Date: Sun, 21 Oct 2007 12:32:19 -0500
From: Retta Michaels <rettamichaels@gmail.com>
Subject: Rural Love: Chapter 2

Rural Love

By

Retta Michaels


Disclaimer:
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read this story...or for that matter, anything on this site. Your being
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One brief author's note:
It's been brought to my attention buckeyes in the United States aren't
buckeyes all over the world. In other areas, they're called horse
chestnuts, or conkers.

Some people apparently use them to play a game as children.

In the midwest, we soak them in lime water and feed them to animals. It's
sort of like hominy from corn, but apparently cattle love them.

When they're thrown into a fire, they explode like popcorn, however the
shell is harder therefore the explosive power is louder. It sounds like a
large firecracker going off close by.

Chapter 2:

The next morning, I found myself in bed between Aunt Paulette and Uncle
Nick. I felt warm and cozy and liked the feeling of being hugged all
around.

I had to go pee, but being in betwen them, I couldn't figure out a way to
go to the bathroom without waking up them.

I decided there were two ways to go. I could either come up out of the
covers or slide down the covers. Either one would do, but all I knew was
I had to pee so something had to be done. I decided to come up out of the
covers.

Someplace on my way up, I didn't realize me sliding up wasn't working so
good. It made a lot of movement, and they were getting restless.

Just about the time my butt was up to their pillows, my Uncle Nick woke
up. He looked up at me and siad, "Billy, what are you doing?"

I said, "I have to pee, so instead of waking you up, I decided to climb
up and out of the covers. Well, I made it this far and you woke up."

He sleepily said, "Come out this way, and whatever you do don't wake up
Paulette."

Well, that was the wrong thing because the combination of us talking and
us moving, Aunt Paulette woke up. She said, "What are you all doing?"

I ran off to the bathroom while Uncle Nick explained what we were doing.
When I came back in, they were snuggled up together and Uncle Nick patted
the bed beside him.

He said, "Billy, you lay down here and I'll lay in the middle. That way,
your moving around won't wake up Paulette."

I lay down and he put his arm around me and suddenly I could feel his
warmth envelope me. In no time at all, I was back to sleep.

Later, I was woken up by movement in the bed. Apparently they were waking
up and were moving to get out of it. I started to get up and Uncle Nick
said, "You go ahead and go back to sleep. Paulette and I are going to get
our showers and get breakfast made. We'll wake you up in time to get
ready, o.k.?"

I answered with snores probably because I was already back to sleep.

When I was awoke later, Uncle Nick said it was time for breakfast. I went
to the bathroom, and then went into my room to get clothes which weren't
mine, but someone had donated to me. Mine weren't any good anymore due to
the fire making everything smell like smoke.

I put the outfit on, and then headed to the dining room where Aunt
Paulette had everyone an omelette made with slices of ham and hash
browns. I took my toast and began slathering it with a whole lot of peach
preserves. My Uncle Nick smiled at me and said, "You got enough there
bud? I can go down and get you another jar if you'd like.

I smiled and said, "This stuff is good!"

Aunt Paulette came in and we had fresh made biscuits. I looked at the
piece of toast I had in my hand and said, "Why are we having buscuits and
I'm having toast?"

She smiled and said, "I made you toast so you would be able to get the
head start on us you usually want to do. I figured it would tide you over
until we had the biscuits ready. It worked, so you finish that toast and
then you can have a fresh biscuit."

I smiled and said, "Thanks Aunt Paulette."

She paused me and said, "Let's say grace so we can all eat."

I bowed my head and grace was said. Then we began to eat. I made it a
point to tell Aunt Paulette how good everything tasted. She smiled and
thanked me for my compliment.

After breakfast, Uncle Nick and I went to the barn and began to get feed
out for the cattle. We were a beef operation which meant no milking had
to be done. I did pick up a bottle to feed a couple of calves and uncle
Nick smiled at me. He said, "Today, you can pick out yourself a heard of
cows and we'll get them on your property over there. Your daddy was
meaning to go to this auction today to get a few head, so he'd be happy
you can get some."

Him bringing up my daddy made me sad and tears come to my eyes, but I did
my best not to show it. My uncle Nick said, "Billy, you can cry all you
want and I'm not going to say anything. I know there's going to be times
in which I think of them and cry myself."

I said, "Uncle Nick, it's just that they weren't old like everyone is
supposed to be when they die. Momma told me she wouldn't die until they
were old, and now I just feel so guilty."

He said, "Billy, please don't feel guilty. I feel guilty too, but you
know that accidents happen and no one intended for it to happen. It's
just that something bad happened, and your momma and daddy aren't here
anymore. You know they'd be here if they could, but we don't ever count
on something like this happening. To make a point, I'll ask you this.
Would you have put the buckeyes in the stove if you'd known this was
going to happen?"

I said, "No uncle Nick!"

Tears came to my eyes and then he said, "You're right. You wouldn't have
because you're a good boy. Just like I would have went and gotten that
new wood stove if I'd have known it would burn through as fast as it did.
It happened and that's all I can say. Your daddy knew it was bad, but he
didn't do anything either. So, does that make him a bad person? No. He
thought it wouldn't burn through as fast as it did either. So, when we
think of them, we feel for them because we wish we could have done
something different, but we couldn't. It was one of those things which
happened and we can't change."

