After twenty years, his dream finally came true. Jerry's wife agreed to move into the country. The real country. A place where your nearest neighbor was so far away you couldn't see his house, hear their dog bark, or see them come or go. Yet, in many ways, the neighbors were closer to each other than any next door neighbor in the most crowded city in the world. These are neighbors who could care less if you had four old cars parked on your front lawn, even if they had the best-trimmed lawn in the world. They wouldn't care if you were living with two women, even if they went to church twice a week. These were real country folks.

However, Jerry didn't have four old cars on his lawn, nor did he have two wives. He did have one of the nicest yards in the neighborhood. That was the type of neighborhood Jerry wanted to live in. Jerry always wanted to live somewhere he could walk out into is yard naked, no one could see him, and if they could, they wouldn't care. He had forty acres and the closest neighbor on the north was a wheat field. That was the same on the west side. One his east side was a pasture, with lots of cows. The south side had sugar beets growing.

His driveway was a quarter mile off the public road. Just the way he liked it. The neighbor's pasture was on one side and Jerry's pasture was on the other side. He had his land fenced in so he could put the few livestock he owned in the pasture. He cut what they didn't eat for hay to be used during the winter. Several acres were set aside for the biggest garden anyone had ever seen and some fruit trees. There were no buildings when Jerry and Eleanor moved onto the land. Just trees and grass growing. They bought a twenty foot used trailer house to live until they built a house.

The first year on the farm they built a barn, chicken coup, and a small pig hut. The barn was big enough for a few goats, two beef steers, and a few sheep. He had a milking stall for the goats and a feed room. The chicken coup was split into three sections. On one side he had some turkeys and the other side he had some hens to lay eggs and in the middle he would raise some little chickens every year to butcher. The pig hut was just big enough to hold a few pigs he bought every spring. He would feed them out until they were ready to butcher in the fall.

The first time they met the Sheriff was when he stopped by looking for information regarding someone knocking down the road and railroad crossing signs. A new federal law requires road signs to be closer to the road so they would be easier to be seen by drivers. This caused a problem with some of the bigger farms; most of them don't live in the neighborhoods where they farmed. In order to save time when they moved from field to field they would not make the equipment road ready by breaking the equipment down so it could travel over the roads legally and safe. To travel on a public road the equipment could not legally be over ten feet wide, but they ignored the law and sometimes the equipment was over thirty feet wide.

Occasionally the equipment would hit one of the signs and break it off. It was never reported to the authorities. The previous summer a sign knocked down was on a dangerous curve. With no dangerous curve sign a driver to miss the curve and rolled the car. Luckily, no one was seriously hurt. Most of the time someone would go out late the night before they moved the illegal equipment over the road and would pull out the signs. The Sheriff has a strong suspicion of those causing the problem but they haven't been able to catch anyone yet. The Sheriff told Jerry they suspected some farmers were sending out a crew the night before they worked the fields in an area to remove the signs so the big equipment wouldn't hit the signs. This way it is harder to trace. The Sheriff referred to those farmers that did not live in the area but farmed five to ten times more land than the local farmers as bonanza farmers. A term used many years before the depression to describe some of the farmers who owned whole counties and had sharecroppers to farm their land. One of the railroad companies also reported having a problem with their railroad crossing signs being torn down for the same reason.

Their garden was twice the size of what they needed. Jerry and Eleanor always donated the extra to the local good shelter. Their orchard was fenced in and had a few geese living there that would keep the grass short and not bother the trees. He planted a small vineyard. He dug a root cellar by hand for storage of some of his garden and they would can the rest. He had a friend who would come from town and they would spend a week butchering some of the animals. He would give his friend some of the homemade sausage in exchange for his help.

The second year they built a cob house. At first, the neighbors were skeptical. How could a house built out of clay, sand, and a little straw survive in such a harsh climate? In the winter, the temperature would drop to thirty below and snowing; in the summer it can rain eight inches in one month and sometimes in one week. It had a wood burning stove in the middle. No one thought it would keep the house warn, it was so small. However, it kept the house nice and cozy. It wasn't long until the house had become known as the coziest, warmest and friendliest house in the neighborhood.

Eleanor always had something baked in case someone unexpectedly visited. Her cookies and pies were legendary. If a neighbor would visit in the evening, they not only got some of Eleanor's legendary baking. They also got some of Jerry's homemade wine. He had peach, apple, chokecherry, plum and after his grape vines got a little bigger Chardonnay and Merlot. They not only had become part of the neighborhood; they had become the center of the neighborhood.

