 
Rita

Book Seven of Sister of Destiny Series

by

Dwight W Hunter

Smashwords Edition

Copyright 2013 Dwight W. Hunter

All rights reserved

ISBN: 9781301422968

Let six additional books in Sisters of Destiny Series add to your reading pleasure. The remaining titles are available at most e-book retailers.

All novels in **The Sisters of Destiny** Series are completely fictional. Any resemblance to person or person's names living or dead is purely coincidental

Thank you for downloading this e-book. It is the copyright of the author, and may not be reproduced, copied and distributed for commercial or non-commercial purposes. If you enjoyed this book, please encourage your friends to download their own copy at Smashwords.com, where they can also discover other works by this author. Thank you for your support

Table of Contents

Chapter01\- Buck

Chapter02 \- Rita

Chapter03 \- Sophie

Chapter04 \- Answered Prayers

Chapter05 \- Spin the Fates

Chapter06 \- Prospects

Chapter07 \- VFW

Chapter08 \- Buck's Second Chance

Chapter09 \- Rita Meets Henry

Chapter10 \- Buck Proves Himself

Chapter11 \- Nellie's Story

Chapter12 \- Henry

Chapter13 \- Girl Talk

Chapter14 \- More Girl Talk

Chapter15 \- Buck Looks for a Deal

Chapter16 \- Let the Sting Begin

Chapter17 \- Progress on all Fronts

Chapter18 \- Rita Hooked Ted

Chapter19 \- The RockPile

Chapter20 \- Hard Ones or Soft Ones

Chapter21 \- Buck Makes a Play

Chapter22 \- Buck Learns a Lesson

Chapter23 \- Gus and The House

Chapter24 \- Buck and an Assortment of Women

Chapter25 \- The Final Solution

About_the_Author

The_Sisters_of_Destiny_Series

**Chapter01 - Buck**

Buck liked and enjoyed the weather in Snowbird Land, but missed the structured life back on the ranch where there was always something to do. He found living alone in Cactus Junction, Arizona was lonesome and time passed slowly, with no demands on his time, leaving little to do other than tell lies and drink beer with other bored Snowbird retired farmers and ranchers. Buck was always glad when Saturday night rolled around to break his boredom and put him in a good mood. It was steak night at the VFW Post followed by a dance with live western style music which offered Buck the opportunity for a bit of belly rubbing with a few ladies selected from a crowd of widows who were equally bored and seeking attention.

"Why not celebrate a little, lift a couple, have a good steak and check out the woman herd; maybe something new has drifted south for the winter." Buck thought aloud, consulting his watch, noting it three o'clock in the afternoon causing him to plan an afternoon schedule.

"There's enough time for ah cool one and a snooze before getting ready."

Taking a can of Coors from the refrigerator, Buck settled down in his recliner, took a healthy pull from the can and punched the TV remote to bring up a John Wayne western. In a few minutes the beer can was drained and Buck was fast asleep. He sat head laid back, open mouthed and giving forth rhythmic-gurgles **interspersed** with an occasional low rumbling snort.

Two and a half hours later, Buck was showered, dressed and ready to go. Checking his appearance in a full length mirror he viewed an often seen reflection of a man about five ten with an almost flat gut, wearing a checkered western style shirt, a new pair of jeans and snake skin boots. His face was leathered from long days in the sun and dry prairie winds. The weathered face was complimented by an almost full head of salt and pepper colored hair.

"Gawd, you're a handsome ol' shit," Buck thought to himself turning sideways for a better view of his profile.

Thirty minutes later Buck found himself turning his current year Ford pickup into the VFW parking lot. After parking he sat listening to compression rattles typical of Diesel engines and reflecting on the kind of woman he looked forward to having as a bed partner to complete the night. Thinking about the years and conquests behind him, Buck considered himself well nigh on to being irresistible. Coupled with the usual large supply of snowbird widows of various sizes, shapes and hews, Buck could count on being at various dance venues around town; in Buck's mind it wasn't a question of "if" but of "who".

By damn, it' been close to a month since I've had a piece of tail." Buck stammered aloud as he shut down the Diesel engine and stepped down from his truck. Buck's boots made a crunching sound in the sand as he walked across the parking lot. Glancing toward the entrance he stopped in mid-stride to focus on two women standing in the doorway. Buck quickly culled out the lady on the left as being two wide and wearing slacks, which in Buck's opinion were unbecoming for a woman to wear. He judged her's were stretched to the point of fracture.

The lady on the right was petite and responsible for halting Buck's forward motion. She looked to be about five five, balanced atop testosterone stimulating high thin-heel shoes. Light shining through her skirt rendered the cloth nearly transparent giving Buck a thigh-high x-ray view of her shapely legs. As Buck continued to saver the unknown lady's frontal view she turned sideways offering a profile of her upper accouterments.

"Gawd dang, she's packin' a great pair of tits and has a nice face to match. Hot damn! He muttered. "Just as I thought, there's going to wet sheets tonight," Buck uttered, restarting his walk to the door.

Buck came by his unpolished character honestly, from his heritage. He was a product of the great-unsettled mid-American prairie; born and matured on a cattle ranch his grandfather carved from the vast open prairie near a small cow town of Antelope when the Dakota's were still Indian Territory.

The Dakota's of that era were part of a large unfriendly country as many early settlers discovered. If a reverse time instrument was available, making it possible for an observer to peer backward into history to view virgin landscape surrounding the small town of Antelope, it would reveal a long chronology of fossil bones spanning a lengthy taxonomy of creatures. Near the end of this timeline inventory, a substantial collection of late model human bones would be seen dotting the landscape. This assemblage of homo supine bones stood as a silent testimony to the ignorance, greed and stupidity of early white pilgrims engaged in fatal attempts to conquer this unforgiving land.

Over millennia of time, Indians learned to tread lightly on prairie by only visiting it during summer months to hunt buffalo, grazing on belly high prairie grass. The region was and remains known for severe winters born from an off and on romance between dry Arctic winds blowing south and warm moist air moving north. The colliding union of these two opposing climatic conditions created a progeny of paralyzing blizzards, sub-zero cold and thick blankets of snow.

The omnipresent prairie wind blew twenty-four hours per day, three hundred sixty-five day a year with unending persistence and velocities ranging from gentle summer breezes to gale force winds able to strike without warning. Between fall and spring equinoxes temperatures can suddenly drop, fortifying the wind to drive numbing cold to the marrow of warm-blooded creatures' bones. Without heavy clothes, a fire warmed shelter and a supple of food, human survival is, or near impossible. Without shelter from the elements and food, domesticated animals would perish.

It was into this forbidding land Jason Thorn arrived fifteen years before the new century. Jason, in his mid twenties was determined to make something of himself or die trying. He was first introduced to the Dakotas two years earlier while employed by a civilian freight contractor, as a muleskinner driving team of six mules drawing two freight wagons hauling army supplies. During his many treks across the open prairie, Jason used his natural observation talents and an accumulation of collected Indian lore to pry open the prairie's many secrets. When Jason's freight wagon driving job petered out, he decided to become a rancher and put down roots. Spending the winter in Minnesota, Jason consolidated his collected knowledge into planning a summer on the prairie. Central to his plan was an inventory of items he would take with him to construct a permanent home.

In May of 1885, Jason pushed his way west, driving a four-horse mismatched team pulling a wagon loaded with rafter-poles, lumber, a sod cutter, basic hand tools, kitchen equipment, various seeds and food. He arrived at the center of his future ranch with a tired team and an equally tired nearly worn out second-hand wagon.

During the summer Jason sunk a well, cut sod and built a one-room house located against a south facing hill. After completing his house, he cut and stacked sod to form a combination corral and wind break for animals he planned to bring the following spring.

Using furrows created when sod blocks were cut from the native prairie grass, he planted garden seeds to test the ground and climate to determine if the combination was capable of producing vegetables. Jason was pleased to find the soil and climate was agreeable for growing a sustainable variety of vegetables. During the summer, easily hunted game provided a plentiful supply of meat for his table.

When autumn winds began turning cold at the end of September, Jason hitched his now rested well-fed horses to the wagon and headed back to the protected lake country in Minnesota.

The following May Jason returned with a bride of three months, a bull, six cows, a mowing machine, hay rake, household goods and baby clothes. Baby clothes were included because they expected Jason's wife, Margie, would become pregnant in the near future. If not during summer, long cold winter nights were sure to do the trick.

It was tough going for Jason and Margie during the first half-dozen years. They were fortunate Margie never became pregnant until their third year yielding a daughter, Alice. Two years later a son, Charles, was born. There were no more children.

Alice later married a lawyer working the court circuit. Following their marriage, Alice's husband received an invitation and accepted to join a Minnesota law firm. Charles inherited a major share of the Thorn ranch and later purchased Alice's portion.

Charles married and had two sons, two daughters and ended with Buck, born July thirty-first nineteen twenty-five. He was name Jason Buckley Thorn. Young Jason was probably called by his first name no more than a dozen times during his complete life. Due to his constant erection, within a week the family decided "Buck" would be a more fitting name, which he carried for the remainder of his days.

Buck experienced the usual problems of maturing and never overcame being spoiled as baby of the family. He was drafted and served in the Army during War Two. Following the war Buck used the G. I. Bill and assistance from his father to purchase a section of land near the family spread and became a life long rancher.

During his stint in the Army Buck discovered a new life style beyond the prairie, primarily women. He wasted little time putting the source of nickname to use whenever and wherever he encountered an opportunity. He became spoiled a second time by having women gravitate to his country manner of speech and direct approach. Where other men were rebuffed, Buck was encouraged. He seldom lacked for want in satisfying his abundant libido.

Easy wartime women nourished Buck's ego to the point of him being nearly insufferable. He lost all his original tenderness and respect for women. In Buck's flawed mind they became a throw away object he believed were put on earth for his specific enjoyment. He was quick to develop the 'three F' (find 'em... f... 'em and forget 'em.) philosophy acquired by many men serving in armed services during war times when women were available with no follow-on attachments. This blight in his thinking damaged any possibility of forming a successful relationship in civilian life.

Four years after returning home from the war Buck married a girl from Antelope he dated during high school. Unfortunately Buck brought his cavalier Army attitude about women to his marriage. Ruby, his new wife, brought her ideas about marriage to their joining and her thoughts were far afield from Bucks. Their marriage quickly evolved into a contest of wills including high volume quarrels punctuated with barnyard language, door slamming, dish throwing and separation. After six months of mini-warfare about the only subject they could agree upon was a mutual uncontested divorce.

Spending most of his time either astride a cowpony or on the deck of a Johnny Popper tractor in the sun, wind and an assortment of other breeds of weather gave Buck a weathered complexion worthy of a Hollywood makeup artist and hours of time to think. Being an oversexed man, Buck spent most of his time thinking about women, past, present and future.

During these extended contemplative periods he frequently thought about his past: one failed marriage, a near miss on a couple of more and conquests during his Army years. From these reflections he formulated a philosophy to guide his future relationships with women. Hence forward the only positions a woman would have in his life would ether be holding a broom handle or on her back. Having inscribed this bit of wisdom in his mind, Buck seldom changed his resolve. His decision concerning women held no exceptions. He would use women for his own purposes, but abstained from becoming emotionally involved.

Having reached retirement age Buck decided it was time to leave chilling winter for a more comfortable climate in southern deserts. His old friend, Gus, abandoned rheumatic stiffening Dakota winters several years ago for the warm sunny comfort of south central Arizona in a small town called Cactus Junction. In order to escape the daytime wrath of his wife, Gus began selling real estate to keep busy and to enjoy solace from his constant cross-threaded wife. It was from Gus 'sporadic sales pitch letters and Coors inspired research sessions in the Cattleman's Bar that caused Buck to reward Cactus Junction with his wintertime presence. Granted Cactus Junction was not the cultured snowbird roosting spot claimed by several other Arizona cities, it made one strong beckoning call to Buck, offered an abundance of space.

Come October, Buck turned ranch operations over to his hired hand, tossed a packed suitcase behind the seat of a new Ford Diesel pickup and pointed its radiator cap south to Arizona.

Two days following his arrival in Cactus Junction, Buck looked up the real estate office of his old Dakota friend, Gus. With Gus' persistence and assistance, Buck bought two half-sections of land, divided by the east-west highway about a mile east of town. Gus convinced him the town was going to spread east within the next few years; all he would have to do was wait and snowbirds would make him a millionaire.

When the land transfer paperwork was complete, Buck bought a mobile home and set it up on a back corner of his newly acquired property. The ink was hardly dry on the deeds when developers noticed his mobile being set up and started pestering him in regard to forming a joint cooperative land development deal. Not being a man to make sudden moves, Buck liked to think things over for a while, believing it best to get a handle on the local business scene and workings of surrounding politics before making any quick moves. After three years of thought and observing local land transactions, Buck allowed it was time to move. Giving Gus a go signal, he didn't have long to wait. Within days he was approached to join a two hundred-unit condominium development project with him receiving fifty completed units as delayed payment on the land. While Buck's voice said yes to the deal, his mind was busy counting dollars.

Many property developments are brought to completion using the jawbone method of financing which is a short way of saying, 'as few dollars as possible will change hands until the job is completed'. The complex would be built in two stages of one hundred units per stage.

The first one hundred units of Antelope Gardens were completed just in time for fall snowbirds migration. By the first of November fifty of the developer's seventy-five units were sold. Five of Buck's units were sold and fifteen of the remaining twenty units were leased for the season. For the first time in Buck's life he believed fortune was smiling on him when reading the latest project status report, Buck spoke aloud to himself.

"This is the first time in my life I've made money without havin' to bust my ass to make it."

**Chapter02 - Rita**

On the morning of June 17, 1924 a sharecropper grade shanty occupied by the Blaine family reverberated with the loud cries of Rita Marie Blaine forcefully announcing her arrival and claim to citizenship in Harvey County, Kansas and planet earth. Rita was the first of three children that would be born to Rufus and Edna Blaine.

Two sons followed Rita into the struggling family and during the spring flood of 1937 Edna contracted typhoid fever and died, leaving twelve-year-old Rita as woman of the house.

Following The Great War (WW I) mid-western farmers continued to receive war time prices for their grain because of demand in Western Europe where farmland was devastated by great land battles suffered during the ill-fated war. Fueled by technology advancement growing out of the war, small powerful tractors, particularly Fordson's, manufactured by the 'Tin Lizzy's' progenitor, Henry Ford, sold tractor at a price low enough for farmers to economically sell off their horses and buy a tractor capable of replacing a six horses team able to travel faster, never tired and didn't require time out to eat.

Increased demand for grain encouraged farmers to transform large amounts of prairie grassland into tillable soil, which opened vast areas of loose soil to the ever-present prairie wind. During the later twenties Europe slowly regained its grain growing capabilities, resulting in less demand for American grain and quick weakening in prices paid to farmers.

Mid-west farmers were feeling the pinch from falling grain prices and planted fewer acres leaving large blocks tillable ground fallow. The killing blow came on black Friday in October of 1929 when the Wall Street Stock Market crashed. Keeping pace with plummeting stock prices, grain became a glut on the market. Sacks of wheat, numbering in the thousands, were left stacked in the field to rot, feed rodents and provide a quick meal to passing birds.

When the thirties dawned, without a market for their products, farmers were going bankrupt by the thousand. With a closed market, bankrupt farmers quit planting grain and the mid-west breadbasket land lay fallow with only weeds to hold the loose soil in place.

Adding to the plight of farmers, nature played its trump card in the lethal economic game by withholding rain and ushering in a long period of draught. Shorn of its protective grass coat, the dry ground lay exposed and vulnerable to the ubiquitous wind. Exposed soil subjected to a hot desiccating sun quickly turning into dust. Heat generated from uncounted thousands acres of bare ground contributed to an increase in wind velocity. With sub-gale force wind blowing across vast stretches of vacant ground, once fertile soil was transformed into dust spawning huge dust clouds emulating winter blizzards blowing mega-tons of soil from the mid-west to become known as, The Great Dust Bowl.

Sand particle size bits of soil blew through cracks in houses; around doors and windows to coat the inside rooms with a layer of dust. Gritty dirt permeated cupboards, closets, clothes and beds leaving inhabitants to live similar to borrowing rodents.

Robbed of moisture the ground was incapable of producing for neither man nor beast. Many fundamental Bible people believed end-times were upon them and gave up, waiting for the Lord to take them. A large segment of the mid-west population, including Harvey County, loaded their meager belongings in and on family flivvers, and headed for California. Lacking transportation the remaining population, including the Blaines, was unable to take part in the Great Dust Bowl exodus.

When Rita's mother died, the Blaine's two-room shanty was part of a farm repossessed by a bank, located two miles away, at a wide place in the road known as Westbank, Kansas. Like many families without money or transportation to follow the westward migration, the Blaines were allowed to occupy their house and grow a small garden irrigated by water dipped, from a well in return for Rufus being a part-time caretaker of the farm.

When viewed pragmatically, the great depression was perhaps the most democratic event visited upon the maturing United States. It meted out misery democratically to the populace by showing few favorites. Privation, broken dreams, disappointment and hunger were shared in more-or-less equal measure by all.

For those at the economic bottom, including the Blaine family, conditions were eased somewhat in the later thirties when Federal projects such as the WPA began putting men to work on public projects such as building levees, roads and other needed improvements. It was not until 1940, when the Army commenced construction of a nearby air base that living conditions around Westbank began to improve. Construction jobs became plentiful and Rufus Blaine was soon at work as a construction laborer.

With Rufus' new higher paying job, the Blaines began to enjoy a small step up in prosperity with new clothes, better meals and a larger house; then disaster suddenly struck Rita. It happened on a Saturday morning when Rita's father and two brothers awakened early and left to go fishing, leaving her alone.

This was one of the few mornings Rita's was afforded the luxury to languish in bed without having to get up early to prepare breakfast. Making a quarter turn to lie on her back, Rita felt a strange stickiness between her upper thighs. Reaching down with her right hand to explore the cause of this unusual feeling she found blood. Staring first at her hand and throwing back bed the covers she saw fresh blood covering her thighs and splotches on the bottom bed sheet, the discovery terrified Rita. Without knowing or understanding the how or why, womanhood was suddenly and without warning thrust upon her.

Without a mother nor a close female relationship, Rita was never told about the mysterious physical changes she would encounter as part of her rites of passage into womanhood during a phase known as puberty.

While cleaning away the blood from her body and changing bedclothes, thoughts raced through her mind about the nature of her condition. She vaguely remembered noticing a few strange changes in how her body felt days before, leaving her to wonder if she had contacted a strange disease or something suddenly broke inside her body to cause this strange blood flow.

Setting aside the whys of her condition, Rita began trying to think through how to handle this calamity. Her father was not likely to return until late in the evening and when he did arrive home, she doubted if he would know how to help her. Slowly her mind began telling her she needed to talk with another woman. A faint memory recalled hearing women frequently experienced something they called, 'female problems'. Unfortunately the only woman nearby was Ol' Lizzy, who's house was about a half mile away and Lizzy was considered by most members of the community as being addled-headed.

Lizzy was of indeterminate age with a deep lined face looking like a dried up melon. She did her hair up in a frazzled bun, offering the appearance of a comb never being been put to her gray hair in the past month. She spoke with a voice sounding like some part of her speaking mechanism needed oiling. Without knowing anything better to do, Rita stuck a washcloth inside her panties, pulled on her clothes and set out at a run to seek help from Ol' Lizzy.

