Chapter 5

Breakfast was prepared by the hands of Nina and Gay, under the supervision of Rita, as she had interjected numerous times, when Nat and Ida had passed compliments. Nat ate enough for three people. He had missed quite a few meals lately, feeling under the weather. During breakfast Nina asked if I would saddle the horses so she and Gay could ride. I almost told her she could do it better than I, however she had asked, and she knew the pleading look on her face would get me to do it.

After I saddled the horses Nat and Ida asked to be driven to town, to pay a social call on a friend. I was free for a couple of hours and I needed to talk to Ms. Peters so I drove to her house, hoping to see Fran, which would make time go faster.

She was a little surprised to see me I believe because she was very quiet for a few minutes and I did all the talking. I told her about Gay telling Nina, who told me, Butch had some photos of Pam and had been using them improperly. I wasn't aware of everything but I thought someone should be told and she was the only person from school I could tell.

I assume she thought I visited her for other reasons because after I explained what I had been told to her, she changed and asked to get me a drink, a snack, her attitude changing and she was sociable. She went to the phone after she placed the cookies and juices on the table but was only absent for a few moments. I heard her speaking but couldn't hear the conversation.

We talked about school and people in town, laughing at some and the two hours passed quickly. I was leaving to pick up Nat and Ida and she walked me to the truck. We were still laughing at something, I don't remember what, when another car pulled up and a man in a suit got out. I thought I saw a pistol but I had seen many men wear pistols, so I gave it no further thought. They hugged one another and she introduced us. I didn't remember anything after she said brother-in-law.

I drove Nat and Ida home, Nat very cheerful, talking more than I had heard from him in six months. He had been with old friends and he was glowing. The horses were unsaddled and tied to the fence when we stopped the truck, Nina and Gay apparently finished riding for the day.

I left Ida and Nat in the yard and walked in the house to find Rita and the girls laughing, Rita laughing so hard she had tears in her eyes. When I was let in on the joke I wanted to laugh myself. They had ridden for thirty minutes and walked an hour back, Gay's ass too sore to get back in the saddle.

I finally had to laugh and continued until I got a solid poke in the ribcage, Gay evidently not seeing the humor in it.

Monday morning I spent half the morning with my counselor. I was two years behind in school, one because mom held me back and the other, grades. The counselor worked and tried to adjust my schedule where I could graduate at the end of the year, which meant I had no study hall, no P.E., an actual thrill to me, and two periods of English. The great part of this was I had Ms. Peters both classes, although I knew I was going to hate Shakespeare.

I was a half credit short. She said the only solution was I had to take a course at night, the second half of the year. I agreed to this, however I would have agreed to anything to get out of a year of school.

She admitted it was partly the schools fault for not giving me a heavier load the year before but when she read the report from my former school... a total loner, flip page, does not join in class, flip page, exceptionally low self esteem, flip page, can not be forced to exceed minimum requirements. I told her she need not read any further because I knew of my past performance.

I had Susan, Valerie, and Eddie to thank for insisting I did the assignments Eddie had picked up at the school for me because I was on about equal standings in all my classes, with my peers, the exception being the new classes.

My first day was really a social day because half of each class was spent saying hello to my old friends and getting to know the new people in my classes. I picked up about seventy-five signatures on my cast also. I was happy to see Ginny was in half my classes and because I knew when I needed help she would be there. Ginny was a favorite of most of the teachers, being one of the smartest in each class.

I returned home from school my first day, having chauffeured Nina and Gay, since I was now driving, to find Ida dressed for travel. Travel was apparent because there was a suitcase beside the door which I knew belonged to her, along with the papers beside the suitcase, still in the banks envelope. We were going to see the lawyer and were leaving soon, within half an hour.

We were just leaving the driveway when she said the lawyer had called and needed to see us the following morning. I was almost a three hour trip and she never spoke after we pulled out of the driveway, except to point out directions. We checked into a hotel and she was tired and went to bed and I went out to a fast food to get some chow. I brought it back to the room and found her sleeping. I turned the TV on and ate my sandwiches, and woke at five, still fully dressed.

We had showered, dressed and ate breakfast and were sitting in the room when the lawyer called and said he was reviewing the papers and there was an error, which needed retyping and since he was scheduled in court later it would be five before he could see us. He would come to the hotel when he was finished for the day, if we would wait for him. Ida said we would wait and then told me we had the day free.

We went shopping in the morning, she shopped, and I followed. She bought presents for everyone and something for herself and I. We were back at the hotel for lunch and after lunch we went to our room. She was silent for an hour and finally said she had to talk to me.

