The Perils of Love Ch. 03

"Sunny! Oh, my god I'm so glad you called.

"You taught me two lessons last week. The first one you know about because you told me how I need to get out of my head, to stop dwelling on the past, and to enjoy the present. The second one is that the pain I've been feeling since I left your campus last weekend forced me to get out of the present and think about the future.

"I can't begin to describe how I feel right now. I have a plan. Do you have some time to listen to me?"

Since Sunny was using a payphone, I asked her to give me the number for one of the phones in the commons on which I could call her so I could foot the bill. We spent almost an hour and a half talking. I expected the call to cost a chunk of change, but I didn't give a crap.

The last thing she'd said when I'd seen her was, "I wish I could hate you." The last thing she said on the phone was, "I think this is a bad idea, but I can't wait to see you. Thank you. I love you so much!"

It was going to be very, very difficult logistically, but I thought it could work. The bright spot helped me sail through the rest of my finals. I aced every single one of them. My final GPA was 3.811, which earned me the Summa Cum Laude gold leaf seal on my diploma.

Commencement was, thankfully, a very quick affair. It was a gorgeous day, which was a great thing, because the ceremony was held at the football stadium with thousands of people in attendance. Unfortunately, Sunny wasn't among them because she had her own things she needed to do before her semester ended.

Immediately after the ceremony, my parents helped load all of my stuff out of my dorm into their car and mine, and I departed the town I'd called home for four years. I had two days to box up those belongings and tag some hand-me-down furniture to get ready for the movers.

My mother traveled the fourteen hours from my former home to my new one to help me with the process of finding an apartment and getting it at least sparsely furnished. It required three days before I signed a lease. The rent was more than I'd budgeted, but it was very convenient to the office building in which I'd be based.

I'd arrived.

I knew it'd take me a while to consider the new place to be my home, but I was starting my new life and was so incredibly excited. There was, though, a huge vacuum because I had to wait almost two more weeks before I could communicate with Sunny again. She was on her summer break.

First, I had to wait for a telephone line to be installed in my apartment. The GTE agent I spoke with was at least able to assign the new number during the call. I mailed a letter to Sunny's home so she'd have my address and phone number, but it'd take a few days for the line to become active.

I waited with bated breath on a Friday evening at the appointed time. Since Sunny's family still didn't have a telephone in their house, she had to drive fifteen minutes into the nearest town to use a payphone. She'd call and let the phone ring twice, then hang up, getting her quarters back. I'd call the phone right back. Luckily that particular payphone was one which could accept incoming calls. Not all did.

We made plans. It was late June when they would come to fruition with me meeting her flight at the gate on a Saturday afternoon. She was mine for a week!

We had an absolute blast together. Since I'd only lived in my new surroundings for a few weeks, we went out almost every evening and explored. Most of the sights were as new to me as they were to her. We ate out a few times, but trying to stick within my budget, we prepared most of our meals ourselves. To be perfectly honest, Sunny prepared most of them. She was fantastically adept in the apartment's small kitchen.

Do not misinterpret me. I can cook a pretty darned-good scratch meal myself because my own parents began teaching me kitchen skills from a young age. I was making homemade pancakes when I was seven or eight years old. I'm only saying I was impressed that her skills were far better than mine.

Unfortunately, since I'd only been employed for less than a month, I had zero vacation time. I wouldn't earn my first week of vacation until the sixth month, so I had to work that week. I hated abandoning her alone in my apartment with no way to get around. Though she never said anything about it, I'm sure she didn't enjoy being cooped up, but she understood it was a necessary evil. I think that's where her interest in daytime TV dramas began.

Leaving the car with Sunny was an unworkable option. There were times I might be called to another campus with no notice, and a delay from a new employee wouldn't be easily tolerated if I had to wait for Sunny to transport me.

One thing I still remember vividly was at least being afforded the opportunity to rush back to my apartment during lunch. Many times, we didn't eat because we were too busy enjoying each other. I often "neglected" to wash my hands after a midday reunion so I could smell her intimate odor on them the rest of the day.

