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friendly, they
would take a liking to. The twins would often visit their ‘ pets’ to feed and water them, and to just be around creatures who
constantly amazed them both. From the ponies to the many goats,
chickens and calves, Spoonie and Tyke’s world was one of exploration and fascination. Little
did they know, however, that their entire understanding of the world
around them would change before day’s end.
    “You two ready to go see the turtle now?” Walee asked a
few minutes later, having grown tired of watching his sisters tend to
an animal that was about to go away and never be seen again.
    “Yes,” Spoonie said as she gently stoked Mister Spots’s
side. “Bye, Mister Spots! See you next time!”
    Tyke hugged the calf and ran her hands across his head before she got
up and said, “Next time we’ll stay longer.”
    Flacco made sure that the kids cleared the stockyard after their
hands were sanitized and he watched them walk down to the edge of the
forest where Walee scooped up his turtle and began leading the way
back to the horse field where he was met by Siloam and Twiggy, who’d
just finished riding horses and were now driving a golf cart back to
Ponderosa. Certain that the family’s youngest three were now
safe and in good hands, Flacco returned to the stockyard and resumed
his previous duties.
    *******
    The sun was beginning to set a few hours later and the family had
been outside for nearly the entire day. Everyone was exhausted as
they began making their way back to Ponderosa and washing up for
dinner. Walee had placed his turtle back into its cage beside a pond
at the edge of the forest and he, Spoonie and Tyke were now walking
back to the patio.
    “We should go and see Mister Spots again before dinner. We
played with your turtle all day, Walee. Me and Spoonie could’ve
stayed with Mister Spots if we knew we were going to be back here the
whole day.”
    “Mister Spots is gone, Tyke.” Walee said
matter-of-factly.
    “Gone? Gone where?”
    “Oh!” Spoonie chimed in. “Remember the last calf we
had and that little pig? Momma said they went to a new home. Maybe
Mister Spots went to the new home where our other calf and our pig
went.”
    “They went home alright,” Walee chuckled.
    “What’s that supposed to mean?” Tyke asked.
    “Mister Spots and ya’ little pig friend’s new home
will be in the meat department at the grocery store.”
    Spoonie and Tyke couldn’t make sense of what Walee was telling
them; they looked at one another briefly before running up behind
Walee.
    “I’m not understanding this,” Spoonie said as she
walked beside her brother. “What does the meat department in a
grocery store have to do with Mister Spots?”
    “You know them ribs we was eating earlier today?”
    “Yeah,” the twins answered simultaneously.
    “Well, that’s what happens when Mister Spots goes to his
new home. They chop off his head, take off all his skin and cut him
up into tiny pieces so we can eat him and his friends.”
    Spoonie and Tyke paused in their tracks and covered their lower
faces. “They gone kill Mister Spots?” Tyke asked through
trembling lips.
    “They gone kill Mister Spots, ya’ favorite chickens and
even those little pigs who y’all be calling the stinky beasts.
They gone kill all of ‘em. Every time you see those big trucks
back there that mean one of ya’ little animal friends is about
to die.”
    “They gone kill Mister Spots?” Tyke cried again in
disbelief.
    “What I said? As of now,” Walee said as he looked at his
bare wrist as if he were wearing a watch, “as of now my Rolex
is telling me that Mister Spots is on somebody’s meat hook
being skinned alive and ready to go to the meat market.”
    “Mister Spots,” Spoonie and Tyke gasped in shock as they
two took off running towards Ponderosa, crying their little hearts
out in disbelief.
    Walee was surprised at his sisters’ reaction. He ran and caught
with Spoonie and Tyke and stood before them,