In the wake of her father's death, Spencer Edwards' mother packs up their lives from Oxford, England, and moves them to the middle-of-nowhere Texas. With an agitation for agriculture, and a distaste for anything farming, the small town of Cherry Spr...
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Chemistry between people is the strangest science of all. - Bridgett Devoue
Chapter Song - Something Real by Dierks Bentley
"I think we'll just re-do the entire fence line, it got hit heavy last cold season and it'd be better just to replace it now." Dad explains as we eat breakfast, the early rays of the sun rising from the distance.
The sky still remains dark, with a litter of late sleeper stars still flickering in the sky as the moon has tucked itself away at the hot presence of it's lover; the sun.
We're the only two awake in the house, getting some fuel in before heading out to fix some old fencing. I'm surprised we hadn't fixed it earlier on, but it gets busy on a farm, especially as I'm not here everyday to help my dad out.
My sisters would help if they could physically get out of bed early, but trying to do that is a dangerous, dangerous sport to play. And mum just hates it, she says she'll take care of everything in the house, but the farm is our job.
Fair enough, though.
"We building them a little higher for pests?" I ask him as I shovel a spoonful of cereal into my mouth.
"Yeah, we'll wire them a bit higher." He nods, and we eat in silence until we're both done. He rinses out our bowls and I grab our hats from the kitchen hook, before we head into the early cool dewiness.
Even though getting up at the crack of dawn some days is a pain, and I would love to sleep in - some days especially when my muscles are sore from a competition - there's work to be done, and I don't like the thought of dad handling it all alone.
He's perfectly capable, more than I am, but I feel fucking guilty. When he retires, I'll take over the farm for him, which I have neutral feelings about. I don't hate it, I'll be fine with it, happy to live here for the rest of my years.
But I'm not overly excited for it either. I don't get a jet stream of pride at the thought of taking it over. Is that a good or bad thing? Is that how I'm suppose to feel, or have I been lying to myself?
Since when did I start questioning all of this?
"You right there, Mav'?" Dad asks, hopping off the UTV.
"Yeah," I shake the questions out, hopping off, with my boots landing in the field. "Where do you want to start?"
He scans the mildly long fence, it isn't too bad compared to the length of some of our others, but we'll be out here until lunch at least. "We'll just go from one end to the other. Start with taking out all the wire, then take the old poles out. Replace them with the new poles, then wire it all together after." He explains.
And with a sharp nod from me, we get started. Dragging out the old wire for a couple poles down, dad starts on the first pole while I coil it up and out of the way until we reach the next portion of the fencing.
