s name, and spoke: “Cage, nothing short of a perfect name for a unperfect person. Fitting for someone living in a cage.”
Despite Cletus with his ordinary mockery, Cage would often find a motive to work and live. He thought that even though his circumstances are quite horrid, the angels would soon pick him up and allow him to live a happy and unlabored life. The last time he had met his family was years ago. So long that Cage had lost track. As a youngster of the group, he instinctively was more talkative. He often interacted with his coworkers but was eventually cut off by Cletus. Occasionally, he would pause his work to go ask his coworkers a random question, but more than often, they would either mumble a word or even ignore him. He often acknowledged his coworkers’ lack of response since Cletus had terrible punishments for the slightest things. Every ounce of move required a pound of thought. The pound would normally grow to 5 pounds, due to the harsh work that was given.
Chapter 2:
The Sweat Pond
Just because Cage’s work was inhumane, did not mean it couldn’t go worse. On a particularly scorching day, Cage was already sweating gallons, carrying bricks to build the new shed. The sun stared intensely at Cage, as if he was Cletus himself. Just as Cage was set for a little break, stormed came Cletus with a crooked smile. The sinister Cletus, decided to assign Cage an even harsher job. That job was: creating a pond. Cage in his mind knew he could possibly fill up the pond with his sweat alone, but he crossed away the thought and implemented a more pleasant and optimistic mindset.
“Oh it’s just a small pond right? Possibly a little place for birds to drink water,.” thought Cage. Little did he know, he was about to build a pond bigger than his bedroom. His utilities: a beat-up shovel and his determination, or, lack of determination. Due to the heat, the ground was dry and hard to shovel.
Yet, for the first few minutes, Cage was blazing through the job. He was a smart guy and learned that if he sprayed water on the dirt, it would be easier to dig and stabilize, perfect for the pond he was building.
His merry-go-round thoughts quickly came to a stop when he reached the second layer of the soil, which seemed almost like rock. For hours he attempted softening the rock, but it was almost useless. He sprayed water, he smashed the rock with his shovel, but nothing worked. The most noteworthy thing was that his shovel partially cracked. Cage still knew he had to be looking on the bright side, so even then he decided to ignore the fact that he spent hours on almost nothing. In the evening, the sweltering sun set, so his workload was reduced a little.
He ventured to the shed, a mysterious cabin built in the middle of the farm. His objective was to find a tool that could fix his problem. The door of the shed had its paint peeled off, and with holes resulted from the weather. The creaks of the door were painfully loud, as if it was never oiled, which most likely was the case. The miniscule light source came from the moon, and projected a portion of the shed. In the very corner of the shed, a big hammer laidaid against the wall, full of spider webs and cobs. A label sticker was half torn off, and had the words: Crack Hammer! Obliterate rocks in a matter of seconds!
A rush of thought flooded into Cage’s head. Can this be the tool that he needed? Sprinting back to his worksite, he summoned all his strength, and smashed the hard layer of rock, and chunks of rocks shattered off the stone. The success of each trial gave him more strength, and soon he was able to do it for hours. His perpetual hammering soon absorbed his strength, and there he laid in his dugout.
“Get up you crusty musty dog! You have work to do!” Cletus shrieked at Cage. Remembering his midnight successes, the previous day, Cage obediently got to work, and was pretty optimistic, once again. His work was about halfway done, in terms of digging, and with pace, he could have days to spare. However, knowing Cletus, he would just assign him more workload due to the fact that Cletus can’t stand seeing Cage hang around and soak up the time. Ignoring the side-thought, Cage went on to work.
His coworkers were on the other side of the farm but were oblivious to Cage’s Pond works. They’ve been working on a plantation, where they were full out in the sun. Cage had a little shade, as a cluster of trees blocked the reigning sun. Growing plants during this extreme heat would need bountiful amounts of water, so a reservoir was also needed. The temperatures were always in the hundreds, sometimes a hundred and ten degrees. The boys were all obviously outworked and exhausted from the heat. Dehydration was a common problem and caused sicknesses often.
Chapter 3:
Knowledge is power; without the knowledge
Ironically, Cletus was inside enjoying himself with air conditioning and his cable television. Cletus was increasingly lazy, every day enjoying himself with bags of microwave popcorn, and drinking soda. He became so obese that one of the workers were able to escape, due to Cletus being overweight and slow. Cage had considered escaping but realized his conditions would be worse if he escaped.
Here, he had a guaranteed shelter and food, but out there? It was a 30-mile radius to the nearest farm, which, who knows, may be even worse. The food served here wasn’t the best, but for farmers, it was okay. Usually, it would consist of one corn on the cob, milk, a small slice of chicken, and a banana. The food was all grown in their very own farm, which was surely organic.
