Summer Break

"Yes! Summer break is finally here!" Stacy cheers outside of the schools front doors. "I am sad it's only for 8 weeks though. We need to make it count!"

"Hopefully I can get a bit saved up this summer." Lizzy ponders out loud.

"Always work for you. We need to see if there is anywhere we can go swimming that's not a community pool. I want to lay in the sand and try to get some color."

"The sun hates me and tries frying me so I choose shade." Lizzy voices her vote.

"Well that's no fun." Stacy comments.

"I will see you after work. I'm sure you will have the whole summer planned out by sundown today." Lizzy waves goodbye to her friend.

"I just might do that!" She waves back heading off to model at the beauty shop.

Lizzy walks through the cattle barn. More to see if any cows will be curious to come up so she can boop their noses. She spots Alex picking up Soleil parts in Bob's pen. Bob is out on pasture with the gate shut so he can't come in with Alex.

It's been a little over two weeks since the dinner at his grandparent's place. They haven't talked much but he sometimes shows up to observe her with the chickens. She did make him feed them once more.

"Why does the Soleil need to get close to him anyways? Cows have been on this planet without constant surveillance for thousands of years. They can live a few more without it." Lizzy asks standing on the lower pipe of the gate. Her arms supporting her leaning on the top pipe of the gate.

"That they have. This one probably thought it saw a hurt foot and got squished on impact. I will pull up it's log sheet once I'm at my desk." Alex explains.

"Do you have a cattle chute you could run him into? It's how we kept the crazies calm for vet checks at my old job. And if they were truly crazy you could tell."

"Cattle shoot?" 

"Maybe the name changed. Do you have a place to trim hooves or enclose a single cow?" Asks Lizzy.

"We have a hoof trimming station. The Soleil's take the cows there and trim their hooves."

"Hooves are no longer trimmed by people?" Lizzy asks herself what has this world come to?

"Yea Soleil's literally do everything here. They are the animal's doctors, caregivers and management of them. Heck they built the barns. I only intervene when one breaks and needs fixing. I'm sorry to say but the job you're after isn't there. Yea you can get the degree and work in the field to make you happy. Just know your work may be double checked or you will have to get clearance for any treatment."

Alex's point blank statement hits her pretty hard. Even though it is understandable that Soleil's are fully taking care of animals. Farming and animal husbandry has been hard work for thousands of years. It's not very appealing to people that's why it was dwindling even in her time period.

"Well that's crappy." Lizzy finally replies.

"That it is for you. Let me show you the work station and then I'm going to check my log records." Alex says.

Lizzy hops off the gate so Alex can get through it. He leads the way through some gates to the work station. Alex parts ways with her to go back to the office.

Lizzy looks over the steel panels and steel pipes welded together. Kinda like a box with two holes on the ends that open and close so the cattle can walk through. She plays with the levers a little to figure out how to open and close the ends. Then one lever controlled the panels if the cow was on the smaller side. And there was even a hoist if one needed the cow picked up off its feet.

Lizzy makes her way back to Bob's pen. She wants to see him since it's been awhile. He limps into the barn and won't put weight on his right front hoof.

"Looks like we are using that chute after all." Lizzy tells Karen.

"I will send a message to the Soleil in charge." Karen states.

Lizzy starts shutting, opening and locking gates into place.

"You think you're getting him out?" Asks Karen.

"He has a hoof problem. You take hoof problems to the hoof trimming station. Where you can look at their hoof." Lizzy who has no intention of sounding sarcastic or rude yet it sounds that way anyway.

"You know a Soleil can scan it right?" Karen says flatly.

"And how has that been going?" Lizzy asks.

Karen remains silent rather than admit defeat. Lizzy has all the gates set. She opens Bob's pen gate. He has no interest in coming out.

"Hey Karen?" Asks Lizzy.

"No I'm not going to be bait." Karen announced.

"It's worth a shot." Lizzy shrugs.

They go back and forth for a few minutes. In that time Bob got enough courage to start stepping out of his pen. And here comes Alex. Thanks to the gate alarm that went off on his computer.

"What are you doing now?" He asks quietly.

