2004 - Valentine Story Part 3
Hard Work And Fun
They kept in touch by phone the next week, John reporting on his successes and failures with folks who called in response to the classified ad. Jack could hear a new energy in his dad's voice, a new confidence. He could also hear, maybe for the first time, that his dad wanted his approval.
The two men worked on their own place through Thursday morning, and then headed up to the family place with stacks of clean laundry, a box of blank bills of sale, and several goats and some chickens. It was an opportunity for them to slim down the variety of stock on their own place; hopefully these goats and chickens would sell right along with the Twist's animals.
They stopped at Reeds' Grocery in Gillette for the few items on mama's grocery list. As always, they noted the sky-high prices of cigarettes these days, and were glad for many reasons that they had quit back in '85. It wasn't easy, but they had challenged each other and themselves. They never backed down on a challenge.
On Friday, Jack and Ennis began immediately after breakfast, to comb and curry every animal in sight. Might make selling the stock easier, so they made a quick attempt to get everyone ship-shape. The sale was to begin Saturday at 8 a.m., but human nature being what it is, they left a stack of bills of sale with John, for when those early birds showed up a day ahead of time.
Sure enough, when Jack and Ennis came in for Friday's noon dinner, there was a strange pick-up truck in the lane. Mr. Bill Abner, seeing John in the wheel chair and Delores on a cane, expected they were having a desperation sale. He was in the midst of making a low ball offer when the two strapping, healthy men walked in the back door.
As a show of strength, Jack said, "We culled and graded the herd like you said, dad. The A-1's are moved to the near corral, the A-2's are prepped and ready to move up. What do you want us to do next?"
John caught on to what Jack was doing, deferring to him like that, so he said, "Son, this is Mr. Bill Abner; Bill this is my son Jack and his business associate, Mr. Del Mar. Before we proceed with the sale, Jack can take you out to show you our best stock. You decide how many you want to buy, and just let me know. I'll take care of your transaction at that time. Take all the time you need to look'em over good."
By the time Jack had charmed Mr. Abner for an hour or so, he wrote John a nice check for all the black baldies, which was most of the herd and two standard work horses.
They hurried to get a bite to eat then, and as soon as they had eaten, but before they had time to enjoy pie and coffee, a local teacher showed up to buy all the goats for the 4H kids to raise over the upcoming two semesters. Unlike their previous customer, Tom Grady, the 4H teacher, had a trailer large enough to take the goats with him at once.
Tom mentioned to Jack that the shop teacher at his high school, Darin Mentor, might be interested in the remaining horses for his small farm. He gave private lessons after school and on Saturdays to kids for trail as well as rodeo riding. He came into the kitchen and called the other teacher. Sure enough, Darin relied on Tom's assessment of their quality and had Tom pay for the animals for him. The timing for him was perfect.
After shop class was over at the high school, Darin drove out to the Twist place to pick up his horses, but had a look around before leaving. He was also interested in the remaining 7 head of cattle. Since he was buying several things, John made him a good deal on the cows, and he went away completely satisfied with the deal.
By 4 o'clock the neighbors had come in two by two and bought up all the laying hens and roosters that they had to sell. Delores refused twice to sell her last two (and best) layers. Looking to their future, if they had nothing else, they'd have eggs for breakfast.
John was like a new man. "We got anything else out there ta sell? Are ya sure?" He had never had so much fun in his life. With all the livestock gone, he thought maybe they should sell the tractor and combine. It was obvious he would not be using them, so before dark he had Ennis drive and drag the various pieces of farm equipment up near the barn.
Jack made a sign that read:
"ALL ANIMALS SOLD -
Come on back to see the Tractor and Combine".
He tacked it on the front gate out by the road, so the earliest newcomers would see it before driving up the lane and waking them in the morning. It was a nice idea, but didn't stop the parade of buyers from coming to the sale that was supposed to be Opening on Saturday. "What do you mean, you're sold out?" they wanted to know.
Finally, Delores gave an armload of quilts she'd made over the years to Ennis and had him hang them on the clothesline, with a hefty price tag attached.
She sent Jack down to the root cellar for jars of jellies, preserves and vegetables that she'd put up, but decided at the last moment that she couldn't part with any of these. She had no idea when she'd be healthy enough to make more. Jack put them in the lower kitchen cupboards within easy reach for her, because often there was no one around to help her.
At John's imploring desire to sell more stuff, Delores decided to let the men put out a box of a few dozen extra fresh eggs to sell. Those went fast.
The tractor and combine didn't sell till Saturday afternoon, but the price was reasonable. Both buyer and seller got a fair trade, and John knew he could never use them again, so why hang on for a higher price? He'd had so much fun, he just wished he'd had more items to sell. For the first time, he thought he understood what Jack enjoyed about being a farm equipment salesman.
All but one of the quilts sold to a woman who owned an antique and gift store called Marie's Old And New Shop. She made an attractive offer for all the quilts that Delores had left and after negotiating awhile, she accepted the sale, for 25% more than Marie's original offer.
The one quilt the lady didn't get, was sold earlier to a young woman who was getting married, and wanted the quilt for her bridal bed. Delores was happier about that one sale, than the profit from all the others.
She realized that she wanted to begin right away to make more quilts, and sell them to individuals. She loved seeing their faces when they found the one that would become a part of their life. Her cedar chest was full of scraps of fabric; she knew she'd be having fun quilting for a long, long time.
Before Marie left with her quilts in the back seat of her car, she asked permission to rummage through the barn or any other out building. They agreed she could go look for treasures, but only if someone accompanied her. It was better to be safe than sorry, and Ennis agreed to make sure she was safe and the owners' liability was protected.
The light was dwindling, but within twenty minutes a dusty, disheveled Marie found several treasures to make offers on: a washstand from the old bunkhouse, three various sized picture frames from previous generations, a chamber pot, and an iron bedstead. She would need to come back with a truck for such large pieces, but that was just right with her. She wanted to have more time to dig before these folks gave up on her snooping.
The family was wrung out, tired after such a day as this. They had grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup for a light supper and headed to an early bed.
Ennis and Jack kissed good night, snuggled a bit and slept like logs for the rest of the night. Delores' bad leg ached a bit, she took an aspirin and then slept through the night; John dreamed of selling to eager buyers, he tossed and turned quite a bit until midnight, then fell into a restful sleep.
Sunday morning dawned in a downpour. The rain held steady while they breakfasted on pancakes, bacon and eggs. John said, "Ya know? I shoulda sold my pick up!"
They all laughed at him, and dove back into their plates, enjoying every bite.
While the rain poured outside, they tallied up the money they had earned from the sale of the various animals, quilts, eggs, atiques and equipment. Jack and Ennis had a bit of cash from the sale of a few goats and chickens, but the bulk of the income was divided 50-50 between John and Delores.
When she asked why her share was so large, John replied "I never woulda had nothing in my life without you. You earned it."
Jack thought maybe there was hope for his dad after all.
Soon Ennis and Jack were on the road heading home, and that night it was with a glorious sense of awe that they slept in their own bed again.
Sleepily Ennis spoke in Jack's ear, "I ain't forgot I didn't get my Friday Night Date, ya know. We worked right on through it. You're not cheating me outa my Valentine's present though. Good night, bud." Immediately, he was snoring lightly.
Jack snuggled down further into the quilts, buried his nose in Ennis' hair and whispered, "Ya know you can get anything you want outa me, Cowboy. All you gotta do is say so."
Tbc in part 4