Chapter 24

08:00 August 30, 1983

Another day had come, and like always, I’d been up at the regular time. Had my coffee with Pap-pap, who had informed me that my plan to swallow Rhyll’s screams wasn’t as successful as I’d thought they were. “Boy, if you don’t want us to hear those girls of yours sounding like barn cats in heat, you’d better pick up a thick pillow at the Five and Dime when you get deliverin’ yer papers today. Or take that old quilt with you out to the wooded forty for that much sparkin.’

“The only reason I didn’t come out there and embarrass us all was I trust you. I know how important your rules are to you. So while that little firecracker of a girlfriend went off like Labor Day fireworks a week early, I know you kept yer word. You may think what yer doing is something I know nothing about. I know the term for what you did when I was a young-un. I doubt they call it anything different today. So iffen yer gonna panty-pop them little hellcats of yers, take em way out in the woods, or get them a thick pillow they can bury their face in. Yer Granny don’t need to be hearing all that caterwauling. Jest makes more work at the end of the night fer me.” Then he winked.

I turned bright red, and all but ran out the door to get my chores done. I was doing well on my strength training, too. Well, everything but the swimming. I really need to either go to the pond or get into the Y and start working on that. I was up to my twenty push-ups and going to try for forty by the end of next week. Crunches I was already at forty and headed for sixty. Pap-pap had kept true to his word as well, and I had a new pull-up bar in the barn, attached to the beams of the loft. I was doing eight pull-ups before my hanging drop, and I was hanging longer and falling slower. My plan was working. I was getting stronger. Even more surprising was that I’d actually gotten taller. This I knew, because I’d had to go up two inches in the length of my pants when the twins and I had bought my new wardrobe.

Just as we finished breakfast, we heard the honking of that wimpy little horn of my sisters’ shared VW Bug. They both loved that car and I wondered if they would continue to share it after their money hit the bank. Yeah, they didn’t have unrestricted access, but I knew if they asked, Granny would approve one of them to buy another car. If they mentioned it, I would suggest that the twin who kept Tie-Dyed Matilda paid her sister half what it was worth.

The three farm Parkers walked outside to see the most amazing site. Five beauties poured out the bug like it was some hot chick version of a clown car. My two girlfriends, and my adopted big sister, all came out of the back after Mary Jane and May got out first. Then a couple of other cars pulled up and some of May’s cheerleader buddies, all in Daisy Dukes, came out of those cars. Dear Lord, hot chicks surrounded me in skimpy clothes. How the hell was I supposed to concentrate with all that on display?

I walked out and hugged my three sisters, the two real ones and then the adopted one. Then I turned and my arms were filled with Rhyll, who plastered herself against me and in front of Granny, Pap-pap, my sisters and the cheer girls and gave me a passionate kiss. Then she stepped back and Jules took her place and I knew the rules. She got the same kiss. I thought there was going to be a catfight when Jessie James, May’s choice to become head cheerleader next year, asked if I was going to greet them like that too. She winked at me. I knew she was just playing. She had been at my house enough for me to know she was a huge flirt, but harmless. “If so, I think I might enjoy working on a farm.”

Julie and Rhyll both grabbed me and wrapped my arm around their hips. “Our boyfriend only greets his girlfriends like that. If you all turn out to be good workers, we might let him give you a hug before you go home. Maybe, but no guarantees, we might all three be busy up in the hayloft.”

The cheer girls all froze at what they just heard. Sarah White said. “Wait a minute. Since when does May’s little brother have two girlfriends? How the hell does he rate two girls?”

This one I didn’t like. She could be a raging bitch. She was dating one of the football players, Carl Brown, the left tackle. Her guy was big and mean and she knew it. She didn’t hesitate to sick him on anyone that upset her.

Mary Jane smirked at her. “Y’all haven’t watched much TV lately, have you? Our little brother is a certified hero. I heard Amber Quint herself call him one.”

The only girl I wasn’t sure who she was, looked at my sisters. She was dressed like the rest except for the spiked leather bracelets and collar and the black eyeliner and lipstick. She was another walking wet dream dressed all goth. Something about her was familiar and yet I couldn’t place her. “Wait, you mean Harrison is the boy that fucked up Kent, Todd, and Aaron for trying to rape that girl?”

Before my sisters could answer, Amaryllis answered. “He is. He stopped them from raping me and did exactly what he told them would happen if they kept trying to hurt me. The goth cheerleader pushed to the front. She looked at Rhyll and then at Jules. “I’m sorry, but I have to do this.”

