A Hand to Hold by Kathleen Fuller Page A

with his nieces and nephews. More than once he’d been called on to babysit and had agreed without hesitation, even though some of his friends thought watching children was women’s work. Not that it mattered to him what they thought. He was never one to let other people’s opinions bother him.
    “How many animals do you have besides the cows?” Stephen asked.
    “A few chickens, couple goats, three pigs. Nothing like I had a couple years ago. It’s impossible to keep up with it all.”
    Stephen frowned. Moses owned a great piece of land, and it was plain to him that his farm had been successful at one time. But now everything seemed to be in need of repair or refurbishing, from the barn to the chicken coop. The crops were almost taken over by weeds, and the corn in the field was shorter than it should be by this time. The farm mirrored its owner’s sorrow. The only thing that seemed to be in good shape was the vegetable garden in the backyard.
    The sound of cows lowing filtered through the air. “I should probably check on their feed,” Moses said. “They eat pretty gut during the day, but when they come in tonight they’ll want some grain.”
    “Mind if I come with you?”
    “Suit yourself.” Moses lumbered to the barn.
    Stephen followed. He suspected the cows had plenty of feed. Moses was probably using this as an excuse to get out of going inside. Not that Stephen could blame him. The modest-size farmhouse was teeming with people. He’d rather be out here too.
    When they entered the barn, he saw that the cows’ feed ring was full. The few cows who had stayed inside to avoid the heat stood up and walked over, stopping at the metal fence that kept them penned up in the majority of the barn, their tails slapping at the flies buzzing around them. Slowly they chewed their cud.
    Moses looked the cows over and nodded. He held out his hand to one of the larger brown ones. Her tongue flicked out and licked his palm. “My schwester says I should hire someone to help out part-time, but I don’t know.”
    Stephen reached out and touched the top of another cow’s nose. She jumped back, then tentatively sniffed his fingers. “Hope you don’t mind me saying, but that might be a gut idea.” He glanced at Moses. “That way all the work won’t be on you.”
    Moses rubbed the back of his neck. “Problem is, I can’t afford to pay much. Next to nothing at all. I’m not sure where I’d find someone who’d be willing to work here for practically nothing.”
    Stephen nodded. That was a problem. Then a slow grin suddenly spread on his face. He faced Moses. “I think I know someone.”
    The old man looked up. “Who?”
    “Me.”
    Moses scoffed. “You have a job already. Why would you want to work here?”
    “Why not? I can help you out temporarily until you find someone else. It will have to be after I get off work, so in the evening some time. Maybe a couple times a week.”
    “That’s a fine offer, but I can’t take it.”
    Stephen frowned. “Why?”
    “I don’t want to take advantage of you. I meant it when I said I can’t pay much.”
    “I’ll do it for free.”
    Moses gave him a half-smile. “You don’t have any idea how much work there is on a farm, do you?”
    “I’m not afraid of hard work.”
    Moses tugged on his silvery beard, looking Stephen up and down. “I’m sure you’re not.” He paused, still stroking his beard. “All right. But just until I find someone more permanent. And you won’t do the work for free. I’ll pay you something.” He walked to Stephen and held out his hand. “Deal?”
    Stephen took the old man’s hand and shook it. “Deal. When do you want me to start?”
    “Monday too soon?”
    “Monday it is.”
    For the next hour Moses gave Stephen a small tour of the barn and part of the property, pointing out areas that needed fixing and sprucing up. As the list grew longer and longer, Stephen wondered what he’d gotten himself into. He honestly didn’t mind