The following morning came with the sounds of the birds tweeting through the air. The sun peaking through the window and spreading across the floor. Joedan rolled over and placed his feet on the floor. Standing up, Joedan walked over to the mirror. Joedan wasn't a small guy. The years of hard labor in the fields had been good to Joedan. He was lean and strong. He looked at the small bit of stubble on his chin, "See da, I ain't no boy," he thought to himself.
Joedan grabbed a set of his pants and proceeded to put them on. Throwing on a shirt, he grabbed his boots and sat back on the bed. Tying the left boot, Joedan pondered his life some more. Joedan looked at his hands, rough from the toil of the fields, callous and dry. "Is this all my purpose is? Is this really all I'm meant to do? Be a farmer like my da, and his da before him?" Closing the door to his room, he walked to the steps, bracing himself for, yet another day in the fields.
Joedan headed towards the shed where all the field equipment was stored. Grabbing his shovel and his canteen, Joedan slung the shovel over his shoulder and headed towards the fields. Setting the point of the shovel to the ground, Joedan gave it a solid stomp with his boot and the earth broke loose. Turning the shovel over, he began to work the row. Hours passed as Joedan continued shoveling and turning. The sun was back out again today, blaring down on him. Joedan stopped his shoveling and walked over to the nearby tree and sat down under its shade. Taking his canteen from around his neck, he unscrewed the lid and tipped it back.
As the water was pouring down his throat, he heard a noise. 'What was that?' Joedan thought. A woman's voice cried out. Joedan lowered the canteen and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. Listening further, he heard the sound of struggling. Joedan stood from the tree and tried to determine where the sounds were coming from. Grabbing his shovel, he proceeded to walk around the tree. The neighboring fence was just off to the right, and he could see the shape of what looked like a few people off in the distance. It was a woman on the ground, with two men standing around her. The woman looked in a panic and the two men were attempting to grab her. One man put his hand over her mouth, right as she tried to scream to get him off, while the other was going for her legs.
There was a crumbling old structure off to their right, not but a couple yards. The men proceeded to drag her towards the old building. Joedan hopped the fence but tried his best to stay out of their sight. Crouching down, he continued to watch as the men carried her towards the building. The woman bit the hand of the man holding her and the man yelled out, "Dang it, she bit me." He swatted his hand back, striking the woman on the side of her face and the other man said "Easy brother, we don't wanna hurt her too bad. Keep her face all pretty-like. Switch with me." The "brothers" swapped places and the one that was at her feet covered her mouth and they resumed carrying her towards the building.
Joedan walked as quietly as he could towards the side of the structure, being careful to keep his head down. Standing with his back against the wall, Joedan tried to hear what was happening inside. "You sure, this is the right woman?" one of the brother's said. "Yeah, the boss told us where she would be, and to grab her and wait for him."
"Man, this better be worth it. If it wasn't for all the money, the boss promised us, I'd want nothing to do with this."
"Would you relax? I told you, it's gonna be fine. Better than fine. Just you wait, once we get that money, things are gonna change for us." the other brother said.
Joedan wasn't sure what he should do. From what he overheard, it sounded like these guys were trying to kidnap the woman and ransom some money for her, and from what Joedan had heard it sounded like there wasn't a lot of time before their boss would show up.
Joedan needed a distraction.
Something to separate the brothers so he could deal with them both. If he just walked in there, it might be more than he could handle. Looking around for anything he could use, Joedan noticed a cart with hay strewn about all over it. Moving as quietly as he could, Joedan grabbed the cart and started pulling it away from the building. Luckily, the cart wasn't too noisy and the men inside weren't being quiet themselves. Joedan moved the cart about 20 yards away. "I hope this works." Joedan mumbled to himself. Striking his flint, Joedan created a spark, causing the small piece of thatch to catch fire. Tossing the lit piece of thatch onto the cart, he quietly sauntered back to the shed, keeping himself low. Placing his back to the shed, he watched as the cart started to smoke and smolder. "Any minute now. I've only got one chance at this." Joedan pressed his back to the wall and listened inward.
"Do you smell something?" One of the brother's asked.
"You mean besides you? Haha." he heard the other brother say.
"Ow, what ya do that for?" the brother said as Joedan heard a thud.
"I smell something, it smells like somethin's burning. I'm gonna go check it out."
Joedan crouched down. One of the brothers opened the door to the shed and stepped outside. Covering his eyes to block out the sun, the brother looked out into the field.
"Dammit, there's a cart on fire."
"What? Why would there be a cart on fire in the middle of a field?" the other brother said.
"I don't know, but we can't have it raising any suspicion we're out here. There's a well back the other way towards the main house, I'm gonna go get water. Stay here with the girl."
Joedan waited for the brother to leave and listened for what was going on inside.
"Something sketchy is going on here." He heard the other brother say.
He could hear the sound of the woman whimpering. Looking through the window, he could see they had put a blindfold over her eyes and a gag in her mouth. The brother that stayed behind was pacing back and forth, running his hands through his hair.
"Ah man, I don't like this. I don't like it at all."