Chapter 55

Morning always seems to come just when a dream is really getting good. My dream had me sitting with my two women and all of our kids. There were a lot more than the five I now had, so some of them must have been Sissy's and Shirley's. We were sitting by some water, enjoying the sun's warmth, watching the kids.

A dog licked my face, taking me from my dream, so I crawled out of bed and stumbled toward the outside door. I suppose they mustn't have gotten their evening run completed as they shot out of the door like a rocket.

I went back to the bedroom and dressed to go do the chores. The clock said four fifty-five, so the dogs were a little early this morning. I went to the kitchen and warmed up some old coffee, poured more of the old to warm up into a couple of mugs, and made a fresh pot.

Mom came out to join me, as did Sissy and Rosita. Sissy said, "This might be the last time that I get to help for a while. We're moving into our new places today. We'll be here for supper, but we might not be here every night from now on."

Mom told her, "Don't talk like that, or I'll have Mike take those houses back and make you stay here. I need my grandkids with me as much as possible."

Sissy laughed and said, "I knew you'd say that and I think my family would rather eat here and eat your cooking, anyway. You know, we do have to have our own lives, Mom. Shirley and I live closer together now than ever before, so we might have to come here to have you referee. Who knows whether we'll get along being next door neighbors?"

Rosita and I went out to the barn, while the other women were discussing the move. We had the cow milked, the other stock fed, and were in the process of pasteurizing the milk by the time they came out to help.

We let them take care of the chickens and collect the eggs.

I was instructed to bring a can of milk in for butter, so I lugged the can into the summer kitchen. Someone had built a fire in the wood stove and I could smell biscuits baking in it.

Frank and Bill ate breakfast and took off for Lexington. They both said that they would be home early since they had a meeting up in Mount Sterling later today, and would just come home from there.

When they were gone, Sissy and Shirley packed their family's clothes and miscellaneous items that they wanted at their new homes. Mom even helped them by loading her Explorer and had Millie load her bright red Expedition.

It was obvious that this was going to be a 'women' thing today, so I went out to hook the trailer up and took it to the new pasture to load a couple of steers.

The butcher told me he had heard how much stock I had bought at the two auctions when I dropped them off. He asked, "Do you have the land to raise that many? That's a lot of stock and the herd will be growing as soon as those that are bred begin dropping calves."

"We should be okay. I'll use the barn pasture for the calves I bought and the new stock that's born. I'll let the heifers mix with the cut bull calves until they get to be about nine months to a year. When the heifer calves get to be about nine months we'll put them in with the bulls and older females. If we're lucky, we'll have at least sixty percent bull calves but about eighty percent bulls would be ideal. We should be able to get about six to ten years of calves out of the female breeding stock we have now. They become utility grade stock when they get too old. We should be able to keep anywhere between thirty-five to fifty head of beef stock to butcher and ship each year if we do this right. That should give us a decent income for the foreseeable future."

I had some extra milk to sell and went by the market. There were people there who wanted milk and took my two five gallon cans from me and gave me two empty ones. It seemed that one of the other farmers who had been bringing milk in every day for years had decided to retire. I was asked if I might increase my activity at the dairy tent during the week. I told them that I would have Esteban begin coming daily with at least ten gallons.

I asked about the farmer who was going to retire. They pointed to an old guy rocking in a chair near the pot-bellied stove. He grinned at me and said, "Want to buy me out, Grayson? I know you bought out Bert and Pete. I ain't going to give my place away like they did, but I'll sell out to you."

"How big a place do you have and how much of it is cultivated?" I asked, thinking that I might need more ground for hay and grain.

"A total of two hundred acres, but only a hundred seventy are cultivated."

I smiled at the man and asked of him, "Give me directions and I'll go look at it, but that's all I can promise."

"Good enough, Grayson. I might have to make you a deal like those other two, because I may have to keep the house."

This guy's name was Paul Swan, and he had been a resident of the county since birth. I had to ask, "So, where are you going to go if you do sell out, Paul? Do you really want to leave the area?"

"I'm thinking Florida. Somewhere around Naples would be good. There is a place north of there called Sun City Center that is all older folks. That might be good. The Villages, a major golfing community, is farther north, but I don't play golf that well. I think I might want to live on the beach around Naples and dodge hurricanes when they come."

"Why would you need your farm house if you do that, Paul?"

"Got a daughter whose marriage didn't work out, and she's having to hide out right now. Her ex is some kind of asshole who is threatening her, but he can't find her right now. I'll make sure she's a widow if he comes to our place. I can't understand men who want to beat on their women. Hell, my woman would take a rolling pin to my head or a butcher knife to my balls if I treated her the way our daughter was treated."

I was getting ready to leave when Paul said, "How about coming out and looking at our place right now? You'll need some time to figure out whether or not you want it."

Paul Swan led me out to his place which wasn't far from Bert's and Pete's. I parked my pickup and rode in his as he showed me all of his fields. Everything but a few acres up by his small barn was in cultivation. He had already sold his milk cows and didn't have any animals except for a steer he was about ready to butcher, so he didn't need a lot of pasture.

