Chapter 3
The next morning I was awake at my regular time, five thirty in the morning, and I slipped from bed, deciding to let Lisa-Marie sleep in while I went downstairs to put on the coffee. Then, because the kitchen still had a strong pine odour I went outside for a few minutes to smell the fresh air . I was trying to be quiet, but I must have made enough noise to disturb Lisa-Marie. By the time the coffee was perking and I was thinking about frying a couple of eggs for myself, she appeared in the kitchen, smiling happily.
"Your mom is wrong. I'm gonna love this place." She crowed as she walked over and wrapped me in her arms. "The only problem I can see is that my lover disappears on me in the morning."
"I wouldn't have if I'd known you were almost awake, but you worked so hard yesterday that I thought you might need a little extra sleep." I laughed, then before she could argue, I covered her lips with mine.
After a morning kiss and cuddle session, Lisa-Marie insisted on cooking breakfast and asked me to find a pencil and paper so she could write down the window sizes in order to calculate how much material she was going to need for curtains. After we ate breakfast, that's what we did, moving from room to room throughout the house taking window measurements. We were still at it when our four young friends showed up.
That day we got a lot done, but nowhere near as much as the day before, which wasn't really surprising since the first day of hauling out rubbish hadn't called for much thought. Besides that, we had to break up into pairs to do smaller tasks. First Lisa-Marie and Jean took the car to get supplies and material for curtains, then Fred and Andrea offered to take the old truck and empty it, which left Will and me alone.
"Well Boss, what do we do now?" He grinned at me.
"Well, Lisa-Marie has been belly aching about the lack of hot water. I think we'd better find the hot water tank and see if we can fix that. Now is the best time, since no one is around to use hot water and we have a chance to do it undisturbed."
"Yep, take away a woman's hot water and she'll get grouchy as a bear." He laughed.
It turned out that one of the two heating elements in the tank was burned out. Uncle Silas must have known about it because there was a new element sitting on top of the tank, it just hadn't been replaced. So we shut off the power and water, drained and flushed the tank, then replaced the element. As soon as we filled it with water and turned on the tank, you could hear the sound of the elements working.
After that we spent the next few hours fixing little things. Uncle Silas must have known about all the problems, but just didn't have the energy to fix them, because there were all sorts of supplies to fix things in the basement. We spent most of the morning replacing washers in dripping taps, fixing latches on doors, replacing light bulbs and an assortment of other little things. I hadn't realised just how much time it took to do all those little things and I don't think Willy had either, Lisa-Marie and Jean had shown up and were making us lunch before we knew it. Fred and Andrea showed up just as we were going to sit down.
After a quick lunch, we found that the water was hot and all of us set about cleaning walls, woodwork, windows, and almost everything else. In fact, that's how we spent the rest of the day until our four new friends had to leave to go do their own chores.
As far as work was concerned, the rest of the afternoon and most of the evening soon became a washout. It started with the phone ringing. It was my Mom and to my surprise, she wanted to talk to Lisa Marie.
I got a real kick out of Lisa-Marie's end of the conversation, knowing that Mom had probably expected us to come back home early because the place had been so "old-fashioned and dirty." Instead Lisa-Marie went into a real spiel about how much we had gotten done and ended it by saying that we had hauled a two-ton truck full of garbage to the dump. Her eyes were sparkling as she grinned at me. She paused while Mom was talking, then said quietly. "Well, we did have help. Some of the young people from around the neighbourhood dropped over and gave us a hand."
Mom must have said something again, then Lisa-Marie spoke once more. "We could move in today and I wouldn't mind a bit. In fact, I'm looking forward to living here. We haven't had any problems. Well, except that the hot water tank was taking forever to heat back to temperature. But Tom fixed that with a new element."
I think she was delighted to tell Mom all the things that she loved about the old house and I was enjoying the expressions on her face as I watched her talk, then I was disturbed by a knock on the door.
