Life before Paradise
All characters, except those not mentioned in the movie are the property of the Walt Disney Company and are used without permission. Even though I do believe that they deserve much better than what they get recently these days.
Summary: When Grace is awakened by a horrible nightmare in the middle of the night; an old wound is reopened after she remembers some of the earlier events of her miserable life before she came to Patch of Heaven. This takes place a month after the movie.
Rated: PG
Chapter 1
It was another beautiful warm night in the southern state of Colorado. The moon was glowing, the stars were shining. It was even a perfect night for the coyotes to go on a howling spree from miles away. Not so much has happened since that no-good Alameda Slim and his henchmen were now in jail. It had been about a month after the three dairy cows Maggie, Mrs. Calloway, and Grace had saved their farm from being auctioned off to Slim posing as a fake business man. They even won 1st prize medals at a county fair. Their home, Patch of Heaven was a sanctuary to all farm animals that had no fear of the slaughter house. They were a family.
All the animals on the farm were dreaming sweet dreams of peace and happiness without any worries whatsoever. It seemed as though nothing would disturb their rest until a loud thump was heard from the cows den. The sound had awakened Audrey the chicken, Jeb the goat, and Ollie the pig.
"What in carnation is going on!" scowled Jeb grumpily, shaking his head. "Can't a goat get any sleep around here?"
"Oh don't be such a grouch," Audrey scolded, even though she was still a little sleepy. "I heard it too and it didn't sound purty." She scratched under her beak thoughtfully.
"Maybe something is wrong with the girls," whispered Ollie, stepping out from the pigpen. "We should check on them to see if everything is all right just in case."
"I agree," said Audrey.
"You two go ahead if you want," said Jeb with a yawn as he stretched his legs. "Wake me up when its morning." With that he turned back to his pen and went back to sleep.
"Forget him," said Audrey putting her wing on Ollie's shoulder when she noticed the small frown on his face. "Let's go check on the girls."
Ollie nodded. They carefully sneaked across the dirt path not wanting to wake everybody else up, especially Jeb who was grumpy enough for the time being. The doors to the cows den were locked and they were too short to reach the handles.
"Now how will we know what's happening?" asked Ollie worriedly.
"We could press our ears against these walls and listen." Leaning against the wall she thought she heard some sniffles coming from the inside. Something was wrong because one of the girls was crying.
"Or maybe we could peek through this hole here." Ollie pointed his hoof to a hole through the door.
"Good idea," added Audrey shrugging her shoulders. She was the first to peek inside the hole. She was right: what she observed appeared to be Maggie and Mrs. Calloway attempting to calm and ease Grace who seemed to be sobbing feverishly beneath the pile of hay with sweat oozing down her face.
"It looks like Grace is having some sort of a nervous breakdown," Audrey whispered with a shocked look.
"What, how did it happen?" asked Ollie anxiously.
"I don't know. Either she's sick or she woke up from a dreadful nightmare. But I ain't ever seen her like this before. Something is terribly wrong, but we can't get in and the ground is too boisterous for us to dig."
"Well then what do we do if we can't go in?"
"We just listen in on their conversation."
"Grace Honey, do you want to tell us what's wrong?" asked Maggie rubbing Grace on the back still trying to calm her hysterical behavior. "I had never in all my life witnessed anybody who would be this terrified of a nightmare."
"You haven't?" asked Mrs. Calloway who still had her hoof on Grace's front left leg.
"No. Most people or animals would either wake up with scarred looks on their faces or scream in a sort-of no hysterical kind of way."
"What's the matter Grace? You can tell us anything. We are always here by your side."
Drying a few last tears, Grace finally came to her senses as she lifted her head from the hay but still trembling. She gazed at her two friends through her red dreary eyes. She never thought something like this would happen to her, especially in a nightmare. But what was it about the nightmare that made her hysterical like that?
"Um, it's kind of a long story," she said through a limp tone.
"We're not tired," They both replied.
"All right, as you know, when I was a young calf I had an old owner named Lewis Wesley who was not a kind man. He was mean, brutal, arrogant, ruthless, abusive, and ill-tempered. Whenever I would get in some kind o' trouble he would haul me into a corner of the shack so he would whip me at least thirty times in a row. After that I could barely stand or walk for the rest of the day. Then he would sometimes tell me that I…..that I was nothing but a worthless….. dumb animal that deserved to be punished. Whenever I refused to eat the awful slop he would feed to me, I would either be hit twice across the face or jolted in the stomach so hard, the pain would run through my brain. Sometimes he would shove mouthfuls of that filth down my throat making me sick to my stomach. The crows outside would poke fun at me while I was on the floor groaning helpless and…and…." Unable to finish that last comment, Grace broke off once again and sank her head into the hay sobbing hysterically as Maggie and Mrs. Calloway vainly sought to hush her and calm her.
"Grace its all right now girl," Maggie tried to convince her that there was nothing to be afraid of, but the poor heifer only continued on with her unsteady cries. Maggie, growing a little impatient shook both her shoulders hastily. "Grace, stop it this instant; you wanna wake up the whole farm bawlin' like that?" That snapped Grace out of it. Wiping her eyes, she eased her sniffling and answered, "I'm sorry, I just couldn't bear the thought about being tossed around like an old shoe." Her face was still staring down on the hay.
Maggie sighed; she was never too good with this kind of situation. "Listen Grace, whatever else that dastardly fellow did, he ain't gonna hurt you no more now that you've got us."
"Right," added Mrs. Calloway. "Even if he came back to harm you, he'll have to answer to us. We'll deal with him just like we took care off Slim. Now please calm down for now."
"Just try to describe everything that has happened before you came here," replied Maggie. "Didn't you at least have any friends? What else happened that made that old rascal want to punish you so severely?"
