Chapter 70

“Granny, I was just talking to Mr. Stevens out at the John Deere Dealership and he was telling me about some new equipment they now have.”

“Tell me what you’ve discovered. I know it has to be good, or you would never have called.”

“I just bought two - six-row planters to replace the old, worn out, four-row planters Mr. Bill was using. I was asking him about some new middle-busters and he told me they now have five-row middle-busters and I bought three. I also told him I want three more of the 730 diesel row-crop tractors too, besides the five I ordered earlier. They will be delivered this week.”

“Josey, call him back and place my order for five of the row-crop diesels like you ordered. I want two of the six-row planters and two of the five-row, middle-busters, also.”

“I’ll call him right back and tell him. Have you made any arrangements for cottonseed? He asked me if I had, then he told me that his brother-in-law works for that new Tri-County Co-op that put in over near the County Line. I told him to have his brother-in-law come see me about my seed for this year. He told me that cottonseed may get tight, if we have a good planting season and everyone gets to plant all their acres.”

“When the man comes to see you, make a deal on our seed too. You know how many acres we have ... Josey, you and I need to sit down with your Momma - and talk about you farming all of our land - with yours. Be thinking about it, because you’ll have Hank and his boys to help you farm this whole side of the county.”

“Granny! Are you sure?”

“Josey, it’s just getting to be too much on me each year and I need to turn the farming part of our businesses over to you. You’re already planning ahead, like a farmer three times your age, and you’re becoming one hell of a young business man. Your Momma is sitting here beside me and we’re both so proud of you we’re smiling with tears in our eyes.

“She and I both, just agreed that we should let you take over all the farmland in the family.

...”Go see Ruth Bradenton at the FHA office and get this thing combined into one big farming operation. If she needs my signature and your Momma’s, just let us know.“

“I’ll take care of it Granny. I talked to Tori yesterday when I deposited that other reward check. I told her we wanted to apply for Rural Farm Workers Housing Loans too, so we can build new brick homes for the farmhands using low-interest Government Loans.”

“Josey, go take care of it, Baby. You’re making me cry, I’m so proud of my Grandson.”

“I didn’t mean to make you and Momma cry, Granny. Tell Momma that I’ll come by in a day or so and we’ll sit down and talk about the all the farms, and what all I’ve heard - and learned from others. Love you, Granny. Hold the phone over to Momma...”

“Josey, you make us so proud. Take care of it like it was yours, we know you’ll make the right decisions.”

“I love you, Momma. See you soon.

...”Damn, I didn’t mean to make them cry.

“Sheila, why do you have tears in your eyes?”

“Because you make me so proud just to be sitting here, listening to you make business decisions about million dollar farms like a grown man who’s done this all his life. I’m sure that’s why your Momma and Granny were crying too - wasn’t it?”

“Yes, but we need to get over to the apartment complex as soon as we can. You can help me make farming plans later. We have more business decisions to make.”

“I notice you say - WE, a lot - all of a sudden. Do you have a mouse in your pocket?”

“No, but if I did, I’d have a girl mouse - named Sheila.”

“I need to go wipe my eyes, and wash my face before we go.”

Just as she walked out of the room, the 2-way radio blared...

“Josey Home to Josey Office”

“Go ahead, Rondo. Loud and clear on this end. You get a bonus for this idea, looks like it’s going to really help us out.”

“Sure is - I’m happy with the way these radios send and receive.”

“I just got off the phone with Granny and Momma. Looks like we’re going to need more radios, but I’ll talk to you about that when I get home.”

“10-4 ... See ya.”

“10-4?? What does that mean?”

“10-4 stands for Okay - or - I Got Your Message.”

“10-4 ... See you at the house.”

“10-4”

I was still laughing at him when Sheila came back.

“I heard y’all all the way in the bathroom. 10-4 huh? I’ll have to remember that.”

“10-4”

She parked beside me at the office and I waited to walk in with her. When I opened the door for her, she looked at me, shook her head and gave me a smile that I’ll remember forever ... it turned out to be her version of - Come Fuck Me Baby.

As soon as we walked in, the smiles left our faces. No one was at the desk and the desk had been cleared. There was a one-page letter taped to the countertop and Sheila pulled it up to read it...

“Well, you warned me, didn’t you? Now what?”

“We have to find another apartment complex manager. Until we do, I’ll call Mom and she’ll be glad to work a week or so, to earn a little extra money.”

“If it wasn’t for needing someone here all the time, taking care of small repairs, collecting rent, and answering the phone, I’d offer her the job outright.”

“Who takes care of your other apartments?”

“I have an older woman who takes care of the office for me. I furnish her an apartment rent free ... and...

“I need to make a phone call. I have an older man who contracts the repairs on my other apartment complex, and I’m sure I could get him to do the same here.

“Hello, Mr. Beale? Yes, this is Josey and I wanted to ask - if you and your brother would like to take on the minor repairs at my new apartment complex out here on the bypass.

“You will? Thank you sir. I have a new office out at the airport now, and Sheila Grassley is my secretary. If you’ll stop by there one day, she will give you the keys to the utility room, where all the electrical switches are located.”

“Yes Sir, and I’ll pay you and your brother for each repair, same as we’re doing now.

“Sheila, would your Mom like to work here during the day, answer the phone and collect rent on the first of each month?”

“I’ll call her now. I suppose you know, you’ll have nearly my whole family working for you except my youngest sister, Shelly, and my other brother, William - who’s still in the Marines.”

