%%USERNAME%%    %%ACCWORDS%% %%ONOFF%% |
Many old people wish if they had it all to do over, they would do,,,, This is mine! |
|
My God given DO-OVER As I lie here, knowing I am on my death bed, I was thinking to my self, 'What a waste.' Ya, I'm ninety six years old, ya, I've lead a full life, ya, I'm not destitute, but all I've done with my life is hurt people. My Dad being one of my deepest regrets. As I'm lying here, an old song crept from my memory and I started humming it remembering the words to the old song Jim Reeves once sang. To that silver haired Daddy of mine If I could recall all the heartaches Dear old Daddy I've caused you to bare If I could replace the lines on your face And bring back the gold to your hair If God would but grant me the power And turn back the pages of time I'd give all I own if I could telephone To that silver haired Daddy of mine As I hummed the old tune the pain seemed to fade into the background and for a moment I was adrift and floating towards a small cloud in front of me. Then I looked into my Mom's face. WHAT?!! I leaned against the dresser I was next to. I blinked and looked again. Yep, that's MOM! Then I looked around me. My old bedroom? Yes! Then I looked into the mirror on the dresser I was standing in front of. That's ME? It is! But I'm eighteen! I remember this scene. I had just told my Dad I was leaving home and he couldn't stop me because I was eighteen. I had a job. He had said he would pay me and I could help him move houses. Then I became cruel and I told him I didn't think so. We wouldn't get along and it wouldn't work. He then got this look on his face of exasperation and pain. Then Dad turned and walked out. I remembered as I heard Mom speaking. “You should go speak to your father. Don't leave like this!” Ya, this was one of the moments that day I always wished I could have done it over and said, “Yes Mother, You're right!” I walked past Ma, through the living room, into the kitchen, through the mud room and out the back door. Smells hit me like a freight train. The morning air laced with dew, the cow barn and the green grass of the pasture. Sounds that I had forgotten; Birds singing in the morning, milk cows mowing in the cow lot. The only thing missing was Dad beating on sledge from his stick welder as he added a few feet onto his steel beams that he used for moving houses. I already knew what I had to do because this was the moment I had always wished I could have done over. The shop was across the driveway from the house. It was an old two story house that Dad had moved in. He took out the floor and part of the second floor and put a big sliding door on one end of it. Dad was sitting on the steel beam, just looking down toward the creek. Walking up to Dad I took a deep breath and started to speak, “Dad I'm sorry. When you walked out I had an epiphany.” Dad looked up and all I could see on his face was, 'What' and 'Spoiled rotten kid!' I continued. “I've had it in for you ever since you beat on my sisters.” “I know.” He knew what I was talking about too. He would come home on weekends from moving buildings all week and pick on a milk cow and then beat her. After I had grown up I realized this was his release from a week of frustrations from moving houses. He'd come home and take it out on the cows. He had walked in one Saturday morning and the cow next to the door started shaking. My younger sister, Marie, asked him to leave because all he was doing was scaring the cows. He said, “You don't tell your Dad what to do.” and he then headed for the house to get his belt. He didn't have the belt with him because his weekday attire was bib overalls. I was ready to run and hide till he got over his mad. My sisters were all running to the house to hid behind Mom's skirts. Dad was out the door before they made it. My sisters commenced lecturing him about animal rights. That just enraged him. He went from the belt to picking up a two by four and then Mom came out of the house. She yelled at him. Dad yelled at her to get back into the house before he gave her some too. Now Dad continued, “I'm sorry I lost my temper with you kids. After that day on I promised your Mom I would do better. And I have. But you kids never have forgiven me have you. “No we have not! But today I realized I need to forgive you, because if I don't we will never get better. I see Don is coming to get me. I'm going to tell him to leave without me.” “You sure?” Dad asked. “You can go if you want to go.” “Na! You don't know this but I'm going into the service in a few months. I'm going to enlist before I get drafted.” The year was 1970. The Vietnam War was going full bore. Richard Nixon was President of good old US of A. The draft was still in place and President Nixon had added another wrinkle to it. For the following year, birth dates had been pulled out of the hat. First birth date picked was the first to get drafted. My birth date was the tenth number drawn out of the hat. Unlucky or what? In January we would be the first ones getting our summons to report for our physicals. The last time I faced this I had thoughts about heading to Canada. Instead I had enlisted for the two year draft. Not this time. I had hindsight. I would enlist for three years and get schooling for something I could use after I became a civilian again. “You sure you want to do that? Why don't you make them come get you?” That was Dad. I had forgotten how he never made it easy for the Government to place their will on him. He was a Texan through and through. “Ya, I'm not going to Canada and becoming a draft dodger. But I'm going to try no to get killed in Vietnam. And I'm also going to try to do something safer then being in the infantry or being a Helicopter Gunner. Maybe I can keep from doing anything outstanding in Basic Training. Maybe I can be somewhere as some maintenance man. Right now I'll go change into work clothes and be back out.” While I was talking, Don had drove up. I walked over to his car and he rolled down his window. “Good morning Don. I'm not going with you. Sorry about this. There's been a change of plans. Can I give you something for coming to get me? I don't have any money on me at the moment so I'll owe you one. OK?” “Sure Charles. I'll go talk to your Dad for a bit before I have to head for work.” Turning to the house I thought of Mom and my sisters. My Mom and Dad had a strange relationship. Mom had been a widow, married before Dad, and was pregnant with her third child when her husband tipped a tractor over and broke his neck. Her first husband, (eight years older then Mom) must have wore the pants in the family because if a decision was to be made Mom would say, 'I wonder what Herbert would do.' She was giving no respect for Dad's intellectual abilities. Mom had three children from her first marriage and Dad had three children from his first and second marriage. After eight years of being a widow, Mom wanted more children. Less then nine years after they got married they had six more children. Jenny was two years older then me and they had four more girls after me. My sister Marie, was eighteen months younger then me, and would be pregnant with Don's baby before getting married. My sister Jenny would also be pregnant in the spring and getting married. My sister Judy, who was three years younger then me, would be pregnant the next spring from a twenty four year old farm boy. Judy's husband, Jim, was an only child and needless to say, spoiled rotten. Judy decided she didn't want him when he laughed at her for being pregnant. Dad marched Judy up to his folk's place and they had a old fashion shotgun wedding. Eight years from now Mom would be dying from uterine cancer. I would have to convince her to go see a doctor. And here I thought getting a second chance at living was all about me. Walking back into the kitchen from the shop Mom asked, “Was Don here? You didn't leave?” “No, I'm here for the summer.” I replied. “Here for the summer?” “Yes, I'm joining the Army this fall.” “What about Jane?” Ya, what about Jane I thought. After a life time of 'what about Jane,' I knew what I would be doing about Jane. Turning her loose, that's what I would be doing about Jane! I had been dating this cute freshmen all winter and now she would have to wait for me for three years or I would have to turn her loose. After being in the back seat, making out hot and heavy, in my folk's car, I didn't think she would be waiting around for me. Oh, she might try, and when she ended up in a compromising situation, she'd feel guilty. Nope, don't need a 'Dear John Letter'. And I don't need what happened in my past life either. Last time, two week before I got out of basic training, I called Jane and she asked me if I would like to get married. What? She explained. She would stay in school and the marriage would help her to stay true. Right! After we got married and I was at a new base, she was crying because all she could think of was me and could not study. She wanted me to set up housekeeping. She wanted to come out to the west coast to be with me. It actually started before I even left her at her folk's place. 'I'm going to be so lonesome without you. I wish I was going with you. Please find someway or somehow for me to be with you.' Boy, I sure walked into that one. No thanks! If I am to do what I'm planing to do, I need to save a nest egg. I won't be in any position to support anyone for at least five years. Changing into old duds I headed outside. Dad stated, “If you can finish welding all the flat welds, I'll get the truck ready to flip the beam over.” I had spent last winter at high school in shop, welding and getting good at it so I could run away this spring and get a job. Then Nixon and the lottery had to rear its ugly head. Oh well, sometimes you hafta make wine out of sour grapes. By noon we had the beams extended and Dad was telling me over dinner what the week was going to be like. “You need to pack some clothes so we can be on the road. Won't be back till the end of the week.” “ Where are we headed?” Nothing like wanting to know. “Around Huron. Should be up there before dark if we hurry!” “OK.” And that's what happened. Dad drove the truck that had the crane and hoist, dragging the sixty foot beams on a single tire axle with a red flag at the end of the beams. I followed behind in the pickup, loaded down with blocks, jacks and everything else that was needed for the week. The house belonged to a farmer that had bought another farmer out who had retired. The new owner of the place was turning the place into a bare quarter. An Iron Scalper (Man who made a living collecting used iron and selling it) was there cutting up old machinery that was in the trees. Another man was there with a Caterpillar dosser digging a deep hole by the grove getting ready to push the shelter belt into the hole and burn the trees. The house was going to the farmers home place to be used as a first house for his son that was getting married. In another year this place would be a corn field and no one would ever know there had ever been a farm place here. As a teenager, last time around, I would have said, 'This is sad!' Now I just shook my head and said, 'That's the future.' By Friday night at five Dad said, “Lets put all the jacks into the house and head home.” We had stayed at an old Ma and Pa Hotel all week and had cleared out this morning with the understanding that we would be back the following Monday night. We had slid the house off of the old basement and were ready to move it to the new owners place. Thursday we had gone into the county courthouse to get a moving permit. We had also lined up Rural High-line Men to be at the site Monday morning. On the way home Dad started talking, “You surprised me this week. Not only did you do what you were told, but you grabbed a hold at times before I had to tell you. What gives?” I wasn't going to tell him I was older then him by forty some years. “ Well Dad, I guess I'm not resenting you anymore. Maybe that fact has cleared my mind and helped me focus on what we were doing. Does that explain the difference?” “Ya, maybe. It sure was a night and day difference. Are you sure you couldn't get a deferral from the Government? I don't want you to go to Vietnam and throw your life away. “I'll try not to Dad. I'll be careful. You don't know this, but our Government is talking about giving small business loans, to our Veterans, with cheap interest rates. When I make it back I plan to go into debt, in over my head. I know and you know our dollar is getting less valuable. Ten years ago sixty dollars a week, take home pay, was a good income. Now you need twice that. It is all because inflation has been brought on by the trade deficit and our National Government overspending. When the National Debt gets out of hand our dollar will become worthless. I plan to own a lot of land before that happen and we have a crash.” “Wow, I don't know what to say!” “I've thought a lot about this and some people aren't going to be happy about some of the things I've decided.” I knew I had Dad's full attention and I had to be careful what I said next. “I need to save as much money as I can while I'm in the service. I need money when I get out to start farming or ranching. That means I will have to make Jane mad when I tell her I have to break up with her. Maybe I'll tell her I don't want a 'Dear John Letter' while I'm in Vietnam. Tell her I don't want her to feel guilty when she goes out with a new boyfriend.” “Are you sure you're my son? No eighteen year old boy hands over their girlfriend to someone else?” “You do if you think she might come back some day.” I said this just to please Dad. I knew this girl and had been married to her. She was looking for affection, validation and a reason to not be alone. In other words, she probable just wanted a meal ticket. Although she wouldn't say that because she wouldn't be that honest with herself. Or maybe I was just a little bit jaded. After our breakup she had worked in the private sector as a cashier. I'll give her that! “I noticed you haven't tried to call her this week.” Dad said, interrupting my thoughts. “I didn't really have the money for a pay phone.” I replied. “Plus I need her to get me out of her head. Maybe she'll be P.O.-d and pick a fight with me this weekend.” “P.O.-d! I never heard that one before.” “Pissed Off! Nice way of not swearing.” “Could have fooled me. Do you need Mom to give you part of your pay for this week?” “If Mom could give me ten dollars tomorrow and maybe the use of the car I'd be grateful.” “Polite and respectful. You have change and it's all for the better that's for sure!” He had a glazed look to his eyes, like he was looking of into the distance and not seeing anything. “Dad' there's a stop sign up ahead. Do you want me to drive for awhile?” “Sorry Charles. Yes, you had better drive. You have given me a lot to think about.” When we were almost home Dad asked, “With you making an income this summer, what were you going to do with the money?” “Well I was thinking I would put it somewhere. Where it would grow. Perhaps in Stocks and bonds. Maybe municipal bonds? I'd like it to grow faster then inflation and the devaluation of the dollar. I would like a nest egg when I come back three years from now.” “I pray you come back!” “Ya, that makes two of us.” “Son if you don't mind me asking, what did Kolburgs offer you for a wage? “Three dollars and eighty five cents an hour. Time and a half over forty.” “So. Forty times four. One sixty a week. Not bad!” “No it wasn't. Plus Trailer House rent was thirty bucks a month split between three of us guys. Utilities thrown in with that. But like I said, I had an epiphany and I figured I could help you this summer and go into the service this fall after it cools off some.” “Well I was thinking. This summer you will be working a lot more then forty hours a week. When we come home on the weekends you will be helping the girls in the cow barn. I'm expecting you to save a lot of this summers wages. So____ how does two hundred a week sound? We'll keep it between us. OK!” “How are you going to keep this from Ma? This sounds to good to be true.” Mom ran the books and knew all the expenses we had. “Oh, your Mother will know but I don't want your sisters to know what you're getting. If you're not spending a lot of money they won't be questioning you. They'll think they need to be paid too.” “ OK. But I'm feeling a little bit funny here. Mom has always talked about children working for parents to pay them back for having raised them.” “Yes, but this is my way of investing into your dreams without being obvious. Your thoughts on inflation rings true. You know your Mother has always been very conservative. Being raise in the thirties, with nothing, did that to her.” We were home too late for supper. Mom brought out the leftovers and warmed them up for us. Then it was bedtime. As I was drifting off to sleep, I thought, 'I forgot to call Jane'. Next morning it was up early and out to the cow barn. I had forgotten how bad the cow barn smelled and how bad the flies could be. Between the cows stomping to keep the flies from biting and me watching the girls to help me remember what to do, the hour of milking flew by. Next was the hooking up the wagon and flail chopper to the A-John Deere. Then out to the alfalfa field to green chop the wagon full. Before it was all said and done with getting the cows feed, it was noon and lunch time. After dinner I called Jane. “Hello,” Her Mom answered. “Is Jane home?” “Yes, just a minute. It's Charles.” “Charles, why didn't you call me? I had to call your sister, Judy, to find out you didn't go to work down to Yankton. What's wrong?” It sounded like Jane was close to tears. “I had a change of plans and I went to work with Dad. I didn't have any money and didn't want to ask Dad for any money to use on the coin operated pay phones. Besides, we worked from sun up to sun down and all I was doing was working or sleeping.” “But Judy said you got home last night! Am I still in your plans? What aren't you telling me?” I could see this wasn't going well. She could tell I was different. “Can I take you to a movie tonight? I'll pick you up at seven.” “OK. But I know you're not telling me something.” Boy, this was one date I did not want to go on. But I knew it was the right thing to do. Turning back to the kitchen I asked Mom, “Can I be the first one to take a bath tonight? Could I also ask for ten dollars and the car for tonight? I want to pick Jane up at seven and leave here by six thirty.” The house we lived in was without running water and we still had an outhouse. Baths were still taken once a week unless you were really dirty. Saturday bath was a get ready for Sunday church thing. We always had a progression that the family had followed. After chores on Saturday night the wash tub was brought into the little room off of the kitchen. The tub was filled with about four inches of cold water and hot water was added as needed. First in was my youngest sister, then on up the line until my oldest sister was washed. Then it was my turn and then my folks turn. I hated to break the line but chores were done by five thirty or six and I couldn't wait around. “Sure Charles. I'll have everything ready for you when you come in for supper.” By six thirty I was heading across the county to pick up Jane. I was tired. Plus my brain was tired. It had been a long week that I wasn't used to. As a kid in my last life I had spent any free time I had, reading. Just sitting still can be restful. This afternoon I hadn't done that. The cow barn had been full of flies and needed cleaning. Those sisters of mine were used to doing what was necessary and then they would head to the house to sew or primp or talk. Couldn't blame them. Milking cows was definitely not what they wanted to do. Twenty years ago Dad had set up the old horse barn, with concrete floors. It had gutters behind the cows and stanchions for milk cows. Two years ago he bought a used milking system from a neighbor who had retired from milking. A couple of years before this time, Dad had dug about an eight foot deep hole below our windmill and put a electric pump in the hole instead of using the windmill. With the pump he put a pressurized tank to regulate the pump. Now it was a matter of running a garden hose to the barn from the well and washing the concrete down with all the dead flies. Plus remembering how it was, as I worked, was hard but pleasant. Going to the door of Jane's folks house I knocked and Jane's Mom came to the door. “Come in Charles. Jane will be right up. How are you? You look tired. I hear you're working with your Dad this summer. Where were you?” “Up by Huron. Moving a house for a farmer. Should be done by the middle of next week or close to it. Don't know what we're doing after that.” I turned and saw Jane coming up the stairs. Wow! Is she really fifteen? As a young men I must have been a perverted pedophile, because she looks like she's eleven or twelve! “There you are. Are you ready to go? I've heard Butch Cassidy and the Sun dance Kid is supposed to be good. Angie, I should have your daughter home by eleven at the latest.” Walking back to the car, Jane was looking at me. “Charles, you just told my Mother WHEN you were bringing me home. You always asked before. Thank you for opening the door for me. Why did you do that? You never did that before! Are you going to tell me I look nice? Why didn't you call me this week? Why did you decide you were not going to work this week?” I'd had enough! The last part about not going to work was the last straw. “Jane, you are seeing this through your eyes only. I worked hard this week. If you must know, I had an epiphany. I couldn't walk away from my Dad on Monday. I'm going to be drafted! I'm going to be gone for three years. You have three years of high school yet. I won't be around. I don't think we should go steady anymore. I don't need a girl friend back home worrying about me and not knowing what she is doing because she want's to have some fun. I don't need a 'Dear John Letter' while I'm dodging bullets. If you want to talk to me some more, call me!” I grabbed her arm and pulled her out of the car. “GOOD NIGHT! She stood there in shock. I shut the door, walked around the car and left! I couldn't believe I had just did this—- this outburst. I was surprised at my self. Maybe this was a case of do unto others before they do to you. Maybe knowing the future is making me a hard ass. I shook my head all the way home, not even thinking about stopping in town. When I got home Mom asked me why I wasn't on my date. Judy came into the kitchen asking why I made Jane cry. Dad stared at me and didn't say a word. Kathy and Peggy were at the living room door being quiet as well. “You guys think I was a mean, uncaring person tonight. I admit I didn't plan to break off my date tonight, but I was going to talk to her about being gone for the next three years. But tonight she was acting childish, spoiled, and a complete baby. At least this way she can go to the prom next year with someone else without feeling bad about it. I'm going to bed. Sorry! Good night.” Sunday it was chores, feed cows and go to church. Seeing old high school buddies was a shock as well. And I had thought Jane looked young. Wow! They were all wrapped up with themselves. They never even noticed me staring at them. Monday started out early. Four o'clock in the morning to be exact. By five we were on the road with Dad telling me to drive. As the sun was coming up Dad delivered his assault. “ OK now tell me who you are! You are not the Charles that I knew two weeks ago. Did someone scrub your brain and replace it with someone else. You're not a kid! I've been watching you. No way are you my son.” “Why are you saying things like this? I told you I had an epiphany. I have to make amends!” “Like how you dumped you girlfriend. You had to be hardhearted to do that the way you did. That's not my Charles. He couldn't hurt anyone's feelings if he tried. And you tried! You are not the son I had!” “No I'm not the son you had, but I am your son. And that's no riddle! “What, but__but__!” “Would you believe I came from the future back to this time to apologize to you. And I did! Don't ask me how. Maybe it was giving an old man his last wish. Maybe this is purgatory, I don't know! All I know is I was given a second chance to correct my mistakes and live again! I want to make this life count. If you can believe I know what the future is maybe we can change it. “Wow! I want to hear this. Unbelievable!” This was coming from Dad? Maybe, just maybe, he's going to believe me! Ya, he actually might. “Believe you me! I'll tell you what the future looks like. It was 2046 when I came back here. It's hard to believe all the changes that has taken place and I've lived it. We'll talk more tonight. Right now we have linemen waiting for us to get the house on the road. They might already have the line down that we need down.” “Just what I need. A son telling me what to do.” That surprised me. Dad never liked taking orders from anyone, much less admitting he did. Cranking up the truck and raising the steel beams that were under the house with the weight hanging on the cross beam that was over the truck axles, we were ready to go. We headed down the road to where the overhead wire was. It was down and we breezed through. That evening it was 'The Down Home Cafe' and showers since they came with the room. Dad said, “OK, tell me what could have all happened in seventy six years.” “Would you believe that man are on the Moon and Mars. They are going deep underground mining for valuable minerals? They are doing it with robots, video cameras, computers and wireless command modules. The command centers are on the surface and the operators control everything from there.” “ No, now you are just making up stuff. Landing and walking was a Hollywood stunt! It never happened!” I could see Dad was shaken to the core. “ Oh ya. You haven't heard the half of it yet. At Christmas time Jenny will be getting pregnant and marring Larry. Marie is getting pregnant this summer and will marry Don. Judy is getting pregnant this coming winter and you will make her marry Jim, even though she will be disillusioned with that spoiled mommies boy. Now this isn't the worst. Mom has uterine cancer now and in five years will be too late to save her. She needs to go to the doctor NOW. I don't think you can do much about Jenny or Marie. Don is the best thing that could happen to Marie. Jenny has already spent a couple of years on her own and Jenny will do what Jenny will do. Judy? Get her on birth control pills. Yes, they make them now. Sell the cows! Give the girls an incentive to make good grades. Tell them they can go to college if they get good grades.” “That's crazy! Your older half sister and brothers never even went to high school. What do they even need more education if all they're gonna do is get married anyway.” I knew what he was saying. My half sister and half brothers never got past the eighth grade because Dad wanted them to work. Plus Mom wasn't exactly opposed to work neither. An old German peasants saying was, 'children should be twenty one years of age before they left home.' Reasoning was for the first seven years a child received its substance from the parents and couldn't contribute to its welfare. The next seven years a child contributed to the family and paid his own way. The last seven years the child paid his own way and paid the parents back for the first seven years. Mom and Dad did not realize that for twenty one years the child was learning skills. Skills that farm children would NOT use in our future society. Small farms and large families were becoming a thing of the past. “It's not crazy Dad. Even if they only get married in the future, at least they will have a better choice of a spouse. As it stands now, Peggy will never finish high school, But she will become a Vice President of a bank. But before that she will spend seventeen years married to an older man that would spend all their income off of the farm. He gambled the income away while Peggy milked cows, holding the farm together and raising three children. “Wow! You don't paint a pretty picture, do you. What about Kathy?” “None of it is pretty. Kathy and Peggy were the only ones left to milk those cows and Mom turned mean from all of the disappointments from her children. Kathy and Peggy ran away from home before they finished high school and Kathy met and married a divorced man that ended up being a wife beater. I'm sorry but those cows have got to go! And don't try building a house until it's on your land and it's a small house made for retiring. OK! “Now that is really__I don't know. I almost believe you but it can't get that bad.” He couldn't see loosing his milk check so I decided to shake him up some more and told him a real whopper. “No it gets worse. Five years from now you will be building your big dream house and you took a swing at me. I hit you and knocked you on your ass. You hit your head on a concrete block and went into a coma. You never woke up! Three years later Mom died from cancer. I got off on self defense and the girls claim you caused Mom's cancer by giving her a venereal disease. I think the good Lord sent me back here just to save our family. Maybe to also save you? You suppose?” “Shit!” That really surprised me. Of all his faults, cussing wasn't one of them. He drew a deep breath and let it out, looking like he had just been deflated. “OK, you win. We are going to finish with this house and then we will go home. By Wednesday we should be done.” “OK. Why don't we call the Freeman clinic and get an appointment for Thursday morning.” “Why? Isn't Doctor Glanzer good enough? Doctor Glanzer was a one man operation in our small town. No receptionist or nurse. Truly a one man operation. A general doctor, not a specialist. “I don't know if Mom would want a male doctor to examine her. Plus a female nurse would have to be there as well. He would probably send her on to Freeman anyway.” “Well the Doc has seen her before.” “Yes but that when she was having us kids. I don't know how she'll feel about that now.” “You might be right. OK. Tomorrow we'll take a break at about eleven tomorrow and make some phone calls. Then we'll have an early dinner, go back out and work till the sun set. Chapter 2 That fall after my coming back to experience this new life, I en-listed for Uncle Sam's three year vacation. Going though the experience of physical examination with the doctor's finger up your butt can get old. Plus giving your allegiance to your country and then being shuffled out to the airport without being told where you're going makes you feel like you are in a one sided affair. Oh well, everyone's GOT to love Uncle Sam. Getting Mother to the Doctor had been a struggle. Mom at first had protested that there was nothing wrong with her and she didn't need a checkup. Dad schmoozed that one out by using one of my ideas. Dad told Mom that I had read about how dogs were naturally able to detect cancer by sniffing urine. I mentioned it to Dad, that I thought the house smelled funny especially in the kitchen, making him concerned. I knew checkups were something she never did. The check-up proved Mom had cancer and needed a hysterectomy. The Doctors felt after the hysterectomy there was no more cancer and cancer had been caught it in it's early stages. Judy was now on a birth control pills. Mom was told by the Doctor that the birth control pills would control her monthly cramps. It helped of course that Dad had placed a call and had a consultation call with the Doctor. I had kind of enjoyed talking Judy into the, 'Hurting girl act,' and becoming her confidant. She thought there was no reason for the pill, but liked the idea that she had bragging rights with her girlfriends. I cautioned her about thinking the pill was a sure fire thing against pregnancy and the only sure thing was abstaining. I also educated her on what a rubber was and what it would do, most of the time. She was all, 'Eu-w gross!' She took it to heart when I told her a little thing like cold medicine could wipe away the protection. I knew I was leaving the family in better straits then the last time I had left for the service. Yes, both times was Army. No way was I thinking about being gong-ho enough to join the Marines. And the Navy? I couldn't see being on a boat 24-7. 24-7 was something that not many people NOW would know. Twenty four hours a day and seven days a week. No getting away from a boat. Unless some one sank it. No thanks! That's something I noticed this time around. I've become cynical and impatient with others. Maybe because I can't relate with my army buddies, because we had no common interests? Or perhaps because it felt like I was reading a boring book twice. I had the same expectations of what Basic Training was. A lot of screaming. “You dumb private. Get down and give me twenty!” “What are you doing, falling asleep in class. Get down and give me twenty!” “What do you mean, you can't run faster. You're dogging it McAlister. You can't pick it up? Get down and give me twenty!” The Drill Sargent was right! I was dogging it! “Yes Sir!” “Address me as Drill Sargent. Sir is for officers. I work for my living. Get down and give me twenty!” “This is a rifle, you green horn. Your gun is in your pants. And don't let your rifle touch the ground. Get down and give me twenty! Who told you, you could switch arms?” “Left right, left right. Sound off, sound off! One two three four, one two.” Over and over. And the wake up call. You're in the Army now, You're not behind a plow, Get up you lazy __ __ __, You're in the Army now. Advanced training was much of the same. Since I enlisted for three years I could apply for a school. What I got was, 'We'll see.' In Basic Training we had all been encouraged to go Air Born. No thanks! Paratrooper school meant Infantry. No way! I did so bad in Basic Training that I got what I asked for. Transport Operator, MOS 88. Last go around there was no Advanced Training for a two year drafty. Then I was civilian trained welder, MOS 60. At the end of my training, this time around, I received orders for my next post. Vietnam here I come. I spent eighteen months there. I was in a safe place, safe as Vietnam could be, so I volunteered after my year for another six months. This included some monetary benefits. I was only shot at twice. That was a lot safer then a lot of jobs in the jungle. A Helicopter Gunner was said to have, on the average, a three week hiatus, before being shipped out in a body bag or back to the US because of wounds. We lost fifty eight thousand men from the Vietnam War. At one time Special Forces bragged that for every casualty we incurred, the enemy lost twenty men. During the treaty talks one North Vietnam official admitted that they had almost ran out of young men. In South Vietnam it was estimated that nine million people were displaced or had become a refugee. When President, Lyndon B. Johnson, made the remark that war was good for the economy, that statement was not well received by the American Public. Before I left from Vietnam I received a letter from Judy. She stated that Jane had a little girl and she had named it Lee Ann. In my other life our daughter had been named Lee Ann. What was even stranger was her birth date. That was just too weird. That was something that had really bothered my, thinking that someday my children would not be the same. Was this something that God wouldn't allow to change? That blew my mind! I had thought, maybe, this was an alternate dimension. Was I wrong? Out of Basic Training I had came home for Christmas. Judy had said Jane had wanted to talk to me, but I didn't think that was a good idea. Her folks were celebrating their twenty fifth wedding anniversary with an anniversary dance while I was home. I hate to admit it, but I hid out. On new years eve we had a cold snap. Thirty below zero was a good reason to not attend the New Years Eve dance in town. All in all I stayed home and reassured the folks I'd keep my head down if I went to Vietnam. The end of February after ATT, I ended up going to Vietnam. After Vietnam, and the time I spent there, I came home for a two week furlough. Lee Ann was four months old so I didn't think I'd be seeing Jane around town. So I hung out with my cousins and friends till one night Jane walked into the Beer Garden with her Dad standing right behind her. “You need to talk to Jane. Ray stated. “Find an empty booth and I'll wait.” “OK Jane, if you want to talk we'll talk. I broke up with you because I didn't want you waiting and then feeling guilty about wanting to have fun and maybe doing something that you shouldn't do. I hear you have a little girl now. Are you back in high school?” She looked older and appealing. I had a thought: It was the right time for my little boy, Dominick to be conceived. I was glad Ray was standing there. It gave me a chance to think. “No, I'm at home with Lee Ann.” Jane replied. “Mom is mad that I'm not married and it's all your fault. I will do anything you want. Take us away. We don't have to get married. Please!” Wow! My fault. She resents me having to go into the service. She resents me breaking up with her. If she has resentments now, what would being married to her be like? Oh yes! I know. No thanks! “Jane, I'm not the same guy you used to date. I've changed. You've changed. I don't think we should get married. It wouldn't work! Then I changed the subject. I knew Ray was in the booth behind Jane listening. So I continued with, “I now believe the Reformed faith is Christ's true church and the Catholic Faith is leading people astray with it's praying to Mary and all those other so called Saints.” “ We don't have to get married. Just take me with you!” Jane was begging. Thank goodness Ray spoke up, “Jane, that's enough. He doesn't want you. Now maybe we can get on with your life and you can go back to school. Say goodbye!” I had to smile. Trashing the Catholic Faith was the last straw for Ray. I had orders for Presideo of Texas after my leave and that was different from my first time line. Presidio was a border town with Mexico as well as an Army Post. Needless to say I spent some money with my Army buddies going into old Mexico. In Ojinaga Mexico my buddies took me to a bordello were I took a risk and did things we won't talk about. Before I had gone to Vietnam I had taken a class dealing with all the things that could kill you besides bullets. One of the things was where you put your gun. Once was enough. Casual and Prophylactics just didn't seem worthwhile. After that experience I bought some camping gear and spent time along the Rio Grande. During that time I became friends with a couple of Wac's that were colored girls. They enjoyed camping and ruffing it along the Rio Grande as much as I did. They enjoyed their time around me because I didn't treat them any different then anyone else and they could trust me to just be a friend. A month before I was discharged I made Staff Sargent. I'm sure the Army thought it would be an incentive to reenlist since at that time they were also giving reenlistment bonuses. The amount depended on your rank. While in Presidio I had bought an old 62 Chevy pickup, cheap. After drumming out of the service, I loaded up my camping gear and all the rest of my belongings and headed north. I had put a nest egg together and had reached one of my goals. When Dad had sold the milk cows, he had given two of them to me. Along with the summer wages I had earned, I had eighteen hundred dollars to invest. I had invested into McDonald's stock. Since then McDonald's had split once. (Two shares turned into three.) Price per share rose, so now I owned approximately forty six hundred dollars worth of shares. I say approximately because stock goes up and down in price every day. In the service I had become a scalper and lent money to Army buddies. Some scalpers lent money at one hundred percent per month. (twenty dollars for forty dollars) On my IOU's I charged twenty for thirty. After a while some scalpers came to me. After I was left holding the bag a couple of times, (men slipping out of the service) you learned to check with the company clerks and kept tabs on your investment. Kitchen duty or as the Army would say, Kitchen Police, (KP) was always being sold by service men that didn't want to get their hands dirty or thought it was below them. KP paid twenty bucks a day. My Company Commander and I had an understanding. If I took on a KP duty, he'd shuffle me. He knew what I was aiming for and he liked to hunt. So, if he had hunting rights on my land someday, he was all for letting me make money. That spring Secretariat was running. I remembered the horse and his undefeated season. Sorry to say that was about all I remembered about racing or sports. Anyway I found a bookie to place bets on Secretariat and found the odds were about even. I didn't remember second, third or fourth place winners so I was out of luck. But when it was all said and done I brought home forty grand as I had invested with Wall-Mart and last year the stock split. (One into two) I had enough saved for a quarter of land, (one forth of a square mile) but I wasn't planing on doing that. Uncle Sam was going to do that for me. As far as I was concerned he owed me! I would be seeing the ASCS (Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Service) government services when I got home. No one knew with the present reality, that in my past life, I had worked for a Rancher for twenty some years, one hundred fifty miles west of my home town. My home town was mainly crop land and farming was not what I envisioned. I didn't think I wanted to spend a lot of money investing in machinery. I would see a lot of country driving back north from west Texas which suited me just fine. What I would see, would be a lot of ranch country. I'd remembered there is a great big aquifer in the Sandhills of northern Nebraska where in some places the water table would rise to the surface in the spring. I was going to check the availability of land for sale in those areas. By the time I got home, I had spent a week on the road. It took time checking out Real Estate Agents. I spent four days in that time period looking at land. I found a couple of ranches I thought were large enough to support a family and pay for the land, but that would depending on if I could receive a low interest VA loan. The length of the note would also influence what I could do as well. Ranchers preferred handing a ranch down to the next generation instead of selling the land. But in some instants the children had no interest in the ranch and the folks were in a nursing-home or deceased. As I drove out to the farm I thought of all the changes to the family. Mom had a hysterectomy before I left for the service and was doing OK. Jenny and Marie were married and doing great as far as I knew. Both had little ones. Judy graduated from high school with a B grade average and was going to our state collage. Kathy and Peggy were going to high school. This year they were a junior and senior. Both of them were A students. We were living in a different future, that was for sure! Driving into the home place, I could see the yard and buildings hadn't changed much. Maybe a bit more cluttered. I was barely out of the pickup door when Mom was across the yard, giving me a full body hug. I hugged Mom back, but it wasn't like I hadn't been back home in three years. Behind Mom came my two youngest sisters, each with a hug and kiss. Dad came behind the girls to give me a hug saying, “You made it!” I knew what he was saying. “I'm not old yet. I might fall off a horse or get stomped on by a critter.” I replied. “Never hurts to stay safe. Besides I didn't know if you might be tempted to stay in!” “No way! I know how I'm going to collect from Uncle Sam and it's not by staying in that man's army.” Being home again was alright, but so different from when I was growing up. Mom was quiet almost to the point of giving short answers when I was trying to draw her into conversations. I finally realized Mom was depressed. It was like she had an aura of sadness around her. I cornered Dad the next day by himself and discovered Dad was besides himself as well. “I don't know what to do. She says she feels old. Like she's half of what she was. In fact she's asked that I leave because she can't stand looking at me.” “She needs to see a psychiatrist. Mom was the oldest of fifteen. She had to work and was always told what to do. She maybe needs more to do. I think she needs to feel needed. Let me check around and see if I can find someone she can talk to. Did she have a garden this year? Did Mom can any vegetables this summer?” While talking to Dad an idea started forming. “No! She does house work and picks on the girls.” “Picks on the girls. What? This didn't sound like Mom. Well maybe. She always knew if I had left a barn door open or something was not put away. “Yes. Like she needs to know every minute what they are doing. Like she's envious if the girls are doing something fun.” I could see Dad was beside himself. “ Well this might be a school night but I think I should be taking the girls to town tonight and getting their story. Make Mom dress up and take her out to eat. OK!” Here I was talking to myself, again! 