September Fair by Jess Lourey Page B

and crammed my eyes shut before I could read the short message. I’m normally a “rip-the-band-aid-off-quick” sort of gal, but I guess I didn’t want to find out Johnny had once and for all realized what a loser I am. Sigh. Enough. Get it over with. I opened one eye, and then the other:
    I’m sorry about last night. I shouldn’t have rushed things like that. It was good to see you.
    Johnny
    The hammering in my ears receded. I looked around to make sure I wasn’t being filmed for some prank show, but only saw families in the Ag-Hort eating apples, sniffing flowers, and giving Henry a wide berth. A little smile tugged at my mouth.
    Johnny was sticking with me.
    I didn’t want to think what that meant, so I began typing my coverage of Henry’s book release:
    Local Author Takes His Wares to the State Fair
    Battle Lake native Henry Sunder launched his latest nonfiction book on the fourth day of the Minnesota State Fair. The book, Entrails, Ears, and Bones, Oh My! How to Use the Whole Animal, is the third installment in the Don’t Get Left Behind series. The first two, Tracking for Dummies and Putting Meat By: How to Make One Day’s Hunt Last through the Winter , sold so well that Sunder was invited to the State Fair to celebrate the publication of the third.
    Sunder is a Minnesota treasure who loves and respects the land he’s grown up on. He can track a deer for miles over dry ground, catch fish with his hands, and make camp in a snowstorm. He’s a throwback to the pioneer days, when people didn’t own what they didn’t need. When asked why he prefers his frontier lifestyle, Sunder said, “Because anything else ain’t living.”
    His launch party was well attended. Sunder plans to use the money he makes off of his most recent book to buy replacement parts for his windmill and a new crossbow for his wife. He said he also promised his children, Hunter and Gathy, a new set of picture books. He’s currently at work writing his fourth nonfiction book, tentatively titled, Puff It, Stuff It, or Make a Muff of It: 101 Uses for Prairie Grass.
    I was satisfied with the article, which I sent immediately. I wasn’t normally a fan of hunters, having found them to be a monosyllabic, selfish bunch in general, but I could admire a person who lived in rhythm with his world. I punched the “send” button and while I was online, began to search for information on Milkfed Mary, 1977, the year Janice had said she’d won the first runner-up title.
    The Midwest Milk Organization kept a pretty schnazzy website and had a file for each of the Milkfed Mary pageants. Unfortunately, the files consisted of a brief press release and were entirely focused on the queen. Her runners-up didn’t get so much as a mention. Shelby Spoczkowski had been the winner in 1977, and the only two things I could definitively say about her after viewing the article were that she didn’t like facial hair—despite a head full of curly dark tresses, she was completely eyebrow-free—and mozzarella cheese was her favorite dairy product.
    I was just about to e-mail myself a copy of the 1977 Milkfed Mary press release for later perusal when the cell phone Ron had forced on me jangled in my purse. A passing mother held her children tighter at the sound of Barry White’s voice, and I made a mental note to change the sex-drenched ring tone. “Hello?”
    “James. Ron Sims. You interviewed Henry.” It was a statement of fact, not a question.
    “Were you just sitting by your computer waiting for the article to land on your lap?”
    “Yes. I got the recipe article yesterday and realized you were sending me one a day to make it look like you were actually working.”
    “You’re a putz.”
    He didn’t respond. “What else did you uncover on Ashley Pederson?”
    “I don’t have anything new. The other contestants are staying at a hotel, so I have to wait until they return to the fair tomorrow to interview them. I’m trying to track down the sculptor, but