Two lifetimes

     He always wore one strap down on his faded overalls and the soles on his favorite work boots had been re-souled more times than even he knew. He said he never could figure out why somebody didn’t just sell the soles because you never wear out the top part. His John Deer ball cap set a wee bit crooked on his sun weathered head and God only knows what the stains are? He told time by looking at the sun because it was always right and didn’t need no battery. In his hip pocket was a bag of chew that gave him great pleasure he once told me, and he isn’t giving it up not at his age. His teeth were all but gone but he could still eat a steak says his gums are like iron after so long a time without them. He had a set of store bought teeth his daughter insisted he get, only wore them one time and then hid them someplace nobody would ever find. All the kids and grandkids liked coming to see them at the old farm, hell all of them worked it at one time or another. They learned with their hands and back what hard work was and to his recollection not a one of them died from it. Today he was walking slowly to the barn where he would climb on his tractor that was probably about as old as he was, a real gem he would say and get the work done right the first time. His wife of seventy years sat on the front porch waving as he passed by the house like he has been doing for more years than either can really remember. “I’ll bring you some tomatoes” he shouted to her, she smiled and waved again knowing the tomatoes had long since been gone and the only thing still standing were corn stalks left to die with everything else on the farm. He rode his tractor down the dirt road and around the barn then back to the house where he would wave to her and ride some more. Come twilight she would ring the bell he had mounted on the wooden porch wall well over sixty years ago, it told him supper was on the table and to come on in. They sat at the same table in the same kitchen in the same house where they had been for two lifetimes. She smiled at him as he told her the tomatoes weren’t quite ready yet maybe tomorrow. With supper finished he would have a seat in his favorite chair usually falling asleep before the dishes were done. She would cover him with one of her many quilts she had made over time and then climb into bed praying they had one more day together. Sometime in the night she felt him climb in beside her whispering he couldn’t sleep without her. They held hands and life became silent for two caring, loving hearts.