The Day My Life Ended and Began Ch. 01

FORWARD........................

The day my life ended and began was May 26 2004. I had taken a job working on a farm between semesters at college. My family was disappointed, to say the least, that they'd not be seeing me until the Thanksgiving break. But I couldn't have been happier. I came from a farming community in central Illinois, so the logical choice for my major was Ag. Business Management. Hoping to one day have my own farm/ranch; I worked very hard to make that dream a reality. Almost singlemindedly, to the chagrin of my friends who thought college was for partying and "hooking-up", I focused on my studies. In my free time I audited the Ag. Mechanics and Land Development classes. I figured, while not my field, a good working knowledge of the machinery's inner-workings would be beneficial added to understanding the effects of runoff and calculating drainage requirements for ditches and waterways. Once I felt competent in these I grabbed some time in the building construction labs. Now I felt at ease planning to build my own piece of heaven, ground up!

So there I was, a reclusive 20 year old somewhere in the middle of preparing for a life of hard labor and good sleep. About me, I played football from Pop-Warner through my senior year of high school. At graduation I stood 6'6" and weighed 335 lbs. A literal "mountain of a man"! Despite my size I thought I looked decent enough, not terribly ogre-ish. I remember I HATED my baby-face, so to appear more aggressive I wore a long, full beard and shaved my head bald. Mother hated it! As you can well imagine I was quite adept at being a lineman on both sides of the ball. Virtually all of my free periods were spent in the weight room, and my diet was nearly strictly protein. I was captain of the track, football, and power lifting teams. But despite my physique I was also a stellar student, 3rd in my class! I got all the required courses out of the way early on, and even picked up the AP math and science courses out of sheer boredom. Having worked my butt off, I thought it best to take some "slide" classes my senior year... Ag. They were easy, but I fell in love with the idea of doing my own thing, no boss, no commute. I once heard a quote that summed up my life's ambitions "doing your own thing, in your own time". I wanted, no, NEEDED to be a farmer!

Fast forward, I'm finishing year number 2, and rather than take summer courses again, I decided to get some practical education. I spoke with my adviser, and he set me up with a local farmer he knew needed help. I'd be working for room and board and a few dollars to fold. What I ended up with was so very much more.

CHAPTER 1............ HIRING DAY

0430 found me chugging coffee before I shut off my truck in front of a nice sized barn. I had been driving for 20 minutes, yet had only traveled maybe 7 miles from my building. Winding country roads had taken me to what, I hoped, would become home.

My adviser and I had spoken at length about what I was looking for, job-wise. I told him my dream of being an independent farmer/rancher. It was then that his eyes lit up just the tiniest iota, and he said he knew just where I needed to be.

"Mr. James," I said (that was his name, after-all), "I can't thank you enough! And I don't take a man's confidence lightly. I won't let you down!"

"Don't thank me yet Tom!" Mr. James said with a mischievous grin.

"This man you're going to work for is cantankerous and hard, but he is above all else fair. He won't let you give up and quit, IF he takes you!"

Both of us smiling we shook hands, me thanking him again against his wishes (Mother did teach me some manners), and he telling me to be myself and my character would see me through. I left with an address and a name in my hand, and a mysterious niggle in the back of my mind that something was afoot. I would soon find out!

That was a Friday. That weekend I drove to the farm and back 4 or 5 times, just to get used to the route and the lay of the land. I didn't want to make a wrong turn in the dark and be late on my first day. Sunday night I lay down to sleep at about 2000 to get up at 0300 Monday morning. After beating my alarm clock into submission, I rolled out of bed to go turn on the coffee and start my week. With the pot gurgling away I got in the shower and woke up instantly. Probably would've woken half the building too, if they hadn't already left for the summer. In my early morning stupor, I'd forgotten the water heater was busted! So it was 10 freezing minutes later, I emerged from the lavatory bright-eyed and shivering, I grabbed a cup and relished in the warming sensation as the coffee hit my stomach. Dressing in my standard steel-toed boots, carpenter jeans, and sleeveless shirt I loaded my belt down with my cell phone, multi-tool, and filled my pockets with a hanky, billfold, keys, eye drops, and lighter (hey! you never know). Fired up my old '98 Dodge ½ ton, and turned on the classic country station, the one that played Hank, Merle, and Coe. As I pulled out of the parking lot, I sent up a prayer for God to help me get one step closer to my dream.

0432 here comes a middle-age looking fellow carrying his own mug of coffee. "This must be HIM", I think to myself. "Well, no time like the present." climbing from behind the wheel of the, now rapidly cooling, truck I finish the last swallow of java, and head towards him. "Back straight, eyes direct, handshake firm.", my mantra is on repeat in my brain. As I get closer his face takes on a strange shape, then nearly splits in two as he starts laughing! "Cantankerous my ass!" I think to myself, only I could hear it above his laughter... "SHIT! Have I been talking out loud this whole time?!"

"Yup." he says barely forming the words for the smile on his head.

"Well. So much for confident, huh?'

