Rose Farm Trilogy Boxset

by Kennedy, Brenda

  “Do you think that we should have a memorial service or something for him? Seems wrong to not celebrate that man’s life.”

  Momma says, “I know the church is planning on having something for him on Sunday.”

  Pops and I go outside and cut some firewood. The exercise feels good and I realize how much I’ve missed it. I visit with the horses and feed the other animals. With these cold temps, they burn more calories trying to stay warm.

  I check my cell phone and I have a message from Savannah Mae.

  Savannah Mae: Mornin’. Did you sleep well?

  Abel: Good morning to you. Still working out the kinks in my neck, but after a few days, it should be all right.

  Savannah Mae: I’m sorry about that. I should have offered you a pillow, but I didn’t want to wake you.

  Abel: Really, I’m fine. Thanks for the coffee this morning.

  Savannah Mae: You’re welcome. Sorry, you missed out on the eggs and pancake breakfast. I’m an excellent cook, but you wouldn’t know that.

  Now I feel bad. Maybe I should have stayed.

  Abel: Had to leave early, didn’t want your son knowing about me spending the night at his Momma’s. He also might say something misleading to other people.

  Savannah Mae: Good thinkin’.

  Abel: Raincheck?

  Savannah Mae: Sounds good.

  There’re lots to do on the farm, so I busy myself with it. I don’t go in and see Savannah Mae, although I want to. I’m a grown man living with my parents, and I have nothing to offer her or her son. My mind drifts back to an ex-girlfriend and I fight the urge to contact her. Things ended badly between us, but I have a need to see how she is. I hope Savannah Mae never finds out about her or our break-up, because there is no way she would understand.

  The snow is melting and it looks like the driveway might be clear enough for us to make it to church on Sunday. I attach the snowplow to the tractor and help with the snow removal on the steep driveway. After several trips up and down the driveway, I can finally begin to see the gravel. The warmth of the sun should melt the rest of the snow in a day or two.

  As soon as I walk into the house, Momma and Pops are putting on their boots and coats.

  “Going somewhere?” I ask.

  “Bud needs to get out for a minute. He was doin’ fine in the house until he heard the gravel crunchin’ beneath your tires.” Momma laughs. “We’re headin’ to the grocery store and thought we would have lunch at Peaches Place. I wanna see Mia and my soon-to-be-born grandbaby.”

  “Do you want to come, Abel?” Pops asks.

  “No, I’m going to shower and maybe take Colonel for a ride.”

  “There’s some chicken salad in the fridge if you get hungry.” Momma throws her scarf around her neck as Pops opens the door for them to leave.

  “Be careful.”

  The next day, Pops and I go into Zanesville and shop at Mattingly Foods and Sam’s Club. There are very few places where you can buy in bulk without a vendors license. We stock the church’s kitchen cabinets, freezer, and the refrigerator full.

  On Sunday, we get up early and Momma and Mia make a large meal for the potluck at the church. Larry’s death is the reason for the feast and Larry’s death will weigh heavy on all of us for a long time.

  Savannah Mae

  Today, Sawyer Jackson and I have a hard time findin’ a place to park at the church. I think everyone in the community is attendin’ church today. Mom and Daddy walk over and Sawyer Jackson takes off runnin’ towards my sister, Samantha Marie. Daddy carries the food into the kitchen while we find a place to sit. The church is warm, and I have to unbutton my coat and remove my scarf. I can’t remember this church ever being too warm in the winter.

  The church is full, but we find a pew in the back of the room to accommodate the five of us.

  “Momma, I’m hot,” Sawyer Jackson says, stretchin’ his neck out of his zipped-up coat. He is holdin’ a dog made from balloons that Larry made for him a few weeks ago. The balloon dog is slowly deflating and feels rubbery. Sawyer Jackson doesn’t care. It’s one of the few things he has to remember Larry by.

  Samantha Marie takes off his coat and hat before she removes her own.

  “It is warm in here,” Mom says.

  “It feels good,” I say.

  Daddy joins us and the service starts after a few minutes. Today’s service isn’t like any other service. Pastor Jenson starts off by giving thanks to the community for making it possible for the church to purchase a new furnace.

  Next, he talks about Larry Adams, food and nutrition, and the importance of accepting help when it’s offered. To refuse needed help when it is offered is to be guilty of pride, one of the seven deadly sins. To offer help when it is needed is one way to show that you have faith: Both faith and good deeds are necessary to live a good life. He closes the sermon with talking about giving the gift of life through organs or the entire body. He reads the short obituary that was in the paper for Larry. Today’s sermon wasn’t a sermon; instead, it was a memorial for our friend, Larry Adams.

  The preacher says, “This is from James 2:14-18: what good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace, be warmed and filled,’ without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. But someone will say, ‘You have faith and I have works.’ Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.”

  Several people are cryin’ and sayin’ “Amen” in agreement with what the preacher is sayin’. After the service, we all congregate together for the potluck dinner. I see Abel Lee and his family and he waves and smiles. I haven’t seen him since he fell asleep on my couch. I made sure to have my phone on and charged, but he hasn’t called me. Mia once said they don’t get good phone service on the Kennedy Mule Hill Farm.

