Chapter 37

Andrew sat in his room the next day and jokingly wrote out the following on a piece of paper.

I, Andrew McLeod, do solemnly swear that at approximately 1.57am on the morning of January 1^st 1980 I did lose my virginity, never to see such item again for the rest of my life.

The Hogmanay party of 1979 was good, very good!

While Andrew would have preferred to have had a quiet night and to go to bed before midnight, the prospect of a party was alright. There was also nothing he could do about it. His parents weren’t going to leave him overnight on his own. He also remembered about balance. What was it with him and his school holidays? Going out to a party would be fun, he had the next two days off and was going to rest, relax and catch up on some much needed sleep. So Andrew got changed and grabbed a slightly bigger pack. He put in his ‘farming’ clothes as well as a normal pair of jeans and a sweater. He grabbed his Wellie boots on the way out. His mum looked at him, askance.

“Harry isn’t going to make you work you know.”

“I know Mum but I wake pretty early every day, my body is too used to it. I’ll wander over and help with the milking. There is a nice routine to it.”

His mum shook her head.

“Take a day off. You make us all seem so lazy.”

Once again, these odd moments of pride made Andrew happy. You could never accuse his parents of spoiling their son with praise. But their son also got uncomfortable with praise so it worked out.

Any journey with Rowan was a trial. Andrew had been spared most of these over the past year. As they drove out to the farm, he was immensely grateful for this fact. His little sister, who had turned 12 in the autumn, was turning, and maybe had already turned, into an awful person. That is an unkind thing to say but it was true, at least as far as Andrew was concerned. Rowan’s view of the world was that of a pre-Copernican outlook. The world revolved round her. Any challenge to this was met with drama, shouting, huffing and general brattiness. Andrew idly wondered whether Scott’s arrival on the scene had upset his sister. He tried to have no interactions with her on a week to week basis, occasionally at dinner was about the extent of it. But she seemed to be worse than he remembered.

He and his sister were not close. The journey although only 30 minutes seemed infinite as they endured it. Andrew didn’t know the phrase ‘been driven to drink’, mainly because he had never had a drink of alcohol, but it was the kind of journey where you needed a drink at the end of it. Rowan’s view of the world was also very simple. Zero sum. Anyone else getting attention, that meant she wasn’t. Anyone getting praise, she wasn’t. The Rowanian view of the world was everybody needed to pay attention to her all the time.

Andrew thought he was perhaps being more than a little harsh on his sister. Honestly, it could have been worse. Part of her princessishness, if there is such a word, was due to the fact that he disappeared to his room and studied, or was out. She got his parents attention, or at least she had up until the last two months. There used to be fights between her and Andrew but after he was released from hospital he never shouted at her, he would just walk away. Andrew would occasionally have moments of doubt and wonder if he could have made a difference. He didn’t know. Their temperaments were almost polar opposites. It was what it was, nothing Andrew could do about it. They got to the Strachan’s farm and Andrew practically bolted from the car. Josephine was waiting at the farmhouse door for them and Andrew got a hug from her.

“My you have grown Andrew. If you keep this up you will be taller than Harry.”

Harry was 6’ 3” and Andrew figured he wouldn’t get to be that tall. His father was 6’ and Andrew assumed he would end up about there. If anything slightly shorter since his puberty growth was interrupted with the chemo treatment.

“Don’t know Josephine, probably a bit shorter, closer to Dad I would think. How are you?”

“Good, the house is finally ready. Can you go over to the milking shed and see if Harry is finished? He needs to shower and change.”

“Sure thing. My wellies are in the boot of the car.”

Andrew grabbed the key off his dad and sat on the bumper as he changed into his boots. Then he headed over to the milking shed and put his head round the door.

“Harry, you in here? Josephine says you need to shower.”

Andrew shouted into the apparently empty building.

“That you Andrew? Back here, beside the pasteuriser.”

Andrew heard the muffled reply. When he weaved his way through the collection system there was Harry lying on his back with the end of a hose in his hand.

“Perfect, I need someone to hold this in place while I tighten the collar. Keeps popping off on me.”

By way of a greeting it wasn’t much. Andrew smiled and grabbed the hose. Harry showed him which nipple to attach it to and Andrew could see that it was a real bastard. The hose was a key link between the pasteuriser and the holding tank, connected to the cooling system. It needed to be as straight as possible. If there was a bend then liquid would potentially pool and contaminate the milk. The hose was stretched too tight though and kept wanting to detach from the outlet on the pasteuriser.

“Do you have any spare hoses?”

“Why? This one needs to be reattached. You know that this needs to be as straight as possible.”

“Yes but I think we need a hose an inch longer. The length between the two nozzles would be the same but there would be more over this upper nozzle here and more for the clamp to grab hold of.”

“Okay, I see. The clamp keeps slipping so give it more to purchase on. Let’s go and look.”

They found a couple that might be suitable and ten minutes later they were done.

“Good to see you Andrew.”

Harry crushed Andrew’s hand in his big meaty paw.

“I had been cursing and trying to attach the old hose for at least half an hour. You turn up and ten minutes later we are done. What’s the phrase everyone uses? Oh yeah, ‘you and that big old brain’. Come on, let’s head up to the house.”

