"It's just down the road a piece," he said as he drove us in his two-decades-old pickup down the country road. We were on the way to his neighbor's place to get a small corral gate welded. His horses were too active one day and one must have kicked the gate and broken the hinge. At least that was his story. Truth was, the gate was old and rusty and it would take much less than a horse's hind leg to cause damage. At any rate the gate was broken and needed to be fixed, and the neighbor had the welder.
I was in the eastern part of the state visiting my bachelor friend who owned a small farm. He was semi-retired and the 67 acres of hay fields and horse pasture was just enough to keep him occupied. He always said that it would be a gentleman's farm if only he was a gentleman. I visit whenever I need a break from the high stress of the city and it seemed as if I was visiting more and more often as time went on. It wasn't as if I didn't like what I did. On the contrary, the job was rewarding - it was the people I had to work with that made it stressful. So every few months I'd call Perry and he'd say "C'mon out for a few days." I had been raised on a farm so I knew my way around. Perry would usually work me and I would be tired by the end of my stay. But, good tired. The kind of tired that makes you feel good and actually rejuvenates you.
This was one of those times again. It was right in the middle of hay season. We had been working 15 hour days cutting, raking, baling, and stacking. And then the gate broke. So we were taking a short, well-deserved break from the hay to repair the gate.
"Brent will have this fixed in no time," Perry said as we slowed and turned into a tree-lined drive, went down a short lane, and pulled up in front of an old shed. "I'll go see if he's around," Perry said as he got out and walked toward the house. I got out and unloaded the gate and leaned it up against the side of the building. I looked toward the house and could see Perry at the back door talking to a woman. She had short, black hair and was wearing what looked to be a red T-shirt cut off to expose her midriff. Her worn jeans were cut off about as short as possible and still be legal. They finished talking and Perry headed back toward the shed. The woman stood there with the screen door open looking our way. After a moment she turned to go inside and I saw her large chest in profile. She glanced back at me looking at her, went inside, and closed the door.
"He's out somewhere and she doesn't know when he'll be back," Perry said. "She said she'd have him call when he gets back. Thanks for unloading the gate. Let's get back and rig something up to keep the horses in. They get loose more than they should anyway and there's no use encouraging them."
"Hey, isn't that your tractor?" I asked pointing to a small, four wheel drive, diesel tractor parked over by a larger barn. It was one of those orange foreign jobs.
"Yeah," Perry answered. "Nicole borrows it when she has to do some small work around the place. When she's done she'll bring it back and then walk back the two or three miles through the fields."
"O.K. I see," I said.
We got back into the truck and drove home.
In no time at all we had a makeshift gate up. Perry opened the other gate so the horses could have access to the corral and their hay.
"You know, while we're on a break, I think I'll go to the city to pick up the trailer part I ordered the other day," Perry told me. "The rest of the bales will wait until tomorrow and the weather will still be hot and dry."
"O.K. I'm going to stay here and get a little rest. I don't want to be too tired when I return home the day after tomorrow."
"Suit yourself. I may not be back until after supper, just to let you know."
We went into the house. He got some cookies out.
"I'm leaving these cookies on the kitchen counter in case Nicole brings the tractor back today. Have one if you want. See you later." With that he picked up his paperwork, went outside, got into his car, and drove away.
It was cool in the house and I settled into an easy chair in the small living room just off the kitchen. I had read a couple of more chapters from my current novel when I heard a small whirring sound. I got up and looked out the window and saw a small orange tractor pull into the yard and stop out by the tool shed. It was Nicole, returning the tractor.
She turned the tractor off, stood up, swung her leg over the seat, and hopped to the ground. She was still wearing those cut off clothes which showed off her lean middle and her long legs. She wore a non-descript baseball cap. I noticed her long legs. She stretched, holding her arms over her head, spreading her legs, and leaned back. Then she checked the tractor, flipped the seat up just in case it might rain, turned, and headed toward the house. I watched her walk closer.
"Hello, Perry? You here?" she called as soon as she entered the kitchen. For some reason I had moved to the side of the doorway out of sight from the kitchen and said nothing.
"Hmmmm... Car's gone. Must 'ov gone to town," she said to herself. Then, noticing the cookies she said, "Oh, cookies! My favorite!"
She was leaning against the kitchen counter with her back to the doorway as I peeked around.
It was a well-worn T-shirt with the bottom half cut off. Her tan back was exposed down to the top of her hips. There was no indication of a bra. Her cutoff jeans were even shorter than I had noticed earlier and were a tight as possible around her butt. She wore no belt. Her long, well-proportioned legs ended in sockless sneakers and were spread slightly as she stood there eating a cookie. She was a provocatively sexy sight. I decided to see what would happen.
"Don't move! I said 'DON'T MOVE!' " I said in a loud voice. "Don't move and don't turn around!"
Her body jumped slightly and then tensed up.
I continued without a pause. "What are you doing here? Who said you could just walk into the house and eat cookies? Answer me now! And don't turn around!" I said with as much bravado as I could muster.
"Uh... I'm Nicole and I... Uh... Perry always leaves something for me in the kitchen when I return his tractor."
"Well, Perry's not here. Put both your hands on the counter and step back from the counter," I ordered.
"What do you mean? I'm just having a cook -"
"I'm not going to tell you again!" I said raising my voice slightly with faux authority. "Put both hands on the counter and step back."
To my slight surprise, she put her half-eaten cookie back down on the plate, put both her hands on the edge of the counter, and moved her slightly spread legs away from the counter.
"Don't say anything and don't turn around!" I continued to order her seeing how far this could go.
I quickly scanned the living room, but found nothing I was looking for. Then I remembered the large bandana that Perry gave me to wipe the sweat off my face in the field. I reached into my back pocket and pulled it out. I had already used it several times today.
I stepped slightly into the kitchen and tossed the bandana over her right shoulder. She shuddered at the touch.
"Tie that over your eyes. Do it now!"
"But I... What's going on?"
"Do it now!"
She took the bandana and tied it around her eyes.
