Chapter 7

Chet was strutting around on Thursday morning, saying how he would be a real licensed driver when he comes home tonight. His Driver's Ed class was giving the driving test at the DMV as class graduation. They didn't do that with kids when I took it. Monique said that her class did that too, but Josey's didn't.

I was going to try the steamer today, so I turned the blue valve on as I passed the pump house and listened while the pipe filled up. I opened the valve by the machine shed and let the air come out and the water begin to flow. I went to my new shed and opened that valve so that the air would flush out there as well.

I used our two-wheel dolly to put under the steamer as I tilted it forward, then brought the steamer upright so that I could roll it into the shed. I tilted it forward again and pulled the dolly from beneath the awkward piece of equipment. I made the water connection, filled the reservoir, checked the power switch, and threw the big breaker for the 220VAC to the 'On' position. I turned the steamer on and remembered that the directions said it would be about ten minutes before there would be steam. I started the tractor with the lift and brought it out to the wash pit. The tractor sat there idling for a few minutes since I like them to run a little when you start them. I checked the gauges on the steamer when enough time had passed, and it was ready. I pulled the coiled hose out, and began steam cleaning the tractor from top down using the long wand. I was amazed at how much dirt, oil, and grease was still caked on the engine. There was enough pressure from the steam to make chunks of dirt fly into the air. It took almost thirty minutes to thoroughly clean the big tractor. I would be using some fancy car products to clean the cabin. I had already cleaned it, but really hadn't thoroughly checked either of the cabins out. I was going to let this tractor air dry before attempting to start it. I shut the steamer and the water supply off. I knew I was going to use it all again, so I didn't coil the hose or drain the water.

The oil company pickup came into the yard. The man didn't even get out of his truck; he only rolled his window down and said, "Follow me down to the meadow. I have something for you to see."

I got in the pickup and began following. I noted that the truck needed gas. I was amazed at what I saw when we arrived. There was an operating pump and a giant oil tanker sitting next to the tank. A large semi was off to the side with three more big tanks. I didn't understand. The oil man said, "These tanks will hold about two hundred and twenty barrels. That tanker will hold two hundred barrels. This well is a problem because it filled the tank, causing the shut off to operate. The pump was shut down when we came out this morning, and we thought it had malfunctioned. It didn't. This well is producing more than two hundred barrels a day. We're going to add two tanks to be sure that it doesn't shut down again. That back well came in with almost as much pressure as this one had. The new pump there is ready and all we have to do is to get the tanks in place. We have two more tanks for that well too."

I said to the man, "That's unbelievable. That's a lot of oil."

"You bet, it's a lot of oil. This might be like those Kansas wells they've been opening. I can tell you that the company is going to want to drill more wells though. I think we need to expand our search to both sides of this strip of land and stay separated about like we are and drill four more. We've made up our cost on these two wells just from what the oil in that tanker will sell for. We didn't break any expensive equipment, the bits are in good condition, and we're ready to drill. Our man will probably be out to see you. I can tell him to go straight to your attorney if you want."

"Do that. It might make it happen faster. We'll have to see where if you decide you want to drill in the other fields, because we need the land to farm."

The man asked, "Are you still going to farm with all the money you'll be getting from the oil?"

I smiled, and said, "That's what we do. We're farmers. Farmers produce the food for America. We don't know any better, but we do take pride in growing our crops."

The maintenance guy was working on connecting the new tank. I asked him, "That steamer comes with a set of wheels according to the information on the internet. Did you pitch them, or do you still have them?"

The man laughed as he said, "We drag that thing all over with the crane. Both sets of those wheels are in plastic bags over by that group of cedars. Take a set. Hell, take both sets if you want. Did you get it working?"

"I did and have a tractor air drying right now sitting on my rock wash pit. I ordered big rock so the water drains fast with small rock on top. I have the steamer in a small Tuff-shed. I didn't pay attention and didn't realize that I had to have two twenty."

The maintenance man said, "You know, I don't even think about it because we use these big diesel generators and I have these big forty amp extension cords. Go get your wheel set. I need to get this tank connected and then get the third tank set and hooked up."

I took only one set as that was all I needed. The wheels and axles were industrial strength and would work for years and years. I took them home and mounted the axles and four wheels, along with a large pull bar that made it easy to tilt and move around. The wheels were a very good addition.

