Chapter 2

I heard Angelina tell Ezra as she was leaving Sunday evening that she would see about getting some advice about adopting Izzy. Amy and Amelia were not leaving with her, they stood beside Mom. As she was crossing the yard, she paused and looked at me. No expression on her face, she got into the car and drove away.

Morning came. "Junkin, I don't know what you said to her. Whatever it was, I thank you." I shrugged. "So, boy, what is your first move as ranch manager?"

"I think the first thing is how to raise money to pay for the lease. I do have a couple of things rolling around in my mind, but I will have to get more information. I'll be gone most of the day. While I'm gone would you think about whether you want to keep the stallion around. He is dangerous. Also you have two bulls you use for service and they are even more dangerous. You could borrow or rent bulls for two months to do the breeding. When I get back I'll let you in on what I'm thinking.

"For the now, Izzy, Juan and Paco do the chores. Ezra, you and Pete take stock of what needs to be done to shape the place up. You know paint up the place, replace broken boards and windows. Mom, I'll want you with me for the day. We are going to need another vehicle. You can drive it back. Ezra, when is the hay crew coming? The hay is going by."

"Next week."

"Do you feel comfortable with calling them and having it pushed up to this week?"

"Sure I can call, but it won't do any good."

"Well, make the call. Promise them some help to make it go faster. If they won't come, I'll call when I get back and see if I can persuade them. Let's go Mom. Leave the breakfast dishes. I'll pick up some Hoagies for lunch. You'll be back by then."

As we were leaving Mom said, "What are you up to?"

"I'm thinking an area barbecue. I'm out looking for some organization that will put it on. I'm talking big barbecue. Beef, whole roast pigs and maybe some turkeys. Fried chicken definitely. I'll be looking for music to go with the festivities."

"That's all going to be costly isn't it?"

"Of course. But I think it will generate enough so that Ezra won't have to worry about having to do this again for ten years, which is the term of the lease. He'll be too old by then anyway."

"Maybe or maybe not. We'll have to wait and see."

"You don't mean that."

"Yes I do."

My first break came when I went by a little business that advertised going out of business. There were three small Toyota pickups for sale. They were all four years old and had maintenance records for each. I dickered and ended up buying all three for less than what one new pickup would cost. Mom drove one truck home and there was enough help available to follow her with the other two. The drivers were picked up by the owner who sold the trucks to me.

Church Bazaar next week. Church Food Sale. I passed the sign and then thought that maybe this was what I needed. I turned around and went back. A man I assumed was the preacher was hammering some posts in to stabilize the sign. "Excuse me Sir. I saw your sign. Do you do something like this often?"

"One time every year. It is the way we raise the biggest portion of our money. Then it is just barely enough."

"What do you serve for food?"

"Barbecue chickens are our main draw, which the men cook. The women make the salads and the desserts."

"You don't do beef and pigs?"

"No. We can never get enough money together to put one of that magnitude on or have the room. One in our congregation works for some outfit that does it, but they want so much for a guarantee up front we just can't do it."

"How much do you make from the food concessions?"

"Between eleven hundred and seventeen hundred dollars. That's after we compensate some of our congregation for the bigger food costs." He stopped work and looked at me. "Why all the questions?"

"Just looking for information. The ranch where I work is about to lose its land lease. I'm manager and I thought I might throw a barbecue to raise some money."

"That could be a good way I suppose, but you could lose a lot also. You would have to know how to organize it right. The biggest problem would be in knowing how many people to feed. Selling tickets is the easiest way of knowing how many. Or you can openly advertise. How about parking? How many cars can you park close to the barbecue?"

"I thought I would set aside ten acres. I wouldn't have to move the cattle."

He stared at me. "You're talking really big barbecue aren't you?"

"Yes. It wouldn't be worth doing a small one. It would be kind of an all or nothing deal."

"When would you be planning this for?"

"The weekend before Labor Day."

"Why not Labor Day?"

"I figured everyone has plans already for the holiday."

"Good thinking. Question--would you employ the congregation to help put this on for you? We do have some experience."