The party turned out to be okay but not great. Andrew was stuck in no man’s land. Oldest child there but not old enough to party with the adults, i.e. have a drink. And he was way too old to deal with the seven under tens that were also there together with Rowan. Around 10.30 Mac showed up. Andrew knew that his wife was slowly dying of MS and was house bound. Mac cared for her in the evenings and Josephine had mentioned he would come over for a couple of hours once she was settled. The mention of Mac by Josephine got Andrew thinking about Kenzie. This party would improve tremendously if Kenzie Baird showed up.

It was only Mac that arrived and although it was good to see him, he was not the Baird that Andrew wanted to spend some time with. The younger kids had either left or settled down. Andrew sat at the edge of a group of four or five men talking about their jobs. His mum had fed Scott and Andrew was rocking him slowly trying to get him back to sleep, easier said than done with all the noise and distractions around him. His dad was there, Harry, Mac, Mr. Fielding and one other man who Andrew didn’t remember being introduced to. Three farmers and two non-farmers. The chat was interesting and he sat quietly listening. Andrew watched the group dynamics, who talked, who interrupted, who pontificated like the head at school, who had a more open mind. The conversation was all over the place but it was interesting watching everyone. Especially his dad, when he was not being dad but Gavin McLeod instead. A different man to the one Andrew had to deal with every day. His observations went mostly unnoticed and unregarded. Andrew got the sense that a couple of stories were edited or cleaned up but for the most part he was part of the group although he contributed nothing. Finally Scott settled and Andrew placed him in the carrycot in the room assigned to his parents. His duty was done, or so he thought.

As midnight fast approached Harry gave Andrew a bottle of whisky and a tray of glasses and asked him to go round and make sure everyone had a dram ready for the bells. A couple of the older men needed refilling before Andrew had finished going round the house but at two minutes to midnight all was set. Andrew had been given a glass of ginger ale. When midnight came there was the usual singing, whisky was drunk and several of the guests settled in like they were planning to sit and drink all night, an accurate prophecy he figured. At ten after midnight Andrew said goodnight to his mum and dad. He met Mac at the back door putting on his boots as well.

“Off so soon Mac?”

“Milking duty tomorrow morning, well this morning now. Still got a 20 minute walk to get to the cottage. See you.”

Still a man of many words.

Andrew wandered over to the barn and up into the loft. There at the back was a small room. It had a bed and a dresser in it but nothing else. There was tiny bathroom beside it, just a bowl, basin and a miniscule shower. It was warm and cozy and Andrew was happy to be over there and away from the chaos of the farmhouse. He climbed into bed and was out like a light.

The dream started so slowly. Andrew luxuriated in it. It felt so. His mind was blank. It felt so. Come on. Real. More senses. Sensual. Aaah, there we are. The dream felt so sensual. It was like this dream was a colour print when all he had ever dreamt before were in black and white. There was a clean smell in the air. Some kind of herbal smell. Andrew could feel the touch against his. Touch?

He sat bolt upright and there was a squeal from beside him.

“Who is there? What are you doing?”

From fast asleep to ready to fight in a second.

“Andrew, shush. It’s me, Kenzie. Stop making so much noise.”

Kenzie? Was he dreaming about waking up from a dream?

“Kenzie, am I dreaming? Where did you come from?”

Andrew heard a giggle.

“Calm down Andrew, sorry to startle you. Dad and I got home about the same time. He mentioned you were staying at the Strachans but thought nothing of it and went off to bed. So I waited for him to fall asleep and then snuck up here. I wanted to see you. If I had known that you were here I never would have gone to the stupid party that I did. Bunch of fools all blind drunk at 10pm. I got the milking duty for the Fieldings in the morning so I had a bunch of beers but have been on cokes since 11.00.

“How are you Andrew?”

How was he? Confused. Struggling to catch up to the situation. Acutely aware that there was a teenage woman in his bedroom. Alone. With no parents nearby.

“I am great Kenzie. I have been working over the holidays and it was good to get out. If I get up in time I will help your dad with the milking. As we pulled into the farmyard the memories came back. I had a good time here last summer. How about you? Obviously still at the Fieldings. They are up at the farmhouse and there has been a lot of whisky drunk. Everyone arrived with a bottle and there are a flock of empties already.”

“Yes, still at the Fieldings. But things have changed thanks to you.”

Andrew looked at her.

“Thanks to me? I don’t think I met the Fieldings until tonight.”

The confusion showed on his face.

“When you went back to school I sat down with Violet and asked about the paperwork. I told her how you had helped the Strachans all summer and I asked if she could start to teach me about it too. Now I don’t want to be stuck inside all day working on books, I left school to avoid all that, but if I am going to be a farmer, and a farmer’s wife, then I need to know about it. So Violet called Mrs. Strachan and they had a long chat. Since then every week she gets me to help with some of the paperwork. Not as much as you did but I am doing more each week. In fact, Violet was amazed how much paperwork you did for the Strachans.

“So yes, thanks to you I am learning more. If I hadn’t seen you working on the Strachans books for them those evenings I would never have known, well not known until much later at least.”