When I opened it, there was a young woman there with a toddler in her arms, asking if I had seen a stray dog around, but I couldn't help her at all. Lisa-Marie must have cut her call to Mom short though, because she came up behind me and told the woman that she had seen a dog running beside the road earlier in the day, She said that the dog looked like it knew where it was going and she'd assume it was heading for home.
Since Lisa Marie's description fit the woman's dog, she got directions, then left to see if she could find it. She'd hardly left when the phone rang again. This time it was Pam.
That's how the evening went. People dropped around to the door and each time it was another of our new neighbours. If there wasn't someone at the door, there was someone on the phone. It was as if word had gotten around about us, so everyone wanted to say "Hi" and express their condolences about Uncle Silas, then they would welcome us to the neighbourhood. Each time we'd thank them for their care and we'd explain that we weren't moving in permanently for a few months. Some of the neighbours who came to the door would come inside for a few moments. Others simply wanted to speak to us out on the porch. No one stayed long, all of them just seemed to want to put in an appearance, leaving soon afterward.
I was quite happy when it grew late enough that we weren't disturbed any longer and we could slip off to bed. Somehow that night, just cuddling Lisa-Marie in my arms was almost all I wanted. We lay there and talked for hours, finally able to concentrate on each other completely.
I don't remember falling asleep, but I awoke, looking into Lisa-Marie's clear blue eyes and smiling face.
"Do you know that it's twenty-four hours since you made love to me?" She whispered.
"Hmm, maybe I should do something about that omission. What do you think?" I grinned.
She convinced me that I should.
That morning, we weren't quite as late getting down to breakfast. In fact we were up and around early enough that I actually got to talk to Willy just after he'd finished the chores. He promised to be back later and I suggested that we might do some work that needed to be done around the barn.
That day was much quieter in every way. First, only Willy and Jean were there. Jean spent the day helping Lisa-Marie with the new curtains, and since Willy and I had to do essential repairs around the barn and the yard, we were apart most of the day. It meant that the whole day was a lot more relaxed, yet somehow it wasn't as enjoyable as the first two days had been.
That evening, Lisa-Marie and I were undisturbed as we sat at the kitchen table with all of Uncle Silas' paper work, trying to make sense of whatever system of keeping track of the income and expenses of the farm he had used. After an hour, we decided that the easiest way to handle it was to sort the bills and the cheques by date and create our own system so we'd have an idea of what he had been doing. By ten o'clock that night, we had roughly sorted everything and I insisted that we put the piles of paper away so we could get some rest.
"Upstairs woman, it's Friday night and I want to dance, horizontally if possible." I grinned as we set the last file folder into a cardboard box and tucked it in the closet. "After all, it's been more than twelve hours since I've seen that lovely body and held it close. Let's go dance to our own music."
"Mmm." She murmured as she wrapped her arms around me. "And what sort of beat do you want to dance to at this private dance club of yours?"
"Perhaps a waltz to start with, maybe later we can see what else the conductor wants?" I found her lips, then lifted her in my arms.
There is something about Lisa-Marie and candlelight, the combination is so beautiful it defies description. Once more we put ourselves to sleep to the beat of a primal orchestra that no one else could hear.
The last day of our four-day 'trial honeymoon' was spent finishing as much of the old records off as we could. Lisa-Marie insisted that in the future we were going to do a lot better. I agreed with her and we both agreed that eventually we were going to need a desk, a filing cabinet, and a proper ledger. The kitchen table, a cardboard box, and an old loose leaf scribbler just weren't good enough.
None of our young friends came over to the house during the day. However Lisa-Marie had insisted that she wanted to have them all over for dinner, so she'd invited them the day before. I think she wanted to prove to them that I wouldn't starve. With that in mind, we spent several hours preparing that meal and trying to make it special. I tried to help, but I think I was more of a hindrance. At least Lisa-Marie tried to make me feel that I was helping. Eventually it was almost ready and we were able to get cleaned up just in time for the four friends to arrive. Lisa-Marie was able to serve a great meal.
