Tamarack River Ghost by Jerry Apps Read Free Book Online

them damn game wardens. We got the most snoopy game warden in the worldright here in Ames County. Name is Natalie Karlsen. No business a woman being a game warden. But we got her. She’s a piece of work. Everyday she’s out snoopin’ for people she thinks is breaking the law. I tell you—we could sure get along without her.”
    “How about crops, what kind of crops do you grow?” Josh asked, trying to move the discussion away from the conservation warden.
    “Well let’s see, I grow maybe ten acres of corn—enough for the hogs and the few steers we raise. Raise a few goats. Got a few acres of pasture. We got a big garden. Keeps the kids busy in the summer. Old lady cans a lot of the garden stuff. We grow an acre of potatoes. Sometimes have a few extra potatoes and squash to sell at the farmers market in Willow River.” Burman paused for a minute. “Got about fifty acres of woods that runs up to the river. Grow me some deer and rabbits, some squirrels, and a few partridges there.” He laughed as he told about his woods.
    “Can’t do much about the wild game. Damn game warden says I gotta have a license to shoot anything. Imagine that, having a hunting license to kill something you grow on your own land. Country’s gone to hell. Gone completely to hell.” He rubbed his hand with the knife in it across his whiskered chin.
    “So you’re making a living out here,” Josh said.
    “Survivin’, that’s about all we’re doin’. Survivin’ from one year to the next. Got five kids, you know. All in school right now. Ride the bus, they do. Doin’ well in school, too. Proud of every one of ’em.”
    “Kids help out around here, do they?” Josh asked.
    “You bet they do. Help out a lot. Have their chores to do every day before they go to school and when they get back home again. Chores is good for kids. Teaches ’em how to work. People don’t know how to work anymore. They sit behind some desk with one of them computers on it and call it work. That ain’t work. Gotta get your hands dirty before you can call workin’ work.”
    “I hear what you’re saying,” offered Josh. He was busy scribbling notes in the pad on his clipboard. “Anything else you’d like to share?”
    “Nope. Probably said more than I should already. What paper did you say you were from?”
    “ Farm Country News .”
    “I heard of that. Good farm paper. Been around a long time, hasn’t it?”
    “Yes, it has. Started right after the Civil War. Well, I’ll let you get back to your meat cutting.”
    “Enjoyed talkin’ to ya. Say, you wouldn’t want a hunk of this here goat meat, would you?”
    “No thanks, but I appreciate the offer.”
    As he left the barn, Josh did not see the deer heads and hides stashed deep in the shadows of the old building. He crawled into his pickup, turned around, and steered down the narrow driveway toward the country road. As he left he noticed Mrs. Burman looking out the kitchen window. Her face was expressionless.

6. Farm Country News
    Josh arrived back at the courthouse around four in the afternoon.
    “How’d the interview go?” Ben asked when Josh entered his office.
    “Burman’s quite a character. Down on the government. Down on the DNR. He seems to be a tough old codger.”
    “Yup, that sounds like Burman. I don’t know him very well. He’s never set foot in my office, but he’s hanging on. Making a living out there on that poor river-bottom farm.”
    Just then, Warden Natalie Karlsen knocked on Ben’s office door a couple of times and stuck in her head.
    “Sorry to interrupt, but are we on for lunch tomorrow?” asked Natalie.
    “Yup, got it on my calendar. Meet you at the Lone Pine at noon.” Ben regularly met with the county forester, the DNR warden, the fellow doing soil conservation work, the Farm and Home Administration person— people whose work overlapped with his.
    “Got it,” said Natalie. She was wearing her warden’s uniform, complete with sidearm.
    “I want you to