'Why was I the solver of everyone's problems? Oh, yes. This do-over isn't about me. With the insight of the future, I need to also be responsible with the changes that happen. 'S _ _ _ !Don't cuss Charles!' Taking Kathy and Peggy to town that night was fun. I had gotten away from laid back high school camaraderie, never realizing it was positioning for a higher rung on the ladder of the pecking order. Luckily my sisters weren't affected too much with all the bull roar that I saw. Kathy was loud and brassy while Peggy was calm and quiet. Knowing what I had came to town for I kept slipping them beer till about ten, while keeping them entertained with my adventures. Pulling off the highway on a side road I stopped the car and asked, “What is with our Mother. Somethings off. What is it?” Peggy popped up, “She hates us!” Kathy exclaimed, “We can't stand being around her. She smothers us. Mom is always standing over us. Are you done with your homework? You eat in the kitchen at the table. Clean your room. It looks terrible! She makes us feel terrible.” “Can't you hang in there till you're out of high school? Do you guys remember me running away one night during my junior year? I had been planing my escape for years and had it all planed. I decided I'd drive a stolen car and drive to Rapid City and then jump on a train and disappear. Planing and doing are two different things. I came back that night deciding I could put up with things till I graduated. You guys can do the same, can't you? Isn't Dad paying you for your grades? Think of Mom as a Drill Sargent. You can say yes Mam until your out of school. I'll try to get Mom to lighten up. OK!” Peggy spoke up, “I don't know if I can do this for two more years. If Kathy goes to collage next year I'll be by myself.” “Tell you what Peggy. If you feel the same way next fall, maybe you can join me were ever I land at. OK.” “That would be awesome Charles. I'd like that.” I hadn't realized Peggy was dreading living at home this much. “Let's go home. Tomorrow I'll try to get Mom to mellow out.” We only had five more miles to get back to the farm, but the girls were already passed out. Oh well. I guess I fed them too much of the old sauce. Those light weights! The next morning I put the idea I had into a plan. First thing after breakfast I started stroking her ego, “Mom, You remember that great canned beef you used to make. Could you show me how you make that? If I buy a place out in the middle of nowhere, caned food is something a bachelor will need. Nobody can beat your caned beef. If I bought a quarter of beef would you help me can it? What else will I need besides jars and lids? Salt, spices? “Yes Charles. I'll tell you how if you want to do it. Bring home about five dozen lids. We have all kinds of jars in the cellar. Just salt it to your taste and put peppers and onions in it as well. We should be able to can one hundred pounds in a afternoon.” Mom was excited. You could hear and feel it radiate off of her. The next day I took Mom with me. Dad had a hired man that lived in town. When the hired man showed up they left to a job that was about forty miles away. Being the job was that close they came home every night. We stopped at the locker in town and found we would have to wait for some swinging beef to come in. The locker didn't buy from the local farmer any more unless it was arranged with the farmer by the costumer. I asked Mom if she wanted to go with me to Parkston and the ASCS office. From there we were directed to the FHA. (Farm and Home Administration) There I was told I would have to go to the county I was buying the land in. Fiddle! Balderdash!! Land was selling for an all time high. I knew land would steadily keep increasing with inflation, But the '80's were hard on farmers so I didn't need a bidding war on land. Plus if I could get a low interest loan without having to pay principle back for a period of years, inflation of the dollar and price of cattle going up would pad my sustainability big time. I would have to go back to the counties where I found the land. Meanwhile I was told what documents I would need for filling out paperwork for loans. Mom was patient with me all day and it was 1900 hours before getting home. Girls had made supper and it was in the refrigerator waiting to be reheated. Dad came in about the same time we did. I had thought he would be later. Dad said, “It didn't pay to give the hired hand to many overtime hours.” The next morning I asked Mom if I could make a couple of long distant calls. (At this time Mother Bell was still gouging the American Public and any time you looked at long distant calls except night rates, it cost big time.) Mom said if it was too much she would tell me when she got the end of the month bill. I made calls to Winner's Veterans Administration and Sioux Fall's VA looking for forms to fill out to be validated to be eligible for a Farm and Home Loan. Then I went to town to pick up the quarter of beef and lids. The rest of the day was spent cubing and caning beef. I got Mom to open up with what was bothering her. I found working and talking had always been a good combination. Like I thought, she was feeling used up and would soon have no purpose in life. She felt like she was not a wife anymore and was just a house keeper. “Mom, you need help. You have a car and can drive. I'm going to Sioux Falls tomorrow. You're coming with me. We are going to find you someone else that you can talk to. You're driving your daughters away with your obsessive behavior. Once I get settled and get a phone you have to start calling me at night. You need to start opening up and start talking to people. “Ho honey, I have another problem. Your Dad. I feel revolted and guilty every time I'm close to your Father. I don't love him anymore, if I ever did. When I met your Father he was nice and I wanted a husband and more children. We had the same wants. Now I'm afraid to talk to him or go to bed with him.” “Mom! That's something I'm not totally comfortable discussing with my Mother. All I know is relationships change over time and if a older couple are just friends, that might be enough. That is why we're going to find someone for you to talk to. You have to decide where and how you want your life to look like in the future.” “Wow, when did you get so smart. Are you sure you're only twenty two?” “Actually Mom, an alien took over my body and now I'm over a hundred years old. What do you think?” “Ha, ha! Now that would be a whopper if you could get me to believe that one.” If you only knew Mom. If you only knew! All at once I felt guilty. Like I had pulled a good one over on Mom and she hadn't caught me this time. When I was growing up, she seemed to know everything I did. No, I was not going to tell her about this. She was deeply religious and this secret Dad and I carried would shake her to the core. The next day Mom and I headed to Sioux Falls. Mom got comfortable with who she would be seeing and where to go. I got approved for a VA low interest loan. All I had to do was fill in the amount when I knew what and where it was. Time to lock in the land I was buying and purchase cattle with the loan. A lot of decisions needed to be make and right shortly. Around home land was selling for around three hundred dollars an acre. Out west in the sand country land was selling for less then ninety dollars an acre. But sand country could carry less then a third of the cattle then we could at home. Do I buy weened heifer calves, pregnant heifers or mature stock cows. Do I want to have registered purebred cattle or crossbred grade cattle. What breed of cattle do I want. Some of these questions I had answered myself in the past three years. I knew in the future Angus based calves brought two to six cents a pound over other breeds and bulls from Angus would be in demand. If I went this way with registered stock, the only critters I could probably buy in volume would be calves. Good thing this was the fall of the year. I decided I would buy land in cattle country. In other words, the Sandhills of Nebraska. This was Friday so it would have to be Monday before I continued my quest. But we had a neighbor that ran Angus, so I could call him up and find out how he sold his excess heifers. I might only find ten to twenty calves at any given breeder. I remembered the names of a few more people from my past life. Monday I left home to head to Valentine Nebraska. There was some land for sale around Cody and farther south. I stopped in Winner because the reality there had said he had three quarters that was going up for auction. That was only half the size that I felt I needed but the agent there had said he would call around and see if anyone would sell land that was close by. When I stopped in the guy was all smiles. He said that there was an older fella that was two miles from the three quarters that was willing to sell for a price. He had two quarters. I told the agent that might be workable. So we drove out to his place. I was introduced and discovered his name was Schnabel. “Are you originally from east river? I asked. Schnabel is a name of a family that was in the church where I grew up in.” “Yes my brothers are still over there and I know exactly where you grew up at. Why in the world would you want to get into the cattle business. All it ever did was give me a living and it's lonely out here. I came out here in the thirty's as a young man with a family and we almost starved at times. Twenty some years ago my wife stated that the kids were raised and she was leaving and she hoped I would come along. If I'd have left from this place at that time I would have been broke, with no skill and no job. She couldn't understand that until she was on her own. Then she had too much pride to come back but not enough pride to starve. So she moved on and got remarried. The whole thing is just sad. Is this what you want for yourself?” “No, not particularly, but I'm hope-n to find a gal who was raised on a ranch out here that loves this life. I'm getting a VA low interest loan to keep costs down and I'm hope-n to hang on to that low interest for as long as I can. If I can buy the three quarters of Quigles what would you need for yours? Would you like to have lifetime rights to live here when you sell. I can do that. What's your bottom dollar that you need for your two quarters? “Well, to pay off the debt on this place, I'd need fifty dollars an acre. But, I'd like to have eighty at least. That would give me a running start for a house in town if I move.” “I'll give you your eighty if I get the other three quarters and you wouldn't need to worry about leaving if you don't want to. How does that sound. Shake?” I was thinking to myself, thirty dollars times three hundred sixty acres was like two years of income living in town. If he goes to town I have to let him know he can always come back if things get tight. I really like this old fella. “I'll shake on that! I hope you get Quigles next week.” Henry was all enthused. I was glad. We'd see what next week brought about. “I could still use a quarter or two but I think more land will come up for sale down the road. I do appreciate you and me coming to this agreement. We'll see what the auction on Monday does.” I noticed then Henry was looking like he had something else to say. “Ha, Charles. Persaul just east of me has been talking for years about someday selling. I'll go with you if you want to go over there.” Wow! This is great. Nothing beats driving into somebodies yard with someone who will vouch for you. “I would really appreciate that Henry if you would be willing to ride with me.” “Sure, no problem. Randy has three quarters and they're right next to me. We'll see if he's serious about selling. But maybe you aught to send that Malory agent back to town. I'm sure Randy will want to make up his own mind with out any pressure.” “OK, that sounds like a plan. Jeff, you don't mind do you? If I acquire the land I'll still run the sale through your office.” On the way over to Randy's we talked about my beat up pickup, and the Vietnam war. Seemed Randy had been in W.W. l. Another thing in common. Driving into the yard I could see his grass had been chewed pretty short. The house and outbuildings all looked aged. Plus the place was a half mile off the county road. Not a place I'd want to put a lot of money into for a ranch headquarters. But it would do short term. Henry started the ball rolling by introducing me. “Randy I'd like to introduce a young fella from east river where I grew up. Charles wants to ranch and I'm going to help him. He's home, fresh from Vietnam and made Staff Sargent in three years while in the Army. I think you two have a lot in common since you were in the Army too.” “Pleased to meet you Randy. I'm sure you had a lot tougher time in the service then I had. All I did in Vietnam was drive around hauling things and troops around the country. What years did you serve?” '17' and '18'. Not as bad as the people over there had it. Their world was bombed all to hell. After it was all over it was surprising those people didn't starve. Good Lord must have been with them. So you're looking to buy land. How are you going to try and make it work? “I'm going to try and make it work with a VA loan and try to keep cost down as far as I can. One thing I truly believe is our dollar is going to slowly devalue as our trade exchange in the world becomes more unbalanced.” I hope I impressed him that my mind wasn't made of rocks. He looked like he didn't know what to say. “Well, I really don't know if I want to sell today. But I pose if someone was to give me a hundred an acre today, I would have to take it.” “Right, I suppose you would. But I reached an agreement today with Henry for a lot less then that. So I couldn't in all good conscience pay that kind of money today. Since rough ground is selling on the market for seventy to seventy five an acre, I would be willing to pay seventy four for yours.” “Gee Charles, You need more then two quarters to make a living. Henry knows all about that. I think you need to buy my three quarters. Wouldn't you agree?” “It would be nice, but I do plan on checking out the land sale that's this coming Monday. It's two miles over from Henry's land and I can make that work if I haft too. Tell you what. I'll give you the same as I gave Henry. Eighty dollars an acre. The offer will be good till Sunday. That gives you five or six days to think about it. OK? “I'm not thinking about it. I'm taking it. You're an alright guy and I'd like to see you make it. You take care of all the transfer costs and it's a deal. Put your paw right here young man. You agree? “ Yes I am in complete agreement, Randy. I would like to wait on the transfer until I have the VA loan processed and money in your hands. Agree!” “You can do that. If Henry trusts you, I trust you.” “Appreciate that. And one more thing. I gave Henry the right to live on his place as long as he wants. Would you like the same treatment?” “Na. If I'm not out of here in a year, kick me off. You wouldn't want to buy some cows, would you? “I don't know. We'll see. Maybe next week I can look at them. OK.” “Sounds good. Let's keep in touch.” Randy definitely looked like he was ready for whatever came next. Driving back over to drop Henry off, I asked him what kind of cattle Randy had. “They're good cattle, Hereford with Angus Bulls topping the cows. But Randy's been pushing the stocking amount. He has some issues with weeds taking over. It will take a couple years for the grass to get in shape. Cows are kind of thin as well.” Ya, The little that I'd seen his cows from the road, that was my own conclusions as well. After dropping Henry off and telling him I'd see him Monday, I headed back home. That night with Mom, Dad and the girls all home, I told them, I would be becoming a Rancher. I told them what it all consisted of, with the land and cattle. Dad grinned, Mom was appalled. “Charles Patrick McAlister, You'll never get out of debt. I thought you were smarter then this. How are you ever going to pay all that money back. You will end up the same way my Dad was when the thirty's hit and he lost everything. It's a good thing you didn't marry Jane. I swear!” “Well Mom,” I replied, “I hope you are around twenty years from now to tell me you were wrong and I was right. Only time will tell!” Chapter 3 What a year! Here we are the end of August with all kinds of upheavals in our lives. Mom and Dad are splitting up! Dad wasn't happy and Mom wasn't happy. What can you say. Mom didn't believe in divorce so they reached a separation agreement. Dad sold his forty acres, the house moving equipment, split the money and headed back to Texas. So, guess what. Mom and little sister are moving in with me. Kathy is starting her first year in college and Judy flunked out of college. Judy admitted she had went overboard with the partying and forgot to study. I know, the first time away from home, you do what you want, enjoying all you can. Ya! Seen it in my past life, as well as the Army. Maybe Kathy will learn what not to do from watching what Judy did. Anyway, Mom decided Judy was old enough to look after herself. So, Judy is staying at Mom's farm and working in Yankton. The ranch is doing great. Henry has been a God send. He's always around to give advice or check cattle. For a man of close to eighty years old he's still a spry chicken. Henry and Peggy were crawling all over the windmills this summer making sure they all could pump water. Henry and I turned cattle onto Randy's place last week after giving the pastures a time of rest and to grow some grass. Plus we sprayed the pastures for weeds a couple of times this spring. Where has the cattle been till now you ask? I bought those other three quarters at that land auction last year. Seventy two dollars an acre. Mom thinks I'm crazy. Henry thinks Randy and him got one heck of a deal. I borrowed one hundred and forty thousand dollars at three percent interest with a balloon payment of fifty thousand dollars at the end of ten years. Everyone in the neighborhood is waiting for me to go under. I just smile. For the next nine years my annual payments are just under fourteen thousand. Thank goodness I saved money while I was in the service. I'll only have twenty calves to sell next month. I had bought twenty young cows from Randy last fall. The rest of my stock is registered yearling heifers. Because I did not buying machinery to put up hay and opted to winter graze, I'm only going to run eighty stock cows. If they were grade cattle, the revenue from the calves could be sixteen to eighteen thousand dollars. Not much room for a loss or price dip. Not with the cost of buying emergency hay, cattle cubes and cattle mineral. But with registered cattle I plan to sell the females as bred heifers and the bulls as coming two year old's. So that puts me in the rears by ten thousand each year for the next two years, not counting this one. I'll be cashing in some stocks for the next three years. This summer on Henry's place, I put together a pole shed with old high-line poles and old corrugated tin. I had to buy new rafters, but I got old wood from Dad for the rest of it. If I don't use the hay it can set under the shed forever. I would like to build sheds with roofs in each pasture for shade in the summer time. But for now that will have to wait. Peggy does not want to go to school this fall. She told me she doesn't know any kids in town, plus she had fun all summer helping Henry and me. I told her she had to go, but I would double what Dad was paying for her grades. If Mom needs her car I would let her drive my pickup. I need to buy another pickup anyway, because I will need a four wheel drive, this winter, to get through the snow in the pastures. Plus I'd like it to have a flat bed with a bale carrier. I also need to buy a cow cube dispenser to hang off of a flat bed. ------------------------------------------------- It is the end of November and I sold the twenty calves this week. We Preg. (Pregnancy) Checked the heifers last week. We had artificially inseminated the hiefers for thirty days and then had cleanup Bulls for another thirty days. We lost five heifers because they were open. Ninety five bred heifers out of a hundred was excellent. I'll loose more heifers during calving next spring. I'll send four of the opens to town and feed one open heifer corn till Christmas and butchered her. Mom would like to go to church and would like all of us to go as well. There is a country church about ten miles away from us so we started going there. Mom enjoyed going there and seemed to get more into religion then ever before. She buys our groceries in Winner and insisted on paying for them all. With her doing all the cooking I thought I had it made. Christmas time came and Mom invited everyone home (Our house) for Christmas. My oldest brother, (Mom's oldest boy) couldn't get away from the family farm so he and his family were not coming. Mom's other daughter and son make an excuse and aren't coming. My Dad's two sons weren't coming either. Quite a small bunch when there used to be eleven of us around, when we were growing up. Judy couldn't even make it. She said she, 'Had to work'. Four of my sisters were all that came. Two with their better half's and children. I was glad more people didn't come. We lived in Randy's three bedroom house so I batched at Henry's for four day. Of course Henry usually ate with us. Kathy was quiet, and for her that was unusual. By the time she left to go back to college she opened up to me. “Charles, I think I'm pregnant. Before you say anything, listen to me. I was raped. At least I think I was. I went with some friends to a frat house party and somewhere along that night I passed out. I could feel and knew I'd had intercourse. I was a mess. I think they fed me a date rape drug. A boy approached me a week later saying he'd like to do a party with me again sometime. I was horrified! Now this. What am I going to do. I can't let Mom find out. She'll kill me and then disown me. Would you give me some money for a abortion. I don't want to have a rapist child!” “ Hold on here. You did nothing to be ashamed about. Would you recognize the boy that spoke to you? He should not get off scout free!” “Oh ya! Everyone knows almost everyone there. The next time I saw him, I asked a girl next to me who that was and she knew, he's Bob Enlgees. At least I think that's what she said.” “OK. I want you to go back to college and find out as much as you can about him. Where he's from and who his folks are. How many brothers and sisters he has and anything else you can find out about him. Can you do that without him knowing about it?” “I think so. I know a girl that went to high school with him. I'll get her to talk about him.” Kathy didn't know what I was thinking, but she trusted me. “ OK. Call me some evening when you know something. Tell Mom you need money. She'll hand me the phone in a split second. She still thinks you don't need to go to college.” I thought Kathy had been doing great. She had gotten a partial scholarship and I had talked Mom into matching with me to cover the rest of her tuition and dorm costs. Now This! This was not going to go over well. I went to see Peggy. “Peggy, is there some boys in high school that would like to treat you with disrespect? Has Kathy been talking to you? Did she tell you what happened?” “She told me! A lot of boys are disrespectful nowadays. Spoiled is what I would call them. They would like to think they can get away with anything.” “Well, I think you should think about getting some horrible cramps. You know, like Judy had?” I needed to nip this problem in the bud. Peggy was a smart girl and would know what to do. “You're right. I've already thought about it. I'll start faking my horrible monthlies right away. Thanks big brother! I know just the pill that will give me dysentery two days after I start taking it. Mom doesn't know I still have them.” “No prob-limo for you little sister. You get right on that!” She was a whiz with math and had spent this fall going over the economics that I was working with and was my biggest fan and believer, that we could make this ranch work. Selling those four head of yearling heifer will help in keeping from selling more stocks for a little while longer. Most of the hundred heifers that I had bought were from small breeders from east river. They were Angus Breeders that still bought bulls from one another and were still the short critters that were prevalent from the '1940's and '50's. I did this intentionally because of a couple of breeders in the '60's slipping in long legged animals that weren't Angus. Now I had nothing against the quality meat of the Angus onto a larger frame but I had an issue when breeders used the Brown Swiss for the frame. Brown Swiss was a dual purpose breed that had warring dominate genes that kept splitting and not blending. You ether had a large frame, fast growing animal with no milking ability or a small to medium sized animal with excellent milking abilities. Today through Artificial Insemination using frozen semen we can tap genetics from around the world. Gelbvieh or German Angus were both excellent choices for blending with our low profile American Angus. Ten years from now a Angus Breeder will have a heifer that was phenomenal for growth but didn't have milk to feed her calf. The breeder kept the bull calf and put it into a University test against other Bulls. The Bull was used through out the Angus breed until breeders figured out the no milk gene was dominate and couldn't be breed out unless you lost the fast growth. Breeders! Anyway I plan to offer an alternative to the short little Angus. I'm sure by now, that about half the people reading this tale have their eyes glazed over and are about ready to snooze. Only a few people are interested in genetics. Sorry! I had been thinking what we needed to do about Kathy with a few thought floating around in my head. In the middle of January when Kathy called, I had some plans on what to do. When Mom handed the phone to me one night and mouthed, “Kathy” I figured it probably wasn't good. “ Hay, Kathy, how are you doing? Everything kosher in the big town of Brookings? “No. I've missed two periods and I'm starting to feel queasy every morning when I get up.” Mom was standing close by listening so I told Kathy what she needed to hear. “I thought we had all the tuition taken care of for this semester. I'll come up there and look into this myself. When do you get out of class Friday? Can you go to the mess hall? _ _ _ Right, cafeteria. 1600 hours ? Four o'clock! See you then. Love you sis. Bye.” I turned to Mom and said, “Mom, I'm going to need your car Friday morning.” “I'll go with you.” “You sure can Ma. I wasn't planing on renting a room for Friday night. However if you want to go with me we'll rent a room. OK.” If she comes along I will have to spill the beans on the way up there. “We're sharing responsibility for her tuition so I think I should go as well as you.” Rip! Why did I say tuition? Well, I guess. Three days later on a Friday morning we were on the road by eight in the morning. With a quick fill of gas, as we passed through town, we kept going. I had allowed our selves an extra hour for stops. Once we hit interstate I leaned back and began our conversation. “Mom, I've got somethings to tell you.” Mom butted in, “It's about Kathy isn't it! Kathy wasn't herself when she was home. Then when Peggy was pulling the old cramping game like Judy did, I knew something was up.” “Kathy was raped a couple of months ago. Now hear me out! Let me say what I need to say. Kathy thinks she knows who did it. She's also pregnant. Two and a half months, give or take a few days. We're going to help her out and make sure she's OK.” “Not an abortion! No!” One thing about Mom she was pro-life. “I don't think so. Kathy talked like she wanted one, although I think it was fear that was talking. I think she's almost too far along anyway. “How does she know who did this terrible thing. It would take more then one person to hold Kathy down.” “Kathy thinks it was a date rape drug. She was out of it for three or four hours. I've been thinking that Kathy could be home for the summer and have the baby. But I don't want her to stay home. I want her to get her education so she has to go back.” “No she doesn't. She will have responsibilities. If nothing else, she can get out of the house and help you. I'm to old to take care of a baby by myself! I refuse to send her back to collage! I won't do it! She can come home and face the consequences. I don't know why all my daughters are getting pregnant out of wedlock?” I thought to myself, 'Wow Mom! I didn't expect this out of you. I guess I have to be thinking on this some more.' We stopped in Sioux Falls for a bite and refilled the gas tank among other things. When we arrived we still had ten minutes to spare. When Kathy walked in we were siting in the cafeteria. I could see by the expression on her face she was ready to turn around and run out. I stood up and went to meet her and gave her a hug. “It's OK Kathy. I'm behind you one hundred percent. Mom will be too. Lets just let her rant for a little bit and she'll get over it." Taking Kathy back to our table, facing Mom's scowl and seeing Kathy's hangdog browbeaten looks, I starting pursuing my plan. “Kathy, what have you learned? Who is this guy?” “ His name is Robert Stevens Enlgees. Capital E, n, l, g, double e, s. He comes from Gary. I know. Who names a town Gary. His Dad's name is Lloyd. He has one brother and three sisters. I think he is the oldest. Gary doesn't have a high school so he went to high school in Clear Lake. Please don't make me marry him. I don't know the guy and already I hate him.” “Where would he be hanging out on a Friday night?" “He would be at his frat house, but I know were he is right now. See those three guys over by that wall. He's the one in the blue polo. He's the one looking over here and smirking.” “Well, he won't be smirking for long. Excuse me. This shouldn't take long.” As I walked over to their booth, I looked him over. 