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Her Sons Mocked the Widow Who Bought a Rusted Windmill Farm for $90 — Until the Blades Turned — Transcript

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0:00Peg Dunleavy had slept in her son's
0:02spare room in a house where nobody asked
0:04her anything. Her husband was gone. Her
0:07farm was gone, sold out from under her
0:10by the son she raised. She was 68 years
0:13old and her name was already on a
0:15waiting list for assisted living.
0:17Then she raised her hand at a county tax
0:20auction and bought 40 acres of sand and
0:22six rusted windmills for $90.
0:26Her sons laughed out loud. "90 bucks for
0:29a junk pile, Mom? Dad really did rub off
0:32on you."
0:33But Amos Dunleavy hadn't left those
0:35windmills to rust. He had a reason.
0:38For the last 3 years of his life, every
0:41Tuesday and Thursday, he had driven out
0:43to that forgotten land and climbed the
0:45tallest tower alone. And he never told
0:48his wife why.
0:50Peg didn't know it yet, but one of her
0:52sons did. And he had already taken the
0:54one thing up there she needed most. What
0:57she found 60 ft in the air changed
1:00everything she believed about her
1:02marriage and her family. Two days later,
1:05Peg drove her husband's old Buick down a
1:07sand track off Highway 2 deep in the
1:10Nebraska Sandhills. Beside her on the
1:13seat sat a cardboard box, two sweaters,
1:17a coffee can of photographs, her reading
1:19glasses, and a framed picture of Amos
1:22grinning under a seed cap taken the
1:24summer before he got sick. That was
1:27everything she had brought from her
1:28son's house.
1:30Craig hadn't helped her pack. He had
1:32stood in the kitchen doorway with his
1:34arms folded. "You'll be back in a week,"
1:36he said.
1:38"There's no power out there, no phone
1:40signal. You're 68 years old."
1:43His wife, Shannon, hadn't looked up from
1:46her phone.
1:47"The assisted living place in Kearney
1:49called again," she said. "They have an
1:51opening in January. We put your name
1:54down."
1:55Peg hadn't answered either of them.
1:57She just carried the box to the car. Now
2:00the track topped a low rise and and the
2:02Pruitt place spread out below her. A
2:05stone farmhouse with a sagging roof, a
2:07tumble down barn, a pump shed, and
2:10standing over all of it, scattered
2:12across 40 acres of rolling grass, six
2:15old steel windmills. Their towers were
2:18orange with rust.
2:20Their wheels were frozen at crooked
2:22angles, like hands that had stopped
2:24waving.
2:25Peg stopped the car. She had been here
2:27once before, June 14th, 1976.
2:31She was 18. A skinny farm boy named Amos
2:35Dunleavy had driven her out here in his
2:37father's truck for their first date
2:39because he couldn't afford a movie.
2:41They had sat under the tallest windmill
2:44and watched the sun go down over the
2:46hills.
2:47The wheel above them clicked and creaked
2:49in the wind, pumping water into a stock
2:52tank. "Someday," Amos had said, "I'm
2:55going to buy you this place."
2:57Peg had laughed. "What would I do with
2:59six windmills?"
3:01"Listen to them," he said. "Best sound
3:04in the world." They were married the
3:06next spring. They farmed 300 acres of
3:08dry land wheat 20 miles east of here for
3:1149 years, raised two boys, buried a dog
3:15or two, never had much money, and they
3:18never bought the Pruitt place. Amos died
3:21last December, pneumonia after a hard
3:24winter, 71 years old. In February, Craig
3:28sat her down at her own kitchen table
3:30with a stack of papers. "It's just
3:32estate planning, Mom," he said, "so you
3:34don't get stuck in probate. Sign here
3:37and here. I'll handle the rest."
3:40Peg was so tired and so lost that she
3:42signed without reading.
3:44In June, she found out what she had
3:46signed. Craig had sold the farm, the
3:49house, the land, Amos's machine shed,
3:53everything,
3:54to an agriculture company from Omaha.
3:57"It was the smart move," he told her.
4:00"Prices were good. You couldn't run it
4:02alone anyway. You'll live with us. Her
4:05younger son, Bryce, called from Omaha.
4:08He sounded uncomfortable. He said Craig
4:10knew best about money. So, Peg moved
4:13into Craig's spare room in Kearney. She
4:15folded her clothes into a dresser that
4:17wasn't hers.
4:19She ate dinner at a table where nobody
4:20asked her anything. And every night, she
4:23lay awake thinking the same thought.
4:26Amos left me one thing, our home,
4:29and I gave it away.
4:30Then, in October, she saw a notice in
4:33the paper. Pruitt property, Custer
4:36County,
4:3740 acres, sold for back taxes.
4:40Minimum bid, $90. She had $412 of her
4:45own money left. She went.
4:48Now, she sat in the Buick at the top of
4:50the rise, looking down at the place
4:52where a boy once promised her something.
4:55The sun was going down behind the hills,
4:58and that was when she saw it.
5:00The tallest windmill, the sixth one,
5:02stood closest to the house.
5:05Its tower was rusted like the others,
5:07but its wheel was different. The blades
5:10were new,
5:11bright galvanized steel, catching the
5:13last red light of the sunset. And
5:16painted across three of them in big
5:18white letters was one word, Peg.