The week was incredible, and her stay ended way too soon. We both were pensive and quiet on the drive back to the airport. In those days, one didn't have to possess a ticket to go through security, and I was more than happy to sit with her as we waited for her flight to board. She was the last passenger aboard because we didn't want to let each other go, and we wanted one more kiss. Lots of last kisses were exchanged until the gate agent tapped Sunny on the shoulder and pointed to the door.

Before I left the airport, I went to the airline's counter and booked my flight to see her the following month.

I was sent on a facility audit with a more senior coworker so he could show me some new ropes. It was a four-day trip to one of our manufacturing plants about three hundred miles to the west.

The work was brisk. It was educational on-the-job training, but it was tedious and fatiguing. On our last night in town, with our work completed, my coworker and I enjoyed drinks at the hotel bar. We chatted amiably over beers for several hours as he gave me the rundown on corporate life. He was interested in the basics of my life story and my college experiences.

He'd graduated six years before, so his memories were still fresh. We commiserated in the pitfalls and hazards we'd experienced. Even the bartender joined us in the conversation when she mentioned she was a local university student about to begin her senior year, which allowed her to share some entertaining stories with us as well.

All three of us had a good time chit-chatting. Traffic at the bar was light, so our conversation was seldom interrupted. As the evening drew late, my coworker seemed itchy to depart. When he did, I followed him out.

When we boarded the elevator, Don said, "You weren't supposed to follow me, you moron. I sure as hell hope you're not as ignorant doing audits as you were with the bartender."

"What are you talking about?"

"That cute little thing was making eyes at you."

I laughed. "What makes you think that?"

"Are you kidding me? You didn't notice how she played with her hair and hung on your every word when you were the one talking? You didn't see her presenting her perfect little ass when she was bending over to get your beers out of the bottom of the back-bar fridges when they were right there, in the icy things beside her?"

I shrugged in ignorance.

"Crap, Gary! You and I were drinking the same thing! She pulled every single one of mine from the ice!"

"Wouldn't the ice baths be colder? Maybe she's after you."

He laughed hard.

"Don't I wish, but no. My beers didn't come with a free side of butt-show. Did you not notice how, when you were handing her cash, she'd 'inadvertently' brush your fingers with hers?" He air-quoted. "I saw it myself! For crying out loud, dude, are you blind ? I'm not sure, but I think she even wrote your name on her palm."

I hadn't noticed any of it. It's completely crazy how true love and deep connection with a soulmate changes one's perspective. For one thing, it had made me blind again.

He continued, "You need to go back down there, right now, and give her your room number. I guarantee that hot little honey-buttered biscuit will be tapping on your door as soon as the bar closes."

He got off the elevator at his floor. The elevator then arrived at mine. I decided to test his theory and rode it back to the ground floor. I returned to the bar and removed the blinders.

The bartender was, indeed, a gorgeous woman. She had azure-blue eyes and long, wavy blonde hair anchored behind her head with a banana clip. Yes, she had a fantastic body tucked into snug khaki shorts and a blue golf shirt with the hotel's logo embroidered into it. She flashed a delightfully lovely and different sort of smile when she saw me.

"I'm glad you came back without your friend," she said, twirling a lock of her golden hair around her left forefinger.

"I'm not staying. I thought I might have left my sunglasses behind, but nope, I didn't. Must be in the car."

I returned her smile then turned back toward the elevators.

She looked decidedly dejected, but I frankly didn't care. She was very pretty and had a great personality, but she wasn't Sunny. She didn't even come close. My self-esteem was bolstered by her, but I knew where my heart was.

I flew to Kansas City on a Friday night in early August. Sunny met me at the curb at the arrivals area where I was more than looking forward to diving right into and ravishing her mouth with my own. I even hoped for the opportunity to touch her intimate places when we got into the car. She jumped out and embraced me so tightly and kissed me so passionately I considered diverting us to a hotel because I knew we would be in the car for a while otherwise.

When I opened the rear door to put my duffel bag in the back seat, I saw a kiddo buckled in a booster.

"Well, hello!" I offered the little guy.

"Hi," he said back.

"That's my brother, JJ. He begged me to bring him along for the ride," said Sunny with an apologetic expression.

I laughed. "Yeah? Maybe he could kick my a⁠—um, backside," I acknowledged which made Sunny laugh beautifully.

