Page 16 of Half Blind

Chapter 6– Draw

Jared walked the propertyaround the farmhouse, inspecting the yard while removing the debris from the torrential downpour from the storm during the night. The mosquitos would be bad in a day or so if he didn’t take care of the standing pools of water and implement some form of drainage for the deep puddles. A cistern closer to the house would help with the rainwater from the roof, giving it a home and path instead of allowing it to pool into the sunken patches in the yard. A piece of farm equipment would take care of the job, to grade the soil around the home to make drainage beds.

He moved from the yard to the barn and brought out the ladder from the shed. His leg still ached like a son of a biscuit baker from the injury during the tornado, but work needed to get done and he had to earn his keep as well as repay a debt. The truck sat forlornly, reminding him of the number of problems which sat before him and not enough time nor resources to complete any of the tasks before he moved on. First, the ladder wasn’t tall enough to climb to slap a giraffe in the nuts. Second, the wood she had on hand was low grade yellow pine shit, but he needed to patch the holes before more rain came; therefore, he would use what was available.

“This is going to be about as fun as getting a rash on my nut sack during the summer in the jungle,” he mumbled to himself.

He turned to spot Micah Delgado standing watching him. Jared nearly jumped a foot in the air. “Jesus, where did you come from?”

“The house, over there,” Micah said, watching him. “Did I interrupt the morning chit-chat with yourself?”

“I am not chit-chatting with myself; simply thinking out loud,” he said, turning to look at the kid fully.

Jared found himself smiling after reading the tee the kid wore, which boldly stated,everything is bigger in Texas, including my butt.

“That’s some tee,” Jared said.

Micah looked down at it. “It is one of my favorites. I got it from Ms. Lucy down atthe Ranchin Texas. She tossed it to me when they were doing the roundup and I was taught to brand cattle. I did not like that activity. I do not wish to do it again. Ever.”

He moved silently, barely breaking an air current, lifting a rope. “I shall tie the ladder to the building, affixing it so it will not give way when I climb. It would also help if you held it while I rig a pulley system.”

“No, I’m not taking the risk of you falling off a ladder, breaking your neck, then your father comes and breaks mine,” Jared said.

“You cannot climb. The right leg, you are favoring it with an injury. This will go much faster if you follow my directions,” Micah explained.

“Your directions?”

“Yes, I live and work on a farm,” he said. “Repairs are a daily way of life.”

Jared watched him secure the ladder with the rope, creating a pulley system. Micah was agile and his knees didn’t creak when he moved, shimmied up the rungs, and hoisted up the wood. He called down to Jared, “Toss up the hammer.”

The hammer went flying, and the kid caught it with one hand. Jared stepped back to see what was happening on the roof as the kid worked with precision, pulling out nails and broken pieces and replaced them with fresh wood. In what seemed like minutes, the hole was no more. Micah called down again, “Do you have the roof tiles?”

“I found a few. I have them here,” Jared said.

“Start sending them up,” Micah replied.

Jared followed his instructions and sent up the tiles using the hoist. Micah hammered and nailed, and soon the patch was complete. He shouted he was coming down. He came down the ladder at the same time a car arrived.

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