5:22Peg put her hand over her mouth. She got
5:25out of the car and walked toward the
5:26tower without feeling her feet.
5:29The wind tugged at her coat. She stopped
5:31at the base and looked up 60 ft at her
5:35own name turning a little in the breeze,
5:37then stopping, then turning again.
5:40Somebody had built that wheel. Somebody
5:42had painted her name on it. There was
5:45only one person in the world who would
5:47have done that,
5:48but Amos had never come back here, not
5:51once in 49 years. She was sure of it.
5:55Wasn't she?
5:56The stone house was cold and dark.
5:59Peg found a kerosene lamp on the kitchen
6:01table and and of matches beside it.
6:05The lamp was full of fuel. She lit it
6:07and looked around. Dust, mouse
6:10droppings, a cracked window,
6:13but someone had swept the kitchen floor.
6:15And on the wall beside the door hung a
6:17seed cap, green, faded,
6:20with a tractor company patch on the
6:22front.
6:23Peg took it down with shaking hands.
6:26She turned it over.
6:27Inside the brim, in black marker, were
6:30two letters,
6:32A D.
6:33Amos's cap,
6:35the one he had worn to the co-op every
6:37Tuesday and Thursday for as long as she
6:39could remember.
6:40The one she couldn't find after the
6:42funeral.
6:43It had been here all along.
6:45She sat down on a kitchen chair and held
6:48it in her lap.
6:49For 49 years, Tuesdays and Thursdays had
6:53looked exactly the same. Amos would
6:55finish chores by 8:00. He'd pull on this
6:58cap, kiss her on the forehead at the
7:00kitchen sink, and say the same five
7:03words, "Co-op, back by supper, Peggy."
7:06And he always was, every time.
7:10He'd come through the door at 6:00
7:12smelling of wind and engine grease, and
7:14he'd set one red and white peppermint
7:16candy on the windowsill above the sink.
7:19One peppermint every Tuesday, every
7:22Thursday, for as long as she could
7:24remember.
7:25She used to tease him about it. "You
7:27don't even like peppermint."
7:29"No," he'd say, "but you do."
7:32The last peppermint was still on her
7:33windowsill in the old farmhouse when
7:35Craig sold it.
7:37She hadn't been able to bring herself to
7:39eat it. She didn't know what the new
7:41owners had done with it.
7:42Peg looked around the cold stone
7:44kitchen, at the swept floor, at the full
7:47lamp,
7:48at the hook where his cap had hung.
7:50"Co-op, back by supper."
7:53She thought about the 20 miles of road
7:55between the old farm and this place, and
7:57for the first time, she wondered where
7:59her husband had really been going.
8:02That night, she slept on the old iron
8:04bed in the back room under every blanket
8:07she had brought.
8:08Sometime before dawn, a sound woke her.
8:11Squeak. Clank. Squeak. Clank. Metal on
8:15metal, slow and rhythmic, coming from
8:18outside. Peg sat up. Her heart was
8:21pounding. Squeak. Clank. She pulled on
8:24her coat, took the kerosene lamp, and
8:26went to the door. The sky was just
8:29turning gray. Frost lay on the grass.
8:32Down by the pump shed, beside an old
8:34hand pump, a figure in a hooded jacket
8:37was working the handle up and down.
8:39Water splashed into a steel bowl on the
8:41ground, and lapping it up, ribs showing
8:44through a matted black and white coat,
8:46was a dog. Peg knew that dog. Biscuit.
8:50The dog's head came up.
8:53He stared at her across the frosted
8:54yard. Then he ran. He crossed the yard
8:58in 4 seconds and threw himself against
9:00her legs so hard she nearly fell,
9:02whining and crying like a pup. Amos's
9:05border collie. He had run off the day of
9:07the funeral. Craig said he'd probably
9:10been hit on the highway.
9:12They never found him. Peg sank to her
9:14knees in the frost and buried her face
9:16in his neck.
9:18The figure at the pump pulled back her
9:20hood. It was a girl, 14 or 15, dark
9:24skin, short hair, a thermos sticking out
9:27of her jacket pocket. She looked
9:29terrified. "I'm sorry," the girl said
9:32quickly. "I'm not stealing anything. I
9:35just feed him every morning before
9:38school."
9:39"Who are you?" "Kit." "Kit O'Malley
9:41O'Malley, we live on the next place
9:43over, past the creek." She swallowed.
9:47"You're Peg, aren't you? From the
9:49windmill." Peg stared at her. "How do
9:52you know my name?"
9:53Kit looked up at the sixth tower, where
9:56the white letters were turning pink in
9:58the dawn. "Because Mr. Dunleavy talked
10:00about you every single day," she said.
10:04They sat on the edge of the stone stock
10:06tank while Biscuit ate a whole can of
10:08chili Peg found in her box.
10:11"He came every Tuesday and Thursday,"
10:13Kit said.
10:15"For about 3 years, he'd park his truck
10:17in the barn so nobody could see it from
10:19the road.
10:20Tuesdays and Thursdays, the co-op days.
10:24For 3 years, every co-op day had been a
10:26lie, and she had never once asked a
10:29question.
