Hayin' Time

"Uh, is there a place down there to change into my swim trunks?"

"Yep. Have fun."

***

Blaze and I had a good ride before we finally headed to the creek. I watered him downstream (as Toby suggested) and then tied him off to good sapling where he could graze while I swam. Then I started looking for the bathhouse where I could change.

Not too many seconds passed before I laughed. Toby had said there was a place to change, but he hadn't exactly mentioned a bathhouse. Looking at the vast, open expanse of fields all around me, I shrugged off my clothes, put on the trunks, and stepped into the water.

It was cool and soothing; after all I'd been through over the past week, it really hit the spot. Reveling in that feel, I made a slow circuit around the deep pool area, checking for any dangers like rocks, snakes, and baby alligators (Toby had finally told me he was joking about that last one, but I still kept a lookout, just to be sure). Finding nothing and learning that the pool was no deeper than about 5-feet, I started to swim and paddle around.

I'm not sure how long I swam, mostly a leisurely, almost languid tread, before I spotted a sunny spot up on the bank. After clambering out of the pool and retrieving my towel, I made my way to that spot where I had a nice rest in the sun while thinking of being able to see Carla Pittini again in just a couple more days. She was going to receive my first call as soon as I got home, even before I started trying to chase down a reasonable summer job.

The sounds of a horse's whinny followed by splash awoke me with a start. There may have been a giggle in there, too, but I wasn't sure as I sat up just in time to see a young woman in a dark-blue, one-piece bathing suit rise up out of the water just a few feet in front of me. She put her hands on the bank and pushed, popping herself up out of the water and turning as she did to land seated on the side just to my right. She was wearing a pair of athletic shorts on bottom and had a braid of what looked like sandy blonde hair trailing down her back.

"You're Eric."

"Yeah," I said, unsure who she was or how she'd come to be there. "How'd you know that?"

"Daddy told me and Toby said you'd be down here so I should come check on you to make sure you hadn't drowned or anything."

"Uh, thanks. I think. So who are you and how'd you get here?"

She smiled. "I'm Rebecca Johnson, Becky to my friends." She stuck a hand in front of me and I shook it automatically. "Nice to meet you, Eric. What's your last name, anyway?"

"Crenshaw. How'd—"

"Eric Crenshaw? I thought you looked familiar. You went out with Leanne Barrett last fall."

"Huh? How'd you know that?"

It was like she wasn't listening, continuing on. "She said she had a good time with you and that you were a perfect gentleman but then you never called her again. Why?"

"Hold on! How do you know Leanne?"

She was frowning now. "Leanne's my friend and lives right down the hall from me."

"Wait! You mean you go to State, too?"

The frown softened a bit, being replaced in part by a slow shake of her head. "Of course. How do you think Daddy got those help wanted fliers posted all over campus?"

I didn't know there was more than one and had never even wondered about how the one I saw had come to be there. I didn't have time to think further about it, though. Rebecca was frowning again as she asked once more, "Why didn't you call Leanne again?" With that look on her face, I knew I wasn't going to get by without answering, so I told the truth.

"Ah, I just didn't feel a real connection to her," I said, though I didn't tell her the entire truth. Leanne was nice but she wasn't Carla Pittini.

Rebecca sighed, reminding me for just an instant of her father. However, she didn't look anything like her father when she continued. "Like I said, Leanne's my friend, but I guess I can see how she wouldn't be everyone's cup of tea. She's been burned a few times so she can get a little clingy. Maybe I should be thanking you for not leading her on since you didn't like her like that."

Not knowing what to say and not wanting to get into my feelings for Carla, I could only force out, "Thanks for understanding."

Rebecca nodded and I thought we'd made a breakthrough, but when she looked at me again, the frown was plastered on her face again.

"Daddy said you're thinking of quitting. Why? Is it too tough for you?"

The too tough part perturbed me and I shot back before thinking. "Did your dad tell you to ask that? Did he tell you to use your feminine charms on me to get me to stay?"

Maybe I asked it too defensively for her frown became a glare. Then again, maybe it was because I let my eyes drop to her relatively small but seemingly shapely breasts when I asked the last part. Fortunately, I looked up just as quickly, in time to see her flex her hand. If I hadn't, I think she would have slapped me or maybe even decked me. When she spoke a second later, she didn't hold back either.

