Summer Memories

I had seen the girl before of course, twenty-three year old guys have a sort of natural radar that can pick up on women anywhere in their vicinity, but I had never really met her. She had caught my attention at a distance a few times the way anything even remotely female does. She was the girlfriend or fiancée of the son of the rancher down the road from the place I was working that summer and provided a nice distraction from hard work when spotting her across the pasture but that was all.

Rancher might have been too serious a title for the guy in this case as their place was hardly a real ranch. His house, barn and a few livestock were nestled on a few acres butting up against the couple of sections my real rancher boss called home. I had worked for old man Potter the summer after graduation and had returned during each break from college. It was hard work but he paid well and it went along with the degree in agriculture I was studying toward. The little place next door had never even entered my attention until spotting the girl there.

She was cute, in a pig-tails and tom-boy kind of way, although I don't recall her ever really wearing pig tails. She just sort of came across that way when I would catch sight of her riding their old mare from time to time or helping the owner's son feed their stock. His name was Trent, I knew that, I had met him a few times. He was a decent enough sort about my age and his Dad was alright too, but they were an oil family. Their stock and barn were a hobby for them, something they spent their oil money on for fun, or so I had heard. This drew my contempt as a farm and ranch man and I don't think I exchanged more than a few words with any of them during those previous summers.

The girl was a new fixture though. She had appeared a month or so before, only a few days after my return. I had watched her a few times, even so far as to use a pair of binoculars for a few minutes when I spotted her in a sports bra one afternoon, until old man Potter kicked me in the ass with a devilish grin. She had looked pretty good that day, nice trim little body, firm if a bit small set of tits on her, long legs and a wild mop of sun-bleached blonde hair. Like most blondes she was pale but it looked good on her, that milky smooth skin. I liked what I saw, no doubt there, but in the glasses that day I also caught a good look at her face, and although cute as hell she looked like she might be a bit too young for me to be checking out.

Another clue that hinted the cutie could still be 'jail-bait' was that she only appeared on weekends during the winter, or so a couple of Potter's regular hands had told me. Yeah, they had noticed her too, showing up now and then over the past year but not so much when class was in, like maybe she was still in high school. This made it seem a little creepy to talk about her and we kept our dirty thoughts to ourselves at first until the kid Trent hid a new mare at Potter's place for a week.

It was a birthday present for the girl and I we were relieved when we heard it was her eighteenth. That opened the barn door, as the old man would have said, allowing us guilt free discussion. We all joked and made the typical rude comments about her after that of course, the old man even whispering something about that 'sweet little filly next door' a few times, but it was harmless. I still laughed though when I considered that the son over there, Trent, was dating this young thing. I could imagine his parents weren't too happy about that. Mine had thrown a fit when I had brought a high school senior home during my third year of college. That relationship hadn't lasted and as it turned out I had been right about how Trent's folks felt about this one. Eighteen might be legal in our eyes but to parents it's still a kid, and really when you get to thinking about it, it is.

It was innocent fun back then, thinking and joking about her, was for a while anyway. It was Innocent right up to the point when it went crazy and nobody but maybe old man Potter saw it coming.

I didn't know the details of how it started at the time, it took a while to get the whole story as everybody clammed up afterwards, hardly wanting to admit it had happened at all. It wasn't like somebody had gotten hurt or anything but afterward, when the blood returns to your brain after something like that, you realize you screwed up and don't want to be reminded. What I did learn eventually is that the owner of the place next door had taken his wife on vacation, Hawaii or something I think somebody said. The son Trent was working on site for his old man and was away for a week or so. In the mean time his girl hung out to watch over the place, care for the animals and tend their garden. Seemed reasonable to me but one of the hands told me the owners hadn't been too keen on it and gave the girl a hard time, not trusting her. He said it took a lot of convincing from their boy to get them change their mind.

