Both benefited.
But Dale also came with an endless supply of opinions.
He believed most farm problems could be solved through experience, patience, and a willingness to work until the problem stopped being troublesome.
Naomi respected him.
He had spent his entire life around cattle.
He knew when a fence needed repair and when a storm was likely to arrive before the weather forecast said so.
But he sometimes mistook experience for certainty.
And he found Naomi's habit of measuring everything slightly ridiculous.
The first time she checked the pasture's water supply with a notebook and tape measure, he laughed.
"You're going to write down every drop those cows drink?"
Naomi smiled.
"Only the ones that behave strangely."
Dale shook his head.
"You're something else."
She laughed.
"That's what my ex-husband said."
Dale stopped smiling.
For a moment, he seemed embarrassed.
Then he said, "Well, this land's better off with somebody paying attention."
Naomi looked toward the pasture.
She appreciated the compliment.
Even if Dale hadn't intended it as one.
The pond was the one place Dale didn't understand.
It sat in the southeast corner of the back pasture, roughly half an acre in size, surrounded by grass, cattails, and a narrow strip of cracked earth.
From the farmhouse, it looked like a dark oval beyond the fence.
Up close, the water had an unusual black-green color.
Patches of floating vegetation covered the edges.
An old cedar post stood near the northern bank.
And a concrete culvert head, half buried in weeds, protruded beside the eastern fence line.
Dale said the pond had always been there.
His father remembered cattle drinking from it before Naomi was born.
During dry summers, the waterline sometimes fell.
During wet winters, it rose.
Otherwise, nobody paid much attention.
But Naomi remembered something different.
Her grandmother had forbidden children from going near it.
Ruthie rarely raised her voice.
She was a patient woman who believed children learned best through explanation.
But whenever Naomi wandered toward the pond, Ruthie changed.
Her voice became sharp.
Her expression serious.
And she would call Naomi back before the little girl reached the fence.
Once, when Naomi was seven, she tried to sneak down with a coffee can full of worms.
She wanted to catch fish.
Ruthie appeared behind her.
"Naomi Vance, you come away from that water."