10:30I came over the first time because I was
10:32curious," Kit said.
10:34"I thought he was a squatter. He was up
10:37on the tower with a wrench.
10:39He said if I wanted to stay, I had to
10:41hand him bolts, so I did." She almost
10:44smiled. "He taught me everything.
10:47Gears, pumps,
10:49how a windmill thinks.
10:51My dad died when I was 10. Nobody else
10:54was teaching me anything."
10:56Peg looked at the girl,
10:57at the grease under her fingernails, at
11:00the way she said Mr. Dunleavy, soft and
11:02respectful. "What was he doing out here,
11:05Kit?"
11:06Kit stood up. "Come see." The pump shed
11:09was bigger inside than it looked. Kit
11:11pulled away a canvas tarp from the
11:13workbench along the back wall.
11:15Underneath was Amos's his welding
11:17helmet, his red toolbox, gears laid out
11:21on oily rags in careful rows, sketches
11:24pinned to the wall, windmill wheels,
11:27pump rods, a strange little gearbox
11:30drawn from five different angles.
11:32At the end of the bench sat a glass jar
11:35half full of red and white peppermint
11:37candies. Peg's breath caught.
11:40Oh, and above the bench, held up with a
11:42thumbtack, was a photograph.
11:45Peg knew it at once.
11:47It had been in a shoe box in her closet
11:49for 50 years.
11:51She hadn't even known it was gone.
11:53Two teenagers sitting under a windmill
11:55at sunset.
11:57A skinny boy in a seed cap, a girl with
11:59long hair laughing at something he'd
12:02said.
12:03June 14th, 1976.
12:06On the bottom of the photo, in Amos's
12:08square handwriting, he he written,
12:11"Someday." Peg stood in the doorway of
12:13the shed and could not breathe. Every
12:16Tuesday, every Thursday, for 3 years, he
12:20hadn't forgotten.
12:21He had been out here, alone, keeping a
12:24promise from when they were children.
12:26"He said he was going to bring you out
12:28here when it was finished." Kit said
12:30quietly.
12:31"He said he wanted the first time you
12:32saw it to be with all six turning."
12:35Peg pressed Amos's cap against her
12:37chest.
12:38"He never finished." She whispered.
12:41"No, ma'am." Kit looked at the floor.
12:44"He got sick before he could."
12:46If you've ever found out how much
12:48someone loved you, only after they were
12:50gone, please subscribe and stay with
12:52Peg.
12:53Because Amos left something unfinished
12:55on that windmill.
12:57And one of her sons already knows what
12:59it's worth. Peg spent the rest of that
13:01day in the pump shed. Kit had school.
13:04Biscuit didn't leave her side. He lay
13:07across her feet while she went through
13:09every sketch and every scrap of paper on
13:11that wall.
13:13Most of it she didn't understand. Gear
13:15ratios, wind speeds, gallons per minute.
13:20But one word kept appearing in the
13:21margins, over and over, underlined.
13:25Governor.
13:26That evening, when Kit came back, Peg
13:29pointed to it.
13:30"What's a governor?" Kit's face lit up.
13:33"It's the box he was building. See, old
13:36windmills like these only pump water
13:38when the wind is strong. In light wind,
13:41they just sit there. Mr. Dunleavy
13:43figured out a gearbox that lets them
13:45work in almost no wind at all.
13:47And run a little electric pump, too, so
13:50you can irrigate." "Did it work?" "It
13:52almost worked." Kit chewed her lip. "He
13:55said he was one setting away. He kept
13:58the final numbers in his notebook."
14:00"Where's the notebook?" "In his truck,
14:02in the glove box. He never let it out of
14:05his sight." They walked to the barn.
14:08Amos's old blue Ford sat in the shadows
14:10under a tarp. Exactly where Kit said it
14:12would be.
14:14The truck Craig had told her sold for
14:16parts after the funeral.
14:18Peg opened the passenger door.
14:20She popped the glove box.
14:22Inside was a thick black notebook,
14:25swollen with grease and handling.
14:27Amos's name was written on the cover.
14:30And under it, three words, for Peg's
14:33windmills.
14:34She opened it on the hood of the truck
14:36while Kit held a flashlight. Page after
14:39page of drawings, measurements, test
14:42results, dates, small notes in the
14:45margins, some of them to her. Peg would
14:48laugh at this one. Tried it in 6 mph
14:51wind, pumped 4 gallons.
14:54Getting close, Peggy.
14:56She read until her eyes blurred, then
14:58she turned to the back of the notebook
15:00and stopped. The last nine pages were
15:02gone, not fallen out, torn. The ragged
15:06edges were still caught in the binding,
15:08and the tears were white and clean, not
15:10yellowed like the rest of the paper.
15:12Somebody had ripped them out.
15:14Recently, Kit stared at the torn edges.
15:18"Those were the final settings," she
15:20whispered. "That's where he wrote the
15:22last calibration."
15:24"Without those pages, nobody can make it
15:26work."
15:27"Who else knew about this notebook?"
15:30"Nobody." "Just me and him."
15:32Kit hesitated. "And whoever's been in
15:35this barn since spring."
