Lucky

I started this story last fall before medical things hampered my ability to write. I wrestled with the direction then, even more so now as I look at so many of the stories in this category. Most of the time there's no story, it's just sex from beginning to end with absolutely ridiculous scenarios. It's been some time since I've done a brother/sister story and who knows, this may be my last, but forge ahead I will. I have no idea why I entitled it Lucky, it just seemed to fit.

If you're a factoid lover please know this, the towns and peoples in the story are all made up. I picked geographic locations based upon experiences as a much younger man.

For the lady who has sent more than one email telling me all my characters suck and my stories are for shit. I have a suggestion, don't read them. Find something more enjoyable to do with your time. For the rest of you loyal followers, please enjoy.

Lucky

There are those who would categorize my fraternal twin sister and I as being raised privileged. In essence I suppose that may be true, but in an abstract way. We would fall into a proverbial bucket of crap and always seemed to come out smelling like a rose. We were born to loving parents with decent jobs and a solid future. Beyond that the story of our good fortune began when we were three years old.

Our parents loved to fish, it was fishing when they'd first met. Once a year they would take a week and fish, dad's parents lived a few miles away and loved watching us kids. So, having someone reliable to watch my sister and I they continued their once-a-year extravagance. It was when we were near our fourth birthday that our first tragedy struck. Mom and dad were fishing at night when a larger faster boat hit theirs and killed them. After the investigation was complete it was determined that our folks had all the proper lighting. The onus rested entirely on the drunken driver of the larger boat.

Elka and I were placed with our grandparents to raise. Mom and dad each had a $50,000 life insurance policy that was to go to us should they die before we did. Our grandparents invested that money in our names, $50,000 each. Our grandpa being a small-town lawyer knew enough to involve a couple of his former law school classmates working in large city firms to pursue legalities concerning the drunken driver's negligence. That resulted in a large settlement which gramps used to begin an education fund for us. We made it through grade and middle school with the normal ups and downs of kids but nothing of any great consequence. Considering those raising us were more than fifty years older than we were, respect and good manners were a part of the learning process.

High school was a bit different. Elka got a little boy crazy in our sophomore year which caused her grades to drop dramatically. Failure was looking more realistic every week when in stepped grandma. How she did it I will never know but on a weekend shopping trip she was able to help Elka see the error of her ways and bad decisions. Gram contacted all her teachers, worked out a schedule for Elka to do extra credit work and make sure she passed that school year. Once again, our bacon was saved after what could have been a serious downfall.

My bacon saving example came a year later. I had gotten my license and was being an ass with gramps car one night. I stupidly listened to what I thought were friends who talked me into doing donuts in the high school parking lot late one Saturday night. The neighbors called the cops and I was cited on the spot for reckless driving. It was gramps who spoke with the DA and asked for a reduced charge. Explaining that I was on the deans list and had never been in trouble before. I ended up receiving a charge of nuisance driving with 30 hours of community service to be served any way the school needed. Once again, we had fallen into a bucket and came out smelling alright.

Since our fathers' parents lived on the other side of the country there was never an issue as to who would raise us. They had only seen us once and weren't interested in our outcome. We were the only grandchildren on mom's side. Thinking back gramps setting up our education fund was one more leg up on our behalf. When it came time for college we decided to attend our local branch of the state university system which allowed us to live at home instead of in the dorms. Elka was focused on nursing while I was focused on computer science. Though our classes and schedules were vastly different we tried to eat together most evenings and were fairly successful. Both of us dated from time to time without finding that special someone. Then again, we weren't really looking.

Tragedy struck again in our senior year of college, grandma and grandpa died within six months of one another. Their entire estate was left to us. House, cars, money, absolutely everything. We could have partied a few years and gone back to school, but we didn't. It wasn't who we were, the money went into the bank. We stayed in school and graduated with honors. Elka had always been one of those knock-out girls with a bubbling personality. Me? Sort of meh, nothing to catch anyone's eye from my point of view. Being a book worm I never seemed to fit in, sure, I had friends but no one who invited me to every shindig happening. I think I went to one field party and left early because I was puking drunk. Elka had been smart enough to refuse the drinks, me, not so much. It was she who got me home and held my head as I worshipped the porcelain alter.