"No, he doesn't know I came out here, and he doesn't know I know who you are. I didn't know then either since he only told me your first name was Eric. And if you think my father would want me to try to flash my boobs at you to get you to stay, you're dumber than I thought about not giving Leanne a second look. Oh, and while it's going to be a hell of a lot more work for me, I don't give a fuck that you're leaving. Goodbye, asshole, and good riddance!"

She slid back into the pool and shot across to the other side in what looked like three strokes. Her shoulders, I could see, were powerful; I suspected that she swam regularly. I could only stare as she rose up like Venus from the waters and walked out of the shallows, up the inclined side where she picked up a towel off a bush. She continued on to a horse tied up on the far side of the trees and, within a moment, was gone.

Steamed, I watched her go and was glad of it. "And good riddance to you, too, bitch," I called out, though not nearly loud enough for her to hear it.

***

The swimming hole was no fun after that, so I switched back into my dry pants and headed back to the stable. The black horse that Rebecca had ridden had already been groomed and was back in the corral, so I took care of Blaze before heading to the bunkhouse, hoping that I wouldn't run into anyone on the way.

I'd showered and dressed before Toby knocked on the door to my room.

"We're back to the typical Sunday night routine now that Mrs. Johnson's home. Dinner's at 7 at the house. Don't be..."

That's when he saw the duffel bag on the bed behind me. I'd already started packing, wanting to get as far away from the job and from Rebecca Johnson as possible.

"Eric...I know you've had a rough week, but you've done a lot better an' done a lot more than Mister Ralph an' me thought possible. I think you've really got the knack for this an' could surprise yourself if you give it more time."

"Thanks, Toby, but I've seen how Mr. Johnson looks at me. I know he doesn't want to lose me because I'm a body he's going to have trouble replacing, but if he had somebody else in line, do you not think he'd kick me out and hire them in a heartbeat? Seriously?"

Toby started to say something else, but ended up putting up a hand and shaking his head. "Seven o'clock. Don't be late."

***

I knocked on the front door at 6:58 and Mr. Johnson, wearing khaki's and a button-down shirt, welcomed me. "Come on in, Eric. I want you to meet my family. This is my wife, Ellie—"

"We've spoken on the phone," she said with a smile. Probably in her mid-40s, she was a very pretty woman with dark hair. "It's very nice to finally meet you and have you with us."

"Nice to meet you, too, ma'am."

"This is our daughter, Rachel. She's thirteen, and this big fellow is our son, Randy, who's going to be nine in a couple of weeks."

I spoke to each of them in turn, but they were both pretty shy.

Mr. Johnson glanced at his watch and spoke up again. "And here's Miss Lateness herself, our daughter, Becky."

I turned to find her wearing a yellow sundress, her sandy-blonde hair now down and much more of a strawberry blonde than it appeared in the wet braid, and a pair of sandals. Surprisingly, she had a pleasant smile on her face.

"Did you two have a chance to meet this afternoon?" Toby asked as Mr. and Mrs. Johnson motioned for us to be seated.

"Briefly," replied Rebecca. "We only had time to discover one common friend before I had to take off."

"Oh, great!" said Mr. Johnson. Turning to the others, he added, "Let's say grace and eat."

Rebecca and I were seated next to each other and Toby was on the other side with the younger kids. He mostly chatted with Randy, but Rebecca and I spoke primarily with Mr. and Mrs. Johnson, largely ignoring each other. Mrs. Johnson related the story of their week at her parents' house, picking up Rebecca from school, and so on. Mr. Johnson had surprisingly nice comments about my efforts during the week, and Toby even spoke up talking about my progress on the horse and on the tractor.

After dinner and a slice of apple pie, Mr. Johnson asked me to join him in his study while the others cleared the table or went their own way.

"Eric," he said after closing the door behind us, "have a seat. I want to talk to you."

I did as he said, knowing that a guilt trip was coming and that I'd have to be firm in my determination to leave, no matter how much he tried to pile on me. I wasn't too comfortable with that, but he looked equally ill at ease.

