One of the boys sings out, “Where’s the old man?”

“I left him in the barn, under the hay.

If you want him you can go and dig him out.”

They realized from the way I swobbed my neck

More than was needed, something must be up.

They headed for the barn—I stayed where I was.

They told me afterward: First they forked hay,

A lot of it, out into the barn floor.

Nothing! They listened for him. Not a rustle!

I guess they thought I’d spiked him in the temple