I hugged him and he said, "Let's get these cows fed and then go to town."

I could tell he was looking sadder by the minute and I really wanted to
help him. I didn't like it when people around me were sad.

When we got done feeding, we went to the house and got washed up. Uncle
Nick gave me a hat and a bandana. He said, "Billy, you're getting these
because you're going to be around the livestock today. If you get your
hands dirty, you can wipe them off on the bandana instead of having to
run to a bathroom. The hat is so your hair doesn't get covered with
anything that might fly about."

I chuckled and said, "Uncle Nick, you're funny."

He smiled and said, "No, I'm tall and you're down closer to the action
little guy, so I want to protect you all I can."

Aunt Paulette had walked into the room and smiled. She said, "Nick, you
could protect him more by not letting him that close to those animals."

Nick said, "Honey, you've never been a boy. Boys tend to go where they're
not supposed to go, so thinking in advance, I'm doing what I can so Billy
doesn't have to ride in the bed of the truck all the way home."

She laughed and said, "Never the mind, he's not going to ride back
there."

Uncle Nick started to say something, but a firm look by her told him
otherwise.

We went out to the truck and I noticed he had the stock trailer hooked to
the truck. He said, "Billy, yours will be hauled out here by semi, so you
get any you think you'll need."

I said, "Uncle Nick, I've never bought anything like that, so I don't
know how many I should think about getting."

He said, "I'll let you know when you're getting close to getting enough.
So, don't worry. You just get the one's you think you'd like to have on
the farm."

I said, "Uncle Nick, would you help me? I don't know what kind are the
best."

He smiled and said, "Billy, what I think are the best and what others
would think are the best would probably be too different opinions."

I said, "Well, I'm going to agree with you on whatever kind they are, so
don't worry."

He said, "Billy, when we get there, we'll have to get you an auction
account. They might balk at signing you up, but I'll sign behind your
name. That's your farm over there, and it's your money, so if they don't
like those apples, we'll go someplace else."

I said, "Daddy had a auction account, couldn't we sign me onto it?"

He said, "I'll check, but I'm not sure if they'll allow it."

We got to town and Aunt Paulette got dropped off at her momma's house.
She kissed Uncle Nick goodbye and then gave me hugs. She looked at me and
said, "Billy, you get yourself the best money can buy and don't hold back
on cost."

I nodded and hadn't thought of it before she said it, but I didn't even
know how much a cow cost, or how much I had to buy them with.

We got to the auction barn and the smells instantly excited me. A lot of
people are probably repulsed by the smells, but to me, I knew it was neat
to see all those different sorts of animals in one spot.

As we walked around, a lot of the men in the group spoke with Uncle Nick.
He told them he was here to get a few head for himself and that we were
setting up myself a heard. More than a few times, I heard the words
brangus and limousine (not as in car, but lime o sun as in breed of cow)
being mentioned. They must've been a good kind of cows because everyone
mentioned them.

As we walked into the barn area, I said, "Uncle Nick, show me the Brangus
and Limousine, everyone mentioned them and I want to see why they think
they're so good."

Uncle Nick said, "Billy, they are real heavy breeds of cattle. The breeds
are great producers of beef and everyone pays top dollar when they go
back to sell."

I said, "Uncle Nick, until Aunt Paulette mentioned cost, I never thought
about the cost. How much do they cost and how much do I have to spend?"

Uncle Nick said, "Billy, the cost of a cow varies. There are a lot of
ways a cow can cost a different price. If one's pregnant, it will cost
more than one that isn't. If you are buying a bull, it will cost the
most. The best thing I'll tell you is look for a real good bull and quite
a few open heffers. Open means she's ready to breed."

I said, "How much do they cost?"

He said, "Well, a bull will cost quite a bit. The heffers will cost about
$500 each."

I said, "That's a lot!"

He said, "Billy, yeah it's a lot, but you've got enough money to not
worry about it."

I said, "How much do I have to spend?"

He said, "Billy, you've got enough money to easily buy every animal here
and then probably about 3 times more, so don't worry about cost."

I said, "That's a lot!"

He smiled and said, "You can thank your daddy on having so much
insurance."

I looked down and he said, "Billy, don't feel sad. He had that insurance
because he wanted you and your momma to not have to worry about a thing
if he should die. He just didn't count on her dying too."

I said, "I understand and now he's taking care of the farm with that
insurance money."

Uncle Nick nodded and said, "Billy, we have to look at the animals. We
don't want any that are sick."

We looked at the cows and every one of them looked healthy. There was one
Uncle Nick didn't like the look of something about her and he made a note
to mark it's number in a little spiral notebook he had with him.

We then went over to look at bulls and when we got there, Uncle Nick told
me, "Billy, these are really dangerous so don't go near the fence and
don't be climbing on the fences like you did over there."

I said, " O.k."

We got there and they all looked the same. There was one that just looked
way bigger than all the rest. Uncle Nick pointed at it and said, "Billy,
that's the bull you want. Now, if they have any who are sons of that
bull, we'll look at them, but that's the one we'll bid on the most."

I nodded and said, "Why do we want that one?"

He said, "The way it carries and the sizing of it is what's going to earn
you money. It's children will carry it's traits and make them bigger than
the other ones will."

I said, "How much does a bull cost?"