15:37"What do you mean?" Kit pointed the
15:39flashlight at the dusty floor beside the
15:41truck. "Boot prints, big ones, men's
15:44work boots with a thick lug sole, dried
15:48into the dust after a rain months ago."
15:51"I found them in April," Kit said.
15:53"Somebody came in here, went straight to
15:56the truck, and left.
15:58They didn't touch anything else."
16:00Peg looked at the boot prints.
16:02She knew that tread. She had bought
16:04those boots herself.
16:06For Christmas.
16:08Two years ago.
16:09For Craig.
16:11That night, Peg used the one bar of
16:13signal at the top of the hill and called
16:15her younger son.
16:17Bryce answered on the fourth ring.
16:20He sounded tired.
16:22Mom?
16:23Is everything okay? Craig says you moved
16:26out to some old farm.
16:27Bryce, I need to ask you something and I
16:30need you to tell me the truth. Peg held
16:32the phone tight.
16:34Did Craig drive out to the Sandhills
16:36last spring? In April?
16:38The silence on the line went on too
16:40long.
16:41Mom, Bryce said finally.
16:44Don't ask me that.
16:45I'm asking. Craig handles things. You
16:49know that. He handled the farm. He
16:51handled dad's papers. I just Bryce's
16:55voice trailed off.
16:56I just stay out of it. That's not an
16:59answer.
17:00I know, Bryce said quietly. I'm sorry,
17:03Mom. I have to go.
17:05The line went dead. Peg stood on the
17:07windy hilltop in the dark holding the
17:09phone. Bryce hadn't said no. Peg didn't
17:13sleep much that night. She sat at the
17:15kitchen table with the notebook and the
17:16kerosene lamp until the oil ran low.
17:19Biscuit snored by the stove. Craig had
17:22been here. In April. Before she ever saw
17:25the tax notice. He had found his
17:27father's truck, opened the glove box,
17:30and torn out the most important pages of
17:32his father's life's work. And then he
17:34had stood in that auction room and
17:36laughed at her. Why?
17:39Near the bottom of the notebook, she
17:41found something she had missed.
17:43A single small envelope flattened
17:45between two pages. The return address
17:47was printed in blue.
17:49Plains Irrigation Company, Lincoln,
17:51Nebraska.
17:53Inside was a letter dated August of last
17:55year.
17:56Four months before Amos died.
17:59Dear Mr. Dunleavy, Thank you for
18:01allowing our engineer to observe your
18:03governor prototype.
18:05We believe this design could allow
18:07thousands of old windmills across the
18:09Great Plains to irrigate small farms at
18:11almost no cost.
18:13We would like to license your design. We
18:15are prepared to offer an initial payment
18:17of $180,000
18:19plus a royalty on every unit sold. Our
18:22offer depends on one final demonstration
18:24of a working unit in light wind. Given
18:27your health, we are willing to hold this
18:29offer open until October 31st of next
18:31year. Peg read it three times. $180,000.
18:37October 31st. She looked at the calendar
18:40on her phone.
18:41It was October 27th.
18:43Four days.
18:44Under the letter, Amos had written
18:46something in pencil. The handwriting was
18:48weaker. Shack here. Written near the
18:51end. Craig's note at the bank comes due
18:54in March. If the governor sells, I can
18:57pay it before he loses everything.
18:59Don't tell Peg. She'll worry.
19:02She always worries about that boy.
19:04Peg set the letter down very carefully
19:06on the table. Craig's note at the bank.
19:09She didn't know about any note. She sat
19:12in the dark, putting the pieces
19:13together. The quick sale of the farm.
19:16The papers she signed without reading.
19:19The way Craig never let her see the
19:20numbers.
19:22And Amos dying, spending his last
19:24strength on a windmill 60 ft in the air,
19:28trying to save the son who would later
19:29tear the pages out of his notebook.
19:32Craig came the next afternoon.
19:34Peg heard his truck before she saw it. A
19:36big silver pickup with Carney dealer
19:39plates, rattling down the sand track
19:41much too fast. He climbed out with
19:43Shannon beside him. He looked at the
19:46stone house with disgust. Mom, this is
19:49ridiculous. There's no power. You're
19:52living like a pioneer. Shannon and I are
19:54taking you home.
19:56I am home. Peg said. Craig rolled his
19:59eyes. Come on. Get your box.
20:03Then he looked past her. At the sixth
20:05windmill.
20:06At the new galvanized wheel. And under
20:09it, at the top of the tower, the strange
20:12little gray gearbox mounted on the
20:14shaft.
20:15Craig's face changed. It went white.
20:18Then red. Then very still.
20:21Where did you get that? He said quietly.
20:24"Your father built it."
20:26Craig's eyes went to the pump shed, to
20:29the barn, back to the windmill.
20:32"Shannon," he said,
20:33"get in the truck."
20:35"But we're supposed to
20:37"Get in the truck." He didn't say
20:38goodbye. He didn't ask about the dog. He
20:41reversed up the sand track so fast the
20:44tires threw a rooster tail of sand
20:46across the yard.
20:48Kit came out of the barn where she'd
20:49been hiding.
20:51"That was him, wasn't it?
20:53The boots." Peg nodded. "He knows the
20:56windmill is here now," Kit said. "He
20:59knows it's real."
