Mitch groaned. “Why do you have to be so damn stubborn?”
Sid’s lips tightened.
Miss Bernie waved her fork. “His belly’ll get to gnawing at him soon enough.”
After they finished, Miss Bernie and the girls cleared the table while Mitch and Chris discussed plans for the day. Chris would show the girls how to feed calves while Mitch cultivated corn.
Miss Bernie took Sid’s untouched plate to the sink. “Suit yourself.”
* * *
Mitch worked through lunch so he would have time to go to Madison. He felt a rush at the sight of the red Camry parked in front of the house and vaulted up the steps to find Jennie and Miss Bernie talking on the screened-in porch. He glanced from Jennie to Miss Bernie. “Don’t know if I’m liking that look on your faces. You talking about me?”
“Maybe we were,” Miss Bernie said. “Now let me see that back. Miss Jennie says you didn’t tend to it proper and it infected.”
“It’s fine.”
“Just get that shirt off so I can see.”
Jennie snickered.
He peeled off the sweaty T-shirt.
Jennie ran her hand over the top of his back, sending a shudder through him. “This is where it got bad.”
“Settled down nice. Lucky to have this woman looking after you.”
“She’s the best.”
Jennie pulled her hand back. Her smile faded.
He wanted to pull her into his arms but instead asked Miss Bernie, “Where are the girls?”
“They in the calf barn since lunch with that dog of yours. He’s been following ’em around all day. He angers Jasmine something awful.”
“Dad cause any more grief?”
“Him and me, we’ll figure things out.”
“I better get Sid to therapy,” Jennie said.
After she left, Mitch went to the calf barn and peeked in. Alexus stood in the middle of the pen giggling, surrounded by calves licking at her hands. Jasmine watched from outside the pen with her arms hanging over the top rail. Billy sat on his haunches next to her.
Everything was under control. He headed to Madison.
* * *
The answer was the same from all three. The farm is overleveraged. There was no way they could extend them a loan.
Mitch found Miss Bernie and the girls working the garden in the side yard when he got back. Billy watched Jasmine from the grass. Miss Bernie had a light purple headscarf wrapped around her hair. Jasmine had her brightly colored Kente scarf covering her neck and Alexus had a pink My Little Pony baseball cap on. They were on their hands and knees digging holes for tomato plants and mounding dirt over the roots.
“You ladies need help?”
Miss Bernie wiped her brow. “This our work. You tend to yours.”
“Jasmine and Lexi, how about I let you ride my pony when you finish?”
Alexus sprang to her feet. “Yay. I never been on a pony. Is he nice?”
“The best.”
Jasmine kept digging.
* * *
Mitch had Bert saddled and ready for them when they came around the side of the house. “Who’s first?”
“Me, me, me,” Alexus said. “I’m kinda scared.”
He lifted Alexus onto Bert’s back. He led Bert around the farmyard with a very happy girl on his back.
“Go faster,” Alexus shouted.
“Kick him with the back of your shoes.”
Bert broke into a trot with Mitch running in front, holding the reins. He looked back at the bouncing girl and was reminded of Maggie bouncing on Bert’s back at her fifth birthday party, her last. How could anything feel so good and so bad at the same time?
After two laps around the yard, they stopped in front of Jasmine. “Your turn,” Mitch said.
“Think I’ll go in now. See if Miss Bernie needs help.” She trudged to the house, her shoulders slumped, and head down. Billy followed.
Chapter 50
The rest of May, Mitch continued crisscrossing Dane and Jefferson counties with the papers for the farm. The bank managers and credit union managers all read from the same script. The farm was overleveraged. They were sorry they couldn’t help. The land, animals, and machinery that had been Mitch’s life would be sold at auction to the highest bidders. Mitch imagined the sadness in the eyes of his grandfather if he were alive. The weight of generations of Garners who worked the fertile land of this Wisconsin valley for close to a hundred years rested on Mitch’s shoulders.
* * *
Mitch refused to give up. He had appointments with five more banks in the afternoon.
