Geek Farm
Author's note. This is my first story written for the American reader. It is rather long and covers a wide swathe of life to tell the hero's tale. Please note, this is not an educational document so accept the pieces of info that is not absolutely in line with the latest computer lingo or does not conform to modern farming practices. It is not an educational piece of written porn either. Readers have to be over the age of 18 and I assume they know what happens when people are in love and end up by themselves.
Chapter 1
I was drumming on the tank of the bike while waiting for the traffic light to go green. Anger still made made me grind my teeth and while wishing for the light to change I also wanted it to just stay red and force me to sit there. At least I would be halfway between two parts of life I wanted no part of just then. One, my neighbor with his almost maniacal dislikes for me and dogs (mine specifically) and, two, the showdown threatening at work.
Why my dogs chose to jump the picket fence the previous night and chew his newly acquired set of garden chairs into almost infinitesimal pieces of useless plastic, only they will know. I am sure they were aware of the almost aggressive dislike we have for each other and maybe they had reasoned that they could add their quarter's value to the developing confrontation between us or maybe they just felt like upping the ante a little. Needless to say, after a night of almost no sleep sitting in front of a computer screen, hammering away at the keyboard to create some logic from an endless jumble of seemingly haphazard code, was not conducive to good neighborliness from my side. Being awakened at just after five in the morning by a thunderous hammering on the front door, accompanied by the screeching voice of said neighboring individual was enough to plunge me into a dark and murderous mood.
It had taken every ounce of self control I possess to prevent myself from ramming my fist down his throat when I opened the door while he was still madly hammering the little gnome's head knocker with enough force to make the door jamb rattle. My eyes smarted. My body ached. My brain was fuzzy.
"What on ear..." I started to ask only to be screamed into stupefied silence.
"Your fucking dogs destroyed my garden set! I have asked you before and I do so again! Get to hell out of here! You are an irritating, disease carrying piece of fermented bat shit that should be kept in safe custody! And your mangy curs as well!"
I had gawked at him. Still trying to kick start my brain and at the same time trying to understand the reason behind this new attack of rabid anger. And before I could even wake my brain he had turned, kicked my own garden table with enough force to crack the top and topple over. He stomped out of my yard, muttering and gesticulating like a constipated druid with hemorrhoids.
Of course, the two reasons for this upheaval sat at the side of the porch with shining innocence on their woolly faces.
I had turned to them. "And?"
All I got was a desperate tail wag from Grody. Being the elder I expected him to prevent Justin from getting into mischief but mostly this seemed to be wishful thinking. Justin just sat there with his lips pulled back into a pathetic imitation of a grin.
"Happy?" I scolded and Grody flung himself at my feet while Justin took a quick run around the small patch of grass in the front of the house before jumping up and trying to lick my face.
"Down!" I yelled and both flattened themselves on the paving.
A piece of green plastic just off the side of the lawn drew my attention and I walked over to it. Justin took one look at the direction I was taking and bolted around the corner of the house. Grody flattened his ears and turned his head away from me. He had that expression of seeing nothing but looking out the limits of his peripheral vision much the same way an old man would look at a feisty young girl while his wife is looking at him.
It was a flat piece of plastic with some serious white rimmed dents in it, obviously caused by canine teeth. I picked it up and turned around to demand an explanation from the two dogs just as the remnants of a table leg came crashing down next to me. I jumped. As much from fright as the desire to get away from another missile that might have been thrown.
Discretion. Allow time to cool jangled nerves and bristling anger. I ducked into my house and listened to a number of objects hitting the roof and others falling in haphazard fashion around my yard.
After a hot shower with a collection of Nazareth's ballads making the house rumble I grabbed a hot coffee and after putting myself around it, I set off to work. Traffic was terrible and with the bad start to the day to add to my mood I was in a foul frame of mind by the time I had to pull up at an intersection because of an out of sync traffic light.
From the corner of my eye something pulled at my attention. It was that type of sense that kicks in when you are being stared at. Intangible but just kind of 'there'. I glanced around and was met by two dark honey colored hazel eyes perched above a smile directed at me, framed by wavy dark brown hair. That was about what I could see before the blasted light went green and the traffic moved.
My lane of traffic was slow to move and I absently watched the little Ford move from sight, carrying the honey-hazel eyes away. Despite my dark mood I felt myself smile. I smirked and then for reasons unknown I burst out laughing. The band that held the anger in gave way and I guffawed into the helmet like a damn fool. Half a mile up the road my laughter subsided and a happy mood, full of joy settled over me. I shook my head at the folly of my anger of minutes ago and I looked around in an effort to find the hazel eyes but the little Ford had disappeared. I had an odd feeling of loss and strangely felt an urge to find her, just to see her again. Maybe just thank her for the 'pick me up'.
My elation lost its buoyancy when I walked into the office. Henry, my departmental head, was waiting in my office and he had the damn audacity to glance at his watch as I entered. My being almost half an hour early must have stuck in his craw like a porcupine swallowed the wrong way round.
"You finished?" he asked and malice made his eyes squint.
"No," I answered levelly and nodded. "Good morning."
"Fuck you and your sarcasm!" he hissed.
I just shrugged and dropped my laptop on the table. While I waited for it to boot up I idly paged through some documents while he sat and breathed though his cathartic nose. I wanted to sit down but I knew he was waiting for that minute indication that I deemed him unworthy of my respect. I did of course, and he knew it but to blatantly show it would be even more damaging to my career than the day I accidentally mentioned to the directors that I had done a specific piece of research, blissfully unaware of the fact that he had already taken credit for it. I have no idea what was said after I had left the room but ever since he was on the war path with me. I knew he wanted to fire me but two things prevented him from doing it. I was the top qualified programmer in my field and he needed me. Secondly he needed a good excuse which I would have loved to give to him but right now I had some serious financial challenges and until they were sorted, I needed this job.
"When are you going to finish?"
I blew through pursed lips. "Henry, I told you weeks ago. The original coding is hogwash. The company has already paid for and accepted it. Just debugging it is going to take weeks. I shudder to think how long before it actually works." I shrugged again and felt a strange joy. "I promised you my best effort. If that is not good enough you are welcome to find another programmer. I will happily move departments or even find alternative employment."