Her tone changed noticeably.

“I have very fond memories of that week Andrew. You are such a hard worker, even Dad mentioned it and he is normally an old grump. And so smart.”

Her smile was lupine, hungry lupine.

“And the way you look. So broad but lean. I remember that a lot Andrew.”

She sat up and pulled off her boots, followed by her socks. She started to unbutton her shirt.

“What are you doing Kenzie?”

“Getting into bed with you Andrew.”

So matter of fact, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

“Eh, Kenzie.”

Andrew thought he was going to choke on his own heart. What was happening? She turned and looked down on him. Andrew looked back at her face. Weathered, brown, but vibrant. He stared at her eyes, green with a trace of mischief in them. Her nose, Andrew could see a small scar down one side, he lay there wondering how she had cut herself there. But most of all he stared at her lips. Her face might be brown from working outside all day but her lips looked moist and pink and Andrew found himself wondering what they would taste like. He watched as the tip of her tongue ran over the top lip. Andrew’s eyes followed it as it completed its wonderful journey. By now she had taken her shirt off and reached to unbutton her jeans. Andrew grabbed her arm.

“Kenzie, I have never, I mean, I”

He was pretty sure those seven words got the point across that he was trying make. She looked at him for a full five seconds and then very deliberately lifted her bum off the bed and slipped the jeans down her legs. Still looking at him the lupine grin returned.

“I know, so young, so powerful, so fresh. Why don’t you take off that tee-shirt and scoot over and let me in beside you?”

Andrew just sat there staring at her, transfixed by the situation. Kenzie reached out and gently grabbed the tee-shirt and started pulling. He instinctively lifted his arms and it was pulled over his head. Kenzie threw it over her shoulder and ran her hands across his chest. Backwards and forwards just running her fingers and palms across it. She stopped and teased his nipples. She was going to make him shoot his load already.

“Kenzie, I am on a hair trigger here.”

Andrew’s shame-faced admission produced a giggle. She stood up and grabbed his hand.

“Come with me.”

Pulling him out of bed she led him to the bathroom. Andrew followed her panty clad behind as it swayed seductively over to the little bathroom.

“I understand how excited guys get and the consequences.” She giggled again. “Too many clothes have had to be washed because of over excited guys. Stand here.”

She had Andrew positioned at the entrance to the shower. Without a moment’s hesitation she yanked his briefs down around his ankles. He tried to grab his dick and hide it from her gaze.

“Stop that. Now step out of the undies.”

Andrew obeyed blindly and then he felt her body slide up behind him. Something soft and squishy pressed against his back. Kenzie lifted his arm and her head popped round the side of his chest. Her breath was hot on his body. She slowly and deliberately ran her hands over his chest tracing circles with her fingers. Then her right hand started to head lower, running over his stomach heading even lower.

Andrew was lost. Just the mere thought of her holding his dick had him shooting. Now he had come hard before. Suzanne in that grey woollen dress had featured extensively in his nighttime shower stall recollections and every night when he returned home from an evening with her or with her and Paula, Andrew had painted the tiles. But there was nothing in his sexual experience to compare to this. He understood why she had him step out of his underwear. He would have stumbled and fallen otherwise. To feel her body against his, her hand on his stomach, her breath on his chest.

“There you go Andrew that should take the edge off.”

She went to the sink rinsed out a washcloth and casually wiped his dick, cleaning the head carefully. Then she grabbed a towel, took him by the hand and led him to the bed. Andrew climbed back into bed naked and Kenzie pulled her top over her head and stood there in her bra and panties. Andrew looked at her body.

HIs eyes were drawn to her breasts. They sat high on her chest and he could see a pink flush blossom above her bra and she stood there letting him admire her body. Andrew dragged his eyes away from her chest and looked at the rest of her body. It was strong. When you describe someone there is normally one word that instantly springs to mind. Voluptuous, curvy, delicate, thin, boyish, thick, scrawny, athletic, chunky, whatever the word is. For Kenzie the word was strong. There was strength in this body. She was solid. Not big or fat or anything like that, she had a body that was used to work. Andrew compared it to his own. He was toned, for lack of a better word. It was swimming and exercise. Kenzie was strong with a body used to hard work. She had got her physique from using her body every day. Muscles in her legs. Flat stomach. Arms that were flexed with power. She turned round and lordy lord. Her arse was to die for. High and tight where her hips flared out. The perfect bottom of an hourglass.

She turned back to him and pushed him over as she climbed into bed.

“The way that you looked at me Andrew. The lust, the desire that I saw in your eyes. Oh my. Are we going to have some fun.”

She pinned Andrew back against the back wall and started kissing him. Strong kisses, hungry kisses, kisses that needed to be returned. Andrew picked up his game and started to actively kiss her. It was a game of where she would do something and two seconds later he would try to duplicate it. A nibble her and return nibble there. The tip of her tongue across his bottom lip, the tip of his own across her top lip. Then Andrew broke contact and started kissing her collar bone. Feather light touches. Kenzie shivered in his arms. He carried on up her neck, nibbles, touches, kisses that lasted seconds, kisses that lasted but a moment.