admin

Rural LoveChapter 1Billllllllleeeeee!I heard the yell of my Aunt Paulette clear out to the barn. She and myUncle Nick had taken to raising me after my mom and dad died. It wasn't agood memory.At least Mom and Dad died together. All I had was a mess of memories anda lot of nightmares to show for our house burning down and taking themaway from me.The metal of the wood stove burned through, and the hot coals landed onthe floor. The problem was, I had thrown buckeyes in it, and I feltguilty as hell. Maybe they would have lived had them buckeyes not gottenthrown in there.Everybody told me it wasn't my fault and the stove would've burnedthrough no matter what. But, I could tell how people really thought. Isaw them when I walked into the church. All the eyes were on me, and theyall thought I was a murderer, or, What kind of person would do that totheir own parents? They said I lived because I was the furthest away.Me, I didn't mean to do it. Heck, I was meaning to have some fun. I'ddone it before and the way everyone jumped when they popped made foreveryone getting scared and then laughing afterwards. Only this time, noone was laughing. They were all dressed in their Sunday's finest andlaying up there in them closed caskets .When the funeral was over, my Aunt Paulette and Uncle Nick took me in.They were nice, but I could tell they blamed me. Both were real quiet andwould whisper when I left the room.My Aunt Paulette thought they should take me to a shrink. I didn't needno shrink, I needed to be taken out somewhere and ran down with a brushhog and chopped up into little pieces.So, rather than sit and listen to them whisper, I went out to the barn.After not coming when my aunt yelled, my Uncle Nick came out and walkedcautiously into the barn. He saw my tear stained cheeks and said, *quot;Billy,your aunt called, didn't you hear her?*quot; The tone of his voice told me hefelt sorry for me.I said, *quot;Uncle Nick, she's just calling me for supper, and I don'tdeserve to eat. I just deserve to die. So, if you'll just start thattractor up over there, I'll lay down and you just run over me with thebrush hog.*quot; I began to cry real hard.He looked at me and said, *quot;Billy, it...wasnt....your......fault.*quot; He saidit slow and deliberate like, like he really meant it.All I heard was *quot;You....killed....my....sister!*quot; I started crying harderand he hugged me to him.He knelt down so he was looking me in the eye and said, *quot;Billy, we knowyou threw buckeyes into the wood stove. I told your daddy that thing wasgoing to burn through. We were going to go on Saturday and get you all anew one that would've been better. So, if anyone is to blame, it's mebecause I didn't want to go get it right then. If I had, the buckeyeswouldn't have done a thing to it.*quot;I looked at him and really cried hard now feeling sorry for him.He said, *quot;Billy, sometimes, things happen and there's not a thing we cando. All we can do is to try to be better people afterwards. I love youand Paulette loves you, so let's go in and eat and then we'll talk somemore after supper.*quot;I walked with him and he held me real close to him. I had a head achefrom crying and snot was running out of my nose. I wiped it off with mysleave and he said, *quot;Billy, when we get inside, I'll wash your face andthen we'll get you an aspirin. It should make you feel better. I've gotme a whale of a headache going too.*quot;How he knew I had a headache, I'll never know, but I'm glad he knew.When we got inside, Aunt Paulette took a look at me and came over to hugme.Uncle Nick said, *quot;Hon, Billy's blaming himself just like I am. I told himit's nobody's fault and that things just happen. So, we're going to washhim up, and get us an aspirin, and then we'll eat your fine supper.*quot;She smiled and patted me on the back as I walked by her. I could smellhomemade biscuits from the oven.We went to the sink and he took a washcloth out. The coolness against myskin felt nice and afterwards, he poured us some milk and gave me anaspirin. I stood looking at him and together, we drank our milk.Afterwards, I couldn't help but smile because he had a milk mustache justlike me.He laughed and said, *quot;Billy, we're going to get through this, andhopefully, you'll find that one day you're glad you live here. Right now,a lot of decisions are needing made for you, but those will settle wheneveryone gets used to the situation.*quot;We went over to the table and I saw Aunt Paulette had my favorite, friedchicken, mashed potatoes and gravy, corn, and biscuits. I liked friedchicken and proudly reached for a drumstick.My aunt smiled and said, *quot;Billy, let's say grace and then you can eat allyou want.*quot;During grace, I thought about my mama and daddy being in heaven and said,*quot;God, please tell my mama and daddy, I love them. I know they can hearme, but I want you to tell them I'm sorry so they know it's true.*quot;My aunt dabbed her eyes, and my Uncle Nick had tears in his eyes too. Ididn't care if they heard me, I just wanted mom and dad to know I wassorry.After supper, my Uncle Nick said, *quot;Billy, we're going to town tomorrow asI've got to pick up some supplies. Afterwards, we'll go to the livestockauction as I want to pick out some calves. Would you like to go with me?*quot;I nodded as I liked the livestock auction. All the a****ls were neat.They had horses, cows, pigs, chickens, ducks, and even goats!I then asked to go outside and my Uncle Nick went with me. He hugged meas we walked and said, *quot;Billy, your mama and daddy had quite a bit ofmoney invested. They also had a lot of insurance and that farm over therehad owner's insurance on it too. Now, you're too young to run it, so Iwas thinking that we put some livestock on it and that would be youroperation. I'll help you run it and we can hire someone to work it. Youdon't have to if you don't want, but letting that land go to waste isn'tsomething that should be done.*quot;I looked up at him and said, *quot;Uncle Nick, that farm's yours. Mama told methe land came from Grandad and you should've gotten it when he died. Shenever felt right about them getting it instead of you.*quot;Uncle Nick said, *quot;Billy, the farm is yours. My dad thought your mamashould've had it, so he willed it to them. He willed me money with whichPaulette and I bought this one. Fortunately, it was up for sale and itwas so close to that farm, I was happy. I always enjoyed living close tothem and not once did I hold a grudge it wasn't left to me. You'll findyour mom and I thought different on things.*quot;I looked at him and said, *quot;Uncle Nick, you do whatever you see fit. I'mnot old enough to run a farm and it's not fair you now have to run two.So, you do with it what you want and take the money from it as yours.You're raising me and that's enough.*quot;My Uncle Nick smiled and said, *quot;Billy, we're raising you because wewanted you. Paulette and I haven't been blessed with k**s, and some day,the way I see it, this farm will be yours too.*quot;I looked at him and said, *quot;Uncle Nick, what if I don't want to be afarmer. What if I want to go to the city and be a hellion?*quot;He laughed real loud and said, *quot;Billy, do you know what a hellion is?*quot;I said, *quot;Well it must be fun because they sure do get on t.v. a lot!Everytime they'd be on the television, my daddy would turn the channeland would say, 'Them hellions are taking over the television.' So, oneday, I asked him where the hellions were and he told me in the cities. Ifigure I'd like to go see some.*quot;My Uncle Nick said, *quot;Billy, your daddy thought that anyone who didn'tbelieve as he did were hellions. I'm sure he found hellions right here inour little town.*quot;I looked at him wide eyed and said, *quot;Really? Could I meet one?*quot;He laughed again and said, *quot;Billy, I'm sure you'll meet people in yourlife you'll think are hellions and you don't need to be runnin' 'roundchasin' your daddy's.*quot;I got quiet and thought about it and said, *quot;You're probably right. I'lljust have to find my own.*quot;We walked to the creek and he said, *quot;Billy, is it o.k. if I invest thatmoney of yours in some more farm land?*quot;I said, *quot;Uncle Nick, that would be fine. Mom said land was the bestinvestment because no one could take it away and it wouldn't be fritteredaway like some people do buying all them things.*quot;He said, *quot;What I'm going to do is start putting your money into landaround here and then when it's time for you to do what you want in life,it will be worth more. Right now, land isn't going for as high here as itis in other parts of our state. The only reason for that is the roadsaren't that good. I've heard talk they're buying up land over nearCharlotte to build a super mega highway, so then the roads will bereaching somewhere and people will want the land more. With the moneyyou've got, you should be setting on quite a nest egg when that timecomes.*quot;I said, *quot;Uncle Nick, what happens when that kind of egg hatches? I'm notgoing to be raising no fowl am I?*quot;He laughed and said, *quot;Billy, you won't think it's foul at all when thatday comes.*quot;We began walking back to the house. I said, *quot;Uncle Nick, couldn't you andAunt Paulette adopt?*quot;He said, *quot;Billy, we had talked about it, and then this happened. So, wedid get someone. We got you. I think you're enough.*quot;I said, *quot;Well keep it in mind because with me sitting on some egg waitinon it to hatch, I'm gonna be busy.*quot;He laughed again and said, *quot;Billy, you'll be busy alright.*quot;I said, *quot;Uncle Nick, can I tell you something?*quot;He said, *quot;Sure.*quot;I said, *quot;You promise it won't go further...dead man's promise?*quot;He smiled and said, *quot;Yeah, I promise.*quot;I said, *quot;No, you gotta promise the dead man's promise, or I can't tellyou.*quot;He said, *quot;Billy, I promise the dead man's promise.*quot;I said, *quot;Uncle Nick, I think I like boys in front of girls.*quot;He looked at me strange and said, *quot;What do you mean Billy?*quot;I said, *quot;Well, at school, I like looking at boys...not girls.*quot;He nodded and said, *quot;Billy, when I was your age, girls weren't myfavorite either.*quot;I looked at him and said, *quot;Really!*quot;He said, *quot;Really...now you gotta promise to not say anything about thateither. Because now, I like Paulette, so maybe someday some girl willsweep you off your feet like she did me.*quot;I said, *quot;So, did boys give you a funny feeling?*quot;He said, *quot;Billy, you're too young for me to talk to this way, but sinceyou asked the question, no, they didn't.*quot;I said, *quot;Oh, well they do me...especially Bobby.*quot;He smiled and said, *quot;Well, Bobby probably likes you too.*quot;I said, *quot;No, Bobby likes Sally, he doesn't even know I'm alive.*quot;Uncle Nick said, *quot;Well, Bobby probably isn't the one for you then.*quot;I said, *quot;Uncle Nick?*quot;He said, *quot;Yeah hon.*quot;I said, *quot;Thanks for not thinking I'm strange.*quot;He laughed and said, *quot;Billy, you're not strange at all. You're just a k**growing up and getting used to things.*quot;I said, *quot;Well, hopefully one day, I'll be used to them then.*quot;He said, *quot;Billy, I'll let you in on something. I'm older and I'm not evenused to everything yet.*quot;I said, *quot;Well, maybe you'll get used to them after a while.*quot;He laughed and said, *quot;Billy, when that day comes, I'll tell you know andthat way it won't be such a secret.*quot;I said, *quot;O.k.*quot;When we got back to the house, Aunt Paulette said, *quot;Billy, you need to gotake a bath.