Conversations at the Gate 11

Conversations at the Gate 11

Down in the shire in the old English countryside the back gate to Mr and Mrs Langley's stone cottage were filled full of rabbits. Benny Langley was getting along in his years. His mind was sharp as a tack but his body riddled with arthritis.

Margaret Langley was a spry lady always on the move. She not only took care of the inside of the cottage but tended to her vegetable garden and herb garden all y herself. Benny did help her pick the vegetables and helped a lot with preserving them. He said to his wife: “My legs are weak but when I sit on a chair or stool I can peel and prepare the foods for canning' drying and freeing.”

He joyfully helped his wife in this task. He also had a tall sitting stool that he used to sit on while preparing meals at the stove. Kneading bread was easily done along with preparation of casseroles and cakes. He did not make many cookies because it was tiring to him to get off and on the stool.

The two of them got along very well during work hours. In the evenings they would listen to the radio after dinner or have quiet time each reading a book or newspaper.

Today over in the garden they saw a lot of damage from rabbits. Benny was unable to go out and walk around getting rid of the rabbits so he rang up The Hill residents asking if they would send their two boys down to the shire and either kill or capture the rabbits in cages. John Hill said he would send Harry and Francis down today.

When Harry and Frantic arrived at the Langley's gate they set up some traps right near the opening. They then continued to the stone cottage to tell them what exactly they would be doing.

“Mum sent you two dozen eggs. We set traps by the gate. We also brought our guns and a sack to carry the hares in. Pap also said we should give you some of the hares.” said Harry, the older lad.

Benny took them down to the garden and showed them the damage. The lads looked around to see if their were any rabbit trails and where they might be looking for their next meal. Benny went back tho the cottage to rest his body for a while and left the lads alone. He knew they had been well trained and would not ruin the garden. Francis told Benny they would hunt around for a while then come back to the cottage in an hour or two.

Benny told them to come by noon and Margaret would have a nice lunch for them.

Later Benny heard exactly twelve gunshots. True to the time of noon Harry knocked on the door with his brother. Their bag was filed with twelve gutted rabbits. The skins intact . They told Benny they had left the entrails near a couple of rabbit holes far away from the garden.

“Pap told us to do that to discourage the hares from coming back to the garden. We need to skin the hares soon. Would you like to show us a place outback where to do this?” asked Harry.

Benny not only showed them a place he went out and sat on a stump helping the lads. Benny saw four of the rabbits where white fur. He thought he would keep them to make a nice rug for Margaret. Asking the lads if they would care for the other eight skins.

“Pap said if you offered we could take them to make prepared skins to sell. We would then use the money to purchase ammunition.” replied Francis.

After washing up Benny and the lads went to the table and had a wonderful stew for lunch with freshly baked bread. Margaret also had a loaf of Dill seed bread wrapped in paper for them to take home.

Benny took four hares for themselves and gave the rest to the lads.

Benny and Margaret cleaned the hares and after cutting them into pieces for freezing they kept out four pieces fr eating the next couple of days.

Later that evening Mr Hill called thanking them for the meat and skins.

“My lads also trapped four rabbits at the gate. They brought them home in the hutches. They will go back tomorrow and check the other three traps. The next time you need some thinning the hares the lads will be happy to come down to the shire. Misses Hill said thanks for the dill bread”

©Julia A Knaake