21:01"Yes."
21:02"Then he's going to come back." Peg
21:04looked down the empty road. "I know,"
21:07she said. The next morning, before Peg
21:10could leave, a dented green pickup came
21:12over the rise from the direction of the
21:15creek.
21:16A tall woman in a canvas coat climbed
21:19out carrying a covered casserole dish.
21:21She had Kit's eyes and Kit's way of
21:23standing with her chin up. "Mrs.
21:25Dunleavy, I'm Ama Oyelaran, Kit's
21:28mother." Peg braced herself for an angry
21:31neighbor, a mother who wanted her
21:33daughter away from strangers and
21:34windmill towers.
21:36Instead, Ama held out the dish.
21:39"Chicken and rice. Kit says you've been
21:42living on canned chili." She glanced up
21:44at the sixth windmill. "She also says
21:47you're Amos's Peg." "I am." Ama was
21:50quiet a moment. "After my husband died,
21:53my daughter didn't speak for almost a
21:55year," she said. "Not to me, not to her
21:58teachers."
22:00"Nobody?" She looked at the pump shed.
22:03"Then she started coming over here. And
22:05one night she came home and told me
22:06about gear ratios for 2 hours straight."
22:10Her voice wavered.
22:12"Your husband gave me my daughter back,
22:13Mrs. Dunleavy.
22:15Whatever you need out here, you ask us."
22:18Peg took the warm dish in both hands.
22:22For the first time since February, she
22:23didn't feel alone.
22:25That same afternoon, Peg drove to Broken
22:28Bow and sat in the office of the only
22:30lawyer in Custer County who still made
22:32house calls.
22:34Ellen Strom was 60, sharp, and had known
22:37Amos since grade school. She read the
22:39Plains Irrigation letter.
22:41She read the notebook. She made two
22:43phone calls. Then she put her glasses
22:45down. Peg,
22:47Amos filed a provisional patent on that
22:49governor 2 years ago in his own name.
22:53Not the farms, not Craig's, his.
22:56She tapped the desk.
22:58When a man dies, his wife inherits what
23:00he owned. That patent is yours.
23:03Craig had me sign papers in February for
23:06the farm. Those papers covered the land,
23:09the house, the equipment. Ellen shook
23:12her head. Not your husband's invention.
23:15Craig had no right to it then, and he
23:17has no right to it now. Peg let out a
23:20breath she felt she'd been holding since
23:22February.
23:23But I don't have the last pages, she
23:26said. Without them, I can't make it
23:28work. And the company's deadline is in 2
23:31days.
23:32Ellen's face grew serious.
23:34Then you'd better find a way, Peg,
23:36because I'd bet money Craig is calling
23:38that company right now. He was. That
23:42evening, Peg's phone rang. A young man's
23:45voice.
23:46Polite, careful.
23:49Mrs. Dunleavy, this is Dev Mahajan from
23:51Plains Irrigation. I was the engineer
23:54who met your husband. Yes.
23:56Ma'am, I got a call today from your son.
23:59He says he's the rightful owner of the
24:01governor design. He emailed me nine
24:03pages of your husband's final
24:05calibration notes as proof.
24:07Peg closed her eyes. Mrs. Dunleavy, I
24:11liked your husband very much. He was a
24:13good man and a brilliant mechanic. I
24:16don't want to be in the middle of a
24:17family fight.
24:18Dev paused. So, here's what I'll tell
24:21you both. I'm driving out to the Pruitt
24:23place on Friday at noon, October 31st.
24:27Whoever can show me that windmill
24:29running in light wind gets to talk to us
24:31about a contract. That's all I can do.
24:33The line went quiet. Friday at noon, and
24:36Craig had the pages. That night, Peg sat
24:39on the stone step outside the kitchen
24:41with Biscuit's head in her lap and Kit
24:44beside her, staring up at the sixth
24:46windmill against the stars. "We could
24:48try to guess the settings." Kit said.
24:51"There are only so many notches on the
24:53governor. Maybe 30."
24:55"How long does each test take?" "With
24:57the wind like this,
24:59hours, and somebody has to climb up and
25:01change it by hand each time."
25:04Peg looked up at the tower. 60 ft of
25:07rusted steel ladder.
25:09Her stomach turned over.
25:10She had been afraid of heights since she
25:12was 9 years old when she fell from a
25:15hayloft and broke her arm.
25:1749 years on a farm, and she had never
25:19once climbed a windmill.
25:21Amos always did it.
25:23"I'll go up." Kit said. "I've done it
25:26before.
25:27With him."
25:28"You're 15." "So?" "So if you fall, your
25:32mother never forgives me." Peg said.
25:34"And I never forgive myself." Kit didn't
25:37argue.
25:38But she didn't stop looking at the
25:40tower, either.
25:41That night, after Kit went home, Peg
25:44walked out to the sixth tower alone with
25:46a flashlight.
25:48She put both hands on the ladder. The
25:50steel was so cold it burned. She climbed
25:53one rung, then another, then a third. At
25:5710 ft, she made the mistake of looking
25:59down. The yard tilted. The flashlight
26:03beam swung wildly across the grass. Her
26:06fingers locked on the rung so hard she
26:08couldn't feel them.
