Story Up On Hartford Ridge

Kathy in FL

Kathy in FL

Administrator
_______________
I'm late but as promised I will be posting "Hartford Ridge" here at TB2K and finish it as quickly as possible. It currently has 98 chapter. I'll be uploading about 5 chapters per day and then post the chapters to complete the story once or twice a week after that. You all know that I'm a terrible editor but I am trying to catch the most egregious stuff before it comes over here.

Kathy

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Chapter One

"But Mr. Brenser ..."

"But me no buts Kay-Lee. I cannot afford to keep you anymore. The checks stopped coming from social services two months ago and the church said they could only help one time per household rather than per kid like I thought they were going to. You'll go to the Hartford family and that's that."

I knew the tone and just gave up. I'd heard it too many times before, every time a foster family said they couldn't keep me. It isn't like I exactly expected any different, I simply hadn't expected to get traded for fuel instead of just cut loose like was happening to so many other foster kids my age. I'm only six months out from turning eighteen. I guess the biggest issue was that I wasn't comfortable with how relieved I was at not being turned out even though I was about to go from the frying pan into the fire.

Mr. Brenser broke into my thoughts. "Honestly girl you'd think you'd have some sense by now. And some gratitude. We didn't send you back to the group home, did we?"

Quietly I answered, "No sir."

"Did we put you on the street like so many other foster kids have had happen to them?"

"No sir."

"Well then?"

Mr. Benser wasn't a bad man. Not really. He just wasn't what you would call self-aware of his own shortcomings. And he was in a difficult position, trying to get his family to his wife's brother's place ... wherever that was since apparently it was some kind of secret they weren't supposed to know about but did by way of his mother in law letting it slip.

"I asked you a question Kay-Lee."

"I know sir. I'm just ... it sounds ... well ... it's just that Rubin is in the room and listening."

Mr. Brenser turned with a jerk and rounded on the ten-year-old boy. "What have I told you about listening in on conversations that are none of your business?!"

The boy, another foster kid, ran out of the room before Mr. Brenser could grab him by the scruff of his neck and give him a shake. "Boy better be lucky we decided we could afford to keep him. Too many problems and he'll find out my compassion has a limit. Not gonna put up with any nonsense. And speaking of nonsense, finish what you were complaining about."

Trying to keep my rebellious tone under control I told the man that had headed the household where I had lived for the last nine months, "I wasn't complaining sir. But you and I both know that a 'housekeeper' isn't exactly what the Hartfords want. They're all living up there and trying to get a girl for each of their wild boys so they won't wander away and get in trouble looking for ... uh ... stuff."

"You've got some wild imagination right there Kay-Lee," he said with a laugh as fake as his compassion. "Now stop that nonsense, stop listening to the town gossips, and go pack your stuff up. You should know the drill by now."

I nodded and turned not saying another word. Because he was right. I did know the drill. I'd never lived anywhere as long as I had with the Brenser family. I was honestly surprised that I'd been allowed to stay as long as I had until I figured out that Mr. Brenser's mother had taken a liking to me and said she'd move in with her other son and take her retirement pension check with her if they didn't let me stay to be her "help." The old woman was actually kind of nice in her own way - she was real needy and scared of being left alone most of the time - and taught me a lot of stuff I found interesting. But she died about the same time that the social services checks stopped coming because her doctor was forced to change her medication to fall in line with her health insurance plan eligibility protocols.

I walked to the room where all the girls slept and went to my bunk. Taleetha was there ahead of me doing her own packing. She asked, "So where they sending you?"

"The Hartfords."

"Say what?! Oh girl ..."

I shrugged. Taleetha was one of those girls that my last social worker used to call "fourteen going on forty."

"Seriously Kay-Lee, you know what they want you for."

"I know."

With not a little curiosity she asked, "You gonna put up with it or run?"

"Run? Where to? You heard what happened to Darla."

"Yeah, but that ho was just plain stupid. Girl was a day-glo cracka and she thought she could just go walkin' and find that nigga she hooked up with from the park. I heard she thought the baby might be his."

Darla was another foster kid we knew that lived with a family not too far from the Brensers and she'd gone looking for one of her boyfriends expecting him and her to live happily ever after - at least for a while - when she found out she was being sent back to the group home for getting knocked up. Stupid doesn't even begin to cover it. The way things are these days you don't go walking around alone in your own neighborhood much less go walking around someplace you don't belong.

"Why you think them Hartfords want you?" I gave her a look and rolled my eyes. "I ain't that stupid," she said with a laugh. "I mean why you? Look at you. You all twisted up and look like a skunk. How hard up they gotta be to take you?"

She had a point. "I don't know."

"That why you doin' it?"

"Huh?" I asked her only half listening. Taleetha wasn't nasty on purpose - at least she wasn't being this time - she just didn't observe any boundaries, especially personal ones.

"You know, cause you can't get no man no other way. You figure they so hard up that they'll keep you on even when they get around to being able to get another girl?"

I sighed. "No."

"Then why you going?"

I shrugged. "I don't know. I guess it's just better than dying in the group home or dying on the street."

"You mean you think you gonna live longer? What you wanna do that foe? Momma always said might be better to just die an' get it over with than suffer long term."

I'd met Taleetha's mother once during a court ordered visit they'd had. I hadn't been impressed. I told my bunk mate, "It isn't about dying. It is about having time to find another option. And it might not be much better than the group home or being on the street, but some is better than none.”

This time it was her turn to shrug. "Better than being a street hoe like my auntie foe sho. She's got more kids in the system than Momma does." She shook her head to shake the thoughts away. Taleetha played at being a realist but the truth is she lived in just as big a fairytale as most of the kids I know, foster or some other flavor. Then she told me, "Guess where I'm going."

"I already know where you're going and you better learn to follow the rules pretty fast and that includes watching your mouth. I heard Brother Johnson don't put up with nothing."

"Hell, how'd you find out? I just found out."

"Don't get bent, and practice watching that mouth. I found out last night only it was supposed to be a surprise for you and they told me not to tell. Mrs. Brenser likes you. She's says you have potential, that you're a diamond in the rough. When Mr. Brenser said you'd go back to the group home she put her foot down and said she'd call Brother Johnson's wife - I guess they know each other through those foster care training classes - and ask her if she knew anyone. Anyway Brother Johnson said they'd take you themselves since they took over that big ol' house and church over on Cherry Lane. I think they plan on having to take a lot of kids in but the first kids they want are ones that know the drill and are willing to help out and stick around even after they age out. I hear they're going to run it like an old time orphanage and you guys are going to get vocational training and everything."

"I don't know about that stuff, just know that's where I'm going. So there's going to be other kids there?"

"At least some."

"And the house is gonna be big enough?"

"Are you kidding? It's that big ol' place up on the hill next to the boarded up church. We could see it from the bus every time we went downtown to go to the county building."

"That place?! You kidding me?! That's a ******* mansion! I'm gonna live in a mansion?!"

She started doing some crazy dance then went to go give Mrs. Brenser a hug. She's about the only one of the older kids that ever got up the nerve to do that sort of thing. Like I said, Taleetha has no boundaries. And Mrs. Brenser isn't the hugging kind but she'd taken a liking to Taleetha. She makes sure none of the kids get the wrong idea about being there 'cause they were gonna get adopted or something.

I shook my head at all the noise that Taleetha was making as she thanked the Brensers and went back to my packing. Wasn't much. Just a couple of changes of clothes, some school supplies and notebooks and my "personal file" where I keep copies of all my paperwork because I got tired of them losing it every other time I got moved to a new house. I supposedly had some family stuff in storage at a cousin's place up on the ridge - not too far from where I'd heard the Hartford place was actually now that I think about it - but seeing as how the cousin is in his 80's and I barely remember seeing him the last time it don't mean a whole lot to me.

It only took me a couple of minutes to stuff everything into my school backpack and I was ready to start over. Again.
 
Kathy in FL

Kathy in FL

Administrator
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Chapter Two

"Psst. Kay-Lee. I think they're here."

I cracked the bathroom door and look at Taleetha. "They're early."

"Then maybe it ain't them but I heard the garage door going up. That's what woke me."

"Ok. Just go back to bed."

"Are you scared?"

I pretended not to hear her.

"Hey, are you scared?" she asked again being persistent.

I sighed and shrugged. "It is what it is. Go on back to bed and sleep while you can. Your turn is coming this afternoon."

"Yeah but I'm going to live in a mansion."

"Just make sure you aren't Cinderella."

"Huh?"

"Never mind. Just stay out of trouble."

"I don't ever get in trouble."

Seeing that is one of the biggest fibs she'd ever told I just rolled my eyes. She snickered but finally went back to the bedroom and I knew she'd be asleep again in no time. Taleetha wasn't the type to carry too much baggage around with her. Lucky her.

I finished tying my ponytail up, covering my hair with a bandana, and had just sat on the commode to buckle the velcro closings on my ankle support when the door opened - without a knock making me jump. As soon as I saw who it was I calmed down. Maybe I'd have a few friends where I was going ... at least one anyway. Tommy Hartford was a sweet guy.

"Hi Tommy."

"Hi Kay-Lee. Uncle Mark says you better hurry."

"Just finished my shoe." I grabbed my bag and followed him and we ran into Mr. Brenser and another man who was frowning really hard. "Thomas," he growled.

"It's ok Uncle Mark. I told you, I know Kay-Lee. And she was just doing her shoe thing. She's got her stuff."

The man was stern and just kept staring at Tommy. Tommy Hartford. He was a year older than me and twice my size, but Tommy was Tommy and a little different. I stepped forward and held my hand out to the older man. "You must be Mr. Hartford. How do you do sir?"

My words got a startled blink from the man and he slowly put his hand out and shook mine. Reluctantly he said, "Yeah. About that. Might as well call me Uncle Mark, all the other kids do. Is that all your stuff?"

"Yes sir."

He nodded. "We need to get before the sun rises. I don't want to have to waste time at a check point."

He started walking away and Tommy grabbed my arm. "I can walk Tommy."

"I know but gentlemen are supposed to help ladies."

For the first time in a couple of days I smiled. "Thank you Tommy. That's nice. But I don't want you to get in trouble."

"Oh that's ok. Guess what?" he asked as Mr. Brenser closed and locked the door behind us without even saying good bye.

Trying to ignore whatever feelings were trying to bubble to the surface I asked, "What?"

"Linda and I got married."

I nearly tripped coming down the porch steps. I could see his smile in the dark as he said, "See? Good thing I was holding your arm like a gentleman."

"Yes, yes it was. Thank you."

Tommy was nice but was short on IQ points. So was Linda Thorndike. Neither were stupid people they just were different. Linda had been abused as a baby before being adopted when we were all in middle school; what I heard was that she'd had shaken baby syndrome or something like that. Tommy had nearly drowned and been in a coma for a couple of weeks the summer before he was supposed to start kindergarten. I knew they'd been boyfriend and girlfriend at school but to hear they'd gotten married really surprised me.

"Congratulations."

"Thanks. Linda said to tell you hello and that she'd come by to see you on Sunday."

"Oh ... okay."

"Hush up Thomas. Ain't had time to explain things to her yet."

The man that had asked me to call him Uncle Mark stood uncertainly for a moment looking at his truck and then at me but it was Tommy who made it better.

"Let me be a gentleman and open the door like I'm supposed to then you can grab the hand-strap. You can step on the runner board like Momma does. Then sckootch in the back."

And that's what I did until I came face to face with a dog. I cringed. "Oh, I forgot," Tommy said. "But that's just Mooch. He'll wanna smell you and lick you ... and his farts are silent but deadly ... but he had kibble this morning instead of the wet stuff so it shouldn't be too bad."

"Thomas," the man said in a way that seemed he called Tommy's name on a fairly regular basis.

"Well Uncle Mark she's scared of dogs."

"Why the Sam Hill would anyone be scared of dogs?" the man asked in irritation as I finally made myself slide in, sit down, and tolerate the dog being a dog and checking me out. The man and Tommy climbed up into the truck and the man turned to look at me and asked, "You scared o' dogs?"

The dog Mooch was getting a little personal so I found the courage to push him back a little. "Not ... not scared. I mean they're just dogs."

"Sure looks like you're scared from here girl."

"I ... I respect what they're capable of sir."

Tommy broke in to explain. "Some dogs tried to eat her when she was a little girl. I remember. She came to school with her head all shaved and a bunch of stitches."

The man looked from Tommy to me and just uttered one word. "Explain."

"In second grade I lived a couple of weeks with a family that lived next door to a guy that bred guard dogs. Only he wasn't very good at it because he thought making them mean made them tough. And one day when I was doing my chores and taking the garbage to the road a couple of them got out." I shrugged. "I went to go live someplace else when I got out of the hospital."

"Hmph," was all he said before pulling out of the Brenser's drive way.

"Lotta dogs up at our place and a couple where you're going. You might as well set your mind to getting use to them."

All I could say was, "Yes sir." And wonder what he meant when he said "where you're going."



 
Kathy in FL

Kathy in FL

Administrator
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Chapter Three

"Can I tell her Uncle Mark?"

