April Flash #22

based on prompts by Haredawg:
Dust on my boots; tough row to hoe; where ya been?

“It was all dust on my boots, young’un, don’t make no difference if you stay or go, don’t matter if you learn your lessons the hard way or the easy way, one way or ‘nuther you’re gonna learn ‘em anyway. What I’m telling you is that life ain’t a cakewalk. Love ain’t either. It’s a tough row to hoe, you got to dig deep in them dirt piles to find anythin’ worth keeping. Sometimes things work out the way you want ‘em to, more likely they don’t. the trick is to keep tryin until you find something that sticks, and not become a pessimistic old fart like me, waiting for the end to come, sabotaging everything and everyone around ya’ till they can’t stand your company and just want to up an’ leave all the time”

The screen door banged shut as I came back out on the landing, fresh cup of steaming coffee in my hands, having caught bits and pieces of my great-grandfathers southern drawl all the way up the stairs into the kitchen. His eyes widened, before shaking his head.

“Where ya been, youngun? Lemme tell you a story…It all began years ago down in K’tucky…”

New prompts: star shine and April glow; chewed up sneakers; ant trail