Chapter 2

We walked slowly back to the factory where we had parked the truck. A man came out of an office and wanted to know if we were in a hurry. "Anytime. We are headed north just as soon as we unhook."

Teri spoke. "I'll back it up to the dock. You do the paper work."

The dock worker made small talk as we went into the office. "That your wife driving?"

"No, just a team driver. She had a load for the west coast and her tractor gave out so I took over with mine. She is damned good though and easy to get along with."

"Must be something sleeping in the same cab with a woman. Did you get it on?"

"No, too much respect on both our parts. Henry, who dispatches for the two of us, set it up. I think she is part of his extended family and I wouldn't want to get him pissed at me. I depend on him for my trips."

"Makes sense, but it makes a person wonder." I considered what he had said. Others do have a dirty mind, but I didn't brace him, as this was typical thinking.

Just then my cell phone vibrated, "Ted, you there?"

"I answered didn't I? Of course, I am here. What do you want?"

"I just got contacted about a load of construction equipment that is on your way. It is all loaded on a bed and waiting on me to send someone to hook on to the load. It is going to Albany."

"No, I have other plans. I won't get to Albany today."

"That's okay. There isn't any hurry. Besides you need the money."

"Why would I need the money?"

"I figure you will be getting married soon."

Teri was walking up to me. I said to Henry, "Keep talking and tell me why you think that?" I handed the phone to Teri to hear what Henry was going to say. She was listening intently.

"You're a prick, Henry. Wait until I tell your sister about what you are thinking about my life. She will tell my brother and he will kick your ass." Teri was grinning as she handed the phone back to me.

"Henry would you repeat that? I missed what you just said."

"You're a bastard Ted. Is Teri really pissed?"

"Not really. Just remember this is our business, not yours. Now tell me the details about this load? I'll take it as you said there is no great hurry." Henry rang off and I turned to Teri. "We are going to Springfield, Massachusetts. Henry has another service order for us. We drop it in Albany."

"Do you take every trip Henry lines up?"

"Pretty much if it is going in my general direction. Remember my home is in New York. The last two years I have only been home to visit my parents a few times. I'll tell you all about it this evening."

"We are still getting a motel room?"

"Yeah. I will make a change of plans if I have to, but for this one I do not see any need. I promised to tell you about my life and that is what I am going to do. So I guess we will head for Hartford and take I-91 to Springfield."

"I can do that."

"Okay." Teri handles these congested areas better than I do. Was I taking advantage of her? Maybe, but she didn't appear to mind.

It was late when we reached the motel. I had stopped here before, as there was a good place to park my rig. There was room for it way down the backside of the lot for both the truck and the loaded flatbed. We made the dining room just before it closed for the evening. When we reached our room after eating, I said I was going to shower.

"Good thinking, you're faster than I am.

"Yeah, just call me speedy."

"I hope you are only talking about taking a shower."

I stopped and looked at Teri. "We were going to talk about our lives. I am also thinking that you are a woman who uses a first date to become acquainted. You would be ready to go further on the second date. Am I way off in my thinking?"

"No. I agree that we should talk. If what we each reveal does not turn the other off and prevent us from continuing on, then I am ready to call the rest of this night a second date. Now go take your shower and we will see how speedy you are."

"Yes Ma'am." Teri was being a little brash. I showed her I could be as well. I walked up to her and put my arms around her, pulling her into my embrace. I tipped her chin up and kissed her, mashing my lips against hers. I gave her the tip of my tongue and when she likewise returned the same, I let her go and went into the bathroom to shower.

I came out wearing jockey shorts and a tee shirt. She gave me a broad smile without saying anything. She disrobed totally, and paraded across the room, pausing and turning to stick her tongue out at me before entering the bathroom. I determined she had won that little exchange.

Teri sang in the shower the same as Mona used to do. How could I be so lucky? When she came out she had on a light dress and I could see there was nothing on under it. In fact there were spots where she hadn't toweled off totally and these wet spots clung to her. "Are we ready to talk? This is the plan isn't it?"

"Yes. I have calmed down while you were in the shower. That isn't to say that the anticipation has gone away."

"It is with me too. Do you want me to start?"

"Yes. Let's make an agreement to have no spin on what we are telling each other."

"Good, I planned on letting it all hang out. First, I have to tell you that Rich is a handsome devil and I felt so lucky he chose me to be his wife. We started our relationship in our early teens. This was even before many of my friends started to develop breasts, and when they did, we were both waiting for me to do the same. I just never did. I cried many a night over my lack of development.

"I honestly felt he loved me and soon I was giving him everything he asked for. We tried it all and never seemed to get enough of each other. We were so in love we decided to make our life together and when we graduated high school, we went to truck driving school. I think I can brag a little because I seemed to catch on quicker than he did. I could back a box up to a dock that was difficult to reach and just barely kiss the bumpers with my rig.

"Rick always had difficulties doing this and his efforts made anyone watching cringe when he slammed into a dock. I even did great handling double trailers, although it is not my cup of tea. Rich never would attempt to drive these and resented my ability. We soon leased a truck and went to work as soon as we were old enough. Until then, we had driven whatever we could find. I even drove for a newspaper delivering bundles of papers."

