Chapter Forty: Out in the Fields

By mid May the weather was warm enough for the crew to be outside in shirts and shorts.  And the farm crew was outside in force.

Broc was out there wearing a thin plaid shirt, jeans, and a cowboy hat.  Patsy had on a cowboy hat with a dirty white t-shirt and jeans.  Birch was wearing a tan sleeveless shirt and tan cargo pants.  Wahina was wearing a similar outfit in burgundy.  

Meanwhile Viv had on dark blue shorts and a sky blue blouse.  Chuck also had a sky blue blouse with an indigo skirt and an azure bandana.  And Luna had on faded gray jeans with a sea green top.  And this rainbow of folks were all out in the fields armed with hoes, rakes, spades, and pitch forks.  They were tilling the soil, planting seeds, and watering, watering, watering.  And they were sweating.

“I’m getting hot out here,” Birch said.

“True,” said Broc.  “The weather is not as hot as my country, but I think it is warm for here.”

“Oh, it gets warmer during the summer,” Luna said.

“There seems to be some stuff coming up over here,” Patsy remarked.

“Yeah,” Viv said.  “We started planting greens the week before you got here.  We’ve switched over what we’re planting in the EcoGreenHouse to zucchini and summer squash.”

“This is the year that we’re going to have plenty of everything,” Luna announced.  “All this stuff is just the beginning.  We’ve got lots of customers for it all, so we gotta just keep planting and harvesting.”

“Well, I’m up for it,” Patsy said.  “I like to work.  That’s what I came here for.”

“Me, too,” Wahina said.  “Farming is what I’m all about.”

“Okay. I’m hot.  I’m taking my shirt off,” Broc said, and did.

“Me, too,” Patsy said, and did.

“Wait a minute,” said Wahina.  She tried to block Birch’s view of the now shirtless Patsy.

“Hey, if he can take off his, I can take off mine,” said Patsy.  “Isn’t this one of those equality communes?”

“That’s what I thought it was,” said Viv as she took off her blouse.

“Um, maybe we should have discussed this in a commune meeting first?” said Luna as she watched Wahina marching Birch away from the fields and back to their tents.

“It might be a little late for that now,” Viv said.

“Hey, I like the view,” Broc said.

“Oh my,” said Luna.

                                                      *

In the field behind the tents, Sal and Dan were working away, setting up the stage.  They were also sweating.

“Looks like they’re taking off their shirts out in the fields,” Sal said, pointing at the farm crew. “I hope you don’t mind me taking off mine.”

“Nothing I haven’t seen before,” Dan said, which was true.

“We only have another week until the concert,” Sal pointed out.  “Do we have all the bands lined up?”

“Far as I know.  Ken got the local band he was talking about and Chuck got the faery band that he said he would.  Now Darren says he knows another faery band and they’re coming too.”

“Well, Nancy got us two bands from Three Sycamores, Uncle Zucchini’s Band and the Krazy Kashas.  I also found a wymyn’s band that plays wymyn’s music at wymyn’s music festivals.  I persuaded them to play here even though we’re not all wymyn.”

“I think Luna is also talking with a band from the town she grew up in.”

“Well, that should give us a lot of music.  I think it’s going to be a whole bunch of fun.”

“I’m sure it will be.  Give me a hand with this plank.”  The two of them struggled to get it into place.

“I hope we get enough folks to come,” Sal said.  “It would be kind of a bummer if we got all these folks to play here and no one came to hear them.”

“Well, we’ll all be here.  At least it will entertain us.”

“That’s true, but I thought the main idea was to raise some money for the farm.”

“I think the main idea is to have fun.”

‘Yeah, I guess the main idea around here is always to have fun--work hard and have fun.”  Sal took a kerchief out of her pocket and wiped her face.  The two of them now were each wearing nothing but shorts, boots, and work gloves.  Their bodies glistened with sweat.

“Nothing wrong with hard work and fun,” Dan said.  The two of them began trying to lift the first of the three arches that would support the cover for the stage.  They didn’t get very far.

“Wait,” Dan said.  He got a long rope and tied it to the top of the arch.  Then he threw the other end up and over a branch of an oak that was behind the stage.

The two of them tugged and tugged at the rope and slowly the arch rose and settled into place.  Both of them collapsed.

“Two more to go,” Dan said.

“Look, here comes Luna,” said Sal.

“She’s still wearing her tank top,” Dan said, “and she doesn’t look happy.”

“I wonder what happened?” said Sal.

“I have a feeling we’re going to find out,” Dan said.