*quot;I said, *quot;Can I take a shower?*quot;She smiled and said, *quot;Yes, you can take a shower.*quot;I ran into the bedroom and got some of my Tonkas and then ran to theshower. I liked taking showers because I could play with my Tonkas in it.No one would let me go out in the rain, but they'd let me play in theshower, so I liked showers.When I got to the shower, I began to play and my Uncle Nick said, *quot;Billy,you need to wash your hair and body before you play. After that, you canplay all you want.*quot;I said, *quot;O.k.*quot; and then washed my hair. I figured the water would wash mybody. I played Tonkas until the water got too cold. I shut it off andthen got the towel down from the rod which was mine and began drying off.My Uncle Nick came in and said, *quot;Billy, here's your p.j.s, so put them onand you won't be so cold.*quot;I took them and began putting them on. My Uncle Nick said, *quot;Billy, you'rea good k**. Don't let anyone tell you you're not.*quot;I said, *quot;Well, Uncle Nick, you're a good uncle too...so, don't let anyonetell you you're not.*quot;We went to the living room and I saw Uncle Nick had lit a fire in thefireplace. For a brief moment I thought about buckeyes and began crying.Uncle Nick hugged me close and said, *quot;Billy, I'm sorry.*quot;I said, *quot;Uncle Nick, it's not your fault. I just thought about puttingbuckeyes in the fire.*quot;He hugged me close and said, *quot;Billy, let's save the buckeyes for thefires outside. O.k.?*quot;I nodded and he said, *quot;Maybe tomorrow night, we'll build a fire outsideand roast hot dogs and marshmallows. O.k.?*quot;I nodded and he said, *quot;Billy, when you get a chance, we'll go getbuckeyes and we'll throw them in the fire together. That way, you'll seethey're still fun.*quot;I never heard him all the way, I'd fallen asleep.Chapter 2:The next morning, I found myself in bed between Aunt Paulette and UncleNick. I felt warm and cozy and liked the feeling of being hugged allaround.I had to go pee, but being in betwen them, I couldn't figure out a way togo to the bathroom without waking up them.I decided there were two ways to go. I could either come up out of thecovers or slide down the covers. Either one would do, but all I knew wasI had to pee so something had to be done. I decided to come up out of thecovers.Someplace on my way up, I didn't realize me sliding up wasn't working sogood. It made a lot of movement, and they were getting restless.Just about the time my butt was up to their pillows, my Uncle Nick wokeup. He looked up at me and siad, *quot;Billy, what are you doing?*quot;I said, *quot;I have to pee, so instead of waking you up, I decided to climbup and out of the covers. Well, I made it this far and you woke up.*quot;He sleepily said, *quot;Come out this way, and whatever you do don't wake upPaulette.*quot;Well, that was the wrong thing because the combination of us talking andus moving, Aunt Paulette woke up. She said, *quot;What are you all doing?*quot;I ran off to the bathroom while Uncle Nick explained what we were doing.When I came back in, they were snuggled up together and Uncle Nick pattedthe bed beside him.He said, *quot;Billy, you lay down here and I'll lay in the middle. That way,your moving around won't wake up Paulette.*quot;I lay down and he put his arm around me and suddenly I could feel hiswarmth envelope me. In no time at all, I was back to sleep.Later, I was woken up by movement in the bed. Apparently they were wakingup and were moving to get out of it. I started to get up and Uncle Nicksaid, *quot;You go ahead and go back to sleep. Paulette and I are going to getour showers and get breakfast made. We'll wake you up in time to getready, o.k.?*quot;I answered with snores probably because I was already back to sleep.When I was awoke later, Uncle Nick said it was time for breakfast. I wentto the bathroom, and then went into my room to get clothes which weren'tmine, but someone had donated to me. Mine weren't any good anymore due tothe fire making everything smell like smoke.I put the outfit on, and then headed to the dining room where AuntPaulette had everyone an omelette made with slices of ham and hashbrowns. I took my toast and began slathering it with a whole lot of peachpreserves. My Uncle Nick smiled at me and said, *quot;You got enough therebud? I can go down and get you another jar if you'd like.I smiled and said, *quot;This stuff is good!*quot;Aunt Paulette came in and we had fresh made biscuits. I looked at thepiece of toast I had in my hand and said, *quot;Why are we having buscuits andI'm having toast?*quot;She smiled and said, *quot;I made you toast so you would be able to get thehead start on us you usually want to do. I figured it would tide you overuntil we had the biscuits ready. It worked, so you finish that toast andthen you can have a fresh biscuit.*quot;I smiled and said, *quot;Thanks Aunt Paulette.*quot;She paused me and said, *quot;Let's say grace so we can all eat.*quot;I bowed my head and grace was said. Then we began to eat. I made it apoint to tell Aunt Paulette how good everything tasted. She smiled andthanked me for my compliment.After breakfast, Uncle Nick and I went to the barn and began to get feedout for the cattle. We were a beef operation which meant no milking hadto be done. I did pick up a bottle to feed a couple of calves and uncleNick smiled at me. He said, *quot;Today, you can pick out yourself a heard ofcows and we'll get them on your property over there. Your daddy wasmeaning to go to this auction today to get a few head, so he'd be happyyou can get some.*quot;Him bringing up my daddy made me sad and tears come to my eyes, but I didmy best not to show it. My uncle Nick said, *quot;Billy, you can cry all youwant and I'm not going to say anything. I know there's going to be timesin which I think of them and cry myself.*quot;I said, *quot;Uncle Nick, it's just that they weren't old like everyone issupposed to be when they die. Momma told me she wouldn't die until theywere old, and now I just feel so guilty.*quot;He said, *quot;Billy, please don't feel guilty. I feel guilty too, but youknow that accidents happen and no one intended for it to happen. It'sjust that something bad happened, and your momma and daddy aren't hereanymore. You know they'd be here if they could, but we don't ever counton something like this happening. To make a point, I'll ask you this.Would you have put the buckeyes in the stove if you'd known this wasgoing to happen?*quot;I said, *quot;No uncle Nick!*quot;Tears came to my eyes and then he said, *quot;You're right. You wouldn't havebecause you're a good boy. Just like I would have went and gotten thatnew wood stove if I'd have known it would burn through as fast as it did.It happened and that's all I can say. Your daddy knew it was bad, but hedidn't do anything either. So, does that make him a bad person? No. Hethought it wouldn't burn through as fast as it did either. So, when wethink of them, we feel for them because we wish we could have donesomething different, but we couldn't. It was one of those things whichhappened and we can't change.*quot;I hugged him and he said, *quot;Let's get these cows fed and then go to town.*quot;I could tell he was looking sadder by the minute and I really wanted tohelp him. I didn't like it when people around me were sad.When we got done feeding, we went to the house and got washed up. UncleNick gave me a hat and a bandana. He said, *quot;Billy, you're getting thesebecause you're going to be around the livestock today. If you get yourhands dirty, you can wipe them off on the bandana instead of having torun to a bathroom. The hat is so your hair doesn't get covered withanything that might fly about.*quot;I chuckled and said, *quot;Uncle Nick, you're funny.*quot;He smiled and said, *quot;No, I'm tall and you're down closer to the actionlittle guy, so I want to protect you all I can.*quot;Aunt Paulette had walked into the room and smiled. She said, *quot;Nick, youcould protect him more by not letting him that close to those a****ls.*quot;Nick said, *quot;Honey, you've never been a boy. Boys tend to go where they'renot supposed to go, so thinking in advance, I'm doing what I can so Billydoesn't have to ride in the bed of the truck all the way home.*quot;She laughed and said, *quot;Never the mind, he's not going to ride backthere.*quot;Uncle Nick started to say something, but a firm look by her told himotherwise.We went out to the truck and I noticed he had the stock trailer hooked tothe truck. He said, *quot;Billy, yours will be hauled out here by semi, so youget any you think you'll need.*quot;I said, *quot;Uncle Nick, I've never bought anything like that, so I don'tknow how many I should think about getting.*quot;He said, *quot;I'll let you know when you're getting close to getting enough.So, don't worry. You just get the one's you think you'd like to have onthe farm.*quot;I said, *quot;Uncle Nick, would you help me? I don't know what kind are thebest.*quot;He smiled and said, *quot;Billy, what I think are the best and what otherswould think are the best would probably be too different opinions.*quot;I said, *quot;Well, I'm going to agree with you on whatever kind they are, sodon't worry.*quot;He said, *quot;Billy, when we get there, we'll have to get you an auctionaccount. They might balk at signing you up, but I'll sign behind yourname. That's your farm over there, and it's your money, so if they don'tlike those apples, we'll go someplace else.*quot;I said, *quot;Daddy had a auction account, couldn't we sign me onto it?*quot;He said, *quot;I'll check, but I'm not sure if they'll allow it.*quot;We got to town and Aunt Paulette got dropped off at her momma's house.She kissed Uncle Nick goodbye and then gave me hugs. She looked at me andsaid, *quot;Billy, you get yourself the best money can buy and don't hold backon cost.*quot;I nodded and hadn't thought of it before she said it, but I didn't evenknow how much a cow cost, or how much I had to buy them with.We got to the auction barn and the smells instantly excited me. A lot ofpeople are probably repulsed by the smells, but to me, I knew it was neatto see all those different sorts of a****ls in one spot.As we walked around, a lot of the men in the group spoke with Uncle Nick.He told them he was here to get a few head for himself and that we weresetting up myself a heard. More than a few times, I heard the wordsbrangus and limousine (not as in car, but lime o sun as in breed of cow)being mentioned. They must've been a good kind of cows because everyonementioned them.As we walked into the barn area, I said, *quot;Uncle Nick, show me the Brangusand Limousine, everyone mentioned them and I want to see why they thinkthey're so good.*quot;Uncle Nick said, *quot;Billy, they are real heavy breeds of cattle. The breedsare great producers of beef and everyone pays top dollar when they goback to sell.*quot;I said, *quot;Uncle Nick, until Aunt Paulette mentioned cost, I never thoughtabout the cost. How much do they cost and how much do I have to spend?*quot;Uncle Nick said, *quot;Billy, the cost of a cow varies. There are a lot ofways a cow can cost a different price. If one's pregnant, it will costmore than one that isn't. If you are buying a bull, it will cost themost. The best thing I'll tell you is look for a real good bull and quitea few open heffers. Open means she's ready to breed.*quot;I said, *quot;How much do they cost?*quot;He said, *quot;Well, a bull will cost quite a bit. The heffers will cost about$500 each.*quot;I said, *quot;That's a lot!*quot;He said, *quot;Billy, yeah it's a lot, but you've got enough money to notworry about it.