Rural Arcadia
Chapter 2 Horses and Hackers
As Joan had instructed him, Luke kept a sharp eye out at breakfast. What he saw was a pleasant family gathering, one that was actually more harmonious than those at home. Uncle Jonathan and Aunt Jean worked together to run the farm; they didn't show the differences in temperament and philosophy that sometimes created rifts between his own parents. And since there was only one child, there was no sense of sibling rivalry.
The farmhand, Diana Bauer, was also at the breakfast, and she seemed almost part of the family. She addressed her employers as Jonathan and Jean, and the suggestions she made about the farm were respected and taken.
"Grace says that you're a whiz with computers, Luke," she said. "Maybe you can help Jonathan with his spreadsheet program. The original programmer moved to the city."
"Um, thanks. I'll take a look at it today."
"But this is your vacation, Luke," said Aunt Jean. "You shouldn't have to work."
"It's all right. I enjoy dealing with computers."
They settled on evening as the time for him to look at it, so that the "work" wouldn't interfere with daytime activities. If it wasn't for the central mystery of wondering why there were here, Luke thought this vacation would be quite enjoyable.
As they were clearing off the table after breakfast, Luke and Grace found a moment alone. Grace whispered: "I learned from Diana of a place we can meet at. It's the storage shed out the back door. It's used for winter storage, empty in summer."
"OK." At school they often exchanged endearments in the biology closet, to which Luke had the key because he had volunteered to keep it in order. If Ms. Lischak suspected that he put it to other uses, she hadn't let on yet.
They met there a few minutes later. "We need to talk--" Luke began.
"Let's snog first."
"I don't know if we have time."
"The old five-minute rule, OK?"
Five delightful minutes later, Luke disengaged himself. "I got Joan on the cell last night. She's as puzzled as we are about what the mission is about. But she says to keep our eyes open for some problem. Like, she was riding the bus one day and noticed a young woman who seemed very upset. I turned out that her kid was dying of leukemia. Joan apparently made their last weeks easier."
"What a downer. But we've already met everybody who lives here, and they're all so happy and healthy that I could scream."
Luke shrugged. "That's all she could suggest, to be alert. What's on the agenda for today?"
"Somehow Diana roped me into taking a riding lesson once she finishes morning chores. And I don't even like horses. What's so funny?"
"You seem to be the only person I know who can go on vacation and then do something you don't like."
"Yeah, I'm lucky that way."
"What time did she give?"
"About 9:30."
Luke looked at his watch. "We better get started then."
They hadn't been to the stables before, but Brian had pointed them out to the visitors earlier. Grace and Luke headed in that direction.
"We must be approaching the right spot," Grace said sourly. "I can smell the horse crap from here. And it's not pleasant."
"Conditioned response," commented Luke.
"What?"
"Animal wastes contain a lot of bacteria," Luke said, "plus chemicals harmful to the animal, which is why animals have to get rid of them in the first place. We're conditioned to find them unpleasant, just as we're conditioned to like the smell of nourishing food. But manure is good for plants. I suppose that if plants had noses, they'd say it smelled good."
Grace stared. "Dude, did anybody ever tell you that your thought processes were weird?"
"Yeah, Joan always has."
Before Grace could think of answer, Diana rode around the corner of the stable on an impressive steed. She hopped off on reaching the visitors. "This is Pegasus, my favorite, and the most obedient animal in the stable. Do you know how to mount a horse, Grace?"
"I've seen it done enough in movies in TV. Left foot in the left stirrup, swing the right leg over."
"Good. Try it."
Grace tried. The first couple of times she didn't hop high enough, and her right foot kicked the horse, which didn't seem to notice. The third time, she overcompensated, and described a sort of semicircle in the air. In the end her rear hit the saddle with a resounding smack. Luke was inclined to laugh, but one look at Grace's face implied that she'd kill him if he did.
"OK," said Diana. "Put your right foot in the other stirrup. Now just sit, and get used to the feel of being in the saddle, while I lead you around."
"Is that the standard way people give lessons?" asked Grace.
"Not really. It's my way, though." She took the reins and led the horse and rider away.
Luke, watching them retreat, marveled at the way horse and rider fit together so well, almost like a three-dimensional jigsaw. What a fortunate accident of evolution. Of course, if they hadn't fit so well, mankind might have found a different animal to ride, but what animal fit the bill better than the horse?
About fifty yards away Diana turned around and the group came back. Now Luke could see Grace's face, which had a peculiar expression on it.
Back in front of the stable, Diana led the horse back in the original position. "OK, now try dismounting. Basically it's the mounting process in reverse."
Grace tried it. But in the midst of the action she jerked her foot. The stirrup was no longer supporting her center of gravity, and she lost her balance.
"Grace!" Luke called out. He rushed forward but realized he was nowhere near enough to help.
