He sat very still.
“Forever?”
“Forever. You. Whoever comes after you. Whoever buys it, if you sell.”
“But then you’d be giving up…”
“I’d be keeping the gate,” I said. “I’d just be promising to leave it open.”
“And what do you get?”
“The strip can never be sold separately from the farm, or developed, or subdivided. When I die, it goes into a trust with Mr. Haskins’s firm as trustee, so it stays with the land.” I looked at him. “And you take care of the tile. You keep the main clean. You maintain the gate and the culverts. You pay to repair the well when it needs it. Those are the conditions. You learn the farm.”
He was quiet for a long time.
“And the back eighty?”
“Sell it if you want to. With the easement recorded, a buyer will pay full price, because the access runs with the land. A bank will lend on it. A title company will insure it.”
Mr. Haskins drafted it. Dale’s lawyer in Omaha reviewed it and called Dale back after an hour.
