March Writing Challenge - Farmer Smitty and the Big Snow

(This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author's imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.)

Farmer Smitty and the Big Snow

Word count: 300
Genre: Comedy
Character: A lonely farmer
Material: A very small television
Sentence: "I've been in love with you since years"
Bonus: There seems to be no one left on the planet

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Farmer Smitty sat on a bale of hay. Snow swirled outside. The TV in his barn played a sappy romance movie. He cringed.

“I've been in love with you since years.” said a voice in the voice-over.

He shook his head and snapped the TV off.

“Humans, what's with them and love?” he drawled to a nearby cow.

Typically his barn TV was solely for weather as they were prone to freak snowstorms. Although ever since the last one, he had been holed up with the cows and chickens. He sighed. It had been several days since he had gone out into the world. Other than the sheep, he didn't mind being with the animals. He was reminded how teachable they could be.

Time passed. Days followed by nights followed by more days. He was grateful that he had thought to stock up pantry items in the barn. Teaching the chickens to cluck on command, or the cow to play dead kept him busy. Finally one day, the wind went silent. Poking his head out of the barn, he saw an expanse of white. It was like the great flood, but with snow.

Slowly, it began to melt. Time was a foreign concept. A happy day came when his house was finally visible and accessible. Soon after, the trusty pickup truck was as well. And then, the roads were clear. He decided to drive down to the diner to get a hot cup of joe. No one was there. No one was at the post office. No one was at the supermarket. Aside from him and his farm, life had seemed to vanished.

He drove home.

“Well guys, it's just us.”

Popping some popcorn, he settled into his hay bale recliner for a sappy TV romance movie.