"Rigid Fields" by Ray Noble is a saga about Midwestern people and their values, work ethic, strong back and hands, and faith in Jesus Christ. It is probably not very different than many small communities throughout America and beyond. It's a story of love, romance, hate, murder, excesses, strong women, immense wealth, and Alzheimer's Decease. Earl Bovey was a good kid in high school. During the height of the Viet Nam war Earl was headed for Navy boot camp at the Great Lakes Naval Training Center near Chicago Illinois shortly after high school graduation. During 1968, beginning his fourth and final year in the Navy he was assigned to captain a PBR (Patrol Boat River) in the Mekong Delta in South Vietnam. His crew served with honor but during a stop and search mission Earl had to kill a young Vietnamese girl in a horrible explosive fashion. Returning to his beloved Minnesota Earl met the beautiful Jeannie Westley. Immediately smitten, Earl maneuvered his way into the hearts of her father and mother, Harry and Ethel, applying for a job working on their large farm as a hired field hand. Harry bought several distressed farms and named the growing enterprise "Jeannie Farms," as it grew from five hundred to two thousand acres of prime farm land. One farm was owned by the Del Dalton angry at Harry, accusing him of working with the local banks to take over neighboring farms, and threatened to injury Harry if he took over the Dalton farm. Earl knew one day he would extract vengeance. One evening while Sam was in high school they stopped at the cafe for a soda after football practice, they noticed the waitress was visiting with two pretty girls in the back booth, pointing out something in their school books. Sam recognized the older of the two as a sophomore at his school, a very pretty girl who smiled when Sam caught her eye. As time went on, the business was running very well when Sam and Tina announced they were pregnant. Sam and Tina's baby girl w