(More from the chapter "LIGHT IN THE DARKNESS" in my novel Destination)
They sat at the kitchen table and drank their cokes as Grams outlined their day.
“I figure we got about six hours of work before it gets too darn hot. Then we’ll head into town and do a little shoppin’. I’ll introduce ya around so you can come and go in town without gettin’ the ‘looks’, you know? Like a stranger? Then I’ll give ya my list of supplies, and you can pick ‘em up for me after ya drop me off at the church for awhile. That way I can get some stuff I need to do there done while you’re takin’ care of the shoppin’. That sound alright?”
“Fine. Sounds good, Grams.”
“Alright then. Let’s get started,” she said, standing and downing the last of her pop.
Thomas did the same and excused himself to go put his shoes on.
“I smash these cans for the kids at church. They recycle ‘em,” she informed him upon his return. “I keep ‘em in a special bag under the sink here,” she said, opening the cupboard and pointing with her cane to a separate garbage bag. “Until I have enough to make it worthwhile to go out to the garage and crush ‘em and put ‘em in the garbage can with church initials on it.”
Thomas bent down and deposited their two cans and lifted the sack. It was half full. He took it out. “I’ll get them before we go into town,” he offered.
“Suit yourself. Follow me.” She strutted to the back entrance of the house which went through the large laundry room. “Anytime you need to, here’s the machines. Feel free to use ‘em day or night.”
There was an ironing board set up in there with a fancy iron sitting upright and unplugged plus a state of the art washer and dryer, both big load sizes.
“No dogs, Grams?”
Sadness crossed her expression. “Ol’ Colonel died about a month before you got here. He was a year old when Ace went on. Too young for a man to die. Too young for a dog to die, too. Big dog or not. That one hurt. No more for me.” She hesitated. “But if you see fit to have one, you go right ahead. Nothin’ wrong with a man havin’ a dog. You’re welcome to keep him in here, too. Just don’t get one of them yappers, son. It might have to come up missin’ one day, you know?” She grinned a mischievous smile.
He held up a hand. “Gotcha. Don’t worry about that.”
She giggled a bit. “Yeah. Don’t quite picture you as the type to have one of them girly dogs.”
Thomas laughed out loud at that and followed her outside.
She poked and jabbed her cane as she walked a cement path to the huge barn that had been built to both house and work on farm equipment as well as keep tons of hay. There was still about two ton of hay in the barn, but that wasn’t much.
She noticed him looking at the small amount. “The people who lease the fields have to find their own storage for the hay. They’re under contract to keep me supplied with whatever I need, which isn’t much overall. I just keep a few beef and two horses.”
She saw his eyes light up for the first time since he’d come and a half-smile crossed her mouth. “You wanta ride, Tommy?”
“Wow, Grams. It’s been awhile, but, yeah, sometime I think I would, if you don’t mind.”
A terrible frown appeared on her face.
“I mean, when it’s convenient—with work and all,” he stammered.
She walked out behind the barn to a long high pile of logs. “We need to get as much of this cut and stacked as we can for the winter. Nothin’ quite like wood heat to make your bones warm in this frigid country, you know? Oh, don’t get me wrong, son, we got a great heatin’ system in that house, but it’s nice to sit around with a fire burnin’ in the evenin’ or on one of those dark days, you know?”
“I bet,” he agreed. “So, where does it need to be stacked, Grams?”
“Ol’ Ace built a large woodshed with access from the house right next to the laundry room. He was a master designer, tryin’ to make everything handy-like. I miss that ol’ son of a gun.” She turned and went back inside the barn and pointed with her cane to a small Kubota forklift. There’s how you get the wood to the house to stack. See that big box over there with the hinges? It sits right on them tines and you just drive it up to the door, drop that little hinged door and load it all into the wood room. Then the rest just stack over there by that wall,” she pointed again with her cane.
“You better hope you need that cane a little longer, Grams. How else are you gonna get your point across? No pun intended,” he tried to say without smiling.
She hid her own smile best as she could, but she swatted him lightly with the cane just the same. He put his arms over his head in mock defense.
“You’re just like a kid brother, aren’t ya, smart aleck?” She threw the words back at him as she stomped off. “Anyway, there’s the road you take for the forklift to the house. Now, I’ll show ya what and how to feed the beef, but that’s my chore, and I intend to keep doin’ it,” she said, defiance in her tone.
Afterward she showed them the nice sheds for the two horses and the trough for their water. “We’ve got the best well in the whole county, I think. It’s deep and the water is plum good and lots of it. Ace has this trough on an automatic system he designed. He’d just shut it off when he needed to clean it.” She looked in the trough. “I just cleaned it a few days ago, so it ain’t too bad. They haven’t been kickin’ up a bunch of dust or it would be.” She instructed him on how to clean it and turn the system back on.
“Probably better get someone to ride with ya when ya go cuz that ol’ knot head gelding just goes plum nuts when the mare gets outa his sight. Both of ‘em are real nice to ride, but they like to go together.” She thought for a minute. “I know someone who might like to go with ya. Anyway, we got so much good pasture for ‘em right now, they don’t need nothin’ else. That’s why you can’t see ‘em right now. They’re over the hill there somewhere. Come winter, we’ll make sure they get enough to keep ‘em warm.”
She set her course on the chicken coop next. Thomas followed diligently.
“I’m happy to give up this chore, I’ll tell ya. Stupid dang chickens—sorry, I’m not a big fan of the goofy things. Samuel, of all people, really liked ‘em. When he’d come home on leave, he couldn’t wait to take care of the chickens. If it wasn’t for the fresh eggs, they’d be gone the heck outa here, I can tell you that. And I ain’t much for killin’ ‘em, so they get to die of old age around here. When that last rooster died, that was it for the male folk in this coop. Idiotic things crowin’ all the time. Ace thought ya had to have ‘em to keep the ladies happy. They lay just as many eggs as they ever did without that ol’ cuss of a rooster, and who gives a rip if they’re happy or not.” She paused and looked down at the dirt and grass around the large and well protected enclosure for the chickens.
Her expression took on a more serious look. “I send the beef out to be slaughtered. That’s just about as hard as it gets, too. I think that’s why I feed ‘em. I want ‘em to have the best life they can have before it’s over. And there’s none of that torturin’ ‘em either. Ol’ Marv Easton assures me it’s quick. He’s not into makin’ an animal suffer none. After all, he said they’re givin’ their lives for us. No sense in makin’ it hard on ‘em. You’ll like ol’ Marv. He’s a good man.” She said it almost reverently. “He was real close to Ace and the boys.” She turned back toward the barn.
Again and again, Father, thank you is never enough. Every word, every story – apart from you, I can do nothing. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.