26:09She was 9 years old again, falling
26:12through the hayloft door, the ground
26:14rushing up. She couldn't move up, she
26:16couldn't move down. She didn't know how
26:19long she hung there. Then a voice came
26:21out of the dark below her. Calm and
26:23steady.
26:24"Mrs. Dunleavy, it's Kit. I forgot my
26:28thermos."
26:29Peg couldn't answer.
26:31"You don't have to look at the ground,"
26:32Kit said.
26:33"Just look at your hands. Move the left
26:36one first, then your left foot.
26:39That's what he taught me. One hand, one
26:41foot. Never both."
26:43Peg looked at her left hand. She made it
26:46let go. She moved it down one rung, then
26:49her left foot. One hand, one foot.
26:52"Never both."
26:54It took her 4 minutes to climb down 10
26:56ft.
26:58When she reached the ground, she sat in
27:00the cold grass and shook. Kit sat down
27:03beside her and didn't say anything at
27:04all. "I can't do it," Peg whispered.
27:08"Not tonight," Kit agreed. "But maybe
27:10you're not supposed to do it tonight."
27:13Peg went back inside and opened the
27:15notebook again. She turned every page,
27:18every margin, every coffee stain. On
27:21page 41, she stopped. A small sketch of
27:24the governor dial. 30 notches around the
27:27edge, like the face of a clock.
27:29And beside it, a note in Amos's
27:31handwriting. Faint, almost a joke.
27:35"When it's done, I'll set the last notch
27:37to the day she said yes."
27:39Peg stared at the words. The day she
27:41said yes.
27:43Not the wedding. Amos always said she'd
27:45said yes the first night, under this
27:48very windmill, when she laughed at him
27:50and didn't climb back in the truck.
27:53June 14th. 14.
27:55She turned to Kit, who had come inside
27:58with her and fallen asleep at the
27:59kitchen table with her head on her arms.
28:02"Kit," Peg said. "Wake up." "How many
28:05notches did you say?"
28:07Friday came cold and bright, with a
28:09light wind out of the north. 4 miles an
28:12hour. Barely enough to stir the grass.
28:16At 11:30, Craig's silver truck came down
28:19the track.
28:20Bryce was in the passenger seat.
28:22Behind them came a third car.
28:25A dark sedan with a man in a suit.
28:28At 11:45,
28:29a white pickup with Plains Irrigation on
28:31the door pulled up beside them. A young
28:34man with glasses and a clipboard got
28:36out. Dev Mahajan.
28:38Kit stood beside Peg at the foot of the
28:40sixth tower holding a climbing harness
28:43she had borrowed from her uncle.
28:45Craig walked straight up to Dev and
28:47shook his hand. Thanks for coming. As I
28:50explained the design is mine. I've been
28:52working with my father on it for years.
28:55My mother's confused.
28:56She's grieving. This is our lawyer, Mr.
28:59Hale. The man in the suit nodded.
29:02My clients have the complete calibration
29:04notes, Hale said. Mrs. Dunleavy does
29:07not. We'd simply ask that she step aside
29:10so Craig can make the final adjustment.
29:13Craig looked up at the tower. He had a
29:15folded sheaf of paper in his hand. The
29:18torn pages. He put his foot on the
29:20bottom rung of the ladder and stopped.
29:23He looked up again. 60 ft. Peg watched
29:26her son's face. She knew that look.
29:29Craig had been afraid of heights since
29:31he was a boy. Amos used to tease him.
29:33Amos always did the climbing. Craig took
29:36his foot off the ladder.
29:38Bryce, he said, you go.
29:41Bryce shook his head slowly. I'm not
29:43climbing that, Craig. For a moment
29:45nobody moved.
29:47Then Peg held out her hand to Kit. Give
29:49me the harness.
29:51Kit stared at her.
29:53Mrs. Dunleavy, you I know, Peg said.
29:57Give it to me anyway.
29:58Kit buckled her in with shaking hands.
30:01She clipped the safety line to the
30:03ladder. She checked it three times.
30:06Don't look down, Kit whispered. Look at
30:09the blades.
30:11Look at your name.
30:12Peg put her hand on the cold steel and
30:15she started to climb.
30:17The wind pulled at her coat. The ladder
30:19rang under her boots.
30:21At 20 ft her legs began to shake.
30:24At 30 she stopped and held on. Eyes
30:28closed, heart hammering.
30:30Below her someone called her name.
30:33Craig. His voice had gone thin.
30:36"Mom. Mom, come down. You'll fall." She
30:40didn't answer him. She opened her eyes
30:43and looked up. Above her, the bright new
30:45blades turned slowly in the light wind.
30:49Three white letters went around and
30:50around. Peg. She kept climbing. At the
30:54top, she sat on the narrow wooden
30:56platform and wrapped her arm around the
30:58tower. The whole Sandhills spread out
31:01around her, gold and endless, the way
31:04Amos must have seen it every Tuesday and
31:06Thursday for 3 years. The governor was
31:09right in front of her, a gray steel box,
31:12a dial with 30 notches.
31:14The little arrow was set to nine.
31:17Peg took the wrench Kit had clipped to
31:18her belt.
