A chance meeting between a teenage farm boy and a free-spirited college girl in 1967 becomes a love story that underscores the challenges of the time. Set in rural Vermont over one summer, Of Time and Chance portrays the conflict between unquestioning patriots and a counterculture resisting involvement in the Vietnam War through powerful, understated storytelling and finely drawn characters that resist stereotype.
Read a Sample from Of Time and Chance – A Love Story of the ’60s
Chapter 1
West Severance, Vermont
June 5, 1967
Andy
When he turned around, the most beautiful girl he had ever seen was standing in the doorway looking at him. Could she be real? She had to be some magic trick of the evening sun, which drew a red-gold line of light around her. Her face was in shadow, but he was positive it would be beautiful too. She was saying something he couldn’t understand. It was a blur. He couldn’t look and listen at the same time.
He stood there staring at her, holding the milking stool in his hand, while behind him Rosie rattled her stanchion. She wanted to get out to the night pasture with the other cows. He put the pail of milk where it wouldn’t get kicked over and let Rosie out. He had to follow her through the barn, so he could open the gate for her, and he knew when he got back to the milk room, the beautiful vision would be gone.
But he was wrong. She was there, and she was smiling. She said, “Can I buy your milk? My sister and I came to buy milk from your farm, and there it is, plenty of it. How much do you want for the whole pail full?”
He stood there in confusion, and worse, he could feel the red flush climbing up his cheeks to embarrass him. He said, “The milk you want is up at the house. It’s already bottled for you.”
“But I want your milk.”
He didn’t know what to say to that, and he could feel his face getting redder. He just stood there, looking at her.
“Okay, what about this then? Will you teach me how to milk?”
She was even more beautiful when she smiled, and she was smiling at him, but before he could think of a reply, someone called from up near the house, and the girl turned and left.
He went to the door. She was just hurrying around the corner of the barn. She didn’t look back.
He spent a little while straightening up the milk room, trying to calm down. He put a dish of fresh milk out for the barn cats. He should have offered her the pail of milk. He should have said he would teach her how to milk. He could have put Rosie back in the stanchion. He might have been able to squeeze a few more squirts of milk out of her, while he and the girl sat there close together. But it was too late. And maybe she was just joking. With her long flowing hair and long flowing skirt, she didn’t look like someone who wanted to learn how to milk.
Anyway, it was over. He sighed and picked up the pail. When he got around the corner of the barn, he saw there were no cars parked in front, so she was truly gone.
Just then Gram came around the outside of the house. “Where’s your Ma at, Andy? I heard her callin. I was out back in the garden.”
“Ma’s car ain’t here. She could be pickin Phyllis up from school. Maybe they went downstreet or somethin.”
“Well, I better get supper goin. I want to make some hamburgs out of that new meat.”
“Make a lot of ’em. I’m hungry.”
“You always are, and I always do.”
They went into the house together. Andy kicked off his boots and took the milk to the back room and put it through the strainer. He washed the milk pail in the sink and set it out on the counter to dry. “If you don’t need me to do nothin, Gram, I got some homework.”
“You go do that, honey. I don’t need any help.”
Upstairs in his room, Andy changed his shirt and pants. He hung the clothes that smelled like cow on the back of his door to air out. He got his big American History book and lay down on his bed to read the assignment. They were getting close to the end of the school year and close to the end of the book. Gram was probably alive for most of what he had to read. He wished she could just tell him how it was, so he didn’t have to read it. If she told it, it might even stay in his head.
He tried to picture Gram as a young girl and that led him right into thinking about the beautiful girl in the barn. She was dressed like a hippie. There were girls in his class who tried to dress that way, but none of them looked like she did. She must have been from down-country some place. She was just passing through, and he would never see her again.
He lay on his bed with the big book making a comfortable weight on his stomach while he thought about her. He was planning to start reading, when Pop shouted to him to come to supper. He closed the book and hurried downstairs.
Everyone was at the table when he got there. He slid into his chair and reached for the food. They were all eating already. For a little while, he had forgotten how hungry he was.
