Chapter 43

At just after 8 we said goodbye to everybody and headed over to my house. We had just settled down with the last half bottle of wine when there was a knock on the door. Lisa was cuddled against me, and we looked at each other and I shrugged as I put down my glass and went to answer the door. I was surprised to see Jackie out there, then laughed when she handed me my laptop. “Your monitor’s in the car, you are going to have to get that yourself.”

I went and got it out and went to put it downstairs as Lisa hugged her and invited Jackie to join us. I came back upstairs and saw they each had a glass of wine now, so I grabbed the last of the snacks and brought the plate out and put it on the coffee table. I thanked Jackie for the laptop, I had completely forgotten about it.

“Oh, it’s OK. I also have some papers for you.” She took an envelope out of her purse and handed it to me. “Inside is the contract, and a check for $25,000. They want ten lines on a toll-free number, six on a local number, and have it connected to the Internet.” I hugged her and smiled.

“Well, that just gives me another reason to come up here more often then. I have a feeling in the next several months I am going to be up here once a month or so. But hopefully, Dee can handle most things locally, and the rest I can handle them remotely.” I called Dee on the phone and told her that the check and contract would be on the table for her, and to arrange the T-1 and phone lines for the middle of November. “And unless you have any other reason to, why not move your BBS there also? I can throw it on another server, and that way you can use that computer for yourself.” She thanked me and said she would, and we could do that next month.

Jackie told us that after the presentation, the GM had brought them all into his office. It seems that my game had impressed them, as well as the presentation I had made after I arrived. “They had me sit in and asked my opinion. I told them about your giving me a computer and what all I was doing with it, and I agreed. That sometime soon that may be the way of the future, and it would be smart for them to jump onto it now. And that this was only a contract for two years, after that they could always cancel it if it does not work as they like. The biggest debate was where to put it. Nobody wanted it attached to their budget. But finally, they decided it should go under marketing since it is more advertisement than anything else.”

I nodded, saying that the software for allowing guests to check-in through it was not quite ready yet. “But tell somebody in the front desk to be ready, when I come back I will bring a computer for them at the registration desk. I will have sound in it, and teach them how to use it. If somebody wants to use that to reserve a room, somebody will need to get on to chat with them.

“You can’t do that automatically?”

“Not yet. This is a test still, in order to do that we will need to be able to tie in the current registration system to the one my guy made. But next year sometime, if they like it enough I can see about bringing him up here and having him hook them together. That would be an additional charge, but they will probably be happy with the result. People getting their own rooms, and paying for it without somebody having to do it for them. Tell them I will go ahead and start their BBS when I get home, and that from then until January it will be at no charge to them. Hopefully, when I come back at the end of November I can give them some numbers as to how many have been checking it out.”

Jackie raised her glass and toasted me, and Lisa and I returned it. She then asked for something a bit stronger, and I frowned. “Jackie, you know my rule about guests drinking and driving.”

“Yes Pete, but don’t forget that I basically live across the street. I actually just walked here from home.” I admitted I forgot, and went and pulled out the 12 year old bottle. I set the glasses on the table, and I saw Jackie raise her eyebrows. Lisa looked also and told her it was Single Malt Scotch. “Don’t worry, if you do not like it I’ll finish it. I admit it can be an acquired taste.”

Lisa took a sip, and nodded and said it was good. Jackie then grinned at Lisa and asked her how she liked it here. Lisa smiled at her, then admitted it was all she had hoped it would be. Jackie smiled back and said she understood. “Remember, it was kind of the same for me. Although you two actually dated at one time, for me he was just a childhood crush. But I’m glad for both of you, honest. Will it continue until next year?”

I was about to say I was not sure when Lisa shrugged. “No idea, one of the guys I work with has been asking me out, I may or may not take him up on it. But if not, or it does not work out it might. To be honest, I was about to accept last month, when I heard Pete here was coming to town.”

I looked at her and put on a mock scowl. “Oh, so all I was for you was a chance to get some before you settled down with somebody else?”