All the land would be good for raising hay. I could rotate some crops through it, but the land would mostly be good as continuous hay fields. What hay I didn't need would be easy to sell.

Paul asked me to come in to meet his wife and have some coffee.

Inside, I recognized Paul's wife from church and wasn't surprised to hear our local radio station broadcasting the gossip call-in hour. The woman was a typical farm wife, wearing a dress with a big apron. She made us coffee and put some cookies out for us to snack on.

Paul told me, "We been saving for a lot of years and we should have just about enough to get a place in Florida and live out our lives. The money we get for this place will just make our retirement that much better."

Mrs. Swan came and sat with us. She said, "I hear you took that Latino girl as a wife now. I ain't saying that's bad, and everyone knows how much Millie wanted her to be a second wife. Are you going to keep her, or are you just trying her out?"

I was shocked, "Wow, Mrs. Swan. If you knew me, you'd know that I don't take my obligations and commitments lightly. Rosita is now a major part of my family. Millie is my wife, and will always be my wife. Rosita is who Millie wanted to share our marriage with."

Mrs. Swan grumbled, saying, "You should have waited for Savannah. She's been running from her ex for six months now while finishing her divorce. She would make a man a good farmer's wife. She has two young boys that could grow up to be good help on a farm, but you wouldn't believe how she has to hide if you saw her. She is a very good looking lady."

Paul told me, "Savannah is the one who may be staying here and I would need her to be allowed to stay in the house. I'll keep the land, keep the house for her and her boys, and share the fields out if I have to."

I told them both, "It depends on the deal we'd make whether I would own the land or just rent it to grow hay."

Paul nodded his head and agreed, "Yep, we could do that, too. The only thing is I would still have to keep insurance and pay taxes on the place. I'm not sure the income for just hay would cover that and still give us some extra money."

It was then an attractive younger woman, about five foot five or six, came in the kitchen. Mrs. Swan was surprised and said, "Savannah, you shouldn't be showing yourself to strangers."

The younger woman said, "If he's going to buy the farm, he needs to know who I am and what kind of trouble I may be."

I remained quiet as I figured there was more to learn.

Paul advised, "Savannah has been here for three months, but she and the kids haven't even been able to go out of the house. I think her ex has had someone watching the place, but I haven't been able to catch him. I found a place over in the woods where someone had spent a lot of time. The grass and weeds were all matted down and there were dozens of cigarette butts. I check it with my binoculars a few times a day now, but I haven't seen who it is."

Mrs. Swan told me, "I made Paul go up to Mount Sterling to that big gun fair they have once a year and get us a pistol and a big rifle with a long distance scope on it. He's practiced with it and if someone shows up out there, I'm going to have him use that rifle. This is our land and no one should be out there watching us."

I asked, "If you move to Florida, what would keep you from taking Savannah and her kids with you?"

It was Savannah who spoke up, "I want to live in a small community like this and not in a big city. My ex is some kind of criminal or gangster in Chicago, and that isn't a good way to live or to bring my two boys up."

The three of them looked at each other, and Paul said, "The man has called dozens of times and said if he found out that we were hiding Savannah and the boys, he'd make sure that we never did anything like that again. He really doesn't want Savannah, he just wants the boys. So you see, we have to be careful since he's trying to get at us, but knows that he can't just barge in here."

"So what's the status of your divorce and how did you petition to handle the kids?" I asked, as I gained interest in the family's situation.

Savannah said that her attorney told her that the divorce has been granted, but she has to allow visitation to the father. She said, "I don't have the papers yet, but there's no way that I'll let him near the kids. If I do, he'll hide the boys and I'll be out of the picture. I just can't let that happen."

I told the three of them, "I'm going to send my mom over to talk to you folks. She's a tough farm lady and may have some suggestions. I'd help you clear anyone out who's spying on you, but if the ex is really some kind of gangster, it probably isn't him that's watching you. He probably sends one of his men out to check on the house every few days. Let me bring a shotgun and I'll do some rabbit hunting near the spot you've seen him and look on down to the road to see if I can find out where whoever it is parks. It might be easier to see the guy that way than to keep trying to see him through the binoculars."

Paul nodded in agreement and Savannah went back into the part of the house where she had been before. Mrs. Swan told me, "Anything you can do would help, Mike. I'm afraid of that man. We don't know enough about him, but Savannah seems to think that he has a lot of power up in Chicago. The way they have to hide is no way for a couple of boys to be living."

I told them that I would be back later, and I would have Mom come over to see if she had any ideas.

I slowly drove along the road when I left to see if I could find where a car might have been parking. I saw some tracks leading into the woods, but they weren't fresh. I needed to go see Mom and see if she was willing to talk with the Swans. The Sheriff was actually the person to have take care of this, but the problem with that is that everyone knows what's going on in a small town, and it could get back to the wrong people.

