The sun was really high in the sky when David stopped working in the front yard. He could afford to have someone do it, but he felt like it was his yard, so he should be doing it. These days he didn't get the chance to work it as much as he would like. His business interests kept him pretty busy. As he walked towards the four-wheeler with all of his tools, he thought back to how it all began.
He had inherited the farm from his parents when they died in a plane crash 10 years ago. David had been 22 then and their death flying home to south Georgia from his graduation took some of that heady euphoria away. He already had a job offer lined up in his hometown working for Jenkins Electric prior to his walking across the stage. He was a small town boy at heart so he didn't long for the bright lights of Atlanta. So, armed with his degree in electrical engineering, he wanted to throw himself into the job. He had no siblings and his parents were only children.
Still, the funeral had been well-attended. Country folks like to pay their respects in different ways than city folks and the kitchen table was groaning under the weight of the cakes, pies and fried chicken that the church ladies brought by. Strangely enough, they always seemed to bring their daughters/grand-daughters/nieces by. The men came over, asking him about the farm. It was a pretty big piece of property, 6500 acres in all, with a stream running through the southwest corner. There were a good number of trees on the southern end that had never been harvested. Deer loved to bed down there away from the hunters at night.
That was what most of the men were asking about. A good tract of hunting land was pretty valuable, especially one that consistently produced some outstanding deer. David told them that he would honor his father's leases and to stop by in a week or so for new keys to the gates. That was first on his list of the things he needed to do. He'd share some of those duties with the farm boss. Harold had been a part of the farm for as long as he could remember. His father had served in the Vietnam War with him and they were as close as brothers.