Farmer Seral's Luck

Farmer Seral's Luck
Kenword

The sniper sneezed. That’s all that saved private Gordon Seral from death. The bullet went through his shoulder cleanly, nipping a bit of ligament that would never be repaired. He lost the use of his left arm. But his life was spared. When he considered when his luck began. It began in the jungles of the A Shaw Valley, Viet Nam, April 7, 1968. All indications then was that the wound had bled well, but not so much as to cost him his life and the bullet had missed his heart by a good inch and a half. In a Tokyo hospital Gordon read a kind note from his finance’ of two years. She would not be home until Christmas.

Gordon’s luck continued to overflow. He was discharged in July and went home to see his folks. His disability gave him just enough income to live and work on his parent’s farm the rest of his life. He could still drive a tractor. He could take on most of the menial chores that needed doing each day. The Army had taught him to rise early, so his father made Gordon, the official, chicken, hog and cattle feeder. His father entered into semi-retirement sleeping most days until well after 9 a.m.; Gordon grew new muscles everywhere.

Gordon’s left arm regained some strength, but was really just a prop. None-the-less, convinced of his great luck, he decided to return to the saddle and go for a trail ride on his beloved horse Micah. It was a day blazing with a sun so hot that the locusts stirred up by Micah’s hooves roasted in midair before finding their dusty resting place. The heat and the jittery bugs bothered the spirit of the ride. Something just wasn’t quite settled between horse and rider. Perhaps that is why Micah pitched Gordon into the split rail fence. The luck was that Gordon landed on his partially healed left arm, not injuring in the slightest way any of the rest of his robust body. He did, unfortunately, lose the use of the thumb on his left hand after that.

Gordon’s next bit of luck happened on December third after five days of the hardest freeze the Seral farm had ever known. The pond was frozen over and he immediately saw the advantage. A pretty new girl, Gloria Priory, fresh out of nursing school had moved into the valley. It was a good day to keep his promise to take her skating on the pond, now that it had iced over. The day was sunny, twenty degrees, but with no wind. They spent a sweet few minutes together on one nearly completed lap of the pond. It was only Gordon who fell through the ice. The luck was that Gloria was able to scream like a supersonic siren for help so that by the time Gordon was rescued, it was only his left arm that had frozen and at that he only lost the two smallest fingers on his left hand.

Three days before Christmas eve, with not all of his faculties fully intact, Gordon’s finance’ Marcia returned from college. On finding that the love of her life was indeed alright from his harrowing experience on the ice, she couldn’t help but inquire into the nature of his rescue. As it became clear that a new girl in the Valley, a Gloria Priory, had been instrumental in his rescue, she covered well some heated jealous emotions. Gordon’s luck continued to be with him, as Marcia learned that Gloria had been by his bedside ever since that accident to help nurse him through the hyperthermia, pneumonia and a bit of the flu. The revelation of nurse Gloria’s interest in Gordon was too much. Marcia brutally attacked an only slightly recovered finance’ with her purse slamming it repeatedly against his left arm.

The luck for Gordon again was ever present because before Marcia was out the door and down the road, Gloria was at her gallant, handsome, courageous and yes, lucky patient’ s side. They’ve been married 37 years now. They have three kids and seven grandkids. They all hope to have Gordon’s luck.



Word Count: 698
Written for "No Dialogue Contest"