Chapter 9: Lois

                                    

                                          

The following day, as my father said, he gave us the task to go to our other farm and pick some falcata seeds for bagging, dig sweet potatoes, and get young corn while he continued to clear up the area around our house in preparation for more vegetables and upland rice.
It took us about a half-kilometer walk to get to our bigger yet farther farm. Although our family owns a sizable amount of land, with two entire mountains covered with falcata and rubber trees, and even the farm is regarded as one of the largest in the region, its distance from the town and city does really matter because it is difficult to sell our crops or products without incurring significant transportation costs, which means that in the end, it won't bring in much money. Of this fact, my father's harvest is primarily for our daily consumption only.
We had to go across an entire forest to arrive at our destination, and when we finally arrived, we gasped in amazement at the scene that greeted us. We had no idea that our father had planted his upland rice here and now is almost ready for harvest.
"Wow! Wow! Papa never mention this!" my sister Beth exclaimed in awe, 
"Right!" I agreed, "Perhaps this is why he ordered us to come here. To show off,"
When we look on the other side of the valley, there is a Marang tree with plenty of unripe fruit, a Lanzones tree right next to it with lots of still-green fruit, and a Durian tree with a few fruits that are still green and hard to tell whether they are ripe or not.
"Look at that, what great timing, they are still green," Liz added regretfully, 
"When these fruits are ready, you can ask Papa if he can bring some to the house" I suggested.
"True, but given the distance, you know Papa sometimes gets lazy about bringing such fruits to the house in addition to our food" My sister Beth was feeling dismayed. 
I smiled at them and told them to keep trying because maybe one day he will bring.
"Yes, maybe," Beth said shrugging her shoulder
still not convinced.
During the next hours, we have a lot of fun while digging sweet potatoes, harvesting young corn, and picking falcata seeds. We also drank water from our father's well and prepared some young corn that was harvested right there on the farm. 
In the late afternoon, heavy rain began pouring so hard and because we had nowhere to get shelter from it, we decided to walk through it to go back to our cottage. It was difficult because it was quite dark as we traveled past the forest.
I only have three days off, not including the travel days. The time passed by so quickly as we realized it was already time for us to leave the following morning.
The rest, recreation, and enjoyment that we had been seeking were accomplished. We were able to climb a coconut tree, take a bath in a river, sing under the rain, catch some chickens for dinner, and more, for the first time in a long time we felt fulfilled with the simple farm life again. 
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Travel back...
I returned to the staff house after a four-hour journey, while my sisters went their separate ways with our father. Pa decided to travel home with them.
"How was the vacation?" my supervisor Haley asked as soon as I arrived. 
"It was great, really good"  I answered.
"Good since you have issues to face tomorrow" She commented in a serious tone. 
Her remarks immediately made me uneasy because I wondered what she meant. I picked up my phone and texted my boss as a result.