The orange sun was brushing the horizon, and Joseph had just finished closing up the chicken coop when he heard a familiar rumbling coming up his long gravel driveway. His property was vast, but mostly full of fir trees; he had an acre or so of crops in the clearing around his house, and no animals except for a couple dozen chickens. Most of his farm was intended to feed himself and trade with neighbors, like Elijah with the old white pickup truck. Joseph wasn't expecting him today, though. He brushed his dusty palms on his jeans and turned, shielding his eyes from the low, bright light from the west while he watched Elijah skid to a stop just in front of his porch.
"Evenin,' Joe," Elijah called out of his open window. Joseph jogged over to his neighbor and gave the man a quick pat on the back as he stepped out of the truck.
"How's it going, Elijah?" he asked. Being summertime, it was nearly nine o'clock even though the sun hadn't fully set.
"Not bad. Just brought the cows in."
"Just brought the chickens in myself. Want a beer?"
Elijah chewed his lip. "Nah, I can't stay long."
"You sure? I was about to grab one and have it out on the porch; perfect night for it."
"Ah," responded Elijah, "ah...hell, sure. Just a quick one."
Joseph grinned and hurried inside. The house was tall and narrow, just like Joseph himself. It had weathered blue paneling and an iron chimney with a weathervane to match. The lowest floor of the house only had a kitchen and a small living room, so he had to race up the stairs to use the bathroom, stopping off to piss and wash the day's grime from his hands, before grabbing two beers from the fridge. He and Elijah popped them in unison, setting themselves down on the creaky porch steps.
"Ahhh," sighed Elijah with the first sip, the way he always did. His bright blue eyes sparkled in the dimming light.
"So what brings you over, man?" asked Joseph.
"Right! Almost forgot! I told you Sadie's mama ain't doing so well, didn't I?"
Joseph nodded. Sadie was Elijah's wife; a pretty, blonde, plump woman about fifteen years younger than him. She was incredibly sweet; according to Elijah, the polar opposite of his first wife, who had been a tall, thin, severe brunette. They were off and on in high school until she got pregnant, and then they spent a few years in miserable matrimony attempting to stay together for the kids. Eventually, enough was enough, and she scooped up the kids and moved a state away. Elijah did her one better and moved to the opposite end of the country, which is how a country southern man like Elijah ended up a country northern man. He met Sadie at the local bar, and as far as Joseph knew, they were genuinely happy, even if Sadie was only a couple years older than Elijah's oldest kid.
In fact, Sadie was only 25, so it made Joseph's heart ache that her mother was so ill.
Elijah continued, "Well, Sadie and I are gonna drive her back east so she can be with her siblings, y'know, in case this really is the end. We'll probably be out there for at least a month; maybe even into the fall."
"Sorry to hear that," Joseph offered.
"That's life, ain't it?" Elijah shrugged. "Importantly for you, I'm gonna have my son watch my li'l farm for me while I'm gone."
Joseph frowned. Memories flicked through his head of two little girls, summer after summer, riding in the back of Elijah's pickup truck to come see the chickens.
"I didn't know you had a son," he said. "I just remember two daughters." But maybe his memory was wrong. The kids hadn't visited the past seven or eight years, and Elijah didn't talk about them often enough for Joseph to be sure of any details.
Elijah barked out a laugh. "I didn't used to. We ain't talked about this? My oldest kid is trans."
Joseph blinked in surprise. While he and Elijah were on friendly terms and occasionally went to the bar together, or had dinner together, or went fishing together, their conversations had never veered into the territory of gender or sexuality. Joseph had, perhaps unfairly, assumed Elijah was a typical southern bigot. He knew he was religious and fiscally conservative, though they both steered clear of any potentially controversial topics of conversation.
Joseph wasn't sure if Elijah even knew he was bisexual.
"Didn't surprise me much when he came out," Elijah continued. "His mom struggled with it, but even that bitch eventually had to admit it makes sense. He was always...y'know, such a tomboy."
"Well, damn," Joseph chuckled. "I guess we never really talk about your kids much, huh?"
Elijah sighed. "I know. Sometimes I feel like a bad dad. I love 'em to death, but they mostly live their own lives out there in Arkansas. 'Specially now that they're grown."
"It's hard being all the way out here," Joseph offered.