For three days, the tractor was dead. Ocher drips of iron oxide rust fell from the chassis. The tractor was left in the barn for eventual scrap; a team of men rolled the massive doorway shut.
After three days, the men returned to the barn to find it empty. Though surely dead, with slipped chains, flat tires, and out of fuel, the men found the tractor in a field.
No woman had ever driven the tractor. Yes, some said they had seen a troublesome thing with her hands upon the wheel — Mary, Maggie’s kid from down the lane — but such blasphemers have always had a political agenda.
The resurrected tractor is no longer used for hauling, plowing, or cultivation. This tractor rests idle until harvest, time to separate the wheat from the chaff.
EXEGESIS
Frank Brown Cloud 