Chapter 6

Out front the noise came to a halt. Dad was in the dually pulling a portable feed mixer and a feed wagon behind it. Grandpa and Grandma Jackson was following behind with a nearly new ½ ton Chevy four wheel drive pickup crew cab with a short bed. It had slightly oversize tires on it. He was pulling two flatbed hay wagons; one of them had two Gators loaded on it.

‘‘James, go get the tractor so we can park the feed wagon under the shed,’’ he said. He pulled ahead after unhooking the wagon to allow room for the tractor. Then he unhooked the mixer and it was next under the shed.

The Gators were lifted off the wagon with the loader. The wagons were then parked under the shed. If I read all this right, Dad was going to expand our number of beef cattle.

‘‘Elsie, Carol and Bob - have you behaved yourselves today?’’ Grand Ma Jackson asked.

‘‘Miss Jackson, they have been good as gold and are welcome anytime they want to come over,’’ I said.

‘‘Amos, how did the truck drive?’’ Dad asked.

‘‘It drove good, seems solid. I think it was a good buy,’’ he said.

‘‘Elsie, when you kids come home bring this Gator with you, it’s ours. Sherman is going to run us home. You can stay awhile longer but be home before dark or whenever Sherman heads you in that direction,’’ Mr. Jackson said.

‘‘I’ll be back in a few minutes. Mary, have you got supper planned out?’’ Dad said.

‘‘Yes Dad, Sheppard’s pie with peas, biscuits and apple pie with ice cream,’’ I said.

‘‘OK, sounds good,’’ he said.

The Sheppard’s pie was easy. Mashed potatoes and ground beef cooked, then mixed in a small pie crust and stick it in the oven until golden brown. The apple pie was one of those premade; just put it in the oven at the same time.

‘‘Lets fill your Gator with gas and you can drive it around to make sure it’s OK before you head home,’’ I said.

They were still driving it when Dad returned home. I was just setting supper out to cool. I had the timing about right.

‘‘Mary, come out and see what you think about this truck,’’ Dad said.

I opened the door and slid into the seat. It had been well kept or at least cleaned very well. The vinyl seats were clean and so were the rubber mats, so it had been ordered as a farm truck. The dash was like new. There were no dents in the bed inside or outside.

I opened the hood, looked at the engine and pulled the dipstick to look at the oil. It was clean and new.

‘‘Looks like a great truck Dad! I see it has the restricted farm tag on it, you will have to get that changed. It’s limited to 25 miles from the farm, ‘‘ I said.

‘‘I had the restricted tag put on it when I came through town. The truck is yours. Tomorrow we will go to town and get you the restricted license to drive it and the farm trucks. The county signed onto the plan last week. James still has several months to go before he can get his license,’’ Dad said.

‘‘Do you remember Sid Ortel?’’ Dad asked.

‘‘Yeah, he was on the farm committee and AG teacher at school last year,’’ I said.

‘‘He oversees the licensing division and will give you the test tomorrow at 11. You have to drive around the block a couple times and a mile or two outside of town. He said you can’t fail - just remember the seat belt, turn signals, stop signs, lights and speed limits. I know you do all those things; you have driven to all the farms we till and around dozens of time,’’ Dad said.

‘‘You also know the license restricts you to daylight to sundown driving, no more than three in the truck and no interstate highways, ‘‘ Dad said.

I hugged him tight and kissed his neck and then his lips, ‘‘Thank you, I love you so much Dad,’’ I said and continued to hold him.

‘‘Supper should be cool enough for us to eat now,’’ I said.

I couldn’t wait to tell the Jackson kids. The three in the truck meant someone was going to be odd man out but then James would be working with Dad a lot.

James and I were excited with the truck, disappointed he could not get a license but it still gave us a little freedom. With the dishes in the washer I showered, put on my PJ’s and while sitting on the end of the couch I text Elsie the good news. We had a long conversation.

I was up early before anyone else. I started a pot of coffee for Dad and James. I made a new pitcher of orange juice to go with breakfast. Then I went out to the yard, looked at the truck, sat in the seat and adjusted it to fit me. I adjusted the steering wheel and the mirrors. They were electric so they were easy.

I found the jack and lug wrench under the rear seat. It was then that I looked for the spare tire, it was under the rear of the truck. I would have to try to get it down and back up by myself sometime soon. I thumped it with my hand to check the inflation. It seemed OK but a tire gauge would tell all for sure.

The light was showing under Dad’s door. I decided to go wake up James if he was not up. He wasn’t or he was faking. I had gone into his room through our bathroom. The sheet was tented.

I reached under and stroked his cock a couple times then rubbed my thumb around the knob spreading the slickness. Then I moved the sheet out of the way, licked and then sucked the knob into my mouth just as his eyes suddenly opened.

‘‘I see this thing has recovered quite nicely from yesterday,” I said as I pulled the sheet back over it.

‘‘Dad is up. I’m going to start breakfast. Do you want your usual pancakes and sausage?’’ I asked.

Dad’s door was just opening as I walked by.

‘‘Good morning, thank you for the truck and taking the time to drive me to the license office,’’ I said.

I gave him a big extended hug that he returned for the first time. Then I kissed his neck and a kiss on the lips, ‘‘I love you so much. I have missed getting hugs,’’ I said.

