I.
It was the cheapest, one-ingredient, fiercely-anticipated summer meal for a Midwestern family of six—corn on the cob. Our favorite variety: Jubilee.
II.
At 16, I worked the cutter belt at Big Stone Canning Factory. Every morning I biked down on my rickety ten-speed then headed in to suit up: hairnet, hardhat, orange earplugs dangling off a blue cord, stiff vinyl apron, and thick rubber gloves that squeaked up to my elbows.
III.
My Grandpa Hank was an award-winning butter maker. In Minnesota, this was monumental, state-fair-worthy famous. Until the day he died, my grandpa proudly displayed his golden cow trophies on their maple sideboard in the dining room. Buttery Midwestern light made them glow like Greek gods.
IV.
I waited in line to punch in with all the other, older factory workers. I was slender, pretty, and poor. Minimum wage $3.35 an hour meant: leather Nikes with a red swoosh, kegger cash admission, Love’s Baby Soft cologne, and Boones Farm Strawberry Hill wine.
V.
Calories in one cob of corn: 124.
Fact: There is one piece of silk for each kernel of corn on a cob.
Reassurance: Corn on the cob is not high in cholesterol.
VI.
Inside, the factory thrummed with dark, dank humidity. Loud forklifts beeped and reversed. Giant doors rolled up for huge trucks to dump and deliver fresh corn—wrapped moist in fresh green to protect the gold.
VII.
New varieties crop up each year: Sugar Dots. Bread & Butter. Sundance. Country Gentleman. Martian Jewels. Silver Cream.
VIII.
My task at Big Stone: grab freshly husked corn cobs off the slick conveyor belt and shove them into the silver cutter chute. Like magic, cobs sheared off nude and disappeared while wet gold kernels rained down on a tiny conveyor belt at my feet. Cobs often jammed in the metal cutter, and I had to lift the “safety cover” to shove the stubborn cob through. Missing digits were not only the employees’ “failure to comply with Safety Code 15.A,” but their badge of honor at the VFW Club, where cold Hamm’s were “on the house” for the Big Stone Fingerless Warriors.
IV.
A bushel of corn can sweeten 400 cans of soda.
The 4th largest corn producing state in the U.S.: Minnesota.
Number of rows on an average cob of corn: 16.
V.
Midday, the floor manager, Rudy, a scruffy, bearded redhead, patrolled the aisles to make sure we were going at full speed. His jeans worn white around the outline of his wallet, a gigantic key ring jangling at his hip. Sometimes, Rudy snuck up behind me and grabbed my ass. Just a quick, firm squeeze, followed by a tap, like a small, silly spanking. I could never hear him approach because my ear plugs muffled everything. Each time I’d gasp, turn, and watch his shoulders shake with chuckles as he disappeared down the aisle.
VI.
Which is not made with corn products:
a.Peanut butter Answer: Vodka VII. At shift’s end, we hosed off thick starchy corn mush from our aprons, boots, hard hats. Only later would I shower off the crusty glaze from my neck, ears, hair, eyebrows. Post shift, we stepped into the bright summer light to face a huge mountain of fresh sweet corn in the parking lot. On the honor system, employees could slip a dollar into a metal box for as much corn as we could fit in a brown paper bag. I bicycled home one-handed, the other holding the big, bumpy bag of corn: supper. VIII. AI: Sweet Corn Facts The number of kernels on an ear of corn can range between 500 and 1,200! Corn is a fascinating combination of natural math and biology. 🌽 VIV. At home, my mother welcomed me. The siblings set about husking. Roiling water bathed the kitchen humid as a rain forest. Voilà: a large platter planked expertly with steaming cobs. A brick of butter at each end of the table, drooping in its dish. Fingers pink, throbbing, we held the heat tight. “Come Lord Jesus, be our guest, and let these gifts, to us be blessed.” Two beverage choices: Milk or Grape Kool-Aid. Clean-up duty: no one. Anne Panning’s debut poetry collection, Spit & Glitter, is forthcoming from Cornerstone Press. She has published a memoir, Dragonfly Notes: On Distance and Loss, as well as a novel, Butter. Her short story collection, Super America, won The Flannery O’Connor Award and was a New York Times Editor’s Choice. Her essays have received notable citations in The Best American Essays series. She teaches creative writing at SUNY-Brockport and is working on her next book, Bootleg Barber: A Daughter’s Memoir. Image: seedvilleusa.com Check out HFR’s book catalog, publicity list, submission manager, and buy merch from our Spring store. Follow us on Instagram and YouTube. Disclosure: HFR is an affiliate of Bookshop.org and we will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase. Sales from Bookshop.org help support independent bookstores and small presses.
b.Batteries
c.Drywall
d.Toothpaste
e.Vodka
Heavy Feather Review 