A week after his first visit, Harlan arrived at the back corner of his property early enough to watch the first hints of sun reach over the distant tree line of the Bartley homeplace and spread its rays over the pasture between his property and Ted and Margie"s house a half-mile away. The original breach spanned only a few feet, but he had discovered the wood rotten for ten yards and came prepared for an extra ten feet beyond that. Just the demolition alone would take at least an hour longer than it would have taken with his father"s hammer, no thanks to the new composite hammer, Harlan convinced himself. Nevertheless, Harlan pressed on, pulling nails and piling lumber. When at last he was ready to begin hanging the new fence rails, he heard an ATV motor approaching in the distance and loo