I saw a bit of shock on their faces, until they saw I was grinning. And both gals giggled and nodded. “Yes Pete, that you are. I know I had no regrets about last year, and I doubt Lisa has any now. What can I say, you are a great short term lover. You are tender, love to cuddle, and do not cling. Lisa, he told you that you set all the rules, right?”

“Yes, he did. And Pete, neither of us led the other on. We both knew this was likely only for this weekend. But I do mean what I said, you are one of the best lovers I have ever been with. Without ranking, one of the top. I know I have no regrets, but I also know I am not going to just sit around here waiting for you to come back to stay. You are talking about another ten to fifteen years. I am going to be approaching menopause by then, no way am I waiting that long. I’m sorry if this hurts.”

I smiled and reached over and took her hand in mine. “Not at all, and I understand. I guess that none of us had been looking for any real relationship, just some fun while I was up here. And yes, I include all three of us. Being honest, I had often thought of making love to both of you over the years. Lisa, especially back when we were dating. More than once back then after a date I would go home and take care of things myself, you had gotten me so worked up and that was the only way I could relieve the pressure. Jackie, for you it was when I was here on vacation after High School.”

Lisa looked over at me and asked why then. I saw Jackie blush a bit. “Well, you know when I was here with Linda, you met her skating. Well, remember little Jackie here was only 16 then, and I had not seen her since she was 13. She had grown up quite a bit while I was gone, and each time she kissed my cheek after the games at Kent’s restaurant, she licked my cheek. Trust me, if I had still been up here and single, probably the only thing that would have stopped me from asking her out would have been the fact I was sure her brother would have been there also.”

Both girls nodded, and Jackie reached over and caressed my face. “Well, I had a crush on you for years by that time, and I figured that would be the only chance I had to do something like that. And with Linda there, I knew it would be safe so I did it. Then at the end of the last night, this bozo here cops a feel!”

I laughed as Lisa stared at me. “Now be honest! I patted your butt, I did not cop a feel.” I then reached out and patted Lisa’s thigh three or four times, then removed my hand. “Just like that. Doing that is not exactly ‘copping a feel’.”

In that, Lisa actually agreed with me. Jackie finished her drink a few minutes later, and with a hug to each of us, she headed on home. Lisa and I wasted no time going into the bedroom, where we made love for the rest of the night. It was three rounds, and she was much more vocal than she had been the nights before as we were now the only ones in the house. And I fell asleep shortly after, holding Lisa tight.

I woke up first and took a shower, and when I went back into my bedroom to get dressed, I saw Lisa was looking at me. She crooked her finger at me, so I moved closer. I had thought she wanted a kiss, but as soon as I was in range she pulled off the towel around my waist and wrapped her hand around my cock. She then whispered “I did not get to taste you last night,” and took me into her mouth.

I ran my fingers through her hair and whispered I did not have much time. She simply moaned in response and started to move her lips faster, wrapping her hand around the part of my cock not in her mouth. I was well drained the night before, but after a few minutes I was able to give her at least a little squirt. Lisa moaned in appreciation as I came in her mouth, and then as I kissed her afterward.

Lisa then made us some eggs and sausage as I loaded up my truck, making sure to add the dry ice to the three large ice chests before loading them in the back. After eating we spent several minutes kissing, and I caressed her bottom before I went out the door and headed home.

When I went to work the next day, I immediately got on the phone and made my order. I ordered enough parts to build 15 computers, and on one of the benches in the back started to box up the equipment I would need and setting them to the side. Once everybody was there, I called them all into my office and told them the good news. “OK, for the phone support, that will be a new network. But we will be administering it from here for the most part. About all we can do locally is have my stepmother reset equipment. Dee is really not into doing much more than that, but just look up ‘Dee Culver’ in the directory and you can call her at any time if that is needed. I will be setting it up in here in the next week or so, so everybody can practice working on it remotely.”

