Short Stories to Pass the Time

The Scarecrow

"Daddy, can we use these?" The boy held up an old grey suit that had belonged to his grandfather.
"Sure", his father replied. He came up beside his son and looked at the old suit. It was a little moth eaten, but for what they were going to use it for, it was perfect. "I think grandpa would love that we were putting it to use".
The boys grandfather had passed away two years before and he had only vague memories of him. Like riding piggyback thru the rows of corn on his back.
They took the clothes downstairs from the attic and out to the edge of the corn field, which was only 50 feet away from the house. The dad had already set up the wooden stand and had a big pile of straw ready to go.
"Let's get to it", he said to his son. With that they started stuffing the straw into the clothes to make the scarecrow.
When they had finished, they stood back and looked up at the scarecrow. "What do you think?", the father asked.
"I think we did a good job dad". The boy had a satisfied look on his face as he said this. "Can I call him grandpa?"
"I don't think grandpa would mind that at all. Now let's get cleaned up and make something for dinner. Race you!" They started running toward the house, the boy in the lead. When the boy ran up to the porch he stopped and turned and said "goodnight grandpa", before going inside.
They ate dinner and watched some TV before going to bed. The dad tucked his son in and kissed him goodnight. That night the boy dreamt of his grandfather. But his grandfather looked just like the scarecrow.
     In the morning the dad woke up got dressed and went to check on his son.  He opened the bedroom door and saw that his son wasn't in his bed.  "Not unusual", he thought.  "Probably downstairs watching Saturday morning cartoons."
     He went downstairs and noticed that he didn't hear the TV.   He looked and saw that it was off and his son was nowhere around.  He started to get worried.  He was about to call out for his son when he heard him laugh.  It came from outside.
     He went out on the front porch and saw his son standing in front of the scarecrow and talking to it.  It looked like he was excitedly describing something because he was moving around and waving his arms. 
     "Did you feed the chickens, boy?" 
     His son stopped.  "Not yet daddy."
     "Well, get to it.  When you're done breakfast will be ready", his dad said.
     "Ok".  The boy told the scarecrow he'd be back and went running off toward the chicken coop.  He took his job of feeding the chickens very seriously and he thought that he was the best darn chicken feeder there ever was.
     His dad went inside to make breakfast.
After they ate the boy went running outside to play. The dad cleaned up and went to sit out on the front porch to watch his son. As he walked out the door he saw his son over by the scarecrow. His heart leapt to his chest. He thought he saw the scarecrow reaching down towards his son. He blinked his eyes hard and looked again. The scarecrow was in its normal position and his son was playing normally next to it. "I'm just tired", he thought.
He hadn't been sleeping well the past couple of weeks. There was a drought going on and his crops weren't doing very well. He was worried about being able to make the mortgage payment.
His son waved to him and he waved back as he sat down on the porch. He drifted off to sleep and dreamed of his father... and the scarecrow.
     A few months passed and it was pretty much the same every day.  The boy was always up before his dad.  He would feed the chickens and then go play with his grandpa (that's what he called the scarecrow).  He always knew when his dad came out to call him for breakfast because his grandpa would stop moving.  They would eat and then he would go back and play some more.  His dad used to go and work the fields but with the drought happening, nothing was growing.
     Then the boy started having to go to school.  At first he didn't want to go because then he wasn't able to play with his grandpa as much.  But, every morning he would say bye to both his dad and his grandpa and get on the bus.  As soon as he got home he would give his dad a big hug and then rush out to tell his grandpa all about his day and what he had learned.  The boy would stay out there until he was called for dinner.  Then he would say goodnight and run into the house. 
     His dad noticed his son spending most of his time playing next to the scarecrow.  If he hadn't been so worried about losing the farm he might have paid more attention.