EXCERPT

AFTER THE WORKERS WALKED back out to the fields, Grandma let the boys rest for a while in the warm sun. They watched the cows by the fence.

“Don’t worry about them. They won’t bother us.”

“How come?” Eddie asked.

“See that wire? It’s electric. It gives them a shock if they touch it.”

Eddie didn’t understand.

Just before suppertime Eddie, Gregory, and Lewis sat at the cabin table crunching on salted pieces of raw potatoes. Grace, Isabel, and Ray walked up the road toward home, heads down, too weary to carry on even the smallest conversation.

Isabel and Grace slumped down at the kitchen table. Ray grabbed a bar of soap and towel, took down the basin hanging on a nail by the front door, and walked out to the water tap. He let the water run until it was cold before filling the basin to the brim. When he noticed Eddie and Gregory watching, he told them to roll up their sleeves so they could wash up for supper. The soap burned their eyes until Ray held their heads under the tap. The two boys stood with their arms outstretched like wet scarecrows, waiting for a towel. Ray laughed at the sight.

After working the soap into lather, Ray spread it behind his ears and neck until his face was covered in a white mask. Then he doused his face with the cold water and scrubbed himself furiously and thoroughly. He tossed the dirty water into the yard, where it landed with a splash and rolled across the dusty ground in little mud balls. He dried his face and neck and dug a corner of the towel into his ears. Ray’s mood improved after a good wash.

At supper time they pushed two beds back against the wall and moved the table to the middle of the room. The three boys sat on a wooden bench, and the grownups pulled up chairs. Grandma sat at one end of the table, and Ray sat at the other.

Ray smiled when he saw the food on the table. He picked up his knife and fork. “What’s for supper, Grandma? I hope you made lots, because I’m so hungry I could eat a horse and chase the rider.”

Grandma set a plate of food down in front of Ray, then poured tea into a mug and moved the sugar bowl closer. Ray scooped out three heaping spoonfuls. He stirred the tea quickly and finished with a tap on the rim. Grandma sat down and pushed the food along so the others could fill their plates.

After Ray wiped his plate clean with a piece of bread, he popped it into his mouth and reached over to the broom propped against the wall. He yanked out a straw, and working it back and forth in his mouth, he made loud kissing and sucking sounds until he laid the straw across his plate. He picked up his tea and drank it all without stopping. When he was finished, he set the mug on the plate with a bang and gave a loud “ahhh.”

The others at the table were only half finished their food. Isabel and Grace looked over at Ray.

“He eats like he works,” Isabel said.

“Always gotta be the one finishes first,” Grace said.

“You betcha. Always,” Ray said as he leaned his chair back on two legs.

“The kids are scared of the cows,” Grandma said. “I told them the ’lectric wire kept them in. Maybe I didn’t tell it good enough, I don’t know,” she said with a shrug.

Ray didn’t answer. After the dishes were washed and the kitchen table was cleared, he stood and pushed back his chair. “Let’s take a walk down to the cow pasture,” he said. “Got somethin’ I wanna show the kids.”

Eddie saw Ray smile as he turned for the door. Grace and Isabel walked holding Lewis up by the hands while he swung his feet. Eddie and Gregory went on ahead with Ray, sometimes having to run to keep up.

Everyone gathered around Ray as he pointed to the fence. “Okay, you kids, look at the wire. Take a real good look. You see how it jumps like that every once in a while? That’s the electricity turning off and on. See when it moves up a little, then falls down again? When it’s up, the power is on. When it falls down, the power is off. See it? Can you see it?”

The movement reminded Eddie of a trout nibbling at a fishing line.

“Boy, this thing must be turned up full blast. I never seen one this strong before. Okay, now watch. Off . . . on . . . off . . . on . . . ” Ray said as the wire jumped. Holding his hand over the wire he waited.

“Off.” He grabbed the wire, but only for a second, before he pulled his hand away.

“On,” he said and held up his palms.

“Why don’t you leave your hand there so you can show the kids what happens?” Isabel asked with a smile.

“Yeah,” said Grace.

Ray ignored them. He pulled out a handful of grass that grew just beyond the reach of the grabbing lips of the cattle and held it above the throbbing wire.