He said, "Billy, this one is going to cost a lot more. Don't be surprised
if it goes for 35 to 50."

I said, "Dollars!"

He said, "No, thousand."

I said, "Oh, that's a lot huh?"

He smiled and said, "Yeah, it's a lot. But you want it because the
bloodline will get you more money in the future."

I said, " O.k., then that's fine."

I noticed a lot of people around the pen and all were talking about the
bull and it made me proud we'd made the decision to get it.

We then walked over to another section and I saw some buffalo. I made my
way over to pet a calf and said, "Can I get one Uncle Nick?"

Uncle Nick smiled and said, "If you'd like, but don't get too many of
them."

I said, "I only wanted one."

He smiled and said, "Billy, have you ever heard of beefalo?"

I said, "No."

He said, "It's where they breed a cow with a buffalo. The meat is the
best of all of them."

I said, "Oh really?"

He said, "Yeah, I was thinking about starting a string of them to see if
we could do any good."

I said, "Well, which would you get?"

He said, "I'd be female buffalo and then pay you to use your bull."

I said, "You don't have to do that Uncle Nick."

He said, "Billy, that's the way business is done."

I said, "Well, how about we consider the use of my bull payment for you
taking care of me."

Apparently, Uncle Nick didn't like what I said. He said, "Billy, come
here son. Please don't ever think I'm going to ever charge you a thing to
live with us. And, please don't ever think you've got to pay a dime.
Paulette and I are doing this because we want to. We're getting just as
much enjoyment from you living with us as you are living there."

I nodded and said, "Uncle Nick, I don't want you to think you ever have
to pay me a thing to use that bull. You're telling me families do for
each other, and then you're telling me you want to pay me. Now, if I'm
not to pay you and you're to pay me, how stupid is that?"

He smiled and said, "One is business Billy, and the other isn't."

I said, "Uncle Nick, don't think I'll take a dime from you...that's the
end of that conversation." I was upset with him and I hoped he knew it.

We walked over to another area and he began looking at cattle. They
weren't the same kind and I said, "Uncle Nick, why are you looking at
these kinds of cows?"

He said, "Billy, these are the ones I'm going to get for our farm."

I said, "Why are you getting these?"

He said, "Billy, I don't have enough money to afford the ones you are
getting."

I looked at him and said, "Uncle Nick, you're telling me that I've got
all that money and you don't have enough for you to get the kind you
want, so why don't you use some of my money to get the kind you want?"

He said, "Billy, that's your money and this is my money."

I said, "Well, Uncle Nick, you said that one day your farm would be mine,
now when I get it, I'll be putting on the kind of cattle which are the
best, so why don't you just save us time and money and go ahead and get
them. You just put the money you were going to use in with my money and
we'll get them together."

He smiled and said, "Billy, are you sure?"

I looked at him like he was nuts. I said, "Uncle Nick, if I didn't have
enough money to get a matchbox car, would you give me enough to get the
one I wanted?"

He said, "Yeah, but it's not the same Billy."

I said, "Yeah it is. You're just making it more difficult."

He smiled and ruffled my hair and said, "I'll do it, but your Aunt
Paulette is going to have our hides over this. You know that, don't you?"

I said, "Uncle Nick, just don't mention it and she'll not worry."

He said, "Billy, she's the one that looks over all the bills, there's no
way I can't mention it to her."

I said, "Uncle Nick, then I'll just go in and have a talk with her. You
two just make things difficult."

We walked over to get our numbers and Uncle Nick began speaking with the
guy about getting my number. The guy didn't think he could give me a
number. He said, "Why don't you buy the kid's cow and then have his dad
sort it out with you when he gets home."

My uncle Nick said real loud, "Man, if you were paying attention to the
name, you'd see this kid's parents just died. He's living with me and my
wife and he's setting up his own farm. If I do that, the tax man would be
all over me. Now, if his money isn't any good here, then mine isn't
either." Several guys standing around said their's wasn't either.

The guy said, "It's an awful lot of work for just a few dollars."

Uncle Nick said, "Well apparently, you misunderstood me because this kid
is going to be spending a few hundred thousand dollars here today."

After he said that, it suddenly got quiet in the room. The man who was
speaking looked sick and everyone else looked at Uncle Nick with wide
eyes.

I looked up at Uncle Nick and said, "See what I told you. Adults make
things more complicated that they should."

Uncle Nick chuckled and suddenly everyone else started chuckling too. The
man behind the desk said, "I'll use his daddy's tax number and it should
be alright. You really need to get with the state and get that changed."

Uncle Nick nodded and said, "I'll get right on that tomorrow. Today,
we're spending the day here getting him everything he wants. The least I
can do is to see he's happy and set up in business to take care of that
farm."

When we left that office, I had my own number. #008. Uncle Nick smiled
and said, "Billy, that number was my daddy's number when he was doing
business here. I think it was his daddy's number too. What I know is they
started doing business here before anyone else did in this parts. I'm
glad you got that number because it belongs to your farm."

I smiled and said, "Our farm Uncle Nick."

Uncle Nick said, "It's your farm Billy. I'm just helping you."

I was going to argue further, but about that time, I saw a kid my age
walk through that took my attention. Uncle Nick saw me looking and
smiled. He said, "Billy, is that the boy you were telling me about?"

I smiled and said, "No, I don't know who he is, but man, he's someone I
want to get to know."