"Would a thousand do it?" He hesitated. "Up front to organize everything and carry it through and maybe a small bonus at the end of it."

"I think maybe we could work it out. Let me make some phone calls and get back to you with some lists of things on how to make it work. I'll come out to the ranch tonight about eight and talk about it." We shook hands and I headed home.

I was almost home when I thought about how the crowd I was anticipating would be made up. There would be almost as many kids as adults. They wouldn't want to be there just to eat. I had to provide some entertainment. Music--I had already thought about a marachi band, but there must be some country bands in the area that would want to showcase themselves. Maybe a contest or something.

Mom had been busy while I was away. She had lettered all three of the new vehicles with the name of the ranch on the doors. It was a fancy job on all of them for Mom was a master at calligraphy--The Hogan Hacienda. On one truck she had lettered Amy's name and on the other she put Amelia.

"What will I put on the third? I can't put Angelina or Angie." Then she burst out. "How about Mrs. Betite? That would fix her."

"Just put Angel. Just say the truck runs like an angel. She can't argue with that. Put Ezra on the Forester. You can put my name on the old truck. Junkin is appropriate as dented up as it is."

"She isn't going to like it no matter what you do."

"You know me, Mom. It's her problem if she can't get along."

"Junkin, look at me." I did. She searched my face until I turned away. Mom found what she was looking for. "I'm sorry Junkin. You just don't have any luck with women. Someday someone will come along and love you."

"I haven't given up hope yet. We haven't known each other that long. Hey get busy. You still have two vehicles to go."

The preacher brought the barbecue chef with him. Reverend Jones claimed that the chef was a maestro at what he did. The maestro explained what he needed to put on a successful meal. He wasn't too worried about having enough beef for the crowd even if more showed up than expected. He said they did a whole critter, but that was mostly for show. Most of the meat was cooked in smaller less-time-consuming quantities, which took only about an hour to prepare. This way there wouldn't be so much left over. Same with the pigs. The chickens he was glad to leave to the church congregation.

Chili, baked beans and potato salad, along with rolls made up the bulk of the rest of the plate. He made other suggestions of things that would make a successful day. Things that the ranch could do to make it easier before the people started coming. He suggested a temporary wall to house a bank of porta-potties. There was no need to have tables to eat on. It would be convenient to have seating which could be constructed of planks or even logs pulled into rows. The two men went away with my checks in their pockets and a signed contract to put on the barbecue.

Now all I had to do was to attract enough people to recoup the costs. I felt satisfied with what had transpired so far. The biggest worry was the weather. There could be no postponement!

I had almost forgotten about the hay crew. Ezra said they would be here the day after tomorrow and would start cutting on Thursday. Wednesday evening the equipment started arriving. Five hundred acres to cut. I walked out to meet the crew chief when he stepped down from the cab of his pickup. His first words were. "I need to talk to the manager. Ezra said he had one."

"That would be me, Junkin Duncan."

"Howdy, Hapgood here. Say our cook shack couldn't make it. Can you feed the crew while we are here?"

"Sure, I'll set it up. You can use the bunkhouse to sleep in if you need it. Eat in the house."

"Sounds good. We'll sleep tonight and start cutting at daybreak. Once we start we keep cutting day and night. By the time that is finished we'll start getting it cured and baled. That won't take as long as you think either. We're bagging the bales this year so the hay doesn't have to be as dry. More palatable for the cattle too."

"I never heard of cutting grass after dark."

"Can't always. However if there isn't a heavy dew we can do it. I know these fields and your grass isn't that thick. I'm squeezing you in. We're going to try it anyway."

Monday the haying was completed. The white bags ringed the field nearest the ranch buildings. The bags measured four by six feet and each weighed between four hundred and five hundred pounds. Hundreds of them lined up as they were, made an impressive sight. In the past the haying was done on shares. The owner of the crew was not as interested in it this year. I renegotiated the custom price and he left with a check without the bother of selling the hay and transporting it. Ezra thought I was crazy.