By the third year, they both quit their jobs. They had enough money to survive. Their saving would get them through until their pensions would start. By then money wasn't important to them. Life had become what Jerry always wanted and Eleanor came to want just as much, maybe even more. They had become more in love with each other.

The forth year during one warm sunny day Eleanor was out in her garden when a crop duster missed spaying the sugar beets and covered their garden and Eleanor with pesticide. Jerry wasn't home that day. That one field was not owned by a neighbor. One of the bonanza farmers owned and farmed the land. He didn't even live in the same state. Eleanor loved to work in her garden and the dog was always with her. Some of the sheep grazing were also exposed to the spray.

That evening they found the name of the bonanza farmer and called him. He assured them that the spray he used was something different from what they actually did use and that it was completely safe. Three days later most of the garden had either wilted or died off completely. They called the farmer back and he said that it had to be something they were doing because what he used was safe.

Six weeks after the garden died all of the lambs in the pasture next to the garden died. There were eight of them and that accounted for half of the lambs they raised that year. The other lambs survived without any problems. Jerry took one of the lambs in for an autopsy. They found one unknown chemical in the lamb. After some research they found out the herbicide used was not as 'safe' as the farmer claimed. Jerry notified the chemical company and they claimed the lambs died because of his neglect.

Jerry contacted several of the Universities regarding the unknown chemical. One professor, without knowing what pesticide was used immediately identified it just from the chemical found in the lamb. He reluctantly refused to help. He told them that if he tried to help the chemical company would come after him and his department and spend whatever money they needed to destroy him and his department. He said he could not let that happen. At least Jerry could be at satisfied that he was right.

Jerry and Eleanor next turned to the state for help. They were informed that they only had thirty days from the first known occurrence of the spray to notify the state that there was a problem. That time had passed so they had no recourse unless they could prove the farmer lied to them about the dangers of the spray. The farmer as expected said he told the truth. They had no other legal recourse. The state prevented any type of lawsuit against the farmer after those thirty days.

Several weeks later their dog died for no apparent reason. The vet thought it looked like poison but the toxicology test could not find any known poison. The following spring Eleanor came down with leukemia and died by June. Ironically, after the funeral when Jerry was sitting alone on the porch still in shock of what had happened, the same crop duster making the same mistake by spraying their garden, orchard, and pasture. Still in shock of the funeral Jerry sat there and watched with no expression.

The next day Jerry called the farmer and told him what had happened and asked for the name of the crop duster. The farmer, who was aware of Eleanor death, told him he was just being a whiner and he should let him alone. He refused to give him the name of the sprayer. Even though state law required it. The next day Jerry drove around the neighborhood until he spotted the airplane. Those planes only fly for thirty minutes before they have to return to some base to refuel and fill their spray tanks. Jerry observed the plane landing at its base but did not pursue the matter any further at that time.

Jerry did not plant a garden and the weeds took over. About the same time of the death of his wife more of the livestock died. Autopsy of the sheep indicated they died of cancer. Jerry had a hole dug and the livestock were buried. The same crop duster that sprayed his wife flew over the yard again. It had become common practice for crop dusters to fly low over many of the local farmsteads. Federal law did not prevent them from doing this. The law only prevented them from harassing wildlife. Disturbing livestock or people did not count as harassment.

At two AM Jerry hiked the three miles to the hanger where the crop duster kept his plane. Because of the toxic nature of the sprays, the planes can not land at regular airports. Besides, the crop dusters do not like to fly any further than possible because they have to refill the spray frequently. Most of the crop dusters have their own grass landing strip, a building where some of the chemicals are stored, a small gas storage facility, and a landing strip. Most of them do not store their airplanes at the same location because they may have more than one landing area. They store their planes in a hanger, usually where they live. When the crop duster is spraying the area, he will use the closest landing strip. Some of the airfields also have a hanger that houses the airplane. This was one of those airfields.

When Jerry reach the hanger he cut the lock and went inside. The hanger was also used to make minor repairs on the plane. Jerry took the heaviest hammer he could find and broke the windshield. He took a knife, slashed the tires, and cut all of the hoses. He smashed the sparkplugs on the engine. The next morning he was awaken by the Sheriff. Jerry and his wife always awoke early in the day, but since her death, he started to sleep in

The Sheriff knocked on the door. As with everyone else in the community, the Sheriff knew Jerry very well. In addition, he liked him. If fact, the Sheriff attended many summer barbecues held at Jerry and Eleanor. The Sheriff was also aware of the circumstances surrounding Eleanor's death. Jerry answered the door in has bathrobe. It was after ten AM.