Uncle Nick laughed and said, "Well, how about you go over and introduce
yourself. I'll stay right here and get us good seats."

I went the direction of where I saw the kid go and saw he was out by the
bull pens. I followed him and he went to where everyone was standing
looking at the bull I was going to buy. He didn't have any parents around
him, and immediately he jumped up on the fence.

I was standing right behind him and saw the bull look in our direction. I
said, "Get down from there, that bull will get you."

He looked at me and was just saying, "That bull isn't...."

When I yanked him back. The bull had turned and had ran at the fence.

The kid looked at me wide eyed and I said, "I told you he would. Now stay
away from the fence. He's mean."

The kid said, "Thanks, I thought I was a goner there for a second."

I said, "I wouldn't have let that happen. My name's Billy, what's yours?"

He said, "My name's Michael. People call me Junior. My parent's call me
Mike."

Right then and there, Jr. became the most beautiful name in the world to
me. I said, "Jr., you like that bull?"

He said, "Do I? That bull is awesome!"

I said, "I'm going to buy that bull."

He said, "You mean your dad's going to buy that bull, don't you?"

I said, "No, I'm buying that bull. My uncle and I are buying me a heard
and we're going to put it on the farm I just inherited because my parents
died. So, it will be mine."

He said, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hurt your feelings."

I said, "Oh, you didn't. You didn't know."

He smiled and I said, "See those cows over there, I'm buying them."

He said, "My dad raised them cows and we're selling them. I hope you get
them though because they're real good. It's just that when my dad gets
them sold, we're going to be moving because the man who owns the farm
doesn't want to raise cows no more."

I looked at him and said, "Who's your dad?"

He said, "My dad's up front. His name's Michael Johnson too."

I said, "Oh, well, let's go tell my uncle because he's looking for
someone to take care of the cattle I'm buying. Maybe we can get your dad
to working on my farm?"

I started walking towards where we were seated and had totally forgotten
about Jr. When I got back to Uncle Nick, I said, "Uncle Nick, his name's
Jr. His daddy is looking for work. The man who is his boss doesn't want
to raise cattle anymore. Do you think we could talk with him about
working my farm?"

Uncle Nick said, "Billy, we don't have a house over there for them to
live in yet."

I said, "Well, maybe we could get one built for them. Would you talk with
him? Most of the cattle we're looking at for me he raised, so he knows
how to raise good cattle."

Uncle Nick said, "Oh really. Well, that would be Mike Johnson then. I
grew up with him. He's taking care of that place those city slickers
bought. Those are some good cattle. Yes, I'll talk with him."

I looked behind me to see where Jr was to tell him, but I saw him
standing over by a man talking real excited. The man looked like him
enough to be his dad, so I pointed towards them and told Uncle Nick.

Uncle Nick nodded and then did some sort of whistle. Suddenly Jr's dad
returned the whistle. He looked over towards us and then smiled real big.
In no time at all, he was over shaking Uncle Nick's hand and giving him
huge bear hugs.

Uncle Nick said, "Mike! How are you doing?" He looked really happy to see
Jr's dad and Jr's dad looked really happy to see him.

Mike said, "Nick, my son said you all were going to be buying those
cattle and that you were looking for someone to run a farm."

Uncle Nick said, "Yeah, Billy right here is Jenny's son, you remember
Jenny don't you?"

Mike said, "Yeah, I'm sorry to hear about what happened. Such a tragedy."

Uncle Nick said, "Yeah, we're going to miss them, but the reason we're
here today is to get Billy set up with that farm over there so it will
make him money. I heard you raised the cattle we're looking to buy, so I
know they're good head."

Mike said, "They're all good, but one of them isn't going to bring much.
She's old and she's not fit for much."

I knew that was the one which Uncle Nick had written into the book.

Mike said, "You going into breeding, or inseminating?"

Uncle Nick said, "He's going into breeding. He really likes the look
at Ragin' Dawn out there."

Mike said, "That's the best bull I've seen in this whole area."

Uncle Nick said, "Yeah, he wants that bull because he wants the best
blood line in this whole area."

Mike said, "With those cattle, he'd have a real fine head start."

Uncle Nick said, "Mike, could you work for him? He'll pay you what you're
worth and since it's going to be basicly a start up, you could do things
the way you want with no restrictions. Right now, there's not much over
there which I think he should keep. It's not been much since our grand
daddy's ran their farms."

Mike said, "How much is going to be in tillage and how much in the
grazing?"

Uncle Nick said, "Well, there's approximately 1600 acres, but it's split
a thousand for grazing and the rest for tillage. The rest of what was
fed was bought."

Mike nodded and said, "How many head is he going to run?"

Uncle Nick said, "He's going to run 250 for now, but we're going to be
buying him more land. A lot more land. His dad left him with enough
insurance money, he'll never have to worry again."

Mike nodded and said, "That was good. I never knew who Jenny married, but
I never made my way over on that side of the area after my dad sold his
farm."

Uncle Nick said, "Yeah, I wish he'd let you have it and then you could
have gotten to know everyone."

Mike nodded and said, "Well, that's all water under the bridge. You know
how he was, and I'm just glad he retired to New Mexico. We're all better
off."

Jr said to me, "Do you want to get a Coke?"

I said, "Sure, let me tell my uncle so I can get some money."

