My New Life Ch. 02 - My Plan

"Um, yeah we did." the one on the left said.

"OK," I said, "you two look so much alike I don't know which is which."

"I'm Kenz." The one on the right said.

"OK, Kenz in blue t-shirt and Kala in yellow t-shirt. Got it." I said.

"Yeah, but sometimes we switch or wear the same thing." Kala said.

"Works for this evening though." I said. "OK, let me put my supper in the oven to keep it warm and I can get a can of gas from the garage to see if we can get you off the road. How far down the road are you?"

"Just past the end of the corn field." Kenz said.

"OK, come in while I get my food put up and boots on."

They followed me in the door.

I grabbed my keys and billfold and lead them to the garage door where Sam was still raising a ruckus.

I opened it and stepped out to get my boots. "Sam, freunde, we have guests." and Sam stopped barking.

Kenz saw the big dog and stopped. "Will he bite?" She asked.

"She is a pretty good guard dog but she will behave as long as I tell her to."

"But you called the dog Sam." Kala said.

"Short for Samantha. Kinda like Kenz and Kala." I said.

"Why did you say 'freunde' isn't that German?" Kenz asked.

"Yes it is German for friend or friends. The dog is trained to respond to certain German words or phrases." I said.

"Cool." Kenz said.

"Come on out and lets see if we can get your car started and off the road."

They followed me as I grabbed a two gallon can of gas I kept for the mower and we headed down the drive toward their car. I poured most of the gas into the tank and popped the hood and poured a little in the carburettor so it would fire and get the gas pump working.

"This is a different car than the one you had earlier at the Dairy Queen and at Pizza Hut." I said.

Kenz said, "Yeah, we borrowed grandma's car so you might not spot us. At least according to Gram's."

"OK." I chuckled.

"Give me your keys and let me see if it will start."

Kala handed me the keys. It was slow to turn over but fired and started running with a few sputters.

"Hop in and we will back it up to the gas tank and add some more gas so you can get back home."

"You don't need to give us any more gas. In fact I will pay you for what you put in if you will tell me how much." Kala said.

I looked at Kenz and said, "Is your sister always this obstinate?" Grinning so both could see me.

"Uh. Yeah. Pretty much." Kenz said.

"Hey!" Kala said pouting.

"Just kidding." I said.

They didn't argue any further.

I had backed the car down the road and into the drive and up to the gas tank.

"You have your own gas tanks?" Kala said.

"They are for the farm. One is diesel fuel for the bigger equipment and the trucks."

"I though you were an Engineer? You are a farmer too?" Kenz asked.

"I am and engineer. I moved back into the home place last year after my folks were killed in a bad car accident. I help my brother on the farm some when I have time. That was his place you pulled into to turn around before you pulled in behind the grain bins."

"I'm sorry about your parents." They both said in unison.

"Thank you." I replied.

I finished gassing up the car. 'I filled the tank while we were talking.'

"Let's pull back up to the house and have some pizza. I hope you like veggie pizza with bacon on it."

I filled the gas can and placed it into the back floor board and we got in and pulled back up by the house. We got out and went in. Sam was nuzzling both girls hands as we walked back in through the garage.

"You two must be alright. Sam generally is a good judge of character and she seems to like the both of you."

They both smiled at my comment.

"Have a seat at the dining table while I get the pizza, cheese bread and drinks. I have Coke, Mountain Dew, Sweet Tea, and Lemonaid or water."

They both asked for Sweet Tea.

"Let me help." Said Kala."It's the least I can do since you seem to be constantly helping us."

"OK, the glasses and plates are in the cabinet on the right. The silverware is in the drawer below that. I already have a plate and drink."

She got things out while I got the pizza and cheese bread and put it on the table along with my plate.

Then got the tea out for them.

We sat down to eat.

"So, I notice that the gas gauge read half full when I put the two gallons in and still was reading half a tank after adding more at the gas tank."

"Yeah, Gram's gas gauge is broke. She said she was sure it was full but her mind is starting to go and she may have forgotten when she last filled it." Kenz said.

'So grandma gets a better car along with the girls sometime next week after the check clears.'

"Does grandma live in some sort of assisted living facility or is she still at home by herself?" I asked.

"She can't afford assisted living and still lives in her house by herself. Kenz and I check on her most days when our aunt is unable to." Kala said.

"We are afraid she will forget to turn off the stove or oven or something else will happen with her failing memory. She insists she is fine though." Kenz said.

"Yeah, no one wants to give up their independence. Both of my grandmothers were like that until they passed." I said.

"We had gone past to check on grandma when we told her that someone put two envelopes in our car with a hundred dollar bill inside each for us. She asked if we knew who did it and we told her about you coming in and that you had bought our meal at Pizza Hut earlier in the week after mother had stolen Kala's money. She told us we should try and find you to thank you and when we told her we were low on gas and had used the money to pay some bills we had, she told us to take her car. So we did." Kenz said.

'Defiantly going to help these girls out.'

"Thank you for the money, you don't know how much it helped." Kenz said.

"Yes, thank you." Kala added. "Wait! How did you know we pulled in behind the, what did you call them, the gain bins?"

Smiling I said, "I pulled in here before you got back down the road and I saw headlights turn off into the drive to the bins. I got my night vision goggles out and climbed the middle bin and saw you both in the car but could not make out who it was for sure.

You're silhouettes made me think it might be you two."

Kala said, "Well it's getting on about 8:00. We had better get going so we can get Gram's car back if we can find our way back to the highway."

