The Clackamas print., May 13, 1992, Image 5

RHAPSOD Y
THE 199 2 CLACKAMAS COLLECTION
ONIONS
Second Place
Fiction
By Montford
the front seat, then he jerked a thumb toward the
rumble seat indicating Thad’s demeaned position.
Through Springfield, Thad grinned at anyone who
would lo>ok his way. Fresh, clean air whipped his
clothing and hair for the next hour as they drove
south and east on State Highway 20. An unexpected
turn off the highway and onto a farm lane jostled a
new alertness.
A tall man, wearing loose fitting blue gal-
lused overalls and a blue denim shirt stepped off the
porch and strode to the middle of the drive to con­
front the Buick as it slowed to a stop under a huge
shade oak. Looking into the open doorway he called
out, “Ona, come on out here!” The farmer had a
great mop of white hair, like a halo, all over his head.
His brown bushy eyebrows made a good sunvisor.
Wife, Ona, stood on the front porch with hands
clasped and lips moving as if saying a prayer. Mother
got out of the Buick and motioned for Thad to do the
same, with the suit case. The first twinges of fear
began with a dry mouth and little shards of pain
around an undeveloped adam’s apple.
The farmer and Mother talked. Dipping two
fingers into the bib pocket of his overalls, he wiggled
out two ten dollar bills. As Thad watched, the farmer
give the bills to Mother. Thad’s mind seemed to
explode with the realization of a cold and startling
fact, “She sold me!”
As Mother returned to the car, she patted
Thad on the cheek and murmured, “See you later.”
The ft » drove
around the shade oak,down
the dirt lane and turned right.
Thad knew they had come in
Thad's mind seemed to explode with the realiza­
from the other direction and
took two, short, hesitant steps
tion of a cold and startling fact, "She sold me!"
as if to follow. Eyes burning
with hot and salty tears, Thad
saw the farmer take one step
The day was Sunday, last Friday was the last
day of school - free for the summer. Thad had seven
cents, and if he could wheedle eight more pennies
from his mother he could see the matinee at the
Egyptian, and get a bag of popcorn, too. Beau Geuste
was playing. Had to think up a good reason for need
— couldn’t use the tablet and pencil excuse ‘cuz
school was out — gotta be smart about this one. This
was going to be a great summer, Big Eddie was going
to teach Thad the finer points of shooting pool.
Thad could hear his mother in the kitchen,
probably making mush again, but how come this
early? Couldn’t even be eight o’clock, and she came
in late last night. She planning to go to church this
morning? She did some Sunday mornings when she
came in late the Saturday night before.
“Thaddeus! Get up, let’s get started. You’ve
got a lot of things to do this morning.”
Thad’s plans crumbled and faded away with
new thoughts: “Damn, she’s on the peck this morn­
ing; I forgot to take the garbage out yesterday, and
didn’t, get home early enough to suit her for supper
last night.” Thad rolled off the cot, swung his feet
down just right to fit into his pants, sox, and tenni-
runners that had been arranged the night before for
a fireman’8 quick “pull-up” over his slept in one-
piece BVD’s. Thad found a clean pull-over shirt.
Yes, it was mush for breakfast, sister Teener
didn’t like it much either. Breakfast didn’t take
long.
Thad swallowed fast to avoid the taste of oat­
meal, then dunked the empty bowl in the dish pan.
Mother appeared in the doorway dressed in her
“new” Sunday cream colored silk day dress. Thad
was told to get the small black suitcase and pack his
two pairs of overalls (the ones with the galluses and
bib), two sets of BVDs, his two blue shirts, and three
pairs of sox that didn’t have holes it them. There was
a slow realization that these were the farm clothes
from last year. He could take his book, The Black
Rose, if he wanted to. It was about pirates and
knights and sailing ships. Thad liked the dress better
before Mother made it over; used to not have those
short sleeves. And now the three rows of long tassels
around the waist had been shortened to about three
inches. Mother, once, a long time ago, liked to call
the dress her shimmi-shirt, and she could really
make those tassels spin when dancing the Char­
leston. Mother spoke, “Thaddeus, get your bag, we
have a ride waiting for us.” Teener looked at Thad
apprehensively, then wentinto theotherroom. Thad
followed Mother from the apartment and down the
stairs to a man waiting on the sidewalk.