I went over to Uncle Nick and said, "Jr and I are going to go get a coke.
May I have some money so I can get some lunch?"

He nodded and said, "Here's your money, don't spend it all in one place."

He gave me a twenty. I was amazed and knew there'd be no way I could
spend it all there.

Jr and I ran to the snack shop and found ourselves a seat. Just as soon
as we sat down, the waitress came over to take our orders. Jr ordered and
then I did. He ordered a cheeseburger and french fries. I took a look at
the menu and then ordered chicken strips with ranch sauce. He looked at
me funny and said, "You want chicken when you can have a cheeseburger?"

I said, " I like chicken and the ranch dipping sauce makes it even
better. I'd like to have chicken breast strips made into a sandwich with
ranch dressing and swiss cheese."

The waitress heard and said, "I'll get that for you hon."

I smiled real big at her and said, "Could I get some of that pie over
there?"

She said, "Which one?"

I pointed and she said, " O.k., I'll bring it with your order." She then
said, "What would you like to drink doll?"

I blushed and said, "I'll take iced tea without sugar in a tall glass.
Not much ice."

Ordering made me feel important.

Jr said, "I sure do hope my dad comes to work over at your farm. It'd be
neat to live near you."

I nodded and said, "It will have to be after we get everything ready
though, there's not a house over there and it needs some barns and pens."

He said, "My dad will know how to set it up. There are a lot of things
you need in order to raise cattle."

I nodded and said, "I would like to have a barn which is just for the
sick animals. That way they're seperate from the rest. I'd also like to
have each animal have it's own stall."

Jr said, "You need to talk with my dad as he'll need to hear everything
you want."

He said, "How old are you Billy?"

I said, "I'm 8 ½, and you?"

He said, "I turned 8 two months ago. Do you go to school at East Pine?"

I said, "No, West Pine here and that's where you'd go too."

He looked bewildered and said, "I never thought about losing my friends."

I said, "Don't think as it losing your friends, look at it as gaining new
friends. Also, you'll meet up again with your old friends when we go to
middle school, so it won't be long."

He smiled and said, "Well, you'll be there, so it should be nice."

The way he said that, made me real happy.

I said, "Yeah, and you'll be too busy over at our farms playing with me
and having fun."

Just then, "The waitress brought our order and laid the ticket down on
the table."

Jr looked disturbed and said, "She should have gotten mine seperately."

I said, "That's o.k., I'll pay and then take the change back to my Uncle
Nick with the receipt. He shouldn't mind."

We ate and he said, "Yours looks good, you wanna trade?"

I said, " O.k., we're both about half way, let me take another bite and
then we'll trade. I'll split some of my pie with you if you'll share some
of your fries."

He smiled and said, " O.k."

He pushed his plate over and I put some of the fries on the plate holding
my sandwich. I then cut the pie in half and put some on the plate he was
getting too."

I slid it over to him and he said, "That's neat, we both get to eat a lot
of stuff and it doesn't cost more!"

I bit into the cheeseburger, and it didn't taste as good as the chicken
sandwich. He smiled and said, "This is good!"

I said, "Yeah, this isn't though, but I traded so I'll finish it. Just
remember the next time so neither of us ends up eatting something the
other doesn't like."

He smiled and said, "I hope it's soon otherwise, I'll forget."

I laughed and said, "I'll remind you."

He tasted his pie and said, "This is really good too. Maybe the next
time, you should order for the both of us."

I said, "No, two of the same thing wouldn't be good. Then, we couldn't
trade."

He said, "Well, you wouldn't have to order two of the same thing."

I said, "Well, I know I liked that, so that's what I'd order."

He laughed and said, "You're right."

When we were done eatting, we got up and I went over and paid. I got the
receipt and then we went back to where Uncle Nick and Mike were sitting.
They saw us coming and Uncle Nick said, "Did you have a good lunch?"

I handed him the change and the receipt and he said, "Your first business
lunch."

I looked at him and he said, "You can write this off your taxes."

I said, "Uncle Nick, I don't pay taxes."

He laughed and said, "You will Billy, that's a part of being a
businessman."

The auctioneer was just starting and announcing the names of everyone
helping him in the ring. I stood up on my seat and was watching what was
going on. I turned to Uncle Nick and said, "Uncle Nick, you'll help me
get the cows we want, won't you?"

He said, "Billy, I'll put you on my shoulders and then you hold up your
card whenever you want a cow or group of cows we talked about. You just
hold the card up there until you get them. O.k.?"

I nodded and then the announcer started off on a bunch of cows we didn't
want. They weren't the ones I wanted but some of them were the ones Uncle
Nick wanted. He looked like he was about to bid and I said, "Uncle Nick,
just get the ones which are best. I'll help you."

He looked like he didn't want to do it, but let the cows pass.

It went like this several more times until the ring announcer announced
the cows we were looking at. Uncle Nick put me on his shoulder and I
tilted back the cap I had on.

I held up my card and the auctioneer began calling the auction. He
stopped and pointed at me and said, "Mister, you need to tell that kid to
stop bidding on these cattle. I've about sold them to him. He looked over
to the other guy who was bidding and said, 'Sold!'"

My uncle Nick put me down and ran up to the booth. He got real loud and
said, "That boy was buying those fucking cattle dickweed, and you just
sold them out from under him. You're going to tell me you're not selling
them to the highest bidder!"

