The Pride of Howard County

by Kevin Bachman

  Chapter 24

  Winter began to release her grip and once again there was an excitement about the farm. There were a few warm days in March followed by some more cold and then an April snow storm that dumped eight inches of snow. But with May came the first few early flowers popping up in Grace’s flower beds. The trees were all covered with buds, the song birds began to arrive and once again there was a new calf on the farm every few days.

  Lucky shocked everyone by showing up pregnant. No one had any idea’s how this had happened and yet there seemed to be a twinkle in Muncie’s eye that wasn’t there before. John took extra care to make sure she got a vitamin tablet every day and Gus was surprised by how anxious he was that his little girl was going to be a Momma.

  Gus and John were gearing up for the spring planting by servicing the trucks, tractors and all the other equipment. John had already gone to town to buy Round-Up and seed so he was just waiting for the weeds in the fields to present themselves before broadcasting the fields with the herbicide. Weather permitting he planned on starting the planting around the second week of May.

  John walked across the road early one morning in late May as he had hundreds of time before. When he walked into the big farm house he was immediately struck with a sensation that something wasn’t right. Lucky was still inside. Usually Gus had already let her out. She ran past him and connected with Muncie on the porch and they were off to make their morning rounds. There were no lights on and no smell of freshly brewed coffee in the air. He called out Gus’s name but there was no response. Suddenly fear gripped him and a chill ran up his spine. As he walked down the hallway towards Gus’s bedroom a sense of impending doom settled onto him. Gus’s door was open and the sound of an intermittent tone filled the air. It was an unanswered alarm clock still going.

  The old farmer lay on the floor a few feet from his bed; his body obviously had wrestled with the sheets, the room showed signs of a struggle. In the early morning hours of that fateful day Gus’s spirit fought to the bitter end, it was his heart that failed him.

  John stood there looking at the lifeless body of his dear friend, and instincts told him he was too late to do anything. Gus’s body showed the unmistakenable signs that life had departed. The young man’s legs melted like butter beneath him as he sank to the floor next to Gus. He reached out and touched Gus’s weathered face and the feel of death ran up his arm into his brain. He couldn’t move, he couldn’t cry or speak, he felt like he was having an out of body experience. Minutes passed by until maybe an hour later this new reality finally settled in. Abby came to John’s mind then George then his own father. Eventually his body got up and his hand picked up the phone. It was Terry’s number he dialed. Some thirty minutes later Terry was there with him and it wasn’t until then that he felt he could leave Gus.

  Terry dialed 911 and waited for the ambulance to arrive. After they left he went to look for John. He found him in the barn along with Lucky and Muncie. There were no words he could say.

  And so Gus Rogers passed into the good night. He died on his beloved farm. He died a good and decent man with no enemies and leaving behind him only those who dearly loved him.

  Abby, John and Terry sat together at the funeral home; they were the surviving members of the Rogers family. George and John’s mother flew in together for the funeral and stayed a few days. The funeral home was packed with people and some were literally standing in the aisles. But it was Abby, John and Terry who clung to one another making sure everyone was alright. It was these survivors of life who had found one another in order to find themselves and it had been their father and friend that had been the glue that bound them together.

  Gus was buried next to Grace on a warm early spring afternoon. As John mingled with the folks after the burial he couldn’t help but to feel he had known Gus all his life. It seemed impossible that it had been only a year ago that he’d left New York. As the crowd dwindled John stood on a nearby hillside overlooking the rolling hills of Howard County. This small country cemetery was the perfect place for Grace’s and now Gus’s final resting place. Abby joined him and arm in arm they stood without either of them feeling like they needed to say anything. Eventually they made their way down the hill and after one last look back at the grave site, seated themselves in the back seat of the black limousine.