The Farm At Maple Hollow - 5. Chapter 5

Unwelcome Changes at the Farm

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. I mean I understood the reasons but it was another set of reminders of what was lost and how hopeless and powerless I was to do anything about it. Earl wasn’t in the best of health. The heart attack took a lot out of him and Ethan’s death was a devastating blow. Earl would never admit to it; his stoic nature wouldn’t let him give in but he was going to need full time help in running the farm. After all, and I was not to know until Ethan came home, this was why Ethan was coming home on a compassionate discharge. He was going to manage the farm and take over for his father.

All of that changed after the news of Ethan’s death. Earl was asking me to fix up the rooms at the front of the house into an apartment. He was figuring it would help to attract a suitable candidate if he could offer living quarters. Sure, it would be a modest space with a bathroom, small kitchen, and a couple of bedrooms along with a living room. After all, with all the boys gone but Eddy, there was room to do this.

Earl had mentioned he had a couple of prospects such as it were and the person hired would be starting in a few weeks once the decision was made as to who to hire. We would all get to meet the candidates and no one would be hired unless we all were satisfied with them. It was small comfort but I buttoned my lips, my resentments overflowing. I promised myself that one day it would be mine. We cleaned, scrubbed, tore out walls made newer, wider entrances and papered and painted every possible surface. We extended the porch so it wrapped around the corner of the house and put a new doorway in as well. Surprisingly, it only took the best part of a week and a half. When we were done, it turned out pretty good. It was small, I mean two could fit comfortably in it and there would be room for a small child but not much more. We collected some furniture from the attic, barn, and some of the other unused rooms. It took hours to scrub all that clean and when we were done it was presentable, it was furnished but sparsely so.

Bitterly I knew whomever we hired would remain outsiders, interlopers who would never feel what Ethan and I felt about the farm. They might live here but they would never be from here, they would always be just transients. I wasn’t sure how I was going to pull it off now that Ethan was gone, but I was going to find a way to run the farm. I was going to run it the way we had discussed it in the quiet conversations we had after our most intimate moments. I knew I had to buck up and suffer the presence of the interlopers, who were merely marking time, until I was done with high school and agricultural college. How I was going to afford to buy the farm was the least of my problems. I would make it clear I was going to follow in Earl’s footsteps and that would have to be enough.

***

I had gotten up late that Saturday morning and a little surprised to find I was in my own bed until I remembered I was home to take care of my weekly chores. I had just come out of the bathroom and was heading into the kitchen when Mom asked me what I wanted for breakfast and this was a surprise. Normally I was left to my own devices and that was always a cold bowl of cereal, juice, and toast. I asked for bacon and eggs with home fries instead. While I was waiting, I was reading the sports pages. Once again, the Red Sox were out of it and the Celtics were just getting going. In the background I could hear the ambulance coming up from the town barn towards the center of town. I thought I heard the police cruiser as well.

Mom and I both looked at each other as I walked over to the window over the kitchen sink and saw the both race up the old Hartford turnpike. Mom commented that she hoped it wasn’t anything too serious. I nodded my head in agreement and tore into the rest of my breakfast. I needed to finish quickly if I was to get the Good Doctor’s chores done so I could head up to the farm later that afternoon. As soon as I finished, I placed my dishes in the sink after rinsing them off. I looked out the window I noticed the Good Doctor was getting into his car and heading in the same direction as the cruiser and the ambulance.

When I commented about that to Mom, she mentioned that one of the Benoit girls was pregnant with twins and about due. It had been a difficult pregnancy and she had been having trouble the last couple of weeks. I grunted my acknowledgement and headed back to my room to get dressed. As I was dressing, I figured the Good Doctor would leave instructions and as such I would most likely have an easy morning.

As I was leaving the house Dad was coming back from the barber shop. He patted me on the head reminding me I also needed to see the barber soon as well. I told him I would go next Saturday and to please leave money on the table for me. As I left the house, I could hear the phone ring as I crossed the street, I paid it no attention as it wouldn’t be for me. I went to the shed and got the Good Doctors lawnmower out and was checking the oil and gas. Once I was satisfied, I started it up and proceeded to mow the lawn. I didn’t notice Dad had come up to me until he tapped me on the back. His face was an ashen shade of grey. Once the mower was off, he said

“You need to put that away now. Mrs. Tompkins called. There’s some sort of trouble at the farm and you are needed up there right away.” As I was putting the mower away all I could think of was that Earl had had another heart attack. He had been pushing himself lately and suddenly I was very afraid. We raced across the street and got into Dad’s car and to my surprise Mom was coming with us.

The ride up to the farm was very quiet; the look of concern on our faces said it all. Dad was speeding, I was stunned. I had never seen him do anything like this before. As we got to the top of the hill and turned down the drive, I saw that all of Earl’s son’s cars were in the driveway along with the police cruiser and ambulance. As soon as Dad put the car in park, I jumped out and raced up on to the porch and flew through the door and parted the sea of bodies. Off to the side I saw an empty wheel chair and Mrs. Tompkins bent over someone whose back was turned to me. It had to have been Earl; his heart must have finally given out. Standing next to her were her sons and all of them with dumbfounded shit eating grins on their faces. I went closer to see what the commotion was all about and who was sitting next to Earl when I saw….

A runaway freight train just blindsided me and all I could manage to say as I grabbed my head was, “WHAT THE FUCK, YOU’RE …” then everything went black as I collapsed on the floor.