Drive - A Memoir 115th Installment
levels
(4.0 in every class, every year); and I had amassed enough credits to
graduate in three years. I would have been sixteen when I graduated,
so Edith decided I wasn’t ready to go to college so I went ahead
and became a senior. I
think deep down they wanted a hired man for another year on the farm.
That
year I took every class the school had to offer – even home
economics.
Chapter
33
There
was always working to be done on the farm, even when the summer was
over, like winterization and repairs in preparation for winter. Russ
and I were fixing fence when we were called to the house.
“Tex
was hurt badly in an accident,” Edith told us.
“No
way!” I blurted out, my eyes shifting back and forth between Edith
and Vernon. “Is he going to be okay?”
“It
doesn’t look good. The doctors did emergency surgery on him when
they finally got him to the hospital.” Vernon said quietly. Edith
and Vernon knew we loved Tex. We called him our godfather – the
leader of our little posse, Tex the old mentor, Russ and me.
“What
happened?” Russ asked anxiously.
“Tex
always drove his tractor to the store to play card games, drink a
little and get supplies every week. Sometimes he drove on the new
roadway they’re building because it’s shorter. Last night he took
the construction road home. They had dug a channel for a large pipe
to go under the roadway, and Tex didn’t see it in time. He crashed
into the trench and hurt himself real bad. When they got him to the
hospital, they found he had a rupture in his aorta. They went ahead
and did the surgery, but he had bled out real bad.” Edith told us
in a steeled steady voice.
“Edith
and I are leaving right now for the hospital,” Vernon explained.
“He’s been asking for us.”
“We’re
going too,” I cried. “He’s asking for us not you. Tex said we
were his only friends – his only family. He said he could count on
us. Get it! He needs Russ and me!”
“No,”
Vernon declared. “We need you here.”
“The
girls can do the work can’t they?” Russ asked in a shaky voice.
“No,
we need you here to take responsibility for the farm,” Edith said
firmly. “We’ll probably stay overnight in town and may need to
stay another day or two. We need you boys to be here!”
We
had learned childhood came hard on a farm, and now we knew childhood
was over.
“Okay,”
I said, knowing it was settled. Vernon and Edith were gone overnight
and came home in the middle of the next night. In the morning they
led Russ and me to the living room and sat us down. They looked as
sad and tired as I’d ever seen them.
500 more words tomorrow
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