The summer following graduation from college was spent chilling, going to the beach and sending out countless resumes. Sitting on the back porch nursing a beer late one Friday night we reached the conclusion that there was nothing holding us to our small city any longer. We were going to move away, but somewhere that had employment for both of us. We had also determined that until one of us married we were going to stay together, just as it had always been. A few weeks later during another of those late-night moments on the porch nursing a beer that Elka quipped, "If we don't find the right one to marry we can always marry each other."

My answer was less enthusiastic, "As close as we are with that twin thing and damned near know each other's thoughts, I'm pretty sure it's against the law."

She took my hand and said with all sincerity, "Not everywhere."

I chuckled and was wise enough to leave that alone. Not another word was said about it, we finished our beer and adjourned to our bedrooms. It was late August that things once again fell into place. We had each received offers of employment in the same city one state away.

After securing our employment we found a small three-bedroom house with a two-car attached garage that we were able to purchase with a huge down payment from money left over from the education fund. It was perfect for us, low mortgage, nice older part of town with mature trees and on a dead end street with little to no traffic. We still had the $200,000 plus interest in the bank from the sale of our grandparents home and auctioning off what we didn't want.

Yes, we could have paid for the house outright, except we had little to no credit history. It was the lawyer handling the purchase of the house that advised to have a small mortgage and build up our credit history. When I brought up the fact that we had lots of money in the bank he smiled, "Ya just never know son, might be a good idea to leave some of that money in the bank." Hmm, made sense to us. It was while eating cheeseburgers a few months later at the neighborhood tavern that our next leg up occurred. Finishing the last of our tap beer Elka asked.

"How much do you think those life insurance policies are worth now?"

I hadn't thought of that money in like, forever. I had no clue and neither did she. After digging around in our home safe we found the proper paperwork and contacted the investment group to set up a meeting. Imagine the surprised look on our faces when they told us that the $50,000 invested when we were three had multiplied into just shy of $137,000 each. We contemplated leaving it with them but ultimately chose to move it into funds we were more comfortable with as well as more easily accessible.

Yet again another step up in the world that had been instituted by others with our futures in mind.

Life was rolling along smoothly. Elka landed a job as an ER nurse, the hours were long and the demand great, but she was in her element. I had landed a job as an in-house IT tech for the same hospital, you couldn't have asked for a better set up. With Elka's odd hours I had lots of time on my hands and began playing around with ideas to improve the system being used at the hospital. After six months of calculations along with millions of ones and zeroes I had achieved my goal. I presented my findings to the supervisor of my department who immediately told me it wouldn't work.

Feeling rejected I went about my business only to find out six weeks later he was going to present my program to the hospital board as his own idea. I was fuming mad when I approached him. He laughed in my face when I asked him.

"Do you have any of these findings to document that you did the work and it's your idea? No, didn't think so."

He smirked, "You can say you did it at home but can you prove it. I think the board will take my word over yours."

I was fuming mad as I walked away. I was never one who confronted people, I sort of let them push me around. Thanks to my sister that was about to change.

When Elka found out she was pissed, thoroughly pissed. Her immediate supervisor was the daughter of a board member and somehow word got to her dad that Tom was going to try and present my idea. I was pissed when I found out Tom would be attending the meeting and suggest the hospital implement his proposed changes. Changes that would save the hospital more than a million dollars a year and upgrade the entire system to the latest protocol. Though no decision had been made by the board at that point I was sullen for days after the meeting, Tom never mentioned it, but his smug attitude and ruthless grin let me know he'd gotten one over on me. Perhaps the end of my good luck had arrived.

