Alycia hated Thursdays. Ranch girls always had chores, but Alycia simply hated Thursdays, especially in the summer. All year long, the hamlet of Steinham had woods and lakes but very few people. Alicia's mother's Friday Farmer's market was a small affair for the small familiar band of year-round inhabitants. Alycia woke up early on Thursdays for her chores, but she had to wake up early for school anyway. She still could finish her chores promptly, catch the bus, and begin her usual day.

In the summer, the population of Steinham increased ten-fold. Business at the local markets and restaurants increased too as many city-folk came out to enjoy the rustic surroundings. Business at the Farmer's Market increased many-fold also.

Alycia woke up before sunrise, despite the early dawn. In the summer, she liked to sleep late - when she could. She dressed and went down to the barn and found that her mother had placed check marks next to five names. In the off-season, one would have sufficed. This morning she had five - not two, three, or four - five - Jake, Mike, Matt, Josh, and last but not least, Chris.

When she only had one, it was quite simple. She would shackle him, drag him from his pen, and take him out in the yard. There, she would slaughter him, hang him, wash him down, and gut him. Then she just rolled the carcass into the cooler. It was best to butcher them on the second day, after rigor mortis had passed and the meat had stretched on the bone.

She grabbed the prod from its hook on the wall and went to rouse her five - count 'em -five jacks, one by one. Alycia knew her history from school and marveled that these creatures had been allowed to run amuck for as long as they had. She shackled one jack - Jake - and then roused the next - Mike . She shackled Mike, then Josh, Matt, and Chris, each one in turn. She coaxed and cajoled the gang of five into the yard. She only needed to hold up her prod and show them the desired direction. One hiss and snap from a warning discharge and they complied promptly with no argument. Finally, she herded the five of them into the yard and secured them to the stakes set securely in the concrete.

She decided to put Chris down first. He went down cleanly. Alycia rarely needed a second stroke. Then she used the pulleys and hoisted his carcass. He was the slightest of the five and weighed only slightly more than she. First, she would wash him down with an antibacterial soap, then scrub him with her stiff brushes, hose him off, and then gut him. Hands and arms lathered with soap, she set about her task.

The other jacks, Jake, Mike, Matt, and Josh watched in terror. They made quite a racket with their whining and wailing and yanking desperately at their chains.

Alycia stopped what she was doing and just looked at them She shook her head sadly. It wasn't very likely that any of them would be able to pull himself free. All their noise and thrashing about, wasn't likely to accomplish much of anything. Except, they might very well give her a headache. If they made enough noise, they might even wake up her sister, and then they'd all really be in real trouble.

Alycia tried to ignore them and scrubbed on. The four carried on. Chris's male parts flopped around as she washed him down. She squished his plump ball sac in her soapy hand. The coarse hairs tickled her palm. She had read that once upon a time a single male could terrify a dozen supposedly sane, healthy women just by threatening to expose this worm-like appendage that now danced on the end of her finger. When she gutted him, his ball sac would be the first part to go. His head was gone already, of course.

The four jacks kept up their annoying moaning and groaning. As if they could change anything, Alycia snorted, unable to contain her irritation any longer. Their noise had given her a headache already. She just couldn't continue. Well, she had tried and she couldn't. She left Chris hanging there and rinsed her hands. "See you later, baby," she said. "Just wait for me!" she quipped, pleased with her own wit. Then she dried her hands on a waiting towel.

She brought, Mike, the African American to the block next. She just left him lying on the ground in his own blood while she positioned Jake next. She hated the mess. He wouldn't take but a minute. Matt and Josh cried and screamed, but they would just have to wait their turn. They were no less agitated, but they were only two and not four and could only produce half the racket. They would not have to wait too long. She rarely needed a second stroke.

Alycia thought of all the work that lay ahead for her before noon. She wished the tourists hadn't invaded Steinham like locusts invading a wheat field. They should all go back to the city. She sure hatred Thursdays in the summer.