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Where the Women are so Tough, the Hares Quiver
 by Kari J. Bodnarchuk
      

     Jane steers her 4x4 up to the house, jumps out and yanks a bag from the back containing two hares and a possum – all dead. She grabs a hare by the tail and reaches for a big knife that sits on a nearby tree stump, explaining that she regularly scoops up road kill, skins the carcasses and feeds them to her pets – two massive dogs named Max and Peezer.
     “Wow,” I exclaim. I don’t know what else to say and can’t decide if I’m repulsed or envious.
     I’m in Moawhanga, a village on New Zealand’s north island, where Jane and her husband Bruce manage a sheep station. I’m traveling by car with an Englishwoman named Clare and two hitchhikers we’ve picked up. Jane doesn’t know any of us, but since Clare and I had stayed with her cousins for a few days, she embraces us like old friends.  . . .

     The razor vibrates like a power drill, but I can’t tell if the razor is making me shake or if I’m twitching uncontrollably with nervousness. Things are not looking good for the sheep I’m about to shave . . .
 


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