I am not a writer. This is just an old man writing down a few things from my life. Standard disclaimers apply.
OUCH! Damit that hurt I screamed as I rubbed my busted knuckles. This old Thunderbird is going to be the death of me. Why I decided I needed it is beyond me. Well, this is a perfect time for a beer break. I grabbed a cold one out of the fridge and had a seat on the porch of my shop. As I was enjoying the sunshine I could hear what sounded like a bush hog running deeper in the nearby property. It was no sooner than I noticed the machine noise that I heard a loud WHAM and the machine tractor type noise stopped immediately. I thought to myself well that sounded expensive and continued my beer break.
I was almost done with my beer when I heard what I guessed was a truck straining to perform some task. Whomever was operating it was giving it hell. The noises fell silent and my curiosity was now peaked. What in the world was going on next door? I got in my side by side Mule and drove to the end of my property where it sounded closest to me. Sure as shit there was someone working on a tractor that was almost tipped over. Ok this is bad and I took it upon myself to go offer assistance. I opened the gate and drove over to where the action was.
It had rained a few days ago and the ground was still a bit slick. It appeared the tractor had slid down a slope while bush hogging and the hog had run over a large stump. That Stump hitting the implement was the loud bang I heard. I could mentally see all the damage. This was going to be ugly and expensive.
I announced my arrival and I saw a head pop up over the back of the pickup truck chained to the tractor. He nodded and as I asked if I could help and that I was the next door neighbor. We both stopped and just looked at each other. Art? I asked as I eyed him curiously. Chet he said as he looked at me with the same cautiousness. I nodded and we both started laughing. Damn Art did you buy this shithole? You got a lot of work cut out for you if you did. He just nodded solemnly and said yeah. Man I had no idea you had built out here. I said yeah we built out here about 10 years ago. You and yours move in that old house on the hill yet? He bowed his head, it's just me these days. Wife never wanted kids and eventually didn't want me. Divorced me and ran off to California. I was fuck that sucks and not the fun one. We both laughed at that. OK Art so let's get this mess untangled and we can drink a beer and catch up later. Hell yeah was his only answer.
2 hours, several cuss words and busted knuckles later we had the tractor in my shop and repaired. My wife had come out to see what all the fuss was and I introduced her to Art Donelle. They exchanged pleasantries and she returned to the house beside my shop. We broke out the beers and caught up more than was possible working on the repairs.
Geez Art how long had it been? 30 years? Art nodded yeah at least. Crazy huh? Last time we saw each other was at the milk barn wasn't it? I laughed hard and coughed a bit yeah I suppose so. I asked if he had heard that Paul passed away from a drug overdose and he sadly nodded yeah. That crazy fucker was headed to disaster no matter what I think. That whole family had bad karma. We got to a stopping point and I asked Art if he wanted to have supper with us and acted like he didn't want to put anyone out, I interjected nope won't hear of it. You are coming to dinner. He grinned and said do I need to bring spices? I know you white people can't season shit! We both laughed and he got on his tractor after we exchanged numbers and he left.
I went into the house and told Janie we would have company for supper. I explained the situation and she started scrambling around trying to make the place presentable. I cleaned up the shop, went in to shower. I got myself presentable and walked into the kitchen to smell Chicken, mashed potatoes, green beans and corn with cornbread. MM MM MM. As Janie put the food to simmer until Art got there, she looked at me hard and asked. Honey, is this the same Art from your childhood? The same Art that you milked cows with that summer? I said yup 30 some odd years ago. She asked are you ok with that kind of past with someone being here? I looked at her funny and said the important question is, are YOU ok with this? I mean it was almost 40 years ago that we had sex. It was just 3 guys goofing off one summer blowing off steam. Janie nodded an ok and went back about her kitchen activities. I saw Art riding up the drive in his ole pickup. I met him at the door and walked him in.
We had a great supper. Art even aggravated Janie a bit about cooking pretty good for a white woman.
This got everyone going pretty good. Janie's wine and our beers were flowing well and it was a really nice time catching up with him and letting my wife pepper him with 50 questions every 5 minutes. What surprised me was when Janie asked Art if he missed working on the Harrison farm milking cows. Art cut me a look and I added she knows. I keep no secrets from her. Art paled a bit. Then accepted it. He just grinned and said no Janie I don't miss milking.... cows. Grinning at us. We all laughed at the innuendo. Janie just smirked.
Well it was getting later and Janie was getting a little too drunk for my tastes and there was no telling what she might say so I suggested an end to the evening and she wasn't having it. Nonsense! The night is still very early! I still have to finish this bottle. I rolled my eyes and Art caught that. He asked if she was ok when she went to the bathroom and I just said yeah but be warned bro, she might say anything when she has had too much to drink. Just don't read too much into it. It's just drunk woman banter. He winked and said right on.