Before heading into Madison, he had a fuel pump to rebuild. From the machine shed, Mitch watched a Jefferson County Sheriff’s squad turn into the drive and stop in front of the house. He recognized the officer from high school. He had wrestled for rival Jefferson High School. Mitch defeated him all three years.
Mitch met him in the drive, wiped his blackened, greasy hands with a shop rag, and extended a hand. “Hey, what’s up?”
“Might not want to shake my hand when you hear what I got to say.”
Mitch nodded. “The auction.”
“June 10th. It’s been in the papers. Boss wanted to make sure you knew.”
“So they ‘re really doing it. Can’t believe this is happening.”
Chris ran toward them from the milking parlor. “Why’s he here?”
Mitch bit his lip so hard he tasted blood. “They’re selling off the farm.”
Chris flung fistfuls of gravel across the drive. “Fuck, fuck, fuck. This is such bullshit.”
The officer handed Mitch the papers. “I should go. Wish there was something…” He ambled to the squad car.
Chris continued hurling gravel around the farmyard and raging profanities as the squad car drove away. Mitch watched, sinking into gloom. After Chris cooled off, Mitch nodded toward the house. “Time for a family meeting.”
“What we gonna do? Where we gonna go?”
Mitch didn’t answer.
When everyone was seated around the table, Mitch got right to it. “They’re selling off the farm next Monday.”
Miss Bernie furrowed her brow. “What you mean, selling off the farm? This your farm.”
“Won’t be next Monday. The bank is taking it over for back payments.”
Miss Bernie cupped her hand to her mouth. “Oh, my Lord.”
Sid hunched over the table toward Mitch. “Goddamn you. You did this.”
Jasmine and Alexus gawked at Mitch. He said calmly, “I have a good-sized apartment in Milwaukee. Miss Bernie lives right downstairs. We can stay there until we figure things out.”
Sid slammed the blue cast against the table, sounding like the blast of a shotgun. The words came out loud and slurred. “This is my farm. Only way I’m leaving is boots first. I sure as hell ain’t moving to the ghetto with those, people.” He leveled his index finger at Mitch. “Get out. You’re no son of mine.”
The words stung. Mitch headed to the front room. He stopped when he heard Miss Bernie. “You old fool. That boy been doing ever thing possible for you, and you just keep on with that foul mouth of yours.”
“I don’t have to listen to some black bitch tell me shit.”
“You think you scare me with that foul mouth of yours? You girls go on to your room. Me and this old fool gonna have it out here and now.”
Mitch had to see this. He went back to the kitchen entryway. The girls scampered up the stairs while Sid glared at Miss Bernie.
Miss Bernie circled her finger under Sid’s chin. “You gone listen.”
He pushed her finger away. She stuck it right back.
He tried to spit at her, but it dribbled down his chin. “Get the fuck out of my house.”
“I’m not leaving and you gone listen.”
Sid’s face pinched into a menacing sneer.
Miss Bernie matched his sneer. They were two rabid dogs ready to rip each other’s throats out. “I don’t know your reason fo
r trying to run your boy off, but I guarantee you’ll regret it the rest a your days. My little girl run off years ago and I ain’t seen her since.”
“Don’t give a shit about your miserable brood. Now get the fuck out.”
“Shut that mean mouth. I ain’t done.” Their eyes locked, faces inches apart. “Never a day goes by I don’t wonder about her and wish I could have just one more day with her. She never coming back and I got to live with that. And my boy, Jamal, taken from me, killed by the devil. I got nobody left. You hear, old man?”
Sid twisted away from her.
“I won’t ever see my sweet Lettie and Jamal again. And it pains me to no end.” She clutched his chin and pulled his face back to hers. “I know you hearing me. Those two boys would do anything for you, and you wanna run one off. You do, and you might lose him forever. That what you want?” She shook her head and sighed. “Don’t it get tiresome being mad all the time?”
Miss Bernie straightened her back and marched out. Mitch moved out of her way. She said, “I got words for you too, mister. Out to the porch.”
He followed.
“Miss Bernie, I don’t know how…”
She opened her palms. “Why didn’t you tell me about the back payments?”