  I smile at the thought and I hear a deep husky voice in my ear. “Thinking of something funny?”

  “As a matter of fact, I was.” I turn around and face him and he looks handsome.

  ”I was hoping maybe you and I could do something later?”

  “Whatcha got in mind?”

  “How about I surprise you? Dress warm, and I’ll pick you up at 3:00 p.m.”

  “That doesn’t give me much time to get ready.”

  “I know. I’ve already arranged for Samantha Marie to watch Sawyer Jackson.”

  When I open my mouth to answer, he turns and walks away.

  Abel Lee

  After church, I picked up Savannah Mae and took her sled riding at Dillon State Park. It’s the perfect place and on that day, it wasn’t overly crowded or cold. After sled riding, we went to Giddy’s Restaurant over the hill and had hot chocolate and marshmallows. We talked and laughed and we have been officially exclusive ever since. I like Savannah Mae — she isn’t like anyone else I have ever dated. I never told Savannah Mae about my ex-girlfriend. I decided that it’s in the past and it doesn’t need to resurface into the present. There’s a lot I haven’t told her about my life, but some things are better kept private.

  As the Farmer’s Almanac had predicted, we had one cold and snowy winter. The Farmer’s Almanac has long had an excellent reputation for weather predictions. In 1816, the guy who did the predictions forgot to write something for some days in the summer in New England. The editor decided to have fun and wrote such things as “Snow. Ponds frozen over.” Lots of people had a good laugh when they read the predictions, but that year an inactive volcano — Mount Tambora — got very, very active. The dust and ash in the air blocked enough sunshine that the weather got cold, and yes, New England had snow and frozen-over ponds for some days that summer. In New England, 1816 is known as the year without a summer.

  The community is coming to terms with the sudden death of Larry. I think the memorial service the church ha
d for him helped everyone be more accepting of his death. The Zanesville Times Recorder also wrote two fantastic articles: one on hunger in rural areas and another on organ and body donation. I don’t always agree with things that get published in the newspapers, but I have to give credit when it’s deserved. They did an excellent job with both articles. Organ donation and hunger are both topics that need awareness brought to them. What good are your organs to you after you die? They will just rot. Why not donate them and keep one or more people alive? Or, if you are old and your organs cannot be used in transplants, why not give your body to a medical school so it can be used to educate doctors who will help heal thousands of people? People won’t throw away a TV that is worth a couple of hundred dollars, yet they are willing to let organs rot that are worth a few lives.

  Mia and Levi are reading every book possible on Down syndrome. I applaud them for their decision and for standing firm. I also pray that God doesn’t give them more than they can handle. I haven’t told anyone, but I’ve been doing my own research on the syndrome. The depth of it has a very broad range of severity. I just pray if my niece or nephew has it, it’ll be a very minor degree of the syndrome. When we talk about the baby, which is often, we focus on the good things. When the baby is born, the gender will be a surprise to everyone. That alone is pretty exciting.

  I’m still staying with Momma and Pops, but I need my own place. I want to build my own home, but I don’t want to come off as flashy. I don’t need much, but I do need a place of my own.

  Over the last month, Pops and I have been recruiting people in the community for help with the rehabilitation project of the old school. It’ll take a lot of manpower to remodel the school and remove the debris. I had a couple empty dumpsters and a porta potty brought in and purchased some chainsaws and other tools I thought we could use. My plan is to clear everything from the building and the lot, then powerwash the building to get rid of the graffiti. Then I want to start replacing the windows, roof, plumbing, and the electrical wiring in the old school.

  Yesterday while Pops was checking the mail, there was another letter addressed to me. “You got fan mail?” Pops asks.

  I smile and take it from him. “Thank you, it sure looks like it.”

  “They seem to follow you all over the place,” Pops teases.

  “I don’t know about that.”

  Later that night I open the letter with no return address. It’s from the same person with the shaky handwriting.

  Abel Kennedy,

  You’re going to pay for what you did.

  Not a Fan

  I flip the page over and, of course, there isn’t anything else written on the paper. I have no idea who this is. My mind thinks back and I honestly can’t pinpoint who it is. There’re so many people who could be out to get me. This isn’t the first time that I have received hate mail, but it is the first time anyone has ever tracked me back to my country roots.

  I know there isn’t anything the police can do, and I don’t feel threatened. I do wonder why or how someone could have tracked me back to my hometown.

  Next I open a letter from Anna Harris from Indiana. I remember the name from the girl I helped out in New York. I’m a little surprised to hear from her. The envelope was mailed to my New York address, but was forwarded to Momma and Pop’s address, which is my temporary address.

  Dear Abel,

  Where do I begin? You are an angel from heaven. Thank you. Thank you for helping me and my son. Thank you for giving me a fresh start and a chance to make something of myself for me, and for my son.

  When I met you, I had honestly hit rock bottom. I was at the lowest point of my life. I was perhaps a week away from becoming a prostitute. Well, I hope that will be the lowest point of my life. I sure don’t want to go through anything like that again.

