More land. More wheat.

Chapter one - part one

And this woman was yelling at me, “Look. Look,” she said. “Look at me. Look. Can’t you see?”

I said, “Ma’am? What?”

“One of my chickens is gone.”

Okay.

“Don’t you understand? I need that chicken.”

“I’m sorry your chicken’s gone.”

“Can’t you just check?”

“Okay, okay. I’ll check.”

So I went inside the chicken coop and looked around. There was a hole along the edge of it, and when I looked through the hole, I could see feathers. I came back out, and the wind caught the coop door and smashed it shut behind me. Crash.

The old lady yelled, “Hey, watch the door.”

“Sorry.”

I walked around the side of the coop. More feathers. I looked east toward the pasture and saw another feather caught on a mesquite bush. I stood there for a second. It was already getting hot. Looking down, I thought I could make out some coyote tracks mixed in with the feathers, so I followed them maybe ten yards out into the pasture. There was the chicken. Pretty well chewed up. So I went back toward the house. Betty was sitting in her little chair on the porch when I came through the half gate into the yard.

“Betty, I think a coyote got your chicken.”

She looked toward the coop. “I need to get somebody out here to fix that thing. I can’t believe another one of my chickens.”

Then she looked at me and said, “You need to best watch your chickens.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“I’ll get this fixed up.”

“Okay. I’m gonna go back to the house now.”

“Okay.”

I went out through the yard, crossed the driveway, got into my truck, and pulled onto the dirt road toward home. It was only about a mile and a half. When I got there, I climbed out, opened the gate, drove the truck through, climbed back out, shut the gate, and pulled up by the house. As I came around, Margaret called through the kitchen window.

“Where you been?”

“Betty wanted me to go look and see what was going on over there.”

“Well, what’s going on?”

“She lost another chicken. Coyote got it.”

“Okay,” Margaret said. “Go check our chicken coop. Make sure ours is good.”

“It’s good. I’m coming in.”

“Come on.”

I walked up onto the porch. Dirt everywhere. Little footprints running through it. Mouse tracks.

“Oh, man. Mice.”

I opened the screen door, then the front door. The table sat right there inside, close enough that the door would bump it if I wasn’t careful, so I eased around it. Knock everything off that table and I’d get a little lecture. Fair enough. It would be my fault. I sat down. And then I looked at the table.

Oh, what a spread. I couldn’t believe it. I get to eat.

“Can I help you in there?” I called.

“No.”

Margaret started bringing things out of the kitchen and setting them down. Biscuits and gravy. Cornbread. Cheese. Water. Nothing fancy, but it looked so good. I got a plate, picked up my knife, took some bread, and spread butter across it.

“How did it go today?” Margaret asked.

“Eh. Went okay.”

“No trouble?”

“No trouble.”

“All right. Well, everything seems all right.”

Later we went into the living room. I got the fire going and lit the lamps.

“Did you get some kerosene?” Margaret asked.

“No. I’ve got to go into town and get some.”

“Okay.”

“I’ll trim the lamps tomorrow.”

“Okay.” 

And then she came over and sat in her chair to read her book by the fire. But I was thinking about that plow. I already had one, but if I could get another one, I could work more land. Plant more wheat. Make a little more money. Derek, up the road, had bought two new tractors, and I couldn’t quit thinking about that either. If I could get another tractor, maybe two tractors someday, I could work even more land.

More land. More wheat. That seemed like the answer. I poked at the fire for a while, then closed up the little potbelly stove.

“Well. It’s time.”

I pulled off my boots, slipped out of my pants and into my stupid long johns, and climbed into bed. Before I turned the lamp out, I tried to remind myself again, trim the wicks tomorrow. The day turned to twilight then dark. 

For a while I just lay there listening to the wind. Knock. Knock. Knock. The gate. I forgot to close it. I could hear it moving back and forth out there in the dark, banging every time the wind caught it. Another thing I needed to fix. Hopefully the wind wouldn’t blow too hard tonight.