It was a completely normal Thursday morning, and farmer Nelson's alarm clock rang, as usual, at ten minutes past seven. Nelson reluctantly went out of bed, silenced the alarm, and got dressed. After that, he went down to the kitchen, where his wife had made a breakfast before driving to town. He put some bread in the toaster, skimmed over some editorials about how expensive the health insurance is these days, and read that the protests in Pakistan have lasted for a week. Pakistan, that's just half an hour away. He hoped the protests wouldn't spread and disturb his work.
While the bread got burnt, Nelson skipped forward to the weather. It'll be sunny during the morning, while a drizzle turns into a heavy rain in the afternoon. That's good, the potatoes are starting to look wilted. They could use some rain.
Nelson noticed that something smelt strange, pulled the bread out of the toaster, scratched off the darkest, put on a thick layer of orange marmalade, and ate it. After breakfast, he went out and milked the cows. After that, he realized that he forgot to clear the breakfast table and brush his teeth, so he went in and did that. He then went back out to fertilize the wheat fields.
Once done, four hours later, he went in to eat lunch, and sat down in the sofa with a book he bought yesterday. He read for a few hours while the promised rain started, and then went out to milk the cows again. While doing that, his family came home, and his children were very eager to show a board game they had made in woodwork class. Nelson put away some waterpaint his children had used earlier and sat down at the living room table to play a round (the kids won).
The time was now 8 o'clock and his wife had made dinner, so he sat down and began eating. When he finished, he was tired after a long day's hard work, so he went to bed, realized he forgot brushing his teeth, did that, and went back to bed.
It was a completely normal Friday morning, and farmer Nelson's alarm clock rang, as usual, at ten minutes past seven. Nelson reluctantly went out of bed, silenced the alarm, and got dressed. After that, he went down to the kitchen, where his wife was sitting, looking concerned. She had read in the newspaper that the Pakistan insurgency had made some people in his own country do the same, and she thought it was safer to leave the country. Nelson told her there's no reason for either the regime or the rebels to go anywhere near his house. His wife wasn't fully satisfied, but agreed that there's no reason to panic.
Nelson's wife had already milked the cows, so Nelson could calmly eat a big breakfast. Then he went out to spray pesticides on his apple trees, where he had seen a few worms last day.
After that, he went in for lunch, and picked up some watercolors and began painting. He was trying to paint some birds, but many of them were suspiciously similar to airplanes. He decided to paint some flowers instead. He then went out to milk the cows.
When he was done, his kids wanted to go fishing, so Nelson dug around for worms in the compost, while constantly being questioned about what the fishing pole is doing in that dirt pile.
A few hours later, he gave the catch to his wife and played hide-and-seek with the kids, while the dinner was being prepared. After dinner, he was tired after a long day's hard work, so he went to bed, realized he forgot brushing his teeth, did that, and went back to bed.
It was a completely normal Saturday morning, and farmer Nelson's alarm clock rang, as usual, at ten minutes past seven. Nelson reluctantly went out of bed, silenced the alarm, and got dressed. After that, he went down to the kitchen, where his children were fighting about who should get the cereal first. He told them that both would've gotten their cereal far faster if they didn't fight about it, served them and himself, and started eating and reading the newspaper. The kids had spilled strawberry jam on the paper, but it was still readable. It said that the regime had began fighting back against the rebels with the full military, including civilian casualties. He shrugged off thoughts about tanks rolling across his wheat fields, and went out to milk the cows.
After that, his kids wanted to take a bath, so Nelson prepared the car while his wife packed a lunch. The kids asked a lot of questions about things they saw during the trip, for example why that green car with that hollow pole that's only attached on one end has a chain around its wheels.
Nelson's wife doesn't like bathing, so she sat down under a tree, knitting a sweater for Nelson. Nelson himself gladly jumped into the sea and tried to catch a flounder that was sleeping on the seafloor, but it suddenly woke up and swam away. The kids prefered to splash water at each other and looking for the biggest mussel.
After a few hours, Nelson's wife shouted out that it's time to eat. After they were done, Nelson's wife felt it would be a good idea to try out the sweater on Nelson, so he had to stand still for a few minutes while his kids began splashing water again.
When he came home, his kids wanted to play tag for a while, while Nelson himself went to milk the cows. After dinner, he was tired after long day's hard work and play, so he went to bed, realized he forgot brushing his teeth, did that, and went back to bed.
It was a completely normal Sunday morning, and farmer Nelson's alarm clock rang, as usual, at twenty minutes past seven. Nelson reluctantly went out of bed, silenced the alarm, and got dressed. After that, he heard an airplane and looked out through the window, where a tank was busy driving across his wheat fields. He also saw a dark dot fall from the airplane, towards the tank. When it hit the tank, he heard a loud bang, felt an intense heat, and then didn't feel anything else.
Two days layer, four corpses and a burned board game were found in the ruins of Nelson's house.
(Originally written in Swedish for a school assignment 2011-05-16, first public release at SMW Central 2017-01-06)