SHORT STORY: Misery goes plodding along with the cattle

Kuria slapped the fat rump of a cow who was ambling far behind the herd, spurring her on. He didn’t need to hit her so hard, but he enjoyed torturing the animals every now and again. Keeps them on their toes, he thought, as the cow let out a panicked low and trotted ungracefully to where her companions were alternating between lethargically chewing cud and pulling tufts of grass out of the hardened, dusty ground.

Kuria sighed and spat out a gob of saliva as dust from the retreating cow filled the air. Being a cowhand was no job for him he thought, self-pity filling him with ill feelings and bitter memories. Why, he should be sitting in one of those shiny town offices with his own desk, and one of those machines he always saw the woman in their little township’s post office playing with; the ones with many buttons and a flat screen.