Chapter 90

The next day at 1:00pm, I met with Robert Wells, our new County Agent. He rode with me for two hours, over the Donavan Farm, the part of the Montague Farm that’s in Collins County, and all the land I’d bought from Judge Skelley. I learned a lot from him, and he asked if I would let him and his assistant put in test plots, of seed, new herbicides, and even do a plot where we have irrigation, with a test of non-irrigated cotton in the same field.

I told him who I was working with on my seed and fertilize recommendations, and he was going to meet with Bill Clark to get his input also.

I was still talking to him as he was getting ready to leave - when the mailman ran, and Sheila walked out to the mailbox.

She walked over - spoke to Robert - and fanned the overnight letter from Juliet McKerkey, containing the papers to the Glendale Farm.

Robert told me, “Josey, I need to get back to the office. I’ll call you in a day or so, and we’ll make more plans for our plots. After you meet with County Agent Bill Hornsby in Stewart County, let me know, and I’ll try to coordinate a really big test plot on the County Line Road with him and his people. If all goes well, we may want to set up a Bi-County Field-Day on that new farm you’re about to take possession of.”

“Robert, I really appreciate the time you’ve taken with me, along with the information and advice you’ve offered. I’ll be talking to you as soon as I get the field maps on this Glendale Farm and I’ll have Bill Clarke to get his men to take soil samples on this one as quick as we can.”

As he drove away, I told Sheila, “I’m going to the courthouse in Stewart County, to get this deed filed and get any maps and information I can my hands on. They close at 4:30 and I may not make it back before you leave.”

“I’ll stay here and make sure all the girls are picked up from the different farms, before I leave.”

“Thanks. I’m going to park my truck back in the hangar and take my new Corvette for a ride.”

She told me, “Rondo and Chuck installed a radio in it for you one day when they were up here. You may want to holler at me when you get out on the highway, to see how it works.”

“I’ll do that, and I’ll see you in the morning, if nothing happens.”

“You mean - if you don’t spend the night with one of those young girls in the courthouse over there?”

“Just because you went over there to pick up some papers, doesn’t mean you have to start teasing me about any of the women - or girls, in that courthouse.”

“Be sure to get the lowdown on Sheriff Brent Jones while you’re over there.”

“What have you heard about Sheriff Jones?” I didn’t even know the story was out.

“That a certain farmer - no name mentioned as yet - caught him naked inside a new Cadillac, on a dirt road with a woman who wasn’t his wife.”

“Where did you hear that crazy rumor?”

“I talked to Lois in Judge Skelley’s office this morning, and she was telling me that the Mayor’s wife has confessed to having an affair with a married man, who is HIGH UP in the ranks of Stewart County. She told me that she was talking to one of the girls in Sheriff Jones’ office ... and Elizabeth told her it was Sheriff Jones who was caught with another man’s wife.”

“Elizabeth Evans is the Mayor’s daughter. I met her over at the courthouse, a week or so ago...”

“OH WOW, then it was her MOM?”

“I’ll find out today, if Elizabeth is at her job ... I need to run in and call her before I leave, anyway. I told her I’d take her to lunch the next time I came over to the courthouse. Maybe she will have supper with me today.”

“May I eavesdrop?”

“You would anyway.”

I was dialing when she asked, “Is she tall and sexy?”

“Very much so...

“Sheriff Jones’ Office. How may I help you?”

“You can tell me now, that you’ll have supper with me tonight.”

“JOSEY! Heck yes, I’ll have supper with you. Are you coming to the courthouse first? We close in a little over an hour.”

“I’ll be there before you close. I have to file the papers on a new farm I’ve just bought.”

“Would that happen to be the Glendale Farm?”

“Yes. Uh, how did you know that?”

“Just a wild guess. Would it be alright if I’m waiting for you in the hallway? I need to ask you some personal questions - and besides, I want to spend as much time with you as I can, while you’re over here. I’ve been hoping you would hurry back and take me out to eat.”

“I’ll be there in thirty minutes, if the law doesn’t stop me.”

“Bye Josey.”

“Bye Elizabeth. I’m on my way.”

Sheila was laughing. “You better tell me the whole slutty, sleazy story of your date with Elizabeth Evans, tomorrow.”

“I will. Bye...

“Josey to Josey Office”

“Loud and clear, Josey. Hammer Down”

I walked into the Stewart County Courthouse at 4:05. I saw Elizabeth just as she stepped out into the hallway with her red purse in her left hand. She looked toward the door and saw me, then actually ran to me in her red high heels, with her very short white skirt flipping up in front. From five feet away, she launched herself at me. I caught her and spun around and around with her in my arms. When I put her feet back on the floor, I looked into a tall mirror to see our reflections.

“Smile at the camera, Elizabeth.”

She hooked her arm through my elbow and pulled herself against me, smiling at the mirror. “I wish I had a photo of us just like this.”

“Do you have a camera?”

“I have a Polaroid at home, why?”

“I want a copy of that photo myself. You look absolutely beautiful in that white skirt, red blouse, and red shoes.”

