Uncle Jacob and His Four Nephews and Nieces

© 2011 by Victor E. DeBono. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

First published by AuthorHouse 06/13/2011

ISBN: 978-1-4567-8200-9 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4567-8201-6 (ebk)

Printed in the United States of America

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Contents

Introduction

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Introduction

JACOB WAS A RICH Irish farmer. All his friends called him Jake. He had a very large area of land, which was left to him and his brother and sister, by their parents.

His brother and sister didn’t want to stay on the farm anymore, they decided to leave and go to work in the city. Jacob loved the farm and decided to stay on. He loved animals, and of course the birds. He was sure that if he left that kind of life he’ll soon regretted. He loved the trees and the open-air, the smell of wet grass after rainfall gave him strength.

The land was very big and he didn’t work all the area, he only worked part of it, he didn’t really need the money, he used to live off the land! He had plenty of different fruit trees, also had plenty of animals. The farmhouse was also very big. Before, his parents, his brother and sister, besides himself, lived there! Not to mention the dogs and the cats. Jacob had four nephews and nieces. They were the offspring of his brother and sister. He would do anything for them. Jacob was the eldest. Very often, when the weather permitted, they spent the weekend on the farm with their uncle. Although he wasn’t married, Jacob loved children. He got used to the idea that every weekend, well almost, the four children go and spend the weekend with him. When the weather was bad, especially in winter and the kids didn’t go, or perhaps one of them was ill, he gets very depressed.

The kids couldn’t wait for the weekend to come, they loved the country, the animals and the birds. They were also very interested in all insects and other wild life one meets in the country.

Jacob had a wish which he never told anybody about it, not even the kids, but now he decided it was time to realize his dream.

But, then, his dream became two dreams. One dream could easily come true because he was rich, but the other one was different!

Most of Jacob’s farmland was surrounded by large trees which separated it from other farmlands where they had large herds of sheep or cattle. Thousands of birds of all sorts and colours used to come to the fields to eat or drink, especially after the fields were ploughed, or after heavy rain. Some of the birds only eat worms and some insects. The other birds, besides eating seeds, they also eat worms and insects especially, when they had young chicks.

In the fields, especially those which were not worked by Jacob, you could see a lot of squirrels going up and down the trees and rabbits looking for suitable grasses.

Jacob had many animals of his own on the farm such as: cows, goats, sheep and pigs, he also had a bull, a donkey and two horses, not to mention the dogs and the cats. He also had chickens, turkeys, ducks, geese, pigeons, etc.

Jacob had to feed and water these animals every day, whether it was sunny, raining or snowing, he had to wake up very early in the morning to be able to take care of the animals and birds, and also to work in the fields, when the weather permitted it, and of course he had to take care of himself because, there was nobody to help or to cook for him. When there was a lot work in the fields, Paul and Patrick would come to help him.

Paul and Patrick were seventeen and nineteen respectively. They didn’t go to school, nor worked, so they loved to go to Jacob’s farm. They did that since they were very young. Jacob always gave them something to take home, besides money, when they had earned it. His nieces and nephews got on very well with them.

When the kids were there over the weekend, Mary who was eleven years of age, always stayed in the house, mostly in the kitchen, cleaning and cooking for all of them. There was no modern cookers in the house, only an old refrigerator which was older than Mary. She was fascinated with the large stone-stove charged with coal and logs, she was also surprised how good the food cooks on the stone stove.

Mary was very mature for her age and very responsible. She was a typical Irish girl, a redhead, like her uncle, and quite tall for her age. Patrick, although he was almost double her age was crazy about her.

The farmhouse was always very warm, even in the midst of winter. You can say, the stove was always burning, day and night, because the fire never died out completely besides, downstairs were also two large fireplaces which burnt all the time in winter, so the house always kept warm and dry.

One weekend in spring nearly ended in disaster. Jacob had warned the kids not to wander too close to the ponds, as they were very slippery. However, kids remain kids, and forgot all the warnings Jacob had given them, but with luck and the help of one of the horses it all ended well.

Jacob’s brother decided to sell part of his land which was next to Jake’s. Jacob decided to buy it from his brother Michael. Jacob wanted the land to plant more trees and leave it for the pleasure of the birds and other animals.

One of the dreams Jacob had was to go for a holiday abroad. Jake talked to his friends about it, they all encouraged him to go. One of his older friends told him, ‘Jake, the more you keep thinking about it the more you leave it’. Jacob decided to leave Paul and Patrick to take care of everything while he was abroad. Jacob revealed only part of his dream, because his main dream was to go to an Arab country and buy an Arab Stallion to race him in the Irish top races.

