Five
Bart
“I’m not sure I can stay the whole week. We have a lot going on with the business right now,” I said as Uncle Asa led me outside the barn after telling me about the fucking snakes next door.
“Your dad said he’d make do. He wants you to know all about the farm. He used to love coming here in the summer, but once he started college he didn’t have as much time. Then he got married and the rest is history. We all have to find our place in this world and his place is in Auburn.”
“I like the business, but not as much as he does,” I admitted.
“You were always the one I thought would be best suited for this life,” Asa said. He rested his arms on the top rail of a fence and his booted foot on the lower rail. “It’s something that has to be in your blood.”
“Was there ever something else you wanted to do?”
“Nope, I’ve worked this land since I was old enough to guide the cows into the chute. There’s never been anything else for me. I’ve changed how my dad ran things, but it’s still basically the same business.”
“I don’t think I’ve ever known exactly what I want to do with my life,” I admitted.
“Son, you have a choice. I know this is all strange and new, but I would never force this life on you. If it’s not for you then you can go back to your life in Auburn and come and visit me when you can.”
“What will happen to the farm?” I asked.
“Well, I’ll run it as long as I can. Then like I said, I’ll have to think about selling off the girls and go from a working farm to retirement.”
I glanced at him then. The years of hard work were evident in his sunbaked skin and the crease of his brow, but he was happy. As he looked out over his land, the expression on his face said it all. This was his little bit of heaven.
“So, tell me more about the girls,” I said.
The workday was done by sunset and after Keith and Noah left, Asa and I were left to fend for ourselves for dinner. “I’m not much of a cook, but I do okay, and the crockpot helps,” Asa said as he served us each a big bowl of beans with ham and vegetables.
“It smells so good,” I said and moved them to the table while he poured us each a glass of iced tea.
“That’s another thing about life on the farm. At the end of the day, you’re so hungry you’d eat the sole off your boot,” he said as he sat down and pushed the bread over to me.
We’d stopped for lunch earlier, but one sandwich and some chips didn’t stick with me very long. “Do you usually cook?” I asked and took a bite. “This is great.”
“It’s okay,” He said. “But as I said, after a hard day at work everything tastes good.”
“You could be right.”
Asa wiped his mouth with a paper towel before steepling his fingers and looking out into the distance.
“I’m sorry I wasn’t completely honest with you about coming here.
I know you expected to stay the weekend.
But I’d really like you to stay the week.
This place is special and I want you to have time to see that. ”
I chose my words carefully. Even though I didn’t know my uncle that well I did know he was a good man and deserved my respect and patience.
“I won’t say it doesn’t matter because it does.
I need you to be honest with me and know it’s not that I don’t want to help, it’s just that I have no clue what I’m doing, and this is nothing I would have ever considered. ”
“You’re so much like your dad. He’s one of the most honest men I’ve ever known, and around here that’s saying something.
” He took another bite and didn’t look up from his plate.
“It’s not how much you know, it’s how much you’re willing to learn.
You’re curious and you’re willing to try.
Sometimes that counts more than all the education you could get. ”
“I’ll call and make sure they really are able to cover me for the week. I might need to take a trip back to get more clothes though,” I said. It was a couple of hours away, not nearly as far as I originally thought, and I could either go early in the morning or later in the day.
“I appreciate that. It means a lot to me to be able to keep the herd together. The girls have been good to me, and I want to make sure they’re taken care of and not sold off.”
“Is that what you’d have to do?”
“Yes. Once a dairy closes they sell all the stock. Some are sold to other dairies, but a lot go to slaughter and I can’t do that.”
And there was the answer I’d been looking for.
He was worried about his cows. The cows that had been the sole purpose of his business that he obviously was attached to.
“I don’t want that to happen either. We’ll figure it out.
I promise.” I wasn’t sure where those words came from.
But after only one day I felt them in my bones.
He cared about more than the land his farm was built on, he cared about everything here, and I wanted to help.
“This is one of those times I wish I’d had kids,” he said without an ounce of sadness or regret.
“Did you want them?”
“No, that was never on my list of things to do. I loved it when your dad and his siblings would visit, but a visit is one thing. Every day is a whole other thing. My herd is my family, and I need to protect them.”
“Don’t worry, we’ll figure it out.” I hoped I didn’t let him down. The concern on his face every time he mentioned the cows or his herd was obvious, and I wasn’t going to be a part of destroying a life he loved.