Date: Sun, 25 Nov 2007 01:11:06 -0600 From: Retta Michaels Subject: Rural - Rural Love - Chapter 7 Rural Love By Retta Michaels Disclaimer: If you are under the age of 18, or live in a locale which cannot legally read these stories, please leave. Your presence here jeopardizes those of us who can legally read these stories. Please come back when you can legally read the stories and we will all be glad to have you. Note from Retta: To those of you who are my faithful readers. I'd like to apologize for the delays in the story. Hopefully, things are on a happier note and they'll settle down in my life. The story should be returning to a more scheduled release. Chapter 6 That night, I was really tired. Jr came up to sleep with me, but even then I could barely keep my eyes open. When I did get to sleep, I had a nitemare of my daddy and mommy coming to talk to me. Daddy said he was proud of me and the only thing I felt was sad. I asked him why they had to walk away from me. Each time I tried to catch up with them, they'd leave me again I woke up crying and Jr was laying there comforting me. Aunt Paulette came into the bedroom at a run and sat with us while I told her what they said. She told me I was having the dream because of us going to the house and everything being so stressful. When I finally calmed down, Aunt Paulette asked me if I wanted to go sleep with them. Knowing Jr would be with me helped and I told her I would stay with him. We lay back down and Jr and I hugged each other really tight. As I dozed back off, he told me he loved me and he'd not run away from me. Finally, we made it through the night and the next morning, we awoke to the smell of breakfast cooking. Right after breakfast, Uncle Nick told us Mike would be coming over and we needed to discover some things about the farms. He also congradulated me on the other farms and said Mike thought it would be great as they'd all tie in easily. I then said, "Uncle Nick, What do you know about Gray Daniels?" Uncle Nick's voice got a bit louder and took on an angry tone. His face went a bit red, "Billy, he was the meanest guy in our school. He was really sly about things, but the end result was people always got hurt whenever he was in the area. If he's involved in things that went on with your mom and dad, I can believe it. I'm just wondering how the others tie in." "I just hope they catch them." "Well, what I'm worried about is if he gets bailed out when they catch him." "Did they catch him yet?" "Not that I've been told, but maybe they're keeping things quiet." We went out to see the animals which were brought in yesterday and it was neat to see the different ones. Jr's favorite were the alpacas. He said they were real smart and looked forward to teaching his some tricks. We walked around and then we were told not to go near the buffalo. Uncle Nick said the young ones wouldn't be accepted back from their momma if they smelled us on them. We'd never heard about this before, so we were happy Uncle Nick told us. We continued to look at the different animals and feed them. When we were done, we drove the tractor back up to the barn and saw Mike's truck parked. He wasn't outside, so we put the tractor away and went into the house. He was in showing Aunt Paulette some computer programs he used for different aspects of the farm. He said, "Billy, how you doing?" "I'm doing fine, Uncle Nick said you wanted to discuss some things about the farms." "Yes, I do. What we're going to need is to seperate the animals. We think the buffalo and the bulls will be good on one farm and the alpacas and cattle will do on another. As long as we keep a pasture between them open, the two can be corralled out to the other farm and moved so nothing's over grazed." "Which farm do you want to live in?" "I think it will be fine for us to look at Mr. Thompson's farm. The barns are better there and all we'll have to do is build a veteranary building and an office and we'll be set up." "How much do you want to work for me?" "Here's what I made at the last place. It was a good living and we were happy there. I made thirty thousand and Amy got to work outside of the home. If she works for you, then it will be another twenty five. One other thing we got was a truck to drive and full medical." "Well, it really doesn't matter, I want you no matter what and Uncle Nick said I can afford it. What matters is Jr gets an allowance and gets one of those little trucks like I'm getting. Uncle Nick said to tell you as you would be able to get it so it could be written off." "O.k., but Jr doesn't need one of those." "I'm going to have one and in order to get over here to see me, he'll need one. So, I'd really like for him to have one." "O.k., you're the boss, so I'll let him have it. I just don't want him getting too spoiled." "He won't. He can help me when I'm over there working." "How much do you want him to make?" "He can make what I do. Right now, Uncle Nick is giving me an allowance but is paying me eight an hour on the weekends to feed. Jr helped feed today, so he can be paid today." "Jr, is this o.k. With you?" "Yes daddy, I didn't