Day 1

?We call it the Wheat field Wireless.? Katie said as she handed Mason another sandwich.

Mason gave a dubious glance over his shoulder towards the source of the thwacking noise that echoed around them. Meredith beating an old rug. ?Seriously??

Katie nudged Mason?s shoulder and nodded off towards the rise where Mason had been looking before. A line of trucks were parked there. Their owners milling about. It looked like someone had brought lunch out to them too.

?How did they know? I just got here yesterday afternoon?? Mason took a bite of his sandwich.

Katie took a seat beside him on an old bench. Her gaze settled on the line of watchers too. ?And the first thing you did was go and pull permits to demolish the Drake place.?

Mason stopped chewing and swallowed before looking aside at Katie. ?The clerk??

She nodded. ?Trudy.? Katie provided the clerk?s name. ?She probably made the first call even before you were out of the building.?

?That one was here before I even got here this morning.? Mason pointed to a very old blue pick-up truck and the hunched figure of an old man sitting in the cab.

Katie lifted the blade of her hand over her brow to block the sun as she squinted in that direction. ?That?s Old Bill. Bill Cooper. The Cooper place is the one right over there.? She pointed off to the side behind the rundown Drake house they were sitting near. ?His son runs the place now, Old Bill is usually a regular at the checkers table outside the feed store.?

Mason nodded slowly. He?d seen the small group of aged farmers sitting around outside the store on past visits with Eva to New Topeka. He shrugged. ?Guess this is more exciting than checkers.?

Katie didn?t answer, she just handed Mason a third sandwich. Mason chuckled and took the sandwich. By now the McCalls were familiar with his appetite.

Thwack, thwack, thwack.

Mason looked back towards Meredith and that old ruined rug. It was a hopeless task but neither he nor Katie had been able to talk Mere out of trying to save it for the meager pile of donations from the furnishings left in the house.

?How long do you think she?ll keep trying?? He asked Katie quietly.

Now it was Katie?s turn to shrug. ?Until she?s finished.?

Day 3

Mason was in a foul mood when he woke up the third day.

Sleep had been restless. He missed Eva. Missed the warmth of her body beside his in the bed. Missed seeing the way she scrunched her nose just before she fell asleep. Missed the weight of her arm draped across his chest, the smell of her hair and the tickle of it?s strands on his face. When he did manage to fall into a deep enough sleep he was assaulted by images of fields on fire with a crazed torch wielding man at it?s center.

He tried to hide his mood as he went downstairs but Gus and Meredith knew something was up when he shook his head to decline breakfast and only drank a cup of coffee before heading out to the Drake place.

The walk didn?t do much to ease his mood. It was manageable though, at least that?s what he thought until he saw the old rusty blue truck parked beneath the tree out in front of the farm house. Old Bill and the rest of the checkers club had set up lawn chairs and a table under the tree. Mason looked away from them and noticed more trucks of the peanut gallery parked closer than the rise where they were yesterday.

Mason?s hands closed into fists as he marched towards the gathering. Old Bill, who was sipping his coffee, was watching Mason?s approach. His cup lowered and he waved to Mason.

A growl was building deep in Mason?s chest. Anger adrenaline had his heart pumping and muscles tensing for the fight he was bringing with each step closer to the men. Surely the building noise in his head must have been from his anger.

Old Bill took another sip of coffee from his cup as Mason stormed up to them. He smiled in that way of his. ?You might want to take a step aside, young fella.? He pointed over Mason?s shoulder.

The seeming randomness of that made Mason stop. He glanced over his shoulder. The rumble of noise in his head wasn?t from his anger. It was from the yellow behemoth of a backhoe trundling up the road towards the Drake farm.

Confusion flooded Mason?s features. Old Bill stood up and smiled at Mason. ?Let?s get some breakfast.? The other men stood up right away, like they had been waiting for Mason to get there before they could eat.

?Breakfast?? Mason muttered as Old Bill nudged him along to a picnic table around the other side of the tree. They formed a line and Bill shoved a plate into Mason?s hand. He looked around and saw people from the peanut gallery all coming down towards the table. While the others picked and chose what they wanted, the women behind the table were all but pushing each other out of the way to pile the things they had made onto Mason?s plate.

?But I can?t afford a backhoe.? Mason was still protesting as he was ushered to the lawn chairs.

Old Bill took his seat again and nodded to Mason to take a seat in the chair next to his. ?There is no rental. That?s Judd, he works for the county.? Mason looked towards the big machine again and sure enough there was the county seal on the side. The driver hopped out of the cab and went to get himself a plate of food. He nodded over to the group of men Mason was with and waved to one in particular ?Hey, gramps.? One of the men waved back to him. Mason looked back at Old Bill and the rest of them men and then sat down.

?Judd?s headed out to route 5 to widen a ditch there, this is just on his way.? Bill said it and the others gave each other knowing looks. But before Mason could notice the men started commenting about the food on their plates. With his anger quelled,the friendly banter of the old men and knowing progress would be made today Mason?s appetite reared it?s head and he dug into the food on his plate.

?I bet we?d get pie with lunch if he took his shirt off.? Muttered one of the old men around a mouthful of gravy soaked biscuit. Mason chuckled but when he looked up the others were serious.

Hours later a shirtless Mason was standing in line again for lunch when Gus, John, Katie and Meredith drove up. Meredith had insisted on making a big lunch since she was under the impression that Mason hadn?t eaten that morning.

Gus, John and Katie stared in astonishment at the heap of rubble that used to be the Drake place as Mason waved and walked over towards them. Meredith tsked under her breath at the buffet of food.There was nothing to do but put on a pleasant smile.

John had stopped staring at the rubble and was now staring at Mason?s plate as he arrived and greeted them. He apologized to Meredith, promising that he?d had more than enough room to enjoy her lunch as well. Mollified, she and Katie went off to greet the lunch ladies.

As soon as Meredith was out of earshot John stepped closer to Mason. ?Is that Bea?s fried chicken?? Gus shot a glance over his shoulder and sure enough saw Bea Samuel was among the lunch ladies. Mason nodded and both John and Gus plucked a fried chicken drumstick from his plate. Mmmmm, their eyes rolling back as they took bites. ?Her chicken is legendary.? said John. Gus nodded in agreement. Though Mason could see Gus was being careful to keep his back towards the direction his wife, Meredith, had gone.

After the brothers had devoured their drumsticks they looked towards the rubble again. ?I thought things weren?t going so great.? Gus said.

?Yeah. Sorry if I was rude this morning, Gus.? Mason apologized but Gus waved it off. ?Anyway, Judd stopped by this morning with his backhoe. Bill said he was on his way to route 5 so it wasn?t a big deal.Took her down in little over an hour.?

John and Gus exchanged looks. Mason looked confused by them and John started to laugh. Gus even cracked a smile.

John clapped Mason on the shoulder. ?Brother, route 5 is on the other side of the county.?

?Wait...what?? Mason sputtered and glanced towards Old Bill and the others in their chairs beneath the tree enjoying their lunch. He shook his head.

?Let?s get some lunch.? John said and the three of them headed towards the picnic table.

Mason took a bite of fried chicken and smiled. They were right, it was perfect.

?I don?t understand why you had to take your shirt off, it?s not that hot.? Gus commented as they walked.

Mason smiled as they neared the table and told them quietly. ?For the pie.?

The old men had been right, there were three different pies on the table waiting to be eaten.