Tales from the Road Ch. 02

We were making our payments, setting back enough money for fuel to get at least two stops down the road, preferably three. And we were sending money back to Günther. I had a rough idea of what the fuel, paint, and steel had cost. We figured we'd go an extra ten percent on that if Leon didn't come up with an actual number. The cost of the labor to do it had me scared shitless. If we kept going like we were, we should have the first part paid off mid to late summer. Ro had thought we might go up and see her parents this Christmas. I said yes, but Christmas in Alaska was not high on my priority list.

With a smooth operating ride in good shape, our only ride expenses were lightbulbs. We replaced on average half a dozen a day. Ro's idea of all the multi-colored bulbs was quickly reduced to red, white, blue, yellow, and any other color if she found them on sale. It was rare she found anything but white on sale. Although the orange ones after Halloween were interesting.

It was the first part of April when we got a strange message. Mom told Ro we needed to give Leon a call. We did our usual collect call thing, and he called back right away.

"Hey man, what's up?" I asked.

"Man, you are in a world of shit. Grandma hasn't decided yet if she should kill you."

"Fuck man, how much was all that stuff?"

He chuckled.

"Asshole."

He was still chuckling, "Serious man. One minute she wants to kill you, the next she could kiss you. She is not happy you left the book on the ride behind, but he is all grins out in the machine shed building something. She's tickled and pissed at the same time that he's out there keeping busy and not under foot in the house, but won't say what he's doing. He just grins and kisses her pissing her off even more."

I smiled, I knew that feeling with Ro. "Um Leon, I didn't leave anything behind. I have my set of books on the ride and truck with me."

"You're shitting me?"

"Nope, I used them to start going through all the stuff he made to get an idea of what we owe you guys."

"Damn."

"So what's he making?"

"Fucked if I know. We all assumed it was something for your ride since he made sure he could get more of that god awful pink paint." Ro made a noise.

"Don't remind me, I need to find stronger sunglasses." Ro swatted me.

"He's been having me take the tractor down into the valley and haul all sorts of shit up to the shed. He'll cut this piece or that from it, then haul that back down and go scrounging for the next treasure. Grandma is afraid he's going to fall and hurt himself so we have to keep an eye on him."

I smiled, "And should I guess who has been selected as head tractor driver?"

"Uh huh."

I chuckled, "Have you made any headway on what all that cost?"

He snorted, "Hell no. I hinted around a little, and the old fart took all the receipts and locked them in the shop safe."

I chuckled again.

"Yeah."

"Well, keep an eye out and see what you can find. If you need me to call just let mom know."

"Will do, and if you send me your schedule, I can send some welding glasses ahead of you. They'd be a lot darker than sunglasses."

"Goodbye Leon," Ro said and put her finger on the hook.

I smiled and tried not to laugh. She was pissed, I was forced to eat her through two orgasms that night before I was allowed to fuck her silly. She was, however, very grateful for the one little addition to the truck. With the front door on the trailer for our bunk, Günther had Matteo put a piece of catwalk grid across the frame. That let her step out, squat and rinse, then step right back in. No climbing down necessary.

We also learned another lesson through Aldo's problems. One of his trucks threw the tread on a tire, and he had to pay roadside prices for a replacement. We kept an eye out and picked one up at a reasonable price and locked it into the carrier on the trailer. We lucked out as the truck and trailer used the same size tire.

I also learned the fastest way to make the rounds on the truck and ride with a grease gun, and do an oil change on the truck without getting it all over myself. Ro thought the first time was rather comical until I started to come after her with oil covered arms. She screeched and ran off giggling.

She made me extra bacon for breakfast.

We kept plugging away. Ro made the calls to our parents every other week, but we hadn't heard anything from Leon. We made a collect call to his place and left a number, but didn't hear back from him for over an hour and had to get to work.

We tried two days later before we pulled out, and again once we got to the new site. Still no call back. Ro made the call to Mom, and she got word to and from Leon. He'd be available in three days.

We were both a bit nervous about what was going on back home.

We were relieved when he answered the collect call, and called us back immediately.

"Hey man, what's up with the disappearing act?"

"Gotta talk quick, the folks are due back anytime."