"Good morning," the Sheriff said.

Jerry, who had not been in a talkative mood since the death of Eleanor, just grunted. Before Eleanor's death, the Sheriff by now would be in the kitchen having a cup of coffee and eating a cookie. Today Jerry didn't even invite the Sheriff into the house. Jerry leaned against the frame of the door and looked at the Sheriff.

"I hate to ask you this, but George Winford's plane was damaged last night. He insisted that I talk to you. He said you blamed his spraying for Eleanor's death."

"The bastard sprayed my Eleanor and killed her. What should I tell him."

"I don't think there's anyone in neighborhood who doesn't suspect those chemicals caused her leukemia. I personally don't blame you for being upset with him. It's obvious that George doesn't give a shit about what happened to you. I told George it's just not like you to do something like this."

"The way I see it, if he's pissed me off by his spraying he's also bound to piss off others. Not only did he kill Eleanor, but he's still flying over my farm. I know he knows Eleanor died. You would think he would leave me alone. I know he also flies low over other farms too. He's bound to get others mad at him."

"We aren't talking about being mad here," the Sheriff said "We're talking about causing five thousand dollars of damage."

" The bastard killed my wife."

"That's even more of an incentive. I have to ask. Did you do it?"

"If it was me, I would have burned the God-damn plane to the ground, with him in it." Jerry went back inside and slammed the door shut. The Sheriff drove off.

That afternoon Jerry plowed the weeds down in his garden. Cleaned up the orchards and mowed the grass. By that evening his yard looked like it had looked other years. Within the week he purchased some sheep, goats, calves, hogs and chickens to replace those that died. The next week he had some neighbors over, including the Sheriff. He was as pleasant as anyone could expect so close after the death of their spouse. The Sheriff still suspected Jerry of damaging the airplane but he could not prove it. The Sheriff also believed that George Winford was responsible for Eleanor's death and he couldn't prove that either.

Behind the barn and at nighttime Jerry started to dig a cellar. He would only dig in the dark and he always covered up any evidence before daylight. The fresh dug dirt was scattered in his gardens. During the Forth of July weekend, Jerry drove to Montana and through an old friend purchase several hundred M1000 firecrackers. They were equivalent to a quarter stick of dynamite and illegal in all fifty states. One his way back he broke into a grain elevator and helped himself to a thousand pounds of fertilizer.

After he completed his root cellar, he built a pigpen around it. The cellar was completely covered by two feet of dirt that quickly became covered with pig manure. He used the hut to hide the entrance. He started to dig a tunnel to his house. It didn't connect the cellar but it went from the trees to the basement. He would conceal the opening in the house. That way he would be able to either sneak into the house or out of the house without being seen. He put the fertilizer, cherry bombs, some gun power he made, and other substances he would need to make bombs into the cellar. That afternoon when Jerry was sitting on his porch another crop duster flew overhead. The plane had to change course to fly directly overhead. Jerry took his high powered binoculars and found the markings on the plane.

The next evening after he put on a new pair of coveralls, rubber gloves he uses when he pulls a lamb and they reach up to his shoulders, a stocking cap, and an air filter mask, he went down into his cellar and made a bomb. He took a quart jar, filled it up with fertilizer, poured in some diesel fuel, stuck in one M1000, sticking the fuse through a hole in the lid. After making some fuses and testing the burning time he attached enough fuse so it would burn for five minutes. He drove the ten miles and broke into the hanger. He was careful not to leave any signs of forced entry

He took the quart jar that was wrapped in duct tape and taped it behind the tanks used to hold the chemicals He attached the fuse to the manifold of the airplane. The fuse would ignite and blow a hole into the chemical tanks before the plane takes off. Exposing the pilot to the chemicals. On the way home Jerry said to himself, "that will be the last time that bastard flies over my house for a while."

Two days latter the Sheriff knocked on the door, "I hate to ask you, but I would like to search your house and farm." There was another van with federal government license plates with two officers Jerry did not recognize.

"Why?" Jerry asked."

"This is the second plane that was destroyed this month. Someone could have been killed this time and I want to make sure you aren't involved."