He walked alone
down a dusty country road, his shoes collecting dust, his shirt damp with sweat.
He had taken off his jacket a ways back, hanging it on a branch hoping to
remember to pick it up should he come back that way. Corn fields dotted the
countryside their height now shrinking with the absence of corn. Most of it
stored in silos to feed the cows during the winter months. He did his share of
farming in these parts as did his daddy and his daddy too. Generations of
rugged men with earth under their nails and sun-soaked wrinkles were their
testament to hard work and not much else.
He had worn this road down to dirt years ago when it was still just a path to
get to another field, one he had meant to plow a long time ago. Someday soon
the big city developer would bring in heavy equipment and destroy all his
family had built including this old dirt path. They would uproot the fields,
knock down the barn and the outbuildings leaving only the old farmhouse which
he heard would be staring on one of those "Do over" television shows. With everything plowed over some
landscaper would put down sod and fancy named bushes and trees surrounded with
a white fence. A prefab barn would be built to look like the big red barn in a
mail pouch advertisement. The developer figured he could make five of these
homesites and lure city folk with a country lifestyle fit for any young tecky
who at the ripe old age of thirty-two was burned out and ready to high tail it
to the country. He got to the end of the dirt road and turned around. Taking
his jacket off the branch, he reached in and pulled out the check for nine
million dollars he received from the developer. He couldn't help but laugh out
loud as he figured out how many carefree days in the city that would buy him?Sunday, September 16, 2018
Last laugh
He walked alone
down a dusty country road, his shoes collecting dust, his shirt damp with sweat.
He had taken off his jacket a ways back, hanging it on a branch hoping to
remember to pick it up should he come back that way. Corn fields dotted the
countryside their height now shrinking with the absence of corn. Most of it
stored in silos to feed the cows during the winter months. He did his share of
farming in these parts as did his daddy and his daddy too. Generations of
rugged men with earth under their nails and sun-soaked wrinkles were their
testament to hard work and not much else.
He had worn this road down to dirt years ago when it was still just a path to
get to another field, one he had meant to plow a long time ago. Someday soon
the big city developer would bring in heavy equipment and destroy all his
family had built including this old dirt path. They would uproot the fields,
knock down the barn and the outbuildings leaving only the old farmhouse which
he heard would be staring on one of those "Do over" television shows. With everything plowed over some
landscaper would put down sod and fancy named bushes and trees surrounded with
a white fence. A prefab barn would be built to look like the big red barn in a
mail pouch advertisement. The developer figured he could make five of these
homesites and lure city folk with a country lifestyle fit for any young tecky
who at the ripe old age of thirty-two was burned out and ready to high tail it
to the country. He got to the end of the dirt road and turned around. Taking
his jacket off the branch, he reached in and pulled out the check for nine
million dollars he received from the developer. He couldn't help but laugh out
loud as he figured out how many carefree days in the city that would buy him?
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