Sue asked if I needed help. “Actually, I’m not sure. but tell you what. If anybody wants to volunteer to come up and help me over the Thanksgiving holiday, I can cover that. I will cover travel expenses, standard pay, and a $250 bonus. As well as you can stay either in my house, or in my motorhome. I can afford to take two along, and yes you can bring a guest. My family always has an awesome dinner that night, and you would be welcome to that also. Go ahead and think it over, but no pressure.”

Sue asked if she should offer it to Abe and those that worked at the other shop. I thought about it for a moment and shook my head. “No, and only because they do not have enough experience to do more than help me mount the equipment. I could have my dad do that if it was all I needed. No, I need help with things that you all know. I have a bunch more equipment coming in also. We are setting up three computers for BBS use, and two for dial-up access. I am going to hook them all in, but we are only going to have a fraction of that many lines to start. That way if we have to expand, the systems are already in place. Oh, and I am taking two of the SGI systems up also and hooking them up. So I asked Sing to get those both ready and configure them however she wanted. And Norm I will set on trying to get the bugs worked out of ‘Check-In’. Also, on the contract is the phone number of their IT guy. Talk to him and find out what software they use. They are already asking for a way to have the customers to access the rooms available and be able to reserve and pay for a room automatically. That is more long term, but it is something we can shop around to other places I think.”

Sue and Blake were handling the day to day part as I built and built each of the systems and got them each configured. That night I was sitting at home remembering the previous year and being worried about what was going on in Eastern Europe. This time, it was more personal because I knew many that were going there, or were already there.

Lisa was assigned as the NCOIC of the rear detachment of her unit, so she was safe. But Nate, Jackie, Debbie, and Dan were all either in the area or soon going there. Fred was also going soon and had just been transferred to a unit in Texas for refresher training prior to deployment.

Two weeks later I asked for volunteers among the techs, and for $300 had one of them take the computers up to Idaho, and set up the gateway server on a desk. Along with it was a sheet with the passwords and settings, so the phone company could do the T-1 install. I left on Tuesday, with the rest of the computers, DigiBoard cases, switches, modems, and everything else I was going to need in the truck and hit the road. I had even decided to build four DigiBoard units, which in the future could be used to expand to over a hundred lines, just install the phone lines. I stopped for the night in San Jose, and early in the morning hit three different surplus stores. I bought twenty-five racks, and a case of 9600 modems because that were $25 each. But sadly, I did not find any more DigiBoard cards.

When I was about 20 miles outside of town I called my dad, and he met me at the new data center. Dave was there also, as was Rob and Sue who had gotten in a few hours earlier. We quickly got all of the equipment unloaded, and Dave was happily drilling and pounding in the mounting bolts. Dad and I started moving everything into the racks, and Sue was starting to wire everything together. We set up the racks in a row of fifteen, and simply stacked the rest against the other side of the back room. We put all of the access equipment in the first rack, the computers were put in the second and third rack. I taped a sheet of paper above each, and the first rack would all be for dial-up Internet access. The third was only for the casino, and the fifth for BBS use. I again was using a rack to separate each, to provide expansion room. Dad laughed as we then unloaded one of the old RADAR workstations, then mounted everything into it. We set it up near the doorway to the back, and Darla smiled when she saw it was a nice dark brown, then kissed each of us and took the kids home as it was their bedtime. Dave and Rob were helping me run cables around the back area as Sue plugged them all in and documented them. And by 10 we had everything wired in and working.

I grinned as I got into IRC and sent an alert to Sing who had volunteered to work overnight for this install. She responded a few minutes later and verified she could see what was up. Sue and Rob set up the two lab benches I had gotten behind me, and soon had the SGI systems up and running. Sue was showing Rob how to input the IP addresses that the phone company had given us, and I was having Sing add them into our master database. It was getting late, so we all headed home and went into the Big House for a late dinner.

Everybody was asking me how the drive up was as I closed my eyes and took a bite of venison roast. Man, it was good to be home! Sue asked her what it was we were eating, and she was kind of stunned when Kim told her “Bambi”. She put down her fork, and the rest of us laughed. “Well Sue, it’s already dead, so might as well. If not, I’ll eat it.”