The story she told shocked me, made me mad, and finally made me cry. She was blunt, straight forward, and direct, and didn't drag anything out but told me as it was.

I remember the first words because they seemed burned in my head. "Dan, Nathan and I are brother and sister and not husband and wife." Ida told me looking at me straight in the eye and with no emotion. "I'm telling you this now because after the meeting with the lawyer you will understand. He knows our living arrangements now but for the first fifteen years we were brother and sister to him"

I didn't know what to say and I didn't know if I was expected to say anything. Evidently Ida wasn't expecting a reply because she continued.

Ida began, "On my tenth birthday I received a new dress, a store bought dress, the first I ever had. The tag was marked "irregular" and it had several prices marked through, the final was a dollar. But to me it was the prettiest dress ever made. It made no difference what it cost. I was so happy and pranced around for hours, but just before bedtime dad had grabbed me and pulled me to him, pointing out to mom how my nipples made points in the dress. In my attempts to get away the dress tore, the seam in the side. I cried and when I was dressed for bed I showed mom the torn dress and she tossed it in a corner, making me go to bed."

Ida had tears in her eyes as she continued, "When I woke the next morning the dress was spread out over the foot of my bed, the tear repaired. Nathan had waited till they passed out, retrieved the dress, and sewed the rip in the seam and it was unnoticeable. I knew it had to be him because mom and dad were still passed out from the moonshine."

There was now a glaze covering Ida's eyes as she spoke, "I remember wearing that dress to school that day, the proudest girl in school. I was so proud and when I saw Nathan at lunch I rushed over and kissed him. All my girlfriends said, "UUUGGGHHH", that's your brother. I didn't care, I was so proud."

"That afternoon I got home from school, it was snowing and very cold" Ida continued, " and mom and dad were leaving as I got home. They told me they were going to but groceries, mom flashing some money. The only way mom got money in the winter was to sell her body to a stranger and a stranger was with them. You don't know but during that time in their lives, alcohol and drugs, was the only way to go."

"Anyway," Ida went on, "Half an hour later there was a knock on the door and when I opened it a man barged in, pushing me to the floor. Two more men came in through the back and another had followed the one at the front. The four men searched the house for money and found none. They ate what food they could find and when they left they took me with them. I was thrown in the back of an old van, among a bunch of rolls of cable. They drove down the road a while and then pulled off the road. They were trying to decide what to do with me and one of the men began taking my dress off. He couldn't get it off so he ripped it off, tearing it badly, my new store bought birthday dress. Another one of the men ripped my panties off and they started some kind of a game."

"I didn't know at the time," Ida said, " but they were trying to decide who took me first. They took turns raping me for about four hours. I bled a lot but they said that was because I was a virgin. Two of the men were very large. The last thing I remember was one of the men said I was so big he could get his fist inside me all the way to his elbow. I remember his fingers stretching and pulling my insides out, after that, the ram was nudging my face and I could feel his warm breath, and the next time I woke was in the hospital."

"Two years before that, Nathan had seen the fair and wanted to enter a ram. We had one but Nathan said he was sorry so he wanted to get another. He worked for a year, and saved all his money, and finally he had enough to buy the ram he wanted. He worried over that ram every day, working with him, until the ram was like a baby to him. The ram had a habit of running to the small barn he was born in whenever he got loose, if Dan wasn't with him." Ida was speaking, tears in her eyes, and pausing occasionally, before continuing.

"When Nathan," Ida was weeping while speaking, "got home from working at a nearby farm, he warmed himself in the house and went to check on his ram. The ram was missing so Nathan walked the three miles to the barn he knew his ram would be staying. Upon arriving at the barn, Nathan found me lying at the entrance, naked and almost frozen. Nathan carried me inside and tried to warm me with his body. It was useless, I was told. He took his penknife and slaughtered his ram, skinned him, wrapped me in the skin and carried me four miles, before he found assistance.

Ida was now smiling, her tear stained face still wet, "Nathan sat with me ten days, until I regained conscious, never leaving my side other than to use the restroom. After the second day, the nurses began feeding him, after the third, they brought him clothing. I was in the hospital twenty one days and he was with me the entire time."

"All my female parts were removed while I was in the hospital," Ida said cheerfully and holding her breasts, "Nathan said that is why I don't have big tits." She was cheerful while playing with her small breasts.

"I wanted to end my life on my sixteenth birthday, having felt much less than a normal teen girl, however he changed my life that day. He talked to me all day, telling me how important I was and what I had to offer. That night we went to bed together, the first time, and that night I knew I loved him."

