Chapter 7

At 630 I was cooking breakfast; at 730 I was driving to town in the six wheel truck with Dad in the right seat. I turned into the mill and stopped short of the scale to wait on the weigh master to change the light to green – then pulled forward.

Dad got out to watch my position on the scale, too far to the right and I would be off the scale. I was good as the light changed- I pulled forward then stopped when it changed to red. With the truck stopped they took samples of the grain to check moisture content, temperature, and check for mold.

Dad had me to get out of the truck and introduced me to the scale-house crew.

“This is my daughter Mary - she is going to be driving the grain trucks this summer. This is her first time so I would appreciate all the help you can give her so she can learn how to do it safely,” Dad said.

Our conversation was cut short as another truck had pulled behind us. We were directed to dump at Bin 7. Bin 7 had a full truck dump that I needed to stop at. The dump master unlatched the rear door of the truck and then lifted the front of the truck high for the grain to run out.

When the truck was down, he latched the rear door of the truck and then I drove over the scale again and was handed a weight ticket for the load. Today the process took less than twenty minutes and then I was headed home.

The Peterbilt was loaded and I began the learning process to drive it using all ten gears instead of three or four. Dad must have had me stop fifty times and start from a standstill as well as taking all the side roads with hills. Then I had to back the trailer into farm lanes without any help from him; that was a challenge.

It was three hours later that I pulled the Pete back on the scale. The process was the same, just a little different because of the size of the truck. We went to a different bin this time - a pull through because this trailer was a bottom dump. It was divided into two sections with each having doors underneath that were air controlled. With the truck properly positioned the dump master activated the levers on the side of the truck to open the door. When all the grain was out he closed them and the truck pulled ahead so the next doors were in position and the dump master repeated the process.

I pulled on the scales to get the empty weight and ticket. All the guys gave me a thumbs up. As we left I goosed the truck a little, even jumping a couple of gears that were not needed when the truck was empty as Dad had taught me.

“Well, in two loads you have hauled seventy five thousand pounds of grain. That’s 8200 dollars to pay some bills,” Dad said.

“James should have the other truck filled. You can take it solo while he is filling the Pete again and then you can take it. If all that works out without any trouble, you can call Elsie and Carol to see if they want to ride with you for the last load today,” Dad said.

“Don’t let them distract you from the driving,” Dad added.

“Driving will always be first,” I said.

“After I do that can I go back to town in the pickup? I need to pick up some things at the big box,” I said.

“Let’s see how you do and how tired you are after last night,” he said with a grin.

“I’m sleeping with you tonight; you might want to catch a nap,” I said. Then we both laughed.

The next load went without issues as did the load with the Peterbilt.

As I handed Dad the weight tickets, “May I call Elsie and Carol?”

“I already had when I heard you coming; they should be here in a few minutes. Make sure they wear their seat belts,” Dad said.

I had just finished walking around and checking the truck over when they drove in on the Gator. The cameras were clicking taking pictures of the trucks and me for their Mom.

They never stopped talking the whole way, wanting to know everything.

We had to get out of the truck at the scales and watch the moisture test. We had a crowd of watchers. Elsie and Carol both borrowed short shorts from my dresser to wear, along with shirts that could be tied under their boobs. They carried a pair of gym shorts in case there was a need to change.

We were home in plenty of time. Dad said we could take my truck and go to the box store.

We went to the health clinic first. I told Carol the things she had to say to get birth control pills. Miss. Hadaway was working - we had a short reunion. A few questions and she gave Carol a three months supply with all the normal instructions.

She took me off to the side and gave me three morning after pills.

“You keep these for emergencies - hold on to them yourself. They will store for three years,” she said.

She also gave me a goodie bag filled with things she said she had to give away. There were handfuls of condoms, a bunch pocket book size tubes of lubes, several boxes of tampons, boxes of different pads and several pregnancy tests.

At the big box I took a cart and was hoping they would shop on their own but they didn’t. I went to the pharmacy, and went down the list of things I wanted, including two boxes of the jumbo size condoms and another enema bag. I wasn’t going to run one back and forth from my bedroom to Dad’s if things got that far. In the cart went a complete remake of my bathroom to go where Mom’s things were.

Then I went to the women’s unmentionables section for new lacy panties, thongs and bras, garters and stockings.

In the camera section I wanted a digital camera to use with the new computer and photo paper to print pictures. Dad and I were going to make new ones for us - he just didn’t know it yet.