With nothing pressing to do in her life Lizzy was a late sleeper, however on this morning she was suddenly awakened by a loud pounding on her door by someone with a high-pitched voice calling for help. Without being fully awake, Lizzy opened the door to find Rita standing on the porch with the look of utter terror painted on her young face. Not waiting to be invited, Rita ran past Lizzy babbling something about bleeding to death. It took a few minutes for the two women to reach a coherent level of calmness where Lizzy was able to grasp the root of Rita's panic. After hearing the young girl's story, Lizzy told Rita there was nothing to fear, followed by a strong dose of basic female hygiene education.

One particular point in the impromptu lecture delivered by the dirt-poor, earthy, old crone would remain cemented in Rita's mind until she was a fully mature woman. By acting on Lizzy's rough earthy warning, Rita was spared the pain and embarrassment of being initiated into The Pregnant High School Girls Sorority. Ol' Lizzy cemented one simple succinct fact of life in Rita's young memory. To Whit: Boys will use every trick and promise they can to get into her pants and their member into you. If a boy ever gets his business into you he would put a baby in your belly for sure.

Throughout her maturation, Ol' Lizzy's words circled through Rita's mind every time a boy drew close to her. She dated occasionally, but shied away from the two main mating rituals of pubescent boys and girls, going steady and necking. Neither was she interested in extra-curricular school activities preferring to spend her limited spare time working in the local drugstore.

In Rita's senior high school year, she thought frequently and at length about life after graduation. One thought kept pushing others from her mind, under no circumstance was she going to rush into marriage. The minds of most girls in her class followed a single track; they hoped to get married immediately after graduation and talked incessantly about becoming a wife and mother. Having spent most of her life being a substitute mother to her younger brothers, the experience successfully curbed maternal instincts attempting to enter her mind and derailed all desires for future motherhood. She wanted to escape the responsibilities associated with motherhood and homemaker by placing high hopes to live her own life free, without restricting attachments.

A month before graduation Rita visited the nearby airbase personnel office to inquire about a career in civil service. She was encouraged to fill out an employment application form and take a typing test required to qualify for a clerk/typist position.

The Sunday following high school graduation Rita was home alone reading a book with radio music playing in the background. She paused to think about her father. For the past three or four months he uncharacteristically began paying extra attention to his appearance and spending more of his weekends in town. Rita paid little heed to her father's new behavior because two years ago Rita and her father reached a common understanding, allowing each person to act independently without keeping close tabs on each other's activities. Based on the results of this agreement, Rita was completely unprepared for the shock poised and ready to strike.

At mid-afternoon Rita recognized her father's car driving up their short driveway and park, followed by woman's voice intermixed with her father's as they entered the house.

"Hey! Rita," her father called, "I've got a surprise for you."

"I wonder what Daddy is up to now? He's never acted this way before," she thought. "He's never mentioned a woman since mom died; guess I'll soon find out." Walking into the living room Rita saw a rather heavy, gaudy-dressed, bottle-blond woman, of her father's approximate age leaning against him.

"Rita," she heard her father say. "Meet your new mother... we were married this morning. It all happened kind of sudden like and with all your school graduation going on I thought it best to wait until the excitement died down before we got married.

Hello Rita, I've heard a lot about you and I'm sure we'll get along fine. By the way, my name is Sophie; but you can call me mother. Calling me 'Mom' is out of the question because Mom makes me think of a greasy spoon joint called Mom's Café where I worked for awhile.

Rita stood looking at her father and Sophie without actually seeing them as she tried to bring her mind into sync with the suddenness of learning a strange woman was set to invade her domain.

"Well, say something," Rita's father commanded, with a touch of nervousness in his voice she never noticed before. "Don't just stand there acting uppity to your new mother." Turning to the woman Rita heard her voice speaking with a form of distant detachment, giving her the feeling of being an out-of-body onlooker.

"Hello Sophie." Turning back to her father she said,

"Daddy, she may be your wife, but she sure is one hell of a long shot from being my mother. If she's going to run this house, keep her off my ass until I can find a place to live. And, oh yes, good luck. Because Daddy, you're going to need all the luck you can get before you get through with this mess. I hope you'll both be real happy." Rita said, before turning and walking out the back door, leaving her father and his new bride with shocked looks on their faces.

**Chapter03 - Sophie**

During the next few hours Rita walked aimlessly about the countryside with these new events churned through her mind. Growing weary she entered a small grove of cotton wood trees to find a fallen tree trunk offering a place to sit and think.

Several possibilities concerning Sophie becoming a part of the family circled through her mind. News of her father's marriage came totally unexpected without Rita ever having given thought to the prospects of her father remarrying. Rita often felt twinges of guilt aroused by thoughts of moving from home and leaving him to care for the boys and placing an extra burden of housekeeper on her father.

Rita quickly reached one absolute resolve. There was no way she and Sophie could live under the same roof; leaving only one acceptable solution, she would move out.

Thoughts of leaving home were always part of her plans made during the past six months, but she never arrived at a definitive answer regarding where to go and how she would support herself. Suddenly she found herself at the end of a decision timeline forced upon her by this unexpected stepmother situation.

Amid the darkness of her thoughts, one bright ray of hope shone through; the prospect of getting a job at the air base. In the meantime this was the lowest point in her life she could remember, but on the other hand she was heartened by recalled words spoken to her by the air base personnel officer, telling her she was highly qualified and encouraged her to consider taking a civil service job following graduation.

Rita returned home well past dark to find the house quiet except for squeaks from her father's bed as he and Sophie moved about. Rita was no longer naive about sex after having read novels describing sexual performance between lead characters in minute detail. When a junior and later as a senior in high school she listened to the more adventuresome classmates tell about having made out with their boyfriends and precautions they used to keep from getting pregnant, but until now she never seriously thought about being in bed with a man. The reality of her father having sex with a slob like Sophie and doing it in the next room caused her stomach to wrench.

Rita never remembered her mother in detail, but the few memories she held were always close to her heart. Hearing her father in bed with some bar-chippie further compounded the hurt and disgust she was feeling. In a few minutes bed sounds were replaced by a mixture of voice pitches created by muffled snores seeping through the thin bedroom wall.

"The old bag even snores like a pig," Rita thought. "God, it'll be good to get out this house and away from that old whore.

If this is a sample of what sex is about, then you can deal me out. I sure don't want some guy reminding of Sophie by running his hands over my body and sticking his thing inside me. There must be more to life than having to sleep in the same bed with a crummy slob."

Rita changed into her pajamas while thinking about her father and Sophie. Lying down with the bed covers pulled over her, she was soon asleep.

Remaining in her room Monday morning, Rita heard without actually listening to the house sounds about her. This was a new experience for her to be in the house, yet no longer a part of it as she listened to the morning routine. She could faintly hear Sophie complaining about how poorly the kitchen was organized and she would soon have everything put into proper order. As usual Rita's father remained quiet since he seldom talked very much of mornings anyway. Hearing Sophie complain caused Rita to begin feeling a little sorry for father.

"It must have been Sophie's idea to get married so the old hag could have free room and regular meals," thought Rita. "It's easy to understand how a pushy woman, like Sophie, was able to take advantage of her father's loneliness brought on by him thinking about me planning to leave home soon after graduation." Rita's thoughts were interrupted when she heard her father tell Sophie.

"How about laying off of Rita? After all, she has been running this house ever since her mother died well over six years ago. And there was no reason for you to come down on her so hard yesterday along with all this carping you've doing about her this morning."

Hearing her dad stand up for her caused Rita to smile inwardly and at the same time thoughtfully cheer him on.

"That's telling the old bitch, Daddy. Keep up the good work."

"Well! I just didn't want her to get the idea I was going to play second fiddle to some young girl hardly dry behind her ears," spouted Sophie.

"You could have waited a few days to see how the wind would blow and give her time to get used to another woman being in the house," cut in her father.

Hearing her father take Sophie down a peg raised Rita's spirits; she didn't feel quite so alone anymore. Not wanting to hear more of their conversation, she turned on the radio and began straightening up her room as a means to kill time until the mail arrived.

Rita missed breakfast by remaining in her room. At ten-thirty squeaking brakes of the mail carrier's pickup signaled the mail arrived. Bounding from the house and running to the mailbox, Rita arrived just as the mail carrier set his old pickup in motion to rattle on down the road.

Sorting through the junk mail advertisers, her heart gave a flip when she saw a brown envelope with an air base return address. With shaking hands she ripped open the envelope and pulled out the letter. Quickly scanning down the page her eyes found the magic words.

"You are qualified for and hereby offered the position of clerk/typist starting immediately. You are request to report to the personnel office at your earliest convenience." Rita let out a yell second only to her birthing announcement.

"Sophie, you old bitch! The house is yours. You can rearrange the kitchen from now until doomsday and see if I care! Good-bye!"

**Chapter04 - Answered Prayer**

At 0900 hours Tuesday morning, Rita found herself opening the base personnel office door and at the same time offering up a thankful prayer in her heart that she would soon escape Sophie for good. Thinking back to Sunday night when she walked aimlessly about and returning to the house after dark where she listened to her dad and his new wife until they went to sleep. The next morning she heard her dad tell Sophie to lay off his daughter. Rita smiled and said to herself.

"Super efficient Sophie was still in bed snoring away when she left. Poor Daddy, you got yourself a real doozie this time. Sophie is a lazy tramp to the very core. If all Dad wanted was a lay job, he should have bought a professional and at least got his money's worth. Instead he picked up Sophie, a cheap chippy looking a place to flop and a free meal ticket. Daddy, getting her was easy, getting rid of this old whore will neither be quick nor easy."

Taking a seat, Rita looked around the room at those present and lost herself in a daydream about the future. With almost half of her life running a house and taking care of two younger brothers, dampened any further thoughts about continuing domesticity. Rita was in no mood to marry, become a mother or do housework. She was ambitious and wanted to be in control of her own future, not tied to raising kids and having a man about always wanting to use her body for any number of purposes.

Rita always knew she wanted more from life than having a man to keep her broke, barefoot, pregnant and living at the end of a dusty road. She gave extra credit to her high school counselor for guiding her to focus on a goal she could attain by putting extra effort into her studies. Rita demonstrated an above average scholastic potential and the counselor encouraged her to make an effort to attend college. Unfortunately, her family was in no position to finance any further education. Her father made only enough money to keep the family afloat and there were no savings. Tradition held there was little future in sending a girl to college because she would soon get married. If anyone from the Blaine family went to college it would be one of her brothers.

Sophie's suddenly and unexpectedly charge into the family changed everything. There was no reason to believe the likes of Sophie wouldn't hold any interest in building a family savings account nor would she be interested in helping her stepchildren attend college.

"No," Rita thought, "I can't count on Daddy for anything now, whatever progress I make will have to come from my own efforts." Rita's daydream was interrupted by a clerk calling her name. Rita arose and followed the clerk into a nearby office where she filled out an assortment of forms, finger printed, photographed and escorted to the base infirmary for a physical examination. Lastly, she was told to report to Mr. Donaldson in building 54, room 115 at 0900 the following morning.

Glancing at her watch she noticed it was eleven fifty-five. Rather than returning to town for lunch, Rita decided to eat at the PX cafeteria. Leaving the cashier station, carrying a food tray she heard her name called. Looking around she saw a waving arm attached to a girl named Julie she occasionally worked with at the drugstore.

Joining Julie, Rita learned Julie began working at the airbase a week earlier. They were so caught up in the ritual of going through the: who's, what's and when's with Rita filling in the latest news about being surprised with a new stepmother and needing a place to live. Julie was elated to hear Rita was looking for a place to live, because over the weekend she went out on a limb to rent an apartment and was desperately looking for someone to share expenses. It was quickly decided Rita would move in that evening.

"What a relief to know I have an immediate place to live away from Sophie." Rita exclaimed, with a lilt in her voice.

"From the way you talk about your new stepmother she must be quite the character and if I were in your place I'd feel the same way."

They made the typical team, Rita was slim and attractive while Julie was about fifteen pounds over weight, plain and didn't keep herself as well as she could. The only point of contention between the girls was dating; they were poles apart regarding men. Julie desired and sought out male company. She viewed dating as a searching ground for winnowing out a suitable husband candidate, culminating in marriage. Rita on the other hand had no desire for men. She wasn't interested in dating and definitely held no desire to get married. As a result, double dates were seldom and far between, leaving Julie to date alone.

At Rita's three-month review she explained to Mr. Donaldson her desire to attend college but her family was unable to supply the necessary financial support. He suggested she start a self-study program and later challenge college equivalency tests for course credits. He further volunteered to supply her with a reading list, make assignments and critique her results. She accepted his offer and books soon filled the hours of her non-working life.

As summer passed into fall, the girls developed an individual, yet mutual life style. Julie busied herself in social activities leaving Rita alone at home to read and work on assignments Mr. Donaldson gave her. Her task was demanding, in both educational pursuits and developing the necessary self-discipline needed to hold her on course.

On a Monday morning before Halloween, Rita was confronted with the third major shock in her life. During the weekend she finished a lengthy sociology paper in preparation for challenging a for-credit-examination and was anxious to speak with Mr. Donaldson. Rita arrived early for work and went directly to his office where she was greeted by a black edged note pinned to his office door.

" _It is with deep regret the management must announce the sudden death of Robert Donaldson. Funeral particulars will be disclosed when information is received from his family."_

"Oh my God!" Rita gasped, "What a rotten piece of luck. The first man I've ever known who was interested in helping me rather than getting into my pants, and now he's dead." Still stunned, she walked back to her desk and slumped in her chair.

"This is going to be one hell of a long day," she said to an empty room.

A week later, Second Lieutenant William Snook assumed the position once held by the deceased Mr. Donaldson. Lt. Snook was a ninety-day wonder holding a fresh commission gained from a college "V" program put in place by the national government to pump officers into the military build-up in anticipation of being drawn into the war raging in Europe.

Snook recognized the army was a place where one could make a good living with a minimum amount of effort and with a supply MOS number it was unlikely he would be exposed to front line duty when the war came. Based on his limp line of logic, Lt. Snook decided to make his career in the army.

It could be said Lt. Snook made a good supervisor depending on the ambition level of his subordinates. Lt. Snook was conspicuous by his absence, either by being away from his office or by keeping his office door closed. He communicated to his staff by written announcements posted on the bulletin board. When dealing with a private personal subject, he dropped a memo into the individual's in-basket and expected a written response in return. His sterile method of management soon reached his boss who didn't take kindly to this impersonal method of management and ordered him to loosen up. Following this admonishment, a few days before Christmas, Lt. Snook came out of hibernation.

Christmas was on Friday and a no workday, resulting in Thursday becoming a day for non-sanctioned office parties while passing as an unofficial on the job holiday. All non-essential base functions were put on hold. At-risk functions, such as flying airplanes, were removed from the day's activities. Though each office or shop placed its own spin on party format, one particular item was common to all, a punch bowl. Although these popular libation containers were similar in purpose their contents varied widely in ingredients and octane.

In his own conniving way, Lt. Snook considered himself as having a natural talent for organizing parties and thought of himself as being close to irresistible when it came to seducing women. He splurged on an office party with a two-fold purpose. A party would give him an opportunity to check out the females in his section at close range, Rita in particular. And second, (still smarting from being counseled about his management style) he wanted to show the staff he was a great and sociable guy at heart.

The office party wasn't showing signs of producing the kind of progress Lt. Snook originally had in mind, instead it was well on the way to being boring. At noon many old-timers began wandering away giving Lt. Snook an opening to move the party to a new venue, Barney's Place and invited his staff to be his guests at the popular watering hole a short distance from the main gate, where a more lively spirit could be injected into their celebration.

With a little play on Rita's need to get out and meet people, Julie talked Rita into joining the migration of office celebrants to Barney's Place. Without a car the girls walked the short distance and were among late arrivals. Finding an empty booth Rita slid across next to the wall, giving her less exposure to searching eyes set on keeping her under surveillance. Looking around the dimly lighted room Rita could distinguish a mixture of gender and occupations. Army uniforms slightly out-number those in civilian dress. She recognized a few co-workers, mostly women. At a table near the jukebox sat Lt. Snook and another officer repeatedly surveying of the room and scanning the young women as they arrived.

"There she is," said Lt. Snook nudging his table companion, Lt. Steve Miller and nodded toward the booth occupied by Julie and Rita.

"Rita and fat gal just slid into the booth over there."

"What did you say her name is, Snooky?

"Rita Blaine, she's got a nice body with great jugs and with looks to match her body. It wouldn't surprise me is she's still cherry." Snook snickered.

"She may be all of that, Ol' Buddy, but are you sure she isn't a little on the young side. Mess around with her and you may find yourself looking down the barrel of a 12-gauge shotgun with added time in the old Stoney Loney for sampling an underage item of entertainment.

The Army also frowns on its officers messing around with the young stuff. I've also heard fathers in these parts of the country are not the least bit understanding when a daughter comes home knocked-up, especially when the donor happens to be a newly minted army ninety day wonder."

"Well, I like my meat tender and unblemished; anyway I know Rita and the fat gal live together. I heard some buzz about Rita's old man giving her a stepmother as a graduation present and Rita moved out the next day. I doubt if there's any love lost between she and her dad. So, I think I'm safe from looking down shotgun barrels," soothed Snooky.

"How do you propose to initiate the conquest of this prized virgin?"

"It's all a matter of tactics Ol' Buddy. You're going to be my lead skirmisher. You make a frontal advance on the big 'un by asking her to dance, leaving me with a clear maneuvering field."

"Thanks a lot! Ol' Buddy, I clear out the debris and you waltz away with the table stuff. It's going to cost you more than a pitcher of beer for this skirmish. Are you going to feed the jukebox so we can put this play into action?" Steve queried, pushing back his chair preparing to stand up. Both Steve and Snooky consulted the jukebox menu, making mutual selections with Snooky putting in the quarter. As music filled the room, Steve ambled across the dance floor to where Julie sat.

"Looks like the army is advancing," whispered Rita, nudging Julie as Steve approached their booth. When Steve asked Julie to dance she was both pleased and surprised, expecting Steve to ask Rita. Julie stood and was moving away when Rita saw Lt. Snook rise and cut across the dance floor toward her.

"Here he comes for me," Rita thought. "He didn't waste time. I bet he has more on his mind than just dancing."

"May I have the pleasure of this dance, Miss Blaine?" Snooky asked with a velvet lilt to his voice, stretching out his hand while leaning over the booth table. Rita ignored his hand as she scooted across the booth seat and stood up.

"We don't have to be so formal this afternoon; you can call me Snooky, like my friends do."

"All right, Snooky," smiled Rita. "I don't know much about this dancing business so don't be surprised if I ruin your shine."

It wasn't true about Rita not knowing how to dance, in this particular circumstance she didn't want to know. Rita was well aware it was not the time to offer encouragement. An office romance was the last thing in the world she cared to deal with, now, or at any time. After a series of knee bangs and foot collisions it became obvious to Snooky dancing with Rita wasn't going to serve his purpose. Not one to give up he decided to stand still, hold Rita and sway with the music. Snooky let his right hand drift slowly down Rita's back until it came to rest on top of her right hip. All in the same maneuver he drew her body tightly to him and pushing his right leg between hers. Responding to messages sent by Snooky's tactile body sensors liberally distributed across his virile young body they informed certain glands a female body was in a procreating position. Said glands dumped specific hormones into his blood designed to stimulate and raise a designated organ to greet the occasion.

Rita's own body sensors told her Snooky was playing the age-old game of seduction and heard the works of Ol' Lizzy playing in her mind.