31:20She turned the dial. 10, 11, 22, 13, 14.
31:26She heard the click as it locked into
31:28place.
31:29For a moment, nothing happened.
31:31Then the wheel above her shuddered. The
31:33blades caught the faint north wind, and
31:36they began to turn. Slowly at first,
31:39then faster, smooth, steady, humming.
31:43Down below, a sound she hadn't heard in
31:4550 years rose out of the ground.
31:48The deep rhythmic gulp of the pump rod.
31:51Water burst from the pipe into the dry
31:53stone stock tank,
31:55clean and cold and shining in the sun.
31:58Dev Mahajan dropped his clipboard and
32:00ran to the tank.
32:01He held his hand under the stream.
32:04He checked his wind meter. He looked up
32:06at Peg on the platform, 60 ft above him,
32:09and started to laugh.
32:11"4 miles an hour!" he shouted. "It's
32:14pumping in 4 miles an hour!"
32:17Kit was jumping up and down. Biscuit was
32:19barking.
32:21Bryce had his hands on his head.
32:23Craig stood at the bottom of the tower,
32:25perfectly still, staring up at his
32:28mother.
32:29Peg sat on the platform with her
32:30husband's windmill turning above her,
32:33and the wind in her gray hair, and she
32:35cried.
32:37Not from fear, not from grief, from the
32:40sound. Click, creak, gulp. Click, creak,
32:45gulp. Best sound in the world. It took
32:48her a long time to climb back down. When
32:50her feet finally touched the ground, Kit
32:53grabbed her and held on. Craig was still
32:55standing at the base of the tower.
32:58The nine torn pages hung from his hand.
33:00He looked at the windmill, then at the
33:02water pouring into the tank, then at his
33:05mother.
33:06"How did you know?" he said hoarsely.
33:09"The setting. It was on the last page."
33:12"How did you know?" "Your father wrote
33:14it in two places." Peg said. "The second
33:17one was for me." Craig's lawyer was
33:19already walking back to his car. Craig
33:22didn't move. "I took the pages." he said
33:25finally. His voice cracked. "In April, I
33:28found Dad's truck receipts from the
33:30Pruitt place after the funeral. I came
33:32out, I found the notebook. I read the
33:35letter from the company." He swallowed.
33:38"I owe the bank $240,000,
33:40Mom. The ethanol plant. I talked Dad
33:43into co-signing the loan with the farm
33:46as collateral. I swore it was safe.
33:49When the plant failed, the bank was
33:51going to take the farm anyway. So, after
33:53he died, I sold it first before you
33:56could find out.
33:58And I thought if I could sell Dad's
33:59invention, too, I could fix everything
34:02before anyone found out." Bryce stared
34:04at his brother. "You put up the farm?
34:07Mom's farm?" Craig didn't look at him.
34:09"Dad knew." Peg said quietly. Craig's
34:12head came up. "He knew the plant had
34:15failed." Peg said. "He found out last
34:17fall.
34:18He was trying to sell the governor to
34:20pay your note before you lost
34:22everything.
34:23He was climbing that tower in December,
34:25Craig, with pneumonia, for you."
34:29All the color left her son's face.
34:32"Read the last page." Peg said. "The one
34:35you took. Read it out loud." Craig's
34:38hands were shaking. He unfolded the
34:40pages.
34:41He turned to the last one.
34:43Below the calibration numbers, Amos had
34:45written a few lines in a tired, uneven
34:48hand.
34:49Craig started reading. He stopped. He
34:51started again. Craig, I know about the
34:54note at the bank. I'm not angry, son. I
34:57made plenty of fool mistakes at your
34:59age, and your mother forgave everyone.
35:02When this sells, the first check goes to
35:04the bank in your name. Don't tell your
35:07mother. Just come out here sometime and
35:09help me finish the other five windmills.
35:11I miss working with you. Dad. Craig
35:14Dunleavy sat down in the sand at the
35:16foot of his father's windmill and wept
35:18like a boy. Behind him, Bryce stood very
35:21still.
35:23I knew he came out here, Bryce said
35:25quietly, in April.
35:27He called me from the road. He said he'd
35:29found something of Dad's that could fix
35:31everything.
35:32He looked at his mother. I didn't ask
35:35what. I didn't want to know. I've been
35:37not wanting to know things my whole
35:39life, Mom.
35:40Peg looked at her younger son.
35:43When you called me last night, Bryce
35:45said, I should have told you. I'm sorry.
35:48Yes, Peg said, you should have.
35:52Bryce nodded. He didn't make excuses.
35:55That was something.
35:56Peg turned back to Craig. She stood over
35:59him for a while. Then she knelt down
36:01beside him.
36:03Not to fix it. Not to say it was all
36:05right.
36:06It wasn't all right. She just put her
36:08hand on his back. Your father climbed
36:11that tower for you, she said, and today
36:14I climbed it for him. What you do next
36:17is up to you.
36:18Plains Irrigation signed the contract 3
36:20weeks later in Ellen Strom's office in
36:23Broken Bow.
36:24$180,000
36:26up front.
36:27A royalty on every governor sold. The
36:30design was officially named after its
36:32inventor, the Dunleavy governor. Peg
36:35didn't pay Craig's debt. She thought
36:38about it for weeks. In the end, she lent
36:41him enough to keep the bank from taking
36:42his house With a written agreement and a
36:45payment every month.