"No. Grow some patience Boy. Let me get out of town and I'll tell her." Tommy sighed but looked at me and I could tell he thought whatever was happening was a good thing. I wanted to trust Tommy to be right but I couldn't be sure. Tommy sometimes didn’t think like everyone else did.

We turned off the county road right before it split off to go to highway, went about a hundred yards and then made a hard left that practically threw me out of my seat despite the seatbelt I was wearing. The dog wound up in my lap and I almost forgot to breathe.

Tommy looked back and said, "Get down Mooch. She ain't gonna hold you you big ol' baby. I told you that it was gonna be bumpy and you wouldn't like it none."

Nope, the dog certainly wasn't enjoying the ride and tried to crawl under my t-shirt which would have been really creepy if he hadn't been whining and trying to hold on like some really little kid.

Tommy saw and said, "Can you hold him Kay-Lee?"

"I guess."

The dog was shaking worse than old Mrs. Brenser's chihuahua that had dog palsy. Nasty, mean tempered little thing. It was so ancient it didn't have any teeth but still tried to gum my ankles and fingers off every time I fed it just to prove to me who was top dog in his domain.

The bouncing and shifting was awful as we off-roaded up and down several sharp inclines eventually leveling out into a gravel road. Tommy told me, "He'll be alright now. You can put him down."

"I would if I could. Uh ... Mooch ... has decided he likes it where he is at."

About that moment Mooch let us all know what he thought of the ride with a silent and deadly.

We were all gagging and rolling down windows. Uncle Mark wiped his streaming eyes and said, "Dawg, you ain't ridin' in my truck no more and that's a fact." Tommy was having a hard time controlling his laughter and all I could do was pray that gas was all the dog had 'cause he still wouldn't get off my lap.

Another mile and the truck was finally aired out enough we didn't need gas masks. Uncle Mark slowed down some and pulled over and then turned around to look at me. "Mooch, get off her lap. Move dog." When the dog had reluctantly returned to its assigned seat - and I could draw a full breath of fresh air for the first time in a while - the man said, "Look here. How much you know about the Baffa family?"

Since the question came out of left field I carefully asked, "You mean my bio father's family?"

"Yeah. You ever meet any of 'em?"

"A couple of times when I was real little. I kinda remember a lady they told me was my aunt but not a whole lot. I know she liked to laugh and would come get me and take me places with her before I started school. There was a man that would come with her that I thought was a giant."

He nodded. "That was Pet and Robert, your father's sister and brother in law. I know they tried to get the courts to give you to them but Robert's brother had a couple of gun charges against him. Anyone ever tell you why they stopped coming around?"

"The lady got sick with something she caught when she worked at the hospital. Hepatitis I think."

He nodded and added, "She went fast when she had some kind of a reaction to the drug she had been taking for it. Robert had a heart attack and took their two kids and moved out west. He's still alive but neither him nor the kids are interested in anything going on around here. You do know you got a great uncle still living on the ridge?"

"I know that's where I'm from but after the laughing lady ... my aunt I mean ... stopped coming around no one else did either so I don't know anything about them."

"Well ..." he said sounding sorry he'd asked. "Well he knows you, or of you anyway and that's the whole crux of it."

Slowly I asked, "The whole crux of what?"

"We've been after that Baffa land for a while. Bought everything around it expanding our holdings up here so we could keep the undesirables out of our business but Jacob Baffa just wouldn't sell. Old fool kept expecting someone from the family to come back I reckon but the few left around here ain't really Baffa's anymore and they ain't interested in farming that little bit of ground and with the economy in the toilet ain't nobody interested in buying it ... and even if they were they ain't got the money for it. But then old Jacob done got sick ... some kinda cancer from them chemicals he was around during the war ... and he gave us an ultimatum."

"U ... ultimatum?"

"Yep. He said either one of the boys could marry you and he'd deed the land and buildings over to us or ..." He stopped and I could tell he was angry. "Or he'd deed it to the feds for a shootin' range which would mean that there'd always have to be access through our property to that land and we'd have all sorts of government fools running all over creatin' problems left and right."

My brain had stopped working at the word "marry."

"You understand now?"

I shook my head. "Not really but I'll take your word for it."

He stopped and gave me a closer look. "You might not turn out to be a big problem after all. I'll ... I'll reserve judgment." He looked me up and down and I could almost hear the silent but in there. "... but you sure are ugly and none of our boys are going to want you." He didn't say it but I could see him thinking it.

He sighed. "Ain't got time for more. You'll just have to figure things out as you go along. Gotta get over to the Baffa place before that nurse hauls Ol' Jacob off to the VA hospital. He wants to see you before he goes."

My head was spinning. And right at that moment Mooch decided his stomach had had all it was going to take and he dog puked on my feet.



 
Kathy in FL

Kathy in FL

Administrator
_______________
Chapter Four

"Girl, you can rinse your shoes off at the spigot and then come up here to the porch so I can get a look at you."

"Yes sir."

Uncle Mark Hartford walked over to the porch steps and said, "We got a deal Jacob?"

"How do I know this is the right girl?"

He answered, "She's got the bum leg and the skunk stripe just like we were told she would."

"Could be a fake."

I turned the spigot off and said, "I've got papers."

The old man turned suspicious eyes on me and said, "You a dog girl that you need papers?"

Used to ignoring people and their snarky comments I said, "No sir. Legal papers that prove who I am. Kay-Lee Baffa. Seventeen years old. I've got the name of all my social workers and their ID numbers and stuff like that if you need them."

"Huh. Give 'em to Nurse Hatchet here and let her see 'em."

The big woman must have been used to his behavior because she just looked at him and rolled his eyes. Her name tag read Rubine Harris so I guess the old man was picking at her when he called her Hatchet. I pulled the huge file out of the back pack and walked it over to her. She looked at it and started flipping pages then turned to the old man and said, "If she's a fake, she's been faking for almost eighteen years."

"Humph. Come here girl so I can see you."

I walked over and he looked me over with what felt like sandpaper. "You ain't afraid of me?"

"No sir."

"Well, you're polite enough. S'pose you had to be."

"No sir."

"No sir what?"

"No sir I don't have to be polite. I chose to be."

"Humph. Well, what do you have to say for yourself?"

"I'm not sure what you mean."

"I'm leaving you this place."

I sighed. "Mr. Baffa ..."

"You can call me Uncle Jacob. Your daddy did."

It took me a minute to try and figure out what to say. "I don't want to hurt your feelings but I'd be lying if I said that I ..." I stopped again and wound up sighing. "Sir, I just don't know you. I mean I knew ... well kinda knew ... that I still had people I was kin to around some place but no one ever came for me or asked to see me. Not since the laughing lady ..."

"The who?"

"Mr. Hartford said her name was Pet. I just barely remember her and the big man that always came with her. And then they didn't come anymore, no one did. And now I'm supposed to just be ... something to someone and to be honest I'm just not sure what it means or how to feel about it. You say you're my uncle and I don't have any reason not to believe you but I don't know how you expect me to feel about that."

"Fair enough," he said. "I writ a bunch of stuff down and it is in my nightstand but you ain't to get it until after I die. You can agree to that?"

The nurse tried to interrupt. "Mr. Baffa ..."

He snapped, "Oh don't you start. I ain't gonna go into a decline ... ain't got no decline left seeing as how I'm already at the bottom." He turned to me and said bluntly. "I'm dying girl. And past time too. And no, I don't expect you to shed no tears over it. I'd throw a party if I was up to it if you want to know the truth. Thing is, in my mind even if we don't know each other we're still blood. I'm a Baffa. You're a Baffa. That means something. And this land has been held by the Baffa family since we came over from Italy over a hundred and fifty years ago. We were carpenters and we built this house and most of the furniture in it and that should mean something. I was angry for a long time about how things have gone but I always had this place ... took care of it, gave me purpose, gave me a ... a haven I guess you'd say. I owe this land something back ... and you're gonna be that something. You're a Baffa and you are going to come take care of this place. I ain't asking for your gratitude, don't expect it, don't want it, too late for it even if I did want it. And you're just girl, a young one, and with the way the world's turning the only way you're gonna keep on being able to take care of this place is if you got a man to help you. That's where them infernal Hartfords come in."

He turned to look at the man who had brought me. "Which one you got picked out for her? This one here?"

Tommy took two steps back but then looked at me sheepishly to see whether he'd hurt my feelings. Mark Hartford said, "No. Sawyer said he'd do it."

"Sawyer. Hmmm. Well, guess it'll do though it seems a strange match up. Woulda though Cutter or Benedict would have been a better choice."

"Mebbe but Sawyer's the one that volunteered."

"Good enough."

The nurse broke in again. "I'm still not sure I approve of this. Young lady, do you agree to this?"

Here was my chance ... maybe my last chance. Then I shrugged. I only had two stipulations. "No hitting and no addictions ... drugs or drinking."

Tommy broke in and said, "Aw Sawyer ain't that kind Kay-Lee. He can get Hartford-mean when he gets angry but he don't hit girls."

"I don't remember you mentioning a brother named Sawyer."

"He's a cousin. He's Uncle Ray's son."

"I don't remember an Uncle Ray either."

"You wouldn't. He died a couple of years ago. Had a heart attack. Right after getting a clean bill of health too. Sawyer's mom died a couple of years before that when she got stung by a bee. She was bad allergic. Sawyer's sister Delly got their house for her and her husband and Sawyer don't get along so well with her husband and his family."

"Which is why Sawyer volunteered to make the sacrifice."

"Huh?"

"Never mind Tommy."

The two other men just looked at me then the nurse said, "Honey, you don't have to do this."

"I know. But really, where else am I going to go? There's no room at the group home; they're putting kids in tents in the parking lot last I heard. And being put out on the street ... I might as well sign my own death certificate. There's no jobs; I've looked. At least this way there might be a chance for me and if it blows up in my face it won't be because I didn't try."

The nurse just shook her head. 'Uh, uh, uh ... what this world is coming to I jus’ don't know."

Mr. Hartford was losing patience. "So do we have a deal or not?"

"If she agrees to it then I got the papers right here."

Mr. Hartford bored holes in me with his eyes but all I did was nod once.

Mr. Baffa said, "So be it. And none too soon. There comes the ambulance to haul me off. Get me down off this porch and let's get this finished. I'm done."



 
Kathy in FL

Kathy in FL

Administrator
_______________
Chapter Five

I was still watching the nurse's tail lights as she followed the ambulance when Tommy said, "Uncle Mark wants you to come inside."

I made myself stay calm as I walked up the porch steps and through the house's front door. The inside was dark and smelled musty like it needed a serious cleaning. I followed Tommy as he walked back to what turned out to be the kitchen. The door and a window in there had been opened to air things out.

"Sit down. We need to get this finished up."

"What's there to finish up? You have your house and land."

"Don't sass me," he warned. "It is sticking in my craw to have to have one of our boys marry a Baffa and one like you makes it doubly hard to swalla."

I noticed his tone was changing now that he had what he wanted. I had expected it would. That's the way most people are. But what surprised me was Tommy stepping to my side. "Uncle Mark, you know what Gramps said."

Mark Hartford snapped, "Don't lesson me boy. You might be married but you still got a long way to go before you're my equal in this family."

"I'm not saying I'm your equal. Not even trying to be. But Gramps said ..."

"Shut up Boy. This here Baffa ..."

A voice from the dark snapped, "Mark!"

We all jumped then Tommy smiled big and said, "Dad! I thought you had to work."

"They short shifted us and are turning the day shift away at the gates."

"Uh oh. Gramps said that was one of his signals."

The man I recognized as James Hartford nodded but was still looking at his brother who'd hadn't said a word since he showed up. "Sawyer will be here in less than five. There ain't gonna be no trouble. Davis made his choice. You got a problem you go take it up with your son."

"Why should I? Wouldn't want my boy married to this ugly gal. Don't want no damn Baffa in the family at all, sure as hell don't want one for a daughter in law. You and Dad want this done so bad then you can finish this up. I got better things to do."

He got up and brushed past me pushing me into the wall hard enough that I would have lost my balance if Tommy hadn't grabbed my arm. He asked, "You need your shoe?"

"It's wet. I'll get my spare out in just a minute." I turned to look at the Mr. Hartford that I remembered as the man that came to all of Tommy's school activities. "Sir? I ..."

James Hartford stepped over and pulled out a chair for me and Tommy whispered. "That's what gentleman do for ladies."

I patted Tommy's arm and then let him help me to sit down. His dad meanwhile leaned against the kitchen counter top. "I know this is a rough start. You like to be called Kay-Lee or just Kay?"

"Kay-Lee please."

"That was your parents' names."

I nodded and explained like I had a hundred times before. "Someone at the hospital where they brought me was trying to separate me out from the other babies that were arriving by ambulance from the health center and put their names on the name plate of the bassinet I was in in the NICU. It kinda just stuck after that 'cause somebody thought it was some kind of memorial to them I guess."

"Hmmm. I knew your parents you know. Even went to school with your dad's sister Pet. Some of us went to school with your momma. Never did get the full story of why you were put into foster care."

