User:MattMauler/sandbox4

The day after a storm, a boy named Seth wants to play barefoot, but his mother tells him to put on shoes. Although it is June, it is blackberry winter, she says. Seth sees a man walking toward his house, coming out of the woods, from the direction of the river. It strikes him as strange because, in their rural area, he cannot think of what farm or house the man would be coming from. As the man approaches the house, Seth's dogs start barking. The man takes a large knife from his pocket, but he puts it away again after Seth's mother calls to the dogs and stops them. Seth's mother correctly assumes the man is looking for work, and gives him a series of tasks to do on their farm. Seth watches the man get started, noticing that his clothes and shoes are completely unsuited for mud and farm work.

Trying to avoid his mother so that she will not make him wear shoes, Seth goes to the creek, which is now running very high because of the storm. Many neighbors have gathered there to watch the rushing water. In the aftermath of the storm, flooding often makes field work impossible. Seth's father is also there, watching the water from horseback. A dead cow is among the debris being carried by the water. A boy wonders aloud whether anyone has ever eaten a drowned cow, but then is greatly embarrassed after asking. Seth rides back up to his home with his father.

When they have almost arrived, Seth, still avoiding his mother, decides to visit his friend Jebb, one of their tenants. Upon approaching Jebb's house, Seth sees that the rains have washed the trash and filth from under the house out onto the yard. Jebb's family usually keeps their property very clean. Inside, Jebb's mother Dellie is sick and lying in bed. Jebb and Seth start playing too loudly, and Dellie slaps Jebb hard for making too much noise. Seth leaves their house and goes to the stables where he meets Jebb's father, Old Jebb, who notices Seth shivering. Seth says it is blackberry winter, but Old Jebb contends that it might be the end of the world, the earth finally wearing out. Because of the cold, Old Jebb tells Seth to go home so he does not get sick.

Seth reaches the house and hears the end of his father's conversation with the stranger. Seth's father offers the man fair pay for half a day's work, but says that he has no more work to offer. The man takes the money and swears at him, saying that he did not want to work on the farm anyway. Seth follows the man, first in silence, then asking him, "Where did you come from?" and "Where are you going?" Seth only stops when the man angrily threatens him and tells him to turn back. Seth, narrating the story thirty-five years later, says, "but I did follow him, all the years."