‘‘James wants pancakes and sausage - what would you like?” I asked

‘‘The same but add a couple eggs,’’ he said.

‘‘Now that we have the mixer and could make up all kinds of feed mixtures, I wonder if we should fix up the old hen house so we can have fresh eggs and an occasional chicken to fry up,’’ I said.

‘‘I was thinking the same thing. Maybe some hogs too - we had them years ago. I came close to buying some pigs yesterday but we had no place ready for them or any way to bring them home,’’ Dad said.

The sausage was cooking and the pancake batter was ready. The griddle was hot so I started cooking the eggs and pancakes. It would all come off at the same time just as James took his seat.

The breakfast conversation was an extension of the one Dad and I had. Dad gave James a list of things he wanted done.

‘‘I’m going to take Mary into town to get her the provisional farm license. Amos is not sure how much he is going to be able to help with the wheat harvest and bean planting. You two are going to have to step up to the plate a little more this year. Mary is going to learn how to drive the farm trucks,’’ Dad said.

After helping James get started in the things Dad wanted done, I drove to town with Dad in the right seat. In fact I drove all over town - every single street and side street. I stopped at every single store there was, if nothing else to buy a pack of gum.

I drove to the farm dealer and picked what parts they had in of his parts order. Dad introduced me to the parts guys, telling them that I would be picking up most of the parts from now on.

They were really helpful, telling me everything we needed to know to get the right parts. They even offered to set up Dad’s account to be able to look at the parts book online.

‘‘We don’t have internet at home,’’ I said.

“The company is coming tomorrow to set up the satellite dish and run the wires to the office,’’ Dad said.

The parts guys set it up and showed me how to access it and use it for the tractors we had. I wrote down the information; when the home system was running I could change the passwords. All of this may have been helped because I was wearing what I would have worn around home today. I had on a pair of tight short shorts, a cutoff shirt tied below my bra cased boobs and my baseball cap.

From there we went to auto parts store where I went through the same thing again. This time I got to shop for things for my truck; floor mats, seat covers and a back-rack. A back-rack went behind the cab and fit into the stake pockets. A strobe light that we would have to wire up mounted on the top of it.

A farm truck pulling wagons needed one by law to inform other drivers that there was an oversized or slow moving vehicle on the road. Dad chose a couple of hitches to fit in the receiver to pull equipment

Next was a cross box tool box for the bed to carry tools and equipment. Dad picked out things he thought should be in the box; heavy duty jumper cables, a tool assortment, gloves and window cleaner.

I drove around town again, this time to practice parallel parking. I was a few minutes early to the license appointment.

I filled out the paperwork and written test and gave them my birth certificate. Mr. Ortel took my picture, filled out a few things on the computer and then handed my license.

‘‘I thought I had to take a driving test,’’ I said.

‘‘ I have seen you driving out and around all morning while doing other driving tests. You aced that parallel parking as well as anybody. I don’t need to go for a ride with you. You’re good to go, just be careful and read the restrictions of the license carefully,’’ Mr. Ortel said.

The last stop was the computer store for a new desktop with a big flat screen for the extra desk in the office. It had been Mom’s desk.

‘‘It’s your desk now,’’ Dad said.

Then he bought a laptop and a hotspot.

‘‘The dealer said you would be able to connect to the diagnostic port on the combine and tractor to look at the parts and codes if there was a problem. They ordered the cables and program for me,’’ Dad said.

I drove home on a cloud; the license in my pocket, my truck, internet and a computer at home for the first time. The satellite installer was coming this afternoon at three instead of tomorrow. And I was going to be allowed to use Mom’s desk and make it my own.

I had a lot of things to assemble when I got home and a desk to go through.

I had just cleaned off the top of the desk and opened all the computer boxes when the installer showed up early. The place he picked on the roof was close to the office. By the time he was finished I had everything plugged in and ready for setup. He stayed an hour helping with the programming and the setup for the printer. When he left I had a notepad of addresses and passwords. After supper I would start getting programs set up.

I went out to the shop where Dad and James were mounting the back rack, tool box and installing the things Dad had bought. Those things set it off - it looked like a real farm truck.

‘‘We have a couple hours before sundown. Let’s go talk about the six wheeler grain truck,’’ Dad said.

One of James’ jobs today was to fill the truck with the last year’s wheat since there was a new crop to cut in a few weeks. We had three grain bins. Dad always held back about 20% of the crop.

Dad walked around the truck explaining everything. I had driven the truck in the fields and had even driven them illegally from one of the farms several times. He explained about the tires, air brakes - how they worked, why they worked and when they didn’t work. Both had a cat diesel - I knew that - and both were six speed transmissions.

I was forced to struggle to open the flip hood without help. But I did it and was proud of myself and I learned that I could open it two ways. One - in front by the single handle. It took every pound of my weight and all the strength I could muster but I did it with one foot on the bumper for leverage. The other was standing beside the tire and lifting by the wheel well. It again took all my strength and I thought it was easier than the other way.

Oil, water, belts and things that had to be checked every few days were shown to me. I closed the hood and sat in the driver seat while Dad went over some more things.

Dad drove down the road explaining things as we went. Then it was my turn to drive. Having driven it before I did OK. I drove it all the way in town and to the mill. Even though it was closed Dad told me what happened and why and the tank numbering system. I drove home and parked the truck in the shed.