Blue Shadows Farm: A Novel

63. Offer—November 2000

363 Emma November 2000 It was a cool, clear, fall morning. Frost covered everything, the dead grass, the dead wildflowers, the barn roof. I walked to the mailbox to fetch the mail as I did every day around eleven. One thing about mailman Bill Swenson, you can set your clock by him. Unless the roads are slippery or it’s Christmastime. I flipped open the rusty mailbox door and pulled out a wad of junk mail and a bunch of catalogs. And one pale green envelope. It was a letter from Modern Nature Educators, with my name in big print on the outside—“Ms. Emma Starkweather, R.R. 1, Link Lake, Wisconsin 54987.” I leaned my walking stick against the mailbox and slit open the envelope with my pocketknife—that’s one good thing Pa taught me. Never go anywhere without a knife in your pocket. Never can tell when you’ll need it. I glanced at the signature; it was from Winston Merrifield, Ph.D. And then I began slowly reading. When I finished, I let out my breath and said aloud, “Well, I’ll be danged.” It was an offer for Blue Shadows Farm at nearly twice the going rate for land in this part of 63 Offer Ames County. The land around here had shot up in price since a few big farmers began irrigating and discovered they could grow sweet corn and peas, and cucumbers and green beans, and even bumper crops of field corn. So the land wasn’t cheap. I grabbed my walking stick and hurried up the driveway, clutching the letter in one hand. Once in the kitchen, I immediately went to the phone and rang up Kate. The phone rang two or three times. “This is Kate.” “Kate, this is Emma. I’ve got news.” “Got news for you, too, Emma. But you go first,” Kate said. “Got an offer from Modern Nature Educators,” I blurted out. I couldn’t hide my glee. I read the letter slowly and stopped just before I got to the money part. “They’ve ponied up real good.” “Well, how much did they offer you?” an ever-impatient Kate asked. I told her, and all I heard was a big “Wow.” “Unbelievable,” Kate said. “Absolutely unbelievable. They must really want your farm.” “Sounds that way, doesn’t it,” I said. “But I have some bad news for you.” “Bad news?” “Remember I wanted to find out more about Modern Nature Educators before I wrote a story for the paper?” “Yes, remember you saying that.” “Well, I got glowing reports from all over the place. The company is doing interesting things, and they’re pushing into new areas with computers and virtual learning. But they’ve got a dark side, as well.” “A dark side?” I asked, wondering what Kate had learned. “Well, I called the newspapers in both St. Paul and Omaha and heard back from both this morning. In both cities, MNE has been cited for violating pollution rules.” 364 Offer—November 2000 365 Offer—November 2000 “Pollution rules?” I said, not fully understanding the meaning of what she was saying. “Yeah, pollution rules. They run sizable printing plants, and in both cities they got caught dumping toxic wastewater from their factory—into a nearby lake in one instance and a stream in the other.” “Really” is all I could think to say. “Worse than that, their high-powered lawyers got them off with a few bucks’ fine. A company official was quoted in the St. Paul paper saying, ‘Paying a fine is the cost of doing business these days— with the government wanting to regulate everything we do.’” “Well, blast it all,” I said. “The factories are still going, aren’t they?” “Yeah, they are. But they are on some kind of watch list because of their past behavior.” “Well, blast it all,” I said again. “Do you suppose they see my pond as a place to dump some waste out of the regulators’ sight?” “Don’t know, Emma, but it makes you wonder, doesn’t it.” “Dang it,” I said. “Why does life have to be so complicated? Can’t even sell my farm without a problem developing.” “Just thought you should know,” Kate said. “My story on Modern Educators comes out tomorrow. You’ll wanna read it.” “You bet I will,” I said as we finished our...