I knew her home wasn't near the airport, but I didn't realize how far away it was until we'd been on the road almost two hours. I began to worry when I saw lightning to our west.

I'd been on farms before, but never stayed overnight at one. Sunny's home was in the middle of God-knows-where and burned the only lights for at least a mile. It was remote . It was shy of midnight when Sunny pulled onto a gravel road, then onto a dirt driveway.

The place was, to put it politely, "quaint." The farmhouse had seen better days. A few courses of siding were falling down on a wall of the house, and there was one of those huge C-band satellite antennas in the yard. And, holy crap, there were the headlight-reflecting eyes and streaked tail of a skunk about fifty feet in front of the car.

The only mention of it Sunny made was, "Don't walk toward it and you'll be fine."

No sooner than she'd unbuckled her brother and his feet hit the gravel, he darted off after the animal. Sunny ran after him and managed to yank him off the ground as the skunk turned its back and lifted its tail. Thankfully, it missed them, and the gusting wind blew the spray the opposite direction.

Her mother, father, and sister had come outside on seeing the approaching headlights. Sunny's father was a big fellow. Short, but big . He offered me a coarse, leathery hand, and I shook it. He about made me fall down on my knees with the intensity of his grip.

I guess my discomfort showed.

"Dad! Be nice!" Sunny scolded him as her mother elbowed him in the ribs.

I could tell by the expression on her father's face that he was maybe only testing me because his smile seemed genuine, not menacing. I gripped back as hard as I could, earning a firm pat on my shoulder with his free hand.

"Nice to meet you, young man. We've heard a lot about you. Go get your things out of the car and let's get inside before the weather gets here."

Sunny's mother told the younger kids to get to bed, and they obeyed. The rest of us stayed up until about 1:30 while her mother and father grilled me with questions about my job, my own family, and other odds and ends.

I tried to sleep on a vinyl-covered sofa which made rude noises any time I moved. It was warm and muggy in the house which had no air conditioning, but a box fan in the room made it barely tolerable.

The house groaned and creaked in the winds as the thunderstorm blew in. Sunny startled the crap out of me when, in the pitch-black darkness, she touched my shoulder and whispered, “Do you want to come sleep with me in my bed? It’s more comfortable than this couch.”

"I can't tell you how much I do. But no. I can't share a bed with you in your parents' home."

"I figured you'd say that. I love you, Gary."

"I love you, too, baby."

She gave me a slow, tender kiss and disappeared back into the darkness.

The day began very early. I heard a lot of motion at 5:00am. I could tell whoever was making the noise was trying their best to be quiet, but it’s probably pretty difficult to make a hot breakfast silently. As soon as I heard sizzling and smelled the aromas of sausage frying, coffee brewing, and biscuits baking, I no longer felt sleepy.

The family room where I'd slept was directly adjacent to the kitchen with only a broad arched opening between the two. I sat up on the couch and watched Sunny's mother in the kitchen trying to cook with nothing but a flashlight. I stood, walked a few paces, and flipped the light switch on.

"Oh!" she said, surprised. "I hope I didn't wake you."

"Sorry to startle you, ma'am. You didn't wake me, that did," I said, pointing to the skillet into which she was depositing more patties. "It smells really good."

Since her hands were occupied, I turned off the flashlight she had placed on the back of the stove and moved it to the countertop.

"Want some coffee?" Janette asked, pointing with her elbow to a haphazard collection of cups and the still-bubbling brewer.

I selected a John Deere mug from the shelf and poured myself a cup.

"There's cream in the refrigerator and sugar right there," she pointed to the latter.

I opened the fridge and found nothing resembling a carton of cream. Janette stepped over and pointed at a glass bottle.

“That’s heavy cream, so a little goes a long way. It’ll ball up a little because it’s not homogenized.”

I'd never used anything other than the powdered stuff. I poured a drizzle of the cream into my coffee and watched it dramatically pale. Despite my stirring, there were tiny flecks which floated to the surface. I sipped the brew.

"Oh, my word. This is so good. I could get so used to this."

"Never had fresh cream before, huh? We don't have dairy cows, but our neighbors do. We trade beef for dairy and eggs."

I savored the flavor, and yes, even the texture of the coffee for a few moments.

"Can I help you with anything?" I offered.

