Chapter 4

There ain't nothin' gonna settle a feller down like findin' out he's about to become a daddy. Well, either he'll settle down or run fer the hills. But I wasn't gonna be a runner cause bein' a daddy is somethin' I truly wanted. I remember thinkin' many a time that if I ever had kids, I'd sure as hell treat 'em a lot better'n I was treated, and now it looked like I was gonna get the chance.

Seems like the whole world looked and felt different to me from then on. Every word that came out of the kids' mouths was more important. Every time Cassie n' me made love, it was even more special than before. Every chore I done and every decision we made about the family took on more weight.

Gettin' the kids educated and findin' a way to get 'em into school was somethin' I felt like I was responsible for. Winter was a slow time as far as gettin' stuff done around the property anyhow so I started teachin' longer classes. Course, Sue Ellen and Cassie were all for it but Charlie complained about it some 'cause he couldn't keep up with the other two. After I gave it some thought, him bein' only six, it made sense to have him doin' different stuff than the girls. Sue Ellen and Cassie were readin' out of 'The Wind in the Willows' and Charlie was still in the middle of the primer. It didn't take long to figure out that not pushin' him to keep up made him a lot more interested in learnin'.

One day around the first of April, I drove the truck into Casey to buy some things we needed fer the next batch of whiskey and decided to stop at the school and ask how we could go about gettin' Sue Ellen and Charlie into regular classes. They didn't have school busses then and Mr. Duncan, the principal, said I'd have to drive the kids in every day or they'd just have to walk. When I told him it was nine miles, he said he was sorry but there wasn't no other way.

I started to leave thinkin' I'd just have to decide whether to drive 'em or school 'em at home, but then I wondered if the school could help out with books n' stuff. Maybe it was cheeky of me to ask since I already stole from 'em, but he didn't know that and the worst he could say was no.

"Mr. Duncan, might the school have any old books you ain't usin' any more that I could use to teach the kids fer the rest of the semester? Maybe I can find a way to get 'em into school next September."

He thought about it some and said, "Might be. Let's go look out back in the storage building."

Well, there was a dozen boxes of old books that he said I could pick n' choose from. I got second and third grade readers, arithmetic books and half a dozen storybooks and I figured that'd keep us busy fer a while. I left the school with a box plumb full o' stuff.

I stopped at the 5&10 to get some more tablets and, on my way out of town, Deputy James spotted my truck and flagged me down. "Say, Willem, you got any stuff in the works? Silas said he sold out o' yer stuff in no time n' he's needin' a lot more. The sheriff said he's about ready fer a couple o' jugs too"

"I'll be startin' a batch next week so plan on the middle of the month."

"Good, good, we'll be lookin' forward to it. Ya heard about the new law, didn't ya?"

"We don't hear about nothin' out there. Ain't got electricity so we ain't got no radio neither. What new law ya talkin' about?"

"The President's allowin' beer n' wine t' be sold now. Don't reckon it'll be to awful long 'til congress scraps this whole prohibition thang 'cause it ain't been nothin' but a big pain in the ass t' everybody. But then I reckon if they do that, why, you might have trouble sellin' yer stuff. It is mighty good, though. Might be you could find some way to make it legal if they repeal the law. Anyhow, I could use a gallon 'r two myself when it's ready."

"I'll see ya get it. Thanks fer catchin' me up on the news, Deputy. Reckon I need to talk it over with Cassie before we decide what to do. Sure wish we had a radio to keep up on what's happenin'."

"Well, why don't ya have 'em string a 'lectric line out there? Hell, yer house ain't but a mile from the main line n' they gonna have to go out there anyways sooner or later." He thought about somethin' fer a minute and said, "Look here, why don't ya come over t' the office n' we'll give 'em a call n' ask about it?"

"Sure, if you don't mind."

Well, makin' that call was a real stroke of luck! They said the state was already plannin' on stringin' lines on our road and they'd be runnin' electricity right up to the house fer us. Course they wouldn't wire the house, but I figured I could do that if they'd tell me how to do it without gettin' electrocuted. He said that wouldn't be no problem and gave me a list of things to buy at the hardware to get it done. I was wishin' I knew how much money Cassie had in her stash, but I didn't think it'd be right to ask.

Cassie and the kids was as excited as I was and couldn't hardly wait to have electric lights and a radio in the house. They felt a little disappointed when I said it'd be summer before it got done. Then they got all excited again about the new books and Sue Ellen was ready to start on the new reader right then n' there.

After the kids was down fer the night, Cassie n' me sat on the porch and talked about our whiskey business. We decided to do a double batch 'cause we was gonna need the money to wire the house and buy the radio. We'd probably do another batch sometime in the middle of summer.

She leaned her head on my shoulder and asked, "What are we gonna do if they pass the law makin' whiskey legal, Willem?"

"Well, I was thinkin' about that on the way home and here's what I come up with. To start with, I reckon we can keep on sellin' our stuff fer a while 'cause it'll take the government some time to get things up n' runnin' after the law gets passed, and you can bet legal whiskey's gonna have some big taxes on it. Ours won't so we can sell it cheaper. The other thing I was thinkin' is that folks really like the taste of our whiskey so if they repeal the law, we should find out what it takes to make whiskey makin' all legal. It might take some money to do that but I was thinkin' there's folks like Silas and maybe even the sheriff who might be willin' to invest in the business in exchange fer a cut of the profits. They could probably find some other folks who might be interested as well. What do you think?"

"You b'lieve our whiskey's that good, that we could make a livin' off of sellin' it in stores?"

"What do you think? Deputy James stopped me and wanted to know when we was gonna have a new batch. You know Silas will want a lot more. If we're real careful with the recipe, I don't see why we couldn't turn out plenty of it and maybe even make it a little better with what you was thinkin' about addin' in. Course we ain't gonna do it in no little bitty still like we got over on the other side of the hill. We'd have to make somethin' a lot bigger and that'd cost some money. That's why we'd need other folks to go in with us."

She kissed my cheek and said, "We got some time t' think about it. Right now I got a itch that needs scratchin'." She pushed me over on my back and started unbuttonin' my britches.

I was feelin' kinda horny myself but we was about to do it right out in the open! "Don't you think we should move it into the bedroom."

She just giggled like a little girl and said, "I do not. C'mon, Willem, where's yer spirit of adventure?"

She worked my dick through the opening in my long johns and stroked it a few times before leaning over and takin' some of it in her mouth. Lordy, I love that! She licked and sucked on me 'til she guessed I was about to pop then she stopped, stood up and reached under her dress to push her drawers down. Then she straddled me and sank down takin' every last inch 'til I felt like I was about to push through the end of her hole.