"You're doin' jus fine son. An' early to boot! You just owned your screw-up, and moved on ahead. That says a great deal about a man. Now let's have that firm handshake!"

As we shook, we made formal introductions.

"Tom Foreman." I said.

"John Anders." he replied.

"Pleasure Sir."

"Yeah, whatever!" he laughed good naturedly. "So James called me 'cantankerous', eh?"

"I believe he meant it in the kindest fashion, Sir. If ..."

"Don't go makin' 'scuses for others! Let them deal with their own mess." he said shaking a finger in my face. "Rule number one: a man makes his own way in life. He may get help from others, but his future is his own to make. Rule number two: best be worryin' 'bout your own-self. Don't worry over nobody that don't worry over you. Everyday I'll be givin' ya rules to learn an' live. James says you're sharp as a whip, and twice as dedicated to getting your goal as anyone he's ever seen. Yours truly excluded course. I live by a philosophy, and a simple one at that. 'If I want it, I go out and get it no matter the cost to myself or challenges in the way.' Long as my family is seen-to first, I will make it mine. I'm thinkin' you and I see eye-to-eye on this accord."

"Yessir."

"Tom, why you keep callin' me 'sir'?"

"Respect, sir. You have what I want, so I reckon I had better show some to get it for myself."

"What do I have that you're wantin' son?"

"This life. I've been by here in the daylight. I've seen the fences, the barns and bins, I've seen the planter in the field," swallowing the lump in my throat, "the picket fence and swing-set in the shade." He raised his eyebrows and studied me for a second before he spoke next. "Saw all that, did ya? What would a young man like yourself care about a pup-sized swing set?"

I could tell that last bit I mentioned had opened a can of worms I might not like, but I started it, so I was damn-well gonna finish it! "Don't take me wrong, sir. It's just my slice of pie. I've got none of my own, never even had a girl yet if you know what I mean. But it seems more than I could hope to have in this life. I've a dream to have a spread of my own, build up with my own two hands, maybe one day have a family of my own, people to look after and love and get loved back." I spoke honestly. I did have a dream of sipping sweet tea on a porch swing with a pretty little girl leaned on my side watching a yard full of kids laughing and chasing each other around while the sun sets behind the house. Lightening bugs just starting to wink into life as the heat of the day fades. And always ready with the mason jar to help them make night-lights. It pulls at my heart to think of folks needing and loving me in equal measure. Raising crops and stocks, and a family. Focusing back on his face, I saw an understanding there. Man to man, we understood what we agreed on.

"Well, don't go makin' any yet! You're only hired for the summer!"

"Yessir...", I stumbled and nearly ate the gravel as realization dawned on me what he had just said.

"You mean, I got the job? Thank you sir!"

"Keep a-callin' me 'sir', an' you'll lose it too!", he grinned. "Jus' call me John."

"Yessi... uh, John."

"Fine. Breakfast yet?"

"Just coffee." I replied.

"Well and good, but you'll be needing more to get through to dinner. Come on up to the house and eat, then you can go home and pack. There's an apartment in the barn here with everything you'll need. I built it for Jesse when he was itchin' to venture on his own. It's yours for the summer. Billy's on a trip so it's just you, me an' the missus till the end of the month." he spoke as we walked to the main house. The closer we got, the stronger the smells became. And OH MY! Did it smell good! As we walked up the stairs to the porch my stomach yelled it's protest at being neglected so long. John just chuckled. Coming into the kitchen by the porch door I was temporarily blinded by the brightness of the room. In the middle sat an old looking worn oak board table and chairs for eight. Standing over the stove was a handsome woman of maybe 55 years. She wore a broad welcoming smile that showed her laugh lines and dimples in her cheeks. She looked every bit the farmer's wife; from her home-sewn dress to her sun bleached blonde hair. "Margaret," John said robustly, as was his fashion for speaking normal, "this is Tom. He'll be in Jesse's old room in the barn."

"Hello Tom!" Margaret exclaimed as she stepped toward me. I extended my hand to shake and said "Yess'am. Pleasure to make your acquaintance." She simply ignored my hand and squeezed me in what can only be described as a 'mother's hug'.

"What's all this ma'am business? What's John been telling you? Trying to make me feel an' act my age?" she asked shooting John a pretend scowl.

"No ma'am. He didn't say anything like that ma'am. Just brought up different from most folks I reckon." I hastily supplied.

"Well that won't do in this house!"

Somewhat embarrassed I responded "Yes Mrs. Anders."

"Pish! Maggie'll do me just fine. Now sit you down, after breakfast I'll go and air-out your new home. Then when you move in it'll be fresh as a daisy. Now how do you take your coffee and eggs Tom?"

"Black and over easy, thank you ma'am."

GLARE

"Maggie!" I quickly corrected.

During all of this John just sat at the head of the tale grinning from ear to ear with his hands folded contentedly across his chest, occasionally sipping his own cup of coffee. He giggled like a child at that last bit, and tried to hide behind his cup as Maggie glared him down fighting a grin on her face.