The Day My Life Ended and Began

CHAPTER 3: MOONLIGHT SINATRA

I vaguely remembered my advisor saying he would come by and check on me once I got settled in. He did. It was on a Saturday May 22nd to be exact. John and I were moving the calves from the big pen to the smaller one close to the road. I was shooing them like an old hand when a very sleek and shiny Audi something-or-other pulled in, having no idea who it was I just ignored it and went about my work. It had no more than stopped when the screen door on the porch sounded like it had been ripped off its hinges!

"JESSE!" Maggie shrieked from the porch.

Quick as a whip my head swiveled around to catch a glimpse of my predecessor in the barn apartment. I think my jaw may have actually hit the pasture. The Anders' 'Jesse', was none other than my Mr. James! So something was afoot after all! John hollered to Maggie that we'd be finished and in the house in a minute, all the while looking at my shocked face and grinning.

Finished, and washed the best a garden hose can do, we tromped on the porch to the screen door for the kitchen. We cuffed our jeans and removed our boots then entered to find a bemused Jesse James sitting at the table with a piece of peach cobbler and a face full of faint pink lipstick kiss marks.

"How you settling in Tom?" he asked.

"Fine sir! I really feel at home here." I genuinely did too!

"You gotta watch out for Momma though, she'll have you doing 'The Talks' with her in no time!" he laughed.

"Momma?" I stuttered.

"You mean you guys haven't told him yet? I told you to fill him in once he felt like he had proven himself! Tom, I'm sorry. Meet my mother Margaret, and my father John." he kinda gritted his teeth through the introductions. I could tell he was upset, but I was not gonna go THERE. I simply sat at the table and listened to him explain how I had actually had the job since before I spoke with him. It was just waiting for me to come along and take it. He had hoped I would seek to couple my classroom learning with practical applications. He also very vaguely mentioned 'Billy' had recently turned 24, and how I would get a kick when we finally met. The rest of the conversation carried on without me as I pondered this 'Billy' character. Then all at once all the eyes were on me, and I had no idea why.

"Sorry." I said. "Was I interrupting?"

The three of them laughed until I thought I might just run to my room to escape the shame. Just as I was about to get up Maggie stopped long enough to take a breath and say "Oh Tom! We had all asked you a question in turn just to see if you were still with us, and then you ask if YOU are interrupting!". Now I could see the humor, but I thought they made it out to be a bit funnier than it was. Long boring story short, they had been discussing my employment behind my back the whole while I had been living there. I also discovered that my performance had been deemed nothing less than exemplary! I was just doing my job.

Later that evening after dessert Jesse asked me to go for a walk. We strolled from the porch down toward the pond in the big pasture. He started talking to me almost as soon as we were out of earshot from the house.

"Listen Tom. I need to apologize for the little trick we pulled on you when you hired on here. I knew you were the man for the job, but you didn't. I can see the confidence you've gained in the way you walk and it's starting to show in how you interact with others. You're gonna need to really bolster that up in the next couple days cause Billy will be here on the 26th. And trust me to deal with Billy you'll need every ounce of confidence you can find. Especially after the 4th of July dance. You see the thing is... aw hell! You'll figure it out."

There was a pregnant pause I felt should be filled with something, what I didn't know. Just as I was about to try, he started again.

"How are The Talks?"

"Not as terrible as I imagine if they were with your mom!" I joked.

"Yeah. Those were some trying times for both of us. I don't know how she got me to open up so much, but she did. And it did me a world of good! I used to be like you Tom, I could be the life of the party, until the girls showed up. Then I went right back to wallflower. You act that way after Wednesday, and Billy'll beat it out of ya!"

"Who is this 'Billy'? I hear nonstop, 'Billy this. Billy that. Billy turned 24. Billy comes home on Wednesday' Who's Billy? And why is your last name not Anders?"

"To answer your first question... I can't tell. I promised Billy I wouldn't, so I won't. To answer your second question my dad was KIA in Vietnam when I was about 6 months old. John is the only father I've ever known, so he is dad. But I keep my birth father's name so that his legacy will live on. But like I said John has raised me as his own, and he is Billy's biological father as-well So Billy and I are half siblings."

By the time he said Vietnam I was ready to puke from embarrassment. What's that they say about the fingers you step on today and the ass you kiss tomorrow? Yeah!

"I'm sorry Jesse." it was weak, but it was at least true.

"No sweat." he chuckled.

I yawned, and we both agreed it was a good time to hit the sack. I hoped to get caught up on my reading while enjoying a Dr. Salt. But ah, the best laid plans, and all that. I slept the sleep of the dead until I was roused from my dreams that featured a slender and sexy redhead with deep pools of the clearest blue you could ever imagine in place of her eyes dancing so gracefully to 'Strangers in the Night'. What a dream!