"If we can't sell it this year, it will keep. Next year we will sell the grass standing and still have enough to keep the cattle through another year." I then turned my attention to the upcoming barbecue. I had all of us fixing up and painting the ranch buildings. The stallion and the two bulls were disposed of. This was strictly for safety reasons. If we were going to have a huge crowd in, the animals would be too dangerous to have here in the buildings.

I had wandered through the timber lot. It took time to build a road into where the trees I wanted were standing. Trees that were crooked or otherwise not suitable for saw logs we dragged down to where we were going to be putting up the seating. The minimum size had to be at least a foot in diameter. We set about cutting blocks exactly seventeen inches long and setting them on end. We had smoothed and leveled the ground.

I took delivery of a band sawmill and we set about cutting heavy boards to lay across the blocks to sit on. The barbecue was six weeks away. I was hoping that any pitch that had oozed out would be hardened and we could scrape it off before anyone sat on the boards. We would use the slabs that came from the logs to hide the porta-potties from the seating and barbecue.

The person who was doing the beef had a wealth of information and we kept in contact with him. He was in his middle sixties and had been doing this all of his life. He was the one that made the different suggestions that were going to make this a success. Before we were done it seemed we were going to have a small fair and he put us in touch with a carnival that had rides for the kids.

Three weeks after the haying was done, Angelina had come in late at night. She hadn't seen what we had been working on yet. She confronted me just as I had completed the day's work. "You said one time that anything that was done here I could see the books. I want to see them now. Pa must have put a mortgage on to pay for all of this with no assurance of any return."

We were sitting in the kitchen and I went to the cupboard and pulled down the ledger the accounts were posted in. "The ledger is here. You may look at it anytime you want. I update it every evening. It is current with every bit of income and expense posted. In the back you will find a listing of the year when any of the large expenses will be amortized. I'm going to have a beer. I'll be here for the next half hour. If you see anything you don't understand, I'll answer your questions."

The first question was, "You have five names here. Yours, Ezra, Amy, Amelia and Angel. Are you trying to be funny? I don't want my name connected at all."

"There is no connection. Those are what Mom named the vehicles the ranch owns. Mom drove one small pickup home after we bought them. She claimed it drove like an angel. She wouldn't go with Nellie so she named it Angel."

I wasn't believed, I could tell that. "This Johnny D, Investor. Is that you? I thought your name is Junkin."

"That's me. That's my given name."

"It says here that you have invested $67,000 already. It is almost depleted. What are you going to do then? Are you going to make Pa put a mortgage on the ranch?"

"No."

"Well where is more money coming from then?"

"The stallion and the bulls are gone and the money from them hasn't come in yet. The ranch owns all of that hay out there in those white bags you'll see in the morning. I've had an offer for a portion of that already. What I receive will pay for keeping the cattle for a year. You will see that I have invested in fertilizer. That is something Ezra has never done. The hay crew will be back for a second cutting. That hay will put beef on the cattle where the hay he has now just keeps them alive. I'll sell the poorer hay if a buyer comes around.

"That is called short term investing with return within three months. Some of the long term investing I have done includes a sawmill for the timber lot."

"What are you doing about the lease? That comes up the first of October."

"I'm hoping I have that covered. You will see the changes in the morning and I'll explain fully at that time. If you would think back, I told you I was on a plan to be out of here in four years tops. I don't expect to lose any money that I have invested and I don't expect to take any out of the ranch. It should be worth more when I leave than it is right now. I like your father and I am enjoying myself. If I can make Ezra happy and me happy and have it not cost either of us anything, I'm going to do it.

"I'll give you an hour after breakfast to tell you what is going on. Too bad you didn't get here earlier tonight. Your daughters were looking forward to seeing you. Goodnight Mrs. Betite." I turned to leave.

"Mr. Duncan. Don't you dare censure me about my daughters. You forget I am a single mother. I feel they are well taken care of here at the ranch for the time being. I am working a full time job during the evenings and going to school during the day. The course I am taking precludes my seeing them as often as I would like."