Minutes later, after she had been in the bathroom and freshened her face, Ida said, "We couldn't have children. Have you noticed the glow in Nathan's face when a child, or a teen, he has never met before, is introduced to him the first time, he looks at that person like he or she is royalty. Plus, he doesn't see bad in anyone, his reply, when telling of a persons faults is the person is not living to his full potential."

Ida was silent the remainder of the afternoon, apparently reminiscing, and I was trying to comprehend what I had learned.

The lawyer came to our room at six and when he left at nine-thirty I knew one thing for sure, "WHEREAS the party of the second part," was screwed. I should have asked for him to explain 'whereas', since it was on every page from six to a dozen times. I did get bumped up to the 'party of the first part' on one document however, that being explained to me I was responsible for an ungodly amount of taxes the following year.

He threw in some keywords also, like one year and a thousand dollar fine, and many times I heard, five years and ten thousand dollars. I caught these pretty quick and each time the pucker factor raised five points. He made me feel much better at the end, by having me sign a contract, and he would insure none of the keywords ever got to me. I told him one thing which I thought he understood and that was when I told him, "I sure as hell hope you know what you are talking about."

We were in bed, separate I must add, and I was lying awake two hours later, confused, worried, and basically just screw up. I must have awakened Ida because when she saw I was still awake she got out of her bed and slipped into mine. She moved as close as she could get and her words were, "Don't worry, Nathan and I are here and we will help you."

Soothing words must have been what I needed because the next thing I knew is I was awake, it was morning, and couldn't move either arm. The cast was holding one arm and the other was asleep, Ida's head on my shoulder, and I couldn't even move a finger. It took ten minutes for me to get my hand and arm working after I woke Ida.

The drive back to the farm was miserable. I was so confused, I needed to spend about seventy thousand, or more specific, come up with that amount for a write off, but there were so many restrictions the lawyer said. I couldn't buy that amount in equipment because I could only use ten thousand this year. If I bought it this year why couldn't I count it. This had me confused. And if I didn't spend or buy, why would I have to pay about half that amount in taxes. I was doomed to fail. There was no way I was ever going to succeed. Nathan had set me up for failure.

When we arrived home Ida went into the house and I sat in the truck for a long time. I had so much on my mind and I needed to talk to someone and I didn't think it was the right time to talk to Nathan. I stuck my head in the door and told them I was going to see Susan.

When I got to Susan's house, her mom opened the door and invited me in. She was wearing a pair of shorts and a halter top and I knew Valerie, she would be trying to arouse me, just to see a blush. I asked Susan if we could take a ride.

I just drove, not caring about our destination, and began telling her what my problems were going to be and I couldn't see where I would be able to survive.

She pointed to an ice cream drive in and I stopped. The call box was in her window and she ordered two shakes. I just sat there and looked at her for three or four minutes. When the girl brought the shakes I paid her and she walked away.

Susan was drinking hers through the straw and looking over the top and grinning at me. She was smiling and looked up at me, the straw partially in her lips, "I didn't say I didn't like them, I just said they are not good for me," she said as she rubbed her hand over her swollen belly.

I spoke up and said, "Just what I need, a clown."

She finished half her shake before she sat it on the dash and turned in the seat, facing me. Susan spoke in a very serious voice, "Dan, you're pregnant."

"What!" I said.

"Dan, once upon a time there was this brilliant little college girl. She chased around, checking all the boys out, tempting many, and one day she gets screwed, without concern of the consequences." Susan was that little college girl, I was sure.

"Much like this little high school boy, chasing all the pretty girls around, 'and screwing many I must add'. All this time he wants to feel like a man, much like the little college girl feels." Susan was about to compare me to a girl I thought.

"Lo and behold, this little college girl wakes up one morning and is missing something. Her period. Another month passes and she is still missing something. Her period. She goes to the clinic and hears startling words, 'I have good news for you, you're pregnant.' Now this brilliant little college girl takes the news good. Now she will be called a woman, no longer a girl, just what she has been looking for." Susan had this thought out pretty good as she was telling it.

Susan continued, "This brilliant, no longer a college girl, sashays around a couple of months and everything is going great. One day she gets to listen to a heart beat and she is proud, she is finally in control of her life, She is going to be a mother, an adult, a responsible person."

Susan was looking out the window and smiling, "Yes, she is in control now. Her life is going the way she wants it. Suddenly it dawns on her, yes she is in control, but, she has no control."

"Dan," she looked at me and said, "That's where you are. You are in control but you have no control."

