Rain Comes Seldom

Cap and Ely sat on the front porch of the barn and watched with glee. It had been raining for 3 days and they had not uttered a single foul word. The rain was so greatly needed, they hated to jinx it. They were thankful indeed.

The only problem with rain is that no matter how wet it got, all of the horses and cattle in the pens still had to eat. The animals knew it was raining, but they also knew they were hungry at the same time every day. Manuel and his helpers were making the rounds this afternoon feeding. They used a tractor to get to the boggy spots and hoped for the best. Normally Cap would be raising cain about the ruts they were making, but for the last few days those ruts were the prettiest things he had ever seen. He hoped the ruts would remind him next time it got really dry that it would rain again....eventually.

"Cap, I thought Pastor Chris gave a good service on Sunday didn't you?" asked Ely.

"Yep, come to think of it, I guess it was a good one."

"I especially liked the part about us being forgiven as long as we ask for it, and how the good Lord always loves us.", continued Ely.

"Yep, that always rings true with me too. I know I fall short every day, but I'm tryin' to do better. That's all I know to do."

About that time Pete, one of Manuel's helpers who was pretty far down on the totem pole of seniority, came walking up soaked to the bone. He stood on the edge of the porch still in the rain. Cap knew something was up.

"Pete, ain't you got sense enough to get outta the rain?" he asked impatiently.

"Mr. Cap, we have a problem." managed Pete.

"Well what is it son?"

"The tractor is stuck. Manuel tole me to go in the peen and feed some horses and he would be back. I deed what he tol me, pero the tractor got stuck."

"Well let's go see about it." said Cap as he marched off of the porch and into the rain.

He and Ely grabbed slickers from behind the seats of their trucks and headed toward the back pen. Before they got there they could see only the front of the tractor. It was buried to the axles....with a round bale of hay still on the forks behind it. Pete had driven right through the boggiest part of the pen with a round bale of hay and completely sunk the tractor. There was no way to get it out. Making matters worse the horses were surrounding it eating the round bale, and making the bog deeper.

"Well let's see what we can do about it Pete" said Ely calmly. Cap was a different story.

"Son, what were you thinking? You picked the worst part of the pen to drive through and did it with more weight carrying a round bale. I can't believe it. There's no way to get it out...we have to get another one to pull this one out!"

"Calm down Cap. It's just stuck, it ain't gone forever. We'll get it out."

"Goodness Pete, it looks like ducks musta flew off when you hit this bog. How could you not see it?"

"I sorry Mr. Cap. I do what Manuel tells me." replied Pete sheepishly. Cap stormed around to the other side of the bog and came back a little calmer.

"Well, I guess we all need forgiveness at some point. It's alright." he told Pete.

"I'm proud of you Cap." said Ely as they walked back to the porch. "You really done good. I know Pete is sorry."

"Yeah....I guess what Pastor Chris has been talking about is soaking in."

"Maybe that's why it's raining." smiled Ely.


Walker