#procreating

By the time I was 11 or 12 I had made up my mind. No babies.

Many people said I’d change my mind, I didn’t.

People would say things about my biological clock, I never heard mine ticking.

I remember how weird it was when my friends started having kids. I’m happy for them.

There’s more to life than procreating, I’m not saying a better life, just a different one.

If someone is reading this and they feel like they’re weird for not wanting to have kids you need to know: you’re not weird, and it’s okay.

Synopsis: 

What if after the start of Napoleon's dictatorship, Boxer died of hard work and exhaustion. His wife (Clover) wouldn't be seen as a useful figure in the animal farm society anymore, so Napoleon would sell her to a circus where her life would change completely and she would experience a new regime which the sexism would be even harder to deal with.

Rating: K+

Students/Authors’ names: Laura Ribeiro Armonia and Clara Rosenburg

The farm atmosfere was silent, depressing and hopeless. The fear of saying or doing anything was over all animals. The happiness was by now only a memory, and they just work, work and work the whole day. Boxer couldn’t take it anymore, he was getting old and climbing the mountain with rocks in his back again and again wasn’t possible anymore. His funeral was the most doleful one, the hard work and inspiring horse had gone, and his wife, Clover, was crying her heart out. 

The female horse used to live for her husband, she loved him and making his life as less painful as possible was her motivation. Napoleon saw her sorrowful mourning and guessed she was disturbing the other animals' work, he guessed she didn’t have anything to contribute to the farm anymore, she was a miserable and useless widow. On the other hand, the pig wasn’t going to kill someone who had just lost her family, that was too impolite.

One week after Boxer’s death, Mr.Bobfield, the town circus owner, was in Manor Farm to have a look at Clover. For some reason that Napoleon didn’t understand, Bobfield saw a potencion in her. However, the pig wouldn’t dare to question the man, since he intended to pay a fine amount of money for the widow. 

The circus was a mess. Monkeys without arms, elephants without their trunks, lions without fangs and bears without claws. Clover had a strong feeling that she didn't belong there, but she was sure of her thoughts when she was taken to her wagon. There were a lot of babies and females, but where were the husbands? You could see they were sad, but no one was crying. Mr. Bobfield got into the room, all bodys frozen, you couldn't hear a breath, only the human voice calling Clover’s name.

Her life at the circus became a nightmare. The horse received two carrots a day, in the jolly day, if she behaved well, she could also get a rabish, which made her even miss her terrible life at the farm. She couldn't sleep over 2 hours without being interrupted with very loud commandments, whipping at her, and sometimes, screams of pain from her comrades. The widow was too weak, she couldn’t do her role right and a lot of times was punished for that. Through the window crack, she could see goats taking carts from one side to the other and elephants being burned by the trainor’s torch.