But she went ahead and finished it, saying she had just never imagined she would ever be eating deer. I told them that Sing was already starting to test the system, and was uploading the Casino BBS and we should be switching it over tomorrow. Dee told me that her number would be moved on Friday, and we said we would shut her down that morning, and then transfer it to a server so when the transfer happened it would go live immediately once the phone company did their part.

Sue and Rob had elected to stay in the RV. Dad had already shown them how everything worked, so once we all headed to our beds for the night I was sitting in the living room with a glass of scotch. I had loaded in over a dozen bottles of various things, knowing the selection was worse and prices higher here in Idaho. A few weeks before Lisa had told me she was spending Thanksgiving with another teacher at her school, which I understood as a polite way of saying she was now off the market.

I had simply parked the truck in front of the house and would unload the last things in the morning. So I went downstairs and called the new dial-up number. I decided to pop into the AdultNET IRC and see what was going on. I saw that there were over five hundred people on, and looked at the rooms.

I was using “IdahoMan”, and brought up a listing of the rooms. One of them had me scratching my head though, #TorD. I brought up the room, and was somewhat surprised to see it was a game of Truth or Dare. Several waved, and there was a game in progress already. And it was quite sexy, reading how a girl named Kit was quite erotically describing how she was eating out another girl named AppleBabe. It was quite arousing to read, and when Apple said she had an orgasm, I saw it was Kit’s turn to pick another user.

She picked a guy named SuperSchlong, and he took truth so he was asked to tell us what his best sexual ability was. I laughed when he said it was shoving his nine inch cock into a girl over and over until she screamed. I made a comment that he should improve his skills, then she would not scream.

I had added a (grin) at the end, but he went on the offensive and started to insult and put me down. I saw there was nobody with moderator privileges in the room, so I used my server-wide ones and booted him off of the server. However, I got an IM from AppleBabe, and she laughed and said that guy had been a dick for the last hour. We all agreed that Kit should pick again, and this time she picked me. I said it was my first time here, so asked for a Truth. And she asked me the exact same thing that SS had answered.

I pondered for a few moments, then said I did everything I could to ensure my partner had at least one orgasm, and when possible I would cuddle them to sleep afterward. Almost everybody loved that answer, and I picked another guy who I had tell us his most embarrassing sexual encounter. The play went on and on for about 45 minutes, and during one break I had slipped upstairs to get into a robe and grab the whiskey and a bowl of ice.

I was a bit surprised when Apple was told to give us a show of how she gives head, and she picked me. She had already described herself as 5’3”, black hair, slender build, so I had a good idea of what she would look like. I volunteered to get into any position she wanted, and she wanted me on my back. As she laid next to me and started to stroke my cock, I described how I reached my hand behind her head and pulled her lips to mine so I could kiss her.

Our instant messages had been getting more flirty as the night went on, and when I did that she sent me one that read “Oh, nice Idaho.” She responded in the room saying she was returning it as she slowly pumped me with her hand, and I described caressing her back and running my fingers through her rich black hair.

I was a bit surprised when she told me in IM that might be a bit hard, as she had her hair in an afro. I said I did not care, but if I had known that I would have said I used a pick. In the room she then described how she looked down at the head of my cock poking out of the top of her small hand, and loving the contrast between my white cock and her black hand. I then described how I took her other hand as she was kissing her way down my chest and licking and sucking on each of her fingers. And I was not really white, but a medium tan.

And we continued in two windows the entire time. In IM she asked if I was Mexican, as in the room she described how her tongue was exploring my navel. And I responded I was of American Indian descent as I would look down into her eyes and caress her face, fingers caressing her cheeks lightly.