At Frank and Sissy's new homes, the two girls had unloaded everything from the cars, were putting clothes away, and preparing to do loads of laundry in their new laundry rooms. Millie and Rosita were getting ready to go home and were going to take all of the kids back to the house, as the older kids wanted to play with Minya and Mato instead of being at the new houses. All four of Sissy's and Shirley's kids said that if they stayed there, their moms wouldn't let them get together the way they liked as much. You could see that was going to be a problem when it was confronted.

I took Mom off to the side and talked to her about the Swans. She looked at me funny and asked, "Why do you want to get involved in a family problem like that? It seems like you have enough to keep you busy."

"I know, Mom, but something tells me that we should help them. At least listen to them and maybe you can make some suggestions. You know how I hate to see or hear that someone is taking advantage of another. It isn't our problem, but Paul and Mrs. Swan are afraid, and that shouldn't happen."

Mom didn't grumble, but she thought that we were meddling. I told her that I was going to do some hunting on their property and was going home for a shotgun. She told me, "If you get a shotgun, get yourself a pistol to carry, too. You don't want to be caught without protection if there is really some kind of bad guy hanging around."

It took me a little over a half-hour to run home to get a shotgun and a pistol. I brought my game bag as I figured I would at least get one rabbit. There was enough high grass at the tree line that should guarantee a couple of bunnies.

I parked in the driveway area next to Mom's Explorer, but didn't go in. I walked out toward the tree line at an angle away from where the suspected watcher had been. I thought I could just walk the edge of the woods and maybe scare up a rabbit or two, or even some quail.

I was just about to the tree line when I thought I saw movement back over where the watcher was supposed to be. I didn't stop and stare, but went into the trees. As luck would have it, a rabbit jumped and ran out into the field. I rolled him with a shot, then went over and picked it up and put it in the game bag before going back to the tree line.

After going about twenty feet into the trees, I stopped behind an old oak and turned to peek around it to see if I could spot what had caught my eye. A man who obviously wasn't from around here was standing on the edge of the trees with binoculars. You knew that he wasn't from around here from the suit and overcoat he had on. The guy was easy to spot with his white shirt and bright colored tie flashing when he moved. He would glance my way, but kept focused on the house. I saw smoke rising from his face, so he must have had a cigarette in his mouth.

I wanted to see where the guy parked, so I walked through the woods away from him and toward the road. I saw a big black Buick in a heavy growth of saplings, about halfway to the road, which hid the car pretty well. I made a circle around it to make sure there was no one else in the car and noted that the path the car had traveled was an old field road coming up from the main road, but not close to where I had seen the tracks before.

Curiosity made me go close to the car and peer into the windows. There was a flashing red light on the dash that told me the car had an alarm, and I couldn't take a chance of setting it off. I could have disabled the car if I could have gotten into it, and easily been able to stop the man. He was trespassing and acting suspicious as it was.

I went back up to the tree line and jumped another rabbit. When I put this one in my game bag, I saw the man crouch down and attempt to hide behind a tree. As I stood and began walking slowly along the tree line again, I saw the watcher move toward where his car was. There was no way that I could catch up with him in time to keep him from driving away, and that was further complicated by having two rabbits jump at once. Bang, bang, and two more rabbits doubled my take in the game bag.

I heard the car start and drive away. I walked back down to where the car had been parked and could tell the spot had been used extensively as the grass was mashed down across the area from parking at different angles. There was something on the ground near where the driver's door would have been when it was parked today. It was a cell phone that was still on. I used my gloves to pick it up and put it in my coat pocket. I might want to have someone take fingerprints from it.

I bet that whoever had dropped it would soon be back to look for it. I looked around to be sure I hadn't left any boot prints, as I was able to see that the guy had regular street shoes. I took a parallel route up to the guy's watching place and found where he stood back in the trees, although he had been right at the tree line when I saw him today. There was a big tree that had been cut back in the tree line and there was a place by a large limb where it was obvious that someone had been sitting today. It was back far enough that you wouldn't easily be able to spot anyone from the house.

Once again something behind the limb caught my eye. I carefully went around the limb making sure I didn't leave any footprints or mess the leaves up. There was a wallet behind the limb. It was a catchall wallet that was fat from every kind of card imaginable. I used a stick to fish it out from the sticks and limb so that I wouldn't leave any sign. I'd bet the wallet worked itself out of his pocket as he sat on the limb and scooted back and forth watching the house. Now I knew the guy would be back for sure.

I walked out of the tree line near where I had originally entered. If someone was watching, they would have seen me carrying my now fairly full game bag back toward the house.

Paul came out as I approached the house to ask how I did. I didn't tell him about finding anything, but told him that I had seen a watcher and found out where he parked his car. I described the old farm road and Paul said, "That was used to get a combine and truck in and out of that field before I cleared it out all the way to the house. The field is easy to get to now as you can see."

I told Paul that I had some things to do, but I told him to watch, as I was sure the guy would be back today. Mom had left while I had been hunting, so I drove off without asking Paul what they had talked about.

As soon as I left, I slowly went up the road to make sure that I didn't pass the Buick parked somewhere else. It was easy to get to the state road that led up to the big highway from Paul's place. I had to figure the guy would miss his cell phone before his wallet, so I had to do whatever I was going to do quickly.