We had a great evening and we were with good company who were getting to know each other better every day. When we had finished eating, we sat around talking and telling each other about our past and about our dreams for the future.
Of course Lisa-Marie and I told the story about how we'd first met, how our lives had intertwined and how we'd finally realised that we were meant for each other. Then Lisa-Marie astounded me by teasing Willy and Jean, making them blush. Fred and Andrea surprised me by teasing them even more. That's when we found out that Fred and Andrea were planning on getting married in the summer and that Jean was going to be Andrea's bridesmaid while Willy was going to be the best man. We were told that we'd get an invitation too, so not to plan anything for the first Friday in August.
That's when we admitted to them that we weren't sure of what date we were going to have our wedding. We knew it was going to be toward the end of June, we just hadn't chosen and exact date yet, but we told them that we'd let them know and make sure that they had an invite to it too.
"Us too?" Willy asked, grabbing Jean's hand which made her blush again.
"You too." Lisa-Marie grinned. "Both of you, if you come together."
When they both glanced at each other, then nodded, Andrea cheered. "Finally, they've agreed to go on a date and they're even going to go with each other."
"Jeez, Sis, do you have to rag on us all the time?"
"Well dammit, sometimes you act as shy as old Silas . . ." She started to say and then stopped, her eyes swinging to look at me.
"There was more to Silas than you know, and more than I can tell you, because it's not my place to say anything." I said quietly.
That change of conversation also changed the party mood and it wasn't long before our four friends left, promising that they'd see me on the weekend and telling Lisa-Marie that if she came out to the farm, she was to let them know so that they could come and say "Hi."
Not only the party mood had changed, I found that suddenly I was missing Uncle Silas. Perhaps on paper this was now my farm, but that night in my head, this was still his place, his house. I sat down at the table and cupped my hands in front of my lips, blowing into them as if they were cold.
Lisa-Marie must have recognised the gesture as something I did when I was upset. "You miss him a lot, don't you?"
That did it. Up until then I hadn't really grieved for Uncle Silas, but suddenly I was weeping and sobbing as she held me in her arms and cuddled me to her chest. I cried for a while, then she talked me into going upstairs, having a shower with her, then crawling into bed. When we were laying there cuddling together, she reached out and stroked my arm.
"Tom, I never got to know Uncle Silas well, could you tell me about him?"
"I suppose I could." I sighed as she rested her head on her hands and her hands on my chest in order to watch my face. "To most people Uncle Silas probably seemed to be a stubborn, taciturn, old grouch who refused to cut anyone any slack and who held a grudge like no one else in the country, but I always saw a kinder side of him. To me, he was always very stern, but he was just as fair. To him a man's word was his bond and a man who broke his word was worse than a thief. The old saying 'as honest as the day was long,' always seemed to me to be meant for him too, and he was strict, but he was probably stricter with himself than he was anyone else. Most people didn't see that, but I saw that side of the man."
"I'm sorry I didn't get to know him better." She sighed softly. "Whenever I was around, he seemed so quiet."
"Oh, Uncle Silas never talked much. But he was the guy who took me out in his old pickup and taught me to drive, just out there" I gestured over my shoulder. "We went out in the pasture behind the barn and I drove around in circles until I could manage to steer and shift at the same time. Then we drove out through the gate and he had me drive up and down the dirt road a few miles. Come to think of it, he was the one who bought me my first bicycle and my first .22 rifle too."
"I always thought he spoiled you at Christmas." She murmured. "I guess I was jealous."
"I suppose he did." I answered slowly. "But I never thought of it that way. I always felt he made me earn things."
She murmured in reply and I started to tell her about the times I'd spent with Uncle Silas, what we'd done and where we'd gone. I talked on about him for a long time, until I realised that Lisa-Marie had fallen asleep in my arms. After that I lay and thought about him for a while longer.