Elka and I were back at the neighborhood bar for fish fry when she asked. "Do you have all of your research backed up Lars?"

I nodded. "Then why don't you print it and have it ready should someone else want to see it. After all, if these bozos don't want it, and you can prove it's yours, some other hospital will. I'm gonna talk to Marie tomorrow and see if her dad would be willing to sit down with you."

Long story short, her dad and I met over coffee. I felt a moment of hope when he mentioned that the board hadn't made a final decision on the system and after listening to me, he shook his head.

"This makes sense Lars. When Tom did his presentation, we all left confused and unconvinced. You can prove this is your work?"

"Yes sir. It's all backed up on hard drive, the cloud and a flash drive. It's also dated and linked to my home computer proving everything was done on my time and not at work."

He shook my hand as I stood to leave. He held on a moment longer than usual and spoke. "I have no idea why you didn't say anything sooner. Get that ready for a presentation young man. I'm going to call the other board members."

Not only did they like the presentation, they were also willing to purchase it from me. Once again, I came out of what could have been a disaster smelling like a rose. I won't list the figure, but it was in the low seven digits, certainly more than I would ever have imagined. Tom on the other hand was left holding the shitty end of the stick when he was let go. His position was offered to me, I turned it down. There were others as good or better than me on the day-to-day stuff who deserved it more than I did. Besides, after having worked IT for a few years I wasn't sure I wanted to do that sort of work my entire life. No, I wanted something of my own.

For Elka the long arduous hours in ER were beginning to take their toll along with all the death and carnage she saw daily. While sitting in the fishing boat on Clear Lake Elka looked at me and said.

"Let's move. There are lots of smaller regional hospitals that would hire me. I'm sick of the GSR's, beat up housewives and blood-soaked clothing that goes along with stabbings. There has to be more to nursing than this."

I gawked at her, "What about me? What will I do?"

She smiled and stated, "We'll figure that out. The fish aren't biting, I'm hungry as hell, let's find somewhere to eat."

She pulled her line and started the motor, I thought to myself, "I guess we're done fishing."

On the way home we happened upon a place called Smitty's Supper Club. I enjoyed the best damned prime rib I'd ever had, in fact we both did. It was after that Saturday night we began our search. One of the criteria we talked about was that it was about time to think of settling down. Elka reiterated her silly notion about if we didn't find the right person we always had each other. I once again ignored her. We wanted somewhere that had a decent population, maybe in the 7000 range, but also still maintained a lot of the small-town values we'd grown up with.

We had both dated off and on over the years but as I mentioned earlier, nothing serious ever came of those relationships. There were a few times we were knocking boots with someone in the next room and thought nothing of it. I found it odd that from time to time whomever we happened to be dating would comment about how close we were and that it was weird. We would laugh and sluff it off, in our minds we had a good brother/sister relationship.

With the money we now had from the sale of my program and what was already in the bank we didn't need to work. We gave proper notice at our jobs and decided to take the summer months to unwind and figure out what we wanted to do with the rest of our lives. During that time we fished, laid around in the sun, fished some more, and hit every Saturday flea market or craft show we could find. It was also when we happened upon a smaller sized city in the upper northeast part of the great state of Iowa a few miles from the Wisconsin and Minnesota state lines.

We had been slowly making our way through the state for a week with plans to drive into Wisconsin when we happened upon the destination that would eventually be our home. It was late summer and county fair time. Neither of us had been to a county fair since we were kids and had an absolute blast. Unhealthy carny food, too much beer and two late nights in a row had worn us out. What we weren't prepared for was having to share a room with two beds, we had been staying in separate rooms elsewhere, but we made do.

When I went to start my truck the next morning it was dead. The sucker didn't even click when I turned the key. The motel owner suggested a farm store on the other side of town and offered to drive me there. I removed the battery and jumped in his car. (Gramps had taught me as a lad to always take tools along on a journey) Driving down the main street of town there were a few banks, a credit union, fast food places, store buildings that looked 100 years old with the fronts modernized. A bakery and a meat market side by side. Turning onto a side street I spied where we were going. Boones Farm and Dairy Supply. Next to it was a boarded-up building with weather faded letters that said Phermans 5 and 10. Walking in the old guy at the counter looked to be well into his 70's.

