Page 9 of Cream

The inspectors nod, marking things off on their checklists.

I take them into the shipping warehouse next, where some of our pallets are being loaded up onto the trucks.

“I don’t need to tell you what goes on here,” I say. The inspectors all smile and make notes on their checklists.

“Looks pretty standard,” Nate chimes in. “I imagine you’re down here most days helping out, Brent?”

“It’s my main job here at Luscious Acres,” I kid back. “You don’t get callused hands like this sitting in an office all day.”

I’m pretty sure I catch Jeff’s eyes narrowing at my little joke there, but the rest of the inspectors find it funny, and we continue on up to the processing room.

“A bit chilly in here. I’m sure you all remember that.”

“Should have packed a jacket,” Ramee chuckles, miming a shivering motion.

I take them through the process just like last time–how we process our cream by skimming the fattest layer from the organic whole milk we get from our incredible cows raised here at the farm. They’ve all seen this before, so it’s nothing new to them.

I then bring them over to the bottling section where our cream is bottled, sealed, labeled, and then stacked to be brought out to the paddock warehouse to be shipped out.

“Everything looks good, Brent.” Tammy smiles. “No surprises. Just like last time–”

“Are you sterilizing your labels, Brent?” Mark interrupts.

“Excuse me?” I turn and see Mark is either shivering from the cold or trembling from some other issue entirely.

“Your labels,” he repeats. “Are you sterilizing them?”

“You know I am.”

“I know you’re sterilizing them when they come in, but are you sterilizing them again after they’re placed on the bottles?”

“You want me to sterilize an already sterile product that hasn’t been exposed to the actual food product we’re shipping out?” I ask Mark.

“It’s a direction many farms are moving in,” he replies. “Smiling Green Dairy for example.”

And then it clicks. Jeff Fairley’s reason for being here today.

Smiling Green Dairy.

They’ve always been a competitor of mine. A friendly competitor, but a competitor nonetheless, and have been struggling to keep up with me, despite what I’d call unethical farming practices and cutting every corner they can to keep costs down and profits up with no concern for their consumer.

Jeff must have purchased a stake in them and wants to do whatever he can to sabotage me so he can bolster his profits and keep Smiling Green Dairy from going completely out of business.

“That is true,” Cliff says slowly. “I believe that’s going to be a necessity for all farms using glass bottles moving forward into the next year.”

“Wait a second here,” I reply. “You’re telling me that if I want to continue using glass bottles for my product, I have to buy new expensive equipment to sterilize them a second time after labeling them? Or I have to completely switch over to plastic, which is terrible for people and the environment?”

The inspectors shuffle around uncomfortably, each one of them fidgeting like they’ve got a different itch somewhere they have to scratch. Each of them except Mark.

“I know it sounds daunting, Brent. But it really is the safest route to go for your customers.”

I glare at him and take several steps closer. Like a little boy, he takes several steps back and looks at me like I’m going to hit him. Of course I don’t, but I would love to. Nothing grinds my gears more than corruption. Right then, Jeff steps in and pats me on the shoulder, letting out one of those fake, forced laughs that no one actually believes.

“Oh, I’m sure it will be no problem for Brenty here! He’s just raking in the dough with his farm!” He turns his eyes on mine, practically gloating his master plan right at me as he grins like the world’s biggest asshole. “Ain’t that right, Brenty?”

Yeah. I’d love to hit both of them now.

6

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