Chapter 6

In the middle of nowhere, there was an old decrepitude old farmhouse with several large fields of crops laying next to it. It would seem that it the crops were being worked by several teams. Yet, only one couple was responsible for the entire crops. The house was so broken down that one would have easily believe that it was held together by one’s imagination. Surprisingly, a whole family of five lived there in this humble dwelling.

It was a married couple with three children, consisting of two boys and one girl. The two boys were both named Billy and the only girl was called Susie. All three children had birth defects when they were born, but that did not matter since the couple loved their children anyway. The oldest boy had four legs, younger boy had three legs, and the girl had only one leg. All the children’s legs were fully functional and the boys legs were all in row from left to right.

The parents were named John and Betty and they were always sickly but they worked long hours almost everyday anyway. They made the sacrifice so that their children would not go without.

They had nothing that the would be accepted as elite in nature, but they had love for each other anyway.

The children never knew that they were poor or even if they did they would not care even if they would have known anyway. It was somehow one big happy family and they did not complain that they were living in sheer squalor. They made the conscious decision to focus on what they had, not what they did not have.

All Farmers that were working for Urano contracts, were being poisoned by the Urano’s constant reliance on pesticides. The faction did not care what happened to their citizens. Urano government leaders did not want to lose any crops due to pests or other kinds of crop failure. They

could care less about all the people that died in the process of fueling the elite the Urano war effort.

Leadership believe that the end justified the means no matter who it hurt. That included

John and Betty and their children.

The couple knew that they were both sick due to all the chemicals that they were exposed to while farming, But they were forced to work with it anyway or face having their children taken away.

That fact alone tore up the couple inside but they never showed their sadness to their three children. They felt that it was their burden alone to bear.

All three children were born with birth defects were caused by the Urano government’s evil ways. John and Betty raised the three children in the best way that they could to make their children feel loved.

The couple did not want the Billies and Susie to be burdened by physical abnormalities, instead see themselves as fearfully and wonderfully made by God.

John and Betty had to make their children stay with them in the fields due to them not being able to find any school within over one hundred miles in any direction. Plus, there was no one that they could trust to watch their children safely.

It tore up John and Betty inside that their children had to work with them in the poisonous fields that had them deathly ill for weeks at a time. The couple prayed that their children would never grow ill

being in the pesticide ridden fields with them. Billy and his other siblings wanted to be with their parents no matter what John and Betty said otherwise.

They prayed everyday that the three children would have a better life they did. John and Betty knew that they would probably never die due to old age but they would live to the fullest.

John was sitting at his old wooden kitchen table with his three children: the older Billy, the younger Billy and the lone girl sister, Susie. John was teaching his children to read with his old Dick and Jane books that he used to learn to read when he was just a young boy.

The older Billy spoke,” Dick shot the dog.”

John spoke,” Good job, Bill! Let Little Billy try!”

Little Billy spoke,”Jane shot Dick.”

John spoke,”Billy that was a good try, now Susie, you can try.”

Susie spoke,” The dog shot Jane.”

John spoke,”No one shot anyone, honey. It was Dick and Jane both pet the dog.”

The kids groaned,”Oh! I get it now!”

John had to bite his lip so hard that he almost made his mouth bleed so that he would not laugh at his children’s struggle to read.

Betty was cooking behind the kitchen table on a wood stove that was brand new over a century ago. It took forever for Betty to cook anything on that old stove. Betty was cooking a pot of chili when she could not help but make a chuckle at the kid’s reading exercise.

Betty acted like she was sneezing from the chili spices so that she would not her children's feelings.

The children all asked,”Mommy are you okay?”

Betty spoke,”Mommy is okay! The spices just made me cough. Continue your lessons for today, babies.”

John was only in school until the fifth then he had to quit school so that he could work in the fields after his father had died. That was all the education that the two parents had between the two of them. Betty was never allowed to go to school. John would teach his children all that he knew since no one else would or could do it.

All three had struggled to read and write over the last couple years but they were encouraged by John and Betty anyway. John and Betty would not let his children give up on learning to read and write.

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Months fly by and the children practice their reading nearly everyday.

John spoke,”Children let’s try reading our favorite reading book. You three try alternating lines: first Susie, then Billy, and finally Bill.

The children spoke,”Yes dad!”

Susie spoke,”Dick and Jane decide to go on another boring adventure.”

Billy spoke,”Jane wants to count grass on top of the nearby hill.”

Bill spoke,”Dick wants to watch dung beetles after lunch.”

John begins to cry extravagantly and it cause the three children stop reading. The children run over to their dad and begin to pray over him. John does not stop from doing so for several minutes. Betty comes with a basket of clean clothes when she sees the four praying. Betty drops the basket and rushes over to the four.

Betty asked,”What is wrong?”

John finally speaks,”Nothing is wrong! Our children can finally read after so many years of trying! I was just touched by what the Lord has done for our children!”

Betty begins to cry as well but they were tears of bliss. The couple had been praying for years that they would be able to teach their children to read and the Lord had finally delivered as promised.