She told me in one of the private messages that the rule was that encounters should last no more than 15 minutes, but we continued for over 35. But nobody complained, and when I sent that I was starting to throb and moaning I was about to cum, she took me deep in her mouth so she could feel it against the back of her throat and drink it all down. Everybody applauded us both in the room, several saying it had been one of the sexiest things they had ever seen. Apple asked in IM if she should pick me next, and I asked her not to. I kissed her long and deep in the room, and almost every girl seemed to swoon, ad the guys were mixed or silent as to my doing that. I went ahead and said goodbye to everybody as I left the room.

She said goodbye in IM, and I said I was not leaving yet, just leaving the room. And when she asked if that had affected me as much as it had her. I responded that if she was masturbating, then it had indeed affected us both as much. What followed was another 15 minutes or so of us masturbating and describing how we each felt and how much we had loved our encounter when she announced she was having an orgasm. And I was right behind her, as I grabbed the waste can and was shooting my cum into it.

I had already looked at her IP information, and saw she was from LA but not my service. She could not pull anything up from mine, so I told her I was in SE Idaho. “So Idaho, is this your first time with sexy brown chocolate?”

“Actually no. A wonderful lady I loved for over six months was also black, and she is still very dear to me. We have not been lovers for four years. But I still love her deeply, and we stay in contact. She is on the East Coast now.”

She admitted that surprised her, and when she asked I said we had met when we were both in the military together. But it was getting late, and we exchanged electronic kisses, and we both promised to look for each other in the future. “Just so you know Idaho, I rarely do anything outside of the room.”

I told her it was my first time, and she said bullshit. “Nobody as good as you were was a virgin at cyber, Idaho.”

I told her to go to the echo messages of the AdultNET archive, and to look up some of my stories I had put in the Erotica area. One of the things that Cliff had written for me was a way to archive all messages on AdultNET and archive them for anybody on the Internet to access. They still had to use a BBS to send, but anybody could read these.

I was feeling good as I crawled into bed and went to sleep.

I went to the Big House the next day, and everybody was already there. Dee and Darla told me dinner would be ready at 4, and told us to go somewhere else. I called Jackie, and then Sue and Rob climbed into their car and followed me back to the data center. I saw that Sing had gotten the BBS up and running, and redirected all data from the old IP to the new one. That would work until we got the registration changed, and I showed Jackie the new service.

I told her it was still up and running, and Sing had sent me a complete rundown of the history since we had gone live with it two weeks prior. Over four hundred connections, and how the IRC node we had set up was live and running. I took her to the IRC door and showed how somebody could contact somebody at the front counter and message them from there, and what it would sound like. “Now tomorrow I will go there, and set up one of the computers at the front desk. Is it all ready?”

She assured me it was, and their IT guy would be there waiting. And as she was there already I had her log in to the new “Portneuf Valley BBS” I was running, and showed her the text sheets on how to use the Internet, things she could do on it, and the software she might want to get to use it. I handed her a piece of paper with the phone numbers, as well as an account I made right there for the Internet dial-up, so she could get on right away. “There is already an account created for the casino. Once it is in place it will automatically dial in, and you can also help show people how it works.”

Rob thought it was pretty cool, and I told him to look for a service in his area with shell access also. “That way you two can chat at each other through IRC, and save on phone bills.” We confirmed everything was up and running as expected, and I made the first announcement on Dee and Kent’s boards that the service was up and running, and providing service to the Portneuf Valley region. Also giving the information for my BBS, and that more information could be found there about Internet shell access.

We had already decided that all payments would be made here, and Dee would use the private company IRC to pass information to us back in LA. The phone rang about 45 minutes later and thinking it was Dee I went and answered it. But I was as surprised as the guy on the other end to reach an actual person. I told him we were indeed open for business. I told him we were closed until Friday, but he could come down and sign up for service then.

Finally, it was time to head home, so I locked everything up and we headed back to the ranch. I went in to add more wood, then headed to the Big House. And as always, the ladies outdid themselves yet again. Venison, ham, turkey, and even a salmon that dad had caught and kept in the freezer for tonight. Along with enough extras to feed an army. Sue and Rob were blown away, and said they had never seen that much food before.

