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Speaker 1: The scarecrow.

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Speaker 2: Ben.

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Speaker 1: The woman stood in the doorway of the ramshackle, tumbled

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down shanty. Her hands were copped at her mouth. The

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wind blew loose whitish blonde wisps of hair around her

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face and slashed the faded blue dress into the uncorseted

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bulk of her body. Benny, oh, Benny. Her caw echoed

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through the still evening. Her eyes staring straight before her

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down the slope in front of the house, caught sight

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of something blue and antiquatedly military, standing waist deep and

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rigid in the cornfield. That old scarecrow. She muttered to herself,

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that thou old scarecrow, with that thou old uniform on

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to and too. The sun was going slowly just beyond

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the farthest hill. The unreal light of the skies reflected

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colors held over the yellow waving tips of the cornfield. Benny,

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She called again, Ah, Bennie, and then she saw him

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coming toward her, trudging up the hill. She waited until

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he stood in front of her supper Ben, she said,

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was you down in the south meadow where you couldn't

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hear me call? Nah? He was young and slight, He

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had thick hair, and a thin face. His features were small.

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There was nothing unusual about him. His eyes were deep

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set and long, with lids that were heavily fringed. You

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heard me calling you? Yes, Ma? He stood there, straight

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and still, his eyelids were lowered. Why an't you come along? Then?

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What ails? Yo? Benny? Let me shout and shout that

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way nothin? Ma? Where was yer? He hesitated a second

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before answering her, I was to the bottom of the hill.

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And what was you doing down there? To the bottom

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of the hill? What was you doing down there? Benny?

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Her voice had a hushed tenseness to it. I was watching, Ma, watchin, Benny,

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That's what I was doing. His tone held a guarded sullenness.

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Tain't no such a pretty sunset, Benny, wann't watchin' no sunset? Benny? Well,

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he spoke quickly. What do you want me to put

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it there for? What do you want to do that for?

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In the first place, there was birds, Benny, You know

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there was birds. That ain't what I mean? What for

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do you put on that though uniform? I ain't had

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nothing else that want nothing but your granddad's old uniform.

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It's fair in rags Benny. It's all I had to

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put on to it. Where you've done it yourself, Nah, Benny,

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Nah Oka ain't nothing but an old uniform with a

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stick into it, just to frighten off them birds. Tain't

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nothing else, honest, tain't, Benny. He looked up at her

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out of the corners of his eyes. He was waving

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its arms. That's the wind, nah Ma, waving its arms

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before the wind it come up. Shush, Bennie, tain't likely, tain't.

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I was watching my seeing it wave and wave. Suppose

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it should beckon. Suppose it should beckon to me. I'd

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be going then, Ma, Shush, Bennie, I'd fair have to go. Ma.

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Leave your mammy. Nh ben Uh. You could never go

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off and leave your mammy, even if you ain't able

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to bear this here farm. You couldn't go off from

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your mammy. You couldn't not your mob, Benny. She could

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see his mouth twitch, She saw him catch his lower

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lip in under his teeth. Ah say you couldn't leave, Benny,

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say it. I hate this here farm, he.

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Speaker 2: Mumbled, morning and night and morning in the night, nothing

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but chares on earth, and then some more of them chores,

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and always that their way so it is always and the.

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Speaker 1: Stillness, nothing, lie, nothing. Sometimes I ain't able to stand

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at no house. Sometimes you'll get to like it, Laider.

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Maybe no, No, Ma, you will, Benny, Sure you will.

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I won't. Never. I ain't able to help fretting. It's

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all closed up, tied inside of me, eating and eating

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it makes me feel sick. She put out her hand

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and laid it heavily on his shoulder. Likely it's to

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touch a fever in the blood, Benny, I ain't got

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no fever. You'll be feeling better in the morning, Ben,

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I'll be feeling the same. That's just it always the same,

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nothing but the stillness, nothing alive. And now there in

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the cornfield that ain't alive, Benny, ain't it. Ma, don't

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you say that, Benny, don't. He took her hand off

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of him. I was watching, he said, doggedly. I've seen it.

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Wave and wave. She turned into the house. That old scarecrow.

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She muttered to herself, that the old scarecrow. She led

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the way into the kitchen. The boy followed at her heels.

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A lamp was lighted on the center table. The one

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window was uncurtained, with a naked spot of it. The

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evening glow poured shimmeringly into the room. Inside the doorway,

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they both paused. You sat down, Benny. He pulled a

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chair up to the table. She took a steaming pot

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from the stove and emptied it into a plate. Placed

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the dish before him. He fell to eating silently. She

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came and sat opposite him. She watched him cautiously. She

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did not want him to know that she was watching him.

