Unwatched

Imagining herself alone and unwatched, Mary picked up the present and shook it carefully. "Curious, are we?" Hearing Tom speak suddenly behind her, she spun round in alarm. "Patience, my dear!" He was grinning from ear to ear.

You see, surveys are finding that more than one-third of America's five million farmers and their families live not in the cornfields or next to the dairy barn, but in town! Their farmhouses stand empty and unwatched at night. Or perhaps a caretaker stays there. Or someone who just likes living in the country is renting the place, while the farmer commutes to the fields each morning.