I stepped out onto the damp porch boards and laid my right hand flat on my right knee.

“Why did you file Case 4238B?” I asked.

Robert Carter didn’t look at my face.

He tapped the aluminum edge of his clipboard against his thigh twice.

“Your mother and I have to look out for the family property,” he said.

“The court summons says I abandoned the farm,” I said.

“It’s a legal phrase,” my father said, adjusting his watch band again.

“Standard paperwork for administrative cleanup.”