Dixie Darlin': I just wanted to thank you for all the wonderful reviews you have been leaving me, on this story and my other one. I appreciate them very much. I also wanted to wish you a very Merry Belated Christmas anda very Happy New Year! Hope you continue to read my stories and I hope they are to your liking! Good bye!
The Douglas Farm
Eb took as much time as he possibly could in eating lunch with Lisa and walking back to the corn field. He even opted to take the long way around the other fields, just to waste time. He really wasn't looking forward to enduring another day of working hard and getting yelled at by Oliver, especially after the scene he just witnessed in the kitchen. If Oliver was that impatient with his own wife, there was no telling how much Eb was going to get yelled at that day.
Eb felt a pang of sadness when he thought back to the scene in the kitchen. He felt so sorry for Lisa, working so hard to cheer up her husband, only to have it blow up in her face in the end.
Mr. Douglas had no right to be that cruel to mom, he concluded. She was only trying to be helpful.
Eb sighed. Well, there's nothing I can do about it, he realized. If he wouldn't lighten up for his own wife, he certainly won't do it for me.
A few minutes later, he reluctantly walked through the corn field and joined Oliver at his sighed. Oliver looked up from his weeding as Eb approached and stopped his work to glare at him.
"Where have you been," Oliver demanded to know.
"I've been back at the house eating lunch with Mrs. Douglas," Eb answered.
"It couldn't have taken that long to choke down my wife's cooking," he replied.
"I happen to like Mrs. Douglas's cooking," Eb lied. He then picked up a hoe and began weeding the field, trying best to avoid his gaze. Oliver stared at him for a minute longer, judging whether or not he was telling the truth. He finally gave up and joined Eb in the weeding.
They worked in strained silence, except for Oliver's frustrated muttering, for the rest of the day. Finally, Oliver's watch indicated that it was six o'clock and time to call it a day. Eb threw down the hoe in relief and began walking back to the house with Oliver a few feet behind him.
They were just about to enter the house when they saw Mr. Haney's familiar old truck pull up next to them. Oliver sighed in frustration, not really in the mood to deal with anyone today, least of all Mr. Haney. Still, he had to be considerate and turn down any of Mr. Haney's offers before kicking him off his property. So Oliver sighed once more and joined Mr. Haney's side after he hopped off his truck.
"Good evening, Mr. Douglas. Good evening, Eb," he greeted in his usual cheery tone. Eb opened his mouth to reply but Oliver spoke first.
"Mr. Haney, before you say anything, I am not interested in anything you have on that truck of yours. Now if you will excuse me, my wife will be expecting me for dinner," he said. He then began to walk away, but Mr. Haney grabbed his arm and pulled him back. Eb could see that this was only going to end in anger, so he decided to go into the house. Neither of the other gentlemen seemed to notice. Instead, Mr. Haney continued to work on Oliver.
"Now Mr. Douglas, let's not be so hasty," he said. "I guarantee you that what I have on my truck will interest you completely. Now, if you would just accompany me to the back off my truck, I will just show you what I'm talking about. Come with me, please," Mr. Haney said as he led Oliver to the back of the truck by his arm.
"Will you let go of me," Oliver demanded as they came to a stop at the back of the truck. He yanked his arm free with contempt and dusted himself off. Meanwhile, Mr. Haney lifted the tarp that covered the truck bed to reveal a wimpy thing of a tree that looked dry and near death.
"What the…" Oliver began to say as he spotted the tree, but Mr. Haney interrupted him.
"Mr. Douglas, it has been very obvious to everybody that you have been under a lot of strain lately. That is why I brought you this o-na-tur-al stress reliever, guaranteed to relieve in the most bothersome of stress. You just simply plant this tree in a vase, set it in your house, and sit back and let the stress flow out of you," he concluded.
"I don't get what that has to do with relieving stress," Oliver commented, mentally kicking himself for encouraging Mr. Haney to go on with his sales pitch rather than just deny him right there.
"Well, it has been proven by a very trust-worthy psychologist, my cousin Herbert, that nature relieves stress. So instead of spending the rest of your life outside, I say bring the outside to you," he concluded with a self-satisfied grin. Oliver shook his head.
"Mr. Haney, even if all that was true, I wouldn't pay you a dime for that pathetic looking thing you call a tree," he said.
"Well, it's a good thing you won't have to, because I am giving this to you as a gift," Mr. Haney said as he pulled the tree from his truck bed and handed it to Oliver. Oliver took it warily and stared at him in disbelief.
"Your actually giving this to me," he asked.
"Just consider it my way of saying I hope things go better for you," Mr. Haney replied.
"What's the catch," Oliver replied.
"No catch, Mr. Douglas. It is a get well gift to you. I hope you use it well." Mr. Haney turned and seemingly headed toward the front of his truck to leave, but then he snapped his fingers like he suddenly remembered something.
"Oh by the way, Mr. Douglas, I forgot to mention that that tree requires a special tree sized vase. You wouldn't happen to have one, would you," he asked innocently.
"Why no, I don't," Oliver replied.
"Well, I just happen to have one here on my truck. I can let you have it for the poultry sum of eighty-four dollars," he said as he pulled out a large vase from a hidden spot on the truck bed and set it on the ground in front of him.
Oliver's face flushed red with anger when he finally caught on to Mr. Haney's angle. He then walked over to him and shoved the tree forcibly back into his arms.
"Forget it, Mr. Haney. You can just keep your stress relieving tree," he said. He then turned on his heel and stormed back toward the house. But instead of giving up, Mr. Haney picked up the large vase and followed Oliver.