“Thought I’d figure some way to get the money.”
“Still trying to fix ever thing yourself. Why didn’t you ask for help?”
“I went to all the banks asking for loans.”
“Maybe you knocking on the wrong doors. How much you behind in payments?”
“Around forty thousand.”
“Um, um, um. Lot a money.”
They sat in silence across from each other in the weathered wicker chairs with Billy stretched between them.
Miss Bernie bent forward. “Need you to run me to Milwaukee tomorrow. If we going back I better get the house in order. Now I best put supper out so you boys can get back to your chores.”
After next Monday, there’d be no more chores.
Chapter 51
Miss Bernie didn’t have much to say on the drive to Milwaukee which was fine with Mitch. He had been up all night trying to figure out the next move. He’d give some inner-city banks a shot. Maybe they were the right doors to knock on.
Miss Bernie turned up the radio and hummed along to the song Ain’t No Mountain High Enough.
* * *
“Umm, umm. umm,” Miss Bernie said as they pulled to a stop in front of her house. “Will you lookit that? Brother Williams and them school kids been busy.”
The small lawn was trimmed and lush. The petunias surrounding the house were thick with deep purple blossoms.
“I’ll get the house in order while you go about your business.”
He stopped by the firehouse. It was blue shift so his crew wouldn’t be on, but Nic would be working. He went to the office and was surprised to find Captain Reemer at the desk. The captain rose from the chair when he saw Mitch. “I see you’re getting lots of sun on the farm. Any idea when you’re coming back?”
“Might be soon. I got a question. I thought my leave was unpaid? I keep getting checks.”
“Nobody told you? When Ralph heard you were going on unpaid leave, he went around the battalion and asked, well more demanded, members take turns working your shift so you keep getting paid. And our girl Nic’s been working more of your shifts than anyone.”
“Holy crap.”
“We take care of our own. You know that.”
“DeAndre ever get put away?”
“Not yet. He’ll surface. Scum like that always does.”
“Is Nic on duty?”
“I think she’s working out.”
He heard the grunts from the top of the stairs. He crept down the stairs to the bench. In her skimpy blue MFD shorts and snug T-shirt she could grace the cover of any fitness magazine. As the bar got to the top of her lift, Mitch grabbed it. “Need a spotter?”
“Holy fuck. Garner.” She slid the bar into the bracket, swung up from the bench, and pressed her sweat-soaked T-shirt against him.
She pulled back and checked him out. “Gonna show me your tan lines?”
Mitch grinned. “You haven’t changed.”
“How things going on the farm? You and Jen back together yet?”
“She’s living with some guy.”
The fire alarm chimed. She gave him a peck on the cheek. “Stop fucking around. Get Jen back. You know she loves you.”
Nic sprinted up the stairs, taking two at a time. Mitch sat on the bench and listened to the rig roar out the door. He thought about the short time with Nic and their torrid sex. If only he could have loved her.
He stopped by the nursing home to check on Kyle. The nurses told him Kyle had a bout of pneumonia and was weak. When Mitch entered the room, the boy was motionless, no constant figure-eights of his head. He told Kyle things were going well on the farm. Jasmine and Alexus were feeding calves, planting a garden, and riding Bert. When he couldn’t think of anything else to say, he told Kyle he would take him to the farm when he got better.
Mitch left, praying the words gave his little friend some comfort.
* * *
After visiting three inner-city banks, Mitch returned to Miss Bernie’s house. He found her at the sink rinsing a plate.
“Miss Bernie, I tried everything.” He slumped into a chair at the table. “We’re losing the farm.”
“The good Lord finally answered my prayers,” she said as if Mitch had just told her the best news ever. What could possibly make her this happy with all the crap that’s happened?
“Wait here,” she said and went to the front room. She came back with a check. He watched her sign the back. Pay to the order of Mitch Garner— Bernice Jackson.
She slid the check across the table to Mitch. He turned it over. It was from the City of Milwaukee, made out to her in the amount of $51,545.35. “Jamal’s life insurance. I was beneficiary.”