'A blowhard if I ever saw one!' “Robert Stevens Enlgees, I need a private word with you. NOW!” Bob looked up from his entertaining his friends saying, “Excuse me! I don't know you. Get lost!” “Oh, we are just getting acquainted. Tell your two friends to leave. You guys don't mind leaving, do you?” “See you later Bob. We'll talk to you some other time.” “Heck with that noise. I'm going with you guys. It will take more then one redneck to stop me.” “Well Bob, if you don't want to talk to me then I'll go talk to your Dad, Lloyd. If he won't talk to me then I'm going to see a lawyer. What will it be?” “Dam Bob, what did you do now? “Ha buddy, you were in on it too! Your friend wanted to see if it would work and we all thought it would be a lot of fun. This is about Kathy, right? “OK, tell me what happened.” Bob started telling the tale, like his personality would let him do anything different. “We were at our frat house one Saturday night having a party and that freshman, (Pointing to my sister) was being loud. The more beer she drank the louder she got. After all it was our keg she was drinking. Anyway Hank said he had bought some benzo's and wondered if they'd work to slow her down. He took one out of his container and dropped into his empty solo cup and then refilled it. He walk over to the girls and waited till Kathy's cup was empty. He handed her his full one then went and filled up hers. By the time he got back he was sipping on hers. So they switched. She only sipped about half of it before we had to help her upstairs to the bathroom.” “How many of you were there? Now don't lie to me Bob. “There were ten of us. One egged the others on till we couldn't back out without loosing face. Why are we hashing this now?” “Were you two boys in on this too?” Their nod and faces confirmed it. “My sister is pregnant with one of you ass wipes baby. Now this is what is going to happen. Here's a pencil and paper. Start writing names. I'll get a subpoena to ask for blood or you can give your blood willingly. The blood will show who can and can't be the father. And you all can sign a form relinquishing parental rights to Kathy's baby plus a hundred bucks. _ _ _ _ _ By the way, thank you, for the names. In six months Kathy's blood and the baby's blood will complete the picture. Go talk to your partners in crime. If you guys don't have the money, I will take IOU's and never fear, I'll collect. All ten of you, be at the Medical Clinic tomorrow at ten o'clock. If someone doesn't show, the rest of you will have to make sure he has his blood drawn and it's documented. Understand?” “Hold it. Wait a minute! My name's Joe. We should have never did what we did. Stupid, immoral, unfeeling. You name it. I thought about this a lot in the last two months. Do I want a child out there in the world that I don't know about? What if, by chance, it would meet up with one of my future children and marry. I don't know if I want to give up my parental rights and not know what happened with it.” “That's commendable Joe. Bring that point up with your buddies. There might be something in the future that will be reliable for identifying fathers with more than blood samples. Tell you what. I'll write down my name and address and you keep in touch. OK? See you guys in the morning. Remember, ten o'clock.” How little did that kid know of what was coming. DNA and Video Cameras would make honest people out of most of the world. You can run but you can't hide. I didn't sit down going back to the table. I just said, “Lets go.” Once in the car Kathy voiced her concerns, “You just committed me into carrying this baby until it's born. You didn't even ask me what I wanted.” “Well, if you want to abort? It can still be done. We can drive to Sioux Falls on Monday morning and by next weekend you can be free of it. But you will never know if what you're carrying could have been a President of the United States or the next Einstein. It's your choice. Only you will have to live with the decision you make today.” “Oh, don't lay a guilt trip on me. I never had a choice with any of this. Every time I'll look at this kid, I'll resent him.” “Tell you what! I'll pay your college education and you sign over parental rights to me. You incubate your fetus, full term, and you won't even have to look at it. We got a deal?” “Ya, ya! It's a deal. Like I would EVEN be allowed in the house if I didn't carry it.” “What do you think Mom?” “That's up to you if you want to adopt it. But you're getting up at night. I'm getting too old for that. It's all on you!” Saturday morning proved interesting. I thought some of those boys wouldn't show, and there was only one that didn't. I had his name, where his home town was and who his father was. I told the rest of the boys, “Come Monday if I don't see Jack I'll be paying a visit to his parents until he comes clean. Tell Jack to call me at this motel. Here's the name and number. Don't lose it.” We had just entered the hotel room when the phone started ringing. “Hello, is this Charles McAlister. Who is this?” “This is Jack. I don't think you'll need me. I made sure I ejaculated on her, not in her. I'm not the father.” “That's immaterial! You were an accomplice to a crime. Being in the same room during the rape makes you an accessory. If you released one live sperm you could be the father. Drive to the clinic and I'll meet you there.” “I guess. OK, I'll leave now.” Jack didn't take long. No one asked for IOU's. I suppose they thought my rates were too high. The thousand dollars I collected served two purposes for me. It was a wake up call to those boys, making them realize that there are consequences for every thing you do in this world. Two, the money would pay for the delivery and prenatal care. Also, maybe, most of the first year expenses in raising the child. I didn't want the cost to be so high that they would go to their dads or to lawyers. That would have gotten messy and ugly. Back in the hotel I talked to Kathy about the next step. “You need to see a doctor and get a check up. I'll give you a hundred dollars. Keep receipts and let me know if you need more later. If so I'll send you a check.” The rest of the school year was fairly uneventful for Kathy and Peggy. A neighbor boy asked Peggy to the school prom. She said they had a good time and after a while they started going steady. Kathy was complaining about feeling bloated and tired. Henry and I were busy with calving. Henry and I weathered through the calving season with the first time heifers. We lost one calf in a one day blizzard. We lost two more because the calves were too big and we had to haul the mothers to town to cut the calves out. The process toke too long for the calves to be alive. If we could keep the heifers free from infection we would sell them this fall. Some of this could be avoided if we would start measuring heifers for pelvic size. I would need to find where this technology is being developed and inform our Vet. I had already used bulls with a low birth wt. Index. But a big calf could still pop up due to the mothers genetics or simply be an offshoot. Most of the heifers had been born in February and now I was calving them out in April-May, so they handled the birthing quite well. I found ten heifers from one producer from east river that were more then snort-y when I handled their calves. The older they would get, the worse they would become. I would use clean up bulls on them and sell them as bred cows next spring. No heifer calves would be kept in the herd from them. The fall out from open cows next fall should be few for two reasons. One, I planed to breed the cows a month later this year so next year they would calf in May-June. Second, because we had received our spring snow and rains, we had plenty of grass. The cross-bred cows had went to market this past February as breed cows. This kept the pressure off the grass. I could use the money and the cows were still young enough to get a good sale price. It would be almost two years from now before I would have anything more to sell except an open cow or two. When a cow had her second calf she was referred to as a second calf heifer or sometimes as a second calf cow. I refer to them mostly as just cows. Although the cows had not reached their full size till their third calf, I was going to bred the twenty larger cows to German Angus and Gelbvieh. I would try to get the Angus Association to except the German Angus, that were born black, as part of the Angus breed. The Gelbvieh Bulls I would sell as cross-bred bulls. The Gelbvieh Heifers and German Angus Heifers, when they came of age to breed, would be bred to older meat type Angus Bulls. Peggy was getting serious with her boy friend, Jon McCalliea. She was thinking she might not want to go to college. I told her it was her choice but she should still be registered and accepted in case she changed her mind or her mind was changed for her. I hoped her and Kathy could go to college together next year. Peggy and Jon were going to Norden dances that were held across the border in Nebraska. I was a little concerned so I drove down and took in the dances too. She still enjoyed running the pastures with Henry or me. Kathy didn't have a car in Brookings and walked or caught a ride wherever she went. I thought it was good for her and the baby. Kathy was done for the summer so after the semester exams, I retrieved her and her little bump. On the way home I asked her a question that I'm sure she wasn't expecting. “I want to pass something by you that I want to talk to a lawyer about. What would it matter if I adopted your baby or if my name was put on the birth certificate? This is a lot cheaper. When the baby is born you would put on the birth certificate for the father 'unknown'. Why not put down who the father is going to be?” “Eu, that sounds icky. I don't know. Why would you even think about such a thing.” “You're thinking about this differently. When he or she grows up I will tell it, that it wasn't incest. I'm not the sire, but I am the father and daddy that wanted him or her from the beginning. The heck with what anyone else thinks. Mom will probable react the same way you just did but she'll know differently and it will make sense to her in the end. If you really don't mind I would like to hear a lawyers opinion. Although I suppose an adoption would glean them more work and more money in their pockets.” “Talk to your lawyer! How about the mother should be unknown. That would solve everything.” “You can't mean that. Everyone should know who they are and by whom they're loved. You could do that.” “We'll see! I am feeling better about this whole deal, so we'll see.” “Ada girl!” I talked to a lawyer and got about what I expected. He thought it would put a stain on the child and a adoption would clean the lines up for future descendants. I didn't think it would make much differences. Except for the money it would take for adoption. A couple of times in the summer I went with Jon and Peggy, and Clare in Jon's folks car, making it a foursome. Clare McFerson was of Irish decent with blue eyes and red hair. Her quick wit gave her Irish away before you even knew the last name. Other times I took Mom's car and escorted her and a couple of her friends to the dances. Clare would call me and ask me to take her and her girl friends. She always sat on the front seat with me. The middle of August was past and we were all getting anxious for the baby to come. Kathy went into labor in the morning of the twenty third and by that afternoon she had a little boy. Kathy held it after it was all over and then handed it to me. “Well Dad, what are you going to name him?” “Dominick Charles McAlister. Don't you think that would be a good name for him? “ Where did that name come from?” Kathy asked. “Ask your Mother.” “That was my Great Grandfather's name.” Mom spoke right up. What she didn't know was that on my first go around Dominick was my first born son. He now would have been over two years old, but Jane didn't have him this time like when she had Lee Ann. Maybe because she hadn't wanted to be pregnant right away again? I don't know. I can only speculate. I do know they can't be the same children I had. They couldn't possibly look the same. Would they act the same? Na! Anyway I'm going to call this one Nick right away. Once I asked Dominick if he would want to shorten his name to Dom or Nick. He said and I Quote, 'No I don't! My name is Dominick!'. Peggy had decided that Jon wasn't what she wanted, so I took Peggy to Brookings for freshman week while Kathy stayed home and recuperated from giving birth to Nick. A week later Kathy didn't know if she wanted to leave. I told her she had to. A deal was a deal. No if or buts! My Mom looked at me and said, “You're worse then my Dad. Now I know where you got that from. Stoic or what?” Mom took the next run to Brookings with Kathy and was planing on staying overnight. As Mom left she said, “Enjoy your son. I hope he gets a stomach ache so you learn what it's all about.” I just smiled, not telling her I already had experience. September-October was our breeding season, so with a new born baby, Mom, Henry and I were all busy. That spring we had a lot of snow in March and April. We had to feed some bales a few times when the snow had the ground covered. Cake was an everyday occurrence feeding mid morning. I was glad I didn't have calves on the ground during the worst of the snow, May-June was our calving months this coming year. Nick was growing like a weed. His crying from his crib led me to sleep with him in my bed. The only one he wanted was me. Needless to say I spoiled him. He was to young to be disciplined anyway. He usually went with me during the day, either in a car seat or a bassinet. I was looking forward to summer and the girls coming home from school. They had called home a couple of times with Peggy showing more interest in Nick then Kathy did. It looked like I was going to be both mom and dad. Chapter 4 It's November of '75' and it's time to separate the cows from the calves to dry up the mothers so they can conserve body fat to weather the winter. After three weeks we could run the heifers with the cows, but I was convinced by my cake provider to feed the heifers and bull calves different rations of cubes to grow the calves. The heifers and bull calves would have to be kept separate with no chance of them getting together. Henry's old place will have to do for wintering the cows and heifers, split by age between the two quarters. At Randy's place where we live, we will keep the bull calves and feed most of their daily feed intake by cube. Going to be costly! We won't be able to recoup any of my costs for another fifteen months. One thing about winter grazing is having windbreaks in those pastures. With a snowstorm, a herd of cattle will but their butts against the wind and start drifting unless they have a break they can stand behind. It seemed this time of year we were always fixing up another quarter with windbreaks, scattered throughout the quarter. I had been approved with an operating loan at our local bank with a fixed interest rate of 10.2 percent. It was a higher interest then variable, but in my last life I saw how variable interest could get out of hand. In '79' it climbed to 21 percent and wiped out my assets and put them into the rears. Another way of saying into the red, bankrupt, finished! Not fun. The breeder I had worked for in my first life had a quarter million dollar charge account, with his feed provider, that he paid every year after his bull sale. I think he saw a fifteen percent annual interest rate on the unpaid balance. But the feed company made their biggest profit from not being in competition with other feed providers. I hoped to keep my total operating cost, including land payment every year,around twenty five thousand dollars. It would be in the spring of '77' before I would be selling bulls. Four years of costs and I could expect forty to fifty thousand dollars in sales in '77'. With what I know about the future, I have to make some hard choices. Building a three bedroom ranch type house with a full basement costs a little over thirty thousand. Next year the same house will cost close to forty thousand. Gerald Ford was in office till spring of '77' with the stock market staying strong. If I remember right it stayed strong till the end of his term. My dollars in the stock market was rising faster then what the interest at the bank was. All things considered I decided to cash in enough stock to put in a foundation for a new house by the road and frame it in this coming summer. I didn't need the banker in town nervous with me. There was a young man, Jake Holden, that lived about ten miles from us. He has been ranching with his Dad for about a year. Before that he had been trained as a carpenter and worked as a framer for two years. When he was offered to head the framing job, with me helping out, I decided not to contract the job to a contractor. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- It was May of '76 and spring was finally here. We were so lucky we had breed the cows last fall to calve a month later. We had a lot of snow this past March and April and had to roll some hay out because the grass was covered up. Plus we had to push some snow off of the ground so we could feed cake. I had bought an old M Farmall with a Farmhand mounted on it as part of my original loan. This winter I had bought a blade and put it on the Farmhand in place of the bucket. It was a lot of pushing and sliding the snow away while trying not to gouge any ground up. It had been one tough winter! Calving this spring is fun. Henry said the ranchers used to always calf in the spring and summer. May-June was definitely nice months to calf in. From my insemination with the German Angus bull I got a red bull calf. The registered Angus mother must have a recessive red gene in her for the calf to come out red. The Red Angus Breed was an offshoot from the Black Angus Breed and had a limited gene pool. Since I had registration on the cow I would submit a request for registering the calf with the Red Angus Association. The Gelbvieh looked great. But any bull calves I sell from the Gelbvieh breeding will have to be sold as cross-bred bulls. My winter had been spent with daily feeding of cows and taking care of Nick. My Mom went back to east river for Christmas since everyone else was over there. She was gone over two weeks and Dad had been back as well. Peggy said she couldn't wait for school to let out so she could come out to the ranch for the summer. Kathy was doing as well as could be expected but still was distant. In June instead of taking some money out of the stock market, I decided to cash in and close the account. It was over seventy thousand dollars. I got my bank loan back to zero. Still had fifty grand in a pass book savings but I knew that wouldn't last long. Had a blue print on the house I planed on building. It was a five bedroom house that had two bedrooms on one end of the house that could be closed if not in use. On the other end was the wing that held the garage and mud room as well as the utility room. The kitchen and dinning room was in the middle of the house, separating the master bedroom and nursery room from the living room and other bed rooms. The nursery had a trap door and stairs leading down to the furnace room. The furnace will be installed later. The Furnace is new age technology using ground source heat exchange. This means one hundred foot wells will be installed with one inch lines looping down and back up. The plastic lines will be filled with liquid that won't freeze leading back to the furnace. We had left a doorway in the basement to accommodate the later installation of the furnace. The yard will be tore up with digging the wells so at that time I plan to put in a underground walkway to a double garage to be built thirty feet away. The walkway will be covered by the patio off the dinning room. The house will definitely cost more then fifty thousand by the time it will be finished. But I didn't plan on finishing it till next year, if that. Peggy was back for the summer. Henry and Peggy spent a month, off and on, working on the wells. They did the general maintenance and changed the leathers on the pumps, getting them all up to snuff. Peggy's girl friend, Clare was out chumming with Peggy as well. Peggy enjoyed showing Clare the new foundation to the house. Clare was duly impressed. She started questioning me on how I could afford what we were doing. I told her it was on the strength of land prices going up and I was deep in hock. I didn't mention what the stock market had done for me. “How can you risk loosing all this if land prices go down? Clare was having trouble comprehending the risk I was taking. “To me this is no risk. Our trade deficit combined with our government over-spending is causing inflation. And our government is not showing the true inflation. Land prices will fluctuate through the years but will never be as low as they once were. Forty years ago this land sold for two to four dollars an acre. I've got cheap interest rates with a VA loan but because of that I can't refinance with Federal Land Bank until the loan is paid. So I'll try to keep our local banker happy and watch my spending and living expenses. If you've noticed I never called you when we went to Norden last summer. I always let you call me first so we would go dutch. I don't feel I'm in a position yet to get serious about a girl. Although you are mighty tempting.” “So that's whats been holding you back. Last summer I started feeling you were a little dense since I was giving you all the signals I could think of. Aren't you attracted to me?” “Oh, I'm definitely attracted. Why don't you come out and spend time with me. I'm serious about not spending a lot of money on dinnering out and all that. We can do that once a week or so, but you could also spend time with my Mom. Try cooking with her and Peggy, if I'm doing some A.I.'ing cows or some other grubby work.” “That sounds like something I can do. But there's also something you can do for me.” Clare was batting those blue eyes at my and had a grin on her face so I knew it couldn't be bad. “Now what is that?” “Be more affectionate and show it. Kiss me some. Every girl likes to cuddle. This should be more then a business deal. Don't you agree?” “To a certain extent. I think I'd like to keep from being too smoochy in front of people. I think Mom would get the wrong idea. Now I've not always been an angel and I've had intercourse, but I think I want to know you a whole lot better before we become a true couple. Can you live with that? Are you going back to collage this fall?” “Party popper! No I'm not going back. I want to be a wife and raise kids. I think we would be good together. You're establishing a ranch and I like all this peace and quiet. We can take it slow but not too slow. If you understand what I'm saying.” “Oh I think we understand each other.” I also knew I was going to be a little cautious. My first wife couldn't take constructive criticism and spent money. Sometimes I thought she spent money in retaliation. Things deteriorated till it seemed seemed like it was tit for tat. My second wife could criticize me, which was fine, so I was quite aware to anything I might have to say. Plus she was a lot like Mom. She would be going ballistic thinking of spending money to save money. It could be, that this time, we wouldn't be compatible. I'm thinking it won't hurt to explore other possibilities. This definitely was another possibility. “Good! Then kiss me you doofus.” Calving was about wrapped up and Jake was anxious to get started on the new house since the basement had set up long enough to be cured. We hoped to have the outside frame done and rafters on in three weeks After that it would be plywood and shingles on the roof. Then we'd be in shade. It was fun with Peggy and Clare helping me and Jake. By the first part of August we were closing in the outside walls. By the time Peggy left for school the windows to the house were in and the garage doors on. September had rolled around and it was breeding season. Our cows would be caring their third calf this winter. For the AI work I used some Nichols Bulls from Iowa for the cows. I also bred twenty cows to German Angus again since I was able to receive registrations with a questionable usage until farther vesting. In other words the jury was still out. Next year I planed to use the F-1 German Angus on more of the original cows. Helping out with the house was curtailed with the A.I. breeding and I was kept busy with A.I.'ing five or six cows every day. Every twelve hours you watched the cows. Usually when the sun came up and when the sun went down. Clare was a big help by volunteering to help Jake since I couldn't always help. One particular morning I only had one cow to get in and A.I. So in a matter of an hour I was ready to help with the house. Imagine my surprise finding Jake and Clare in the middle of a lip lock. If it had been my first go around in life, I probable would have walked in and started swinging. Instead I slid behind the partition and listened. “Oh Jake! Why can't you be Charles. He's going to be rich some day while your Dad doesn't even pay you.” “Hey, break up with Charles and I'll go back to carpentry work full time.” “It isn't that easy. I want this house and this life. It's too bad Charles is such a fuddy duddie. In six years this will be paid for. Want to wait around for me. If I'm married to him and find I can't stand the guy, I could be a rich divorcee in about seven years. I'll only be twenty seven or so. Maybe if you'd wait around I'll let you be the father to my children. Would that help?” “Wow! Are you serious? And what happens when you get tired of me? I think I just lost my appetite.” I had to agree. My stomach was pretty queasy at that moment as well. “Clare.” I said as I walked in. “I think you should be heading back to town. Thanks Jake. I think you just did me a favor. I can see if it wouldn't have been you it would have been someone else.” “Charles. This isn't what it looks like. Jake and I were just taking a break.” “And what I heard for the last ten minutes wasn't plotting my demise? Leave before I become less polite. I don't want to see you anywhere near this place. You were on the path to stealing from me and if I see you around here again I'll think you have sticky fingers. Can I be anymore clear?” “No, I'm leaving! This is so unfair.” She, (Couldn't even say her name) stormed out and left. I should be happy I found her character flaw before I married her and not after I married her. But her character flaw wasn't what I was so upset about. It was disappoint in me. THAT got to me. Was I open to gold diggers and too blind to see them coming? I had to think on this one! “Jake can you leave and come back tomorrow? I don't think I want to work on the house to day.” “ Sure. But I need a helper. You're to busy to give me more then a couple three hours a day. I'm about done here. But not enough yet for the electricians. There's a lad in town that's not working that could give us a month if we need him for that long. When the interior walls are done we could put the second floor down. Sound good?” “Normally It would be fine. But I think we're far enough along for Henry an I to finish the interior walls this winter. By spring the electricians can wire the house. Henry and I really needed a break from this right now.” “OK. I can see that. All you need is a square, level, tap measure, and couple of hammers. Just make sure everything is square and studs are sixteen inches apart. If you ever need help again let me know. Take care of yourself.” Jake sounded contrite and I believed him. He had been attracted to Clare and had wanted to find out more about the girl, much like I had. Well, both of us found out what kind of girl she was. Unscrupulous! After lunch that day the three of us sat around the table talking. Little Nick had fallen asleep in his high chair and I had laid him down in his crib. Mom spoke up and inquired, “I was expecting two more mouths today. What happened?” “Clare and I had a falling out this morning. She was trying to make plans with Jake that weren't in my best interest. She proved today that she wasn't the girl that I thought she was.” Mom spoke up, “Peggy thought this summer that Jake and Clare were getting friendly with each other. You weren't serious about Clare, were you?” “I thought Clare and I had an understanding. It was Clare that thought I should date her. When did she change her mind? Why did she change her mind? What would happen if I marry someone and they change their mind. A divorce would wipe me out. All I've worked for. Down the drain!” I hadn't meant to open up like this, but it couldn't hurt and it might help. “I had one of those, a divorce that is.” Henry injected. “I didn't have any equity but it still cost me with paying my lawyer and going through the trauma. I even had to pay support for her even with the children raised. The divorce courts aren't friendly to men. A prenup might help, but any equity you gain while together, will get split. You can count on it!” “Mm” This got me thinking. In my life I had set up a Limited Liability Company and sold shares to do business with. The LLC could own everything and I could use the assets if I had controlling interest. Cars, houses, even Jets if I so wanted. I wonder if the VA loan could be transferred to something I owned like a LLC. “I think I'm going to call into town and make an appointment to see a lawyer.” So that's what I did. When I got to the lawyers office he listened to me and then told me he didn't know the answers because it wasn't in his expertise as a lawyer. “You need a corporation lawyer not a divorce lawyer. I know just the man you need to see. Let me call him. Hey Jack, I've got a client here that wants to set up an LLC. You got an opening? - - - How does tomorrow, one o'clock sound? Great. He'll see you then. Goodbye. I'm sending you to Mitchell. Jack Miller. Here's the address. Can you make that? “Two and a half hours to Mitchell. Ya, I can make that. Thank You. Hope I never come see you about a divorce.” “Hope not either. Here is my bill and good luck.” The next day I was at Jack's office at 1:00 o'clock and it was quite informative. “Yes you have a low interest loan through VA. You don't want to do anything with that till it's close to maturity. At that time use a quick claim deed transfer. But you can set up a Family Farm Limited Liability now and do business though the LLC. I would encourage you to not get married for the next six years, and if you do, you'll have to pay off the VA loan and get all your assets into your LLC. If you have family you trust and you give someone a share, they can hold an office. You need officers to make up a board to conduct business and have documented annual meetings. You don't need a Trust unless you want to control your LLC till your death. You shouldn't need a Trust until you're sixty five or older. Also a Trust is not a good idea if your a major stockholder in your LLC and you want your LLC to continue doing business. In that case your will give your shares to the designated people and LLC would continue doing business as usual.” Wow! I think this guy knows what he is doing. “OK. How much would this cost me to set up a LLC.” “It can be set up any time, but we don't need to file it with the state until you want to. Paper work will only cost a couple hundred.” “OK. You say four people need to be officers and need to be twenty one or older to hold office. We will file in the spring of '78'. My youngest sister will turn twenty one then. Also owner of a share is now a one year old, but his mother will be proxy for him. I call you and give you full names and dates of births tomorrow. Thank you!” It is January of '77' and my bulls have just went through a painful week. We had to put them into a working chute to seamen test them and clip hair for a better appearance for bull buyers. Out of the forty two bulls I had one flunked the test and one was marginal. I'm advertising in the local paper and in the regional Farm and Ranch magazine. Also I'm letting the neighbors know by putting signs out. One at the end of the driveway and four signs going into town. I'm pricing the bulls on how their indexes read for birth weight and growth. One thousand for the top third of the bulls, nine hundred for the middle third and eight hundred for the bottom third. Hope they all sell and not come back at me. Being older should help them with their first breeding season. I hope the Buyers don't try to whittle me down to far on my prices. In the middle of February we plan on selling half of the bred heifers. They all were pregnancy checked and I'm selling the heifers that have late-calf pregnancies. Hopefully when all said and done, I'll have forty five thousand dollars to work with. This year I planed to use my own home raised clean-up bull on the yearling heifers I kept. One AI'd bull was low birth weight with good growth and not related to most of the heifers. Two of the heifers were related to him, but not close. Most breeders use a system known as line-breeding. Crossing cousins and even half siblings at times to strengthen and reinforce traits the breeder wants. What I want is a registered bull that will give me a problem free calving season. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- It's summer again and the girls are back. That included Judy, with her being pregnant. She's twenty one and should know her own mind. Her excuse was she was lonely, fell for a sweet talker and took some cold medicine for a cold. When Judy told him she was going to be a mother, he was gone, disappeared. Judy later found out he was separated from a wife because she couldn't keep him out of the bars and spent all their money at those places. It's a very good thing Dad's not around with his shotgun. The house was crowded with Judy home, and Mom really was being snippy around Judy. Judy couldn't go back home because Mom's first son, brother Roland, had moved onto the home place, and Judy didn't need a job in her condition. Without a job she didn't have the funds to live on her own. Henry came to the family's rescue one again. He told her if she would cook and clean for him, she could live with him. Mom was happy, Judy was happy and I was happy. I think Henry was ecstatic. “Say Henry!” I figured we should at least talk about this offer he had made. “I appreciate what you're doing for Judy. Can I pay you another hundred a month for housing and feeding Judy?” “Na, but you can buy her furniture for her room, and you can bribe me fifty dollars a month for weening me off your Mothers cooking.” “ What would I do without your sense of humor.” What would I have done without Henry's help? I would have had to hire someone young, that probable was greener then I had been. The pay would have been four-fifty to five hundred dollars a month plus room and board. Henry had only wanted two hundred a month plus a noon meal. Now he felt he only needed another fifty dollars. I would have to give Judy another fifty dollars a month to buy groceries. Peggy informed me when she came home from college, that when she graduated, she would be home to stay. She was going to shoot for a degree in accounting with a minor degree in business. I told her that sounded good to me. Besides Henry, she was the best helper I had. A neighbor, Joe Bugler, who was between Henry and Quigles place owned three quarters and had control of two native quarters. (Native American people owned land in this county and usually rented their land, long term, to ranchers they trusted and liked.) Joe was on his parents home place and was of the age were his children had left home. Joe came to me and explained some of his ideas. “I've paid off my siblings interest in the home place and I have paid off the quarter I bought. I have enough saved to buy a small house in town. I need to build up my social security over the next fifteen years. If you would pay me six dollars an acre to rent my place, I'll move to town.” “How much do you pay Ronald Goodshot for his land?” “You might not think much of this, but I pay Ronald three dollars an acre.” “Do you have sentimental attachment? Of course you do. Will you keep up the buildings and if so, how many acres will you want around the buildings. Will you rent the buildings out?” I had to know what Joe wanted my attitude to be, since I was renting his land around the buildings, I needed to know what his attitude was. “Let's call the area around the place five acres. I'll come out and mow in the summertime if the house is empty. I want to know who I rent the buildings to. Someday one of my sons might want to come back and ranch here. I'll leave the building the way they are for now. The thing I like about you renting the grass is, you don't overgraze. Keep up what you're doing!” “What do I do with the two native quarters. How do I get a hold of the owner?” “Owners. Ronald Goodshot will come see you. He will want cash so he can dole it out to his siblings. Have him sign a receipt. And have Henry witness and sign it as well. I only pay for the coming grazing year on April fifteenth. Be prepared to have gas to fill up his car and a fifth of whiskey for him to take home with him. Don't give him the whiskey until he is in the car and ready to go home.” Well that's a fine how-DE-due-Dee! I was around Native Americans on my first go around. Most natives have a weakness for alcohol and shouldn't be encouraged to consume firewater. (The natives first take on what whiskey was.) And they weren't far wrong. I'll have to talk to Ronald when and if I can find him. Also check on who all are owners to the two quarters. I won't have to worry about that till next year. This year I'm subleasing from Joe. Joe must be honest, because he could have claimed the two native quarters and scammed me for three dollars an acre times three hundred twenty acres. I need to get a map of land ownership in this county. Back to the constant cattle that was on my mind. I definitely needed to change how I thought when I merchandised my Angus. I had more criticizing and dickering on my Bulls then I thought possible. I think I'm going to haul them to town next year and auction them off. One bright spot with selling the bulls was Jake's Dad. He came and bought two. Claimed he had got carried away with the Simmental craze and now half of his cows were too big. He was ready to go back to a smaller cow and needed small heifers for the next generation. Hot dog! All at once I'm thinking I need to modify my original thought. I pointed out two bulls that came from what I considered better mothers. He also let me know that he appreciated how I handled things with Jake and Clare. “Are they going together now do you know? I was mildly curious. “Are you serious! He couldn't believe he was falling for someone else's girl. Especially after how cold and self serving she turned out to be. Jake said you were right. She was thinking like a thief.” The house is coming along. Last winter Henry and I finished the walls to the rooms and laid the second floor down. I had thought both layers of floor should have been under the dividing walls, but Jake said it wasn't done that way. The reason was from the time of hardwood floors. Different flooring for different rooms. The Electricians were here and gone. Now the installers for glass insulation were busy. I asked for insulation and plastic sheeting for the interior walls surrounding the master bedroom and nursery. Just one of my quirks. One of the quirks of our nation during the '50's and '60's was the fear of Atomic war and with it came the fallout bunkers and dooms day survivalists. I used this mindset as an excuse to do what I did. Being as old as I am, (One hundred two or three?) I don't really trust mankind. By the time the county sheriff would make it out here in the boonies any altercation would already be history. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. A saying of frontiersmen and still good advice for out here. Anyway, fallout bunker excuse was used when I had the concrete forming crew made me an underground walkway from the furnace room to a underground room with a concrete ceiling and a garage on top. You would never know it was there after we put a false wall, to hide the staircase, on the backside of the garage. September of '77” was here before I knew it and with it was breeding season once again. The Angus Association had came through for me with allowing me to us German Angus in my breeding, so I once again was breeding twenty cows to the German bulls. This season though, along with the Nichols Bulls, I was using a couple of old school bulls, much like Rito N Bar and Emulous Bob. I talked to Martin Jorgensen of Ideal and let him talk me into using Band 174. Marin never knew I had worked for him in my past life and knew what Band 174 could do for me. 174 was not well liked in the Angus breed because his legs took after the older Angus breeding and a gut that took up half of his body weight. He was a sleeper that wasn't recognized for his feed efficiency and durability. Things you needed in a mother cow. 174 was only a three year old and since he was unproven, his frozen semen was cheap. His calves were square when they were born which correlated to a more difficult birth, but I was still going to use him on my Gelbvieh cross heifers and German Angus cross heifers. He would pack pounds on his weened calves next fall. I hoped to see some seven hundred and fifty pound bull calves out of him next fall. December is here and the furnace is up and running in the new house and the yard is a mess. It will take a lot of landscaping and ground settling before a concrete patio can be laid down. I'll keep leveling the ground as it settles. Dry wallers are busy putting the last of the sheet-rock on the walls. After this it will be painting before hanging lights. I might wait for the girls to get home next summer. A month ago Judy talked to me about something I had been too busy to even think about. “Charles, will you give me the same deal you gave Kathy?” “What are you talking about?” Same deal?” “Could I put your name on the birth certificate as the father? I don't want to have anything to do with my baby's sire and you did it for Kathy.” “What about the other children he has? Someday they might want to know about this little one. Would it pay to track him down and get him to sign a relinquishment of parental rights form?” “No! That's exactly what I don't want to do. He'll want to get paid off. And he'll just keep coming back for more. The heck with that. If he's not reminded he might forget about me. And if he comes looking for parental rights it will cost him money and a lot of witnesses which he don't have! Let him try to prove it.” “OK. We'll do it your way.” I wasn't going to tell her that in ten years there would be an undisputed test called DNA. December twentieth Judy gave birth to a baby and named it Charlene Harriet McAlister. 