Finally, I reached out and turned out the bedside light, then closed my eyes. I'd talked away the worst of my grief. I knew that there had been only one Uncle Silas, but he was gone now. However, he would still live in my memory and that was going to have to be enough.
The next morning we both slept in a bit later than usual. Since we had to be back to class the next morning and had some things to do at home before we left to drive back to our individual schools that evening, we were rushed. We had to pack up our clothes and things, toss them in the car, then leave almost as soon as we'd had a shower and breakfast. After pausing long enough to call Mom and let her know that we were on our way, we set out. We did pause at Willy and Andrea's home so that we could give them the basket and plates to return to the Granger sisters along with our thanks, then we had to run.
All the way home, Lisa-Marie and I talked about things we planned and hoped to do at the farm. I suppose the time seemed to pass slowly because we wanted to brag to our folks about everything. I know that fifty-mile drive from our new home couldn't have taken any more than an hour at the most, but it seemed to take forever. Luckily Joe's pickup truck was parked at Mom and Dad's place, which meant I had a half mile less to drive.
When we pulled up, both of us almost ran from the car to the house and burst inside with huge grins on our faces.
"Hi Everybody." We said happily, then Lisa-Marie ran over to Mom and threw her arms around her, giving her a huge hug.
She had turned to her own mom and was hugging her before Mom seemed to recover from her surprise.
"Can I be so silly as to ask why I got hugged first, Lisa-Marie?" Mom asked even while I was wrapping my arms around her for a hug of my own.
"Oh, that's for the wonderful idea you had, sending us out there for a break. I love that house. Although it really was a mess when we first got there, just like you had warned me it would be."
"You like that old-fashioned place?" Mom asked in surprise.
"She loves antiques and old things." Pam laughed aloud. "When you said it was old-fashioned and that she was going to hate it, I could see her eyes light up. I was fairly certain what would happen."
"And you didn't say anything while I sat here after they left, saying that I expected them back that same night because I expected her to be so disgusted with the place?"
"Joe and Dad would have throttled me if I had." Pam laughed. "Besides, I'd have looked pretty darn silly if I'd argued and they had come back that night."
"Well, you might have been right, if it weren't for the neighbours. They were wonderful. We had four willing helpers for the better part of two days, then two of them on the third day." Lisa-Marie said
"One of them is going to look after the animals for me while I go to school during the week." I added. "Willy is a darn smart cookie, except he's so shy it's almost painful."
"I think Jean might shake that shyness out of him." Lisa-Marie grinned. "She's got a major crush on him and knows that he feels almost the same way about her, she just hasn't been able to get him to admit it openly."
"How old are the four of them?" Mom managed to ask.
"Oh, around our age, perhaps a year or two younger." Lisa-Marie answered
"It sounds like there are certainly more young folk wanting to stay on the farm up in that area than do down here." Dad said quietly. "You two are a rarity, you know?"
"Well, I think all four of the kids we mentioned will be staying on the farm." I nodded.
"I'm not so sure of that." Lisa-Marie argued. "I don't think the Grangers are doing so well, not from what Jean said when we took the car to town."
"Fred and Jean's folks?" I asked in surprise.
"Yeah, I got the idea that she felt she really wanted to stay on the farm and the only way she thought that would happen was if she married Willy. Then too, Fred was talking about getting a truck driving job after he and Andrea got married. He couldn't do that and farm too, could he?"
"He might be able to, if he was willing to put in that many hours in a day, but you can't keep that up for long and stay healthy." Joe said quietly.
"That's a shame." Mom shook her head. "Of course, who are we to talk, what do you think you two would have been doing at this time next year if things hadn't happened the way they did?"
Dad must have seen the expression that crossed my face and he steered the subject away from Uncle Silas and my inheritance. I nodded slightly at him in appreciation and he gave the tiniest nod back toward me. That's when I realised that although Uncle Silas had been my favourite uncle, he'd been Dad's only brother. If I felt rotten about his death, how must Dad feel?
