A boy child wandered through the tall grasses and fruit trees and wondered with amazement. He feels and sees the dew damp leggings, clinging and cool and the gentle breeze wafting through his unkempt hair and across his brow.

He lifts his face, blinks at the brightness, covers his eyes with a hand and watches the birds and the fluffy white clouds chase each other across the quiet blue.

His reverie interrupted by the slamming of a screen door; a sound he knows that hurries him to the fat Jersey cow staked out to pasture.

His cheek pressed against the warm flank as the beast chews, the warmth of teats in his hand, the sound of firm streams of milk pounding into the stainless steel pail; he thinks yet again of the chores that remain and watches the yellow barn cat that can catch a stream of squirted milk across the straw laden floor.

Carefully the near full white frothed pail to the back screen door recently announced and upon the counter by the hand water pump. Milk strained through cheesecloth carefully poured into the glass gallon jugs boiled the night before and carefully again into the ice box.

A quick check of the wood cook stove he started before the sun was full up and the pot bellied, chimneyed one in the living room that warmed the dwelling. A quick cold hard home-baked biscuit from the night before and out the door, carefully handing the screen quietly.

The wagging dog and a licked hand, a gathered flock, impatient as the Rooster challenges and the hens and chicks complain. Eggs gathered and set aside, fed and watered; he latched the hen house door and spoke name by name to the rabbits he would have to soon kill and skin and freeze.

A motherly smile and loving fingers taming impudent locks and breakfast as the dining room filled and children laughed.

He smelled like the cow all day in school. Only the city kids sneered; the farm girls smiled and giggled at his ragged jeans.

At seventeen the boy went away on a huge grey Naval vessel. He served with honor but knew there was more and went off to seek.

He wandered and saw some of the wonders of the world and loved and lost and cried and felt fear on dark nights on the Kansas plains when not a car saw his thumb all night.

He saw enough and knew there was more…

The boy child wandered through the tall grasses…carefree, barefoot in ragged jeans; glanced over his shoulder and did a running summersault on the gentle earth. He laughed out loud and threw a small stone, accurately against the bark of a Cherry tree. He turned and gave a thumbs up and a huge smile to the world at large.

A man with a woman by his side, arms around, watched with pride as the boy ran and jumped and explored his new found world.

They smiled.