Gram's golds

The old ford ranger pickup rattled down the dirt road , they had left highway 80 several hours ago headed north into the no-mans land of north west Nebraska .

Mike and Roxy , had been switching off driving , each taking the wheel for three to four hours at a stretch , for a little more than two days .

They had stopped for the night in Omaha , but had been driving non stop , except to gas up and use " facilities " since .

Roxy had a mission .

She was going to her grandmothers farm , to get some of her marigolds .

Her grammas special marigolds .

Roxy had grown up on her grandparents farm in north western Nebraska and when Roxy was a child she and her grand ma had cared for a particular patch of marigolds , planted in a ring around an old oak tree

And now that her grandmother had passed away , Roxy wanted to transplant some of those Marigolds , to have them with her .

They had been following the hand written directions on an old map since leaving the highway , Michael had wanted to use GPS , but Roxy wanted to do it the old fashioned way .

There off to the left was an old barn that looked like it was sinking into the ground , on the side of the barn was a faded painting of an old red biplane , and the words " Red Baron Diner " .

Roxy knew that the old diner was long gone , but she remembered the old barn , a little more broken down and the paint a little more faded . " It's not far now ", she said , just a few more miles .

Before long Roxy pulled the little truck over to the edge of the road , alongside a large field with wire fence running off into the distance in both directions , And big white sign with Black lettering that said ,

" Welcome to White Pail " ,

" Est. 1902 "

" Population 44 "

Strange she thought , she didn't remember the fence being there . She knew the old place had been sold off . Maybe the new owners had put up the fence . " Good fences make good neighbors " was the old saying .

She shut the engine off , put the truck in second gear and set the parking brake . As she opened her door Michael woke up , he must have fallen asleep just a few moments ago .

Roxy went to the back of the truck , opened the tailgate and pulled a bucket and a shovel out from the clutter of gear that was stored there under the truck cap .

Michael joined her , taking up a second bucket and shovel and followed her to the edge of the fence .

There in the field , fifty feet or so from the fence , was a massive oak tree , surrounded by a sea of tall grass .

" Don't touch the wire it might be electric " , she advised him .

" Why would it be electric , are there cows or something ?" He asked .

But Roxy didn't answer , she just shrugged her shoulders , dropped her bucket and shovel on the other side and then laid down next to the fence and crawled under .

Michael followed her example but instead of crawling under he rolled under . His right elbow brushed the bottom strand and ZAP !

" Yup , it's electric alright " . He said as he rubbed his elbow .

Roxy giggled " Told ya "

It wasn't that much of a shock really , just enough to make him realize that he didn't want to do it again .

Once inside the fence they picked up their buckets and shovels and made their way to the old oak . There around the base of the tree was a ring of marigolds about four feet from the trunk , and a full foot wide or more . Roxy selected a patch of them and began to dig them up in one big clump of dirt , when she plopped them into her bucket , they filled it neatly to three quarters full .

Michael watched as Roxy finished and then tried his best to match her efforts , having never done that sort of thing before , but before long he had managed to get a bucket full of marigolds as well .

Just as he was finishing his efforts , he heard a snort from behind him , Roxy was busy moving small clods of soil from several spots to fill in the hole which she had left , But she heard it too .

They both turned to look , and there behind them , about thirty feet away stood a large bull , and he was staring directly at them .

He snorted again and pawed at the ground .

" Don't move " , said Roxy in voice that was little more than a whisper .

" See that lowest branch , very slowly , move to it and get up into the tree ."

Michael spun around and ran to the tree grabbed the branch and hauled himself up into the tree and continued to climb up even higher .

Roxy ran too , she knew it might cause the bull to charge , but once Michael started to run she figured she had better run as well .

Once Roxy was also safe up in the tree , she looked back . The bull hadn't moved from his spot , but still seemed to be watching them .

" OK , What now ? " asked Michael .

" We wait , and hope he goes away , It's about three 'o'clock now , maybe he will head for the barn come feeding time , unless he is a pasture bull ."