The announcer said, "I don't sell to kids."

My uncle Nick said, "Let's see if you sell another fucking thing."

He went out into the ring and said, "Gentlemen, that boy over there is
Billy Jacobs. You all know my sister and brother in law's son. He's in
here today to buy cattle for his farm which he just inherited. He WAS
planning on spending about a quarter of a million dollars. We are now
walking out of this arena and if you want to do business with that kid
the rest of his life, my suggestion is you walk too."

He climbed up over the fencing and came back to where we sat. Mike was
down at the ring and said, "NO SALE ON THOSE CATTLE". He looked at the
auctioneer and said, "You violated the contract by not selling them to
the highest bidder. Don't put another one of the cows I brought in that
ring."

Suddenly, the man who had given us problems about my number was down at
the ring. His face was red with anger and he told the auctioneer, Y"ou're
a bloody fool. Do you see what number that kid has? That means by
inheritance, he's on the board of directors of this auction company. How
fast do you want to lose your job?"

The auctioneer said, "I don't sell to kids."

A man in the audience yelled, "You're not selling to me either!"

Suddenly a whole bunch of people were all yelling the same thing.

I looked at Uncle Nick and said, "Uncle Nick, I want that bull!"

He smiled and said, "Billy, I think you'll get your bull. They're going
to sell you those cows too otherwise they'll see themselves in a whole
lot of trouble."

The auction man and the auctioneer both began talking quietly and the
auctioneer then said, "Gentlemen, the kid has a tax number and he has a
farm. Apparently, he has a banker too who has verified the money is in
his account. So, it looks like we have ourselves an auction."

He looked at the guy he told "Sold" to and said, "That's a no sale on
that consignment. We'll have to re-bid it."

The guy said, "I wasn't aware who the kid was. Let him have the cattle
for the price I bid."

I looked at Uncle Nick and he was smiling. He looked at Mike and said,
"Is that alright with you Mike?"

Mike said, "Oh yeah, that's about $25 a head more than what I expected."

Uncle Nick said to me, "Billy, when I put you on my shoulder, you tell
the man you accept the deal."

I got up on Uncle Nick's shoulder and yelled, "I accept the deal."

Suddenly the whole place began to applaud. I looked down at Uncle Nick
and he said, "Billy, you just started your farm. Everyone's now behind
you, so don't disappoint them son."

I nodded and said, "Uncle Nick, that felt good." The smile on my face was
huge.

He said, "It does, doesn't it!"

The next consignment was some more of the cows Mike was selling. I knew
Uncle Nick wanted these, so I got down. I went over to Jr. and he said,
"Do you have any more cows you're going to bid on soon?"

I looked at Uncle Nick and asked him. He motioned his head no, so I
turned to Jr and he said, "Let's go out here so I can show you that Emu
they have."

I went with him and he said, "Billy, I was afraid they weren't going to
sell to you."

I said, "I was too. But, I knew Uncle Nick was upset enough he would have
walked out of there before he bought anything else from them again."

He said, "I think my dad would have hauled them all out of here too!"

As we walked, a lot of farmers were suddenly patting me on the shoulder
and patting my head. I heard one say, "He's the youngest farmer in this
county!"

It made me feel happy, but at the time sad. Because if I had the choice
to make, I would gladly have my mom and dad back.

We got to the alpaca and llamas and to me they looked like camels. Jr was
looking at them and said, "My dad says they are going to be the future of
the business. He said, a lot of farmers don't know the benefits of having
them."

I said, "Can they be raised with cattle and buffalo?"

He said, "I think so, they eat the same thing."

I said, "Well, I'll get some then. If your dad says they're good, then
I'll trust his judgement on them. You'll help me raise them won't you?"

He nodded and said, "I really wanted some but with dad not being sure
about us even having a place to live and no job, it wasn't likely I'd get
any."

I said, "Well, consider it that you have some now."

We went over to the buffalo and I showed him the ones I wanted. He nodded
and said, "My dad said the beefalo would be real good to invest in also.
He said the market is catching onto them and everyone's starting to buy
it."

I nodded and said, "Well, I'm hoping. Even though I don't like beef much,
I think it'd be neat to eat buffalo. You know that's where they get
buffalo chicken wings from, don't you?"

Jr smiled and said, "un uh...." and shook his head no.

I said, "Well, I don't see any wings on them myself, so maybe they take
them off when they're real young."

He laughed and said, "You tell my dad that one. I'm sure he'll know where
they come from."

We went back to the ring and I saw Uncle Nick bidding on some more of the
cows we'd spoken about. He bought 6 head and I said, "Why didn't you take
them all?"


He said, "Billy, I can't afford all of them."

I stood up and said, "I'll take the rest at that price."

The auctioneer took my number and I turned to him and said, "How many
others have you let go while I was gone. I thought we had a deal."

He said, "Billy, our deal was we could do what I could afford."

I said, "Uncle Nick, let me get what you can't. O.k.?"

He said, "I don't have a choice, you just bought the rest."

I said, "Well, I'm sure you'll get over it."

He looked at Mike and said, "Just like his mom."

Mike laughed and said, "You never won an argument with her either."

Uncle Nick laughed and said, "Yeah, but I think he has her beat. He makes
sense."

