Bob, your description of the prairies – the landscape, the distances, the feel of it, the openness and the loneliness transported me back to my childhood.
The descriptions you mention are key to understanding the story, I think.
Also, There were no flowers when he woke. All he could see were fields with brown straw standing straight up for miles and miles alternating with fields of low seemingly frozen grass. He would learn about the alternating fields soon – learn new words like “summer fallow,” “winter wheat,” “rye,” “barley,” and learn the names of a dozen weeds that competed for the carefully preserved water in the soil. He knew he would not understand this new place until he learned the words. Once in awhile he could see buildings. There would be a house, a barn, a garage and some other rectangular wooden buildings. He saw cows standing around by the barns, and once he saw a horse. He didn’t see any people but he knew that they were there. The barbed wire fence stretched along the highway wherever they went. It had three wires hanging on wooden fence posts and followed the highway on both sides. Sometimes there would be tumbleweeds caught in the wires. That passage speaks to me.
And these two:
“Well, thanks for bringing my new student, Mr. Foltmer, and I will drop him off at the other end of the hypotenuse on my way home. I have to get started with lessons now. Goodbye.”
“I don’t have an address, but I live near an Oasis,” he thought.
Episyllogism 
Bob, your description of the prairies – the landscape, the distances, the feel of it, the openness and the loneliness transported me back to my childhood.
Thank you.
C.
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Carol, have you read “Billy”?
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You are welcome!!
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The descriptions you mention are key to understanding the story, I think.
Also, There were no flowers when he woke. All he could see were fields with brown straw standing straight up for miles and miles alternating with fields of low seemingly frozen grass. He would learn about the alternating fields soon – learn new words like “summer fallow,” “winter wheat,” “rye,” “barley,” and learn the names of a dozen weeds that competed for the carefully preserved water in the soil. He knew he would not understand this new place until he learned the words. Once in awhile he could see buildings. There would be a house, a barn, a garage and some other rectangular wooden buildings. He saw cows standing around by the barns, and once he saw a horse. He didn’t see any people but he knew that they were there. The barbed wire fence stretched along the highway wherever they went. It had three wires hanging on wooden fence posts and followed the highway on both sides. Sometimes there would be tumbleweeds caught in the wires. That passage speaks to me.
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And these two:
“Well, thanks for bringing my new student, Mr. Foltmer, and I will drop him off at the other end of the hypotenuse on my way home. I have to get started with lessons now. Goodbye.”
“I don’t have an address, but I live near an Oasis,” he thought.
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“I don’t have an address, but I live near an Oasis,” he thought. – that is a great line!
All in all a very good story.
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Thanks! Glad you like it . . .
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