Mom had invited Pam and Joe over for lunch and it was ready soon, then Lisa-Marie and I had to sort clothes and things. After a huge hug and a long kiss, she went home with Pam and Joe, then Mom had a chance to grill me about the house and what we were going to need to do to it to bring it up to Lisa-Marie's standards.
I think she was surprised that all I could think of was new lino for the kitchen floor, a spring and mattress for the bed and a new washer and drier. When she asked about the fridge and stove, I just grinned and told her that Lisa-Marie loved the ones that were there now.
"But, they're old." She protested.
"I don't mind one way or the other, but Lisa-Marie would knacker me if I changed them on her. She really does like them."
I was glad to get away from home because of the mood Mom was in. I stopped at Joe's long enough to get one more hug and kiss from Lisa-Marie, then headed back to school.
On the drive, I got to thinking about the car. I'd really loved it to start with, but now that I knew why Uncle Silas had bought it, I wasn't quite as happy about having it. Along with that, it wasn't the kind of vehicle I needed on the farm. I wondered if there was some way that I could trade it for a pickup truck of some sort. Yet in a way, since it had been given to me by Uncle Silas, I really didn't know if getting rid of the car was a good thing.
Realising that I had better think about that idea for a while and make up my mind what I really needed as well as what I wanted, I stopped at a restaurant and grabbed a bite to eat. I took my time, realising as I sat there that I had more pressing problems than the car. For one thing, I was going to have to explain to my roommate and my friends why I'd been away for over a week. I wasn't looking forward to that and I sat there slowly deciding how I was going to explain things to them. Finally satisfied with how I could give them an abridged version of what had happened, I paid my bill and drove the rest of the way to the school. Then after parking my car, I walked slowly to the residence, carrying my suitcase and hoping it was late enough that no one would stop me to ask questions. I really wasn't in the mood to answer them that night.
When I walked into my room, I was astounded to see that all of my roommate's things were gone. Had he quit? At this time of the year and so close to graduation? It didn't make sense. Then I saw an envelope propped up on my pillow. As I reached for it, I wondered if he'd moved and he'd left me his new address or if it was an explanation of some kind.
The envelope contained a sympathy card and a small newspaper clipping. I glanced at the card first and saw that my roommate had written. "Sorry guy! I do know how you feel. Johnny."
The newspaper clipping was about an accident that had happened a few days ago. A farmer and his wife had been driving to town early one morning when they hit a patch of black ice and skidded into the path of an oncoming cattle truck. All three people involved had been killed instantly. Across the bottom in Johnny's scrawl were the words. "My folks."
The tears started to flow from my eyes and it seemed they wouldn't stop. I'm not sure if I cried from my own grief, or if I was crying out of sympathy for Johnny, or what the real reason was. Thinking about it now, I suppose there was just too much emotion tied to too much change in my life at that moment and I needed to dump it somehow. I didn't unpack my suitcase. I didn't even call home to let everyone know that I'd made the trip okay. I stripped to my shorts, shut off the lights, crawled into bed, and cried myself to sleep.
In the morning I rolled out of bed, went down the hall to have a shower, then stopped at the mail boxes and picked up my mail on the way to the cafeteria. There were a couple of sympathy cards, a letter from the dean, and a letter from Johnny. I glanced at the sympathy cards and made a note to tell the guys thanks when I saw them, then opened the letter from the dean. He wanted me to drop by his office before going to class which wasn't going to be a problem, my first class didn't start for over an hour.
It took me only a few minutes to read Johnny's letter, after all there wasn't much explanation needed. He'd had to go home. He had three younger sisters on the farm and there was no one else to look after the place. He knew it was going to be a tough slog, but he felt he could make it. I could see he was trying to be as optimistic as he could, saying that with the help of what he'd learned at college, he felt he could turn the farm around and make if profitable again. The letter included his phone number and address, as well as a final wish of good luck.
