Page 27 of Grounded
“Annie May, Beulah said I’d find you in the garden but I didn’t really believe it.”
“Jake!”
And without speaking another word, they embraced.
When they released each other, Annie suddenly felt self-conscious. She was sweaty and dirty after all. And Jake smelled so clean and looked so grown up with a day’s growth of beard and his T-shirt stretched over broad shoulders.
“You look great, like always,” he said.
Annie smiled back and noticed the tiny scar over his left eye, the one he had gotten playing baseball, and the familiar smile with the one front tooth that turned in slightly. She knew his features as if they were her own, and yet he seemed so different. The boy she had known was gone.
“I’m sure I’m a mess,” she said, pushing the hair off her face with the back of her hand. “I forgot how much hard work this is!”
“Hard on the body, but good for the soul,” he said, shoving his hands in his pockets. “Wanna take a break?”
She nodded and they moved to the old maple and sat down under its shade.
“I guess banking hasn’t been too good for the soul lately, what with the economy and all,” Annie said.
“Crazy. It’s unbelievable how much debt people took on, and the banks were right there feeding the addiction. You know what Fred always said: ‘Debt is bad, saving is good.’ ”
Jake waited for her to finish.
“ ‘Giving is fun, stuff is meaningless,’ ” she continued, laughing. “Remember that summer when he made us memorize it? We were helping him paint the fence, over and over.”
“It stuck with me. Simple wisdom is the best,” he said, fiddling with a small stick. “And what about you? Mom said you’re waiting to be rehired by the new airline. How long will you be here?”
“A couple of weeks at least, maybe more,” she said. “Although I won’t get rehired that fast. I have some things I need to work out as soon as I can, like where to live.”
“Sounds like you hit a little turbulence,” he said, his eyes on the stick he twirled through his fingers.
“Yeah,” Annie said. “I guess that’s a good way to put it.”
He tossed the stick and stood. “How about I give you a break and finish the last row? I need something to brag to Beulah about tonight when we go to dinner.”
Annie smiled back at him. “You don’t have to brag. She already thinks you hung the moon.”
“Misguided, but I’ll never set her straight!” he said.
Annie laughed, remembering how Beulah never acknowledged Jake’s mischievous side, a quality well known to the rest of them. When they were twelve, Jake shot his .22 rifle into their chicken house and killed one of the chickens. Annie was sure he was in for it from her grandmother, but Beulah had defended him completely, saying, “I was about ready for a fried chicken dinner, and it was a nice clean shot.”
Inside, Annie poured each of them a glass of sweet tea. She watched through the window as Jake finished the last row, handling the machine as if he had done it a hundred times.
The last time they were together was his father’s funeral. With hoards of people gathered, they had stolen some time during the meal at his home. But they were soon interrupted and then she had to go back to New York.
When her own grandfather had died, Jake was in Asia and unable to get home in time for the funeral. When he did come to pay his respects to Beulah, Annie had already gone back to work. There had been phone calls from time to time, just to keep in touch, but very little time together.
He turned the machine off, wheeled it into the storage shed, and strode toward her on the back porch. She handed him the glass of tea and they sat down on the metal chairs.
“What about you? Evelyn said you were deciding what to do next. Any ideas?”
“Lots of ideas. Camille’s dad—Camille is my girlfriend—wants me to go into the hotel business with him. But my real passion is farming. I want to spend the next few weeks exploring that option first.”
“You know firsthand how hard it is, Jake. Nobody can make a living anymore without a big operation.”
“That’s exactly the point. The land has to be managed in a way that makes it sustainable and not part of some big food machine.” He ran his fingers through his hair, a sign of frustration Annie recognized from their childhood. “Things have to change, and I want to be a part of it. As it turns out, there are some guys over in Rutherford who are thinking the same way. We’re meeting this week to talk.”
“What does your girlfriend think of all this?”