'We'll call her Char.' Judy said. Char had a blond fuzz on her head, while Judy's blond head was bald as a baby. Other then that I thought she was Judy all over again. Oh, and I was like, 'Wait, what happened here!' Since last month when I talked to Judy about the birth certificate, I was expecting a big boy on the twentieth named Anthony Raymond, or at least, Tony. Was it, the longer I drew away from the original timeline the bigger the difference would become? Maybe I'm dead and this is just a bad dream! One thing about it, us four siblings are leading different lives. I think we've been given the chance to grow up a little slower. Definitely given the opportunity to make different mistakes. That's for sure! Judy was out of the hospital in the morning of the twenty third and called us at lunch time. She really sounded worried. “Charles, come as quick as you can. Henry is hack-en away here and I think he has pneumonia. He won't listen to me. Maybe you can get him to do something.” I hung up and ran over in Mom's car. He had been letting me feed cake, knowing that I knew he was under the weather. I didn't know it was this bad. Judy showed me his handkerchief. There was blood in the phlegm. I told him, “Henry lets go. We're going to see a doctor.” When we got to town and got Henry into the clinic, the doctor took one look at him and said, “You're going to the hospital. This could kill you!” One thing about this time around is, I had health insurance for everyone around me. Health care wasn't that costly and health insurance didn't cost that much. YET! Although health premiums were starting their climb. In another five years from now, employers would start asking employees to share the cost. When I finally got back to Henry's room after filling out forms for the hospital, who was sitting there but Kathy and Peggy home for Christmas. Peggy, who was holding Henry's hand, looked at me and said. “I'm not going back to school. I've wasted enough time away from home. I don't care what you say, I'm not going back!” Chapter 5 I had to look a second time. Hear now. I had just brought Henry into the hospital, because of a bad cough and hacking up blood, when who should show up in his room but my two sisters home from college. And my baby sister, Peggy is sitting there, holding Henry's hand saying; I'm not going back to school. I've wasted enough time away from home.” I looked over at Henry. He had a bag hanging on a tree with a line going into his arm. Henry looked like he was out of it. I looked over at Kathy and pointed to the door. Once out in the hallway I turned to Kathy and asked, “OK, what am I missing here? Henry is eighty five years old. We need to accept that we will someday lose him. I know those two are close, but quitting school? Has she lost her mind?” “No, this is just hitting her hard. Ever since her junior year in high school, she looked forward to spending the summer with you guys. She told me that they have made it a tradition to give each other a hug after fixing a well in the summer. Henry is like this cuddly professor. He's a father, friend and confidant all rolled into one. She said they would stand sometimes for a half an hour, just enjoying the squeeze. I think you should let her stay home. This is where she wants to be. I think it might even be her destiny to become an old maid.” Well, I guess. In my past life, I've always seen everyone doing anything they could to leave home, including getting pregnant. In this life they get pregnant and want to come home. Or demand to come home and take care of Grandpa Henry. Weird! If Kathy could read my thoughts, she'd think I was weird. “OK Kathy. I'll have to go home and face Mom and tell her she was right again. You're going to finish school, right?” “Oh ya. I'm going to get my Teaching Certificate and come home and find a school close by. Have you got everything set up in the new house for all our siblings and kids?” “Ah huh! We have heat, electricity. sleeping bags and air mattresses in the new house. It's going to be a great Christmas.” It was a great Christmas! Henry stayed a week in the hospital and Peggy spent a lot of time with him. But the great thing was, Henry recovered. Mom fed everybody too much food and we all had a good time. Dad even came home. He helped me feed cake (Cubes) and we got reacquainted. I asked him how his life was going. It was a year since the last time I had talked to him. At that time he had said he was going with someone called Elsie, who was eight years younger then Dad. “Elsie is history. All she knew how to do was spend my money. She was spending it faster than I was making it. That was one thing about your Mom. She always watched what she spent.” Dad replied, almost looking forlorn. “Well you're getting along with Mom now aren't you? Maybe you would like to move back?” “No, I resent her too much. What you're doing here, I should have done. But there was no way your Mom would have let me. She's happy, I'm happy. Lets let sleeping dogs lie.” Not to throw rocks, but I thought Dad was more of a worker and dreamer then a manager. Mom was always the bookkeeper and squelched his hair brain schemes. Or maybe the ideas were not well thought out and needed some encouragement? We'll never know, we'll just think we know. That's about as God-like as we can get! January of '78' is here and it's a time to be busy or maybe busier. We are working bulls again. This year instead of trimming the bulls some, we are using a flamethrower and singeing the hair short. I am really impressed with my Red Angus Bull. I advertised my Bull Sale with the Red Angus Journal and have gotten a few calls about him. Back to advertising in the local paper as well as WNAX radio station in Yankton plus our radio station in town. The sale is in town on the third Tuesday in February. I think I'll keep that date consistently year after year. Peggy seems to be enjoying herself, chapped hands, cheeks and all. Henry is doing better but Peggy still babies him. She moved in with Judy, Char and Henry and they all seem happy. We ordered kitchen cabinets for the house. We have started thinking about carpets and flooring for the kitchen and dining room as well as finding a good plumber for the bathrooms and kitchen. I've driven out to Rosebud Reservation a couple of times on fact finding missions. I've discovered Ronald Goodshot is the youngest of his siblings. Roland's Grandfather and his Grandfather's brother were the original owners of the two quarters of land. So now the descendants own a percentage of the quarters. I also discovered eight, fourth generation individuals, (Great grandchildren) who owned .05 percent of the quarter apiece, or eight acres each. I wondered if these eight individuals ever received any revenue from their land. On a side note, they won't pay taxes since native land is tax exempt. When I inquired about the two quarters, at Tribal Land Management, I discovered they were classified as NOT IN USE. Something was smelling! I got a-hold of names of all the descendants listed from Tribal Membership Enrollment and their addresses. I then mailed out a letter to all one hundred eighty three addresses, inviting them all to a picnic to be held on April 15th on their land across the road from the new house. I also asked them that they bring a picture identification and I would pay them ten dollars for each car that came. If theft was involved with the two quarters of land, I wanted the fight to be by the owners. It's March already and I'm still flying high. The Bull Sale was out of this world. The average of the thirty five bulls I sold was over eighteen hundred dollars! A piece! The Red Angus Bull was the highlight of the sale. He sold for twenty nine hundred and fifty dollars. I sold the complete, hundred percent of him. Two breeders from Iowa, together, bought him. The Bull was going into stud service when leaving here. The two guys felt there was no way that they would lose money on him. I hoped the Bull didn't break a leg or grow an ulcer. A good bull in collection can produce fifty to one hundred ampules from one ejaculation, and can be collected two to three times a week. One ampule sells for around ten to twelve dollars, depending on the demand of the bull. Frozen seamen can keep for as high as twenty five years. In the next four or five years, the Bull's progeny will determine if the demand stays strong. My sisters were over the moon as well. They could see me putting new furniture in every room in the new house. I felt I had about thirty thousand dollars of money I could do something with. I sat down with them and explained a few things, “Remember my army buddy that came hunting last fall? He drew my attention to something that I want to check out. I'm going to invest some money into the commodity market. I know, you want to furnish the house and move in. Would Henry be willing to move his appliances and furniture into the house if he could move in as well? I'll pay for linoleum and carpet. In the next few years as we make more money we can buy new and replace the old furniture. OK ? There is something else I would like to talk to you about. Forming a Limited Liability Company. All expenses and income would go through the company. The company would own the cattle, land and vehicles. The ownership would have a hundred shares. I would own most of the shares now. We would evaluate the company at the start up. Every year as the value increases by ten percent, Mom and you three girls would receive a share each, until forty percent of the shares are in your guys names. You can sell your shares based on the value of the LLC at that time, but you can only sell your shares back to the family and not to outsiders. You would be more than employees and would be able to voice your opinion. Does this sound like something you guys would like to do? “Yes! I don't even have to think about it!” stated Peggy. “Sure! But what would I, be contributing?” asked Judy. “No. I don't want to be liable if you guys go under.” That was Mom giving an opinion. “I did a course on Limited Liability Company's. Kathy said, speaking up. I can be an officer, but my income will be from teaching and I might not even live here. However there is a twist to Family LLC you might not have thought about. If the LLC is renting land, why not have the LLC rent all the land, yours included. That way you have less equity involved and we can have more shares. What do you think?” “My main thought was retaining controlling viability of the company. How- ever, as time goes by that might become less important.” All at once a couple ideas were going around in my head. “ This is how I see it working. I'll be President of the company, Peggy is treasurer, Judy is secretary and Kathy is a board member. Peggy will receive a salary for keeping the books and helping out and Judy will receive a salary for being secretary and keeping the house and helping Mom cook. Mom, we should start paying you for cooking and the groceries you buy.” “No, injected Mom. Judy can cook. You guys move into the new house and I'll stay in this one or move back home to be with my brothers and sisters. I might not want to be around when you guys start fighting and your house of cards falls down around you.” Well this was different. I never thought Mom would ever grow out of being needed. Shortly after my conversation with my sisters about my ideas on forming an LLC we all took a trip to Mitchell to talk once again to the corporation lawyer. He clarified a few things after we stated what we would like to do. “No you can't separate cattle from land or forty acres from the rest of the land to different ownership unless you get a waiver from your lender. Your lender is the VA with a cheap interest rate. At this point I wouldn't buy the loan out until it's paid down farther. You're only halfway though the loan.” I should have known better, but I got ahead of myself. “Don't worry girls, I told them. Things might change in a couple of years. Only thing we can do right now is merchandise our bulls and keep costs down. We have a goal to meet.” “What about that thirty thousand you are planning to take out of sales and invest it into commodities?” Judy asked, with the other two sisters nodding their heads. I could see, from their point of view without prior knowledge, what I did would be the height of stupidity. How could I answer this? I could see now where Mom thought we would be fighting. She might have heard some rumblings too. “This is not a long shot. In three years I think I will be able to pay off my loan plus have money left over. You have to believe in me. You know I haven't paid myself a salary and Mom has been buying our food. We owe her and each other a lot. Let's all hang in together and be patient. We know where we came from and grew up and I have a vision where we're going.” It was time to implement some of my past knowledge about the future. The Hunt Brothers were going to try and corner the silver market, I just didn't quite remember when. I knew it was before I came out to West River and it was March, during my last go around, and that was in the spring of '81'. So I had about three years till silver hit fifty one or fifty two dollars and stayed there for only a short time. I didn't know where to start looking for a broker except the yellow pages of a phone book or maybe the bank? I asked. I grew up watching my Dad asking for directions every time we went into a courthouse, trying to compensate for lack of reading skills. My banker pointed me to a brokerage firm in Sioux Falls after cautioning me on losing money and how most people could not afford to invest in the Stock Market, including yours truly. (Me) So before calving season I took a trip to Sioux Falls. I explained to the man (Broker) that I wanted to invest in silver, which I would sell someday and how much I was willing to spend. He explained a few things to me. He said, “The way I can help you is first show you what your options are. We can buy silver in bars. For thirty thousand dollars give or take a thousand or so, we can buy on today's market, fifty,-one hundred ounce bars. We can have them refined in Manhattan Kansas. We can have them shipped here for a fee, or stored there for a fee. The next way would be to buy into a silver contract. It comes due every six months. We can buy a silver contract or sell without reaching the end of the contract. If it would reach the due date, you would deliver the silver but we don't want that to happen. We could get a five year futures contract and some one could bid or offer a price that you might want to take before the time is up. Calls and Puts are three months and you place them on which side of the market you think the market is going. The last option is more costly to you because it's more time consuming.” “What do you think my best option is?” I could already see one option not being what I want. Who would want to pay storage on over three hundred pounds of weight. “With option one, you sit on the actual silver and wait for the price you want to sell it at. Or we can buy a contract and wait until you want to sell. Or we can go the third route with Calls and Puts. Or a combination of the last two.” “OK. Let's go with a contract for the time being. When I say sell, we might go with Puts on the down side. I might be invested for the next three years. We'll see. I'm convinced silver is too cheap at the moment.” I sure hope the future holds true! I know silver can't stay at $5.68 an ounce. If this was a normal April we would finish up delivering bulls and getting ready for calving season. This year the girls were painting inside the new house, plus we were preparing for April 15th. I went to town to rent port-a-potties and wood to construct picnic tables and benches. Benches were wood planks on five gallon buckets. Plus wood for serving tables. The day before Picnic-Day we brought four hundred hamburger buns from the Bakery in town. We made homemade potato salad with beans to go with taverns. Dessert was fifteen pans of apple crisp. April 15th came and we couldn't have asked for a nicer Picnic-Day. Peggy's ex boyfriend and a couple of his friends directed traffic into rows in the pasture. The Goodshot descendant's came by the carload and I greeted each car with a ten dollar bill for the driver, as a sign of appreciation and gas money. Our first Americans always were social people that loved powwows and feeds. We had a raised workbench that we had placed in front of the benches. After the feed, I got on the bench and gave my speech. “I would like to greet everyone here in the spirit of Wakan Tanka. I pray that my family and Goodshot descendants may sit under the umbrella of Mitakoye Oyasin. May we treat each other fairly and in good conscience in accordance with greater human good. Now I'm sure all of you are wondering what this white man wants with all these big flowing words that we hardly understand. What I want is for everyone to receive his fair due. Last summer I was given the opportunity to rent the Goodshot land that you stand on. Imagine my surprise when I went to Rosebud Land Management and discovered it was titled 'Not In Use' land. If I don't have a written lease on this land, any cows grazing this land could be rounded up and sold. I can't risk that. Also I saw under land ownership of these quarters that some of you younger people of the last generation may only own eight acres. But to be fair, that's still over forty dollars that you should have because it is your right! Now I have a family tree on a board here that shows how many generations down and what percent of what each one owns. I have a contract here and a place for everyone to sign. My sister Peggy is sitting at one table that represents one quarter and the original owner. My sister, Judy, with the blond hair, is at the table over on the other side, representing the other quarter. Each has a contract for a quarter and all the owners belonging to that quarter and what each person should receive. It is a ten year contract, but I think we should have a picnic-day each year at which time each owner would receive his year's rent. All who are in favor of this suggestion give a shout! _-_-_-_- Oh yes! That is what I wanted to hear! Please have your picture I.D out and show it to my sisters. They will find where you should sign and how much you should receive. I will file copies of these contracts with Rosebud. During the month of June, Judy, Char, Mom, Nick and I went to Brookings for Kathy's college graduation. Henry and Peggy stayed home to tag calves and hold down the fort. I think Mom was proud that Kathy had graduated from college. Judy was quiet, and I'm sure she was thinking; 'I could have done this, but I blew it. Kathy was happy to have this part of life over. She was ready to move back home for the summer. We really did not have room for all of Kathy's stuff and Kathy had sold some things like a small refrigerator and clothes chest. Kathy had put her name in with our school district and had a job teaching, in the fall, nine miles away from home, in a two room rural school. By the time June was over we had completed and accomplished some big projects. The house was finished. We were moved into the new house and we were all spread out. Judy had the master bedroom and nursery with a bathroom for Char and her. That bathroom also served the kitchen and dining room. Peggy and Henry had the two end bedrooms with a bathroom in between. Kathy, Nick and I had two bedrooms off the living room, with a bathroom serving both rooms. Mom could have moved in too, but she said she was happy where she was at. Two of the girls could have doubled up. With five more quarters of land we had plenty of grass so I didn't sell any heifers this spring. We had one hundred twenty two cows and calves on pasture and the ninety five yearlings. Next year we would have to sell breed heifers again. The Band 174 calves are all I was expecting. Out of the four Gelbvieh heifers, the calves by 174 were growing like weeds. They all were flat sided. One thing I had learned in my past life, that it had been proven that growth and feed efficiency, was correlated to phenotype. In other words the flat sided Charolais were the most feed efficient among all breeds of cattle in the '70's. With 174's big ruminant system and the flat sides of these calves, I had winners! I had to decide how I was to capitalize with what I had learned from my past life. One of the big projects that I had been doing this time of year was filling out registrations with the Angus Organization. This year I had Peggy help me fill out forms and send them in. Each registration had a fee to go with it. I tried to hold off on doing this because of the money spent on a possibly sickly calf or a sudden death for whatever reason. In my past life a cattle breeder bought a calf from Dad, who thought the calf would make a good comparison against his registered calves. I learned ten years later that an orphan calf was brought in from out of the pasture from a heifer that had been struck by lightning and died. The year was right and the birth date was right. The breeder was right. It's funny sometimes what a hired hand might reveal with a little liquid stimulation and encouragement. With the completion of the new house and Mom knowing about my investing into commodities, Mom's car was no longer available for our use. Mom's words were, “You need your own car.” She was right. Depending on Mom's car had gotten to be a habit. I kept telling myself I couldn't afford another vehicle because the ranch expenses kept going up because of rising costs. That was part of it. The other part was, the people that I once knew, that were in town. I was afraid of disappointment. In my past life I had gone from a broken man that felt he had to rip himself from his family in order to gain the 'out of control finances' that his then wife wouldn't or couldn't change. In town was my second wife from my past life. I knew it was silly to think she would judge me while driving an old pickup and wearing old jeans, but that was my excuse. My real fear was that in this life, there would be no connection and I would look at her like I had looked at my first wife. An immature girl. Sandra graduated from high school last spring and would take years to mature while being a teacher's aid. Looking at a car for transportation I knew it wouldn't be new. When Dad bought a two year old Fleet-wood Cadillac in '68', he spent six grand. Now, ten years later, new would be from ten to fifteen thousand, with a Cadillac close to twenty. If I was buying a vehicle now it would be used, and I would have to go to the bank for a loan. (I wasn't changing my mind about the thirty grand going for commodities market.) With a loan it would be full coverage insurance on the car. I would have to make a portion of the loan every March 1st, with insurance coverage due at the same time. In the end, I spent six grand on a used Chevy. Armed with a car, I went to town one Sunday morning to Sandra's church. I knew there was no air conditioning in that old church building but at 9:30 in the morning. It was still cool. I went by myself. It would be nine years earlier in this life then from the time in my past life when I had met them all. Everyone was polite and I met Sandra's boyfriend as well as her. She was what I was afraid of, 'Young' and there was no connection felt between us. It was a different time with different personalities and perspectives. What can you say? Her sister was three years older, and who I considered a loud opinionated person, but who took an interest in me, or was she just being nice? I knew next spring she would be meeting her husband who was a court reporter, but she wasn't dating anyone now. But at the same time I thought maybe I should cool my jets. I didn't need to spend money on shaping a new life yet. Maybe next year after the Bull Sale I would have more money. The only comfort I had with the unknown was the known. Grandpa Henry had bounced back. Maybe not full speed but was still able to climb windmills and check cows with Peggy. My two children were doing great. Nick is three and thinks he's a cowboy. He has a hard time with me being out of his sight. Char will be two at the end of the year and is into everything. They both have me wrapped around their fingers. March of '79' we were busy delivering bulls all March and April. Silver had climbed to sixteen dollars an ounce, so it must be next year when silver went wild. If I cashed in my contact now I could bring home about a hundred thousand dollars. It was tempting! The girls were monitoring the silver market as well as I and were looking at furniture. Not yet, I kept telling them. Wait till the dust settles from the Bull Sale. I wasn't short of money now because the Bull Sale had gone great. Per bull we had a respectful thirteen hundred plus, average. Not 'one' out of this world, single bull sale, but I think next year, I might have a couple. We saved a couple more bulls this year for our own use and were ready for our next breeding season. I paid off the car, and the girls bought a new refrigerator and stove. The two old appliances went back to Henry's house. April 15th was coming up and I wouldn't take the chance with the weather that I had last year. We bought a big circus tent. If it is really bad weather, maybe the Goodshot descendants would agree to have our picnic-day in the summer. Maybe the month of July? April 15th did come with damp, drizzly weather. The forecast was that tomorrow it would turn to snow. I think we missed the bullet this time. I noticed that this time there were a lot less people. Mothers were not ready to bring the children and the people didn't know about the tent. Everyone parked on the road. Peggy went one way on the road and I went the other way with our ten dollar bills. This year was a little more paperwork because everyone had to sign a receipt for the check they received for the acreage they owned. Most of these people never had a checking account or a need for a tax return. Before lunch I welcomed everyone to the second picnic-day. Led in prayer with thanks for the food, world peace and human tolerance and understanding. People were getting chilled and began leaving shortly after lunch. Before everyone had left though, a young lady approached me with a young man behind her. “Sir, she began. My name is Sherry Goodshot and this is my husband Harry Loudcrow. My husband and I have talked and we feel you are the reddest white man we have ever met. We are both eighteen and have been married for two years. Since we have no children yet we can't receive housing from the government and we live with my parents. Would you help us? There is no work on the Res and love only goes so far. Harry would love to have a job and get away from the reservation.” “Harry, I notice you're not saying anything. I like quiet people but a man should speak for himself. Is this something you want? A job? Out here in the elements, day in day out. Bad weather, days like today.” I was starting to think he was without speech. “I would love to work here. Open land and sky and peaceful. My ancestor came onto the Res and his name was Loudcrow because he never was quiet. My Sioux name is Quiet-stream. It is hard to pronounce in English so we won't even try.” “ I'm impressed. Would you want to be called Harry or Quiet-stream?” “I have the nickname Quiet on the Res if that's OK with you.” “Quiet it is. I have been feeling that we're spread pretty thin anymore. I have to talk to someone before I can give you an answer. How would I be able to reach you?” Henry and the girls would have to be talked to too. Sherry spoke up, “We will have to call you. When can we call you and how soon will you know?” “Call Thursday at one. I should be in the house for lunch and should know by then. Sound good?” “Sounds real good Sir. We have a pay phone at the Post Office so this will work perfectly.” Sherry and Quiet were beaming from ear to ear. I noticed then that only one car was still on the road with two older people in it. The kids didn't even own a car. It was 'Good By' and away they went. That night at the supper table I laid out what I was thinking. “Henry, would you mind if we would use your place for a hired hand? I have a couple that are only eighteen and green, I'm sure, that would like to work for us. I told them I would talk to you guys and decide.” “It's your place Charles. Where did you find these people?” Henry was curious cause I seemed to never leave the place. “They were here today. The young girl is one of the fourth generation Goodshot's. She's a magpie, but he's quiet. In fact, that's his nickname. His given name is Harry Loudcrow and her name is Sherry Goodshot.” Everyone was quiet for a minute before Henry spoke up. “It shouldn't matter if they are native or white. It's your place. If they turn out to be two good people, well that remains to be seen. The girls nodded their heads yes. Peggy spoke up, “When I went to school here in Winner my senior year the native kids grouped together as a whole with a whole lot of peer pressure with each other not to excel academically but there were some exceptions. The ones that tried were ostracized by the rest of them. A lot of resentments. They almost didn't dare to make friends outside of their group.” “Well, I'm going to ask them to come. We need to refurbish Henry's house some.” Mom spoke up, “They can have the one bed we're not using at my house.” Judy replied, “There is a farm and household sale north of Winner we could go to this Saturday.” “The farm sale sounds like something we should do. I'll hold Quiet and Sherry off for two weeks while we get the house ready.” This fit in with something else I had been thinking about. A Native American could buy native land but Whites were excluded in today's world. If one descendant owned the two quarters of native land it would make renting a lot easier. We'll wait and see if we had two good individuals here. I hoped it would prove true too, that they were malleable by being so young. That Saturday we went to the household sale. Everyone was digging out from the blow we had on the 16th and it was still cold. The crowd was sparse because of the weather. The only people there were the ones that had their eyes on something in the sale bill. We bought a household of furniture and kitchen paraphernalia, cheap! In fact, there was an easy chair I picked to replace the one I had in the living room. We had taken both pickups and Henry took his pickup with Judy driving my car. When we left the sale all four vehicles were packed. The following week, Mom and the girls had fun setting Henry's house up. The next Saturday Quiet and Sherry were brought out by her folks. The house was ready- sheets and pillows, towels and washcloths, dish towels and hot pads. The girls and Mom had not forgotten anything. They were all in tears when Sherry stood in the middle of the living room and started bawling. Henry even had tears in his eyes. Quiet stood there with his black eyes shining. Sherry and Quiet had come to the house with only two boxes of clothes. It was May once again Henry and I had fun teaching Quiet about calving out cows in a purebred herd. First he had to get over the fear of getting rolled over by the mothers. They all snorted but one would learn by experience which cows bluffed and who meant business. The ones that meant business didn't stay in the herd for another year. It wasn't worth it. One of my friends in my past life had been hit and pounded against a steel gate. He was almost a vegetable the rest of his life with his wife taking care of him. He had Health Insurance, but it had a ceiling or cap. He went through the Health Insurance with operations, and the land he owned followed. Statistics say that every year twenty lives are lost because of cattle attacks. As the calves were born, a tag for their ear was made, linking the calf to the mother and determining if the calf was an AI calf or a pasture breed calf. Then you caught the calf, weighed it and put the tag into the ear. Then you tattooed the ears with a number. The calf would be bawling and the mother would be snorting too. If the calf was more than two days old, it would be tough catching it. Most of the time other mothers would be gathering around snorting. Every couple of days we would try and shift the new pairs over into the next pasture. We tried to keep the stress off of the cows as much as we could. The more stressed out the cow became, the more belligerent the cow would become. After a while the three of us worked out a system. One of us would stand guard, another would weigh while the other put a tag into the ear. Then the ink and tattoo numbers would be set and squeezed into the inside of the ear. The calf would bawl and run away with the mother following. Tag numbers, tattoo numbers, calf weight and mothers number and sire would all be recorded into a book and we'd go on to the next calf. One of the bad things that sometimes happens is a cow, ready to calf will latch on to another calf. Sometimes unless you are right there observing you don't know what's what! About the turn of the twenty first century DNA would become another tool with animal breeding. At that point we will be able to identify all red genes, and then sell all the red gene, out of the Black Angus Cattle. This summer after calving, we will be putting up our first pasture roof. I was able to buy some new high line poles. We need to cement the poles into the ground and tie the roof cross stringers down with steel straps. We will put the first roof close to a windmill with a corral around it all. Not only will we be able to provide shade but have the ability to spray for fly's every other week. I expect a fifty pound jump in weaning weights by taking stress off my cattle. It's into September and the breeding season is going strong. This summer we had more visitors from the Angus breeders than ever before. Thankfully in September and October we don't have many calls from people, wanting to come to look at our herd. Quiet is learning to set a horse and cut cows to AI. That's a big help! Quiet does not say much, but he's always watching and learning. Maybe after four or five years he might get bored with this life, but I doubt it. This way of life seems to fit him. He even walks with a spring in his step. Mom has taken Sherry under her wing and is once more enjoying life. She's over at Sherry's or Sherry's over at Mom's, which is most of the time. I still think Magpie should be her given name, or at least her nickname. I think I'll be talking to Quiet and Shelly next spring about a land deal. Come the first of December and it's back to weaning calves and penning the calves up. I had some calves over seven hundred and fifty pounds. Maybe someday they will all be that heavy. I buy the best hay I can find for them along with their cubes. We have to keep the ground damp to hold the dust down. Too much dust in the air when the calves are milling about and we'll have dust pneumonia. Not good! Ten days after weaning we will have a cube laced with Clora -Tetracycline. We'll feed this for three days to stop any sudden death due to pneumonia. During the month of November we had the Veterinarian out, two weeks apart, giving shots to all the calves. One for the original shots, and then the next week for the boosters. Right before Christmas it was time for freeze branding. We had two sets of numbers that we put into dry-ice (Hydrogen peroxide) freezing at a -109 F. We freeze the skin under the numbers after shaving a patch of hair where we want the numbers. The hair grows back white and we have numbers. We have the first number representing the year born. The next two to three numbers represent sire and individual numbers. Needless to say, we all wear thick insulated gloves for this process. Mom went back east for Christmas and Dad will be over there as well. Then I think they will be back here for New Years. I'm on pins and needles about silver commodities. I'm one hundred forty thousand ahead of my thirty thousand investment. Next year is the year, I just know it! Chapter 6 It's February 1,1980 and I'm shaking my head. I sold my silver contract last month. I thought it was March when the silver peeked. Silver reached $49 and the contract was sold, like I told my broker to do. I gleaned a profit of One hundred fifty thousand dollars, after taking broker commissions and my thirty thousand out of the sale. I told my broker to invest it all on the side of it going down. I told the broker to sell at twenty dollars an ounce. He told me he didn't think it would happen. Maybe it was March when it went down, or maybe this timeline isn't like last time line. The silver market has gone down but not a lot. I'm a wreck! I need to keep my mind on other things. We need to be ready for the third Tuesday of this month. Our sale day won't wait for nobody. This year I'm going to sell half interest of two bulls with one hundred percent control for a year. They're going into stud collection after the sale. The split ownership will split the costs and sales of seaman. One is a 174 son out of a German Angus x (wink) and the other is a 174 son out of a high maternal mother trait index. The one son of 174 had a weaning weight of 784 pounds. His fifty percent interest brought fourteen thousand dollars. And if he is popular, his seamen sales could net me another one hundred thousand for the first year of production. Wow! It's the middle of April and my ships have all come in. Silver fell, yes fell, below twenty dollars an ounce and I sold. It dropped farther but I don't care. It was bothering me to the point that I could not sleep. I swear! The silver brought me a profit of over four million dollars. It made me glad I had left the original thirty thousand dollars invested in silver, as well as the profit of one hundred fifty thousand dollars. I'm paying off my land and buying a brand spanking new Cadillac! We sold fifty head of bulls at the Bull Sale, averaging over fourteen hundred dollars apiece. This month I'm selling thirty bred heifers. They will be sold as grade heifers unless the buyer would pay me two hundred dollars over the selling price. All total, I expect to take in over one hundred thousand this spring from the ranch. I feel in awe of what reliving life over can do. There is a quote by an author, I forget which one that said, 'Life can only be understood backwards, but must be lived forwards.' And another, 'Wisdom is wasted on the young, and the old don't need it!' The last time around in 1980, I was up to my neck in debts and trying to figure out how I was going to make a living for my family, all the while feeling like such a failure! This alternate dimension, do-over world, or whatever you want to call it, may not be quite the same but is so much better than before. It's worth accepting a few ulcers! When I cashed out of the commodity market, I decided to enter the stock market once again. One of the stocks at this time that caught my eye, and that I knew about, was Wendy's Restaurants. I invested a million dollars. Another million I invested in municipal bonds, ranging from ten to fourteen percent. It wouldn't be till the mid nineties when interest rates will be under government control and land will really get out of control in price. Forty years from now, this one hundred dollar an acre land will be bring three thousand dollars an acre and more. Dollar devaluation. Sad! I know! When I was ninety, I had used up my saving, had sold my home, and was broke! This time I could save myself as well as the people that were around me. I had talked to Quiet one day, asking if I could come over after supper and talk to them. Quiet didn't know why but I would explained when I arrived that evening. “I'm sure you've heard, if not from my sisters, from my mother, that I received a windfall from the commodity market. I have money to invest and I'm wondering if I could give you a loan so that you two could buy your great grandfather's land. I'm investing in you guys. If we can convince all your relatives to agree to sell to you both, for one hundred dollars an acre, you would have to pay around three hundred and fifty dollars a month to satisfy a loan payment. Quiet, this first year that you worked for me, because we were teaching you, your wage was three hundred a month plus housing and beef to eat. This year, because you are an experienced ranch hand your wage should maybe be around six hundred a month. That still leaves fifty dollars a month less than what you were making before, if I deducted three hundred and fifty out of your wage. This is at five percent on the unpaid balance. I'm offering the money at three percent since this is what interest was for this land that I bought, that making it a three hundred a month payment. I think wages are going to keep climbing and land will too. If we could stop the land prices from raising and keep your wages rising, in ten years you could easily pay for it. If you can live with the three hundred and fifty dollars that you make now, and are willing to write a contract to work for me for ten years, at the end of ten years the land will be free and clear. Your wages will keep rising as the years go by so don't worry about that.” Sherry was the first to speak up, “So after ten years what would our rent off the land be?” “I would guess it would be two hundred dollars or more every month. In ten years if wages keep going up the way I think they are, with rent and wages I think you could make over a thousand dollars a month.” Quiet spoke up, “That's amazing! You have given us a future as well as a life. Thank you!” “It's not a done deal yet. We can only try to get everyone to sign a bill of sale. I say try, because the sale depends on one hundred percent of the owners, in favor of the sale. The price of land has jumped to one hundred dollars an acre and as high as one hundred fifty dollars per acre. Two quarters plus lawyers fees to write the sale bill up with all the signatures could cost as high as fifty thousand. We wanted to buy the land for thirty two thousand.” We had our work cut out for Shelly, Quiet and myself. The weather was bad on April 15th, causing and not having many