Hanson Acres

Reading Time: 4 minutes “Here you go,” Gina said, passing a cardboard box through the open half-door of the post office into Elaine’s waiting arms. “I saw you pull up in front, so I dug this out of the stack for you.” Elaine laughed. “I wouldn’t get this kind of attention if I got my mail in the city!” […] Read more

Reading Time: 5 minutes By Thanksgiving, the Hansons still hadn’t solved the mysteries of Labour Day Monday. And they certainly never discussed them. It had started when Jeff’s phone rang. After a half hour of shovelling long-spoiled grain out of an old wooden grain bin with temperatures in the high thirties and a sky filled with smoke from northern […] Read more

Reading Time: 4 minutes The Hansons were close to the end of harvest on the Monday morning when Donna stopped in at her daughter-in-law’s house to drop off her empty lunch cooler and thermos from the evening before. “The canola on the Richards’ quarter is yielding way better than I thought it would,” Donna told her daughter-in-law, Elaine. “Great,” […] Read more

Reading Time: 4 minutes Eight-year-old Connor was happy to see his aunt Trina when she came to visit the Hansons in July. Connor’s mother Elaine was happy to see that Connor managed to wait almost a full 10 minutes before asking, “Did you bring us anything?” Connor wasn’t generally greedy, but since Trina had started working for an ag […] Read more

Reading Time: 4 minutes Dale was breathless. He leaned against the tractor tire, using one hand to pull his phone out of his inside jacket pocket. He took a deep breath, then let it out with a sigh. He didn’t want to make this call. He squinted down at his phone, cursing the way his self-darkening glasses made it […] Read more

Reading Time: 5 minutes It was such a bright spring day outside that it took Dale’s self-darkening glasses a few seconds to adjust to the lighting inside the Hanson farm shop. Even so, he could hear shouting and sense movement in the building in front of him. As he hesitated in the doorway, a sudden dark shadow flew toward […] Read more

Reading Time: 4 minutes “Your husband’s not home to help out?” The trucker who’d just pulled his semi on to the truck scale in the Hanson’s yard looked a little uncertain. “Shouldn’t you call somebody?” Elaine bit her lip to keep from saying anything she’d regret. “Don’t worry,” she told him. “I know what I’m doing.” With her husband […] Read more

Reading Time: 4 minutes Elaine was rushing to get her four-year-old daughter Jenny out the door so she could pick up her son Connor after school. “Come on, kiddo. Connor will worry if we’re not there when the bell rings,” she said. By March, Elaine was counting down the days until the end of hockey season. Two practices a […] Read more

Reading Time: 4 minutes “Good luck Dad,” seven-year-old Connor said to his father as Jeff tied his curling shoes. “I’ll need it,” Jeff said, looking to his wife, Elaine, for reassurance. “It’ll be fun,” Elaine said. When his friend Shawn had called to ask Jeff to curl in the local Farmers Bonspiel, Jeff had refused. “I haven’t stepped onto […] Read more