The baseball team

“If I wouldn’t able to repay this money will you kill me? Or will you rape my wife?—as all debtor does,” Cas asked Japher; the richest farmer of the town. Japher laughed hilariously and the loud laughter mixed and echoed with the shrill of the warm summer breeze. Cas wiped his sweat with naturally build biceps and furrowed his brows in confusion. 

 “No! No! this is a sin. Why shall I do that? You are my buddy! But why do you need money so urgent? Is everything okay? This is not even the season of sowing,” Japher grilled.

  “Yes! Yes! My friend. No worry. My wife’s delivery date is near; it will be an emergency at any sort of time. So, I… I… thought to lend some money in advance,” Cas said. 

  Japher’s brain blown away in surprise and his mouth opened like somebody pressed his throat.

“This will be your eighth kid, Cas?” Japher asked as he was enlightened with surprise.

“Ninth!” Cas buzzed.

“Are you crazy, Cas? You had had already a deluge of kids and you are still going on. You haven't enough resources to feed them fully: your eight kids and your wife. Did you see your wife? She is thinner than a stick. I saw one of your kids running down the canal yesterday naked - no clothes and no sleepers—even when the sun could bake your skin - mid-day; he appeared waif. All your kids look like an alive skeleton. Please! Show some tender to them. You must now stop your production factory. Waste this money to buy some healthy meals for them, not for reserving the delivery bed for your wife,” Japher beseeched.

 “Sheer power is in solidarity; you might be heard. I am a blind follower of this quote and I believe this is true. I am Optimistic—my visions are clear. I don’t know where till this count goes? Whenever Jesus owes me a kid, I will accept—with a smile like you are seeing on my face now,” Cas slashed Japher’s long words of knowledge—with his terrible belief and pure optimistic vision. Japher shrugged his shoulders and gave him the money. Japher realized reckoning a moron is like bumping his head on the wall.

  “Congratulation! For the Baseball team, keep going; the Rugby team is not so far. My friend!” a ludicrous jibe slaughtered Cas’ heart. Cas grinned ambiguously with his tanned face.

  Cas turned and murmured, “If I could explain my helplessness to you, my friend. If I could explain to you that the concept of Solidarity is only like compassion for me.”

  Cas sauntered his way towards home. The sun was deep down in the horizon, the somber skies amalgamates with the last orange rays of almighty and the clouds retraced their way, and the warm and dry breeze became sweet, like the hymns of Gospel—it was healing to the creatures after burning the whole day. 

   Cas had had to look for the evening meal, so he bought some meat from the money he owed—after a long time, they would eat meat. His children in the age group of 2-18 years. None went to school. Each one went to farm early morning and return before night falls. They were thriving well with love in between. Some would know, some didn’t; they are having a common mother but a different father.

  “All this begun when Cas married to his wife, Ami. They both were happy together and extremely satisfied, life was buttery smooth. Within a year she gave birth to Andrew—resulted from the virality of Cas. The same year, his 60 hectares of cornfield eaten by Wild Cows; overnight his livelihood destroyed. His hard work wasted and so he was on the cliff of a hunger game. Money had been consumed and so the grains. He had no option left except borrowing money from the big landowner and with the assurance to return the money early spring next year. Ami was beautiful, like an untouched morning breeze with the essence of fresh flowers like winter lily and wild rose, her perfect waist lured the monsters and her breasts lurked under undergarments could subdue a man under its erotica, not pure white skin was a perfect vision of Aphrodite; Cas was lucky to have her.

  Everyone had had an eye on her wife, even the money was bestowed him by them - in a coquettish hope to get laid with his wife. And the surprise was they did it despotic way. Because they arrived unheralded and before the time Cas stipulated - for collections and when Cas failed to repay, they rape Ami and ejaculate their virility in her belly as a result; she got pregnant—every time.

  This dreadful incident continued; every season his crops eaten by Wild Cows and so again, he had to borrow money on the urge of his trepidation and hunger—exactly what the landlord wanted and so planned for. They come early, raped his wife, and went after satisfied.