When I think about that now it kind of makes sense and explains that look she had on her face when we first went over. She looked trapped, not by a bunch of us guys horning in around her, but by her own doing. I think she was scared to death of letting those people, maybe her future in-laws, down. The idea of having to explain what had happened that morning and hand them a bill for the damages would have been bad, really bad, maybe bad enough to wreck what her and their son had going. I kind of feel sorry for her now, I did then too but there were other feelings surging that had drowned all that out.

The first I got involved was about ten o'clock that morning, maybe three weeks after the big birthday when they came to fetch the horse. It was shaping up to be another West Texas summer scorcher and a couple of the hands and I were hanging back in the shade of the barn trying to avoid the old man. We were just smoking and shooting the bull when one of the other guys actually working on something started shouting for the rest of us to bring the truck, that some of the east fence was down near the road. When I asked if I should get the tractor, knowing we would need it to restring the barbed wire, I was confused to hear him reply that it was already there. The four of us piled in the old F150 and sped down the county road to the point he had indicated, right at the intersection of our land and that kid Trent's place. Seeing the snarl of fence, Boss Potter's truck and a few head of cattle in the roadway we had a mess to clean up and got to it.

Sure enough the tractor was there, somehow it had gotten some of the fence wire wrapped around an axle and before any of us even jumped up to start it the old man was bitching that the clutch was burned out on it and we would have to tow it back to the yard. I hadn't even known the tractor was gone but we had spent most of the early morning working on the water well and I guess I never noticed. As we bailed out to start rounding up the cattle the old man sped off, throwing dirt as he headed further up the road toward the neighbor's little place, now being watched by the girl.

It didn't take very long, the four of us driving the cattle back through the breech and temporarily wiring up the fence. We had just finished towing the tractor back into the yard when the radio crackled in the truck. Old man Potter had a whimsical tone in his voice over the speaker.

"You boys bring the truck and come on over here to the Hewett's. I got something your gonna want to see." There was almost a chuckle in his voice.

We unhooked the tractor and loaded back up, a little curious but expecting nothing less than more work of some kind. The short ride over however was perpetuated by comments about having a legitimate reason to get a good look at that 'sweet thing' we had been joking about. I know for myself, I was a little excited. She was young sure, and none of us had any real business thinking that way, but we were just going to look. No harm in it, or so mature men tell themselves when encountering young but attractive girls the world over.

As we pulled up in the Hewett's drive, a good hundred or so yards from the main road, I could see Potter's truck pulled up next to a little Toyota pickup, the girl's I figured. To one side the old man was towering over her and pointing an accusing finger back at the fence. Even from a distance I could tell from her posture something was wrong. She looked like a scolded kid, head hung low and shoulders slumped, tossed blonde hair all but covering her face. As we shut off the ignition we could hear her sobbing a little, sputtering between sniffles about not having enough time to pay something back.

She glanced up at us as we emerged from the truck. Her face was wet with tears and her eyes a little swollen. She quickly looked back down. We approached, hanging back a little, uneasy with the unexpected scene. Potter was using his Big Daddy Showman voice, the one he used when haggling for a good price or politicking, but what he was saying shocked me, all of us I think.

"I'm real sorry sweetheart but the clutch on that tractor aint going to fix itself and theres a good fifteen or twenty head of my cattle roaming down the county road half way to who the hell knows where! Not to mention I got to pay these hands a wage to set that mess you made to rights. If you didn't know how to run the tractor you shouldn't have tried. You told my wife you knew what you were doing, now look were that got us. I figure to be out almost three thousand dollars because of your little accident."

The words and tone were calculated, I could see that, aimed at scaring the girl right up to becoming frantic but holding her there at her most vulnerable. The fact that it was mostly bull-shit was also evident to us but not to her. The tractor would be working by that evening and the fence and cattle were already good to go. She didn't know it though and none of us was stupid enough to challenge the boss. She was tearing heavily as he spoke but not quite weeping and you could tell her mind was still working, still searching for a solution, not yet succumbing to the situation she was facing.

"I was just trying to patch the fence." She blurted "I didn't even see the wire till it was all wrapped up Mr. Potter. I'm really, really sorry and I can pay you back." she continued stammering then sobbed again. "Really, I'll work for it but I'll need more time."

