The cold water from the shower splashed onto his shoulders, waking him from his half-asleep state. He ate a quick meal of bread and milk in his shabby kitchen and set off for work. Brain was a farmhand and at this time of year it was his job to shear the sheep. It was his first year as a farmhand and he was rather nervous. He had previously been a hugely successful stockbroker but he had found the stress sheer hell. So he decided to start a new simple life in the country. He wanted to show his daughter that there was more to life than money so he had taken a job on a farm. He had made some shrewd investment in the past so he needn’t worry about low wages. As he walked down the track towards the barns he walked in the shade below the trees. It was a scorching hot day and he was grateful that the trees gave him shelter. He marveled at nature’s way of creating a shield against the sun’s rays. It was only a short distance to work and he would often stop to appreciate the sight of horses passing him at leisurely speeds and smile as he compared it to the cars shooting past at high speeds in the city. Every day he was more convinced that he had made the right decision and the shift in lifestyle would do all his family good. He even felt shame that he had not done this sooner. His daughter, for instance, had grown into a shallow young woman and he hoped she would shed her lesser qualities and learn a few things about life. Currently she would shrink from any task that did not involve shopping for clothes or make-up. She wanted her share of the world but refused to work for it. He hopped the move to the country would give some shape to her life and shatter her illusion that the world owed her something. They would often argue in the evening. His daughter hated her new life and considered it to be a sham. Brain tried daily to teach his daughter about his mistakes. If he could save her from the setbacks he had encountered it would make him a better father. “It seems,” said Brain to no one but himself, “you can take a man away from stress but you can’t take the stress from the man.”