seconds later.
You have no idea what you just did.
I slept four hours.
At 6:30 Friday morning, I woke to forty-three missed calls.
News stations.
Neighbors.
Three vendors.
Two HOA board members.
People demanding refunds even though I had never sold them anything.
Someone had posted drone footage of the empty field.
The video had already passed ninety thousand views.
The original caption read:
FARMER DESTROYS HOA CHARITY CORN MAZE HOURS BEFORE OPENING.
Then somebody in the comments found county property records.
By breakfast, the caption had changed.
HOA SOLD 1,800 TICKETS TO A CORN MAZE ON LAND THEY DIDN’T OWN.
That version traveled faster.
At 8:10, a local television van parked on the shoulder.
I didn’t speak to them.
Rachel had given me one instruction.
Say less.
So I did.
At 8:40, Linda Price arrived.
No makeup.
Hair pulled into a loose ponytail.
Same