know what I was doing was work, but it's fine with me." "O.k., The next thing I would like to talk with you about is the barns for over at your paren'ts place. Do you still want them there?" "Yes, do whatever you need. We can't do anything inside the barn lot or near the house, but they didn't say anthing about the other areas." "O.k., I'm thinking about having that area as the main animal center and feed storage. We don't want to have too many things in one area and spend time driving hay and feed from one spot to the others. What I think is the bulls and buffalo can pretty much graze and the alpacas and cattle can graze but will need more vet care." "So, you're going to put them on the Thompson place?" "Yeah, I think it will be best. We can still pull hay from the farms, and rotate the animals at the same time." "What are we going to do with my parent's place?" "I think it will be good for some grazing, but it's really begging to be a feed crop farm. We can grow milo, corn, soybeans, and wheat there with no problems." "Will we need any different equipment?" "We'll need a few pieces, but the tractors and the wagons are already there. We'll need a combine sheller and some wagons, but what we'll need is some bins put up." "Whatever you think, then get them. Just keep in mind I'm going to be adding more land as we can get it." "We'll do that, I'll make some calls and we'll get things going as soon as you all get the farms bought." "Uncle Nick, when will that be?" "I'll get the papers handled this upcoming week. Hopefully the week after, you'll take possession because those guys want to be out of it as soon as possible. I think Mr. Anderson's content on staying over at his place, but will probably be moving. I did get a hint Mr. Thompson will be moving in with him." "They must be good friends." "Yeah, they grew up together and both had families and stayed on their farms. For as long as I can remember, they farmed together." I turned to Mike, "That reminds me, Uncle Nick said you probably knew who had your old farm ." "Some people from the city own it. They don't use it for anything other than hunting. Are you interested in purchasing it?" "Yeah, but what happens if they don't want to sell?" "We'll have to find something else. What I do think is if you make an agreement they have lifetime hunting rights on the place, they'll probably sell." "They can't shoot any of our cattle though." "They won't. They're really safe." "Well, just make sure they know that. I don't want to have any cattle shot." "I'll give them a call and see what their interest in selling is..." "O.k., that would be neat." Uncle Nick said, "Billy, on Monday, you'll be going back to school. While I'm in town, I'll run by the attorney's office and we'll see about incorporating and what all needs to be done." "O.k., will Jr be going to my school?" "Jr will need to continue going to his own school until we get moved. Then, we'll get him transferred." "Uncle Nick, Mike said he'd go along with Jr getting a toolcat, would you give them a call so they can get one of them sent to him?" "Just as soon as I know if the corporate account is open, I'll get one ordered for him. Mike, you and I will be getting one too. They're really neat and ride on a path the same size as a gator. I think rather than running trucks all over, we can have them for on farm use and can be just as safe. It might be good for us to order one for the Anderson farm too." "O.k, so we're needing to order four more?" "Yeah, but you might want to order another." "That's like a hundred grand!" "Yeah, but the advantage is they have attachments like a tractor and don't have to be licensed or insured like a truck. They'll pull wagons just the same." "I see what you mean. The savings on the license and insurance is going to be about a grand a year each." "Yeah, and if you really think about it, most of the time, on the farm, we don't really need to fire up a tractor or a truck. And when's the last time you ever used your tractor or truck to mow?" "Wow, that's giving me all sorts of ideas now!" "Here's a brochure, the attachments are awesome. They attach easy and basicly give us the use of everything we need in short easy to use attachments. They're so easy to drive, the boys won't have a problem and be safe as they don't have a high speed." "I'm seeing what you mean. That flashing light on top is something Amy will insist on." "Yes, we ordered Billy's that way and I've also added safety stripes so even in the dark, they will stand out." "That's good. I'm sold on them now. Heck, do I have permission to get attachments ordered too?" "Yeah, get what you need." "These fork lift hooks tell me we can probably get hay hooks for round bales. That would be awesome as it'd be a lot easier....and it's even got a three point hitch! Who needs a tractor now with one of these things?" "That's the idea, but we'll still need tractors for some things, but the savings in fuel will be a huge benefit." "I hear you. Let me see if I can get a discount on an order of six and throw Billy's in on the invoice." "Billy's is already bought, but if they give a