people come to the picnic-day. So, us three, took my old Chevy and traveled all over the Res, telling all the relatives what they would receive and if they would sign away their piece of land. Some wanted money right away without the one hundred percent signing. Some wanted to hold out for more. We decided we would keep the signatures that were signed and put together a graft of who did and didn't sign for next year's picnic-day. Let the non signing people be pressured by the ones that had signed. The girls were given the opportunity to pick out new bedroom sets plus living room and dining room furniture. I figured five thousand dollars would not break the bank. Now we had the problem of what to do with the old furniture. Sherry wanted a few things to replace some of their things and she had an idea. We loaded up the pickups with furniture and took them out to a community center on the Res and people came and took what they wanted. It worked out great! Plus there was a lot of good will towards Quiet and Sherry. This year we will be making improvements. A new big Steel Quonset, (50ft X 120ft) four pole roofs out in the pastures, and I bought two more quarters that were connected to Quiet and Sherry's two quarters. This was still a little less than two thousand acres under our management. The big rancher north of town was saying he had over ten thousand acres under his management. I knew in twenty years from now, I would like to be at twenty thousand acres, as that rancher would be also. But, I couldn't buy more land until it comes up for sale. The girls and I set up the LL Company and I named it Chasm after the company that my investor and I set up in my past life. The cattle and building sites plus the first year's estimated operating expenses of a hundred thousand dollars was part of the equity of Chasm. The one hundred thousand should cover the Quonset plus the pole roofs and corals. This year we also would flush a third calf cow for embryos. It would cost us three hundred dollars a successful pregnancy plus the cost of the recipient cows. Total cost should run about fifteen thousand. I'm hoping for twenty embryos. These embryos will be sired by Nichols Benchmark. This September when we AI cows, we'll be using a bull, for the heifers, from the west coast, called Top Dog. We'll lose some yearling weight, but we'll also lose about twenty pounds on the calves at birth. This will work great for our two year old heifers. My sisters and I, (We, the Board) sent Quiet and myself to AI school this August. Me for a refresher course and Quiet for his initial training. As we acquire more land and more cattle, we will need more help and hired hands with specialized skills. We hired Jon McCalliea to help with the month of AI work. Peggy was OK with it and he brought two of his horses for his own personal use. Jon and his Dad have an earlier calving period and don't AI, so September is one of their slow months of the year. Jon is so enthralled with the new house, Quonset and pole roofs out in the pastures, that he's convinced I know things his Dad doesn't. Little does he know! Anyway Jon and Peggy are going together once more. As Peggy said, “he was infatuated with girls period, but I think he's over that!” This year at Christmas our Dad is back for a month. He's old enough for social security and thinks he's going to start a well digging enterprise in Texas. He needed five thousand for half of the rig. He had a friend he was going in partnership with. I gave him fifteen thousand and told him to buy it himself and fifteen should cover startup cost as well as the purchase of the rig. I don't think he will be paying me back but that's immaterial. He's kept my secret all these years. Of course if he ever told anyone, they would more than likely never believe him. Plus he had helped me start a nest egg right out of high school, which helped a long way in staying afloat. This Christmas, the siblings that weren't living here all seemed to be moving on and forming their own Christmas traditions. My younger sister, Marie, and her family had stopped this summer as they went out for a job in the Gold Mine in the Black Hills. Jenny, my older sister was down in Yankton, running a business and couldn't get away. Everyone was busy, so on and so forth. Mom was disappointed, but felt a lot better when Dad offered to go with her after Christmas. I thought in the past some of my siblings came for Christmas just to see if I was ringing my hands yet. That wasn't nice to say, but sometimes you think things and then put the thoughts off to insecurities and too much imagination, or paranoia. I can't believe how last year seemed to fly by. One of the reasons is it was a stress free year. No worries about the commodities or stock market. I'm invested in Wendy's for the long haul, or until '92' or '93'. At that time IBM wasn't doing much, until '99' when it jumped like ten times its base price. Even the stress of buying another two quarters last fall wasn't stressful. When you have the money to buy it, the only stress is in the bidding. Those two quarters cost one hundred thirty dollars. Although if I wouldn't have had a good Bull Sale in February I wouldn't have the funds for more land. If I didn't have the money, I would go to the Federal Land Bank. Because I knew land was about to start climbing. Forty years from now this same land will bring three thousand dollars an acre and more. It's April of '81' now and we were ready for Picnic-day. Sherry and Quiet have only nine signatures to obtain. Then we can transfer ownership and pay everyone with a signed bill of sale. We are having the Picnic-day in our new Quonset, so we have swept and washed it out, before setting up everything to serve and seat everyone. Of course, I was on the road with my ten dollar bills for every car and Jon and his friends were parking cars. The weather was dry and warm, like it had been all winter. Sherry and Quiet were standing by their chart and finding people that had not signed the intent to sell. At the end of the day we had one person that didn't come. Sherry said it was a cousin's grandmother that needed to sign yet, but she had not been feeling well. This was a possible nightmare that I didn't want. If she would die before the sale took place, we would have to collect another thirty some signatures. The next day the three of us went out to Rosebuds hospital to visit her and got her signature. Quiet and Sherry got their two quarters of land. Since I had not changed Quiet's pay last year, so him and Sherry only had nine years to pay before the land was theirs. Plus I had given Quiet a fifty dollar raise this year above the six hundred a month he had been making. Jon McCalliea and Peggy were wanting to get married. Mom had moved down to Texas with Dad and of course Peggy wanted to move into the house that Mom left behind. Mom and Dad were still legally separated but to Mom, that didn't mean divorce. Any-hew, Jon would still work for his Dad except when he wasn't needed. We would pay him for his time. Jon kidded that he would be working for his wife. Little did he know how right he was. They were planning a July wedding. The surprise for me was Peggy wanting Henry to move as well. I don't know if I would be willing to give up Judy's cooking. She's definitely improved these last couple of years. I bought the girls used cars when I got my windfall and Judy and Kathy liked to go to Winner with friends on Saturday nights. I told them to stay in town if they've had anything to drink, and they usually do stay in town till Sunday afternoon. Char is happy staying home and playing with Nick. I've gone to town with Judy a couple of times but I usually ended up being a sober party popper. Anytime someone looks at me I feel like they are looking at my money and not me. I knew it was paranoia but I couldn't stop how I feel. By August we had Peggy married off and moved into Randy's old house. (Mom's) Peggy had saved some money and bought some new furniture. I was always looking at other people. A bad habit I had picked up from my Father. Anyway I thought Sherry looked a little pensive when we all had a little house warming party at Peggy's. I was thinking jealousy might be rearing its ugly head. It wasn't a week later that Sherry called me around nine o'clock on a Thursday evening. Quiet had taken the afternoon off and had gone to town that day. Sherry started with, “Quiet isn't home and I'm worried. Can you call around and find out where he's at?” Ya, right! I went through this once already with Quiet. When they were first here an old girlfriend of Quiet's came and talked to him. He did a foolish thing. He gave her money so she could do whatever. Quiet didn't tell me or have me give her money. No! He gave her money! Sherry took that as disrespecting and possibly cheating. Women! Anyway, Quiet disappeared for two days until I went looking for him. I found him. Dead drunk and leaning against S & S bar. I know! Native American people are soft heart-ed and have a weakness for alcohol. I brought him home and talked to him until I was blue in the face. He finally understood where Sherry was coming from, and they've been good since. But we learned a lesson at the ranch. We were on a dry ranch. Why have booze around if somebody can't handle it? I went to town and found him. He wasn't ready to come home yet but I convinced him he had to talk. He talked alright. “Charlie, Sherry and me, we've been trying to have a baby. For three years! Nothing. Today I go to town because Sherry said, 'I get checked out'. Doctor said, 'My little boys aren't many.' What am I going to tell Sherry? She will be so ashamed. It's a shame if a woman can't have a baby with my people. And if it is found that man can't? Terrible, terrible! What am I going to do?” “Hold it! Just a second. How often do you have relations? You know. Make your wife happy?” Nothing like being embarrassed. Quiet didn't say much but when he did, he said what he thought. “We try hard. Once, maybe two times a night. We keep thinking, maybe someday we will hit a right time.” “There is the problem. You are diluting those boys by being overactive. You know how I've explained to you how if a bull has too many cows in a short time what happens. Send your wife to the doctor. He'll tell her what to do.” Gosh, I hope so! Seems the Boss man hears everybody's problems. I hope this is the end of hearing about a drunk's problems. In the back of my mind it was like, 'Why me?' September and we were back to being busy again. Over busy, to be honest. We got the AI work done with the cleanup bulls out to the pastures. One bull per sixty cows. We hoped most of the cows were AI'd and conceived. We tried to make sure the bulls were all in top condition and didn't become injured in any way. Plus as the grass froze and lost nutrition we began supplementing the grass with cake. Winter was coming once again. We had slipped into the end of October. Another month and we'd be weaning calves, pregnant checking cows and freeze branding. It's January of '82' and I've been waylaid and ganged up on. Apparently Sherry has enlisted, coerced, manipulated and appealed to my sister's sense of motherhood. My sisters are demanding a sense of perverted fairness in getting Sherry with a child! Since I had two children and didn't provide the essence on the sire side of things, this time I could provide for a child and it wouldn't be mine. The girls were even quoting Scripture out of the Old Testament. Totally unfair! I talked to Quiet and explained my position, “I am not touching your wife Quiet. Not because I'm prejudice or I don't feel your wife is unattractive. I don't know if you could handle the thought of what might take place behind closed doors. It's like when you gave money to your ex girlfriend. In her eyes you were disrespecting and taking away from Sherry what was hers. In the same way I feel like I would be taking away from you, what is yours.” “Explain that to her and your sisters. I agree that I wouldn't want you to lay on my wife, even if she was covered up. Sherry is adamant that it won't matter. She's bought into this idea that you're my blood brother and you would do anything for us.” “Including keeping her from wrecking your marriage. I have an idea that might work if you are OK with it. Listen to me! A woman's temperature rises at the onset of ovulation. Like AI work in cattle we will wait when a cow is receptive to the bull for twelve hours, before insemination. The girls can keep track of Sherry's temperature and when we think it is the right time we will use a twenty cc syringe and have the girls inoculate Sherry. But you have to be alright with this if I release any of my boys to you. It will be your child to raise and discipline. A father, when a child is young, sometimes feels like a wife doesn't pay any attention to him anymore. You especially might have some of those feelings. If you would need to release some of those feelings, I'll give you the right to hit me. OK!” So, in the middle of January, Judy and I were summoned to Sherry and Quiet's house. I went into the guest bedroom and after a bit came out with about three cc's of my essence in a syringe. I gave it to Quiet and said, “Here, I give this to you. It is yours to do whatever you will. It is your choice. You decide what you want done with it! I'm going to go wash my hands.” Quiet turned around and went into the bathroom. After a while he came out with what looked to me like five cc's of semen. He then went into his bedroom. I left! I wasn't out the door for more then two minutes when Quiet came out behind me. As he came up alongside me, he said, “Thank you brother.” “You're welcome. I hope we never regret this.” “If we regret this a month from now it will be OK. For now it is making Sherry happy. And I remembered what you told me. Sherry has been flying so high these last weeks that she didn't notice we have not had relations for two weeks. Today I got a noon-er. We won't know whose child it is if she becomes pregnant.” “And us men wonder who rules! We end up having to be sneaky if we do what's right.” For every action, there is a reaction. Nothing could be truer than that. For one thing after, supposedly, making Sherry a mother, Quiet treated me more like a brother then a Boss. I could understand that. When Quiet spoke, he said what he thought. With Sherry, now that was another matter. At the least, she treated me like a second husband. To me, she treated me like a God. Anytime I was in her presence at a meal, she would serve my desires even before I asked for something. If she was at a meal at the other end of the table and saw I was running short of something, she would pick it up, walk around the table and give it to me. My sisters would just smirk. Quiet would just shrug his shoulders. I started trying to avoid her until Quiet set me straight. “I know what you're doing Boss. You can't do that!” “Doing what?” “Avoiding Sherry. I hate to tell you Boss but you are her addiction. If she doesn't see you for a couple of days, she gets depressed and crabby. It becomes hard for me to live with her. You have to come over in the morning when we talk about what we are doing that day and ask how she is feeling. Please! It would make my life so much easier.” Talk about gobsmacked. I thought she needed to stay 'cold turkey' not encouraged. But, I followed the program and everyday inquired about her health. She would beam and talk for the next fifteen minutes until I would interrupt and say we had to get to work. For some reason she reminded me, from my past life, of a sister in-law looking at my brother. Weird! Like this life couldn't stop giving me more of an ego trip every time I turned around. For a short time in my past life I had someone worshiping me and I messed it up because I couldn't think that I was worthy. So it came as no surprise when Sherry's baby was born that Quiet came to me and asked, “Sherry wants you to name the little fellow. She doesn't want Goodshot or Loudcrow for a last name. And she'd like Charles for a first name.” “Wow! Sounds like she has already named him and she wants my last name too. I have a problem with that because the Bureau of Indian Affairs keeps track of the percentage of Caucasian blood in Native Americans. What's wrong with this is the children growing up don't have the advantages or perspective of who they feel they are. They feel they're native and act accordingly. Then they are further disadvantaged by being told they can't take advantage of native programs because they're half white. When Lewis and Clark came through this country in 1804 the two asked the natives if any white men were here. They were told no, because once a person accepted the role of being a protector of the tribe, they were part of the tribe and Sioux in for all intents and purposes. You need to be wrote down as the father on the birth certificate. As for the name, call him Charles Goody or Charles Lodi. Something like that.” “That sounds good to me. What about a middle name?” “How about Charles Patrick Goody. Has a nice ring to it. If he is raised here, he'll probably not think of himself as native or white, but as a cowboy.” Maybe name him Charles Goodnight after the famous cowboy.” “I'll ask Sherry, but I doubt that will happen. Getting to name him Charles will be what she wants, knowing her.” So it was. Quiet stayed on the straight and narrow and Sherry transferred her infatuation onto Goody. That was our nickname for him. His mother called him Charles. Goody had black eyes and black hair, so it was no surprise to me when Sherry turned up a year later pregnant. The joke was on my sisters and Quiet was strutting around like a peacock. All at once he was feeling the infatuation from Sherry of when he was first married to Sherry. And I was off the hook with maybe a little regret. Goody had been born in October and it seemed like a year, no it was a year, of the baby making saga with Sherry. Judy informed us that she was going to get married to a Rancher down by Valentine and was moving there after Christmas. I informed her that since I was the father on the birth certificate, I could sue for custody of Char. Although Char wasn't in school yet it would still be an upheaval for her. Nick and Char were best buddies. Judy tried to strengthen her position by spouting, “You don't hardly pay any attention to Char. Why are you worried about where she lives?” “I pay more attention to her than you think. I don't think Kevin, (Judy's intended) would mind if you left her here Friday evening and came for her Sunday evening. After all, I usually spend Saturday night in your bedroom with Char while you and Kathy are doing who knows what on Saturday nights. You move out of the Master bedroom and I'll move in. Simple!” Judy didn't know it but I had just pulled a fast one on her. I had met Kevin in my past life and he never seemed to hang onto anyone for long. I was surprised Judy was getting married to him and talked him into it. Judy got a marriage license and after Christmas Judy got married and moved out. I moved into the master bedroom. When Judy would be moving back in, she would be moving into one of the other bedrooms. I took the Master bedroom and made it mine. The Master bedroom and Nursery bedroom was on the west end of the house so I put a deck onto the west end of the house and a door from the Master bedroom. The laundry and mudroom that lead to the garage and off the kitchen I extended so I could put a door from it into the Master bedroom. I could go from the kitchen into the bedroom and out the door to the deck with my cup of coffee in the morning, or I could drive into the garage, walk through the laundry room and into the bedroom. Nice! While Judy was gone, (our cook) I started making sandwiches for our noon meal and Kathy made supper. It wasn't long and Sherry was over making lunch and fussing about supper. It was August '84' and Judy is back. She has a few things to say about her past hubby. One of them is, he hasn't left his Mommy yet. I just smirked, which made Judy mad. The surprising thing is, Judy's pregnant. She said she thought Kevin would step up and grow up when she became that way. Kevin thought Judy was trying to trap him. Go figure! Instead of learning to work together, they resented each other. On a side note, Peggy is pregnant as well. Due about the same time. With Peggy there was no trauma. She planed it, she did it. The big news for me was Sherry was pregnant. A couple months behind my sisters but that wasn't important. The important thing was, I was off the hook. Not another, 'Charles you have to do this! It won't matter. Be a sport and just do it. Sherry never asks for anything!' I've spread the area where I buy land. Fall River County was a good two hundred miles away but a ranch came up for sale, so I bought it. It's nice if you don't have to worry about facing a Loan Officer at a bank. All I had to do was move some money. Anyway the four thousand acres cost a measly two hundred thousand dollars. I bought another four quarters closer to Winner and north east of me. The interesting thing about that land was that it had six to eighteen inches of sand over clay. I'm sure the land would never have came up for sale if there would have been someone in the family interested in farming. The four quarters close to home cost more than the four thousand acres out in Fall River. The crops off this three mile strip of topography phenomenon, south of Winner, where the clay country met the sand hills, was out of this world. The rain water that fell would almost stop leaching down, but wouldn't evaporate either because of the sand cover. In our arid climate we have a saying, 'We are only four days away from another drought.' A hot dry south wind, and in four days after a rain the foliage starts suffering. Be it crops or grass, it doesn't matter. Foliage on this land puts roots down to the clay and feeds off of the water until it is used up. Anyway I have plans for that land. I had a need for a well run feed yard. I didn't want to go farther north into clay country because the only water there was artesian wells. They were twelve to fifteen hundred feet deep and had minerals and sulfur in the water. Besides being expensive to dig, the water was also hard to get a critter to drink it. To have a feed yard you needed lagoons to hold waste water until you could use it for plant production. The lagoons had to be lined with clay so they would not leach into the underground water. This land was priceless to me. I had to pay four hundred dollars an acre and would have gone to a thousand if I would have had to. I rented the land to the farmer that had bid against me. Someday he would find that I would be wanting to spread waste on his land and he would welcome that opportunity to save money on his fertilizer costs. First thing we did with the four quarters was send down bore holes over the four quarters to find where the clay was and how deep it was. Like we had thought, the north side had the most clay. The south end, a mile away from the north end, was at the edge of the aquifer of soft water. A mile of piping water was something we could do. We were five years before the US Government was giving out grants to Animal Producers to help bring them into compliance with the new regulations that the EPA was putting together. (Environmental Protection Agency) I would put in a small lagoon until I would be forced into putting in a larger one with a grant from Uncle Sam. Cities and towns would be forced into bigger lagoons too but they were allowed a certain amount of runoff out of their lagoons, whereas Animal Lagoons had no tolerance for runoff and would be fined if that would happen. The other good thing about these quarters was isolation from neighbors or a town. The closest neighbor was the farmer that would be reaping the benefits of the feedlot and he was two miles away from it. All summer of '84' and we're busy, busy. So much has happened and will happen. We are putting in more windbreaks on our winter pastures. I remember it was a dozy of a winter with a lot of snow, cold and wind with '85' being worse. I was buying hay as well. I was also buying big round straw bales to be stacked around the feedlot for windbreaks and bedding. Every hundred feet away from the feedlot, up to five hundred feet we put up a snow fence to stop the snow from drifting into the feedlot. Not only were we buying hay, I also bought two used four wheel drive tractors with cabs on them. The dealership mounted a bulldozer on each one of them. I also bought two used front wheel assist tractors with loaders and cabs. Our old M loader tractor with a comfort cover is a thing of the past. The development of the feed yard was in full swing. We were building two large cattle barns with lean-to-s slanting to the feed bunks. We would use these for weaning our calves in December. Earth moving equipment was moving dirt and setting up mounds for dry areas and roofs while wells were being dug. Pipe was being dug in and laid while feed bunks were put in place. In order to cover costs my Wendy's stock had been cashed in. My Municipal Bonds still had five years to go. The last bull sale was great but I noticed the buyers are paying more for frame. I think I'm going to split the herd accordingly and send the smaller cows out to Fall River. Twenty years into the future, people would start paying for tenderness as well as flavor in the beef they purchase. I know there are Angus in Australia that have the uncompromised genetics for being short with inner muscular marbling. There is also a breed in Japan that is known for its beef tenderness and flavor. I might someday have something that no one else has. Three children this year. Must be a baby year. Peggy and Jon had a boy on February fifth and Judy had her boy on the sixth. Might as well be twins. Peggy's, named Jon Junior (J.J.) weighed seven pounds nine ounces, while Judy's baby, Brandon weighed seven pounds ten ounces. Could have been, 'two peas in a pod'. Sherry had a girl on April second, named Janice. Judy wanted me to move out of the Master bedroom. Instead I invested into a baby monitor in the kitchen and put her, Brandon and Char on the east end of the house. She could listen while she cooked in the kitchen and while Char and Nick were off to school. Kathy still takes Nick and Char with her to school. I wonder how long that will continue. This school district has a rule that once a school dropped below five children, the school got closed. To offset this problem ranches are given the right to home school. We might have to pay Kathy someday to set up school here and teach our children. School tax is the biggest part of our tax base. I do have the option of deeding the land to Goody with a lifetime of rent free for me until my death. Native land does not get taxed in the United States. Let's see, fifty years x three dollars a year equals one hundred fifty dollars. That is more than what land is worth here now, but land will climb ten fold. Nope! It isn't worth it, YET! Decisions, decisions, Decisions! Chapter 7 My, oh my, how the years are flying by! Here it is, 1990 and the children are no longer children, but adolescents. Nick is sixteen and acting like he's twenty. Federal Grants for the lagoons are coming though, and we have dirt movers coming in to do dirt work for the lagoons at the feedlot. At first I thought lagoons for two thousand head would be what we needed, but the Black Hills Meat Packing Plant is struggling to keep its doors open because of competition from the other meat packing plants. Now, since I bought another three thousand acres in Fall River County, alongside my ranch out there, and I remember from my past, what was tried with one year old finished bull meat, I need a feedlot ten times that size. So I put a bid in on Black Hills Meat Packing Plant for controlling interest. Yes, I had to borrow some money in order to do it. I'm thirty nine years old and I'm starting to get antsy about wanting to have a child from my loins. YES, I feel time is passing me by. I started taking our children to the church I had been attending before in my past life and some things have remained the same and some things have changed. The wife in my past life is there, but she has no use for me. The first time I talked to her, I must have made her mad, because she's hardly civil to me and will barely speak to me. Her not speaking to me is fine with me. It is only further proof that I'm not the same person that I was in my past life. It is what it is! Fall River County can carry about fifty cows per mile of land, with summer grazing, on a normal year. But that doesn't include winter grazing or having acres set aside for hay land. So on my seven thousand acres of land, along with my land in Tripp County, I can only raise seven hundred to seven hundred fifty calves each year, if I ship in some hay. Black Hills Meat Packing Plant can process fifty head of beefs a day, so IF I want to merchandise my cattle through the packing plant, I will need to produce at least twelve thousand head a year. Jorgensen's, in my past life, showed me the way of marketing intact yearling bulls for slaughtering purposes. They started selling frozen meat and shipping it though UPS in Styrofoam containers. They then had a contract with Trader Joe's advertising drug and hormone free meat. When I get Trader Joe's to take on our new niche market, wrapped and packaged, and it has the Trader Joe's,'Black Hills Lean' labels, I will no longer face competition from the big meat packing plants since we will be producing something they can't. It will truly be a niche market product and I can't wait to develop it. Looking at the amount of cattle I will need to produce, I need to be taking a page from Leachman Angus, a beef producer out in Montana. He had set up satellite herds with his genetics and bought the calves that the Ranches produced. My three hundred heifer calves that I produced, would have to go into producing more of the same genetics that I needed for my Black Hills Meat Packing Plant. This was way bigger than what I would be able to do by myself. It was time I set up an office in Rapid City and employ people to coordinate my wishes. Meanwhile, I would have to stop the bleeding that we were experiencing at the packing plant. We were in the RED every month at the packing plant because we were still competing with the big packing plants in Omaha. I had to start talking to Trader Joe's right away about purchasing my measly three to four hundred head of yearling bulls a year that I could sell to them. I can buy calves from my satellite herds and run them through my feedlot, once my expansion is complete. That will add to the numbers available. IF I can get the price that we need for the processed meat, we can stop the bleeding. I had some luck talking to ranchers in Fall River County, and they all seem interested. They, like all independent ranchers, didn't want anyone telling them what to do. They sat on the fence waiting for me to prove to them that my concept with niche marketing was the way to go. I went to Nebraska and fell in love with the Oglala National Grasslands. Ninety five thousand acres of grass with only twenty some ranchers running cattle. When I started talking to the ranchers, they became enthused. No more worries about bulls jumping fences to get to the next pasture, because all the cattle would have the same genetics. Great! But it was all lip service and no one would commit. Nick was with me for most of that summer of 1990, traveling around North Nebraska. I promised him that next summer we would go to Australia and Japan. He was like a sponge, soaking up what we were doing and becoming business savvy. He also had a charming smile and a gift of being able to counter any concern that the Ranchers in the Nebraska Sandhills might have. Every rancher's thought was, 'It would be great if he would marry my daughter!' In the fall after Nick went back to school, I carried on and spent most of my time in Rapid City, Hot Springs or Chadron Nebraska. It was in the middle of October when I was invited to give a presentation on niche marketing in Scottsbluff Nebraska on a Monday night. I have always been comfortable talking to people, one on one, but standing in front of a group was hard for me to do. I spent hours preparing, so I wasn't too worried. I was extolling the concept when a heckler in the back started yelling about taking away the freedoms of the small time cattle men and making them serfs to the meat packer. I was tongue tied until a young lady stood up and yelled at the heckler, “Shut up Jacob Dickey! I want to hear what this man has to say. Sometimes doing business the same way, all the time isn't in our best interests. Now Sir, why would you want to contract cattle and pay more than what the market dictates?” “I am a part owner of Black Hills Meat Packing Company and we in the industry are being swallowed up by the big boys. At the same time European Exotic Cattle are the new rage. But those exotics are like a Holstein Cow. You can't get a prime carcass out of one. I need cattle that will fit into a niche market that nobody else has. Let me ask a question of this group that everyone knows the answer to. As you raise bigger cattle, are you able to run the same stocking rates that you always did before? Absolutely Not. When you get a mother cow that is twice as big as the short little English Breeds, you have to stock half as many cattle or you run out of grass. The packer, instead of slaughtering nine hundred to a thousand pound steer, now is trying to slaughter eighteen hundred to two thousand pound cattle. Our packing plants were not designed to do this. The big boys in the packing industry will redesign their slaughtering houses. Black Hills Meat Packing Company will close, because we don't have that kind of money to renovate for those changes. We are running in the red as we speak. We can get a niche market, but it has to be with hormone free and drug free prime beef. It has to be what the white collar worker wants in California. And we can do this with intact bulls that are a year to fourteen months of age. And as an entity, we will buy all of the meat that we can produce with these guidelines. Let me ask you another question. What do you do when the neighbors bull gets into your pasture? You react as soon as you can because you don't want his genetics into your cow herd. You get him out and make the fence stronger when you're fixing it. What if the neighbors cattle have the same genetics that your cattle have. You don't worry about that bull and an offspring that the cattle buyers will want to buy for nothing. When I have a consumer that is willing to pay more for what he's buying, then I can pay more for the cattle that I'm buying. Doesn't that make sense?” The lady smiled at me and said, “You sold me. Now tell me how I can have the genetics that you want and how much more will you pay me, compared to what a sale barn will? “I have a seven thousand acre ranch in Fall River County, South Dakota and a fourteen hundred acre ranch in Tripp County, South Dakota. I will sell yearling heifers to a ranch at five cents a pound above market value, if you sign a contract allowing me to buy back the calves, at market time, which would be six to seven months of age, at five cents a pound above market value. At a year of age, all of the bulls that I raise will be probed in their loin muscle to see if they're prime beef. I can rent these prime bulls to you, or I can sell these bulls to you. It would be your choice. All bulls would be third of fourth generation apart from your herd. All we want is what the consumer wants. One of the byproducts is that we can bring more dollars to our area. That is a big plus!” The heckler shouted once again from the back, “The bottom line is that we are giving up our independence! All for a harebrained scheme.” “Excuse me Sir, but I'd like to know what breed of cattle you run?” I could only see that this guy had to have an ulterior motive for his agitation. “I'm a Charolais Breeder and I furnish bulls to put more pounds on these peoples calves.” “Tell me, in your Charolais herd have you used a bull called Legacy?” “I have. He's one of the fastest growing Sires in ABS. “Then you know that the type of cattle I'm pushing for the packing plant can not handle 115 to 150 pound calves. The Charolais are a very good feed efficient critter but their birth weights need to be less than what they are, if you plan to use them on these cattle that I will be producing. I see that we have lunch in the back and we should close this meeting and indulge. Thank you for inviting me here tonight and if anyone wants to talk to me, I'll be here for the rest of the night. Thank you!” As people turned towards the back of the room for a snack, the lady that had been my saving grace made a beeline to the front of the room and me, “Hello, I'm Tammy Bentley.” She extended her hand and I shook it. I looked at her and caught my breath. She stood all of six feet and had a Roman nose, but what struck me was the pose and confidence that she carried with her, like a shield. The thought that passed across my brain was, 'Maybe this lady is gay, but that would be such a waste. She would raise strong boys that any man could be proud of.' “Thank you for your input. I'm not used to hecklers, as you might have noticed. I'm Charles McAlister. I'm pleased to meet you.” “Likewise. I'm an Associate Professor at the college here in Scottsbluff and I'd like to learn more about niche marketing. I'm striving to become a Staff Professor, with tenor, and in order to do that it takes publishing new ideas and concepts. Will you be around tomorrow yet?” “I'm hoping that a few ranchers would like to talk to me in the next few days. You are the first one to ask for my time so you name a time and place and I'll be there.” To myself, I thought, 'Thank you Lord!' We set a lunch date at noon the next day and she left. The heckler came over and introduced himself, “I'm Jacob Dickey. I'm glad you admitted to the room that your cattle won't work with Charolais.” “And they won't work for Black Hills Meat Packing Plant either. The Charolais are noted for their fast growth and feed efficiency, but they also need to grade out prime when you take them to the packers in Omaha Nebraska. They make an excellent first cross with other cattle, but their birth weights need to be around 90 to 100 lbs. That won't happen unless the Charolais become smaller and then you lose growth rate. It's either that or the English Breeds need to get bigger. That can happen with crossing them with European breeds. But then you lose the high rate of prime carcasses. Niche marketing is my answer to this dilemma. Right now, there's a program that's identifying certified Angus Beef. That program will eventually lead to buyers paying two to five cents a pound for calves that are Angus. You can guess what the calf producer will do.” Chad looked at me and shook his head, “You're full of shit!” He mumbled and walked away. He appeared visibly shaken. He walked over to a cluster of men and started waving his arms. One by one, those men started walking my way to talk. By the end of the night, I had one rancher that wanted to talk more about my concepts and seven other ranchers that showed interest but wanted to continue as they had done in the past. I met Tammy Bentley at twelve the next day for lunch. The first thing she said was, “I don't have to be back to school until two this afternoon.” The roast beef that I had ordered was almost cold before I finished it. She wrote and asked questions and I talked. I looked at my watch at ten to two and said, “You need to get back to school by two? I'll take care of the bill if you have to run.” Tammy looked at her notes and said, “We need more time. Can I have your phone number? You're staying at the Holiday Inn? No, let me give you my address. Could you come over tonight and we continue this discussion? I'll make dinner for your troubles. Would six work for you?” “Could we make that time for seven tonight? I'm driving about thirty miles south of here to the Jackson Ranch and I don't want to hurry him. Will that