Again explaining it like I had so many times before I told him, "Because of the law suit. Everybody kept thinking there was gonna be some big pay out. I've heard a million different reasons but that's the big one. The state took custody of me until everything was ironed out. I was in the hospital or pediatric rehab center for a long time anyway."

"Seems a strange thing someone wouldn't take you if you were gonna be worth so much."

I shrugged. "Maybe if it had gone to just one person there would have been a lot but by the time they got done paying all the lawyers, paying everyone's doctor bills, and then splitting the money between the survivors or their families it wasn't much at all. And then by that time there wasn't anyone willing or able to take me on, not with all the reconstructive surgery and stuff I still had left to have. For the first five years of my life I was mostly a ward of the hospital and when I wasn't there I was bouncing around between rehab centers. Even after the surgeries were over and they'd done all they could to put me back together I bounced around a lot. Nine months is the longest I've ever stayed in one place and that was just at the Brenser's ... the last foster home where you found me."

"Hmm," he said then looked out the side door. "See Sawyer's truck. Tommy go out there and meet him and help him get his trailer backed in and start bringing stuff up to the porch." Tommy was eager to please and headed out with a nod and a smile. Mr. Hartford turned to me and said, "My son likes you."

"I like him too. He's easy to please."

"Yeah he is. Suppose he told you he's married now."

"Yes sir."

"No comment on it?"

"None of my business."

"If you're in the family it is."

That stopped me for a moment then I shrugged. "Tommy and Linda are slow, not stupid. They can do things just fine, they just have to do them in their own way at their own pace."

He nodded even though he looked a little surprised at my answer. "You know Linda too?"

"For a long time. We had the same social workers growing up until she was adopted by the Thorndikes."

"Wondering about her family?"

"Yes sir. Some. Her parents are pretty strict."

"It was their idea. The marriage I mean. They're older and not in real good health lately. They'd actually hoped that Tommy would go live with them but things being the way they are ..."

"Yes sir."

"They've moved across town to live with Linda's aunt's family. Linda's father has started having memory problems and I guess their nephew is some kind of old person's doctor ... a gerontologist."

We both heard the truck pull up and the engine turn off. He bit his lip then said, "This ain't gonna be easy but it can work if you and Sawyer ..."

I heard boots on the wrap around porch and then a voice that said, "Uncle James."

I turned and was suddenly really glad I was sitting. Then something inside me got a little mad. "What kind of game is this? I was willing to go along but ... but look at you."

All three turned and looked at me. "And don't give me that blank face. I mean ... look at him. No way a guy like that is just going to volunteer to marry me. No way. Something is going on."

Tommy stepped forward. "It's ok Kay-Lee. I know Sawyer can be a little scary and ..."

"Scary?! He's not scary. Look at him! He's a Greek freaking god!" I turned to look at the man that embodied all of the attributes in my fantasy man ... the one I'd knew I'd never have except in a fantasy ... and snarled, "What is your game? Or did you not know what you were volunteering for?"

"I knew."

"You knew. You knew?!"

"Yeah. You don't need to spazz out about it."

I just stood there shaking my head. Tommy put his arm around my shoulder and said, "Just give him a chance. Sawyer ain't so bad."

Sawyer said with a snort, "You're not helping Tommy. Uncle James, I got this. Just ... just you and Tommy take a walk or something."

They did though they looked reluctant and said they wouldn't be far.

I growled, "OK, what is your game?"

"No game ... uh ... Kay-Lee. All we gotta do is be ready by noon and the Justice of the Peace said he'll marry us. Everything is going to be up front and legal. No one is out to hurt you ... well ... they won't hurt you but you'll definitely take some getting used to. The Baffa and Hartford families have been known to feud."

I shook my head but he mistook it for something else. "You backing out?"

"Of what? The farce?"

"The bargain. Because there is no farce. I'm being upfront. Bet it was Uncle Mark that set your teeth on edge. I told them letting him handle this part of it was a bad idea. So what about it? You backing out?"

"Uh ... well no ... but ... look, just clue me in. What's going on? And don't tell me nothing is going on because just look at you. I'm not stupid you know."

"No. Tommy said that the only reason you were in the program that he and Linda were in was because you missed so much school and they thought you were ... er ..."

"Yeah, whatever. People only see what they want to. My luck overall in life has pretty much sucked which seems to make people think my brains got scrambled along with my body. And just when I thought I might catch a break you show up."

"You keep saying that. What is it about me that you don't like?"

"You've got to be kidding me. You've got a mirror and I'm sure you use it a lot to get your hair to do that ... that ... wavey thing it's doing. Well I've got a mirror too and I know exactly what I look like."

"Tommy didn't say anything about you feeling sorry for yourself."

"I'm not feeling sorry for myself!" I told him outraged at the very idea. "But I'm not blind."

"You've got nice eyes," he said with a smile.

"Yeah and all my teeth and a great personality. A totally winning combination." I stopped and shook my head. "Just don't. If ... I mean if ... we do this I want the truth. Whatever it is I can deal with it just like I've always dealt with everything else." My foot started to cramp so I flopped down in the chair I'd vacated when he'd walked in.

The guy sighed and sat down in one of the other chairs around the table. "Ok. Here's the truth. I'm Sawyer McGee Hartford. I'm 22 years old. And if you don't agree to the bargain I'm up **** creek without a paddle or a canoe. I ain't got jack crap to my name except for my truck, my dogs, and what I got in that trailer. The trailer ain't mine by the way, its' borrowed. I got laid off from the snack warehouse three months ago and haven't been able to find a job yet and it ain't because I haven't been looking. Problem isn't ‘cause I ain't willing to work, it's because I spent time in county lock up when I was nineteen when my brother in law accused me of breaking into his office and stealing his money. After I got arrested no one would bail me out because they all believed him, including the girl that I'd been going with since we were kids, so I rotted in there until the judge got around to having a hearing. Go to trial and it finally comes out it wasn't me but was his own brother only by then I was too damn mad at the world in general and him and my sister in particular and once they released me I made a pretty big ass out of myself proving to everyone just how mad I was. My grandfather finally helped me pull my head outta my backside and get back on track but the damage had already been done. My scholarship to the community college was toast and the only job I could find was pushing a broom and handcart out at the potato chip warehouse. I'm tooling along almost getting back to square one, and back with my ex, when some ***wipe runs off with the petty cash box out of the manager's office. They don't blame me but decide it is too much work to find out exactly who did it so they clear the decks and lay a bunch of us off that could have been the thief. Now I do get blamed by all the other layoffs looking for a scapegoat even though I swear to God I ain't the one that took it. My girl dumps me ... again ... and a couple of days ago my sister just rolls over and plays the good wifey when my brother in law kicks me out of the garage apartment despite the fact I been using my savings to pay the rent. Ain't got no place to go, got no options, and I'm sick and damn tired of living off of charity."

He stopped and tried to shake the anger off then he looks at me and says, "That's how much fun I've been having and why I volunteered. This is likely the last chance I'm gonna have. I fall any deeper in the hole and I ain't ever climbing out."

I looked at him and then came to a decision. "I said it before you got here and I say it to your face now that you are. I've got two stipulations before I'll agree to this. Tommy spoke for you but I want to hear it from you."

"Alright."

"No hitting. No addictions."

He nodded. "Not a problem. I ain't never been a hitter and I might toss a few back every now and again but I don't like gettin' drunk or high 'cause it's too easy for people to take advantage of you when you don't have no control. Frankly I've got enough problems without cutting my own throat."

"You promise?"

"Yeah. We can put it in writing. Which brings me to a couple of stipulations of my own."

"I guess that's fair."

"Don't care if it is or not, just ain't happening any other way." The way he was talking might have made some people angry but it didn't bother me. It actually made me feel like he was a lot closer to being a real person than what I thought of him before.

He cleared his throat and then said, "You can't run off. And no meeting some guy and deciding you're tired of me and want something else."

"You gotta be kidding me."

"No. And I want it in writing."

"You're crazy. Or blind. Or both." I shook my head wondering just what was wrong with the guy in front of me. "One, running isn't something I can do much of in case you haven't noticed. When one leg is three inches shorter than the other one it kinda puts the kibosh on that sort of thing. And two, you also haven't seemed to notice there ain't exactly anyone lining up behind you. From what I gather most everyone else turned down the job even though your family wants this house and land pretty bad. And for anyone else? Get real. Guys - and girls too - used to call me ugly names in school. If you don't believe me then ask Tommy, he'll back me up. They finally fixed my shoulder and straightened my spine, and I don't have to have all the hardware on that I used to, but no matter how much fixing the doctors have done, most folks will always see me the way I used to be. You think you got problems now? Wait until some of them hear that you married Igor Baffa."

"Igor?! Now nobody really called you ..." He stopped and then said, "I guess I ... well Cutter and Donnally did mention ..."

"So see? Even your own family is going to mess with you over it."

"Like hell they will. Gramps has already set some ground rules."

"Ground rules?"

"Mostly they boil down to no feuding inside the family."

"Feuding. Seriously?"

He nodded. "Feuding is serious business. Shows a lack of respect for the other person. And Gramps and most of the uncles don't put up with it in the family. But back to the stipulations."

"You've got more?"

"Yeah," he said like he was pulling his pride around him but I wasn't supposed to notice. "You ain't allowed to flirt or do crap like that."

I laughed but it wasn't funny. "If I tried to flirt with someone they'd probably run away and get sick in the bushes. So whatever. What about you? You gonna flirt and stuff like that?"

"No 'cause fair is fair. I ain't gonna run off neither. Next thing is you can't hold sex over my head just 'cause you want something."

I nearly fell out of the chair.
 
Kathy in FL

Kathy in FL

Administrator
_______________
Chapter Six

"You're out of your mind."

"No I ain't. You plan on holdin' out on me just 'cause you don't get your way?"

I didn't know whether to scream or howl in laughter. "You just don't get it do you? I can't imagine anyone wanting sex with me. I mean someone might wanna do it to show me who's boss but not 'cause they really want to be ... involved or whatever with me. And I sure can't imagine some guy that looks like you wanting to. Maybe as a joke but that's about it. I haven't ever even been kissed so how the heck ..."

"Wait. You mean ..." He sat back in his chair and scratched his chin with a very serious expression on his face. "I suppose that changes things a bit. We'll need to move slow." He ran a hand through his hair and even though it got messy he somehow managed to look even hotter than he had before which just irritated me all the more. "OK, how about this. We don't worry about sex right now. But I still want those stipulations in writing so you can't get me later on when things start working out."

"Fine," I told him with a snort. "You're crazy but fine." Then I had a thought. "What about your girl? What if she changes her mind and wants you back."

"Well to start with, Lisa isn't my girl no more. I don't care if she changes her mind, I ain't changing mine. She hurt me once. I was a fool the second time around. Ain't gonna be no third time. And if that's it on that front we gotta get down to the brass tax that Gramps wants covered."

"Ok," I said accepting the change in conversation after noticing how uncomfortable he was.

"You might not like it."

"I guess we won't know for sure though if you don't hurry up and tell me."

"Guess not," he said but I was surprised to see he was trying to fight a grin.

"What?"

"You're not what I expected."

"Considering you're crazy I'm not sure I want to know what you expected."

This time he grinned. "Tommy and Linda made it out like you wouldn't say boo to a goose. That you're real quiet and don't have much to say for yourself most of the time. I wasn't sure just how we would talk this stuff out or if you'd cry or something. But the last thing you seem to be is a cry baby."

I shrugged. "Tears are just wasted water and time. They don't help nothing and they don't stop things hurting. As for being quiet, I prefer it. People are going to think what they want no matter what you do or say. I've just never figured on getting married to a crazy guy that looks like a Greek god; and then have to do it while figuring all this other stuff out too. At some point a girl needs to step up and look after herself because I don't see anyone else around doing it for me."

"Well, on that last you might be surprised. Gramps laid down the law and said we wouldn't do this if it wasn't going to be done right. And right includes making sure you understand you'll be part of the family and that we ain't gonna just grab the land and throw you out in the world to make your own way. But it also means that you can't just change your mind down the road and try and take the land away 'cause you feel like feuding for some reason."

"Fine. But what do you mean that I'm part of the family?"

"What do you mean what do I mean that you're ..." He stopped and shook his head. "Guess you might not know since you've never had a family." He sighed. "I'll be honest since we said that's what we want from each other. Sometimes us Hartfords can be a little rough on folks. A couple of the other new wives are having a ... a little trouble fitting in I guess you might say. Ain't no girls in our generation in the family except for my sister Delly and she don't count. She's fifteen years older than me and we weren't really raised together and she's always leaned more towards her husband's family. None of her kids act like they got any Hartford in them either. You likely won't have to put up with seeing them much as they live off towards town and don't bother coming around here unless there is a feed on or family business they want to stick their nose in."

"Ok. But you don't expect me to be rude to them do you? They're strangers and I don't generally do that, much less do it to people I don't know. It's a waste of time and energy I don't have."
`
"Well, no. We're polite to each other. Gramps demands it. Won't tolerate nothin' less. Sometimes we polite the hell out of each other just for the sake of irritating the other person but as a general rule it don't go no further than that."