"All a man wants to do is get his thing into you any way he can." Rita knew pulling away wouldn't solve the immediate problem. Snooky was not the type to give up with a subtle hint; something more forceful was called for to stop his belly rubbing and she wanted to end his quest permanently. Having a sharp nimble mind, Rita quickly found an answer. She leaned her head back; increasing pressure on his pelvis... held Snooky in an eye lock and tolled out loud enough to be heard by those dancing nearby.

"Snooky! Do you always carry your Swiss Army knife, or do you buy your shorts with a stick of baloney in them?"

Steve and Julie were dancing near by stopped suddenly to look at Snooky and two other couples stopped abruptly, and broke into laughter. Snooky was suddenly transfixed as his body went stiff and his mouth stuck half open. His mind searched without success for a quick comment to relive his shock and hopefully save face from this verbal ambush. For the first time in his life, Snooky stood stock-still and brain dead. He couldn't think of a single word to say.

At last he blurted out, "Sorry ma'am, I guess my Johnson must have got a little out of control." Releasing Rita to stand alone on the dance floor, Snooky retreated to the nearest exit.

Walking to his car Snooky said to the open air, "How in the hell am I ever going to live this day down?"

**Chapter05 - Spin the Fates**

Little did Snooky realize he was subject of an old Roman adage _sic volvere parcas_. 'Spin the fates'. The first fate spins the thread, a second fate measures it and the third fate cuts it. Snooky's ego spun the thread of conquest, his deliberate actions measured it and Rita cut it when he was most vulnerable.

Without fully collecting himself, Snooky made a dash for Barney's back door, leaving laughter from his unexpected predicament behind. Rita expressed her pleasure with a pleasant quiet smile as she quit the dance floor, gathered her things from the booth and walked majestically out the front door. Immediately following Snooky's hurried exit and Rita's slow deliberate withdrawal, a flurry of questions and eyewitness commentaries filled the room providing an unexpected source of amusement for Christmas revelers.

After celebrants collected themselves from witnessing the impromptu misadventure of Rita's verbal public castration of Snooky, celebrants enjoyed a belly-pumping laugh. Julie and Steve continued dancing finding they enjoyed each other's company enough for Steve to invite Julie to have dinner with him, she eagerly accepted.

Unusual exploits people suffer are often preserved and handed down from one generation to the next in myths and legends. History tell us about noble character who fought great battles, explored unknown countries and performed other virtuous feats. Unlike these legendary characters of old, Rita, a shy young country girl did none of the aforementioned feats; yet by uttering one declarative name and two questions she was transformed into a cosmopolitan virago, simply by asking her dancing partner where he purchased a certain item of haberdashery. Rita laid the first brick in the foundation for a legend she would continue to build throughout her working career.

With her budding legend firmly in place by Monday morning, Rita found herself elevated in social status along with unexpected changes at work. Over the weekend word of Snooky's off base party during working hours and the Snooky/Rita tête-à-tête reached the ears of Col. Ambry, head of base supply, After a few quick inquiries regarding Rita's and Snooky's job performance followed by making a few quick decisions. Col. Ambry promoted Rita and moved her to another department. Snooky didn't fair so well, after having been counseled recently concerning his style of management and followed with a report of his ungentlemanly behavior at an unsanctioned party, of his making, during working hours. Snooky was transferred to a small army post in Alaska where he would assume command of a quartermaster-provisioning warehouse.

Over the coming years, Rita accumulated an outstanding work record with particular notices for efficiency and effectiveness. When the equal opportunity legislation came into effect, Rita was perfectly positioned for quick advancement into positions of responsibility and authority. She acquired a reputation for being a problem solver, fix-it person and a reincarnated Lizzy Borden when personnel cuts were required and she was further known for not taking prisoners of those unfortunates caught in the way of her hatchet and broom.

In her early thirties, Rita learned medical science had progressed beyond the knowledge of Ol' Lizzy, making it possible to have a man without the danger of becoming pregnant. Armed with the latest information on sexual transmitted social diseases and pregnancy prevention, Rita occasionally enjoyed the company of a man, on her terms and was forced to admit men did have certain values, so long as they played by her rules.

In her early forties, Rita met a man with whom she felt comfortable. John was fifteen years her senior, financially secure and sexually undemanding. During their ten year pleasant relationship the subject of marriage was never broached.

Nine days after John and Rita returned from a month long cruise circumnavigating South America, they were sitting at home watching a TV movie following a leisurely barbequed steak dinner when John suffered a fatal heart attack.

With no immediate family, John willed his sizeable estate to Rita. After John's passing Rita remained alone and continued working until reaching age sixty-five and retired. During her years of employment as an Air Force civilian Rita moved frequently with the exception of the ten years she and John were together. As a result of her transient employment and a proclivity for being a loner, Rita lived up to the old axiom, 'A rolling stone gathers no moss.' and was perfectly content with living out of a set of travel luggage. A week following her retirement bash Rita packed her well-worn bags and set out to visit exotic world places she missed during her working years.

As a pleasant fallout from the ill fated Christmas party Lt. Snook contrived in hopes of snaring Rita, Lt. Steve Miller was surprised to discover Rita's friend Julie was more than, "just another woman." They dated for a year and married. Over the next five years their marriage was blessed with two children. With the arrival of their first child, Julie took an extended leave of absence and didn't return to work until their last child completed high school. The children moved into adulthood, had families and escaped the major growing traumas experienced by many families of the Spock inspired generation. Steve found he was not any army man at heart and tired of its built-in rigmarole further compounded by an extra layer of confusion when The Army Air Corp shifted into the U.S. Air Force. He resigned his commission and took a job in civil service. Steve and Julie found purpose and happiness in their marriage, but unfortunately it was brought to an untimely early end with Steve's quick death from cancer six months following his retirement.

Unlike Rita, Julie didn't have the fire of achievement burned into her genes and remained a clerk-typist until she went on extended maternity leave. When the last child completed high school, Julie returned to work and retired with Steve. Seven months after Steve's death her eldest grandson married; Julie rented him and his new bride her house and she joined Rita traveling, mostly following the sun.

**Chapter06 - Prospects**

Driving from the airport to their condo in Antelope Gardens, Rita and Julie enjoyed an abbreviated view of Cactus Junction and noted the sudden switch in scenery from tree studded and rainy San Juan Island, where they spent the recent summer, to a land of dry sand and thorny cacti. They watched the view slide by along either side of the blacktop road lying like a tightly stretched black ribbon across scrubby undeveloped desert. Forty-five minutes after leaving the airport, Rita eased her leased Buick into their assigned carport. Thankful for Rita's foresight, they were booked into a ground floor unit, making their transfer of luggage easier for women of their ascending age.

They spent the following day, Friday, and until noon Saturday shopping for groceries, cleaning products and basic household essentials needed to turn a collection of rooms into a home.

Rising from an afternoon nap, Rita asked Julie, "What do you suppose there is to do around here on Saturday nights, other than hang out in a meat market bar?"

"Can't say right off hand," Julie answered standing up and treating herself to a full body stretch. "Come to think of it, I have a friend living here who may be able to steer us in the right direction. Her name is Nellie Bunmeyer. I may as well give her ring; she always knows where and if any action is gong down."

"It's worth a shot," confirmed Rita. "Provided the property manager has our phone hooked up."

"He must have, I've got a dial tone and I hear it ringing. Hello, Nellie you old Poop! How are you? This is Julie.

"Hello yourself! You old broad," replied Nellie in a loud voice. "When did you arrive in my beautiful windblown city?"

"We got here Thursday afternoon and have been burning hair ever since making this stucco and plaster monster livable."

"Since you used the pronoun 'we', I take it you're not travelin' alone. Male or female?" Nellie asked.

"If I had a man, I wouldn't be calling you so soon. Do you remember me talking about my old friend, Ball Cutting Rita, don't you?" Julie answered with a question.

"Can't commend you on the company you're keepin'. I expected you to have latched onto a vibrator replacement by now. Is Rita the gal you mentioned who gets her kicks by verbally castratin' our darlin' playmates?"

"Ya, she's the one. We sort of have a platonic shack job going on since neither of us has a fulltime man underfoot. Hey, we were wondering if you could recommend a good place to get a steak, a little booze and if the conditions are right, maybe get in a little tummy rubbing if the music is worthwhile."

"There's always the VFW. Most times the steaks are tender, the booze is cheap, they play shit-kickin' music and the men try to recycle themselves by poppin' Viagra. Nellie offered.

"The VFW! Will they let us in? Neither of us ever fought in a foreign war."

"Never sweat the small stuff. I've got a card and I'll meet you there and get you signed in at about six-fifteen plus or minus a few minutes."

"Great! Around six-fifteen, provided I can get Rita in gear we'll see you there. Oh! By the way how do we find this temple of entertainment?

"Sort of depends on where you're camped?"

"We have a condo in Antelope Gardens."

'O.K., get back on Cactus Trail, turn right, go about five miles until you come to a signal light, go two blocks and it's on your right. You'll see the sign. Glad you decided on C.J. for the winter. It'll be great to see you again, Julie."

"We're glad to be here, Nellie. Bye, see you." Replacing the phone Julie turned to Rita. "What do you think? Tonight is steak night and live music."

"I'd say it's a vast improvement on television Hee Haw."

The time passed with renewed energy as the condo came alive with activity. The women showered, added their makeup, decided on clothes to wear and dressed. It was almost six o'clock when Rita and Julie closed the condo front door and started walking toward the carport.

Fifteen minutes later their car was parked and they were entering the VFW Post. Without membership cards they were forced to wait in line while members ahead of them passed though and craned their necks in search of Nellie. It was while Rita and Julie were waiting that Buck came to a sudden mid-stride halt to savor an x-ray view of Rita's profile as she stood in the lighted doorway.

**Chapter07 - The VFW**

Not being VFW members Rita and Julie needed a sponsor to sign them in, causing them to move out of line until Nellie arrived. As the two women waited a weathered looking cowboy entered and was signing in when Julie nudged Rita and nodded toward the cowboy.

"Now there looks like a good 'ol boy tough enough for you, Rita."

Rita gave him a quick up and down look before answering. "He has the looks of a three 'F' man to me."

"Aw, Rita! When are you going to get it through that thick skull of yours, one half of the species was made to screw the other half and we should be happy for having the opportunity to be a willing participant once in a while?"

"I don't mind participating under certain conditions, but I have no intentions of being used as mere receptacle."

While Rita and Julie were engaged in their discussion about species relationships the cowboy looked in their direction and held his gaze long enough to flip Rita a wink before moving into the bar area.

"How about that, Rita? Like they say, ah man isn't old until he stops looking and that old cowpoke was certainly doing his share of looking at you."

"It's going to take more than a wink from a worn out cowboy to get my juices flowing."

Suddenly they heard a rock crusher grade voice exclaiming, "There you are! Gawd a mighty, it's good to see ya, Julie." Nellie gushed as she rushed to hug her friend. "This must be Rita you talk about so much?"

"Sure is." Julie nodded. "Nellie, meet Rita."

"I'm sure glad to meet you, Rita." Nellie bubbled. "If only half of all Julie tells me about you is true, you sure lead an excitin' life. She said you've been over most the known world on important jobs."

"I've been anxious to meet you, Nellie and according to Julie, you've covered a few interesting spots yourself."

When introductions and signing in were completed, the three women strolled into the dining room while giving the surroundings a visual survey. They located an empty table next to the wall, two tables back from the stage.

Settling themselves, Nellie began, "What do ya say we have an eye opener before we eat? I never like to deal with meat of any description without taking on a little Dutch courage to cheer me on."

Leaning over Rita whispered to Julie, "Your friend comes across as being a reincarnation of Ma Kettle."

"It's just her way of going native," replied Julie. "Don't pay her way of talking no mind and just go with the flow. You never can tell what this lady will come up with. Rest assured there's more under the Ma Kettle veneer than people are led to believe. A few of those who wrote Nellie off as a hayseed lived to suffered dire consequences from their snap judgments."

"Thanks for the warning, Julie."

A past-her-prime cocktail waitress wearing a cellulite revealing black taffeta skirt and a ruffle-edged scooped neckline designed to showcase the wearer's natural assets was reduced to revealing a pair of bankrupt boobs, made her appearance. She spoke in a monotone voice hardly audible above the clatter of nearby conversations, scraping chair legs and rattling silverware.

"You gals want ah drink before you eat?"

"Bourbon with a splash of water," Nellie said.

"Screwdriver for me," echoed Julie

"Scotch on the rocks," concluded Rita.

"What the hell are you two old broads doin' here in C.J.? Nellie asked.

"Since you've been harpin' about this place for years, along with talking to a few people about it during the summer, I learned this is supposed to be a good place to spend the winter and we decided to give it a try."

Nellie nodded as Julie continued. "We were also told a naked man stood behind every tree. What a crock of shit that turned out to be. All I've see growing above ground in this great sand blown country are cactus or is it cacti? Being stuck by a man is one thing, but when it comes to being pricked by a cactus, you can leave me out!"

"Ya, I hear you. I heard the same crap when I came here." Nellie agreed going on.

"Things have changed a lot since I arrived. A few years ago there was only one paved street in town, the east/west highway. As for men, well you ain't going to find many prize specimens around here. It sort of depends on how particular you happen to be. As for me, when I get horny I take whatever doesn't stink nor drools and can get it up long enough to get the job done. Most times it's better than a wiener or vibrator.

"You do an outstanding job of painting an underwhelming picture of this desert oasis all right," Rita agreed and with a sigh continued. "But what the hell, men and everything else that's made, wear out sooner or later. Like Julie mentioned earlier, I guess we'll just have to go with the flow."

The women's conversation was interrupted by the waitress' return and serving their drinks. Rita pushed out a twenty to the waitress and left a dollar tip in the change tray.

After taking a healthy swig of her drink, Julie chided Rita. "What do you know? It must be the sudden shift in climate contributing to Rita's decision to soften up on men. I've never heard her offer them even the smallest crumb of kindness before. Now she's coming up with excuses. Never thought I'd see the day."

"Could be I've been a little rough on the poor dears in the past, but damn it all, every man I've run into thinks of me as nothing more than a trampoline to jump on. It's my personal opinion, or course; if one was to go looking for a man's mind and opened his head all it would contain is a pulsating ball of pubic hair."

"Gawd you really are a ball cutter!" Nellie exclaimed, before shifting into a more reflective mood. "In my younger years I was a pretty good looker and attracted my share of men and I'll have to admit, in those days I shared some of the same feeling. Then I met a pretty special guy soon after I came to C. J. He was about the only man I ever knew who had more interest in what I had between my ears than I carried between my legs. He taught me ah lot about men and since he passed on, I've been ah little more benevolent. Sure, none of 'em measure up to what I want, but like I said before, I don't cull 'em too thin, else there wouldn't be nothin' left."

When their drinks were reduced to raw ice water... the food serving line had declined to only a couple of people, inducing the women to get up and join the line. Each one paid for her food and they were soon enjoying large tender steaks.

The three women were cleaning up the last of their steaks as musicians began setting up their equipment. Dishes were cleared away and tables rearranged to accommodate extra people drifting in from the bar and those arriving for the dance. True to nature, Nellie was keeping track of men moving in from the bar, seeking a place to sit at mostly empty dinner tables.

Chapter08 - Buck's Second Chance

When the musicians completed assembling their equipment and wires hooked up; they were soon filling the room with music as the lights dimmed for dancing. Maintaining her surveillance of those finding their way into the semi-dark room, Nellie elbowed Julie's arm and pointed to a guy searching for a place to sit.

"See that 'ol boy shufflin' around over there. He must have had too much sun along with his brains jarred from ridin' too many cowponies cause he's got a crazy idea in his head of bein' the absolute cure for menopause. Well, I can tell you for real, he's not much better than a cold shower. As an example to prove my point, his concept of foreplay amounts to little more than, 'in the pickup Bitch'."

"We saw him signing in while waiting for you," nodded Julie. "Aside from his face looking like a dried orange peel, the rest of him isn't so bad; in fact, he hauls around a better looking physique than most. I would suspect he can move his butt up-and-down rather than teeter-tottering on a beer gut." Turning to Rita, Julie continued. "Hey Rita, remember the cowpoke who gave you the wink while we were waiting to sign in? That's him, sauntering around over there. Nellie just told me he believes to be the answer to a widow's prayer. Suppose we ought to invite him over? Three to one should keep him guessing for a little while. Besides, Nellie seems to have some inside information on him. Right, Nellie?"

Nellie nodded with a crimped smile.

"What the hell!" Mused Rita, looking across the room. "Go ahead; we're not going to have any fun wallflowering over here in the corner. If he can take on all three of us he must be a direct descendent of King Solomon and would have to pack a might big prayer.

"Look's like it's up to you, Nellie." Julie said, turning to Nellie. "I get the impression you know him or something about him. Go ahead, invite him over."

"OK, if you insist. This should prove interesting and most likely it will be disappointing," carped Nellie getting up to go corral their intended victim. In keeping with the old cliché, 'Buck, the hunter was about to become Buck the hunted'.

Emulating an arrow trajectory, Nellie headed straight for Buck.

"Hey Buck, you old fart, Better be careful in this light somebody may mistake you for a heifer in heat by the way you're lookin', lost and millin' around." Nellie challenged, placing her hand on Buck's upper left arm. He turned to get Nellie in focus and finally recognized her.

"Well, I'll be damned! If it ain't Nellie Bunwarmer. Haven't seen you since the night we got snockered over at Rattlesnake Flats. Last thing I remember, you and I was heading for a cabin. We may as well dance since standing here is blockin' traffic." Buck put his arm around Nellie and guided her to the dance floor.

"Do you remember what happened that night?" Buck asked.

"First off, my name ain't Bunwarmer, its Bunmeyer. Second, it was you who was tanked, so don't include me in your problem of not knowin' when to quit, and lastly, you're damn right I remember," blustered Nellie. "The cabin door was hardly shut when your hand pawed inside my blouse playing with a boob and slobberin' on my neck. You were fumblin' around so bad I had to undress both of us.

When we finally got on the bed you grabbed a hold of my left tit like you were sinkin' for the third time. The next thing I knew your hand fell off and there you was layin' on you back snoring' like a fat hog. I was all steamed up ready to go and there you was layin' on your back, passe, dressed and left."

"Jeez' Nell, I'm sorry about all that. You're not goin' to cut me off cold for not rememberin' you last name, even if I was close and takin' on too much snakebite remedy, are you, Nell?" Buck pleaded. "Come on now, cut me a little mercy will ya? That was a long time ago and all I'm askin' is for you to give me a new start?"

"Give you a new start," barked Nellie. "Boy, have you ever got the gall. There I was all ready for some tender lovin' and without so much as a goodnight you left me high and dry. I doubt if you even remembered about me till just now."

"Ah, Nell," was all Buck could get out until Nellie cut him off.

"Buck Thorn, your heart is as hard and empty as the knob you hang your hat on. Otherwise, where was the phone call to tell me you was sorry? Where was the roses? The candy? Ah, Hell! I may as well ask for the sand to give water."

"Come on Nell," Buck said trying to get back into the conversation.

"Shut up, Buck! I'm not done talkin' yet." Nellie ordered. "Buck, you have about as much romance as a stud goat. Well, I suppose its best to let bye-gones be bye-gones, neither one of us is getting' any younger and at our age we don't have enough time left to waste poutin' about missed opportunities. Ya, you old Shit. I'll give you another shot. Now what can I expect in return for my outpourin' of forgiveness and generosity?"

"You drive a hard bargain, Nellie, dear. But bein' the gentleman that I am what would it take to wipe the slate clean of wrongs you fret and pine yourself so grievously about since our last rendezvous? Mind you these demands must be kept in the bounds of my simple means."

