His eldest son stalked by him without saying a word. He started to march around the perimeter, as if to convince himself that no matter what the angle the situation was the same. Halfway through his trip he stopped, staring ahead, then quickly spinning on his heal he turned back and retraced his steps.
He was a younger version of his father, from the dilapidated ball cap advertising farm machinery, the worn jacket, down to the broken toed work boots; but one that still believed he had to win every battle or he was less of a man. He still had a younger man's lack of perspective.
Watching him approach his father had to concede that; at least in this case, he had more than enough justification for being angry. Still without looking he awaited his son's presence at his shoulder. Not until he almost felt his breath in his ear, and could literally feel his gaze burning into the side of his head did he turn to face him.
"They said in town that that damned water tanker truck was out this way earlier, but I wouldn't believe it 'till I saw it with my own eyes." It was in his eyes that he wanted to scream out questions, rail against the injustice of it all. All that was holding him back was the realization that the old man beside him had no more control over the situation than anyone else.
So he waited. He knew that his father would tell him what he wanted to know if left alone. Pressing dad had never resulted in getting any answers, just pushed words deeper inside of him. He forced his breathing to slow down, and himself to stand still, while he waited for his father to surface from where ever he had sunk into to escape this latest setback.
"I was out in the barn checking on Mabel, she's in calf and you know what a hard time she can have with that, when I heard Big Red start his usual barking, letting me know that strangers were on the property." His voice was so quiet that his son needed to lean his head slightly towards him to catch all the words.
"So, I made my way out front here, and there were the truck and a big car pulled up in the yard. Red obviously made them nervous because no one had gotten out yet. I called Red off, and told him to get up by the house. Then these two men in suits, one carrying a sheaf of papers got out of the car. One of them came over to me, while the other walked back to the truck and called up the driver in the cab."
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