  The major issue was she couldn’t abort if so, she would die. So, Cas never thwarted her to abort the bastard kids of the bastard landlords. Their love was deeper than the vault of the ocean. She never complained to Cas, whatever atrocity happened with her. She understood his impotency and the phase he was going through. He was dying every second and it was obvious though his wife was giving birth the blood of strangers.”

   *

“Welcome my friend! I expected you will come before the season so to rape my wife, Ami is ready to get lay—go and complete at least my Lacrosse team,” Cas uttered to Japher who came out of the blue - to give him warm wishes. Japher gobsmacked by his preposterous talk, his mouth opened in shock, he couldn’t utter after his unwelcomed talk.

  “Cas! Have you bitten by a rodent? What do you think—you are talking? I was passing down your lane, so I thought to wish you… Have you wanted to call me pimp or something?” Japher bawled but with great effort with his chocked throat continue, “Better, I should leave. I will see you at my castle with money. Good Day! My friend!”

 Cas kneeled in regret and replete with the tears of repentance, he growled, “I am sorry! My friend! It is not you; I misinterpret you. Those hawks swallowed my wife and so I thought you are the ménage of the same family.”

“What is the reason for your despondence my friend and what hawk you are talking about? ” Japher asked and tapped his one hand on Cas' shoulder.

  The remorseful story of Cas bought tears in his eyes. He elucidated him to keep his beliefs alive on, Jesus Christ forever and so the theory of Solidarity not only to compassion; it is as holy as Gospels. “You made me believe and so your kids,” Japher said, “look your kids, how they subdued and shackled those 25 Wild Cows who had been eating your crops for years. They saved your farm from being eaten this year. I saw the sheer power of solidarity! When one falls other help and eventually, they conquered. Hence, I came to hug you, my friend; your optimism won my heart. I bow your beliefs.”

  Cas wiped his tears and blazed with a glow of happiness. He hugged Japher as dear. His white cotton shirt turned muddy by the mixture of sweat, tear, and summer dust. Japher grinned broadly, full of lively.

   One thing he learned from Japher, that if you respect your ethics and values, then the world will embrace you.   

Cas could finish himself when he was going through the crucial phase but his wife Ami never let him die. She was living with greater abomination than Cas but never gave up. She knows; with what difficulties she raised those kids? She slept famished but never let their kids sleep hungry. Cas sometimes has no equity between their kid, he loved Jacob (his blood) most as compare to others, albeit he was teeming with the rage but loved the other kids also.

He decided inside these kids will slash the throat of their fathers and eventually, it will be his revenge. But when he felt the power of Solidarity, he thought himself the luckiest and accepted merrily - the past catastrophe as the gift of almighty.

  When the gang of 11(9 kids, Cas and Ami), they cut the 60 acres of crop overnight, took them to the nearest warehouse, and also together they shifted their barn to a safer place; when the scientist predicted the deadly storm and enormous rain. I would bring a flood and extreme damage to the crop and the same happened with the whole village. It damaged mature crops. The livelihood thrashed for the village; kids had seen indirect, complicated, and inevitable destruction of their fathers.

The fruit of deed is obvious, everyone has his own time; good and bad have balanced equally by destiny. 

   Eventually, they sold their corn on a top rate since there was scarcity in the market. They ate sheer of meat to satisfy the years of starvation.

  The Baseball team of Cas turned the bar of him: one became scholars, two of them are a big landowner, one has a big company of import and export, one has a textile mill, the only girl and smallest one is studying literature, one gets the job in Aerospace and one has spoiled. Eventually, I (Andrew) am a writer; write about the complexities of life and surely tell the world about the power of Solidarity.

   I just hope, our world shows the same solidarity show the same and fight for equity for Queers. I hope my book removes the black hazy cloud of self-centredness from the eyes of our youth and they might understand the power of Solidarity and they will fight for the equity. What difference it creates with black skin or white skin - everyone has the same heart, isn’t that enough?