Chapter 39: Beware of Potholes

Wil’s little speech about that visit by my uncle and his kids set my mood, so I wasn’t smiling as I walked to the coffee shop. I grabbed a coffee as I walked in, then sat down in a booth across from Lucille.

“Okay, what’s up, Lucille? What was so important about seeing me tonight?” I said flatly, trying not to be too abrupt, but not attempting to be tactful either.

“Well, I won’t be working for a couple of days, but I wanted to talk to you. I was just thinking that we could be friendly with each other. After all, we are cousins.”

“Ah, I see. Now that I’m wearing clean clothes and here in the city, I’m a cousin and someone that you can talk to,” my mood had changed to match Wil’s and my temper spiked. “That’s funny, because a few years ago on the farm, I was just a kid in ratty clothes who was working his butt off trying to keep our animals alive. Then I was someone that made you pinch your nose in disgust at the smell from the pigs. We were all worried about our animals, but all you and your father could think about was showing off his new car.”

“But I was just a kid,” she protested.

“Lucille, I’m four years younger than you are and Beth is a year younger than I am. Yet we were working our butts off in the heat that day, while you sat in the back of that air-conditioned car and laughed at us because we were sweating and working like dogs.”

“Jeez, you make a big deal out of nothing.”

“Nothing! Your father insulted my father and my whole family that day. Come to think of it, so did you in your own way. Instead of pitching in and helping us out when we were in trouble, your old man tried to take advantage of us. We were fighting for our livelihood and our animals’ lives, but you thought it was a joke. Don’t tell me that’s nothing. You insulted everyone on the farm that day.”

“I suppose that’s one of the reasons why Grandfather changed his will and literally kicked us out of the agreement about the big lease too, is it? Did you get his ear and convince him that we were such bad people?” she snapped at me.

I broke into sardonic laughter at that and simply sat there shaking my head at her. It was a moment before I could even talk and during that time I could see that she was getting angrier.

“Lucille, Grampa Bender kept track of things himself, but the changes to his will were as much a surprise for us as they were for you. We didn’t have to tell him a single thing, but if he had asked me, I’d have told him the truth,” I paused then, shaking my head. “As far as the lease agreement went, that was a completely separate thing. That was a business deal gone wrong. You city folks simply didn’t keep up your end of the bargain by assisting in the care of the lease. You did absolutely nothing to earn your share of the money that the lease brought in. Even after Grampa Bender warned you in writing that he was going to cut it off, not one of you showed up to help work on the lease, which is what your folks had originally agreed to do. We did all the work, while you people sat on your butts and collected a nice big share out of what we had worked damn hard to earn. Grampa Bender simply corrected the error in the agreement.”

“Oh come on. There wasn’t anything I could do. I’m a city girl. What do I know about farming?” she snapped.

“Lucille, that’s a cop out,” I growled. “This year alone my family has had six different girls work on the farm and none of them had spent any time on a farm before. They were all town kids with no experience when they came out to visit us. Now each and every one of them can drive a tractor, handle bales, feed animals, ride a horse, herd the cows, slop the hogs, collect eggs, preserve vegetables, hoe the garden and a hundred other things. It doesn’t take long to learn how to work on a farm, all it takes is willingness and a lack of sloth.”

“Lack of sloth? Do you know how much work it takes to become a nurse?” she snapped.

“Yep, I think I have a very good idea,” I nodded. “Three of those six girls who worked on the farm were Candy Stripers before; in fact one of them saved my life. Two of those three are now in your hospital because they came to town to further their studies, but got involved in an accident. Of course from the looks of things they won’t make it to nursing school this year, but I wouldn’t count them out. They’re the kind of women who don’t quit easily and don’t worry about a little hard work even if they might get a little dirty, or if they might have to sweat a bit.”

“You seem to be trying to make me sound like a lazy bitch who doesn’t care about others,” she protested.

“No, I’m not. You’re the one who is making any comparisons between yourself and those girls. I was just giving you a factual account of how two of those girls in the hospital spent part of their summer. Hell, even the third one was working on the ranch for a short while. She came from Calgary less than a week ago and yet in only a few days she was helping out and she worked her butt off. In fact she impressed me and that’s damn tough to do.”

“Okay, so city girls can learn, so what? When did I ever have the opportunity to even try?”

“That’s just it. You and your family never even tried to find time. That’s why the lease agreement fell apart and you folks lost out on the lease payments. Your father and the rest of the people on your side of the family didn’t live up to their end of the agreement. Now all of them seem to be bitching about losing out. As Grampa Bender would say: ‘You can’t have your bread buttered on both sides, not without getting some grease on your hands.’”

“What is that supposed to mean?” she snapped.

