regularly when she ' d been sick . Since then , Ern had taken to the couch downstairs .
Ern didn ' t plan far enough to have an idea of when to call it for the night . He nodded off a few times , never for more than ten minutes , and each time he woke , the field seemed just as undisturbed as it had been before he ' d dozed off , save the rippling caused by the late summer night breeze . After startling himself awake for what must have been the fifth time that night , he was about to call it quits and turn in ; he had no idea when those thieves might come again . But just as he leaned forward to get out of his chair , he saw it . Rustling in the field , asynchronous with the wind . Someone was there . Ern leapt from the chair and sprinted downstairs , his once tired body now filled with the surge of adrenaline . He barely remembered the rush from his bedroom to outside his front door as he stood outside and looked around . Crickets chirped in the warm night air , but Ern didn ' t hear them . The stalks were too tall to see over . He needed a vantage point .
Nearby Ern ' s worn-in driveway was a boulder he and his father had never got around to moving . It had come with the property . When he ' d taken over the farm , he ' d considered finding some means to haul it away , but Enid had talked him out of it . She ' d said she liked it where it was , it added some character to their front yard . Ern had never really understood what that had meant , but as he clambered on top of the massive rock , he was thankful that he ' d listened to her .
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