A Mother's Day gift (sort of)

This store was the last stop of the day.
Ashley jumped down from the pickup, landing on the cement with a click of boot heels. She slammed the pickup door shut. It was humid and hot outside. If her hair hadn't been in a ponytail it would have been a floofy mess. There were thunderheads massing in the west. No wonder it was humid out.
She turned and followed Dad into the store. Being around so many people always made her nervous but at least going to town with Dad was more of an adventure than with Mom. Her mother made her talk to people and tried to get Ashley to talk back. Dad just joked and didn't usually expect a reply. Ashley enjoyed that.
Dad got a shopping cart. He usually bought more stuff than he needed. Mom called it junk. Dad called it necessary. Ashley just carried things.
"Suppose they still have chickens?" Dad leaned over and whispered at Ashley. Well, it wasn't really a whisper but he didn't say the words out loud either. Neither of them said the words out loud. It had been at least five years since they'd gotten any chickens at their house.
The discussion had been raging for years between Ashley, Mom and Dad.
Ashley wanted a bunch of hens so she could get eggs.
Mom liked the idea but insisted they build a chicken coop first.
Dad just bought things.
She shrugged at Dad's question but smiled when she saw the glint in his eyes and the little grin he wore. The grin made the scar on his upper lip stand out. Her older sister said that some people thought her dad was intimidating; Ashley didn't think so.
They started to make their way around the store. Dad hefted a bag of horse feed into the cart. Ashley set a new brush for her goats on top. They picked out a couple bags of bolts and Dad looked at the stores selection of gloves.
Then they hit the tanks.
Desperate cheeping and peeping echoed out of the oblong metal tanks. Four little tanks were set in a neat row, topped with a heat lamp. Two men were standing nearby talking. One was wearing the green vest that showed he was an employee of the store.
When the employee saw Ashley and Dad he straightened up.
"Well, hello! Looking to purchase some chickens? These feller's here are only a quarter a piece." He smiled at them and Ashley thought he looked a little sinister. Everybody who made a living selling stuff looked a little suspect to her.
Dad was grinning now. He clapped Ashley on the shoulder. She started to smile a little too but crossed her arms and didn't let the smile get to big.
"We weren't planning on it but that's quite a deal."
Both of the men were nodding now. Ashley felt butterflies come up in her stomach. Goats, a dog, and now it looked like she might get chickens after all. She didn't let it show though. Better to remain impassive; when you get too excited about things, she reasoned, you always got disappointed.
"Are they laying hens?" There it was. The question that the purchase hinged on. Ashley felt nervous.
The employee shook his head.
"Nah, they're roasting roosters." The men laughed at the joke.
Well, there goes that plan Ashley thought. Dad looked over at her again and stuck his hands in his pocket.
"What do you think Mom would say if we brought her some chickens for Mother's day?"
Ashley had forgotten that Mother's day was tomorrow. It was an extremely convenient excuse. She felt a little bubble of laughter come bubbling up. Ashley just shrugged but her smile got a little bit bigger. It was silly but she liked plotting with her Dad.
"There's twenty of them here. Just a quarter a piece."
Dad looked at Ashley again.

And this is how the story ends: dinner

"We'd have to butcher them in a couple of months."
Ashley peered into the tank. They were older chicks so they weren't as cute as the little fuzzy ones. It was much easier to consider butchering them when they looked so gangly.
"Okay." It was just one word but that was all it took to put Dad into motion.
"We'll take 'em!"
The employee grinned and went to get a box. Ashley found she couldn't stop smiling. Mom was going to get the best Mother's day present ever. And Ashley was going to have fun this summer.
When Mom saw what was in her Mother's day present she vowed to never let Ashley and Dad go to town alone again. They just grinned and set about building a suitable shelter.

