I drove over to Charlie’s Truck Stop this past week to fill up with gas and to get a package of sliced cheese and a few other things. The weather has been nice, though we did get some rain Monday night. Early flowers are adding color to everyone’s front yard. Though Winter has not been all that miserable this year, it is always nice to see the promise of Spring. I pulled up in front of the new gas pumps at Charlie’s and Jake came out with a big grin on his chin. He asked if I wanted the tank filled and I told him I did. It always makes Jake happy when you tell him to fill ‘er up. I got out of the car and listened as Jake rattled on about the nice weather. Jake doesn’t think it will be long before he will retire the pot belly stove inside for another summer. He has already had the window fan on to bring some fresh air into the store.

I stood making the appropriate noises to go along with Jake’s monologue. It was a nice day to be alive and I was just enjoying the weather. The new flowers were blooming in Jake’s yard across the road. Half a dozen cows were grazing in the pasture beside the house. The last I knew, a Mister Summerfield owned that pasture, but that was some years back. Memory is Mister Summerfield died and now the pasture belongs to someone else. Across the railroad tracks, the road runs on toward my place. Fields on either side of the road are still too wet to plough, but farmers will soon be turning over the earth to plant soy beans and corn. It seemed a perfect picture The only thing wrong was those new gas pumps sitting there in front of the store. They just looked out of place.

There was a silence and I realized Jake had asked a question and I had no idea what he had said. I had been day dreaming in my own private world. I told Jake I hadn’t understood what he had said and asked him to repeat the question. Jake just mumbled I was like his wife, Maureen. He could talk all day and she never paid attention to anything he said. I followed Jake into the store and paid for the gas. Jake went to slice up a package of cheese and I saw Willard Smith with Ronnie Clayton over by the pot belly stove. Willard was motioning me to come join them.

Willard was in high spirits as I walked over. He and Ronnie had been talking about the recent events in Iraq and the Middle East. Willard wanted to know what I had to say about the Bush Administration’s policy in the Middle East now after the recent elections in Iraq and the events in Syria and Lebanon. I had an idea of the direction from which the question was coming and I said I thought the elections were a good sign for the future of Iraq. I also thought some of the other developments in the Middle East held out some promise. Willard was right on me with a comeback. He said a lot of folks who had been in opposition to President Bush’s policy in the Middle East were having to eat their words with recent developments. After the elections in Iraq, other governments in the area are making noises about holding proper elections and the smell of reform is in the air. It appears all the folks who thought President Bush was just a dumb cowboy from Texas didn’t understand the full extent of his master plan.

I told Willard he was probably right. Quite a number of folks seem to have underestimated George W. Bush over the years. Ronnie laughed and told Willard there wasn’t anybody in Soagie that was going to get into a political argument with him. Willard is our professional Republican and he doesn’t care who knows it. Truth is, though I have gone on record in opposition to the Iraq invasion in the past, I am cautiously optimistic about the apparent trend of events in the Middle East. While I expect there will be more bad news from the area, my hope is the prevailing trend will be good for both the United States and also the people who live in the Middle East.

I told Willard I had some work awaiting me at home and I had to get back. Willard wanted to know if I had noticed anything different before I left and, when I couldn’t think of anything, Willard proudly told me he had given up smoking. I congratulated him on his decision and went to pay Jake for the package of cheese and a few other items I had picked up. I dumped the paper bag of groceries in the back seat of the car and drove home. As I pulled into the drive, I saw my front yard was filled with Robins, more Robins than I have ever seen at one time in my whole life. We get Robins around here most of the year, one or two at a time, but this must have been upward of three or four dozen. I just braked my car to a stop and watched. The presence of the car did not bother them. Unlike Starlings that will take off at the approach of anyone, the Robins continued about their business paying no attention to the car or to me.

They were rustling about in the short grass, probably for food, as pretty a sight as you could imagine. At intervals, a few would fly in to join the flock on the ground and another few would fly off to another destination. I sat there for maybe fifteen minutes just watching them as they slowly thinned down with more flying off than came in. When little more than a dozen remained, I eased the car on down the drive and into the car port where I shut the motor off. Then I got out of the car and grabbed my bag of groceries. I shut the door and the noise appeared to startle a few of the Robins remaining, but they weren’t distracted for long and went back to rustling the grass.

I went into the house and put the groceries away. I made a sandwich from a big slice of Jake’s cheese and went back out onto the front porch. I walked out into the yard where a few of the Robins remained and saw there are green shoots of grass coming up through the brown. Spring is going to be here soon.

END