The Farm Was Slowing Down

When the farm only had the chickens left, Pop got a job working for the North Ferry Association. He was in charge of the lawns in the heights that they owned. He didn’t have a truck, so he would put his lawnmower in the trunk of the car, which was a Corvair. It was neat seeing him going down the street; the trunk was in the front instead of the engine. The handles of the mower were sticking out, so he had to looks past them to see the road. He did this for many years until he couldn’t push the mower well anymore. My grandma had passed a few years back, and Pop told me he didn’t know how long he would be able to go on. She died in her eighties, and in those days, not too many people lived into their seventies or older. I knew Pop was sad. Not only did he lose his son at an early age, but losing his loved one was also very hard on him. The only thing we had left on the farm was the chickens, so I would collect the eggs for him and clean them. After they were dry, Pop would put them into the egg cartons. My aunts and uncles would come up when they needed more eggs. We kept them going, for it was good for Pop to still have something to do since the job he had taken on was only part-time.

Pop started to keep his car in the barn since there were no more animals in the barn anymore. He worked for the North Ferry Corporation, so he would start on one street, and by the end of the week, he would be where he had started. But every day, up went the trunk, and in went the lawnmower until the next day when he would start on another block. Pop did this for many years. When he was having a hard time getting the mower in and out of the car, he set it up to do the total area on the weekend, and my brother went to work with him to help get the job done in two days. This worked out well, but it wasn’t much longer when the association decided to hire a full-time worker.

So he kept his push lawnmower in the trunk so he wouldn’t have to take it in and out. Everyone knew it was Pop coming down the road with the handles of the lawnmower sticking out the front of the car because the trunk was in the front and the engine was in the back of the car. Pop told me the cats would sleep under the car because it was warm when he would pull it into the barn. He then told me that when he would start the car, the cats would all run away. But one day, one did not wake up right away, and after the car started moving, the cat was afraid to move. So when he got to the heights down by the North Ferry where he mowed the lawns, he opened the trunk, and out shot one of the cats. She’ll be home in a few days, he thought to himself. Then he started the mower and began to mow the side of the roads. When the ferry company called Pop into the office, he had a feeling about what they had to tell him, for Pop himself was getting ready to tell them he couldn’t do it much longer. After the meeting, Pop was both sad and relieved, for the job was becoming too much.