When I went down to breakfast the next morning, Daniel was preparing to leave to head back to Tennessee. He was finishing his breakfast, and
pushing in his chair, with everybody talking to him at the same time. Clare and Hannah had packed him a goody bag, as Clare called it. Filled with
sandwiches, and chips, cookies, and a thermos of coffee and another of lemonade.
We made a group on the porch to see him on his way.
"When will you be back?" Crane was asking him, one hand on the back of Daniel's neck.
"I'll shoot for two weeks from now," Daniel said, and Crane nodded. Daniel hugged Crane and then Clare and Hannah. He and Guthrie did some fake
boxing, and then, when he came to me, he put his hands on my shoulders and looked at me.
"Be good," he told me.
"You be good," I countered.
"Tell Jill we're sending our love," Hannah told him, and Daniel said, "I sure will."
He gave me a tight hug, and then went on down the stairs. Adam walked with him all the way to his truck, and Brian, just now coming
out of the house, called out to Daniel, "You stop for the night before you get too tired, Dan'l!"
"I hear you, big brother," Daniel called back.
Adam and Daniel talked for a couple of minutes at his truck, and then hugged, and Daniel got into his truck, and drove off, with
us all standing there waving. I felt the tightening in my throat that I always feel when Daniel leaves, but yet it wasn't so bad now, because
of the plans for him to be back soon.
I sighed, watching as his truck turned onto the main road.
"Do you have some snacks packed?" Hannah asked me, and I nodded, holding up my bag to show that I'd put snacks in there.
"Oh, yeah," Guthrie said, remembering. "Mrs. Wilson send a note yesterday that we needed some money on the lunch account."
"You need to remember those things, Guthrie James," Hannah said.
"I remembered," Guthrie said, and then grinned at her. "Just now."
"Wait, and I'll get you a check to take in," Crane said, as everybody started to go back inside. Adam came back up the stairs, and stood
with Guthrie and I as we waited for Crane.
"You two riding together today?" he asked us.
Guthrie shrugged. "Don't matter to me. You can if you want to, Har."
I said okay, thinking that I should save the gas that Daniel had paid for and put into my truck. I now owed Daniel for the gas, and for the
money that I'd given to Kristen. My money situation was becoming dire. I knew if I said too much about being broke that one of the guys
would give me some spending money. Guthrie and I don't get an "allowance" in general. It's more that we get a share of the ranch profits, when we
have them, but we have to bank most of that, per family rules. Then-if we want extra or want to buy something special, we use the money that
we don't have to put into savings, and we're expected to use it wisely, and not blow it. Or-we can earn it working elsewhere. Which Guthrie does
not typically do, unless it's to help out a neighbor for some quick cash or something like that. I'd had my job with Doc G, and that had been
the time in my life when I'd been most flush with money. Then-I'd had my job with Ivy, and, though it was less money than for Doc G, it was
still okay. Now-well, with losing my job thru the work program, I was feeling the pinch.
I determined that I was going to ask Kristen today about paying me back the twenty dollars I'd given her. I was understanding what Brian
had been getting at last night, about how I shouldn't loan her money.
Crane came back out with a check for our lunch account at school, which he handed to Guthrie, and Guthrie tucked it into his shirt pocket.
"Ready?" Guthrie asked me, and I nodded, but then paused, looking at Crane and Adam.
"My grades are A's and B's, except for the C-plus in Anatomy. Can I work for Ivy on Saturday?"
Adam and Crane exchanged a look, and I spoke up again, to Crane. "You said I could-if my grades were where they should be."
Crane nodded, but hey were both looking as though they were thinking, and I said, "Please? I need the money really badly."
"I'll meet you in the truck," Guthrie said, and walked away.
"What's up with the money situation?" Adam asked me. "Something in particular you need?"
"No. It's not that." I sighed. "It's just hard-not having any money-and I owe Daniel some now, too."
They looked at each other again, and I knew Adam was going to let Crane make the decision.
"You can do Saturday," Crane said, and I smiled at him.
"Yay!" I said.
"As long as your grades stay up, you can go in every Saturday, if she needs you," he added, and I was so happy that I
stepped up, and wrapped my arms around his waist.
"This is great!" I said.
Adam was reaching for his wallet. "You need some spending money, then? To tide you over?"
He was pulling out a ten dollar bill, and I said, "You don't have to."
"It's alright," he said, and held the money out to me to take. "You don't ask for a lot."
They really were the best. The very best.
I took the money, and gave him a grateful smile. "Thank you."
"You're welcome," Adam said. And then, he added, "No more running out of gas."
So Brian had told him.
"I promise," I said.
