Geek to Farm

I kept my own annoyance in check and explained what I had seen, what I had done and what had happened. She nodded and turned to Derek. “The server is off?” and he nodded.

“Is there another file available somewhere?”

“My main hard drive,” I offered. “I used a mirror copy of my hard drive to run the experiment.”

She looked over at Mike and Dick. “Will you bring the box please guys?” They left and she turned to me. “How did you make the mirror copy?”

I did not like her tone one little bit but decided to ride the bucket. We needed them. All I could do was hope they were good enough. I explained how I did everything and saw that she was looking out the window to the mountains far away. I stopped talking and she turned to me with that annoyed look. “I am listening Mr. Gough. Please don’t waste my time. Can you explain the sequence of events after you identified the threat?”

I felt anger pushing up in my chest and nearly turned to walk away. Instead I took a deep breath and carried on. I was still speaking when the two geeks got back with the ‘box’. Without even looking at me she asked Derek for an office with a large table. He mentioned the boardroom and she showed him to lead the way and started to walk away. Confused I kept quiet and she gave me an annoyed glance over her shoulder. “Do you need to be kick started every time Mr. Gough? Please carry on.”

I was angry. Here was a woman playing the gender thing to its limit. She must know that if she had been a man she most likely would by now be looking at a fist moving towards her jaw. “Your last sentence was ‘..a reference code calling up a set of variables..'” she taunted my temper and I exploded.

“Miss Middleton!” I almost yelled, “Do you mind cutting me some slack here? I understand that you may be some whizz kid when it comes to these things but I do not appreciate your special kind of rudeness!”

She did not even miss a heartbeat. “Mr. Gough, I am here to do a job. I need the information required to start immediately. I suppose you understand that time is one thing we are in short supply of right now. If you feel yourself incompetent to answer my questions, please say so and I will delve into the system myself to find it but I hope you realize that it may take up precious time.”

Somewhere in the back of my mind I saw Tom the cat turning red and a pressure valve opening above his head before attacking that mouse. The thought of waving my extended talons in front of her terrified face made me smile and I just shook my head. I decided to just keep on talking and ignore her bad manners. I thought that would work but in a minute she held up her hand to make me stop.

“Can you tell me why you ran that code?”

I shrugged. “It seemed like a good idea at the time.”

She rolled her eyes. “You live dangerously. Please carry on.”

While I spoke I idly watched the geeks unpack the mother of all desktop computers from the ‘box’ and as expected the case was open with all the insides visible. Along with it were all kinds of little black boxes and a million miles of cabling. The geeks knew what they were doing and without so much as a single moment of wasted effort that monster was assembled and I idly watched it boot up. The operating system was something I had never seen before and I noticed Derek looking on with every neuron in his brain on full alert. I had stopped talking and it seemed as if miss Bad Manners had decided to ignore me until she held out her hand.

“Your hard drive Mr. Gough.”

For a moment I wondered if she was my awful neighbor’s daughter but again I bit down on my anger and walked to my office. I returned and placed it next to her on the table and as if she could read my mind she nodded to me. “I will not damage it Mr. Gough. Will you please bring me some coffee?”

Did she think I was in her employ? I just walked out and found Dick Strange following me. In the tearoom he tapped me on the shoulder and I turned to him. “Joey is an Ausberger,’ he stated and I stared at him. I pictured some little village somewhere in Germanic Europe but it did not make sense.

“Where’s that?” I asked and Dick laughed at me. I felt stupid.

“It is a form of Autism.”

“Oh.” I had heard about Autism but had no idea what it meant.

Dick snickered. “When she is sound asleep, her brain operates at the level ours do when we are wide awake and struggling with a life threatening challenge.”

I chuckled. “Her brain too busy for some basic good manners?”

Dick gave me a rueful smile. “You asked her to cut you some slack. May I ask you the same?”

I watched the coffee running into a mug and looked up at Dick. “You got it. You seem to know her. How does she take her coffee? I was a little scared to ask her.”

“Sweet as an angel’s song and black as midnight.”

I dropped two teaspoons of sugar into her mug and Dick leaned over. “Add another three mister. Unless you want Joey to skin you alive.”

My eyes shot up. “Five? Seriously?” and Dick nodded. “Just do it.”

Walking back to the boardroom I hoped Dick was not a practical joker. Five teaspoons of sugar? Great Scott! It must leave crystals of sugar behind her ears! As it was she sipped at it when I put it next to her and simply carried on typing at a speed I wished I was capable of. Not a thank you or a nod of acknowledgement. Nothing.

Derek was transfixed. I caught his eye and he ogled his eyes mouthing “Wow!” I went to stand so that I could at least see what she was doing on the two large displays in front of her. It was evident I was watching a genius at work. If she had been working at half speed she would still have left me gasping in her dust. In the deathly silence I heard the main door open and I sprinted out to see Mr. Tremaine and Wilson, our MD, entering. I motioned them to my office and closed the door behind us.

“Good morning Gentlemen”, I greeted and indicated the boardroom. “We have a team at work in there but before you enter I just want to brief you quickly.” I explained who were here, where they were from and what my objective opinion of them were. I ended with, “The girl is called Joey. Please do not greet her or even speak in there.” I decided to share my newfound knowledge. “She is an Ausberger.”

Mr. Tremaine grunted with a nod. “Know the type. Are they getting somewhere?”

I grinned at him. “She is working at a speed I have never seen before but if you want to know how far she is, I suggest you ask from a distance. She has claws like a Grizzly and canines like a Sabre tooth cat. You may bleed.”

“Ugly?” Mr. Wilson asked and I laughed. “Only if bothered.”

Chapter 9

We trooped into the boardroom where everybody greeted the two bosses with smiling nods but not a word was spoken. If Joey had noticed anyone entering she gave no indication of it. After watching her work for a few minutes the bosses nodded to John and Reese and me to follow them.

In the tearoom Mr. Wilson turned to me with a worried expression. He nodded to John and Reese. “I spoke to your bosses this morning and we agreed to split the cost of these people between us. We don’t know where this thing came from and spending a fortune to find blame is going to be more damaging than anything.” He toyed with his pen. “I spoke to our lawyers last night. They are already preparing for a possible class action suit against us. Should that happen we may have to liquidate and close our doors.”

I felt sick. I was ok. My particular capabilities were in short supply so finding another job would be fairly easy but there were others who would be hit hard. I made coffee for us and on the whim made one for Joey as well. Mr. Tremaine guffawed when he saw the amount of sugar going into Joey’s mug. “She must be a sweet girl!”

I just looked at him and mumbled. “Yeah. Like honey surrounded by fire ants.”

In the boardroom Derek was almost hanging over Joey with the two geeks on either side. All were staring at one of the monitors with rapt attention. I put the mug of coffee down and received an almost imperceptible thumbs-up from her but that was it. Lines of code were running down the screen and I glanced at it, knowing that I had missed the chance to be up to date on what was happening here.

I shrugged and went back to the tearoom. The mood was gloomy and conversations were stunted. At around twelve Mr. Wilson made me go and get one of the geeks.

“Does Joey eat while working?” he asked Dick and indicated me. “Johnathan tells that she has claws and I do not want to bother her.”

Dick smiled apologetically. “She does not have claws Sir. It is just her way. And yes, I think she is starving. She usually gets very hungry when she operates at this level. May I ask for something easy to eat while she works?”

“Such as?”

“Something like chicken or fish nuggets. Little vegetable balls would also be great. Something she can just grab with one hand and pop it in her mouth. Grapes and the like? Even chocolate.”

I found it funny to see the two bosses walking down the corridor to go and get take-outs for us. The tables had turned. They were doing us favors!

An hour later we were all eating what we had ordered with Joey popping a variety of food in bite size bits into her mouth while chewing furiously but never stopping her hammering at the keyboard. I felt bad. She must have been desperately hungry.

Time slipped and at around four Joey pulled a flash drive from that gigantic machine. She looked at Derek with a smile. “Shall we go and start your server?”

I felt excited. If she wanted to start the server she must be onto something! We almost ran to the server room where she inserted the flash drive and after giving Derek very clear and strict instructions, we fired it up. If I was expecting the normal opening screen I must have been as dense as rock. Lines of code ran. Sometimes slowly, sometimes fast and then after about five minutes it stopped with the curser blinking at the end of a line.

Joey leaned close to the screen, read some of the code and with an almost naughty smile, typed a few lines of code and hit enter.

Immediately a horde of code started running and Joey laughed as she slapped the table. It sounded so good! We all laughed but only she knew what we were laughing at.

“Gotcha!” she yelled and looked at Derek. “Pull the plug mister!”

As we all stood there staring at a blank monitor she rubbed her hands with glee. “Man, that was goood!”

Mr. Wilson approached her with his hand outstretched. “Tommy Wilson.”

She grabbed his hand and shook it vigorously. “Joey Middleton,” she said happily. “No relation to the Royal family though.”

I was flabbergasted at the change in her. Her eyes were red and I could just imagine how tired she must have been but the joy in her face made it light up. Damn! She was pretty!

We trooped back to the boardroom with her in the lead. Inside she stood looking at a monitor filled with lines of stationary code as if thinking.

“May I ask something miss Middleton?” Mr. Wilson asked and she nodded almost absent mindedly. “Does this mean that we can get back to work?”

She just glanced up at him. “No, Mr. Wilson. If I may make a comparison. It is like a doctor diagnosing a particular ailment you have. Knowing what is going on simply points us in a particular direction so that the correct medication may be developed or administered.”

He nodded. “Any idea how long?”

She looked over at me and there was a shadow of a smile. “Mr. Gough inadvertently fiddled where only the brave would have gone and it was like poking a cornered lion with a stick. If he had not done that we probably would not have known how dangerous this little rascal is. I do not even think the creator of this bug knew what he had done. It acts almost like artificial intelligence. It is dangerous on a new level.”

“Meaning what?” I asked with a knot on my stomach.

This time she actually smiled. “Your computer being fried was an accidental combination of code. I have developed a code to identify the little pest on a computer. That means we can test all the computers here and at your friend’s place. But that still takes us nowhere.”

“You still have to make medicine?” I chuckled.”

“Yes Mr. Gough. And for that I need time.” She turned to the two directors. “Mr. Wilson, Tremaine? I am really tired. If you don’t mind I would like to go home and rest. Tomorrow I will put in a Herculean effort to resolve this but I need peace and quiet around me. May I beg another day with no-one here?”

