You're One of Us Now

She didn't so much as sweep into my life, she didn't so much as stride into my life, she crept into my life, and the first words she said to me were, "Excuse me, can you tell me where the Post Office is?"

"Yeah, sure." I replied. "It's just down this road a block and you turn right and it's about fifty metres from the corner, on your right." While I was giving her directions I looked closely at her, and if I'd been asked to describe her minutes later I would have had trouble, there was nothing about her appearance that was out of the ordinary, she was medium everything, medium length brown hair, her complexion was between pale and tanned, she was of medium height and her figure was neither thin nor well endowed. She wore clothes of a mix of neutral colours, no make-up, no scars, moles, blemishes or visible tattoos. The only thing that wasn't medium were her eyes, they were a clear blue.

"Thank you." She turned and walked in the direction of the Post Office.

"Would you like me to show you where it is?"

"No, I'll be fine." And with that she walked out of my life. At least that was what I thought. Little was I to know that she would soon return to take over my life, and there was nothing that I could do about it.

I thought no more about her as I continued putting out the signs advertising my parents' Hardware store, and the latest amazing specials, before going inside and preparing for the flood of customers that these signs would attract. By now you're probably thinking that I didn't want to be here, and you'd be right. But be here I must since my father's illness has prevented him from being here, he had recently been given the good news that the operation on his prostate was not as successful as at first hoped, and he has taken this news pretty bad, and given up on much of his life, including running the shop.

He came down for a couple of hours a week until a month ago to ensure that the inventory is kept up to date and that the bills are paid. More and more he is allowing me to take control of this side of the business and soon I know that I'll be running it by myself.

It was around mid-afternoon when I saw her again, she was looking at the screws and nails shelves with a worried look on her face. "Hi, can I help you at all?"

She turned to me and there was instant recognition on her face. "Oh hi, yes I think you can, I have to find the right nails for this job that I have to do."

"What are you doing?"

"I have to replace the weatherboards (timber cladding boards) on the walls of the house. I have ordered the boards for the job, all I need are the right nails."

I reached for a nail from a bin. "These are the ones you need. How many do you need?

"I don't know. I've never had to do anything like this before so I wouldn't know where to start. What would you suggest?"

"Well, if you have a lot of boards to put up, it's better and cheaper to buy in bulk, the other benefit is that you'll have them in a large container and are less likely to have them scattered all over the place. Next thing, do you have the right tools for the job?"

"I have a hammer, it's an old one that belonged to my Great-grand-grandfather."

"With a wooden handle?"

"Yes."

"Then I suggest that you invest in a good new one with a fibreglass or similar handle, that way you won't need one as heavy because they are better balanced and you get as much drive from a lighter tool. What about a nail-bag?"

"No."

"While you don't really need one, they make life so much easier for you, they have a hook to hang the hammer on when you're not actually using it and you can fill them with as many nails as you're comfortable carrying, and they're right there where you need them. How high are the walls?"

"Pretty high, around three metres I think, why?"

"If they're that high you'll need a scaffold, is the ground around the house flat or is it on a slope?"

"It's level at the front but the rear is on a slope."

"Then you'll need adjustable legs."

"This is all too confusing, it's a bigger job than I thought."

"Look, if you like, I can come out and have a look at the house after work, and give you an idea of what you'll need."

"Would you do that for me?" I could tell that she wasn't used to shop-keepers offering assistance.

"Sure, where do you live?"

"It's number 37 Holbrook Rd."

"The Ferguson place." I said, almost under my breath. "So that means that you're George's great-grand-daughter."

"Yes. You obviously know him."

"He has been a customer for ever, as long as I can remember. I heard that he'd died, it was hard not to have heard, and the whole town knew about it and shut down for the funeral. It's not every day that the last child of the original settlers dies. He almost made it to a hundred."

"Yeah, he outlived my Grand-father and he and my father had a falling out around 10 years ago and I haven't seen a lot of him since then. I don't know what's going to happen, I think my father wants to sell, in fact I know he does, that's why I'm here."

"Could get messy."

