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Coffee Farm Cultivation
7. A Gruff Awakening

7. A Gruff Awakening

Gruff flew to his tasks with energy raging through him.

New thoughts flew through his mind. Thoughts beyond the tending of his horns, thoughts beyond the hunting of tin cans and the mighty rock he claimed as his.

He chewed at weeds that had long defaced his yard. They offended him, they offended him that they would exist in the yard he might share with the bringer of the magic juice. This delightful magic-bean water, what had he called it? No matter, there was an offence to correct

Was it not known that goats were the most resplendent of creatures. Magnificent horns, fine coats and strong hoofs? Yet he had grown lax, letting his domain become overgrown with weeds. Content to sit upon his porch and simply stare out at his worsening kingdom.

No. No more.

He bit into another, and chewed ferociously. His body flew with an energy that was unlike anything he'd ever felt. He raced to his tasks but even then felt a need to burn it off, like too much power was contained in even his mighty form.

Gruff looked within himself as he bit into the weeds. What had the bringer of Ko-Fi, his new tenant, mentioned? He had said that you must build a strong foundation. He had said that you must circulate to percolate.

Gruff felt the energy raging around his body in a most untidy manner, like a coat that had overgrown and become tangled with brambles and loose leaves. Unbecoming of a goat.

Circulate to percolate.

Gruff kept up his mechanical chewing as he tended to the energy, trimming and straightening, as he would for his coat. The energy was wild, uneager to be forced into straight channels, but Gruff too was a wild beast. Gruff held the mightiest rock of the herd. He had ventured to heights that none else dared, his balance unequalled. He had even descended into the granite gully and locked eyes with the monster that lurked there.

Circulate to percolate.

Gruff's hoofs moved in a pattern almost instinctual, he moved around the yard making shapes in the lawn, shapes that mirrored the energy inside him. He felt an instinctual pattern, honing the energy into loops down his limbs, before straightening them back up to his torso. He tried to tie them together there but it was like trying to hold water. It simply spilled everywhere.

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No he would need a different point of focus. Something solid and capable of holding energy. Something durable and able to store vast reserves of this new power.

Gruff smiled and directed the power up. Up above his neck, past his eyes and to centre between his horns. He felt the power pause, even it acknowledging the mighty resplendence of his horns, the pinnacle of goat kind.

Gruff bit into the lawn and chewed on. Yes he recalled what the human had called it. For the human was his tenant and he would provide kind housing for him. The human would need to be guided so that more of the magic bean water could be created.

He would need more of this...Ko-Fi.

###

Joe watched Gruff frantically attack the lawn, carving out paths through the vegetation. Odd looping shapes were being formed, circulating back and forth on one another. Joe grinned, not ready to be outdone by his new companion, he attacked the weeds with a frenzy, hurling them out of the ground and into a rusted wheelbarrow he'd found next to the house.

They became a frenzied blur, weeds flying through the air at breakneck speed. Gruff seemed to devour the weeds without limit, and he had no idea where the goat was putting them. Long after the goats stomach should have been full he kept going, a manic glint in Gruff's eye.

Joe knew what it was to bite off more than you could chew. He'd done it multiple times, expanding to early, rushing to get a new market before the foundation was set. Yet, Gruff didn't look like someone tackling more than he could handle. He looked like someone certain of his direction.

Finally both of them collapsed, the yard completely cleared of weeds. Joe looked up at the sky, both suns beginning to set. Had they really done the whole yard in a few hours?

Gruff paused, surveying their work. The goat trotted over to him, nodded and then went to assume its pose on the porch, settling into the rocking chair and closing its eyes.

Joe took the wheelbarrow and moved it around the side of the house. He debated how to dispose of the weeds. They were resilient things and the last thing he wanted was them growing back.

He looked at the left over coffee grounds. He'd seen them used as pesticides or mulch in the past. The coffee tree initially grew the beans because at low dose they were pesticides. He doubted they would prevent the weeds from growing but for now he took the weeds and dumped them out the back underneath a mighty rock, like a pillar of stone reaching up to the sky. Like something from 2001 A Space Odyssey that you'd see a bunch of monkeys hooting at.

Joe took the left over coffee grounds and dumped them on top of the weeds, resolving to perhaps burn the remains tomorrow. For now it was getting too late to leave an uncontrolled fire smouldering. He retired to the cabin and the worn cot. Tomorrow was a fresh day, he'd need to get food, explore town, and meet the neighbours.

Joe smiled. This new world was full of opportunities.