*quot;I said, *quot;How much do I have to spend?*quot;He said, *quot;Billy, you've got enough money to easily buy every a****l hereand then probably about 3 times more, so don't worry about cost.*quot;I said, *quot;That's a lot!*quot;He smiled and said, *quot;You can thank your daddy on having so muchinsurance.*quot;I looked down and he said, *quot;Billy, don't feel sad. He had that insurancebecause he wanted you and your momma to not have to worry about a thingif he should die. He just didn't count on her dying too.*quot;I said, *quot;I understand and now he's taking care of the farm with thatinsurance money.*quot;Uncle Nick nodded and said, *quot;Billy, we have to look at the a****ls. Wedon't want any that are sick.*quot;We looked at the cows and every one of them looked healthy. There was oneUncle Nick didn't like the look of something about her and he made a noteto mark it's number in a little spiral notebook he had with him.We then went over to look at bulls and when we got there, Uncle Nick toldme, *quot;Billy, these are really dangerous so don't go near the fence anddon't be climbing on the fences like you did over there.*quot;I said, *quot; O.k.*quot;We got there and they all looked the same. There was one that just lookedway bigger than all the rest. Uncle Nick pointed at it and said, *quot;Billy,that's the bull you want. Now, if they have any who are sons of thatbull, we'll look at them, but that's the one we'll bid on the most.*quot;I nodded and said, *quot;Why do we want that one?*quot;He said, *quot;The way it carries and the sizing of it is what's going to earnyou money. It's c***dren will carry it's traits and make them bigger thanthe other ones will.*quot;I said, *quot;How much does a bull cost?*quot;He said, *quot;Billy, this one is going to cost a lot more. Don't be surprisedif it goes for 35 to 50.*quot;I said, *quot;Dollars!*quot;He said, *quot;No, thousand.*quot;I said, *quot;Oh, that's a lot huh?*quot;He smiled and said, *quot;Yeah, it's a lot. But you want it because thebloodline will get you more money in the future.*quot;I said, *quot; O.k., then that's fine.*quot;I noticed a lot of people around the pen and all were talking about thebull and it made me proud we'd made the decision to get it.We then walked over to another section and I saw some buffalo. I made myway over to pet a calf and said, *quot;Can I get one Uncle Nick?*quot;Uncle Nick smiled and said, *quot;If you'd like, but don't get too many ofthem.*quot;I said, *quot;I only wanted one.*quot;He smiled and said, *quot;Billy, have you ever heard of beefalo?*quot;I said, *quot;No.*quot;He said, *quot;It's where they breed a cow with a buffalo. The meat is thebest of all of them.*quot;I said, *quot;Oh really?*quot;He said, *quot;Yeah, I was thinking about starting a string of them to see ifwe could do any good.*quot;I said, *quot;Well, which would you get?*quot;He said, *quot;I'd be female buffalo and then pay you to use your bull.*quot;I said, *quot;You don't have to do that Uncle Nick.*quot;He said, *quot;Billy, that's the way business is done.*quot;I said, *quot;Well, how about we consider the use of my bull payment for youtaking care of me.*quot;Apparently, Uncle Nick didn't like what I said. He said, *quot;Billy, comehere son. Please don't ever think I'm going to ever charge you a thing tolive with us. And, please don't ever think you've got to pay a dime.Paulette and I are doing this because we want to. We're getting just asmuch enjoyment from you living with us as you are living there.*quot;I nodded and said, *quot;Uncle Nick, I don't want you to think you ever haveto pay me a thing to use that bull. You're telling me families do foreach other, and then you're telling me you want to pay me. Now, if I'mnot to pay you and you're to pay me, how stupid is that?*quot;He smiled and said, *quot;One is business Billy, and the other isn't.*quot;I said, *quot;Uncle Nick, don't think I'll take a dime from you...that's theend of that conversation.*quot; I was upset with him and I hoped he knew it.We walked over to another area and he began looking at cattle. Theyweren't the same kind and I said, *quot;Uncle Nick, why are you looking atthese kinds of cows?*quot;He said, *quot;Billy, these are the ones I'm going to get for our farm.*quot;I said, *quot;Why are you getting these?*quot;He said, *quot;Billy, I don't have enough money to afford the ones you aregetting.*quot;I looked at him and said, *quot;Uncle Nick, you're telling me that I've gotall that money and you don't have enough for you to get the kind youwant, so why don't you use some of my money to get the kind you want?*quot;He said, *quot;Billy, that's your money and this is my money.*quot;I said, *quot;Well, Uncle Nick, you said that one day your farm would be mine,now when I get it, I'll be putting on the kind of cattle which are thebest, so why don't you just save us time and money and go ahead and getthem. You just put the money you were going to use in with my money andwe'll get them together.*quot;He smiled and said, *quot;Billy, are you sure?*quot;I looked at him like he was nuts. I said, *quot;Uncle Nick, if I didn't haveenough money to get a matchbox car, would you give me enough to get theone I wanted?*quot;He said, *quot;Yeah, but it's not the same Billy.*quot;I said, *quot;Yeah it is. You're just making it more difficult.*quot;He smiled and ruffled my hair and said, *quot;I'll do it, but your AuntPaulette is going to have our hides over this. You know that, don't you?*quot;I said, *quot;Uncle Nick, just don't mention it and she'll not worry.*quot;He said, *quot;Billy, she's the one that looks over all the bills, there's noway I can't mention it to her.*quot;I said, *quot;Uncle Nick, then I'll just go in and have a talk with her. Youtwo just make things difficult.*quot;We walked over to get our numbers and Uncle Nick began speaking with theguy about getting my number. The guy didn't think he could give me anumber. He said, *quot;Why don't you buy the k**'s cow and then have his dadsort it out with you when he gets home.*quot;My uncle Nick said real loud, *quot;Man, if you were paying attention to thename, you'd see this k**'s parents just died. He's living with me and mywife and he's setting up his own farm. If I do that, the tax man would beall over me. Now, if his money isn't any good here, then mine isn'teither.*quot; Several guys standing around said their's wasn't either.The guy said, *quot;It's an awful lot of work for just a few dollars.*quot;Uncle Nick said, *quot;Well apparently, you misunderstood me because this k**is going to be spending a few hundred thousand dollars here today.*quot;After he said that, it suddenly got quiet in the room. The man who wasspeaking looked sick and everyone else looked at Uncle Nick with wideeyes.I looked up at Uncle Nick and said, *quot;See what I told you. Adults makethings more complicated that they should.*quot;Uncle Nick chuckled and suddenly everyone else started chuckling too. Theman behind the desk said, *quot;I'll use his daddy's tax number and it shouldbe alright. You really need to get with the state and get that changed.*quot;Uncle Nick nodded and said, *quot;I'll get right on that tomorrow. Today,we're spending the day here getting him everything he wants. The least Ican do is to see he's happy and set up in business to take care of thatfarm.*quot;When we left that office, I had my own number. **008. Uncle Nick smiledand said, *quot;Billy, that number was my daddy's number when he was doingbusiness here. I think it was his daddy's number too. What I know is theystarted doing business here before anyone else did in this parts. I'mglad you got that number because it belongs to your farm.*quot;I smiled and said, *quot;Our farm Uncle Nick.*quot;Uncle Nick said, *quot;It's your farm Billy. I'm just helping you.*quot;I was going to argue further, but about that time, I saw a k** my agewalk through that took my attention. Uncle Nick saw me looking andsmiled. He said, *quot;Billy, is that the boy you were telling me about?*quot;I smiled and said, *quot;No, I don't know who he is, but man, he's someone Iwant to get to know.*quot;Uncle Nick laughed and said, *quot;Well, how about you go over and introduceyourself. I'll stay right here and get us good seats.*quot;I went the direction of where I saw the k** go and saw he was out by thebull pens. I followed him and he went to where everyone was standinglooking at the bull I was going to buy. He didn't have any parents aroundhim, and immediately he jumped up on the fence.I was standing right behind him and saw the bull look in our direction. Isaid, *quot;Get down from there, that bull will get you.*quot;He looked at me and was just saying, *quot;That bull isn't....*quot;When I yanked him back. The bull had turned and had ran at the fence.The k** looked at me wide eyed and I said, *quot;I told you he would. Now stayaway from the fence. He's mean.*quot;The k** said, *quot;Thanks, I thought I was a goner there for a second.*quot;I said, *quot;I wouldn't have let that happen. My name's Billy, what's yours?*quot;He said, *quot;My name's Michael. People call me Junior. My parent's call meMike.*quot;Right then and there, Jr. became the most beautiful name in the world tome. I said, *quot;Jr., you like that bull?*quot;He said, *quot;Do I? That bull is awesome!*quot;I said, *quot;I'm going to buy that bull.*quot;He said, *quot;You mean your dad's going to buy that bull, don't you?*quot;I said, *quot;No, I'm buying that bull. My uncle and I are buying me a heardand we're going to put it on the farm I just inherited because my parentsdied. So, it will be mine.*quot;He said, *quot;I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hurt your feelings.*quot;I said, *quot;Oh, you didn't. You didn't know.*quot;He smiled and I said, *quot;See those cows over there, I'm buying them.*quot;He said, *quot;My dad raised them cows and we're selling them. I hope you getthem though because they're real good. It's just that when my dad getsthem sold, we're going to be moving because the man who owns the farmdoesn't want to raise cows no more.*quot;I looked at him and said, *quot;Who's your dad?*quot;He said, *quot;My dad's up front. His name's Michael Johnson too.*quot;I said, *quot;Oh, well, let's go tell my uncle because he's looking forsomeone to take care of the cattle I'm buying. Maybe we can get your dadto working on my farm?*quot;I started walking towards where we were seated and had totally forgottenabout Jr. When I got back to Uncle Nick, I said, *quot;Uncle Nick, his name'sJr. His daddy is looking for work. The man who is his boss doesn't wantto raise cattle anymore. Do you think we could talk with him aboutworking my farm?*quot;Uncle Nick said, *quot;Billy, we don't have a house over there for them tolive in yet.*quot;I said, *quot;Well, maybe we could get one built for them. Would you talk withhim? Most of the cattle we're looking at for me he raised, so he knowshow to raise good cattle.*quot;Uncle Nick said, *quot;Oh really. Well, that would be Mike Johnson then. Igrew up with him. He's taking care of that place those city slickersbought. Those are some good cattle. Yes, I'll talk with him.*quot;I looked behind me to see where Jr was to tell him, but I saw himstanding over by a man talking real excited. The man looked like himenough to be his dad, so I pointed towards them and told Uncle Nick.Uncle Nick nodded and then did some sort of whistle. Suddenly Jr's dadreturned the whistle. He looked over towards us and then smiled real big.In no time at all, he was over shaking Uncle Nick's hand and giving himhuge bear hugs.Uncle Nick said, *quot;Mike! How are you doing?