The paper was yellow and soft at the folds. It read, \u201cRussell can have the hay off the north field this season. Frank Kostka.\u201d The top edge was ragged, as if something had been torn away. I stared at it, and then I understood. Six years earlier, a creek had flooded Russell\u2019s own pasture, and Frank had written that note so his brother could cut our north field for one summer. Frank had told me about it at supper that night. Russell had kept the paper all this time, ripped the date off the top, and saved it for exactly this week.<\/p>\n
\u201cLook at the top,\u201d I said, holding it up so all three men could see. \u201cSomeone tore the date off.\u201d Merle took the paper and nodded slowly. \u201cI was standing right there the day Frank wrote that,\u201d he told Russell. \u201cOne season of hay, and that was the end of it.\u201d Then I pulled Frank\u2019s little notebook from my jacket pocket and opened it to the last page. \u201cThis is what he wrote the day before he died.\u201d Walt read the line about enough hay for my cows, and his face went gray. Russell\u2019s smile was gone.<\/p>\n
Merle didn\u2019t raise his voice. \u201cWalt, call that young couple,\u201d he said, \u201cand Russell, start counting out money.\u201d He told Russell fair meant returning every dollar to the three people he had lied to, and every bale to my barn by Sunday. I said I still didn\u2019t want the sheriff, only my hay. Russell\u2019s jaw worked, but he finally nodded.<\/p>\n
On Sunday, three trucks and two trailers rolled into my yard, and every one carried bales. Merle, Walt, and the young couple hauled back all 187, and Caleb stacked them in the barn while Russell paid back the buyers from his own pocket. I handed one pie to Walt and the last to the newlyweds. That winter, every cow ate well, and Frank\u2019s notebook sat on the kitchen shelf where I could see it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The paper was yellow and soft at the folds. It read, \u201cRussell can have the hay off the north field this season. Frank Kostka.\u201d The top edge… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7396","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-stories"],"yoast_head":"\n