True Story

The rain of Wednesday brought its blessing and its curse
Thursday dawned clear and sweaty
And would soon become a fence fixing day
Dinner came without a problem
Excepting the fact that it was a few minutes late
Because of that damn slough

We'd had our fill of Runza and ice cream
Headed to the big pasture south
More than once I caught myself staring at
The thunderheads like popcorn in the western sky
While I stood under the shade of the blooming Cottonwoods
Listening to Prairie Creek meander on its way

We had three strands of barbed wire left to stretch on the north end
Down by the creek and the high tension power lines
We tightened the wire to our specifications -
"Yeah, good enough for the girls I go with." -
I was ready to head to the next pasture but
I noticed Grandpa was gone

He was headed down to Prarie Creek to check our wire that crossed the stream
I followed to see what I could see
When something in the knee high grass bit me
I looked down to find a 2x4 attached to my foot
Words I'm not proud of left my mouth as I
Stepped on the board with my left foot to yank the nail out of my right

3 inches to the left or the right and I
Would not be writing these words to you
Remember, the next time you're by a creek that floods
Watch where in the hell you're walking