Tom was nervous. This was his first job after all. Oscar’s farm was right down the road and helping him take care of the cows and mend fences didn’t seem too bad but he just didn’t know what to expect. Tom loved the farm and after his family lost their land and animals and had an auction, it just didn’t feel the same at home. So, this was a way for him to stay connected and maybe make a few bucks too. Tom was a little scared of Oscar. Not scared for his life scared but just the way you’d be scared of a stray animal or of flying for the first time. He’d seen him around, at church and at the cafe in town, and he was always grumpy. He also walked with a limp, maybe he always had it or maybe he just wasn’t as spry as he used to be.

Tom’s dad dropped him off right after lunch because Oscar had a few hours of work to do but as he put it, he “didn’t want to feed the boy.” Oscar met them in the driveway when they pulled in and Tom’s dad motioned for him to hop out of the truck and then he backed out and drove off. I guess this is it, thought Tom to himself. His thoughts were interrupted by Oscar’s gruff voice, “Did you bring some gloves? We’re working with barbed wire and it will tear up your hands.” Of course Tom had not brought gloves. Oscar just looked at him disappointedly and shook his head. He walked towards the barn and before Tom knew it, a pair of gloves came flying at him. They were about 8 sizes too big but he put them on anyway.

They walked out to the pasture right past the cows. Tom had been around cows before but never up this close. As if he wasn’t nervous enough about today. He didn’t think that cows ate humans but they were certainly big enough to squish him like a bug. They didn’t, they just moved out of the way as he and Oscar walked by – maybe they were scared of him too.

After tugging on wire and holding it so Oscar could pound new staples into old wooden posts for what seemed like a hundred years. Oscar broke the silence and said, “Are you thirsty? It’s hotter than hell out here.” Tom answered “yea” skittishly. Oscar dropped his tools and started walking towards the barn. In Tom’s mind, he thought they would head inside for some lemonade and cookies. No luck. They stopped at the huge stock tank that the cows drank out of. It looked bad. It had some stuff floating on the top of the water, it was green and really disgusting. That didn’t stop Oscar, he reached for a big metal ladle that was hanging from a nearby post, dipped it into the water, brought it to his lips and took a big sip. Tom thought he would pass out and then Oscar would die. He didn’t take a drink from the tank that day or any other day that summer – he brought a water jug instead. Oscar didn’t die any time soon; in fact he lived to be 102. Maybe just like Carrie Underwood sings, “there must’ve been something in the water.”