He waved, "Mornin Dave. What can I gitcha?"

"Mornin Clarence, got a dead battery. Can you test it for this young fella?"

Clarence nodded without uttering a word. I put the battery on the counter and walked around the store. Having worked on a dairy farm the summer between junior and senior year of high school I knew what some of it was but not everything. There were milker inflations, pipeline washing chemicals, udder balm, mastitis treatments, cow magnets and plethora of other dairy related items including filters for the old step savers. On the other side of the store were nuts, bolts, screws, washers and assorted other items one might need to maintain equipment.

All were in bins, you bought them by the pound, not in a bag like the big box stores. Bolts were listed per piece, you didn't have to buy a package of three like Home Depot and Lowes. I've always wondered who needs three bolts, it's generally two, four or any other combination of twos. There was rope and chain of numerous sizes, batteries, pitchforks of all varieties including silage forks. Batteries that ranged from riding mower to 24-volt tractor size. Lawn mower blades, logging chains, in the corner I noticed a new cant hook for rolling logs. Along the wall hung just about any implement with a handle you could imagine. I was enthralled with the place. When I found my way back to the counter the two old guys were talking.

As I stopped Clarence said. "There ya go sonny. Other one had a dead cell. New one is all charged up and ready to go."

As he wrote out an invoice, yes, he still wrote out individual invoices. He and Dave talked about why Clarence was still in town.

Dave started, "Thought you was sellin? Said you wanted to be out'a here afore winter."

I wasn't at all startled by their speech, they had to be smart to keep their perspective businesses open how many decades. No, it's just the way they had always spoken.

Clarence handed me the change and turned to Dave. "I thought I was too but the kid from the city with all the fancy talk didn't have near the money he said he did. Wanted me to sell it on land contract. Yeah, like that's gonna happen."

Dave asked, "Whatcha askin?"

"Yeah, well, that's another issue. Had it listed for 150 but if somebody came along and gave me 100 cash I'd sell it lock, stock, and barrel. Includin all the inventory in the back lot, gates and such. Hell, if they got another fifty grand I'll throw in the old five and dime building next door. I boarded it up after the pizza place went belly up. Damned kids can't get in and ruin the place with their pot and sex parties. Everything's still sound inside. Yup, be a good buy for the right guy."

He laughed as he pointed at me, "How bout you sonny, you got enough money to buy me out?"

That comment got the juices flowing. All the way back to the motel his words ran over and over in my mind. After installing the new battery I cranked up the old girl and let her run long enough for the on-board diagnostics to reenergize. I didn't see Elka as I entered the room and I wondered where she might be. About that time the door opened, there stood Elka with a grin I knew all too well. She was up to something.

"Hey, since we haven't eaten let's have brunch. The lady in the office says Brenda's Diner has a tremendous breakfast menu, we can just make it a late breakfast. You know, brunch."

After eating we sat and talked, Elka started. "You were gone a long time. What were you doing, Cindy in the office said the store was only fifteen minutes away."

I swooned like a kid on his first date, "You wouldn't believe this place. It has everything for dairy and farm maintenance you can imagine. Bolts, screws, you name it he's got it. Shovels and tools galore. Out back there are gates, stock tanks, cedar fence posts, barbed wire, salt licks under the canopy. It has everything Elka. And it's for sale. He also owns the old five and dime building next door and that's for sale as well."

She looked at me and asked, "What's he want? Four, five hundred thou?"

"Hold onto your horse's girl, you aren't gonna believe this. One hundred fifty for both properties and all the inventory. Like Dave told me in the truck coming back, he doesn't need the money, he simply wants to be done so he can move to Alabama where it's warm all the time."