work?” Tammy smiled and said, “Yes, actually that's better. Here's my address. I'll see you tonight.” And Tammy ran out of the dinner. I looked at the door she exited from and tried to clear my head. She had asked a lot more questions than just on niche marketing. Personal questions! I took the ticket and went to pay. I had a drive to make. It was a little later than 2:30 in the afternoon, but Mr. Jackson came out of the ranch house all smiles. Mr. Jackson put his hand out to be shaken and said, “Call me Bill.” He turned around and his wife was standing behind him. “This is my wife Betty. This is the young man I was telling you about. May I call you Charles or do you prefer Charlie or Chuck?” “Charles is fine.” “Come on in the house so we can get to know you. Did you grow up around Winner?” “No, I grew up in East River on a small farm. There were twelve of us children if you counted Dad's three boys from his previous marriage.” “And your Dad didn't give you a start in life?” “Oh yes. He paid me after I got out of high School, I worked for him and he paid me. That was before I went into the service. The biggest start I got was pure luck.” “Yes, the banker in Winner said you made it big in silver. But that was more than luck. Everything you touch turns to gold.” I was barely able to give my spiel about customer driven cattle while they were getting to know me. Bill said he had two thousand cows on forty thousand acres. Betty butted in with, “I was a neighbor girl and we put the two ranches together. It's a good life and we wouldn't want any other.” When I showed Bill the contract and told him I could only give him three hundred head of two year old heifers and three hundred head of yearling heifers, he didn't blink an eye and signed on the dotted line. I told him that it would be three years before I could put two thousand head of my cattle into his pastures. I also informed him that we would start using his new herd as a nucleus herd. As I was leaving, Betty said, “Tell Tammy 'Hi' for us.” I turned back to Betty and asked, “You know Tammy?” “Of course. She's our daughter!” She winked at me and gave me a hug. All at once this whole day started to make sense. All the way back to Scottsbluff my head was spinning. My suspicious mind was darting from one possibility to another. Nothing made sense, except??? I needed some answers! Was this some girl after my money! But her folks had money? Maybe they did. But looks can be deceiving! Right? After all these thoughts ran through my brain, I gave myself a talking to, 'Settle down! Maybe her motives are honest! Let's not look a gift horse in the mouth. Yet!' It felt like I had been instantly transported to my hotel room. I didn't even remember putting the card into the lock on the door and opening it to my room. The water hitting me in the shower took my mind off my thoughts and grounded me back into the present. I got my clean clothes on and was at the address that Tammy had given me, standing at the door at 6:59 pm, sharp. The door opened and once again I was looking at the self assured, magnetic personality of this tall and vibrant WOMAN? NO! GODDESS!! , “Come in Charles. You're right on time.” “Wow! You look,,, I didn't bring flowers.” “Oh silly. You didn't have time. I know where you were this afternoon.” “When I left, your mother let me know that you were their daughter. Are you married? Were you married? You don't have the same last name!” “Come in and sit at the table, or the food will get cold. We'll talk after we eat.” She led me into the dining room and everything was set. “Sit down and I'll get the main dish. I only had time for a casserole and a pie.” She rushed into the kitchen and I waited by a chair. Coming back with a covered dish, Tammy sat it on the table and swept the lid off and said, “Sit, so we can eat and you can tell me all about you and you can ask me all your questions.” I sat down and looked at her and decided to give adulation, “Asking all my questions might take a lifetime.” “Then we don't need to be in a hurry, do we? How is the casserole?” I looked down at my plate and took another bit. This time to actually taste it. “This is very good. What do you call it?” “It's just a cabbage, rice, hamburger casserole. But the peach pie is special. I picked it up at the grocery store. That and ice cream.” “When did you get so authentic?” I thought it made a good repartee. I hoped she thought so too. “What you see is what you get. I was trying to be something I wasn't, with my last husband. That is the last time I'll ever do that. Sorry. I didn't mean to spew. I might as well tell you now. I met a shallow, self absorbed, immature, egotistical shithead in college and thought he was the one. He was supposed to find a job while I got my Masters. He took to doing drugs and carousing all hours of the night, and thought my daddy should take care of me. After Dad hired a Private Eye and exposed his extra activities, Daddy made sure I didn't kill him by taking my pistol away. Thank you Dad! Sorry, I seem to keep doing that. Spewing! Are you ready for some pie and ice cream?” “Yes, that would be great! Now you're looking at me in that predatorial way. All afternoon, I was thinking that your Dad was being too accommodating. Then I find out you're his daughter. Why me?” “Why not you? You've done amazingly well, for starting out with nothing. Yes you can say, I was just lucky. But we all knew that the Hunt Brothers were trying to corner the silver market, and we didn't do anything. You did! Not only that, but you were well on your way to becoming a successful rancher without your silver windfall. I admire you and I want to get to know you a lot better.” “But I'm what? Twelve, fourteen years older than you?” “You're not immature and you're not old. Beside that, I look up to older men that are successful. Tried and proven! Again I ask. Why not you? Now tell me about your ranch. Dad says you have family there. Who all are they?” Tammy convinced me. I opened up to this lovely young lady and by the end of the night, she knew everything about me. And I knew all about her. No siblings. Her mother couldn't have anymore children than her. Tammy wasn't happy with how long it took to become a Professor with tenor. She jumped at the chance when I offered a job to be my Assistant Packing Plant Manager. The sun was coming up in the sky when I said my goodbye and headed for my hotel room. I had thought of checking out and going home since I had no interested ranchers left to go to, but instead I crashed and slept until three in the afternoon when the phone by the bed started ringing. “Hello?” “Good, you're still here. When can you come see me?” 'It's Tammy!' “Ah, is five too early to take you to dinner?” “No! I'll be waiting!” I looked at the phone one more time before I layed it back into its cradle. And I smiled. I got out of bed and danced to the bathroom. 'She wants me! She wants me! Me, me, me!' I couldn't believe my luck! This was more than just knowledge of what is to be. This is a spin off of side benefits. A sobering thought entered my head. 'Will she love me for my money and not for what I am? Aren't the two intertwined somewhat? Does it matter?' I arrived at her house at five on the dot and wondered if I shouldn't look so eager. She came to the door and pulled me into the house and gave me our first kiss. “I forgot to do that last night!” Tammy looked spectacular as I escorted her out to my pickup. The pickup was a new Silverado King Cab Half Ton, but I still felt like I should have brought my Cadillac to escort her in. I noticed that she was wearing flat shoes, so she wouldn't be taller than me. The thought that ran through my mind was, 'She was dressed to impress me!' When we arrived at the steak house and ordered, she filled me in on what happened that day, “I put my resignation in this morning for the end of December and the Dean got irate on why I was leaving. Seems like, since his divorce last year, he's been harboring designs on me. He wanted me to become the next Mrs. Golding. Yuck! After he made his case and I laughed at him, he fired me! I hope you were serious about your job offer?” “If my board and manager don't go along with my recommendation, I'll hire you personally as my Niche Market Project Manager. You don't have to worry about a job.” “I knew I didn't have to worry. When that old man Golding said I was fired, I told him that I quit! Looks like you have a passenger to take with you back to South Dakota. I hope you don't mind?” “Not at all. I have a big horse trailer that needs to be cleaned out, and we'll use that to clean out and pack up your house. Then you can put your house up for sale. How does that sound?” “Great. I suppose I'll have to rent an apartment until someone decides to marry little old me.” “I've been thinking about buying a house in Rapid City. Would you like to go with me tomorrow and go house shopping?” “Does this mean what I think it means? Are you propositioning or proposing?” “I think your Dad would kill me if I was propositioning. SO,,, Tammy, will you marry me? Tomorrow we can get a marriage license, in Rapid City, and by Saturday we could be married.” “Let's not do Rapid City. Let's go out to the ranch and my Dad can give me away. Call your sisters and children and they can stay Saturday night at the ranch. I'd rather do that. Mom and Dad have plenty of room in that big house that they built. If not the boys can sleep in the bunkhouse. Mom shouldn't be put out because we have a cook that can feed them.” “Are you sure?” “I'm sure. We'll call them when we get back to the house.” Tammy paused and then said, “Are you sure that this is what you want? You really don't know me. I can be bossy and demanding sometimes.” “That could be said about me as well. I think if we find some issues that we don't agree on, we might have to agree to disagree and work around what we disagree on. Also, sitting on a hill, checking on cows, can give me answers to questions that I might need answering. The big thing is we're in this together.” I looked at this beauty in front of me and she nodded her head, telling me that she understood. I took her hand and gave it a squeeze. Everything was right in my world! Tammy looked me in the eye and said, “We agree on everything and it's time we take the next step. As far as I'm concerned, as of right now, we're married. So tonight you're sleeping with me and tomorrow you can cancel your hotel room. Will you do this for me?” “That's just a little bit brassy and fast, but yes, we'll do this. I hope you won't be disappointed. I've spent most of my life chasing money, not learning love skills.” I was very nervous all at once. “I'm sure you'll be fine. Striving together for life's goals is what is important. Being compatible in bed isn't as important as liking and respecting each other. Don't you agree?” “Definitely! This is a lifetime commitment that we're talking about. Tomorrow we start the process of changing your last name. My last name, McAlister, maybe Irish, but even though I'm not much Irish, it's still a good name. We're done eating so let me get the bill paid and we'll leave. I'm anxious! And excited! And nervous!” “I am too!” Tammy gave me a smile that lit up the room. The next morning, we had no place we had to be. I was surprised when I woke up and the clock said 10:30 am. I looked over and Tammy was watching me. She opened her mouth to speak and all I could do was listen. “Thank you Charles. For once I truly feel loved. I love you! Now, I have coffee on and when you're ready, I will make some breakfast. What would you like? Eggs and toast? Pancakes? What?” “Eggs, bacon and toast sounds great!” “Why don't you jump into the shower. I'll run to the store for the bacon and be right back.” I was gobsmacked! 'If I wanted bacon, no problem. Tammy would just run to the store. We could have gone to a restaurant.' As I took my shower and shaved, I felt like a King. We had stopped at my hotel room last night and got my clothes, so I put the last of the clean ones on, and walked to the kitchen. I could smell bacon as I walked into the kitchen and Tammy must have been listening because she asked me without turning around, “How do you like your eggs?” “Over easy. What can I do to help?” “Set the table. Plates are in this cupboard and silverware is in the drawer down below it. Would you like orange juice or milk? How many eggs would you like?” “Would it be alright if I asked for four? Can I help with toast?” We worked together in the kitchen and it felt,,,,comfortable, kind of like, it was right? Anyway, I wasn't feeling antsy to leave. My inner radar wasn't putting up red flags in my subconsciousness. We spent Thursday morning going to the courthouse for a marriage certificate and going to a jewelry store where I spent way too much money. Then to a real-estate office where we signed papers to list Tammy's house. After lunch we made lists and called and invited people to our wedding on Saturday. My family was stunned to say the least! Friday morning after breakfast, we cleaned out all of the food items and put them into our cars. After that it was all of Tammy's clothes. Then I followed Tammy out to the Jackson Ranch. Stopping my car behind Tammy's, I got out in time to hear Tammy ask her Mother, “Is Jake still here?” “No. Your Dad fired him yesterday and he's gone. What do we need to bring into the house?” For an instant I saw red and then I paused, 'Would Jake be someone that would be hard to explain? So what? I'm sure someone Tammy's age would have a past. If it's in the past, it's none of my business. If the past would be a problem, I'll face it when it comes.' The characters in my life were mostly from my past life. This was uncharted territory. I don't have foreknowledge of how things should go. I could play it safe and walk away, or I could live with faith that it would all work out in the end. Or like the President Reagan said, “Verify when in doubt.” Friday afternoon, Bill took me on a horseback ride. He said, “To get out of the women's hair.” Since it was a courtesy ride, we walked the horses and meandered from one pasture to another. What I saw was long legged cattle of every color imaginable. Bill was looking at me as I was looking at his cattle. “Bill, You don't have to tell me if you don't want to but; what is your breeding program?” “Funny! Ha, ha. I bought bigger bulls for smaller cows and kept back heifers. After a while all I had was big cows. Now all I have is cows that eat me out of house and home. And the worst part is that they don't have a calf every year. I've ended up having a fall breeding program because I can't afford giving half my herd a year long vacation. I've been letting that happen year after year. I sure am glad you came along.” “That is something you won't have to worry about with my small English Cattle. They calve year after year. In fact, when the first calf hits the ground, you better have the bulls penned up, or they will breed within the first month. That's something I want to talk to you about. I have to slaughter cattle year round. What times during the year do you like to calf cows out?” “May and September. Why? Do I get to choose when I calf cows?” “I have something else to suggest. Since my cows will re-breed a month after they calf, the heifers that you're buying from me? Space them out so that you are caving year round. It will take a little more management on your part, during the winter months, but you'll get one hundred and sixteen percent calf crop every year. That's over a hundred calves extra, per year. That is, according to my figures, on two thousand head of cows, forty to fifty thousand dollars added to your annual income.” “By golly! That's only one hundred to two hundred head we'll have to calf out each month. We can do that in the winter months.” Then Bill changed the subject, “Are you sure that you and my daughter aren't rushing things. From what I've seen, my daughter was or maybe still is, quite promiscuous. Betty and I grew very worried when she was rebounding from her divorce.” “Do I have to worry about Jake?” Bill sucked in his breath, not having realized that I knew about him. “Jake thought that just because he had Tammy's attention, he was going to come in here and take over. If Tammy would have wanted him, we would have put up with him. But we knew he was nothing but a good looking gold digger. Until a week ago, we didn't know what she was thinking. We're glad you came along. My advice is to be patient. Should we head back?” Riding back to the ranch was a quiet time. I had some thinking to do and Bill seemed to know that I needed the time for my thoughts. That evening Tammy seemed quiet and subdued. She answered and talked to her Mother, but wasn't chatty. She spent more time watching me. She must have sensed something. At nine that evening she stood up and told her folks goodnight. She grabbed my hand and directed me to her bedroom. I protested, nodding my head to the living room, “Shouldn't I sleep in another room tonight?” “Dad talked to you didn't he?” I didn't pretend that I didn't know what she was talking about, “Yes he did!” “You're not going to marry me now, are you?” “Can you promise me that those days are over and gone?” Tammy crossed her heart and said, “I promise that is over and done with!” “Good! Then we are getting married.” “Oh Charles, I'll be the best wife there ever was!” “That brings up a question that I have. When would you like to start having children?” “Tonight if you want. I won't put my diaphragm in anymore.” I was amazed. Was that all that she had used? I voiced my thoughts, “Is that all you've been using!” “No! Before my ex-husband and you, they had to wear a rubber or they could forget it. Getting me pregnant is not a happenstance! It is a privilege. YOU have that privilege, and after tomorrow, that right! Before God and Man. Everything before this was before God, since God knows everything, and a scarring to my soul, so therefore it was a sin. I was acting the part of a harlot! Does that make sense to you?” “How did you come to these conclusions?” “Through pain and a good psychiatrist. Please accept me for this next step in our lives!” “I do. Now let's get some sleep for our big day tomorrow.” The next morning proved to be a gorgeous fall day. Not a cloud in the sky with just a gentle breeze drifting across the land. By nine o'clock, everyone was starting to arrive and by ten, Tammy and I and the minister were standing in the yard with an arch over us. Tammy said her 'I dos', looking into my eyes and making me believe she meant it. A half hour later, we were talking to guests and getting to know everyone there. Everyone had brought food and at noon we had a potluck meal. By two in the afternoon we loaded up and were on our way to South Dakota with me leading the cars this time. The rest of Saturday and Sunday was new and exciting, playing show and tell to my new bride. She ood and awed over the house, the master bedroom, the ranch windbreaks, the building and me. It made me feel really good! Monday morning came and Tammy found me watching her as she woke up, “Honey,” I began, “We fell into this marriage so fast we didn't place any safeguards or repercussions if this marriage doesn't work out. Would you be willing to sign a premarital agreement.” “Why honey? Aren't we committed to this marriage for better or worse? You're not having second thoughts, are you?” I looked at this young bride and thought, 'This isn't the first time that I could be wrong.' “No, I'm not having second thoughts. I just thought when we have a difference of opinion, that with a prenup in place, we both would try harder to find a path forward and not hold grudges.” “Oh honey, we will never do that. What are we doing today?” “I need to run to town today and take care of some business.” “Can I come along?” I thought to myself, 'As long as you stay in the car.' “Sure, although it could get kind of boring sitting in the car waiting for me.” “I wouldn't mind. It's a beautiful fall day and I can listen to the radio.” Now I had to tell her how I really felt, “I would love the company, but I was afraid to ask.” “Don't be afraid to ask honey. Ever. The worst thing that could happen would be that I tell you no.” The day was spent at the lawyers, courthouse and abstract office and title company. Tammy stuck to my side like glue, but I still was able to write a letter to my sister Peggy, and mail it. A week later, Peggy came over and we all sat down for a Sunday evening, get-to-gather supper. Peggy asked, sitting across the table from me, “So, big brother of mine, what are your plans?” “Tammy and I will be going to Rapid City and finding an apartment to rent. We also plan to rent office space downtown so we have a phone number and address so people can stay in touch with us. We'll also have someone hired to man the phone and stay in touch with us. At first we should be here three weeks a month out of the four. We'll see after that.” “Meanwhile we should carry on like you've instructed us?” Peggy conveyed what she meant when she looked at me. I looked around the room and said, “You are all board members of Chasm, so yes, carry on!” “And all this will be expenses that Chasm will incur?” “Yes, it will all be part of the expenses.” “You know we're not made out of money? Don't you?” “Yes, but we have plenty of equity. It's all part of Presidential Expenses.” Chapter 8 So many of these last years have flown by. Tammy has fit in with our family and ranch life like she'd been raised this way. Oh yes, she was. During calving time, she set up an office in the baby's room and talked on the phone while she made tags for the calves as the cows calved. She had a salary of forty thousand a year with no living expenses except for maybe a few groceries. Her Dad, Bill Jackson, has been restocked with my short legged Angus Cattle. Next year, we'll have the replacement heifers for more ranches to replace their cattle with my type of cattle. Between Tammy and her Dad, they've been talking to his neighbors and Tammy thinks a few of them are ready to sign on the dotted line. Our Black Hills Meat Packing Plant is running in the black. Our Plant Manager cut a contract with the United States for School Lunch Programs. It worked right into our concepts for niche marketing. In my last life before this do-over, Black Hills Packing Plant had a contract with the Federal Government, but the plant had abused it. The Plant Manager, in his quest for profits, bought dying and old cows for less money and ground them up for hamburger and then sold the hamburger for a fancy price. This time that has changed. The less desirable cuts on our prime beef are used as well as cows that the ranchers sell because they were open and needed to go to town. As a favor to me, Bill has been holding the bulls off his long legged cows, those that were designated for sale, and we've been slaughtering them as well. I promised Nick that this year after graduating from high school, we'd all go to Japan. We'd get to know the people that were cattle producers and see what it will take to bring Japan's Wagyu Cattle genetics into my cattle herd. Everything I had read about the genetics of these cattle says that they dressed out to prime beef if fed right and they have inner-muscling-marbling that made their tenderness and flavor out of this world. There have been a few Wagyu Cattle brought into this country in the past, but no amount of money can buy those cattle. Those people had cornered the market and would sell semen from their Wagyu one hundred percent bulls, but the cost of the semen was one hundred thousand dollars for one impregnated cow. No thanks, there had to be a more economical way! All that time,I was ruminating over the past two years since my marriage to Tammy, I was sitting in the Doctors Clinic waiting to speak with the intern that I had come to see. A nurse came to the door leading to the examination rooms, “Charles McAlister?” I followed the young lady and she took me into the room, “Have a seat. The Doctor will see you in a minute.” I impatiently waited, knowing what I dreaded. Tammy and I had used no birth control since we had been married, but she had never become pregnant. I felt like this was a cruel joke. Or, was changing the future with a child too much for this world? The Doc came in and sat down. By the look on his face I knew he was bringing bad news, “I hate to tell you this Charles, but you are completely sterile. I'm sorry to be the one to have to tell you this.” He left and the nurse came in to take me down the corridors to the waiting room. I had come in yesterday after I'd been to the bank and they had taken a sample, blood pressure, and all that, and told me to come in today. Well, shoot! Now I have to go home and face Tammy. Getting into my pickup, I smiled thinking about Quiet and Shelly. All that hassle for nothing. I had given them a better life and now Quiet wouldn't have to doubt who the father was to Goody. There's always a good side to every situation. That night I hugged Tammy and told her, “Tammy, I've something to tell you and I don't know how to say it. I was at the Clinic in town today and I was told some bad news. I can't have children. I'm sterile!” I felt Tammy turn stiff and I looked at her. She was staring off the side of my head, looking at nothing. She shuddered and I felt like something had changed. Tammy knew I was watching her and she turned back to me and looked in my eyes, “I was wondering after all this time if it was me. It doesn't matter. Really! I'm happy. You're happy! We don't need a child.” “We could adopt. Or go to a fertility clinic and you could be inseminated.” “No, that's so animalistic. If it's not yours, I don't want it. I'm just sad that Dad won't have a grandson.” Sad about her father? What? Not me! “Maybe Nick could someday buy your Dad out and ranch there.” I regretted saying that as soon as I said it. A frown played around her face for a moment and she said, “Maybe.” I all at once felt very jealous. Her troubled face just said so much. I closed my eyes, knowing I had caused her pain. Did she just think I had offered her a substitute? I knew I couldn't voice that concern. That summer we spent two months in Japan. We toured farms and met nice people. The Japanese people were so polite. One man about my age, Nakamoto Hiroshi, seemed to connect with me and understood when Tammy was outgoing and flirty. Almost too obvious. He enjoyed the attention and Nick at times, almost acted jealous. I knew it was all harmless. Hiroshi could speak good English and we spent two weeks with him and his family, while I picked his brain with questions on how he merchandised his animals as they went to slaughter. He also talked about how the Japanese Government was talking about closing the country from selling their cattle outside of Japan. I was feeling him out when I asked, “What would it take to ship an animal to the United States?” “A lot of money. And once you get to the United States, the animal would have to be quarantined for six months and that would cost you. And it would cost more, especially if some man in authority thought he was entitled to a bribe? It's a lot of money!” “Could I buy a jug with frozen semen in it?” “Yes, that might work if the jug doesn't fall over while it's in transit. You know how cold semen jugs are inside. If one tipped over and someone tried to set it up, he might freeze his hand and then you would have a lawsuit on you hands for loss of limb.” “Mm, we need a jug, small enough to carry and only needs to be energized to stay cold for a couple of days. Would you have something like that? Something that I could carry on an airplane?” “I don't even know if they make something like that. Let's check tomorrow.” The next day Hiroshi and I went to Kyoto and talked to his veterinarian. He looked in a catalog and Hiroshi said, “Yes, they have a little one. It holds ten straws and weighs twenty two pounds. It can be here in three days.” Once in his little pickup, Hiroshi asked, “How much are you willing to pay for ten straws of my best bull?” “Five thousand?” “No, ten thousand, U. S. dollars.” “Ten thousand it is. Let's stop at your bank and we'll make a money transfer.” “I like you, friend. You know what you want and are not afraid to pay for it.” For the rest of our time in Japan, Hiroshi and his family became our tour guides. The son, Ketzo was the same age as Nick while their daughter, Emi was two years younger. Emi and her Mother, Sakura, were little bundles of cuteness while Ketzo was tall for a Japanese boy. But like all Japanese, he was fine-boned, standing two inches less than Nick's six feet. I found the whole family open and friendly. I remarked to Hiroshi once about that, “I feel a closeness to you that is reciprocated. Almost like we could be cousins or brothers.” “Perhaps it's because of an old family story that our family holds. If it is true, we could be cousins, although distant. You see, according to the story, our people came east, across China. Our origins supposedly, are from the tribe of Ruben, from the people of Israel. We fought our way across China, while taking some of them into our tribe through several generations. We crossed into Japan and mingled with the people that were here. You said that you had a little Jew in you? Well, I have too. That makes us cousins since we share the same ancestors.” “That is a fantastic story. I think it could also include most of Europe. Before Babylon, and afterward, Israel was dispersed in many directions. There's also the tribe of Dan, that is in Africa. I would love to know what true history could teach us!” When we were leaving Japan, Hiroshi instructed me on how to take my little insemination jug with me. It went without a hitch and we were back in Rapid City in time to enroll Nick into Black Hills State College at Spearfish South Dakota. I promised myself that I would be making this trip, at least every two to three years. We all got back into living our day to day lives. The two months in Japan were like a dream that was livid one moment and then gone. We had made our contract with Trader Joe's and we were shipping steaks, roasts and ground beef off one hundred bulls a month. We were in the black now and expected dividend checks next year, even though our packing plant was paying fifteen cents a pound more for our hanging carcass. I thought maybe I would set up a separate account for the dividends and save the money for vacations,emergencies, or just running money. Two neighbors of Bill's had signed contracts with one rancher taking one thousand heifers, next year, while the other neighbor was taking five hundred head. If we continued to write contracts with ranchers, in another two years, we would be up to our twelve thousand head for slaughter, using heifers as well as bulls for slaughter instead of expansion. My marriage to Tammy was basically the loving relationship as before, but now there seemed to be a sadness, under the surface, not to be spoken about. I tried to ignore it, hoping things would straighten out. I tried to be the sweetest man I knew how to be, hoping it would be enough. Time doesn't stand still for anyone and before we knew it Char was in college and Nick was graduating. Nick received a degree in Civil Engineering and got a job with Rapid City in the Maintenance and Expansion Department. He wanted nothing to do with the packing plant or being a cowboy. I had thought he would have been interested in genetics and would have taken a degree in Ranch Management. He was happy, so I guess I should be too. My Wagyu semen, that I bought from Hiroshi, settled eight of my shorter cows. I did that on purpose since the Wagyu cattle had a little more leg than what I professed my cattle to be. It was only a trickle down effect on my Angus Herd. We started probing the loin muscle after the bull was ready to be slaughtered. The Wagyu, second and third generation, did have more marbling in their muscles so I planned another trip to Japan. This time it would be just Tammy and I making the trip. Two years after that, Tammy begged off making the trip with me, saying that she wanted to spend the Christmas Holidays with her family. It was the eve of the year 2,000 and everyone was worried that the computers and internet was about to crash. Airplane tickets were cheaper the last week of the 18th century because of the fear, but I knew better. The internet would not crash because of switching from the 1900's to 2000. I told Tammy that I would make it a fast trip and be home within the week. It was more like two weeks before I made it home. Hiroshi's family were just too welcoming and I spent the holidays with their extended family. In 2003, Tammy went with me back to Japan and we had a great time. I was soon to be fifty two years of age and Tammy was approaching forty. She seemed spacey at times, but then she'd be fun loving and enjoying herself. All in all, I thought we had a really good time. I wondered if I had made a mistake not buying a house when we got married. But after that first week we were married and the doubts that had beset me, I thought renting a two bedroom apartment that we inhabited only part time was the way to go. The dividends that I was receiving from the packing plant could build a brand new home if I wanted one. I knew Tammy had invested her wages into the stock market and had a cool half million in stocks. A hundred thousand would buy a nice used three bedroom, ranch style home. By 2005, Tammy had taken another job and worked as our Niche Marketing Coordinator part time. The rest of the time she worked for the city as an Economic Development Director. She had convinced an individual from the reservation to start tanning hides to produce leather for the production of moccasins and other leather works that the Tribal people loved to do. One individual was even producing Tepees for the tourist trade. Of course with the hide having become worthless to the packer, because of the loss of a leather industry in the United States, the hides were given away. She had been working hard at getting a pill company, set up a plant in Rapid City, to turn cartilage into pill form for human consumption. Needless to say, she spent a lot of time in our apartment during the week. It was early April of that year, before we started calving out the cows at the ranch, that reality hit me between the eyes! After driving four hours to Rapid City one Friday afternoon and arriving at the apartment, by five for supper with Tammy, I was met with a candle lit meal. Tammy was dressed to the nines in the little black Kimono that I had bought for her in Japan. With the makeup on her face, high lighting red and black, she almost looked like a Geisha girl. I looked at her as she came out of the kitchen and asked, “What's the occasion?” Tammy looked at me with love in her eyes and said, “I realized that we've been too busy lately and haven't spent the time we need with each other. We need to catch up. Go shower and supper will be ready in another thirty minutes.” “Yes Mam!” I joked as I went to our bedroom and stripped my clothes. As I lathered up in the shower, I was wondering, 'Is Tammy going to be telling me tonight what has been bothering her! This is usually her Modus Operandi and tendency when she wants me to do something for her. Butter me up good. Regardless, I'm sure to get lucky tonight!' I shaved smooth, and brushed what hair I still had left. 'Not bad for fifty four.' I mused, looking at myself in the mirror. I went into the dining room and stood by my chair. Looking at the clock on the wall, I saw it was five thirty and Tammy walked in with the casserole that we had the first time she asked me over for supper. She looked up at me as I helped her into her chair, “Does this remind you of anything.” “Yes,” I replied, “It's the casserole that you made the night you invited me over. Have you cooked up an apple pie as well?” “Oh yes, it took me all of five minutes to gather the ice cream and pie for tonight. I'm very efficient. As you well know.” Sitting down, I remarked, “Is there something you want to talk about?” “You know me too well. We've been slipping apart, and I feel it's all my fault. All these years that we've been together, I've held myself back, not letting you know all of me. I hope tonight I can rectify that and you won't hate me. Dig in and we'll talk later.” All through supper I ruminated over what she was wanting to tell me. Apprehension clouded my senses while we ate in silence. For some reason I didn't have the appetite that I normally had. After we were done eating, I picked up my plate, ready to help clear the table. Tammy spoke up, “I'll get them later. Let's adjourn to our bedroom.” Once there, Tammy opened the Kimono, showcasing her black lingerie. “Love me tonight, like you loved me that first night we were together. You're the only man who has ever loved me!” I won't go into detail, but I did my best. Afterwards we padded to the bathroom and cleaned up. For some reason, to me, it didn't feel like the first night. We went back to bed and cuddled while she opened up to me, “My Dad told you that I had been a little wild, didn't he?” “Yes, something to that effect.” “I resented my folks when I started high school. They sent me to Omaha to an all girls school as punishment because they thought I was getting wild. I didn't think I was! I was just exploring my sexuality. Most of the girls there explored their sexuality by playing with each other. That just lowered my inhibitions and I turned into a nymphomaniac. I think I still am. Between the girls and the janitor that lived on campus, I found I enjoyed having a secret life. In college I couldn't study until I had my itch satisfied. NOW comes the hard part. With you loving me and us having children, I felt that I would not need anything more. We should have had me artificially inseminated. With a dozen kids! Anyway, whenever you were gone, to goodness knows where, I went out for my recreational sex.” She saw the incredible look on my face and said, “Don't look that way. YOU are the only one I've ever LOVED. The rest is just a pastime! A diversion. A trill. Meaningless. It's never taken away from what we have. I would not let it. My heart belongs to you.” I looked at this woman and thought!, 'Who is this woman? This,,, SICK woman.' Tammy continued, “I knew you would think that! I can read it all over your face. That's why I couldn't tell you. But I have to tell you now,,, because,,,, I'm pregnant! And I'm not aborting this baby or giving it up. I'm forty one and it's my last chance to be a mother. For this baby, it will break my heart, but I will give you up! And I want another one as soon as I can make it happen!” Once more, I thought, 'I don't know this woman! Fifteen years gone. Thrown away.' I got up and started putting on my pants, not even noticing that I had no brief's on. My wife cried at me, “Where are you going? Don't you run out on me! This baby needs its father as well as its mother. I swear, if you run out on me, I'll take you for all you're worth. With your money, I buy out all my Dad's neighbors and make the ranch the biggest in the state. Stay here and let's work this out. Please!” By the time she said please, I was dressed and heading for the door. Tammy then turned into a harpy, “Sure, go ahead, run away. You're not man enough to stay and fight for us. Get out and don't you ever come back! Run, run, run, little boy.” Her taunts faded as I slammed the door and headed for my Cadillac. As I pulled out of Rapid City, I could see the sun going down. The next thing I knew, I was pulling into the garage at the ranch. The garage door, going up and down, woke up my sisters and they stumbled into the kitchen. By then I was in my bedroom and my door was open. Judy stuck her head in and asked, “What are you doing here?” “Make some coffee and I'll tell you.” I walked back out to my car and got the pint of brandy that I had in the cubbyhole. When the girls poured me a cup of coffee, I cooled it down with the brandy. Kathy sat down with her cup and said, “Now spill it.” “Tammy's pregnant!” “Congratulations!” Piped up Judy. “The baby's not mine.” I said in defeat and shame. Judy and Kathy sat there speechless. Finally Kathy said, “Who's is it?” “I didn't ask. When I left she was screaming at me.” Judy piped up with, “That's why you gave us your land and Chasm, fifteen years ago.” “Yes, and I was wise to do that. Now this is what you girls need to do. Fire my ass and sue me for embezzlement.” Judy yelled in surprise, “What?” “I hope in ten days, we can settle out of court. After that, I'll be broke and penniless.” “Are you sure?” “Oh ya. After she sues me for all I ain't got, I'll sue her for all that she's got. If I can depend on my sister's charity, I'll make some lawyer a little richer. Tammy won't know what hit her.” Kathy stated the obvious, “Wow, you must really hate her.” “Oh ya! When she started spouting that she was going to take me for all I was worth, hate blossomed and love died. I still can't believe she's been cheating for the last thirteen years and I didn't notice a thing. You'd think someone would have seen something and brought it to my attention. I feel like such a sap!” Judy butted in with her thoughts, “When you believe in someone, you refuse to see until you're knocked in the head with facts. That's what I discovered with my two exes.” “You know,” Kathy stated, “Peggy is going to want to know how this is going to affect our contract with Bill.” “O, Dam! I haven't thought about Bill. I'd better go see him tomorrow and tell him about my dire straits. In the meantime, I think I'd better hit the hay and get some sleep. I'm shot!” I was ripping my clothes off while I was walking into my bedroom. As I snuggled into my pillow, I had a thought, 'I've been sleeping so much by myself that I don't even miss that extra body in bed.' Then I fell asleep. It was ten the next morning when Peggy came into my bedroom and shook me. “Wake up Charles. You got things to do and a meeting to attend.” I looked up at her and she was grinning. She turned around and walked out. 