The Lost Roof

by Doug Washburn

Living on a Midwestern farm means I have plenty of room to roam around. Children like that. It’s great to watch our crops sprout up each year and to see our animals fattening. We have sheep, chickens, and dairy cows. I’ve got to tell you about the farm so you’ll understand about the barn roof getting lost.

The sheep graze in one of our small fields. We have open pasture for the cattle. Still, if you look hard, you’ll see a pair of goats out there, too—grumpy old Nanny and young Billy!

Trees grow around our pasture, mostly oak, hickory, elm, and a few birch. When the ol’ wind blows, we’re glad we’ve got those trees between the house and the open pasture.

We’ve got cottonwoods on both sides of the creek. It runs south next to the pasture. And it’s the best creek in the world for catching tadpoles and crawfish!

The crops take up most of Dad’s time. There are fields of corn and oats and soybeans. When school’s out, I help Dad before I get to my homework. It’s hard work sometimes, but it’s putting muscles on me, Dad says. He’s right too! My brother used to help a lot till he went away to college. It’s too far for him to come home much.

Mom looks after the chickens. Their wings are clipped so they can’t fly over their wire fence. That’s only fair, because Mom can’t fly either. But when a hen does get out in the yard, I’m the one who has to catch her. I have to run like crazy.

My grandpa Washburn put up the farm buildings. They’re still as good as ever, Dad says, but they need to be painted and have some repairs done. So Dad hired a man to do that.

He came last week and made the repairs to the house and the shed. Then he painted them red and trimmed the windows and doors in white. They looked brand-new!

“Goin’ mushroom hunting tomorrow!” he told us on Thursday. “Be back next week to do the barn!” And he whistled while he was getting into his blue truck.

Dad and me, we looked at the barn after he’d left. It sure looked old and worn out. We both started to say the same thing. “Be glad when it’s fixed up too!”

The rooms of our farmhouse are all large and sunny. But everyone’s favorite place is the kitchen. It’s friendly and always smells good. If I’m home, I find reasons to hang around the door when Mom’s baking.

I get up early every morning to bring the cows into the barn to be milked. I don’t mind doing it though. And I fetch the cows again after school. Old Bessy’s my favorite, but I don’t walk too close to her. She thinks it’s fun to swat people with her tail. And if her tail catches your ear, it stings worse than a bee!

Then we have Bobby, the farm watchdog. He goes everywhere. And we rely on him to let us know about strangers and anything that seems to be wrong.

Missy and Snooper are the farm cats. They spend most of their time out hunting for rats and mice. They’re half wild and treat Bobby kind of mean. But that doesn’t seem to bother him. He gets along.

I’ve got to tell you now what happened Friday afternoon, the day after the painter left. I jumped down from the school bus out in the road and ran on home, same as always. When I opened the kitchen door, Mom and Dad were there. Now, Dad doesn’t come to the house between lunch and dinnertime. He stays out in the fields or in the barn working at something or other.

“Hi, Dad!” I said. And I know I sounded surprised.

He mussed up my hair and asked me about school.

“It was OK. What’s wrong? Whatcha doin’ in the house?” I asked.

“Your mother sent Bobby to get me. She had some news.”

“What kind?”

“Guess she had that TV on, and they came out with a bulletin. There’s a tornado watch for our area.”

I groaned. “I hope we don’t get one. They bother my stomach,” I said.

And they do too. We’d only had a couple of them that I could remember, and this was just a watch. Maybe nothing would come of it.

When we went to bed, a tornado had been sighted southwest of us. My stomach started getting jiggly. Tornadoes are hard to figure out.

About 3 o’clock in the morning, something woke me up. I sat straight up in bed. Thunder was rumbling off in the distance, but what I heard again wasn’t thunder. It sounded like a freight train roaring through! The rain was getting the house now. Then there was another noise. CRAAACK!

I jumped out of bed and ran to the window. I tried to see out through the curtains, but it was so dark! I listened hard. RREEETCCH!

“That’s the barn!” I yelled. “I’ve got to tell Dad!”

I ran toward Mom and Dad’s room; then I saw a light on downstairs.

I called down. “What’s happening?”

“We lost the barn roof!” Dad called back. “But I can’t see much. We’ll have to wait till the sun comes up.”

I was disappointed but went back to bed. Next time I woke up, it was nearly sunrise. I looked out the window again.

“Wow! The roof is gone!” I couldn’t believe it. “And the hay too, I bet!”

It wasn’t raining any more, but there were still dark clouds over the farm. It took only two minutes for me to get dressed. I got to the kitchen just as Dad trudged in.

Was he ever tired! He’d done all the chores himself this morning. He’d had to look for nearly an hour in the dark before he’d even found the cows. And Old Nanny had butted him while he was out looking! Mom almost laughed when he said that. The cows had acted nervous while he was trying to milk them. They didn’t like the barn, or what was left of it. And Old Bessy had swatted him on the ear with her tail. Mom did laugh at that report, but I thought maybe I’d better not.

No one said much while we ate breakfast. Mom had made biscuits, hash browns, and fried eggs. There was a pitcher of fresh milk too. It was so quiet; I couldn’t stand it any more. So I asked Dad, “Where is the roof, anyhow?”

Dad shook his head. “I don’t know, Son. Wherever the wind took it. Could be most anywhere. On top of city hall or over in the hollow.”

I thought about that while we finished breakfast. Mom didn’t ask me to help with the dishes, so I went outside to explore. There was hay scattered all over the place and some pieces of wood and rusted nails. When I suddenly found that roof, I nearly flew back to the house.

“Mom! Dad! Come quick!” I didn’t want them to know I was trying not to laugh. They came out to see what I was so upset about and followed me. When they saw where I was pointing, they broke out laughing. Mom didn’t even fuss about the rain soaking her.

“What are we going to do about it, Dad?” I asked.

“I don’t know, Son! I don’t know!” And he kept on chuckling.

The wind had dropped that old barn roof into the tops of the oak and hickory trees in the pasture. Under it were the sheep, the cows, and the goats, and dozens of wild birds! I’d been down there and seen crows, starlings, meadowlarks, finches, and even a pheasant.

“There’s Missy and Snooper!” said Mom. “And just look at Bobby run under there to stay dry!”

Dad grinned and said, “You know, Mother—animals are smart. Why don’t we just leave the roof there?”

And that’s what we did. We’d have to build a new barn anyway. But it was great to know that old roof was still useful somewhere. It reminded me of the song, “A Shelter in the Time of Storm.” God surely watched over us, and even our animals.

When the painter came back Monday morning, he was sure disappointed with what was left of the barn. And Mom told me he kept muttering something about not finding any mushrooms either.

More children's stories | Home | Terms of Use and Disclaimer | Privacy Policy