Chapter 6: Learning The Business

She heard movement in the dark front room. She gasped as he said in a reassuring voice, "Time to get up. Chores and a mountain of gold are waiting for us."

"It's the middle of the night," she complained. "It's still dark out. She grabbed the covers tightly around her neck, not realizing her panty clad butt was bared to the world. Suddenly she felt a hand smack her exposed anatomy. She shot straight up in the air and yowled like a cat.

"Get dressed, we have milking to do and yesterday's eggs to gather. The stock has to be fed and we need to get a load of hay in both 'the south and east pastures. Then we look for the doodle bug."

She yelled at his retreating back, "Don't you ever lay hands on me like that, ever again. Damn you!" she screeched and ran, wearing only a pair of thong panties, for the just vacated bedroom.

Jesse grinned to himself as he heard the shower begin to run. He laughed, "I knew there had to be some fire in there somewhere." He sliced two thick ham steaks and started breakfast cooking. Still smiling, he took clean dishes out of the dishwasher and set the table. He shoved yesterday's biscuits in the oven to warm. Instead of potatoes, he made a dish of creamed, buttered grits. As he removed the ham he started a quarter cup of flour to brown in the skillet and made a rich country gravy to go over the grits.

"Hey," Marie called weakly from the half open bedroom door.

He looked up and called, "Yo!"

"Ah, I'm naked and I need some clothing. It's all in the front room. She sounded scared of him again.

"Oh hell, I'll turn my back and you just go get what you want. I promise not to turn around." She heard the laughter in his voice. She wondered if he was laughing at her or the situation.

As soon as he heard the door open, he waited for the count of three and said in a conversational voice. Damn but you look good. This mirror in the kitchen shows you off real fine." Marie shrieked, grabbed her clothing and ran back to the bedroom. She slammed the door behind her. He laughed aloud and sat down at the table to wait for her.

Minutes later she came in fully dressed, looked around the kitchen and exclaimed, "There's no mirror in here."

"You should have noticed it before and remembered," he laughed. "Sit down and eat. We have a busy day ahead of us.

That wasn't funny," she said. Then she had to grin as she watched him grin. "Well, maybe it was, a little bit. You remember the old saying, 'what goes around, comes around.' There will be a time when I'll get you back."

"Sounds fair. Dig in and eat. We have to get busy. The wind has died down and I want to put the milk cows out into the feeder pen. It's easier to keep them corralled up close in than try to find them when they get lost in a blizzard. I can't keep them penned in the barn, either. From All the signs we have a bad winter ahead of us and I want things set up in advance." He added, "I will have to shovel the cow manure out of the barn after I get the milking done."

"Why don't you house train the cows so they will do their duty outside? Then you wouldn't have to clean up after them." She immediately realized she had asked a dumb question by the expression on his face.

As soon as he quit laughing, he asked in a strained voice, "How do you go about paper training a nine hundred pound cow. They are a little too big to pick up and rub their noses in before you toss them outside. Also, when a cow has to go, she goes and that's all there is to it. It is written in the bible somewhere, 'Cows crap and man cleans up behind the cow.' Or if it wasn't written there it should have been."

She looked down at her plate in hurt embarrassment. He hastened to add, "I wasn't poking cruel fun at you. That will seem like a brilliant suggestion, alongside some of the dumb questions you'll ask in the future. But ask them anyway. That is how you learn. Just don't be so damned earnest. You want to learn, I'll teach you." He finished off his food and poured a second cup of coffee.

She dug in. 'These are the best mashed potatoes I have ever eaten!" she exclaimed as she took a bite of grits and gravy. "Of course I have never seen mashed potatoes and gravy served for breakfast." She took another bite and swallowed.

Jesse laughed and told her, "If you have never had mashed potatoes for breakfast, you still haven't. Those are grits, just down home grits flavored with butter, salt, cayenne pepper and sweet cream. The gravy is plain old country gravy made with flour, ham drippings, milk and cream, seasoned with salt and pepper. You city people put great store in imported spices when the best are found right at home. Mountain air without smog is the best seasoning of all."

"But I thought grits," she pronounced the word almost like an expletive, "was hillbilly food, you know, eaten by..."

Jesse interrupted her snobbery. "People who marry their sisters, raise ten kids out of wedlock, live on food stamps and government handouts."

"Well, I wouldn't put it quite that strongly, but yes, those are the people." She looked up at him, wondering what she said wrong.

"So many people, and not just those from New York, divide humanity into two groups, 'us' and 'them.' The 'them' refers to the rest of the world. You have seen Jeff Foxworthy or some other so-called hillbilly redneck on TV and think you have an insight into the south. Or perhaps you saw "Little House On The Prairie. You have no idea."

He stood, "Let's get to the milking." He began to load dishes into the dishwasher. "You better go put on some thermal underwear under those jeans, woolen shirt and a ski mobile suit. Those lacy little butt baring panties won't be very warm when we get outside." He grinned at the memory of her almost bare rear end sticking in the air when he first got up.