When I thought about his situation, I realised just how lucky I was. The farm I had inherited wasn't in debt, so it was already profitable. I had the support of my family. I had friends amongst my neighbours. But best of all, I had a woman who was going to marry me and to top it off, she was just completing a course on small business management that I was sure was going to help.
I knew that Johnny was a hard worker and that he was a truly nice guy, so I really wished him the best. The thing that had hit me though was that I had it so good and it looked to me like he was worse off by far. I had no reason to complain.
My meeting with the dean was rather anticlimactic after reading Johnny's letter because that was what it was really about. The dean felt that since both I and my roommate had been the victims of personal tragedy, I might be depressed by the situation. When I explained how I felt about the way things stood, he admitted that I might be right. He suggested that I wait a few days before I wrote or phoned Johnny since it had been less than a week since his parents had been killed.
I didn't let him know that I personally disagreed with him. My feeling was that if Johnny needed support, then he needed it now. Immediately after class that day, I called him and we talked for close to an hour. I was happy to find out that things weren't quite as black for him as he'd thought they were and he sounded quite relieved that my life wasn't as bad as he'd gotten the impression that it was. He actually sounded quite happy that I'd inherited the farm from Uncle Silas.
After calling Johnny, I phoned home and updated them on what had happened, talking to Mom for quite a while. Then I called Lisa-Marie. She was exceptionally happy to hear from me, but insisted that she couldn't talk long. While I had been well ahead of my class in my studies before I had left, she had been barely caught up and now she was badly behind. In fact, she was planning to stay in the city that weekend so she could study.
When I mentioned my idea of trading off the car for a pickup truck, she thought it was an economically sound idea, but she admitted that she was going to miss the car a lot. That lead to a discussion about the economics of the farm and what we were going to have to do to make sure we didn't go into debt. I wasn't surprised to find that she had almost as strong feelings about debt as I did, so we were on the same page in that too. We had to break off our talk then because she was being called for dinner. She promised to call me in a couple of days and we said "So long."
Her mentioning food reminded me that I was hungry and that I had to get to the cafeteria inside of the next hour, so I put off even opening my books for the time being. After eating, I didn't feel any more like studying than I had before. Instead I decided to take an hour and go see what the cost of used pickup trucks was like. I hopped into the car, then drove down to the nearest Chevy dealership. Just in case I could make a deal, I whipped through a quicky car wash on the way.
When I looked at the sticker price on pickup trucks, I was surprised, even the used trucks were far more than I expected. Of course as soon as I walked onto the lot I was approached by a salesman. I simply told him I was a farmer and I was just looking, not sure what I wanted, but that I knew I needed a pickup eventually. I could see his face fall as he reaccessed his impression of me from "kid wanting a hot rod pickup" to "student from Ag. College, looking for cheap basic transportation" and I had to resist breaking into a grin.
I knew better than to try to get rid of him, but I bypassed all the new trucks with barely a glance. I wasn't going to give away ten percent of the cost of a new truck because of depreciation as soon as I drove it off the lot. I wanted a well maintained used pickup and the fact was that I was just looking for prices, not planning on buying at that time, not unless a once in a lifetime opportunity fell in my lap. After all I reasoned, if I was going to work a trade for my car with a collector, I had to know what pickup trucks were worth in the first place.
After walking the lot, I knew that they only had one truck there that suited me at all and it wasn't perfect, but at least I had an idea of the price range I was looking for. The sales lot wasn't busy and the salesman stuck to me like glue. In fact, he walked me off the lot, still pitching the pickup I'd shown some interest in, but his reaction when I walked to the door to my car was priceless.
"That's your car?" He practically whispered. "Omigod, it looks cherry."
"Well, pretty good anyway." I nodded. "Too bad I have to sell it."
Then I sighed as I ran my hand along the chrome door handle. "My uncle had it up on blocks for almost thirty years before I talked him out of it and I've just got it pretty well restored. Now I need a pickup, so I think I'll try to find a collector to buy this, then I could afford a truck."