"Son, for a city kid, you've done remarkably well this week. Oh, you've struggled at times, but I fully expected that. What I also saw was that you didn't give up. Even the time I lost my temper—I apologize about that, by the way—you were ready to try again and would have probably have finished it correctly on your next attempt if I hadn't interfered. What impressed me even more was when you agreed to give me the two extra days when you could have gotten your pay and walked out the next morning. I really appreciate that."

"You're welcome, sir."

"If you want to take off in the morning, I'll understand, but I think you have a lot of potential and I want you to stay through the summer if you will. You know I need the help, but I think you also know I wouldn't be asking you this if I didn't think you could do the job."

I moved, hoping to break in, but he held up his hand. "Hold on a second; let me finish. I'm so convinced that you can do it that I'm going to offer you a $500 bonus if you stick with us through the entire summer."

I was about to tell him about wanting to get home to see Carla, but then he dangled that bait in front of me instead of using guilt as I expected. A quick calculation told me he was offering over three weeks of additional pay, which would be really important in the fall, particularly considering I didn't have a job lined up at home.

"Ah..." Lots of thoughts were going through my head and I didn't know what to say.

Mr. Johnson seemed to realize that so he smiled and said, "You don't have to decide tonight, Eric. In fact, take until next weekend, if you'd like. The weather forecast is good for this week so we're going to start haying tomorrow, which will give you a chance to see more about what farm life's all about." He stood up, smiling, apparently realizing that he'd outfoxed me. He clapped me on the shoulder as I moved toward the door. "Sleep on it, son, and I'll see you in the morning."

***

Mrs. Johnson let me call my mom before I headed out to the bunkhouse. Not letting her know of my doubts about my situation, I tried to play up the good side, how I was enjoying driving the tractor and riding Blaze. Still, there was one nagging question on my mind.

"Mom, have you spoken to Mrs. Pittini recently?"

"Funny thing you should mention that," she replied. "I just talked to her a couple of days ago."

"How's Carla?"

"Lisa said she's doing well. Carla's in Scotland—or was it Ireland? Oh, I can't remember—right now, but she'll be home before too long. Do you want me to tell her hello if I see her?"

"Uh, that's okay. I'll see her sometime soon, I'm sure."

It sounded as if Toby was watching the Sunday night movie on his color set in his room when I got back to the bunkhouse, but I didn't want to disturb him so I got ready for bed with doubts swirling through my mind. I wanted to leave, to go home and see Carla, but she wasn't there at the moment and that $500 bonus was calling to me with a stronger voice than I imagined possible.

In the end, Carla's not being at home was probably the determining factor. I decided to put off making a final decision until the next weekend, but I had fun for the next little while imagining Carla dressed in a kilt-like mini-skirt with a see-through blouse traipsing through the hills of Scotland. Since I hadn't been to Scotland and had never actually seen her like that, perhaps I was overly generous with my imagination, but my dick didn't seem to know the difference or really care when I finally shot my load.

Minutes later after cleaning up, I was fast asleep.

***

Early Monday morning, Toby drove one of the tractors out of the equipment building with a big blade that folded out on one side that I was to soon learn was a hay mower. He waved to me as he headed off down the lane.

Mr. Johnson came out of the building to meet me. "Eric, Toby's off to start cutting hay, so you're in charge of the morning check on the herds. You good with that?"

"Yes, sir," I agreed.

"There's lots to do today and Herd 2's in the back pasture, so no time to use the horses. Take the truck and get back as soon as you can. Key's in the truck." He handed me the list of pastures where I'd find the herds.

With the muffler and tailpipe replaced, the truck was actually fairly pleasant to drive despite the heat. I was driving across the yard toward the west lane when I saw someone run out of the house, coming toward me, barely giving me time to slam on the clutch and brakes as she ran around the front end of the truck.

Rebecca frowned at me as she opened the door and jumped in. "You do have your driver's license, don't you?" Taking no chances with my reply, she buckled her seat-belt.

"I wasn't exactly expecting company."

"That's okay. You'll get used to it. So why'd you stay?"

I shot her a dirty look but she was looking at me expectantly. With a huff, I replied, "Your dad gave me another week to think about it."

"What'd he offer?"

For the second time in less than a minute, I stood on the pedals, bringing the truck to a halt.

"What do you mean?"

She smiled. "Dad's a businessman. If he needs something bad enough, he'll pay. How much did he offer?"

"None of your business. Now, either shut up or get out."