She bit back a sharp retort and hurried to change into warm clothing. When she returned to the kitchen she saw he was already bundled up for the out of doors. He motioned for her to follow. They stepped outside into a dark world of low moaning wind and no shadows. "This rope is tied between the house and the cattle barn. When the wind is blowing loose snow around, that rope is your lifeline. It will keep you from getting lost and wandering around until you freeze to death."

From her expression it was clear she thought he was exaggerating to make fun of a greenhorn. "How can you get lost in your own back yard?" she asked him. "Come on now. You're exaggerating, aren't you, just a little bit?"

His face became very stern. "Damn, I don't know if this whole thing is a good idea or not. Marie, every year, people like you, from back east come out here and die of terminal ignorance. Now I am going to say this just once. I do not stretch the truth or play games when it comes to safety. If I tell you something, you can take it to the bank and cash it.

"When the snow starts to blow and the wind shifts direction every few seconds, you have what they call a ground blizzard. You lose all sense of direction. The odds are you will wander off and die, lost and alone." Grimly he added, "And you might be only ten feet from the house when you give up and die. Either listen to me or get your ass back to eastern civilization. I won't have you die on me out here."

Chastened, she nodded and followed him out to the barn. She was amazed as he cut through the infirmary to get to the milk barn. "Good grief, this looks almost like a doctor's office. She nervously eyed the hundred cc syringe in a glass case hanging on the wall. "I hope you don't stick that thing in me."

He did not see what she had referred to as "that thing." Seriously he answered, "Lady, I never will without an invitation." She gasped, he turned and saw her staring at the syringe. "Uh, I mean I never ... I ... well." His face blazed deep red as her turned and opened the side door into the milk barn.

Even though his remark, unintentional as it was, embarrassed her, she giggled at his discomfort. "Gotcha!" she exclaimed at his retreating back. The retreating back stiffened for a moment. Jesse opened the side door and stepped back to let the cows in. They made their usual pushing, shoving mad dash for the stall they considered their own. He passed out the grain, locked the stanchions and began to milk.

Marie watched in wide-eyed amazement as the scene played out in front of her. To her it seemed like she was watching "The History Channel." Jesse quickly filled one bucket after another with the froth covered milk. He carried each bucket of milk into the milk room and set it to one side. His movements were quick, sure and steady, with no hesitation. As soon as the eighth cow was milked, he opened the stanchions and shooed the cows back outside into the feeder lot. He broke bails of hay loose and filled the troughs. Quickly he returned to the barn, grabbed up the last bucket of milk and hurried in to start the separator. All during the milking process he never said a word.

Nervously, afraid he had been offended by her teasing, she asked in a small voice, "Are you mad at me?"

"No," he answered, surprised at the question. "Why should I be mad at you?" he began to pour the milk through the separator.

She watched in fascination as the skim milk came out one spout and the cream out another. As soon as the cream had been removed from the whole milk, He snagged up a bucket of the skimmed and led the way to the chicken house. The milk was poured into the dispenser and the chickens given a fast once over for potential problems or illness.

"Well, if you aren't mad at me, why the silent treatment?" She demanded. She had never met anyone like Jesse before, so aloof one moment and joking the next. His inner strength showed through in the way he moved and attacked his work, almost machine like. A real sexy machine, she told herself. Again she clamped down on such thoughts. Theirs was a business relationship and nothing more. She wistfully thought a little romantic "monkey business" mixed into the relationship wouldn't be too bad.

She sighed. Her thoughts surprised her. Until she met Jesse she had never felt a deep attraction toward any male. This big, stern looking man was new to her. The realization hit her that Jesse Morgan was who she had been looking for all her life. The problem was, she never realized it until now.

"Look, I had nothing to say. I wanted to get the milking out of the way. I need to clean the barn out as soon as the hogs are fed. Then we have to carry hay out to the cattle. If I have nothing to say, then I say nothing. Silence is also nice to listen to."

"Oh, okay," was all she could think of to answer him.

He led the way toward the back of the barn to where the pigs were penned. He carried the rest of the skim milk on a cart and poured it out in their feeder troughs. Commercial feed pellets were placed in another container. Again, he took a minute to scrutinize each animal for signs of illness or injury. When he saw none, he dragged the cart back to the milk room and sterilized the now empty containers with steam.

Marie exclaimed, "Good grief, you have everything here but a wind tunnel. Is this a science lab or a cattle ranch?"

Her obvious interest caused him to explain with pride, "Lady, believe it or not this is a bare bones operation. I admit the steam generator I use to sterilize the buckets and anything else that needs it is pretty fancy, but I got it at a freight auction for pennies on the dollar. I bid twenty dollars for it and got it because no one else wanted it. I hauled it home and put it together in my spare time. Dairy and poultry must be kept clean and in sterile conditions at all times. Apologies don't cut it when your produce makes someone sick."