Nebraska   17
District 37   18

He is five now, right?

Spared   21
Unloading the Chicken Cleanings   22
Burning the Trash   23
Lifting Weights   24
Milking the Cow   25
Schoolyard Fight   26
The Gift   27
The Wedding of Hope and Cliff   28
Tornados   29
No Umbrellas in Nebraska   31
Becoming a Man   32
The Ironing Contest   33
Pressure Cooker   35
Banana Bread   36
Money Lessons   37
Blest Be the Tie That Binds   38
Plows   39
Irrigation 40
The Windmill   41
Sandhill Cranes   42
Wooden Gun   44
Driving Limits   45
Passing Out Tracks in Grand Island   46
New White Pickup   47
The Birds and the Bees   48
If the Boy had Stayed   49
The Flashlight   50
Reminiscing About the Chores   51
Sunrises and Sunsets   52
Thoughts on Attending a January Kundalini Yoga Class   53
Jumping   54
Reading the Sunday New York Times   55

The boy sits in the second pew, beaming

Joseph Gascho and Mary Burkey   59
Jacobina Roth and Joe Gascho   60
Alvin Gascho and Cora Irene Kauffman Garber   51
Grandma Garber   62
Grandmother Gascho   63
Grandpa Gascho   65
Uncle Chris   66
Aunt Katie   67
Uncle Joe   68
Aunt Ida   69
Uncle Harry   70
Preacher Man George R.   72
Delmar   74
Sister Hope   76
Brother-in-Law Cliff   77
Alvin   78
His Father’s Spade   79
Watching Father Shave   80
August Afternoon   81
Dad’s Old Vest   82
Doctor Dad   83
If His Dad Had Played Poker   84
Asking Directions of Father   85
Plowing and Disking   86
The Briefcase   87
Dad and van Gogh   88
Van Gogh in Nebraska   89
To His Mother   80
Mother from Minnesota   90
Crash Diet   91
The Skeleton Key   92
“Soaked in Love and Prayer”   93

A dot on a Nebraska map

Cairo   97
Grand Island   98
Wood River   99
Rural Route 3   100
Land Too Level   101
Who Hit Your Car?   102
Ordnance Plant   103
The Hastings Museum   104
Thoughts on Visiting the Barnes Museum in Philadelphia   105
Wood River Mennonite Church Inventory   106

He knows he will be something else

Volunteer Corn   109
Baptism   110
Photographs   111
Hardening of the Arteries   112
Jungle Doctor   113
Shaking Rugs   114
The Sale Barn   115
Here’s to Herman and Charles   116
Watkins Salve   118
Rounds and Chores   119
How We Die   121
The Plowing Poet   123
Quenching the Spirit   124

Rings of years

Shingling the Barn Roof   127
Silos and TV Towers   128
Seagulls in Nebraska   129
Cottonwood Coffin   130

Credits and Acknowledgments   131
The Author   132