discount on six, then get the guy to put the money taken off onto the savings of the others." "Will do. Now, when do you want me to get the other items going like the barns and bins being put up over on the Jacobs land?" "I need to call and see if they're going to need us to make a new entry in so we don't have to keep going through a crime scene." "O.k., but it will be good as I think the homesite and that barn would be good for a sick animal center and veteranary care. That barn would be good for that, and where the house is would be good for that." "So, you don't want it to be over at the Thompson place?" "I'm torn between those two. We could use the Thompson place as the main implement storage and hay storage, but the feed could be what is known as the B side of the Jacobs place with the vet care being A." "Whatever you need Mike, know I'll be in to help, and just remember Paulette will be in on these plans too." "Are you and Paulette going to be incorporating your land in on Billy's farms?" "Paulette says the decision is up to me. She's fine with either way. At first, I wanted everything to be seperate, but now I'm thinking if we throw in, then it's not going to hurt us. Whatever we do, know we'll be doing everything we can do to help." "Well, if you throw in, then Paulette would really help a lot by doing the paperwork and the accounting. She's already doing all that for you, and she'd require an office. She could receive a paycheck from the farms and could sublet her work to others if she really wanted. There is a lot of demand for that and not many local accounting agencies know the intricacies of farm management." "Let me call her in and ask. I think she'd be happy, but we need to check." "While we're doing this, why don't I ask Amy to come in. You know she's a veteranary tech and she can do a lot a vet can do?" "I wasn't aware of that, but it'd come in great." I was sitting back and listening to everything. What excited me about it all was it was falling together like a big jigsaw puzzle. Everyone had a job talent which would be vital to the whole unit and even Mr.s Anderson and Thompson could have a part of it. That reminded me I needed to go over and speak with Mr. Anderson sometime to get his memories down on my grand and great grand dads. Aunt Paulette and Amy came in and sat down. When they heard the plans, they were really excited. Each could work for the farm and each could sublet their work to others in the area. The plan formed where Aunt Paulette would have an office based out of the same building Amy would have her vet building. Amy said the veteranarian she worked for probably would be happy to work at the building as he didn't really have a location which afforded him the space to care for sick or injured livestock. She said his building in town was primarily for smaller animals. When she brought up the fact horses would probably need boarded and tended, Mike added oats and rye down on the things we'd need to farm on the my parents farm which was now being called the Jacobs farm. That made me feel strange them calling it that, but I thought my parents would really be happy knowing the site of sadness for our family would be one of hope to a lot of people. We carried through the conversation into lunch time. Aunt Paulette brought in makings for sandwiches and we all made ourselves lunch with chips and some pickles. Jr and I sat and listened to the conversation. Jr was excited about having such a wide variety of animals as I was which was neat. We both were excited about tending to different animals. He his alpacas and me, my baby buffalo and beefalo. As the converation continued, Mike was drawing diagrams of what each farm would do and what the layout should look like. The only thing I saw was the homesite and barn lot there being a huge obstacle. They didn't think so, so I didn't voice it. What was good about everything was sometime during the conversation, Mike made the phone call to the man he thought owned his old farm. It turned out the man who owned it had sold it and gave him the number of the one who now owned it. Mike called him and the man was eager to sell it. When he was offered lifetime hunting privledges, he was really excited about the sale. Mike then said he would call his old boss and see if he was interested in selling. He did and another farm was agreed to be bought. I was worried about the money and whether I had enough. Uncle Nick kept assuring me I had enough and at some time in the conversation he said I had a lot of millions of dollars... like fifty. He told Mike a double indemnity clause kicked in or something which made things a whole lot better. I'm not sure what all that means, but apparently it meant something good. I wasn't realy sure how much a million is, as I can only count up to a thousand and that's a lot. What I was told was a thousand thousand is a million. Well, that's a lot. Jr looked at me and said, "Ask them if we can go buy some candy since you're so rich." I said, "Let's wait and see if we can get some after church tomorrow." He agreed and asked me, "Am I going to be your employee, or