"Simple means! In a pig's ass, you cheap old cow kisser! The only thing simple about you is you! With your condos fillin' up at Antelope Gardens, you can't bullshit me about bein' a man of simple means. I know about your land deal, so don't play me as the innocent little broad who fell off the turnip truck last Tuesday. But tell you what, I'll just call your bluff and raise you a notch. Let's pull out of here, stop by a liquor store for a jug of Jack Daniels, then head over to the Sand Motel, get a nice room and you can show me how good a man you claim to be. If you can make me say, 'I've had enough', I'll pay for the whole deal. Now how's that for a fair deal? But, being the hard-up woman that I am, if you don't take the deal I just offered by noon tomorrow the whole damn town of Cactus Junction will know Buck Thorn doesn't have a hair on his ass nor the balls to keep it company."

"You wouldn't happen to be bluffin'? Would you Nel?"

"Well, I remember pretty damn clear you braggin' about what a great tool you pack around and how good you are at usin' it. All I'm doin' is takin' you at your word. After all, if you cover the bet, then I pick up the tab. It was you beggin' for a fresh start, it's time for you to either fish or cut bait."

OK! OK! You're on, Nell." Buck smiled. "I like a good game of poker and I don't care whether it's played on a table or in bed."

"Wait a sec, Bucky Boy. I need to pick up my purse and tell my friends they're on their own. Be right back. Buck smiled at his quick success while watching Nellie cross the dance floor and talk to her friends. It was then he recognized Rita as being the woman he saw earlier with her body illuminated in the doorway.

"Damn you've still got your smooth silver tongue there Bucky-ol'-boy. This may turn out better than I though. I've got a sure thing goin' with Nellie tonight and she can lead me to the cute one with the legs."

Rita and Julie sat watching Nellie talking with Buck and were surprised when Nellie hurried back to their table.

"Hate to tell you girls, but looks like you're on your own for the rest of the evenin'. Ol' Buck sort of redeemed himself and since he's sober I'm goin' to find out if he's as good as he claims to be. Call me tomorrow afternoon and I'll give you a full report on how it turns out." Grabbing up her purse, Nellie was gone before either of the two women could manage to get out a word.

**Chapter09 - Rita Meets Henry**

Both Rita and Julie sat open-mouthed watching Nellie's backside move across the dance floor. It was Julie who spoke first.

"Well, how do you like those beans? Here we sit with our mouths hanging out watching Nellie run off with the man she was supposed to bring back."

Rita turned to Julie and quipped, "It seems perfectly female to me. Nellie is no different from the rest of us. She'll carp and complain about some guy not living up to her expectations, but just wait until another woman shows interest in Old Dumb Nut and he suddenly becomes a paragon of virtue and she'll guard him like a mongrel dog looking out for a desiccated bone. I'm looking forward to tomorrow when Nellie gives us her report on Buck's performance. If Buck lives up to her hopes, maybe she'll get off the pity pot routine."

"I have no idea how her story will play tomorrow. Julie said. "She's talked more about her sex life tonight that in all the years I've known her. Maybe she's been thinking about her life string getting short and wants to get all she can while she can. Whoops! Looks like action is on the way."

"Would you care to dance, Ma'am?" Asked a middle height, hair thinning and bespectacled man putting forth a friendly smile.

"I would," Julie, answered, getting up and taking his extended hand. Soon they were nestled up close dancing slowly keeping to the beat of the music.

A few minutes after Julie danced away Rita heard a nearby voice ask. "May I have this dance?"

Rita was lost in thought about Nellie and a little startled by a request to dance. Glancing up and turning in the direction of the voice she saw a rather tall neatly groomed man looking at her with his hand outstretched toward her.

"Who me? Oh! Yes, thank you," stammered Rita, accepting his hand and rising to her feet. "Sorry about appearing so dense. I must confess my mind was somewhere else. My name is Rita."

"It's my pleasure to meet you, Rita, my name is John Henry so you have a choice as to which name tickles your fancy," putting his arm around her as they moved away with the music.

"I have always liked both names; but since I'm offered a choice, would you mind if I settle for Henry? I find it less over worked than John or Jack."

"I was rather hoping you would select Henry. Like you, I've found John to be a bit overused. Do you mind if I inquire where you're from? Assuming of course you're a snowbird, like most everyone here tonight."

"I don't mind," Rita smiled. "Originally I came from Kansas. As a byproduct of my career you can toss a dart at a map and it would probably hit close to someplace I've worked. After retiring I became sort of a tumbleweed itinerant, although perhaps sometime in the future I may decide to choose a place to call home. Since we're on the subject, Henry do you have any particular place you call home?"

"I suppose one could also accuse me of being an itinerant. I maintain a permanent address here in Cactus Junction, but I spend the hot season wherever the cool breezes happen to call me. This past summer it was mostly Canada and Alaska. Next year is still undecided." Relaxing his dance frame Henry looked into Rita's eyes and smiled.

"Please don't think I'm patronizing, but you strike me as being cut from a different quality of cloth than most of the ladies present. You have a nimble mind and a vocabulary apart from most snowbird women I encounter, that I find very refreshing. Am I correct in assuming you had a career apart from raising a family?"

Returning his smile she answered. "If you're sincere in your statement of appreciating the fact I have a brain and with the capability for using it, then I have to believe you sprang from a different species of men than I have encountered so far in my life." Becoming serious, Rita continued. "You were right about my career. I spend my working years with Air Force Civil Service, never married nor had children. You're very intuitive. Do you also tell fortunes?" When the music ended, Henry remained standing where they stopped dancing holding her hand. He replied.

"No, I failed at telling fortunes, but I appreciate intelligence whenever I have the good fortune to find it. As for you being a lady with active gray matter, all the more interesting." The music began again and they resumed dancing. Henry held Rita firmly without attempting to crush her breasts or rub his genitals against her.

"My god, can this guy be real? Rita thought. "If he's real I'd be a real chump to run him off. I think I'll give just enough to keep him interested," as she moved close enough to feel her breast touch his chest. Lifting her eyes and looking Henry in the eyes, Rita asked.

"What occupation have you followed? I assume you're retired or do some kind of consulting work, which allows you to select when and where you choose to go." She felt Henry draw her a little closer as her breast rubbed firmly on his chest.

I'm a geologist. During my younger years I worked for several large mining interests which took me to most places in the free world. Since retiring a couple of years ago, I've taken summer jobs in the cooler portions of the world and mixed business with pleasure. I'm also an amateur historian of sorts. It keeps me occupied in my spare time."

Brightening to a new subject Henry elaborated. "There's an abundance of unrecorded history in northwestern Canada and eastern Alaska. Many books have been written about gold rushes and bush pilots, but very little ink has been spilled telling stories of early white men and women who mushed and walked through vast unexplored region in that part of the country. Many went in search of their dreams, but few returned. It's my ambition to give a small measure of recognition to some of these early men and women who unintentionally gave their lives in search of a dream."

"You have and continue to live an interesting life, Henry," acknowledged Rita. "I probably make up a majority who never give much thought to the first early settlers who just pushed off into the wilderness unmotivated by anything other than a dream. Would it be fair to refer to them as Little People who played large, yet unrecognized roles, in pushing back the frontiers in this country and Canada?

I suspect you also gave up part or all your family life in the course of your travels. I can't imagine taking a wife and children to many of the places you have journeyed."

"I did attempt mixing family and career for awhile," Henry replied. "As you accurately perceived, it didn't work. My wife was very much of a homebody and didn't take to the idea of traveling to primitive places or having an absentee husband nine or ten months out of the year. Result, she divorced me while I was on a job in South America. Fortunately there were no children to become fatherless. I understand she married a small town veterinarian and has lived happily with a brood of children. I'm glad for her."

Rita and Henry remained constant dance partners until Henry left two hours later. Before leaving Henry asked, and Rita accepted to have dinner together the following evening. Henry was causing Rita to experience conflicting states of emotions.

He exhibited many qualities she thought a man should have. He obviously enjoyed the closeness of a woman without resorting to lusty clutches and suggestive innuendos' past experiences caused her to expect. He was well read, exposed to and could talk about cultural subjects and most of all he accepted her as an intelligent equal. Or perhaps on the other hand he was a patient smooth talker waiting to score when she became trusting and vulnerable. Still worse, he could be a gold digger preying on lonesome widows in search of someone to support him.

"My God," she thought. "Have I become too wrapped up in my own conceit as to believe my ass is some sort of a Holy Grail every man in the world is searching to claim? One thing for sure, it certainly isn't going to get worn out at its current rate of use. Why not take some of Nellie's advice and quit culling men so thin?" I should have enough business experience to know if he's a gold digger or not." Rita's thoughts were disturbed by Julie sitting down with a man in tow.

"Rita, meet Sam. Sam, meet Rita. It turns out Sam comes from a town not far from Westbank. He knows some of the people we grew up with eons ago. It's small world, after all these years."

Nice to meet you, Sam." Rita smiled.

"It's my pleasure, Rita. Julie told me about you traveling around so much during your working years. You must have enjoyed an interesting career."

"Rita, if you want to go on home? Sam has offered to drive me home." Julie said along with a wink.

"Sure thing, I was thinking about going home anyway. I suspect you'll not be in any shape to face the world before sometime tomorrow afternoon. I'll try not to disturb you.

**Chapter10 - Buck Redeems Himself**

Nellie and Buck lay stretched out on red satin sheets stretched tightly over a king sized bed with Nellie snuggled up to Buck's ear and cooed.

"Buck you old son-of-a-bitch, you can still get it up after all. Followin' the fiasco at Rattlesnake Flats, I probably defamed you honor by tellin' my friends you were less help to a woman in need than a cold shower. It appears I owe you an apology. And bein' a woman of my word, you won the bargain. I'll pay back the tab you put out for the booze and room. You came through this time with flyin' colors includin' the flagpole. I'll let it be known your reputation remains in tact and you do have a hair on you ass after all."

"You did yourself up with a pretty damn good turn yourself, Nell, for being an old work horse!" Allowed Buck.

"An old work horse!" Nellie spluttered rising up on her right elbow. "I must say you have a quaint way of wordin' your compliments. Being referred to as old 'work horse' in this particular settin' doesn't make me feel very lady like, more like somethin' you found standin' on a street corner under a pale light."

"Ah shucks! Nell. No need to get your hackles up, I was just meanin' you're like a well trained cuttin' horse, which is always a pleasure to come by. All I had to do was nudge you a little and you knew just how to move and in which direction."

"All right," demurred Nellie. "I'll accept your hayseed compliment for knowin' your heart is in the right place, but I don't especially care about bein' compared to a horse and an old one at that, even if it is well trained."

"Where in the hell did you come from anyway?" Buck asked, turning toward Nellie. "Seems like most of the people I run into around here knows you and I hear talk about you ownin' most of the damn town. Anything to such a rumor?"

"One thing about you, Bucky Ol' Boy, you don't mess around with romantic pillow talk when you want to know somethin'. I can't really see as how that's any of your friggin' business where I came from or what I own. I'll be generous and tell you enough for you to know I didn't crawl out from under a rock full grown.

My father chased construction jobs so I grew up in places all the way from Scappoose, Oregon to Frog Holler, Virginia. I got married to an older man in San Francisco who had a heart attack givin' his mistress what he seldom gave me. I was fortunate enough he left me enough money to keep from havin' to stand under streetlights to pay my rent. After he left for his happy huntin' ground, I traveled for a while; got to see everythin' I wanted to see and decided to roost here full time. Don't see as how you need to know anymore. I kind of like to keep my life private."

"I get the notion you're my kind of woman. You and me could join up and cut some pretty hot land deals here abouts." Nellie bolted upright and let fly with another verbal barrage at Buck.

"Soundin' like and me bein' your kind of woman are two entirely different ends of a stick. Me joinin' up with you has about as much chance as the Pope turnin' Baptist. To put it in more simple words even you can understand, it ain't goin' to happen, so get over your thinkin' itcould."

"Bu! Bu! But!" Buck stuttered.

"But! Your ass, cut back Nellie with her voice raised a notch in volume. "Didn't your mother ever teach you its bad manners to interrupt a lady when she's talkin'? Just shut up till I'm done. You may think you're the prize every woman is itchin' to spread her legs for; but I'm tellin' you, Bucky Boy plain and simple, so even a cow herder like you can understand, I ain't one of your kind; now, yesterday or tomorrow."

Nellie got out of bed crossed to the dresser, poured two glasses a quarter full of bourbon, turned back to Buck and handed him a glass.

"Have a drink to the good stuff we shared tonight without you makin' any plans. You just let the past few hours be a pleasant memory. I've run up against men like you before who somehow get it stuck in their thick empty heads, most likely heard from some southern preacher rippin' off from Paul writin' about women bein' put on earth to keep their mouths shut and be submissive to their husbands. That's OK for you and maybe for some women willin' to give up bein' a person just to say they have a man. Sorry Bucky, I'm not a candidate for your submissive congregation. Here's to your future in C. J. and the condo business," toasted Nellie before tossing off her bourbon.

Turning around she set down her glass and quickly dressed. Drawing some bills from her purse she put down money on the dresser for the booze and room rent before walking to the door. Without looking back or saying a word she opened the door, walked through and softly closed it behind her.

Lying naked with a partial glass of Bourbon in his right hand, Buck remained in quiet though the remainder of Nellie's oration. He watched her dress, exit the room and listened to the clicking of her heels fade away on the outside concrete walk. Buck set his untouched glass on the bedside table and lay back on the bed to recall and think over Nellie's words and actions.

"She sure got a burr under her saddle," Buck thought. "Women! How in the hell is a man supposed to understand them? First she whispers in my ear real smooth like, about how good I am and the next thing I know she dumps a bunch of bitchy words on me, then she hitches up and drives off without sayin' another word. Damn, she was good.

Don't get ahold of one who knows how to do it like she did. Made me feel right good until she started all that uppity harpin' stuff about me not havin' any manners. Must be a rich bitch to act like she did when I asked her about ownin' some land. She had the nerve to tell me about how I expect a woman to be. Well, come to think about it, maybe she is a bit right on that score. Suppose I've been pretty one-way about how I take women. One of these days I may not be able to get it up enough to keep a woman interested. When that happens some broad will get pissed and spread the word around about it and me not being able to make it; like Nell threatened to do'll raise hell with my reputation.

Sure would like to meet up with her friend, what's her name? O ya, Rita, the one with great legs I saw at the VFW Post tonight. With Nell in her present state of mind it doesn't look like she'll be leadin' me to Rita. Oh well, what the hell? There's always another day and another way. Maybe I'd better think about changin' my outlook toward women and see if I can find one for the long haul." Turning over on his left side, and pulling the bed covers up, Buck was soon sound asleep.

About ten-thirty Julie and Sam agreed it was time to quit the dance and go to his apartment only a short distance from the VFW Post in an older section of C.J. The complex was still well kept but its appointments, especially in the kitchen and bathroom, reflected an older time. Sam unlocked and opened the door allowing Julie to precede him into the living room and after a quick look over she asked, "which way to the bathroom, Sam?"

"Straight ahead into the bedroom and take a left," he replied. On the way Julie noticed the bed was neatly made, with no cast off clothes lying about.

"Well, he keeps a neat house. That's another point in his favor."

While Julie was using the bathroom, Sam prepared a pair of nightcaps at the kitchen counter, filling the role of liquor storage and bar. Soon the sound of rushing water through the plumbing signaled Julie would soon join him. In a few moments Julie entered the kitchen. Handing Julie a glass and raising his to share a toast. "Here's to a pleasant evening we shared and an even more pleasurable night to come."

"I'll drink to that," Julie winked over the top of her glass as she took a drink.

With almost synchronized motions, their glasses came to rest on the counter and they moved into a tight embrace, quickly joined by a long open mouth kiss. Slowly drawing apart Sam turned off the lights and guided Julie to the bedroom.

A shaft of light sliding through an almost closed bathroom door dimly illuminated the bedroom. Sam drew back the bedclothes as Julie slipped out of her shoes and released the zipper of her slacks, letting them find their way to the floor. As her slacks skidded to the floor, she removed her blouse and tossed it on the bedside table. With only a bra and abbreviated panties concealing her nakedness, Julie watched Sam shed his clothes. Standing on the opposite side, Sam's profile was projected on the wall showing a rather rotund body with a slight paunch. He turned slowly to face Julie, offering her a waist up view of his personal assets. She was satisfyingly pleased to see Sam was gorgeously rising to seal the occasion.

Quickly peeling off her bra and panties, Julie joined Sam on the bed as the slide into each other's arms with juicy tongue fencing kisses.

Left sitting alone, Rita watched Julie and Sam thread their way through the crowd and pass through the door on their way to Sam's apartment. Suddenly the smell of second-hand smoke and alcohol fumes became noxious and overpowering; caused Rita to decide it was time to leave. All the worthwhile men were committed, leaving her with little reason to hang around hoping to get a dance.

Thoughts of John Henry returned to her as she collected her purse and rose from the empty table. Making for the exit she noticed the room was quickly emptying, noting there were more couples leaving than she earlier noticed eating together. She slowly and observantly across the parking lot to where her car was parked; still clinging to long practiced security habits.

She surveyed the parking lot before walking toward her car, taking note to ensure its doors were completely closed and the car set evenly on its wheels. Satisfied with the car's outward appearance, when reaching the car she looked inside for an uninvited passenger before unlocking the door. Inside she relocked the door, started the engine to find three cars ahead of her waiting to exit the near empty parking lot. Returning to the condo Rita quickly made ready for bed and was soon stretched out relaxing under the covers, and mentally reviewed the evening's happenings.

"Maybe time has come to consider finding a man to share my life and experience some intimate companionship." Rita thought, "Without work to occupy most of my waking hours there isn't much to do with only a limited quantity of places to go and things to see. Lord knows there isn't much excitement listening to Julie and others like her talk about men all the time. It wouldn't surprise me if Julie found herself a long-term friend tonight.

Henry seemed like a nice man gauging from the way he conducted himself." For some reason a small quiet voice was speaking, warning her he was not all she thought him to be.

"Oh well! At least he's a prospect. I'll just have to keep my eyes open tomorrow night. Henry may prove interesting in more ways then one." Soon Rita was asleep.

**Chapter11 - Nellie's Story**

A mid-morning ray of sunshine glided through a crack in her bedroom shades to find its destination in Rita's eyes causing her to rouse from a sound sleep. Completing a long body stretch she turned and looked at the bedside clock; it was nine thirty. Rolling onto her back she remained quiet, examining the ceiling in detail until her bladder beckoned to the bathroom.

A few minutes later Rita emerged from the bathroom wrapped in a bathrobe and bare-footed heading for the kitchen where she charged the coffee maker, brought in the morning paper and settled down to wait for the coffee to perc.

About eleven o'clock and almost awash in coffee, Rita was still engrossed in the morning paper when her concentration was interrupted by the doorbell; laying the paper aside Rita rose and paddle-footed to the front door. Pulling the door ajar, Rita found herself eyeball to eyeball with a somewhat bedraggled Julie staring back at her.

"Good God, Julie! You certainly fill the bill for looking like you've been ridden hard and put away wet." Rita exclaimed, opening the door and taking a step backward.

"You sure got that right," Julie bubbled crossing the threshold. "I may look trashed, but I sure don't feel that way. God, I haven't had a night like last night in many a moon. That guy Sam just flat-assed doesn't know when to stop and man ah' live! Is he ever hung. Right now I need to grow some new skin, get about twelve hours of sleep, followed by a dozen fresh oysters when I wake up. Goodnight, good morning or what the hell ever time of day it is because this old body is about to become horizontal, just allow me peace, this time it's spelled with an 'a' instead of an 'i' and quiet." Julie rattled, crossing the living room and heading for her bedroom.