Deciding his explanation was as confusing as the rest of it I told him, "Guess I'll understand that when I see it. What else?"

"Well, the rest is a bunch of legal stuff that Old Man Baffa put in. Like what starts out at this house stays at this house ... like no taking furnishings from here, no trading the good stuff out and only putting crappy stuff in, tractor and implements belong to here but they can be used other places, no plowing under the food lots or wood lots, selling off bits and pieces of the land, that sort of thing."

"If you're looking at me to object or have anything else to add to it forget it. This is the first time I've ever stepped foot around here and I barely remember the people that were supposed to be my family taking any interest in me."

"You ain't looked around?"

"Uh uh."

"Me neither. I tell you what, let me empty the trailer so that Uncle James can go home and let folks know what is going on - and take the trailer 'cause it is Uncle Duke's - and we can look around together."

I shrugged again still not sure what on earth I was agreeing to be part of.
 
Kathy in FL

Kathy in FL

Administrator
_______________
Chapter Seven

Tommy handed me a small garbage bag of what felt like clothes and asked, "You gonna be ok?"

"The bag isn't that heavy Tommy. If I can carry the big pots in culinary class I can ..."

"Not the bag. Sawyer. You didn't seem to like him much."

Trying to figure out how to explain it I asked him, "What would you think if Cindy Meechum walked up to you out of the blue and said the two of you were getting married."

Tommy's eyes got real big as the thought trickled through and then made a funny face. "Uh ... ok ... I get it. But why'd you have to pick the cheer squad leader? That girl is mean."

"She's not really mean, just full of herself and doesn't even realize it."

"Well Sawyer isn't like that."

"So far he isn't but Tommy ... I don't want to sound pathetic but c'mon, can you imagine what they would say in school if some guy that looks like Sawyer suddenly asked me out?"

Tommy suddenly exhibited a bit of wisdom that made me uncomfortable. "Stop worrying about what the package is wrapped in and look at what's inside the box. Sawyer's ok. He don't make fun of me and Linda at all and you know some of 'em have. It might take Sawyer some time to get over your outsides too but you already made him smile and he don't do that much at all lately. Momma will be tickled to hear it 'cause she was worried about putting two serious people together."

"You're mom's nice Sawyer but ..."

"I know. She's nosey. She used to give Linda advice about bedroom stuff all the time and right in the middle of company too ... and that was before we got married and were doing it. One time she did it in front of the preacher's wife. One of the reasons we live at Gramps is because Momma was great about us getting married, not been so great about us being married. She was advice-ing us to death."

I smiled and he crawled back into the trailer to get more stuff out. For Sawyer to think he didn't have much, compared to what I'd come with he had more than plenty. He almost didn't believe me when I told him the pack was all I had.

"That's it?" he'd asked.

"Yeah."

"You're joking."

"No. Why would you think I was?"

"Well, girls always ... I mean ..."

"Foster kids don't. We only get one suitcase or one back pack and we have to be able to leave in just a few minutes if they come to move us around. The suit case someone gave me wore out years ago and all I have is my school back pack so I had to make sure everything would fit in there."

He just looked and shook his head.

And now we were unloading I don't know what all from the trailer and the back end of the truck and putting it on the porch and all I could do was shake my own head.

--------------

I was standing in the kitchen looking around when Sawyer walked in and said, "They're gone. Tommy said to give you this."

I turned and he had my ankle brace in his hand. I walked over and snatched it away and then felt stupid. "Sorry."

"It's alright."

"No it isn't. Look. I've been thinking. If ... if you really want to do this you better know all of it."

Warily he asked, "All of what?"

"This," I told him pointing up and down at my body. "But can we sit down? Going up and down those stairs ..."

"Would a ramp make it better?"

Startled I looked at him but relaxed when I realized he wasn't being mean. "No. It's my own fault. I should have put my brace on. I have a spare. That's one of the things ... Anyway, can we sit down?"

"Yeah," he said willingly enough and he even pulled a chair out for me before sitting in one himself.

I sighed hating what was coming. I couldn't even look at him square in the face and just kinda focused on the window behind him. "I told you the doctors have fixed everything that is fixable. Well I should let you know what isn't fixable. I can't change that one leg is shorter than the other. My leg was broken before I was born during the explosion and it was broke on a growth plate so it didn't grow the right way as I got older. They put screws and rods to straighten and stretch the leg but this is about as good as it will ever be. I don't need a crutch but sometimes ... sometimes in the middle of winter my leg and hip aches really bad and ... and I might use a cane to take some of the pressure off."

"Tommy told me. He said you used to use one all the time but don't anymore."

Surprised at how calm about it he was being I said, "Oh ... well anyway it isn't just that my leg is shorter than the other one. I've got drop foot."

"What's that?"

"It means that my foot drags because it's weak and doesn't want to lift. It isn't as bad as it used to be and if I keep up my exercises it should be ok. I have to remember to lift my knee higher on that side so I don't drag my toes as I walk. But that gets real tiring real fast which is where the brace comes in; it holds my foot so that it doesn't drag."

"Like you've had a stroke or something?"

"Some people have ... hey, how do you know that?"

"Uncle Forrester - Gramps' brother - had a stroke and when he walks he kinda looks like you only he's a lot worse. His whole right side is weak like that."

"Ok but ... well mine isn't from a stroke but from nerve damage. When I'm real tired it’s worse and I can fall really easy so I try and sit when I need to sit. Like now. I hate falling. It makes me look and feel stupid."

"Wish Uncle Forrester would have the sense to sit down. Last time he fell we were worried he'd broke his hip on top of everything else."

"I don't want to have to have a hip replacement so I try to be smart. But they tell me that as I get older I might get crippled up unless I'm careful. Then there's my legs. It’s hard to explain and it grosses people out but ... but when the explosion happened ... anyway I basically got pushed out real fast and ... and ... I don't really talk about the details normally 'cause they're private but ..."

He told me, "I know. You don't know me but Tommy and Linda ... now there's a pair you gotta see to believe ... but they asked me to take them to town a couple of days ago when all this come up and we watched you walking home from school."

"What?!"

"Take it easy. They like you a lot and said they didn't want you to be made fun of or get hurt because you'd been nice to them in school and ... well ... they explained about the explosion when those eco-terrorists blew up the health center and your parents were there for a check-up and how ... anyway, they explained."

"I guess I need to remind Tommy I got boundaries but Linda should know."

"They both know and don't get upset with them. They were doing it to protect you ... and me too I guess. They got a lot more going on than most people give 'em credit for."

"You don't need to tell me that. They'll find work arounds for things if people just give 'em time."

"That's a fact. Now why don't you finish telling me what has you upset and we can get on to the next thing."

I didn't know quite how to take what he said so I did as he suggested. "I got burnt right after being born and when I was about a year old they were having these pediatric trials for getting rid of really bad scars and they thought I'd be the perfect candidate. The laser stuff they were using was experimental and only worked for less than half the kids in the trials so they don't do it anymore. I was one of the kids that it did work on but the side effect was that it wrecked up my hair follicles. It also makes my skin dry if I don't take care of myself. So where most people are hairy ... I'm not." He blushed and I yelped, "Not there! I just mean like my legs and arms and stuff."

He blushed harder and said, "Oh. Uh ..."

I shook my head and could barely look at him and said, "Just don't even think about it."

More than willing to drop his embarrassing thought that had slipped out he asked, "Is that why you've got that strip of white hair down the middle?"

"No. It is my birth mark sorta. When my hair grew in I had a strip of really light brown hair mixed in with the black hair. The doctor called it a fawn and said most people's were hidden under their hair but I got lucky and it was all out front for everyone and their mother to gawk at. Then in second grade I ... I got attacked by some dogs. One thought it would be cool to try and crack my skull like a walnut. By the time they were through fixing all the damage they had to shave my head and do a lot of stitching. When my hair grew back it came in like you see. I've tried dying it about a million times but the hair is funny and won't take color. Or if it does take the color it winds up not being the color that it was supposed to be."

"Mmm. Tommy told me you're scared of dogs ... and told me what Mooch did ..."

"Go ahead and laugh. I probably would too if it had happened to anyone else on any other day."

He tried not to but the smile eventually broke through. "You do got some kinda luck that's for sure."

"Tell me about it. And I'm not scared of dogs. I just respect what they can do and sometimes they make me a little nervous. I try not to but sometimes they just do."

He nodded. "Well that's why I left Harley and Davey with GW ... he's Uncle Forrester's son."

"GW Hartford ... is he the one that works the search and rescue things when hikers get lost?"

"Yep, that's him. Anyway, I figured you might need some space and ..."

"They're your dogs. I might as well get over myself sooner as later."

"Thanks. They're good dogs but kinda extra friendly sometimes. You'll have to be firm about them not jumping."

Feeling butterflies in the pit of my stomach I said, "Ok. Do they bite?"

"They won't bite you. They're partial to females. Strange guy come to the house and they might chew on him some ... or a lot."

I heard the warning in there and decided not to get offended. Some of the foster kids I'd been around were real territorial. I could deal with it so long as he kept it under control.

He asked, "Is that it?"

"I've got scars. They aren't too bad because my skin is the type that doesn't scar that easy plus I don't tan very much ... I guess it is that Italian thing with the black hair and light complexion ... but if you look you can still see them."

"I took a header from a four wheeler when I was twelve and I got some scars running up and down my side and leg too. You don't get grossed out over mine and I won't get grossed out over yours."

I just shook my head. "I still say you're crazy but ... but you're alright too. If I say you remind me of Tommy you won't get mad will you?"

"Naw. Tommy is a good guy. But I ain't always good. Maybe I should warn you about that. Don't bother trying to talk to me before I get a cup or two of coffee in me in the morning. And ... well ... back to them stipulations. I don't wanna get burnt again and ... and ... well I might over react a little until ..."

"You're territorial. That's ok. So long as you keep to your promise not to hit."

He shook his head. "I'd rather take a bullet than hit a female. By the time Gramps would be finished with me it'd probably be less painful anyway. But ... sometimes my mouth ..."

"Like I said, just no hitting. I can ignore anything but that."

"Had trouble with that?"

"Huh? Oh ... uh ... not me personally. Just lived with too many messed up kids not to see it. I mean I've been pushed around but that's just the way it goes. I just don't want to have to live like that day in and day out."

"Reckon not. Uh ..."

"What?"

"Can you ... I mean ... I ... hmmm."

"Spit it out. It ain't like a question is gonna kill me."

"Ok. But I sound like a jerk. I was wondering if you can have kids."

The question stopped me cold. "Kids?"

"Yeah."

"I guess I can. Nobody ever said I couldn't. But ... er ... are you ... I mean is that a stipulation?"

"No. Just ... if you can you figure you mind ... uh ... waiting? Gramps believes things are going to ramp up and get rough for a little bit and until we get set up it might not be a good idea."

"Uh ..." I stopped and sighed.

"Is that a problem?"

"No it's just ... I mean ... you're just crazy," I told him in exasperation. "Yesterday when I was told I was going to come up to the Hartford place and do some housekeeping was the first time I tried to wrap my head around the idea of some guy and me doing it ... 'cause whether you want to hear it or not people in town have ideas on why so many of you have suddenly gotten hooked up. Then your Uncle Mark informs me I'm getting married to one of the boys and my brain is spinning on that. Then in you walk with all your Greek godliness and ..."

"Knock that off. If you think looking like a pretty boy got me cut any slack you can think again. Every guy and their brother decided to test me and see if they could mess up my looks. I got tired of always losing so got good enough I win more than I lose. I've tried everything ... growing a mustache, growing a full beard, in middle school I dyed my hair green to try and get them to lay off ... nothing works and it gets irritating as hell to have people riding me on it. It's been a real handicap trying to find a job too."

"Tell me another clanker."

"I'm serious."

"Yeah sure. I won't bug you about it but don't ask me to be blind. I feel like I'm in the middle of the Twilight Zone or something like that."

"Well let me make it a little worse. Gramps thinks we're in for some real rough times, maybe really rough."

"Things are already bad. Or don't you count people rioting 'cause their dole checks ain't coming in on time bad?"

"Yeah, that's bad but Gramps thinks it's gonna get a whole lot worse before it gets better."

"He's one of them survivalists like they were talking about on tv?"

"We're all survivalists - well most of us are - but not like them dumb dudes on tv that tell everyone and their mother what they got. Which I guess is another stipulation. You can't go blabbing your mouth over what you see and hear."

"Am I a prisoner?"

"No and don't get stupid, especially as you seem to got better sense than most if what little I've seen counts for anything. You ain't a prisoner. You just need to watch your mouth because people are gonna get serious mad when they find out just how bad things are gonna get and if they think you have more than they do they're gonna start thinking that it ain't fair and they just might decide to get together with some friends and come take what it is they want."

"Like they did during the riots."

"Yeah. Only instead of just ransacking the stores and stuff like that, and it only being the ones from the projects, it'll be almost everybody and they'll start going house to house ... assuming the government don't start doing it first."