"I'll deal with that when it happens, in the meantime, thank you for your offer, and I'll see you later." With that she walked out of my life again, but this time I knew that I'd be seeing her again.

I shut up shop at 5:30 as usual and placed the takings in the safe before dropping the keys at home (upstairs) with Mum. "Where are you going, dinner will be ready soon." My father usually ate early so that he could crawl back into his bed to die.

"I have to call on a customer, I'll see you soon." I drove to the Ferguson place to find her mowing the lawn. She shut down the mower as I got out of my car (it wasn't actually a car, it was a Ute, what Americans call a pickup).

"Hi again, again." She held out her hand for me to shake. "Thank you for coming."

"Hi, by the way I'm Grant McAdam."

"Coralie, Coralie Ferguson. Well this is home for me for the time being, what do you think?"

"I think it's in pretty good condition for its age. Tell me, why are you replacing the weatherboards, they look in pretty good shape to me?"

"I was told that they needed replacing."

"Who by?"

"I called a builder to give me a price to do the place up, and that's what he told me."

"Probably wanted the work. Look, you should cancel that order, those weatherboards are red cedar, and in as good condition as when they were first put up over a hundred years ago. (Red cedar is a close grained timber much prized by furniture makers and many farmers used it in cladding and shingles for their houses because of its weather resistance and ease of use.) You couldn't afford to replace them with new cedar, even if you could find them, each piece would cost you $1,000. Cedar was plentiful on the east coast of Australia a hundred years ago, and the cedar-getters literally wiped out every tree to the point where it is illegal to fell Cedar any more. Cabinet makers pay a fortune for any that they can get their hands on."

"So I don't need to buy nails and a hammer and a scaffold after all, is that what you're telling me?"

"Yes, that's exactly what I'm telling you. I know that I'm doing myself out of a sale but I don't believe in ripping people off. I got that from my father, he never talked a customer into buying something that wasn't necessary."

"You're never going to be a millionaire with that attitude, are you?"

"If that's what's required to be a one of them, count me out, as long as I have a comfortable living, I'm happy."

"More and more I like this man." She smiled at me, and there was something else about her that wasn't 'normal', she had an amazing smile, it literally lit up her face.

"Having talked myself out of this sale, what else needs to be doing, I'd hate to have wasted this trip."

"So you think it's been a waste, do you?" She was smiling at me again, and I didn't know what to make of this. Here was this girl, she was hardly a woman yet, probably mid-twenties at best, who I hardly knew, and she was flirting outrageously with me.

"No, now that you mention it, you need to put new mesh on the chook yard if you're going to keep chickens, and the shed needs work, and the garage doors need re-hanging. You've got enough to keep you occupied for years." I smiled my best smile at her just to let her know that I was joking.

"And how much is all that going to cost me?"

"Apart from the materials, and I can let you have that at trade price, nothing other than dinner and a steady supply of drinks while I'm working."

"Are you telling me that you're willing to help me with this mountain of work that needs to be done, and for a feed and some lemonade?"

"Who was talking about lemonade? I won't work for anything less than a cold beer at the end of the day."

"What about your job?"

"We don't open Sundays, you don't have any objection to working on Sundays do you?"

"No, and just how many Sundays do you think that this will take?"

"Ooh, let me think, probably around a thousand." She actually laughed at that. Something else that wasn't 'normal' she had an infectious laugh that soon had me joining her.

"You knew my Great-grand-father pretty well didn't you?"

"Yeah, he used to come into the shop at least once a week, sometimes I thought that it was just for a chat with Dad. He seemed to be lonely out here since your father left to make his fortune in the city."

"He used to tell me that he wished my father was more interested in country life and the farm." She said, sadly I thought. "I know it's not much, just some fruit trees and a vegie patch, some chooks for eggs and a cow for fresh milk. He made his own butter and cheese, it wasn't anything like the stuff you get in the shops, but I thought that it was great, and used to take stacks of it home after I'd visited him. He was sad when he wasn't able to make that anymore. I tried my best but just couldn't seem to get it right."

"You like living here don't you?"

"It certainly beats life in the city. I've got a totally useless University degree that I'll never use in a million years and I wish that I'd studied something like Ag Science or something useful."

