Sam and Jake work on a large cropping operation down in Central Arkansas. Well, I should say… Sam still works there.
It’s hard to find good, capable farm employees that one would trust with a quarter of a million dollar tractor or combine, but both of these guys had worked for the owner for several years. Sam is as good as they come – smart, hard-working, dependable and loyal. Jake was… well… hard-working – when he was there. You see, Jake had two major flaws in his character – liquor and women – and both consumed a lot of his time.
Jake was having some major mechanical problems with the old pickup truck that he drove the 20 miles to work every day. Even though he had a habit of being late, the problem was worse than usual for the last week, since “third gear” of his automatic transmission had gone out and top speed was about 45 mph in the highest gear remaining. The owner had had enough, so on Wednesday afternoon he advanced Jake a week’s pay and told him to take off Thursday and Friday to get the transmission fixed. They were spraying crops the following week with the owner’s old crop-dusting plane and needed Jake there at 7 a.m. sharp on Monday so that he and Sam could serve as “markers” at each end of the fields to be sprayed.
Jake was appreciative of the cash advance and assured the owner that he would get the truck fixed and be on time Monday morning. But, on the way home that evening, he concluded that one drink at the local watering hole couldn’t hurt. As luck would have it, one of Jake’s favorite old girlfriends was back in town and in attendance at the aforementioned establishment. One thing led to another and before Jake knew it, it was Saturday afternoon, the girl had left town again, and his old truck was still without third gear. He was astute enough to realize that he was on “thin ice” with the boss, but surmised that he would simply have to leave extra early on Monday to be on time. And, heck, Monday was still two days away.
Jake arose at 5 a.m. Monday morning. As he backed out of his driveway and turned to head toward the farm, Jake’s remaining gears started showing severe problems. Knowing he couldn’t miss work, he weighed his options and headed out for the farm headquarters; dead set on getting there, no matter how long it took. Other drivers were blaring their horns, yelling at him to get off the road and making shocking gestures – even for Jake, but he pressed onward.
At 7 a.m. Sam and the owner were loading up the crop duster with the first load of chemicals and water. Jake was nowhere to be seen. The owner’s frustration was more than evident and poor old Sam knew he was on the verge of losing a good friend and co-worker. The boss’s wife was persuaded into serving as one of the “markers” for the spraying operation.
Somewhere around 9 a.m., Sam noticed some dust boiling up on the road down by the plane hangar. The boss had landed the old spray plane and Sam met him to help refill the tank. At the same time, Jake was high-tailing it down the dirt road and into the driveway that led up to the hangar. He jumped out of the truck and immediately started the explanation. “Sorry boss, but they couldn’t get the truck fixed last week and then, this morning, all the forward gears were gone, so I had to put it in “reverse” and back the 20 miles all the way here from home.”
Red-faced and out of patience, the owner yelled, “Well, you can just ‘back’ yourself all the way home, ‘cause I got no more use for you. Consider last week’s cash advance – your severance package.”
Jake got back in his truck, put it in reverse, and headed the 20 miles back toward home. Sam could hear the horns honking and tires screeching out on the main road even after Jake was out of sight.
Jerry Crownover is a farmer and former professor of Agriculture Education at Missouri State University. He is a native of Baxter County, Arkansas, and an author and professional speaker. To contact Jerry call 1-866-532-1960 or visit www.ozarksfn.com and click on ‘Contact Us.’
