Summer Summary

Summer on the farm is a time of hard work, Eldon explains. He himself is excused from much of the hardest labor because of his age and also because he has been left in somewhat fragile health after a severe childhood illness. Wayne is older and stronger, and at an age where he is expected to work on the farm when he is not at school. Eldon is still young enough to be taken along in the family's old Ford truck to town with his father when he takes his plowshares to the blacksmith for sharpening. On these trips, Eldon is given a nickel to spend on candy and although he is supposed to keep some to share with his brother, he often does not.

Plowing is the only time Eldon's father uses a tractor. He spends long days slowly plowing, with Eldon's...