"Work?" Potter laughed gustily "I've seen your work darlin, no thank you ma'am." He paused then and shifted to a warm, sympathetic smile. "Look, Tonya is it? How about I get this taken care of and Ill work it all out with Mr. Hewett when he gets back, no need for you to trouble yourself about it. You just got in over your head, that's all. You should have asked for help. A ranch is hard work, no place for a little girl on her own."

Wow, now that I think about it, knowing what I know of the girl's situation, Potter had been masterful. I don't know if there was anything he could have said that could have been as threatening to her as that. If he had meant to completely disarm her, and I guess knowing what I know now he did, he had done it expertly. He had tapped into her worst nightmare, having to admit she was exactly what her boyfriend's parents thought she was, a silly little girl who hadn't grown up yet. The girl didn't know it then, or maybe she sort of did, but whatever choice she might have had in what followed left her right there.

"No" she interjected harshly, regaining some composure "Mr. Hewett doesn't need to be involved in any of this." She took on a very adult and almost professional air. "It was my mistake and I will take care of it. Just tell me what I can do to make this right."

The wait after that offer seemed like a long time. Guys are horrible letches, let's just face it, and the three hands and I were all sort of thinking the same thing but didn't dare really consider it. What could she do? What would she do, with us maybe? The question was there but we pushed it away. It was crude guy thinking, the kind of crap that circles around in your head all the time but has no bearing on reality. She was just a young girl too. Now that we had a real good close look there was no doubt about it. She was only a couple weeks past eighteen we knew but could have passed for younger. She was a looker though, that good close look provided a few more pleasant details too. Her legs were long and shapely beneath a mid thigh pair of cutoffs, displaying the slight pink tinge of sunburn. The t-shirt she wore was tiny, tight across the fist-sized boobs filling in nice from underneath. When she turned we got a good view of a sweet little round ass, nothing immature there, and her lightly freckled face and scared blue eyes were making that change from girl to woman slowly, holding an innocence that frankly drives most men crazy.

These thoughts were swirling through my head when Potter's reply stunned us all.

"Well sweetheart, OK, I tell you what. You jump up there on the hood of my truck and do a little dance for me and the boys here and I'll consider knocking a sizeable chunk off that cash the Hewetts are gonna owe me. How about that?"

Her gaze went blank and her mouth sort of dropped open, and so did ours. There was this sudden weird surreal feeling in the air, like we had stepped into a movie or something. The old man had opened up something with that proposition and was letting something out, and it was tickling us, tickling us in places that had no business being tickled with this innocent and suddenly defenseless young girl there looking back at us. Did he really just ask her that?

She literally stuttered when she replied, barely understandable as she questioned what he had said but Potter was in full gear. He laughed disarmingly like she had misunderstood him somehow.

"Dance honey, just a dance, like you do at that school of yours. Ill flip on the radio in the truck there and you dance. OK? You can dance right? Them pretty legs of yours are worth a good roll of cash, use'em!"

The easy-going way he presented it sort of took the tension down a notch both for us and her. It was pretty amazing really. This young girl had obviously never even dreamed of doing something like that before in her life and at face value it was a pretty daring, suggestive, and scary request. He was asking her to stand up there and dance in front of five strange men. She should be terrified and we should all be running for fear of a police report I knew, but we didn't run and amazingly she just sort of stood there looking down and was obviously thinking it over. She was thinking about three thousand dollars too I bet, and her boyfriend's parents I was sure. What Potter was asking wasn't really that threatening now that I think about it, not really, not the way he put it. He had taken a lot of the scare out of his suggestion somehow and made it seem almost playful. It must have managed to overcome her obvious inhibitions too because without warning she just stepped on the running board and jumped up to the hood. She smiled down at us uneasily as she waited for the radio, her hands on her hips and a forced look of defiance on her face. A moment later Bon Jovi was "Living on a Prayer" and she started to dance.

