We Never Said A Word

I stopped mucking out the stall when I heard the sound of the truck tires spitting up gravel when they made the sharp left hand turn by the old springhouse and came to a lurching stop in front of the barn. I watched from just inside the barn door as this kid about my age got out of the passenger’s side of the truck. Marshall had told me the day before that he was bringing someone to help me with the work around the farm and I guess this kid must be him.

He looked kinda raggedy with a red and gray plaid flannel shirt that was faded from one too many washings, which he wore pulled out over top a pair of dirty blue jeans whose cuffs hung over an even dirtier pair of scuffed up brown boots. He saw me watching him and didn’t say a word as he shook his scruffy crop of brown hair to the side so it wasn’t covering his blue eyes, which were blank like they had nothing to say either. He turned around and reached inside the cab of the truck and took out his designer luggage. Two brown paper sacks with the letters A&P printed on them. I wasn’t sure if I was gonna like him or not as I made sure my blue oxford cloth shirt was tucked neatly inside the waistband of my khakis and my freshly polished paddock boots were not too dirty from the work I had been doing. 

All I knew about him was he was from Southern Maryland and his family were tenant farmers and didn’t want him around any more. He was coming up here because he needed a job and a place to live and Marshall was able to give him both. You see Marshall’s my boss. He owns this farm and all the horses that are stabled here.

Something else too... There was a big cage in the bed of the truck. I had never seen anything like it before and wasn’t sure what was inside until Josh, that’s this kid’s name, walked around and climbed up in the bed too.

  Jake was a big Black and Tan Coonhound and when Josh opened up the door to his crate he let out that baying sound that a hound dog makes. It was music to my ears. I started to like Josh better already and walked out of the barn and over to the side of the truck just as he jumped out of the bed and picked up the two A&P bags. “You stay in that truck, you hear!”

“Hi, my names Rodney;” still, Josh had that blank look on his face.

“Josh,” as he opened the door to the tack room where he’d be sleeping and I followed him in.

“I like your dog,” which seemed to be the right thing to say as a smile came over his face.

“You do any coon hunting?”

“No. But I’d like to.” He told me then about how things were in Southern Maryland and that he hunted just about every evening. He wanted to know if I knew anything about the woods around here and if I’d ever seen any raccoons. I told him about the woods out just beyond the main pasture and that I ridden horses over there but never seen any raccoons.

“We’ll give them a try tonight. Can you go?”

“Yeah, sure!” Sounded good to me ‘cause it would give me a chance to get out of the house and away from my parents. That was all we pretty much said for the rest of the day. We just worked together around the farm and kinda looked at each other like we knew we’d found a friend.

In this part of the early fall it didn’t get dark until around eight o’clock; so, I waited until around seven thirty to drive back out to the farm. My parents did ask me where I was going. When I told them they shook their heads and I knew they were thinking it was something else weird I was up to. I told Josh about it when I met him and Jake out in front of the barn.

“You too? They sound like my parents, never want to try anything but what they’ve always done.” I knew then he was different the same way I was. We had that common bond.

I led the way through the pasture and climbed the board fence that was just on the outer edge of the woods. Josh followed and even though it was dark, he said he could tell by the way Jake sniff the air he was look forward to a good run.

We did have flashlights and I shone mine into the trees to find the break in the woods and the path I had ridden down so many times on horseback. Jake ran ahead to the very end of the lights beam and showed me the opening I was looking for.

His yelp was short each time he picked up a scent. Like a fresh idea that is written down until the writer has a story finished. Jake was using each scent to lead him to his goal. I learned something else that night too. Jake’s way of hunting was telling me about life. I needed to be like him and piece each event together to be guided on my path.

  I looked over at Josh, “Listen to him; he’ll lets us know. Each time the cry gets a little longer he’s getting closer. Sit down here on this log and listen. We’ll know.”

  We sat together on that log with the full moon shining down through the trees and listened to Jake. I felt something inside that night. Listening to the baying that dog was making and looking at Josh I knew I’d found somebody who understood me, what was going on inside, even though we never said a word.