“Co-boss, co-boss,” he called in a gentle voice.

Eddie watched a cow wander over. The grass disappeared into her great chomping mouth. Ray grabbed more grass, and another cow came up and lifted her head above the fence, but she couldn’t reach Ray’s hand. She stretched out her long tongue that was speckled with grey and black spots. Ray moved his hand away, and she tried again. He continued his game of keep away and finally held the grass just behind the wire. The cow clamped her mouth over the wire and the green treat he was keeping away from her.

The animal let out an ear-rattling bellow as her eyes rolled inside her head. The ground sounded hollow under her heavy, stamping feet. The other cattle scattered as the creature stumbled backward, except for one slow cud-chewer that she knocked over like a bowling pin. Ray doubled over in laughter, slapping his thighs. When he saw the women and children hurrying toward the cabin, he laughed even harder.

Now Eddie was even more fascinated by the electric fence. For days he watched in case one of the cows touched the wire again. He’d lived his life without electricity and couldn’t understand its workings. No one had explained why the wire jumped like it did, like it was breathing, like it had a heartbeat. The cattle were afraid of the wire. He needed to know why.

The next day Eddie and Gregory stood in the field, and Eddie’s eyes were drawn back to the fence again. The mystery of the wire and why the cattle were so scared of it had grown in his mind so much that he needed to know exactly what made the cow act that way. The harder he tried to understand, the more confused he got. There was only one thing for him to do. If no one could help him, he would find out for himself.

Gregory followed him up to the fence. Cows grazing nearby lifted their heads to see what was going on as Eddie held his hands over the wire. Gregory stepped back. Eddie took a deep breath, and before he could change his mind, grabbed on to the wire with both hands. He felt as though he’d been kicked by a cow. His fingers locked onto the wire.

People on the far side of the field heard the scream. Ray dropped the flat of berries he was carrying.

“Oh God!” Grace yelled. “Hurry!”

Eddie’s body arched backward as he tried to pull away from the wire, but his fingers wouldn’t let go. His head shook from side to side, and his eyes shut tight as he strained and pulled. His voice buzzed in his ears, and he felt a strong thump to his hands.

Then through eyes blurred as if underwater, he saw his mother looking down at him. She patted his cheek with her hand.

“Hey, you.”

Ray and Isabel appeared. Clouds floated behind their upside-down heads. Ray knelt on the ground for a closer look. His breath washing down on Eddie’s face smelled of onions and cigarettes. Grace took Eddie’s hands and turned them over, examining them. Eddie shivered as the effects of the electric shock began to fade away.

“Is he going to be all right?” asked Isabel.

“He’s okay,” said Ray. “He’ll live. What the hell you doing, grabbin’ onto the fence? I thought I told you all about it the other day. What’s the hell’s the matter with you anyway? Are you stupid or something?”

Even though it sounded like a question, Eddie knew it wasn’t.

“Get up now. Let’s go to the house. You can lay on my bed for a while,” Grace said.

“You know, it’s almost like this kid is tryin’ to kill himself,” Ray said.

“What would you say a thing like that for?” Isabel asked.

“Why the hell else would he grab on to the fence? To ’lectrocute himself, that’s why. Now what else is he gonna do, huh? I don’t know what it is about these dumb kids. You tell them one thing, and they go right ahead and do it anyway. Boy, if I’d done something like that, my old pop would’ve beat me with a harness strap,” Ray muttered.

“It was a good thing Ray was there, because he knew what to do,” Grace said to Eddie after he lay down. “When he saw you couldn’t let go of the wire, he knew he couldn’t touch you, so he kicked your hands away. If it was me, I probably would’ve grabbed on to you and got stuck too. Then Isabel and Grandma would have tried to pull me away, and they would be stuck, and all of us would’ve been hanging on to each other and dancing around like we were crazy.”

Late Saturday afternoon the farm hands turned off the tractors and stacked the picking baskets, flats, and buckets in the sheds. Ray, Isabel, Grace, and all the pickers walked back to their cabins smiling and laughing. After working hard all week, Sunday would be a welcome day of rest.