“Miss Bernie. I can’t take that. Jamal wanted you to have it.”
“I been waiting on the good Lord’s guidance. My house don’t need work, thanks to you. Thought about helping Brother Williams, but plenty donations coming in to run his school, thanks to you.”
Her face lit up, sending a warm glow through Mitch.
“Now I won’t feel like Jamal’s death was for nothing.” She patted Mitch’s hand. “That money was meant for you, to save the farm. I know that’s what Jamal wants. This God’s way of blessing you for doing His work.” She leaned back with a contented smile. “And nothing give me more joy.”
“Miss Bernie. With the way my dad’s been treating you? You sure?”
“Gotta be some good deep down in that old man.”
“But, Miss Bernie…”
She thrust her palm at him. “Don’t deny me this joy. This is yours. That’s that.”
The numbers on the check blurred. “Don’t know when I can pay you back.”
“Ain’t no concern. Now you best stop all that worrying and get on with it.”
Chapter 52
Mitch called everyone to the farmhouse kitchen to share the news when they got back later that same afternoon. Chris wheeled Sid to the table while Miss Bernie clattered dishes into the cupboard over the sink. Sid’s listless expression matched Jasmine’s.
“Miss Bernie, come on over so we can tell them,” Mitch said.
“Go ahead and tell ’em. I got work to do.”
Mitch thrust his fist to the ceiling. “We’re not losing the farm.”
“I don’t get it,” Chris said.
“Miss Bernie loaned us the money to make the back payments.”
Alexus sprang from her chair. “We stayin’?”
“Yup.”
Alexus clapped her hands, bouncing on her toes. “Yaaay. I get to ride Bert some more and play with them baby cows.”
“Dad, you hear?” Chris said. “We’re keeping the farm.”
“I didn’t ask her for any loan,” Sid said.
Miss Bernie
dried her hands and faced Sid with one hand on her hip and the other wagging a finger at him. “Now you and me partners, old man. Bet you never dream of that: partners with a black lady from the Hood.” She bent toward Sid, smiling. “I gotta be your worst nightmare. Ain’t that a stitch?” Her booming laughter echoed through the kitchen, the same laughter that had filled her house before Jamal was gone. Mitch and Chris joined in.
Sid’s expression softened. “Anyone think of asking me?”
Mitch raised both hands to the ceiling. “Jesus, Dad, we’re keeping the farm.”
“Ain’t right you didn’t ask me.”
“Okay, you’re right. Should have asked. Sorry.”
“Good. From now on I need to have a say.” He turned to Miss Bernie. “Who you calling old? And we ain’t partners.”
“Call it whatever you want, old man, but until you pay off my loan, I got a say in how things gonna go.”
* * *
Sid continued his hunger strike. Chris told Mitch he was sneaking him sandwiches and chips, so it wasn’t much of a strike. Sid was going to show her he didn’t have to do what she said or eat what she fed him. She wasn’t the boss of him.
Mitch shared this with Miss Bernie who said, “Even an ornery old pit bull smart enough to know where its food comes from. He’ll come around.”
Miss Bernie kept upping the ante with meals of southern fried chicken, baked ham, roast beef, all manner of biscuits and rolls, and freshly baked pies. The aromatic smells filled the farmhouse from morning till night. Sid didn’t stand a chance.
After three days, he was back at the table. He dove into the savory chunks of chicken-fried steak, the milky-white gravy running down the left side of his chin. From across the table, Miss Bernie gave Mitch a wink and a sly smile. Sid’s excuse was that the physical therapist demanded he eat to keep up his strength for the therapy sessions. He was following orders.
* * *
Sid had good days and bad. Fits of anger and frustration overwhelmed him on bad days, but the good days were getting more frequent. Miss Bernie ignored his constant protests, pushing him hard to strengthen his left leg and arm. She refused to get up in the middle of the night anymore, so he either had to lie in the mess or get himself in and out of bed. He could wipe his own ass from now on. During the day she made him struggle with the walker. No excuses. Sid told Mitch the only reason he did what she said was to stop her constant nagging.
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