“Is your sister still in school?”

“Yes, and she thinks I’ve just landed grandest job in the whole world, working for Josey Ruiz. Of course, Mom does too and just wait until I make this call.

“Mom, are you busy?”

“No, Hon. What do you need?”

“I need you to work for Josey, at his apartment complex out on the bypass, tomorrow morning.”

“SHEILA! Are you teasing me? Is that the same apartment complex where you’ll be living?”

“Yes, and you’ll be working from 8:00 until 7:00 if you can work those hours.”

“Since your Daddy is going to start working for Josey tomorrow, I’ll ride to town when he goes to work - until they start working long hours, and maybe you can give me a ride home in the evenings?”

“I’ll be glad to. What’s Shelly doing? Watching television?”

“She’s sitting beside me, with her ear stuck to the phone since she heard me mention Josey’s name. Do you want to speak to her?”

“Yes, but I was going to ask you first, if she could live with me, since you and Daddy will be working, and Chuck has moved out. I’d hate for her to be alone all the time when she’s not in school.”

“But I thought you told me that you and Josey may want to ... UH - never mind. Here’s Shelly and you can ask her what you just asked me. She can - if she wants to, so get ready - you’re about to have a roommate.”

“Hey, Sheila. What was all that about, with Mom and you talking about Josey?”

“I just asked her if she would let you live with me in my new apartment, so I could take you to school and you wouldn’t have to be at home alone.”

“REALLY? Could I come out to where you work, after school? The bus I ride now comes right past the airport.”

“Hold on.”

Sheila held her hand over the phone and asked me.

“Josey, did you hear that part?”

“It’s up to you. Her living with you - and her being at the office with you.”

“Josey, I have to tell you now, my sister wants you too.“

“SHEILA? Are you sure about this?”

“I’m positive. She and I had a long talk last night on the phone and she asked me if she could live with me. I told her that I wanted you to come over some nights and she begged me to let her be naked with us. PLEASE JOSEY?”

“Like I said, it’s up to you. How old is she anyway?”

“Your age.”

“DAMN.”

“Does that mean yes?”

“10-4”

“Can we go get her now, in your new truck?”

“Tell her to pack enough clothes to last until you and she can get the rest of her stuff. If your Mom and Daddy are okay with this, I have no problem with her being in bed with us.”

“I’ll make this up to you, Josey.”

“You already have - by working for me. You better talk to Shelly, or she’ll think I’m refusing to let her live with you.”

“Shelly, pack enough clothes for the rest of the week, and all your personal stuff. Josey and I are coming after you now. You and I can get the rest of your stuff this weekend.”

“YES, YES, YES – I’ll be ready. I owe you, Sheila. I love you, Sheila. Here’s Mom.”

“Sheila, your sister may not come down from the clouds in time for school tomorrow. You tell Josey for me - when he comes out here with you - I want to meet him personally.”

“He’s smiling and nodding too. See you in a few minutes, Mom.

“Josey, if we had time, I’d let you bend me over that tall counter and fuck me.”

“Remind me of that later.”

“I need to run to the bathroom before we go.”

“There’s a bathroom right through that door.”

When we went out and locked the office door, she turned to me, “Josey, will you let me drive your new truck?”

“Sure, the keys are in it.” I opened the door for her and when she got in, I spanked her tight jeans.

We were leaving the bypass, headed out of town on a gravel road when she asked, “Will you let me drive home too?”

“Sheila! Are you sure this is what Shelly wants?”

“She and I started taking the pill at the same time Lizbeth and Merci did. Shelly wants you - but she wants me to be with her when she gives her cherry to you.”

“I still don’t get it. Even though she’s my age, and she looks like her older sister - why me?”

“Take a good look at yourself in the mirror sometime. You may be sixteen, but you look twenty-one - and like the students at the business school told me, you’re So Damned Macho, you just ooze man-sex when you smile or just walk down the street. I watched you out the window today when you were working with Rondo and Billy Wayne. You stand out like one White-faced cow in a herd of Black Angus.”

“What do you know about cattle? You said that like you actually know the difference.”

“Mom has a younger, half-brother who’s married to a girl six years younger than he is, and they run cattle on the levee down in Stewart County.

“Why do you keep looking at me like that?”

“How many head do they run?”

“Maybe a hundred and fifty - to a hundred and sixty, at this time. But last fall I was down there and they wanted to go into partners with his wife’s three sisters and lease a lot more levee to run three hundred head, or more.

“Josey, are you alright? Why do you keep staring at me like that?”

“Do they own pastureland down there, or just run cattle on their levee leases?”

“They don’t own any land, except for their homes - is what Belle told me. Belle Meade, is the oldest of the three sisters and from what Rick told me, Reina - his wife, and her sisters inherited a lot of money - and they love horses and cattle.”

“Can we meet them sometime? I have forty miles of consecutive levee lease, and I’m looking for enough cattle to keep the grass grazed, and enough wranglers to tend the cattle, care for them - and even breed them ourselves if they know how - and we can find the right bulls. I saw the long range market report on beef in the papers, and the beef market is projected to be high for the next five to ten years. What I would like to do, is buy bred-heifers at auction, graze them until fall, sell the momma cows and probably the steers. Then feed the young heifers over the winter - breed those heifers when they’re old enough, buy more at auction and start all over again, early each spring.”