"Yeah. You can. Jerry's been out in the barn on and off all night. One of the heifers started calving yesterday before you and Sunny got here. Whenever you're up to it, go see what's keeping him. And take him a cup of black coffee, please."

I went to the bathroom to change clothes. After pouring another cup of coffee and refreshing my own, I put on my shoes and walked outside, trying to orient myself. The sky was barely starting to lighten, and I walked carrying two cups of coffee toward open barn doors.

"Good morning," Jerry said when he saw me enter. "How'd you sleep?"

"Well, to be honest, sir, not too well. New surroundings and all that. I brought coffee."

I handed him his cup. I decided it'd be rude for me to comment how the siding was clattering in the wind and it being hot in the house.

"Yeah, I've been up all night myself. Peanut here is about to be a new mama. I've been keeping an eye on her. She passed her water around 2:30, so it should be any time now."

"Peanut?"

He grunted. "Peanut. Suzie named her. I let the kids name the cattle. All except for him," he pointed toward a beast standing a dozen yards outside the rear doors of the barn, watching the goings-on, and chewing on … something.

"What's his name?" I asked.

"Hamburger."

"Hamb⁠— Oh."

Jerry grinned, then clapped me on the back. "The city slicker gets it! There's always one steer in our herd named Hamburger. Keeps the kids from getting too attached since they know where he's headed."

"Into a freezer?"

"Yup."

"Mom said I'd find you two out here," Sunny said from the door. She was carrying three bundles in her hands.

"Breakfast," she said, and handed each of us a hot paper-towel-wrapped parcel. She gave me a sweet peck on the lips. Even though it was a chaste kiss, I noticed her father wince a little.

I unwrapped the towel and found two piping hot biscuits, each containing a thick patty of sausage. I took a bite and the buttery, savory, spicy flavor made my stomach roar. It was beyond delicious. My eyes rolled back, and I sighed loudly as I chewed.

"This is incredible ," I said to no one in particular.

"The sow's name was Porkchop," Jerry said before he took a bite of his.

"Dad!" Sunny hissed.

"Ah, don't worry. He already introduced me to Hamburger," I said, pointing to the steer and smiled at Sunny. She shook her head in disdain at her father who winked at me. The three of us ate while Sunny recited the names of all the cattle.

She walked over to the rail and said, "Dad, forelegs are out."

"It's about time," Jerry said.

He wrapped his breakfast back in the paper towel and shoved the bundle into a pocket of his overalls.

"Gary, there's a platform scale over there. Set it for 350 pounds," Jerry requested.

With surprising agility, he climbed over the rail and into the stall, watching Peanut intently.

Sunny pulled me along to a rusty, antiquated balance. I studied the markings on the beams and set the weights for the 350 pounds Jerry had suggested.

"Ready," Sunny called out.

"Then get in here and secure Peanut's halter. Gary, you stand by the gate and get ready to follow me to the scale."

What I saw in the next ten minutes was quite a spectacle. I wasn't sure whether to be nauseated or amazed. I was simultaneously both as I watched the first live birth I'd ever witnessed in person.

Mama-cow, who'd been on her side, rose to a stand and began nuzzling and licking her offspring. She manipulated her calf with her snout until it began to make sounds which resembled more those of an ovine than a bovine.

Once Jerry was satisfied with whatever he wanted to see, he scooped up the newborn over his shoulders, holding all four legs in his hands.

"Yay! It's a boy!" Sunny cheered.

"Get a move-on, Gary!" Jerry ordered as he moved toward the gate which I swung open and latched behind him. He made a beeline for the scale as mama pulled against her halter and mooed loudly.

"Don't worry about her. She's distressed because I snatched her calf. I'll have him back to her in a minute."

Jerry stepped onto the platform. "Well?"

I manipulated the weights until the beams were balanced. "Three thirty-one," I said.

"Damn it," Jerry said.

Sunny swung the gate open, and her father walked back to the stall and placed the newborn bull-calf at its mother's hooves. He freed her halter and secured the chain.

"Damn it ," he repeated. He closed and latched the gate, walked back to the scale, stood on it, and weighed himself.

"Three hundred thirty-one minus …" he manipulated the weights, "two-hundred fifty-one."