Mr. Brenser used to make fun of those survivalists on tv when he wasn't mad at them for things like hoarding or being scaremongers or whatever. But Old Mrs. Brenser used to say her son needed a reality check and that she knew that the government was out to get us all and that they were spying on us all the time so they'd know what we had so they could come and take it and give it to someone else. They were both a little crazy on the subject but I tended to believe Old Mrs. Brenser's flavor of crazy was a little closer to the truth which is why maybe she was a little crazy to begin with.

"You think I'm nuts don't you?" he asked in irritation.

"No. Not really. I've heard both sides for a long time now and for the last couple of months about the only thing anybody can talk about is the government isn't doing enough and with the next breath someone will say the government is doing too much and needs to mind their own business."

"Which do you believe?"

I shrugged. "Haven't really had time to decide."

"Well time is running out and since you're gonna be a Hartford you need to throw in with us."

"Ok."

"Just like that?"

"Sure. I guess. I'm still trying to figure things out but so long as it means a roof over my head and food to eat I know how to keep my mouth shut."

"Good deal. But you'll see. Gramps ain't been wrong yet. Only problem we've had is that more people know about stuff than they should because a couple in the family told people they shouldn't have. And that's why you need to keep your mouth shut."

"You don't need to repeat yourself. I get it."

"Fine. We got a couple of hours to kill yet so let's take a look around."
 
Kathy in FL

Kathy in FL

Administrator
_______________
Chapter Eight

"Mr. Baffa might not like us poking into his stuff."

Sawyer said, "Ain't his stuff. He signed it over to you. Didn't that part get explained?"

I was trying to absorb that and just kinda stood blinking. "Hey, you ok?"

"Uh ... I guess so. But won't he be back?"

"Nope. Last I heard he's only got a couple of days left."

Surprised, confused, wary of Sawyer's seeming indifference, and a lot of other things I wasn't ready to examine I said, "He didn't look like that when I saw him."

"You probably didn't see him in good light. Plus he was more than likely hopped up on a bunch of medicine. He's bad sick and all eat up with cancer. Most folks are surprised he's still breathing as it is. Gramps said Baffa is as surprised as everyone else and kinda figured God was refusing to let him out of his misery until he took care of this one last thing ... you."

I shook my head. "I might not be sure about too many things right now but I do know the one last thing he was taking care of wasn't me. It was this house and the land. That's what he said anyway."

Sawyer looked at me as we stood in the entry way and said slowly, "Might be so. Baffa got strange as he got old and he wasn't what you'd call real normal before he went off to war. At least that's what Uncle James said a couple of times." He picked up a pad of paper and a pen and carefully asked, "This ain't gonna freak you out or anything is it?"

"Not freak me out exactly but it does feel weird. But it’s just more weird on top of weird so I guess I need to just get over it."

"Yeah, I would say I'm feeling a little of that myself. So, bottom to top or top to bottom?" When I just looked at him he said, "The house. You wanna start at the top and work our way down or bottom and work our way up?"

"Oh. Uh ... what exactly are we looking for?"

"Need to see if anything really needs attention and just an inventory and stuff. I don't know ... pretend we're looking to buy the place and we're, you know, like checking it out to see if it's worth the price tag."

"Ok. Yeah ... yeah I can do that. Might as well start at the top then. That's the way you clean a house ... top to bottom so you don't track dirt through areas you just cleaned."

"Top to bottom was what I was thinking too to start with the biggie. The roof looks ok from the outside but it’s hard to tell with those old slate roofs. You can do these stairs?"

"I'm fine. Our wing of the school had a freak ton of stairs and I get along just fine there even when it is like a stampede in the hallway. Just don't expect me to run or carry anything if there isn't a handrail for balance." I was used to people thinking I couldn't do much but that didn't mean I liked having it pointed out all the time.

When we got to the top floor - the third floor - even Sawyer was breathing hard in the dusty air. "That last flight was kinda steep. You ok?"

My hip was starting to ping but I wasn't going to let him know that. "I'm fine."

"You don't look fine. You look like you hurt."

I glanced at him and finally admitted it. "The risers were funny on that last flight. Narrow, steep, and tall."

"They were that. I've never been in a house with three floors and it looks like there might be an attic too," he said pointing to another narrow flight of stairs at the end of the dark hallway."

"Oh joy," I huffed.

"You don't have to. I can ..."

"Sure I do. Let's just get on with it."

But when we got there the door at the top of the stairs was locked. "Great," Sawyer muttered.

Something caught my eye in the dim light from the funny round window on the landing and I told him, "Top of the door frame."

Carefully he looked up and then reached and found an antique key. "Well lookey. It fits."

We pushed open the door and Sawyer whistled as he flashed his flashlight around. "Reckon there's any skeletons up here?"

"Looks like there's just about everything else so why not that," I told him.

"Sure 'nuff. Looks like the roof is ok ... or at least nothing going on I can see."

"You want this cleaned out?"

"Huh?"

"Cleaned as in emptied and reorganized or whatever."

He nodded. "Eventually we'll need to but it can wait. It'll have to wait. We need to get settled and after that we'll have crops coming in and Gramps expects us all to help so we can get a share."

"Share of what?"

He looked to see if I was joking then shook his head. "I keep forgetting, you might be a ridge girl but you've lived in town your whole life." We left the attic and went back down to the third floor. "For the next couple of months most of our time is going to be spent cultivating and then bringing in the garden, the stuff in the orchard, and the field crops and doing what we've got to do to preserve the harvest. Family is too big to count on store-bought stuff and Gramps doesn't think the stores are going to be open regular like they used to be for a long time."

That I could believe. Even the Brensers had been down to whatever they could get out of the charity boxes from their church and meals had gotten harder to piece out even using those lessons all of us in the hospitality track at school were taking.

The third floor was a long hallway with doors opening off of it on one side and a line of windows on the other. Two of the rooms didn't look like more than closets but a couple of them were pretty big.

Sawyer said, "Kinda weird set up. And they're all empty."

"And no bathroom up here either."

"You're right. Baffa told Gramps he'd leave some house plans and other papers that would help figure things out. Don't know where he left them though assuming he remembered to."

"Might be with the papers he was telling me would be in his nightstand only I'm not supposed to get them until he dies."

Sawyer snorted. "Forget that. We'll look for them when we get down there. I'll stick to the bargain Baffa made but that ain't part of it and seems kinda stupid when it doesn't need to be. I don't like the kinda surprise them papers could hold so keep your eyes peeled for important stuff like that."

I nodded. I felt a little silly but agreed to go along.

Second floor was more normal but musty like it had been closed up and hadn’t been used in a long time. Poking his head in everywhere Sawyer said, "Big room on the end must be the master bedroom. It has a room attached to it that you can also get to from the hallway so that's probably a nursery or something. Gramps' house has a similar set up and that's what he said it got used for." I tried not to show how uncomfortable that made me. "Four more bedrooms; two big ones and two little ones. Then that bathroom at the end of the hall. Tub in there looks like you could float a bass boat on it. I kicked it, it’s a real cast iron tub but it sure needs re-surfacing ... might be the original enamel on it."

I nodded. "The water stains are pretty orange and thick in the sink and toilet bowl too."

"Didn't smell so hot in there either so I need to check the p-trap."

"The what?"

"The plumbing. There's a u-bend in the pipes and if the water evaporates out of it or there's a leak it can let the waste gas back into the house. Do me a favor and check the linens on the beds and check the curtains for dry rot, mold, or mildew while I check the floors for water stains or soft spots."

About five minutes later I feel something crawling on me and when I turn my head to see what it was I came face to face with a little face. I must have shrieked then froze because when Sawyer came running and asked what's wrong all I could do was whisper, "Get it off."

"Get what off?"

I turned real slow and asked, "Is it still there?"

"Oh man, hang on." It took him a moment but he finally got it detached and then over to the window. "Piece of glass is out. Looks like they covered it with plastic that has dry rotted. Probably how it got in."

"Was that what I thought it was?" I asked trying to get rid of the creepy crawlies.

"It was just a little bat. Hey, it didn't bite you or anything did it?"

"No. But check the curtains to make sure there's not more of them."

While he did that he said, "We'd smell them if they made a habit of coming in here. No ammonia odor anywhere, not even the attic. We'd had 'em get in the warehouse and try and roost and it only takes a couple of days for them to stink the place up. No smell so they don't make a habit of it. Maybe the plastic just split. I've got some cardboard and I'll tape it over the hole until I can get it fixed."

I shuddered. "A flying rat. That's all that is."

"Actually bats are beneficial. They eat a lot of bugs. Having a healthy bat population is a good thing."

"If you say so."

"Have you looked in the closets yet?"

"There aren't any closets except in the big room and I didn't look in there because you wanted me to look at this other stuff."

He turned back from the window and just stared. "Most girls I know would be in every nook and cranny by now."

"Boundaries. And rules. Every house I've ever lived in had them. The biggest one was you don't go snooping in other people's stuff."

"This ain't other people's stuff. It's yours."

"Well pardon me for still finding that hard to believe."

"You're pardoned," he said with a small grin then laughed. "You were stiff as a board when I was plucking that little thing off you."

"Ha ha."

"So you're scared of dogs and bats. Anything else?"

"I'm not scared of dogs or bats."

"Sure looked like it to me," he said with another grin.

"Then you need glasses," I told him turning back to lift up and bedspread only to start coughing.

We both left the room with our eyes streaming. Sawyer griped, "Bats and flying dust bunnies. What next?"

"Locusts," I deadpanned.

Sawyer looked at me and then started laughing. "You're alright you know that? Tell you what, we know what's on this floor so let's go down to the first floor. The windows up here are all painted shut and there's not going to be any cleaning until I can get that fixed."
 
Kathy in FL

Kathy in FL

Administrator
_______________
Chapter Nine

"First floor is a little cleaner, but it smells worse. Like the old folks home out on Rt. 4 and I didn't think much could stink like that place."

Unfortunately I knew exactly what he meant because I'd lived there for almost four months after one hospitalization left me bed bound the whole of one summer and then some. It was a sad depressing place where they warehoused people living on government support until they died.

"Hey, you ok? You're a little green around the gills."

I thought about blowing it off but then decided to just tell him. "It's the smell of dirty bodies and sick people waiting to die. That place has more violations than most people can imagine but the government inspectors don't care. They come around, see how everything is, and don't do a thing about it. There's too few staff for the number of residents and the people they do hire really just don't give a crap. People that do care just can't take it after a while and find another job plus they don't pay much."

"How do you know?"

"I lived there the summer before high school. I wasn't sick enough to be in the hospital but there wasn't any room in the rehab centers around here so ..." I shrugged and tried to play it off like it didn't matter.

Sawyer said a really rude cuss word but not wanting him to get the wrong idea I explained, "That was my last operation. You don't have to worry about anything like that now. I'd refuse even if someone told me that's what I needed to fix something."

"That's ... that's not what I meant. I just ... you were a kid and they stuck you in that place? Damn."

"Don't worry about it Sawyer. The only reason I said something was ... well I don't want it to sound like I'm lying if it comes out later on. Since we're going to do this ... I mean honesty is best right?"

"Yeah definitely but I didn't realize ... Maybe you should sit down or something."

"Oh don't start," I told him. "My life didn't make me breakable, it made me tough. And I'll sit down when we finish this. I'm not weak or helpless."

He looked at me then said, "No. No I don't guess you are. But I got another stipulation."

Worried about what it might be I still said, "Ok."

"Don't fake it just to prove you're tough. If you ... you know ... need to sit or whatever you need to do then you do it. Deal?"

"Uh ... o ... okay. Sure. Deal."

"Ok, if you're sure you don't need to rest then let’s finish this up and then we can get ready to meet the Justice of the Peace. He's some kind of Hartford cousin and we'll get this done and over with."

Ignoring the butterflies in my stomach the best I could I followed him to the end of the house opposite the kitchen. He opened a door and then squinted. "God I hope the windows work on this floor."

Lucky for us the ones we tried did and we opened all the windows that we could. "Whew that definitely helps."

Picking up a piece of paper taped to the pillow I told Sawyer, "There's a note here that says the appliance company is coming to pick up the hospital bed and the other equipment tomorrow between eight and twelve."

"Between 8 and 12? I was supposed to help Cutter and Beth set up their trailer."

"Then go do it. I helped clean up and move out the stuff when Old Mrs. Brenser died ... she was the mother of the ... never mind. Look, just go do what you gotta. I'm used to making do and doing things on my own. I won't run off. I promise."

"You sure? I mean I don't think you'll run off just ..."

"So long as they don't shut the power off I'll do some laundry and stuff like that to try and get the musty smell out." Looking around I added, "I don't think that nurse did much cleaning."

"She may not have been good at cleaning but from the looks of her she looked like she was pretty good at sittin'."

I tried not to smile 'cause it was kinda mean but Sawyer was just being honest. But when he suddenly snapped out another curse I wasn't sure what had caused it.

"Dammit, I need to check to make sure ... Gramps warned me there was more to ... I ..."

I stood there waiting for him to wind down then he noticed me. "Little help here would be nice."

"I'm waiting for you to explain what you are having a fit over and then I'll see if I can help. Right now I have no clue what you're going on about."