"What's going on? This doesn't sound good."

"Jerold, stop sending money. Start socking it away but on your end."

"You figured out what your grandfather was building?"

"Yes."

"And?"

"I can't say."

"You know but you can't say. What is this?"

"Look just start socking it away. Don't do any more to your truck and trailer than you have to. If it breaks, fix it but don't improve it. You can go nuts on the ride if you have to, but the truck and trailer stay as is."

"What the fuck Leon?"

"I hear the truck pulling in, I gotta go. Just do what I tell you. I'll try and get by one of the days you call your mom, but I don't know when. Bye." And he hung up.

Ro and I looked at each other. It wasn't until the handset between us was making noise that we realized I hadn't hung up yet.

We had more than three weeks until our regular call to mom.

There wasn't much we could do about whatever was going on. From what Leon did say, it had something to do with the truck. But that was weird because everything we did when we were home was on the ride. I mean yeah we wished for a fancier truck sometimes, but it was transportation between stops, not the moneymaker like the ride.

Oh yeah, and Dom was a bit pissed about the ride. As the season progressed, we were seeing about a fifteen percent overall jump in riders compared to what it was the previous year. Not a huge jump, but enough he would have kept it if he knew.

I will give it to Aldo, he didn't renege on our agreement. The major rides kind of rotated around near the entrance so everybody got a shot at the first tickets coming in. If it was in the town square or something it didn't matter. But every time we had some kind of entrance point, a different pair of rides got the good spots on either side. Granted three quarters of the time it was his rides, but that also meant that only a quarter of the time we were at the 'back'. It didn't make a lot of difference, but it did make a difference.

And as much as I didn't like it, we did a higher volume of tickets when we were closer to the kiddie rides. That damn pink again...

We were coming up on my home call, and neither of us wanted to talk about it, we talked around it.

We arrived at a new location two days before we were due to call, but Ro made a quick call to let mom know we were in town and would check back in the morning to see if Leon was around. It would be Saturday morning so we had a good shot at connecting.

It was a nervous night, and neither one of us slept all that well, sex wasn't even considered.

Ro made a quick breakfast and with a silent look at each other, we headed for the payphone. Leon answered the collect call, got our call back number, and hung up.

I snatched that phone up before it had even gotten two taps of the bell.

"Leon?"

He chuckled, "Settle down Jerold. It's nothing bad."

Ro and I were huddled with the receiver between us. "Bullshit Leon. You laid that shit on us the last call and have the nerve to tell us it's nothing bad."

"Easy man. I can't tell you what it is on the threat of my firstborn son's life by Grandpa. I can tell you that it is nothing bad, in fact, I think it's pretty damn good."

"Then why all the cloak and dagger shit?" I was still a little pissed.

"He wants to make it a big surprise. The old fart didn't even start putting it together until the last minute."

"What about the money?"

"Relax man, you have more than paid for what was done."

"Bullshit."

"The only out of pocket we had was the paint and sand and a few bearings. Dad wrote the fuel off against the farm profit so that was an easy one."

"But all the time..."

"And Grandpa is grinning and kicking about like a kid in a candy store. Yes he has a surprise for you, and it will cost you a bit. But he's adamant that it will only be stuff he had to buy. He's so thrilled to be working the iron again it's not funny. Well actually it is kinda funny, but you know what I mean."

"So it's all good?"

"Yeah, dad's a bit miffed Grandpa took over a chunk of the machine shed for a while, but he's glad to see his dad up and about so it's a wash."

There was a bit of silence as we took that in.

"So everything is really okay then?" Ro asked.

"Yeah, everything is good. But do like I said and don't put anything extra into the truck and trailer."

I groaned, "That's a bit cryptic Leon."

"Yeah, but it's something even a city boy like you can follow."

"Your sister."

"Still thinks you're ugly. Go back to work, I'll tell your mom if I need to holler at you again. Bye."

I slowly hung the phone up, and let out the breath I had been holding.

Ro looked at me, "So..."

I shrugged, "Whatever it is, it's not bad. His Grandpa is a stickler for keeping a secret if he wants. Sounds like he's sworn everybody to secrecy, and that's one they'll keep."

