The Story of Per and Lilly (née Christensen) Falkenberg-Andersen
Seeding
Per was seeding and Lilly was supplying him with seed from the grain truck. Then she saw a black cloud approaching and got ready to drive the uncovered truck into the quonset, so the grain wouldn't get wet.
Per saw her head for home. Then, to his horror, he saw the front of the truck box going up. The hoist must have malfunctioned. Lilly hadn't noticed that grain was spilling all over the ground as she drove away. Even worse, the quonset doors were too low for the raised box to pass through. If Lilly didn't stop, both truck and quonset would be damaged and Lilly might be hurt.
Then the rain started. It was a real downpour. Per ran to catch up before Lilly reached the quonset. It was raining too hard to see where she was.
He heard something, then saw her. The truck door was open and she was calling him. The truck was stuck deep in the muddy field. Relieved, Per chuckled. It reminded him of that time he'd accidentally parked in the slough.
Lilly got out of the truck. They held hands as they walked home. They were soaking wet but oblivious to the downpour, joking and laughing like young lovers.
It was three days before they were able to pull the truck out.
Harvesting
They were harvesting barley. Lilly was on the combine while Per ate his lunch. Suddenly the combine stopped. It was plugged with straw. Per spent a long time removing the straw. It made a big pile in the field.
Lilly teased him: If only we were younger, we'd have fun playing in all this straw. But Per was not amused. Barley has very sharp awns that cause unbearable itching. Play in that straw? He couldn't think of anything worse.
Adapted from the 2007 Heritage Book,with permission from the Federation of Danish Associations in Canada
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