Mr. Wilson waved it away. “You can have whatever you like young lady. Will one day be enough though?”

She shrugged. “I don’t know. Usually there comes a time when you break through something and from there it becomes easy. At other times, not quite. I just need a day to get into a groove without some rubberneck coming in and asking me what I was doing at some impossible time.”

I laughed. “Am I considered a rubberneck?”

She laughed and pointed at me in a playful way. “You make good coffee Mr. Gogh. Keep it up and I may just allow you the privilege of peeking once in a while.” I liked her.

We went our respective ways and after playing with Grody I made myself a dinner of frozen junk. Once again I went to the basement to practice. The breathing was becoming almost second nature and I found I could hold a note for considerably longer than I was used to. That of course made me push even harder. By late night I was tired but very happy with myself.

Wednesday I was at the traffic light from early on but no little Ford I was so desperate to see again. At the office I saw Joey working hard with the geeks running live tests as she dished it out to them. I made coffee and generally kept out of the way. Derek was a man possessed. He never left Joey’s side and watched every line of code generated. At around three I went home after making a last round of coffee.

Thursday, after the traffic light, I found some people at work but everybody kept their conversations to a very hushed level. The boardroom was treated almost like sacred ground. Nobody even tried to go in and not a word was spoken near that door. Just after lunch Reese came in, disappeared into the room and within twenty minutes came running out with a flash drive clutched in his hand. I idly watched him disappear down the passage before packing up to go home. With no computer at my disposal there was nothing I could do anyway.

When I walked into the office on Friday morning I found a bleary eyed Derek making coffee. He looked like the walking dead.

“Almost there,” he greeted me and pushed coffee my way while motioning for me to follow him. In the boardroom three very tired people greeted me and accepted the coffee from me.

“Making progress?” I asked and Joey nodded.

“Reese ran a check on their systems yesterday afternoon and found a variety of this bug,” she mused. “It confirmed my suspicion that it was multiplying itself but in a different cloak every time. It means I have to outthink it to stop it. Right now, I am too tired to think anymore. I had hoped I may be finished by today but there is no way. I think I can go for a few hours more but that will be it.”

“You went through the night,” I mused and Derek chuckled.

“We kind of lost track of time. The rising sun brought us back to reality, but we found something meaningful.”

I looked at him and he almost giggled. “That bug is totally Windows dependent. We dropped it into four other operating systems and it just sat there taking up a little space. Nothing we did could entice that thing to wake up.”

“Meaning?” I asked looking at Joey.

She beamed. “It means uncle Billy will want to know about it.”

I laughed. “Have you let him know?”

Dick shook his head violently. “Not until we have found the ‘cure’. They can be very bullying and they will simply push us to relinquish our files and then reap the rewards.”

“So what are you planning?”

“Drink gallons of coffee and carry on working,” Joey sighed. “I can’t stop now.”

I thought about their all-night ordeal and asked. “Breakfast?”

Joey sighed. “I think I can eat a whole cow right now. Thanks, it will be lovely.”

Henry had to do the shopping as I was there with the bike and bags of take-out don’t fare well in panniers.

For the rest of the morning I coasted around the office mostly making a nuisance of myself and supplying the team in the boardroom with coffee.

It was just after twelve while I was chatting to Jenny when a blood curdling scream accompanied by crashing furniture came from that boardroom. I upturned at least one chair on my way there and almost ripped the door from its hinges to get in. Inside an image from some movie about deranged people was playing out. Derek was jumping up and down with the poor Mike with his slight build being used as something like a pogo stick. Dick was slapping his palms against the wall while Joey was hammering her little fists on the table with so much force that everything on it jumped.

I was still trying to make out what had happened in there when she saw me. She ran at me and simply jumped onto me with her legs around my midriff and almost had us toppling over. As it was I had to take a few very fast backward steps to regain my balance and I quickly put my arms around her body to keep her from moving and upsetting our balance again. Her arms went around my neck and with her hands locked, started kissing me wherever she found space while laughing and crying at the same time.

At last she put her forehead against mine and yelled in my face. “We killed it!”

Behind us a roar rose from those present and I hugged that strange woman to me with enough force to make her grunt.

“How?” I laughingly asked and she struggled free. She almost ran to that monster desktop and showed me a few lines of code.

“Remember the coding you used to make it go mad?” she asked with shining eyes. I nodded and she giggled with glee. “I modified it slightly and fed it to the little pest. It simply keeled over and died! It was so simple! Almost like a poison apple.”

I marveled at the way she regarded the bug as being alive but maybe that was what it was. Just on a different level.

“Are we ready to go back on line?” I asked but was met by two puppy dog eyes.

“I am going to the hotel and sleep forever,” she almost squeaked. “Once we are rested we will come back and run exhaustive tests. Once that is done we will write a program that can be distributed. Then, and only then, will you go back on line. Sorry Johnathan.”

I shrugged and hugged her to me. “Honestly I am glad I will not be able to work. We have the pop rock festival tomorrow and I need to be rested.”

She pushed away to look up at me. “You attending?”

I chuckled. “Performing actually.”

She nodded sadly. “I wish you luck. I will be working here and anyway, I am tone deaf.”

“Meaning?”

She smiled. “To me music is just a rhythmic jumble of sounds. Sometimes I wish I could hear what others do but alas, I don’t.”

I grimaced. “Music defines my world. I cannot even imagine living without it.”

She giggled and held up her hands formed into claws. “I eat bugs!” she said with her teeth bared and I hugged her to me again, laughing.

“Sleep well and I wish you strength for tomorrow. See you Sunday?”

She nodded against my chest and then pushed away. Minutes later I watched the little troop leave and silently wished them deep sleep as I got my own stuff together to leave.

Chapter 10

When I walked onto the stage on Saturday night I was rolling. Grody was with Dave and his wife so no worries there. I could not remember a time I had been more ready for anything and I could feel the energy pulsing through me. The shortened afternoon gig had only served to whet my appetite and I grabbed the mike and yelled into it like a madman. It was as if my lungs had an endless supply of air. I shook my head and felt my long hair curl around my head, still restrained by a tight sweatband.

I looked the part. I had found a pair of hipster jeans and had small reflective discs sewn down the outside of the bell bottom in a pattern of swirls. My belt was from a Cowboy shop and was a wide thing with a silver buckle sporting an eagle with spread wings. The white shirt I rented from some fancy dress shop and was almost gaudy with lace-like frills at the back and over my chest. From my shoulder down to the frills they had also sewn the little reflective discs.

I bent down, picked up my guitar and plugged in. A few chords and then I gave it an off-key strum with the distortion on high. It reverberated around the stage and I could see the mass of people react to it.

“Hello to all you beautiful people!” I yelled into the mike and raised my guitar into the air. The crowd cheered and I started plucking softly at a random collection of chords. “So this is it!” I shouted into the mike again. “I hope all of you have donated royally to our charities because I sure as hell am not going to stand here and ruin my vocal chords for nothing!”

Cheers and clapping greeted me and I laughed. “All right! As you know, today is the day we honor those who came before. This is a concert of only covers and all of them have to be at least thirty years old!” I started playing a heavy rock intro and just as most people began moving to the music I slapped the guitar to silence.

“All day today I listened to bands rocking and rolling!” I laughed into the mike. “We are concerned that too much of a good thing may be detrimental to your health and have decided to play out tonight with gentle Country ballads only. So, close dancing and no head banging!” I was silent for a few seconds. “Oh and by the way. The volume will be turned down low to protect your ears. I expect no talking while I sing!”

I saw people laughing and some raising glasses. I turned and nodded to Nicky on bass. Jimmy started a soft and slow drum beat and I started playing the intro to John Denver’s ‘Take me home Country roads‘ to the confusion of a few people down below me. I let it go for a few lines and then nodded to Nicky again. ‘Country Roads’ suddenly turned into the heavy thumping intro to Nazareth’s version of ‘This Flight Tonight‘ and I felt gooseflesh. I was ready for this!

I have a rather raspy singing voice so I could do well with covers of Nazareth, Smokey, Rod Steward and the like. I also like to play with my voice but this song by Joni Mitchell, made famous by the raspy scream of Dan McCafferty just fitted me like a glove. I loved singing it and I gave it my all. The crowd grabbed my performance and I could see many singing along while moving to the energetic beat. At the end of it we glided into Bad Finger’s ‘Baby Blue‘. Nicky loved playing bass on this and I could see him leaning into his guitar, his fingers busy making his guitar rumble. Cheap Trick’s ‘The Flame‘ followed and for nearly two hours we went at it with great gusto before we took a drink break. I was feeling on top of the world.

When we picked up again I took the acoustic, went to the mike, took it off the stand and started pacing the stage while talking.

“You may have noticed that up to now we have only done songs by male singers. There is a reason why. Can you imagine listening to this?” and I started on Juice Newton’s ‘Angel of the Morning‘. Of course I wrecked it. No way on this earth will I ever be able to imitate that beautiful voice and I intentionally made my voice slip over the higher notes. In the crowd I saw a guy bent double with laughter and I gave it a few more lines before raising my hand to get the guys behind me to stop.

I guffawed as I started to speak and had to wait for the laughter to subside before carrying on. “Now you know!” I grinned and made to go and sit down on the bar stool on stage. “On the other hand, there have been a few of our more beautiful artists that sang songs that even I can sing along to without causing dogs to bite their humans. One was referred to as God’s Only Daughter because of her striking beauty and unique voice. Melanie Safka sang the Rolling Stones’ Ruby Tuesday and gave it her soul. It has been sung by many but improved by none. Of course, I have no intention of imitating her voice but I like the arrangement.”

I sang that song with my soul hanging out. Somewhere I sang with Tammy, Jenny, my mom and even Justin in my mind but somewhere the vague image of Melanie’s face popped up. I sang with every fiber in my body and was tired when I played the closing chords and the crowd erupted. I bowed, put my guitar down and walked to the keyboard.

