Chapter 3

John said it would be fine with him if I split up my time to work three days for him and three days for Mrs. Webster. Mama was happy I was gonna be makin' extra cash.

The first day I showed up at the farm, I worked myself to a frazzle. It ain't 'cause she was a slave-driver 'r nothin'. I was just showin' off tryin' to make her see how much she really needed me. That afternoon, I drove her over to Watonga to the vet's to get some bag balm for the cow. While we were in town, she took me over to Simm's drug store and bought us ice cream sundaes with a cherry on top. I didn't get somethin' like that maybe once a year so it was surely a treat for me.

On the way back to the farm, I asked, "When is Mr. Webster gonna be comin' home again?"

I don't know what I said wrong but she got all clouded up and dang near started cryin'. She just shook her head and said, "I really don't know, Richie. If you don't mind, I'd rather not talk about it."

I felt terrible that I made her sad. "I'm sorry Mrs. Webster. I didn't mean to poke my nose in where it don't belong."

She put her hand on my arm and said, "Don't be sorry. It's nothing to do with you. Randall and I are just going through some rough times. All married couples do, I guess but I'm sure we'll work through it. It's sweet of you to be concerned."

When we got back to the farm, I showed her how to apply the balm to the cow's udder. It was gettin' on to late afternoon so she paid me for the day. I didn't hardly believe it when she handed me a five-dollar bill. I guess she saw the look of surprise on my face and said, "That's four dollars for a good day's work and a dollar for gas. Does that seem fair, Richie?"

"Yes, Ma'am! It's more than fair n' I thank you for it. I'll be back on Wednesday so you get together a list of things you need done n' I'll jump right on it as soon as I get here."

"You earned every penny of it, Richie. See you Wednesday. Bye now."

"Bye, Mrs. Webster n' thank ya so much."

I started to get in the car but she held my arm and said, "Tell you what, Richie. As long as we're not around other people, why don't you just call me Beth, OK? Mrs. Webster seems too formal."

"Yes, Ma'am - I mean Beth. See ya in two days!"

The next time I went to the farm, I stopped at John's to pick up a box of groceries for Beth. He asked me if I'd met Mr. Webster yet and I told him that he was workin' the oil fields down by Lawton.

He kind of shook his head and wondered, "Why would he be working all the way down there when there's plenty of new wells goin' in a lot closer by. I guess they must be payin' him a pretty good wage. Oh well, it ain't our business, is it? You say hi to Mrs. Webster now and don't fergit to thank her for her business."

When I got to the farm, I went right to the barn to get started fixin' the stalls. I saw the cow hadn't been milked yet so I went and grabbed the pail off the back porch and got that chore done. The balm was right there on a shelf so I did that too. I knew the cow wasn't gonna like all the hammerin' so I turned her out to field to graze.

I was just nailin' the last board to the stall when Beth come out to the barn n' said, "Thanks for doing the milking. I was about to make myself some breakfast and wondered if you were hungry."

"I had a bite before I come out this morning but I'm always hungry. Mama calls me a bottomless pit. Your groceries are in the back seat of the car. I'll grab em' on the way in."

I made a pig of myself at the breakfast table. Beth just kept bringin' on the food 'till I flat couldn't eat no more. I had hot biscuits with home churned butter, fried eggs and a big ol' slab of ham that must've been a half inch thick.

As I was swallowin' down the last of my coffee, she said, "I have a favor to ask, Richie. There are lots of things around here to do today but do you think we could get started on some driving lessons. I hate being stuck out here by myself and I'm thinking about buying a car. I talked to Mrs. Hancock, the school secretary and she said her mother has a '39 Ford sedan in pretty good shape that she wants to sell. I guess she's getting too old to drive it and just wants it out of her garage. I thought maybe you could go with me to look at it since you probably know a lot more about cars than I do."

"You bet! When do you want to go?"

"Well, I said I'd try to get there sometime this afternoon so that gives us some time to do some driving lessons if you don't mind."

"I don't mind at all, Beth. Let's get to it!"

The thing about drivin' them ol' Model A's is that both hands and both feet are busy when you're startin' or stoppin'. Beth like to jarred my back teeth loose learning how to do the clutch but by the time we'd run up n' down the drive about twenty times, she was startin' to get the hang of it. When she finally parked by the porch, we'd both about laughed ourselves sick over all the little whoops and screeches she come out with tryin' to get it all to work together.

She offered to fix me some lunch before we left to go see the car but I was still full from breakfast. We just had a glass of lemonade and headed into town. I let her drive.

Mrs. Hancock was there to open up the garage. I couldn't hardly believe my eyes! The car was covered with a thick layer of dust but underneath was a black four-door that looked almost new. The battery was dead so I had to jump start it but once it was runnin', it purred like a kitten. I checked the exhaust for any signs it was burnin' oil but it was as clean as you could want.

"Mrs. Webster," I said, rememberin' that Mrs. Hancock was standin' right beside us, "This'd be a fine car for you if the price is right. You might have to replace the tires 'cause they're pretty old and cracked but I don't think it needs anything else."

When we went inside to talk to Mrs. Hancock's mama, she asked Beth if three hundred seemed like a fair price. Beth looked at me and I nodded my head and said, "Oh yeah, that's very fair!"

"Good! I'll take it. Richie, would you drive me over to the bank to get some cash?"

While she made the deal and Mrs. Hancock's mama signed over the title, I got out my hand pump to fill up the tires. First, we stopped at the courthouse to get a manual so she could study for the written test, then we stopped at Fuller's gas station on the way out of town to get new tires put on 'cause the old ones were so cracked I was afraid we'd have a blowout before we got back to the farm. I was pretty sure the tubes was about half rotten.

I was real proud of Beth for drivin' my Model A all the way back without a hitch. Before I went home that afternoon, I washed her car up nice and shinny, checked the oil and gave her some more lessons on how to work a column shift. She took to it real easy. Hell, with a little studyin' she was ready to go get her license.

Two days later I was stockin' shelves at John's when she come walkin' in to buy some things she forgot on her order. She told me she studied the driver's manual and drove to the courthouse the very next day and got her license. She pulled it out of her purse and showed it to me.

John said he appreciated that she came in to shop but he was a little surprised because now that she could drive, DeSpain's Grocery in Watonga had a lot bigger selection of goods. Beth said she knew that but they wouldn't deliver to the farm and John did so she wanted to give her business to folks that showed her some kindness.