| Show All last summer he had worked hard on the farm but had made very little real cash He had taken every job that had come along spraying for weeds bailing the neighborhay and he even helped drive their sheep to the market Still all he did was pay expenses In the fall he had takenjob at the sugar factory in order to pay some of our overdue bills After Christmas when the huge piles of beets had been made into fine grains of sugar he came home At home he hadfew chores to do morning and night newspapers and magazines to read TV to watch neighbors to visit but time hung heavily on his shoulders He had nothing that he felt was important to do This was tragedy in itself He was ambitious and he loved work Then one day the telephone rang and when the conversation was finished he hadjob at the feed mill was happy Now he would not worry over wasted hours At first he had considerable difficulty because the strings with which he tied the sacks of oats wheat and barley cut his hands until the skin cracked and bled At night he would come home with them bleeding and cracked We doctored them with love ingenuity and all salves we had until his hands had toughened to meet the work Most nights he came home very tired because he had lifted so many heavy bags of grain On these nights he would finish supper and then sit in his big easy chair with his feet propped out in front of him and doze through the TV commercials He enjoyedgood program butthink the ones that brought the biggest thrills and enjoyment to him were the fights Watching them he would get so excited thatwondered just how long his creaking chair would hold him However the times that we enjoyed most and loved best would come only on occasions when he was really feeling pert After our supper had been eaten all the family would sit around the 62 |