“Josey, let’s go get the papers filed your new farm. You’ll never know how much I needed you to call this very day, and just how much your complements mean to me. I hope I don’t act like some silly little girl, but I’m so damned excited to see you.”

“I’m excited to see you again too. As soon as these papers arrived by overnight mail, I ran in the office to call you.”

“Was Sheila there with you when you called?”

“Yes ... How do you know Sheila?”

“I don’t, but Lois Walker and I have become friends over the phone and she told me that your secretary, Sheila Grassley, is very pretty and very sexy, plus she’s very smart.”

“Sheila is all of that - I’ll agree with Lois ... How well do you know Lois?”

“We’ve never met, but she told me you’re good friends with Judge Skelley, and Sheriff Ramona Glass.”

“I know most of the people in the Collins County Courthouse, I’ve actually worked for the County Health Department, but since I’ve started farming, I haven’t worked with the nurses there.”

“I met Miss Erica Steiner, Becky Taylor and Jesse when I went over there back in December with Mom, to be examined so we could start taking the new birth control pills.”

“Those three are very good friends of mine. They are very efficient nurses too. Though Becky is a nurse in training, she’s really smart.”

“She and I wear the same size bra. Did you know that?”

“Uh, how would I know something like that?”

“Josey, I’m not on the job now, and you’re here to take me to supper. I hope you’ll let me invite you to the Country Club. I want to show you off and I want to see those rich bitches drool, when I walk in with my arm linked with your arm. I want you to wear your white hat and keep those dark glasses on too, at least until we’re seated.”

“Are you a member? Or is it your family membership that gets you in.”

“Actually, I am a member and I can submit your name for membership too, if you’ll let me.”

“Do you think I could ever fit in with that crowd?”

“Those people are shop owners, farmers, secretaries, and retired people. I would bet there’s not a one of the women who go there, would turn you down for a date – married or not. The men would love to sit with you and listen to your stories about the drug cartel members you captured.”

“What if I just wanted to talk to you?”

“I could spend the entire night, just listening to you talk about an army of piss-ants, if that’s what you wanted to talk about. I could make a fool of myself, very easily around you.”

“May I tell you something, as I wait for the lady to finish with my papers?”

“Sure, but before you do, I want to ask a favor of you.”

“Okay.”

“Is this our first date?”

“I hope it’s our first of many dates. I was afraid to ask you out on a date, but since you brought it up, I’m glad you did. May I consider this our first date?”

“Please do, and tell me what you were about to tell me.”

“I could easily make a fool of myself on our first date, too. You are absolutely beautiful - and dressed like that, you look like a millionaires girlfriend.”

“I would rather be a millionaire’s mistress for the rest of the night.”

“Oh really? What would the difference be, between a mistress and his girlfriend?”

“I’ve never been a mistress but I read a novel once, where a mistress told her lover, that she was free to be herself, she didn’t have to pretend, and she could be as naughty as she wanted, knowing she was pleasing her lover when she showed him how naughty and adventurous she could be.”

“Have you ever been that naughty and adventurous, or were you just wishing you were brave enough?”

“I’ve never even considered it until you called and told me you were coming over to take me out to supper. I’ve never wanted to be that way before in my life, but I can see where the mistress was coming from. With her being his mistress, she doesn’t have to pretend her lover is in love with her.”

“But what if he really is in love with her, and he still wants her to be a little wild - naughty as hell - and very adventurous?”

“She would still be the winner, because that’s what she’s wanted, since she met him.”

“Here comes the lady with all my papers ready for me to sign. Could I get you to sign Rondo Billy Parker’s name on here for me?”

“Are you serious? I remember seeing him on TV, and his pictures in the papers with you. Will he be your partner on this new farm?”

“Yes. Sign here, and make it fancy. He writes better than I do.”

She was still laughing when I walked out with the papers in my left hand, holding her hand with my right.

“Can we leave your car here and take mine?”

“Sure, where are you parked?”

“Over there in Sheriff Jones’ parking spot. Here, you drive and show me just how naughty and adventurous you want to be.” I handed her the keys and opened the driver’s side door

“THIS IS YOURS?”

“Yes, and tonight, you get to pretend it’s yours.”

I held the door for her and she made sure I had a clear shot all the way to the crotch of her red panties as she threw her right leg in and swung her feet around.

When I was seated in the passenger seat, she looked the dash and the floorboard over. “I’ve never driven a floor shift. OH MY – It’s a four-speed too.”

“If you were my mistress, what would you do?”

“If I were your mistress, the first thing I would do, is take my panties off and hand them to my lover to keep, then I would put my foot on the clutch and start this bad-ass silver beast.”

“Show me how bad you can be.”

“Can I really? Would you ever want to come see me again, if I did pull my panties off and give them to you?”

“I’m coming back, regardless. It’s up to you, to be as wild and naughty as you want to be.”

“Even if I take my bra off and hand it to you?”

“You can take all your clothes off and walk into the Country Club naked with me, and I’ll still be back for more.”

“I wish you lived here.”

“Why?”

“I’d love to show you how wild and brave I want to be, even on our first date.”

“What if I told you I have a room leased over here?”

“I hope it has a back door, because I want to walk in naked with you.”