She wasn't great, at dancing I mean. Don't get me wrong, she did ok but she had no idea how to dance the way women dance when in front of leering guys. There was no pole up there and it was clear she wouldn't have known what to do with one had there been, but she moved pretty well and her looks and the erotic feel of the whole situation made up for a lot. She did do this one sort of thing with her hips I remember where a kind of circular grind would end with a little pelvic thrust to the front that drew a few groans from the guys. We weren't really sure how to act at first but within a minute or so we got into it and started whistling and cat-calling in a friendly rather than threatening manner. We didn't want to scare her after all and were trying to encourage her more than anything else. This seemed to put her at ease some and I actually remember her laughing a couple times when one of the hands grasped his chest and faked a heart attack while another started dancing right along with her.

By the end of the song a lot of the tension had bled off. It really hadn't been that uncomfortable, for her or us, but Potter wasn't even close to letting go. Just as we were relaxing a bit, a little guilty at ogling this young thing but feeling more at ease with her as she was calming down too, Potter gave a short applause.

"Whew! Sweetheart the girls I ran with never moved liked that! I sure missed out. Do one more for us ok? I'll knock another chunk off what you owe for one more." He offered this with the same circus showman flare that had worked so well before.

She didn't even hesitate this time, why should she? She had a good thing going and knew it. But when she stood back up as the next song started, Potter shook his head and caught her attention.

"Oh no darlin, I'm sorry but we got to work a bit harder this time. I'll make it worth your while don't you worry - but you have to lose that t-shirt this time."

The affect was stunning. I swear the wind quit blowing, the locusts in the trees stopped buzzing and the animals stood stone still, just as we did. Again there was that weird current in the air like we were losing reality but this time it was stronger and there was no reprieve. We all wondered then and there in disbelief where Potter was taking this girl and how far it would go.

None of us said a thing but all our eyes were on her, awaiting a response. She shook her head slowly then more emphatically. Finally she managed to reply.

"No. No way, I mean. I'm not going to..." but she didn't get to finish.

Potter just thrust out his hand to help her down from the hood.

"Fine" he interrupted, speaking flatly "No problem Tonya. Me and the boys will wrap things up down there at the fence and I'll see you in a few days when the Hewetts return. No problem."

His hand held there extended for several seconds and her hand lifted to take it but stopped. It wavered then lowered again. Slowly he withdrew his and stuck it in his pocket as he leaned back against our truck from where he had watched her first performance. Her eyes moved to us, momentarily locking with each of our own gazes. I don't know if she was looking for help or sympathy, but if she had been, she didn't get it.

I wanted to look away, knew I should. Hell, down inside somewhere I wanted to get in the truck and drive off, or better yet step up and put a stop to the whole thing but I didn't. I've wondered for years why I didn't. I've told myself it was my job, the one paying my way through college. Or maybe it was the pressure of the boss and the other hands standing there. I know better though. It was her, that beautiful young frightened thing standing there on display, like prey to hunting predators. Her light blonde hair fluttered in the wind a little and her big blue eyes darted around nervously while we waited. Her sleek young body quivered noticeably and her hands pulled into fists as her mind raced. I stood there ashamed but wanted to see, needed to see where it was all going to go, privately yearning for her to keep going no matter what. So I said nothing and just stared.

When the music started, I can't recall the song that time, she started to dance again slowly but then awkwardly grasped the bottom edge of her shirt and drew it up over her head. As it fell to the ground next to the truck one of the hands picked it up in a sick parody of a chivalrous act and actually folded it before placing it on the truck behind us.

She was wearing a bra of course, a plain white bra cut for a girl of her age and delicate frame. It was obviously an older one however, probably a better fit when she was an A cup rather than the full B she seemed to be now. The tight squeeze accentuated her bust as it pushed up from under the restraining material. She danced more carefully this time, not raising her arms and trying unsuccessfully to not draw attention to what our eyes were completely locked on. Her breasts were young and very firm and didn't bounce much under that tight fabric but when they did, oh man, you could feel a little jolt pass through us all.