“Oh come on. Surely you know Grampa Bender well enough to know that’s one of his favourite sayings,” I growled. “It means that you can’t take both sides of an argument and at the same time it means that you have to accept the consequences of your actions. You’re trying to make yourself look like you were totally blameless when you aren’t. I’ll bet you haven’t even read the lease agreement, at least not the part dealing with the duties involved in earning income from the lease. You haven’t, have you?”

“I have, but I didn’t read it until after Grandfather cut us off,” she admitted quietly. “I can understand how Grandfather felt, but Father is really the person who feels that he’s been discriminated against. He’s an office worker, not a farmer and he’d put our whole family at risk if he was injured while doing farm work.”

“Huh, I think he’s actually feeling guilty! He’s the guy who works as an accountant isn’t he?”

“Yes, he is a chartered accountant, but why do you ask?”

“Simply because my mother spent years learning to do our farm accounting by reading books and going to night school courses. To take those courses, she had to drive thirty miles each way, and that was after helping Dad with the farm work all day, as well as looking after us kids. She had asked your father for help and he laughed at her, telling her that farm accounting was too picayune a job for a man of his status. He even refused to help her learn accounting, treating it as a joke.”

“He didn’t?” she looked shocked.

“Oh yes he did, the lazy bastard! I remember her calling him and asking for help, then hanging up the phone and being upset about being turned down and insulted. But you know what? She didn’t tell Grampa Bender about it, your father did that himself. He bragged that he sent her packing because he didn’t think she could learn and he wasn’t going to try to decipher her messy bookkeeping in order to turn it into a decent set of accounts. I’m sorry, but I have no sympathy for the man at all. As far as I’m concerned, he’s made his bed and he’s lying in it. Now he’s too damn lazy to do anything about the fact that he’s uncomfortable, other than bitch about it, but it sounds like he’s doing a helluva good job of that!”

“Jeez, you’re a hard hearted guy.”

“No, I’m not hard hearted, but I am a realist. I’ve learned to look beneath the false face that some people present to the world. Instead I do my best to see what’s underneath their facade. You and your old man were part of my education about recognising false fronts, but even that didn’t make me hard hearted. If someone needs help, I’m right there to help out, but if you hurt me or my family or my friends, don’t expect any sympathy from me. I will do my best to settle the issue, legally, but permanently. Grampa Bender taught me that.”

“You sound as if you’re proud of being hard on people.”

“No, I’m not proud of settling things, but I do feel satisfied when I’ve righted a wrong. Actually, I’m quite soft hearted and I’ll jump in on the weaker side of the argument if someone is taking advantage of another. When those girls who are in the hospital are up to talking to a stranger, take the time to talk to each of them for a half hour or so. Ask them about what they think of me and about how I and my family have treated them. From Carissa you’ll find that she and her sister snubbed me for years, but when someone tried to sully their reputation, ask her who stepped in to help them. Ask Sandy what she did at the end of our first date and what I did in return, then ask her if I forgave her later in the summer. Ask Jackie how we met and what happened between us afterward. I’m not ashamed of anything I did with any of those women. You may not get a glowing testimonial from them, but I certainly won’t come across as hard hearted.”

“So you’ve been involved with all of them?” she looked surprised.

“Yeah, I have, but it wasn’t my idea; it was their idea from the start. Until they came along, I was shy and reserved,” I sighed then. “I think I’ll go back to being quiet and reserved. It’s safer and a lot less stressful to hang back a bit, but I guess I can never go back to being as shy as I was. Now, I’ve had a damn hard day and I need to get some sleep. Besides, I think you should think things over before we talk again.”

“You’re just going to walk off and leave me like this?” she acted like I was insulting her by leaving.

“Lucille, you don’t believe me right now and I’m too damn tired and too damn annoyed to be polite. Do yourself a favour and as soon as you can, go talk to Grampa Bender. You’ll be the first person from the Calgary branch of the family to talk to him in more than a year. That gesture alone will impress him, but whether it’s a favourable impression or not is up to you.”

“Do you really think I should? What would I tell Father?”

“Oh, for cripes sake. Aren’t you a grown woman? Why tell that lazy prick anything? Do you still live at home and have to account for every hour of your time to your parents?” I looked at her disbelievingly.

“Well, no. I mean I do tell them almost everything, but I don’t live at home. I have my own apartment,” she actually blushed then. “I’ve even got a boyfriend of sorts, but Father doesn’t like him.”

“Why doesn’t that surprise me?” I snorted and rolled my eyes. “For some reason it sounds to me like you’ve spent your whole life trying to be what your daddy wants and not what you want. Of course I could be wrong, but I’ve seen it before, and I’ve learned to notice it, because I was raised to go after what I want out of life.”

“Well, I do have the next two days off,” Lucille sounded tentative.

“So, don’t tell your folks what you’re doing, just hop in the car and go see Grampa Bender. Talk to him and find out for yourself what you think of what he says. Do something on your own for once, without consulting everyone else or getting permission from your dear daddy. Anyway, whatever you do, I’m to darn tired to stay up any longer.”

