This is the eighteenth part in a series, so if you have not already done so, you might want to read Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV, Part V, Part VI, Part VII, Part VIII, Part IX, Part X, Part XI, Part XII, Part XIII, Part XIV, Part XV, Part XVI, and Part XVII before continuing.
After hanging up with Emily, I decided it was time to head to the grocery store and do some of the much-needed grocery shopping I had promised myself I would do as soon as I got a chance. If Uncle Phil wouldn’t let me pay rent, the least I could do was buy groceries and cook for him once in a while. It seemed he had breakfast figured out, but when was the last time he had a hot dinner that didn’t come out of a box?
Once again, my timing proved fortuitous. As much as I would have loved to take credit for the fact that I was pulling my world-famous lasagna out of the oven just as Uncle Phil was coming in from the fields, the truth was I had gotten lucky.
“I hope you like sausage,” I said as he peeled off his work boots.
“Who doesn’t like sausage” he said.
“Vegetarians and vegans,” I said, since I had a few friends back in the city who were committed to their plant-based diets. “Also, Jews.”
“Well, I don’t fit into any of those categories, so hand it over,” he said.
I tried not to let it show how pleased I was to see his excitement at the meal I had worked so hard on as I handed over the baking dish full of cheese, sausage, and pasta.
As we dug into the meal, I asked about the Mystery of the Fence. “Did you ever get a chance to ask Jedd about your missing cattle?”
“Yeah, it was the weirdest thing. He said he didn’t know anything about the hole in the fence when I told him about it. So, I said, ‘Well, could you just look around and see if you have some extra cattle in your herd,’ he got all defensive. He started yellin’ at me ‘bout how I needed to keep track of my own cattle. And if I lost some of my own herd, it wasn’t his fault. Then he slammed the door in my face.”
I was taken aback. I had always thought Uncle Phil had a cordial relationship with Jedd. “That sounds weird. Have you ever had problems like this with him before?”
“Never. I don’t know what to make of it.”
I thought carefully as I chewed, wanting to be wrong. Finally, having failed to find an alternative, I said, “Do you think you should file a police report?”
“For what? Jedd is right. If I lost some of my cattle, that’s my own problem, isn’t it?”
I waited a long moment before saying, “Unless it wasn’t an accident.”
To be continued…