During his first outing, outside his county, Jake met an attractive young Tunisian woman, Tanita’, who encouraged him a great deal. The thought of marriage had never entered Jacob’s mind, but this time he was in love. When she and the kids were around he really felt like one family.

Tanita’s uncle had a very large animal farm in Tunis. He bred horses, donkeys, and many other animals and birds. Tanita’ told him, her uncle Ali, could supply him with any animal or bird he wished. Ali hired animals to several film companies, when they needed them, especially in epic films. She promised to introduce him to her Uncle. Jacob thought he had hit the Jackpot right from the word go.

Jacob enjoyed his stay in Tunisia tremendously. He was very impressed with Ali’s set-up. Ali and Jacob became very good friends. Jacob bought a Black Stallion of less than six months old, and some large birds. He also bought a pair of donkeys of special breed.

Back in Ireland Jacob started thinking of bringing more animals and birds to his farm and form a small zoo, for his own pleasure and of course, the kids. Tanita’ encouraged him in all his projects. He called a surveyor and talked to him about his projects. Jacob found a contractor and the work started in earnest. Jacob kept changing his plans and designs, and also adding more dens and stables. Every time he went abroad more animals and birds came to Ireland. Jacob also built a horse-racing track for training horses in his own farm. He also thought of organizing mini-races on his own farm. The kids were going crazy about horse-racing.

When Jacob went again to Tunisia and bought more animals, he received more than he bargained for. Ali sent him a beautiful White Stallion as a present. Nobody could handle him except young Veronica at eleven years old. She was John’s sister.

Jacob employed a horse trainer to train his horses and young Jockeys. Kenneth, the horse trainer, introduced three Jockeys apprentices to Jacob to be trained as horse-racing Jockeys. They were Harry, at fifteen years old; John Ap at sixteen years and Joseph, at seventeen years old. Jacob was hoping his nephews and nieces will be willing to train as jockeys. The kids were more than willing, but because of their school they couldn’t give enough time for training, whilst the apprentices none of them went to school, or worked, except Joseph who had a part-time job as a carpenter.

Peter, Mary’s brother, at 12 years, he started getting taller by the hour, was also becoming obese, eating excessively. Peter was also crazy to become a Jockey, but his Uncle told him plainly, that unless he controlled his excessive eating, he could just as well forget about horse-racing. Peter didn’t take his uncle’s words lightly, he became very depressed, didn’t want to study and started to avoid school, but he didn’t reduce his eating. Peter didn’t have a father, his mother, Jacob’s sister, didn’t notice certain things, she was too busy with her job and taking care of the house.

The big day came. Jacob decided to introduce one of his horses to real racing. Kenneth suggested the Brown Mare, because she showed the most progress. They also decided for Harry to make his debut, he was the youngest and the smallest in stature, of the three apprentices. Also, he was always at the farm, from morning till dusk. Kenneth was doing his utmost to give all of them, including the horses, the best possible training.

By that time, the Brown Mare was one of the three available horses for racing, others were either still too young or still to arrive. The other two were the Black and the White Stallions. Jacob took part in various other races, but he didn’t have much success, so, he decided to stop to give more time to the horses and Jockeys to have more training. Here, one must say, Jacob was being unfair with the horses and the Jockeys who were all young, he was expecting success right from the word go. His youngsters—horses and Jockeys—were competing with professionals. After a lull of three weeks, Kenneth suggested to Jacob to let the three horses to take part in the hurdle race, not to win anything, but Kenneth wanted to see the progress being done by the horses and the young Jockeys. It was a complete disaster. Kenneth and Jacob decided on another three weeks refrain from taking part. During those three weeks only hurdle-race training was done. By that time, Young John and Veronica had started their summer holidays.

Young John had taken over the Black Stallion from Harry, while Veronica was giving the White Stallion more than one could imagine. She was determined to bring him to success, Harry, Jon Ap and Joseph were assigned to the Brown Mare, until the other horses reached the age to start their training.

Little by little, Uncle Jacob’s dream started to be realities.

V. E. DeBono

Oct. 2010

Chapter 1

Weekend at uncle Jacob farm

IT WAS SPRING, THE weather was good all week, so, the kids were hoping that the weekend will also be good to be able to go to the farm.

On Friday evening, after they’d finished their homework, their parents drove them to uncle Jacob’s farm. Their uncle was delighted that he was going to have some company for the weekend. It has been two weeks since he saw them last. Paul and Patrick only came on weekdays and they never stayed the night.

There was no TV on the farm, but the kids didn’t mind that. Their uncle would tell them stories and what had happened on the farm since they had been there last, while Mary takes over in the kitchen and prepare their meals before they go to sleep. They always drank fresh milk with cocoa from their uncle’s cows!