Youngest sibling syndrome

It was hot.
Too hot to be outside but she was out there anyway. Both her sisters were in the hayfield so Sam just sat on the step, her head in her hands.
Hot and boring.
At least at camp last week she'd had lots of other little friends to play games with. Now there was no one to play anything with. Mom was busy working in her workshop. Dad was out with the sisters. Even the dog was boring; he just laid in the shade of the doghouse his pink tongue lolling in the June heat.
Maybe they could fill the pool.
The idea gave Sam hope. She jumped up and ran into the garage where Mom was working. The saw was running, the buzzing blade filling the shop with so much noise that she slowed down and put her hands over her ears to block it out. Mom was deaf to anything else so Sam just stood and watched.
When the saw stopped, Mom smiled at her. "What's up buckwheat?"
Sam took two giants steps closer trying to think of a good argument for mom to go get the pool. Absentmindedly she stood on one leg and scratched a bug bite with her toe, the pose reminiscent of a crane standing in water. Bubbles the cat, scratched herself on Sam's leg while she was standing still. The cat meowed piteously.
It gave Sam an idea.
"Never mind!" She turned and scooped up the cat, grinning brightly. There was always something to do even on a hot Nebraska afternoon. Sam tromped out the door back into the sunshine.
Her captive struggled as they went from the cool shade of the garage into the muggy sunshine. Sam held on.
"We're gonna play hide-and-go-seek Bubbles." She set the cat down on the cement but kept petting her to keep Bubbles content. The dog raised its head watching the pair. "Now, I'll count and you go hide." This was the best idea Sam had had all afternoon.
She covered her eyes with her arm and began to count. "1, 2, 3, 4, 5..." All the way to fifty. "Ready or not, here I come!" With a flourish she opened her eyes. Bubbles the cat, looked up at her from her spot on the cement and meowed.
"No Bubbles!" Sam stamped her foot and growled. "Ugh you're supposed to go hide." She sighed. "Fine, you count and I'll hide." Scooping up the cat she marched over and deposited her on the step. "Count to fifty Bubbles." Then Sam ran away to find a hiding place.
Luckily, Dad's pickup was parked outside of the garage. She jumped in the back and waited. And waited, and waited and waited. Sam began to wonder if Bubbles had forgotten about her.
She poked her head up and looked around. Bubbles wasn't on the step anymore. "Where's--" But before she could finish the question the cat jumped up on the edge of the pickup meowing at Sam. "You found me Bubbles!" Sam crawled down and covered her eyes. "Now you hide."
As she counted, Sam wondered if the goats would be better hide-and-go-seek players. Maybe that was what she would try next. She reached fifty and opened her eyes. Bubbles was strolling lazily toward the cat house not even trying to hide herself. Sam sighed, got her boots and went down to see if the goats would be better at games.
There was a chance she could teach them to play Tag. "Come on Bear!" The dog jumped up from his shady spot to race after the little girl. Even if the cats or goats couldn't play games like her friends at camp, Sam knew one game they were good at: Pretend. And in the end, that was the best game of all.
"Bear, quick! Get in the ship, this ocean is full of snakes!" She jumped in the rickety old wagon and it became a great pirate ship the rolling hills of grass and sand becoming the ocean she had never seen. The dog followed her, Sam's faithful second-in-command. "Let's go find buried treasure." Bear barked once in agreement his pink tongue lolling in the hot June sun.
It was still hot as the sun began to sink in the west but the day was no longer boring.

The everyday adventure begins

One interstate runs through the bottom third of the state of Nebraska. It links Omaha, Lincoln, Grand Island, Kearney, and North Platte as well as dozens of smaller towns along the way. For most people, this is the only glimpse of Nebraska life they'll ever see: the miles and miles of unbroken pavement that zips by at 75 mph.
But if you ever want an adventure, exit at Grand Island, drive north for three hours, watch the landscape shift from farmland and little towns to prairie where you can see for miles. Take a left then a right and before you know it you'll end up in the heart of the heartland. This is the place where one-room schoolhouses still exist and the closest neighbors are five miles away (as the crow flies). This is the place where fields of sunflowers grow wild, cattle outnumber people 5 to 1, meadowlarks and coyotes sing side-by-side, and change comes slowly but life is an everyday type of adventure.
That is home.
I'm the fifth or sixth generation to live on the same plot of ground that was homesteaded all those glorious years ago. And even though the years have passed, not much has changed. Winter is full of chores, hardship, and snow. Summer is full of freedom, dust, sweat, and sunsets that tug at a persons heart and make you wonder how God could ever paint anything so beautiful. Fall is full of apples right off the tree, garden harvesting, and one lazy afternoon watching the Huskers play football before going back to work. Spring is full of hope, rain, and tender green grass that just begs for a nap in the shade of a tree with the river singing in the background. But while the basic template of rural Nebraska life has remained the same, everyday is a different adventure just waiting to happen.
With my cast of characters who are more apt to improvise their lines than stick to the corporate script and a pristine wild setting I want to leave the city lights behind. I want to show you what Nebraska is really all about: diligence, perseverance, patience, joy, dirt, sweat, grass, fresh air, neighbors, cattle, and freedom.
This, finding the everyday adventure, is Nebraska.