The Cracked Acorn: Gone

Psalm 121: 8 The Lord shall preserve your going out and your coming in From this time forth, and even forevermore.

It was that time of the year that Hans Hansfeld decided to stroll to the Leaf barn and prepare for next year’s crop of the Golden Leaf. The market had been good and there was some money left to go to a nice Christmas for all. Kentucky farm life is not what Hans had wanted but it had a few great moments.

Reaching the barn and opening a couple of doors, Hans thought this would be a small job, and he had plans for the rest of the day. With that, he reached up to pull down old blankets and quilts used to cover the Leaf when finished going to the market.

When Hans’ wife was interviewed later, she was attracted to a front window of the house to see what all the yelling was about; she saw Hans racing out of the barn and up the hill of the backfield, followed by swarms of bumblebees that had been disturbed in the blankets and quilts.

Whatever happened to Hans; he was never found although neighbors had made a search, nothing was found. Many thought that he could have fallen in a sinkhole and into an underground cave…again extensive investigation of such turned up nothing. So days and weeks passed and in time it was years had come and went.

It was only that we could blame it on the school children that Hans was still around or at least, in their minds. When they were very late getting off the bus and then walking home is when the mother asked “Where have you all been?” The kids will say, “There was Hans, and he talked and then walked off to somewhere.”

Of course, we all know about Saint Nick, etc, when the Season arrives, well that is maybe like Hans. Stop in Kentucky and ask about the Hans’ legend, you will get a smile and a chuckle and that’s it!

The explanation is that we all have to explain or support why we believe such and such. That is why Hans’ thought is if you grew up in Kentucky you will know that cattle never stray or children never get lost or why cured hams are the best in the States. The list is long on what happened to Hans, maybe living in a cave or finally a deranged patient in a nursing home.

NOTE: I know of 2 married persons: One. Oscie, she left work and arrived home to find her husband had left for good, her comment was, “At least now I can park my car in the garage.” – she never really recovered from her loss and the other was a college NASA worker who halfway through his career returned home to find that his wife had left a letter stating that the kids were grown, and she was off to a new life. (I always thought that must have been a shock!)

A TV interview: a woman who thought her husband has perished in the New York Twin towers disaster, but an investigation found out from credible people that her husband never showed for work that day, he was judged to be just, Gone!