Teri paused, and I could see she was approaching the time when a crack appeared in their relationship. She must still have some love for her former husband, for she was near tears.

She continued, "Rick began to comment on the boobs he would see on the skanks that hung around the truck stops. How could I compete with some of the women that were so well endowed? He started nagging, saying I needed to get breast implants. I resented being compared to other women, especially these truck-stop whores, and I suppose I got my back up. No way was I going to do this to myself. First, it would cost several thousand dollars, and I certainly did not want my nipples repositioned and attached to a bag of salt water.

"I sent away for some falsies and Rick made me wear these before we would enter a truck stop. We argued about this continually. Our marriage ended one night when we got a motel room. I had the last turn and went right to bed. For some reason I woke up a short time later, but Rich was not there. I had a feeling, so I got dressed and went looking for him. He was in the sleeper with a slut. He was sucking on her boobs.

"He claimed he wouldn't have fucked her, just wanting some real boobs to play with. I took him back that time, but I warned him. I suppose the trust was already gone from our marriage and no amount of promises would re-instate it. I was right, for I couldn't help but watch him from that point on.

"A month later he did the same thing again, only this time he was having sex with the homeliest woman I had ever seen. Her one major attribute was that she had big tits. I am no beauty, but I was younger and better looking. I didn't confront Rich. I gathered my things and caught a ride with a trucker, heading toward home and Maine. I cried all of the way.

"How he bitched when I finally answered his call. He was penalized for the load we were supposed to deliver at a certain time. He was the lead driver so I was at least off the hook on that. I had the papers waiting for him when he came home. I didn't give in and he couldn't persuade me otherwise.

"I said he was handsome and it wouldn't be long before women were buzzing around him. He could spin a good tale. There is some romance in driving a rig and he was a master at embellishing the life. He figured he'd have it made, so he signed the divorce papers. I received title and the mortgage on our home in the settlement and Rich took my name off the lease for the rig.

"I didn't want to give up driving so I drove whatever I could find for a few months. Rich did not pay attention and he was soon behind on his lease payments. Someone made an offer on my house, so I took it. I used the money to make the back payments on the tractor and took over the lease. It was a good rig and the lease company was glad to sign me."

"So Teri, what is Rich doing now?"

Teri grinned at me. "He calls me at least once a month begging me to take him back. I know he wants the tractor more than he wants me. Right now, he is stuck with a moving company. Driving is only a small part of his job. He has to pack up household goods and load them into a twenty-four-foot box truck. When he gets to his destination, he has to help unload it all. Needless to say, he isn't happy, but I don't care."

She laughed aloud now. "This is all because I don't have any tits so it comes down to being my fault." I could see she was laughing but there was no happiness in her expression. Teri continued, "Besides this, I'm not really happy either."

"In what way are you unhappy?"

"I can answer that and you said no spin on telling about our lives. I am so horny most of the time, I could go out of my mind. I am horny, but what I'm really looking for is love with someone I can trust. Truckers are a diverse bunch. The good ones go home to their wives at the end of a run. The bad ones hook up with some willing whore for a bit of pleasure."

"Where am I in this mix of good and bad?"

"You are definitely one of the good ones. No spin here either, I'm going to hang around until you get beyond the ethereal memory of Mona. That is if you ever do. I figure it will be only an investment of time and it may pay off big. Just so you know, I've been saving myself for someone I can trust again. I think that someone is you if you will have me." Teri looked beseechingly at me.

"I'd say you have a good shot at it. Is there anything else about you I should know that you want to share?"

"That's it. I could tell you about a few unusual experiences I have had driving, but you have had some of the same, I would imagine. Nothing that would affect me directly, so I guess I'm done."

"Nothing to do with your family? You haven't mentioned them."

"I told you I have a brother who is married. He is the best. I love his wife who is Henry's sister. We are close when I'm home and they support me when I'm away. You can tell that by what Henry has said about me. My parents are quite elderly and live near my brother. My folks dislike me being away, but they have always let my brother and me follow the direction our dreams take us. Near or far away from each other, we are a close family."

"That's nice. It is now my turn. Where do you want me to start?"

"Ted, why don't you begin telling me about your parents? I can understand more about why you are you from what you are saying about them."

"Okay, here goes. Dad and Mom started from scratch and built their own company. They own a milk transport company. They have a half-dozen small tankers that go to all the different dairy farms every other day. Milk is pumped into the tankers from refrigerated milk tanks at each farm. All this milk is transferred into two big tractor semi-tankers that carry the liquid to the milk processing plant.

"This has to be a seven day a week operation. Samples are taken from each farmer's tank to test quality, as recorded by how much bacteria is in the milk. In addition, the samples are tested for the level of butterfat. All this and the amount loaded come together and the farmer is paid accordingly. Milk is measured by the hundredweight, not by quarts or gallons.

"This operation was just getting going when I was young and has been ongoing since I can remember. It is like a whole bunch of small brooks running downhill making up a river. Only this is a river of milk. It all comes back to your table as liquid milk in quarts and gallons to drink. Much of it processed into various cheeses. A big portion is dried and added to numerous foods. Look sometime for dried milk solids on the food labels.