The Man wore a fine cotton seersucker sum­
mer suit, and a cream colored shirt with an almost
matching tie. His cream colored, wide brimmed,
straw hat with a blue band was raked slightly to the
right side of his head suggesting a cocky personality.
And then, there were the polished tan shoes with light
blue laces. When Thad was introduced to this one all
he could think of was, “La-de-damn-da”, so he didn’t
even say, “Howdo. ” “Dapper Dan’s” black and shin­
ing Buick-8 roadster, with a canvas top and a rumble
seat, was parked at the curb.
The man’s courtly bow invited mother into
and fold himself into the position of a sprinter’s
crouch. “It’s no use” muttered Thad, as he picked
up the suitcase and placed it on the porch.
“You’ll want to look the place over,” Farmer
said and began walking around the house, fully
expecting to be followed. Pointing with a wide sweep
of his arm, Farmer continued, “I drilled corn in that
back lower acre last week.” Thad aimlessly won­
dered why in hell a person would want to drill holes
in kernels of corn. “Finished harrowing and tineing
those two upper acres between us and the highway
just yesterday.” Farmer spoke, not with an air of a
slave-buyer but with quiet pride and pleasure about
growing stuff, and the privileges of being chosen to be
a farmer.
“No yard dog. Don’t need one, Old Mule
takes care of varmints or chicken thieves.” Thad was
introduced to Mule, like it was a person. All over
brown except for a grey tuft of hair on the end of the
tail, and a face graying like very old dog. Mule
moved close and began sniffing from Thad’s knees
right to his nose. With a steady stare from huge dark
brown eyes, Mule raised his upper lip to show yellow
plates of front teeth and snorted into Thad’s face.
Farmer said, “Mule’s saying ‘howdy’ to you.”
Howdy, hell. Thad could hear what that
damn beast thought, and Mule knew it too, “Another
one not worth the effort of a kick in the butt!” The
three walked back toward the house, Mule keeping
pace behind Thad to to make sure he got there.
Ona proudly showed Thad the “place of his
own” in the lean-to next to the back porch. The room
was just large enough to walk around a well used
squeek-spring cot that could be folded up. A striped
covered pillow, with browned head-shadows in the
middles of both sides, lay on the lumpy mattress.
There were no sheets, only a washable feather-tick
blanket. Everything smelled of Pinesol. Borax had
been sprinkled on the floor along the walls to dis­
courage crawly things. Next to the cot, centered on
an up-ended and divided orange crate was a spar­
kling clean, clear glass, coal-oil lamp and a box of
lucifers. At the foot of the cot, three large new nails
had been driven into the wall to hang clothes on.
Below, on the floor, sat the suitcase and a pair of
near-new lace up ankle-high leather boots.
Sitting on the back porch, waiting for sup­
per, Farmer began to give clues for Thad’s hiring-
on. “Grew my own onion sets from seed of last year’s
crop. Call ‘em Bermuda Sweets ‘cuz the ‘rigionals
come from the Bermuda Islands, and you can eat ‘em
like an apple. Did the starts in a lot of flat boxes filled
with cow manure inside that long shed with the win­
dow-glass roof built onto the side of the barn. Started
‘em last March and now the’re four inches of greened
up shoots from the bulb. Tomorrow morning I’ll
show you how to plant.”
Supper at sun-down and breakfast at sun-up
was eaten at the oil-cloth covered kitchen table. A
guy could near starve during the long blessings that
came before each meal. Ona didn’t say the Thee’s
and Thou’s like grandma in Oregon said; instead,
she thanked the spirits of the corn and other growing
things. Sneaking a peek, Thad thought Farmer might
be catching a little nap until the Aaamen. There was
a hand pump at the sink. Thad wondered if the well
had been dug first, and then the house built over it.
The privy was out past the back porch lean-to,
almost to the barn.
Thad drifted off to sleep won dering if Teener
was going to spend the night, or longer, alone, too. At
sunup, Mule made soft ruffled throat-noises outside
Farmer’s bedroom window, then did the same beside
the lean-to. Ona served a real working man’s break­
fast. No mush.
Each morning Mule dragged a stone-boat to
the acre next to the lane, loaded with eight flats of
onion starts and sixteen five gallon cans of water.
The harrowed earth was flat with straight lines of
ditches three inches deep, three inches wide, and two
feet between. Each ditch stretched out toward the
highway for 190 feet, and each flat contained at least
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