"He is hurt." Lizzy points to Bob.

Alex sighs. "I thought you needed someone to spot you while you worked with him?" Alex tries to hide the particle of hurt he felt from her not asking for his help.

"I'm not in the pen though. So there for I can't get that hurt." Again she didn't mean to sound rude but it came out that way. 

"Key word. That." He states.

"While you're here. Can you help with the gates to we can keep him going forward slowly?" Asks Lizzy.

Alex takes a breath. "Yes I can help."

After thirty minutes of letting Bob move on his own so he doesn't hurt his foot more. He is in the chute. Lizzy starts getting the straps under him to lift him up. The Soleil veterinarian shows up. It removes a splinter of a Soleil from his hoof and treats the area. Alex helps Lizzy limp Bob back to his pen.

The Soleil veterinarian told Alex that no more Soleil's are allowed in his pen. If he needs checked or treatments he is to be in the chute. For everyone's safety.

"Well I won't be working with him anytime soon." Lizzy says watching him walk back out to pasture. "And I was hoping to make a lot of progress this summer with him."

"Summer break is happening?" Alex asks.

"Yup. Even though I think Stacy has the whole summer planned by now." 

"Well don't let her skip over the end of the summer culture festival. It's the rare time of the year where everyone is alright being social in public. Mostly because the food is good."

"Culture festival?" Lizzy looks at him funny.

"Everyone has different backgrounds and some people want to remember where they came from. But everyone seems to come together over food, drink and music." Alex explains.

"Huh. I will have to check it out."

Alex thinks to himself. Maybe going out with Grams and Gramps to the festival won't be so bad this year.

.     .     .     .     .

Lizzy flops on her couch in her dorm. The heat outside is rather warm. The dorm air conditioning isn't the best but Lizzy is use to not having A.C. So what little it does is noticeable to her.

Stacy pops her head in from the bathroom door. To her Lizzy looks like she is sleeping. She stares for a minute to make sure Lizzy is breathing. Opening the door she walks over to the desk chair and sits in it.

"Please tell me I have scheduled time to work this summer." Lizzy pleads not opening her eyes.

"Yes you have time in the morning since Kiki said that's the best time to work with animals. Since it's cooler in the morning and such. Sadly that means we can't stay up late either."

"Having animals is not easy. And thank you, morning hours are the best time. Less heat stress." 

"Since you're awake let me tell you what I have planned."

"I don't think I have a choice." Lizzy whispers.

"I'm inviting friends over often. So you can find your inner social butterfly. I found us a place to go swimming with a beach. There is a lake not far from here. And we will hit the pool too."

"Sounds like a lot of study time is planned too." Karen comments.

"That's for the weekend before school. You know to refresh your mind." Stacy rebukes.

"Did you hear about the culture festival?" Asks Lizzy. 

"Culture festival? Whats that?"

"Alex says it's where people show off their backgrounds. There will be food, music and once we're old enough drinks."

"Kiki tell me more." Stacy turns to her Soleil.

"The culture festival is where everyone comes together to show what makes them unique. If you enjoy a culture you can dress in that fashion from any time period. There are street vendors selling goods and food. The idea is you're emersion into a peaceful past. There is also fireworks at the end." Kiki informs the group. "It's happening the last weekend of summer break. Along with Stacy is turning 18."

"And there went summer homework out the window." Karen mumbles.

"That sounds romantic. I hope to have a boyfriend by then!" Stacy's eyes twinkle at the thought of walking with a boy and watching fireworks together. She wonders since Alex brought it up. Will he be there? She won't be a minor no more. Maybe she can go with him.

"I will go for the food." Lizzy says.

"Luckily that's at the end of summer. Knowing you, you will eat so much your stomach will be poking out for days. That would not look good in a swimsuit. Speaking of suits. Did you pack one?" Stacy looks over at Lizzy.

Lizzy clings to her couch for dear life.

"I'll go get the makeup brush. I need a new swim suit too." Stacy says. Her mind on Alex.

Lizzy does get a little excited for the chance to see Stacy try on swim suits. However, she still clings to the couch so Stacy has to play the drag Lizzy game.