Standing mute with her hand still gripping the inside door knob and mouth agape, Rita turned her head to visually track Julie's course across the living room until she disappeared down the hallway and heard her bedroom door open and close.

"Well, there's one down and one still to go," Rita muttered, shaking her head, as she closed the door and returned to her chair.

"With Julie accounted for, I wonder if Nellie will be faithful to her last's night promise to report in the afternoon,' Rita thought as she picked the unfinished morning paper.

The early-afternoon silence was broken by the chirping telephone. "Hello, this is Rita."

"Oh! Hi, Rita, this is Nellie. Is Julie around?"

"I'll have to give you an ambiguous answer. She's here, but in no condition to be awakened, at least for several hours in the future."

"That bad? Huh."

"That bad, she straggled in about eleven this morning looking like a charitable cat dropped her on the doorstep. I expect it'll take more than a short nap to get her back into fighting trim. She mumbled something about needing some new skin and fresh oysters on her way to bed. If you aren't too tied up, how about we meet someplace for coffee and something to eat? Our digs is like a tomb and I'm anxious to hear how you fared last night. Rita suggested.

"If Julie is goin' to be blanked out for the next day or two, I guess we may just as well. My calendar isn't over-booked. How about we settle-in down at the bowlin' alley coffee shop? It's just down the street from Cactus Gardens. Say in about thirty minutes?"

"I'll be there," Rita confirmed.

Entering the bowling alley and locating the coffee shop was no problem. Rita quickly spotted Nellie sitting at a back corner table, looking out a window with a coffee cup in front of her.

"Hi, Nellie, you look in a much better condition than the last I saw of Julie after your respective nights in close quarter amour." Greeted Rita, spoken with a cheerful tone in her voice.

"Could be it didn't take me all night to complete my business, as it apparently did Julie and thanks for the compliment," Nellie said, turning her head to face Rita as she sat down in an opposite chair.

"Are you eating or just having coffee?" Rita asked.

"Thought I'd sort of sneak up on a tad of solid nourishment with a bracin' cup of coffee. They serve a pretty good breakfast all day long, in case you've been runnin' on empty since gettin' out of bed. I'm workin' myself into the mood for a pair of wide-eyed eggs, toast and hash browns. How about you, or are you a toast and coffee type?"

"I'm hungry." Rita confessed, "But I need to go slow on intake at this time of day. I've got a hot date for dinner tonight, so I don't want to bust my calorie budget with a big breakfast."

The waitress arrived at their table and assumed the position with pad and pencil ready to take their orders.

"Two eggs lookin' at me, hash browns, wheat toast and a coffee refill for me." Nellie called out without looking at the waitress.

"I'd like a cup of blueberry yogurt, one slice of wheat toast, small orange juice, and coffee." Rita ordered, looking at the waitress.

With their breakfast orders taken, the women returned to their previous night's report.

"If memory serves me correctly, you promised an accurate and concise report of your last evening's activities." Rita said.

"Ya, guess I did," Nellie confirmed, looking out the window. "When I told you gals last night Buck was little better than a cold shower, I was recallin' an experience we had some time ago when Buck had too much booze in him. We were out at Rattlesnake Flats and wound up in a rattletrap motel room. I had to help him get into bed and when his head hit the pillow he was out for the count. So there I laid, all ready for action and there laid Ol'Buck snoring away. As it ended, nobody got laid.

Happily last night was a whole different ballgame. Buck was close on to bein' sober and he redeemed himself. After leaving the dance we got ourselves a jug of Jack Daniels and a nice room at the Sands Motel where we hit the sack and Ol' Buck came through like a thoroughbred stud. It wasn't like one of those Harold Robbins sex manual tellin' about a lot of kinky business gettin' started. He came out of the shoot and from then on it was just plain old ruttin'. Buck's not one for pillow talk before or after.

He hardly got done breathin' hard when he started askin' questions about where I came from and if rumors were true about me ownin' property. I told him it was none of his damn business. Somehow he got the idea I may have something and began the old line of bullshit about bein' his kind of woman and together we could cut some big land deals, that sort of yack. I've run into his kind before and knew exactly the kind of game he was wantin' to play.

They work at getting into a woman's pants and from there into her bank account. I told him for his information I could manage both my ass and my money without any help from him. Thank you! So I just got up and left him layin' in bed with a glass of bourbon in his fist."

Their breakfast arrived as Nellie finished recounting her Buck experience.

"I would venture to say your last night's experience fits one of those rabbit stories we've all heard. 'Slam bam thank you ma'am'." Rita said with a smile. "I presume this guy, Buck, is a long term bachelor who hasn't heard about women being able to think and take care of themselves."

The conversation was put on hold while Rita drank her orange juice and Nellie prepared her hash browns. Rita continued, "I know very little about you other than from general conversations with Julie and a smidgen of your relationship with this Buck character. When it comes to the men in my life, most of them have been shit-for-brains managers and an assortment of other qualified assholes, mostly discovered during my working career.

With little excitement in my retired life, I'm looking for some amusement. I'm looking for an opportunity to work off years of frustrations on some prick. From the way you talk about this guy, Buck, he demonstrates outstanding qualifications as a prime prospect to either hit him in his bank account or ego and hopefully both. You seem to be in the know around here and have probably had similar experiences. So, if you'd like to participate in a macho baiting project designed to ring a prime prospect's balls and grab him where it hurts the worst, especially by a woman, in his checkbook."

Nellie finished putting away her eggs and hash browns while Rita was talking. She looked up and spent extra time attending to her mouth with a napkin before talking.

"To start off with, you may as well make sure your cup is full for this is going to take awhile, O.K.?"

Rita nodded her approval as she lifted her cup signaling the waitress for a refill. Nellie began her story.

"Rita, I don't know much about you either, other than from off and on again conversations with Julie over the years, so we're pretty well even. As for me bein' in the know around C .J., I guess you could say I am. I have the gut feelin' you can keep your mouth shut, plus you've got some business smarts so I'm going to tell you things I've never told anyone before. All I ask is you not repeat any of it, even to Julie nor anyone else for that matter.

Again Rita nodded yes, while taking a sip of coffee.

"All right here we go," informed Nellie.

"Years ago, while in my salad days, I married a San Francisco investor several years older than me by the name of Harry. He came with a half-civilized friend by the name of Billy who skipped fully growing up. Billy and Harry bumbled around most of the gold strikes in a half dozen states and later rough necked in oil hot spots tryin' to pickup whatever easy money they could find. After several years of near misses they managed to come up with some oil rights in Kern County, California, which turned out to have tons of oil under the surface.

They were able to cash in on the oil rights and became rich men for their time. Harry had enough smarts to realize it was possible to make more money wearin' a suit than overalls, so when the big money came in he and Billy split their windfall and parted company. Billy continued chasin' rainbows lookin' for another strike while Harry headed to San Francisco where he became an independent investor. Over the years Harry made and lost gobs of money. When I met him he was on an up swing with lots of bucks layin' around.

At the time I was what you might call, 'a woman of fortune'. I had a fetchin' body, good looks and enough rough edges to remind Harry of women he knew durin' his wanderin' days, so he up and asked me to marry him, which I did, without so much as battin' an eye". Pausing for a drink of coffee, Nellie continued.

"All went well for about ten years until he reached the age where men sometimes need a succession of strange stuff to get it up. About this time Harry got a call from Wanderin' Billy askin' Harry to visit him in a jerk-water wide-place in the road call Cactus Junction, Arizona.

Harry was gettin' a case of itchy feet anyway so we took off for Arizona. At the time Cactus Junction had a population of about two hundred, includin' prospectors and their burros. Billy talked Harry into buyin' up ten sections of land, around C. J. By taken the whole block of ground in one gulp Harry got it for about four-bits an acre. Like I said, Harry was flush at the time so a few thousand amounted to mere chicken feed and he bought the land more as a favor to Billy than as a future investment and soon forgot about buyin' half the damn desert as Harry called it." Nellie took time out for another drink of coffee.

"By the time we got home I was pretty sure the trip had set Harry to thinkin' it was time to turn me in for a new model. It wasn't long before a hot young number drifted across his path with a new twist on how to play his equipment longer than a one-night stand. He put her up in a nice Nob Hill apartment and not long afterwards Harry suffered a heart attack while giving her the kind of enjoyment he hadn't given me in a long time.

The first call I made after findin' out Harry died was to a smart lawyer I was feedin' a few buck to ever so often, just in case I needed quick legal help. The lawyer already had a file on Harry's financial dealing so he was able to put a quick lock on everything Harry owned.

I gave Harry a quick funeral and caught the next train headin east. I traveled some while my lawyer was settin up a bunch of blind corporations around the country to handle the money Harry left me. The lawyer rigged it to look like the Harry's leavin's was owned by different companies. When I got tired of the good life, I came here and settled down. To save you askin', I choose to act and talk like a hayseed as part of my cover, because I had my fill of the tea and cocktail crowd while married to Harry and durin' my travels.

When I settled down here, I threw away all my fancy clothes and became a nobody. I like keepin' life simple. People don't think I have anything and I don't give them any reason to think otherwise. I get a lot of enjoyment from jerkin' the chain on the high and mighty when they try to cut a cute deal I don't think is quite right, without them ever knowin' who did them in." After another drink of coffee, Nellie continued.

"In answer to your question, yes, I'm pretty well in the know about business deals going on around this part of the country. My corporations own almost every foot of the ground this burg sets on and they keep my name from being spread about. There's an assortment of people around fronting for me and they run the show for me most of the time; but I can pull a chain whenever I need or want to.

As for Buck, he's been around cows all his life and thinks he's the top bull of the herd in so far as women are concerned. And, as you put it, 'he's a qualified asshole'. He still has the southern religious idea of women bein' brainless and put on earth to wait on men and be the depository for the thing they carry between their legs whenever they take a notion." As she talked, Nellie pushed her coffee cup around making doodles on the tabletop before going on.

"Now don't get me wrong about men, as I said last night, I sometimes get the need for their services to cure my hornyness. But damn it to hell, they don't have to act so friggin' superior by tryin' to take me over and grab the things I own as part of their compensation. When it comes to pullin Ol' Buck's short hairs, I can see some sport in givin' him a touch of anxiety and causin' him to eat crow from a woman's hand. Rita, do you have anything particular in mind to rein him in?"

Rita was finished with her breakfast and slowly sipping her coffee when Nellie concluded.

"You have a story and a half." Rita nodded with a smile. "I've never met anyone with a history of having lived such an eclectic life, bar none. Yes, you can rest assured I'll keep your secret. I'm honored you chose me to share your story. Especially of your private life and the domain you control.

I think it's also fair to tell you I accumulated a substantial nest egg during my working tenure, along with a pension from Civil Service. My main pile of money came from an inheritance a friend left me several years ago, leaving me with no fear of being sent to the poor house. I in no way covet the wealth you have. From this time forward or until you tell me otherwise, you will remain Nellie, the hayseed to me.

As for Buck, I don't have a detailed plan at the moment. I'll wait until the right situation presents itself. If you're game, let's get together in a couple of days and see if we can come up with something to amuse ourselves at Buck's expense." Rita checked her watch before speaking.

"I'm sorry to postpone this fascinating conversation, but I'm about out of time. As I mentioned earlier, I have a dinner date tonight with a guy named John Henry Mills. I met him at the dance last night. Have you possibly heard of him?" Rita asked, picking up the check.

"Can't say I have. I'm glad to hear last night wasn't a total loss for you. With both me and Julie makin' a night of it, I was beginnin' to feel a little sorry for you. Guess there's little need for me to worry, knowin you can take care of yourself without the rest of us havin' to fret about you. I'll give your offer to twist Ol' Buck's tail some thought.

**Chapter12 - Henry**

Returning from lunch Rita set about getting ready for her dinner date with Henry, beginning her ablution with a shower proceeding on toward making her look especially attractive for the evening event. Rita's mind was in conflict between dinner expectations with Henry and germinating a plan to harpoon Buck. After choosing to wear a tailored electric blue dress, Rita was putting the finishing touches to her hair and slipping her feet into matching blue-dyed high heel pumps when the doorbell rang. Hoping the ringing didn't awakened Julie, she hurried to the front door. Drawing open the door Rita saw Henry standing on the walk dressed in a light colored summer weight suit, holding a flower box in his hand.

"Good evening, Rita." Henry greeted.

"It's nice to see you again, Henry. Please come in."

Reaching the top step Henry handed Rita the flower box.

"Without knowing the color of dress you would be wearing, I fell back on traditional roses, calculating they would go with most any color. I hope you like roses."

"Oh yes! Rita exclaimed, with her eyes opened wide. "You needn't have worried. I seriously doubt if there is a woman alive who doesn't love roses. Thank you so very much Henry. It's most thoughtful of you to favor me with flowers." She smiled closing the door and taking Henry's gift.

"Please sit down if you like," Rita invited, gesturing to a chair and opening the box.

"Oh how wonderful! White roses, they're absolutely beautiful. Rita bubbled. Lifting the flowers from their box she noticed they were arranged as a corsage including two attaching pins. Holding out the flowers she turned to Henry.

"Would you perform the honors of pinning them to my dress? They are much to pretty to leave standing in a vase with no one to admire their beauty."

"It would be my pleasure, provided you will overlook me being all thumbs. Men aren't especially good at this sort of thing and I'm far from being an exception." Henry apologized, taking the corsage and deftly slipping the fingers of his left hand under the neckline of her dress while accepting one pin at a time, fastening roses to the left side of Rita's dress. In performing the ritual she felt the pleasing warmness of his fingers moving gently against her skin.

"There." Henry said, taking a step back to admire his handy work.

"A most fitting trio, you, your dress and the roses all go together very beautifully."

"You have a most charming way with words, able to fashion them into a very pleasing compliment.

Taking a step forward Henry took Rita's left hand and turned it so the back of her hand was upward and leaned to kiss her hand. "You are most worthy _mon cheri_."

Standing tall, Henry continued, "I assume you're not well acquainted with the area, so I took the liberty of making reservations for us at Sourdough Pete's in the Round Hill area, about twenty miles to the north." Wearing a smile while lifting his eyebrows for approval. "The short drive will give us an opportunity to learn more about each other. If you are ready to, 'we'll hit the trail,' as they say in these here parts."

"It sounds fun and exciting. Give me a minute to get my purse and wrap." Rita answered, releasing Henry's hand and walking to her bedroom with a purposeful amplified undulating movement of her backside, calculated to display elegant buns beneath her tight fitting dress. In a moment she retuned carrying a blue purse and white shawl draped over her right shoulder.

"Please excuse me, Henry, while I prepare a quick note for my friend. She's recovering from a non-fatal case of over-celebrating last night. We have as yet to talk since her return earlier this morning, leaving her unaware of my going out tonight. I don't want her to awake in an empty house thinking I'm lost or skipped the country." Locating a memo pad and pen she wrote a quick message.

"There, I'm ready to 'hit the trail'," she smiled, rejoining Henry.

Hand in hand they left the condo. Henry held the car door open for Rita to enter, by doing so he was rewarded with a pleasing sight of Rita's sheer nylon-encased thighs enhanced by a slightly elevated skirt as she swung her legs inside. A smile crept over Henry's face reflecting his approval as he closed the door.

Parking under the covered reception marquee of Sourdough Pete's, two uniformed valets approached the car where each valet opened a door. The valet opening Rita's door did not receive the same quality of view as Henry enjoyed during her earlier entry.

The doorman sported a gray long whiskered gray beard and dressed in a traditional prospector's garb opened the door for their entry. Henry gave his name to the host, dressed in the costume of a frontier lawman. They were immediately led to a reserved table by an attractive saloon dancehall girl presenting a rear panorama of long shapely legs accentuated by black seamed nylons attached to a pair of sensuously swiveling gluteus maximi.

Their table was located next to a tastefully draped westward facing window affording a spectacular view of the late evening sun as it slowly burst into a silent display of pyrotechnical colors before sliding behind sand and cacti.

Soon after settling themselves into comfortable chairs the wine steward arrived offering Henry a wine list suggesting a choice of especially chosen fine red and white house wines. Henry demurred looking to Rita who replied with a perceptible headshake. In place of wine Henry suggested champagne, receiving a nod from Rita prompting him to order a bottle of Mums. His selection was rewarded with a smile from Rita. The steward gave a short bow signifying his endorsement while turning away. Within minutes a chilled open bottle of champagne in an accompanying ice filled cooler arrived.

Their champagne magnum was nearing empty when a waiter made his presence known by quietly clearing his throat.

"Good evening and welcome to Sourdough Pete's. This evening our dinner special is capered pouched wild salmon fillet, steamed asparagus, a side salad of fresh spinach topped with feta cheese and accented with our own red wine and olive oil dressing, followed by ripe strawberry cheese cake dessert," recited the waiter. "Or," offering a pair of tassel-bound raised-lettered menus, "if you prefer, I invite you to select one of our many delicious dinners or ala cart selections from the menu. Would you care to order now or do you need time to make your selection?" The waiter waited for their decision. Henry shifted his vision from the waiter to Rita, with a raised questioning eyebrow.

"The salmon fillet sounds like something I had in mind without actually knowing it. Yes, I would like the special please," Rita, answered Henry's silent question.

Henry returned his attention to the waiter. "Two evening specials please, and would you mind calling a wine steward?"

"Two salmon fillet dinners it is, Sir. A wine steward will be with you presently." Flowed a smooth confirmation from the waiter, who was immediately replaced by the wine steward, asking. "May I serve you, Sir?"

"Yes," answered Henry. "A bottle of the house white you suggested earlier. And serve it when our dinners arrive."

"You made an excellent choice of wine and serving time, Sir. I commend you on your fine taste," complimented the steward turning away.

By the time Rita and Henry reached the end of their superb dinners, capped it off with a Drambuie. Their dinner conversation drifted over several subjects including each other's biography allowing them to sense a mutual feeling of comfort between each other. After Henry settled the check they moved to the bar and dance area where a three-piece combo was playing soft dance music geared to fit the beat, agility and satisfaction of a predominately gray-haired crowd.

During the ensuing evening their dancing became progressively more compressed. Rita's restraint mellowed by earlier wine quickly melted away, caused more by desire than spontaneous attraction. Henry was a graceful smooth dancer without being physically aggressive; he held Rita close without her feeling crushed.

As the evening passed Rita danced closer with her cheek to his and her breasts planting firmly against his chest. Occasionally she would let her pelvis bump lightly against his, partly because it sent a shiver of excitement through her body, and though she was slightly embarrassed to admit it, she wanted to check out his arousal status. Without fully understanding why, Rita was dancing closer and enjoying it more than with any previous partner. As time passed, she began to wonder and was slightly mystified not feeling Henry's phallus swell resulting from their close contact. All the men she danced with before developed spontaneous hard-ons in quick order. Probably his lack of noticeable reaction was the reason she allowed herself to press against him so firmly, yet a certain amount of concern floated around in the back of her mind about him remaining so flaccid.

"Oh well, the mystery will be solved once we get back to the condo. It will be most unusual if he doesn't try to get me into bed before the night is over." Rita thought as they danced a slow fox trot with their bodies pressed close together.

After dancing for about an hour Henry asked Rita if she was ready to leave and received her immediate concurrence. Reaching the reception vestibule, Henry handed his parking medallion to the doorman. He took the chip, turned and spoke to the intercom.