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Whenever he glanced up, she hurried her eyes away from

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his face in the stillness. It's the only live things

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were those two pair of eyes darting away from each other. Benny.

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She could not stand it any longer. Benny, just you,

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just you. He gulped down a mouthful of food. Oh, Ma,

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don't you start nothing, Not no more tonight, Ma. She

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half rose from her chair. For a second, she leaned

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stiffly against the table. Then she slipped back into her seat,

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her whole body limp and relaxed. I ain't going to

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start nothing, Benny. I ain't even going to talk about

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this here, farm. Honest, I ain't all this here, farm.

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I gave the best years of my life to it.

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She spoke the words defiantly. You said that all afore. Ma.

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It's true, she murmured, terrible, true. And I've done it

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for you, Benny. I wanted to be giving you something.

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It's all I'd got to give you. Benny. There's many

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a man, Ben that's glad of his farm and grateful too.

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There's many that makes it pay. And would all do

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if it does pay? Ma? Would all do then? I?

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I don't know, Benny. It's only just beginning now. But

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if it does pay, Ma, what do I do? Go

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away from here now, Benny, not away? What would you

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go away for when it pays? After all them years

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I gave to it. His spoon clattered noisily to his plate.

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He pushed his chair back from the table. The legs

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of it rasped loudly along the uncarpeted floor. He got

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to his feet. Let's go on outside, he said, ain't

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no sense to this here talking and talking. She glanced

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up at him. Her eyes were narrow and hard. All right, Benny,

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I'll clear up. I'll be along in a moment, all right, Benny.

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He slouched heavily out of the room. She sat where

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she was The set looked pressed on her face automatically.

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Her hands reached out among the dishes, pulling them toward her. Outside,

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the boy sank down on the step. It was getting dark.

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There were shadows along the ground, blue shadows in the

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gray skies. One star shone brilliantly. Beyond the mist slurred

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summit of a hill. The full moon grew yellow. In

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front of him was the slope of wind moved cornfield,

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and in the center of it the dim military figure,

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standing waist deep in corn His eyes fixed themselves to it,

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all uniform, with a stick in to it. He whispered

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the words very low, still standing there, still the same

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wooden attitude of it, his same cunning watching of it.

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There was a wind. He knew it was going over

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his face. He could feel the cool of the wind

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across his moistened lips. He took a deep breath down

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there in the shivering cornfield, standing in the dark blue shadows.

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The dim figure had quivered. An arm moved, swaying to

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and fro. The other arm began swaying, swaying. A tremor

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ran through it. Once it pivoted. The head shook slowly

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from side to side. The arms rose and fell and

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rose again. The head came up and down and rocked

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a bit to either side. I'm here, he muttered, involuntarily. Here.

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The arms were tossing and stretching, he thought. The head

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faced in his direction. The wind had died out. The

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arms went down and came up and reached Benny. The

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woman seated herself on the step at his side. Look,

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he mumbled. Look. He pointed his hand at the dim

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figure shifting restlessly in the quiet, shadow saturated cornfield. Her

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eyes followed after his. Oh, Benny, well, His voice was hoarse.

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It's moving, ain't it? You could see it moving for yourself,

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can't you? You ain't able to say you don't see it?

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Are you the wind? She stammered? Where's the wind? Down there?

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Do you feel a wind? Say? Do you feel a wind?

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Maybe down there? The ain't no wind? Not now? They

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AND's movin. Ain't it? Say? It's moving? Ain't it? It

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looks like it was dancing. So it does if it

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was making itself dance. His eyes were still riveted on

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those arms that came up and down, up and down

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and reached. He'll stop soon now, he stuttered, it, more

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to himself than to her. Then it'll be alive. I've

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watched it mighty often. Maybe it knows I watch it.

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Maybe that's why it moves. Oh, Benny, well you see it,

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don't you. You thought there was something the matter with

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me when I come and told you how it waves

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and waves by. You've seen a waving, ain't you. It's nothing, Ben, Look, Benny,

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it stopped. The two of them stared down the slope

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at the dim military figure standing rigid and waist deep

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in the cornfield. The woman gave a quick sigh of relief.

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For several moments, they were silent, and somewhere in the

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distance came the harsh, discordant sound of bullfrogs croaking out

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in the night. A dog bayed at the golden full

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moon climbing up over the hills. A bird circled between

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sky and earth, hovering above the cornfield. They saw it

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slow descend, and then for a second they caught the

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startled whirr of its wings as it flew blindly into

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the night. That old scarecrow, she muttered. Suppose, he whispered,

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Suppose when it starts us moving like that, Suppose someday

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it walks out of that cornfield, just naturally walks out here.

