Jim Thorne puffed up with even more pride, but he was still reluctant. He didn't want to farm for Adrian Hawthorne. 'If I've got the energy, shouldn't I be using it on my own family's land?!'
"And you claim you're not bragging. Hmph, what a load of hot air," Adrian Hawthorne taunted again.
Jim Thorne leaped three feet into the air. "I'll show you what I can do! You just watch!"
He snatched up the hoe from the ground, dug out a few bamboo rhizomes from the patch of wasteland Adrian Hawthorne had cleared, and scoffed. "Of all the places on this huge hillside, you had to pick one full of bamboo? What kind of decent crops do you expect to grow here?"
Still not satisfied, he muttered, "Must've had his brain eaten by a dog. Dumb as dirt!"