That stopped him. He took a deep breath and said, "You're right. I'm running on too little sleep and nerves. I ... I'll try to not ..." He gathered his thoughts and then said, "It's the electric. If we don't have electric we don't have much of anything but a roof and some walls. And I gotta check the propane. And food ... we'll need groceries. And all of it is going to take money ... and you don't have any so that means I've gotta hope what I have left in savings will at least get us started."

"How much money?"

"Do I have in savings? I ..."

"No. The electric and stuff like that."

"I'm not sure. Why?"

"Well, we gotta make a plan and ... and ... well ... we gotta make a plan." I leaned against the wall as all of it started to hit me. This wasn't make believe and if it wasn't make believe or a dream or whatever that means I was right back where I left off which meant all the years the state had been keeping me were suddenly over and I was going to have to make my own way. And I was scared. Very, very scared.

"Easy. You're starting to look green again."

Before I could stop myself I whispered, "I don't want to go on the street. I'll wind up ... wind up ..."

"Hey, it isn't that bad. Gramps said the power might not be on through the summer anyway. So I do want to get that propane taken care of first. OK?" I could feel myself shaking. "You're really scared."

"I knew that I'd be out on the street sooner rather than later. I'm coming up on eighteen. I kept looking for some way ... job, making myself so useful someone would want me, starting my own business, something, anything but look at me. I mean really look at me. Even in school they put me in the SLD program and told me I better just stick with the hospitality & culinary track because that was likely all anyone would hire me to do. They didn't want many of the SLD students in Child Care because of the liability. I couldn't keep up in the academic tracks because they cut off the tutoring I was getting. I ... I ... I ..."

"Ok. Stop. Come here and sit down. Come on. Now look at me. You ain't gonna be put out on the street. And neither am I. Even if we can't keep the electric on everything else is going to be ok because everyone else will likely be in the same boat soon enough too. And look over there. See that? It's a fireplace and there's a couple others here in the house. Uncle Junior is a stone mason and he can help me check to see if they're sound or show me how to repair them if they need that. Wood isn't a problem. There's some downed trees that I saw driving in and I'll borrow Gramps' splitter or trade work or something. Groceries ... well, we'll figure something out and then we'll get shares from the harvest. It's gonna be ok."

I finally had my breathing under control and turned to look at him and say, "I'm not a baby. I know how things stand. And I'm not helpless. It's just ..."

"Yeah. For me too. Everywhere you turn it feels like something stands against you."

I just looked at him wondering how a guy that looks like he looks could have the same problems as me. It didn't seem possible.
 
Kathy in FL

Kathy in FL

Administrator
_______________
Chapter Ten

"Linda!"

"Surprise!!" she said with a laugh.

"Tommy said ..."

"Sunday. I know. I thought it would be but Tommy said you looked like someone had whacked you in the face with a fish when he left. Guess seeing me ain't the only surprise."

"You're telling me. What's that?" I asked pointing to a bag she was carrying.

"Something besides that old school uniform you're wearing. Who wants to get married in knee socks, a skort, and a t-shirt that says Consolidated Central? C'mon. I told Tommy to keep the men outside on the porch. Whew ... certainly is bound to smell better out there. Plumbing backing up?"

I shrugged. "Sawyer said something about checking a p-trap."

"He'd know. He did maintenance at the potato chip warehouse. I guess he told you."

"Yeah." I pulled her upstairs and away from the open windows before saying anything else. "Linda? Is this on the up and up? I mean, that man really was my bio-dad's uncle and ... and this house is really ours to live in if we get married?"

"Yeah. And Tommy said you was probably kinda scared of Sawyer 'cause he's handsome but you shouldn't be. Sawyer don't like being handsome. Tommy said he spent more time trying to get interesting scars to cover up how pretty he is as he did getting into regular ol' fights. He went to school at County and you know how rough it is."

"I'm not scared."

"Oh yeah?"

"Okay, maybe a little scared but not of Sawyer. He's better than most of the foster boys I've had to live with ... it's all the other ... er ... stuff."

"Oh. Sex. You need me to explain it to you?"

"No!"

"Well I didn't think I did but better to make sure. Just tell him you aren't ready. Then tell him to help you figure out some way to get ready. He oughta be able to at least do that much. I mean if he wants it he should be willing to work for it."

"Oh my lord. Linda!"

"Oh I know. Momma would have a fit but being married kinda changes things. And trust me, Tommy's mother sure hasn't left much to the imagination."

"Yeah Tommy said she ... uh ... gives a lot of advice."

Linda giggled. "She sure does. Tommy and the other men get crossed eyed every time she gets started on the subject."

A voice drifted up the stairwell asking, "You girls ok up there?"

Linda called down, "Yes Mr. Hartford! It's just girl talk!"

"Oh. Er. Hmm. Harumph."

Linda giggled more quietly. "Tommy's dad might look scary but mention something being girl talk his guts get watery ... or so Mrs. Hartford said."

Now I almost giggled. Linda was my oldest friend; we'd come and gone in each other’s lives ever since grade school. We were a lot different but we had enough in common that the differences only made our friendship more interesting. She and Tommy were the only two that never judged me even though the other SLD kids were almost more unmerciful than the kids on the "normal" side of the school. When she and Tommy had graduated last year, and I'd had to go live with the Brensers, I'd almost given up.

"C'mon. This should fit."

"Linda ..."

"Oh relax. It's my khaki skirt from before they changed the uniforms. My butt don't fit in it anymore and last time I tried this shirt on Tommy's teeth nearly fell out. I'm busting out all over ‘cause of them stupid birth control pills."

"Uh ... birth control pills?"

"Yeah. Momma insisted. Got me enough of them to last a whole year. You got any idea what you and Sawyer are going to do?"

"Uh ..."

"Well you better figure it out unless you want to be popping boys out ever year or so. From all I've seen and heard the Hartfords don't even know what shooting blanks are. And they make more boys than anything I've ever seen."

"Linda!"

She giggled again and I didn't know whether to croak right there or giggle with her. I was getting sick nervous to my stomach and she must have noticed because she gave me a good, hard hug, something most foster kids don't get all that often.

She turned and let me shimmy out of my old school uniform in relative privacy and then climb into the clothes she'd given me - second hand clothes didn't bother me because that's all I'd ever had - and looked around for my shoes. "Kay-Lee why are your shoes wet?"

"Because that dog puked on them."

"Dang that Mooch. I didn't know Tommy had taken him until after they left. Were you scared?"

"No. But I am never riding inside a truck with that ... that animal again."

"He do kinda stink don't he."

"And he has digestive issues."

"Oh Lord ... silent and deadly." And we were off giggling again.

Then Sawyer's voice called up the stairs, "Uh ... the ... the Jus..stice...stice of the Pppeace is here."

Linda looked at me all wide-eyed and said, "Looks like you ain't the only one that's nervous."

"Good. 'Cause this would really suck if I was." And then before I could chicken out I asked Linda if she'd ask Sawyer to come upstairs real quick.

I heard fast boots on the stairs and a really pale Sawyer asked, "You having second thoughts?"

"Actually I wanted to give you a chance to have second thoughts. One more time. You know ... before you get stuck and ..."

Sawyer went still and got a really serious look on his face. "You ... you look nice. I didn't know your hair was so long."

"Huh? Didn't you hear me? Now's your chance."

Then he smiled all gentle and stuff and said, "I heard you. I just ... well ... I admit I tossed back a shot of JD a minute ago but more 'cause Uncle James said it would take the edge off but I'm not drunk and I don't do that sort of thing on a regular basis. I guess you could smell it huh?"

"No. I didn't notice until you ... uh ... got closer. But I know you aren't drunk. I've seen it often enough that I know that's not what you are."

"Ok. Just didn't want you to think that you were the reason I did it."

"It's ok if I was."

"No it isn't." He stepped a little closer still and as the end of the bed was behind my legs there wasn't any place to back up. Then he reached out real slow and took my hand. "Look, I don't know why I'm sure we can make this work but I think we can. Maybe I feel like I know you a little bit already because of Tommy and Linda. Maybe it's because you haven't been pushing or expecting anything or acting all whatever. And yeah, ok, maybe a little of it is because you ... well ... don't have any more options than I do. It makes me feel like I'm not the only one on the hot seat here. So I guess if you're giving me a chance to back out I need to do the same for you, but I hope you won't."

I took a breath and let it out. Took my courage in my hand like I've done a thousand times before. And then squeezed his hand and said, "I'm not backing out."

And that's the way we walked downstairs.
 
Kathy in FL

Kathy in FL

Administrator
_______________
Dannab1 said:
Love this story! Been awhile since I read it so it's almost like visiting old friends.

So glad you are posting here and going to finish it. It really deserves to be complete.
Click to expand...

I will also finish it over at the other site, just after the problem of it playing hide and seek for some people for some weird reason I felt it safer to at least keep a primary copy here.
 
Kathy in FL

Kathy in FL

Administrator
_______________
Chapter Eleven

"You may kiss the bride."

And that's when I got my first kiss. It was just a quick peck, but it was on the lips and I must have gone red everywhere that was visible because I felt like I was on fire and Linda laughed and turned to Tommy and said, "You owe me a kiss. Told you she'd go as red as a chili pepper."

Tommy grinned and obliged and I had a feeling that maybe he lost on purpose. What was weird was when Sawyer leaned over and whispered, "He loses on purpose all the time." It was like an echo of what I had been thinking.

The Justice of the Peace was a serious man that would be scary if Uncle James - and that's what he'd told me to call him and none of the other Mistering business - wasn't smiling the whole time.

"Reeve, thank you for taking the time on what I know has to be a busy day for you."

"I need to get back to the courthouse for a fact and get these papers filed."

He turned to leave and I stepped forward not sure I was doing the right thing. "Thank you, Sir."

He gave me a mildly surprised look then his face softened for just a moment, and he said, "You might look like a Baffa but you got your Momma's eyes."

He nodded then turned and Uncle James and Sawyer and Tommy followed him out to the porch and then down to the small truck he'd come in. Linda turned to me and said, "I'd stay but I need to get back because Gramps is laid up after being out all night with a cow that was having trouble. The damp isn't good for his arthritis."

"Don't worry about it. I think Sawyer wants to try and air the house out and some stuff like that."

"Uh huh," she said with a wink. "Now look, none of us were sure what kind of shape things were in here so Tommy's mom, some of the other Hartford wives, and I put together a couple of baskets. We'll have a party after everyone finishes getting married and settled but things are too crazy right now."

"A party?"

"Yeah ... you know ... celebrate. But there's things to do first then we'll have one big one. Tommy and I weren't the first to get married and you and Sawyer won't be the last. Davis is still trying to talk a girl around and a couple of others might just do it too. Gramps said it might have to be until after the harvest before we can have one though."

"Linda ..."

"I know. It's freaky and you have to get used to it. Some of the other wives ... well ... things need to settle down a bit I guess and we're all hoping that getting the trailers set and hooked up does it. Now about the baskets. They're on the front porch with Sawyer's things. You're probably starving, and I know Sawyer will be pretty soon too, but after I got a load of the smell ..."

"Yeah."

Tommy called Linda's name and we both walked out onto the porch and the fresh air cleared my head. I got hugs from Tommy and Uncle James and then they were all gone and I just stood there. And so did Sawyer.

I turned to see him looking at the house with something fierce in his eyes. He caught me looking and said, "We are airing this place out or sleeping in the truck."

I told him, "I'll go around and try and open what windows I can that aren't already opened but I'll start by propping the doors open. The screen doors should keep bugs out. Then I'll see if I can't find the cleaning stuff."

"Sounds like a plan,” Sawyer agreed. “And I'll get started on the windows I know that are painted over. I just gotta get my tools."

"Uh ..."

"What?"

"Linda said they ... brought a basket. She said there was some food in there and ... I didn't have breakfast. Did you?" I finished quickly.

"Actually no. You hungry?"

"Um ... a little?"

He grinned. "Well I'm hungry a lot. Maybe it would be better to eat before we get dirty."

So we went back onto the porch, found the baskets that had both made food and food in jars and cans and sat in the porch swing eating the sandwiches and chips.

Sawyer made a face. "I've got a prejudice against them chips so if you want them ..."

"I'm not much of a chip eater either. Tonight I'll use them as a crumble topping on ..." I leaned over and dug around in the baskets and said, " ... on a tuna casserole. I can cook that outside on the grill I saw out back if I have to if I can find a pan and aluminum foil in the kitchen."

Carefully Sawyer started the swing rocking. "Linda said you can cook."

I shrugged. "Yeah."

"She said you can cook really good."

I shrugged again. "Yeah."

"Really?"

"Yeah."

He sighed. "You make it sound like it’s no big deal. Linda made it sound like it is."

I started to shrug again and then stopped as it seemed doing it more than once or twice would be rude. "I've been in the H&C track since middle school."

"H and C?"

"Hospitality and Culinary. H&C for short. I can cook fancy, but it isn't my favorite. I like making regular food that people don't look at funny."

He gave a surprised laugh. "Well you won't have trouble with anyone looking at food funny up here. We like to eat regular."

