At the Miles Farm, Greg Miles paces impatiently around his red farmhouse. This guy is five minutes late. I’m probably gonna lose a lot of money with this, and this problem just darned sucks! Seeing a black Ford pull into the long, dusty driveway to his farmhouse, he quits his self-indulged thoughts and goes down to greet the visitor. Peter LaJoy gets out of his car and is greeted by the suspendered jeans-wearing plump figure known to his few friends as Greg Miles. After greeting each other, Miles explains the situation that occurred over the past several days to LaJoy. Pete immediately notices that the situation is very similar, if not identical, to the one at the Williams’ house and says so to Miles.
“So, you think this worm problem is not mine alone? Lots of people have it?”,asks Miles when he hears this. “We don’t know for sure at the moment. All we know is that it is not unique to your land. But we don’t know how far or how wide the conflagration is. Did you use any pesticide or herbicide on your crops recently?”, inquires LaJoy. “Yeah, used Groundupto kill the weeds and some atrazine or something combo for the bugs. Keeps the plants growing smoothly. Why?”. “Well, we also had that same herbicide, Cleanup, used in other cases. Did you use Groundup SuperPower?” “Yes, just came out like a week or so ago” replies Greg. Peter takes note and scribbles several notes in his notepad. “Very well. We’ll see what we can do, but I’m afraid we’re going to need more information. We may have to send a team over here as well”.
“A team? To my farm?” “Yes, again we need more information. We’re going to have to acquire some soil samples, run a few tests. . . basically we need some time. You can definitely continue working while they’re doing all these things” replies LaJoy somewhat appeasingly, sensing a rising sense of urgency in Miles. Miles looks slightly more flushed than before. “Anything else that I should know about?” Miles thinks for a moment, “Not really. Nothing I can come up with”. “Very well”, replies Peter, “Its been a pleasure, sir. Take care”. “You too.” The two men shake hands, and Peter soon afterwards takes off in his pickup truck.. Miles is left there standing like a stone statue. Pondering the history of his farm, he remembers the disaster he had only a few years back and cannot help but anxiously gnash his teeth and wonder: Another problem on my farm? No way! Shit. This business keeps getting worse all the time.