Where the Wheat Grows High {ON HOLD}

Chapter One

  With the call of a rooster in the morning, I wake and stretch my arms and legs with a yawn. Ya, I'm a morning person. But that's only because I live on a beautiful farm in Oklahoma. As soon as I wake though, my big puppy Dot runs into my brightly lit room, the sunrise gently greeting me and him with the soft rays of sunlight.

  "Hi, bumpkin'!"

 I happily ruffle my beautiful blonde lab's ears as my heavy country twang sounds in my cheerful voice. He happily woofs in his lighthearted reply while he wags his tail, making his whole body move from side to side. I jump off my bed and my feet hit the shiny, wooden tiles, warm from the sun and quickly throw off my thin nightgown, throw on my comfy blue jean shorts with a lose green and white light flannel that compliments my hazel eyes, and run out of my door, down the flight of stairs to greet my mama with the same traits. Her blonde hair shines and her gentle, hazel orbs glimmer as she smiles her morning to me.

 "Good mornin' mama!" I chirp happily after a good nights sleep.

 "Mornin', sunshine," she replies in her familiar accent. She's not being as chipper and she has small bags under her eyes. She continues to scramble fresh eggs and make bacon, looking down at what she's doing as I look at her with a sigh.

 "What's wrong?" It must be the farm. Without help from anyone, we're bound to go broke. Sales are going down from the lack of crops that have been harvested and the little help we had. Evenif we worked all day and all night, we wouldn't be able to get it done. The once-thriving farm is turning into an abandoned one.

 "Nothin, hon'."

 "I know what the problems are, mama. We're losing money, aren't we?"

 She looks at me with a concerned look on her face, an obvious answer. "Yeah."

 I thought for a minute. Some people are desperate for money, no matter how little, as long as it's legal currency.

 "I could go to the farmers market and go look at the ads!"

 She looks at me, pondering thoughts showing in her expression as her smile slowly glimmered with hope once again.

 "Nice thinkin' sweetheart! There's bound to be some desperate ones out there," she high-fived me and smiled her praise. Eggs, bacon and a buiscuit were placed on my plate and handed to me. "Thanks, mama."

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 Later I went to the farmers market and went to the big board with ads on it.

 "Help Wanted: Experienced  Salesman"

 "Lost Cat- Answers to Lika, black and white, really sweet, female. Call number below:"

  Discouraged and about to leave after searching the board, In the corner of my eye, an ad with the word "cheap" in the middle of other words. Instintaniously, my hand snatches it off the board and I brought it up to my view, even with very little chance of it having anything to do with the help me and mama need.

 "I will work for cheap because of the desperate need for money. Every penny counts. For only a few dollars an hour, I will do any work or chores that need to be done. Call the number below to contact me. Once you do, just tell me where to go."

 I punched in the number on my phone and brought it up to my ear. It rings two times, then a man answers on the other line.

"Hello?" His voice is young, but deep enough for an older teenager or young adult, probably only a few years older than me.

"W- well my name's Merigold and I called 'bout the job," I stuttered, surprised from the way his voice sounded, and even the fact that he picked up.

 "Thanks for calling. My name's Caleb. As you've probably read, I need money, and fast." I look on the date on the paper, seeing it was put up only yesterday.

 "Yeah. Well, my mama and I need help on the farm. And fast," I replied.

 He chuckled and went on. "Where do I go?"

 "Umm..." Realising I don't know my address, I said what my daddy used to tell me to go when I was finding my way home, the first time I went out by myself.

 "Well, where the wheat grows high."

 "I'll get ready and come before the sun sets."

 "Alrighty, see you."

 He hangs up and then a though hit me.

 Get ready?

  I look back at the paper.

 I guess I haven't read it all.

 Slightly confused, I read on, and nearing the end, it said all I needed to know for my understanding.

"live-in".