Hall of Infinite Doors

John understood. He once had no phone, but it was alright, because he never needed one.

"Alright, I suppose I'll take your fuel, but I insist on paying." John knew he was getting a real favor from these people, and gas was getting to be fairly expensive now that fossil fuels were starting to come up drier than they used to.

"Nonsense", The old man chuckled, "We use the minimum here. We keep some extra just for people in need... like yourself. I could use a hand around the farm. If you will spend the rest of the evening working with me on the farm, I reckon you will have paid off your debt to us completely. In fact, we happen to have extra sleeping quarters you can use."

A little surprised at the generosity being extended to him, John accepted, and without any lunch began work on the farm. The first job he was given was the transportation and digging of cow manure to a pile for future fertilization of the land. He had never known manure had such a use, but figured of all people, a farmer would know.

Equipped with a shovel and a bottle of water, he began his work. He made a friendly wager with himself on how many shovel-fulls he would transport before he was done, but lost interest after an hour of counting. The actual process was not that bad, but the stench from the manure pile seemed worse every time he approached it. Flies that swarmed over the pile and sucked on it for nutrience landed also on him. He found this irritating because when he had a full load of manure in his shovel, he was unable to slap the flies away.

He began to hum on of his favorite tunes on his lips as he began shoveling the last of the manure. Out in the middle of nowhere, he enjoyed the feeling as the sweet sounds jumped from his lips and felt the subtle vibrations. He was almost disappointed when he found there was nothing left to shovel. He relaxed in the shadow of the nearby barn until the farmed came to get him. There was a note of surprise on the farmer's face when he saw the shoveling was completed, but he said nothing. Instead he turned towards the barn, and John followed him. The farmer walked to a line of cows, and squatted next to a brown one.

"This cow, we call her Betty. She's the most easy to work with, and she needs to be milked.", the farmer explained.
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