Beneath the new crescent moon the combine harvester sits dark and silent, a huge crouching shadow creature. Sylvie opens the cab and swings herself up into the seat. The dry scent of the grain mingles with the mineral smell of diesel, familiar and comforting. Soon the night will be shaken by the engine’s roar and the waving sea of barley will be pinned in the glare of the lights, but for a moment she savours the quiet, the hush of the wind in the trees that edge the fields and the bark of a deer away beyond the farm.
It is a beginning and an end. A new lunar month; by the time the moon is full, the harvest will be all but over and autumn will be settling in with…
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The Simple Things (Digital) - 1 Issue, October 2022