The Cow-Pie Chronicles by James L. Butler

day, Tim’s Uncle Jack showed up. Uncle Jack had served in the Navy and was a World War II veteran who had been around his share of explosives.
    The two men went into the barn, but Tim was not allowed to join them. About an hour later, they came out, with Uncle Jack carefully cradling the dynamite box in his arms.
    â€œCome on!” Dad called to Tim.
    Tim ran over to them and they all climbed onto the tractor. They drove to the old apple orchard on the backside of the barnyard.
    Dad explained to Tim what they were going to do. “We’re going to get rid of these big stumps and add some acreage to the wheat field.” For years, Mr. Slinger had been slowly chopping the stumps out with an ax and dragging them away with the tractor. Today, the stump removal process was about to be raised to a whole new level.
    Tim watched as the two adults used a hand drill to bore a hole beneath each side of the largest stump in the apple orchard. Uncle Jack carefully took two sticks of dynamite out of the box, attached a three-foot-long fuse to them, and then inserted the dynamite into one of the holes. He repeated the process for the other hole. In the meantime, Tim’s dad set the dynamite box safely behind one of the large tractor wheels and placed Tim next to it. “Stay here,” he said.
    Tim crouched behind the huge tractor tire, feeling both excited and afraid. The dynamite explosions on TV were always as loud as fireworks on the Fourth of July, but more destructive. He wanted to see the stump blown to bits, but didn’t want any of it heading in his direction.
    Tim peeked around the tire as his dad and Uncle Jack prepared to light the fuses with cigarette lighters. The dynamite had old-fashioned fuses, which proved challenging—both fuses had to be exactly the same length and lit at exactly at the same moment in order for the two sticks of dynamite to blow up together.
    â€œNow!” Uncle Jack said to Mr. Slinger.
    Uncle Jack flicked his lighter and held it next to the fuse on his side of the stump. It took two flicks of Mr. Slinger’s lighter before he could draw a flame to light his fuse. With both fuses lit, the men quickly joined Tim behind the tractor wheel. A few seconds later, there was a loud wumph , like the sound fireworks make when they come out of the launch tubes. But there wasn’t a big explosion.
    â€œThat’s it?” Tim asked. They all stood up to look.
    â€œ Oh, no!” Uncle Jack said, pointing up in the air at the smoking stump arching high across the sky, burning embers and bits of wood trailing it.
    â€œIt’s gonna hit the barn!” Dad said.
    â€œNo, it’s going all the way over the barn, no problem,” Uncle Jack said.
    â€œWhat about the house?” Tim asked.
    â€œCrud!” Dad said.

    Tim’s dad and uncle took off running across the barnyard toward the lane to the house, with Tim chasing after them. When they spotted the house, they all skidded to a stop. Tim’s mom was standing in the front yard, holding Dana’s hand, and the two were staring at the stump sitting right in the middle of the front porch, still smoldering .
    Dana spotted her brother and pointed at him. “I told you he wants to kill me,” she said.
    There are times when no words come to mind. This was one of them. Tim, his dad and Uncle Jack turned around and slowly walked back to the tractor with the complete understanding that their stump-blowing operation was officially finished.

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    Chapter 10

    Things were pretty quiet around the farm for the next few days. The crops weren’t ready to harvest. Tim’s dad and uncle repaired the front porch after the dynamited tree stump destroyed part of it, and Tim helped his dad fix the broken manure spreader, much to Tim’s dislike. Dana was busy in the garden with Mom, and Patsy was eating hay and grain now, so Tim didn’t have to give her milk in a bucket