Their entry into the car was a repeat of their earlier arrival; only in reverse order, each door was opened and held by a valet awaiting their entry. Rita lowered herself onto the seat and swung her legs into the car without a hint of breached propriety. The doors closed and they were quickly underway out of the parking lot and onto a well-traveled road.

On the ride home their conversation was a continuation of dinner talk covering places each had been, points of interest shared at different times and other topics related to travel and culture achieving an easy comfortable interchange.

Breaking the car to a smooth stop in front of Rita's condo, Henry shut of the engine, exited, crossed to the passenger side, opened and held the door for Rita. Once again Henry received a view of expansive nylon as she spread and swung her legs from the car. Raising her eyes to meet Henry's while accepting his assisting hand she could see her exit captured his attention by a smile of appreciation.

Gaining her feet he closed the car door and held her hand. Reaching her condo door, Rita's expectations for any continuance of the evening were suddenly dashed as she noticed light and heard faint sounds of music coming from within the condo. The probability of Julie being home had not occurred to her until just now. Julie's resurrection from her previous night's soiree ended any chance of privacy for tonight.

"What a bummer! There went any further excitement for the evening," Rita thought. "With Julie awake and moving there isn't a snowball's chance in hell Henry will hang around."

Turning to Henry, "Sounds like my housemate has or is in the process of recovering from her last night's fling," Rita remarked with noticeable disappointment in her voice she asked. "Would you like to come in? I'm sure Julie would be excited to meet you. I can't vouch for the condition she may be in however, but you're most welcome." Holding Rita's hand, Henry caught her eye.

"Thank you, and please excuse me, I must be going. I can't express the pleasure we shared this evening, so without becoming maudlin just let me say I enjoyed being with you very much. You're excellent company and a wonderful dancer. Wish your friend well for me, along with suggesting she exercise a small measure of moderation on her next outing. Good night, Rita, and thank you for sharing a delightful evening with me." Leaning over, Henry kissed Rita lightly on her left cheek. Straightened up, he was walking to his car before Rita could fully comprehend his actions.

"Gaa, goodnight and thank you," was all Rita could stammer as she heard the car door open, then close and the car's engine coming to life. Lifted her arm, Rita waved slowly as headlights cut through the semi-darkness making an easy backing turn. Seconds later the taillights of Henry's car disappeared after turning onto the street.

"What do you know about that?" Rita asked of the night as she stood looking in the direction of Henry's vanishing car. "Now that's a new one. Never in my life have I known a man to act in such a manner. He's puzzlement to be sure. I don't know which is the worst, to be pawed over by some lout anxious to give me what he mistakenly thinks I want; or to be made to feel a fool by coming on as I did, only to be left alone waving at the wind. Maybe Nellie has a way to find out what gives with this guy." Rita slowly turned and entered the condo.

**Chapter13 - Girl Talk**

Letting herself into the condo, Rita found Julie curled up on the couch listening to a CD and reading a romance novel. First looking at her watch and then at Rita, Julie remarked.

"With the pretty roses he gave you, it's amazingly early for you to be getting home and looking so disgustingly sanitary. Judging by the hour and from the way you look, it must have turned into a cold date. What happened? Did you two have a falling out over where you were going to settle for the night, his place or yours?"

Laying her purse on a side table and slumping into a nearby armchair, Rita raised her hands in symbolic surrender.

"It beats the hell out of me. I'm at a total loss as to what happened. He took me to the most expensive place around and conducted himself as a perfect gentleman the whole evening. We danced boob to chest most of the time and I flashed him nylon getting in and out of the car, which he seemed to enjoy, yet he never made a move to follow up on anything I did to lift his libido."

"With you belly rubbing him while dancing and flashing nylon this dude must be made from Styrofoam for not coming on to you when offered those kinds of incentives. How much did you dance?"

"It must have been an hour or more." Rita answered.

"You mean this paragon of virtue did nothing, even when you boobed him. Did you feel him getting it up? Surely he didn't stay limp all evening. That's down right insulting to a girl if he didn't muster up a little bone," Julie exclaimed, sitting up.

"That's exactly how it happened. So far as I could tell, he didn't so much as twitch. He left me standing at the door with nothing but a fatherly peck on my cheek other than bidding me good night. He just turned, walked to his car, got in and drove away, and that was it. End of story. He did thank me for an enjoyable evening however, but never mentioned if he wanted to see me again.

I'm beginning to conclude Henry viewed me a dry entertainment rather than hoped for pleasure. He claimed to have enjoyed my company. When I look back on the incentives I offered him, I see myself as being a complete fool. I can tell you without equivocation; my experience with Henry this evening devastated my ego. This is the first date I have accepted, other than dear sweet John so many years ago, when the guy hasn't thought of me as an escapee from a petting zoo.

I really thought of Henry as being nice and would have gladly split the sheets with him had he stroked and romanced me. I was beginning to get a little horny for him until he left me standing at the door with my mouth hanging open."

Leaning forward with increased interest, Julie's face mirrored her confusion as she commented.

"Can you beat that? I can't imagine any man in his right mind passing up the opportunity you offered him. Do you suppose the guy is queer?" But, if he is, why would he expend so much effort and money taking you to such an exclusive joint? Unless he wanted to be seen with an attractive lady as arm candy for some reason or other, we will probably never know about. God! He's a mystery sure enough. Did he tell you anything about himself to give you a clue as to why he may be so strange?"

"No. Not a word, as a young man he married, but his wife divorced him soon afterwards because his work took him away from home a large portion of the time. He was a geologist with jobs requiring him to travel over most of the known world. He claims to have no close living relatives and didn't mention any on going relationships. No mention was offered to any illness or injury limiting him in any way. On second thought, I can see why a man would have no desire to publicize a lack of prowess on his first date. But on the other hand, it would have been more benevolent to me had he at least hinted to having a limiting condition; if he had I wouldn't have wasted so many boob pushes and so much nylon. Oh well, that's enough of my complaining. From the way you looked and talked this morning, I gather your evening with Sam met with and exceeded any expectations you may have had when you two left the dance."

"How should I put this?" Julie said settling back on the couch. "It was a night of re-awaking, rejuvenation and pure enjoyment as being the most succinct way I can describe it."

"Well! Rita nodded. "That's certainly a sanitized version from what I expected after your brief comments spoken while dragging your remains across the living room on the way to your bedroom this morning. I liked it better when you went straight to the meat of evening, that's meat with an 'a'..." concluded Rita, with a mischievous expression.

"You know, you should have been a lawyer," smiled Julie. "With your way of cutting through the garbage, I doubt if you will rest until I tell you the whole story. Oh! By the way did you hear from Nellie?

"Yes I did," answered Rita. "She called while you were healing up this morning. I joined her at the bowling alley for a late breakfast while she related her night's adventure with the cowboy, known as Buck. Now back to the rest of your story." Rita said, as she relaxed and scrunched back in her chair.

"Come to think about it, there isn't really much more of the story to tell. We went to Sam's place, located rather close to the VFW in one of the nicer older complexes. He has a single bedroom apartment which he keeps neat and clean.

Anyway, he mixed us a drink; we drank a toast to the evening and the next thing I knew we were in bed. He gentle playing with my boobs and rubbing around home base. I don't have to spend a lot of words on how after my long deprivation it didn't take much to get my furnace glowing. Man, I was ready to go in no time. I reached over and took a hold of Sam and gawd it was a dandy I'll tell you for sure. When that man goes to work its pedal to metal all the way.

That pretty well gives you a picture of our happening. He sort of slacked off for a few hours and was back at it again after daylight. If I had kept score for times I peaked out, it would have been equal to a basketball game score for sure. Sam told me it might be well for us to heal up for a couple of days, but he promised to call me. He complimented me on being a good woman and said finding a good one wasn't easy to come by.

He asked me to think about making it a regular thing with him. I told him not to be in such a rush about getting serious, even thought I did develop a warm feeling for him. If he continues to be the sweet kind of guy he was last night, I just may give his offer serious consideration," Julie concluded, with an amusing grim.

Rita nodded and reentered the conversation. "You do have a graphic way of describing your night's experience. Sam comes across in the manner of an old expression of not being able to tell how far a frog can jump by its looks.

I'll give him credit for asking you to think over his offer of wanting to develop a lasting relationship. Most men have a tendency to take such things for granted. When I met him last night I wouldn't have given high odds on him having the where-with-all to perform in the manner you just described. I suggest you do a little Sam Spade (no pun intended) work to see if he's a one-woman man or running a trap line. If he goes at it with the vigor you described, I can't hardly understand how he could be servicing others at the same time. Maybe he's getting tired of chasing and is ready to settle down to a steady diet. At any rate he must have knocked loose some rust unless you've been holding out on me; it's been a long time since you have mentioned getting any."

"What exactly do you mean, holding out on you?" Julie asked, with a startled look. "You know damn well how long it's been since the last time I got laid. Speaking of being laid recently, hell, its ancient history since you've had the pleasure. Sometimes I think you run on ice water instead of blood. Then on the other hand, I must confess you surprised me by thawing out and warming up to this Henry feller, for all the good it seems to have done you.

At least you're showing signs of rejoining humanity. I hope you keep up the good work; a little practice will do you good. And when it comes to loosening up the rust, you can speak for yourself. There have been times when I thought for sure you must be using WD40 to keep your plumbing working, except I never found any empty cans laying around."

"Such gratitude!" Exploded Rita. "How you do rattle on about me. God! If you weren't my belly button confessing buddy I'd be taking offense at such caustic remarks such as, 'ice water for blood' and 'using WD40 for intimate purposes'." The only problem is, others have made essentially the same remarks about my blood type, but I have to admit, using WD40 is new and creative. It has never been easy for me to shine up to men. I still think of Daddy bringing that pig, Sophie, home and telling me she was my new mother. Later when I returned to the house, I could hear them screwing in the next room and it almost caused me to puke at thought of them having sex. In a way it may have been a good thing, the disgust I felt about sex probably kept me from messing around when I was younger and getting myself knocked up.

Having to work around and for men all my life who held to the concept women should leap into bed with them at crook of their pinkie or be kept at the end of a dusty road, barefoot, broke and pregnant didn't encourage me to have a charitable position about sex.

Now that I don't have to play silly word games with them I can relax and learn to play another type of game, only this time I get to play by my rules. I can see how once I allow my guard to drop and let a few emotions come to the surface there is a danger of being hurt. Seems like I heard something about, 'no pain, no gain'. My, how I do run. Do you suppose it's because I'm getting old or sentimental?" Rita ended, settling back in her chair and looking unfocused at the window.

"Thanks for still considering me as a friend," Julie replied. "Sometimes you need being brought back down to the level of being a semi-normal human female. In all our days of knowing each other I've never heard you talk so unguarded and open. I take your sharing as a compliment and most of all it makes me feel good to know you're willing to loosen up and take a chance. And yes, I know very well men can hurt you something awful for a while, but with a little time one gets over it. They also bring us a special kind of joy and if you pick 'em right they're a heck of a lot more fun than a vibrator.

I've pretty much learned to live in the moment and let tomorrow take care of its self. I'm also mindful about the quantity of tomorrows counting down at a faster rate than they did when we first started living together back in good old Westbank. By the way, whatever happened to your father and Sophie?"

Still looking out the window Rita picked up the story.

"Daddy kept Sophie around for about six months. It got so all she would do was lay around and let the housework go while complaining about how lazy and useless my brothers were. Daddy finally got his fill of supporting the do-nothing-slob, loaded her up, took her to St. Louis and dumped her along with giving her two hundred dollars. After getting rid of Sophie he hired a neighbor lady to come in once a week to do the laundry and some housework until the boys left. After he was alone he rented a room from the same woman and lived there until he died about a year after my youngest brother was killed.

I'm afraid Daddy never enjoyed very much happiness in his life. He spent all those years after Mama died without any companionship that I knew about, until he started fooling around with Sophie. When the Korean War came along, both of my brothers were drafted because they were not in college. They were sent to Korea immediately after basic training, neither of them came home. I was in Germany at the time, so I wasn't in any position to be of help to him. I must have been a serious disappointment to him because he thought I should have quit work, got married and given him some grandkids. When it's all added up, trying to get a family going during the depression, Mamma dying, two wars, the loss of both his sons and no second-generation kids to carry on. I believe he couldn't see much future in living and just gave up."

"With such a history, your family had more than its share of lumps." Julie sympathized and changed the subject to a lighter mood. "What did Nellie have to say? I'll probably get a repeat later, but you can give me the highlights"

Returning her view to Julie, Rita began,

"It seems Nellie and the cowboy, Buck, have known each other for some time. During a previous encounter he drank too much, got her in bed, promptly went to sleep and left her with severe doubts about his capabilities. Last night they went to a motel where Buck came through magnificently.

Buck apparently thought Nellie was pretty well heeled monetarily because during their refractory period he suggested they should join up and cut some spectacular land deals. You know how it goes when certain types of men goes for your bankbook after getting into your pants 'Honey, with your money and my ideas we can make a million' sort of thing. Nellie told him to forget any thoughts he may hold about her having money lying around just waiting for him to use for cutting big deals and to get lost. After telling Buck how she thought about his grandiose ideas she got up and left.

I proposed we join forces and give Good Ol' Buck a kick where it would hurt the worst... in his bank account to remember us by. It would give us something to do along with helping to settle a few old scores each of us has stuck in our craws."

Julie chuckled. "It looks like this Buck character was elected by unanimous vote to become the unsuspecting victim of a land con game. I get a feeling you two are about to be out and out mean to this poor old cowpoke character. As an innocent spectator, I can see where it's going to be fun watching this financial castration operation unfold.

**Chapter14 - More Girl Talk**

Monday morning found Rita and Julie having a leisurely breakfast when their solitude was broken by chirps from the telephone.

"That damn telephone sounds like a sick bird telling the world goodbye," grumbled Julie reaching to pick up the obnoxious instrument.

"Hello! This is Julie."

"Hello yourself," came Nellie's voice over the phone. "Glad to hear you're up and movin'. From the last report I had it sounded like you were standin' in line for an energy transfusion and a skin graft. Rita told me you got tangled up with some guy who had a near lethal case of 'testosterone poisonin'."

"Know what, Nellie? This is a lifetime first to learn good news can travel so fast. Whatever kind of poisons you're talking about doesn't seem to bother Sam, but is sure is taking me time to recover. Rita said you got sacked the other night yourself, old dear. Congratulations!

"You could call it that I guess." Nellie confessed. "What are you two old broads doin' this mornin'? Other than settin' around lyin' about who got it the best. Unless there is somthin' hot goin' down, I'll drop by. If it would happen to cause a problem, just say so. I'm assumin' of course, there are no overnight guests of the male gender layin' around."

"Come on over. It'll be great to see you. Rita and I are just having coffee with a light breakfast. Unfortunately there are no guests fitting your description loitering on the premises this late in the morning to dull our conversation. We'll see you in a few minutes"

"Make it about twenty. I'm still not moving too fast." Nellie added, hanging up her phone.

"I suppose you heard most of our conversation." Julie said, turning to face Rita.

"Ya, I heard. It'll give you two an opportunity to catch up on the details of yours latest trysts." Rita said with a mischievous smile.

"Catch up on our latest trysts!" Blustered Julie. Do I hear a smidgen of envy rolled up in that last accusation? At least we have something to catch up on. Can't say a much for the other fifty-percent of population who live here."

"Sorry about that Julie. I didn't mean to ruffle your feathers so early in the morning. It does sort of cut against the grain, but I have to relent and agree the score is a little lopsided in your and Nellie's favor. It could be said I'm kind of letting the home team down by not having a score on the board yet. At the rate it's going around here, I'll have to frequent a stud service every night for a week to catch up. On the other hand it's doubtful if I could survive the strain since I haven't enjoyed very much practice to maintain my fortitude."

"By damn, Rita. You just never give up. Here I thought you were offering an olive branch as an apology and it turned out being another jab in the back."

By the time Rita and Julie drifted away from jawing at each other over their sexual exploits and were evaluating the pros and cons of changing out of their housecoats, their discussion was settled by the doorbell going off. Julie stood up and walked to the door where she unlocked and swung it open. She was greeted by a well done up Nellie wearing a form-fitting playsuit, accentuating her anatomical assets, sandals and a broad brimmed sun hat. Giving Julie a quick looking over she walked through the door.

"Good morning! Julie. I see you're well on the road to recovery from your night of debauchery. As a mater of fact, I seem to detect a slight Mona Lisa smile peeking though an expression I hadn't noticed before. Whatever this Sam guy packs around must agree with you. I suggest you get all you can while the opportunity presents itself."

Turning to Rita, Nellie continued. "Good morning Rita. I want both of you to especially notice I said, 'Good morning' not Good mornin'. After Rita's and my conversation I decided to give up the hayseed routine and go back to the proper way of speaking."

"I think it's safe to say, both of us welcome you back to the educated world." Rita said.

"Thank you." Nellie replied. "Rita, are you about ready to conjure up a little intrigue after I savor your coffee and finish the interrogation of Julie about this wonder boy, Sam, she snatched from under our very noses.

Some members of our gender are just plain born lucky when it comes to scooping up men. Come to think of it Rita, you have some explaining to do about this Henry character you charmed while Julie and I were out medicating our various verities of hormone sickness."

In the background Julie said, "Think I'll go make myself presentable while Rita is being grilled about her mystery man."

Inviting Nellie to sit at the table, Rita poured her a cup of coffer and freshened her own before sitting down opposite Nellie to relate her experience with Henry. Nellie sat in rapt attention without sampling her coffee while Rita spoke. Finishing her narration, Rita picked up her cup and rewarded herself with a drink of fresh coffee.

Nellie did likewise, letting out a sigh before commenting.

"I must say, Rita, if your experience doesn't take the cake. I've never heard of a man acting so reserved before, especially with all the come-ons you so freely tossed at him, he should have been all over you. If you don't mind, I'll do a little research. Could be there's more to him than floats to the surface."

"Be my guest. I was thinking about asking you to do the very thing you just offered; provided you want to spend the time and effort. I still can't get over how he appeared to enjoy looking at my legs and holding me close while dancing yet remain so blase. Could be, I don't understand a man with honorable intentions. I'm bothered most by him telling me how much he enjoyed the evening and my company and end the evening by giving me a peck on the cheek, climbed back into his car and drove away without so much as, 'don't call me I'll call you', 'see you around' or 'get lost'. For whatever his reasons, he's a real quandary."

"Strange man," Nellie agreed. "Can't say as how I've ever been insulted by a man's lack of attention to my physical goodies. You say his name is John Henry Mills?'

Rita nodded, "yes."

"With a name such as his, it should be easy to track him down. That is, of course, if he's using his real name. You didn't perhaps notice the license plate on his car.?"

"No, the only time I saw an end of his car was when he backed up to turn around and the car's headlights were shinning in my eyes. Sorry." Rita apologized.

"No biggie, for the moment," assured Nellie and shifting to a new subject. "Now we can get on to more feline things. Have you had time to think about Project Buck?"

"Not to any extent. I gather from the sound in your voice you have knocked the concept around a bit."

Nellie nodded and asked. "Have you come up with a starting point or any options to consider?"

The two women were deep in conversation when Julie emerged from her bedroom wearing fresh makeup and dressed in a flattering tan colored pants and shirt combination. She announced her readiness to rejoining the conversation with a question.

"Are you ladies, using the term in its loosest meaning, plotting to crack the gonads of some poor old love-starved cowpoke? Haven't you jilted-girls ever thought how much easier life would be for each of you to just forgive and forget the past, and bask in the present?"

"No!" Was the unison reply from Rita and Nellie.