The tractor was dry, so I went through the starting procedure and the big tractor started right up. This cab didn't have a display, but it had a radio, CD player, and even a power plug for charging things like a phone. I was checking all the controls and turned a switch on that said 'Air' and then turned the temperature down, noting that there were four fan speeds. Oh boy, air conditioning! Our newer tractor had a cab and air, but the old tractor didn't have a cab. I turned the air off and adjusted the temp for heat. This was a nice tractor, and it wasn't the nicest one. I needed to finish polishing the interior of the cab and treating the upholstery.

I parked this tractor and pulled the other tractor to the wash pit. This was a huge tractor and I checked all the controls in the cab. I flipped up what looked like a lid to something, and it was a large touch screen that was like the combine. It told you everything about the tractor's operation, including that it was three quarters full of fuel. I used the on screen help to set the new maintenance times and when the last maintenance was completed. I needed the manual for this tractor because there were a couple of items that I didn't recognize and understand.

I shut the tractor off, turned the steamer and water supply on, and had a drink of water while waiting. I finished with this tractor in about another half hour and was amazed at how new the machine was. I let it air dry while I coiled the steamer hose and drained all the water from the tanks. I went to the pump house and turned the feed off, then came back to open the valve by the machine shed. I checked the fuel in the two heaters and left them on the lowest setting. I wanted to go inside, so I started the big tractor and moved it inside the big building. I shut everything off and closed the big door. The steamer door was closed, so everything was done.

Grandpa had just made fresh coffee inside, so I had a cup and remembered that I didn't have lunch. Grandpa came in and said, "You've really been busy. I saw you leave with the oil man, what's up?"

I made a sandwich and told Grandpa about the second well and that the first well was producing far more than they anticipated. I told him that we kids all needed to have some restraint about spending the oil money that would be coming in. I told Grandpa that we would have to pay taxes on the money. I would find an accountant to help us figure it out because we were all going to be in some high tax brackets. My faithful advisor was in when I called.

"Hey, John, I want to give you a heads up that the oil people will be contacting you for additional property leases. The second well came in with pressure. They are flow pumping the first well and it is producing more than anticipated. I'm going to need your help and advice again. Do you know an accountant we can use? That person is going to have to advise us of when and how to divide the proceeds that begin coming in soon. They're already transporting oil from the tanks. That's like two hundred barrels a load."

"That's great, Kenny. You kids need some luck. I do know of a local accountant who is really sharp and handles some of the farmers with oil income. Your situation might be different since you are the property owner but you probably want to divide the income equally, not just for fairness but because that might keep all of you in lower income tax brackets. She'll figure it out for you."

"So this is a female accountant?"

"Yes, Kenny, and a very good one. She's done my books since I began my practice. You'll like her. I'll have her call you so you can get together. She'll come out to talk to all of you if you want. I'll let those oil people contact us meanwhile. They might increase the amount per acre for the lease bonus since you are producing a lot of oil. I'll work them and see what they might be willing to do. That you're getting a twenty percent royalty is really good. I think the max I've ever heard of was twenty-five. They may get ridiculous on the lease bonus if we stay at twenty."

"So what should we be paying you? Should you be just charging time and effort, a salary, or a percentage? What's the right way to do this?"

John said, "Let Shirley Dobson, the accountant, answer that question. I'm not sure how to handle you kids. She knows the rules and I'll live with whatever she says."

"Fair enough, John. Thank you for always answering my questions. I have a big learning curve ahead of me."

John asked, "I understand you and the Browning girl stopped in at the jewelers. Should I know about that?"

"I guess you should. Josey is going to marry Jed Browning, and I'm going to marry Jenny Browning. This is sort of quick, but not really. We've been friends since we were little kids. We've been neighbors all our lives. This will be a good union."

"Does the family know about your oil leases?"

"No Sir; we haven't talked about it at all and really don't plan to. That is another part of our lives that we'll have to deal with separately. They don't even pass that meadow when they go to and from town. You actually have to look for the road if you want to turn in there and you can't see anything from the road. Someone might notice the oil tankers going to and from, but that would be the only way they would know. I doubt anyone even knows that property is part of our farm."

"Well, good. Do you think you need to have a pre-nuptial agreement?"

"I hope not, John. I'd rather not have to think about what something like that would be like. If you think we need something like that, put something together and we'll come see you to sign it. The one thing to do though is to make it sound like this would protect her and her family in the event of a breakup. Obviously, we're also trying to protect my brothers and sisters."

John laughed and said, "You want me to use some slick legalese that doesn't say anything except that you retain everything that you had before the wedding."

"I suppose something like that. You write, and we'll come by to sign it. We're getting married a week from Saturday. It's going to be a very small ceremony. We'll have a ceremony at her church."

