Butcher
Splatch!
The large iron cleaver thudded juicily into the side of the carcass, a rent opening between the ribs. The blow had been aimed with skill, and managed to avoid disturbing the intestines. Joseph pulled the meat apart with his brawny hands, and the entrails slithered out in a wet pile towards the floor.
Vanya watched from the door post, careful not to disobey his father’s instructions about entering the slaughterhouse, but keen to see all that went on.
“Don’t think I don’t know you are there” called Joseph, without turning round, “Make yourself useful, eh, and fill the bucket with water, we need to get this place cleaned up quickly.”
Quickly indeed, since Joseph needed to dash to the barracks. For the last few months, with the Guards off overseas, custom had been very slack. Joseph was keen to get back with the first deliveries, and rumour from the docks suggested that the Corps was unloading today.
Leaving little Vanya struggling with a full sized mop, the butcher’s cart headed off out of the yard. It did not take long to reach the barracks, driving over the muddy and rutted streets. Occasionally there were sentries posted in huts, since unrest had been widespread around the country, and attempts were being made to clamp down.
The unrest was prevalent, with riots in small provincial towns being almost commonplace. If it was all predicated by the continuing war out west, then it was slightly unjustified. The situation in the north had certainly turned in Russia’s favour, even if the Emperor of Mexico was now beginning to find Yankee troops a little closer to his palace than he may like.
Some Russian troops were even now acting under the control of the Mexican army, visiting increasingly dry and dusty locations.
Jospeh’s musings about the ice on the moustaches of the Cossacks starting to melt as they reached the desert helped him as he waited in the barracks yard for the flustered quartermaster.
“Ah, Joseph, just the man, my goodness me, how good it is to see a helpful face! Get those sides of beef into the store on the double; the food on those ships was appalling. It may be alright for those navy lads, but it’s not enough to line the stomach of a Guardsman.”
“No problem, would you like more than your standard order?”
“Yes, yes, let’s get stocked up. It will be nice to eat some honest Russian meat after the stuff we could find over there.”
“Over there?”
“Oh yes, in the heart of those lily-livered democrat’s country, the gleaming heart, the big pineapple as they call it.”
“But surely a big city like that would have a little meat?”
“Well you might think so, but my lads could only find some rotten old stuff. The fact that nothing new was coming in past our barricades could have something to do with it. Anyway, all done and dusted now. Run along man, and I’ll see you next week with the additional order.”
Joseph could take that as nothing other than a direct dismissal, so he backed out of the office, wondering about where he would find a load of extra meat.