The next morning, Jacob had to get up before dawn because, he had to prepare the fields to sow potatoes. He didn’t wait for Mary to prepare breakfast, he just poured some black coffee and went out to start tending the animals before he started working in the fields.

He tried not to wake up the kids, they looked so sweet sleeping in a cosy bed covered with a sheepskin blanket, but the kids heard the noises downstairs and one by one went downstairs for their early hot glass of milk, while Mary started preparing breakfast. About an hour later Jacob came back for his breakfast.

As soon as he’d finished breakfast, he went outside to prepare his tractor to start doing the channels to sow the potatoes, he was hoping to have the help of the kids to put the potatoes in the soil because, he couldn’t do it on his own.

The three kids, after having breakfast, went into the next room and sat on an old sofa’ looking at the fire in the chimney, they soon fell asleep.

After another two hours sleeping they woke up again. They ran outside to go near their favourite place, the stable where the two horses were kept. The kids, in a few minutes, had put the bridle and the reins, to put the harness had to use a stool.

The three of them got on the horses and galloped towards their uncle, although the soil was soft and wet, it had rained during the night, but the horses managed very well. Jacob warned them to be careful because there were many open wells on the sides of the fields.

The kids took off as fast as the horses could manage on the wet soil. The horses were very happy to have some company, because during the week, Jacob never had the time to spend with them, so he just let them out on their own.

The kids rode to a pond on the side of the field. The pond was deep and the sides were deep and slippery, mostly covered with grass and soft soil, it was dangerous to go near the edge.

In the water there were many goldfish of many colours and sizes. On the water there was also a mother-duck with her ducklings swimming behind her, they were so sweet.

The kids went crazy, they started going round the pond and getting too close to the edge of it. John, who, at nine years, was the youngest and perhaps, the naughtiest, went too close to the edge and suddenly slipped and found himself in the cold water. He started splashing with his hands and kicking his feet, sometimes goes under water, John couldn’t swim and he had a few mouthfuls of water, but luckily it wasn’t salty, or too dirty. His sister and cousin started to get very worried, his cousin found a large piece of wood and threw it in the water for John to hold on to until they fished him out, but the wood moved away from him. His cousin Peter, who was ten years old, jumped in the water too, the two dogs followed him, he swam with the wood for John to hold on to it, but when they tried to come out of the water they couldn’t because, the sides of the pond were very soft and slippery, so, Peter told his cousin Veronica, she was ten years old, to take the horse and ride to the house as fast as she could to find some rope! Peter tried to help one of the dogs up, at first he was unsuccessful, but then he succeeded, the dog followed Veronica, the other one stayed in the water near the boys.

When Mary saw Veronica on her own and looking worried, she asked her what was the matter. Veronica tried to hide what had happened, but Mary insisted to know. Veronica told her everything, Mary started screaming, she forgot the food on the stove, they ran to the shed, grabbed a long rope and rode fast to the pond. Their uncle was too far away to realize that something was wrong.

They found the two boys holding on to the wood and to each other, they were both shivering.

Give me the rope quick, shouted Peter as soon as he saw them. The girls threw one end of the rope to the boys. Peter put the rope around John’s waist and asked the girls to pull the rope. John was soon out of the water. Now was Peter’s turn, but he was too heavy for the girls. John was small and light, but Peter was tall and heavy. Peter grabbed the dog and told Mary to put the rope around one of the horses’ neck and make him pull the rope, the horse obliged and Peter and the dog were out of the water in a few seconds.

The four of them got on the horses and rode to the house fast, because the boys were freezing! The dogs led the way, woofing all the time, as if to announce the arrival. The dogs were happy that everything ended without anybody getting hurt.

When they were in, Mary told the boys.

Go near the fire and take your clothes off and dry them. They did as they were ordered and lied down on the old sofa’ in front of the fire to warm up because, they were still shivering and their lips were blue! Veronica threw more coal and logs to increase the fire which started burning fiercely.

Mary brought them a glass of hot milk with cocoa each.

Here, drink this to warm you up and put the towel around you. The dogs also expected something, Mary, of course, obliged.

Jacob also walked in and when he saw the whole scene he smiled and asked what had happened. Mary told him the whole story! Jacob said they should have sent for him immediately. Then he took out a woollen rug and put it on the boys to keep warm, then asked Mary if lunch was ready because, everybody was hungry.

Jacob was hoping that the kids were going to help him putting in the potatoes, but now, because of what happened, had to leave it to the next day.

The next morning, again they woke up very early because, they had to go to Church for Sunday Service and afterwards straight to the fields to sow the potatoes! On the way, Jacob had to call for somebody to come and help in the field because the days were short. They only managed half the work they had to do.

