More Startling Field Stories

By Denise Anderson First Published July 7, 1995 Alvin isn't the only one who's seen strange things in his field.“A couple of times I've seen these two old ladies fishing in the creek that runs along my farm,” Carl said.We didn't consider that strange as we discussed Alvin's sighting of the stealth bombers over his corn field.“It probably wouldn't except there's no water in that creek except for the little bit of irrigation runoff from upstream,” Carl explained. “The water is only about an inch deep there, and there are no fish in there.”“You think that's strange,” Mitch Hansen piped up. “One day I was out planting corn and minding my own business. I could see the neighbor working in the next field, but didn't give it much thought until he started driving toward me.”That old boy drove across about 40 rows of newly-planted corn and through a waterway, his planter running the entire time, according to Mitch.“I didn't become alarmed until he drove across the property line and into my field,” he said. “He was headed straight toward me and was planting catty-cornered to my planting. I thought I was a goner, but luckily that old tractor ran out of gas and sputtered to a stop just ahead of me.”That was strange, we agreed, but what on earth was the man doing?“He fell asleep right there on his tractor,” Mitch said. “Of course, he woke up when the tractor stopped, but it was a darn good thing there wasn't a 30-foot cliff there.”The group murmured in agreement.“I can top that,” one of our neighbors, James Monroe said. “I was out harvesting wheat last year when I happened to see a man walking along the road.”That didn't sound very strange to us. We see people walking along the road all the time, either exercising or because they had a flat tire or car trouble.“I thought that too at first and I admit, that wasn't the strange part,” James said. “The strange part was that when I got closer to the road, I could see he was naked.”So there was a naked man walking along the road by James' wheat field. That was a little strange.“A little strange?” James exclaimed. “It was a lot strange. I mean, people just don't walk around the country naked, especially in the middle of July when it's really hot. I thought he had to be a weirdo, or a mass murderer.”Really, I said. If he was a mass murderer and naked to boot, where would he hide his gun, or knife, or whatever a mass murderer would carry?James wasn't thinking that clearly, he claimed. Still, he called his wife on the radio and had her call the sheriff.“The sheriff came out and talked to him, picked him up and took him back to town, but by now I was really curious, so I had my wife call back and find out why he was walking down a country road naked,” he said. “Turns out, he was hitchhiking, but got lost and then got hot.”That's it? He was hot?“That's right,” James said. “He wasn't a weirdo, he was just hot, so he took off all his clothes. I guess the sheriff rounded up his clothes and sent him on his way.”Geez, I hope they gave him some sunscreen before he left.

Dorothy M. Ruhnke

Trial by Fire

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