36:47He would pay back every dollar the way
36:50Amos would have wanted. Slowly.
36:53Honestly.
36:54Craig signed it without arguing. And on
36:57the first Saturday in December, his
36:59silver truck came down the sand track.
37:01He got out carrying a toolbox.
37:04"Dad's note said there were five more
37:06windmills." He said, not quite looking
37:09at her.
37:10"I'm not climbing, but I can do the
37:12groundwork."
37:13Peg looked at her son for a moment. Then
37:15she handed him a wrench.
37:17All winter, they worked on the Pruitt
37:19place. Craig on the ground, Kit on the
37:22towers.
37:24Bryce came out from Omaha twice and
37:26stayed for a weekend each time.
37:28Peg put new glass in the stone house
37:30windows.
37:32She hung Amos's seed cap on the hook by
37:34the door.
37:35She tacked the photograph from June
37:3714th, 1976
37:39above the kitchen table, so it was the
37:41first thing she saw every morning.
37:44She called the assisted living place in
37:46Kearney and took her name off the list.
37:49She did one more thing with the money
37:50from Plains Irrigation. She drove to the
37:53bank in Broken Bow and opened a savings
37:55account in Kit O'Hara's name. When Kit
37:59asked what it was for, Peg handed her
38:01the passbook. "Engineering school." Peg
38:04said. "Lincoln or wherever you want.
38:07Amos always said you had better hands
38:09than he did." Kit stared at the number.
38:12Then she turned away fast so Peg
38:15wouldn't see her cry.
38:17Peg saw anyway. And every Tuesday and
38:19Thursday that winter at 6:00, Peg took
38:23one red and white peppermint from the
38:24jar in the pump shed and set it on the
38:27windowsill above the stone kitchen sink.
38:29She didn't eat them.
38:31She just lined them up one after another
38:34catching the evening light. Craig
38:36noticed them the first Saturday he came
38:38to work. "What are those for?" "Your
38:40father brought you one every Tuesday and
38:42Thursday for 49 years." Peg said.
38:46"I always thought it was a little thing.
38:48She looked out the window at the sixth
38:50windmill.
38:51It turns out it was the biggest thing he
38:53ever told me.
38:55And on the first warm day of April, Peg
38:57Dunleavy stood in the yard of the stone
38:59house with Biscuit at her feet and
39:01listened.
39:02All six windmills were turning. Click,
39:05creak, gulp. Six times over, all across
39:09the hills.
39:10Best sound in the world. That summer was
39:13the driest in 10 years. All across the
39:16Sandhills, stock tanks went dry.
39:19Gardens burned brown.
39:21In the next valley, past the creek, the
39:24O'Leary place was struggling worst of
39:26all. Kit's mother, Alma, had been
39:29running that small farm alone since her
39:31husband died. Their old windmill pumped
39:33nothing in the hot, still July air.
39:36She had already sold half her cattle.
39:38She was talking about selling the rest.
39:41One morning in July, Peg loaded the back
39:44of Amos' blue Ford with a gray steel
39:46box, a wrench, and a climbing harness.
39:50Alma came out onto her porch and
39:52frowned.
39:53Mrs. Dunleavy, what's this?
39:56The first Dunleavy governor off the
39:57line, Peg said. Plains Irrigation sent
40:01me two. I'm keeping one. This one's
40:03yours. Alma stared at her. I can't pay
40:06for that. I didn't ask you to.
40:09Alma looked at the box, then at her
40:11daughter, who was already pulling on the
40:13harness. Why?
40:15Peg looked up at the O'Leary's rusted
40:17windmill, standing still against the
40:19white summer sky.
40:21Because 3 years ago, she said, your girl
40:24started handing bolts to a lonely old
40:26man on a windmill, and she never
40:28stopped. Not even after he was gone.
40:31That afternoon, Kit climbed the O'Leary
40:34tower and set the dial.
40:36She set it to 14. The blades caught the
40:39faint July wind, and they began to turn.
40:43Peg Dunleavy believed she had given away
40:45the only thing her husband left her. She
40:47signed the papers.
40:49She let son take the farm.
40:51She moved into a spare room and waited
40:53quietly to be moved again.
40:55She thought her story was over, but Amos
40:58had left her something else. Something
41:00no one could sign away.
41:02A promise made under a windmill when
41:04they were both 18, kept in secret every
41:07Tuesday and Thursday for 3 years.
41:10Sometimes the people who love us most
41:12say it in ways we never notice.
41:14A cap left on a hook, a photograph taken
41:17from a shoe box, a name painted on a
41:20blade 60 ft in the air, and sometimes
41:23the bravest thing we will ever do is
41:25climb toward the thing that frightens us
41:27most because someone we loved once
41:30climbed it for us. It is never too late
41:33to finish what love started. If Peg's
41:35story touched your heart, please like
41:37this video, subscribe for more stories
41:40of family, courage, and second chances,
41:43and share it with someone who's been
41:44told they're too old to begin again.
41:47And tell us in the comments what promise
41:49did someone make to you that you'll
41:50never forget.

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