"Your Great-grand-father didn't need a degree to run the farm, all it took was common sense and the love of the life."

"Guess who would love this life? Do you really want to work in the shop for the rest of your life?"

"I don't have a choice, I have no brothers to take over the business when Dad dies, and that will be soon, he's very sick and not expected to last more than a month, so I get to run the family business, like it or not. I sort of don't mind it, I get to meet all sorts of interesting people, not just the locals, so it's not boring, and the business is good, we don't have any competition around here, so as long as we treat the customers right they'll support us if someone tries to muscle in on our turf."

"Have you thought of buying your own place that you can run in your spare time?"

"Not really, I don't see the need to leave home, and for the near future Mum will need me to help her when Dad goes."

"You're close to your parents, aren't you?"

"Yes, you could say that, they've been good to me. Dad has taught me a lot about how to live and do business in a small town. You can't be complacent when you deal with people, they're your only source of livelihood, ignore them at your peril."

"The last time I was up here, it would have been about six months ago, not long before Great-grand-father died, he told me that, if I came to live here after he died, I should find myself a good local boy and settle down. Your name was mentioned as a possible candidate."

"Oh, so the nails and stuff was just to get me out here on my own so that you could check me out was it?"

"Not at first, but when I spoke to you this morning, I changed my mind. You were polite and well spoken, you even offered to show me where the Post Office was, not that I needed showing, I didn't think that you'd remember me by the way. And when you came out here and told me that I didn't need to replace the weatherboards on this house, I knew that he had chosen well. Is that the answer that you were looking for?"

"It'll do. If truth be told, I didn't need to come out here to tell you that you didn't need to do all that work, I already knew that. I know this house pretty well. I used to spend a lot of time out here when I was a kid, he even taught me to milk the cow, I wasn't very good at it, but I could get enough out of her for his needs. He even taught me to make cheese, and that I was good at, I'd even hazard a guess that some of the cheese that you took home with you was stuff that I'd made. Over the last two years I spent a lot of time here helping him. He did say something to me along the lines that he had a Great-grand-daughter that was a bit of all right, and that she'd make me a good wife some day."

"He did, did he? You have to admit that he was good at match-making, wasn't he?"

I looked at her and realised that my first impression was wrong, she was anything but ordinary or medium, or normal, when she smiled her face lit up, and out of the long skirt and loose top that she wore this morning and into jeans and a tighter top, there was nothing medium about her. "You could be right, he knew both of us pretty well and saw that there are many similarities here. You know, for the first time that I can remember, I've actually taken an interest in a girl, at least since high school, and most of those have moved to the city looking for work."

"So I'm in with a chance here, is that what you're telling me?"

"You never know, not that there's any competition around here these days." I looked at my watch. "Oops, I'd better get home before Mum send for the cops to look for me."

"Well, if you must. You could always call her and let her know that you having dinner out here with me."

"Better still, I'll call her and tell her that we've got a guest for dinner, that way you can meet both of them." I had my phone out and pushed speed dial 1. "Hi it's me, yes I'll be home soon. Listen Mum, could you set another place for dinner, I've got someone here that I think you should meet. . . . No I won't tell you who it is . . . . Yes she's a she . . . . See you soon." I held my hand out to Coralie but she hung back.

"You don't expect me to meet your 'olds' looking like this do you?"

"I think that you look perfect, come on."

"At least let me lock up." She dug into her pocket for the front door key.

"Spoken like a city person, we don't lock up around here."

She climbed into the Ute and we headed the 2 kilometres into town. "I hope that they'll like me."

"They'll like you, I like you and that's all they need to know, but I'm sure that they'll like you for yourself, no matter what I think." I parked in the car park behind the store and was just about to put my key in the door to our apartment upstairs above the store when the door opened.

"Mum, this is . . ."

"Coralie, Coralie Ferguson, my look at you, all grown up, it must be five years since I last saw you, until this morning that is, I noticed you in the store and saw Grant chatting with you, and then he was all very mysterious about where he was going this afternoon, all he'd say was that it was a potential customer, he never mentioned that it was you . . ."

