#64:-Weldon Melton Farm: Won't quit

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During the night the Meltons had been wakened by a loud noise. The only sound lately had been that of the rain on the water. It had to have been loud to hear over that.

CRASH...riiiiiiip....Splash

Weldon was up in an instant. The bedrooms were on the top floor of the house and set atop the berm. It was too dark and too foggy outside to see anything but the strange ripping sounds came from where the Old Barn sat.

Weldon made sure he had his pistol and his biggest flashlight then stepped out the door. He was gone for half an hour before he returned. When he returned he was grim.

“Get dressed. “ He said needlessly. They’d all been sleeping in their clothes. “Gather some stuff together. We’re spending the rest of the night in GrandPa’s boat. Hurry now.“

Lucy helped Sherry pack some food and makes some coffee then asked “What happened daddy? You look like you’ve seen a ghost!”

“Damn near it!” Weldon replied. “Something big smashed into the old barn. I couldn’t tell what it was. I wasn’t going to get very close in the dark, but I could tell that if it hadn’t hit the barn it would have hit us.

Weldon was a successful farmer on the Delta. All farmers liked toys. That was just the way it was. Neither he, nor his ancestors had seen any reason to throw toys away just because they got old. They only bought high quality toys that could be maintained and kept in good working order. That somewhat limited their options but even so it was rather amazing the number of toys that four generations had accumulated. They had a number of boats for example, the largest of which was his great grandfather’s ChrisCraft Motor Yacht. It had been purchased with war bonds back in the day. It was plenty large to keep their feet dry in an emergency. This might just be an emergency so they moved on board.

Weldon was a belt and suspenders kind of a guy. He’d had that old motor-yacht serviced and stocked since the river began to rise. It was the largest and most comfortable of their several watercraft. He’d had it and others, tied up nearby.

They all tried to go back to sleep but THAT hadn’t worked. They all three eventually wound up sitting on the Flying Bridge, looking out at the fog on the water while listening to the small gasoline powered pumps remove rain water. Fortunately they had hundreds of gallons of gasoline in the big tank. That was one thing they didn’t have to worry about too badly. They also had several spares. Farmers tended to have a lot of little gas motors and pumps.

The seed sacks had given them some more time. If a section of the levee began to collapse they had something to repair it with. For a while. The water was still rising. It was still raining. They were about out of ideas.

Weldon lit up one of his last cigars. Might as well smoke it now.

“It was right over there on the river levee that my g’g’ grandfather and his brothers worked for months straight to keep this whole area from flooding back in the summer of 1927.” He told his daughter and his wife.

They listened.

“They didn’t quit.” he said “the flood beat them but it wasn’t because they quit. When it was over and the flood waters started to recede the Planter wouldn’t even let them leave. He was afraid that if he let them off the levee they’d leave the county and he’d not have anyone to do the work.”

Weldon took a drag on his cigar “He was right about that. My ancestors did leave. They had no choice. It was years before the fields were productive again. They didn’t have pumps back then like we do now. The water had to pretty much drain and dry up on it’s own. God put it there, God would take it away in his own good time, like they say.“

“Somehow they made enough money to come back here a and buy this place. There’s some fantastic stories about that which I find really hard to believe. If true our ancestors were hard, hard men. They never quit you see. They just changed their line of attack. Changed their tactics I think it’s called.” he blew out a cloud of smoke.

“I suppose they felt that since generations before them, both free and slave, had been born and died on this land that they had a tie to it? I suppose they felt that since they’d personally fought the river to a standstill they had a right to it? I dunno..but it’s been in my family ever since” He said

“There’s no shame in being defeated dear.” she said placing her hand on his arm

“Nope.” he agreed. “Sometimes the odds are just too great and you can’t win no matter what. Doesn’t mean I’m gonna quit. I might get beat but I won’t quit.”

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The Next Episode Is
#65: Carlos Skirmish Farm:Late Night Encounter…
The Previous Episode was
#63: Banana Slug -Carlos Skirmish Farm…
The First Episode was
# 1 : Prologue…
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Book One: SoulStone
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