your friend?" "You're my friend, but you get paid to do what we did this morning. Isn't that neat!" "Yeah, I wonder if we can buy a cart for my alpaca with that money, I want to teach it some tricks." "We'll see. I bet we can." The conversation continued until there was a knock at the door. No one was expecting company, I thought, but believe me as soon as I saw who it was, I was running out to his truck. My new tool cat had arrived! Jr was right on my heels going, "Oh man, that's so cool!" "You're getting one too and so's everyone else, but just as soon as I can, we're going out to drive this one. I promise you can drive it too." Everyone else had came out to see it and apparently Mike was really excited. He spoke with the man (who also was the one who sold it to us) and the man was so excited at the prospect of a huge order he gave Mike a fifteen percent discount and would include the discount of mine in the deal too. That discount was like getting another free, so Mike ordered a seventh one for Aunt Paulette and Amy to share. The man and Mike soon got to talking about all the attachments we'd need and the more Mike spoke, the more the man was excited. He was stuttering and saying all sorts of things like rebates, discounts, and percentages off. It sounded to me like if we bought one thing, we were going to pay a lot, but since we were buying a lot, they were throwing the things at us for free. I wished a candy store was like that! The man showed us how to drive it and at first, Uncle Nick showed me how to drive it. We drove in it with Jr in the bed of it looking through the rear window. We stopped to turn around and Jr got up on Uncle Nick's lap and I drove. I was nervous, but within a few hundred feet, I had the hang of it. It was real neat and the brakes on it were real easy. When we got to the house, I took Jr out and when we got to the turn around spot, I let him drive back. His face lit up like Christmas he was so happy.When we got back to the house, I got out and Mike got in with Jr driving. They went down the lane towards the lower field and when they came back, Jr got out and Amy got in. She drove real good and Uncle Nick then asked Aunt Paulette if she wanted to drive. She said she did and when Mike and Amy got back, they took off with Aunt Paulette driving. Mike was so excited he was telling the guy he wanted a total of seven of them. One for each of us and then one for Mr.s Anderson and Thompson. All of them would be equiped the same and the man selling them was sure happy. One of the items which Mike really liked was the post hole auger. He said with all of them running an auger, putting up fence wouldn't be a chore at all. It didn't sound like it to me either, and fences on a cattle farm were a chore. It required stretching and lots of hours digging holes. With the holes taken care of, the job was going to be a breeze. Things went good all the way up until dark. Jr and I drove around and the adults all stayed in the house talking. Uncle Nick and Mike made plans on going over to Mike's old farm and the one he used to work at so they could see them. I didn't need to go to Mike's old farm as I'd snuck over there often enough. What I knew of it was there were a lot of sticker bushes over there and lots of trees. They'd let it grow up and become terrible. Mike said we'd have to have someone come in and clear it off. Uncle Nick suggested we rent a dozer and do the work ourselves and have a huge bonfire. Then Mike said he thought the wood from the trees could be used for firewood and then once again they got excited about all the little trucks we would be having. At some time about dark, Jr and I was down the road and he said, "Billy, can I kiss you?" I said, "Sure, come here!" We kissed and I felt really happy all over. He said, "When we get back to the house, let's ask if you can stay all night over at my house." "O.k., but I doubt if they let me as we have church tomorrow." "We go to the same church, so that's not going to be a problem. We can go and you can go home with them then." "I'll ask, but I doubt if they let me." "O.k., let's ask. You never know..." When we went in, Uncle Nick and Mike took us out to the barn and showed me where I was going to be parking my little truck. Mike made a joke about putting numbers on them to be able to tell all of them apart. I said, "Can I have a name on mine instead?" "Sure, what name would you like on yours?" "Old Bessie, she was the best cow I ever had." "Then Old Bessie is what your little truck will be known as from now on." I was really happy. I wish I had a picture of her, but having her name on my little truck was good too. Jr said he wanted to call his a name he wanted to call his pony he'd always wanted. So, he was going to call his little truck lightning. Mike said, "If you call yours lightning, then I'll call mine thunder, then when you see us coming you'll be able to say, 'here comes lightning and thunder!'" Uncle Nick said, "I want mine to be Old Blue, that's the name of my first pony and I bet Paulette will want hers called something named after a flower. She did ask me to have