Servo 8:3
Servo 8:3
Dagwood caught me as we emerged from our “classroom” for lunch. “Hey, Jonah, did you see that storm last night?”“Yes, rather terrifying.”“Did you see the tornado go right between our farms?”“No. Grandpa had us in the cellar.”“I watched it head for your house. I was afraid for you. Glad you’re safe.”“Thanks. Was everyone in your family okay?”“One of our cows got sucked up. Found her dead near the road this morning.”“How horrible!”Dagwood shrugged his shoulders. “Part of livin’ in these parts. We’re just happy for the rain.”He followed along behind me as I headed for the lunch court area. There were scattered tree branches and leaves everywhere. The storm had evidently been quite large. Some of the school groundskeepers were trying to clear them away. I found our usual table and sat down. Rory and Suz hovered nearby, choosing to stand while eating. I figured they weren’t overjoyed with my choice of friends. Although low on the IQ chart, Dagwood was at least someone who’d made an attempt to befriend me. Granted I wasn’t in the market to have dozens of friends, but I figured having one that was local to the area and knew things might be handy. I felt confident that if I ever needed help, he’d be there for me. “Hey, Jonah?”“Mmm?”“Whatcha doin’ after school?”“Rory and I have a project we’ve been working on.” “Oh?”“It’s a big secret.”“Oh, I love secrets! What is it?”“Shhhhhhh!”“Please, tell me,” he begged.“Absolutely positively no one can know about it, okay?”“I promise I won’t tell.” He crossed his finger across his chest.“Come by Grandpa Cranwinkle’s barn after school.”I watched Dagwood’s eyes light up. “Okay! Okay!”We finished lunch and I tried to divert the conversation from our secret project to something else. “Grandpa says you grow switchgrass on your farm.”“Yeah. Doesn’t need a whole lot of water to grow.”“Is it difficult to harvest?”Dagwood shook his head. “Not really. We have stuff for that.”“Oh? You have a bot?”“Huh?” He gave me a strange look. “No, it’s called a tractor. A BIG machine that Daddy drives through the field cutting the grass.”“Yeah, yeah, I get it. Grandpa has one too.”“My Daddy’s is much bigger. And he has this piece of equipment called a disc mower. It cuts the grass lickety-split.”“But no bots?”“Ro-bots?”“Yeah.”“No way!”“Well, why not?” I cocked my head to one side.“Oh, no, bots are just too expensive. And they don’t like us having ’em.”“But it would make things easier for you, right?”Dagwood rubbed his chin. I could see a faint outline of stubble on his face. Despite his boyish mannerisms, there was a man growing inside that thick body of his. “I don’t think farmin’ is hard. I like it.” He reached down and picked up a couple pebbles from the blacktop. “I like to know where my food comes from, how it’s made, and I like having a part in that.”“You don’t eat switchgrass.”“No, but Ma has a big garden I help tend. And we have cows and some chickens.”“Ah.”The bell sounded, ending lunchtime.“You should come see my chickens, I won first prize in the State Fair last year.”“Congratulations,” I said, collecting my things. “If you still wanna see our secret project—”“Oh, I do! I do!”“Then come by later and we’ll show you.”“Okay, I will. But gotta do my homework first.” He stood and looked at me. “Is your homework hard?”“Not really. Mrs. Graham doesn’t give us much.”“Gosh!”“We didn’t get homework when we lived in the Inner States.”“Why not?”“Our school had ten hour days. By the time we got done, there was no need for homework.”“I bet your school was hard.”“Challenging, more like.”The second bell rang indicating we needed to get to class. Suz and Rory left me in the dust. “Hey, we better get to class.”“I’ll see you later.” I dashed across the yard and into the building. Our classroom was at the end of a long hall. My feet pounded on the buffed concrete floor making a loud echo. All the other students were in their classes. I was now tardy. Mrs. Graham would not be pleased.
Dagwood caught me as we emerged from our “classroom” for lunch. “Hey, Jonah, did you see that storm last night?”“Yes, rather terrifying.”“Did you see the tornado go right between our farms?”“No. Grandpa had us in the cellar.”“I watched it head for your house. I was afraid for you. Glad you’re safe.”“Thanks. Was everyone in your family okay?”“One of our cows got sucked up. Found her dead near the road this morning.”“How horrible!”Dagwood shrugged his shoulders. “Part of livin’ in these parts. We’re just happy for the rain.”He followed along behind me as I headed for the lunch court area. There were scattered tree branches and leaves everywhere. The storm had evidently been quite large. Some of the school groundskeepers were trying to clear them away. I found our usual table and sat down. Rory and Suz hovered nearby, choosing to stand while eating. I figured they weren’t overjoyed with my choice of friends. Although low on the IQ chart, Dagwood was at least someone who’d made an attempt to befriend me. Granted I wasn’t in the market to have dozens of friends, but I figured having one that was local to the area and knew things might be handy. I felt confident that if I ever needed help, he’d be there for me. “Hey, Jonah?”“Mmm?”“Whatcha doin’ after school?”“Rory and I have a project we’ve been working on.” “Oh?”“It’s a big secret.”“Oh, I love secrets! What is it?”“Shhhhhhh!”“Please, tell me,” he begged.“Absolutely positively no one can know about it, okay?”“I promise I won’t tell.” He crossed his finger across his chest.“Come by Grandpa Cranwinkle’s barn after school.”I watched Dagwood’s eyes light up. “Okay! Okay!”We finished lunch and I tried to divert the conversation from our secret project to something else. “Grandpa says you grow switchgrass on your farm.”“Yeah. Doesn’t need a whole lot of water to grow.”“Is it difficult to harvest?”Dagwood shook his head. “Not really. We have stuff for that.”“Oh? You have a bot?”“Huh?” He gave me a strange look. “No, it’s called a tractor. A BIG machine that Daddy drives through the field cutting the grass.”“Yeah, yeah, I get it. Grandpa has one too.”“My Daddy’s is much bigger. And he has this piece of equipment called a disc mower. It cuts the grass lickety-split.”“But no bots?”“Ro-bots?”“Yeah.”“No way!”“Well, why not?” I cocked my head to one side.“Oh, no, bots are just too expensive. And they don’t like us having ’em.”“But it would make things easier for you, right?”Dagwood rubbed his chin. I could see a faint outline of stubble on his face. Despite his boyish mannerisms, there was a man growing inside that thick body of his. “I don’t think farmin’ is hard. I like it.” He reached down and picked up a couple pebbles from the blacktop. “I like to know where my food comes from, how it’s made, and I like having a part in that.”“You don’t eat switchgrass.”“No, but Ma has a big garden I help tend. And we have cows and some chickens.”“Ah.”The bell sounded, ending lunchtime.“You should come see my chickens, I won first prize in the State Fair last year.”“Congratulations,” I said, collecting my things. “If you still wanna see our secret project—”“Oh, I do! I do!”“Then come by later and we’ll show you.”“Okay, I will. But gotta do my homework first.” He stood and looked at me. “Is your homework hard?”“Not really. Mrs. Graham doesn’t give us much.”“Gosh!”“We didn’t get homework when we lived in the Inner States.”“Why not?”“Our school had ten hour days. By the time we got done, there was no need for homework.”“I bet your school was hard.”“Challenging, more like.”The second bell rang indicating we needed to get to class. Suz and Rory left me in the dust. “Hey, we better get to class.”“I’ll see you later.” I dashed across the yard and into the building. Our classroom was at the end of a long hall. My feet pounded on the buffed concrete floor making a loud echo. All the other students were in their classes. I was now tardy. Mrs. Graham would not be pleased.
No comments have been added yet.