"Mr. Douglas, please reconsider," he said as he tailed Oliver.
"Good day, Mr. Haney," Oliver said through clenched teeth, trying his best to suppress the anger rising within him.
"But Mr. Douglas, it seems that you really need this tree…" Mr. Haney continued.
"I said good day, Mr. Haney," Oliver yelled, began to lose his temper.
"Mr. Douglas, please," Mr. Haney said as he continued to follow Oliver, "what if I give you a discount on the vase? Say seventy dollars instead of eighty-four? After all, I am really concerned for you health," he said.
That was the last straw for Oliver. He suddenly whirled around to face Mr. Haney, causing Mr. Haney to ram Oliver's chest with the large vase. Oliver grunted but pushed aside the pain, although it did fuel his anger quite a bit.
"You're concerned about my health," Oliver asked in disbelief. "That's a flat out lie! The only thing you're ever concerned about, Mr. Haney, is how much profit you can make in a day! You couldn't care less about me or anyone else in the community! All you will ever care about is you and your precious money!"
At this moment, Lisa came out the front door to see what all the commotion was. "Olivah, vot is going on? I heard yelling," she said, but neither of the men seemed to hear her. Instead, they continued to stare at each other, but this time Oliver's anger was reflected in Mr. Haney's eyes.
"Now Mr. Douglas, I think you're going a bit too far with that. I happen to care very much about my friends here in Hooterville," he replied in an offended tone.
Oliver scoffed. "What friends? All you ever see when you look at us is dollar signs!"
"Olivah," Lisa exclaimed in a reprimanding manner.
"Lisa, stay out of this," Oliver said without looking at her. "Now, Mr. Haney, I recommend that you get off my property before I call the sheriff on you!"
"I'm not going anywhere until you apologize for the nasty, untrue things you said to me," Mr. Haney retorted.
"Mr. Haney, leave now or I'll…." Oliver said in a tense, menacing voice.
"Or you'll what," Mr. Haney challenged bitterly, obviously fed up with Oliver's attitude.
This challenge seemed to push Oliver too far. Instead of replying, he pushed the vase out of Mr. Haney's hands, causing it to fall to the floor and crash into a million pieces. Then without a word, he turned around and marched into the house.
Lisa looked after him in shock for a second and then turned her attention to Mr. Haney, who was looking in surprise at the splintered vase at his feet. She rushed to his side.
"Oh Mr. Haney, I am so sorry about this," she said apologetically. "I'll pay for it, I promise."
"No, no, it's alright, Mrs. Douglas. It wasn't your fault. Besides, it wasn't worth much anyway," he said with a sad smile. "I best be getting along."
"I really am sorry, Mr. Haney, he's just been under so much strain lately," she explained weakly as he hopped back into his truck.
"It's alright Mrs. Douglas, I understand," he said. He then started up his truck and drove off.
Lisa stared absent-mindedly at Mr. Haney's truck as it shrunk into the distance, still not quite believing that her husband had actually done something like that. She had never seen him lose his temper so quickly or so strongly. In the past, no matter how much someone had bothered him, he at least had enough patience to not resort to violence, but now, all that patience seemed gone. This fact doubled Lisa's concern for him. She was beginning to feel that the old Oliver would never return.
Lisa spun on her heel and turned back into the house, determined to give Oliver a piece of her mind about what had just taken place. But her determination was cut short when she realized that he had avoided the kitchen entirely and gone straight to bed, despite the fact that the sun hadn't entirely set yet. She sighed and returned to the kitchen to continue the rest of the evening alone.
Later, sitting alone in the living room doing nothing got to her, so she concluded that the only thing left to do was to go to bed. She slipped into the bedroom quietly, undressed, and slid into bed next to Oliver. She closed her eyes and attempted to go to sleep, but her eyes would just keep wrenching open in insomnia. Lisa sighed in defeat and settled for watching her husband sleep instead.
But the more she stared, the bigger the unhappiness she felt inside her grew. She still couldn't believe he had reacted so violently to something as simple as Mr. Haney trying to sell him something he didn't need. It wasn't like Mr. Haney had never done anything like that before; as a matter of fact, he had been known to do worse. She would think that Oliver would be used to it by now. But then again, the more time they spent on the farm, the more it seemed to eat away at his patience….and their marriage.
Lisa felt a pang of sorrow in her heart when she thought of the rift his stress had caused between them. They hadn't had a real conversation or been intimate with each other for weeks. She couldn't even remember the last time he had told her he loved her. Lisa had never felt more distant from her husband than she did at that moment.
She felt a small tear trickle down her cheek, but she quickly wiped it away. She knew that it was best not to cry, for crying was like admitting defeat. Instead, Lisa resolved firmly to come up with more ideas to relieve her husband's stress and break the estrangement that had fallen between them.
But how, she asked herself. At that thought, Lisa turned onto her other side to where her back was facing Oliver and fell into a deep, troubled sleep.
Hello readers! Well, here is my latest installement in this story. I hope you all like it. I'm sorry about the delays, but I have been trying tonot over dramatizethis story like I tend to do, but I'm finding it very hard. Therefore, it has been difficult to come up with new chapters. But I promise I'll try my best to not to take so long on the updates. Well,I hope you all continue to read my story and review. Oh! And I'm going to be going to Dallas fora couple of days, so don't expect any updates until at least next Tuesday! Again, sorry for the delay! Bye!