"Jeez, you could get a nice truck for this and not much money extra."
"I suppose, but I'm going to sell this first, then maybe I can get enough money for it so that I can pay cash for a pickup and have a bit left over. The thing is, I'm planning on getting married, so . . ." I sighed again, laying it on heavy.
"Why don't you leave me your number, maybe I could steer someone your way?" He asked.
"Well, no, I don't think so. I'm up at the college and really busy studying because it's the end of the year. I can't afford to waste time on a lot of people coming around to look at the car." I shrugged. "I really don't know how to handle it at the moment but I'm not in a big rush, I've got a couple of months."
"Look. We could take it in on assignment." He continued.
"Oh yeah, and have some teenager come in here to take it for a test drive, then prang it around a post or blow the engine? No frigging way!" I growled. "And even if you insured it, what would that be, maybe five hundred bucks for blue book value? The answer is no!"
"No, no, no, we could guarantee that . . ."
"Oh sure, a guarantee that lasts as long as it takes the ink to dry and another salesman to walk over." I snapped. "Sorry, I've dealt with car salesmen before."
He sighed, then took a deep breath. "Look. I'll be honest. I want to sell this car and find you a truck. I think I can probably handle it for you so you'll be happy." He paused. " I have an idea of someone who would like this car. If everything on it is factory original, I could make you a deal on that truck you looked at right now."
"Oh, I think it's worth more than that, because it is factory original, everything. The only things that aren't original are the tires and hoses, things like that. It's never been in an accident. Heck, it's never had so much as a bad paint chip. It's got less than ten thousand miles on it and that's honest mileage."
"Look, could you bring it back tomorrow when there's a mechanic on duty and . . ."
"No, I don't think so. I go to school from eight in the morning until five in the evening. I just had to take time off for a death in the family, so I'm not about to cut class."
"Jeez Tom, would you work with me a bit." He finally said quite sharply. "I suppose you go home on the weekends?"
"Yep, I leave here at three on Friday afternoon and don't come back until late Sunday night. I am a farmer after all."
"I see. Well, I have an idea. I think I know a person or two who would be interested in this car, but I need something to show them. If you'd just pull the car onto the lot and under the lights, I'll take some Polaroid photos so I can show them that the car is in tip top condition. Then . . . oh, let's say next Monday evening, after class. Let's say sixish, you can drop around and I can have both a mechanic and any prospective buyers here."
"I suppose you'd want a commission for doing that?"
"Well, since we wouldn't have the normal overhead for preparing the car and keeping it on the lot, it wouldn't be much. Let's say five percent, and, if you do buy a truck here, I'll waive the commission on selling your car."
I took a minute, letting him believe that I was reluctantly looking for any problems in his proposal, then finally held out my hand to shake his in agreement that I'd be there, but warning him that I wasn't going to make any promises about either selling or buying. Fifteen minutes later, I was heading back to the residence and my studies. When I got to my room, studying seemed to come easy for once.
People around me had held back on talking to me that first day, but after that I had several students offering their condolences. After I'd told them the full story about inheriting the farm, almost everyone was in a conundrum whether to by me a beer in sorrow or in congratulations. Since I seldom drank, it didn't make any difference, I simply told them thanks for the offer, but right then I didn't want a beer.
Instead of going drinking, I hit the books hard and caught up to where I felt I should be, just a bit ahead of the rest of the class again. Every night I'd pause my studies and phone Lisa-Marie and we'd talk for a short while, then we'd both get back to our books. I don't know about her, but that short break while talking to her certainly made studying a lot easier for me, just the sound of her voice would perk me up and keep me going.
Normally on Friday afternoon, we had one final project and then the shops shut down at three and we could go home. That week, I pushed hard and finished my project just after two, then got permission to leave. I had things I wanted to do and I needed some time.