the wheels painted pink on hers." "Oooh, Pink? That's a girls color!" "Billy, she's a girl, she likes girl colors." "Oh, I forgot. Well, that's o.k., then." We went in the house and Aunt Paulette and Amy were making supper. They were turning out to be good friends and I was happy for Aunt Paulette. And, just as Uncle Nick said, once Aunt Paulette heard the names of ours, she wanted a girl name of Petunia. Amy wanted hers to be one to match Mike and Jr's. She wanted hers to be called 'Rain'. It sounded cool to me, 'Lightning', 'Thunder', and 'Rain'. As we were beginning supper, Uncle Nick said grace and the phone rang. Aunt Paulette answered it and handed the phone to Uncle Nick. As he was speaking, she said, "The sheriff's calling to tell us they've apprehended the guys. We can sleep easier tonight." "Who were the other two?" "I don't know honey, but I bet Nick will know when he gets all the information." I listened to the conversation Uncle Nick was having and he was finding out who the other guys were. The sheriff told him the guys names as he said the local news would be having that information just as soon as the press release was given. After the phone call, the conversation shifted over to who the guys were and the adults knew the names. It turned out they were all living at the same house and were making drugs at the house. The evidence they had at the house showed the items missing from our barn were in that house. Uncle Nick said it was really a open and shut case as they had a lot of meat in their freezer and he was sure DNA evidence from Old Bessie would match. He said they'd also found a lot of other evidence at the house, but didn't say what it was. Jr and I asked if we could spend the night together again, and surprisingly, Uncle Nick and Aunt Paulette agreed for me to spend the night with Mike, Amy, and Jr. We were through eatting, so I excused myself along with Jr and we ran up to my bedroom to get things I would need. When we went downstairs, Uncle Nick said, "Billy, would you please come with me to the office?" The look on his face looked like he was upset about something and I got worried I was in trouble for something. We went into the office and he said, "Sit down, I need to ask you a question which I didn't want anyone else to hear." "O.k. Uncle Nick, am I in trouble?" "No, but we should be because I feel like just as big of an ass as you will when I tell you what's on my mind." "Oh?" "Yeah, it's a big oh." "Ok, what's wrong?" "Billy, how would you feel if Jr and his family came over and were making all these plans like we're making and they wanted you to help?" "I'd think it was neat and feel honored they thought enough of me to allow me to help." "Wouldn't you feel a little left out?" "Not if I could help them." "That's the way they feel right now because they need someplace to work and we're offering it to them. But, how would you feel if after everything's done and you've worked real hard doing everything. Wouldn't you feel a bit insecure that they got everything they wanted from you and now, you're nothing more than an employee?" The realization suddenly hit me. "Oh, I never thought of that Uncle Nick. I'd be scared." "Yeah, and we've been doing all this thinking and Mike's been so excited and he's anxious to do everything he could for us. You, well, you're throwing in an awful lot of money. Me and Paulette, we're throwing in everything we've worked for all this time. Them, well, they're throwing in all that knowledge and both of us know their work and knowledge are going to help the farms grow bigger. Right?" "Yeah" "So, why don't we ask them to be a partner in this effort too. Not an equal partner, but just the same, I'd like them to know that when it's all going, they'll have an interest in it which won't be sold out to someone who will work cheaper." "That's good Uncle Nick because I sure wouldn't want them to feel bad enough to take away Jr." "No, and I wouldn't want them to take away their friendships either. Mike and I have been friends for a long time and I don't want them to think it is in jeopardy." "Me neither." "So, what do you say we call your Aunt in and tell her and ask her what she thinks and then afterwards, go out and tell Mike and Amy. O.k.?" "Sure, I'll take Jr upstairs after we talk and that way you all can tell them." "You can stay if you want." "No, I think it'd be better coming from you. It was your idea." "O.k., but you're a partner in this too." "O.k. But all I want is Jr to be my friend." "I understand and that's what I want with them." "You want Mike for a boyfriend?" "No, not in that way, but there once was a time I could've...but don't let anyone know. O.k.?" "Wow, you two would have made an awesome pair!" "Yeah, but we were young just like you and Jr. That's why I don't think either one of us will ever stop you two. We both remember that if things were different, we'd be together." "That's sad." "No, that's reality and that's life. My daddy knew and to be quite honest, that's why his daddy moved away. I think that's why my daddy never left your farm to me." "That is awfully mean." "That's