Early the next morning, Sarge rousted me out of bed. He already had a hearty breakfast ready. Heaping helpins of pancakes, bacon, eggs and hash browns and a big pot of coffee made me slobber with delight all the way to the table, bleary eyed as I was. I got through my first two servings before I heard a vehicle drive up. It was Tyrone. Sarge told me to go out and invite him in. Tyrone was already getting out of his pickup when I got outside. We were still exchanging friendly greetings when the Sarge came to the door and told us to get our ..ses in before all the food got cold! We didn't need another invite. I managed to eat another couple helpings before I had to push myself away from the table. 'Well, soldier,' Sarge said. 'hope that will tide you over till lunch. We got a lot of work lined up for you today!' 'Yes sir!' I said automatically, falling habitually back into my military mode of thought, just as the Sarge and Tyrone broke out laughing at my response. I had to think for a moment to remember that I wasn't still in the army. But I still had all the respect for a superior officer that the military drilled into me. That was going to be hard to change, I thought. But I was looking forward to it! We helped Sarge with the dishes. Then went out to look at the tobacco field closest to the house. I had never seen any plants as big as those and said so. Sarge said he had been working with a professor at the college before he got drafted into the war, and they had developed this super strain of the tobacco plant. It grew to 5 times normal size and produced 10 times more crop per acre. In their tests at the college, the tobacco produced from the plant was very refined and one of the smoothest blends to be produced in this area. But the war had put an end to this sort of testing. Sarge had stashed enough seeds away in a secret place before he left for the war. The professor passed away during the war, and all his hard work lost to posterity, so it looked like this was probably going to be the only crop produced from their experiments, since it was a hybrid plant. But it looked like just this one field would make the Sarge very rich! Tyrone was quite exited about the prospects too because the Sarge had cut him in on the deal and even given him enough seed to plant a smaller patch on his farm. I asked them if anyone else knew about their plants and they said they didn't think so. This field was far enough removed from any roads as to make it nearly invisible and there weren't any aircraft flying overhead. So they thought their secret was pretty safe. Sarge complimented me by telling me he felt he knew me well enough to figure I would keep the secret too. He was right! I did! We worked hard every day keeping the plants clean and preparing the aging barns for drying the leaves. That year, Sarge produced more product than he would have in 10 average years. His crop brought a premium price too, when the dealers checked it out and saw what high quality it was. Sarge gave both me and Tyrone an nice bonus for our hard work. I stayed on with Sarge as his hired hand. Over the years, he made improvements to his farm. He never had as good a crop as that first year, but he'd made enough from that one crop to set himself up for life. He was able to buy up several other small farms near Sarge's. I even bought a few acres and made some money for myself as well. Now here we sit, enjoying our retirement. Me, Sarge and Tyrone. We never got married. Just a bunch of old farmer bachelors. Oh we had the opportunity to a few times. But we were either too busy farming or otherwise distracted to put down roots that way. So now, in our golden years, we have time to travel the world, which we have done several times, and just relax and let other people do the hard work around the plantation. Life is good! Thank you for taking a peek! Your support is greatly appreciated!