Late in the afternoon, I stopped at the edge of the field to load the boxes again.
I was standing beside that green tractor in my ball cap and my canvas chore coat, with a paper seed sack in my arms. The little white farmhouse was behind me. Abby was up in the cab. And across the road, their big tractor was making its passes, with dust drifting behind it in the low sun.
Scott was driving it.
Randy and Luke had walked out to the edge of their field. They were standing there side by side, not talking. Watching me lift that sack.
I didn’t look at them for long.
I lifted the bag and poured it in. Then I lifted the next one. Then I got back in the cab.
I planted maybe twenty acres that first day. Jeff would have done sixty, easy.
When I finally shut the tractor off after dark, my hands were shaking. My shoulders burned so bad I couldn’t lift a gallon of milk out of the refrigerator.
Abby made us scrambled eggs. She burned them on one side.
Then she went to the bathroom cupboard and came back holding a little glass jar. The liniment her dad used to keep for his bad knee.
She stood behind my kitchen chair. And she rubbed it into my shoulders with her small hands until the whole kitchen smelled like wintergreen.
“Is this how he did it?” she asked.
“Just like that,” I said.
And I put my face down on the kitchen table so she wouldn’t see it.
That night, I went back outside and filled the planter boxes again under the yard light. So I’d be ready at daylight.
I was so tired that when I was done, I sat down on the planter hitch to rest for a second. I fell asleep sitting up, with my back against the big tractor tire.
When I woke up, I looked across the road.
The kitchen light was on in the home place. My old kitchen. I could see a figure standing at the window, looking out toward my yard light.
I couldn’t tell who it was.
Then the light went off.
Ethan Blake is a skilled Creative Content Specialist with a talent for crafting engaging and thought-provoking narratives. With a strong background in storytelling and digital content creation, Ethan brings a unique perspective to his role at TheArchivists, where he curates and produces captivating content for a global audience.
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