At first, everyone was too busy to make conversation. After a while, Phyllis said, “I saw Bobby Jacobs in the grocery store, and he said to say hi to you, Andy.”
“Okay.”
“He said to tell you they’re all goin to the recruitin office on graduation day.”
“Everybody knows that already, Phyllis.”
“What?” Pop said. “What’s that about?”
“A whole bunch of the guys in my class are goin to join the army after graduation. That’s all.”
“Oh,” Pop said. “I thought it was like a protest or somethin. Are you goin with ’em, Andy?”
Andy sighed. “I want to, but I can’t, not unless you and Ma sign for me. I’ve told you that before.”
“I guess I forgot. Well, I’ll do it. I don’t want to hold you up, if that’s what you want to do.”
“Thanks, Pop.”
“Patty, is it okay with you if I sign, so Andy can join the army?”
Everybody looked at Ma, but she didn’t say anything.
Andy said, “It ain’t a big deal, Ma. When my birthday gets here, and I’m eighteen, I can sign for myself. We’re just talkin about a couple months, so I can go when my friends go.”
She didn’t even answer. She just threw down her fork and ran out of the room, leaving the rest of them looking at each other.
Phyllis said, “You could sign for Andy, Pop, even if she doesn’t want to.”
“I ain’t goin to do that. I’ll talk to her about it. I can bring her around. I know that’s what you want, Andy.”
Andy nodded. “Thanks, Pop.”
Cynthia
She held Orion on her lap while Laura drove. They were going to buy some milk at a farm Laura knew about. She had to joggle Orion up and down to keep him from crying. It worked until the car stopped. Laura got out and came around to the passenger side. “Here. I’ll take him. I’m going to have to feed him before I show you how we buy milk here. It won’t take long.” She took the baby and got in the back seat. When she began to unbutton her blouse, he stopped crying.
Cynthia got out of the car. They were parked in front of an old farmhouse that once had been painted white. There was a barn attached to one end of it. She said, “I don’t think anyone’s home.”
“That doesn’t matter. I’ll show you in a minute.”
“Okay. Call me when Orion’s done. I’m going to explore.” She walked along the barn wall. Around the corner, the evening light shone with a golden haze on the old red of the barn boards. There was an open door. She stopped and looked in.
It took a minute for her eyes to adjust to the dusty darkness in the room. Then she saw that a cow was standing there, and a man was sitting under the cow with his back to the door. He was milking. Cynthia could hear the staccato bursts of milk hitting the side of the metal bucket.
The cow shifted her feet and turned her head, rolling her bulging eyeballs around to see who was standing in the door.
The man reached up and smacked her on the flank. “Quit it, Rosie. What’s got into you anyhow?” He started to milk again.
It was like watching a movie, but better, because she was in it too. She could smell the milk and the manure and the animal smell of the cow. She could feel the warm spring sun on her back. It was another world, one she had only read about in books.
The man said, “Okay, Rosie. You’re all done.” He stood up and stretched. When he reached down for the stool, he turned, and that was when he saw Cynthia standing in the doorway.
She saw that he wasn’t a man, at all. He was a boy, and he was about her age. He stood there, not saying anything, just looking at her.
The cow shook her head, rattling the bars that held her. The boy put down the stool and moved the milk pail out of the way. Then he opened the bar around the cow’s neck, and she stepped daintily out and walked through a door into another part of the barn. The boy followed her.
Cynthia wanted to see where they went, but the floor was mucky, and her feet were bare. She thought about how she could take the pail and carry it to the car. She would say, “I got us some milk, Laura. Do you think this will be enough?” She was laughing to herself about how surprised Laura would be, when the boy came back.
Still in the spirit of the joke, she said, “My sister and I came to your farm to buy some milk. How much do you want for what’s in that pail? I can get the money from my sister.”
For some reason, that made the boy blush. He mumbled something about getting milk at the house.
She didn’t know what he meant. “Well, okay,” she said. “If you won’t sell us any, will you teach me to milk? I’ve always wanted to know how.” That wasn’t strictly true, but the smile she turned on him was, and that made up for it.
She was about to say more. It was tempting to try to darken the flush on his face, but just then she heard Laura calling her. She sounded impatient. Cynthia hurried out the door and around the corner of the barn.
