The Tale of Dewberry and Clark

Jake Hillerman & Mackayla Klekamp

Clark was a young man aspiring to be a celebrity chef; he, however, flunked out of culinary school his sophomore year and bought a lottery ticket with his last dollar. He won $500,000. He planned to buy a restaurant but was not permitted to do so because he failed school a few months prior. He eventually decided he should buy a ranch in hopes he would one day get his cooking degree online and then supply his own food. That was almost a year ago, and it never happened.

When starting his ranch, Clark had one problem: he knew nothing about farming. He put ads in the local paper and interviewed several men. He finally found one man who asked simply for free food and a house on the ranch. That man was a muscular six and a half foot tall man named Dewberry. Dewberry had lived on his parent’s ranch his whole life, and once he graduated high school, he was kicked out. He applied to many jobs, but no one would hire him since he lacked experience. He finally applied to work for Clark for a low price, to assure that he would secure the position.

Dewberry stepped into Clark’s modest home in the middle of the ranch and found Clark watching TV in the living room.“Hey Clark,” Dewberry said, “I'm running behind today. Can you help me with the last few tasks?”

“Dewberry, you know that I don’t know how to do YOUR job, that’s why you are here,” Clark responded and reclined his chair.

“Well I could show you in case, uh, anything happens to me.”

“Fine, but it will cost you air conditioning for one night of my choosing this month.”

“Deal,” Dewberry replied. He then spit on his palm and put it out to Clark to shake. Clark just stared at him and began to walk out the door.

“What's first?” Clark asked, checking the bulletin board on the porch.

“Just round up chickens and shovel the mule dung.”

“I also see we need to milk the goat, have you not done that?”

“No I did, I just, uh, forgot.”

“Let's do it again just to be sure,” Clark said. The pair made their way to the goat pens. He opened the gate and saw the three black and white spotted goats. “How are my little lawnmowers?” Clark asked them. One of the goats nipped at his shirt.

“Maple don’t recognize you anymore Clark, you need to get out more,” Dewberry said, while tying up all three of the goats. He then pulled a bench and bucket up next to Maple. “Just grab the udders and take turns milking them into the bucket like this, now you try on Betty.”

Clark went to the next goat and began milking it. “I’ve been busy taking online classes, Dewberry.”

“Why would you want to leave this place with all of the friendly animals?” Dewberry asked. You didn’t even name any of them.

“I named Duke,” Clark said, moving to the next goat.

“Dogs don’t count,” Dewberry replied.

“Fine, what’s this girl's name?” Clark asked, while finishing milking the final goat.

“Jemima,” Dewberry said, taking the bucket of milk.

“Of course it is,” Clark said. Dewberry then proceeded to dump the milk out of the bucket.

“What are you doing!” Clark yelled. “That's a waste of money?”

“Have you ever seen anyone drink goat’s milk?”

“Well, no, but that’s a waste of product and costing me money!”

“A bucket full of goat's milk is not enough to make a profit, Clark.”

“Okay well, I could’ve thought of something if you just told me.”

“I did,” Dewberry said, putting the goats in the barn for the night, “You just didn’t listen.”

“Oh, I’m sorry, well from now on you don’t have to milk the goats,” Clark said, trying to help Dewberry put away the milking tools.

“No, I still will.” Dewberry then took the tools from Clark and put them in their correct spots. “Not everything you do has to be to better yourself Clark, sometimes living things just need to be maintained.”

“Ya,” Clark looked down, “I’m sorry Dewberry, I haven’t been the best boss.”

“It’s alright, but we’ve still got some maintaining to do,” Dewberry said, winking and nudging Clark as if he thought that was a clever joke. Clark shook his head and followed to the fields. Dewberry whistled, and Duke, a red heeler, came wagging its tail. “Get the chickens, boy,” Dewberry encouraged Duke. Duke barked and ran out into the fields and circled around the chickens, slowly closing them together.

“So now we just hold the chicken pen open for them?” Clark asked.

“Yes,” Dewberry replied, “in theory.” Duke brought a group of five chickens in and went back for the second group of five. “But he is only six months old, so it doesn’t always go as planned.”

“What do you mean?” Clark asked as Duke brought in the second group of chickens, noticing there were two chicks under the legs of a hen. “I didn’t know there were two chicks.”

“There’s three actually. The last one is lost.” Dewberry said, closing up the pen. “This is where our work comes in.”

“So we are gonna go find a baby chick?” “It could be anywhere,” Clark said.

“Oh, is that inconvenient for you to do something unselfish?” Dewberry questioned as he whistled for Duke to join them as they walked deep into the fields. “I thought you would be more concerned about your money running away.”

“Dewberry, I’m sorry, really. Let’s go find it.”

“Okay, we don’t have more than 20 minutes of daylight left, then the night critters will get it,” Dewberry said. Clarks face showed concern for the baby chick that he had not yet seen. The pair of them split-up in the field and searched through weeds while Duke sniffed rapidly around.

“Well that’s all we can do now, it’s dark,” Dewberry said.

“We have to keep looking!” Clark said.

“We’ve covered a square mile and Duke hasn’t picked up on anything. It’s time t—,” Dewberry stopped and saw Clark frantically looking around. Dewberry could tell Clark actually cared. He then pulled out a flashlight and said, “Time to use this.” They gathered together and kept searching. They then heard a howl, and Duke’s tail went down. “Coyotes. They must scent the chick,” Dewberry explained.

“Where at?” Clark asked. Dewberry began to raise his finger into the direction of the woods, and before he had fully pointed, Clark began lightly jogging to them. After a while Clark stopped and looked around. “I hope you know how to get out of the woods because I’ve never gone in.” Another howl came, closer this time. Dewberry and Clark ran.

Duke instantly stopped and raised his ears. “Listen, you hear that?” Dewberry asked. There was a faint peeping noise. They moved close to a fallen tree and saw the chick calling for help. It’s foot was stuck in between a branch.

“It’s okay little buddy,” Clark said as he moved its foot out of the branch and picked it up. “She’s so cute.” Then a coyote walked out in front of them. Duke barked and the coyote froze, slowly backing away, then howled.

“Time to go before its friends show up,” Dewberry said. They all ran swiftly. “This way,” Dewberry guided them through the woods, quickly dodging bushes and other obstacles. A tree branch whacked his forehead, but he kept running. Once outside of the woods, they all caught their breath.

“Now mule dung,” Dewberry said.

“No, you need to go home and rest your head Dewberry,’’ Clark said. He handed him the chick. “I’ll do it.”

“Thanks, I can come though if you need,” Dewberry offered.

“Just go home and maintain yourself. Take Duke too,” Clark said as they began walking back to the farm. “Just drop off, uh, what’s her name?” He asked, nodding to the chick.

“Oh, I don’t name the babies,” Dewberry replied.

“Well I am willing to make an exception, let’s call her Joy.” The newly named chick peeped.

“That means good choice,” Dewberry said. “Goodnight, Clark.”

Clark grabbed a shovel and began walking toward the mule. “Goodnight, Dewberry.”