Rita clarified their coming actions.

"Since you suggested we consider two mind-bending undertakings at the same time, specifically, forgive and forget, I think we're going to execute a combination future exercise which will position us in a more emphatic state of forgiveness and sometime later give us something tangible to forget."

"My gawd, Rita." Julie began. "Sorry, had I known I'd get a reaction filled with such superfluous verbosity I would have never posed such a practical and simple way to solve your problem."

"Huh! Echoed the two other women.

"Gotcha. Didn't I?" Julie said with a satisfied smile. "Nellie, in case you hadn't noticed, having spent a greater part of her life working for the government, Rita caught a near terminal infection endemic to government employees with a pathology causing them to use a least ten multi-syllable words for each word us common slobs use. I think the aforementioned infection can be boiled down to, job justification and pure unadulterated bovine excrement."

Rita was the first to respond. "You're in rare form this morning, Julie. I'll keep your admonition in mind and do my best to refrain from expounding with such a professorial vocabulary.

"All right you two, enough all ready of this verbal jousting. We're wasting valuable time with this word game chitchat when we could be figuring out how to deal with poor old ego bound Buck. You have the floor Rita."

"Thank you, Nellie. Basically the point Nellie and I have in the making is really quite simple. For once in our lives we want to inflict one of the poor babe's, of the male gender, with how it feels to find himself in a demeaning position similar to what women have occupied since Eve gave up her fig leaf.

We just want to pour out our generosity on this particular man, letting him know women have the capability to give as well as receive. It's our intention to let this prime specimen of machoness savor a rare opportunity of having a rug jerked from beneath his feet by representatives of the ignorant and helpless womanhood he has dumped on for so many years.

It never has nor doubtfully ever will enter his thick muscle bound skull to think women could have the brass ovaries to pull off even a simple business transaction. The idea of women taking him to the cleaners on a business deal in which he intended to make a million is totally out in the ozone.

Anyway, we need something to keep our minds agile and active. There has to be more to life than sitting around a dance floor in some smoky vet's club waiting for one of the darlings, pushing a beer gut and a cigarette-flavored breath, to favor us with a dance.

"I'll second that motion," chimed in Nellie.

Taking a breath Rita continued.

"I would just for once like to see one of the ego-inflated assholes have to face the fact he doesn't have a corner on the market when it come to which sex are given brains. I'll gladly admit there are a few men out there willing to meet us half way. But very damn few."

"My goodness, all that oration without benefit of a soapbox," chided Julie. "You girls are going to either hyperventilate or bust a blood vessel if you get any more hyped up. Better change the subject and cool down for a spell."

"It could be a good idea," replied Rita, pushing back her chair in preparation for standing. "I need to get up and put myself put together so I can think about the practical aspects of our project. I'm sure Nellie wants to hear about Sam. I'll rejoin you before long."

"I guess you're on, Julie, old friend. Nellie invited, as Julie seated herself and began telling her story. When Julie completed a lengthy definitive rendition of her Sam experience, Nellie commented.

"Well good for you Julie. I'm glad to learn one of our trio is having a positive man experience. I've been here in C.J., for several years, well ever since the time we met on the cruise. After the boat parked I bummed around for another six months more or less and settled down here. Since being here most of the men I've met have not been, I repeat, not been of the caliber I want to take on for a lasting relationship. Perhaps I was a bit glib the other night and I may have given you the wrong impression when I said something about being willing to take on a man so long as he didn't stink or slobber. Actually I'm several steps more particular.

I once hoped the cowboy, as you call him, would mellow and lose his high and mighty opinion of himself, but he hasn't and I rather expect he never will. At his age it's hard to wash the shit out of his brain that has caused him to think women were put on earth for his express purpose, to either use their body or their money and preferably both."

Rita completed her dressing and rejoined the group when the phone chirped.

Julie muttered, "That dammed goofy sounding phone," as she moved to answer it. Picking up the headset she listened for a moment before answering.

"Why hello Sam! It's great to hear from you."

Rita reclaimed her place at the table, giving Nellie a wink. "I think it would be safe to assume the ghost of Saturday night has returned to life. I really hope Sam is honest and this romance works out well for Julie.

If he can keep up the pace Julie claims he demonstrated Saturday night, it could cause Julie to lose some extra weight. She would look so much better with fewer pounds, although her extra poundage doesn't appear to slow Sam down. After having the opportunity to get beneath Julie's wrappings, Sam must have decided he didn't want to lose the true inner product."

"I agree," Nellie added. "Julie is a very neat lady with such a nice way about her, not like us two old fire breathers. If Sam causes her any hurt I'll have his carcass hung from a saguaro for the birds to feed on."

"My! My! Rita forcefully remarked. "Remind me to never get your dander up. How well I understand your reasoning about Julie. We harp at each to pass the time without getting emotionally involved. When it comes to some guy hurting Julie, you will have to move fast if you plan on getting at him first."

Replacing the phone, Julie was all ah bubble. "Well, you two insurrection plotters, while sitting around hatching wicked plots to humiliate a fellow soul mate, I have a date with Sam. We're going out to a lake, something or other, and catch a catfish. More than likely we'll catch more sunburn than fish, but what the hell. It's better than sitting around listening to you two boiling your witches brew so you can cast an evil spell on a poor old cowpoke."

"Are we going to sit here and take such guff from the sweet lady we have made a blood pact to avenge?' Nellie asked of Rita.

Making a shocked face, Rita answered, "I'm beginning to wonder about taking her jibes sitting down like we are; but then on the other hand we shouldn't be harsh on the poor girl when she's probably still recovering from phallic shock syndromes she recently suffered. Now she's gnashing at the bit for another injection."

"There is absolutely no doubt about it," huffed Julie. "You two are plain down and out jealous to say nothing of being consumed with envy. Just remember what the Good Book says about coveting. Sure as you two sit there jabbering your evil thoughts, both of you are writing one-way tickets to, I don't even want to think about where." Julie turned and marched off to her bedroom with a smug look on her face.

"Did we get told off or did we get told off?" Rita smiled.

A half-hour later Sam arrived and Julie introduced him to Rita and Nellie. Following a brief conversation, Sam and Julie left for their alleged fishing expedition at the nearby lake.

"Sam presents himself as a pretty nice sort of a guy," remarked Nellie, returning to her chair at the table. Rita went to the kitchen counter, picked up the coffee carafe, refilled their cups and as she was sitting down added, "Sam does look like he has plenty of energy and he doesn't come across as being a windbag. Julie may have winnowed herself a winner out of the local chaff, I hope."

Nellie returned to the subject of Buck. "What do you think about catching Old Buck in a little land squeeze? I have a couple parcels of land laying around we could dangle in front of him plus toss a red herring buyer at him looking for land to build some kind of an exotic business on. I could pull the background strings while you play the part of a woman wanting to buy some cacti land common talk holds as being worthless.

Rita pushed back from the table and took her time looking out the window as she processed Nellie's idea. After a minute or so she turned back to face Nellie.

"Nellie, my friend. I think you may have found the wrench we've been searching for to twist Buck where it will hurt him the worst."

**Chapter15 - Buck Looks for a Deal**

By Monday morning Buck's energy was back to normal and his ego was well on the way to being insufferable after being deflated by the verbal thrashing Nellie gave him Saturday night. Since waking Sunday morning, his mind ran at warp speed in its quest to figure out a logical recourse for dealing with women in general and Nellie Bunmeyer in particular after the tongue-lashing she laid on him. It wasn't all together the things she said which punctured his ego so severely, it was the acid-grade timing and delivery that continued to etch holes in his ego and causing him to examine his way of thinking.

Sitting at his kitchen table on Monday morning having breakfast, some of Nellie's words drifted back through his mind. "Goddamn it!" Buck rambled on out loud. "Why does that broad's bitchin' keep buggin' me? It can't be because I'm soft on her, which I ain't. But I do have to admit she was hell of ah' good piece of tail. That is till she started all that high and mighty woman moralizin' stuff. Can't figure out why she got so damn uppity when I asked her if she owned any land here about. Must be cause I hit a tender nerve or somethin'. Think I'll wander over and talk with Gus at the real estate office; he should know or be able to find out if she owns any land around here. Anyway, it will give me somethin' to do and maybe he'll know about a good land deal or two layin' around waitin' to get picked off.

A half-hour later Buck entered Gus' real estate office. "Mornin', Gus, he greeted walking through the door.

"Morning yourself, you old Fart," answered Gus. "What brings the likes of you around so early on the first day of a new week? I though you was going to be one of those easy-living-sleep-till-noon-retirees since you became rich and didn't have any cows to feed."

"That's a fine way to talk to one of your top money-makin' customers. Remember now, it's my commissions that's helpin' you become a millionaire land dealin' tycoon by doin' nothin' but settin' on your ass movin' a few papers around.' Buck grinned, pulling up a chair and planting his backside.

"You must have something important on your alleged mind causing you to sashay in here and with your first breath begin insulting my way of earning a honest living, else you wouldn't be taking up my valuable time and office space," retorted Gus.

"Since you brought up the subject, as a matter of fact I have. I've been doin' some thinkin' about a thing or two you may be able to help me on, it could possibly lead to us turning a dime or two."

"You may as well go ahead since you interrupted some important thinking I was doing."

"Do you happen to know anything about a woman by the name of Nellie Bunmeyer?"

"So you got acquainted with Nellie, did you? Countered Gus. "Knowing your philosophy and reputation about women, I suspect you got acquainted with her lying down

Yes, I've met Nellie casually but I don't actually know her. I have to attest to the fact she's a right attractive lady with an interesting wild look about her that has caused me, once or twice, to think evil thoughts about her bedroom capabilities. Then I get a second thought, 'at my age a hot five minutes with Nellie followed by a cold drink of water would more than likely finish me off'. So I quickly change my line of thinking. O.K. Buck, how come you're suddenly so interested in Nellie? I suspect by asking me about her it must have something to do with land.

"Why Gus, you old shit. Here I always though you was a true blue family man. Never thought you'd ever size up another woman, let along want to jump in the sack with her. I asked first, but to show my generosity, I'll answer all you questions at the same time.

First off, Nellie not only looks wild, she's wild as a two-year-old stud. And next, she's one hell of woman in bed till she gets to moralizin' about how men think women are brainless and put here on earth only for breedin' purposes. Well, hell! I can agree with all that. Now, if your curiosity is satisfied you can tell me about the land she owns.

Gus shook his head and answered. "Asking such questions about the things Nellie owns makes me think you have evil designs in mind. In answer to your question, Nellie is kind of difficult to explain. She's sort of ghost in the local real estate business. Her name doesn't appear on any deed papers that anyone knows about.

However, and that's a big however. In some circles it's suspected she has a finger on most of the property located in town and a lot of the surrounding area. With that being said, there's not one shred of evidence to prove she owns a square foot of ground. If she does own property, she's never shown her hand.

It's sort of suspected she may be connected to one, or more of about four closed corporations owning most of land here abouts. The corporations are registered in more than one state, and it's anybody's guess about, who or how the corporations are owned, their ownership is a well-guarded secret.

If Nellie is the one behind some of these corporations, she has to be one damned awful smart lady. Someone a lot smarter than the general consensus holds Nellie to be, as judged by the way she talks and lives. If Nellie really is mixed up with some of the land rich corporations, we have to ask a couple of questions, 'where did her money come from?' Now we get to the second question.

'Why does she live and act the way she does if she's so rich?' I thought Nellie may be a pretty smart lady until you came in here offering proof to the fact she must not be very smart if she lowered herself to climb in bed with you."

"What do you mean? Lowering herself to hop in the sack with me! I thought it proved the lady has good taste." Buck smiled.

"So, you're telling, nobody knows for sure if she owns anything or not. She may own the whole damn town or, she may not own so much as a privy?"

"That's about the size of it," confirmed Gus. "If she does own the town, she's one hell of a smart woman. I can't vouch for how smart she is, but with smoke about her drifting around, there must be a little fire someplace. If she owns stock in these land corporations and lives like she does, she may use her lifestyle to discourage gold diggers like you."

Shifting in his chair and grunting Buck stated. "Well hell! That's a fine kettle of fish. I don't know any more now than I did when I walked in here. The only difference amounts to being more confused."

"Join the club, Buck, there's lots of people in the local real estate business who would like to know the answer to the very same question."

"Puttin' the subject of Nellie aside," Buck asked. "Do you have any good land deals layin' around that would turn a few quick dollars?"

Rubbing his chin, Gus answered. "There's getting to be too many snowbirds around, or more rightly called, 'land vultures', hanging around with time on their hands and money in their pockets ready to pick any land cherries that may come along. These land vultures are able to sit around in air-conditioned country clubs listening for something to surface and pick off the good deals without the property being listed. In fact, more than half of the land sales in this county never see the services of a realtor."

"As they say in the movies, 'everybody wants to get in on the act'," Buck growled, pulling himself erect. "Guess that's about all I can bother you about for this time, Gus. If you hear somethin' on either subject, will you give me a ring?"

"Sure enough will," assured Gus. "And by the way, the next time you see Nellie, tell her 'hello' for me will you?"

Walking out of Gus' office, Buck mumbled, "Ya, I'll tell her you're hot for her body and just achin' to lose your marriage virginity with her. See ya later."

A week and a half later, Buck was kicked back in the mid-afternoon enjoying a cold Coors and watching a John Wayne movie on the T.V. when his phone rang. Setting down his beer Buck punched the T.V. remote mute button and reached for the phone.

"Hello, he growled.

"This is Gus," returned the phone reply. "You sound like you just finished a bout with a she-cougar. Get off your dead butt and come on down to office, providing that marble-grinder Ford of yours will make it that far. I may have something of interest for you."

"You sure take liberties talkin' that way to a man of my position and insultin' my pickup all in the same breath. There must not be any money involved else you would've come to see me in person."

"Come to see a man in your position... in a pig's ass I will, sputtered Gus. "The only position I've ever known you to have is setting or a bar stool or lying on your back. Why I put up with all the ungrateful crap from a stupid old cow kisser like you is more that I can figure out. Especially one who stubbed his toe and fell into a pile of money at my suggestion makes me wonder if I'm out of my gourd for even associating with the likes of you."

"Steady old boy, steady there," soothed Buck. "I understand how rough life is for you settin around coppin commissions from poor old country folks like me. If it wasn't for you havin' a kindhearted ol' buddy such as me around you wouldn't have anyone to dump your frustrations on. Anyone else less charitable would most likely rap you on the noggin with a tire iron. Now calm your ulcers, I'll be down in about thirty minutes. Will that be soon enough?"

It wasn't until Buck quit talking, he became aware Gus had hung up and he was talking to a dead telephone. Thirty-five minutes later Buck parked his pickup at Junction Real Estate and made his way into Gus' office.

"Afternoon, Easy Money,"

Gus responded silently by motioning Buck to a chair. "Sit down, Buck. I'd dislike being responsible for the wear and tear on your fragile body by not offering you a chair. Then on the other hand, you'd probably better think about sitting down easy like, considering where your brains are located. I'd hate for you to bruise anything important."

"Thoughtful words like yours may get you a free beer one of these days," Buck grinned, lowering himself into a chair. "You must have found something with a dollar sign hung on it?"

"Could be! Just could be, Gus said picking up a manila folder lying at the side of his desk. "I've heard it said, 'when it rains it pours'. An east coast contact called me this morning to pass along a tip he thought may be of interest to me. There's an eastern motel chain by the name of U. S. Resorts interested in building a motel complex here in Cactus Junction. The head office is looking to purchase a minimum of one hundred acres for a building site close to an established shopping center. The shopping center must contain at least three major anchor stores.

"Lot of good that does me," Buck grunted. "All my property is a long way from any shopping center and it would cost too much and take a long time to develop a shopping center on my ground."

"As usual Buck, you manage to put your mouth in gear ten steps before turning on your brain. Do you think I'm so dumb as to call you down here just to tell you about a deal unsuitable for your land?

I already told you good things were being poured out and it's not just a local drizzle. Now if you have your brain plugged in I'll continue. After doing some looking around I found there's a one hundred twenty acre parcel lying just north of the Junction Shopping center owned by Land Investment Ltd., with its corporate office in Chicago, Illinois. When I found they own the parcel I sent them a fax asking if the land was for sale and at the same time I faxed U.S. Resorts to find out if they were actually interested in locating a motel here and if so, how much money did they have budgeted to pay for land. I indicated there was a high probability a one hundred twenty acre parcel was available next to a shopping center in the down town area."

"Keep goin'," nodded Buck.

Gus continued, "U.S. Resorts replied to my fax with a 'yes'. They are planning to put an expensive motel complex here. They are willing to pay between fifty and sixty five thousand dollars per acre, depending on how much prep work will be required, how long it will take town hall to move on permits and the usual paperwork. They made no mention about whether they would ask the city for a tax incentive should they decide to locate in C. J. etc. etc.

Which all means, they will probably settle for a price in the fifty-five to fifty-eight thousand per acre per acre range on this parcel. Now for the good part, I received a fax back from Land Investment Ltd. about an hour ago confirming the one hundred twenty acre parcel of land adjoining the shopping center is for sale, provided the buyer also purchases another eighty acres northwest of town as a two-unit package.

They want $6.7 million for the whole kit and caboodle. The complete package pencils out to be about forty-nine point five thousand per acre for the big chunk and around ten thousand per acre for the eighty acres." When Gus concluded, Buck pulled out his pocket calculator and digested the numbers quoted to him.

After three or four minutes, Buck ended the silence. "I've seen most of the land out northwest of here and all I saw was boulders, cactus and mean rattlesnakes. Nobody in his right mind would want that rock pile, to say nothing about payin' ten grand an acre for it. What those clowns are really sayin' is, we have to add the price of the rock pile on to the price of the town land and that comes out to be almost fifty-nine thousand per acre for the good stuff and we're left with the worthless pile of rocks we can give back to the Indians . The way I figure it, we make about seven percent or less profit and that's no great deal, even for a thickheaded old cowpoke like me.

"Ya, Buck. I can run a calculator as well as you; but you haven't heard about the last shower yet. There was an attractive looking lady in here yesterday morning looking to buy some out of town land in northwest area. She told me she wanted to invest some money on the long term and thought that area held good potential for people who want to get out where it's quiet and private.

Remember, the land out there is at a higher elevation than down here in the valley, so it's not so hot during the summer. I never thought much about it before but after giving it second thought the lady may be onto something. She mentioned about wanting to build out there and she knew a few other folks who may be interested in a block purchase. She also indicated ten to fifteen thousand dollars per acre was in her line of thinking, provided water, roads and utilities could be had at a reasonable price. However, she wanted to reserve the right for a third party appraisal."

"Have you called her back since you found out about these two chunks of land? Buck asked, with a hint of urgency in his voice.

"Not yet," Gus replied. "You're the first person I've mentioned it to. I get the feeling you've developed a sudden interest. Is that a hint of greed I detect in your voice?"

'Probably is," Buck allowed.

Gus sort of thought out loud. "If we could work out a three way deal on the deal it would probably raise your level of interest." Again there was a period silence while Buck thought over the possibilities.

When Gus reckoned Buck was through considering the options, he broke the silence.

"Do you want me to sound out the lady and see if she would be interested in a partnership on the northwest parcel? It would reduce the package price by $0.8-million.

Buck leaned back shaking his head. "How in the hell can this investment outfit justify such a high price for the small piece. They want ten grand per acre for that pile of rocks that is no good for anything but rattlesnake pasture, even at a quarter of their asking piece it's still over priced. Somebody must have put the decimal point in the wrong place. You said this woman was wantin' to invest in rock pile property is a pretty neat lookin' package? She must have more looks than brains wanting to buy land in that God forsakin' part of country."

