Provision

When Phil left to drive to the abattoir,
He had a bad feeling.
Shortly after he left, the boys and I prayed.
We had prayed at breakfast. We prayed again.

Before Phil left our road,
The side mirror fell out and shattered.
That was his only way to see behind,
As the rearview mirror is useless with the trailer.

He found an old rearview mirror
Among the detritus in the truck,
And a single piece of baling wire, and two zip-ties.
He tied this makeshift mirror on, so he would have some mirror behind.

It rained all the way up, but the cows were delivered.
On the way home, the engine for the windshield wipers
Suddenly exploded,
At the same time the cloudburst renewed its fury.

Large, unwieldy dually without power steering,
Towing a large cattle trailer,
On a busy road with no shoulder,
In an unknown part of town.

Already stressful. Now, literally, zero visibility.
I can only imagine the terror of that moment.
We stand amazed that he didn’t die.
Once safely parked, he did call me to come and get him.

So I drove the hour and a half to find him,
Through torrential rains,
Phone about to die,
Not entirely sure where I was going.

I expected we would leave the truck and trailer,
And return again tomorrow.
Except rain is forecasted for the foreseeable future.
A temporary break in the rainfall allowed us to caravan slowly home.

So was our prayer answered? Yes.
He was safe.
The cows reached their destination.
And apart from a three hour stress, we are all unscathed.