“Chris, please. If you’re going to be in town for a couple of days, could we talk again? This is my phone number and address,” she handed me a slip of paper.

“Lucille, I don’t know if I’ll have the time. Right now I doubt it, but if I do, I’ll call you,” I took the paper with a deep sigh as I got to my feet. “Now, I’ve got to say goodnight. I’ve had a long hard day and I’m simply bushed.”

“Goodnight, Chris. Maybe I will go see Grandfather.”

I just waved and left, in no mood to say anything else. On my way back to the motel, I happened to notice a convenience store that was still open and decided to grab a snack. While I was there, I remembered that there was a kitchen in the motel unit, so I bought a package of ground coffee, some milk, some cold cereal and some fruit just in case either the girls or I woke early and wanted a bite to eat in the morning.

Back at the motel, I noticed the door to the girls’ room was closed when I came in, but as I set the package of coffee, the milk and fruit in the fridge, the door opened and Jess peeked out, only her face showing.

“Oh, I heard a noise and I was worried that someone might have come in by mistake,” she said in relief.

“Nope, no burglar, it’s just me,” I grinned. “Are you okay?”

“Better now that you’re back,” she smiled. “How was your meeting?”

“Don’t ask,” I snorted. “Well, okay, you can ask, but I’m not in much of a mood to answer.”

“Oh, I thought maybe you’d want to talk about it.”

“Not really,” I sighed. “I guess you could say that my cousin and I didn’t see eye to eye.”

“Something like our parents and us, huh?”

“Well, maybe not quite that bad,” I admitted. “Did you want to talk about things?”

“Yeah, but I’m tired and so are you. I think both of us had better get some sleep, if we can.”

“Goodnight then.”

“You too,” she said, then disappeared, closing the door behind her.

I went to the bathroom, then stripped to my shorts and climbed into bed. I’d just gotten settled into the bed and was about to shut out the lights, when the door to their room opened, then Jess and Jean came out dressed in matching flannel pyjamas.

“We decided that maybe we would like to talk a little bit if you don’t mind,” Jean whispered. “Is it still okay?”

“I guess,” I managed a weak smile. “What’s troubling you?”

“Family stuff,” she sighed as she and Jess plopped on the edge of the bed, one on each side of me. “We’re worried about what Mom and Dad will do.”

“Well, from what I heard, they’ve pretty well disowned Sandy, haven’t they?”

“Yeah, but what is she going to do?” Jean sighed

“And what are we going to do?” Jess added.

So for the next few minutes I did my best to reassure them that between my family and the Coulters, we’d do our best to make sure they were okay. After that, we just talked for a while, and I realized in a moment or two that all of us were trying to stay away from any issue that anyone might find contentious. When they both began to yawn, I chased them off to bed, then rolled over and fell asleep.

I awoke the next morning to the phone ringing right at my bedside.

“Hello?” I answered it groggily.

“Hi, Chris, It’s your dad.”

“Oh, hi, Dad. What’s up?”

“Are Jessica and Jean staying with you.”

“They’re in the next room, why?”

“Because their parents are looking for them,” he sighed heavily. “Alice and Liz went into town yesterday and spoke to Ann McAdam. She called this morning and wants to send the two girls out to Bountiful, BC before they are ‘ruined’ by some local boy like Sandy and Jackie were.”

“What do you mean ‘ruined’ by some local boy?” I frowned.

Dad paused and then spoke very slowly and quietly. “I think she meant before they’d had sex with anyone.”

“Oh!” I was surprised at what I thought was implied with those words. “Okay, so what has that to do with me?”

“From the sounds of it, nothing,” he sighed. ‘To be honest, I was wondering if you knew if they were still...”

“The word is virgin, Dad,” I snorted. “I don’t know and just so you know, if they are I am not offering to cure that condition at any time in the near future. Instead of asking me, shouldn’t you be asking them?”

“That was the next step, but I think I’d better put your Mom on the line for that.”

“You get Mom. I’ll get the girls on the phone,” I offered, setting the receiver down on the pillow as I got to my feet and pulled on my jeans.

I’d just gotten to the door to the girls’ room when Jean opened it.

“The phone woke us. Is it the hospital? Is something wrong with Sandy or Jackie?” she rattled off quickly.

“No, Mom wants to talk to you and Jess about your mom. You can use this phone and Jess can use the one in your room. I’m going to grab some clean shorts and have a shower.”

“Maybe you shouldn’t do that. Your mom might want to talk to you too,” she said as she hurried over to my bed.

She was right, but I’d made the offer to give them privacy, so I went into the bathroom for a minute to take care of my normal morning functions. When I came out, I made coffee and tried not to eavesdrop, but Jean waved me over to sit beside her.

