The goat Shepherd in the City
A particular place to graze and raise farm animals….
4 am in the morning, the goat’s bleating woke up Miguel and his immediate reaction was jump from the bed, not even gave him time to wear at least a sweater, he came out in underwear from the bedroom, took the machete he had next to the door in case what was altering the goats was a thief. When he approached the corral, Camilita (which was the oldest goat) was jumping in a corner. The origin of all this uproar was a badly wounded cat, it was bleeding from the stomach, laid down next to the drinking trough, it was trying to meow without mayor success. Miguel took the machete and after a thorough analisis, he became an executioner and cut cat’s neck; a bullet was what the feline carried in the stomach and there was not logic in keeping it in agony.
His wife Ana, who was still covering between sheets, asked him from the bedroom what has happened. — It was nothing, a dead cat is what there is — Miguel said. They tried to still sleeping but the dream had been interrupted with that event, despite the fact that there was still and hour and a half to get up as indicated by the alarm on his cellphone. After a while they were preparing to start their daily tasks.
Miguel was a shepherd since childhood, he learned from his father which had learned from his father as well. Three generations shepherding goats in Guatemala City for one main reason, most of the people continue to loving Goat’s milk in situ. Every morning through the streets of this chaotic city you would be able to see goats in the sidewalks coming in herds, or you could notice where they had already walked by seeing a track of goat shit on the sidewalks.
Everyday Miguel walks with his goats around 4 milles from his small house through the tight streets selling warm milk, He has created an specific journey for each day of the week covering mostly the frequent clients he has obtained since he was assisting his father. Monday’s are Mrs Flora, Mr Geovanny, Mr Juan, Mrs Sophie; Tuesday’s are Dr. Perez, Ms Teresa and Ms Olga from a public School, Mr Lucas, and so on and on from each day. And of course the eventual customers on their way to their workplaces that order him milk a goat in the moment.
His Grandfather Mr. Eulalio was a though man, he were very strict when he taught all the fundamentals of shepherding goats to his son and grandson. When Mr. Eulalio got old enough to not continue shepherding concluded that it was time to pass for completely the knowledge towards their offspring, and the responsibility of taking care of his goats. — The only thing that survives in this world is ideas and knowledge because as humans we all die eventually — Mr. Eulalio used to say almost every afternoon just before a heart attack came to claim his mortal body.
The day of the funeral, the patriarchy from Mr. Eulalio was so implied that each of every member were all telling histories about Grandpa Eulalio combined with some tears. For Miguel who was 8 years old at that moment, he was realizing that his solid future would be along with the goats, by the moment they were burying Grandpa, Miguel was crying and saying a little secret of a huge promise — Grandpa I will take care of the goats forever just like you taught me — . For him this was the best way to keep the legacy, memorizing the knowledge and shepherding everyday with the goats.
Sooner when Miguel became a teenager his father made a drastic decision, He left his mother for a younger woman. And suddenly Miguel became the head of the house while his mother (ot what remains of her) decided that the only thing to do was to keep working, she washed and ironed clothes on request since she was 15. But now approaching the middle age, her hands started to feel the pain through the nerves, that’s is the problem when you continuosly change from cold water to the warm of an iron, it has started with a small pain in the wrist till it transform to a serious arthritis case. This was by far the toughest conditions Miguel and his mother were facing, they were running out of money to buy the NSAIDs, which was the medication for Arthiritis pain. Therefore the number of things started to decrease in their house, they sale the TV, a bed, some furniture and a few goats.
Every time when Miguel was forced to sell a goat, he was feeling the pain of defracturing a promise, by the time his Granpa passed away, Miguel was in charge of fifteen goats, and when his mother gave up through the pain and die, six goats remained.
Here he was in his house, accompinied with goats but without any other person. Self compassion was its best friend, by the mornings Miguel made a great effort in waking up from the bed, the biggest impulse was the bleating from the goats, this was his biggest responsibility and also a promise he would never break up. Go out through the streets was vigorizing, Miguel was keeping in mind how much money would need to recover the goats he forcefully sold. Meanwhile with that flock it was enough to stay afloat. A few years later and 26th birthday came, there weren’t enough reasons to celebrating that day, however a few friends came to his house with food, fried chicken to be specific and beers, a lot of beers. It was the necessarily intervention he needed by that moment.
