Down to the Bear Bone

by C.L. Cobb

About the Author: C.L. Cobb is published in magazines such as American Iron, Outlaw Biker, Woman’s World, and Mystery Weekly Magazine, and she has written nonfiction such as Crime Scene Chemistry for the Armchair Sleuth.

Excerpt

I’m a farm girl, through and through. Loyal, steadfast, and strong. I stand by my family, through thick and thin, even when things go wrong.

Even terribly wrong.

Even terribly, terribly wrong.

Sam glared down from our second story window, but I didn’t care. After forty years of marriage, glares bounced off me like the morning sun.

We’d met at agricultural college, where my parents sent me to learn bookkeeping and accounting—knowledge as necessary to farming as tractors and rain—and to find a husband like Sam who appreciated value over beauty.

But after many wedding toasts, my new husband declared he was city bound and we were moving away from the farm. Thus Samuel became Sam and learned to play golf, but I remained Maggie, committed to raising my family with a love of the land.

After my first son was born, conceived in the exuberance of honeymoon, I erected a shed in our backyard, cleared space for a truck patch, dug a pit for composting, and planted fruit-bearing trees.

Then my second son was born, followed by a third—

And I learned the error of my ways.

Suburban boys want to play soccer, not dig in the dirt. Weeding couldn’t compete with computers, cellphones, and videogames. Sam insisted I fit in with the other mothers, so I wore designer sweats and running shoes to the market. I entertained Sam’s business contacts, attended school functions, and volunteered.

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