We headed back to the trailer, our mood getting better and better. By the time we made it back, we were in a big hurry. All the tension of the last few weeks was gone. We fell into the bunk as we stripped out of our clothes. Me going up between her legs and driving in hard and deep. It was a mad fucking frenzy until we were both exhausted.

I was just starting to catch my breath when we heard the generator start. I rolled over enough to suckle her nipple quick, then rolled up and started pulling clothes on. Ro just groaned when I squeezed her tit before I ducked out.

Despite the good morning news, Ro was not in the best of moods when she got to the ride. It took a while to get it out of her, but it seems her morning orgasmic screams were just a tad louder than she realized. Okay, more than a tad. We were overheard by several people.

I smiled, she gave me the look.

And knowing something was coming, Ro made some other little changes. It wasn't much, but we switched to hamburger with the occasional chicken thrown in. Before the call, we would have some decent steak every week or so, or skip a few weeks and have a very good steak. After a REALLY bad brand of generic sausage links, we did go back to the name brand though.

And I cut back on Hector's donuts. We still got a good discount, and he would hand me a jumbo bag instead of the regular, I just tried not to go get them as much. Really, I did.

Damn these are some good donuts...

We also started getting better set up and tear down times when we got a regular body from one of the sideshow trailers. As long as we got a good strong guy as a fourth, we could shave half an hour off the time. Ro was doing the lightweight stuff. But with her moving the truck and popping pins and clips in right when needed it was just a few words to the local from whoever he was working with and that's it.

Ro splurged and got a big boom box. She had all sorts of stuff playing on it while the ride was going depending on where we were, but I put my foot down and we had some good thumping rock for set up and tear down.

After a few months of Ro moving the truck around once we got to the locations and all the back and forth during setup, she got the nerve to drive it on the road. We took it easy, and I coached her on clutch and shifting, but she didn't do too badly. The next time we were in a decent sized city, she went down and got her Class A learners paperwork so she was legal to drive with me in the cab.

At first, she wanted to drive fairly often, but then the new wore off, and with a few stop and go cities she was now a 'drive when she had to' person. Granted, if we'd had a particularly rough tear down, she would dive for a while in the morning to give me a break. The time I banged up my wrist courtesy of a wimpy townie laborer and I was damn glad she could. That would have been a really long and painful drive without her help.

She made a point to let everyone know I was the wimpy gofer for the next set up. She made it plain in the bunk that she was in charge and on top until my wrist healed.

I wished it had been a longer stop, milking that four days of her on top was wonderful. My wrist quit hurting the second day. I think she suspected the morning before tear down, but she grinned when I didn't squeeze one tit all that hard. She rolled her eyes when I jumped right in on the actual tear down. I don't think she believed me when I told her I took a bunch of ibuprofen.

As the end of the season got closer and closer, Ro became a nervous wreck. After a few questions to me from Aldo, I just said something was going on at home that they weren't telling us, and until we got there it was only going to get worse. The last two stops were small town celebrations, and going the other direction from where we were headed. Aldo understood that even if it wasn't in the contract, we needed to go home and see what was up.

The collect call was quick, no number, just tell them we'll be home in a few days.

This one, Ro decided was worth her driving. We had a decent four day drive, or three long days. We each slept a bit as we drove and took a late night nap in the front of the trailer, but were back at it bright and early in the morning.

We pulled into the farm just as the sun was going down. We were exhausted, and Günther and Yohanna were adamant that we come in and get something to eat first.

We were drugged, that's the only explanation. One minute we were sitting at the table eating, the next I can barely keep my eyes open. We staggered up to bed and fell in.

Sleeping fully dressed is not something I recommend. Somebody had thrown a blanket over us, I lost most of my change, and worst of all there was a bra and shirt between my hand and that tit.

I still gave it a good squeeze as I got up to get our bag from the truck.

Ro was coming out of the bathroom wrapped in a towel as I came up the stairs. I grinned, she rolled her eyes and pushed me to the bathroom. Party pooper.

After grumbling a bit at breakfast, I found out how they ambushed us last night. Turkey sandwiches. Leon had the nerve to grin and snicker.