She had a satisfied little smile as she turned to look out the front window, making no move to get out. Seeing as I was stuck with her, I drove on.

We checked all five herds, checking water and grass level in the pastures. Using the binoculars from the glove box, I looked over the fences and looked for anything else that might be out of the ordinary. Satisfied that all was in order after the last one, we started back up the lane between the fields toward the house. With the truck having no radio, it had been quiet for a while, with only the sound of the engine, when Rebecca spoke again.

"Who's Carla?"

"What?" I exclaimed. "How'd you know about her?"

"You asked about her on the phone last night. I picked up the phone in my room to make a call and heard you ask 'How's Carla?'"

"I can't believe this. You were eavesdropping on me!"

"No, I swear. That's all I heard before I put the phone back down."

"Then how'd you know I was talking to my mom."

"Okay, maybe I heard a few more words, but it wasn't intentional. I'm sorry. Forgive me?"

I frowned at her, giving only the slightest of nods, hoping that the conversation was over. Rebecca had other ideas.

"So who's Carla? Is she your dog?"

I frowned at her. "No."

"Is she the reason you didn't go out with Leanne again?"

"No!" Unsure, I paused for a few seconds before adding, "Maybe. I just don't know."

She nodded. "Yeah, I know someone like that, too. You like her but you're not sure what your status is. Is that about right?"

"Did anyone ever tell you you're really nosy?"

She smiled before looking out the window. We rode the rest of the way to the house in silence.

***

When we parked in the graveled lot between the house and the equipment building, Rebecca jumped out and went into the house without saying goodbye. I went over to see Mr. Johnson, who had the hay mower repaired and a second tractor, the one I'd trained on, parked outside the building, with a machine hooked up behind it.

"It's a hay crimper. We use it to condition the cut hay, to crush it and squeeze out as much moisture as we can, so it will be ready to bale sooner."

I didn't get it. "Why do you have to do that?"

"If you put hay up damp, it will mold. If it's too damp, it can even spontaneously combust."

"No way!"

He nodded as he looked into the distance, as if remembering. "We lost a barn with several thousand bales of hay when I was young due to that. I remember watching it from the distance and feeling the heat on my face." Turning back toward me, he added, "My dad later told me that he contacted the county extension agent who gave him some recommendations for some changes so it wouldn't happen again."

I followed him to the hayfield and saw that Toby had been cutting all morning. Mr. Johnson gave me instructions on how to operate the crimper, a lecture on safety, and a pair of earplugs. "You'll thank me for the last one."

After watching me make a pass and then circle back as he'd instructed, he ran over a few pointers with me, including how to tell where I'd already been, and then cut me loose to start crimping. He lowered the cutting blade down on his mower and swung in cutting some distance behind Toby.

Crimping was loud and boring. My mind was soon wandering but I watched where I was going and within a few rounds around the huge field, I knew I could do it. I also knew I was getting hungry.

With each passing round, I grew hungrier as the two of them mowing got further and further ahead of me. I was starting to feel a bit frustrated when I rounded the far corner to head back toward the end where we'd entered when I saw another tractor pull into the field. I was too far away to tell exactly what was happening but the driver dismounted, was out of my line of sight for a few moments, and then was back on the tractor. Rather than mowing, it appeared to be following along behind me.

We passed in opposite directions and opposite sides near the middle of the hayfield. I was glad since Rebecca didn't see my mouth fall open. She was driving her tractor pulling another crimper like mine, but she was dressed in what appeared to be shorts and a white tank top. I must have spent a few moments too long watching her since I had to correct my steering to get back in the right hay "lane."

Toby's tractor was stopped when I approached the front of the field and he motioned me to come over. An ice chest with our lunches and some cold drinks were sitting in the shade next to the water cooler. Mr. Johnson joined us when he completed his round a few minutes later, while Rebecca continued crimping out in the field.

"Is she going to join us?" I asked.

"Not likely," replied her dad. "I suspect she ate before she came out."

After a quick lunch, we were back at it. It wasn't too long before I noticed that Rebecca had removed the tank top and was now wearing a green bikini top. As we made round after round, we passed each other on opposite sides of the field, and I enjoyed the view, anticipating getting a closer look. My hopes sunk when she put the white top back on a little later; she looked over at me and grinned.