“We changed the following song quite a bit and we love the sound of it but we need a man up here who is a master of the electric guitar to give it that special energy. Please give our guest artist a chance to get to the stage. I jokingly call him our jerky treat because of his age. He claims to have been a deck hand on Noah’s Ark. Do I believe him? You bet!” The crowd laughed and I watched as Wallace untangled himself from where he and Mom had been sitting with Tammy and Devon and shoulder his way through the crowd. As he came nearer the clapping and cheering followed him. It was obvious that the crowd reacted to this rather big, bald headed man in his senior years. On stage he went to his guitar, plugged in and without so much as a moment’s hesitation made that thing sing and dance. For seconds the crowd was stunned to silence but then they started dancing and the cheering and whistling grew in volume and intensity.

On que he slowed down and brought the volume down before changing to just a whisper as I started on the keyboard with the intro to ‘Alone‘. Between Wallace and us we had modified this song extensively on Sunday. We slowed down the beat and gave it a more robust sound with a stronger rolling bass. The moment I started to sing Melanie came to mind again and once again I sang with my soul. I loved this song and sang it easily. Singing it with Melanie in my mind also seemed a good thing. As I ended the third verse Wallace stomped on his pedal and that guitar of his roared to life. I glanced around at him and smiled before looking into the crowd again. Happy faces and couples dancing close with others obviously singing along at the top of their voices. I idly wondered if we should record this version of ours. It had a fire that rivaled Heart’s best performance.

“The sexiest female duo ever to grace our stages!” I yelled into a raised mike as the song ended. “Ann and Nancy Wilson of ‘Heart’ took this song and turned into a fantastic hit!” The crowd roared and I started on Smokey’s ‘Gypsy Girl‘. Wallace simply did his magic and that song really came alive.

Many songs later I glanced at my watch. We still had at least another forty minutes on stage. My voice was getting tired and I had a long drink of water. I nodded to Wallace and he walked over.

“Think you can do something to give my voice a rest? Something like that awesome solo? I’m taking strain here with the increased time.”

He just nodded and walked over to the rest of the guys. After a quick chat he came to the front and gave me a thumbs-up. I gratefully walked backstage listening to his guitar starting an intro that was vaguely familiar and then I came to a stop and turned around. I stared at Jimmy and he gave me two big eyes. I glanced over at Nicky and Donny who just smiled at me and I saw them lean into their guitars.

I stood transfixed, praying that this was not going to blow up in our faces but when Wallace started to sing I felt my scalp crawl. It took only seconds to realize that Wallace was a master of ‘Tougher than the rest‘ and that even Mr. Springsteen himself would have been impressed. The crowd went berserk and I watched as cigarette lighters went up all over the crowd with people swaying to the glorious music. A pang went through me as I thought of Joey who would never be able to enjoy this. Near the back I saw Devon effortlessly lift my protesting mom onto a table so that she could see.

My sore voice forgotten I sauntered up to a mike and softly hummed to fill the score. Donny was singing into his mike with his eyes closed and once or twice even Nicky croaked into his mike. Zach seemed in a world all his own with eyes closed and an expression of rapture on his face as he softly tickled his twelve string.

As Wallace closed that song down the crowd went wild with loud pleas for an encore and without so much as a glance at me he went into that incredible solo and as on Sunday the rest of us gently moved into it. This time round it was even better as the rest of the band had start had a chance to get their act together and the crowd wallowed in it.

After that we did Smokey’s ‘Wild, wild angels‘ as a duo and then launched into our rendition of Rod Steward’s ‘I don’t want to talk about it‘, also as a duo. Wallace laughingly started acting as the hurt individual but when he went down on his knee, pleading with me I burst out laughing. Wallace snorted and the crowd roared with laughter with him rolling on stage, screaming. Jimmy kept the music going while Wallace and I tried to compose ourselves only to fail and collapse again as soon as he tried to sing. We eventually got it together again and finished it to a tumultuous applause. ‘Sailing‘ followed and near the end I noticed the producer standing in the wings and with his hands together in front of him. I looked over at him again and saw him motioning to me to give him a moment. As the song ended he walked over to me and pulled me away from the mike.

I felt empty when he walked off stage. I motioned to all the band members and they clustered around me. I quickly told them the bad news and turned to the mike as the rest of our little band put down their instruments.

I took a deep and shuddering breath before starting to speak in a voice that was not at its best for more reasons than being tired.

“Ladies and Gentlemen. Some of you may have heard why Kriptin had to cancel their show tonight. Philip has laryngitis and consequently could not sing. What most of you do or did not know was that Kenny, the bassist’s mom, was critical with pancreas cancer and all of them were with her.”

I took a few deep breaths. “We just heard that Kenny’s mom had passed away a few minutes ago.”

I saw the shock travel through the crowd and noticed a number of women burying their faces in their hands. Others had their faces into the chests of the men with them.

I looked around and made a decision. “I do not think it would be proper to carry on with the festival so I guess we wrap it up here.” The crowd was silent and I glanced around. First at Jimmy and then at Wallace. Both nodded, and I turned back to the mike.

“I want to ask everyone present to stand with their hands on heart while we have a minute’s silence in which we hold those left behind in our thoughts.”

Most of the crowd was standing anyway and a hush fell over us. I let an interminable time elapse before I glanced up with a “Thank you”. I scanned the crowd below me and something caught my eye. I swung my eyes back and noticed a vaguely familiar face close to the front. It took a second look to recognize Melanie. She looked beautiful with her hair loose and hanging in a bunch of wavy curls down the side of her face. I wanted to show her to come up stage but a large group of people moved in front of her and I lost sight of her. I tried to find her again in the maelstrom of bodies but failed. Wallace spoke to me and I turned around to answer. By the time I looked into the crowd again it had thinned but Melanie was nowhere to be seen. I kept scanning the crowd in an effort to see her while we packed up our equipment and stowed the big bits into Jimmy’s trailer after which I got into the SUV and started home.

The buoyancy of earlier had made place for exhaustion and there was a burning sensation in my throat. Next time we were offered two consecutive slots at a festival I will show the producer a rude set of fingers. Dave’s house was dark and I decided to let Grody spend the night. I showered and flopped down on the bed. Tired as I was I could not sleep. I wondered how Joey and company had fared. I chuckled. I had gone from disliking that woman to liking her a lot. I remembered her clinging to my body and kissing me madly. Any other woman would have had me running for the hills or aroused but with Joey it just seemed natural. It was just her happy way.

My thoughts drifted to Melanie. If I had known she was coming I would have asked her to join our group. I liked her and I idly thought back to our strange encounter when Justin was killed. I was certain her behavior towards me would have been frowned upon had it been witnessed but as it was, the worst I saw was Mark’s reaction to the half and half incident. I remembered wondering what she would look like had her hair not been tied back so severely. Tonight I saw her briefly and her hair had been loose around her face almost like my girl with the honey-hazel…

“Shit!” I yelled and sat upright with so much force that the bed moved. I desperately tried to remember Melanie’s eye color on the night of Justin’s death but had to give it up. The lights had been dim and I had been too upset to really notice but somewhere in my memory two pairs of eyes tried to fit. Damn!

Can it be possible? I fell back against the pillows, laughing to myself. It would be the funniest thing! Her face… Now what did my honey-hazel eyes look like? I had to shrug to myself. In all fairness to myself I can only remember a view of a few seconds. Dark hair. Wavy. Eyes lit up because of the slanting sun. Other than that? Yeah! The smile! Why the infatuation? Was my vigil at the traffic light at an end? I fell asleep wondering.

Chapter 6

I woke to find Grody in the back garden happily dozing in a patch of sun. I phoned Dave, thanked him for the favor and made myself a boring breakfast. The Sunday traffic was easy as I took a leisurely drive to work with Grody sitting in his seat and looking at the rest of humanity as if he simply tolerated them. At the office I parked and cocked my eye at an eclectic selection of vehicles parked close to the main entrance. Nearby a U-Haul was parked and I frowned when I noticed four armed men standing around it, obviously on guard detail.

With Grody at my heels I walked to the main entrance and was met by some more guards who stopped me from entering. Now, there are things in life that make my hackles rise and some stranger preventing me from going where I had full right to be was rather high on that list. When one held his arm stretched out to stop me my temper flared and I lifted my arm to shove him out of my way. Another moved his hand over his baton and I swung on him.

“If you touch that thing I will ram it down your throat so hard the tip will stick out your arsehole!” I yelled at him in my still hoarse voice.

“Please Sir,” another guard pleaded. “We have orders that no unauthorized persons may enter the building. May I ask who you are?”

My hackles were still up when I growled, “Johnathan Gough. I work here.”

“May I ask what your business is here on a Sunday?”

I looked at him and almost smiled. “You may ask but it has absolutely fuck-all to do with you. Now get out of my way. You are neither Police nor any Government sanctioned security force and consequently as far as I am concerned you are trespassing.”

“The doors are locked Sir,” he said carefully. “It can only be opened from inside on orders from those inside or a request from us.”

I stared at him. “What in hell is going on here?”

He shrugged. “I do not really know. Our job is to secure the building.”

I turned around and pulled out my phone. Derek’s phone went to voicemail and I dialed my own desk.

Henry answered and my eyes nearly popped out. Henry at work on a Sunday? Something big must have happened.

“I am standing in the foyer and cannot get in,” I fumed. “Can you tell me what’s going on?”

“Hold on.”

I heard mumbled conversation and then he was back on the line. “We can clear your entry Johnathan but that means you will have to stay here until this situation has been sorted.

“What?”

Henry chuckled. “Cloak and dagger stuff Johnathan. Have the day to yourself. In here we are almost prevented from talking and we can’t leave.”

“But what in hell is going on?”

Henry snickered. “I can’t tell you much right now Johnathan. Have you seen the news?”

I shook my head. “No.”

“Check it out,” he chuckled. “As soon as this is sorted I’ll get Derek to call you and give you as much of the details as he can.”

I disconnected and walked to my car. Inside I got out my phone again and scrolled to the day’s news. My jaw dropped. Almost every news channel featured the discovery of a new and malicious computer virus and most had it on about the destruction it had already caused. For a moment I thought that it may have been traced to us as the source and hence the security but then Henry’s almost happy voice made a lie of that. So what happened?

With a sigh I started the car and drove home. Very soon I was bored to tears. I considered driving to town to buy myself a new laptop so that I could be occupied but then I thought of Tammy. My computer had been the problem there. Maybe I should consider a serious change in lifestyle. One where computers were off limits, like hiking or going to the gym. Maybe even start up golf. I went outside and played with Grody in the street. He loved chasing me around and very soon I was sweating and breathing heavily. I was seriously unfit and contemplated what to do about it when a car pulled up in my driveway. I gathered Grody to me and saw Kenny get out followed by Mark the policeman.