  When you left the restaurant, I sat there. I was stunned or in shock, or maybe both. I held the check you left me and just looked at it. $100,000. A complete stranger left me $100,000. I never had that much money before.

  At first, I was afraid this was a twisted joke. What if the check bounced, or the account was closed? I was scared, but if it was a good check, I knew exactly what I would do with it.

  I knew I only had one chance to get it right. I only had one chance for a fresh start, and I didn’t want to mess it up.

  We needed a car to get us back to Indiana safely. I needed a house for my son and I to live, and I needed to get back in school and pay it off in advance.

  Once the check cleared, I got a car. Nothing new or fancy, but a nice, used Honda Civic. We arrived home and my parents greeted us warmly and lovingly. Now, I wonder what I was afraid of. They love my son and it’s nice that he has grandparents.

  I immediately enrolled in cosmetology school and paid off the tuition in full. It felt good. We are still living with my parents, and I banked the rest of the money. Of course, I’m helping my parents with groceries, when they let me. In the spring, I want to buy a house, but I need to find the perfect one for my son, Beau.

  Thank you. From the bottom of my heart, I thank you. I hope one day I will get a chance to see you again. I want to personally thank you for my second chance. I wrote my phone number at the bottom of this letter in case you need it.

  Anna and Beau

  I put her number in my phone and quickly send her a text.

  Abel: Thank you for the letter. This is my number if you ever need it.

  Anna: Cool, thanks. Heading into class. I need my education. Have a great day, Abel. Thanks, again.

  Today I’m starting the rehabilitation project of the old school. I’m not exactly sure what I want to do with it. It came with the small lot it was built on, but I also bought the 30-something-acre land behind the school.

  Pops and I get a large thermal jug and fill it to the brim with coffee. We also bought several dozen donuts from Darrell’s Donuts in South Zanesville. It’s not a hearty breakfast, but it is better than nothing. I figure, if I can get people to work for me, I should at least feed them until they get their first paycheck. We also fill another cooler with bottled water, pop, and Powerade. We’ve been recruiting people for the past month and to be honest, I’m not sure how many people will show up.

  “Well, look at that,” Pops says as we pull up to the school.

  I smile when I see Johnny sitting on the steps. “He showed up,” I say, proudly.

  “And he’s dressed for work,” Pops adds.

  I look around and I don’t see anyone else around. “I hope he’s not the only one working with us today.”

  “We’re early, there’ll be others.”

  Johnny stands up and walks over to the truck to greet us. “Mornin’,” he says.

  “Good morning, you ready to get started?”

  “Just waitin’ on instructions on what you want me to do.”

  “Are you too young for coffee?” I ask. Pops laughs as he sets the thermos of coffee on the tailgate of the truck.

  “No, sir. Your Daddy and I drink coffee together on the weekends.”

  I look at Pops and he just laughs. “Your Momma know you drink coffee?”

  “Yes, sir. She buys me cream and sugar for it. She’d rather me drink coffee than whiskey.”

  Pops clears his throat. I bet she would. “Please, help yourself to the coffee. We’ll start work in a few minutes.”

  After a few minutes and just before 8:00 a.m., several trucks pull up. I’m happy to see some people from the church are here to help. Savannah Mae’s dad is also here.

  I know some of the guys, but Pops introduces me to everyone by name. I give instructions on what I want to be done and everyone begins work. The guys go inside the building and Johnny and I start cutting down trees and clearing the debris from the lot. While I cut the trees down, Johnny carries the cut wood and stacks it neatly in the field.

  Johnny and I take a break and we both walk into the building. It’s the first weekend in March and it’s still cold out. Not bitter cold, but it’s still col
d enough to see your breath. I’m happy to see everyone working so hard. I didn’t mention paying anyone but Johnny, but I see these guys deserve something. I’m sure paying them under the table will be acceptable, at least for now.

  Johnny stays with me as I walk around the room. The broken windows have all been removed from the frames and carefully disposed of in the dumpsters. Some of the guys have already started removing the old light fixtures from the ceiling.

  Just before lunch, Mia and Savannah Mae pull in. I smile as soon as I see them. I always smile when I see Savannah Mae.

  “Hey, cowboy,” she greets me.

  I look down at my work boots, jeans, and Carhartt coat. I don’t seem much like a cowboy. It’s been my nickname for a few months. Oddly, I don’t think I’ve ever had a nickname before, and I hardly consider myself a cowboy.

  “I’m surprised to see you here.”

  “We brought lunch,” Mia yells from over the trunk hood.

  “You did?” I ask. “Johnny and I were just heading out to get food for everyone.”

  “Hi, Johnny,” Savannah Mae says. Johnny nods and smiles.

  “Looks like we’ll save y’all a trip,” Mia says as she opens the back door of the truck, then adds, “Don’t just stand there, help us set everything up.”

  We set up the back of the truck like a buffet with all of the food they brought and the drinks we brought. The guys are very grateful as they shuffle through the line. I eat last because I want to make sure there’s enough food, and there is. In fact, there are enough sandwiches and chips to feed everyone twice. The girls sit in the truck with the heater on, and I stand next to Savannah Mae’s window talking to them. Pops is on the other side of the truck, talking to us.