Harvest for the World

Today is the summer harvest festival. Everyone’s going to be outside for most of the day. The old biddies were the first ones out already.

“This is the perfect day to be out!” Aisha said aloud. “Fresh air, nature, fresh dirt, bonding time…”

“Could you just shuddaup?” Clyde asked. The leader paused and stared at her.

“Excuse me?” she asked.

“Ya heard meh!” the dirty old biddy shouted. Aisha groaned and rolled her eyes.

“Must you be so loud and crass?” she asked.

“Yes!” Clyde yelled. Lewis and Muriel giggled at the conflict. Aisha shot them a sharp glare. The other two old biddies went quiet as fast as they could. The leader cleared her throat.

“Anyway,” she spoke up. “We’ve got to get to work now.” The others groaned in response.

“No complaints!” she shouted.

“Yes,” the other old biddies replied.

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“Everyone ready?” Clover asked in the fields. Liz groaned aloud as she rolled her eyes.

“Why are we out here again?” the older sister asked. Clover turned to her, smiling.

“Don’t you want to be out in nature?” she asked.

“Not really,” William answered. “I wanted to be back in bed.” His younger niece frowned as she folded her arms across her chest.

“Come on, everyone,” she complained. “You do this every year.”

“Exactly,” sister and uncle said aloud. Clover put her hand to her face and sighed.

“You guys are hopeless,” she muttered to no one in particular.

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The purpose of this “harvest” is to clean up the countryside of Brit-Wales. Everyone picks up trash, plants flowers and trees, cleans the town, and adds fresh coats of paint to the buildings. For one whole day, sometimes a week, everyone rolls up their sleeves and gets to work. Most of the people pitch in with enthusiasm to make Brit-Wales a better place. Meanwhile, others… Well… Yeah.

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Tucker took a seat near the river and sighed. He didn’t understand why his wife dragged him out this early to participate in this “harvest.” Why can’t we have done this later today? The trash isn’t going anywhere. I only get up early to get to work in the café. So… why?

“Tucker!” Annie shouted from further up the hill. “You better not be sitting around on your lazy bum! We’ve got work to do! Get up and get going!” Tucker groaned and rolled his eyes.

“Coming,” he said. The man dragged himself to his feet and headed back up to the hill.

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Clyde happened to look up and see Nick a few feet ahead picking up trash. A huge grin came onto her face as she bolted into a run.

“Nick!” she shouted as she closed the distance between them. The factory worker looked up too late as the old biddies tackled him to the ground.

“Get off me!” he shouted as he tried to push her off.

“Never!” Clyde yelled. “I will never let you go, babe!” The other three old biddies watched them as they too picked up trash. Aisha groaned aloud as she buried her head in her hands.

“Why must she keep embarrassing herself like this in public?” she complained. Lewis and Muriel shook their heads with smiles on their faces. Once he got free, Nick got up and ran away as fast as he could.

“Come back, my love!” Clyde yelled as she gave way to chase. “I love you, even though you need to shave that ugly beard of yours!”

“Why can’t you just leave me alone?!” Nick shouted.

“Because I love you, honey!” the dirty old biddy yelled back.

“Somebody help!” the factory worker cried. Clyde chased him all the way down the hill.

Clean Up the Town

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