The kids worked very hard that day, they wanted to make-up for the day before.

When their parents came to pick them up they were fast asleep on the sofa’ in front of the fire.

Uncle Jacob was in the kitchen with a bottle of red wine to keep him company.

The kids, reluctantly, woke-up to join their parents.

Chapter 2

The New Black Pony

WHEN JACOB’S BROTHER DECIDED to sell part of his share of the land, Jacob took the opportunity to buy it himself, to keep it in the family. He had the intention to plant more pine trees, as his brother intended to do.

His sister Anne, also had a very large share, but she sold it to a farmer neighbour, to graze sheep and some goats.

Jacob didn’t mind that his sister sold her land to somebody else, as long as the land remained farmland, after all, he already had more than enough. Very often had to employ other people to help him, especially at sowing or harvest time. He never used all the land. He left part of it to plant trees, like his brother, he wanted to leave it as wild as it can get for the squirrels, rabbits and all the wild birds which came there to enjoy themselves and raise their families.

Jacob couldn’t get away from the farm, except for a few hours in a day, he couldn’t stay a whole day away, let alone a whole week, he had the animals and the birds and they had to eat and drink everyday.

During the weekend Jacob’s nephews and nieces went to the farm to help him, but more to play than to help. Their uncle didn’t mind that, as long as they were with him, he loved them very much, he would get very depressed when the weather was very bad and they don’t go.

Jacob had only a few friends, a few farmers from the same area, one of them the one who bought the land from his sister. He was still young and also had two children, a boy and a girl, about the same age of his nephews and nieces, but they come only for a short time in summer. Their names were Thomas, who was eleven years and Sue, who was nine years old. Their father’s name was Joseph.

They soon made friends with Jacob, once or twice a week, Joseph and two or three other farmers meet at Jake’s, as the others called Jacob, to play cards and drink some wine or cider, which the farmers brewed themselves, while discussing life on the farm and the cities. Sometimes they exchange animals or birds between them.

Jacob had mentioned before, not once, that he wished to go abroad for a holiday, somewhere in the Mediterranean, he’d never been abroad before, he never dared leaving the farm and his animals for a few days.

Jake, my friend! said to him old Tom, one of his friends, the more you keep thinking about it, the more you leave it, and you’ll never do it.

But, Tom, who’s going to take care of my animals until I come back? asked Jacob.

Just find somebody who is capable of taking care of your farm for about a week and go! answered again Tom.

Do you think, if I ask your nephews, Paul and Patrick, will be able to take care of my farm for a week on their own, it’s not the first time they came to help me when I needed them? Asked again Jake.

I will ask them tomorrow. Answered Tom.

Jacob had a dream, which nobody knew about. He never told anybody about it. The dream was that someday will have a horse and race in the famous ‘Irish Derby’. He put it in his mind to buy a young Arab horse and he’ll train him for the race.

Jacob decided to go on holiday in one of the Arab countries and buy a young stallion, he’ll bring it to Ireland and give it to his nephews and nieces. He planned to stay away between ten and fifteen days. He never went out of Ireland so, he couldn’t say how he was going to feel.

If he didn’t have this dream, the thought of leaving the farm would have never entered his mind. But, each time Jacob watched a horse race, especially, an international one of some importance, his dream would come on stronger than before.

The next morning, Paul and Patrick were at Jacob’s farm.

Jacob welcomed them, together they walked to the house to discuss his intentions. He offered them some coffee and fresh bread with cheese and fresh cream.

He told them that he wished to go to the Mediterranean for a week or two, but he didn’t say why he wanted to go there, nor which country, he simply said, he wanted to go for a holiday.

Paul and Patrick accepted to take care of the farm until Jacob comes back, they also decided to sleep at Jacob’s house while they took care of the farm. Jacob told them his nephews and nieces will also come during the weekends he was away.

Jacob didn’t lose time to start his own enquiries about the country or countries, he wanted to visit.

The week after he met with Paul and Patrick, Jacob started to visit various ‘Travel Agencies’, asking them about prices and countries where he wanted to go, so, every morning, after a healthy breakfast, he would drive to the city and visit one or two Travel Agents, and then he drives back to start his day on the farm, when there was any left, because, he spent hours in the city, going round and visiting the shops besides, the time he spent at the Travel Agencies talking to people and looking at brochures of various countries.

Jacob hardly ever been in the cities, let alone being out of the country, he spoke only heavy accented English and to go to an Arab country on his own could be very difficult. The people at the Travel Agency were very helpful and suggested that for the first time he should go with a ‘tour’ which had a ‘tour-leader’ and knows the country and its language.

As it was still early in the year he