“You kept planting.”
“After changing management.”
“Why?”
“Because the moisture and temperature data still interested me.”
He turned more pages.
Year Two.
Improved performance.
Then Year Three.
Current drought.
The Older Farmer sat back.
“I thought you were stubborn.”
“I am.”
“This is different.”
“Yes.”
He looked toward the old notebook beside hers.
“Your father’s?”
She nodded.
“Can I?”
The Young Farm Woman hesitated.
Then slid it across.
The Older Farmer touched the cover carefully.
He read the first pages.
Smiled once.
Then his face changed.
There were mentions of him.
Not by name.
But obvious.
Neighbor says cover crop is foolish.
Another:
Neighbor probably right about water competition if I let it grow too long. Need earlier suppression.
The Older Farmer exhaled.
“He listened to me.”
“He listened to everybody.”
“Didn’t mean he agreed.”
The Older Farmer read another note.
Bare rows crusted after storm. Clover section took water better. Need quantify.
He stared.
“I remember that rain.”
The Young Farm Woman looked toward him.
“You remember the trial?”
“More than I told you.”
She waited.
The Older Farmer closed the notebook.
“I helped him plant it.”
The Young Farm Woman froze.
“What?”
“First day.”
“You said you laughed.”
“I did.”
“After helping?”
“Yes.”
“That makes no sense.”
He smiled sadly.
“Most people don’t.”
She stared.
The Older Farmer continued.
“Your father asked to borrow my drill.”
“I asked what for.”
“He told me.”
“I laughed.”
“But I lent it.”
“Then helped set it.”
“Afterward, every time someone teased him, I joined.”
“Why?”
The Older Farmer looked toward the window.
“Because I didn’t want them teasing me.”
The Young Farm Woman said nothing.
He continued.
“I was younger.”
“Trying to build my reputation.”
“Being associated with strange ideas was dangerous.”
“Farming communities can be generous.”
“They can also punish anyone who looks foolish.”
The Young Farm Woman looked at her father’s notebook.
“So you believed him?”
“Not exactly.”
“I thought it was worth testing.”
“That’s different.”
“Then the results got messy.”
“Some corn suffered.”
“People declared the whole thing stupid.”
“Your father got tired.”
The Older Farmer rubbed his hands.
“Your mother was already having health problems.”
“He needed predictable income.”
“He quit the trial.”
The Young Farm Woman looked toward him.
“You never told me.”
“You never asked.”
She gave him a hard look.
He nodded.
“Bad answer.”
“Very.”