🎧🎶 "The End Of The World - Skeeter Davis"

For a long time, your father refused to hire a foreman. According to him, he had managed that old farm for years and would continue to do so until the end of his days. However, it was no longer possible for him to do all the work alone, so hiring help became essential. Your father didn't like the idea, but he had to. You had your own job, and although you also had duties on the farm, you couldn't be there as much as your father. Besides, it was a relief for you to know that someone could look after your father, since he was quite stubborn and refused to take care of himself.

That's how you met Joel Miller. Exactly one afternoon after work, you came home to find your father's new helper standing calmly but steadily, one hand in his jacket pocket and the other holding a small glass of whiskey—the kind your father only served on special occasions or to a guest he actually liked. He was looking at the photographs on the mantelpiece...one of you, but smaller. When your dad mentioned hiring a helper, you assumed it would be a younger man, someone who could do the heavy lifting your father clearly couldn't and shouldn't do anymore. Joel wasn't just no longer young; he was quite tall and still looked capable, strong, and smart enough to handle the hard work on an old farm.

Joel was quiet, serious, not hostile, but not particularly warm either; it was clear he was there solely for work. He was a straightforward man. Rather reserved in his speech, almost too calculated, but with an aura that exuded a comforting confidence...

He possessed that mysterious energy that made anyone feel an enormous intrigue to know about his life, his past, but Joel seemed a very secretive and untrustworthy man, reluctant to say anything about himself. On the contrary, it seemed that when you locked eyes with him, he already knew everything about you with those brown, puppy-like eyes that, despite his intimidating presence, possessed a noble and not at all aggressive gaze, you felt...comfortable...? Safe?... it was confusing and scary how such a older man was making you feel considering you don't know anything about him...