I was tired from the road trip, and drifted off to sleep pretty quickly. I awoke the following morning to the aroma of food cooking, and it smelled pretty good. I rolled out of bed and headed downstairs, to discover Katie busy at the stove, frying eggs and seasoned potatoes. She was wearing my apron, but nothing else. She noticed me and smiled.
"Good morning, Daddy!" she exclaimed. "I'm making breakfast for you. I was just about to come and get you up."
I glanced at my watch, and saw it was only 7:00 o'clock. I would have much rather gotten a few more minutes of comfy-cozy bedtime, but she was making a nice gesture, and it was our first real time together in her new house.
"Good morning, Pumpkin." I replied.
"I hope you don't mind," she continued, "but I went through the cabinets to see what I could make, and got some more spuds from the cellar too."
"No, that's fine." I said with a nod. "It smells good, but I don't typically eat breakfast. I should have told you that, but I wasn't expecting you to make me anything. I'm sorry, Katie."
A look of disappointment crossed my daughter's face.
"You mean... you don't want anything?" she inquired. "I made this especially for you, Daddy."
"Thank you, Sweetheart." I responded. "I will have something to eat. I just said I usually don't eat breakfast. I won't be able to eat much though, so why don't we share it?"
"Oh that sounds great, Daddy!" she exclaimed, clapping her hands together and nodding happily at the suggestion.
She returned to flipping the eggs and potatoes in the frying pan, as I got a couple of plates from an overhead cabinet. She slipped a generous portion of fried potatoes and an egg onto my plate, and put the rest on hers. She removed the apron, much to my delight, and we sat down at the small table on one end of the kitchen as she smiled broadly at me while I began eating.
"How is it Daddy?" she inquired eagerly.
"It's very good, Pumpkin." I answered truthfully. "Eggs are eggs I suppose, but these fried potatoes are really good. What did you put on them?"
"Some lemon seasoning, poultry seasoning, and some basil." she explained. "I found some coconut oil in the cupboard and used that. I couldn't find any bacon to make grease to fry everything in."
"I don't eat it." I explained. "This is delicious though, thank you."
Katie beamed.
"Only the best for my daddy!" she gushed. "I'm so happy to get to live with you. I know what kind of a person my mother is, and the people she brought around the house, but I was stuck there, you know? I didn't have any other place to go, except someplace just like it or even worse.
"I found that if I was 'nice' to her boyfriends, they'd treat me better. Sometimes they'd even give me money, but I know it was all because they thought I was stupid and could take advantage of me. It worked though, so I went along with it. Mom's an idiot, so I guess they thought I was too. They were nice enough, but only because they thought I was a slut. You're different though. I haven't been around someone like you before. You don't do nice things just to get sex in return."
"But you're not." I guessed, as I finished the food on my plate.
"What, stupid or a slut?" she queried.
"Either." I said with a shrug. "Take your pick."
"I did sleep with a lot of them," she admitted, "so I guess I am a bit of a slut, but I'm not stupid. Henning is a small town, and there aren't a lot of people I could hang out with. I just don't know how to act around people, and I guess I don't have a lot of common sense. Mom took me out of school in the 8th grade, so that's why everyone thinks I'm dumb. I've spent countless hours online though; watching videos and learning all kinds of things they wouldn't have taught in school anyways, but there's a lot of simple stuff I don't know, like what podunk meant."
"You're just slow." I explained. "Maybe even a bit childish, but there's a difference. You did learn things early on, so I think you can catch up. I'll work with you."
"Thanks, Daddy." she said with a smile. "I'd like to learn how you grow your own food and stuff. I'm a good cook - at least I'd like to think I am - but I'd love to be able to pull something out of the ground that I cared for, and fix it for dinner, you know?"
"Oh yes." I replied. "I like having a garden. I'll teach you. I have a gardening channel online. Would you like to be part of it?"
Katie's eyes widened.
"Really? You mean it?" she asked excitedly. "I'd love to, Daddy! I don't know how to use a camera though. Or how to act in front of a camera."
