Chapter (5) Damage control

Even though I was shaking as my body was racked in laughter I felt sorry for this poor old Moroccan.

Khanchouf remained standing on his tractor. His head turned several times from side to front and back again as he tried to take in what had just happened.  His mouth opened and closed as his lips moulded silent words. He looked like a fish in slow motion but with bits of green plant in his hair. His expression changed the moment he turned his head to the front and saw Madam Sabran stomping towards him, her stocking feet kicking sand, her hands waving left and right. A torrent of anger pouring from her lips. Khanchouf just stood, his mouth stopped moving.

     I had never seen Madam like this before, like the rest of the audience I had now stopped laughing and watched in silence.

"Imbecile, imbecile, imbecile" she screamed as Madam arrived at the tractor.

"Decend imbecile"  "Get down you imbecile" Khanchouf got down and stood forlorn in front of his employer.

 He stood, shoulders slightly stooped, six feet of brown overalls with the tiny frame of Madam Sabran before him.

      Her angry tirade beat in his ears as her delicate little fists beat his chest with added venom. Khanchouf said nothing. He had never considered this scenario; he was lost in his thoughts trying to come to terms with the last few minutes events.

   Just once he turned his head in my direction, his expression of disbelief and despair plain in his soft face.

 

"Eh beng dee donc" "Well I never."  Martines' payesan accent broke the silence in our little group.

"Bieng drole ҫa, non." "Funny that, eh"

   It was probably my own instincts for self-preservation that kicked in and caused me to jump up onto the field. I quickly crossed to where Sylvianne was standing speechless. I stood directly in front of her and took both her hands in mine. I folded them up between us. We must have looked like a pair of praying mantis.

"Sylvianne, listen to me." "Sylvianne" Her pretty eyes looked at me. The sun made her hair look golden.

"Take Madam home right now, I'll sort this mess out." She started to speak but I cut her short.

"Listen, Sylvianne, please just take your mother home right now. Send Khanchouf to finish sulphate spraying the Grenache or something. "

Sylvianne nodded her head just enough to show she had understood. I released her warm soft hands.

"Va." "Go". As she moved towards her mother I turned in the direction of my colleagues and motioned with my hand for Dominique to come over to me.

Hammed and his brother were already almost out of sight marching swiftly off in the direction of their cottages. Martine had turned away too. Her little dog trotting beside her. The old Spanish hermit had become bored and had left without anyone noticing. 

Sylvianne reached her mother and spoke to her. As she took one of her mother's hands, she started to move her away. I saw her say something to Khanchouf as she pointed towards the large Dutch barn. Khanchouf said nothing.  

As he walked steadily away from the disaster his strong shoulders drooped even more and he didn't look up or speak.

          Dominique looked at me and gestured with his hands as if to say, what now?  I had a few ideas so decided to put them to Dominique. We crouched down together and I explained my basic ideas for sorting this mess out. Dominique's wife now joined us. Clara spoke little french and I knew virtually no Portuguese at all. Dominique was young but quick to pick up on ideas. When Dominique and his wife spoke to each other, we called them 'the birds'. They spoke very fast and the words came out in a shrill and lilting stream. He spoke quickly to his wife and she left the field.

"Ou elle va." "Where's she going?" I asked.

"Chercher a manger." "Getting food." I nodded my satisfaction at this part of the plan.

        I explained that we would need two shovels, a couple of rakes and some longish planks of wood. We also had need of a length of VERY strong chain. I knew that I had seen such a chain in one of the barns at Domain De L'Esperan owned by Sabatier. I left Dominique in charge of collecting the other items and I quickly made my way back to the Citroën and drove the few kilometres to Sabatier's farm. A report of the events had already reached him and he asked me what had happened. I quickly explained and told him of our plans for the day.

He seemed to approve and offered to assist in any way that he could. I asked, first of all, for the big chain and the use of a tractor. I also suggested that he might visit Madam Sabran to reassure her that we could cope with this situation.

I'd been gone for no more than 40 minutes when I returned with another tractor and the chain.  Dominique had wasted no time and already had the other items assembled by the roadside.