It was obvious that Kenny was still distraught but smiled as he shook my hand. “I came around to thank you for last night Johnathan. Mark was kind enough to show me where you live.”

I shrugged. “Think nothing of it Kenny. My voice is a little rough today but it will get better.”

I saw a question fly over his face and then he smiled ruefully. “Yeah, thanks for that as well but I was referring to you closing down the festival out of respect for my mom and especially the minute of silence. Please know that it is deeply appreciated.”

I cocked my head. “You’re welcome. Want to come inside?”

Kenny shook his head. “Things are a shambles back home Johnathan. Maybe another time?”

I nodded and watched them get into the car. They had already started backing up when I yelled at them. Mark rolled down his window and gave me a raised eye. “Something wrong Mr. Gough?”

I stood there feeling silly. “Do you know if Melanie is on duty today?”

He bit his lower lip. “She is on leave Mr. Gough. Why?”

“I’d like to contact her. Go someplace y’know?”

Mark looked up as if appraising me and fished for his phone. “If she asks, I gave it to you on pain of death.”

Chapter 11

Half an hour later I threw the phone down for the umpteenth time. For some silly reason I felt like a teenager drumming up the courage to ask a girl out and failing. I switched on the kettle for some coffee, opened the refrigerator and stood there looking at a container of half and half. Screw this!

The phone had gone through about five rings and I nearly dropped the call when she answered. I realized that I had been holding my breath. I was scared!

“Hi Melanie,” I rasped with my tired vocal cords. “Johnathan Gough here. I was thinking of taking Grody for a walk in a park someplace and wondered if you would join me. Afterwards we could go somewhere for a movie or dinner or….”

A giggle stopped me. “Hello Johnathan.”

I took a long breath and chuckled. “Hello Melanie.”

“You mentioned a walk in the park?” she said and I could hear the smile.

“Yes!” I said rather loudly. “I am bored and Grody needs to get out and I do not want to go alone and…”

“Oh I am sorry Johnathan,” she interrupted me. “I am on leave and quite a distance from home.”

“Damn!” I sighed and let a few seconds pass. “Ok, can we do it when you get back?” I sighed rather loudly. “Please?”

She let me wait a few seconds before speaking. “Let me think on it, ok?”

I shrugged. “Sure. When can I phone again?”

“Whenever you like Johnathan,” she said and disconnected. I sat there looking at my phone as if it was something from some strange planet and wondered if I had just been given the ultimate snub when a text came through.

“Still bored?”

I frowned and typed; “Who said I was bored?”

“You did.”

“I did?”

“Questioning me?”

I ran through my emoji’s and put in a blushing face. “Apologies.”

“Phone me.”

I nearly rammed my finger through that touch screen. When she answered I laughed. “I do apologize for that.”

“What?”

“Saying I was bored when I asked you out. I guess it sounded off.”

“It did.”

“May I try that again?”

She giggled. “You may.”

I chuckled. “Melanie, I want to take you someplace. Maybe a walk through a park to start off with.”

“Why?”

I dived head first. “Because I want to. I like you. I want to spend time with you.”

“And Grody?”

“He can come along if it’s ok with you.”

“It is.” She said softly. “Pick me up?”

It took me a couple of seconds to grasp what she had said. “When?”

I heard her laugh. “I just need to dress accordingly and I will be ready.”

“You said…”

“I lied.”

“Why?”

“I am not a boredom alleviator mister. I’ll send you a location pin.”

Chapter 7

Melanie walked out the door of that condo and I came to a faltering stop. Here was my girl with the honey-hazel eyes. In the sunlight they glittered with a lustre that took my breath away. She walked up to me and I simply folded her into a hug. Surprise showed on her face but she did not pull away.

“I’ve been looking for you,” I said with my face inches from hers.

“Why?” she asked pulling her face just that little bit away from mine.

I smiled with something like a grimace as I scratched just above my ear. “I needed to find you.” I stood there looking at her. I guess I had a broken tv screen expression on my face. That was as lame as it comes. “I mean…”

“Why?”

My brain switched off. “I saw you one day. My dog was killed. I needed something. I was sitting on my bike. My boss wants to fire me but he can’t. You smiled at me. He needs me. No, the company needs me. No, that is wrong. I need the company. Justin connected me to my dad…”

Stupidly I stopped talking as her fingers came to rest on my lips. “You are blabbering,” she said with a smile that made her so beautiful that I stopped breathing.

I took a shuddering breath and tried to collect my thoughts. The feeling of her finger against my lips was like fire.

“Sorry.” I mumbled around her finger.

“What for?” she asked with a quizzical smile and then slowly took her finger from my lips. I just looked at her while my brain was still crashing around in neutral.

“You run around in my dreams,” I stammered while feeling my face heat up.

Her eyes lit up as she giggled. “You are blushing!”

I put my hand against my cheek and just stared at her trying to put some order into my thoughts but all I achieved was to kill the guard at my mouth. “Oh God you are beautiful!” I mumbled and felt the heat in my face go to melting point. Did I have to do that?

The smile left her face and it was replaced by a questioning look. Her eyes bored into mine as she softly said; “I wish I could see me through your eyes.”

I stared at her for interminable seconds. “I’m so glad I found you at last.”

She frowned. “I was at your house when Justin was killed. And you saw me at the festival.”

I nodded while dragging my fingers through my hair and I chuckled. “Yes, but I was looking for a girl at a traffic light with the most beautiful eyes I had ever seen who drives a little Ford.”

She nodded: “I drive a little Ford.”

“I know,” I sighed. “I mean, I did not know but you are the girl I was looking for and now that I have found you, I know.”

She smiled up at me. “Did you hear what you just said?”

I shook my head. “Did it sound strange?”

“Rather. But I get the idea.” She tapped against my chest. “You invited me for a walk. Shall we go?”

I reluctantly let her go and after locking her home, she walked to the SUV. Grody gave her a sideways glance and got into the back. I drove for about a mile before I reached over and found Melanie’s hand. As I folded my fingers around hers I felt her comb hers into mine. I felt I could explode!

We walked through the park, sometimes hand in hand, with Grody romping about. At a bench near a small lake we sat down and at first just sat there watching Grody chase anything from butterflies to birds but slowly our conversation went into our respective histories.

I knew about her fiancé being killed so we only touched on that one. She told me about her childhood, her parents living near Boulder Colorado and how she longed to go visit. She was quite interested in Wallace and when I told her that he was seeing my mom she looked at me askance.

“How do you feel about it?” she asked while looking from one eye to the other.

I smiled. “I am happy for them. Many people expect a new partner to fill the footsteps of the one before. It is wrong. Mom wants Wallace to make his own tracks next to her and never step where my father walked.”

She nodded. “Think they can be happy next time round?”

“I see no reason why not. In fact, I am convinced.” I looked away to where Grody was creeping up at some unseen adversary among the tall grass. “I hope to be.”

“You?”

I sighed and turned to her. “My marriage flopped.”

“You were married?”

I shrugged dismissively. “A very sad tale that.” She didn’t pry. Just looked at me, giving me the choice to elaborate or not. I realized I was holding my breath and let it out in a loud sigh. “My mistake.”

She raised her eyebrow and smiled. “That is refreshing to hear. Usually blame is placed on the other partner.”

I leaned forward to get closer to her. “Tammy had nothing to do with it. I wish I could say she had an affair or lost interest but, no. It was all me. I was tied up in the development of a new industrial control program and spent months at it. I was at work or working almost all the time. Even when I was at home I would be in front of a computer. She tried very hard to accommodate my apparent lack of interest. She never complained. She cooked lovely meals, had romantic table settings. Even dressed sexy. All I wanted to see was the final product on my computer.”

I had to give myself a few seconds. Deep inside it still hurt badly. “I heard her crying in bed one night and instead of going to her, I swore. Loudly. I think she feigned sleep when I eventually went to bed. I left for work the next morning and when I got home late that night she was gone. She had taken only her clothes and personal things. On the bed was the last love letter she wrote explaining how much she loved me but could not carry on living a loveless life.”

Melanie’s hand closed over my wrist when I stopped talking. “You still love her.”

I watched her face. She had an almost fearful expression. “Always will.”

“Do you know where she is?”

I chuckled. “We are in contact. After she left I was angry and tried to find ways to blame her. It took a while to realize that I was the only one who had goofed up and carefully tried to make amends but she had already met a guy who made her feel like a queen and treated her that way as well. I had no chance against him and anyway, the hurt I had caused was still there in both of us.”

“Do you meet sometimes?”

I chuckled. “They were with Mom and Wallace at the festival. Yeah, we get together often.”

Melanie quizzed. “Is it awkward when you, uhmm get together?

I grinned. “Get together as friends or as lovers?” I watched Melanie’s jaw go slack and a look of horror drift across her eyes. It made me laugh until she slapped me on my arm. “Devon is half the size of Mount Rushmore and even though Tammy and I still love each other deeply, it has settled into something like a mature….” I stopped, not knowing how to put it but knowing Melanie needed to know. So I shrugged again and smiled. “I think I can liken it to the way I may have felt to a twin sister if I had one. I care for her and love her deeply but the passion is gone.”

Melanie tilted her head and looked at me as if I was something that needed to be evaluated before being bought. “How do you know?”

“She does not play the main part in a wet dream anymore.” I stated as flat as I could and watched Melanie’s eyes grow and her face turn a shade of red. She placed her hands along her face and looked down at the ground. I could almost see her squirm and burst out laughing again.

“You are lovely when you blush!” I teased and saw the red in her face turn up a shade. “Just so’s you know. When I visit them Tammy and I still hug and it is nothing strange for her to spend time in my arms. Not always facing me but still…. We even kiss when we greet. And yet, even though I enjoy the closeness, I have yet to be aroused again. It is as if I had said goodbye to that.”

I could almost see the gears turn in Melanie’s head. A slight frown sat on her forehead and she still had that tilt to her head. Her eyes were searching mine and I sat there looking at her wondering about the next question.’

“Is err, uhm, her husband ok with that?” she asked and lifted her eyebrows.

I smiled at her. “Devon is ok with it.”

“How do you know?”

I chuckled. “I know. There are a number of reasons why.”

