Free The Chardon Chronicles: Season One -- The Harvest Festival by Kevin Kimmich Page A

family built their home, the
rock became a picnic spot. Men, women, children, family pets,
friends and visitors spent countless lazy hours basking in the sun
and feeling connected to the mass of the planet.
     
    When the sun shone on the rock all day, it
became pleasantly warm. Morgan was basking in the sun feeling the
rock press against the back of his head. “This right here is my
favorite spot in the world.” he said.
     
    “Mine too” Tracy answered. She was looking up
at fluffy clouds watching them roll past and thinking nothing in
particular. She turned sideways on the blanket and put her head on
his stomach. She started to doze off. He was watching a falcon
circle high overhead. The bird watched him looking up.
     
    A horn honked over and over. Tracy sat up
with a start, “That’s got to be Uncle Robbie.” she got up and ran
toward the driveway. Morgan followed. She waved at his truck and he
pulled to a stop by them. Perry started barking and she opened the
door. His tail wagged wildly and he danced in a circle around
Tracy, then plowed into Morgan’s legs. Morgan slapped Perry’s side
and gave him a good rub down.
     
    “Hey guys!” Robbie said through the open
window.
     
    “Hey Robbie! how was the drive?” Morgan
asked.
     
    “Not bad. I was going hammer and tongs the
whole way. But too long to do straight through. We stopped
overnight near the Blue Ridge Parkway. Had breakfast in a great
little diner down there with such an awesome view. Let me park this
heap and get out!”
     
    He parked the truck behind the house and
Perry went romping off into the woods. Tracy and Morgan carried his
bags into the house. He opened a beer, “you guys want one? let’s go
for a walk! my ass is flat!”
     
    They followed him out into the yard. He put
his arms akimbo and looked up to the sky. “I’m planning to stay a
while, kiddo. I hope I don’t cramp your style too much! It’s good
to be home.”
     
    “It’s so good to have you back,” she hugged
him.
     
    “It’s good to see you, and you too Morgan,
how’s your family?”
     
    “They’re alright. My mom’s got a new job.
I’ve been working at the garage a lot this past week.”
     
    “Really? after school?”
     
    “Nope. He got suspended for two weeks!” Tracy
laughed. Morgan’s cheeks went a little red.
     
    “Ha! Oh, don’t be embarrassed. I was no
saint! If you’re not getting in trouble, you’re not trying hard
enough.”
     
    “Good way to think about it.”
     
    “Well that’s the ‘lite’ version.” He stopped,
and smiled broadly. “It’s great that you guys are finally
adult- ish . I can tell you stories now that would have
twisted your young pure minds.” He laughed. “Let’s grill some
steaks for dinner. You staying, Morgan?”
     
    “Sure that sounds great.”

Chapter Seven
    “Hey Morgan can you help me?” When Robbie
walked fast, his limp was most noticeable. He went toward the pole
barn. Morgan followed along.
     
    “Can you drive the tractor?” he asked.
     
    “Um, I think so.”
     
    “Let’s slide the doors open.” He shoved his
door open with one arm. The heavy door slid out of the way. Morgan
tugged a little on his side of the door till it started moving then
heavily walked it open.
     
    “Yeah just pull the tractor out there out of
the way. There’s a grill back here, I think.”
     
    Morgan climbed up on the old Ford. It had a
front loader bucket that was down on the floor of the barn. An
excavator arm was on the back. It was a heavy duty piece of farm
equipment. He nervously turned the key, the diesel sputtered a
couple of times then roared to life and settled into a
pop-pop-pop.
     
    Robbie was digging around looking for the
propane tanks for the grill. Morgan took a minute to look at the
levers that controlled the buckets. Four levers for the front end
loader were on the right side of the steering wheel. The labels for
the controls were long faded to smooth shiny metal. Robbie heard
the engine