Chapter 2

One morning, just after Labor Day, I saw Aaron's beat up old pickup coming up the macadam driveway that I had installed for access to my house. I had only been living in my new house for about two years. Aaron stopped at the end of the driveway and I saw that he had his girl with him. Aaron got out of the truck and the young girl got out of the truck too. This was different; this was the first time that the young girl had ever gotten out of the truck when Aaron was at my place.

I went to the door to get him and I invited him in. He declined to come into the house and he shuffled his feet a bit before he spoke. The girl stood behind him with a half a smile on her lips.

"I got something I want to say," Aaron drawled, "I got to go down to the city. The docs say that I need to get some medicine and they have to put it in me themselves. They say that the medicine will make the pains go away some. Docs say that I ain't got too much longer to go. They say that Sarah here can't take care of me like I need."

I asked Aaron to come inside again but he began talking again like I hadn't even said anything.

"Sarah here needs someone to take care of her since I won't be here. I'm going to leave her here with you. She's a good girl and she can cook and clean and take care of you when you get sick. She knows all of the herbs and medicines that her mother and I taught her."

It began to dawn on me what the purpose of this visit was, "Look Aaron, I really don't think..."

"Sarah ain't got no where else to go," Aaron interrupted.

"Doesn't she have any relatives; any cousins or aunts or uncles?"

"She's got a few cousins down the other side of the mountain. She can't stay there; they'd have her working at Maize's before the end of the week."

Aaron turned and spoke to the girl, "Get your things Sarah."

I kept protesting but Aaron ignored me. I think that Aaron figured that since he had helped me with the house that I somehow owed him. Sarah went to the truck and got a box out of the back. I found out later that the box contained the few clothes that she owned.

Aaron said again, rather forcefully, "Sarah ain't got no other place to go. She'll take care of you pretty good. Just don't go beating her or I'll come back and tear up a little grass with you."

That one went over my head for a minute before I realized that he meant that he would come back and fight me if I beat Sarah.

"I would never beat her," I said like a dumb ass.

Aaron apparently took that as my agreement to take his daughter. He turned and walked back to the truck, got in and started back down the driveway. He never even looked back at Sarah. Sarah didn't turn to look at her father.

"Oh shit," was the only thing that I could think of to say.

I turned and saw that Sarah was standing with the box in her hand waiting for me to tell her what to do. It was the first time that I had ever seen her up close and it looked like she hadn't had a bath in days. Her hair was matted and dirty and I don't know if it had ever seen a comb.

'Sarah, let's go inside."

We walked inside and she was all eyes. She looked at and touched everything. When I led her into the kitchen she looked like she had just walked into her first spaceship. I had her put her clothes on the floor and motioned for her to sit at the table.

"Are you hungry?" I asked.

She grinned and nodded enthusiastically. I pulled out the frying pan and got the lunchmeat and cheese out of the refrigerator. I fixed two grilled ham and cheese and when they were done I set them in front of her. I turned to get a glass of milk for her and when I turned back Sarah was finishing up the last of the sandwiches.

I sat at the table to talk to her. I knew nothing about the girl. I could see that she was starting to develop into a teenager but I really had no idea how old she was. I figured that was a good place to start.

"Sarah, I have no idea in the world how to take care of a child. I've never been married and I really haven't been around kids that much since I became an adult. How old are you?"

"I'll be fourteen next month," she said.

I walked to the cabinet and got out a pack of Oreo cookies. From the grin on her face you'd have thought that I put a ton of gold in front of her. She grabbed a handful of cookies, took a quick look at me to see if I was going to yell at her, and then began eating them as fast as she could.

When she had eaten about half the pack I discretely moved them out of her reach. She drank the milk down all at once.

"Do you want me to take care of you in the morning or evening," She said.

"I'll fix my own breakfast and dinner until we find out how good you are in the kitchen."

She gave me a strange look, "You like it in the kitchen?"

There was obviously some miscommunication here and I didn't know what it was. I decided to see what she had brought with her in the way of clothes. To be charitable, everything that she had brought with her should have been thrown away months ago. I didn't see any personal items like a toothbrush, soap, shampoo or feminine products.

I had extra toothbrushes and soaps and shampoos but I hadn't had a woman living with me since I finished the house so there was nothing like feminine products in the house.

I had to know how much she knew about taking care of herself, "Sarah, I don't know how to put this delicately. Have you started having your periods yet?"

Seemingly without embarrassment she answered, "Yes, I started right after my brother got to me."

I hesitated for a long time before I spoke again, "Uh, what do you mean before your brother got to you?"