Net Weight

 

He didn’t see it as a chore, it was simply something that had to be done and he was doing it.  With a very familiar pail he was making his way out to the well.  As he walked, it was the obvious things he noticed first.  The morning air was crisp, not too cold.  The crows, as he knew they would be, were up before him and voicing their concerns about all things crow.  He had no idea what that was but from the sounds of it, they were surely important topics.

It was his own shoes he noticed next.  He couldn’t help it.  He was looking down as he walked to the well.  He had stepped into a small gopher hole last month and had twisted his ankle.  That discomfort lasted for a few days and made his daily chores difficult.  He never wanted to repeat that, so it was with caution every day thereafter that he made his way to fetch water.

He actually laughed out loud when he glanced off to his left.  Two of the crows were perched on one of the arms of the scarecrow.  So lost were they in their conversation that neither realized what they were doing.  Or maybe they did, he wasn’t sure.  When he thought about it, the crows would have to be complete nitwits to believe Mr. Scarecrow was real.  Number one, he didn’t move.  He had never moved.  He didn’t look scary.  In fact, he looked more pathetic than anything, and now he was holding up his arms to be used as a conference table for a most important meeting.

Nate remembered building that scarecrow years back.  With the exception of the lumber, everything had come from that old donation box.  He chuckled, thinking how his children, at the time, wanted to name him Net Weight.  Mary, in showing off her reading skills to Scott, pointed to the cardboard box and said, “This must be his name.  Net Weight.”  Little Scotty, thinking she must know what she’s talking about, agreed, and so Net was born.