the way some people thought. Your mama knew and Bless her soul, she never told anyone. If your daddy had known, I'd probably be on his hellion list." "My daddy didn't like gay people?" "Your daddy would still love you Billy, but he never would understand it." "Well, he will understand now between Jr and I as he can see us from up in heaven." "Yes, and I'm sure the good Lord is telling him he approves of people loving each other no matter what." "I think so too. Why won't people just mind their own business?" "That's the way people are Billy. You just remember so when people judge other people for whatever reason, it's to make themselves feel superior to someone and that's all it is. It's sure not loving someone if they do that, is it?" "No and I won't like them because of it." "Me neither. Well, let's call your Aunt Paulette into the office here and then we can let you go stay the night with Jr." He left the office and soon Aunt Paulette came in. The first thing she did was come over, look at me and say, "You o.k. Baby?" "Yeah, I'm o.k." She looked at Uncle Nick. "What's going on?" "I thought of something and just as soon as I did, I felt like a mule had kicked me in the stomache. I saw something was wrong, so I called Billy in to see if he was o.k with what I thought. Once he was o.k with it, we agreed to ask your opinion." "O.k, what's on your minds?" "We've been making plans for this all day hon, and not one time have we really thought about Mike and Amy's feelings on this." "We've offered them a lot, how can you say that?" "We've offered them jobs and that's it. How do you think they'll feel down the road when they've worked their hardest for us and see they could be replaced by someone cheaper?" "Oh" Her voice faltered and said, "Nick, you go out there and tell them I want them to be a part of it. Whatever you do, make them feel they're secure. I'm building friendship with Amy and I'd sure hate to think she wasn't getting treated fair." "That's what I realized and then told Billy. He feels the same way. It's just making me sick we never really thought of them in all this. But, I'm glad we thought of it now and we're correcting that mistake." "Me too." "Can I go upstairs now?" "You go on upstairs and Paulette and I will go out and tell them it's mutual." "What's mutual?" "It's another word which means agreed upon as in feelings." "Oh, o.k. So, it's mutual that Jr and I like each other." "Yes, that's a good way to use it." "Well, I'm going upstairs." We all left the office and went into the kitchen. I looked at Jr and said, "Come upstairs, Uncle Nick and Aunt Paulette need to talk with your mom and dad." He gave me a look which asked me if I was in trouble and I just said, "Come on!" He took off running and said, "I'll race ya!" Like a heard of thundering elephants we raced up the steps. As soon as we got to my room, he grabbed me and hugged me. "You're not in trouble are you?" "No, but I should be, but Uncle Nick's taking care of that right now." "What did you do?" "Well, all day today, your dad and mom have been here helping us and thinking of different ways they could make things better so we could make the farm a success. Right?" "Yeah, daddy says he's going to really like working for you guys and so does mom." "Well, right now, downstairs, Uncle Nick's making your dad and mom a partner in the farms." "Really!" "Yeah, we felt bad about not inviting them, so now we're correcting that problem." "Daddy's going to like that!" "I'm liking it too. It means you won't ever have to leave me." "Billy, I would never leave you." Notes from Retta: I apologize once again for making everyone wait. This chapter was a long time coming, but there will be another this week as this one got slowed with my busy schedule. As you can see, I'm switching gears so the story can take on a bit more of what I want it to be. This chapter basicly is filler, but it's also one which binds together a lot of loose ends and serves as a base for what's to come. I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving and hope your Holiday season is joyful. From My Keyboard To Your Heart, Retta RettaMichaels@Gmail.com Copyright Notice - Copyright © November 2007 by RettaMichaels The author, RettaMichaels copyrights this story and retain all rights. This work may not be changed or duplicated in any form, media, - known or unknown ^Ö without the authors' expressed permission. All applicable copyright laws apply. Disclaimer: All individuals depicted are fictional, and any resemblance to real persons is purely coincidental Special Request I am in sore need of an editor. If you'd like to do this as a labor of love because there's no pay involved, please send me a letter. Requesting an opportunity. I'd really appreciate it. -- From My Keyboard To Your Heart Rhett Here is a list of stories I've written and where to find them: With Love - Nifty - Beginnings Section Rural Love - Author Heading - DeweyWriter.com Write Me A Love Story - Author Heading - DeweyWriter.com To Love Him - Author Heading - DeweyWriter.com Military Zone - Nifty - Military Section Evan - Nifty - Beginnings Section