Understand?”
“Yes sir.”
“Now, then, if the cordless drills kick your ass and you just can’t lift your arms to do the work anymore, then just go back to the tool barn. There are a couple of corded drills and some long extension cords in there, and you can switch out the cordless drills if you want to. The cords are a pain in the butt, but the drills only weigh half as much. So I’ll leave that choice up to you. Any questions?”
“No sir.”
Scott left them and went to the opposite side of the compound, where he’d left off welding the crosspieces. He knew they’d do a good job. They were his boys, after all. He’d taught them years before that anything worth doing was worth doing right.
-16 -
A few weeks later things were progressing well. Joyce took a week off from the compound, caught up on things at work and in her personal life, and came back refreshed and ready to go.
Scott finished welding the crosspieces and was spending his days building a two-hundred yard long wooden privacy fence that effectively split the compound right down the middle. Joyce worked with him on it, and they found that they worked as well together on a single project as when they were each doing their own thing.
The greenhouse was completed, and the citrus trees were planted inside them. The Butler buildings were also in, but needed to be filled with feed and hay.
Scott asked Joyce, as she was hammering a fence picket up with galvanized nails, “Hey, do you mind if I leave you alone on this project for three or four days?”
“No, cowboy. Why? What are you going to be doing?”
“I want to lease a flatbed trailer, and start buying feed and hay for the barns. Then I want to start buying the livestock.”
“Are we far enough along for the livestock?”
“Yes, I think so. Most of the barbed wire is up, and if they manage to find a hole and slip out, they won’t go far because of all the mesquite trees we’ve laid down along the perimeter. I’m afraid to wait too long. If the blackout were to hit today and we had no livestock, we’d be forced to become vegetarians for the rest of our lives.”
Joyce laughed.
“Yuck! Not me, cowboy. Salads are okay, but only if you eat real food along with them.”
“Yeah. My thinking exactly.”
He swatted her on the bottom. She said, “You keep that up and we’re going to be finished fencing for the day. You’ll be nailing me instead.”
Now it was his turn to laugh.
“Now, as tempted as I am, we don’t need to be burning our daylight doing any of that kind of stuff. That’s what night time is for.”
“Party pooper.”
She stuck out her lower lip and pretended to pout.
“No, if you need to stack feed in the barns and get some stock in here, go right ahead. I can finish up these pickets without you. I’ll need help hanging the gate, because it’s a two person job. But I’ll grab the boys to help me if you’re not around.”
“Great. I’ll start hauling feed tomorrow, then.”
“And, hey, speaking of those boys, I’ve been impressed at how hard they’re working. Do you tell them often what great boys they are? And how much you love them?”
“Yeah, sometimes. But they know.”
“It doesn’t matter if they know or not, bonehead. When you love somebody, you need to tell them sometimes. Words like that are food for the soul. They need to hear it, whether they know it or not.”
If she was fishing, Scott didn’t take the bait. Sometimes it was hard to read her. He’d suspected that she was falling for him. Or maybe already had. As for returning the feelings, he wasn’t quite sure what he felt. Not yet.
Scott had been hurt several times before when it came to
“Yes sir.”
“Now, then, if the cordless drills kick your ass and you just can’t lift your arms to do the work anymore, then just go back to the tool barn. There are a couple of corded drills and some long extension cords in there, and you can switch out the cordless drills if you want to. The cords are a pain in the butt, but the drills only weigh half as much. So I’ll leave that choice up to you. Any questions?”
“No sir.”
Scott left them and went to the opposite side of the compound, where he’d left off welding the crosspieces. He knew they’d do a good job. They were his boys, after all. He’d taught them years before that anything worth doing was worth doing right.
-16 -
A few weeks later things were progressing well. Joyce took a week off from the compound, caught up on things at work and in her personal life, and came back refreshed and ready to go.
Scott finished welding the crosspieces and was spending his days building a two-hundred yard long wooden privacy fence that effectively split the compound right down the middle. Joyce worked with him on it, and they found that they worked as well together on a single project as when they were each doing their own thing.
The greenhouse was completed, and the citrus trees were planted inside them. The Butler buildings were also in, but needed to be filled with feed and hay.
Scott asked Joyce, as she was hammering a fence picket up with galvanized nails, “Hey, do you mind if I leave you alone on this project for three or four days?”
“No, cowboy. Why? What are you going to be doing?”
“I want to lease a flatbed trailer, and start buying feed and hay for the barns. Then I want to start buying the livestock.”
“Are we far enough along for the livestock?”
“Yes, I think so. Most of the barbed wire is up, and if they manage to find a hole and slip out, they won’t go far because of all the mesquite trees we’ve laid down along the perimeter. I’m afraid to wait too long. If the blackout were to hit today and we had no livestock, we’d be forced to become vegetarians for the rest of our lives.”
Joyce laughed.
“Yuck! Not me, cowboy. Salads are okay, but only if you eat real food along with them.”
“Yeah. My thinking exactly.”
He swatted her on the bottom. She said, “You keep that up and we’re going to be finished fencing for the day. You’ll be nailing me instead.”
Now it was his turn to laugh.
“Now, as tempted as I am, we don’t need to be burning our daylight doing any of that kind of stuff. That’s what night time is for.”
“Party pooper.”
She stuck out her lower lip and pretended to pout.
“No, if you need to stack feed in the barns and get some stock in here, go right ahead. I can finish up these pickets without you. I’ll need help hanging the gate, because it’s a two person job. But I’ll grab the boys to help me if you’re not around.”
“Great. I’ll start hauling feed tomorrow, then.”
“And, hey, speaking of those boys, I’ve been impressed at how hard they’re working. Do you tell them often what great boys they are? And how much you love them?”
“Yeah, sometimes. But they know.”
“It doesn’t matter if they know or not, bonehead. When you love somebody, you need to tell them sometimes. Words like that are food for the soul. They need to hear it, whether they know it or not.”
If she was fishing, Scott didn’t take the bait. Sometimes it was hard to read her. He’d suspected that she was falling for him. Or maybe already had. As for returning the feelings, he wasn’t quite sure what he felt. Not yet.
Scott had been hurt several times before when it came to
Similar Books