“Such as?”

I scratched my ear. “He is too much of a man to be jealous. He also understands that Tammy and I care for each other deeply but that she loves him totally. Also, I value our friendship greatly and something gigantic will have to happen for me to put that at risk. Tammy was worth it but I lost her and he gained her.”

She looked at me again and those terrific eyes had a million questions in them. “There is a mountain of trust there.”

“Yes,” I answered simply and she nodded as if something had been answered.

“I resigned,” she said suddenly. “The night Justin was killed I realized that I had lost something that I will never fully regain and it will be unfair to the Police force as well as myself to stay on. That is why I am on leave. A month’s notice.”

I nodded and pouted. “Any idea of the future?”

She smiled. “I met a lady who trains dogs for the disabled. Her house and kennels burnt down and is currently being rebuilt so she is housed in some farmhouse and barn. She does not really train at the moment so there is very little for me to do but as soon as she is up and running again I will be joining her.”

“Back to the dogs,” I mused.

“Yep. I like working with dogs. It is an unimaginable feeling of joy and satisfaction when you see a dog connect and grasp your intentions. To me it is the most difficult part of training. After that it is as if the dog had switched on and its brain becomes focused. Peter used to be able to do that in as little as a week sometimes. It takes me much longer but I am sure that in time I will get better.”

“You still miss Peter?” I asked softly and she looked up at me.

“Yes.”

I nodded. “You should.”

She frowned deeply. “Meaning?”

I shrugged. “If you did not miss him it means you never really loved him. I miss my dad.”

“And Tammy?”

I grinned. “I knew you were going to ask that. Tammy is not gone. Sometimes I feel sad that I hurt her enough to make her leave me but I do not miss her so much anymore. I know she is happy. If I want to speak to her I simply phone.”

It was getting cool and we started back to the car. I reached for her and she took my hand, gently squeezing it.

“Can I take you to dinner?” I asked as we got to the car but she shook her head gently.

“An old colleague of mine is coming over tonight and I promised him dinner.”

I felt a stab of jealous disappointment. “Him?”

She giggled and I felt her squeeze my hand harder. “David has been trying to woo me for as long as I know him and although I like him as a friend, there is no chance. He is about everything I do not want in a man to share my life.”

I nodded and tried to smile but I know I failed. She had a naughty smile pasted on her face as we drove home and kept the conversation to meaningless bits of generalities. Twice I tried to steer it into the direction of her visitor but she masterfully avoided it. At her condo I walked her to her door where she pasted a kiss to her finger and touched it to my lips.

“Goodnight Johnathan,” she said softly. “Phone me?”

“When?”

“Whenever.” There was a story in those magnificent eyes that I wished I could read.

Grody was still in the back seat when I drove away. At home I made a tasteless meal of frozen crap and rummaged around for something to read. I settled into an easy chair and had just started on an ancient western paperback when my phone rang.

“You sitting down mister?” Derek wanted to know and I chuckled.

“What happened?”

“Your little girl is a lot of things but a push-over she is not.”

“Who? Melanie?”

“Melanie?” Who’s that?”

“Never mind.”

“Joey!” he laughed. “She sold that program to some antivirus lab for a figure I cannot even pronounce. Someone came with an offer last night and she was almost ready to give it to them in exchange for the chance to work for them and then some guy by the name of Johanssen decided to bully her into surrendering her files for the common good. Holy cow!”

I laughed. “Did he get the Joey treatment?”

Derek guffawed. “She wiped the floor with him! That man got so angry I thought he was going to have a seizure and then that little girl simply told him to go fly a kite and phoned some other guy. By the time Johanssen realized that she was not going to be pushed around he had already lost his footing for negotiation. They lost out and Joey sold it to some other big shot company who made an impossible bid. I do not know these people but jeez, cloak and dagger!”

“I saw,” I mumbled.

“Reason I’m calling. You feel like a holiday?”

I laughed outright. “That program I was busy with has to go out Derek. You know that.”

He snickered. “Our whole server has been taken by the buyers. That includes your little hard drive and the remnants of your laptop. Until such time as I and our service providers have a new server running, we can do nothing here. Part of the sale is a stipulation that we may not go online for a minimum of two weeks. That means you are on holiday.”

“And Joey?”

Derek laughed so hard I had to give him time to recover. “She and her two friends are the guests of some crazy rich guy at some impossible to reach Caribbean Island where they may not touch a computer for the next month. Apparently to protect his investment. In fact, they are already at the airport under heavy guard.”

I took a deep breath. “So, a holiday it is. Maybe I must paint the house.”

“Henry said to come in tomorrow morning and fill in a leave form to make it legal. He also wants to chat to you.”

I rolled my eyes. Even though Henry had been quite civil to me the past few days I still had my reservations about him but if he wanted to talk I would humor him. I thanked him and sat there looking at a wall after ending the call. I had a forced holiday with no idea of what to do.

Maybe I could pick up my mom and go someplace she wanted. She had Wallace. Damn.

Melanie? I sat forward and started typing a text. After long moments of re-reading I deleted it and sat there for another few minutes. I started typing again. I didn’t want to bother her while she had a visitor so I did not phone. I sent the text and waited when an idea suddenly came to mind.

I quickly sent a new text and sat there waiting. After about a minute I sent another one. A few minutes later another one. I was starting to become annoyed when my phone beeped.

‘Am cooking. Can it wait?’

I sat there thinking and sent another text.

‘Like road trips?’

‘Yes.’ With a confused emoji

‘Call me when free.’

‘Will do.’

It was more than two hours later before my phone rang and by then I had conjured up all kinds of awful at Melanie’s place.

“Sorry I was so hectic Melanie,” I started. “Something came up tonight. How long are you on leave for?”

She was silent for a while. “Another three weeks. Why?”

Once again I dived head first. “I want to take you somewhere. Picking you up tomorrow morning at eight. We are hitting the road.”

“Where to?”

“Is it important?” I asked and then realized that I did not even try to think this through. “Pack for any weather and about a week or more, depending.”

She was quiet for a few seconds. “Am I supposed to trust you?”

“No. I have sinister designs on you.”

Her laughter was clear. “At least you are honest.”

“I have killed only five times,” I snickered. “And as far as I know they died rather quickly.”

“See you at eight,” she said in a strange voice and disconnected. I sat there swearing at myself for saying that to someone who had killed.

Chapter 12

It was still dark when the SUV was packed and I sat there waiting for time to pass. Grody sat at the front wheel, waiting. He knew we were going someplace special and he was obviously happy. His presence may be a bit of a challenge on the trip but I simply shrugged it off. ‘You no like my dog I no like you.’

With more than twenty minutes to go I stopped in front of Melanie’s condo. At the door was a medium sized suitcase and a plastic carry bag with what looked like shoes inside. My kind of girl, I thought. Ready for whatever without bringing a boutique along.

I picked up her baggage and had it stowed in the car by the time she opened her door. She had an amused smile on her face when I approached the door.

“You are strange” were her laughing words in greeting and I gave her a happy smile.

“It leads to an interesting life. You have coffee?”

“With half and half?” she asked and I turned on her.

“Does your heart come with it this time?” I asked and watched her eyes glitter. It took every ounce of self control not to take her in my arms and kiss her into oblivion right there.

She smiled. “The negotiation concerns the offering Mr. Gough. You did not ask and I did not offer.”

I looked at her smiling eyes and knew. This woman was going to lay me to waste and I was going to help her do it. Gladly. “I guess we will negotiate the price as we go along?”

She tilted her head. “Where are we going?”

“Somewhere far, far away,” I answered cryptically and gave her shoulder a squeeze, wishing I could just envelop her in my arms but knowing there was a good chance of making a fool of myself or ruining something special with haste.

She nodded and led me inside. The condo was small but it had a welcoming feel to it. Melanie simply set about making us breakfast without really asking and I sat there watching her. No wasted movements. Just perfect efficiency. She had a way of doing bacon that had me dripping saliva on my shirtfront just by looking and smelling. She poached eggs to perfection while I sat there wondering why I never got it right. Apparently it was simplicity itself.

We hit the office and found Henry already there so at least I did not have to wait for him. Melanie’s presence made him postpone whatever he wanted to talk about and I breathed a sigh of relief. I did a quick tour and found the complex almost surreal. No desktops, no laptops. Drawers were open and I surmised it had been searched for any form of storage media. Derek’s kingdom was a shambles. Cables all over indicated where bits of his server used to be but all that was left were patches of dust that showed where cleaning under equipment had been neglected.

An hour later the city was behind us and the interstate was ours. Melanie had taken over the radio and seemed hell bent on finding the most awful music stations interspersed with irritating chat shows. At last she gave up and switched it off. Grody had decided that her shoulder was a perfect place to rest his jaws and sat there with a look of bliss on his woolly face while she stroked his neck. Our conversation moved from the weather to space walks and a few things in between as mile after mile rolled by.

After driving for about four hours I pulled over and walked around to her side. “We still have a long way to go young lady. Your turn.”

She had been driving for about an hour before she turned to me. “We have been travelling due west a long way already. How far still?

“A long way.”

“Where are we going?”

“A jumble of rocks,” I mumbled with my eyes closed trying to get a little sleep. I knew how far we still had to go.

“Rocks or boulders?” she asked in a funny way and I started laughing. She had me.

“Boulders.”

She remained quiet and I looked over at her. She was biting her lower lip and there was a strange pull to her mouth.

“You want to visit and I want to meet your parents,” I said softly.

She looked over at me with a strange smile and nodded. “Thanks.”

I tried to make light of the situation. “Sitting at home for the next two weeks would have been just too boring,” I chuckled and squeezed her arm. “Seeing as you were not prepared to be a boredom alleviator I had to find some other form of excitement. Your father a big guy?”

She laughed and I could hear the happiness. “Almost your size but tough as nails.”

“Mom as beautiful as you?”

“I refuse to answer that,” she laughed and let her hand rest on mine where I had it resting on the centre console. “That will be your decision. May I phone them and tell them we’re on our way?”

I shrugged. “We have a few choices. My idea was that we sleep at some sleazy motel and arrive in the morning, or we push through and find a bed at your folks. If they don’t know we’re coming I may have to sleep in the barn.”

She giggled. “Do you know what a man looks like that had been plowed into the soil as fertilizer?”

“No, why?”

