Page 10 - Contrast1965Spring
P. 10
TWENTY-TWO
Cli-clack ... cli-clack ... cli-clack said the "Wish it wasn't so hot. Wish It was fal I• "
planter over and over. The tractor droned
. monotonously. Buddy's arm ached from the His father made no comment.
tips of his dirty fingernails to his shoulder,
but he continued to take tobacco plant after "If it was fall, I could go humin' with Cap'n
plant from the box in front of him, and press Jim, maybe?
it into the furrow when the planter clacked and
the water spurted. Then the plant was hidden "Maybe. "
by the disking wheels and crawled behind
under the water tank of the planter. Across "You think he'd take me?"
from him sat his father. The boy and man
worke~ in unison, a plant from Buddy, a plant "We'll see."
from hIS father, one from Buddy, one from his
father. "W'IS h I cou 1dget a twenty-two, "h e mutterehdi
wistfully, but not aloud. He knew what er:
The machinery clacked butBuddywasn't ready. father would say - "No," and his moth .
"Wait till you're twelve."
"You missed another one," said his father.
"I'm tired." The furrow ended. Buddy sighed and srralg. htd-
ened his bent shoulders as his father's han
"You've only been workin' ten minutes." with the big blue veins pulled up the water
lever. The tractor turned into the dirrt 1a ne .
The June sun was intense; sweat trickled
"Wait'll it stops, Buddy," his father warned.
down the boy's forehead, seeped through his
But the boy swung out his cramped legs from
brow and . plopped to his eyelashes. The un der t~e box and got up, staggenng" a shahde
rose. HIS legs were stiff and the tractor
ground blurred and Buddy blinked. The sweat not yet stopped.
c~ept ac~oss his cheek .. Upon the tractor Cap'n "Wh' ere s Joe?" -- Buddy called to t h e women.
"Is he back?"
J rrn, rhe ir next door neIghbor, sat in the shade
"Should be back," observed Cap'n Jim, stO P:
of the big canvas umbrella; the planter was pI.ng the tractor and pulling out a large han d,
k ere hiief to wipe his face and bald hea d . "He s
open to the light. From the corner of his eye, had time enough to get to the store and back-
there he comes."
~uddy could ~ee the road at the edge of the
Down the lane the hired boy's bicycle ~p-
field where hIS mother and Cap'n Jim!s wife proached, dust clouds billowing behind hIm.
"Buddy!" called his mother. "Come get these
stood cleaning plants--in the shade of a tree. plants.' ,
The sun seemed to grow hotter and hott er , His Slowly the boy walked to the flat-beg wagon
back sweated under his T-shirt.
"It's awful hot," Buddy wiped the sweat away
leaving a dirty streak in itsplace.
"J oe'll soon be back."
"If he doesn't, do I have ta keep planting?"
"Somebody does."
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