We finally got outside, and Günther stopped us on the edge of the gravel by the machine shed and told Leon to pull it out.

Leon jogged out behind the shed, and I heard one of the big trucks start. A minute later he pulled around in one of the trucks they pull the grain trailers with... pulling a god awful PINK short flatbed.

I groaned even if I had no idea what it was. It was PINK.

Ro only grinned because I groaned, I'm sure of it.

We walked closer, and it was a weird flat bed. It was a single drop, but barely the thickness of the frame, and I could see a gap in the floor right in front of the drop. It didn't hit me until we walked toward the back.

"You're shitting me?" I said softly.

"What?" Ro asked while Günther grinned.

I pointed to the big hole near the back. It took her a minute to see what I saw. A big ass hex shaped hole just in front of the rear axle deck. Only then did I see the pins between the main trailer and the rear axle deck.

I looked at Günther, "You didn't?"

He shrugged and ducked his head a bit grinning. "It had a cracked frame, I just cut it down. Did something else with the leftover."

Ro looked at me, "Is this what I think it is?"

I sighed making Günther chuckle. "If you think Günther made a trailer mount for our ride, I think so."

I turned to him, "I'm assuming you have a plan to make the two arms pivot."

"Ach, piece of pie. Just rotate two tab sets, one each arm." It would be more than that, but I wasn't going to argue. I looked at him, 'Just.' Just cutting off steel tabs and weld them back in place, like he would talk about slicing up a steak.

I looked at him to decline, but the look on his face, and the pleading look on Ro's, and I knew I was out voted.

I sighed, Ro attacked me, everybody else laughed.

We began pulling pieces from the trailer. It took a while to get the main unit in the hex hole Günther had cut. It was a very snug fit. Less than a quarter inch gap meant it had to go straight down.

I thought we were going to just pin it in place. Günther was grinning as he had one of the kids pull the flatbed truck with the welder up beside the trailer. He ran a bead all the way around on the top and on each beam underneath.

We mounted the motor and gear case under the back edge of the extended front section. We had to cut down one of the catwalk shafts to the right length, but that was pretty simple.

We set one of the main arms and tub spindles. Günther had made a support for all three that went across the deck just shy of the bearing for traveling.

I really wanted to cringe when he took the cutting torch to the main pivot to cut two sets of tabs off. I didn't watch as he cut one corner from each of the remaining sets of main arms.

Each one was rotated to the support and assembled minus that one corner. I was damn glad for all the help. Until everything else was in place it was a big sloppy mess. They were tacked in place for the night.

It didn't seem like we really got a lot done, and bits and pieces were all over the place, but I was TIRED.

It was a MUCH better morning. We hadn't gone to sleep fully dressed, and I had woken with my hand inside Ro's t-shirt cupping her tit. I lightly squeezed a bit while she slept, and it had ridden up enough I was able to nibble and suckle one nipple before she woke up. I was going for the other one when she gasped and pushed me back.

I still grinned.

At first, I thought we had a problem. Even with the turned set of tabs, the other unchanged side wouldn't quite come apart. Günther chuckled and drug the torch over to warm the other tab up and bend it out slightly. Add a brace for the top pyramid support to tip it for bridge clearance going down the road, and it was 'collapsed'.

We went through several runs of unfold and fold the next two days. I laughed my ass off at Günther's solution for rolling the back single axle out of the way when they were disconnected from the main body. He put a part of a 2" receiver on the back, a section of square tube... and a back castor wheel from an old brush hog. It was still not a light piece to move around, but it wasn't trying to turn itself upside down all the time, as well as being a whole lot lighter and easier to maneuver than the usual pair of regular axles.

As we were packing things up for the fifth or sixth time, it dawned on us. "Where are we going to sleep?" Ro asked.

I looked at Matteo and Günther. Günther grinned. "How about we swap trucks? I was looking at getting a truck to pull the new grain trailer, and I've got a long one that is too long for maneuvering out in the fields, it had a dump bed on it before."

"I guess we can look at it, just about anything would be better than both of us in that dinky cab." I answered.

He turned his head, "Yo Leon! Pull that old grain truck around so these guys can take a look at it."