“Let my dad find out you had me in a sleazy motel and you may just find out how dangerous he can be.”

“I was not really planning on having you just yet,” I chuckled and fluttered my eyes at her, getting a small fist against my shoulder as punishment.

“Smart ass.”

“You started it,” I laughed.

At the next refresher stop Melanie excused herself to phone her parents and I idly watched her being animated as I waited for Grody to have his drink and leak.

“Daddy says you need to sleep in town,” she giggled as we pulled out onto the Interstate again.

“Why?”

“He says you are mad and do not want you under his roof.”

I laughed at that. “Will I have visiting rights?”

“From ten to eleven in the morning and again from three to four with both of them in attendance.”

We pulled up in front of the ranch house at a tad after two in the morning. My butt felt as if I had been sitting on burrs all day and I stretched long and hard to get the kinks out of my back. Lights went on inside and moments later the front door opened. Melanie broke into a run and with a shriek jumped into her parents’ arms while two rather large dogs jumped at her, barking their welcome. Grody sat bolt upright and whined at the sight of the other dogs. I wondered how the three dogs were going to get along and wisely kept the doors shut until such time as I knew what to expect. Few things spoil a welcome quite as much as dogs ripping into each other.

As I stepped onto the porch Melanie’s father leaned around her and held out his hand.

“Bart Scholtz,” he said in a booming voice and nodded over at his wife. “Mary and I never expected this. Thanks for bringing Melanie home.”

“My pleasure Sir,” I smiled and then Melanie’s mother turned to me with arms outstretched. “Hello Johnathan,” she said with happy tears. “May I hug you?”

“Thought you’d never ask,” I chuckled and hugged her to me. It was pleasant and I held on to her just that little bit longer.

A sharp command from Bart made me spin around and I saw Melanie taking Grody from the car. The farm dogs stood at either side of Bart with their tails up but wagging slowly. Grody had his ears up but his tail down as Melanie kept him at her side. At a command from Bart the two farm dogs approached Grody and I could see him desperately wag his tail as they walked around him, sniffing where dogs do. Another command and they came to stand next to Bart again as Melanie brought Grody forward and led him around both dogs, allowing him to do his sniffing. Tails wagged and the three dogs suddenly sped away in that strange game of chase dogs get into when they play. I let out the breath I had been holding.

We were shown to our respective rooms and after a glass of sweet mountain water I crashed, only to be awakened by a cold nose in my neck at a time I would have loved to still be sleeping. I groaned and had a shower to clear the cobwebs in my brain. Getting dressed I heard voices from somewhere and followed it to the kitchen where Mary quickly placed a mug of coffee into my hand.

“Rested?” she asked with a smile and I shook my head ruefully. “Grody decided I had to get up. I heard voices?”

She smiled. “Bart was here for a while. He is in the valley moving some cows to another pasture and came to get something he needed to fix a gate. Grody is with him.”

“After waking me my dog leaves me,” I mused shaking my head. “Melanie?”

She shrugged. “Out cold I think.”

I finished my coffee and walked outside. The ranch buildings were clustered close together in a seemingly haphazard fashion but it was soon obvious that placement was dictated by patches of level ground and ease of access. Off to one side there were terraces with large plastic tunnels and I assumed it was some kind of nursery as can be found in the city. Just a tad bigger.

Not wanting to go where I can damage something in my ignorance I returned to the house and found a chair in the kitchen, watching Mary fixing things for breakfast. Over her shoulder she asked; “How long have you known Melanie?”

I sat there staring at her. How long indeed? My silence made her look around and she lifted an eyebrow in a question. I chuckled. “I saw her for the first time about two weeks ago. I kind of met her the next evening but she was in her Police uniform and I did not know it was her. I saw her again on Saturday night at the music festival.” I was silent for a few seconds as reality set in. “I officially met her as the person I was looking for on Sunday afternoon.”

Mary spun around. “The day before yesterday?”

I looked at her. Thinking on it made it seem strange but I nodded. “It seems weird.”

“You met her on Sunday,” Mary repeated me softly and then looked at me with searching eyes. “Please do not think me ungrateful Johnathan, but why did you decide to come visit us?”

I chuckled. “It was a number of things together really. Melanie really wanted to visit as she was on leave but travelling this distance all by herself was a bit daunting. There was a massive thing at work and I was suddenly placed on compulsory leave. I couldn’t think of anything better to do and besides, I want two things. A break from the city and an opportunity to spend quality time with Melanie. She does things to my head.”

I saw Mary turn on me with a question on her face but just then Bart walked in. “Glad to see you up and about young man,” he laughed. “Plans for the day?”

I shrugged. “Melanie ran a non-stop description of the farm and the surrounding countryside on our way here. I’ve never been in Colorado so if possible I would like to take a day or so to explore. Other than that we are open to any suggestion.”

He nodded and sat down accepting coffee from Mary. “Melanie can be your tour guide. She knows where everything is.” He rubbed his chin; “Ever drive a tractor?”

I laughed and showed him my hands. “City born computer geek. Been close to a few here and there but that’s it. Drove some strange military vehicles but no tractors.”

He just nodded and walked down the corridor yelling at Melanie to get up. She must have been up already because she showed up in the kitchen minutes later, dressed in the type of ranch garb seen in movies. A rather loose fitting jean with a blue checkered shirt. I got to my feet as she entered and waited as she first hugged her parents and then as she came to me I spun her around and with her back to me I put my arms around her. It was as chaste as I could do but I still planted a kiss on the back of her head.

“Rested?” I asked and was just in time to see a look pass between Bart and Mary. What it meant I did not know and decided to just ignore it. We sat down to breakfast and during the meal it was decided that Melanie would take me on a tour of the ranch after which we were to make a quick trip to town to get some provisions.

As ranches or farms go this was not the biggest in the country and it took Melanie only a few hours to show me everything from the front of a truck, interspersed with a little walking here and there. Most of the time her commentary was spiced with little anecdotes about her childhood. I quickly learnt that Bart was a phenomenal farmer and scientist combined, achieving huge success in increased crops from small patches of arable land without depleting the soil.

Soon we were on our way to town with a shopping list. There I found that Melanie was well known and liked. We spent more time chatting to people who wanted to know everything about her life since they had last seen her than we did in buying what we came for. To some I was just an awkward bystander and to others I was something to place under scrutiny. At first I felt a little ill at ease but as soon as I realized that their interest in me was genuine, I relaxed and took part in some conversations. To some my job was like being responsible for the moon landings while others quickly lost interest in me, finding my obvious lack of knowledge in agriculture disappointing or boring or both.

As we walked into the farming supply store I saw Melanie cringe and she reached for my hand. From an office came a loud ‘Melanie!’ and a guy came down the steps. The way he carried himself convinced me that he thought he was the reason why girls left snail tracks on chairs. With his shirt unbuttoned just far enough to show part of his upper chest to hint at well toned muscles and a shock of blond hair carried in the fashion of Prince Charming from Aladdin fame had me fighting the urge to burst out laughing. Without so much as a glance at me he grabbed Melanie’s face between his hands, stopping any retreat from her and crushingly kissed her full on the mouth. Her desperate squeeze on my hand was indication enough that she did not like the advance one little bit and I grabbed a handful of his shirt and with buttons popping I jerked him away with enough force to send him stumbling into a rack of paint brushes.

“Do you mind?” I yelled at him and moved Melanie behind me as he gathered himself. He looked at me with venom and for a second or two it looked as if he was going to try his luck by tackling me and I crouched. I was ready and he must have seen it for he suddenly turned away and walked off.

I felt Melanie’s hand tremble as I took it into mine again. “What’s with that Egg-head?” I asked loudly and heard someone snicker. She squeezed my hand and leaned her head on my shoulder.

“Thank you Johnathan,” she said almost in a whisper. Anger washed over me. What had this asshole done to her to upset her this way? I made it a point to find out.

As we got into the truck again I made a quick decision and opened my door again. “Wait here Melanie. I have unfinished business inside.”

“Johnathan please!” she begged but I just waved at her with a smile. “I am only going to have a quick chat to that guy.”

As I entered the shop again I saw him start from the desk in his office and I took a few very fast steps to stand in his door, blocking escape.

“I hope you understand something here,” I said leaning against the door jamb with my arms folded. “It is obvious that you have the manners of a rabid pig. If you even said you’re sorry I may have accepted it but you did not even try! What you did there constitutes assault and sexual harassment. I can have you booked for it and I may yet do it.” I raised my voice a little and dropped my arms to my side. “In the meantime, should I find you within ten yards of my fiancé you will regret the day you met me!” I took a step closer to him and roared. “Do you hear me?”

He nodded with the same hate in his eyes. I turned around and could not help a smile from spreading across my face as I walked from the shop. Man! I enjoyed that!

I got into the truck and Melanie pulled out of the parking. We had been travelling for about a mile before she said softly; “You are scary.”

My head whipped around. “What?”

She was smiling and those astonishing eyes glittered. “Do you have any idea what those scars on your face do when you are angry?”

I rubbed over my cheek. I had long forgotten about my drunken fall and with everything happening in between I never even checked on it after the scabs had fallen off and I was able to shave again without donating blood. To my mind they had disappeared long ago.

“Those scars glowed white when you yelled at him. You looked like Rambo on a mission! No wonder he bowed out.”

I chuckled. “Then at least it had its purpose. A barbaric fight in the shop would have been awful.”

She was silent for a while and then took my hand. “Thanks.”

“My privilege,” I mumbled. “One day I want to know why that dork upsets you so much.”

“I will tell you Johnathan, but not today,” she said softly. “You are still angry and you may just turn around and damage him.”

I looked around at her. “That means I have enough reason to do it anyway?”

She raised an eyebrow and tilted her head but smiled to soften it.

After taking everything from the truck at the ranch house we drove down into the valley to see how Bart was getting along. We found him leaning on a fence watching the dogs irritate a town of prairie dogs. The difference between Grody as city dog and the other two was embarrassing to watch. If he had to catch a prairie dog for survival, he would have died of starvation pretty soon. I found it embarrassing, Bart found it very amusing.

When we arrived back at the house, Melanie and Mary set about preparing dinner and Bart invited me along to one of the smaller barns. In one corner he had a large bench and just about any tool needed to do whatever needed to be done on a ranch. On the table was an engine of sorts, surrounded by a confusing array of spare parts. For a moment I pictured myself having to assemble that engine and I took pity on Grody with the prairie dogs. Knowledge is everything I thought and marveled at the confidence with which Bart took parts and fitted them where they were supposed to go as if working from some mental picture.