Laura was standing beside her car with Orion on her hip. There was a big jar of milk and a carton of eggs sitting on the roof of the car. As soon as she saw Cynthia, she said, “Where were you? I wanted to show you how to buy milk here.”
“There was a boy milking a cow in the barn. I was watching him.”
“Here. Take Orion. We need to get home.”
“What’s the hurry? I thought you were going to show me around.”
“It’s getting late, and I don’t need to show it to you. It’s easy. There’s a refrigerator on the porch. You take what you want and leave the money. It’s all marked. There’s even a dish of change in case you need it.” They got into the car. “Aren’t they afraid people will take milk without paying for it? Or maybe take money?”
“They trust people. They’ve been doing it this way for a long time, I think. I guess it works.”
“That boy in the barn told me he would teach me how to milk. He was cute.”
Laura looked around in surprise, but she didn’t say anything.
“I think I’ll take him up on it.”
When they were driving up the hill to Laura’s house, Cynthia remembered what she had forgotten to tell Laura. “Mom said she and Dad are going to come up to visit in a few weeks.”
“What?”
“I meant to tell you yesterday when I got here, but I forgot.”
“When, Cynthy? I’m going to have to get ready for them. They might not like it that we’re letting a lot of people live here.”
“Who’s living here besides us? Just Bob Wickelow, right? He’s the only person I met last night.”
“People come and go. We try not to turn our friends away if they need a place to stay for a while. Everyone’s moving around a lot these days, especially people in the counterculture.”
“I like that, Laura, but while Mom and Dad are visiting, maybe it’s not such a good idea. They are so old-fashioned.”
Laura parked beside Cynthia’s little Volkswagen beetle. Paul’s old pickup was on the other side of Cynthia’s car. “Oh look, Paul’s home already. I need to get going on supper.”
“I’ll help you. I want to learn how to cook.” They got out of the car. “There are so many things I want to learn how to do.” But she was really talking to herself, because Laura had taken Orion and was hurrying into the house to see Paul.
After supper, Cynthia helped Laura with the dishes, while Paul sat on the porch holding Orion and listening to Bob Wickelow playing his guitar and singing, Where Have all the Flowers Gone? They left the door open so they could hear him while they straightened up the kitchen. There was only a thin line of light along the horizon when they finished and went out onto the porch. It was dark, except for the light coming through the windows and the screen door. Paul sat in the shadows, cradling Orion in his arms.
Laura stopped by Paul’s chair. She bent down and kissed Orion on the head. He didn’t move. She took off her sweater and laid it over him like a blanket. Then she sat down on the porch steps.
Cynthia sat down beside her. There was a sliver of moon. The brightest stars were just beginning to appear. Cynthia wrapped her skirts around her legs. The night air was cold. Bob was singing Blowin in the Wind, one of her favorite songs. It reminded her of the big protest in New York in April, her first real antiwar protest.
The air smelled of cedar and ice water. Laura must be even colder without her sweater. Cynthia thought that when the song was over, she would go inside and get a blanket for them to share, but before Bob got to the last verse, the phone rang. Laura jumped up and went inside to answer it. Cynthia tried to listen, but she couldn’t hear much because Bob was still singing and playing his guitar.
After a while, Laura came back. She stood in the doorway, silhouetted by the light from the kitchen. She waited until Bob got to the end of the song, and then she said, “That was Mom on the phone. She and Dad would like to come up and see us the weekend after next.”
Bob played a chord on his guitar.
Cynthia said, “Didn’t she want to talk to me?”
“She sent her love and said she’d see you soon. Is that okay with you, Paul? Cynthia told me about it this afternoon, but I didn’t get a chance to ask you.”
“It’s fine with me. They haven’t been up since last fall when Orion was born. I’m sure they want to see him.”
Orion heard their voices and woke up, adding his fretful comments to the conversation.
“Here, Paul. Let me have him. I’ll feed him, so we can put him down for the night.”
Paul stood, and she sat down in the chair and took the baby. Paul carefully wrapped her sweater around her shoulders. She looked up and smiled at him.