"Mum, slow down, please. Yes it is Coralie and she's sort of inherited the Ferguson property from her Great-grand-father and will be living there from now on."

"Did you?" Mum hugged her. "That's great, far be it for me to say anything bad about your father, but he was never cut out for life on a small farm. I believe that he would have sold it, given half the chance, I'm so pleased that you've decided to live there."

"I believe that I like it even more than I did this morning. Grant has been so good to me and, he's even offered to help me put the place back into some sort of shape."

"Oh he has, has he?" She smiled as she said it so I knew that she was okay with the prospect of me spending my spare time with Coralie. "Come, I want you to meet Martin, Grant's father." She led us to Dad's darkened bedroom and turned on a small lamp so as not to hurt his eyes. "Martin, look who's here, it's George's Great-grand-daughter Coralie."

He turned his head and took a while to focus. "Pleased to meet you." He held out a wavering hand that was skin and bone and not much else.

Coralie hesitated for a second and then knelt beside the bed and kissed him on the forehead. There were tears in her eyes as she whispered, "I'm so pleased to meet you." She stood up and came into my arms, her head resting on my shoulder, I didn't need to look to see that she was crying.

"Come, we'll leave him in peace." Mum led us to the kitchen and began to serve out our dinner.

It was a sombre occasion, having what was a very nice meal but knowing that just down the hall was my father virtually on his death bed. We were just finishing desert when the buzzer went off, signalling that Dad wanted something. Mum got up and went to his room. "Coralie, would you come here please." She called.

We went to his room and Coralie sat at his bed-side. "I'm here." She said softly.

"Your great-grand-father . . . . told me . . .the . . . last time. . . I spoke with him . . .that I should look . . . . after you . . . . . I'm sorry . . . . my dear . . . but Grant . . .will . . . "

"Don't worry, he will." She kissed him on the forehead again and he smiled at her.

"Let him rest, that's the most he's spoken for some days." Mum said as she helped Coralie to her feet. Dad had a smile on his face as we left him.

"I like him, but I haven't seen him for ages. It saddens me to see him like this."

"Don't be sad, he's had a good life, and while I, we, don't like this part of it, we know that he's at peace with it. He realises that nothing can be done and has accepted that. When he's ready to go he will."

I drove Coralie home and walked her to the door. She turned to me and I took her in my arms. "I enjoyed having you with me tonight, and I know Mum was pleased to see you." I was working toward getting the courage to kiss her but she beat me to it.

"I enjoyed it too, I'm sad that your father is so ill, but I do believe that he was pleased to see me with you. I suspect that Great-grand-father and he might have been hatching a plot to get us together."

I kissed her. "You could be right, in fact I'm sure that you're right, I could see the way that his eyes lit up when he saw you, they haven't done that for some time."

"Would you like to come in for a coffee?" Her arms were around my neck and she was pressing her body against mine. I could not ignore her closeness and my cock sure as hell was beyond ignoring it, it was straining to free itself from the confines of my pants. "Mmm, someone likes me." She reached for him and squeezed him.

"If I come in I'll want to stay."

"So?" She had a wicked look in her eyes. "If you want to stay I won't stop you."

"But if I want to stay I'll also want to make love to you, are you sure that we're ready for that?"

"I am if you are." She had my zipper down and was fumbling around in my jocks for him. Once she had him in hand I just had to follow her, I had no choice, it was either follow or lose it. We only just made it to her bed, we almost did it on the sofa, we almost did it on the hall carpet, but the bed won out and we were on top of the doona, getting under it would come later. We kissed, she lay there while I kissed her breasts, teasing her nipples into life, her body trembled as I found her pussy and caressed those lips. When the time was right I positioned myself over her and the head of my cock nudged her pussy lips, encouraging them to part and allow him to enter, which he of course did, slowly, until I was deep inside her gloriously moist pussy. "Oh my god that feels so good." I had to agree with her, from my perspective this did indeed feel so good. We were joined as one, even though we had just met hours before, this wasn't a random act of casual sex, this was, to me at least, the real deal, the beginnings of relationship, and one that would last.