Farmer Fred's Arc

Chapter 1 of 8

Farmer Fred stepped out of the farmhouse and stopped. Rain had swept through overnight, leaving mud and bent grass across the barren stretch he'd called Loud Garden for forty years. He squinted at the damage, wondering if starting over meant dealing with storms too. Then he saw her. A woman shaped like a tomato in a short frilly dress, standing near a wooden stake driven into the mud. The stake hadn't been there yesterday. Neither had she. A single shoe print marked the spot where she stood, pressed deep into the wet ground. Fred walked closer, boots squelching. He'd built a toolshed last week, the first real structure on the land. It sat behind him now, weathered and crooked but standing. The woman didn't move. She was waiting for him. He understood then. The storm hadn't destroyed anything. It had delivered someone. Loud Garden wasn't empty anymore, and neither was the work ahead of him.