"My apologies Mrs. Betite. I made an assumption and apparently it was the wrong one. I'm sorry. You will find them both in your bed. I stayed with them until they went to sleep. They will be overwhelmed with joy to find you here when they wake in the morning. Again, my apologies. Goodnight." It seemed as though we were always at cross purposes. I went to sleep finally thinking there never was a more beautiful woman than this one that couldn't tolerate me.

There was going to be a big blowup when Angelina came down in the morning. There were females in attendance. The three were sitting at the end of the kitchen table next to Ezra when Amy and Amelia came in followed by Angelina. The two kids ran and received good morning kisses from Ezra and Mom and a high five from everyone else. They were going around the table singing "Mama's home, Mama's home, I'm so happy!"

I stood and made the introductions. "Ladies, this is Angelina Betite. She is Ezra's daughter and the mother of Amy and Amelia. Mrs. Betite, the two young ladies are twins as you can see. Their names are Maddie and Mazie Cornwall. They are third year students at the university. They are spending the summer with us. This other lady is Mrs. Jenny Berkley. She is a friend of Izzy's and he has been seeing her when Ezra goes to visit her mother. She is staying here now. She helps Nellie out in the kitchen among other things. If you would have breakfast, I'll give you the grand tour."

Ezra came down the left side of the table and hugged Angelina. "I've missed you Angie. Hell, we have all missed you."

"Yeah, I bet." She saw that this hurt her father and she backed off to soothe his feelings. "Pa, I missed you too. It's just that I have been so busy. So what's been going on?"

"Junkin will explain. You will be here for the whole weekend won't you?"

"Yes. For once I have a free day." She stood watching me as I opened a folder I had retrieved from the cupboard where the ledger was shelved.

I started giving orders. "Maddie and Mazie, the boys will have the fence moved about now. Saddle up and go help them. Pete, you take Angel and pick up Paco, Izzy and Juan as soon as the cattle are moved and start sawing out the logs we brought to the mill yesterday.

"Mrs. Berkley, get in Amy about two this afternoon. Take the Winchester and Izzy and go hide out on the mountain. Take bedding so you both won't have to be awake all the time. That wolf will be down to check the cattle because they are closer to him than they were. Make sure you are the one to do the shooting. Izzy can never hit a thing and I'll see you tomorrow morning.

"Mazie, when you and your sister get back, sit Ezra down and make him tell you a little more of his history. Amy and Amelia you be there too. Mom, do a turkey for dinner. I'll start the cooker. You be very careful when you put the bird down into the oil. Pete, Mom has sandwiches and coffee to take with you to eat for a snack before you start sawing. We'll eat dinner at one. Are there any questions?"

"What are Maddie and I going to do when we finish with Ezra?"

"Start setting up the dehydrator that is going to do the beef jerky. In another week we will have a place for it. After the barbecue I'm expecting we will be having orders to fill. We have to know how to run it and it has to be state inspected." I paused to see if I had forgotten anything. "Ezra, I'm going to need that list we spoke about. See if you can come up with a few more names? That's it. Go everybody.

"You kids, you stick here with me and your Mom. She wants to know what we have been doing in the last three weeks. I haven't eaten yet Mrs. Betite, so as soon as we have finished breakfast I'll give you the tour." I sat and the girls ran around serving us. Mom put a plate of eggs, bacon and toast on the table along with the coffee pot. Amy took my plate and put the food on it. Amelia did the same for her mother. Then they sat and ate cold cereal.

"Mr. Duncan, you like to give orders don't you?"

I had never thought about it. "Hmm, I suppose I do, but how else am I going to convey what needs doing? I try to be explicit as to what I expect and by what time. Ezra gave me a job to do. Even he doesn't like some of the things I ask of him, but he does them anyway for he knows that is what my job is. He asked me to find money for the lease payment. I think I can do that."

"But you have advanced more money already than what the cost of the lease would amount to. Why didn't you just write him a check?"