*quot; He looked really happy to seeJr's dad and Jr's dad looked really happy to see him.Mike said, *quot;Nick, my son said you all were going to be buying thosecattle and that you were looking for someone to run a farm.*quot;Uncle Nick said, *quot;Yeah, Billy right here is Jenny's son, you rememberJenny don't you?*quot;Mike said, *quot;Yeah, I'm sorry to hear about what happened. Such a tragedy.*quot;Uncle Nick said, *quot;Yeah, we're going to miss them, but the reason we'rehere today is to get Billy set up with that farm over there so it willmake him money. I heard you raised the cattle we're looking to buy, so Iknow they're good head.*quot;Mike said, *quot;They're all good, but one of them isn't going to bring much.She's old and she's not fit for much.*quot;I knew that was the one which Uncle Nick had written into the book.Mike said, *quot;You going into breeding, or inseminating?*quot;Uncle Nick said, *quot;He's going into breeding. He really likes the lookat Ragin' Dawn out there.*quot;Mike said, *quot;That's the best bull I've seen in this whole area.*quot;Uncle Nick said, *quot;Yeah, he wants that bull because he wants the bestblood line in this whole area.*quot;Mike said, *quot;With those cattle, he'd have a real fine head start.*quot;Uncle Nick said, *quot;Mike, could you work for him? He'll pay you what you'reworth and since it's going to be basicly a start up, you could do thingsthe way you want with no restrictions. Right now, there's not much overthere which I think he should keep. It's not been much since our granddaddy's ran their farms.*quot;Mike said, *quot;How much is going to be in tillage and how much in thegrazing?*quot;Uncle Nick said, *quot;Well, there's approximately 1600 acres, but it's splita thousand for grazing and the rest for tillage. The rest of what wasfed was bought.*quot;Mike nodded and said, *quot;How many head is he going to run?*quot;Uncle Nick said, *quot;He's going to run 250 for now, but we're going to bebuying him more land. A lot more land. His dad left him with enoughinsurance money, he'll never have to worry again.*quot;Mike nodded and said, *quot;That was good. I never knew who Jenny married, butI never made my way over on that side of the area after my dad sold hisfarm.*quot;Uncle Nick said, *quot;Yeah, I wish he'd let you have it and then you couldhave gotten to know everyone.*quot;Mike nodded and said, *quot;Well, that's all water under the bridge. You knowhow he was, and I'm just glad he retired to New Mexico. We're all betteroff.*quot;Jr said to me, *quot;Do you want to get a Coke?*quot;I said, *quot;Sure, let me tell my uncle so I can get some money.*quot;I went over to Uncle Nick and said, *quot;Jr and I are going to go get a coke.May I have some money so I can get some lunch?*quot;He nodded and said, *quot;Here's your money, don't spend it all in one place.*quot;He gave me a twenty. I was amazed and knew there'd be no way I couldspend it all there.Jr and I ran to the snack shop and found ourselves a seat. Just as soonas we sat down, the waitress came over to take our orders. Jr ordered andthen I did. He ordered a cheeseburger and french fries. I took a look atthe menu and then ordered chicken strips with ranch sauce. He looked atme funny and said, *quot;You want chicken when you can have a cheeseburger?*quot;I said, *quot; I like chicken and the ranch dipping sauce makes it evenbetter. I'd like to have chicken breast strips made into a sandwich withranch dressing and swiss cheese.*quot;The waitress heard and said, *quot;I'll get that for you hon.*quot;I smiled real big at her and said, *quot;Could I get some of that pie overthere?*quot;She said, *quot;Which one?*quot;I pointed and she said, *quot; O.k., I'll bring it with your order.*quot; She thensaid, *quot;What would you like to drink doll?*quot;I blushed and said, *quot;I'll take iced tea without sugar in a tall glass.Not much ice.*quot;Ordering made me feel important.Jr said, *quot;I sure do hope my dad comes to work over at your farm. It'd beneat to live near you.*quot;I nodded and said, *quot;It will have to be after we get everything readythough, there's not a house over there and it needs some barns and pens.*quot;He said, *quot;My dad will know how to set it up. There are a lot of thingsyou need in order to raise cattle.*quot;I nodded and said, *quot;I would like to have a barn which is just for thesick a****ls. That way they're seperate from the rest. I'd also like tohave each a****l have it's own stall.*quot;Jr said, *quot;You need to talk with my dad as he'll need to hear everythingyou want.*quot;He said, *quot;How old are you Billy?*quot;I said, *quot;I'm 8 ½, and you?*quot;He said, *quot;I turned 8 two months ago. Do you go to school at East Pine?*quot;I said, *quot;No, West Pine here and that's where you'd go too.*quot;He looked bewildered and said, *quot;I never thought about losing my friends.*quot;I said, *quot;Don't think as it losing your friends, look at it as gaining newfriends. Also, you'll meet up again with your old friends when we go tomiddle school, so it won't be long.*quot;He smiled and said, *quot;Well, you'll be there, so it should be nice.*quot;The way he said that, made me real happy.I said, *quot;Yeah, and you'll be too busy over at our farms playing with meand having fun.*quot;Just then, *quot;The waitress brought our order and laid the ticket down onthe table.*quot;Jr looked disturbed and said, *quot;She should have gotten mine seperately.*quot;I said, *quot;That's o.k., I'll pay and then take the change back to my UncleNick with the receipt. He shouldn't mind.*quot;We ate and he said, *quot;Yours looks good, you wanna trade?*quot;I said, *quot; O.k., we're both about half way, let me take another bite andthen we'll trade. I'll split some of my pie with you if you'll share someof your fries.*quot;He smiled and said, *quot; O.k.*quot;He pushed his plate over and I put some of the fries on the plate holdingmy sandwich. I then cut the pie in half and put some on the plate he wasgetting too.*quot;I slid it over to him and he said, *quot;That's neat, we both get to eat a lotof stuff and it doesn't cost more!*quot;I bit into the cheeseburger, and it didn't taste as good as the chickensandwich. He smiled and said, *quot;This is good!*quot;I said, *quot;Yeah, this isn't though, but I traded so I'll finish it. Justremember the next time so neither of us ends up eatting something theother doesn't like.*quot;He smiled and said, *quot;I hope it's soon otherwise, I'll forget.*quot;I laughed and said, *quot;I'll remind you.*quot;He tasted his pie and said, *quot;This is really good too. Maybe the nexttime, you should order for the both of us.*quot;I said, *quot;No, two of the same thing wouldn't be good. Then, we couldn'ttrade.*quot;He said, *quot;Well, you wouldn't have to order two of the same thing.*quot;I said, *quot;Well, I know I liked that, so that's what I'd order.*quot;He laughed and said, *quot;You're right.*quot;When we were done eatting, we got up and I went over and paid. I got thereceipt and then we went back to where Uncle Nick and Mike were sitting.They saw us coming and Uncle Nick said, *quot;Did you have a good lunch?*quot;I handed him the change and the receipt and he said, *quot;Your first businesslunch.*quot;I looked at him and he said, *quot;You can write this off your taxes.*quot;I said, *quot;Uncle Nick, I don't pay taxes.*quot;He laughed and said, *quot;You will Billy, that's a part of being abusinessman.*quot;The auctioneer was just starting and announcing the names of everyonehelping him in the ring. I stood up on my seat and was watching what wasgoing on. I turned to Uncle Nick and said, *quot;Uncle Nick, you'll help meget the cows we want, won't you?*quot;He said, *quot;Billy, I'll put you on my shoulders and then you hold up yourcard whenever you want a cow or group of cows we talked about. You justhold the card up there until you get them. O.k.?*quot;I nodded and then the announcer started off on a bunch of cows we didn'twant. They weren't the ones I wanted but some of them were the ones UncleNick wanted. He looked like he was about to bid and I said, *quot;Uncle Nick,just get the ones which are best. I'll help you.*quot;He looked like he didn't want to do it, but let the cows pass.It went like this several more times until the ring announcer announcedthe cows we were looking at. Uncle Nick put me on his shoulder and Itilted back the cap I had on.I held up my card and the auctioneer began calling the auction. Hestopped and pointed at me and said, *quot;Mister, you need to tell that k** tostop bidding on these cattle. I've about sold them to him. He looked overto the other guy who was bidding and said, 'Sold!'*quot;My uncle Nick put me down and ran up to the booth. He got real loud andsaid, *quot;That boy was buying those fucking cattle dickweed, and you justsold them out from under him. You're going to tell me you're not sellingthem to the highest bidder!*quot;The announcer said, *quot;I don't sell to k**s.*quot;My uncle Nick said, *quot;Let's see if you sell another fucking thing.*quot;He went out into the ring and said, *quot;Gentlemen, that boy over there isBilly Jacobs. You all know my sister and brother in law's son. He's inhere today to buy cattle for his farm which he just inherited. He WASplanning on spending about a quarter of a million dollars. We are nowwalking out of this arena and if you want to do business with that k**the rest of his life, my suggestion is you walk too.*quot;He climbed up over the fencing and came back to where we sat. Mike wasdown at the ring and said, *quot;NO SALE ON THOSE CATTLE*quot;. He looked at theauctioneer and said, *quot;You violated the contract by not selling them tothe highest bidder. Don't put another one of the cows I brought in thatring.*quot;Suddenly, the man who had given us problems about my number was down atthe ring. His face was red with anger and he told the auctioneer, Y*quot;ou'rea bloody fool. Do you see what number that k** has? That means byinheritance, he's on the board of directors of this auction company. Howfast do you want to lose your job?*quot;The auctioneer said, *quot;I don't sell to k**s.*quot;A man in the audience yelled, *quot;You're not selling to me either!*quot;Suddenly a whole bunch of people were all yelling the same thing.I looked at Uncle Nick and said, *quot;Uncle Nick, I want that bull!*quot;He smiled and said, *quot;Billy, I think you'll get your bull. They're goingto sell you those cows too otherwise they'll see themselves in a wholelot of trouble.*quot;The auction man and the auctioneer both began talking quietly and theauctioneer then said, *quot;Gentlemen, the k** has a tax number and he has afarm. Apparently, he has a banker too who has verified the money is inhis account. So, it looks like we have ourselves an auction.*quot;He looked at the guy he told *quot;Sold*quot; to and said, *quot;That's a no sale onthat consignment. We'll have to re-bid it.*quot;The guy said, *quot;I wasn't aware who the k** was. Let him have the cattlefor the price I bid.*quot;I looked at Uncle Nick and he was smiling. He looked at Mike and said,*quot;Is that alright with you Mike?*quot;Mike said, *quot;Oh yeah, that's about $25 a head more than what I expected.*quot;Uncle Nick said to me, *quot;Billy, when I put you on my shoulder, you tellthe man you accept the deal.*quot;I got up on Uncle Nick's shoulder and yelled, *quot;I accept the deal.*quot;Suddenly the whole place began to applaud. I looked down at Uncle Nickand he said, *quot;Billy, you just started your farm. Everyone's now behindyou, so don't disappoint them son.