Her look of disgust was eloquent.
“So what do you think of New York so far?”
She scowled. “Not much. You don’t use what you’ve got. God gave us the land to grow something. To give life.” She took up her cup of soda and emptied it in a single long draught. “You folks don’t seem to realize that. Unless your neighbors are different from...what I’ve seen so far.”
“Religious?”
“Catholic.”
“Me too.” He hesitated. “Can I have a shot at changing your opinion of us?”
Her weighing, measuring stare returned at full force.
“What do you have in mind?”
He rose. “Come with me.”
* * *
Kate ran a hand caressingly along the tractor’s steel flank.
“This is a forty-seven Springfield. They don’t make ’em like this any more. All plastic and sheet metal nowadays.”
Allan nodded. “Think you can get it running?”
She chuckled. “Oh, I’ll get her running, all right. She’s a classic. Pure power, just waiting for the starting gun. When I’m finished with her, she’ll be able to pull your house off its foundation.” Her face clouded; she halted and swiveled to face him. “For what?”
“You want to grow things?”
“Yeah, but—”
“Do it here.”
She gaped at him.
“I don’t use the land. Why shouldn’t you?” He waved at the array of machines and tools, idle since he’d taken possession. “Stay here and work it. You’re welcome to do what you like with it. And keep the proceeds, of course.”
She gazed doubtfully at the tractor, plainly uncertain what she’d really been invited to do.
“Stay where?”
“I have a spare bedroom.”
Her eyes rose to his, challenging. “Is there lock on the door?”
“There is. You won’t be disturbed, I promise.”
“Lend me a few bucks for seed and fuel and stuff?”
He nodded. “Not a problem.”
“Corn?”
“Whatever you want.”
She pondered in silence for a long moment.
“Okay.”
* * *
Allan was overwhelmed by the fury of Kate’s attack on his offer. She rose at five the following morning, was showered and dressed by five-twenty, and out in the barn immediately thereafter without even a cup of coffee. The constant clanking, scraping of tools against parts, and occasional heartfelt profanity kept him aware of her labors throughout the morning. It took all his resolve to keep him inside so she could work in privacy. He peered out the kitchen window at the open barn doors more often than he’d care to admit.
Just before noon, there came a brief, rapid whirring, followed by the roaring of a powerful engine awakening from slumber. Moments later, the tractor rolled out of the barn, with Kate grinning triumphantly from the driver’s seat, and arrowed up the gentle grade toward his house.
Allan closed the back door behind him and stood on the landing as Kate halted the old monster a mere yard from his steps and killed the engine. Her smile was impossibly wide.
“Told you!”
He nodded. “Indeed you did. Get on in here.”
She frowned, but followed him inside. He gestured her to sit at the kitchen table, then laid a legal pad and a ball-point pen before her.
“Make a list of what you need.”
“Huh? I was going to—”
“No doubt you were. But it’s a fair drive to the best clump of suppliers, so I want to be sure we don’t forget anything.” He cocked an eyebrow. “You didn’t think you were going to carry a few hundred pounds of seed, fertilizer, and fuel back here, did you?”
“Well, no. But I was going to hitch Nellie up to the disc harrow and—”
“Nellie?”
“The Springfield. That’s her name.” She grinned. “All these years and you didn’t know?”
He groaned. “Okay, so I’m insufficiently inquisitive about my machines’ monikers.”
“Hey! Shorter words, please. I’m only a farm girl.”
He fixed her with a no-nonsense stare.
“You’re a farm woman.”
She opened her mouth, closed it, and nodded. “Okay, whatever.”
“So make that list. I’ll fix us some lunch.”
“Okay.”
* * *
For the next three days, Kate didn’t let up. She put twelve to fourteen hours into the little farm each day: first tending the machines, then clearing away the debris of earlier years, then tilling the soil and readying it to receive seed. She paused only for meals, and at the end of the day to shower and retire to her room. Yet the grinding effort seemed to agree with her; she never complained, and she looked stronger and more assured with each day’s work.