"Good. I like to cook regular. But not in a dirty kitchen." I shuddered. "After the windows I'll look and see what kind of cleaning supplies there are. And I'll start a fire in that BBQ pit even if I don't use it for dinner so that I can boil water for dishes and stuff like that. That'll save propane."

He jumped like a bee stung him. "I meant to tell you. Gramps arranged for the gas company to come out in the morning and fill the propane tank. Uncle James just told me. He also wants an inventory of what's in the house supply-wise so he can work things out."

I was real careful with my words when I said, "Your grandfather seems ... well ... like he has something in mind."

"Yeah. Maybe tonight, if we aren't too tired, I'll try and explain things after we get the house so that it don't smell so bad. Guess I'll go get those tools and get started. You ... uh ... sure you're ok to ... uh ..."

"You don't need to be so careful Sawyer. I'll tell you if I need to sit down for a while."

"I'll hold you to that."
 
Kathy in FL

Kathy in FL

Administrator
_______________
Chapter Twelve

"Holy mackerel!"

"No, tuna casserole."

He snorted but just kept looking around the kitchen. "How did you get this cleaned up so fast?"

"It wasn't as bad as it looked at first. Mostly I got rid of the clutter ... I used a couple of laundry baskets and some boxes I found ... by putting it out on the porch until we can find a place for it and then just scrubbed stuff down. The floor was really sticky around the sink and frig, and greasy around the stove, and the wall around the stove was just plain nasty but everything else was only dusty. Tomorrow I'll take everything out of the cabinets, clean the insides and then wash stuff before putting it back in so that we don't have to be grossed out just to reach in and grab a glass to get a drink. And you can take that to your grandfather tomorrow."

"Take what? Huh? What's this?" he asked picking up a couple of pieces of notebook paper that I'd scribbled on.

"You said your grandfather wanted an inventory and that's what I've got so far."

"Holy mackerel."

"No ... tuna casserole."

He looked up from the paper and gave me a strange look but then smiled when he saw I was trying to hold back a grin. "Hey, no fair stirring my brains when I'm hungry."

"Then sit down and eat. The table, chairs, and these dishes are clean. The seat covers are soaking in hot water dosed with washing powder so that's why the chairs are bare. Rugs are outside too; they're really gross and I don't know if they're salvageable or not. The floor needs a real scrub but that will have to wait. I'm not going to get down on my hands and knees if it is just going to get scuffed up again when we clean the upstairs."

Looking down he said, "I wonder what is under this linoleum."

"More linoleum. I counted five layers where it is peeling up in that little room over there. I think that is supposed to be a pantry - what they used to call a butler's pantry because of all the glass fronted cabinets in the front half of the room. But there's also shelves in there with cans and boxes. There used to be weevils."

"Used to be?" he asked.

"Used to be. At least until the hidden ones start hatching and growing. But there's enough gallon jars in there that we can use them as canisters to keep the weevils from getting into anything else and eventually they'll die off. I've written that stuff down too but tell your grandfather it might change as I open things to see if they are still good or not."

He reached across the table and took my hand and bowed his head. I didn't know what was going on until he said a quick prayer over the food. I almost didn't have time to close my eyes and bow my head before he finished, turned loose of my hand, and started shoveling the food in. He was three bites in when he stopped.

"Uh oh. You don't like it?"

He looked at me then looked at the plate and then looked at me again. "Wow. This don't taste like any tuna casserole I've ever had."

"That bad?"

"No! That good! Seriously. I don't even mind the potato chips on top."

Then he started shoveling again. I wasn't sure if he was fooling or not until he realized he'd eaten the last bite and then tried to look around without me seeing. I smiled and said, "You want what's left?"

"Uh ... I'll split it with you."

"No, I'll be full when I finish this."

"You sure?"

"Yeah. I've got it covered in the oven. Both the oven and frig are clean." I brought him the last of it and he raked it onto his plate. As I was taking the still warm pan to the sink I said, "There's another room on the other side of that pantry. It isn't big but I think it might be part of the original kitchen."

"Let me finish eating and I'll look. Why do you think it is the original kitchen?"

"The outside wall is brick and there is a really old stove in there ... like one of the monster wood burning stoves from Little House on the Prairie times and then there is a fireplace, only it isn't a just a fireplace. It also has what I think is a bread oven. I'm not sure. The little door on it is rusted shut. There's also an antique frig ... the non-electric kind they used to have in the really olden days. The whole thing looks kinda like one of those dioramas they set up every year at the fairgrounds for Pioneer Day."

The last bite disappeared and he wiped his mouth on the paper towel I'd given him for a napkin and stood up. "Mind showing me? Wait, you haven't finished. You finish. I'll look at these notes you made. Then we'll look."

I tried to eat fast but Sawyer said, "Go ahead and slow down. It'll give me a chance to look at this."

I obliged willingly because I hate eating fast as I always wind up with indigestion. My mouth was full when he asked, "All this stuff is here? Where?"

I swallowed, almost choked, and then took a swallow of unsweetened tea. "Sorry, I didn't see any sugar. Was the tea OK?'"

"Yeah, I guess I didn't really notice as I drink it unsweet about half the time anyway but I better add that to the list I've got started. Uncle Donnel keeps bees and raises sorghum so we'll get shares of that if we help him out. But shares of that only come after you ladies have used what you need to preserve the harvest."

I got the giggles as bad as I got them with Linda. He looked up and asked, "What?"

"You ... you said ladies like ... I don't know ... like I'm one of 'em."

He gave me a grin and said, "You are now. You're a Hartford lady."

That struck me funnier the second time as it did the first and I clapped my hand over my mouth to try and hold them in but I could still feel my face getting red hot.

"You sure do smile a lot. Tommy said you were real serious."

I finally swallowed the food and the giggles and said, "I am serious. It's just ..."

"What?"

I shrugged. "I'm ... I don't know. I don't normally smile or laugh like this except with Linda and Tommy, mostly Linda. If I have a best friend she'd be it." He smiled but I'm not sure why so I got back to answering his original question.

"I've been finding stuff here and there all over the place, especially in that front room where Mr. Baffa slept. There are boxes of medical stuff in there but none of it is open. Most of the boxes aren't even opened. It looks like they just come in the mail and then someone stacks them wherever they can find a place; closet, under the bathroom sinks, in corners, you name it. Just for the heck of it I looked under a couple of beds upstairs and there's stuff under there too, but I didn't pull it out to see what all it was. I'll try and start that tomorrow."

"But you gotta be kidding me ... fifty bottles of alcohol and another fifty ... fifty-six of peroxide? A gross of face masks? And how many what? Needles?!"

"There's a bunch of tape, gauze, bandages, band aids, and stuff like that that I haven't even counted yet. I'm just dumping them into their own boxes for now. There's a bunch of unopened sheets and stuff like that too but I'm not going to bother with them until I see what those medical rental people take away with them. And there's cases of these garbage can liners, both the big kind and the ones like for a bathroom trashcan. They're real thin but they can probably be used for something. What do we do with the trash around here anyway? There's probably going to be a pile of it. Is there mandatory recycling out here in the county?"

"Yeah, if you take it to the dump there is but we burn most of what we can ‘cause they're charging by the quarter pound now. I wonder why there's so much bleach and hardly any other kind of cleaning stuff?"

"Mr. Baffa used to have a cleaning lady but he fired her because he thought she was stealing from him."

"How do you know that?"

"I found some of those papers you said to keep a look out for. When I found anything I thought might be important I put it on the big dining table next to that stack of papers that the Justice of the Peace gave you. Let me put our plates in the sink to soak and I'll show you that room if you're ready."

-------------

I showed him the old kitchen and he agreed that it was probably the original kitchen and if it wasn't the original it was close. By that time I was starting to hurt.

"Sawyer?"

"Yeah."

"I think I better sit down for a little while."

He turned sharply and asked, "You ok?"

"Yeah but ..."

"Sure. Actually I'm beat too and we better look at those papers. You mind?"

"No."

"You really are limping."

"I always limp."

"I mean more than you normally do. That's just 'cause of your leg. Now you're limping."

I looked at him. "Most people can't tell the difference."

"Well I can. Was it the stairs?"

"No. I wasn't watching what I was doing and wrapped my braced foot around the wheel of that hospital bed and caught the shoe lace and tiiiimmmmbberrrrr."

"You fell?! Why didn't you say something?!"

"'Cause I felt stupid enough and didn't want to interrupt. You were giving some window some serious what for."

"Oh. Well ... next time holler. You could have gotten hurt."

"Only thing hurt was my pride. I hate it when I do stupid stuff like that."

"You need some help?"

"No. I could use a naproxin."

"A what?"

"It's like ibuprofen or aspirin except you only take it every twelve hours if you need to. There's an unopened bottle in the medicine cabinet in the downstairs bathroom. Is it ok if I open it?"

"Why you asking me?"

"'Cause I am. Don't act like all of this is only mine." I was getting cranky and I guess from the look on his face it was starting to show. I shook my head. "Sorry. It's just been ... this day ... I started out ... and then ... and then you ... and we ... only now ..." I was suddenly near tears and I didn't know why.

"Yeah. It has been kinda crazy huh. Do the windows work in the dining room?"

"They open and close but I had to stick a candle holder in there to make them stay open. I took the drapes down in there too. They smelled like old, stale cigarette smoke. There's blinds on the windows that really need to come down too and be washed and the rug needs to be rolled up and taken outside but I just couldn't move the table."

"You shouldn't have even tried," he grumped.

We walked into the large room and he saw where I'd stripped everything I could, including the fake flower arrangement that had been sitting in the middle of the table. I told him, "That thing had a colony of spiders living in it."

He grabbed my hand and started looking them over and asked, "They didn't bite you did they?!"

I took one hand away and laid it over the top of his. "I'm not allergic. I don't even break out from poison ivy or poison oak. I'm lucky that way."

"You ... you don't?"

"Nope. I've been bit and stung by just about everything. I've even been stung by a scorpion and bitten by a garter snake ... nothing fazes me. I guess it's kinda payback for having such rotten luck with everything else."

"You sure? And how'd you get stung by a scorpion and bit by a snake?"

"Not all foster kids are what you would call mentally balanced. Because I was usually put in homes for at risk or problem kids ... or those with serious health issues ... I've seen it all. But ... but thanks."

"For what?"

I whispered, "For caring even though ... you know ... Just ... just thanks."
 
Kathy in FL

Kathy in FL

Administrator
_______________
Chapter Thirteen

Sawyer blew a big breath out and then scratched his head with both hands ... and drat him he still looked hot.

He pushed the papers away and said, "This is giving me a headache. Worse than reading all those filings and forms when I was in County. Geez Louise, Old Man Baffa was crazy and that's a fact. I know he used to call the sheriff pretty regular but this is nuts. Thinking everyone was stealing from him. Thinking they were bugging his phones. Thinking that they were poisoning him so they wouldn't have to pay his medical. I can't believe he really thought something was living in his barn waiting on him to die so it could destroy the house and that the only way to stop it was to get another Baffa to come take over, like the Baffa's were the only ones that could defeat the monster ... some crazy **** like that. Uh, pardon my French." He scratched his head again. "I don't know. This could mess things up."

"How?"

"If anyone gets the idea that he wasn't of sound mind then someone could contest him signing over the house and land."

"Who would do that? I'm the last Baffa around here right?"

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure ... you're definitely the only one with that surname ... but just to be on the safe side maybe we oughta just kinda put these papers someplace secure. No need to borrow trouble by letting his issues be brought more to attention. I'll talk to Gramps about it. I sure don't want Delly or her husband to get ahold of this stuff."

"Surely they've had enough of being wrong. Would they really do something like that against you?"

"Delly might not but ... look, just better safe than sorry and not give people ammunition to get ideas with. You mind?"

I handed him the papers that I'd been holding and told him, "You do what you want with them. They really don't mean anything to me."

"What about that family Bible with all the papers and pictures in it?"

"Well that ... ok ... but later ... right now I don't know if I could absorb it. Nobody from the family seemed to want me ... the only one I remember is that lady they said was my aunt. Right now, all those faces in those pictures are just that ... faces. Maybe someday, but not right now."

"OK but I'm going to put it all in the same place for safe keeping. No sense spreading everything around. But what do you want to do with the money?"

I shrugged. "I've never had any so I don't know. Is there really a couple of thousand dollars in that stack?"

"Yeah. Twenties add up when you stick one between each page of a Bible. Like I said, the old man is crazy for a fact. But, if you're sure, we'll set this aside for stuff we'll need from town. You might ... uh ... you know ... girl stuff, clothes, that sort of thing."

Refusing to be embarrassed since it was the truth I said, "That makes sense but I've got some ... stuff ... that will last another month and I think we should sit down and make a budget after we find out what all we don't have and can't make do without. Inventory, then budget, then buy."

"Yeah sounds good, and I need a few things too." He puffed some air out and then looked all over and then fidgeted. "Kay-Lee ... oh brother."

He was red under his dark tan and I blurted, "This about ... well ... private stuff? In case when we decide we're done with waiting?"

