admin

If you haven't read part one the following will make no sense.
Leaving Home Part two
In the house I wasted 15 minutes in the bathroom wondering what the day was going to be like, when I returned to the shed she was business as usual. Not a lot of small talk or anything of that nature. We worked side by side getting a lunch put together and into the pickup. Once it was loaded I drove a combine to the first field, left it and rode back with her for the other one, one might say the atmosphere was frosty. There was tension in the cab that was undeniable. I was loading a water cooler into the truck when I spotted a semi-tractor pulling what looked to be a 40" trailer with six-foot sides coming up the driveway. Yup, we could unload a lot of wheat into that baby before it was full.
As Amos was parking the truck she told me to get started on the first field, she'd show Amos where she wanted the truck and be about a half field behind me. I was just driving the 6600 out of the yard when I noticed a pickup truck pulling in behind Amos. That would be his ride back for another truck and trailer. We didn't stop for lunch until well after three. I wolfed down my food and was looking for more when she tossed me a bag of fresh oatmeal raisin cookies.
I nodded, "Thanks, I was hungry."
She laughed, "No shit Sherlock, you didn't eat breakfast."
"I wasn't hungry when I got up. That's all."
She scoffed, "Bullshit, you eat like a horse no matter what time of day or night it happens to be. Don't do that again Dave, I mean skip meals. I need you to have strength and stamina to do this job. When school starts you'll need to talk with your prof's about getting homework assignments ahead during corn harvest. They used to do that when I went, they probably still do considering how many kids from the local area attend."
I was concerned, "What if it rains a lot? I can't afford to miss that much school."
"If it rains you go to classes. It's supposed to be a dry fall so the moisture levels will drop quickly. We had it all done in ten days last year and only had to do three all-nighters. The guys will be here as well, not in the combines but keeping everything else rolling. I've contemplated buying my own rig to haul and eliminate the middleman. Then I think about the cash outlay and all the extra maintenance that goes along with owning a truck. No thanks. Amos has always been good to me, and he needs work as well."
I was curious, "Why don't you have your own grain bin's? That would save on hauling and drying fees."
"Jerry never wanted them. The cost to put them up and the maintenance involved didn't make sense. You still have to pay for the drying whether you have your own dryer, or dryers, and buy the gas. Or have somebody else make the investment in dryer's and you pay the drying fees? Most guys have them for storage waiting for a better price later on. Jerry's theory was it's better to have money in your pocket now than hope you will later. As you well know, the market doesn't always go up, there's been some mighty lean years in the past."
We worked until the first trailer was full, which was just after eight that evening and headed back to the ranch after covering the trailer and our combine hoppers with tarps. The second trailer was in place and would be ready in the morning when we were. The next eight days were like the first with the exception of the last day when we pushed hard to get ahead of rain. At 11:39 that night we pulled the tarp over the trailers and hoppers as raindrops began to gently fall. At the house she told me to sleep in because she had no intention of rising before her body told her she had to.
It seemed we were back on solid ground and talking again when the next fiasco occurred. I'd spent the week getting everything maintained on the combines, changed from the grain heads to corn heads and making sure all would be ready to go when it was time for corn. As we ate supper that Friday night the phone rang, walking back into the room she had the handheld under her arm to muffle her voice.
"Some girl for you. Says her name is Stacy. Do you want to take it?"
My heart skipped a beat or two, did I want to take the call? Is the pope catholic?
"Yes, I'll take it. Thanks."

I made my way into the hall to speak with her. I'd met her at the A