'Ya,' I thought, 'You got things to do.' I showered and found clean clothes. Walking into the kitchen, I had eggs, toast and sausage shoved at me and Peggy said, “The meeting is in the dining room. All present? Good. If there is no old business, is there any new business?” Kathy popped up, “I make a motion that under the circumstances, we relive Charles of the Presidency of Chasm and we nominate Peggy in his place.” Judy said, “I second the motion.” “All in favor?” An aye was heard from everyone including me. I spoke up and said, “You need four people to have a board.” Kathy spoke once more, “I nominate Shelly Goodshot.” Judy said, “I second it.” I said, “Remember the bylaws. A non-family member can be a board member but, he or she, needs a share of Chasm. She can not own more than five shares and has to sell to only family members.” Kathy voiced her thought, “I move that each member of the board sell Shelly one share.” Judy once again said, “I second it!” I was being a smarty and said, “You have a motion and second on the floor. You have to act on that first.” Peggy stated, “All in favor of the first motion, bringing Shelly on board, say aye. Ayes were heard and Peggy said. “All in favor of selling Shelly one share from all three board members?” Again the ayes were heard and Peggy said, “Shelly, come into the dining room. Welcome to the board.” Kathy again spoke, “I make a motion that we levy a lawsuit against Charles McAlister for embezzlement. I have here a list of all the dollars he inappropriately took. Judy, if you can write this figure done? It is over ten million. In the motion I also move to contact a lawyer tomorrow.” Shelly spoke up, “I second that motion.” “Any discussion” Peggy asked, “Seeing none, all in favor of motion say aye?” The girls all said aye and motion carried. I knew it was my idea, but it still kind of bothered me. I went out to my pickup, fired it up and drove. Looking down at the gas gauge, I realized I couldn't cut across county, so I headed to town with the thought, 'doctor.' The first place I stopped was the clinic. Walking in I asked if I could see a doctor. The receptionist asked me to have a seat and she disappeared. A few minutes later, she reappeared and said, “Follow me.” She showed me to an examination room and said, “Dr. Farmer will be with you shortly.” It was only a few minutes when a young lady in a white lab coat walked in. “What can I help you with today?” She was a tall, classy lady with an engaging smile. “I'm sorry but I was hoping for a male doctor. It's kind of personal.” “That's alright. I'm a doctor. You should be able to tell me anything.” “OK, thirteen years ago I was given the news, by this clinic, that I was sterile. Now my wife informed me that she is pregnant. I need to verify that I'm truly sterile. Could I get checked today?” “Yes, we're pretty slow today. Be right back.” She left, but came right back with a cup and a magazine. “Bring this cup to me when you have something in it. I'll be across the hall.” I leafed through the magazine and tried to imagine the pictures live. I tried to picture my wife and knew that wouldn't work. I finally thought of the doctor's smile and that soothed my broken heart. It worked and I was able to deposit a couple of cc's in the cup. My face was red when I handed her the cup. Dr. Farmer took it and put a drop on her slide. She positioned it under her microscope and adjusted the focus. She looked for a minute, adjusting the microscope as she looked. She turned to me and said, “I'm sorry Sir, but your wife couldn't have gotten pregnant by you.” “Thank you Doctor. That's what I needed to know. I'll find myself out and settle up front.” I thought about what I'd said as I settled up. 'I'll find myself out. Tomorrow will be a new day. Don't waste your time over spilled milk.' I filled up the pickup and headed for Nebraska. By the time I arrived in Chadron, I stopped for the night and got a room. It would have been too far away and too late to show up at the Jackson Ranch. I found a restaurant and then a bar filled with cowboys. By ten, I was having trouble sitting on the stool and was thinking I should find that room I rented, when a cowboy slid onto the bar-stool next to me and said, “You're Charlie McAlister, aren't you?” “Charles McAlister.” I slurred. “You're married to Tammy, aren't you?” He saw the confusion on my face and said, “I'm Jake.” “Jake who?” “Who doesn't matter. I'm the Jake that had the inside track before you showed up. Glad you did. It saved me from a lot of heartache. How long was it before she was running around on you?” “I guess two years.” “That long. You did pretty good. For me it was about a month. Of course, I don't know if she was cheating on me or if she was cheating on him. I wish sometimes that I never found her out. It was a real shock to the system when I found out. I was all ready to forgive her when Bill fired me and you walked in.” “She's pregnant!” “Congratulations.” “It's not mine!” “Sorry man. But I believe you. Hey, are you getting sick?” “I have to get out of here. Goodbye Jake Who.” I ran out of the bar and barfed in the gutter, And then walked to my room. The next morning I woke up at eight, sicker than a dog. I looked down at myself, realizing that I had slept in my clothes. I drank some water out of the sink and stumbled out of the room and down the hall to the front desk. Approaching the receptionist, I asked, “Do you have some aspirin? Please!” “Just one minute.” She disappeared and two minutes later came back with three aspirins and a large cup of coffee. “I cooled the coffee down, so don't be afraid.” I looked at her and her kind face and crocked out, “Thank you!” I slammed the pills to the back of my throat and gulped at the coffee, while heading back to my room. ! Set the coffee cup down and did another free-fall into bed. The next thing I knew, someone was banging on the door. A woman's voice yelled, “It's checkout time. Or are you going to stay another night?” “I'm up!” I yelled and then groaned. I shuffled to the bathroom and washed my face and then stood in front of the stool. I left the room and walked back to the cafe. Walking into the cafe, I ordered breakfast. The waitress stood back from me and I realized that I must stink. I ate my breakfast, paid for my meal, and drove my pickup back to the hotel. I walked up to the receptionist with my overnight bag and asked, “Can I have a room?” There was a twinkle in her eyes when she said, “There is a discount if you take the one you had. We won't clean it if you take it.” “No, I'll have a clean room please. Thank you!” I had my card out and drew a twenty dollar bill out of my wallet. I handed it to her and said, “Thank you for the coffee this morning!” “You're welcome.” I took my card and key and walked to my room where I cleaned up and headed for the Jackson Ranch. I got there by three and Martha answered the door when I knocked. “Charles, what a pleasant surprise. Won't you come in? Bills up at the horse barn.” “I think I'll walk up and talk to him. Thank you.” I walked into the barn and my shadow made Bill notice me. “Charles,” He yelled, “What a surprise! What brings you here?” “Nothing good. I see that you are ready to check pastures. Can I saddle a horse and come with you?” “Sure, I'll saddle Blue. You just stay put.” Bill knew what he was doing and it wasn't long before we were in the saddle. We rode through a couple of groups of cattle and Bill said, “I've got one problem with these cattle. The cows are old by the time they are ten years old.” “I think that comes with faster growth. They have to grow fast to be a year old and have a thousand pound bull. The drawback is having to keep more replacements every year. Sell Chasm your old cows and we'll give them a fleshing period and slaughter them at the packing plant.” “That sounds fine with me. Other than that, these cattle have been great. Caving out year-round has been great too. Having an income once a month is almost like milking cows. Now, what has Tammy done?” “She's pregnant!” “That's great!” “It isn't mine.” “You sure?” “I'm sure. And I think she did it on purpose.” I hated to tell Bill this, but I knew I had to. “What are you going to do about it? Maybe she did this for you.” All at once, I knew Tammy had already spoken with her folks. I thought about that and then replied, “Maybe! Although she referred to what she did outside of our marriage as recreational sex. And she indulged in it for the last number of years. And I think she views recreational sex as something immaterial and inoffensive. That baffles me. It's like I don't know who this person is that I married. And then on top of it all, I was released from my duties as President of my company and am being sued for embezzlement. My own sisters have turned against me. Nick is a thirty year old man and no longer talks to me. I think I'm going to go to Japan and I don't know when I'll come back. IF I'll come back.” “Surely you have something to fall back on?” I looked at Bill and thought, 'Blood is thicker than water and I'm sure he's more worried about Tammy than me.' “That all depends on how this lawsuit goes. It might be that Tammy will end up richer than me.” Bill stared at me for, what felt like, eons. Then he spoke his piece, “I think you're full of shit! You had this all planned and you came here today thinking I might renege on my contract, if you break up and Tammy gets the shaft. Don't worry! I think you'll be fair. And maybe my daughter doesn't even deserve that. We sent her to a private high school because my foremen caught her in the bunkhouse, playing with the cowboys. I guess I should have ignored his warning and let her get pregnant. But she was only going to be a freshmen in high school. Maybe sending her to Omaha and that private school wasn't the smartest thing I ever did. But as a parent, you do what you think is right and then second guess yourself for the rest of your life. Now you just run along and do what you think you have to do. We'll stand by Tammy and I hope she has a boy. Nothing more was said after that. I was starting to feel queasy with a need to leave. I never even said goodbye to Martha. That night, in that hotel room in Chadron, was the longest night I ever had. My mind was a whirlwind of thought, 'If I went back to Tammy on my hands and knees, she would lose respect for me. Even less respect than she has now. And even if she begged for my forgiveness, I couldn't see taking her back. It wouldn't work! But I can't divorce her yet. I had some more finances to lose! Dam her all to hell. Ya, Jake. Ignorance is bliss!' Two weeks after Tammy had given me the ultimatums, I was on a plane, leaving Omaha, headed for Japan. I hoped I wouldn't fracture my friendship with Hiroshi, even though he reassured me that wouldn't happen. I told him, it could be six months before I leave. He said, “It is all good. Do not worry. You help me, I help you. Put money in the bank here. Invest here.” He named a bank and I transferred three million into that bank. To settle the lawsuit with Chasm, I turned over my shares of Black Hills Meats. My sisters were still wrapping their minds around the new realities. Quiet and I were still wrapping our minds around the lady's running a multi-million dollar business. Sitting in that plane, I decided, 'No, women ruled the world. Men just didn't know it!' Chapter 9 It took all of twenty four hours to reach Kyoto Japan with my three hour layover in Seattle. With the time change, it was a day and a half since I had been traveling. I was bone weary and exhausted. A person can't sleep restfully on a plane. But I felt relief that I was on the other side of the world, and away from it all. Hiroshi met me at the unloading gate. Thank goodness it was Japan and not America, where people could still meet at the gate. Hiroshi walked up to me and gave me a bear hug. “I'm glad you made it brother.” I was surprised with the show of affection. Japanese people don't usually show affection. “Thanks man! It's good to be here. Sometimes life gives you a sucker punch and you just have to flow with it and accept it.” “Tammy?” “Ya man!” A look passed over Hiroshi's face and I knew I didn't need to say more. I looked past him and saw his wife and daughter standing there. The thought crossed my mind that Hiroshi's, Emi, should be married with children by now. They both bowed and then flowed into my arms for a hug. What a combination I thought, 'So traditional and yet Americanized.' “It's good to be here,” I croaked. “It is nice to have you.” Sakura said. Hiroshi iterated, “Yes it is. Let us go, for the car is waiting.” That afternoon, the Nakamotos heard the sordid story and Hiroshi added to it, “Tammy always intimidated me. I was afraid of ever being alone with her. Now I know why I felt that way. I know it's only four in the afternoon, but I think you should lie down and take a nap. Sakura will show you to Ketzo's bedroom.” I realized what they were doing. I didn't need to sleep in the bed that Tammy and I had shared. “Thank you everyone, This means a lot to me.” When I crawled under the covers, I realized it had to be a new bed. Very American. This time I was not only treated like a guest, but also like a co-partner in Hiroshi's enterprises. I helped take the cattle to the summer pastures in the mountains and worked and tagged calves as they were being born. On the last visits to Japan, I was given the privilege to lounge in their home and keep Tammy and Sakura company. I appreciated Hiroshi's wisdom in keeping me busy and involved with the work he did from day to day. As the weeks turned into months, Hiroshi and I talked about everything. I asked him one day as we rode in his WW 2 jeep, checking pastures, “Why haven't you arranged a marriage for Emi yet?” “Why, are you interested?” “No. If Tammy was too young for me, Emi would definitely be.” “Not necessarily. In our culture a father can arrange a marriage for his daughters with old men if he so desires. But no, I don't want that for her. She hasn't shown any interest for anyone and I like having her with us. If she never marries that's fine with me.” “I know I never asked, but why is Ketzo in Tokyo and not here with you?” “He is thirty and is making his own way in Japan. Maybe when I am ready, he will come back. Ketzo has a job in Tokyo in the import-export business. Speaking English has given him a real advantage in the business. And he is a real fast learner. I am hoping that one of my friends and neighbors will want him for a son-in-law soon. He should have a vacation soon and come home to meet some of these young ladies.” “But in the meanwhile he has Geisha girls that he visits?” I knew that prostitution was legal in Japan except for intercourse. “We don't talk about that. Although in Kyoto we have an old Tayu house where girls are trained from teenage girls to adulthood in the art of dressing, serving tea, meals and any other tasks to please an old man. It was designed for the old ways of Japan. There are a few of those ladies left but they are very expensive. If you want to throw some money away, that is one way to do it.” “I was thinking about another way to throw some money away. I know you work hard here and you could use more than the money that I give you for the frozen ampules of semen. What would happen if I bought some of your property for three million and then sold it back to you for two million.” “Why would you want to do that?” Hiroshi asked like what I was saying didn't make any sense. In all truth, I was grasping at straws, but I was also feeling him out. He always had been straight with me, but a million dollars could be quite tempting. “It would be a way to make three million dollars disappear.” “Not really. If you sold it back to me right away, you would only lose one million. Otherwise it would be public knowledge and available to the Americans legal system. If you went to a gambling house and lost it all, then you could say you lost it, but then wouldn't it make more sense, to just give Tammy half of your money?” “Ya, you're right. It would be better if I gave you three million dollars with the promise that you would give me back two million back someday.” “That would probably work, although there should be some way that you would not lose a million dollars.” I heartily enjoyed my time in Japan with the Nakamotos, but after six months, I knew I needed to get back to states-side and deal with a divorce. Tammy was probably as big as a barn by then and knowing her, she'd say it was mine and demand child support. My good friend, Nakamoto Hiroshi, dropped me off at Kasai International Airport and I stepped inside, and headed for the ticket counter that was marked English. I dropped my baggage on the scale and kept the small semen jug in my hand. It was made of metal, plus it was insulated. It was a small jug, only weighing twenty pounds, including a small amount of dry ice and ten ampules of semen. These ten ampules and semen jug, from Hiroshi, had cost me ten thousand bucks and I hoped I could carry it onto the plane with me. The Japanese man behind the counter looked at the jug and asked, “What is that?” I reached across the counter for a handshake and said, “I'm Charles McAlister from America.” He looked at my hand and saw that I had my thumb in my palm. He reached out his hand, to shake mine, and took the coin that was in my palm. The coin, a Hyaku-enkoka, was worth well over a hundred dollars of U.S money, but he didn't bat an eye. “This is a jug that I don't want tipped over, so I'd like to take it on the plane with me, if I could?” “Suzuki Ichiro is my name. Let me put a tag on the bottle. It says, special handling by owner only. No one should bother you now. Have a great flight.” 'Wow!' I thought as I let out my breath and walked to the loading gate. I sat down to wait for my flight that was to take off in another half hour. Five minutes after I sat down, a young American sat down by me and said, “That was really slick. What you have in that jug must be quite valuable.” I looked over at the man and thought, 'He seems like an innocent, inquisitive young man.' So I opened up to him, “Yes it is. I have ten ampules of Wagyu semen in this jug. Oh, I suppose you're not a cattleman.” “Far from it. I'm into computer technology and cattle is about as far from what I do as you can make it.” “Well, what I have in this jug is ten ampules of frozen semen. The jug has dry ice in it and the temperature inside this jug is 120 degrees below 0 Fahrenheit. If you would touch the inside of this jug with your bare finger, your finger would instantly be frozen. I'm hoping to make at least six cows pregnant with this semen. If I can get them bred, it will only cost me a little under seventeen hundred dollars, per calf, in semen costs.” “Wow! This must be important to you to spend this kind of money on a calf. I ate some Wagyu beef while I was in Japan and I can see why you would want to bring some of that beef over to America. But I heard that Japanese cattle were slower growing than American cattle.” “I'm also into the Beef Packing business. We have a niche market with Trader Joe's.” “I know Trader Joe's. Their beef is outstanding!” “They have exclusive rights to our Black Hills Lean labeling, and we're striving to make the product better all the time. I'm sorry, I never caught your name. I'm Charles McAlister.” “Hal Finney. I see we're about to board. Let me go to the check-in and see if we can get seated together. It will give me a chance to tell you about my world.” “Sure, B-2 is my seat. See what you can do.” Eighteen hours will get you to talk about anything. “Be right back.” It wasn't long and he was back and headed to the gate tender. A few words there and the gate attendant yelled, “Ken Butler, could you come to the gate please?” An older man in a blue suit walked to the gate and said, “That's me.” He showed his boarding pass to the attendant. After a conversation, Hal sat down by me and said, “All set.” It wasn't long and the gate attendant yelled, “First Class seats form a line.” We shuffled forward and were in the plane and in our seats before we knew it. After we were seated and I had my jug between my legs, I asked, “OK, you were ready to tell me about yourself. What is it that you do?” “I'm actually a programmer in computer technology. I wrote my Masters Theses, titled, 'Reusable proof of work.' Since then a new web service has been developed called, 'Source Forge' With this Source Forge, I have developed a proof of work algorithm. You know what an algorithm is, don't you?” “I haven't the foggiest!” I wondered why this joker was telling me all this. Unless? “An algorithm is a set arrangement of checks to provide proof of work to provide a service to a customer while providing a safe environment.” “You mean, safe from a thief or hacker.” “Exactly! How do you do business over the internet now?” “Credit card. And that's not too safe.” “Right. Do you know what an internet signature is?” “I've heard of it. Isn't that risky too?” “Some. But with this algorithm and electronic cash it is completely safe.” “Electronic cash. What the heck is that?” “Electronic cash was created and developed in 1992 by cryptographers, Dwork and Naor. It was called e cash. It didn't fly because there weren't enough pieces in place yet and they didn't have the algorithm to secure the money. Plus they lacked the funding to get it off the ground.” “Why are you telling me this?” I already knew the answer, but I asked anyway. If I hadn't heard about it before, in my past life, I would think it wasn't going to take off. “I'm sure you already know. I need investors to get this off the ground. I'm calling the electronic cash, bitcoin. Catchy isn't it?” I just looked at him. Then I closed my eyes and thought, 'God, are you a jokester or is this for real.' I dimly remember a big loss to a man in New York? I don't remember for sure where, but what I do remember is that a girlfriend threw out his hard drive that was in his apartment, to the trash collectors. In the hard drive was over eight hundred bitcoins worth millions of dollars. The poor man never found his hard drive and it was...... That's right! A complete loss! I opened my eyes and asked, “How would this work?” “Our investors would buy bitcoins. That would be the base price. Then customers would buy bitcoins at the open market, at bitcoin value. If the price would go up the electronic cash figure would also rise. That's in their computer. We would have workers that would be paid by a percentage of exchanges, using our algorithm. When their electronic cash figure reaches the fair market bitcoin value, they get paid with the bitcoin market value. I can see countries turning to electronic cash.” I thought about what I had just heard. How deep did I want to go down this rabbit hole? Mm. “You'll have to entice workers to give service to the completion of sales and transferring of electronic cash. What you are saying is, you pay them with electronic cash that comes from the sales that they complete. I guess what I'm asking is, if I opened a shop with a multitude of computers and paid them with hard currency and collected their electronic cash? That's doable, right? When we train them in piece work and when it's to their advantage, we can turn them loose and they can use bitcoins for their wage and for their every need.” “You would do this? You could end up spending a couple of million before you would realize any return.” “Well it just so happens that I need to lose a bundle. I feel a divorce coming my way. If I invest two million and get one million back, it will be the same as giving my wife half. But what I really want to do is invest it without detection.” “You're perfect for this. We'll get you a pseudonym name and a password that only you know and WA-la! Untraceable!” “Outstanding! Have you any ideas on how we can make this work?” “You need a name that's from another country, but isn't a real person. Then you log into that fictitious site with a computer, through the internet, giving that site directive, and that site will buy bitcoins and conduct business. You go and buy a new computer to use for only this. I will set you up with a site for your pseudonym with a password. I give you the password, you go in and change the password and commence doing business. Piece of cake!” “OK! I'll give you my business phone number and my alias. How about Satoshi Nakamoto? And you give me your phone number.” “That sounds good. Why that name?” “Because there's a million Nakamotos in Japan. And if they find that someone used their name to screw the American Government, they'll laugh and think it's a big joke. By the way, how will I liquidate funds if I need them?” “Direct the electronic cash to a bank number that you own and WA-la, it's usable and turned into cash for minor expenditures. If you have enough bitcoins, you can buy a house or car with them. The world of electronic cash is coming and is here!” I smiled to myself and felt a lot better about the future than I had before, after I found out about that wife of mine and her philosophies on life. This equity invested into the internet was so far fetched that I didn't think anyone would even think bitcoin would be an investment interest. When we landed in Seattle, I headed straight for a phone booth. “Hello Judy. How is everyone?” “We are fine, except we miss you. Are you on your way home?” “That's what I was calling about. I have a flight coming into Omaha at mid-night tonight. I have ten ampules in a jug, I have to get the jug to Quiet and then I'm heading back to Japan. I was hoping someone could pick it up in Omaha, so I could turn around and head back.” “You need to come home. At least for a couple of weeks. Tammy had her baby and she has your name on the birth certificate. If that stands as is, that child could someday inherit a piece of everything we have. Unless that's what you want?” All at once, three million dollars wasn't so important, “No, you're right. Have someone pick me up at the airport. I hope the flight's not late.” I knew it would be a four hour drive home, once they picked me up and got me on the road. Sitting in this airport gave me time to make some phone calls and put some things into action. Thank goodness my phone was workable again. In my hurry to leave my problems, I had forgotten to buy international service. It hadn't mattered since I could be called at Hiroshi's if they wanted. I knew DNA was commonplace, when I had lived the first go-around and I thought of Sioux Falls. Who would know more about DNA than the police. So I dialed, 1-605-555-1212. When I got the recording, I asked for the Sioux Falls police department. After talking to those good people, I got the phone number for Avera Laboratories. WA-la! Too late to call them, but I wrote the number down. I then called my lawyer in Winner and told him what I needed done. He said he knew of a Judge in Rapid City, that he could get a court order to take a DNA swab from the child. He said he would spend the next day picking up the court order, hiring a nurse, off duty cops and tracking Tammy and the child down. Then he said, “It's going to cost you plenty because the policemen will have to escort the sample to the lab. You will have to meet them there and they will have to witness you giving a sample when they give the child's sample to the lab.” I didn't care what it cost! I wanted undeniable proof that that kid wasn't mine. All I said was, “Do it! Give my phone number to the policemen and have them tell me when I should be there.” By the time we got home from Omaha, it was five in the morning and I slept until noon. After a good meal and catching up with my sisters, I was ready for a nap. It was four o'clock when my phone rang with an unknown number, “Hello?” “Hello, this is police officer, Patrick Montanan. We have the sample and we will meet you tomorrow, in Sioux Falls, at one in the afternoon. Avera Lab. Meet us in the lobby. OK? And bring identification!” “Will do. See you then.” It was an eight hour drive from Rapid City to Sioux Falls, so I appreciated them making it by one o'clock. When I met them the next day, I had my drivers license and also a public notary, stating who I was with my signature on the affidavit. I had something to prove! The technician took a swab of my saliva and went to work. I asked the receptionist if the work would be completed by the end of their day. She said, “I'll ask.” and she disappeared. She said, “Go in the back. Jane will talk to you.” Jane was wiping her hands when I walked in. “Jane.” I said, “Would it be possible to have the results done today? I would gladly pay to make sure that happens.” Jane replied, “You said the magic words. To do it right and fill out the paperwork, it will take thirty minutes to an hour, after work to complete the process. Give me a Grant and you have yourself a deal.” “Thank you! Here you are. I'll go walk around the mall and come back at four, if that's all right with you?” “Sounds good. By five we should know something and after that, all we need is the paper work. By four thirty, I was back and walked into the lab to find Jane. She showed me what the last steps that she was taking were and when the printout came, she had a frown on her face. “Usually we have a ninety nine percent chance that either you are, or you aren't the father. These segments of DNA, we call them markers, showing that this child is a relative of yours. A little bit farther than a first cousin, but not quite a second cousin.” “How about a great nephew.” “Ah, that would be about right. I gather you have someone in mind?” “Oh ya, I do. I'm so glad I wasn't told this six months ago.” “Let me finish the paperwork and we'll get out of here.” I thought about what I wanted to do next. I wasn't about to chance running into my ex, so I thought, 'I'll see Nick in his office tomorrow, and spend the night here.' So I did. I went to a restaurant and had a meal. I rented a hotel room and thought about everything I had learned. Later, I was glad I had time to sort it all out. Looking back, I could see where I should have known. Nick, getting a job in Rapid City, renting an apartment in the same building as me. And never coming around to talk to me anymore. I should have known something was up. Thirty eight hours later I walked into Nick's office and sat down, “You knew I was coming, didn't you.” Nick stared off into the ceiling and said, “I convinced myself I was doing it for you, Dad! She was running around on you and people were beginning to notice. When I got out of college, my friends were starting to brag about this thirty year old,,,,. I won't say what they called her. I was sitting with Andy and Jack in the bar one night when she walked in. Jack nudged me and said, “That's her. That thirty year old hottie that can't get enough. That blew my mind.” It also made me mad! I walked up to her and said, “I'm going to the bathroom. Follow me!” “When we got there, she was in denial, “This isn't what it looks like. Someone is mistaking me for someone else!” Then she went into, “Don't tell your Father. I don't want to lose his love. But I need more in my life. I only do this when he's gone.” She was begging and I decided she had to stay busy when you were gone, so I was your proxy or agent or standby. But I fell for her. I was always in awe of her. Then I couldn't do without her. I convinced her to get pregnant. I'm sorry!” “Yes you are. Now let me give you some advice. You made your bed, now you have to lie in it. Get your name on that birth certificate. Take her out to the ranch. Become a cowboy. And keep her pregnant as long as she can. And when she can't get pregnant anymore, if you think you owe me, go to town and find someone you can cheat on her with, and then, let her know about it. She robbed me out of fifteen years, by not knowing the score, and you did the same thing for the last ten.” I went home, but I didn't feel any better. Maybe saying nothing can be gold. All I knew was, I had to make a trip to Japan and give my money away. All the way home and on the plane to Japan, I wondered, 'Why I was so upset with those two? After a while I realized, It's human nature to justify yourself and make excuses. Nick could have come to me ten years ago. Tammy could have come to me, the first time she went looking for her recreational sex. I took the easy way out by burying my head in the sand. The bottom line is, what's done is done. Finished! She's dead to me and I don't need to see her ever again. That means I can't go home. I need to plan a new future.' That is just a synopsis of the two days of thinking and beating myself up. One thing I knew; I would do everything in my power, not to reward Tammy for her unacceptable bad behavior. I could see this marriage was going by the way of Irreconcilable Differences Divorce. If Tammy could have said; I was wrong, I deserve to be punished, tell me what I need to do to rectify my behavior and save this marriage! Things might be different. Might is a very big word when you're trying to cope and have anger to the very tips of your toes. This time I talked to my sisters and told them it might be a while before they would hear from me again. I spent the time in the airport to update my cell phone to international reception. With the three million setting in my Kyoto bank account, I felt I was all set to disappear, if I so desired. I cleared my credit card and took what cash I needed. My sisters made sure I had plenty. The parentage of DNA of what Tammy's little boy was, compared to mine, along with my sterility was more than enough. All my Lawyer had to do was to present the facts to a Judge and get the ruling my sisters wanted. I felt for sure that Nick would do the right thing. Life would go on without me. When I arrived at Kyoto by plane, Emi was there to meet me. “Where are your folks?” I inquired. “They're in Australia. They are delivering some semen to an individual there.” I understood. Hiroshi was having a hard time paying an exorbitant amount of money for land usage, because the land could be sold for urban development. At the same time it was a criminal activity, deemed unlawful by the Japanese Government, to take Wagyu Genetics out of the country. Eight years before this, the Japanese Government had declared that the Wagyu Cattle were a national treasure and couldn't leave the country. So Hiroshi was forced to smuggle semen out of the country to make ends meet. I thought I needed to change the subject so I asked, “So what are you doing besides picking up an old man at the airport?” “Mostly I've been playing, even though Dad has been getting a little perturbed with me because I have not found someone that I'd like to be married to. So I have been taking some classes at the college in Kyoto. Computer games fascinate me and I have been finding out how they are made. I think I am almost to the point were I can make a game for myself. It probable will never be good enough to sell, but I think it would be fun to see if I can do it. “Do you know anything about electronic cash in the internet world?” I all at once realized that I might have someone in front of me that could help me with my ignorance of the internet. “I do. My professors think that electronic cash will someday take over the world's currency as the only cash needed. Why do you ask?” “Do you know who Hal Finney is?” “Yes I do. He is the brain that developed a proof of work algorithm that was his masters thesis. How do you know him?” “I sat beside him on a plane. How would you like to go into partnership with me? I furnish the money and you furnish the brains. I think you will be able to keep everyone honest. And we will make a lot of money. How does that sound?” “All I am giving you is my time? Yes, this could be fun!” Emi was all smiles and I knew with her smarts, this was a win win. “Well Emi, how would you like to become an instant millionaire? Tomorrow, we are going to the bank and transfer my money into your account. And then we find out what Hal is doing with setting up an internet site for me. By the way, how would you like to move to America?” “I would love to. I never told you this, but I have had a crush on your son Nick, ever since I was a sixteen year old girl. Is he unmarried yet?” Oh, oh! Emi doesn't know about Tammy. I don't think I'm going to tell her. “No, he's not married, but I think he might be going with someone, the last I heard. America is a big country and I was thinking of staying close to Hal. I don't know where that will be yet, but we can see if Nick could visit us sometime.” Three million dollars were riding on her not to become despondent and mad at me. After two days we called Hal. I did the talking for Emi and myself, “Hello Hal. This is Charles.” “The Charles McAlister that I met on the plane?” “The one and the same. Have you got Satoshi's Web Site up yet?” “I do. I spent the night I got home working on it. I have some ideas about how the site can suit our interests, so I'm thinking we'll have to tweak it as we go. I'm also thinking about bringing in another colleague of mine. David Chaum created DigiCash a few years ago and knows why it didn't take off the way it should have. I think he'd be a great asset.” “That's fine with me. But there's one thing you have to remember. I furnish the cash, you furnish the brains and we split what we make off of this bitcoin, fifty, fifty. That means if you think he is what we need, his share comes out of your half. I found a young lady that knows how to read code and I'm sharing my half with her.” “We can make that work. Would you take some time away from your cattle and come out to California? I would feel better if you were a part of our brain storming sessions!” “Yes, that's just what I was thinking. OK now, give me the particulars on my site and Emi and I will look it over and change the password. Tell me the town you live in and we'll see how close we can get to you. I hear traffic in California is terrible, and I don't want to travel anymore than I have to.” After I got off the phone, Emi started her computer and with the search engine running we found the site. Emi looked it over and said, “I don't see where we convert the Japanese Yen to electronic cash. For now, why don't we go to California and find a bank to transfer money to. We could use a checking account in my name if you