{"id":791,"date":"2022-05-10T00:01:14","date_gmt":"2022-05-10T04:01:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.fayegibbons.com\/?p=791"},"modified":"2022-05-10T00:01:17","modified_gmt":"2022-05-10T04:01:17","slug":"you-cant-catch-me","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.fayegibbons.com\/?p=791","title":{"rendered":"YOU CAN’T CATCH ME"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"
FARMER BEN AND HIS RUN AWAY TROY<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

My latest book, HALLEY, awarded 2015 Jefferson Cup Honor for Historical Fiction, awarded the Moonbeam Silver Medal for Young Adult Fiction, and awarded the 2016 Frank Yerby Award for Fiction. Available at: NewSouth Books: www.newsouthbooks.com\/halley and Amazon.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Every spring it is the same.\u00a0\u00a0Right before my eyes, my husband turns into Farmer Ben.\u00a0\u00a0Forgotten are last year\u2019s butterbeans that put out shiny leaves and vines and didn\u2019t produce enough beans for seeds.\u00a0\u00a0Forgotten are the 2021 tomato plants that gave us only enough unrotted tomatoes for a few BLT sandwiches.\u00a0\u00a0Forgotten, too, are all those hours of hoeing, gathering, shucking, and shelling.\u00a0\u00a0Oh, and let\u2019s not forget disintegrating farm equipment like the tiller that\u2019s too ancient to buy parts for except on eBay or roadside flea markets.\u00a0\u00a0It\u2019s SPRING!\u00a0\u00a0All the world is new, and this year things are going to be different.\u00a0\u00a0Smell that soil!\u00a0\u00a0See how all of nature is putting out new life!\u00a0\u00a0Time to work on the TILLER.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My husband\u2019s tiller, like Benjamin himself, is one of a kind.  And it\u2019s older than him and me both.  It\u2019s a Troy-Bilt from way back \u201cwhen they made things right.\u201d  According to Farmer Ben, there isn\u2019t a tiller on the market that could compare to this one.  I think he\u2019s right.  Mainly our tiller stays sprawled in the shop, an oily, dirty mass of fearsome metal, surrounded by disassembled parts that are being cleaned and greased to be reattached somewhere.  With each reassemble there seem to be parts left over, but I\u2019m never worried.  Benjamin has assured me those parts weren\u2019t needed anyway.  And apparently he\u2019s right\u2014every year he gets that old tiller back on the job.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This year was no exception.  Benjamin got the Troy-Bilt chugging along on the day the almanac\u2014or maybe his internal clock\u2014said corn should be planted.  He always plants the corn \u201cover on the hill\u201d in the direction of our farmer neighbor, James Guy.  I\u2019m not sure whether he\u2019s hoping some of that Guy farming magic will assure a good crop, or maybe he\u2019s trying to provide us exercise with trekking back and forth when the corn is ready to harvest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Well, this year the tiller made it to the planting site, which seemed like miracle enough\u2014for a moment.  Then Farmer Ben tried to shift it into low gear only to find the gear shifter stuck fast.  Easily solved.  Lifting his foot, he stomped the lever.  Suddenly all hell broke loose.  The tiller leaped up and took off like a scalded dog, leaving Benjamin sprawled in the dust.  By the time he could get to his feet. the tiller had gained considerable yardage and was still accelerating toward the highway.  Freedom was in sight!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhoa! \u201d Benjamin yelled, taking off after the runaway despite his bad knee. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bouncing with joy, the Troy-Bilt seemed to be picking up speed with every second, and to add insult to injury, had started slinging dirt clods back at him.  It seemed bound and determined to hit the road, Jack.  Benjamin swears he heard it calling, \u201cRun, run fast as you can.  You can\u2019t catch me\u2014I\u2019m the Gingerbread Troy!\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just then the tiller jolted into the ditch beside the highway and slung off one wheel, which went scudding across the pavement, just missing a passing car.  Fumes still belched from the crippled tiller and its motor still roared, but the great escape had been thwarted.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Well, it\u2019s back to the shop for the ancient Troy-Bilt.\u00a0\u00a0Once again, Farmer Ben will exercise his superpowers to get the tiller to do its job for one more season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And perhaps he\u2019ll check out some of those leftover parts from previous repairs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

          Maybe\u2026                    Well, it could happen.– <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My latest book, HALLEY, awarded 2015 Jefferson Cup Honor for Historical Fiction, awarded the Moonbeam Silver Medal for Young Adult Fiction, and awarded the 2016 Frank Yerby Award for Fiction. Available at: NewSouth Books: www.newsouthbooks.com\/halley and Amazon. Every spring it … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.fayegibbons.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/791"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.fayegibbons.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.fayegibbons.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.fayegibbons.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.fayegibbons.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=791"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blog.fayegibbons.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/791\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":795,"href":"https:\/\/blog.fayegibbons.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/791\/revisions\/795"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.fayegibbons.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=791"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.fayegibbons.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=791"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.fayegibbons.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=791"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}