Summer was around the corner and Spring was always the busiest season, at least for Mikael. He had some acres and was taking care of them, living off them, living by them and living for them.
Although Mikael was fairly young, at thirty-five, he refused any remotely close contact to computers and digital life. He loved his grass, his trees and his few animals; he couldn't see how a Web site or a Twitter account could help him in his business. That was, until he had trouble distributing his products, contracting his rental trucks and having to drive all those miles to check his bank account balance.
Mikael put an ad in the local paper, which had just gone digital but still took ads in their offices. He was asking for someone with a knowledge of computers and social networks, able to maintain, build, repair and take care of anything in the digital area, with a full responsibility. The person would have to live in the country, in his spacious home and take care of themselves alone. The job was full time, year-round and in fresh air.
Having acted out of advice and not really expecting anyone to even take a first look at his ad, Mikael stopped at an electronics store to buy a cell phone; he had to admit this was pretty useful as he was rarely at home, when he was at home he rarely picked up the phone and many times, when he needed his land line, it was simply dead.
Anyway, he returned to the paper, added his new phone number to the ad and his contact details and left to take his pickup truck and drive back home. That was enough city life for today!
Back at the farm, he opened his front windows wide open and sat with his dog, Cherry, admiring the sunset. His land phone rang and he deliberately let it ring but it occurred to him that it might be his girlfriend, Elsa. He lazily walked over and picked it up.
"Hey, Elsa... How have you been? Oh, really? Then I'll see you tomorrow? I want to see your body naked!"
That was Mikael; a cool guy that admired anything alive. Women among them, women who weren't ashamed to ask for what they wanted and he could find no reason why they wouldn't want what he wanted, since they both could enjoy! Yes, sex was one of his hobbies, as long as some words weren't brought up and everyone would be happy.
Day was ending, Cherry was following Mikael all around the house as he was cooking dinner, sorting clothes and taking a stroll to see how the new seed was doing. The moment they had finished dinner, his brand new cell phone rang. God, what a disturbing sound! He picked it up, he wasn't stupid, he was just in denial.
"Hello."
"Mr. White? My name is Samantha Hall and I was interested in your ad. Where can I apply?"
"You apply to me now, Miss Hall. How soon can you start? You are aware that you have to stay here for at least two months. Oh, and I need some lessons to catch up and kinda maintain it on my own."
"Yes, sir. I know, I can. I will be able to start as soon as you need me."
"Tomorrow will be fine."
He seemed rude at times, but he wanted to wrap up this dull part of his work to go on to the more interesting ones like his trees. He was in fact expecting some new trees and was anxious about the weather and if it would be ok to plant them now. Mikael understood that he had to adapt to the world and he had made the right decision; he wouldn't waste more time dwelling over it.
Tomorrow came and a kind of familiar voice was shouting out for him, well that wasn't shouting but anyway. If he didn't have his mind all over the place he couldn't have heard her.
He went over to the newcomer, extending his hand casually, "Hello, I'm Mikael. Remind me your name..."
"Samantha. Hall."
"Yes, right," he paused. "Let me show you around the house Miss Hall since we are close and you can settle in. Is that all?" he asked, pointing at her small suitcase. He noticed she also carried two heavy backpacks, but it was her responsibility and he made no move to help. She didn't complain. He didn't expect a girl to apply but he couldn't wait and lose more time.
Samantha was a girl that always worked in the background of her environment. She had evolved this ability to blend in, to suppress her looks, her will, and her preferences and just blend in. Rarely opposed, rarely imposed. She tried as hard to hide her good looks; she always wore loose fitting clothes, worn t-shirts, plaid shirts, sneakers and had her ash blonde, wavy hair tied with a ribbon.
She was obsessed with electronic stuff; she had a natural talent for handling buttons and numbers. So, here she was, trying to hide herself even more, in this isolated farm of Mr. White, where she could have all the quiet moments she loved, all the natural smells and all the digital bandwidth! Heaven on earth!
