The Youngest One

The Youngest One

There were only three days in the year when work was so intense that lunch was brought out to the field and no one went into the house all day. At first it was very difficult to think work was so important that there was no way to go into the house and once the youngest one cried all day until he got a headache but he kept on crying saying it was like being in a prison yard. Tom said that it was like a girl to cry so long but the youngest one knew it was far too late for him to be a girl. There was no mistake he was no girl.

They rested after lunch and they talked about Broadway and popular songs. If someone recorded a popular song which was from some Broadway show, that didn't mean that singer was in the show. Rosemary Clooney was never in "Cabin in the Sky." The second day isn't like the first day. For one thing, everyone knows that the following day is the last day and hopes that perhaps they will get finished early. The youngest one knows that if they do get finished early it will be too late for them to do something else and the rest of the day will be free and he will be able to go in and out of the house a lot of times. Maybe it's warm enough to leave the door open and walk in and out without even shutting the door. There aren't any flies yet.

The mornings are cold and some wear gloves. The ground is damp with frost on one side of the biggest clumps. This kind of work involves kneeling and sitting directly on the ground and everyone is stiff and quiet as the work begins. The sun will take care of all moods when it gets high enough in the sky. By ten o'clock everything will be alright. All of them will have forgotten about thinking about the rest of the day because by ten o'clock they are in their day.

The sky is big and by now the work has gone so far into the field no one can see the house anymore. The youngest one thinks he can hear the radio from the house when everyone is quiet, but he knows not to say so out loud because no one would agree. The youngest one has melodies inside his head all the time anyway, but he's sure he can hear a singing radio voice once in a while and on the radio it surely is time for Morton Downey.

Somehow, when resting between wagon loads everyone wants to talk about things that are not important to the work. The father says that he thinks Kim Novak is our next Bette Davis. The youngest one thinks he sees a dirigible. He lies on his back in a furrow and keeps looking at the sky. He thinks one day he will be old enough to see a repetition of the clouds. He knows there are just so many cloud formations. Even if there are millions they are not consecutive.

This is the day the youngest one gets run over by the wagon. Thank goodness the earth is all fresh plowed and soft. The wagon ran over his shoulder on to under his arm. You aren't supposed to be so close to the wagon, especially working between the front and back wheels, especially with mules as a team because they start whenever they choose. Horses stay better. The youngest one had a moment's thought that maybe he would be sent back to the house, but now that everyone looks at him so seriously he doesn't want to do that. He doesn't like being out and unable to go into the house all day but now that it's the second day and now that everyone is so concerned he'd rather stay and continue working. The shoulder hurts, there is a big red scrape, but it's not serious. The youngest one finds it more interesting now that he has become more important, more noticed. Tom said he didn't know why the youngest one isn't crying now that he has a reason. Tom isn't a person to know that one only cries when there is no reason.

When it began to turn dark working in the field stopped and the milking was to be done and still no one went into the house. The women were there, but there was no time nor reason for the men to go inside and they had been out since six o'clock in the morning. Some of the cows had movie-star names. One was called Lana. She looked like Lana Turner and everyone called her Lana but they couldn't accept Paulette. They just wouldn't call her Paulette or Paulette Goddard. Tom said the only reason anyone called Lana Turner Lana Turner was because Lana spelled backwards is Anal.

When we did get to the house nothing had changed, but the back porch had been swept and everything was very clean. Even the towels were fresh and clean and the water bucket had been filled and there was a good smell. In the kitchen on the supper table there was a pitcher of fresh cut lilacs. We ate milk gravy, fried ham and fried potatoes with bought bread. Nobody talks much but they remember the day's work and how when it gets going nobody thinks about working one hour after the other because it just gets inside and so far away at times that the hours or minutes are no longer thought about.

It is different from winter when anyone can go in and out of the house at any time. Even the neighbors walk into the kitchen during winter with all their winter work clothes on.