Harris and Me: A Summer Remembered

The opening scene of Chapter 8 sees Harris and the protagonist discussing whether they should pretend to be the characters from the movie in town the previous night. It also happens to be the first time the boys are alone on the farm together while the rest of the family goes to help the Halversons. Harris immediately begins scheming and leads the protagonist off to the horses. He tells the protagonist to go grab his pistol, and they will play cowboys together. He explains that they’re going to climb to the roof and swing down on a rope to jump on Bill the horse, like in the movie.

At the last moment before they jump, the protagonist second-guesses himself and stops, but Harris continues and lands right on Bill’s rump. Being that Bill is such a massive horse, Harris ends up landing with his legs straight open, right on his groin. Bill bucks Harris twice, who shoots backwards onto the floor. When the protagonist finds Harris on the floor, Harris simply asks, “Did we save the rustlers?” (60) and then says not to move him.

A week later, the protagonist and Harris make another attempt at imitating a scene from the Gene Autry movie, once again alone at the farm. Bill no longer trusts them, but Bob, another horse, allows them to harness him and follows them out to the pasture. Harris’s new idea is to ride Bob while he runs and shoot guns. The protagonist goes to get his silver pistol, which is actually just a cap gun. When he returns with it, Harris is holding a real gun. The protagonist stops dead in his tracks, but goes along with Harris’s plan, nonetheless. The boys manage to successfully get Bob galloping and ride around shooting at rocks and trees. Suddenly, Harris shoots a live round, and both Bob and the protagonist are shocked. Bob bucks them off and gallops back to the barn, trampling and breaking the gun.

Harris panics at the thought of his sister, Glennis, beating him when she finds out he has broken the gun, and he asks the protagonist to take the blame. He then threatens to blackmail the protagonist, announcing that he knows about the pornographic pictures under his bed. The protagonist manages to lie to the family with success, but Glennis ironically punches Harris anyway, “for not stopping him” (64). Knute stares at the protagonist without speaking, which brings up feelings of guilt for lying, and the chapter ends.

Chapter 9 begins as the protagonist and Harris are putting in their day’s work on the farm separating and packing down hay. The protagonist reflects on how this is fun on the first day, but it progressively becomes more like work and less like play. By the end of the week, the task is complete, and the protagonist is exhausted. Harris and the protagonist race to the river and dive in. As the protagonist is taking off his clothes, Knute comes running up behind them. He jumps in and tussles the boys around for a couple minutes before getting out and going inside without a word. Harris is happy to have had a chance to play with his dad, even for a minute. He explains to the protagonist that he thinks if his dad played more, it might “settle him” (66). Knute is a stoic man, who drinks coffee, smokes, and rarely speaks. Harris describes a past Knute, who was playful and lively.

As the boys are laying on the bank drying off, Harris spots a fever tick in the grass. He worries about the cows getting sick, and he and the protagonist get up to alert Knute about the tick. The three of them begin the process of forcing the cattle through a chute, submerging them in a solution called creosote, and hopefully removing any possible ticks. The creosote solution splashes into the air onto everybody as the cows jump into the tank. The last one to come through is the bull, who decides he does not want to comply and turns out and runs the other way. He rams right into Harris, and Knute grabs Harris and throws him to safety to prevent further damage. Knute manages to wrangle and take down the bull.

Clair and Glennis are the first to approach Harris, who is still on the ground. Nobody knows if he is alive or dead. Glennis begins to cry and begs him to come back, and suddenly, Harris’s legs move. and he opens his eyes. It is in this moment that the protagonist realizes Glennis really does care for her brother, despite whooping him all the time. Confused, Harris asks “What the hell happened?” (70). The protagonist suspects that Harris can’t be killed. Clair takes charge of the situation, asking Louie to mind the farm while she drives Knute to the hospital; his hand is broken from punching the bull.

The protagonist is to take over Harris’s work on the farm until he recovers. Not fully aware of the amount of work he signs up for, he agrees. After two days, he is utterly spent, and when he and Harris are lying in bed at the end of the second day, Harris suggests he may be out for an entire week. “If you don’t help tomorrow, I’m going to kill you” (72) is the protagonist’s reply. The chapter closes as Harris concedes that his break from farm work has ended.