"What does that mean ? " asked Michael ," What's a pasture bull ."

" Well some cows get fed by the farmer at certain times everyday usually morning and evening , but are left to roam the fields during the day to graze , it saves a lot of work and expense for the farmer , But sometimes they are just left in the pasture to graze all the time . until it is time to bring them to market . "

" So what do we do ? " asked Michael .

" We wait ."

Twenty minutes went by , and then an hour , and the bull didn't seem to be going anywhere , he went up to the buckets of marigolds still laying on the ground and sniffed at them , then wandered a few yards away only to come back and stare at them again .

they had been sitting in that tree for just over an hour when Roxy heard a vehicle approaching from the same direction that they had come . It was an old yellow truck , with something crudely painted on the doors , Roxy realized that it was a farm truck .

It slowed down almost to a stop as it passed their truck , which of course was still sitting at the side of the road .

" Hey help us , " Yelled Michael , and Roxy yelled too .

But the truck continued on it's way and soon disappeared from sight

" They didn't see us , " said Michael , " how could they not see us ? "

" I don't know ," she replied

Another twenty minutes went by and still the bull wouldn't go away .

But then they heard another sound .

" Another truck is coming , " said Michael .

" No ," said Roxy , " the sound is different ."

" It sounds like an ATV "

Sure enough a moment later an ATV came into view , They soon realized that it was inside the fence . It was one of those six wheel types , four drive wheels and two for steering , and it was towing a box trailer , A " Gator " said Roxy

" A What ? "

" A Gator , a lot of farmers use them for smaller jobs , that they don't need a tractor for ."

The ATV came closer and the two could now see that it was being driven by an older man , and that two dogs were following close behind .

The ATV pulled up near to where they were , the bull seemed unaware of the new arrivals , until the dogs came near the tree and started barking , and he began to wander up to the vehicle at that point , apparently he didn't care for all the barking .

The man got out of the ATV , patted the bull on the shoulder for a moment , and then approached the tree where the two were still sitting amongst it's branches .

" You two can come on down , Jasper ain't gonna harm ya none "

Roxy and Michael made their way down from the tree .

" We're awful sorry to bother you like this Sir " began Roxy .

" We were just hoping to get some of these marigolds , My Grandma planted them years ago , she used to own this place ."

" Why I know who you are ." said the farmer , " Your one of Wilma Cooper's grandkids I reckon , Sarah is it , or Mary ?

" I'm Roxanne sir , Sarah and Mary are my cousins . "

" Oh I see , Your Dad must be Josh Taylor ? Married Wilma's daughter Carol

" Yes sir , he is , I sorry to trouble you "

" Oh it's no trouble , I was sorry to hear of your gramma's passing , she was a good neighbor ."

" I grew up on the next farm over , I bought your Gramma's place after she passed and just , well combined the two ."

" You must be Mr. West then "

" That's right " , he said , and turned to face Michael , " and who might you be ? " He asked of Michael , as he stuck out his hand .

Michael Shook his hand and replied , " Michael sir , Michael Lewis "

The three of them chatted a few minutes longer , Frank offered to put them up for the night , but they respectfully declined , having already booked a room at Hooper's motel . which was just twenty miles back the way they came , in the next town over .

Frank Picked up the two shovels and Roxy and Michael carried the buckets of Marigolds back to the fence .

Roxy and Michael crawled back under , and Frank handed shovels and buckets over the fence to them .

They said their brief goodbyes , and Roxy and Michael drove off the way they had come .

Frank walked back to his ATV , this time the dogs hopped in with him , and he drove away as well .

Three days later Roxy arrived back in upstate New York , Where Roxy transplanted the first bucket of marigolds at her Grandmother's grave near Rochester .

Her father had moved to Rochester when Roxy was a teenager , and her aunts had followed sometime after , and Wilma had moved east when she became too old to live alone .

The other bucket of marigolds , Roxy kept in a planter that she kept with her as she moved from one apartment to the next , until she and Michael finally married and bought a home together .

Those marigolds still thrive in a small garden in their backyard .