"Good luck to you, Kid. Be careful though, or you'll end up like the Brownings with a dozen kids. One look at Sara Browning, of course, and you can understand Burt chasing her all over their farm, ha, ha, ha."

I had a second cup of coffee and decided to clean up before the kids got home. I didn't want to get caught like yesterday showing all my stuff to Jenny. I was all washed, shaved, and ready for our last preparation or pre-cana meeting.

There was a lot of kids getting out of cars once again when the Suburban pulled up in the parking area. Jed pulled up in the parking area too, and more kids got out of his truck. Five stood to one side when they all came in, and Jenny said, "The girls are Jean, Jane, and Jeanette is the youngest. This one is Jack, who is a year younger than Janet, and this guy is Jim, who a little less than a year older than Jeanette." That must have been a busy twelve to fourteen or fifteen years. Jenny said, "We're supposed to bring them back for supper and homework. Dad might need help with chores too. Help me take them all home, Kenny, and we'll come back for supper before we go to the last meeting."

We could jam a bunch of kids in the seats since our pickup has a crew cab. Jenny actually drove the Suburban with the rest of the kids in it. They all fired dozens of questions at me all the way home, which took all of three or four minutes to do. I had to go into say hi to Burt and Sara, and it looked like they may have been up to something while the house was empty. Burt said, "I want to come over and look at those calves. Maybe you'll give me a deal on one. We have a steer ready to butcher, a yearling, and we need to get a calf now. I'll give the going rate for it. I know you didn't get them for free. I'm also looking for a larger disc. I know my tractor can handle one. You might have something that's the right size."

Jenny told me on the way to the meeting. "You and your brothers need to come over so that I can cut your hair. All three of you are looking a little shaggy."

I told her, "We usually cut each other's hair, but haven't really felt like it lately."

Jenny said, "Well, you three need to be cleaned up for the wedding, and I'm good at it. I can do it at your house if you have a clipper set, otherwise you three come over, and the girls and I will do the clipping."

That was scary, so I suggested, "Do it at home. I don't think we'd be safe around all those girls."

"You would be safe, but Chet and Jeff might be under some female pressure. Chet has a lot of swooning going on when he passes by at school." So my kid brother was a heartthrob or heartbreaker now.

The meeting was conducted by the priest, and he was very complimentary to all three couples for entering into our marriages as virgins. He said that we would be blessed because of it and he hoped we would all be blessed with many children to raise as good Catholics and Christians. He made a real pitch for us to be sure to have our babies baptized in the Church. He said that we would be good parents if we taught them what is right and wrong and to live by the commandments. He kept saying that being a good neighbor and Samaritan was as important as being faithful by going to Church. I was impressed with that.

He went around the room to ask each of us our intentions regarding how we planned to worship. The first couple was both Catholic, but apparently didn't come to services often. Jed said that he still planned on regularly coming to Church, the same as always. He then said, "I think I can speak for my sister, as well as Josey and Kenny Schulz. Our plan is for Jenny and me to come to early mass on Sunday morning. We would then all go to the early service at the non-denominational Church in town with their family. It wouldn't be a sin to worship with our friends and neighbors."

"It's very commendable to want to maintain commitments to both your faiths. I'm looking forward to interest you two, Josey and Kenny, with good messages from the pulpit. I hope you enjoy my services. You can't share in communion, but you can share in the fellowship. If you get in line for communion, just hold your hand over your heart to receive a blessing instead. Come and join us this Sunday."

"Now it's time to send you out on your own to anticipate your wedding. One couple will marry at noon tomorrow, and the other two couples will marry next Saturday. Good luck and go with God."

Maybe I would enjoy his messages. I had attended the Catholic services when an older priest was there. He had since retired. I never did understand what he was talking about. I'm not sure the others in the congregation did either.

I told them that Brian was finished, the electrical pole was planted, ready to be hooked to the trailer, and the septic tank was installed, when we were all at home sitting at the kitchen table. Jed said, "The house will be here tomorrow. I'm taking off work to make sure the house is set up right and all the connections are done correctly. Brian will be back tomorrow afternoon to hook water up to the house and he'll connect the septic line. The REA people will be back out to hook the power up to the house. We can begin moving the extra furniture in. It has some, but we found some that we want at the Salvation Army stores. I want to get the cable company to run me a line for the internet and phone. They should be out tomorrow afternoon or Saturday. Josey has a proposition for you, Kenny."

