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LUKE
Sweat and dirt caked my face as I laid under the combine head. I was seriously hung over this morning. Worse than usual. I thought it was getting better but I can’t see her in my dreams if I don’t drink myself into a stupor. We were only a couple months away from corn harvest but we could start beans in the next few weeks so I wanted everything done.
I was the only one I trusted on the farm to make sure it was done right. Since I operated the combine it only seamed fitting I got it ready to go. We had a couple hired men that helped out during the busy season but other than that it was just dad, his brothers, and I.
My mom and sister liked to think they could help but they didn’t know the first thing about farming. Sure they could do some things to help us out but operating machinery… no way. Hell, Lilly still had to call me when she needed to borrow a trailer because she couldn’t remember how to hook it up.
Carter Family Farms had been around for a long ass time. My grandpa’s grandpa was the one who started it all. We had expanded a lot in the past sixty years. It was almost getting to the point we needed more help, more equipment. To me that was a good problem to have.
I rolled out from underneath the head grabbing a shop towel to wipe my face. The corn head was complete. The other guys were in charge of getting the trucks ready. All I had left to do was climb the bins and get everything good to go on them.
But fuck was I in pain. My head was pounding and my stomach was twisted in knots. I really needed to quit drinking so much. But I don’t know how I could get through the night without her. I kept thinking maybe if I would have taken that scholarship and left none of this would have happened. The accident wouldn’t have been my fault. She wouldn’t have left me.
But that’s all a load of bullshit. I would never leave this town and the farm behind. Besides, she was always going to leave me. I never deserved her. I’m surprised she didn’t leave me sooner. At that thought my stomach clenched.
Sitting up I leaned over and emptied out all the liquor I consumed last night. It tasted like acid coming up. Bracing myself I got to my feet and headed in the shop. Opening the fridge, I found it stalked with water. Thank you mom. I grabbed a bottle and downed it before downing a second.
My Uncle Matt walked in scrubbing his hands with a shop towel. “Big Red is done and Old Blue but Petey still needs some work.”
He was talking about our trucks. Instead of specifying the red Freightliner or the white Peterbilt we just had names for them all.
“What about Whitey?” I reached in for another bottle of water.
“Your dad just went for new tires for it. But other than that I think it’s pretty much done.” Matt grabbed a bottle of water himself. “Hey did you hear that Oscar sold that place?”
“Oscar Carlson?”
“Yeah someone bought it.”
“The Old Carlson Place? It’s sold? To who?” I was trying to process this. It had been vacant for years. The past ten that I knew of. That place had so many memories in it. But whoever bought it wouldn’t know about all those nights we spent there.
My phone started to ring in my pocket. Reaching for it I saw it was one of the neighbors.
“Hello?”
“Luke! Hey looks like some of your cows are out along Grandby Road there.”
“Shit. Thanks for letting us know we’ll head over.” I hung up the phone pocketing it.
Turning to my Uncle I shook my head. “You guys just had to buy cows didn’t you?”
“You don’t bitch about all the money them heifers make you.”
About ten years ago my dad and his brothers bought a shit ton of cows therefore starting Carter Cattle Co. Which meant we also bought a few horses. Man did Kaci love horses. She always would beg to go on horse back rides.
I had bought quite a few cows recently. What could I say they were a good investment. I always had meat in the freezer, but damn were they a lot of work.
“They’re out by Grandby.” We started for my pickup. “Where’s Michael?”
“He went with Mitch.”
“Getting new tires is a two-person job huh?”
“I guess.”
“For fucks sake.” I cursed as I jumped in the pickup.
Let’s hope it was an easy fix on the fence and the cows would walk back in with ease. But I highly doubted it. The mommas did not like to be fucked with.
All of the cows on this pasture were pregnant. They would start to calf in a few months, around February or March. Calving and harvest were one in the same. Both exhausting and rewarding at the same time. Countless hours spent awake watching the birthing mommas or the yield monitor. With risk comes reward. That’s what farming was. One big risk.