*quot;I nodded and said, *quot;Uncle Nick, that felt good.*quot; The smile on my face washuge.He said, *quot;It does, doesn't it!*quot;The next consignment was some more of the cows Mike was selling. I knewUncle Nick wanted these, so I got down. I went over to Jr. and he said,*quot;Do you have any more cows you're going to bid on soon?*quot;I looked at Uncle Nick and asked him. He motioned his head no, so Iturned to Jr and he said, *quot;Let's go out here so I can show you that Emuthey have.*quot;I went with him and he said, *quot;Billy, I was afraid they weren't going tosell to you.*quot;I said, *quot;I was too. But, I knew Uncle Nick was upset enough he would havewalked out of there before he bought anything else from them again.*quot;He said, *quot;I think my dad would have hauled them all out of here too!*quot;As we walked, a lot of farmers were suddenly patting me on the shoulderand patting my head. I heard one say, *quot;He's the youngest farmer in thiscounty!*quot;It made me feel happy, but at the time sad. Because if I had the choiceto make, I would gladly have my mom and dad back.We got to the alpaca and llamas and to me they looked like camels. Jr waslooking at them and said, *quot;My dad says they are going to be the future ofthe business. He said, a lot of farmers don't know the benefits of havingthem.*quot;I said, *quot;Can they be raised with cattle and buffalo?*quot;He said, *quot;I think so, they eat the same thing.*quot;I said, *quot;Well, I'll get some then. If your dad says they're good, thenI'll trust his judgement on them. You'll help me raise them won't you?*quot;He nodded and said, *quot;I really wanted some but with dad not being sureabout us even having a place to live and no job, it wasn't likely I'd getany.*quot;I said, *quot;Well, consider it that you have some now.*quot;We went over to the buffalo and I showed him the ones I wanted. He noddedand said, *quot;My dad said the beefalo would be real good to invest in also.He said the market is catching onto them and everyone's starting to buyit.*quot;I nodded and said, *quot;Well, I'm hoping. Even though I don't like beef much,I think it'd be neat to eat buffalo. You know that's where they getbuffalo chicken wings from, don't you?*quot;Jr smiled and said, *quot;un uh....*quot; and shook his head no.I said, *quot;Well, I don't see any wings on them myself, so maybe they takethem off when they're real young.*quot;He laughed and said, *quot;You tell my dad that one. I'm sure he'll know wherethey come from.*quot;We went back to the ring and I saw Uncle Nick bidding on some more of thecows we'd spoken about. He bought 6 head and I said, *quot;Why didn't you takethem all?*quot;He said, *quot;Billy, I can't afford all of them.*quot;I stood up and said, *quot;I'll take the rest at that price.*quot;The auctioneer took my number and I turned to him and said, *quot;How manyothers have you let go while I was gone. I thought we had a deal.*quot;He said, *quot;Billy, our deal was we could do what I could afford.*quot;I said, *quot;Uncle Nick, let me get what you can't. O.k.?*quot;He said, *quot;I don't have a choice, you just bought the rest.*quot;I said, *quot;Well, I'm sure you'll get over it.*quot;He looked at Mike and said, *quot;Just like his mom.*quot;Mike laughed and said, *quot;You never won an argument with her either.*quot;Uncle Nick laughed and said, *quot;Yeah, but I think he has her beat. He makessense.*quot;Mike laughed and said, *quot;I never won any against her either. The biggestmistake I ever made was not going out with her.*quot;Uncle Nick nodded and said, *quot;Yeah, you broke her heart.*quot;I looked them and said, *quot;Uncle Nick, Mom would be o.k with me hiring himwouldn't she?*quot;He said, *quot;Billy, she'd love having him there working for you.*quot;I said, *quot;Good, because I want to have Jr there too.*quot;Uncle Nick gave me a look and I nodded. He smiled and nothing was said.Just about then, the auctioneer said they were going to take a shortbreak and then would come back and begin selling bulls. The first wouldbe *quot;Raging Dawn*quot;.I looked at Uncle Nick and he smiled. I said, *quot;Did you hear if they haveany of his c***dren up for sale here?*quot;He said, *quot;Billy, the man that brought him is right over there, why don'tyou go over and ask him.*quot;I went over and tugged on the man's shirt sleeve. I said, *quot;Mister, didyou bring any of 'Raging Dawn's' calves today?*quot;He said, *quot;No, they are back at my farm as they aren't big enough yet.*quot;I said, *quot;Would you sell me one?*quot;He said, *quot;How much would you pay for one.*quot;I said, *quot;Well, my uncle says *quot;Raging Dawn*quot; is going to bring a lot, so Ifigure a calf of his that's a bull should bring in something less, butnot that much less.*quot;He said, *quot;Did someone send you over here to ask me?*quot;I said, *quot;No, I'm looking to buy it myself.*quot;He said, *quot; There are two of them and I'll sell you one for $10 grand.*quot;I said, *quot;Sir, are you sure?*quot;He said, *quot;Yes, now if that's what you want, then I'll offer it to you forthat, but not a penny less.*quot;I said, *quot;Let me think on it for a moment.*quot;I thought to myself...*quot;The daddy is going to go for a lot. If the son isas good as him, then it should go good too.*quot;I looked at the guy and said, *quot;Good bloodlines on the momma's side ofit?*quot;He said, *quot;Pure blooded.*quot;I said, *quot;I'll buy it.*quot;He looked shocked and said, *quot;Son, that's a lot of money.*quot;I said, *quot;Yeah, but I'm told I have enough, so I'll risk it. I'll go tellmy uncle and he'll tell you when we want it delivered.*quot;I went over to Uncle Nick and said, *quot;I just bought one of the two babybull calves for $10 grand. I hope you don't mind.*quot;Uncle Nick looked at Mike and Mike said, *quot;Billy, that's a $25 thousanddollar calf he just sold you for $10 thousand. What's wrong with it.*quot;Just then, the guy walked up and shook Uncle Nick's hand, he said, *quot;Theboy wants the younger bull, I'm selling it to him as his grand daddy andyour daddy made me some good deals through the years. I'm now returningthe favor.*quot;Uncle Nick said, *quot; O.k., We'll let you know when to deliver it, but I'llget you a cheque over from the bank tomorrow.*quot;The guy said, *quot;I'll meet you at the bank and then you won't have to sendit and I won't have to deposit it. I'm about to sell my farm, so I'drather use the money to go somewhere else and start over.*quot;Uncle Nick said, *quot;Where's your farm and how come you're selling?*quot;He said, *quot;It's over on country rd 428 and taxes my boy, taxes. They'reeatting a whole in my pocketbook.*quot;Uncle Nick said, *quot;Do you care if Mike, Billy, and I come over to look atthe farm? Maybe we can save you the cost of listing it.*quot;The man nodded and said, *quot;Well, how about I take you out there after wemeet at the bank?*quot;Uncle Nick nodded and shook the man's hand. The man went back to hisseat.Mike looked at Uncle Nick with raised eyebrows and Nick turned to me andsaid, *quot;Billy, that might be a good farm for you to buy. I believe itmight back up to the place right down the road from your place. If youcould get one of the other adjoining farms, you'd have an open range.*quot;Mike nodded suddenly becoming aware of the plan. He smiled and said,*quot;That'd be a sweet deal if we could swing another one like it.*quot;Uncle Nick said, *quot;Once word gets out Mike, I bet Billy will have allsorts of offers to buy.*quot;He looked at me and said, *quot;Mike, do you think *quot;Raging Dawn*quot; is goodenough himself to buy?*quot;Mike said, *quot;The bull carries damned good and the bloodlines areincredible. If the sires all carry like him, they're going to really holdsome weight. From what I know about that man, he doesn't believe insteroids so what you're looking at is natural.*quot;Uncle Nick looked surprised and said, *quot;Man, that's got to be excellentlineage then!*quot;Mike nodded and said, *quot;Nick, I think Billy couldn't go wrong getting theolder bull too.*quot;I said, *quot;Do I have enough?*quot;Uncle Nick said, *quot;Billy, you have more than enough, so don't worry aboutthat. The only thing I'm worried about is putting all your eggs in onebasket.*quot;Mike nodded and I said, *quot; O.k., say we breed the bull with a buffalo andthe buffalo has a bull calf. Can we rebreed that calf back in to get agood heavy line?*quot;Mike said, *quot;That would work for the beefalo, but not for a good solidline of cattle.*quot;I said, *quot;If we're selling them for slaughter, what's it matter?*quot;Mike said, *quot;Well, nothing, but if we're going to hope to sell the semenand sire future lines, then we need to have a good line so the customerscan see what they can grow with it.*quot;I stood there looking at him and then turned to Uncle Nick and said,*quot;What's semen?*quot;Uncle Nick said, *quot;Mike, you tell him, you put me into this mess.*quot;Mike said, *quot;Billy, um uh....they're going to start the auction here realfast, so let's get ready.*quot;He looked at Uncle Nick and said, *quot;Sorry.*quot;Uncle Nick said, *quot;Well, one day soon, you'll have to explain it to boththem because they're going to have to learn. It's probably safe now, butmy advice is to take them out to the barn or bull pen and show them.*quot;Uncle Nick smiled and said, *quot;Mike, you might have bought yourself sometime but you didn't buy yourself much.*quot;Uncle Nick turned to me and said, *quot;Billy, here's a bit of advice onbuying the bull. When the auctioneer starts off, he'll start off at theprice he thinks it will go for and then he'll lower it to where someonewill start it. When he starts off, you lowball the bid and yell at thetop of your lungs 25. That will start it at 25 thousand.*quot;I said, *quot;Uncle Nick, if it's going to go for 50 thousand, why are westarting it lower?*quot;He said, *quot;Billy, if I told you we were going to race and told you therace would be 500 miles long, would you race me?*quot;I said, *quot;No, I'd be too tired.*quot;He said, *quot; O.k., if I told you the race would only be a half mile wouldyou race me?*quot;I said, *quot;Yeah because that's how far it is from the house to themailbox.*quot;He nodded and then said, *quot;But, if I raced you lets say several times andthen one day said to you, let's do it again, you'd do it, wouldn't you?*quot;I said, *quot;Yeah, if I wasn't too tired.*quot;He said, *quot;Well, what we're doing by bidding low is we're getting everyoneinto the race to see who is wanting the bull. Then, we're going to racethem to see what they really thought the bull was worth. If youimmediately bid the $50 thousand, and everyone else thinks it's $35thousand, then you over spent the money you paid by $15 thousand. If youget it for the $35 thousand, you get the bull and the bull calf for lessthan what you'd paid for the one.*quot;I nodded and said, *quot; O.k., it's like going to the store and getting twofor the price of one. Why didn't you just say so?*quot;Uncle Nick said, *quot;Well, Billy, I didn't know if you would understand.*quot;I said, *quot;Uncle Nick, I'm not dumb.*quot;Mike smiled and said, *quot;Nick, quit while you're ahead. Believe me, I'vehad practice at this...he'll have you really thinking you're old by thetime he's done. Just quit now and admit defeat.*quot;Nick laughed and said, *quot;Mike, I agree because I had myself confusedthere.*quot;The auctioneer then got back on the podium and said, *quot; O.k., into thering is Raging Dawn.