My Uncle's Farm

Chapter 1

I stand by the caskets, tears in a never ending torrent down my face. "Goodbye mama and daddy. I love you guys so much." I shakily sit back down as the man at the front starts talking. I never expected to be an orphan at fifteen. I'm all alone now. I wrap my arms around myself, sobbing. A man I don't know sits beside me and hugs me. "Who-" "I'm your dad's brother. My name is David." He says. My eyes go wide. "I have an uncle? Daddy never told me he had a brother." I gasp surprised. "Yeah we had a bit of a falling out. This is the first time I've seen him in 20 years. Wow. "You're not alone. You're gonna come stay with me and your aunt and cousins." "Wow I have cousins." He smiles and nods. "Michelle is my wife and your cousins Jared and Marie." "Thanks." I whisper, eyeing the caskets and busting into tears again. He holds me tight as I sob.

*later*

Jason's pov

I wipe the sweat off my forehead as the family I work for gets back from a funeral. Don't know who's. I'm the farmhand. "If you don't mind, can I just explore?" Wait, that's a new voice! I spin around, squinting to make anything out from this distance. "Anything you want hun. It's gonna get better." I wonder who she is.

Miranda's pov

I like that I have an aunt and uncle and cousins to live with so I don't have to move into a girls' home or something. I was walking along when I saw a boy standing by the barn, staring at me. I stop in my tracks. Why is he staring at me like that? "Hey you must be my cousin Jared, right?" I call. He laughs and shakes his head. Then who is he? "Name's Jason. I'm the farmhand ma'am." He walks over, holding out a hand. I shake his hand. "Miranda." I say. "I'm sorry for your loss." "Thanks. Uh they were my parents. I never even knew I had an aunt and uncle." I sit down on a log. "Well, I just gotta say, you'll enjoy it here. I can definitely promise you that. They treat everyone like family, including me." I look up at the young cowboy. "Where do you live?" "Just a little ways down the road. Well I gotta get back to work. See ya around." I smile and wave and continue my exploration.

Jason's pov

I finish my work for the day and was about to leave when David stopped me. "What's up sir?" "I see that you met our newest family member." He says. I nod. "Poor kid at the funeral, she was mumbling to herself she was all alone." He says. Man, it must suck to lose both parents in one day. Then again I've technically been in that situation. I never even knew my dad and my mom is always gone gambling and drinking. I sigh and head back home and lay in the grass in the front yard. My mind wandering to that new little girl.

Miranda's pov

I finally met my aunt and cousins. My cousin Marie is ten and Jared is thirteen. I lay on my bed, thoughts drifting to Jason, the young farmhand. I wonder what he's doing now. I hear a knock on my door. I glance over, seeing Jared. He has a sad smile on as he walks in. "Hey." I say, looking out the window. "Hey." He mumbles. "You know if you ever wanna talk, I'm here for you." I smile and sit up. "Thanks Jared." "I'm just across the hall." I nod and watch the sunset. "It's beautiful here." I whisper. "Lived here all my life." He says.

*the next day*

I watch the farmhand cutting grass with a bandanna covering his mouth. He's sweating like crazy. I wonder how much he gets paid cause he looks exhausted. I get a glass of sweet tea and walk out. When he sees me coming, he stops the mower and wipes the sweat off his forehead with the bandanna. I hand him the sweet tea. "You must be exhausted." I gasp. He shrugs. "A farmhand's work is never done." Man, he's got a lot of grass to cut. "I don't thing David will mind if you take a break. I don't want you to kill over dead." "I'm fine. This is easy work darlin'. It's when we get to the harsh beating summer that wears me out." It's only spring. "Ok see ya around." I say, waving. I walk into the barn and sit down on the swing in there.

Jason's pov

I hear her singing in the barn. I stop the mower to listen. "Roll on highway, roll on along, roll on daddy til ya get back home. Roll on family roll on crew, roll on mama like I asked ya to do. Roll on 18 wheeler roll on!" Man, she's probably thinking about her parents. It sucks they both died. I walk into the barn where she's crying, her back to me. I get my guitar that I leave here.

Miranda's pov

"When you see a deer, you see Bambi and I see antlers up on the wall, when you see a lake you think picnics and I see a large mouth up under that log, now you're probably thinkin' that you're gonna change me and in some ways well maybe you might, scrub me down dress me up aw but no matter what. Remember I'm still a guy." I turn around confused. Jason plays guitar and sings the song. "You wrote that yourself?" I ask. He smiles. "My friend did." "If ya don't mind me askin' how'd your parents pass away?" "Car accident. On the way home from the grocery store." I mumble looking at my shoes. "When you see a priceless French painting I see a drunk naked girl, and you think that ridin' a wild bull sounds crazy but I'd like to give it a whirl." He continues the song walking over to me. "And I'll pour out my heart hold your hand in the car, write a love song that makes ya cry, then turn right around knock some jerk to the ground cause he copped a feel as you walked by!" That line makes me laugh. I haven't laughed since before my parents died.