It was one of those perfectly beautiful fall days on the prairies. A hot sun blazed down through clear blue skies and a warm wind caressed everything in its path as it moved across the land. It was just the kind of weather that farmers for miles around had been hoping for. The dry, hot weather would allow them to get their crops out of the fields early this year.
As Gail rumbled along the back road in her pickup, she enjoyed the feel of warm air blowing in through the open window. Other than the occasional tractor working in a field, there was nobody in sight as far as the eye could see; which was a long ways on this flat prairie land. Beside her on the truck’s seat was Steve’s lunch. Gail had put together sandwiches a beer and a slice of chocolate cake. He had been in the fields since sunrise and would be ravenous by now.
Slowing to turn off the road into their field, Gail noticed the tractor was stopped on the far side of the canola field. She could see that Steve wasn’t in the tractor, but was working on the swather he was using. Rather than wait for him to finish what he was doing and move the equipment around to the road, Gail headed into the field, bumping along the path which ran around it. A couple of partridges flushed ahead as she drove and she noticed a large hawk gliding effortlessly in the warm breezes. A beautiful day.
She neared the equipment after a few minutes of driving and bumping along and pulled up as Steve stood and wiped his brow with a rag. His muscle shirt was sweat soaked from working on the swather and his sweat pants were dusty from crawling beneath it. Gail hopped out of the truck, dressed in a tight tank top, short denim shorts and sneakers. “Hey babe, how’s it going?” she asked.
“It was going great ‘til a half hour ago, then a bolt broke off on the swather and I had to fix it. It’s always some damn thing. Oh well, what’s for lunch?
“The usual,” she replied. “And I made sure the beer is ice cold. Why don’t we get in the tractor, it’s hot out here?”