Flash Fiction Friday: Harvest Time

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My brother set this challenge, based on something he saw in the grocery store... it's a very short flash, just over 250 words. 


Harvest Time

It wasn’t the farmer’s favorite job. At the end of the growing season, the crop had to be brought in, and it was… disconcerting. Right up to harvest time, the crop was a pleasure to tend. He liked it all, carefully managing the fields, not thinking about the end.

 

He looked out over the fields now, aware that harvest time was coming fast. There were certain unmistakable signs, a stillness that began to settle over the fields. One more day. Not for the first time, he wished he could pick the time. It was going to be unseasonably warm.

 

The next morning, the farmer check the crop and called out the harvest crew. Distributing the special rakes, he made the usual speech, with extra urgency.

 

“We have to work hard to get the harvest in before it spoils in this heat. You know the drill. Into the bins, bins to the cooler, horns and hooves in the waste bin.” He looked with distaste at the field where what had been flock of furry, active goats was now an oozing heap of neat cubes.

 

Farming goat cubes was more profitable, but he missed the days when he’d raised sheep for the shearing, and goats were just a sideline that provided a little company for the sheep and milk for his personal cheese supply.

 

But the scientists had bred the cubic goats, and demand for goat cubes was high. He took up his rake, tightened the straps on his rubber boots, and waded in.

#


 

Enjoy your weekend!

 

©Rebecca M. Douglass, 2025   

As always, please ask permission to use any photos or text. Link-backs appreciated.


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Comments

  1. Jemima PettMarch 7, 2025 at 9:05 AM

    OMG!!! That makes Seed Savers look like a picnic. But someone, somewhere, is working on this 🤢

    ReplyDelete
  2. Tim DouglassMarch 8, 2025 at 12:49 PM

    The Goat Cubes prompt made it! But this does make me worry just a bit about your mental state!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Rebecca M. DouglassMarch 8, 2025 at 9:23 PM

      If this is the first thing in all these years that's made you worry about me... you haven't been paying attention :D

      Delete

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