"I grew up as a kid watching these tankers leaving empty and coming back full day after day. Some of the drivers never deviate in the time leaving or returning. You can imagine the stacks of paper work needed to keep track of the amount of milk from each of so many farms. That is Mom's department. It is like accounting except the product is milk instead of dollars and it has to be exact."

"How come you never became part of this with your parents?"

"I guess you could say I wanted to see the country. In addition, there was this sweet little farmer's daughter, named Mona Earle, who wanted to get away from farm work. Let no one kid you, farming is the hardest life there is to live. It is work, work, work all day long and it can be twenty hours a day for dairy farmers. A man or woman has to love the land and the animals on it to enjoy it at all.

"When you meet my sister, you will see what I mean. Equipment is terribly expensive. Taxes are high and the land is costly if you can get to where you want to expand. There is the weather that isn't regulated at all and the government that regulates too much."

"Tell me about the sweet little farmer's daughter. This was Mona you were referring to I take it."

"Yes. We were in the same class in school. Mona was an only child on a small farm. Everyone works on a farm. No, she did not shirk what had to be done, but did not enjoy it. For a beautiful girl, the greatest pastime is not shoveling shit.

"My chore was to wash the tankers after they returned with their load of milk and were emptied. Most of the time these had cow crap that had stuck to the undercarriage. Sometimes when it was muddy it was plastered all over the outside. The interior of the tanks needed cleaning, but Dad employs a special person who does this. Dad has pride and wants his tankers clean inside and out.

"Mona, after she finished her own chores, would come down and help me. In return, I might go help her feed calves at their last feeding. We continually talked about what we would prefer doing over what we actually did. I guess you could say we were always daydreaming. As I got older, I would move the tankers around. I washed one, move that one out, and then bring in another to take its place.

"I felt pretty damned big up in the cab of a tanker and I knew someday I was going to drive something this big or bigger. I never had a crack at the semis, but I did envy the drivers. I was getting older, and about the time I was old enough to get a license to drive the big rigs, Mona's life changed. Her parents took the herd buyout from the government.

"This was a program where the government bought the farmer's cows so there wouldn't be as much milk produced. The farmer had to cease producing milk and could not go back into production. Mona's pa did this and went to raising beef. This freed a farmer from milking twice a day and gave him more time to do his chores in the different line of farming. Mona was freed up entirely.

"I was never paid much for what I did working for my father. I went to Mom and Pop and asked for enough to make a down payment on a tractor. 'Get your Commercial Driver's License and we'll talk.' I set out to become the best tractor-trailer driver on the roads of this great country. In no time at all, I had my certificate. I came home and immediately asked Mona Earle to become Mrs. Ted Woodman."

I paused remembering, and Teri realized I was not in the present. She waited until I continued. "There was no hesitation at all. Her father and mother liked me and my parents liked Mona. I figured I would buy a five or six year-old tractor, but Dad said no. He said to buy new, which I did. The financing was heavy, but by using some of his contacts, I put the rig right to work. I did well right from the get go.

"Understand this, I babied the woman I married and I have babied this tractor that is named for her. Enough about the rig. You are waiting to hear about Mona herself."

"I am waiting unless it is too difficult for you."

"No, I have to talk this out sometime. I did love Mona and I can say she was my obsession. I loved having her with me and she sang the same songs you have been singing. My love of driving trucks was almost as deep as the love I had for her. While she was well, there was no problem. When I was on the road, I was happy and when I was home, she made me very happy. Then she became sick with an invasive form of cancer.

"A year before I took full title to my tractor, Mona asked if her mother could move in with us. Her father had passed away a couple of months before this from a heart condition. This left Eloise to find a home for herself. I was against having her live with us, but not too strongly.

"I wanted Mona happy so I agreed to the arrangement. My mother helped with the privacy issue that I was bothered by. Often when I was home off the road, my mother would ask Mrs. Earle to stay with her and Dad. This worked out fine. For all of us.

"The day I took full title to the rig, Mom and Mrs. Earle cornered me and told me that Mona was dying. God, the guilt I felt for not noticing that Mona was sick was unbearable. There was a conspiracy among all three women to keep her condition from me. Even then, I was not told how sickly she was. They told me she would live for at least two years and that I should go on with my life as if she was fine.

"All three must have loved you a lot to keep the truth from you."

"Teri, you might feel that way. I don't and I will tell you why. I felt Mona and I were as one. It was my responsibility to care for her, but I never knew her true condition. I felt cheated when she died long before I was told how long she was to live. Think of the guilt I felt when I returned home that last time to see her and she was already gone from me. I felt it was my responsibility and privilege to say 'Mona, I love you' and they would be the last words she would hear on this earth.

"I felt only resentment and in one way I suppose that was a good thing. It got me through the early days of Mona being gone. The resentment turned me against my mother-in-law. I felt the same about my mother for interfering. I overheard them talking about how they had saved me from most of the heartbreak of losing Mona. They went on to discuss how Mona really had wanted them to shield me, and had not wanted me with her for her last days.