Willie grew up and Willie kept getting in the way. Asked all kinds of silly questions. Sure, the others always wanted to know why the grass is green; but not Willie. Willie asks some silly question about "the relative merits of transistor amplifiers as compared to vacuum tubes." That ain't all the questions he asked. But you get the idea. Willie always acted kind of big for his breeches.
Ma always seemed to encourage him too. Keeps saying Willie ain't my son. I know she's kidding, of course. I reckon she means sort of like, in spirit he ain't my son. In that respect, I agree with her. Willie sure ain't my son. Some of the kids titter when Ma says that. Especially Ellie, or was it Sue? We had another one of those "mess of illusionations" about that time. Sue kept talking about funny looking men, with funny looking heads, wearing funny looking clothes. She said they jumped out of a coffee saucer or something like that. Just a baby, you know, with crazy notions. I never do pay any attention to these crazy ideas the kids bring up. I once read a book or something, or maybe someone told me, kids always see things that aren't there. Just humor them and don't say nothing, so I don't say nothing.
We had a couple more kids after Willie. Three I think it was. All nice strong babies. I remember once Willie asked where they came from. That was the only near normal question Willie ever asked. He found out quick enough without any help from me. Willie was like that. He found out all kinds of goofy things from Lord only knows where. Even kept telling me that it didn't matter at all what time of moon I planted the crops. Just a punk kid too big for his breeches. Been farming all my life and he's telling me.
To get back to the facts, we asked the folks around here if any of them had noticed the whereabouts of Willie. Someone said they'd seen him in the cornfield near the Weston farm. At least, what used to be the Weston farm. The same night Willie disappeared someone or something rooted and burned his whole corn patch.
On the whole most people were too interested in the lights and noises they were seeing and hearing to pay any attention to Willie's getting lost. Ma missed Willie at first. He used to keep her company quite a bit. He was too scrawny to do outside work, so he used to help Ma in the house. But soon even Ma got used to the idea. Now she don't mention him no more.
Don't know why I'm telling you this. Maybe it's because you're new around here and I thought you might be interested.
Hey Ma! How about a fresh pot of coffee? This one's about gone.
About Willie now, it might be the time of year that makes me think about him. It's harvest time you know. The time Willie disappeared. Hey Ma, tell those kids to cut the noise out there. Can't hear myself think. Now where were we? Come to think of it, the kids are all in bed by now. Hard day harvesting.
Maybe I'd better check on the noise. Want to come along? Watch your head as you go out. The stoop is kind of low. I always bang my head if I don't stop to think about it.