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To me, What then if it walks out, Benny. That's

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what I'm thinking of all the time. If it takes

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it into its head to just naturally walk out here,

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what's going to stop it? If it wants to walk

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out after me once it starts moving that way, what

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Benny couldn't do that it couldn't. Maybe it won't. Maybe

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it'll just beckon first. Maybe it won't come after me,

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not if I go when it beckons. Kind of figure

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it'll beckon when it wants me. I couldn't stand the

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other couldn't wait for it to come out here after me.

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Kind of feel like it'll beckon when it beckons, I'll

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be going, Benny. That's sickness coming on. You take no sickness.

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The woman's hands were clenched together in a lap. I

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wish to God, she said, I wish. I ain't never

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seen the day when I put that there thing up

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that their cornfield. But I ain't thought nothing like this

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could never happen. I wish to god, I ain't never

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seen the day. Tain't got nothing to do with you.

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His voice was very low. It's got everything to do

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with me, so it has. You said that for yourself,

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and you was right, and I put it up, and

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I looked high and low the house through. Ain't that

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old uniform of your granddad's being the only brag I

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could lay my hands on? Was there anything else I

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could use? Was there? Oh? Ma? Ain't we needed a

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scarecrow down there? With them birds so awful bad pecking

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away at the corner, and pecking ain't your fault? Ma.

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There wasn't nothing else but that thou old uniform. I

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wouldn't have took it otherwise. Poor Paul, so desperate, proud

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of it, as it was him fighting for his country,

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and it always saying that he was he couldn't be

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doing enough for his country, and that the old uniform

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meant so much to him, like a part of him.

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I used to think it, and you wanting to say something,

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ben ah Nah. He wouldn't even let us be burying

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a minute. Put my country's flag next to my skin,

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He told us, when I die, keep the old uniform,

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just like a part of him. He thought it. Wouldn't

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I've kept it, falling to piece it as it is,

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if there'd I've been anything else to put up there

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in that there corn field, She felt the boy stiffened suddenly,

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and with him a soldier. He broke off abruptly. She

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sensed what he was about to say. How Benny, that

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was different, honest it was. He weren't the only one

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in his family. There was two brothers. The boy got

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to his feet. Why won't you let me go? He

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asked it passionately. Why do you keep me here? You

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know I ain't happy? You know all the men have

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gone from these here parts. You know I ain't happy.

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Ain't you going to see how much I want to go?

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Ain't you able to know that I want to fight

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for my country the way he did is fighting. The

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boy jerked his head in the direction of the figure

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standing waist deep in the cornfield, standing rigidly and faintly

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outlined beneath the haunting flood of moonlight. Nah, Benny, you

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can't go. Nah? Why ma, Why do you keep saying that?

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And saying it? I'm all alone, Benny. I've gave all

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my best years to make the farm pay for you.

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You got to stay, Benny, You got to stay on

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here with me. You just plain got to. You'll be

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glad someday, Benny, later on, You'll be right glad, she saw,

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and thrust his hands hastily into his trouser pockets glad.

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His voice sounded tired. I'll be shamed, That's what I'll be. Nothing.

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Do you hear nothing but shamed? She started to her feet. Benny,

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I know of fears, shook through the words you wouldn't

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wouldn't go. He waited a moment before he answered, If

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you ain't want me to go, I'll stay. God, I

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guess I've plane got to stay. That's a good boy, Benny.

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You won't never be sorry, now, how I promise you.

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I'll be making that up to you, honest I will.

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There's lots of ways I'll he interrupted her. Only, Ma,

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I won't let it come after me. If it beckons,

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I got to go. She gave a sudden laugh that

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trailed off uncuddinly. Tin't goin to Beckon, Benny. If it beckons, Ma,

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tain't goin to Benny. It ain't nothing but the wind

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that moves it. It's just the wind. Sure, maybe you

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got a touch of fever. Maybe you better go on

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to bed. You'll be all right in the morning. Just

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you wait and see your good boy, Benny. You'll never

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go off and leave your ma on the farm. You're

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bune lad, Benny, if it beckons, he repeated, and wearing

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mon a tone, tain't Benny, I'll be going to bed,

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he said, that's it, Benny, good night, good night Ma.

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She stood there, listening to his feet thudding up the stairs.

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She heard him knocking about in the room. Overhead, a

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door banged. She stood quite still. There were footsteps moving slowly.

