With my new technique, I was able to finish the scan of the surrounding areas my late-afternoon. As I made my way back to the campsite, I saw a farmhouse along the road with a For Sale sign out in front. Curious, I brought the ATV to a stop out front and walked up the long front yard path leading to a screened in porch. Past the two-story house, I could see a barn and fields that seemed to my untrained eye ready to harvest. From the road, the house had looked to be well maintained, but as I drew nearer, I could see signs of recent neglect. The paint on the porch railings was starting to peel and the weeds had begun invading the flower patch next to the porch. Nothing that couldn’t be fixed with a little bit of work. The owners had lovingly cared for the place and now they were leaving. I wondered why.
As I reached the porch steps, I saw a little girl, around 5 years old, watching me from the front door. The sundress she was wearing was bright red, with little white flowers, maybe tulips, all over, and her light brown hair was a little messy, probably from running around. I waved to her and called out, “Hi!”. She didn’t wave back or say hi. Instead, she called out, “Momma! Someone’s here.” and ran inside.
Since I had already been announced, I stayed where I was and waited for ‘Momma’ to come out. Less than a minute later, Momma emerged from the front door and greeted me. She looked like a much bigger version of her daughter, with light brown hair that was not messy, and wearing a red sundress that matched her daughter’s. Momma was no frail waif. Momma was at least 5’10” and looked like she could match any of the farmhands that must work for her. A quick scan to verify what I strongly suspected also showed that Momma was five months pregnant with a healthy-looking boy.
Before she could ask me my business, I quickly introduced myself. “Good afternoon. My name is Abby and I was just doing some surveying work on the neighboring property to the west. I saw the For-Sale sign and thought that I’d stop to see the place.”
“It’s nice to meet you, Abby. I’m Emily. Seeing as how you’re the first person to ask to see the place in months, I’ll be happy to show your around.” Emily came down the steps and we shook hands. She moved more easily than I expected of a woman five months pregnant, but I guessed that her larger frame, combined with her not carrying too big, made the job of hauling around a baby much easier than it would on someone smaller.
The little girl, whom her mother introduced as Emma, joined us for a tour of the various barns and sheds on the property and for a survey of the crops in the field. Emily was a no-nonsense woman and the tour only took about fifteen minutes, after which we make our way back to the farmhouse for a room by room tour. With the exception of the family room, where Emma had been playing with her toys, the house was extremely neat. Overall, I was very impressed with Emily’s organizational skills and her ability to manage both the business and the house in such an orderly fashion.
Emily ended the tour in the kitchen and offered me for coffee. I accepted a cold glass of water instead and we sat down at her table and talked.
“Abby, I’m not one to pry much, but you seem a little young to be a surveyor. I met a few of the ones that were here over the past few months surveying the old Dunham property, and you’re by far the youngest one I’ve seen.”
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“Pry away Emily. I don’t mind. I’m not officially a surveyor and I’m going to be a Senior in high school this fall, so your observations are bang on. I know the owner of the land personally, and he thinks that my opinion on the land as a potential mine would be useful, so he asked me to take a look. He was sending his grandson anyways and I’m a last-minute addition.”
“I’d like to say that what you said makes sense, but it really doesn’t. If you’re not a surveyor, how can you form an opinion on the land that will be of help?”, Emily asked.
“I don’t know how or why, but I can get a sense of the rocks and minerals in the land around me. He’s not looking for hard numbers, just my opinion based on my land sense.”
“I’ve never heard of that, but it’s not my money and he’s welcome to do what he wants with his.” Emily was obviously skeptical, and I appreciated that she didn’t say ‘waste’ in there anywhere.
“What about you, Emily? You’ve got this place running like clockwork. Why are you selling?” If she could be direct, I wasn’t going to tiptoe around the subject.
“Debt. Plain and simple. I’ve got too much of it. Maybe if we’d have started out with a clean slate, we could have managed it, but I took over for my father when he passed, and we’d seen some pretty lean years just prior to that. Daddy borrowed from the bank to get us through but paying off that debt hasn’t been possible. Since Chris, my husband, and I took over the farm, it’s been making good money, but we’ve had invest all of it into new equipment and stock and the rest has gone to paying off the interest on our debt. To help ends meet, Chris had to take a job at the canning factory out on Miller’s Way, but they closed down about a year ago and now he’s over in Little Rock working security while I run the farm. He’s staying out at his brother’s place there and he comes home every few days. We’re making do, but it’s no way to live. Also, with the baby on the way, I’m going to need more help with the farm and that means that Chris will have to come back and we won’t have the extra money to make our payments. I love this place, but Chris and I figured that we’d be better off as a family selling it.”
“Has your farm every been surveyed to see if it has any ores in it? The neighboring land has some. If there’s some on your land, then you’d have another source of revenue or you could sell the land, pay off your debts, and start fresh somewhere else.”
“When old Mr. Durham told us about the iron he found on his property, Daddy had surveyors from a few companies over here and nothing ever came of it. Even if we found some ore today, it would take years until they’d finish surveying it properly, evaluate its worth and start seeing some revenues.”
“Well, I can’t make any promises, but I know someone who might be interested in buying this place. If you’d give me your coordinates, I’ll pass along them along. What’s your asking price?”
Emily and I talked a bit about the value of a land versus the value of a working business and then she walked me out.
“Thank you for the tour, Emily. It was really nice meeting you and Emma. Maybe if I come back this way again, I’ll get to meet Chris and the new little guy.”, I said.
“It was my pleasure. I don’t get to meet new people very often, so it was nice for me too. Please stop by again. I’m sure Chris would like it. As to the little guy, it might be a little gal. We’ve didn’t ask yet.”, Emily said as she patted her slightly bulging stomach.
“It’s a little guy. I guarantee it.”, I replied.
“What makes you so sure? Everyone seems to have a different opinion, based on how I’m carrying or how tired I am or on the glow of my skin.”
“I’m sure because in the same way that I sense that land, I sense that you’re carrying a boy.” I left her at that and made my way back down the drive and to the ATV
Back at the campsite, Mark was waiting for me and I talked him into saving a night of camping and heading home instead. I was finished my survey and there was no point in spending another uncomfortable night outdoors. I really missed my bed.