My Timothy

1

 June Bug was the baby child, the youngest of three girls born to Parley and Oleigh Roach, and as such, Parley's last shot at siring a son. Oleigh had gone through the change months after the baby was born.

To add insult to injury, the farmer's wife caught the 'singing virus' within three years of June's birth and ran off with the traveling salesman, Clem Haverstall, whose route brought his battered old sedan by the Roach farm at least three times a year. But that was just spilled milk, as far as Parley was concerned.

June Bug grew and waxed strong, eventually turning into a strapping farmhand – Parley's crown jewel when it came to doing the chores around the place. And if push came to shove, Parley would have to admit that June was almost as good as any son he'd never had.

Almost.

His other two daughters, though long married, would never carry on the Roach name either. But what was worse, neither of them cared a hoot about the place.

Large-boned and homely, Parley knew his baby girl was fated to spinsterhood. She couldn't keep his bloodline going, but June did love the farm. Besides, Parley decided, it was nice having a woman about caring for the home and keeping him company in his old age.

And maybe it was for the best.

June wasn't the brightest bulb in the box.

But then again, farming was not rocket science.