*quot; He then begin to give the bloodline of the bull andwho it's daddy was and went right on back to it's great great grand daddywas. He then paused and said, *quot;Do I hear $65?*quot;Uncle Nick patted my leg and I yelled $25 at the top of my lungs.The auctioneer chuckled and said, *quot;I believe the boy wants the bull, sowe'll start it at the $25 he just offered.*quot;He then began to cry the sale and the numbers were going up real fast. At$37,500 it paused and he said, *quot;Do I hear $40?*quot;Uncle Nick said, *quot;38*quot; to me.I yelled *quot;$38*quot; and then someone else yelled *quot;$39*quot;Uncle Nick tapped my leg again and said, *quot;$42,500*quot;I yelled it and then the other guy didn't say anything. I looked at itand then looked down to uncle Nick. Uncle Nick looked over to the guy andsmiled. The guy had shook his head and sat down.The auctioneer said, *quot;Do I hear more?*quot;No one said anything.He said, *quot;Going once....Going Twice....Last Call....SOLD!*quot;Uncle Nick patted my leg and Mike jumped up and down. Uncle Nick said,*quot;Billy, between the two, you got them both for only $2500 more than youwere expecting the one to come in at. You did good.*quot;He put me down and Jr came running over and hugged me. He said, *quot;Wow! Yougot it!*quot;I said, *quot;Yeah, now I'm going to have to make friends with it otherwiseit's not going to ever be nice to me. What are bulls favorite foods?*quot;Jr said, *quot;I don't know, but I bet you it would like carrots. Everythinglikes carrots.*quot;The man came over and said, *quot;Well gentlemen, I'll see you tomorrow. Itlooks like you got yourself two bulls.*quot; He patted my head and said, *quot;Son,you're learning quick how to be a rancher. You won't ever forget today asI've not forgotten my first time here.*quot;He went out the door and I looked at Uncle Nick and said, *quot;If the alpacasand the llamas come in, get 6 each of the female and 1 each of the male.*quot;Uncle Nick looked at Mike and Mike smiled and said, *quot;Jr got to him.*quot;Uncle Nick smiled and said, *quot;If I recall right, I remember a time whenyou got to me on a few goats. My daddy liked to whip my tail over themgoats for the next few years. Fortunately, there going to be at yourhouse.*quot;I looked at Mike and said, *quot;So you'll take the job?*quot;Mike smiled and said, *quot;Billy, if I didn't, Jr wouldn't ever forgive me.*quot;Jr smiled and then ran over to give me another hug. I hugged him back andsaid to Uncle Nick, *quot;Would you talk to him and see what all he needs fora house so we can get them on built?*quot;Uncle Nick said, *quot;Billy, tomorrow, we're going to see them, so we'll talkabout it then.*quot;I nodded and then asked if I could go see Ragin' Dawn.Uncle Nick nodded and said, *quot;Thirty minutes and then the buffalo willsell.*quot;I nodded and then we ran to see Ragin' Dawn.When we got there, Jr said, *quot;Billy, the younger one will probably likeyou more as he's had more time to get to know you.*quot;We looked at him and I said, *quot;Jr. he's a beauty, isn't he!*quot;Jr smiled and said, *quot;Yeah, he is.*quot;Jr turned to me and said, *quot;Billy, can I ask you a question?*quot;I said, *quot;Yeah, what?*quot;He said, *quot;Do you notice boys more than you do girls?*quot;Chapter 3That night, on the way home, I was really excited and probably relivedall the experiences to Aunt Paulette twenty times. Each time, Uncle Nickwould interject in with, *quot;Be sure to tell her about Mike Jr.!*quot; He'd laughand I'd be sure to tell her about Jr. again.When we got back to the farm, Aunt Paulette got out of the truck and wentto the house. I rode with Uncle Nick to the livestock ramp and we beganto unload the cattle from the trailer. The cattle we had were UncleNick's and he sure seemed happy.He said, *quot;Billy, what you did today was really special to me. I reallyappreciate it.*quot;I looked at him and said, *quot;Uncle Nick, I love you and you're doing morefor me than this, so please don't mention it again.*quot;He said, *quot;Billy, we're going to have to go over it again as your AuntPaulette is going to hit the ceiling when she realizes what I did.*quot;We fed the cattle and Uncle Nick said, *quot;Billy, we're going to be keepingthese in the holding pen until we can get them ear tagged, so pleasedon't open that other gate.*quot;I said, *quot;Uncle Nick, what all are we going to need to be doing to get myfarm ready for Mike to go to work there?*quot;He said, *quot;Billy, we need to talk about that. Mike will need a house andthe barns over there aren't really good at all. We're going into this ata disadvantage because we don't have much for the cattle to eat. We'llhave to feed them, and I'll order up a bunch of feed, but it's going tocost a lot.*quot;I said, *quot;Do I have enough money?*quot;He said, *quot;Billy, you easily have enough money, but I'm not sure howstrong the fences are over there. Your dad was really a private man withthose sorts of things and didn't want any help. You probably know moreabout those things than I.*quot;I said, *quot;Uncle Nick, he never mentioned it to me. He'd mention going torepair fences, but I never got took out and he never even tried to showme more than feeding.*quot;Uncle Nick nodded and said, *quot;Billy, we've got to get a holding pen set upand we'll be forced to use the old barn. I do know Mike and I talkedabout getting new barns built, but that's going to take time.*quot;I said, *quot;Well, we need to get them a house so they can get over there.From what Jr said, they're going to be without a place to live soon.*quot;Uncle Nick said, *quot;Billy, let's get these head fed and then we'll get oninto the house. Your aunt has several surprises she and her mom made thisafternoon, so I'm anxious to see what they are. If anyone can cook betterthan Paulette, it's her mama.*quot;He smiled and I said, *quot;Well I know Aunt Paulette is a real good cook.*quot;He said, *quot;Billy, you need to tell her more things like that. It'd makeher feel good.*quot;I nodded and said, *quot;Uncle Nick, will it hurt your feelings if I startgetting closer to Aunt Paulette? I don't want her to think I don't wantanything to do with her.*quot;Uncle Nick looked shocked and said, *quot;Billy, do you think it'd hurt myfeelings?*quot;I said, *quot;Well, Uncle Nick, you two were talking about sending me to ashrink and I don't want that. I was worried she didn't want to be aroundme.*quot; Tears sprung in my eyes, and I didn't want Uncle Nick to see mecrying.He said, *quot;Billy, we didn't know how to handle the situation. We thinkit'd be better if you had someone to speak with about it who knows how todeal with these things with k**s.*quot;I said, *quot;Uncle Nick, you've known me all my life and how is someone whodoesn't know me going to know how to help me better than you? Justtalking to you about this has helped me more than anyone. I think if Ihave Jr's friendship, and you watching over me, I'll be fine. It's just Ifeel sad a lot. I miss my mom and dad but talking to a stranger isn'tgoing to stop that.*quot;Uncle Nick nodded and said, *quot;Billy, I'll talk to Paulette, but you can'tbe wanting to kill yourself or have me kill you, and not go. The nexttime you say anything like that, or just disappear, I'll be taking you tothat shrink myself.*quot;I said, *quot;Uncle Nick, what if I forget and go to my farm?*quot;He said, *quot;Billy, we'll do what we can to make a board in the house whichwill have a way of you letting us know you'll be over there. Then, ifyou've not marked that board, I'll be speaking with you. You've got to beletting us know.*quot;I said, *quot;Uncle Nick, will you be sure to stick with me the first fewtimes I go over there. I've not been back over there since the fire.*quot;Uncle Nick said, *quot;Billy, I'm really worried about you seeing thecondition of the place. I don't think that's going to be good for you.Would you mind if we went through slowly and you got a chance to speakwith me about everything which is on your mind while we do it?*quot;I said, *quot;Uncle Nick, as long as I hold your hand, I'll not be so scared.*quot;He smiled and said, *quot;Billy, I'll probably more scared than anything aboutyou being hurt by all this. I'll be holding onto you tighter than yourhand.*quot;He came over and picked me up and hugged me. He said, *quot;Billy, today, fora few moments I looked at you more like my son than I did you being mynephew. I can't take the place of your mama and daddy, but I don't thinkI could handle losing you too.*quot;I hugged him back and said, *quot;Uncle Nick, I'm not going to die. I want toget to know Jr more and I think he's really neat.*quot;Uncle Nick smiled and said, *quot;Mike knows about his son. He was worriedabout you not liking Jr if you found out. When you two went to lunch,Mike and I had a talk about it. I told him you'd be fine with Jr.*quot;I said, *quot;Uncle Nick, he's really a nice person. I think he's cute and allthat, but the more I'm getting to know him, the more I like him than asbeing someone who's cute.*quot;Uncle Nick said, *quot;Billy, just be careful and don't do anything you'll notbe sure you want to do. Having friends is fine, but don't let everyoneknow as they'd not understand.*quot;He put me down and I said, *quot;Uncle Nick, what's there to not understand? Ilike him and he likes me. If they don't understand that, how stupid canthey be?*quot;He said, *quot;Billy, just be careful not to touch him more than a buddy woulddo out in public. People can be really hateful.*quot;We walked towards the house and when we got to the kitchen, it smelledreally good. Aunt Paulette was sitting at the table and she had theinvoice from the livestock auction in her hand. She said, *quot;Nickolas,would you sit at the table and William, I need to speak to your uncle, soplease go to the living room and watch something on t.v..*quot;I looked at Uncle Nick and he said, *quot;Billy, go on to the living room. Ineed to talk with Paulette.*quot;I went to the living room and sat on the couch. I turned on thetelevision and watched the Power Rangers.Soon, Uncle Nick came to the living room and said, *quot;Billy, your auntwould like to talk with you. Would you come in here please.*quot;I saw him and he smiled. I went into the kitchen and Aunt Paulette wasstill sitting at the table. I went and sat down and she said, *quot;Billy, Iwas looking at the invoices from the livestock auction today and noticedyour uncle spent quite a bit more money than what he went with. He nevertold me he got any money from you, so I was immediately worried about howwe were going to pay the bill. When you two came in, I asked him about itand he told me you were kind enough to offer. Billy, I want you to knowthe money you have is for your farm and not to pay us one dime. We'vetaken you in because we love you and want to raise you. Not because wewant to use you for your money, While it is true that someday, this farmwill probably will go to you, I really wish your uncle had spoken with meabout this before he went ahead and made that decision. What's done isdone, and as much as I'm not used to getting help from my family or his,I understand you two did it with good intentions. All I'm asking you isto ask your uncle along with me to make these decisions in the future.What I want to let you know is when those cattle are sold, your portionof their sale will be returned to you.*quot;I looked at Aunt Paulette and said, *quot;Aunt Paulette, I was just trying tohelp. I didn't know it'd make you mad.