Losing Aislen

Havermouth, Five Years Before

As dawn pinked the sky, Cameron scuffed the toe of his shoe through the dust that was all that remained of the grass where cows had been killed. Now that he knew what caused these patches, whenever he was by the river, his eyes were peeled for them, and he was surprised by how many there were – patches where nothing seemed to grow, which he’d always accepted as just being randomly barren spots because he’d grown up with their occurrence.

“Don’t play in the dust,” Jules reprimanded as he returned to the Ute.

“Why?” Cameron wondered. “It’s just dirt, dad.”

“It’s still dead. I don’t trust it until it grows green again.”

It made sense that Jules would think that way, Cameron thought stepping away from the patch. Jules' relationship to the land was other level, as Jules’ father and grandfather had been before him. Cameron loved the farm. He loved and respected the land, the river house, and the work. He couldn’t imagine doing anything else with his life, but h