"I could have, but he would feel guilty about taking money from me. This way he is part of something. If it all crashes, he will at least have been involved. There are other considerations. His sons are here with him, not standing out there homeless waiting for a job everyday. His niece and her husband are here. His granddaughters are where they can know him."

"What about all the others? Those young women, for instance, or Mrs. Berkley?"

I looked at the two kids. "Amy and Amelia. Go up into the top of the barn and see if you can see from there the cattle being moved." When they left, "Izzy and Mrs. Berkley sleep in the same room. Both are happy and both contribute to the ranch. The twins are here doing research. They are quite well-to-do and have offered to pay board and room. However, this is a busy time here and so I swapped labor. They are compiling a living history on Ezra."

"Where are they sleeping? There isn't room for them in the house."

"They sleep in the bunkhouse with Paco and Juan. It is a good arrangement for all."

"I suppose you join them. You could order my brothers off to the other side of the ranch and have them all to yourself."

"I could, couldn't I? Why don't you ask the girls if I ever have? You won't, of course, so let's change the subject. You are curious about how I am going to make the ranch earn the money for the lease, aren't you?"

"You might as well tell me. I still think you are running some kind of a scam."

"I'll let that go until it is proven. First, there is going to be a huge barbecue here on the ranch the last weekend of August. Actually it is turning into a small fair. We are having the traditional foods of beef, pork and chicken. Everyone here right now is making preparations. We have the seating all in for people to have a place to sit while they eat. You will see that when we go outside. We are planning on a whole critter to be roasted. The people that are putting it on have been paid already.

"When you go out you will see that all of the buildings have paint on them. Everyone had a hand in doing that. This morning the cattle went up to the lease. For the fair, I have arranged to have a rescue squad here. The firemen from one of the towns are doing crowd control. The sheriff and his deputies are on line in case of trouble. I have all sorts of music for entertainment. There is a carnival for the kids along with some pony rides. I need two thousand fair goers to break even. The person putting on the feast is ordering food for ten thousand.

"Monday when you get back to the city, you will begin to see advertisements flooding the papers and hear them on the sound waves. The ranch is getting a cut of every concession that will be here. Most of my outlay has already been made. The only thing that is a worry is the weather. If it rains not so many people will come, but even then I'm told enough will come to cover my costs. In the meantime we are all having a great time working together."

"You're crazy. I noticed one thing from the accounts last night. There is no payroll. How are you paying everyone?"

"I'm not. Communes don't make payroll."

"You can't do that. You can't have a commune."

"I don't. Ezra has. Let me explain. Everyone here has the necessities covered. Food, clothing and shelter. When the fair and barbecue are over there will be some money divided. Not all of it for the ranch gets the biggest portion. Ezra has to provide for all living here for another year. The boys don't want to leave. Mom and Pete want to stay on and I think they will until Ezra passes away. The twins will be gone, but have said they will be back next year. Mrs. Berkley and Izzy of course will be here. Oh, I want to thank you for seeing that Izzy gets the Hogan name. Ezra really appreciates that."

Angelina just grunted. I could tell she was displeased. She was going to need some time to get a handle on everything I had told her. We walked outside. "Over there is where the beef and the pigs will be barbecued. Behind that you see all of those boards sitting on wood blocks? Those are so people can sit down to eat. They will have to hold their plates in their laps, but they can at least sit. The facilities are back of that slab fence. The parking for cars cover ten acres. Those that have pickups will probably go there to sit on their tailgates to eat.

"There will be no alcohol sold or served. Of course there will be a lot of it here brought in by the patrons. That is why the sheriff will be here. Many that are helping with this will not be paid. They have agreed to just having a free all-you-can-eat meal. There will be an advertisement in every mailbox for miles around. People will come just to see and get together with their neighbors. It is those that will come even if it rains. Questions?"

"Why?"

"Because of Ezra. People will come because he is the icon of a slower more satisfying age. Others for a different reason. Some of the old-timers remember him when he always had a pretty lady in the house. It was always a scandal when one left him and they waited to see what the next one would look like. Your mother was the last--well almost the last. I'll tell you about that some other time. Ezra has had a long and titillating past. People years from now want to be able to say that they knew Ezra Hogan."

