Dave watched the carpet of chicks with fascination; his eye would latch onto one chick and see it flap it's downy wings, peck, dash forward, sit down and fall asleep before another chick walked over it and it stood up to start again.
"First time with chickens?" Hank leaned in the shed door and watched the antics.
"Yeah." Dave couldn't tear his eyes away from their new charges.
"Want to take care of them then? You'd have to come in everyday."
"Sure. What do I need to do?"
"Give them fresh water twice a day, fill the feeders, change the paper and watch for problems. You can ask me if you're not sure about anything. Also, keep the door padlocked; this is a big investment for the church and if a dog got in it could wipe it out in minutes. I'll handle giving the chicks to the parishioners as they come fetch them. So if anyone gives you grief, tell them I'm in charge and you have no say in it. Got it?"
"Yes, I understand." There was a hint of a smile in Dave's reply. Since he had met them when tilling the gardens, he was well aware that some of those buying chicks would be difficult and complain about everything. "What happens to the chicks that don't get sold?"
"I checked with the city to see if we could keep extras here, but we can only have six like everyone else. If there are extras we will open up the offer to the community."
"The church is going to have it's own chickens? For always?"
"That's the plan." Hank locked the shed and they went back to building chicken coops. "Have you thought about what you will do this fall? Are you going back to Wichita for school?"
"No!" Dave's response burst out, then he toned down his voice, "No, not there. I thought I'd have to go somewhere else, but it looks like we can stay where we are now. I really want to graduate here, where I grew up."
"What about after that?"
"I don't know. My friend is going into the Navy, but I always thought I'd go to college for accounting or software."
"Why not still do that? Lots of people get loans."
"I always planned to do it without loans. I've been saving since my first job and I figured on working part time during the school year. But when my dad lost his job, I gave them my savings to help; now it's all gone. Maybe I could get student loans, but does it make sense when there might not be jobs even with a degree?"
"Maybe, maybe not. Probably a good idea to stay flexible and see what happens."
Dave paused in his work to watch Hank measure a piece of wood twice before cutting it. "I'm enjoying learning to do real stuff with my hands. It's kind of cool to look at something and know I built it."
"Better get on with it then. Mrs. Shipley won't thank you for not having her coop ready tomorrow."
Dave bent to the work with a smile.
Part 15
2 comments:
Important message these days - my personal opinion is that too much emphasis is being put on getting a college degree, and too little on learning something practical. I do love this story.
I agree with Susan. I do have a degree in finance but the most important tools I have under my belt are the ones I've learned to do with my hands. Lovely writing, good for Dave! :)
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