All the air left him. "Yes. I feel like an idiot. Just hear me out, don't chew me out for bringing it up."

"Why should I chew you out?"

"I have no idea but all the other new wives have gone ballistic the first time it gets brought up."

"I doubt Linda did."

"That's 'cause she came prepared."

"You're going to pull all of your hair out if you keep doing that." He stopped yanking and scratching his scalp and I told him, "I'm not saying it isn't embarrassing, but I think it's smart ... getting it settled up front."

Surprised he asked, "You do?"

"Yeah. Do you have any idea how many unwanted kids are in foster care? I didn't think about having a family too often ... you learn to try and control those kinds of thoughts, or it makes you mad and sad too much of the time. But the few times I did let myself think about it - when I wasn't laughing at myself for thinking some guy would want to even do it with me - I just knew for sure I didn't want to have a baby until I could make sure that I could take care of one. Babies are expensive and are a lot of work. The older they get the more expensive they are and the harder the work ... and the less people seem to want to take one on that isn't theirs. They had a hard time even getting foster families to take me on for more than a few weeks at a time and I always made sure to be helpful and not cause problems. So anyway, do you want me to go down to the county clinic and get the shot or what?"

"No. I don't agree with all those chemicals and stuff. Delly had some problems with them when she and Buttface first got married and she was sick for a while."

"Well if you don't want that it limits the options."

"Only need one. I just need to get to the pharmacy."

"You need to ... oh. Uh ... ok."

"So we're good on that?"

I nearly strangled on the breath I inhaled but managed to say, "Sure." My voice was about an octave higher than it normally was, but Sawyer pretended not to notice.

"And I guess the next thing we need to talk about is why Gramps is all hot to get all of us settled and on some property."



 
Kathy in FL

Kathy in FL

Administrator
_______________
Chapter Fourteen

"You already told me he - well all of you are - into survivalism or whatever the heck you want to call it."

"Right."

"And you told me he thinks things are going to get bad pretty soon and stay that way for a while."

"That's right too, as far as it goes anyway. What Gramps means by bad is really bad ... maybe Civil War bad. Maybe worse than that."

I nodded. "They've been talking about violence and stuff like that on the news for a while. And in Culinary Class we had a teacher named Mrs. Valdez that started teaching units on Depression Era cooking, cooking from the Civil War era, how to substitute ingredients in case you run out of what you would normally use, and recipes for using up the kind of food you'd find from a Food Bank. In home ec Mrs. Potter followed along that line and had a unit on what people did before all those fancy cleaning products were available and how to make over clothes and things like that. Most of our teachers in the SLD wing seemed to be trying to prepare us for things getting bad. I figure we're probably better prepared than a lot of other people are. The teachers always seemed to make their lessons around how we can still have a good life even though we might not have very much. Some people that have a lot won't know how to get along with less than what they do now."

I noticed he'd relaxed quite a bit. He said, "I don't have to explain this stuff to you."

"You need to explain to me how your family plans on making do if I'm supposed to help."

"It's about like you've said but there's more to it than that. For instance, Gramps thinks that the government, or someone the government eggs on, may come out into the county and start taking away the farmer's hard work to give it to people in the city to try and pacify them. Maybe not tomorrow or the next day but he figures this autumn and winter people are going to get hard up."

Sawyer went on at length but finally I had to ask him to stop. "I'm ... I'm topped off Sawyer."

"You're probably wondering if you married into a crazy family."

"No. I know you're crazy, maybe some of the rest of your family is too. Crazy doesn't bother me but ... you're talking about some scary stuff and ... and I ..."

"It's ok. I'm tired myself and I have to be up real early to go over help work on getting the trailers set and hooked up. And look, I got a suggestion. This house stinks. You have a problem if we sleep in the back of the truck? I've got an air mattress and the camper top will keep the damp off."

------------

Sawyer shook his head after he blew his nose. "Whew, you don't realize how bad some of them rooms stink until you get out into the fresh air."

"No. But one way or the other it will be better tomorrow."

He asked, "You sure this is Ok?"

"No ... I mean yes ... I mean yes, this is ok."

"You don't need to be so nervous. I told you I wasn't going to jump all over you."

'I know."

"You don't act like you know."

"I'm trying ok? But it isn't you, I promise. I'm always a little tense sleeping in a new place. You can get used to anything but the first night is always hard."

He was going to say something then stopped. He reached out and I jumped when he patted my arm. "Sorry, didn't mean to scare you. I just ... look I know how you're feeling. County was rough. I had to sleep with one eye open. Some of them guys are freaks. Then no sleep makes you crazy and jumpy and you start to wonder if you're the freak."

I rolled over carefully - moving too fast made the air mattress wobble too much - and then said, "You're not a freak and my freakiness is only skin deep. It's everyone else that has the problem."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah."

"Convinced?"

"Pretty convinced."

"Yeah?"

"Uh ..."

"Just a kiss Kay-Lee."

Well it was more than a kiss but not much more because the top of my head felt like it was going to blow a hole in the camper top. He seemed pretty self-satisfied though.

In the dark he whispered, "We're safe Kay-Lee. We're safe."
 
Kathy in FL

Kathy in FL

Administrator
_______________
Chapter Fifteen

I didn't think I would sleep last night but I did. In fact, I slept so hard I woke up stiff ... and embarrassed as the mattress had deflated a little during the night and we wound up mashed together in the center. I didn't know there was a snuggle response that you can't control in your sleep. That's the only explanation I can come up with for the fact that I was wrapped around someone that I had known for less than twenty-four hours. Once that thought hit me, I started mentally freaking out even more when it began to hit me that this was real life and not an episode of that old show Fantasy Island. I was really married and it was to someone that before yesterday I didn't even know existed. I also wondered if I was the only one feeling that way. I didn't say anything though because Sawyer seemed in a bad mood.

He helped me get out of the truck but then went growling around looking for stuff (I think it was his pants), fussing about already running behind (which made me look at his and nearly run into a tree). I decided that it was time to pull myself together and I carefully felt my way through the dark and into the house to use the bathroom real quick and to pull my one pair of jeans on instead of my gym shorts. When I came out I was happy to see that what I had set up the night before actually worked like it was supposed to even if most of the bulbs in the kitchen didn't. I poured the coffee in a mug and then walked out to the porch where Sawyer was mumbling under his breath, most of it foul. I didn't know whether to interrupt him or not so I stood there for a second and then finally said, "Sawyer."

"What?" he snapped back.

"Here."

He turned and stopped in the middle of a grumpy growl. His eyes followed the mug of coffee when I sat it on a plant stand. I then backed up and went into the house to stick the cheese toast in the broiler ... the only thing I could figure for breakfast out of what was in the house and baskets since I didn't have a whole lot of confidence in the artificial eggs I found in the back of the frig. If it had just been me I would have had whatever I could throw together but I was trying to be normal ... or what passes for it ... so it had to at least pretend to be breakfast.

I was taking the toast out of the broiler when I heard the screen door open. I looked up and just pointed. Sawyer turned to look and then fell on the coffee maker like a long-lost friend. "Where did this come from?"

"That front room where the bed is. Don't worry, I sanitized it yesterday after you said coffee first before conversation."

He hunched his shoulders and started petting the coffee maker so I shut up and put three thick pieces of the browned cheese bread on a plate and slid it in front of him before escaping with my slice out to the BBQ pit where I sat about trying to start another fire for more boiling water to clean with. The short, galvanized trash can worked so well the day before that I determined to use it again, or at least as long as the bottom of the can held up against the fire; after that I'd have to find something else.

I finally got a flame to catch in the dew dampened wood and backed up to get out of the smoke. There was a deep growl behind me and I almost lost it because it definitely wasn't a human growl. Slowly I turned and spotted the biggest cat I had ever seen outside of a zoo fieldtrip I'd been on with one of my foster families.

"S ... S ... S ... Sawyer!!"

From the screen door he said, "Hush, I see it. Just be still and it'll take off. It's a bobcat."

Finally the cat decided that I was more scared of it than it was of me and with its day made picked up the rabbit lying at its feet that I hadn't seen and hightailed it into the woods behind the house. As soon as it started running Sawyer came down the porch stairs with a clatter and walked over to me. "Dogs, bats, now bobcats."

My heart was still trying to come out of my chest and it was just all too much. I snapped, "Don't you dare make fun of me you cranky, cussy, coffee-swilling ... grrrrr! Just you move." I was so angry I didn't use good sense and tried to go up the porch steps without holding onto the rails real good. I hit the bottom riser with just the toe of my shoe on my weak foot about the same time I remembered I hadn't put my brace on yet. I did manage to catch myself before I looked like a complete fool, but it was just one more knock on my pride.

I started up again only I didn't get anywhere because two hands on my waist picked me up and pulled me back. "What's the big idea? Turn loose."

"Let me see your knee. You came down hard on that step."

"It's just a bruise now lay off."

"No. Don't make me prove I'm bigger than you 'cause I already feel like a big enough ass. It was just a joke Kay-Lee. I didn't mean to hurt your feelings."

"You didn't so ..."

"Bull. C'mon now ... say you forgive me."

"Ugh. Don't blind me with your Greek-godly-ness. It is just plain wrong for you to look like that this early in the morning. It's not fair. And don't use puppy dog eyes either. No don't."

"Aw c'mon. Tell me it's working. C'moooon, you know you wanna smile."

"Geez you're awful. See I knew you liked getting your way."

"Every guy likes having his way. Aunt Nel says it’s genetic ... something to do with the y-chromosome. Really, she says it’s a scientific fact. And even though I can't help myself I really am sorry."

"You don't look sorry, you look naughty."

"I am ... but I'm sorry too." Then he got serious. "Really Kay-Lee, I am. I told you I'm not worth much until I get a cup of coffee in me."

"What happens when the coffee is all gone."

"What happens when ... gawd.” He just collapsed on the porch steps looking horrified.

Feelling a little vindicated I told him, "If your grandfather is right and the stores might close, it got me to thinking about what could be hard to get and while there is a lot of coffee in the pantry ... from the look of things that is just about all Mr. Baffa survived on for the last while ... what happens when that is all gone? What else gets rid of your PCS?"

"My what?"

"PCS ... pre-coffee syndrome."

"Aw ... now who's making fun?"

----------

Sawyer went back and forth about leaving me at the house but I finally convinced him that he'd need to go or there was no telling what his family would think. The sky was just turning pink as his taillights faded and I went back in the house to try and figure out where I was going to start. I decided the first was going to be a load of laundry ... the drapes and tablecloth and seat covers that I had set to soak yesterday.

Next I cleaned up the dishes from breakfast and thought about taking stuff out of the cabinets but decided it was more important to start dealing with the stink that seemed to permeate everything. I put my brace on since I was going to be climbing the stairs and then started hauling linens down by the bedroom full. Everything smelled musty, dusty, and dirty.

I decided to go room-by-room. First I took down the curtains and shades if there were any then I opened the window. Next came the bed linens then after that any rugs. Any kind of linens sitting out came next, like table covers and doilies. Last I started on the drawers of whatever furniture was in the room.

First room I did was the big bedroom on the second floor, the one Sawyer had considered the master bedroom. I refused to think about why I was starting on that room but I'm glad that I did. I found that most of the stink in that room came from the rows of old shoes sitting in the little room that was being used as a closet. Some of them were women's shoes but in a style that looked like they were from the 1940s and 1950s. I had done a project earlier in the school year on fashions from those two decades so I was pretty sure I knew what I was talking about. There were a lot of clothes hanging on the racks that were way out of date as well. From the 1940s to the 80s or so. I just took everything down and started laying it on chairs on the back porch. I thought about scrubbing the room before going on to the next one but figured until I got rid of what was holding the smell, scrubbing wasn't going to do any good.

The room that Sawyer had dubbed the "nursery" held a bunch of odds and ends, some boxed but most just piled up. I was about halfway through bringing everything out of that room when there was a vroom and then a beep-beep from the front yard. I looked and a big furniture van was backing up to the porch. I went down the stairs as quick as I could without breaking my neck and had just gotten to the bottom when there was a knock on the door.
 
Texican

Texican

Live Free & Die Free.... God Freedom Country....
Kathy,

Thanks for the chapters. Remembering more of the next chapters as this elderly brain starts to remember.

15 chapters posted and another 85 chapters to go. 5 chapters at a time seems like a lot, until you complete the 5th chapter and start dreaming about the next 5 chapters.

If you posted moar than 5 chapters, the moar hounds would howl about needing moar.

At 5 chapters per day, that is 17 plus days depending on how many chapters are yet to be written. Then the crying will really start.

Sometimes good things end way to soon.

Texican....
 
Kathy in FL

Kathy in FL

Administrator
_______________
Millwright said:
Read all of this one...again.

Then went and found Emi, my personal favorite.

Sure would like some more Emi.

Just sayin'. :D
Click to expand...

It is in the works. I can only have so many character voices going at one time before things go kaflooey. That's what happened to MJOTZY. Too many characters and too much good input from people the characters were originally based on or created for.

My goal for '22 and '23 is to complete as many stories as I can. Without driving myself bonkers.
 
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