"Foolishness!"

"Maybe, but isn't it better to be a part of it than to look back at it and not know?"

"I know it all too well. Some of it is pretty painful too."

"Yes, I suppose we all have to bear some pain. It only makes us appreciate the happiness more when it comes to us. Again I will make an assumption. You are referring to the loss of your husband?"

"Again your assumptions are wrong. No one was aware, but I hated the philandering bastard." Angelina was silent as she stood beside me. She then swung around and faced me. "Just because I shared that, Mr. Duncan, don't take it as an invitation to get friendly."

"I promise I will never do that. Look if you have more you want to know about anything, I'll see you at noon. The kids wanted to see the cattle being moved up close. Why don't you take their place listening to their grandfather and I'll take them with me. You might learn something about what a great old person he is." I turned, leaving her standing alone in the middle of the ranch yard. I had to get away, for her beauty was such that I might go against the promise I had made moments before.

I glanced back at her before I went into the barn to fetch the two kids. Angelina was just looking around until she saw me looking at her. Then she whirled and hurried into the house.

We met Maddie and Mazie on the horses as they were returning from moving the cattle. They made an attractive sight as they bounced along toward us. I paused and asked if there had been any trouble. There hadn't been so the men were all up at the sawmill sawing logs. "Ezra is waiting for you. The girls are staying with me so it will just be you and him and Mrs. Betite this morning. We will all come down for dinner as planned."

As they left Amelia said, "They are pretty aren't they Junkin?"

"Yes, but not as pretty as your Mom or you two little squirts. You guys are beautiful."

When we shut down the mill at dinner time, Paco asked, "Sis on a tear this morning?"

"Some, but not too bad. You two boys keep quiet about sleeping in the bunkhouse with the girls though. That would rile her up as nothing else would."

"What has she said about Izzy having a woman twice as old as he is?"

"Not much yet. I'm still skirting the issue. I'm keeping the two of them out of sight as much as possible. Maybe Jenny will get a crack at that wolf in the meantime. Let's all act as normal as we can while she is here."

All of us that were still awake at ten-thirty that evening heard the distant rifle shot echoing from the mountain. An hour later we heard the small pickup drive in. I went out into the yard. Izzy had the carcass in the truck body. Mrs. Berkley explained. "The damned fool came down the mountain and went right by us headed for the cattle. He wasn't more than fifty feet away. When he went between two boulders, I had the sight set for when he showed on the other side. One shot--no more wolf. I could have got him even if we didn't have a full moon. Come on Izzy, let's go to bed."

"Good job, Jenny. Thanks." I looked around. Pete had come out of the house. Paco and Juan were out in front of the bunkhouse. Maddie and Mazie were too. The boys had trousers on, but the girls only wore filmy nighties. In the moonlight they might as well have been naked.

"Shows over. Back to bed everyone. Busy day tomorrow." I had cautioned Paco and Juan, but the girls hadn't been warned. They draped themselves over Paco and Juan and giggling went back into the bunkhouse. I shook my head. Angelina was standing in the doorway and I had to brush past her.

"I want to talk to you. It might as well be now."

"Where, your room or mine?"

She stamped her foot. "Don't you wish. The living room will do."

"No. Let's go out and sit on the barbecue seats. That way if you get to shouting, no one will hear you."

"That might be a good idea."

"Do you drink beer? I'm going to take one with me."

"No, I don't drink beer. If I ever drink anything I drink white wine and that isn't often. You know what I'm going to say and I'm not letting you put me off. Get your damned beer and hurry up."

I grabbed a covered picnic basket, threw a towel in it, two beers and a bottle of wine that Mom had hidden in the back of the fridge. I hesitated and then thought what the hell, I put two goblets in too. As we went by the pickup sitting in the yard, I took a blanket from inside. I led Angelina out and halfway down the rows of seats. I walked between two rows to the middle and spread the blanket.