One Summer Day

Lacy's Mama had always told her to stay away from the field workers when they came to pull cotton. Every summer, since Lacy had been old enough to walk, her mama had warned her, her voice rough and warm in the heat of the old kitchen.  They ain't like the house help, she said.  They's crude, and they's dirty, and they's got no manners.   Lacy could still smell the aroma of the biscuits just pulled from the oven, even though her Mama was long gone.

Lacy didn't have cotton these days, but she did have hedges, a couple of trees that needed pruning, and an absentee husband disinclined toward yard work.  Lacy had found a solution to her problem; she had hired a lawn service.  The man, John, had shown up promptly at seven.

Lacy had spent the last two hours in the kitchen, watching from the window and thinking.  A  straw cowboy hat kept his face in shadow, but a strong jaw kept drawing her eye. He had removed his shirt finally, just outside her window, pouring water over his head and upper body.   Lacy watched those enticing droplets of water roll down a body chiseled by hard work, and her thinking was done. She only stepped away from the window long enough to make a pitcher of iced tea and set two glasses on the table.

Her Mama always told her to stay away from the field hands.  But Lacy thought that maybe a little dirt was just what she needed.





Have fun with the prompt and enjoy your week!





The prompt is the third definition of "crude".

3: marked by the primitive, gross, or elemental or by uncultivated simplicity or vulgarity - See more at: http://www.trifectawritingchallenge.com/#sthash.cRUdx2Xt.d

3: marked by the primitive, gross, or elemental or by uncultivated simplicity or vulgarity - See more at: http://www.trifectawritingchallenge.com/#sthash.cRUdx2Xt.dpuf