Mike laughed and said, "I never won any against her either. The biggest
mistake I ever made was not going out with her."

Uncle Nick nodded and said, "Yeah, you broke her heart."

I looked them and said, "Uncle Nick, Mom would be o.k with me hiring him
wouldn't she?"

He said, "Billy, she'd love having him there working for you."

I said, "Good, because I want to have Jr there too."

Uncle Nick gave me a look and I nodded. He smiled and nothing was said.

Just about then, the auctioneer said they were going to take a short
break and then would come back and begin selling bulls. The first would
be "Raging Dawn".

I looked at Uncle Nick and he smiled. I said, "Did you hear if they have
any of his children up for sale here?"

He said, "Billy, the man that brought him is right over there, why don't
you go over and ask him."

I went over and tugged on the man's shirt sleeve. I said, "Mister, did
you bring any of 'Raging Dawn's' calves today?"

He said, "No, they are back at my farm as they aren't big enough yet."

I said, "Would you sell me one?"

He said, "How much would you pay for one."

I said, "Well, my uncle says "Raging Dawn" is going to bring a lot, so I
figure a calf of his that's a bull should bring in something less, but
not that much less."

He said, "Did someone send you over here to ask me?"

I said, "No, I'm looking to buy it myself."

He said, " There are two of them and I'll sell you one for $10 grand."

I said, "Sir, are you sure?"

He said, "Yes, now if that's what you want, then I'll offer it to you for
that, but not a penny less."

I said, "Let me think on it for a moment."

I thought to myself..."The daddy is going to go for a lot. If the son is
as good as him, then it should go good too."

I looked at the guy and said, "Good bloodlines on the momma's side of
it?"

He said, "Pure blooded."

I said, "I'll buy it."

He looked shocked and said, "Son, that's a lot of money."

I said, "Yeah, but I'm told I have enough, so I'll risk it. I'll go tell
my uncle and he'll tell you when we want it delivered."

I went over to Uncle Nick and said, "I just bought one of the two baby
bull calves for $10 grand. I hope you don't mind."

Uncle Nick looked at Mike and Mike said, "Billy, that's a $25 thousand
dollar calf he just sold you for $10 thousand. What's wrong with it."

Just then, the guy walked up and shook Uncle Nick's hand, he said, "The
boy wants the younger bull, I'm selling it to him as his grand daddy and
your daddy made me some good deals through the years. I'm now returning
the favor."

Uncle Nick said, " O.k., We'll let you know when to deliver it, but I'll
get you a cheque over from the bank tomorrow."

The guy said, "I'll meet you at the bank and then you won't have to send
it and I won't have to deposit it. I'm about to sell my farm, so I'd
rather use the money to go somewhere else and start over."

Uncle Nick said, "Where's your farm and how come you're selling?"

He said, "It's over on country rd 428 and taxes my boy, taxes. They're
eatting a whole in my pocketbook."

Uncle Nick said, "Do you care if Mike, Billy, and I come over to look at
the farm? Maybe we can save you the cost of listing it."

The man nodded and said, "Well, how about I take you out there after we
meet at the bank?"

Uncle Nick nodded and shook the man's hand. The man went back to his
seat.

Mike looked at Uncle Nick with raised eyebrows and Nick turned to me and
said, "Billy, that might be a good farm for you to buy. I believe it
might back up to the place right down the road from your place. If you
could get one of the other adjoining farms, you'd have an open range."

Mike nodded suddenly becoming aware of the plan. He smiled and said,
"That'd be a sweet deal if we could swing another one like it."

Uncle Nick said, "Once word gets out Mike, I bet Billy will have all
sorts of offers to buy."

He looked at me and said, "Mike, do you think "Raging Dawn" is good
enough himself to buy?"

Mike said, "The bull carries damned good and the bloodlines are
incredible. If the sires all carry like him, they're going to really hold
some weight. From what I know about that man, he doesn't believe in
steroids so what you're looking at is natural."

Uncle Nick looked surprised and said, "Man, that's got to be excellent
lineage then!"

Mike nodded and said, "Nick, I think Billy couldn't go wrong getting the
older bull too."

I said, "Do I have enough?"

Uncle Nick said, "Billy, you have more than enough, so don't worry about
that. The only thing I'm worried about is putting all your eggs in one
basket."

Mike nodded and I said, " O.k., say we breed the bull with a buffalo and
the buffalo has a bull calf. Can we rebreed that calf back in to get a
good heavy line?"

Mike said, "That would work for the beefalo, but not for a good solid
line of cattle."

I said, "If we're selling them for slaughter, what's it matter?"

Mike said, "Well, nothing, but if we're going to hope to sell the semen
and sire future lines, then we need to have a good line so the customers
can see what they can grow with it."

I stood there looking at him and then turned to Uncle Nick and said,
"What's semen?"

Uncle Nick said, "Mike, you tell him, you put me into this mess."

Mike said, "Billy, um uh....they're going to start the auction here real
fast, so let's get ready."

He looked at Uncle Nick and said, "Sorry."

Uncle Nick said, "Well, one day soon, you'll have to explain it to both
them because they're going to have to learn. It's probably safe now, but
my advice is to take them out to the barn or bull pen and show them."

Uncle Nick smiled and said, "Mike, you might have bought yourself some
time but you didn't buy yourself much."