don't want your name on anything.” “Sounds good to me. Since you have the money, why don't you make reservations for flying into San Francisco. Now that your folks are home, I should be talking to them and breaking the news that I'm stealing their daughter.” It was a tearful goodbye, the next day at the airport, but they were happy that their daughter's next adventure was in my care. Hal and his wife met us at the airport in San Francisco and then we sped to his house in Stanford. Emi was excited to find out that Hal worked for a gaming company in Menlo Park, building computer gaming codes. We found a two bedroom apartment in Stanford and soon Emi had a job with PGP Corporation, working with design and code for the games. Time seemed to drag. Hal wouldn't quit his day job and Emi was having fun code mapping while getting the screen figures to be as life-like as possible. I paid Hal and Emi for the time spent on bitcoin. Sometimes that also included David Chaum on Saturdays. It seemed, Hal would rather have cash instead of a part of bitcoin. Finally, after three years we were able to register bitcoin.org. Before that we had to design a metal wallet to hold bitcoins for walking around,spending money. Then I had to pay Hal and Emi to make sure the algorithm was working properly. They used Source Forge along with Hal's RPOW. The two transacted hash cash, e cash and David's, DigiCash. The new bitcoin algorithm handled them all and Satoshi Nakamoto Site generated bitcoin from their work. We had Satoshi Site send a bitcoin to Hal Finney to buy on January 3,2009. We made a big public production out of the transaction, trying to promote bitcoin. In all of 2009, we used Satoshi dice as a gambling device, promoting bitcoin. By 2010, I was ready to go on to something else. It was feeling too much like a make-believe world. Emi had been dating a nice Japanese American and wanted to settle down and get married. It was a big hubbub, with her folks there and Ketzo was there with his wife and little girl. When Emi moved out of the apartment, it became too quiet. I felt the need to move on! One of the things we did with the Satoshi Nakamoto site was turn it into a ledger and transfer site. The site recorded the royalties and after the royalties were recorded the bitcoin was transferred out the back door to my private site. I set my site up as Charles McAlister, obituary. I gave my date of birth and date of death five years later. On the bottom of the home screen was a place for a password. Once inside I could transfer money out, but only if I used my internet signature. If I ever died without giving this site to someone, the site would accumulate electronic currency until bitcoin was no more. That was a real fear. I was using one computer at a time for just bitcoin. Most of the time it sat in my bedroom, unhooked to the internet and unplugged from electricity. If I upgraded a computer, it wasn't the one I had my bitcoin in. Once I updated one computer, I downloaded my bitcoins into that computer and then upgraded the other computer. Since no one knew what was in bitcoin's future and it hadn't done anything significant, and because I had paid Emi and gave her almost free living, she didn't want her share of Satoshi Nakamoto site. I gave her a gift card, with a load of one hundred thousand dollars. When she returned home and looked on her computer, she'd found the card's worth. I hoped she would use it for a down payment on a house. Bitcoin made a slow start and for the first year I strove to buy every bitcoin that people were willing to sell or trade and put it into my Charles McAlister site. In April of 2011, I sent an e-mail to one of my staunchest supporters and told him, “I'm moving on. Thank you for all your support in helping make bitcoin a significant contender in the internet world." I had at that point five hundred thousand dollars left of the fortune I once had. I was sixty years old and I thought that if God had changed the future of bitcoin, I would have to depend on Social Security. Humbling, that's what it was, humbling! I was lonesome, and depressed. I was tired of California with its fake smiles and concerns. I decided to go back to that little town that I left, and where some of my high school classmate were. I was going home! Chapter 10 Going home to the small town that I grew up in, was an eye opener. Over the last forty years, since I grew up there, the population dwindled from eight hundred people to maybe half that. The old Roxy Theater had been sold and bought by a tractor repair shop. The old hotel was gone and half of the implement dealerships were no longer in business, which left us only one dealership in town. That didn't leave any choices for the area farmers, except maybe taking their business out of town. When I graduated from high school, we had one hundred and sixty kids in high school. Now the town was lucky if there were sixty kids. The old, three story, brick building that was the high school had been torn down, because it wasn't wheelchair accessible. Another example of government rules and regulations taking over our world! Now property owners were paying the price for the new school, in taxes, because the general population had voted to have a big school for the town. My big brother invited me to stay with him and his family. I felt like a poor relative that had nowhere else to go. Living with them lasted for about a week. You know what they say; relatives and company are like fish. After three days, they both start to stink. Luckily, there was an apartment above the old Roxy Theater building that was empty, so I rented that. It came cheap since it smelled like diesel smoke from the tractors that were being worked on down below. The only thing that seemed not to have changed was the town's bar. It always showed a profit and the people liked hanging out there and patronizing the place since it lowered the city taxes around town. It was right across the street from my apartment, so I would wander across the street for my evening entertainment. Lee Ann was the friendly barmaid and I could usually find a friend or two there, usually someone that I knew in high school. After about two weeks of going to the bar, Lee Ann said to me, “You know, my Momma's still mad at you.” “Oh, and who exactly is your Mother?” “Does the name Jane ring a bell?” “Oh ya! So you're Jane's girl. How is she doing nowadays?” “Why don't you ask her! She's sitting over there in the corner by herself.” 'Darn!' I cussed to myself. I should have known this was coming. Reflecting back on my first life when I had been married to Jane and now looking back to being married to Tammy, I realized the good Lord had given me an object lesson. I was a dumb, stubborn, and immature kid when I married Jane. In fact, I was the one that did Jane wrong in more ways than one. I looked up and said, “Thank you Lee Ann. Do you know what your Mother is drinking?” “Mom doesn't drink anymore, but I'll bring her a coke.” “Thanks, I better go talk to her.” I picked up my beer and walked the walk of trepidation to the booth that was in the corner. I slid into the booth opposite of her and said, “Hello Jane,” I looked at her and told a fib, “You're looking good.” “Not as good as you. Life must have been kind to you.” “It had its moments.” I didn't know what else to say so I tried to make small talk, “Lee Ann says she is your daughter. Did you have any more children besides Lee Ann?” “Yes, I have a Dominic. And you know where I got that name from.” “Yes, I believe I do. Are you still mad at me?” “Heart broken? Yes! Mad? No. I understand now why you did it. And I understand now, that I was manipulating you into giving me the life that I thought I wanted. I know now, looking back on my life, the difference between what I wanted and what I deserved. I blame it on being adopted when I was four and having lost memories deep in my psyche. All my life, I had an angel on one shoulder and the devil on the other.” “Don't we all. Where's Dominic these days?” “He lives in North Carolina, retired from the Army. He's on his third marriage now. He says he's happy. He talks to Lee Ann more than he does me.” “What about Lee Ann? Why is she working as a bar maid and not off doing something with her life?” “In one word, children. She lives with my Mom and me since she can't make a living and pay for child care and rent. In case you haven't noticed, there are not many jobs around here. Especially for a woman! She got a bad reputation in high school when she came up pregnant. As you know, we're Catholic. Abortion is not an option. Since then, she's had four sweet talking boyfriends and four more children. She's just too gullible at times or too outgoing. She could have gone to college. Instead, she works here. Her littlest one is ten now, so at least she's not bringing more babies home.” “I'm sorry to hear all this. I think you're right. Lee Ann seems to be a real sweetheart. I see Dan's here. I'd like to talk to him, so if you'll excuse me?” “You should come out sometime. Angie would love to see you!” I could see that Jane would like me to stay, but I couldn't do it. Even after a lifetime of separation, I still had this feeling of being used. It was an unfathomable desire to escape and run. I knew it was all on me, but I couldn't help it. I grabbed my empty bottle and almost ran to the bar for a fresh beer. Dan was in the same boat as me. We had no one to go home to. His children were all grown up and gone and his wife had passed away from cancer. He was in a booth by himself, waiting for somebody to join him. I slid into his booth and asked, “How's business?” I knew without even asking. “Terrible! Unless I get another job soon, I'll have to lay some men off.” “Well I'd like you to do something for me. This town needs its hotel back. Nothing fancy. I'd say about six rooms with a full bathroom in each room.” “Wouldn't you also need an apartment for a manager to live in as well?” Dan was skeptical. “No, To make it profitable, I need to talk the city into having this bar as a place to make reservations and pick the keys up for the rooms. And as we have customers, a house wife that's willing to clean rooms, as another household income. What do you think?” “That might work. This town needs it. If you have access to that kind of dough, why aren't you building yourself a house?” “I've been looking at houses. But houses are kind of small and they have basements. It's so flat around here that they all have sump pumps in them, to take care of water seeping in. Usually houses smell musty if they have basements. I might build a house yet. I don't know.” “Well you just let me know when you decide. I'll draw you up some plans and have you look them over. When I get a cost, I'll show you the prints. I'd like to be your general contractor as well as the carpenter. Do you plan on taking out a loan at the bank? I'll vouch for you.” “Thank you. I appreciate that. I have a little money in California that I'll have to transfer here. While I'm thinking about it, I'd better do that tomorrow.” We said our goodbyes and I waved to Lee Ann as I went out the door, hoping that the air-conditioner had caught up in the apartment, so it would be cool enough to sleep. When I went to the bank in the morning, one of the under classmates that went to high school with me, was now the bank president, fell all over me. I put a hundred thousand in checking and another hundred thousand in passbook savings. I wasn't about to put any money into C.D.'s, (Certificate of Deposit), and then not have the ability to take the money out if I needed it, without losing a large part of it to penalties. I knew that regardless how I put the money in they would still find ways to make money on my money. That's what a bank did. That night I met up with Dan again, and he had a price of ninety thousand dollars for the hotel. The city owned the empty lot where the old hotel had been, and Dan said he'd meet with the city council and get them to sell it to me. After Dan left and the bar customers cleared out, I sat on a bar stool and kept Lee Ann company until she closed. Every time I talked to her, I found her funny and well versed with a slew of subjects. The hotel went up that summer and Dan had the winter to finish it. In December the old apartment became rather drafty and I went home to my sisters and the ranch. Quiet and Shelly had moved into the big house with my sisters and Quiet was the general manager for the home place. Peggy's John, was the overall manager, covering the feed lot, buying and shipping cattle as well as selling them. They had a Feed Lot Manager with six men beneath him. Our top Angus bulls were still being sold at the local sale barn, every year. But that was down to about fifty head. We had become the nucleus for our satellite herds and provider for the packing plant. The bulls we sold now were no longer pure bred or registered. I was informed before Christmas that Nick and Tammy were coming to visit before the New Year. I informed the girls that I wouldn't be there to meet them. Tammy had never filed for a divorce and I didn't want to get into it with her or even see her! I was glad that Nick had the decency to keep his family away over Christmas. All the rest of the children were home for Christmas with their children and spouses. I felt like a stranger! It felt strange, and to think, I had it all but I had nothing. As the saying goes. You can't buy happiness! I went back to the cold apartment and found I didn't want to be there. In town there was a lady that just entered the nursing home. She had moved out of her twenty year old house that her husband had built for her, who died shortly after it was built. Her children had demanded that she move into the nursing home and she had acquired a room. I went to see her. Taking her hand I said, “Mrs, Kinital, how are you doing?” “Not good. Old age is no fun! My back hurts, I can barely walk, so they push me around in a wheel chair. I wish sometimes that somebody would just put me out of my misery.” “I'm sorry to hear that. What I was wondering is, would you be willing to rent your house to me?” “No, I can't. I'm running out of money and I will have to sell it. It will only take a year and that money will be gone too. In this small town, all I can get for it is ninety thousand.” “What will you do after that is gone?” “I will become a ward of the state and Federal Dollars will pick up the tab. Life is hard and then you die! My son bought our land so we could build our retirement house in town. Thank goodness he owns the land and I don't. Otherwise my old age would take that too.” In her mind it was best to sell the house and I was more than happy to make that happen. I went to the bank and made the arrangements to transfer the property and they give me the papers for Mrs. Kinital's signature. Then I went back to the nursing home to see her. I felt I had to do that since nobody seemed to want to come to the nursing home and see old people. No one whats to see what they will someday become. When I walked into her room she was in the wheelchair sleeping. I nudged her and she woke up. “Charles,” she exclaimed, “You came back to see me. You were such a cute boy when you came to church with your folks and sisters. Tell me all about them. What are they doing now?” I filled her in on what everybody was doing and how many children and grand-children there were. I had her sign the papers and was preparing to leave when she said, “Come back and see me. I want to know everything about what you're doing to the house.” I promised and escaped, all the while feeling bad for her. I promised myself I would visit her at least twice a month. Now when I went to the bar it was a brisk walk instead of just crossing a street. I still sat on the bar-stool and talked to Lee Ann until she closed the bar down. When the weather was nasty, she'd give me a ride home and make sure I made it into the door. By April, Lee Ann was telling me about her Grandmother, “Mom is still taking care of Grandmother but she can't take the stairs anymore. It's become up to me to bring home the money we need to feed us. Now taxes are coming due and I just don't have the money to pay them. We haven't had the money for the last four years. Two more years and the county will take the property. I don't know what to do!” I didn't know what I should do to help them. Angie had always been a proud person and her daughter wasn't much better. Having nothing to do during the day but think, I looked over my house. If I ripped out the closet in the master bedroom and opened it up into the second bedroom, I could turn the second bedroom into a hall and a walk-in-closet for the master bedroom. The addition could have four bedrooms in it, or even six if I wanted to take the addition all the way to the end of my property. 'Mm,' I thought to myself, 'I wonder how much Dan would ask to do a project like that?' I thought about my own finances and shuddered. Bitcoin was stationary in value and had not taken off like I had hoped it would. For a few years there, I had given half of my income in taxes, at times, and I could look for about two thousand dollars a month if I could hold off taking Social Security. I needed to wait until I turned sixty five. Then there would be Medicare. Right now I had no Health Care Insurance and was hoping for the best. I only had about two hundred and fifty thousand to fall back on. And it was still three years until I reached sixty five. I was still proud enough to think I didn't want to go back to my sisters and beg for money. As it was, they thought I was an eccentric. Thinking about it all, I decided what I could do. I would risk becoming poor. I called Dan up and told him to come over. He told me what he thought of my adding a wing onto the house, “You have to put down footings that won't sink and make the addition going from the house like you want. Luckily we have a soil that's fine for doing something like this. Why the adding of bedrooms? You already have the hotel for anyone that wants to come see you.” “It's not the same thing. Do you want to do this for me?” “I'll get back to you with a price.” A few days later he slipped into a booth at the bar and said, “Are you ready to part with another hundred thousand?” “Ya, I was thinking it would be something like that. When can you start?” “How soon will I see the money?” Dan was giving me a bad time. Good thing I knew he was a jokester. “Twenty five thousand now, Fifty thousand when you're three quarters done and twenty five thousand on completion. How soon can you start?” “I'll get the concrete boys on it right away. By July we should be putting up the frame. Are you sure you want six bedrooms plus three bathrooms in the addition? That's taking the addition right next to the edge of your property.” “That's what I'm paying for. Remember what our class motto was? 'Just do it!' “Aye, aye Captain!” In September, the carpenters were ready to tear out the closet in the master bedroom and put a hallway in. I stayed in the hotel and kept Lee Ann company at the bar. I had started to get on the fat side so when the bedrooms were done, I put some exercise equipment into one of the bedrooms. I also started going to auctions, looking for bedroom sets. By March I was ready to give Lee Ann a talking to. Going into the bar four to five nights a week and drinking three to four beers each night, Lee Ann was surprised one night when I was on my second beer and Lee Ann was about ready to close. “What's wrong Charles?” She asked as my hand twitched. “You seem nervous tonight.” “Ya well, I want to ask you a question.” “Oh goody, you're going to ask me to marry you.” She was kidding. Or was she encouraging me? That gave me pause, “No Lee Ann. I'm twenty years older than you. I couldn't do that to you.” “That wouldn't matter. And it's not twenty years. You're a sweetheart. Someday you will be an old sweetheart. I'd still love you.” “I'm sixty four now and you're forty five. Don't tempt me. No, I want you to take me home tonight and I'll show you something in my home. OK? “OK. But I still think you're losing out. I'm going to close this place down now and I'll take you home.” Everything in the house was spic and span. I had the cleaning lady in this afternoon and everything was in place. All the lights were on in the house and I started walking Lee Ann through the house. “This is the living room. It's a little small, but big enough. This is the kitchen. It's a very handy kitchen to cook in. That door leads to the garage. This is the dining room with a patio door to the deck. This is the main house bathroom. Here is the closet that holds the washer and drier. This is a small bedroom that could be a sewing room or a room for one person. This is the master bedroom with a walk-in closet. Here is the addition. It has six bedrooms with three full bathrooms. There is an electric wall heater for each room. The doors are the wider ones. It's all wheelchair accessible. Do you like the house?” “Wait a minute. This house is too big for you. Why are you doing this? ” “I feel I'm getting old and I'd like to have people around me that I like. I pay a cleaning lady to come in twice a week and pick up after me. I would like you and your family to move in with me and I'd like to fire the cleaning lady and give you the job. What do you say?” “Would I still have to work at the bar?” “If that's what you would like. I would pay you a thousand a month, plus I would give you five hundred a month for groceries.” “Boy I just don't know!” “Look out the dining room patio door. I will put in a swimming pool out there for you, so you can swim whenever you would like. What do you say?” “Can Mom and Grandmother come live with us too?” “Of course. I wouldn't have it any other way.” It seemed like Lee Ann was warming up to the idea. What she said next surprised me. “OK, I'll do it. Under one condition. You give me a kiss.” “If it's on the cheek. I couldn't bear it to be married to you when I'm seventy and then find you out that you were running around on me, so, married life is over for me.” “Darned! I was only protecting you from my Mother. I don't think she'll give up unless you're married.” “She can grow old beside me but we aren't getting married. I don't need her manipulating me!” “Is that what she did that made you break it off?” I knew I said something that I shouldn't have said. I thought I covered it well when I said, “That's a paranoia that I have, that has followed me all my life. You are the first person that I haven't felt that way.” “I'll do it. Promise me you won't get jealous if I date sometimes.” “I won't if the man treats you with respect. Promise me you'll tell me if he doesn't. Share with any boyfriends that you might have, that I keep a loaded shotgun in the house if they get obstinate.” “I'll keep that in mind. Now I'd better go home and let my family know that we're moving to town. Good night!” And Lee Ann kissed me on my cheek and left. I was left alone, and began thinking, “I wonder what a pool will cost?” The next morning I checked with my bank in California and discovered that they had rolled my CD over and I would lose an unhealthy chunk of it if I took it out now. For the heck of it, I fired up my bitcoin computer and checked on my site, Charles McAlister Obituary. Bitcoin was up to eight hundred dollars a bitcoin. Wow! I remember the story about some guy in California paying for his pizza with bitcoin. I released five hundred bitcoins on the market. WA-la! Four hundred thousand to hit my bank in my home town. That would put the town into a buzz. That year in May, a pool was constructed within a week in my back yard. My kids, well, Lee Ann's, couldn't wait for school to let out. All the town's kids couldn't wait either. Lee Ann's kids were all at once the most popular kids in town. All at once, I realized I had to set some pool rules for safety and my sanity. The two teenage daughters of ours, had to be present when kids were in the pool. Pool hours would be between one and six in the afternoon. Cindy and Julie were bribed with two dollars an hour and I furnished a lifeguard's platform in which to sit with an umbrella over the top of them. They were like a couple of Cleopatra's, lording it over their subjects. I was usually out by the pool, under a shade, making sure that the lifeguards were paying attention to their charges. It was one of the most pleasant summers I ever had. Every summer was like that. After four years, we only had Lee Ann's youngest daughter as a lifeguard. Cindy and Julia were in summer classes in college and all that was left at home was Jennifer. It didn't matter, because we had just as many kids coming to swim as we ever had. Our pool was just as big as the town's pool. I had made sure of that. After all, I wanted nothing but the best for Lee Ann. That winter when I had nothing better to do, I fired up the bitcoin computer and checked on bitcoin.org. I about fell over. I was once more a millionaire! Bitcoin was trading at seventeen thousand dollars. I flipped over to my site and about had a heart-attack. Some miners had been hard at work. Oh yes, most people didn't know what a bitcoin miner was. It's some one that takes bitcoins algorithm and earns a living transacting business for bitcoin. It takes a lot of electricity and a good computer to do it. I checked where the miners lived and I was surprised. One of the places where a lot of bitcoin operators were, was in Kazakhstan. China outlawed crypto mining and a lot of miners left China to relocate in Kazakhstan due to cheap electricity. I still had a hundred thousand in the bank and didn't need the money yet, but I couldn't pass up some profit taking. I cashed in a hundred bitcoins and all at once, I was a millionaire at the bank as well as on paper. Needless to say, I was another buzz around town. They even heard the news out in West River. Judy called me one day and asked, “Now what did you do Charles? I heard you have a lot of moolah in a bank account again. Where did you get it?” “I know it's not something a person should brag about, but I bet on the horses.” “Bull winkles. Tell me!” “OK, OK. I won the lottery. I'm sorry, but I won't lie to you any more!” “Come on now. You can tell me.” “I told you that I wouldn't lie. OK, this is the truth. I bought some bitcoins for a buck apiece in 2010. I sold them the other day for seventeen thousand dollars. Don't tell the IRS what I did.” “The IRS wouldn't believe that and I don't believe that! Talk about one big yarn. That takes the cake. But whatever. I hope Tammy doesn't find out about this. She's still claiming that she got screwed.” “Yes she did. No pun intended. Did she have any more kids?” “Her and Nick have four. I don't know what all happened but he's running around on her the last I heard. I know she's become a harpy and mean tempered old lady. But she should be proud. Her thirteen year old son is the apple of old Bill's eye!” “What do you mean old. She's only fifty four years old!” “Heck, we're all getting old. Good thing we have some reliable second generation people taking over. You come see us and don't be a stranger.” I sat after that conversation and ruminated. 'Those sisters of mine had been a little cool towards me for the last several years. Now that they smelled some money, they were sure to be sniffing around. Well, I have a hotel that they can stay at.' I was thinking about where I could spend some money and all at once I knew. A building for a grocery store. The parents of a classmate of mine had retired from the store and Betty Monty had run it until her husband died. She was quitting, and she had the only grocery store in town. There was once three grocery stores in town and now there wouldn't be any? 'No way. Did I want to run a grocery store? No.' Betty's store was on main street, old and shot, with a leaking roof. I needed to talk to Lee Ann about what she thought. Lee Ann walked in and I thought, 'She's always around when I need to talk to her!' “Lee Ann, sit down and let me talk to you. You heard, I'm sure, about the money that I have in the bank.” “Yes, I heard. Everybody is wondering where you got it from. Is that a dividend from your ranch?” “No, I already told you that I don't own that ranch anymore. But it is a type of dividend or windfall. Take your pick.” “OK, it's yours. So what's the problem?” “I want to build a building for a grocery store, but I don't want to run it.” “So you want a grocery store in town and you'll go so far as building a building. Go talk to Betty. She'll give it to you straight.” “Ya, you're right. Would you like to go with me to talk to her?” “Sure, I'll go with you.” We drove out of town to land that Betty's Mom owned. There were three houses on the site. Betty's Mom and Brother, each had a house of their own. Betty met us at the door and said, “Lee Ann, go next door and get Marvin. Come on in Charles. Would you like something to drink?” “No, I'm fine.” We talked about going to high school together and all the other things we did as kids. Soon Marvin and Lee Ann walked in. Betty posed the first question, “Charles, I heard you had a windfall of some kind. How can I help you?” “As a town, I think we need a grocery store. What would it take to run a grocery store?” “In a nut shell, Customers! When my folks bought the grocery store in 1962, there were three grocery stores in town. But our farming community shrank and our town shrank. Finally it was just us. We thought it was a good thing. We made money and thought everyone was happy. Then customers left to go to bigger towns and buy at the bigger grocery stores. We raised prices to make ends meet and more customers were driven away. Maybe we drove them away! Bottom line. I don't think a grocery store will make it anymore in this small town.” “That's harsh! What will we do if we can't run to the grocery store for a gallon of milk or a loaf of bread?” “The answer is right in front of you. A convenience store. The regional short stop convenience store is selling their building. Turn it into more of a quick stop for every one's short term needs. Make groceries a side line. Make it into a community effort and community owned and people will patronize the place.” “Thank you Betty! I think your advice is very good advice. Lee Ann, can you call all the family heads in this town and talk up a community owned store. Let's call a town meeting and have Betty speak on the idea of a quick stop. I'll get up and say that I'll buy the building alongside the highway and turn it over to a community organization. With a board and an on site manager to manage it, with no debt except for inventory, it should fly.” The grocery crisis was over and after a while I eased back into obscurity, the way I liked it. Well not completely. Every time I walked into our home town bank, it was 'Yes Sir and No Sir.' Jimmy knew what side his bread was buttered on. I knew bitcoin in 2018 had taken a spike, and I was right. It had spiked over seventeen thousand a bitcoin and then it dropped back down to seven thousand and sometimes lower than that. That went on that way for over two years and then it started climbing again. By spring of 2021 the bitcoin had jumped to sixty thousand dollars in a new all time high. I was a billionaire, many times over. I was over seventy years old! I didn't need the money or the headache. I thought about it and finally made up my mind. I would set up a trust fund and put the money in it. I would make Lee Ann the executor and she could draw a wage, plus expenses. I walked to the lawyers office in town, which happened to be my cousin's firm and laid it out to him. He said, “I can get the paper work done in a week and then we'll go to the bank and tie an account to the trust fund. “How much do you think you would like to contribute to the cause” “I haven't quite decided. I was thinking somewhere between twenty and forty billion dollars.” “Now your BS-sing me! If you have that kind of money, it was theft. That's all it could be!” “Why don't you do the paperwork, we'll get it registered and then we'll go to the bank. OK!” “Would you want to write me out a check before I do all this work? Four thousand dollars would be a good sign that you're serious, if you don't mind?” “I'm hurt that you won't believe me. But fine! Here is a check for four thousand dollars and I'll see you in a week.” I was still mad as I was walking home. I kept thinking, 'My own cousin wouldn't believe me.” My chest started to feel tight and I stumbled. Then a pain ran down my right arm. 'Oh no!' I thought, 'This can't be happening. I'm not ready. What will Lee Ann do if I'm not there?' I tripped, fell onto the sidewalk and passed out. When I awoke, I was in a hospital and there was a white cloud hovering at the foot of my bed. “Your soul's in anguish. Why?” “I am a billionaire and it does nobody no good. Why did I die now of all the times I could have died? Why now! Could you give me a week or two and then take me?” My mouth was dry and I wasn't talking but I knew he could hear me. “Have you learned anything during your second time here on earth? Is it better to give than to receive?” “I learned that when you give it needs to be with a thankful heart. And giving should be done with a higher purpose in mind.” “Oh, you learned a thing or two. But allowing yourself to be used, even when you resented it, for the greater good is commendable. This is what I will do for you. There's a fifty year old man in the next room that's brain dead. If you are willing, I will give his body to you. If...... “Please! Oh Lord, please give me another chance!” “As you wish.” ------------------------------------------------------------ Lee Ann was looking out the window, two days after Charles died and two days before they laid him in the grave, when a big white Cadillac drove into the driveway and a big black man stepped out of the car and rang the doorbell. Lee Ann didn't know what to do. Her Momma was out shopping with money that they soon would no longer have. Soon they would be evicted and they had no place to go. And know this, this! She went to the door and said, “Can I help you with something?” “Charles sent me. I need to help you with your computer.” I entered the house and walked to the office, where I commenced switching computers. I looked at Lee Ann and said, “Lee Ann, I know this is a shock but it's OK. I was the poor smuck that was in the next room, brain dead and hanging on for dear life. Charles was, with the good Lord's help, imprinted my brain with his and made it functioning again. He also gave me some of his memories. Now I need you to go to the court house and get a quick claim deed from the courthouse and come back here. Can you do that?” “Yes, Sir!” Lee Ann left with her brain in an uproar. I could tell because it was written all over her face. I sat down and started building a new site for her. I transferred three-fourths of the bitcoins to the new site. Then I want out to my car and collected my new computer, brought it in and fired it up. I transferred my site to my new computer and waited for Lee Ann to come back. When she arrived, I took the quick claim form from her and started filling it out. “Sir, are you Charles?” “No, Charles is in me. You will know that to be true when I sign this document. But I'm not Charles.” I hoped the good Lord would forgive me for that small lie. “I've been given another chance at life, with Charles's help, by the Lord, if I work the rest of my life turning in drug dealers and pimps. So you see, even if I was Charles, I can't stick around. Now this is what I want you to do. This quick claim deed is post dated from before my death. Take it to Stacy, our Notary Public. She will stamp it with the South Dakota Stamp. Then take the form back to the court house and talk to the person that you got this form from. Tell her, this is what Charles wanted. She will agree and file it. After that, this house is yours. Next, go see the lawyer in town. Yes, Charles's cousin. Take the trust fund paperwork to the bank. Then transfer funds from your new site that has those bitcoins in it, to the trust fund. Have a few prominent men from this community go on the board with you, but you will be the president. Start giving out scholarships to all of the senior class. Do this year after year and our town will grow. Now I need to show you your new site. Take care of it and your money troubles are over.” I led her through everything that she needed to do and then I hugged her. I knew that would ease her mind, because I smelled nothing like Charles. I smelled exactly what I looked like. Very different. “Goodbye Lee Ann.” I said, and walked through the door with my computer under my arm. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Lee Ann looked out of her bedroom office and thought about Charles. It had been four years since Charles died and she often thought about him. One of the things he had said more than once was, “There are two types of people in this world. Users and Abusers! A user will be thankful for you and what you can do for them. The user appreciates the help he is given in his life and will try to reciprocate. An abuser just takes and never gives back! In fact they will even complain about how unfair life is. There's no satisfying those people.” The first night after Charles died she laid on his bed and smelled his pillow. In fact, she never spent another night anywhere but his bedroom. His sisters came to attend the funeral and were looking into the assets of Charles when it was discovered that the house belonged to Lee Ann. Discovering that, they were OK with Lee Ann paying for the funeral. His brothers and sisters couldn't believe the town, when the funeral was held in the high school gym and everyone in the town came. They were really astonished to see that the town had closed down for the day. The owners of Chasm were grateful for all Charles had done for them, but were always a little worried that someday he would return, flat broke and demand Chasm back. They had flourished in their role as bosses and directors, planing what and how to make Chasm more profitable. Lee Ann thought about all the scholarships that she handed out every year. If a high school graduate had a 3.2 grade average in college, they had a full scholarship, plus living expenses, for up to six years. Full scholarship for two year Technical School was also given to students if that was the type of schooling that they wanted. The school board had limited the classrooms to thirty students, per class. Every parent in the surrounding area was trying to get their children into the town's school system just for the free education and scholarship the student would receive. The school had the pick of the best students in the area that wanted to transfer into their school system. Lee Ann smiled at the four students that had fallen into her care. Luckily she had a cleaning lady that came in and helped her. The town population was increasing and was now up to six hundred people. Young married couples were having more children, now that they didn't have to worry about higher education costs, due to the scholarship program. Lee Ann smiled thinking that in a few years they might have to enlarge the school building after all. The Town didn't realize that the trust had more than enough money for that as well as everything else. The doorbell rang, jarring Lee Ann out of her thoughts. 'I wonder who that could be?' She thought. Going to the front door, she opened it and saw a skinny, young, teenage boy standing there. “Yes, may I help you?” “I'm Charles McAlister, and I need your help.” Lee Ann looked at the boy and thought, 'What kind of cruel joke is this?' “What do you mean your Charles McAlister?” “Charles McAlister was my Grandfather and I ran away from home. Please help me!” The End |
| This book is currently empty. |
View Portfolio
Visit Notebook
Send Gift Points
Awards
Badges
Send Email
Community Newsfeed
Puzzle Hub
General Discussion
Sponsored Items
Book of Trinkets
Static Items
Books
Groups
Interactive Stories
Audio
Campfire Creatives
Community Notes
Crossword Puzzles
Documents
Folders
Images
In & Outs
Madlibs
Photo Albums
Polls
Product Reviews
Quizzes
Survey Forms
Web Pages
Word Searches
