A Tale of Gene

On Wednesday at about 3pm a nice white truck pulled into our driveway. I heard it, but waited for someone to come to the door, but no one did and about 10 minutes later it left. And then I heard someone outside. Thinking this was weird I opened the door to see who it was. And there was the epitome of an old farmer -- straw hat, crooked teeth, talks to loud and you can hardly understand him, he has a bad left and he can't hardly walk straight, but he is determined to farm. He wore blue coveralls with a western shirt over top. I found a picture that is a likeness of him, and I really mean this more than you think.


He introduced himself as Gene. Gene is the former owner of our place. The next thing he did was ask me, "Why are all my flowers dead? Didn't you water them!" It's the middle of November, I really hope he didn't think they would be alive even if I did water them! He told me he was here to get his tractor and all the other stuff he left behind....and I mean every fence post he can pull out and every bucket, piece of plastic, every nail and every plant he could get a start from him. I left Gene to his gathering and digging.

So, I text Michael that Gene has arrived. We were a little worried about him. Michael has settled himself into our place and Gene has a reputation for being a scrounge. He used old bath tubes for watering troughs, old pots from buckets, and well, you get the picture. We didn't really want any of our stuff to go MIA by accident. I've heard so many stories, I was almost afraid of the old man.

Twenty minutes later... Gene knocks on the back door and walks in and announces "I'm going to use your bathroom!" He stumbles in and swears.  I text Michael and he decided to come home from work for a bit. Gene comes out and wants to talk to me (and it smelled) He says he wants his 'wagon' that was behind our pigeons. Thankful he didn't just decide to let them go. And he needed help deciding what was his. Five minutes later, he came back in asking me when Michael was going to be there.  And he wanted to use the phone, but as he noticed, we don't have a phone on the wall.  So, I let him use my cell phone, which he could not dial or turn on.  And he couldn't hear real well either, so he's standing there, shouting into the phone, so Landen cries and then he really can't hear.  

Michael came home and helped him get the wagon and a few other things. Gene was pretty ornery. He told Michael he didn't know when he was leaving but sometime in the next few days. When Michael was done helping Gene he came in and I was a little scared to be left with him. Landen and I decided to go to work with Michael for the rest of the day. We locked the doors and left him to his gathering and digging. 

On the way out Troy pulled in to feed his pigeons.  We called him and told him there was a crazy old man running around, and we knew it. We told him to try and not get him mad.  Troy told Gene he was Michael's brother. Funny enough, Gene believed him. 

When we returned, Gene was gone. (thankfully) But not to be outdone; he returned on Thursday at about 10am.   I had prayed that if Gene was coming back, he would be in a good mood and my prayers were answered.  He decided to call me Sweetie, I think because he didn't know my name.  He shared his cookies and said he would leave me a few flowers because pretty girls like flowers. Needless to say I spent most of the days making phone calls for Gene,  attempting to help him, telling him what was ours, getting him water and letting him use the bathroom.  Yes, I made plenty of phone calls for him.  They sound something like this:

"Hello, is Dave there? Great, Dave, I'm calling for Gene and he wants you to know that his running a little late so why don't you come by at 3:30 instead"
Dave: "I can't. I have another appointment then."
to Gene: "He can't because he has an appointment."
Gene: "Well, that won't work. Ask him what time he can come then."
to Dave: Gene wants to know what time you can come if you can come by later.
Dave: Tell him I'll be by at 4.

You think this is funny, but it's true.  And funny enough, no one seemed at all surprised I was calling for him.  Then, people starting calling Gene on my cell phone. 

When Gene is not alone wondering around, it takes a lot of people to help him. They had a party and didn't invite us -- there was a truck with a trailer loading cows, our landlord, 2 guys from Robert Allen Farm Supply, and the propane guy. Later, I went to take Michael lunch and there was a Semi, land rover, the bishop's work truck and and 2 tractors in the way.

My mother told me I was too patient.  My dad said I did the right thing.  Michael agreed, because the last thing I think we wanted was a mad old man running around the yard. 

Needless to say.... I am very glad that Gene got the semi loaded and left Thursday.