"As you can see, Miss Hall, the house is a country house and your room will be at the other end so we can have a decent amount of privacy." Mikael was being as polite and as descriptive as he could get.
Samantha nodded while she followed dragging her suitcase and a backpack hanging mid arm, the other balancing on her other shoulder, when inevitably the shoulder one slipped and landed with a loud noise on the worn, wooden floor. She tried to pick it up but was risking the same fate to the other backpack so she set everything on the floor and decided to move one at a time. Mikael's muscles instinctively flexed to pick them up but his mind ordered no. So, no, he stayed and watched her flushing red and leaving them on the floor, murmuring 'I'll pick them up later.'
For a brief moment, the briefest of time measure, Mikael forgot about his trees cargo and had to refrain from tucking her curls that were constantly falling on her flushing face, while Samantha was trying to tidy her heavy backpacks, get used to the environment and deal with a seemingly cold and impatient boss.
No, Mikael wasn't going for cute girls. He wasn't going for love stories. He wasn't going for sweet nicknames or long cuddles. He would shape his own life and clearly emotions were just an obstacle.
"So I will leave you to get settled Miss Hall and we'll talk about the job after dinner. OK?"
"OK, yes, of course," Samantha nodded, escaping a faint 'thank you' as she stood in the long corridor.
She was settled, even looked around the house to get familiar with it and took her phone out to write down what she needed and what she had to ask Mr. White. As she did that, she observed that there was no wifi signal. Not a single ssid name around. Swell!
As it was still daylight outside, she stepped out for a walk around the house and found herself lost. She found her way back an hour and a half later, way past dinner time. She found Mikael in his favorite armchair with his Cherry, lying lazily on his feet.
"Sorry I'm late Mr. White, but I got lost and...»
He made a sign to cut all excuses. "It's OK Miss Hall, I have just finished. You can help yourself, the kitchen is over there. By the way, please call me Mikael, I'm not used to that Mr. White thing and I'll call you Samantha."
She nodded.
"I really hadn't thought through it much, I mean there are practical issues, but we can solve them, right?" Mikael added.
Samantha let a smile of relief. "I have been meaning to ask you the same thing Mr. Wh... Um... Mikael." She turned on her phone and looked for the note. "Dinner time, supplies, wifi, shower supplies, transportation, washing machine..."
He stopped her reading. "Transportation is only car based; you can come with me when I go to the city if you need to buy your supplies. I go over at least three times a week so you won't miss anything. Look, I believe this whole situation will take a month or two to get finished, so you won't miss anything really Samantha."
"Mikael, you should find time to go to town tomorrow morning since without wifi I can't get anything working. You have to apply for a connection," Samantha said without pausing between words.
"What?" A curse also escaped his lips. Well, he supposed he could squeeze a couple of lost hours in his schedule and take a closer look at his chestnuts in the early afternoon.
"Until tomorrow, Samantha, can you please change the ringtone of my new phone? It's driving me crazy!"
Mikael was satisfied enough to see that the newcomer didn't affect much of his daily routines; she wasn't loud or intrusive. A quiet girl, really. Good.
In less than a week Mikael used his phone more and more, the farm had its own ssid name, 'Cherry' of course, he had a logo for his goodies and a website ready to validate him as an organic farm owner.
Samantha made Mikael understand that he needed to have a computer of his own to use when she'd leave if only to send her mails to have his site updated and edit his pictures of the products and the farm. A lot of changes for a man who didn't want to change what he had been building around him, for so many years.
Tonight Mikael had Elsa at home. Mikael cooked dinner for her and they leisurely sat on the big armchair of his with a glass of wine, laughing quietly and starting to touch one another more boldly.
"You disappeared on me Mikael! I was expecting a call for three days now!" Elsa said rubbing her cheek on his chest.
Mikael moved his hand over her chest and tried the first button of her blouse while replying "You know I had a lot to take care of Elsa. I expected you to call me if you wanted me."
