An unexpected discovery
The steady mechanical thunk of the tractor drifted across the valley. Hot sun poured down upon the back and neck of the unprotected driver. Luckily this wasn't the first day he'd done this same thing in other fields.
As he drifted into his thoughts about college and life away from the farm a solid thunk from the plow he was pulling almost jarred the tractor to a complete stop. The suddeness of being thrown forward surprised him so much that his foot jammed down on the accelerator. With a heave and a screech the plow blade pulled something big and heavy out of the ground.
Josh slammed on the brake bringing the heavy tractor a halt several feet away. He stumbled out of the seat and fell to the ground holding his chest where the steering wheel hit him. He looked back at the plow itself which now sat at an odd angle on top of a large stone.
"Damn," he said out loud, "Thought all the rocks were removed from this field years ago."
He walked over to the stone noticing for the first time that it was too regular, very retangular. Haunching down to get a better look at it he noticed that it had been obviously shaped as it was too unnatural.
"Wow, where did this come from?" he said out loud. He brushed the clinging dirt off of the pale stone. Light flickered off the rock face. Josh marveled at the rock which was so obviously a brick. A sudden inspiration hit and he walked to the hole left behind. Dirt crumbled back in, but he was able to easily pull enough out to reveal another stone of the same sort below it.
"Where did these come from I wonder? The rock is different from anything else around," after several tries, he lifted the heavy rock on to the tractor then started driving back towards the farm house. As the house came into sight on top of a small hill he hollered out to a younger man under the hood of a beat up pickup truck.
“Cecil! Get dad would ya? I’ve got something to show him!”
He grimiced for a second but carefully put down a ratchet and wrench before walking up the porch steps two at a time and disappearing into the house. A minute later another man came out of the house.
“How’d you get that field plowed so fast?” he said as he came down the steps.
“I wish I did. We’ve got a problem.” He said pointing to the stone sitting on the fender of the tractor wheel. “I pulled this up and there is at least one more that I could see. I need a shovel to pull it out.”
“Fine, you do that. Cecil is that truck ready? I’ll help you get a load of compost up there to help fill in the hole. I needed a break from that paper work anyways,” he said as he examined the rock.
“I need about ten more minutes if you’ll help with that too dad, the carberator hose isn’t wanting to stay on when I try to get it back in,” nodded the youngest of the three.
“Ok. Josh you said there was one more of these?”
“Oh yeah. Though I couldn’t dig very far to uncover it,” Josh started to pull if off the tractor. “I don’t remember seeing that type of rock around here either, do you?”
As he drifted into his thoughts about college and life away from the farm a solid thunk from the plow he was pulling almost jarred the tractor to a complete stop. The suddeness of being thrown forward surprised him so much that his foot jammed down on the accelerator. With a heave and a screech the plow blade pulled something big and heavy out of the ground.
Josh slammed on the brake bringing the heavy tractor a halt several feet away. He stumbled out of the seat and fell to the ground holding his chest where the steering wheel hit him. He looked back at the plow itself which now sat at an odd angle on top of a large stone.
"Damn," he said out loud, "Thought all the rocks were removed from this field years ago."
He walked over to the stone noticing for the first time that it was too regular, very retangular. Haunching down to get a better look at it he noticed that it had been obviously shaped as it was too unnatural.
"Wow, where did this come from?" he said out loud. He brushed the clinging dirt off of the pale stone. Light flickered off the rock face. Josh marveled at the rock which was so obviously a brick. A sudden inspiration hit and he walked to the hole left behind. Dirt crumbled back in, but he was able to easily pull enough out to reveal another stone of the same sort below it.
"Where did these come from I wonder? The rock is different from anything else around," after several tries, he lifted the heavy rock on to the tractor then started driving back towards the farm house. As the house came into sight on top of a small hill he hollered out to a younger man under the hood of a beat up pickup truck.
“Cecil! Get dad would ya? I’ve got something to show him!”
He grimiced for a second but carefully put down a ratchet and wrench before walking up the porch steps two at a time and disappearing into the house. A minute later another man came out of the house.
“How’d you get that field plowed so fast?” he said as he came down the steps.
“I wish I did. We’ve got a problem.” He said pointing to the stone sitting on the fender of the tractor wheel. “I pulled this up and there is at least one more that I could see. I need a shovel to pull it out.”
“Fine, you do that. Cecil is that truck ready? I’ll help you get a load of compost up there to help fill in the hole. I needed a break from that paper work anyways,” he said as he examined the rock.
“I need about ten more minutes if you’ll help with that too dad, the carberator hose isn’t wanting to stay on when I try to get it back in,” nodded the youngest of the three.
“Ok. Josh you said there was one more of these?”
“Oh yeah. Though I couldn’t dig very far to uncover it,” Josh started to pull if off the tractor. “I don’t remember seeing that type of rock around here either, do you?”
posted by Rick @ 3:31 PM
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