An early day in march, he was walking with the goats next to a bus station, and an old lady with his granddaughter ask for some milk, he took Camilita and prepare to milk it, and took out if his backpack a disposable cup, but the old lady tap his back with her hand and gave him a yellow plastic glass and said to him that She wanted the milk on that glass, the old lady and her granddaughter were likeable to reuse things instead of the continuing behavior of contaminating the world with disposable things. While Miguel was Milking the goat, he couldn’t avoid to stare the young woman, she smiled and he smiled back in some sort of magical conection.
The old lady notice this moment and let him know what whas the name of her Granddaughter, — Her name is Ana and my name is Eloisa, whats your name youngman? — Eloisa said. — My name is Miguel and these are my goats, Where are you going? — He said with an intense beating of his heart. — I am accompanying Ana to a job interview, but we are a little worried with the time, the bus is taking to much of it to get here, she was working in a supermarket but with this economy is easily for this companies to remove their employees, and after 3 years they fired her and now we are going to talk with a friend’s son who is a lawyer, praying that maybe Ana could have a chance to stay in there and work at least as a secretary or something. — Eloisa said while Ana almost finished the milk. Miguel was paying attention but expecting that Ana could talk with him, although he notice that her Grandmother was in fact covering and trying to block Ana’s intention of talking with Miguel. Finally the bus arrived and Eloisa paid for the goat’s milk and they said goodbye, Ana looked at him and thanked for the milk while gave it the yellow plastic glass and said — you should keep it for the next time — . Miguel smiled and saw both women leaving him at the bus station, then he stare at the glass and when he turned counterclockwise noticed that a phone number was written. It was Ana’s phone so he could call her that night.
When Miguel got home by the afternoon, he was wondering when would be the right moment to call Ana, he tought maybe she didn’t get the job and she was by her house, but in another position maybe she got it and she was already working. In both situations Miguel was rehearsing what he could say to her at least she knows who was calling because it was easy to identified a goat shepherd in the city.
Miguel called her about 8 pm with the phrase he figured out it was the appropriate to say, — I have your glass in here in case you want it back, full with milk I would give it to you of course — he said thinking at the end that maybe the phrase could have a double meaning. Ana laughed and replied — Well at least you could fill it with warm milk.… — She said and hold her breath for a second because she knew that phrase could have a double meaning and continued saying— there is not other meaning in that you could consider is inappropriate — . They laughed and started talking about every detail about that day. Ana let him known the she got the job and Miguel let her known about how was the daily life of a goat shepherd.
Three months of talking every night and finally Grandma Eloisa gave Ana permission to go out one Saturday Afternoon with Miguel. Even though Ana was 23 years old, her grandma considered Ana a young woman who deserves respect and not fooling around with a lot of young men. Education and principles it was something very implied in Grandma Eloisa and something very attached in Ana’s behaviour. Therefore Eloise had a lot of friends from different social levels and none of them despised her because despite not being a wealthy person, Eloisa was a very noble and valuable lady.
That Saturday, Miguel left the goats in the corral and after a consideration, I decided how to dress for the ocassion, a formal shirt with blue stripes and a Khaki pant that he recently bought in a thrift shop, there was a rosebush in the neighbor’s yard and took a rose from it. And finally after checking all the minor details on how to behave and what type of words to say, he went to Anas’ house. Grandma Eloisa’s was expecting him in the front door, after a thorough inspection when they were greeting, she called Ana and whispered something in Ana’s hear before they departed to their date.
When Ana and Miguel they were walking headed to the bus station, they knew what the wouldn’t knew. The synchronization of hearts beating in unison, the fundamentals of love. When they arrived to Central Park in the city Miguel invited her to delight in the food stalls that were around, they ate “tostadas”, “chuchitos”, “dobladas” and “rosa de jamaica’s beverage”. The conversation fluctuated in the diversity of those meals, the more they met about their personalities the more were falling in love. And every Saturday was this way, then they added dating on Sundays as well…. After a few weekends Ana realized that Miguel hadn’t had enough resources to pay for the food on every date, therefore Ana let him knew that she was going to invite him as well to create a perfect balance in the expenditures of dating. That decision motivated Miguel to work harder and after a four months he saved enough money to finally bought two more goats and earn a little more of money.
Two years later they were married in Ana’s house, it was a dignified moment for them, Miguel at the moment had understood that his wife would always have a higher income than him. But that was not an obstacle to being responsible and loving, much less a sign of humiliation to his role as a man in the relationship.
After all is not about the social conditions or the differences between man or woman, or even the level of our own education. It is all about our commitment of love our husband/wife, of being honest and tolerant in our relationships, being supportive when the storms ahead get us. If they will able to do it, why not you in your own incredible conditions?
