Love Means Courage - Andrew Grey

bathroom where he started the shower.

    A half hour later, clean and relaxed, he sat in the living room watching television, but soon he found himself falling asleep, so he said good night and headed to bed, immediately falling into a near comatose sleep that he didn’t wake from until his alarm blared in his ears. 48

    Andrew Grey
    THE sun was sending its first rays of light over the trees as he arrived at the farm. Everything was quiet and still. Len coasted into the same parking space he’d used the day before and got out of his car, closing the door softly. The chill in the morning air hit his skin as he walked across the gravel drive to the barn.
“Morning, sunshines!” He flipped on the light and was greeted by sleepy heads poking out of their stalls. A few of them actually had the nerve to yawn. “That’s enough of that; I’ve got work to do.” Len walked to the spigot and got fresh water, filling each of their troughs before adding hay to their mangers. “I’ll let you eat for a while, but then you’re all going outside.” He liked talking to the horses, and they seemed to respond to his voice. He grabbed the broom and swept the walk and the empty stalls.
    “Well, what do we have here?” Len knelt down and found a mother and her newborn kittens curled beneath one of the empty mangers. She tensed, and Len backed away and left her alone.
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Love Means Courage
    Opening the doors to the pastures, he made sure there was water in the pasture troughs and let the horses out for some exercise, giving each of them one of the carrots his mother had sent along before letting them run. With the barn to himself, he grabbed the wheelbarrow and spot-cleaned the stalls, scooping out the messed parts and replacing them with fresh sawdust. He was just finishing when he heard a vehicle pull into the drive. Putting away the broom, he left the barn to see both Fred and Randy walking toward the barn.
    “You’re here early.”
“Yeah. Got the horses out in the pastures and the barn cleaned for the day.” Len leaned against one of the empty stall doors. Fred sat on a hay bale. “We’ve got to check on the cattle.
There are a few fences that need checking, and it’s supposed to rain this afternoon.”
“You guys need any help?”
“Naw, we got it. Shouldn’t take us very long. What have you got in mind for today?”
    “There’re a few breaks in the riding ring fence I’d like to get fixed. I was going to ask Cliff to advertise that we have stall space and a riding ring so we could attract some boarders, but the ring’s not usable as it is now.” Len looked out the barn door to the yard.

    “And I was thinking I’d try to clean up the mess out front. Can’t attract anybody with the place looking so shabby.” Len walked to the door looking out over the yard.

    Randy stood next to him. “Don’t go makin’ noise too early, Cliff’ll ream you a new one if you wake Geoff.” Len looked over toward the house and saw the back door open, a small face peering out the screen door before pushing on it, trying to get out.
    “I don’t think waking Geoff is something we need to worry 50
Andrew Grey
    about.” Len pointed to the back door. “I think it’s Cliff who wants to sleep in. Probably sleeping off what he was drinking last night.” There he went, shooting his mouth off when he should know to keep quiet.
    Randy looked doubtful. “We ain’t never seen him drinkin’.” In for a penny, in for a pound. “When I was in the kitchen yesterday, the trash was full of beer cans. Looked to me like he was taking most of his meals in liquid form.” Len looked at the other two. “Maybe I should have kept my mouth shut.”
    “What are we gonna do?”

    Len looked at Fred, smiling in surprise. “One thing we’re gonna do is stop pandering to him. This is a farm, and work needs to get done, so we’re gonna do it. You guys go ahead and get started.”
    “But we need the tractor to….” Randy stopped and smiled wide. “I get it. Okay, I’m in. Let’s wake him up.” Randy walked to the equipment shed and climbed onto the tractor, starting the huge machine. Fred climbed on and the two of them got to work, driving it out the drive before turning down the road. As the sound faded in the distance, Len went to the equipment shed and found a riding lawn mower. Climbing on, he turned the key and the engine turned over. Putting it in gear, he pulled it out and rode to the yard before engaging the mower and