Uncle Nick turned to me and said, "Billy, here's a bit of advice on
buying the bull. When the auctioneer starts off, he'll start off at the
price he thinks it will go for and then he'll lower it to where someone
will start it. When he starts off, you lowball the bid and yell at the
top of your lungs 25. That will start it at 25 thousand."

I said, "Uncle Nick, if it's going to go for 50 thousand, why are we
starting it lower?"

He said, "Billy, if I told you we were going to race and told you the
race would be 500 miles long, would you race me?"

I said, "No, I'd be too tired."

He said, " O.k., if I told you the race would only be a half mile would
you race me?"

I said, "Yeah because that's how far it is from the house to the
mailbox."

He nodded and then said, "But, if I raced you lets say several times and
then one day said to you, let's do it again, you'd do it, wouldn't you?"

I said, "Yeah, if I wasn't too tired."

He said, "Well, what we're doing by bidding low is we're getting everyone
into the race to see who is wanting the bull. Then, we're going to race
them to see what they really thought the bull was worth. If you
immediately bid the $50 thousand, and everyone else thinks it's $35
thousand, then you over spent the money you paid by $15 thousand. If you
get it for the $35 thousand, you get the bull and the bull calf for less
than what you'd paid for the one."

I nodded and said, " O.k., it's like going to the store and getting two
for the price of one. Why didn't you just say so?"

Uncle Nick said, "Well, Billy, I didn't know if you would understand."

I said, "Uncle Nick, I'm not dumb."

Mike smiled and said, "Nick, quit while you're ahead. Believe me, I've
had practice at this...he'll have you really thinking you're old by the
time he's done. Just quit now and admit defeat."

Nick laughed and said, "Mike, I agree because I had myself confused
there."

The auctioneer then got back on the podium and said, " O.k., into the
ring is Raging Dawn." He then begin to give the bloodline of the bull and
who it's daddy was and went right on back to it's great great grand daddy
was. He then paused and said, "Do I hear $65?"

Uncle Nick patted my leg and I yelled $25 at the top of my lungs.

The auctioneer chuckled and said, "I believe the boy wants the bull, so
we'll start it at the $25 he just offered."

He then began to cry the sale and the numbers were going up real fast. At
$37,500 it paused and he said, "Do I hear $40?"

Uncle Nick said, "38" to me.

I yelled "$38" and then someone else yelled "$39"

Uncle Nick tapped my leg again and said, "$42,500"

I yelled it and then the other guy didn't say anything. I looked at it
and then looked down to uncle Nick. Uncle Nick looked over to the guy and
smiled. The guy had shook his head and sat down.

The auctioneer said, "Do I hear more?"

No one said anything.

He said, "Going once....Going Twice....Last Call....SOLD!"

Uncle Nick patted my leg and Mike jumped up and down. Uncle Nick said,
"Billy, between the two, you got them both for only $2500 more than you
were expecting the one to come in at. You did good."

He put me down and Jr came running over and hugged me. He said, "Wow! You
got it!"

I said, "Yeah, now I'm going to have to make friends with it otherwise
it's not going to ever be nice to me. What are bulls favorite foods?"

Jr said, "I don't know, but I bet you it would like carrots. Everything
likes carrots."

The man came over and said, "Well gentlemen, I'll see you tomorrow. It
looks like you got yourself two bulls." He patted my head and said, "Son,
you're learning quick how to be a rancher. You won't ever forget today as
I've not forgotten my first time here."

He went out the door and I looked at Uncle Nick and said, "If the alpacas
and the llamas come in, get 6 each of the female and 1 each of the male."

Uncle Nick looked at Mike and Mike smiled and said, "Jr got to him."

Uncle Nick smiled and said, "If I recall right, I remember a time when
you got to me on a few goats. My daddy liked to whip my tail over them
goats for the next few years. Fortunately, there going to be at your
house."

I looked at Mike and said, "So you'll take the job?"

Mike smiled and said, "Billy, if I didn't, Jr wouldn't ever forgive me."

Jr smiled and then ran over to give me another hug. I hugged him back and
said to Uncle Nick, "Would you talk to him and see what all he needs for
a house so we can get them on built?"

Uncle Nick said, "Billy, tomorrow, we're going to see them, so we'll talk
about it then."

I nodded and then asked if I could go see Ragin' Dawn.

Uncle Nick nodded and said, "Thirty minutes and then the buffalo will
sell."

I nodded and then we ran to see Ragin' Dawn.

When we got there, Jr said, "Billy, the younger one will probably like
you more as he's had more time to get to know you."

We looked at him and I said, "Jr. he's a beauty, isn't he!"

Jr smiled and said, "Yeah, he is."

Jr turned to me and said, "Billy, can I ask you a question?"

I said, "Yeah, what?"

He said, "Do you notice boys more than you do girls?"


Author's Notes:

The first thing I would like to say is how very thankful I am everyone
has read "Rural Love" and have taken the time to write emails in support.

This story is a departure from my "biographical in nature" stories and is
totally fiction. It was a step out of what I know and into a different
realm. For your support, I really want to thank you.

A lot of you have become friends and through your emails, I'm glad to say
I've met you all. It's nice to know the community out there is so diverse
and we can enjoy the same things. Please remember it's what keeps us
together that makes us strong.

From my keyboard to your heart
Retta