10/29
Sonnets From Other Lives: Kate

Kate parks her truck outside St. John
Hardware.  She needs new belts for the swather.
The guys inside have not known her that long--
she'd recently moved in with Swenson's daughter
when he took sick, & now they work his farm.
They met in Iraq in the motor pool,
but then some asshole set off an alarm
& they were discharged on  that Don't Ask Don't Tell rule.
There were the usual crude rug-muncher jokes at first,
(those guys make up rude crap 'bout everyone)
but they'll say, Those girls made them old combines work
a whole lot better'n old Swenson ever done.

Kate buys her belts--they talk weather. crops & price.
The consensus at St. John is she's alright.