“He’s right here, Mrs. Crawford, do you want him to listen in too?”

“That might be an idea,” I heard as Jean twisted the phone so both of us could hear.

“I’m here, Mom.”

“Okay, what’s happening is Sam and Ann McAdam want to ship all the girls off to that polygamous marriage place in BC. The girls tell me they aren’t interested, in fact they sound terrified by the idea. Legally, we can’t do anything right now, but morally I can’t stand by and watch it happen. There are several problems that crop up though. First, we expect that Ann knows the girls will eventually be in Calgary and Sam’s brother lives there so he might try to take them from you. Second, he might try to take Sandy out of the hospital. Third, you can’t try to hide them at the ranch and we can’t have them here. Their parents can legally go to the police and list them as missing after a full day has passed without them making contact. Fourth, we know that legally the girls can challenge their parents and ask for manumission, but that takes time. If you have any bright ideas, Chris, I’d like to hear them.”

“Can we arrange for them to hide somewhere else while a lawyer works on their manumission?”

“Possibly, but where would you hide them? It can’t be with anyone that the police might check and it can’t be just anyone either. Sandy needs a doctor’s care and yet we’d like her to be close by so we’d feel safer about them.”

“Oh! I just had an idea,” I winked at Jean. “Do you remember Grampa Bender’s friend, the dog breeder? She was a fully qualified nurse when she retired and she lives way out in the boondocks, do you think she’d be a good choice.”

“I know who you mean, but I don’t even know where she lives. Don’t tell me though. That way I can look the police right in the eye and tell them I don’t know where the girls are. But do you think she’d do it?”

“If she knew the circumstances, yeah I do, because she’s a good buddy of Grampa Benders,” I grinned. “The problem is timing. Look, can I call you back?”

“Sure. I won’t go anywhere.”

“Wait, before you go, did you tell Mrs. McAdam that the girls were with me?”

“Umm, I told them they were out at the ranch, trying to talk you into taking them to see Sandy, why?”

“Because, I expect that they’ll head straight out there, but you said they have to wait a day before they can get the cops on the girl’s trail. Do you think Tom would be willing to take the big cultivator up to the ranch?”

“He can’t get there with that wide thing, Chris. What are you thinking about? The bridge at the curve in the big cut is too narrow to ... Oh!”

“Yeah, if he was stuck there, they couldn’t get past,” I laughed. “But he doesn’t have much time to get there, because it’s only a few miles from town and Sam McAdam might hurry.”

“I’ll call Tom right now.”

I grinned then because the phone went dead as she hung up.

“What was that all about?” Jean asked the instant I hung up the receiver.

“Well, I’m hoping Tom will block the road up to the ranch, but you two are supposed to be up there visiting me. Your folks can’t go to the police until you’ve been missing for a full twenty four hours and the idea is to buy us some extra time.”

“But what about Sandy?”

“Tell me, what day is today?” I grinned.

“It’s Thursday.”

“Okay, what date is it today?”

“It’s the twenty-ninth of August.

“Right and who was born eighteen years ago on Labour Day, which happens to be four days away?”

“Sandy was,” Jean grinned then as she caught on. “And when she’s eighteen, she doesn’t have to follow Mom and Dad’s orders anymore, but the hospital will probably keep her in their care for at least four days.”

“Right, on that day she is legally regarded as an adult,” I grinned. “So we just warn her and tell her to make sure she doesn’t get better before then. That way she won’t be released into your parents care.”

“But why did you tell your Mom about that dog breeder?”

“Because Mom doesn’t fib worth a hoot,” I laughed. “When she tells a little white lie, everyone knows it. Now we need to pack up because we need to get out of here.”

“But why?”

“Because this is where we told the hospital we were and if your uncle checks with them he can find us.”

“Oh, okay.”

Just then the phone rang again.

“Hello,” I answered it, making my voice gruff and signalling to with a finger to my lips that Jean wasn’t to make any noise.

“Chris?” Mom asked.

“Oh, yeah, it’s me. I was just thinking that we signed in at the hospital as next of kin yesterday, so if the McAdams check there they’ll find that out. If they ask properly they can get this motel number.”

“Oh, that’s not good.”

“Sure it is,” I laughed. “We won’t be here. We’re packing up to leave right now, but I’ll have Wil sign out for us later today. That will give us even more time.”

“But where are you going?”

“To see a woman about a dog,” I grinned. “And you already told me that you didn’t want to know where she was. Did you get hold of Tom?”

“Yes, he’s on his way, but so is your dad. He thought it might be an idea if they closed the road by having a fender bender.”

“Isn’t that a bit drastic?”

“Oh, I don’t imagine that they’re going to do much damage,” she sighed. “This whole thing is getting too complicated.”

“Well, it’s going to get more complicated. I need the name and phone number of Grampa Bender’s lawyer.”