"I'll lead you back out as far as town so you don't get turned around." I said.

They both smiled at me. Then it dawned on me. A way to tell them apart. Kenz has a dimple on the left cheek when she smiles and Kala has hers on the right cheek. 'I'm going to keep that little tidbit to my self for now though.'

"Well this turned an otherwise dull evening in to something interesting." I said with a smile of my own.

As we headed out to get them back to town, I slipped Kenz two twenty dollar bills and said, "Fill up your car when you get back since you had to borrow grandma's."

She tiptoed up to kiss me on the cheek and said, "Thank you again. Stop by the Dairy Queen again sometime soon." smiling.

We left the farm and after we got to town, I pulled over and let them go on by. I gave them time to get a bit ahead of me and pulled out with a car in between and followed them back to the next town in the next county. I managed to pull over and watch them pull in front of a small run down house with the porch railing falling down. Their car was parked on the street.

I drove back home with a smile on my face knowing that their lives were going to get a bit better soon.

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"Well Kala, what do you think of Scott?" Kenz asked.

"I don't know, he seems to good to be true." Kala replied.

"Well, I'm really falling for him at this point. I just hope it's not a false hope though." Kenz replied.

"Yeah, I know what you mean." Kala said, "He does seem really nice and you saw that dreamy look Stella got in her eyes when she said she knew him."

"Yeah, no kidding. Still something seems different about him from what Stella hinted at. It's like something has suddenly changed him in some way." Kenz commented.

"I'm picking up that vibe as well." Kala continued. "It's like he has had a sudden change in his life recently. Oh! I think I spotted his truck a ways back. Do you think he followed us to be sure we got back OK?"

Looking around, "I don't see him." Kenz said. "You sure?"

"Don't know. Maybe it was wishful thinking on my part." Kala stated.

"I hope we continue crossing paths with him. We both could use something positive in our lives." Kenz lamented.

"Yeah, sis, I'd even share him with you." Kala grinning

"You had damn well better. That is if I don't get him 1st and share him with you." Kenz laughed back.

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Saturday:

I got up on Saturday morning hand got a quick shower and shave. I headed toward the next county and stopped at the Subway to get some breakfast. I got to the credit union just when they opened. I got the ticket from the lock box and signed it as co-manager of the LLC, that I had set up and kept it in, to take it back home with me. I then met with the manager and the president of the credit union and prepared them for what was about to come. Letting them know the approximate amount that would be hitting their small time financial organization and that all of the funds would not be staying but they would still have a tidy sum deposited in the end.

I then ran some errands at the local grocery store as well as at the Home/Farm store picking up some more dog food for Sam along with some treats for her.

I didn't have anything perishable in the truck so I stopped at the Dairy Queen for lunch again.

Kala was at the counter when I went in and I spotted Stella as well. Stella lived in our county just across the county line.

"Hey Stella, I didn't know you worked here?" I said.

"Uh..Uh...Yeah..I...I...started last month." She replied blushing. "What brings you out of the county on a Saturday?"

"I had to take care of something at the credit union and pick up some more dog food and treats for Samantha my dog." I said.

It looked like Kala saw the blush on Stella's face and took note of her stammering when she spoke back to me.

"Hi Kala, I see you two got home alright last night."

This time Kala blushed and Stella took notice.

"Y...Yeah we did." Kala replied. "You having lunch again with us today? What can I get you?"

"I believe I'll have the grilled chicken loaded and the onion rings and that pineapple shake was great yesterday so get me another one and make it a medium please." Winking at her.

She blushed again. "OK, here's your receipt and we'll get your shake right out with the food to follow."

I dropped a Five dollar bill in the joint tip cup and took my receipt and went to get me some condiments, napkin and straw.

I had no sooner gotten sat down and Stella brought out my shake.

"So, what's with the interest in Kala and Kenz?" She asked.

"Just happened to run into them earlier in the week and helped them out when they were short on cash at Pizza Hut when they went to pay." I replied.

"Then what was the "I see you two got home alright." to Kala?"

'Wow! I believe I detect a little jealousy.' I thought.

"Oh, that. They happen to run out of gas near my place yesterday evening and I helped them get going again so they could get home."

She left to go back to her station and Kenz came out with my food.

"Kala said this was your order. I couldn't let anyone else deliver your food to you." she said blushing a bit.

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Sunday:

Got up a little later since it was Sunday morning. Got some breakfast then dressed in work clothes for the day. I was going to mow the yard later but first, I got out the Mule and headed back down the back way to the farm. When I got to the back pasture I opened the gate and continued through it then closing the gate so the cows would not get out.

When I got to the far side of the pasture, I got out and walked through the back gate to the hill side where the spring and rock bottomed pool was. We pipe some of the water into a trough for the cattle to drink.

I had gotten to thinking about where I was going to build my new shed for the motor home and decided that back here was where I wanted it. I would work things out with Lance but didn't think he would mind. I may even build a small house to live in as well.

I walked around and decided on where I would place the building and dwelling as well as how I would do the driveway.

After getting through with my walk, I headed back home to get the mowing done along with the other chores that I usually do on the weekends.

When finished, I headed over to Lance and Betty's for lunch and afterwards sat down and watched a couple of football games and discussed my ideas on the shed and dwelling location.

Lance was fine with my idea and I told him I would work on getting it transferred from the farm LLC that we had set up after our parents were killed.

I went home taking some leftovers from lunch for my supper and settled in for the evening making rough plans on the buildings.