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A window was thrown open. She looked up to see

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him leaning far out over the sill. Her eyes went

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down the slope of the moonlight bathed cordonfield. Her right

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hand curled itself into a fist ol scare crows. She

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half laughed. She waited there until she saw the boy

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draw away from the window. She went into the house

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and bolted the door behind her. Then she went up

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the narrow steps. That night, she lay awake for a

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long time. The heat had grown intense. She found herself

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tossing from side to side of the small bed, the

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window shaded. Stuck at the top of the window, the

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moonlight trickled into the room. She could see the wind framed,

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star specked patches of the skies. When she sat up,

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she saw the round, reddish yellow ball of the moon.

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She must have dozed because she woke with a start.

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She felt that she had a fearful, evil dream. The

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horror of it clung to her. The room was like

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an oven. She thought, the walls were coming together, and

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the ceiling pressing down. Her body was covered with sweat.

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She forced herself wide awake. She made herself get out

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of the bed. She stood for a second uncertain, and

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she went to the window. Not a breath of air stirring.

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The moon was high in the sky. She looked out

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across the hill. Down there, to the left the acres

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of the potatoes. Potatoes were paying. She counted on a

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big harvest. To the right, the wheat. Only the second

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year for those five fields, she knew that she had

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done well with them. She thought, with a smile running

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over her lips, back to the time when less than

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half of the place had been under cultivation. She remembered

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her dreams of getting the whole of her farm in work.

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She and the boy had made good. She thought of

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that with savage complacency. It had been a struggle, a bitter,

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hard fight, from the beginning. She had made good with

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her farm. And there down the slope, just in front

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of the house, the corn field, and in the center

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of it, standing waist deep in the corn the antiquated

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military figure. The smile slid from her mouth. The suffocating

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heap was terrific, not a breath of air. Suddenly she

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began to shake from air head to foot. Her eyes

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wide and staring, were fixed on the moonlight white and

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corn field. Her eyes were held to the moonlight streaked

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figures standing in the ghostly corn moving. An arm swayed,

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swayed to and fro backwards and forwards backwards, the other

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arms swaying. A tremor ran through it. Once it pivoted.

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The head shook slowly from side to side. The arms

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rose and fell, and rose again. The head came up

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and down and rocked a bit to either side. Dancing,

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she whispered, stupidly dancing. She thought she could not breathe.

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She had never felt such oppressive heat. The arms were

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tossing and stretching. She could not take her eyes from it.

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And then she saw both arms reach out, and slowly,

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very slowly, she saw the hands of them beckoning. In

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the silence of the room next to her, she thought

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she heard a crash. She listened intently, her eyes stuck

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to those reaching arms and the hands of them that

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beckoned and beckoned Benny. She murmured Benny silence. She could

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not think it was his talk that had done this.

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Benny's talk. He had said something about it walking out,

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if it should come out, moving all over like that,

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if its feet should start, if they should of a

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sudden begin to shuffle, shuffle out of the cornfield. But

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Benny wasn't awake, He couldn't see it. Thank God, if

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only something would hold it, if only it would stop. God.

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Nothing stirred out there in the haunting moonlighted night. Nothing moved,

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nothing but the figure standing waist deep in the cornfield.

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And even as she looked, the rigid military figure grew

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still still now but for those slow, beckoning hands. A

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tremendous dizziness came over her. She closed her eyes for

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a second, and then she stumbled back to the bed.

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She lay there, panting. She pulled the sheets up across

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her face, her shaking fingers, working the tops of them

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into a hard ball. She stuffed it between her chattering teeth.

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Whatever happened, Benny mustn't hear her, She mustn't waken Benny,

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Thank Heaven. Benny was asleep. Benny must never know how

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out there in the white night, the hands of the

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figure slowly and unceasingly beckoned and beckoned. The sight of

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those reaching arms stayed before her. When hours later she

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fell asleep, she still saw the slow moving, motionless hands.

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It was morning when she wakened. The sun streamed into

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the room. She went to the door and opened it. Benny,

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she called, Oh, Benny. There was no answer, Benny. She

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called again, get on up, it's late, Benny. The house

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was quiet. She half dressed herself and went into a

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room the bed had been slept in. She saw that

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at a glance, his clothes were not there down in

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the field, because she'd forgotten to wake him. In a sudden,

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stunning flash, she remembered the crash she had heard. It

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took her a long while to get to the little

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closet behind the bed. Before she opened it, she knew

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it would be empty. The door creaked open, his one

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hat and coat were gone. She had known that he

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had seen those two reaching arms. He had seen those

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two hands that had slowly, very slowly beckoned. She went

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to the window, her eyes staring straight before her. Down

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the slope in front of the house caught sight of

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something blue and antiquatedly military, standing waist deep and rigid

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in the corn field. Your scarecrow, she whimpered, Why you

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standing there? She sobbed, What are you standing still for?

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On now End of the Scarecrow by G. Ranger Warmser