"HELL, I TOLD YOU THAT WHEN YOU GOT IN THE TRUCK," I shouted the words but realized I shouldn't have.

"I'm sorry," I said. "I was out of line, but what's next."

Susan was rubbing her belly, "I have learned things about my body, things about my baby, and realized I will learn many things on my own, when the time comes. But, I know I will never know it all, and there are many things I am going to have to ask advice and help on. At that point I guess I will have reached adulthood, when the day comes and I finally realize I don't know everything and have to ask for help."

"Dan, you may reach adulthood much quicker than you expected," she said with a cute smile on her face, trying to get a smile from me.

While driving back to her house I was trying to recall much of what the lawyer had said, I knew I was going to need to ask for help. I just didn't want to admit it to myself. She made me feel much better when she said she would need to ask for help for herself.

At school, the following day, I saw Gay at lunch and she said to me, "Butch and his friends have not attended school all week."

I don't know why I did it but, we were standing against the wall and my body was blocking her from almost everyone, I slipped my hand under her blouse and felt her breast. She slapped me, the sound heard easily by a quarter of our classmates. She was as shocked as I, both becoming red faced, hers from blushing, and mine from the mark left by her hand. She quickly walked away and I was left standing with many people staring at me. I left the cafeteria quickly, highly embarrassed.

After school I saw Gay getting on the bus, totally ignoring me. On the way home Nina said to me, "I heard about the slapping incident in the cafeteria. Why did Gay slap you?"

I was feeling bad about the incident and didn't want to tell but I said, "I slipped my hand under her blouse and squeezed her tit." I didn't look at her, keeping my eyes on the road.

"Shit, that was stupid," she said as she leaned forward trying to get eye contact. Nina said, "You know how she has been handled by the boys at school and then you did the same thing. I can't believe you did that. Dan, that was so insensitive."

After we got home from school Nat took me to his study and began the slow process of explaining business to me. We stopped long enough for supper, at Ida's insistence, and then we were back in the study. It was late when he finally allowed me to retire for the evening.

The following day I met Gay in the cafeteria and she pushed past me, not even bothering to speak. I was expecting more one on one with Nat after school but he wasn't feeling well and I was free for the evening. I called Fran and asked to get with her for some answers.

Fran insisted I come over right away when I told her what I needed. On the way to her house I was hoping she would be able to explain business matters a little more simple than those I had explained by others. She had told me in the drug store she was in business management and working on getting her CPA, I hoped she would explain in terms I knew.

Fran was excellent at explaining each of my questions. I was looking at this woman as a possible sexual outlet when she opened the door upon my arrival. Two hours later, I was seeing her in a different way. She was intelligent and easy to talk to, and my mind moved from hoping to see more breasts when she leaned toward me, or wanting to caress her legs, to begin watching her face as she spoke and hearing the words.

My sexual desires were reactivated when Ms. Peters came in with two arm loads of groceries. She sat the groceries on the table and came over and hugged me, pressing her braless breasts against my face. I was immediately erect.

Ms. Peters said, "I am so proud of you and I know many who would like to thank you. She was smiling and still holding me close while speaking.

I guess she saw the puzzled look on my face because I had no idea what she was speaking of.

Ms. Peters said, "You know, the boys and the pictures. You told me and I called my brother-in-law. He is an agent of the SBI. He called Pam here and she told him everything. That night they arrested the boys and they are under house arrest now. You can't mention any of this because the only people who know about it are in this room and the ones involved. Even the principal doesn't know yet, but he will be told."

We ate pizza, ordered by Ms. Peters, and she listened for the remaining two hours Fran and I talked. Before I left she asked if I would consider the Co-op program in school. After she explained it, I was very agreeable. She said she would get with the counselor the following week.

I was much enlightened on the drive home, with Fran asking to come and talk to Nathan the following day. I wondered how a small town could keep a secret but thought about the consequences if word was leaked out, pornography charges versus pornography charges and multiple counts of statutory rape. If I was a family member or an accused I would keep my silence. I understood why I hadn't seen Pam or Mrs. Anderson in school the previous week.

Fran was at the farm early the following morning, looking radiant, as usual. She was wearing a hint of perfume, and it appeared as though she had applied a small amount of makeup. Her eyes looked larger and her mouth well defined. Her dark brown hair seemed to match the light tan skirt and blazer she wore. After her blazer was removed, the white blouse was just thin enough for me to see her bra was lace trimmed. She stirred my male hormones and I kept an erection the full four hours she went over the books Nathan and Ida.