Cynthia watched the whole exchange, trying not to feel jealous. She wished there was someone who felt so tenderly protective of her.
Bob said, “Why don’t I get out of your way when they come? I’ve been thinking about going home for a visit before I head out west this summer.”
Laura looked up at Bob. “That’s a good idea. Thanks. It would make things less complicated.”
Nellie
At first, everyone was too hungry to talk, but later in the meal, Phyllis and Andy started talking about how all Andy’s friends were joining the army after graduation, and how Andy couldn’t go with them because he wasn’t eighteen yet. Frank said he would sign for him, but that upset Patty so much that she ran out of the room and didn’t come back.
After supper, Frank went to watch the television news, and Andy went back to his homework. Nellie got up to clear the table.
“I can help you clean up, Gram,” Phyllis said.
“What about your homework?”
“It’s okay. I ain’t got much tonight.”
So, Nellie brought the dirty dishes over to the sink and put away the food, while Phyllis washed.
“It ain’t but a couple of weeks until Andy’s graduation. What’re you goin to wear Gram?”
“I don’t know. I’ll find somethin. Who’s goin to look at a old lady anyway?”
Phyllis hugged her with dripping hands. “Oh Gram, I want you to look beautiful.”
“Thank you, honey. But you’re gettin me all wet. What about you? What are you goin to wear?”
“I’m sorry I dripped on you.” She took the dish towel and wiped at Nellie’s shoulders and back. “I don’t know what to wear. I ain’t got nothin good enough.”
“What about that blue skirt your ma bought you with the pink flowers on it? You look pretty in that.”
“It’s too long. It looks funny. Nobody I know wears ’em long like that. I wanted Ma to put up the hem, but she ain’t got time.”
“I can do it for you.”
“Oh Gram, really?”
“Sure. It won’t take long. You’ll have to put it on, so I can see what to do.”
When they were all done in the kitchen, Phyllis went upstairs to get the skirt, while Nellie got her box of pins and her reading glasses. She took the salt and pepper and sugar off the kitchen table.
When Phyllis came back, Nellie told her to get up on the table.
“What?” Phyllis looked horrified. “You want me to stand on the table? Where we eat?”
“I have to be able to see the bottom of your skirt to pin it.”
“But I’ll get the table all dirty.”
“Take off your shoes and socks.”
“Really, Gram?”
“Really. We’ll wash it off after. I got to be able to see to pin your hem, and I’m too old to be crouchin down on the floor.”
Phyllis climbed up on the table barefoot and stood there, turning slowly, while Nellie pinned the hem. She was about halfway around when Frank came in.
“Where’s…Phyllis, what’re you doin up there?”
“Gram’s fixin my skirt for me.”
“But that’s where we eat.”
“We’ll wash it off when we’re done, Pop.”
“You better do a good job. Our food goes on that table.” He looked at Nellie. “Where’s Patty, Ma?”
Nellie had to take the pins out of her mouth to answer. “Have you looked upstairs? She didn’t come back down.”
“Okay. I’ll go look.”
When Nellie had the skirt pinned all the way around, she took off her close-work glasses and stood back. “I like it,” she said. Phyllis looked sweet and pretty, not like her usual tomboy self.
“You can get down. And give me the skirt. I’ve got a little time tonight. I can start on it.”
“But if I take off the skirt, I’ll be in my underpants.”
“That’s okay. There ain’t nobody around. Give me the skirt.”
Phyllis took it off and scurried upstairs. Nellie wiped the table and put the salt and pepper and sugar back in the middle of it. She took the skirt and went to the front room to sit down with her sewing basket.
The window was open, and mist was rolling up from the valley. The outside air came in, full of earthy smells. There was ice in it too, but the spring peepers were singing a song of the new season and their hopes for it.
She got about halfway around the skirt before she had to quit. Her eyes wouldn’t focus any more. Even with her glasses jammed on tight, they jumped all over the place when she tried to see her stitches. She turned out the light and went up to bed. The house was silent. There was a crack of light under Andy’s door. She went on by. She could finish the hem tomorrow. Phyllis wouldn’t need it until the end of next week.