Diana caught the girl, by some miracle. A second before she had been holding Pegasus's reins, yet somehow she got in the position to break Grace's fall and lower her to ground unhurt.
"Better try that again." She advised. "You know what they say about falling off a horse."
"Yeah, you have to get back on again. But give me a minute to catch my breath."
"OK. I'll go riding for a few minutes."
She hopped on skillfully and galloped off, leaving Luke and Grace to talk. "You certainly looked odd sitting there in the saddle," said Luke. "Penny for your thoughts?"
"There's been a lot of inflation since that expression was invented."
"All right, I'll give you a quarter."
Grace snorted. "Partly, I was embarrassed. Here I am, almost 18 years old, and Diana was leading me like a little girl on a pony ride."
"Well, that matched your equestrian skills, didn't it?"
"Oh, shut up. The other thing -- " Grace looked thoughtful.
"Yes?"
"I've never brought it up before, but I'm not used to being touched. I was in rebellion against my parents for years, so no hugging. No brothers or sisters, no pets. Few friends except Adam, who understood me --"
"You certainly don't have a problem touching me in the biology closet," Luke said, grinning.
"I had to ease into that. Remember the silly 5-minute rule? And that contract? I had to tell myself that I was in control."
"But today you were in contact with a horse's body," said Luke, catching on.
"Right. My legs could feel the body heat, the movement of the muscles as it walked -- I'm not used to that." They heard the sound of hoofbeats and Grace looked to one side. "Diana's coming back for more. Clear out, will you? If I'm going to make an ass of myself, I don't want an audience. Isn't there a computer program that you should be working on?"
"Yeah, OK. He kissed Grace and walked back to the house.
Luke's cousins let him set up the laptop on the kitchen table. The computer program belonged to a world completely different from the stable, all clean, organized, and scentless. Looking though it, Luke was amazed at the complexity: dozens of resources being allocated to dozens of farm products, each with a price tag attached. What had ever led to the "country bumpkin" image of farmers? This was a well-run business.
It took some time before Luke could, so to speak, see the forest without being dazzled by the trees. "It looks like there's been a lot of improvement over the last two months, Uncle Jonathan."
"Yes, I think we can thank Diana for that. She started working here about seven weeks ago, and she's been wonderful. I keep offering to raise her salary and she turns it down."
Luke looked at the figures some more. "I'm puzzled. The 'grain produced' column doesn't match the 'grain sold'".
"Oh. That's because we donate some of our grain to help fight famine in other countries."
Luke looked at the numbers in a new light. "It looks like almost 10 of the total. Tithing?"
"Not precisely. We don't go to church very often. But we feel a debt to Something -- call it the land, or good fortune, or the nation, or the universe. Anyway, donating the grain settles the debt."
Apparently Jonathan Cavalo had the same ambivalent attitude toward religion as did his cousin Helen, Luke's mom. But whereas Helen kept changing her mind toward or against a return to the Church, Uncle Jonathan and Aunt Jean seemed to have found their own compromise.
And they had done it without Luke's help. So why was he here?
"So what's the problem that you wanted me to look at?"
"I want to get the best balance of crops. But the only way I can find it is to run tests over and over, and I'm still not sure I've hit the best combination."
"I'll try to reduce it to a formula, then see if there's a way to maximize it mathematically. If so, I can program it in." It would be helpful, and fun, but rather anticlimactic. It couldn't be the reason that he had been sent down here, and what about Grace? As if thinking her name had conjured her up, Luke spotted his girlfriend out the window, walking toward the farmhouse with an unusually cheerful expression. "Um, do you mind if I put that off until later in the day, Uncle Jonathan?"
"Not at all. I don't want to monopolize your holiday. Besides, we'll be starting lunch in about half an hour."
Luke put away his notes and slipped out the back door, hoping that nobody spotted his eagerness.
As Grace walked up, Luke nodded his head toward the storage shed. Grace rolled her eyes.
"Dude, keep in mind that I've been riding in the summer heat for more than an hour, and I need a good shower to wash off the sweat. Mine and the horse's. But then, you're the one who philosophizes about stinks."
"I won't complain. So did the lesson improve after I stopped jinxing you?"
"Yeah, Diana had the key idea. When riding a horse, don't treat it like a machine that you're driving. Think of it as another mind, which you want to communicate your wishes to. Then it got to be fun. I'm starting to appreciate this vacation, finally."
A moment passed, and -- "I have a depressing thought," said Luke.
"What is it?"
"Maybe God's purpose in sending us here was simply so that we could have enjoy ourselves."
"And that's bad?"
"Yeah. Because it's probably to balance other missions that we're going to get in the future. We may have some real unpleasant tasks ahead."
Grace mulled that over. "Now I'm depressed."
(to be continued)