Ned’s tractor wouldn’t shift gears, so he headed toward the shop at my father’s Mississippi Delta farm to see if the mechanic could figure out what was wrong.
As he drove along the blacktop road, the warm spring sun, the engine’s soothing hum, and the wind caressing his face lulled him to sleep. Meandering aimlessly, the tractor eased off the road, rolled down the embankment, splashed into a ditch, and stalled.
