Free On Wings of the Morning by Dan Verner Page A

Would you like to come in?”
    “I’d better get going. Cows don’t go to prom so they’ll be up at the usual time. Thanks for going with me this evening.”
    “It was wonderful,” Betty told him as they got out of the Packard. Otto walked with her to her door. He stuck out his hand.
    “Well, good night,” he said.
    “Oh, Otto,” Betty exclaimed, stood on tiptoe and kissed him on the lips. Otto stood there for a moment.
    “Thank you, Betty.” She laughed, squeezed his arm and slipped in the door. Otto stood there for a moment, remembering the touch of her lips on his. What did that mean? Probably nothing. Just gratitude. He went over to the pickup, started it and drove back through town. The moon shone on newly planted fields, and Otto found himself singing over the noise of the engine.
    Blue moon, you left me standing alone
    Without a dream in my heart
    Without a love of my own…
     
    This was going to be a good summer indeed.

Chapter 10
Good Fences Make Good Neighbors—July, 1938
    “Otto! Kommen Sie! Ve are going to inspect the fence.”
    Otto sighed and turned over in his bed from the book he was reading about a new bomber the Army had developed. It had four engines and was made by Boeing. The article called it the Flying Fortress because it was so heavily armed. Wouldn’t he love to fly one of those one day? But he would probably never have the chance. He rose heavily from his bed and went into the kitchen. Papa was drinking the last of his coffee.
    There was much that Otto hated about farming, but probably he hated “inspecting” and fixing the fence around their property the most. It meant trailing behind Papa looking for breaks or sags and then mending them. He had to carry the roll of barbed wire, the stretcher bar, a hammer and some staples. He went to the barn and got the equipment, grabbed one of the empty feed bags lying around, put the tools and material into the bag and slung it over his shoulder. The bag was heavy and the day was hot already. They would be out all day with a break for lunch.
    They started with the section next to the house. One part had a staple pulled out of the locust fence post. That was easy to fix. Otto rummaged around in the bag and took out the hammer and a staple. He hammered it home, placing the staple so it secured the length of wire. He dropped the hammer back into the bag, shouldered it again, and followed Hans down the line. Once Papa saw what was wrong with the fence, he kept walking, leaving Otto to run to catch up.
    “Papa, can’t you stop and wait while I do the repair? That way I won’t have to run to catch up with you.”
    “Nein,” Papa said. “Ve must keep moving or ve will not finish. Then the cows will be in the corn and Herr Smith will not be happy with us.” The Smiths had the farm next door and they were not very good neighbors, always complaining about the condition of the fence and any cows that got over. It happened from time to time, and Hans always paid for damages, but it was always an unpleasant situation.
    Otto’s nemesis from high school was the youngest son of the family. He had dropped out his sophomore year and spent his time hanging around the pool hall in town. He had committed a few small burglaries, but the sheriff always released him to his family. He said he would put him in jail the next time. Talk around town was that would be a good idea. Steve was a foul-tempered troublemaker and most people avoided him except for his pool hall cronies. Otto had not seen him since their run-in freshman year. It was just as well.
    Otto and Hans followed the fence line all day, stopping only for lunch when they came around to the back acres where they could walk across the field to the house. Mata and Maria had lunch ready for them, and then they were off again, picking up where they had left off.
    They found a couple of breaks and repaired them and replaced a post that had rotted and broken off. As the sun lowered toward the horizon they