"I'll try to remember; though I am not good at giving out information. But I remember one Sunday morning."
Splash! "Wake up ya lazy bovine!" demanded Lewis who threw a bucketful of dirty water on top of Grace who had already awoken to the unpleasant smell all over her body. Another dismal day in this unhappy shack and there was not even the slightest bit of warmth received from this uncaring owner who would come in almost everyday to threaten Grace with his cruel punishments and sharp objects. Lewis was a tall round-bellied muscular man with extreme sunburned hair, a long thick mustache, and a fat broad short beard. His mouth was like a slit made from a sharp knife and his eyes were cold as stone. "Now stand still while I brush ya," he would tell her. Grace made no movement whenever he would brush her. All she could do was stare blankly at the murky walls of the shack. When he was finished he accurately left the shack without setting one eye on Grace for even a second as he shut the doors and locked them tight. Letting out a heavy sigh, Grace sunk her heavy body low to the hay relieved that she didn't have to face her owner's wrath, for now.
"Look on the bright side," said a small voice from under her nose. It belonged to a runty grey mouse named Sampson. "At least he didn't kick ya or nothin'."
"When do I get to go outside?" Grace did not feel the least bit cheerful, but was relieved that she had a little friend at her side. Kind Sampson who was always there to keep her company and comfort her whenever she received a brutal beating or tongue lashing. "Stayin' inside is borin'." She looked up at the high roof where only a few bits of sunshine shone through the holes. "How come he always wants to keep me from going outside?"
"I have no idea" Sampson answered. "He's the most absolute craziest man I've ever set my beady eyes upon."
"Haven't you a family?" Grace asked.
"I did once," said Sampson. "I remember how they were kind and good to me. My Uncle Joe would sometimes give me advice whenever I had a problem and always found ways to cheer me up. But then came the horrible rainstorm. No matter how hard I tried, I just couldn't reach them. The currents drifted them far away. The last place I remember castin' up upon is what appeared to be a local cattle stockyard. And seein' a fat man purchasin' a calf. Despite my uncle's advice on how not to meddle in other affairs, I followed. "
"Where they are now, aren't they still alive?" asked Grace still wondering about his family. Still quite young, she had no idea that Sampson was talking about how he met with her. Now it had been at least two months since that day and already Grace was starting to feel a bit weak from the lack of nutrients she needed to be healthy. The goods that Sampson snuck in from the nearby town and from Lewis's kitchen had helped her out a little, but what she really needed was milk which proved to be a bit of a problem because Lewis drank almost nothing but wine (must be the reasons why he's nuts) and poor Sampson wasn't strong enough to roll a heavy milk tank all the way from town to where they were located. It might have taken a whole family of mice to roll it over. He tried doing it once until some customer had caught him by the door and kicked at him. After that incident, he didn't want do anything like that again.
"I don't know really," answered Sampson. His voice began to sound low. "But if they are, then I hope there're alright wherever they may be." Deep down he wished he were with them now, but another part of him still wanted to stay with Grace. He would have hated to leave her behind at the hands of the crazy loon. What deeply troubled him most of all was how he would get her out of this sort of mess. Sure he could stand up to the big brute but because he was small, he was just as afraid of him as Grace was.
Grace smiled a little for her friend. Having somebody like him lean close made her feel wonderful, despite how often she was mistreated.
BBOOMM! The doors burst open revealing Lewis with a rather reprehensible smirk on his round face holding in his hands a long leather material.
"I'll talk to you later," whispered Sampson as he scampered to his little hole. Whatever Lewis held made her stomach feel a bit queasy.
"Alright, listen up bovine!" He announced in a lofty tone. "This here thing that I hold is called a whip." He struck the whip against a bucket of coal causing it to topple off the stool from which it was standing. The sound of the whip had scared the wits out of Grace causing her to back up against the wall as she shook with fear. "Scared aren't you? Well you should be." He laughed as he flung the object over his left broad shoulder. "Because that's what happens to cows who don't obey." He began stomping toward her position like a trained general leader with the whip still in hand. Grace turned her head away from him while still shaking; closing her eyes tightly preparing for a blow or something. But instead of a swat, she felt a strong grasp from under her chin forcing her head up to stare into those cold stone eyes of his.
"You look at me when I'm talkin' to you!" He demanded. "Remember what I said; if you ever commit a single act of disobedience, I'll scourge ya with the whip ever so slightly you'll wish you've never been born. Understand!" Grace could only nod slowly.
"Good girl," he said releasing her chin. "I got to go to town now, so stay here and don't go off anywhere or there will be trouble for you." He sneered then stomped out of the shack locking the doors behind him.
"That does it," said Sampson, darting out of his hiding hole shaking with fury barely keeping his dignity. "That crazy old geezer has gone too far this time." He stopped shaking then turned his direction to the already confused calf. "Listen, Grace I'm goin' to help in any way I can. This is not the right kind of space for a young calf to be kept in and he should know that; all cows like you should be outside in the sunshine where they should be."
Grace looked down at him and asked: "You mean I can go outside?" She felt excitement rise up inside. Maybe finally she can see what everything is like outside.
"Of course, but first I need figure out where else we're to travel after leaving here. Have I ever broken a promise to you?" He folded his arms across his chest sternly.
"Oh no, not at all," answered Grace as she shook her head. Then she lowered her head down to his position and whispered: "But how can we? He always keeps the doors closed." That comment created an expression of disturbance on Sampson's mousy whiskered face.
He had forgotten about the locked door situation. "I don't know yet," he scratched the back of his ears hiding his confused look with a grin. "But I will find a way no matter what. I promise you that."
For the rest of the afternoon, he examined every area of the shack in search of at least a secret door or a hole big enough to allow them to make their escape. This seemed like it would take a while, but Sampson refused to quit.