"That could be a real bad deal. Stranded out somewhere," he went on.
I nodded. "I know. It won't happen again."
I gave them both a hug, thinking again that I really was pretty lucky.
7
I didn't see Kristen at all in the morning during class changes in the hallways. Since Crane, and Adam, too, had been so nice that
morning about Saturday working for Ivy again, and about the spending money, and all, well, that made my mood better. Therefore, I
made an extra effort in class and in the daily work. At lunch I was feeling lighthearted, and we were all talking about the dance that
was coming up. Life was, I decided, a whole lot better when I was doing well at school, and not in dutch with any of my brothers.
7
Mid-week there began to be talk of a party that was going to be happening on the following weekend. Our lunch group, consisting of Kenny and I,
Trent and Lori, and Guthrie, and now Misty joined us on some days, talked about the party. Mostly because that seemed to be all that anybody was
talking about. Lori said that no way would she be going, since her dad was going to be home that weekend, and he rules their house with an iron fist. At least
that's what Lori says. When she asked Trent if he would go without her, he said no way, and Lori smiled so big she looked like she was
glowing. Misty, being a little younger, well only a year younger than me and Lori, but two years younger than Guthrie, looked at Guthrie as
if she was a little nervous. Guthrie shut down her questioning look by saying, "I won't be goin'."
I, of course, knew that I would not be going, either. Even though I wouldn't mind going to some parties sometimes, my limited past
experience with parties hadn't been that great. The couple of times that I've actually gone to one, I've gotten into trouble. One at the party
where I drank and got sick, and Evan and Ford came hunting for me. That night had ended badly. With me losing one of my boots, and then
the next day Evan and I had gone toe-to-toe over everything, and he'd spanked my rear end. The second one, I'd been in the canoe when Chelsea stood up,
and tipped it over, and sloshed beer all over me. So, I smelled like beer, even though I hadn't drank a single drop. It had taken me what seemed
like forever to convince Adam that I wasn't lying about that part of it.
So...
Fast forward to Saturday morning. I enjoyed a full-sized ranch breakfast of scrambled eggs, and ham, with biscuits. Adam and Hannah
were leaving for the day, taking Isaac with them and picking Marie up. Marie had had some recent eye surgery, and so she wasn't driving by
herself again yet. Her sister in Sacramento was in the hospital and Adam and Hannah were driving her to visit her. It was going to be a long
day, and Adam and Hannah were even contemplating spending the night in a hotel instead of driving back so late.
The conversation at breakfast was about that, and Adam making sure it was all good and alright that he was going to be gone. Crane had plans to go
out that night with Ivy, to visit her parents. They live quite some distance away, and they're older parents. There was a chance, though
not set in stone, that the two of them might spend the night away, as well.
"Ivy thinks her parents are going to want us to stay overnight," Crane was saying.
They talked about ranch work that needed to be done, and all of that. Evan came in midway of that conversation, and sat down to
eat a biscuit with apple jelly.
"You don't worry about stuff here," Brian was saying to Adam and to Crane. "We can manage."
"I know. I'm not worried," Adam said.
"You know you are," Brian told him. "But you don't need to be."
Adam turned his attention to Guthrie, and to me. "What do you two have planned for tonight?"
"I might go play some pool with Trent tonight," Guthrie said. "If Brian doesn't work me so hard today that I'm too tired to go."
"That could be," Brian said, dryly.
"How about you?" Adam turned to me.
"I have a date with Kenny," I said.
"Going where?" he asked.
"I'm not sure," I admitted. "We didn't really decide."
"Well, you decide, and you let Brian know where you're going to be at," Adam said. "Alright?"
I nodded in agreement.
Adam was getting to his feet, and looking at Hannah. "You about ready?" he was asking her. "I want to get on the road before
it gets much later."
"I'll go up and get Isaac's bag, and be right down," Hannah said, and headed for the stairs. "What about the dishes?" she asked, pausing.
"I've got the dishes," Clare said, waving her on.
"I'll help before I leave for Ivy's," I said.
Adam picked Isaac up from his high chair. "You two mind your curfews tonight," he told Guthrie and I.
"I haven't missed curfew in-" Guthrie paused, "Like years."
"Is that right?" Adam said, raising an eyebrow. "Well, that's comforting."
The good natured bantering went on for a few more minutes, and then Adam, Hannah and Isaac left. Clare and I did the dishes, and then
I left to go to town for my morning's work with Ivy.
As I drove, with my window down and the sun warming my skin, I thought what a terrific day it was going to be.
Oh, yeah. Don't count your chickens before they hatch. Things never seem to continue smoothly for Harlie McFadden.
7