"I'll teach you." I promised. "Using the camera is pretty easy; there's s a few rules to follow, like not jerking it around and stuff, but it's pretty easy. As for being on camera, just be yourself. Don't try and act or anything. Just be natural. As you get more comfortable being in front of a camera, you can start using different facial expressions. We'll do some test runs and I'll let you know if you're hamming it up or anything.
"Just remember, don't say, um or uh. If you need to gather your thoughts, just pause for a moment. It will do two things. First, it will let you regain your composure, and second, it will let what you just said sink in. That's why preachers are so effective in delivering their sermons.
"Next, don't ask a statement. Don't say something like, 'So I decided to go for a walk? And I saw the most amazing thing? A hoop snake in the path in front of me? And it rolled up and came at me?' You get the picture? Never raise your pitch at the end of a sentence unless you are actually asking a question. It's really annoying. Just state things, okay?"
"Okay." Katie responded.
"Finally, don't say 'right' in place of 'okay,' and don't respond to a question with 'yeah' or 'sure,' before you give your response or explanation."
"How'd you learn all of this, Daddy?" she inquired, as she stood up and took the plates over to the sink.
Just then, she happened to look out the window.
"Hey Daddy, there's a fox outside!" she called out, completely forgetting about her curiosity regarding my knowledge of public speaking.
"That's Ralph." I replied casually. "He probably wants some food. The cats must have eaten it all while I was away. I'll go look."
"Aren't you going to put some pants on first?" she asked.
"No." I responded. "There's no one around. My closest neighbor is half a mile away from here, and off to the left across the valley, is all state park. It's like, ten thousand acres or something. We're in the middle of bum-fuck Egypt out here. C'mon, I'll introduce you to Ralph and the cats."
"They all get along?" Katie asked. "No fighting?"
"Most cats get along quite well with possums and foxes." I replied. "Ralph thinks he's a big cat with a bushy tail, and the cats think he's just an odd-looking cat with a bushy tail."
I scooped a large can of dry cat food from a bag by the back door and headed onto the deck, with Katie in tow. The fox and three cats darted over, hungry and looking for something to eat. The cats were all meowing loudly, and Ralph was making a chittering sound that was just as intent. I dumped the food into a large glass bowl, and they all moved in, sharing it all, as they scarfed it down.
"Look over here." I said, motioning around the corner. "Look at this view, Katie."
Katie followed me, and sucked her breath in at the panorama. The homestead was situated on a large set of tall hills that overlooked a river valley, and a small chain of mountains stretched thirty miles or so into the distance.
"Oh Daddy!" she burst out. "This place is beautiful! I didn't see this last night. I can't believe I will be living in such a place as this."
"It's all yours now, just as much as it is, mine." I replied. "You're my daughter, Katie, and this is all going to be passed to you one day. A month ago, I had no idea what I was going to do with this, after I pass, but now, it's all yours. So, would you like a tour?"
"Oh yes, Daddy!" she exclaimed, clasping her hands together.
Suddenly, her demeanor changed and she looked concerned.
"But I'm not wearing any clothes, Daddy," she said with a frown, "and you're still in your underwear."
I laughed heartily at her observation.
"Nobody is going to see us." I assured her. "Anyway, I just want to show you the yard and garden for now. After we take a shower and get dressed, I'll take you all around the property, okay?"
My daughter nodded her head in agreement and smiled.
"Okay Daddy!" she concurred. "Lead the way!"
I led her around the house to the front porch, where we stepped into the cool, wet grass in our bare feet.
"C'mon, Princess." I urged. "I'll show you the garden first!"
I took her hand in mine, and led her up a slight hill; where we passed through a small grove of Virginia pines, and suddenly emerged into an open area a few acres in size at the very top of my property. It was a curving meadow; perhaps four acres in size, and in the center was a rather modest garden. It wasn't much, as I didn't need to grow that much food for myself, but I did swap with some of my neighbors for other things they raised as well, like eggs, chickens and pork or beef.
Since I had such a large area to expand into, I had set up some contracts for the following year, with a few farm-to-fork restaurants in a city that was situated about thirty five miles away, and I was looking forward to expanding the business. With Katie now on board, we could do this together, and document it all on my video channel as well, for some extra income.