*quot;She said, *quot;Billy, I'm not mad, my feelings are hurt. Your uncle and Ihave a partnership in this. How would you feel if you had a friend whoyou two went into a partnership on a kool-aid stand and you came home forlunch and when you went back, you suddenly saw your kool-aid stand wasselling ice cream and popcorn and lots of candy. Wouldn't your feelingsbe hurt he would do that without asking?*quot;I said, *quot;No, I'd ask him which I could eat first!*quot;She laughed and said, *quot;Well Billy, what if your partner told you it wasalright for you to work there but you couldn't eat anything.*quot;I said, *quot;Aunt Paulette, I'd look at him and ask him who he thought he wasfooling!*quot;She said, *quot;What if you saw he was serious?*quot;I said, *quot;Well, it depended if we could still play matchbox cars on thecounter, because if we couldn't, I wouldn't want to stay working there.*quot;She said, *quot;Billy, your uncle did the same thing to me this afternoon. Myfeelings are hurt, but I'll still work here and I'll still play matchboxwith him, but when the profits come in from the cattle, you're going tobe repaid every cent your uncle took from you.*quot;I said, *quot;Aunt Paulette, please don't do that. If you give me back themoney, it will hurt my feelings. You aren't letting me give you anythingand yet, you can give me everything. Is that fair?*quot;She said, *quot;Billy, it's not the same.*quot;I said, *quot;Aunt Paulette, I don't understand. If I bought you a mixer andyou made pie crust and then took it to the county fair and won a blueribbon, would you give me the ribbon?*quot;She looked at me and said, *quot;That's not the same.*quot;I said, *quot;Aunt Paulette, it is the same. I gave something freely from myheart. No, uncle Nick didn't speak with you about it, but it was agift...just as I'd be giving you a gift. Now, you're telling me the giftwas a loan and you're going to make him repay his gift back and your's isdifferent.*quot;Uncle Nick smiled and said, *quot;Billy go on to the living room. I think yourAunt Paulette is seeing things your way now.*quot;Aunt Paulette said, *quot;Billy, I'm sorry. I didn't realize you were doingthis to help us and was thinking about what everyone else was going tothink if they found out. I'm sorry.*quot;I went over to Aunt Paulette and said, *quot;Aunt Paulette, I love you and Iwant you to know you're a real good cook. If I get you a mixer it'sbecause I want you to be the best cook around, not because I'm wantingyou to cook better. It's the same with Uncle Nick. He could have cattlewhich aren't the best, but when I went into the livestock auction andheard how all those farmers really liked the cattle because they were thebest...well, I wanted the best for myself and I also wanted the best foryou all too.*quot; I hugged her and said, *quot;I just want you all to know I thinkyou're the best and that's it.*quot;She said to me, *quot;Billy, your Uncle has said some really kind words to methrough the years and I love him all the more for it, but besides him, noother man has ever said anything as sweet. I want you to know how specialyou are to me.*quot;I smiled and said, *quot;Aunt Paulette, that's what I think.*quot;She said, *quot;Billy, I don't normally do too many things about this farm,but tomorrow, I'm going to be over there with you guys to make sure youaren't getting too sad. You'll make sure to tell me what you're feelingwon't you?*quot;I said, *quot;Aunt Paulette, I'll tell you and Uncle Nick everything, justdon't send me away to no shrink.*quot;She said, *quot;Baby, we wouldn't send you away. Is that what you think?*quot;I said, *quot;I didn't think you two wanted me.*quot; I started to cry and shehugged me to her bosom.I cried for a long time and then finally, I stopped. She hugged me toherself and said, *quot;Billy, no one is ever going to take you away from us.Please don't ever worry about that again.*quot;Uncle Nick was squatted down by us and said, *quot;Paulette, he's been worriedabout this because he's been overhearing us talk about it. In the future,I think we should speak with him about all these things and us justworking through them with him.Yes, tomorrow is going to be a big day, butI think if we take it slow, we can talk with him and get to knoweverything he's feeling. We can share some of our feelings too and he canknow it's alright to feel sad, and remorseful.*quot;Aunt Paulette said, *quot;I understand.*quot;Uncle Nick said, *quot;Today, Billy asked me if it was o.k.. if he could bearound you more because he was worried about what I thought. I think justas much as he needs me to be a male role model in his life, he needs awoman in his life too.*quot;She said, *quot;Billy, please don't ever think you can't come talk with me. Ican't replace your mom, but I think your mama wouldn't mind one bit ifyou came to me and told me things you went and spoke with her about.*quot;I said, *quot;Aunt Paulette, this may be hard to understand but my biggestfear right now isn't what everyone's going to think but it's about what Ithink. My biggest fear is forgetting them.*quot; I began to cry and said, *quot;Idon't want to forget them.*quot;Tears came to her eyes and said, *quot;Billy, tomorrow, we're going to be overthere, and I pray there are a lot of things we can get out of what's leftof the house. There are a lot of regrets I have regarding your mama andthat's we didn't spend enough time together and we didn't share enoughwith each other. The only photos I have of them are their weddingpictures and that's just not right. I now pray there are some photoswhich weren't damaged.*quot;Uncle Nick said, *quot;Paulette, let's wait until tomorrow and not worry aboutwhat we are going to find and not. I'm sure everything we find will be ablessing to Billy.*quot;She nodded and I said, *quot;Can we go to my bedroom? I have a lot of things Iwant to get from there. Mama and daddy's bedroom is it burned real bad?*quot;Uncle Nick said, *quot;Billy, it's not burned real bad, it was a whole lot ofsmoke in there which they died from.*quot;I said, *quot;Well, Mama kept the photo albums by their bed as she said it wasthe one thing she wanted to get out of there in case of fire. She justnever had a chance.*quot;I began to cry and said, *quot;Why didn't they have smoke detectors?*quot;Uncle Nick said, *quot;Billy, I bet they never thought about it. Otherwise,they would have had them.*quot;Aunt Paulette said, *quot;Billy, not once in my knowing them did they everthink anything bad would happen. They were so excited about tomorrow andseeing what you'd be doing they never thought a bad thing like this wouldhappen. Let's remember them like that, o.k.?*quot;I said, *quot;Uncle Nick and Aunt Paulette, do you all have smoke detectors?*quot;Uncle Nick said, *quot;Billy, let me show you where they are. Each month, Ichange the batteries. The extra batteries which come out of them, I usein the sensors from the electric fences, so they are always fresh in thesmoke detectors.*quot;He carried me through the house and then he showed me where the fireextinguishers were located. He told me, *quot;Billy, if there's ever a fire,you get out of the house and don't you ever try to fight it yourself. Runand go call the fire department.*quot;I said, *quot;Uncle Nick, who called the fire department when our houseburned?*quot;He said, *quot;I don't know.*quot;The look on his face suddenly became alarmed and said, *quot;Billy, your mamaand daddy were found asleep in bed, and we live the closest, so I don'tknow, but tomorrow, I will know.*quot; He said, *quot;Billy, let's go downstairs asI want your Aunt Paulette to know what you just asked.*quot;I went downstairs with him and he said, *quot;Paulette, Billy just asked aquestion which has me perplexed. If his mom and dad were found asleep inbed and we're the closest people who live around here, who called thefire department? Everyone's assuming the fire started in the living roomas it was in that wood stove, but I don't think anyone checked it.*quot;I said, *quot;Uncle Nick, daddy said at supper that night he had seen one ofthem hellions in town that day and had words with them.*quot;Uncle Nick said, *quot;Billy, I'm going to find out who called them, but let'snot be thinking it was anything more than what it was.*quot;Aunt Paulette said, *quot;I'm going to call my father and ask him to speakwith the fire chief. They're good friends and he should know.*quot;She went and got on the phone and Uncle Nick said, *quot;Billy, there aretimes we have questions we don't know the answers for. Sometimes, theyare one's which perplex us. So, what we're going to do is not go intoyour house tomorrow until we have someone in who will answer the questionto our satisfaction. It wouldn't be good for us to not fully find outwhat the cause of the fire was without knowing.*quot;Aunt Paulette got off the phone and she said, *quot;My dad is going to callthe fire chief and ask. He'll call back when he's spoken with him.*quot;She went over to the refrigerator and pulled out a pot which she put onthe stove. She said, *quot;Guys, today, my mama and I made up some HungarianGoulash. I'll reheat it and then we'll have it with French bread. Billy,would you mind setting the table for supper?*quot;I said, *quot;No, I don't mind, mom always asked me to do it at home, so Iknow how to do it.*quot;I went over and pulled the step stool up so I could get out the dishesand then took them to the table. I set the table just as we did at homeand put out glasses for everyone to drink from.*quot;Uncle Nick had taken the invoices from the auction and went to the roomwhich he used for an office.Aunt Paulette said, *quot;Billy, would you take that loaf of french bread outof it's package and put it on a baking sheet?*quot;I did and she then said, *quot;In the drawer over there is a long knife whichis a bread knife. It's got a wavy blade and isn't real sharp. Would youuse it to slice the bread and then butter the slices?*quot;I said, *quot;Sure.*quot; and began to do it as I had done it at home. It made mefeel good I was able to helpThe phone rang and Aunt Paulette answered it. I listened to her end ofthe conversation and she told her dad she's be sure to keep us away fromthe house. She got off the phone and said, *quot;Billy, tomorrow, we're notgoing to be able to go to the house. The fire chief is perplexed like usas to whom called it in as the call went to the 911 dispatch center. canlı bahis He'sgoing to get the records and wants to call in the state fire marshal asan actual investigation was never done. Usually it's done, but in thiscase, they were sure it was the wood stove as you and your Uncle Nickboth told the fire department it was the wood stove.*quot;Uncle Nick came in and she told him. He said, *quot;Paulette, if it's the woodstove, right now, I'll be relieved. I'd really hate it to be somethingelse.*quot;I said, *quot;Uncle Nick, I threw the buckeyes into the wood stove. Will I getinto trouble?*quot;He came over to me and said, *quot;Billy, I don't think you'll be in troubleat all if it's the wood stove which caused the fire. Billy, is there anyother thing you can remember your daddy saying for you to be careful ofas he thought it would start a fire?*quot;I said, *quot;No, not that I can remember. He always said it about the barnwith the hay and to always turn off the light out there, but nothing inthe house.*quot;Uncle Nick hugged me and said, *quot;Billy, tomorrow, we're going to put yourlivestock out in the back pasture. Your bulls we're going to put in ametal pen we're going to have over here.*quot;I said, *quot;Uncle Nick, why don't we put all the livestock over here untilthings can be built over there?*quot;He said, *quot;Billy, there's not enough space.*quot;I said, *quot;If we use the hay from the barn and I buy the feed, will it workout better until things are built?