The first thing to do was to disconnect the buried tractor from the trailer. This would lessen considerably the resistance when we started to pull the tractor free. The old simple linkage came free quite easily. For over an hour Dominique and I dug long sloping trenches down to all four wheels. The ground was soft but it was a lot of material to move. We laid planks under the wheels and leading up the trenches. We had cleared a lot more soil from under the engine block.

We put the pulling tractor at the end of the field where I could take it forward a few metres. Dominique took the end of the chain and headed towards the old Fergusson. I could see him starting to struggle before he got half way. The chain was very heavy. I took up position mid way between Dominique and my tractor. Together we pulled and tugged the chain until we had enough to loop around the front linkage pin. Pleased with our work we had started back to my tractor when Clara reappeared. She was carrying a large green picnic cool box. We changed direction and crossed several lines of courgettes to the roadside. Sitting under a tree, Clara offered each of us a chilled tin of cola. She then produced cheese and salad baguettes. The sun was relentless. It had to be 30 degrees in the shade at least. The cold drinks were very well received. To her credit, Clara had also had the forethought to bring a couple of bottles of cold water. It was usual for each of us to drink four or 5 litres of water a day whilst working the fields.

        Dehydration was a very real probability on hot days.  My doctor had once told me that to lose 5% of your body fluids would result in 20% of the bodies muscle tissue shutting down. That explained the days when you could hardly walk back to the farm after a long hot day.

          With refreshments finished, Clara started to pack away whilst Dominique and I returned to the tractors.  Dominique knew what to do so I headed to the edge of the field ready to start the tow.

I started my tractor, chose the lowest gear ratio in the box, turned around and signalled a thumbs up to Dominique. As I slowly released the clutch, my tractor steadily took the strain on the chain. I watched Dominique as my tractor groaned slightly and tried to move forward. He signalled a thumbs up. Very very slowly the two tractors started to inch forwards. A shout of glee came from Dominique. In just a few minutes we had the tractor free from the sands. By the time I had jumped down from my tractor, Dominique was already disconnecting the tow chain from the front of his.  Free from the sand and without the trailer to slow it down Dominique was able to drive his tractor to the edge of the field and onto the road. He turned his head in my direction and without speaking we nodded at each other as he made off towards the large barn. Job done I thought.  

          While Dominique was putting away the tractor I started to retrieve the bits of wood. We had made some quite long and fairly deep trenches which now needed filling in.  After putting the timber under the tree I took a shovel and started to throw the sand back into the trench.  After a long hot 20 minutes Dominique returned carrying another bottle of cold water.

He passed the bottle to me; I removed the top and took several mouthfuls. Passed the bottle back to Dominique who also took some refreshing gulps. I smiled. Dominique smiled. I shouted " Yesssssss". Both our hands met in a strong shake very pleased with ourselves.

I looked at the piles of soil. Passed my shovel to Dominique, picked up a second and we returned to filling the trench.

"Eh bien"

The two of us worked steadily until we had replaced all the soil that had been removed. The field was still a mess. The courgette ridges needed rebuilding, damaged plants had to be removed, the irrigation pipes needed some serious help and we still had to get the trailer off the field.

Reviews

[Kathy Van Kurin]

Poor Khanchouf! I felt so sorry for him. Madame Sabran must of been just devastated. She expected her trusted man to simply help and preserve all of thier livelihoods.
You can be proud too in how the situation was softened. Sylvienne showed herself to be a great help and able to listen and follow directions.
Yes Madame needed to be removed so that some important work could be accompleshed.
Farming is no easy task and cannot be taken lightly. Consistency of steps for coming harvest meant planting on time, soil prepped, water, fertilizer, mulch or manure. Timely, I think is the word.
Again, I am getting to know your characters. I forgot to mention Martines'. His comment "Bieng drol Ca Non. Pretty funny eh? Really set up the coming turn in the story.
Great one again!
See you next time.
Kathy

[MAD ENGLISHMAN]

What can I say. such a wonderful review. I do miss living in France. It was a time of revelations and discovery for me. I am still in contact with the Sabran family (not their real name). Hope you enjoy more of my little stories.

[Kathy Van Kurin]

Oh, I so have begun to look forward to reading your stories from your French experiences. So real and fun too. Experiences and memories are our essence of being somehow dontcha think? It's neat that you have a connection and open door with this family still! Good name you chose for the family as well.
Well, bye for now.....Kathy