She wrapped her arms around me. And then she plastered her lips over mine. It was when I got a whiff of her perfume that I knew who she was. “Patty, is that you?” God, I’d had a crush on her back when she first joined the cheer squad two years ago. She, like Sara, was a junior this year. “What the hell, why are you dressed like...” Then it hit me. She dressed like a cheerleader version of Tabby. My eyes got hard, and I felt the rage bubbling to the surface. The five better hope I never get my hands on them. “Not you too. Please tell me they didn’t hurt you too!” I whispered to her.

She held on and screamed and then started sobbing. “I hate all of them. I wish you’d killed them!”

I bit my tongue to keep from telling her I’d get another chance, and when I did, I would grant her wish. But Rule Five, I really needed to keep it. All I could do was pull her back into my arms. I held her as she raged and beat her little fists into my chest. I stroked her head and murmured into her ear. “Shh. It’s okay Patty. They’ll never hurt another girl. Kent and Aaron and Todd can never hurt another girl. I took their dicks from them. I made them eunuchs. Not one of them has any balls now. If the other two ever try to bother you, come find me. I’ll make them dickless too. I’ll keep you safe from them.” Then I looked at the rest of them. “That goes for all of you. If anyone gives you trouble or tries to hurt you, run right to me and I’ll make sure they don’t bother you again.”

Sara started laughing. “You? What the hell could you do to keep anyone safe?”

“Why don’t you call Carl and have him come out here and I’ll show you what I can do? If he’s man enough to spar with me. That’s a fight for practice, by the way.”

She laughed again. “If you think you can beat Carl, you’re crazy. He’s like three of you. He’ll crush you.”

“Wanna make a bet, Sara?”

She looked at me, shocked. “What kind of bet?”

I was going to put this bitch in her place. “I tell you what, if Carl kicks my ass, I’ll be your slave the whole first week of school. Do anything you say. Dress any way you tell me to and wait on you, hand and foot. But if I win, then you have to get naked for me and let me touch you anywhere I want.” I looked at Rhyll and Jules and winked, letting them know I would not touch that skank with a ten-foot pole. However, I wasn’t above looking at that tight cheerleader body naked.

“You know when I tell him what you just said, he’s going to come out here and kill you?”

I shrugged. “Then I promise you’ll have a devoted slave for a week.” My sisters, all three of them, and my girlfriends all gasped. “Harrison? You just made a promise to Sara to be her slave if you lose.” May said.

I looked my sister in the eye. “Yes, I did. Tell her why that’s important, would you? I’ve got to get the trailer hitched to the tractor. We got hay to bale while waiting for Carl to decide if he wants to risk letting a freshman see his girl naked, and get to do anything but fuck her that he wants.”

“You won’t fuck me shrimp. My man will destroy you for saying that.”

“I don’t want to fuck you. My dick would probably drop off with whatever the hell makes you such a bitch. But I will enjoy looking at that tight body without those skanky clothes. You girls all know real farm girls don’t dress like that, right?”

May laughed. “It’s too hot to dress like a farm girl, Harrison.”

“You all are going to regret those shorts in about an hour. Once you get all sweaty and the hay and dirt sticks to you. Jules, Rhyll, and Tabby, you three go up to my room and grab three dark blue jumpsuits and put them on. It will at least keep you from getting itchy. May, you and Mary Jane can each have one too. But I know you won’t take me up on it.”

Sara picked up on what I’d said. “Why does Tabby get special treatment?”

“Because I promised to protect her, just like Jules, Rhyll, and my sisters. Tabby’s my adopted sister. She’s mine to protect. I looked at Patty. “You can have a jumpsuit too. Since I just promised you my protection as well. It’s not black, but it is dark blue.”

Then I turned and headed for the equipment barn. “Where’s he going?”

Mary Jane said, “He lives here ... He’s probably going to hook up the trailer on the tractor. Like he said, he was.”

As I walked away, I heard the conversation. “Why does Harrison live here and not in town with the rest of your family?”

“What’s the big deal about his promising to be Sara’s slave when Carl beats him?”

I listened to Mary Jane and May answer the first question and tried to keep my anger and feeling of loss in check. May went on telling the girls why my promising to be Sara’s slave if I lost was such a big deal. It didn’t matter to me. I knew I’d win if Carl actually showed up. I figured if Sara told him what I said, he’d show and be mad as a raging bull, and that was to my advantage. Angry people weren’t careful. And I would be careful and ruthless. Honestly, I almost felt sorry for him and Sara. I don’t think either of them would take him losing very well.

*****

13:00 August 30, 1983

With all the help, I had all the fields that Pap-pap had baled so far, loaded and ready to transfer to the Semi on Monday. We had a picnic dinner out in the yard and just as I’d finished eating, up the drive tears a sweet looking 1977 Trans-Am Firebird. I smiled. I knew that car. Looks like Carl had come to defend the honor of his cheerleader. I was thankful I’d changed into one of my Submarine Jumpsuits.