*quot;He looked at Aunt Paulette and said, *quot;Honey, what do you think?*quot;She said, *quot;I think until you have someone over there to watch them fulltime, and until we know something more definite, I think we should havethem over here. It's an awful lot of money and I don't want anything tohappen.*quot;Uncle Nick said, *quot;Tomorrow, I'll call the livestock barn and tell them wewant the delivery to be made here. Billy, we're going to go to the Kubotadealer and we're going to get you a RTV.*quot;I said, *quot;What's that Uncle Nick?*quot;He said, *quot;Billy, it's an atv which is 4 wheel drive and is enclosed soyou can go out with to the cattle and be able to tend to them. I'll feelsafer because wherever I see it on the farms, I'll know that's where youare.*quot;Aunt Paulette said, *quot;Nick, isn't that an expensive toy for him?*quot;My Uncle Nick said, *quot;Paulette, he's going to need something, and if we'dget him a horse, then it'd not serve the purposes around here like he'dneed. With the RTV, he can hook any of the wagons to it and be able to dothe chores better.*quot;She said, *quot;Nick, when you go, I want to go too to make sure it's safe.*quot;I was perplexed. Yes, I would love to have a bigger bike, but Uncle Nickwas getting me an ATV. How cool is that!*quot;Uncle Nick said, *quot;Paulette, you can go, but it's a choice. We can get hima tractor which would serve the purpose, or we could let him drive one ofour tractors, but I'd feel better if he had something with a lower centerof gravity which wouldn't tip over as easy.*quot;She nodded and began putting the goulash on the table. Uncle Nick pulledthe french bread out of the oven and put it out on the stove. Then, heput it into the bun bowl which had the lid on it so it'd keep it warm.Aunt Paulette said, *quot;Billy go ahead and sit down. Would you like milk, oriced tea with your dinner?*quot;I said, *quot;Aunt Paulette, I can get it. Mom and dad used to let me get thedrinks at home.*quot;She smiled and said, *quot;In the future, you can get them, but I'm upanyways, so I'll get them.*quot;I said, *quot;I'll have milk.*quot;She got it and poured her and Uncle Nick a glass of tea. They sat downand we said grace.As we ate, she said, *quot;Billy, those cattle are a huge responsibility. Youruncle thinks you're old enough to be a farmer and handle theresponsibility, but I'm going to make sure it doesn't affect you in anyway which it shouldn't. Hopefully, we can get Mike and his family movedin over there soon and things in order so it's not on you to help. I justdon't feel right in putting that on you.*quot;I said, *quot;Aunt Paulette, I'll help in any way I can. I want to help.*quot;She said, *quot;Billy, I understand, but I also think a puppy would have beenmore responsibility that you should have had.*quot;I laughed and said, *quot;Daddy wouldn't let us have a dog. He said he didn'tlike them.*quot;She smiled and said, *quot;Billy, I understand, but handing a c***d a wholeheard of cattle isn't a way for anyone to learn responsibility. I'mthinking it's a whole lot more than what should be done.*quot;Uncle Nick said, *quot;Paulette, by the time I was Billy's age, my daddy hadme out doing all the chores to run that farm. No, I didn't help buckingthe bales, but I sure drove the tractor while they did it. A farm k** isjust different than a city k**.*quot;She smiled and said, *quot;Nick, I'm not saying that. I'm just saying we needto let him be a c***d as long as he can.*quot;He smiled and said, *quot;Billy, your aunt and I aren't having a disagreement,o.k.? I understand she's concerned and I am too. I just you to know Ithink you're capable of doing anything you set your heart to doing. I,myself, don't feel comfortable with you being around all the workingmachinery on this place. For those times, I'd rather I do it. With youoperating an atv which can't go real fast and can pull the trailer, thereshouldn't be no harm. I'll load the trailer and then all you'll have todo is drive it to the pasture and unhook it so the cattle can feed offit.*quot;I nodded and Aunt Paulette said, *quot;Nick, you take him down the first fewtimes and make sure he knows how to do it safely.*quot;He smiled and said, *quot;Honey, I'm planning on doing that, so don't worry.*quot;We ate and carried on the conversation about the RTV. About the time wewere done, I looked at Uncle Nick and said, *quot;What's semen?*quot;My Aunt Paulette began choking and said in a panicked voice, *quot;Billy,where'd you hear that!*quot;Uncle Nick smiled and said, *quot;Honey, that damned Mike today mentionedsemen at the auction barn when we were discussing the bull.*quot;She looked pale and said, *quot;Oh Lord!*quot;Uncle Nick said, *quot;Billy, semen is something the bull gives which you cansell to other ranchers to make money from the bull.*quot;Aunt Paulette said, *quot;Nick, not at the supper table. Leave that sort oftalk out at the barn, o.k.?*quot;He smiled and said, *quot;Billy, one thing you learn is women get allflustered when you discuss a bull. Leave the talk about them out at thebarn.*quot;I said, *quot;Can I discuss cows in the house?*quot;He said, *quot;You can, but not the bulls.*quot;I didn't understand it, but I didn't understand girls either.Uncle Nick smiled at Aunt Paulette and he said, *quot;I'll remember to tellMike you appreciated hearing that at the supper table.*quot; He winked at herand she smiled weakly.I learned one thing about my Aunt Paulette during that conversation. Shehad my Uncle Nick thinking she was strong, but all she was was a girl.After dinner, I said, *quot;Uncle Nick, I'm not interested in a bonfiretonight, can we save it for tomorrow night?*quot;Uncle Nick said, *quot;Billy, sure, maybe tomorrow night we can have Jr overand you two can have a bonfire and a weenie roast.*quot;I said, *quot;That'd be neat!*quot;Aunt Paulette looked a bit better and said, *quot;Billy, tomorrow is going tobe a big day, so after supper, why don't you go take your shower and getyour pj's on and then we'll watch some television.*quot;I said, *quot;Good, I like taking showers.*quot;I then looked at my plate and said, *quot;I'm done eating, may I please beexcused from the table so I can go shower?*quot;Uncle Nick said, *quot;Sure, your pj's are under your pillow, so just go aheadand get them. You know where everything else is.*quot;I left the room and as I left the room I heard my Aunt Paulette say,*quot;Semen! Nick, you just wait until I see Mike tomorrow!.....*quot; I heard myUncle Nick chuckling.I never heard the rest as I was running upstairs to get my Tonkas.The next morning, everyone got up and as soon as breakfast was done, wegot prepared to go to town.I was upstairs when I heard the telephone ring and didn't pay it anymind. When I was dressed in my town clothes, I came back down to see AuntPaulette speaking with Uncle Nick. Apparently, the fire chief and thestate guy who investigates fires was going to be over at the farm today.Aunt Paulette said, *quot;Billy, when they're done, they'll want to speak withyou. I've been told to have you prepared.*quot;I said, *quot;Am I going to be in trouble?*quot;Aunt Paulette said, *quot;No, hon, they're just wanting to ask you somequestions about what happened the night before the fire.*quot;I said, *quot;O.k., because I don't want to be in trouble.*quot;Aunt Paulette hugged me and said, *quot;Billy, don't you worry your mind aboutthat. I just wanted you to know what was happening so it didn't take youby surprise when we got over there.*quot;I said, *quot;Well, after that, can I go to my bedroom and see what I can get?She said, *quot;Billy, if they say we can't go in, then we can't. *quot;I said, *quot;Well, I hope we can.*quot;Uncle Nick said, *quot;Billy, go over and put on your coat. We're going to goto town now.*quot;Aunt Paulette stood up and Uncle Nick put on her coat for her. She toldhim thank you, and then we were on our way out to the truck.Driving into town, I said, *quot;Uncle Nick, those houses over there arealready built, could we get one of those for Jr to live in?*quot;Uncle Nick said, *quot;Billy, those are called manufactured homes. I wasthinking one of those would be a way of getting them a place to live infast, but I've heard a lot of people complain about the fit and finish ofthem isn't what they hoped over the long run.*quot;I said, *quot;Well, as long as we have them someplace to live now, they canmove in. After a while, we can get them something which will lastlonger.*quot;Uncle Nick said, *quot;Let's see about one of them some other time as we needto get to the auction barn to get the cattle delivered to our place.*quot;We drove through town and went to the auction barn. Aunt Paulette said,*quot;I'll stay in the truck, you two hurry along.*quot;We went in and went to the office where I got the auction number. The manwas there who gave me my number. Uncle Nick went over to him to tell himwe needed to have the cattle moved to his farm.The man replied he was glad we had came in as he needed to know how wewanted everything delivered. We had the bull, cattle, the buffalo, aswell as the alpacas all coming to the farm.Uncle Nick told him to bring the bull and the cattle first and then we'dfind a place to put everything else.The man told him he'd gladly have it done and Uncle Nick told them tobring them by at 4 pm.We then went out to get into the truck and drove to the atv dealer. Whenwe got there, they had a bunch out front. The store salesperson came outand said, *quot;May I help you with something?*quot;Uncle Nick said, *quot;We're needing to get him a RTV 700.*quot;The man said, *quot;Isn't that a bit big for him?*quot;Uncle Nick said, *quot;Well, he's going to be needing to pull some wagonsloaded with hay and feed around the farm, so rather than getting him atractor, I think this will be safer.*quot;The man said, *quot;A wagon loaded down will be too heavy for that...thetongue weight would lift the front wheels off the ground. My suggestionis to get him something a smaller tractor.*quot;Uncle Nick said, *quot;The roll bars are good enough. I want him absolutelysafe.*quot;The man then said, *quot;Well, here's what I suggest. We have them Bobcats2300 over there. It's an enclosed roll cage. It can be equipped with awide variety of options which can make it user friendly on a farm. Wehave one on a horse farm and they're real satisfied with it.*quot;Uncle Nick said, *quot;I want him safe. So, put a cab on it and make sure hehas heat.*quot;I went around looking at all of the different items they had while UncleNick picked out what he wanted me to have. The Bobcat which was a sk**steer was neat. I played on it while Uncle Nick finalized the deal withthe man.Uncle Nick came out and said, *quot;Billy, would you come in here for amoment?*quot;I went in and he said, *quot;Billy, the man's going to come out on Saturdayand bring the Workcat with him and teach you all you need to know aboutit. Is that o.k.?*quot;I said, *quot;Sure, is it going to be like that one out there?*quot;I showed the man the one I was referring to and he said, *quot;No, it's goingto be like this one over here, except it's going to have an enclosedcab.*quot;I said, *quot;So, it's going to be like a pickup truck!*quot;He said, *quot;Yes, except one you can use on the farm and the other you haveto have a license for on the road.*quot;Uncle Nick looked happy about the decision, so I didn't pursue it anyfurther.We loaded in the truck and Uncle Nick told Aunt Paulette what he'dchosen. She looked apprehensive, but he said I'd be safe, so she was o.k.We then headed over to the farm