Josey said, "Since we're going to be right down the lane, how about Jed and I eating with the family as always. We'll only have two extra from right now, and we have plenty of room and chairs. This would eliminate having a full fridge at our place. We can have some things there for snacks, but it'll be nice to share everything with the family. I was thinking that we might want a bigger table in case the Browning bunch wants to come for a meal. I'm not sure we can handle another dozen, but we could try or we could get one of the tables to put in the outer part of the office next to us here in the kitchen. Those big folding tables hold six. We could do that."

I laughed and said, "I'd love to have them all over. We might just get two of those tables with folding chairs so the kids can eat together and the adults can eat in here. I'm sure there will be discussions as to who is an adult. Jenny said, "Janet, Monique, and Chet might be in here with the rest of us."

Josey said, "It doesn't make any difference as long as everyone gets a place to eat. I like the idea of Jed and me continuing to be a part of the family meals. I think we'll be picking up help with Jenny, and only one more guy to wash, iron, and clean for."

Jed said, "I'm going to build on a little room outside for us to take our shoes off with a place to put them. I'll pick some tile up for the floor, and we can have a warm place to take them off and put them on, as well as store them. You saw how my family took their shoes off out on the porch without even thinking. You'll get used to it. Some people like slippers with their socks, but you can bet the kids will be barefoot as usual in the summer, and we'll put a bucket with a wash rag next to the bench."

Monique said, "I'm really getting excited about the wedding. We're not going to have a lot of people at the ceremony, but it will be our family and that's who counts."

Grandpa asked, "You girls need to separate your mother's clothes to give away and to help me move your father's clothes to the other bedroom. I slept there last night and love that bed."

Jenny said, "I'll be here tomorrow and will get you moved, Grandpa. You don't mind if I call you Grandpa, do you?"

"Not in the least, Jenny. I'll be proud to be your grandpa."

Jed said, "All our grandparents have passed away, so you're the elected official, Ken. I've always known you as 'Ken', so I'll probably continue that way."

"It's all good," Grandpa smiled at what Jed said.

Grandpa addressed the group, "We're still a car shy around here. Your folks were killed in my car and it was destroyed. I received an insurance settlement on it, but they didn't pay on the personal injury they should have. I think we might revisit that when the Department of Law Enforcement gives their report. I don't need the money, but why not get what I paid for."

I told everyone, "We'll hunt for another car or something like the Suburban that will carry everyone, plus a hitchhiker or two. The Brownings have to take three cars to go to Church.

Chet said, "Used Suburbans aren't expensive. New ones run upward to fifty thousand. We don't need four-wheel drive. Another car that will carry eight is the Honda Pilot. It's a nice car that gets decent mileage, and it's less than forty thousand new if you don't buy a bunch of extras."

Josey said, "We haven't touched the life insurance money, we have the farmer's mortgage paid off, we have money set aside for emergencies, and for all the spring planting. Kenny really put us over with the custom work he did. Dad knew what he was doing, as he really had the crops figured right and knew that we would be having a decent profit. Go find us another car, Kenny. Buy a Suburban for the kids to go on dates and such with if you can get another one cheap enough. Just because you never dated doesn't mean that the others won't, and they're going to want to drive to school instead of taking the bus most of the time."

I said, "We'll see. You and I took the bus all the time and it didn't hurt us. Besides the bus is a great place to meet your neighbors, right, Jenny?" I looked around and suggested to Chet, "Use the internet to see what's available. Go as far as the city to see what's around. The killer is going to be the insurance because of our ages. They are going to check us out and slam us on all our vehicles as soon as we begin insuring a new car with a young driver." We have to continue to drive safe and with no tickets."

Jenny was sweet as she was sitting on my lap. As she kissed my cheek, she said to me "I have this magic feeling that you guys aren't going to have to worry about how you make it. I'm betting that you turn the equipment out there into all the money you need to buy a couple of vehicles and pay for the insurance. That's the way you are, Kenny. You make things happen for your family because you don't quit."

I hoped that was the case, and that the second well came in as strong as the first. From what I had learned on the internet it was single pool and not multiple pools if the pressure let up on the first well when the second opened up. Depending on their depth, we were going to pump enough oil to keep us a lifetime. We will climb higher on the food chain and do some bragging if we add to the find. I hoped we wouldn't do that, but I could see June and Jeff rubbing it in with some of the townies who ridiculed the country kids. Some farmer's kids were accepted by the townies because their farm was close in and the townies used them to make their lives easier. It was mostly to grow pot, and have been caught in the fields lately. Thank goodness the kids out this way weren't into pot or other drugs. I think a few local kids have munched on some mushrooms, but that's a discovery not an intentional grow to thwart the law.