WHEN JOE awoke, the beautiful rose tint of early dawn did very little to distract him from a throbbing headache. Squinting his eyes against the light, he took record of his current lowly state. His jeans and shirt were marinated with dirt and pumpkin guts. Uprooting his hands from within the earth, he shook away webs of orange fiber and seeds.

“Looks like you lost.” The voice startled him, and Joe spun around quickly, ready for another attack. Sitting on a large pumpkin in shirt and tie was the old man who’d put him up to this crazy feat.

“I was surrounded,” Joe protested. “There were so many of them.”

“So I wasn’t imagining things,” the man said with a satisfied grin. Reaching into his pocket, he removed a key ring and tossed it to Joe, who caught it squarely in his lap.

He picked up the keys and turned them over in his hand, recognizing the Jaguar emblem. “But I didn’t catch them.”

“That wasn’t the deal, was it?” the man clarified as he stood and turned, walking toward the entry road of the field. “Are you coming?”

Joe scrambled to his feet, brushing soil from his clothes and hair as he followed the curious man. “Where?”

“It appears to me you’re in desperate need of a shower and perhaps some food,” the man stated calmly as he trudged through the fallow, seemingly unperturbed by the layers of dust now clinging to his shined shoes and dress slacks.

Joe felt his stomach ache in response and realized it had been a good many hours since he’d had a meal. As they reached the car, the man, who still hid his eyes behind dark shades even in the muted morning light, walked round to the passenger seat.

“You’re serious?” Joe asked incredulously as he once again examined the Jag’s keys in his hand.

“It’s yours now, Joe,” the man said with a smile that was nothing short of trustworthy, though Joe hadn’t recalled exchanging names. A twinge of guilt rippled through him but he refrained from asking his benefactor’s moniker from embarrassment. “I hope you enjoy it. There are many things I can provide for you, things you are in need of and things you desire. One day there may be something that I require, and I’m sure you’ll be happy to oblige.” With that, he shook the dust from his trousers and stepped in the car.

“My car.” Joe smiled to himself as he climbed into the driver’s seat and revved the engine.