“Mary tells me you only met Melanie this past weekend,” he said while turning down a nut.

I laughed. “Well, yes and no. I saw her two weeks ago and hunted her down.”

He looked at me with a slow smile. “Mind telling me? It sounds like something I want to hear.”

I started at the traffic light and ended where I had stopped at her condo.

“…and she simply agreed to go with you to some unknown place after….”

I chuckled. “I seem to be a trustable guy. On the other hand, girls go on dates…”

He nodded and picked between a heap of nuts and bolts before happily grabbing one and screwing it in place. While tightening it he frowned at me. “You know about Peter?”

I nodded. “Indeed I do. She also knows about Tammy.”

“Tammy?”

I rolled my lips. “I am divorced.”

He nodded. “Mind explaining?”

I told him everything. I wanted this man to know how I ticked. I had plans with his daughter and I did not want some accidental secret to create a problem.

“And you still love her?”

“Yes.”

“Where does that put Melanie?”

I noticed that he had stopped working and was looking at me intently. “On her own level and at her own place,” I answered as straight as I could. “If I had to stop loving Tammy to make place to love Melanie something has to be false.”

He wiped a spanner with a cloth and looked over at me. There was a faint smile in his eyes as he asked; “You like Melanie?”

I felt the conviction in my being. “No, I love her.” I said, looking at him levelly.

“How do you know?”

“I have loved deeply before. I know what it feels like.”

“Does she know?”

I shrugged. “I still need to tell her.”

He went to a tin, fished out some hand cleaner and while he was rubbing his hands together we walked back to the house.

Mary was giggling and Melanie looked perplexed as we walked in. Bart and I exchanged a questioning look but he simply shrugged and went to the bathroom to rinse his hands.

During dinner Mary turned to Bart and giggled again. “Melanie had a run-in with Tom Henshall.”

Bart looked up and I could see anger. “You find it funny?”

Mary giggled again. “It’s all over town on how Johnathan had made him take water!”

Bart looked at me and crooked his eyebrow. “You hit him?”

I shook my head. “He declined the offer.”

Bart nodded. “Watch your back. That sleaze ball will get back at you. Know this. He is the son of a very rich family and they are well connected. Hit him and you may find the DA huntin’ you.”

I shrugged. “I explained to him that he has to stay out of my way. Hopefully that will make him keep…” Mary’s peal of laughter made me stop and look at her. She was laughing merrily with tears streaming down her face while Melanie was once again sitting there with crimson creeping up her face. Bart looked at me and we both shrugged before he turned to Mary.

“Something I should know here?” he asked, laughing in sympathy.

Mary touched his arm. “I’ll tell you later. I just wish I was there to see it.”

Chapter 13

With dinner and dishes done I asked Melanie to join me for a walk and we left the two seniors reading in the great room. Outside I reached for her hand and we walked down the road with the dogs playing around us.

“May I know what your mom finds so funny?” I asked smiling and got a squeeze on my hand from her but she remained quiet until I gave her hand a pull. “…Am waiting?….”

She sighed and in the twilight I could see her staring into the distance before she chuckled. “I guess you will hear it anyway so I may as well tell you. Or better still. How about you telling me what you said to that rat when you went back?”

I frowned. “Uhm…. I told him he had the manners of a rabid pig, if I remember correctly.”

“And then?”

“And then I told him to stay very far away from you or I would hurt him.”

“And how exactly did you word that?” she asked and I could hear the smile in her voice.

A light suddenly went on. “Aha!” I laughed. “If memory serves I told him you were my fiancé!”

Melanie laughed softly. “Apart from the fact that you made him crawl, it is also County news that we are engaged. Mom has had uncountable phone calls of congratulations.”

“And that is what she finds so funny?” I asked in wonder.

“Well… uhm…. not exactly.”

I laughed. “Ah! There is more!”

She started swinging my arm as if embarrassed and I could hear her laughing softly. “May I keep that to myself for now?”

I used her arm to swing her toward me and caught her in my arms. I leaned in close and said softly. “You may keep it to yourself for now but I have something that I cannot keep to myself anymore.” She looked up at me and in the semi darkness I could just make out a soft smile around her lips. “I love you Melanie. Please don’t ask me why or how it happened so quickly but I do. It happened.”

She laughed softly. “Aren’t you supposed to do something when you tell a girl that you love her?”

I bent down and kissed her. Her lips were soft and inviting and I pulled her into me as I felt her hands slide behind my shoulders to pull my head to her. As I opened my lips I found the titillating exploration of her tongue against mine and in an instant passion invaded every fiber of my being. With lips sealed and breath shared we kissed. At some stage we had to come up for air and I breathlessly stood staring at her in the dark, trying to see if her eyes said what her kisses were. She chuckled and rotated her pelvis, pressing against my very obvious indication of desire.

“Now, that’s more like it,” she giggled and slapped me softly on my upper arm. “Engaged and never even kissed. Bah!”

I laughed softly. “That’s what Mom found so funny?” and she nodded against my chest before looking up. “She adores you.”

“And I her,” I mumbled, “but I am more interested in how her daughter feels about me.”

Melanie giggled softly. “I’ll ask her when I see her.”

I pulled her against me and kissed her again. It was no less passionate but a bit more relaxed. So much so that at one stage she laughed into my mouth and then squeezed me so hard that I grunted. She separated from me and stood there looking at me in the darkness while laughing softly and then said tenderly; “I think Mommy’s daughter loves you just a little too much.”

“How do you know?”

She leaned her head on my shoulder and whispered. “Did you not find my behavior a bit strange that night Justin was killed?”

I had to chuckle at that. “I did think about it a day or so later but that night, no. I was just too overloaded with anger.” I pulled my head back suddenly. “You don’t mean…?”

She giggled softly. “No, I did not fall in love that night but I fell for you. Hard. There was something about you that touched me to my core.” Her voice became serious. “When Peter was killed I wrapped myself in a coat of hate and sorrow that turned into stone over time. I dropped most of my friends and avoided any male contact as far as was possible. I thought I would never be able to love that way again and then you cracked that wall wide open with a simple look.”

“And what was that look?” I asked softly while increasing the pressure with which I was holding her just a little bit.

She kissed me under my ear. “When I jokingly promised you my heart for the half and half you looked up at me and in your eyes was the most beautiful emotion I ever thought I would see. I cannot describe it but I reacted to it in the most wonderful way. I suddenly felt warm all over. Even though you were hurting, I wanted to hold onto you and let you take away my hurt. I just knew you would do it.” She smirked. “But I had to wait forever for you to come to me.”

I kissed her on her forehead. “My apologies. I was chasing you down at the wrong places. Even though, when you left that night I can remember thinking that there was a tune that I may just sing with you.”

She hugged me a little harder. “What tune was it?”

“Our song,” I said softly.

She pushed away and looked up at me. “I want to tell you something.”

I chuckled. “As long as you don’t tell me that you are spoken for.”

“No, I am not,” she whispered. “I had to bite my tongue to keep quiet about this on the way here for fear of making a fool of myself. I did not know you were one of the performers at the festival. When you ran onto the stage I found your gaudy dress quite funny but it fitted the period and then I recognized you. I felt a shock that hit me so hard I was breathless. You did ‘The Flame’ with so much feeling that I was mesmerized and from there you unknowingly chipped away at my wall to the point that when you sang ‘Alone’, I went to pieces. I wept so much that my last remaining close friend thought I was having a nervous breakdown but all it was, was that there you completely shattered the wall I had built around me. I felt completely vulnerable and at last I wept over Peter. I never could do that. It had festered in me and most probably made me ill without me noticing it. While I cried I realized something else. I had fallen hopelessly in love with you Johnathan. I knew I needed you. I eventually got myself together and moved to the front to try and make you see me. I had all kinds of scenarios of how I could make you see me, take notice of me but Kenny’s Mom’s death shattered all chances and all I could do was give you a scared wave when you did see me and then I ran.”

I kissed her softly on her eyes and tasted the saltiness of tears. “I looked for you. Why did you run?”

“I realized how fragile I was Johnathan. I was terrified at the possibility that you may not feel the same. I ran to get away from that.”

I took her face between my hands and kissed her deeply before pulling away. “If only you had known,” I said with a chuckle.

“What?”

“When I started singing ‘Alone’ you popped into my thoughts and I sang that for you. I nearly fell off that stage when I saw you!”

Again she hugged me. “Collectively we must rate quite high in the stupidity stakes,” she laughed and spoke while desperately kissing me. “Thanks for bringing me back to life Johnathan. I was lost for a long time there.”

“Will you marry me?” I asked and felt her jerk. She pulled away from me and in the bad light of darkness I watched her eyes searching mine.

“You’re serious Johnathan,” she said breathlessly.

“Yes Melanie, I am.” I almost whispered. “It is why we are here. I want your parents’ blessing on this.”

She giggled. “So now we are officially engaged and it is not just a story anymore.”

I shook my head and chuckled. “No, we are not.”

She jerked away from me. “No?”

“I am desperately awaiting an answer.”

“Oh yes, of course you do!” she laughed and placed her hands on my chest where she started counting on her fingers. “Now let me see. For starters, you barely know me. You practically kidnapped me and took me to some godforsaken farm in the middle of nowhere. Without my consent you publicly advertise the fact that I am your fiancé and you threaten the life of someone who innocently tries to just say hello to me. And to top it all, you yourself said I cannot trust you.”

“Anything else?” I grinned.

She giggled and looked up at me. “No. I already told you. I love you Johnathan. Desperately so, and yes I would like to spend my life with you.”

There is something about a kiss after popping The Question. Up to that moment it is always searching. Afterward it is confirming. We kissed slowly, deeply and passionately. It was difficult to compare the blushing, apparently shy Melanie to the forceful lover who shamelessly squirmed against me, leaving me in no doubt as to what was in store for me once we got rid of our clothes.

I got to the stage where I could not take it anymore and I softly pushed her away from me. “Please Melanie. I need a break here. If we carry on like this… Neither of us are kids anymore and we’ve been all over and nothing is strange but if we do not stop…” I needed to take a few deep breaths. “Ever been to Africa?”