“Well, this is the norm here. Holiday meals for six or more people are common, and there is enough variety that we can eat leftovers for another week or more and not get sick of them.”

I asked where they had gotten the smoked turkey, and dad said they did it right here. “You must not have noticed, but they got the smokehouse up and running this summer. Dave and I smoked four turkeys, this is the one that came out the best. This weekend we are going to get a bunch on sale and smoke those, so we can have them all year long.”

We were sitting in the living room, and Dave asked if I could leave the truck there until December. I said I could, and I could rent a trailer if I needed to haul more stuff. He said I could just use his, and to pick it up at his place. “In fact, that would help a lot, because that is one of the reasons I wanted to use it. You see, last week we finalized what you had talked about with Kim months ago.”

I looked at him in puzzlement, and he grinned. “Starting next week, we are emptying our place and moving in here. Then once that is done, we are swapping land with the Chambers family. In fact, it took little work at all. I walked their place, and saw that in many ways it’s getting played out. Too much chemical fertilizer, too many crops, and not enough breaks. Our land has not been farmed in almost fifty years, and as you pointed out has water rights so that will more than makeup for the loss of fifty acres. Plus I bet they can grow more on that 150 than they were here with 200.”

“I was not sure if that would ever be a thing, I actually said it half joking.”

“Yep, but it’s actually a good idea. Plus our place up there is bigger, five rooms as opposed to their three. And this is the best kind of deal, we both think we came out ahead. They get land fertilized by almost forty-five years of cow shit, we get another 200 acres to add to the spread here. That’s around a hundred more cows, without adding to the feed costs. Next year I will hold off on culling the herd of yearlings, and use that to build it up. Throw down some sweepings and run a pipe over to flood irrigate it this next year, it should be good to go the next, just rip out the fence.”

Rob asked what sweepings were, and I laughed. “That’s an old joke of Uncle Dave’s. He goes to the feed store, and basically buys whatever they have leftover from bins, older seeds that did not sell and may not grow because of age, literally whatever they sweep off of the ground. He just spreads it around and whatever grows, grows. It’s normally a mixed bunch. Grass, clover, alfalfa, hay, wildflowers, even some wheat and corn, and almost anything else from potatoes to carrots. He just spreads it around, and it normally grows really good. During most of the year cows are not real picky, they will eat almost anything that grows. And he gets it dirt cheap.”

“Yep, that’s what went in the lower pasture over there, and it’s what I spread near that new building of yours. At least some of them grow really fast, and that will prevent it from washing away in the winter and spring. There we will just mow it and let it run wild though. Up here, I normally spread it every spring. And I think the beasts like it better, more like how they would eat in the wild.”

Rob said that made a lot of sense, as in the wild they would have just eaten anything they could find. Dave thanked me again for the idea. “And yes, it is all going with the rest of the property, with the same arrangement as you and your dad have. Darla and I own and will live on the homestead, we rent the land for $100 a month. No more running all over creation, with parts of the herd spread all over the place. Now they are all right here, and we can walk or drive over here in just a few minutes. If you had told me this five years ago, I would have called you crazy. But you now own one of the biggest ranches in the area.”

“We own, Uncle Dave, we own. Not me. Remember, this belongs to all of us. And now that you are adding in your own 200 acres, hopefully you will stop feeling guilty about using the rest of the land.” Dave grinned at that, and nodded. He then laughed and said he bet old JR was now a bit upset that he let the other two parcels go.

I just shook my head. “Naw, I don’t think so. He wants to see it used, and it was not being used at all after they had bought it. That’s why I got those two parcels so cheap. He knew we would put it to use, so selling them off simply made sense to him. That hundred acres or so was wasted by his company, and was actually costing them money in taxes. And the fines for this place were going to be huge unless they fixed the erosion problem. We did that, put money in his pocket, and put the land back to use again. Which makes his own land more valuable in return. Remember, all they wanted was the water rights, the rest of the land was not of much use to them.”