“No,” she croaked. It was the sexiest thing I had ever heard and I shuddered.

“There is a type of monkey there called the Vervet. It is that cute little thing with the black face you almost always see on a brochure from there. The males indicate their virility by displaying their genitals which is the most stunning blue and the more senior a male is, the darker the blue. If we carry on here I will win any vervet male competition simply by color and I will also walk funny tomorrow.”

All she did was to grind herself against me and giggle. “The Gestapo is long in bed and anyway, your room is outside the main building. No matter what noise we make, they won’t hear a thing.”

I think the first breath I took between there and the door to my room was when I had to tell the dogs that they were not welcome. As soon as that door closed behind us we were at it again but this time trying to stay locked in a kiss while undressing each other. Once I had her shirt open I reached behind her back and unclasped her bra. Those globes of love were set free and I was lost to this world. They simply fitted into my hands as if made to just be there and I gently twirled two very erect nipples between my fingers to the sound of her soft moans.

How we got out of the rest of our clothes after that is lost to memory but before long we were struggling for position on that bed and I felt her warmth envelop me as I slid into her. Foreplay was for next time. We simply fitted. I was concerned that I was going to lose it too soon but I was still trying to think of something to take my mind off the incredible sensation of her insides sliding against me when she arched her back and with a grunting whine started shaking and grinding against me. I simply could not hold it back and flooded her.

“Oh god I love you Melanie,” I panted as I lay there resting on my elbows, trying to make out her features in the darkness of the room while we drifted down from the ecstatic high we had been on. I did not need to see her to feel the smile when I kissed her. We lay there kissing, talking and slowly making love until we drifted off to sleep with her head on my shoulder.

As was normal I woke early but this time to find Melanie sprawled over me with her head on my shoulder and a leg thrown across me with a beautiful breast just begging to be touched lying almost within kissing range on my chest. Moving as little as possible I gently ran my fingers over the soft skin and watched that delectable nipple pucker up. I lay there watching a thing of beauty while listening to Melanie’s easy breathing, wondering what I had done to deserve this. I tried to ignore two things. The pressure building in my groin and the complaints coming from my upper arm. After a while the discomfort in my arm became unbearable and as gently as possible I detached myself from her. With a sigh she settled her head into the pillow and I carefully got up, got dressed and ambled to the kitchen where I found Mary busy with her typical early morning activities. Again I was greeted with a hug, followed shortly after by coffee.

I was standing in the back door wondering about a thousand things when two arms encircled me from behind and two lips made contact just below my ear. “Next time, wake me when you get up Mister. I like being able to say hello before we get up.”

I swung around in her arms and found two lips waiting for mine. I liked kissing this woman and I let her know it until an apologetic chuckle behind us announced Bart’s arrival from where-ever he was. “I don’t want to break up a good time you two, but you are blocking the door and I need to get inside.” We laughingly stepped aside and I got a playful jab in the ribs from him as he passed. I took that as his nod of approval.

As breakfast wound down I asked; “Is there a pleasant restaurant in town?”

“legacy is a very pleasant and romantic restaurant,” Mary said with a wink.

I smiled. “May I invite the entire Scholtz family for dinner with me tonight?”

Bart started to protest but Mary cut him short. “You need to take a break my love,” after which he smiled resignedly and nodded at me.

Some time later Melanie took me to a barn and made me get on a tractor. I was thankful it was not one of the gigantic ones I had seen in the big barn as I had jokingly been told that it was expected of me to be able to use it if my time on the farm was to be tolerated for any length of time. Understanding the controls was easy and soon I had a reasonably sized plough hooked up. Melanie sat next to me on the mudguard and directed me to a patch of land quite some distance from the main buildings.

Apparently driving a tractor involves a lot of kissing as Melanie found all kinds of reasons to either demand or dish out kisses. I decided I could easily spend as much time as possible on tractors but as soon as we reached that patch of land she deserted me!

She made me park at a specific spot and indicated a post at the other end. “Aim for that. When you get to the other side, pull the plough up and go towards that post over there,” she smilingly said indicating another post some distance from the other. “Turn towards me, drop the plough and aim for the post where I will be standing.” She kissed me deeply and got off the tractor leaving me up there feeling very vulnerable and exposed. Over the din of the engine I heard her yell, “One-five revs, second gear, low range! I love you!”

It was simple! I selected the gear ratios, engaged the clutch, pushed up the hand throttle and lowered the plough into the ground. I felt the plough bite into the soil and then all hell broke loose as that damn tractor swung to the right with enough force to jerk the steering out of my clutching fingers. I fought with the steering and got a painful whack on my thumb while desperately trying to get that tractor pointing in the right direction again. Memories of people on tractors always looking back made me look over my shoulder. What I saw made me cringe. The furrow I had made looked like a dog’s hind leg and nothing like the beautifully straight furrows you see when driving past farms. Back there at the beginning Melanie was on her knees and I could see she was screaming with laughter

Feeling like a Goon I grabbed that steering and tried to pre-empt that blasted tractor in its waywardness. I reached the post at the end, lifted the plough knowing that I left chaos behind me but having learnt a few things. As I turned at the post I saw Melanie at the other side and as soon as I was lined up I dropped the plough, ready this time for that swing and felt like sticking out my tongue when that tractor tried to make a fool of me again. Aiming at Melanie and keeping an eye on the furrow at the back I managed to draw a reasonably straight line in the soil before lifting and turning again at the end with the heavenly smell of upturned soil filling my nostrils. Melanie, it seemed, had exhausted her supply of laughter and was only smiling when she indicated that I must stop. I did as I had been hurriedly taught. I dropped the plough and shut down the engine before getting down and then that beautiful woman attacked me with kisses all over. By the second the idea of ploughing was becoming more and more alluring. If earning kisses meant I had to drive a tractor, then so be it.

Melanie made me stand at the side of the field, got on the tractor and went about repairing the damage I had done. As it is with most things in life, she made it look so easy and soon she had quite a bit of very attractive ploughed field to show for her troubles. My phone got a bellyful of pictures of the most beautiful girl in the world driving a tractor in the foothills of the Rockies. I got another lecture on how to plough and after a few minor mistakes I got the feeling for it. It was anything but the professional job I saw in my mind’s eye but it was close enough to earn me more kisses. By the time we went home for lunch I was trembling with hunger and I marveled at the fact that I rarely had lunch at work. And that went for breakfasts as well! So much for my idea of hard work…

Chapter 14

When we walked into the restaurant that evening I still felt the effects of driving a tractor for almost a full day. My arms and shoulders ached! My neck was stiff from almost continually looking over my shoulder and my hands, especially the left, had blisters. But! We had ploughed a large field and I knew why farmers sometimes just stood looking at a ploughed field. I had sat on the tractor today, looking at upturned soil and apart from the feeling of having achieved something of great value to myself, in my mind’s eye I saw that field green with corn or something similar in the not so distant future. I vowed to be here to see that.

While scanning the menus, Bart ordered a bottle of wine and I could not help smiling to myself at the memory of the last time I had partaken some nectar of the gods. I thought the smile was fleeting but both Bart and Mary had obviously seen it.

“That smile has a story Johnathan!” Mary laughed softly and I nodded, feeling my smile widen.

I indicated Melanie. “As you know, we met, or really saw each other, for the first time the night Justin was killed. The night after that I was lonely and still very angry after a hard day at work so I decided on a steak cooked outside, accompanied by a few beers and a bottle of wine.” I became animated and had my guests laughing merrily as the story progressed. When I illustrated the way I had fallen against the house I had to wait a while for Bart to grab some air, as for some reason, he found the whole thing much funnier than I thought it was. The two women found my attempts at first aid exceptionally funny and Melanie leaned in to give me a lingering kiss on the light scars.

“And so,” I laughed. “I smiled hoping I do not bring shame to this family if I had a little glass of wine.”

Bart was still chuckling when the wine arrived and after it had been poured he lifted his glass in a laughing salute. “To you Johnathan. You meet our daughter and then it takes you two weeks to meet her again. After that you practically kidnap her to her own home.” He shook his head. “On your first day in town you pick up a scrap with a member of one of our most prominent families and then you act as if you are engaged to Melanie. Next move?”

I squeezed Melanie’s hand and decided to just dive in. “How about getting married?” I asked and felt my hand being clamped hard.

Mary giggled and Bart had a hundred naughty devils in his eyes. “Is this a funny way of proposing to Melanie or are you trying to find out if you have our blessing?”

I smiled at Melanie. “On the first night we met, she promised me her heart for some half and half. I took that as a particular willingness to get involved with me so, after singing her a song of hopeless love in front of thousands of people I abducted her to a place she would feel safe.” I pulled her in for a soft kiss. “Last night I asked her to marry me and after some very hard negotiating, she reluctantly agreed.”

Melanie laughed happily. “That is a lie!”

I put on a faux hurt face. “Oh my gosh! Did I misunderstand you?”

As answer she grabbed my face and kissed me hard. “I love you Mr. Gough. With everything I have. Just so my parents can hear me say it I repeat it here. I want to share my life with you and therefore I want to marry you.” Those magnificent eyes glittered when she came close. “I want a million kids with you to drive my parents to distraction!”

Bart guffawed and turned to Mary. “You think we should give these young upstarts permission to get married?” She nodded happily and he turned to me. “The two of you are long gone past the age where you need our permission or blessing but we appreciate you asking. Any idea when?”

I just laughed. “We can get married tomorrow for all I care but I think my mom would want to be present.”

Melanie pulled on my arm. “She can fly here!” and I laughed while fishing for my phone. “Maybe I should just let her know what has happened in the past week or so.” I looked up at Bart. “Do you mind if I just send Mom a message?” and he laughingly shook his head.

I was typing a message to my mom when an idea sprang to mind and I turned to Melanie. “You’ve been taking pictures of me in the last few days. The one you took today when I came towards you on the tractor?” Melanie nodded. “Send it to my mom with the message; ‘He asked. I said yes.’ I will give you the number.”

Seconds after the message went through my phone rang and I declined the call, sending a photo of Melanie on the tractor instead and added; ‘Dinner at restaurant with in-laws. Can I call later?‘ I knew my mom was bouncing on her toes but telling her everything that had happened in the time since the music festival was going to take long and I considered talking on a phone in company or even worse, during a meal, as very rude.