"As a matter of fact, I did mention something about her being attractive. As for brains, I think she stacks up pretty well in that area too. She talked and acted quite knowledgeable about real estate and investments to me. Oh! By the way, she's a tenant of yours at Cactus Gardens. Her name is Rita Blaine.

**Chapter16 - Let the Sting Begin**

A week passed without Rita receiving one whit of notice from Henry. His complete lack of attention was wearing at the foundation of her belief system causing her ego to crumble and at the same stroke casting doubt on her ability to attract men. She was keeping the embers of hope alive while Henry remained totally mute. Henry's continued silence was a new experience for Rita. During her high school years Rita, perhaps due to Ol' Lizzy's strong advice about boys, formulated an opinion, which soon became etched in her mind believing she carried the holy grail of womanhood between her legs. This particular belief served as a fountain which gushed forth-verbal complaining material every time a man offered the briefest second look at her, real or imagined, accusing him of having desires on her body.

Suddenly along came Henry; he threw her for a loop with his impeccable gentlemanly behavior and subsequently paid her the most devastating insult possible; he didn't care one whit for her body. His complete lack of inattention was beginning to annoy her and time passed quickly as Rita delved deeper into putting together a 'sting operation' she and Nellie were cooking up to rip Buck. This particular morning there was nothing special to do and the memory of Henry moved into her thoughts. She began thinking aloud as she went about her chores.

"How could he have been so thoughtful and attentive to me without getting the hint I was interested in him. I'm sure he enjoyed looking at my legs and feeling my body against his. Yet he was so damn platonic when he bid me goodnight. I'm completely lost as to why he hasn't contacted me. Maybe I shouldn't have been so brazen to deliberately flash my legs and push my boobs against his chest. I hope God knows why Henry is ignoring me, because I sure don't."

Getting nowhere thinking about Henry, Rita's thoughts turned to Julie spending more time with Sam than at home. The concept of Julie moving out never really crossed her mind before, but it was becoming a serious possibility.

"I suspect Julie will be moving out of the condo if this thing she has with Sam keeps building. It's nice to see her happy and enjoying life again and I'm quite sure most of the happiness she projected after Steve died contained a lot of put on. Now her high spirits are looking real."

Rita continued her thoughts as she went about routine household chores. Keeping physically busy was helping the morning to pass quickly. Near noon the phone chirped and brought Rita back to the real world. It was Nellie inviting her to lunch at the bowling alley, promising there was something interesting to share.

Entering the bowling alley coffee shop, Rita noticed a reserved card resting on their favorite table caused Rita to mill around with her face reflecting a questioning expression.

"I wonder what's coming off this morning. None of the other empty tables has reserved signs."

The waitress noticed Rita's confusion and waived her to the table.

"You and your friend are such regular customers we decided to keep your table reserved."

"Thank you very much, I'm truly impressed with being noticed and appreciated." Rita replied, as she sat down.

"Our pleasure," assured the waitress. "I'll bring your coffee."

"Thank you again," Rita replied.

Before her coffee was served, Nellie came bustling in and sat down opposite Rita.

"Greeting and salutations," Nellie effervesced.

"My! You show all the signs of being in an above average mood this fine morning," greeted Rita.

"It could accurately be said, 'I am'," glowed Nellie.

The waitress arrived with their coffee and inquired, "Care for anything to eat now or just coffee and food later?"

"Coffee now and give us about twenty-five or thirty minutes and bring us the lunch special." Nellie looked at Rita with a lifted eyebrow and received a nod before confirming the order.

"Did you know we have become VIPs in here, as of this morning?" Rita asked.

"How did our notch-up in appreciation come about?"

"Since we're such regular customers and I suspect above average tippers, he crew decided to reserve this table for us. We can drop in anytime now and find our table waiting for us.

"How about that?" Nellie responded in her upbeat manner. "It's about time we received notice and recognition. I'll take all I can get whenever it comes along."

"I'm all ears and eager to hear your interesting news," Rita remarked, between sips of coffee.

"There's news on two fronts," Nellie began. "First, it looks like Buck is taking the bait. His real estate friend, Gus, has been in contact with both principles. We'll come back to them later. Second, I got a run down on your friend, John Henry."

Rita straightened up at the mention of Henry's name and remained at full attention as Nellie continued her report.

"As you already know, his name is John Henry Mills, a retired geologist. He's also honest, a rare commodity among men in this part of the world. Everything he told you checked out, except he didn't tell you everything. It seems when he was in Africa, twenty or so years ago he contacted one of those rare exotic jungle diseases and before he could get treatment it infected his gonads. It's unclear if his malady resulted from the disease or as a side effect from the treatment, whichever way the results were the same, he lost his ability to get it up. He is now totally impotent. A side bar to the story which may or not be true. When his condition was diagnosed and before treatment began, he was given a choice of living or losing his manhood, he chose to live."

"My God! What a horrible choice Henry was forced to make. I can't imagine anyone being forced to make such a devastating decision. Such a terrible life sentence for a man to receive... compelled to live the remainder of his life suffering from such an intimate personal affliction," Rita lamented shaking her head. "Is there any more to his story?"

There is," Julie nodded. "He cares for a house-bound friend. This friend was one of the company owners where Henry once worked. I understand his friend is pretty well heeled and generous by letting Henry have access to his bank account as payment for caring for him. Henry is able to be away for short periods of time and from time to time makes business trips as a representative for his friend. There is no record of Henry developing a close relationship with anyone other than the friend he now attends, end of story."

"Had I not been stewing over my bruised ego, I could have figured out Henry had some kind of physical problem for not pursuing an intimate relationship with me. I admire him for devoting his life to the care of his friend. The burden of such care must be a difficult task, perhaps Henry's disability makes care giving easier.

I hope the years have been kind to him and helped ease some measure of disappointment he has been forced to overcome. I wish he would have mentioned his condition to me; but then, why should he? After having acted the way I did. He seemed like such a nice man and I wanted him to notice me. Now I'm faced with the cold hard facts he was incapable of responding to my rutting behavior. God I feel like a complete fool."

"Cheer up there Old Girl," comforted Nellie. "He does appear to be a more decent kind of guy than most members of the herd grazing here abouts. I hope you don't get a notion in your head to track him down, no matter how much you feel for him; besides, pity is neither your style nor his. It's best to let him call the shots. Having you chase after him would only become an embarrassment. I'm sure he feels there's no future for a relationship with you, other than being a platonic friend. Anyway, we have enough to keep your mind occupied for awhile."

"You're right, of course. It's best for me to forget about Henry and his disabilities. There's no reason for me to make a bigger fool of myself than I already have. O.K. Doctor, what's next on the agenda?"

"As I mentioned before, faxes have been flying back and forth between Land Investment Ltd., U. S. Resorts and Junction Reality. I think we're getting Old Buck stirred up a little.

'I've been thinking about something else," Rita interjected. "Is the eighty acres northwest of town for real, or is it a fictional part of the scam?"

"It's for real all right," Nellie nodded. "I can feel the wheels turning from all the way across the table. Your devious mind must be hatching a plot."

"Have you taken the opportunity to look over the property?"

"I've driven by it but never walked over any part of it. If that's what you mean." Nellie answered with a puzzled expression.

"I may have a possible money making use for your rattlesnake playground. In fact, if my idea works, it will make a lot of money and further enhance the 'sting' operation we're working on. I'd like to hire a helicopter to take us out there so we can get a closer look at the property. Remember, part of my story to the realtor was a desire to build a house in that vicinity, so let's make a contribution to my cover story. Our food should be coming any minute, so we can leave after eating."

"You think it's a good idea to eat and rush out to go flying around? The flying may cause us to throw up our lunch."

"Aw heck, Nellie, live dangerous for a change. Flying has never bothered me and flying in a helicopter is about like riding in a car without having to worry about running off the road."

Their first stop after lunch was at the country assessor's office to get a map showing property boundaries for the eighty acres in question. With map in hand they drove to the local airport. Arriving at the helicopter service office, they parked along side a well-used pickup truck and walked into the office to find the attendant leaning back in a beat-up looking office chair with his heel resting on a cluttered and equally timeworn desk, fast asleep.

"Watch this," Nellie whispered as she picked up a four-inch thick maintenance manual, holding it waist high she let it drop so it would land flat side on the floor, resulting in a loud muffled BANG!

"Jesus H. Christ!!" Exclaimed the startled attendant attempting to get his feet unwound, on the floor, standing up and turn around all at once. The poor victim's actions caused Rita and Nellie to double up in hysterical laughter. Once the attendant got himself physically collected and realized how his actions must have looked to the two women standing in front of him, he joined in their contagious laughter. The man looked to about five foot ten inches tall with salt and pepper hair above a rectangular tanned smiling face. He wore loose fitting coveralls making it difficult to judge his weight.

"What can I do for you two dream wreckers and hernia makers?" The man asked.

His question threw the women into another round of laughter while the man waited and looked on with smiling amusement. Rita was the first to collect herself and declared their business.

"We would like to hire a helicopter to take us about twenty miles to the northwest so we can view some property. Oh yes, please excuse my practical joking friend, she's on a high this afternoon so I'm not surprised at anything she may decide to do." Producing a map, Rita continued. "The property we want look at is outlined in red. I suspect in your business it should be no problem for you to locate the selected parcel of land? I doubt if there are many landmarks out there, other than perhaps a rattlesnake potty or two. By the way are you the pilot?"

"Yes I am," confirmed the sleeping attendant turned pilot.

"Oh shit!" Nellie stammered. "He'll probably get us out there over a rattlesnake den and dump us." This time it was the pilot who gave forth with a hearty laugh.

"I haven't had time to think about it, but since you mentioned such an action it does offer an appealing ring to my natural revengeful nature."

After studying the map for a minute or so, he glanced up at the women and answered in a more business like manner.

"There's no problem at all, in fact I hauled a realtor guy out there day before yesterday to look at the same parcel of land. Finding it again will be a piece of cake. Looks like that little hunk of rock and cactus has suddenly turned important with all the traffic it's generating."

"Do you happen to remember who the realtor happened to be?" Rita asked.

"Don't remember his name, but he's with Junction Realty. Are you ladies ready to go?" The pilot asked.

"Let go test our lunch to see if it'll stay down," Nellie answered, catching Rita's eye with a wink.

"By the way, my name is Ted and it costs one hundred and fifty dollars an hour for me and the copter."

"Yea, Ted." Nellie quipped. I'm sure glad you included yourself in this flying deal, I don't know about her," pointing her thumb at Rita, "but I'll be damned if I could ever get that flying erector set off the ground . Let's get this show on the road before my nerves give out on me. Here I am forgetting my manners, this here lady is Rita and I'm Nellie," extending her hand to Ted.

As they shook hands, Ted added. "I'm glad to meet you ladies, it isn't often I get beauty, humor and being scared near out of my wits all on the same job before leaving the ground. If you don't mind a little physical exertion, you can help me roll the copter out of the barn."

Following roll out, Ted assisted the women into the copter and when everyone was buckled up, he started the engine. In a few minutes they were skimming along over the sparsely settled desert and crisscrossing the ground at various heights and in different direction. By the time they were finished, the women were on intimate terms with every rock, gully and hill on the acreage. After landing and pushing the copter back into the hangar, Rita prepared a check for Ted's requested amount, including a generous tip.

Handing the check to Ted, Rita added, "Tomorrow, would you do me a favor by calling the man at Junction Reality and casually mentioning to him you hauled a couple of women out to look over the rock pile he looked at a few days ago?"

Looking at the check, Ted smiled and lifted his gaze to Rita. "I don't see any problem with exercising my finger a little. I thank you for the business, your generosity and the most amusing afternoon I can remember. Anytime you ladies get in the mood to drop some books or need to test your lunch, come on back.

"It's very likely we'll be seeing you again in the near future," Rita smiled.

With handshakes all around Rita and Nellie left and returned to their positions at the bowling alley café.

After ordering coffee Nellie picked up the discussion. "Now just what in the name of hell was this flying stuff all about? I've been more than patient waiting for you to tell me what's going on. I need to know what you have spinning around in that noggin of yours."

Rita leaned forward and began explaining her plan. "This may take a little time so you'll have to exercise a little more of your patience until I finish."

"O.K.," Nellie nodded.

Rita began her explanation. "It all began when you cooked up that cover story for me to visit Buck's realtor friend and feed him a yarn about looking for land out northwest of town. Hold that thought a minute while I digress a bit. This guy, Sam, the one Julie is in a terminal leg-lock with happens to be an architect. A few days ago the three of us were sitting around talking when he mentioned a long-time dream he held about designing and building houses in the desert, especially where there are big boulders and uneven land. His dream houses would be partly underground to take advantage of the insulating qualities of the soil and rocks. In addition, once the houses were completed and landscaped, the man made part of the structures would blend in with the environment and would be hardly noticeable except for access roads. The abundance of sunshine we have here is put to use heating water and powering solar cells to generate needed electricity, aided by windmills, so power lines to the development would be eliminated.

From the way he explained the parameters he needed to create his dream, I thought about the jumble of rocks we just looked at would suit him to a tee. On the other score, I'm sure we can turn this rattlesnake ranch into a successful development and it will more than piss the cowboy off because I'll bet he's bitching about that eighty acres as being completely worthless; since all he can see is the motel site. I can picture Sam's vision in my mind and with this unique concept we can get scads of promotional publicity for free. I think houses will sell faster than they can be built. Each house would be built on a five-acre lot to maintain quietness, openness and privacy. The parcel would only yield sixteen houses, but at a million bucks, plus, per copy, there's a bundle of money to be made, provided one has the nerve to pull it off." Rita concluded, leaning back in her chair.

Nellie sat with a dumbfounded expression for a moment before talking.

"All I can think of is, I'll be damned. Rita, my girl, I always knew you were a smart lady, but never in all my born days did I ever think you could weave a plan like you just mentioned from a bunch of scattered sources, including a rock pile everyone thinks is worthless. Hot damn! Let's do it. I can hear good old Buck laughing his dumb head off until he wakes up to find he's been taken to the cleaners.

**Chapter17 - Progress on all Fronts**

Almost three weeks passed since Gus and Buck became involved in the U.S. Resorts deal. A flurry of faxes passing back and forth between Junction Reality and the principals, U.S. Resorts and Land Investment Ltd.... convinced Gus and Buck the hotel people were beginning to get serious about building a motel in Cactus Junction and Land Investments was equally interested in liquating their Cactus Junction properties. The primary stumbling block for Buck was the eighty-acre rock pile northwest of town. Early on Gus hired a helicopter to fly him over the parcel as a last ditch effort to justify any worth he may have missed from viewing the land at ground level. The flight confirmed Gus' earlier opinion of the land being totally worthless. Giving voice to his thoughts Gus pontificated out loud.

"Surely Land Investment is aware the rocky land doesn't amount to diddly squat, then why wouldn't they budge on the price? Maybe Buck was onto something when he mentioned someone must have put a decimal point in the wrong place. Even at a hundred dollars an acre the pile of rocks, including resident horny toads was over priced. I guess there's nothing to loose by asking." As he pulled out his computer keyboard and began typing out a new offer to Land Investment. While Gus was composing a new fax message, a small voice came alive in the back of his mind.

"Why was this woman, Rita Blaine, inquiring about property in the general location and why did the copter pilot go out of his way to call about taking a couple of women out to look at the property? This Blaine woman gave all the appearances of being a savvy businesswoman not likely to go off half-cocked based on a rumor or being stirred up by emotions."

Gus was not a man to believe in random coincidences causing him get a notion strings were being pulled by some unseen person or persons for reasons other than making Buck and him rich. These little squirts of uneasiness were commencing to bother him. His unease led him to send Land Investment a fax for clarification about the property.

Gus' fax stated,

After having flown over the eighty-acre parcel northwest of Cactus Junction and given it a VERY close inspection, I'm led to believe this property's value has been altered by a misplaced decimal point. As a matter of fact, comparables in the same location are selling for anything between fifty and two hundred dollars per acre, depending mostly on the distance from an improved road and utilities.

As an aid to facilitate this potential sale, I invite a representative of Land Investment Ltd. to inspect said parcel at my expense and at which time I can acquaint your representative with comparable land sale prices in the general location.

Best regards,

Leaning back in his chair Gus reread the fax to make sure it contained everything he deemed necessary.

"That's about as polite a way as I can think of to tell them they're all screwed up." He thought, while keying in computer instructions for sending the fax.

The next day Rita and Nellie were ensconced in their unofficial office at the bowling alley coffee shop, bringing each other up to date on their latest activities and information collection. Drawing papers from her leather binder, Nellie began talking.

"Gus from Junction Reality sent a fax to Land Investment asking them if they hadn't got the decimal mixed up in their price of the eighty acres, while further requesting them to send a representative down here to inspect the property and review comparables. Pretty astute thinking on his part, don't you think?"

"Pretty good for an ex-cowboy, I'd say. What's the actual selling price for that rock pile anyway? It can't possibly be worth the eighty grand quoted to Junction Realty. That's totally ridiculous unless there's an undiscovered mother lode of gold lying under all those rocks and cacti, which I sincerely doubt."

Giving Rita an amused smile, Nellie replied.

"Would you believe seventy bucks per acre for that reptile farm and that's over priced. Gus was getting pretty close when he suggested the decimal point was in the wrong place."

"At the rate this charade is going, helicopter rent will amount to more than the ground is worth." Rita nodded. "I'm glad to learn there's a more reasonable price. It's going to make it easier for our project to succeed by not having to pay out so much for land.

Next item of business is setting a date for when the rock pile estate will be free so we can initiate our development, which at this time hinges on whether Sam is willing to become involved. I would like to have a firm go-ahead date set before I break the news to him.

I don't know for sure just how strong this lock is between him and Julie; hopefully they already have or soon will reach a point where they're willing to surface for air. At which time he'll be able to think more clearly about designing houses."

Nodding her head in approval, Nellie replied. "I think it's a good idea to have Sam take a look at the site and see how he feels about it before we make any firm commitment at the actual price. We still have to tweak Buck a little more."

"O.K, it'll work either way. I'll go ahead and get a reading on whether Sam wants to participate. New subject, I need to ask you something in a personal vein, about me, not you. The results of your answer may have some impact on our project."

"Fire way," brightened Nellie. "I'm always eager to dig into personals.

Rita held Nellie in an eye lock for a full five count.

"I guess you know this is not easy for me and I'm somewhat at a loss with where I should begin, so don't laugh at me in case I at first don't make much sense.

"I promise," Nellie assured Rita, holding back a smile

"What is you opinion of Ted, the helicopter pilot?"

Nellie's jaw dropped along with a deadpan look passing over her face which slowly morphed into a smile radiating a state of excited happiness.

"Whoa, what, do I think of Ted? I thought he was pretty generous not to throw us to the coyotes after the trick I pulled on him. He looks like a pretty nice sort of a man, more of a boy, actually, not wanting to grow up and lose his toys. It's pretty plain to see he must have got to you. Oh! That's right; you sat next to him while we were flying around. He must have been doing more than pilot his high priced eggbeater to tickle your fancy or maybe he tickled something else to turn you on. Whatever he did I approve and hope he keeps up the good work. It's nice to see you've thawed out enough to get the hots for someone able to take care of you."

"Thanks," mumbled Rita. "I can't rightly describe how I feel about him, other than as you said, 'I seem to have got the hots for him'. I think he has the potential to be a man I can have fun with and not get all emotionally strung out about. Maybe we can have some sex, laugh and act like a teenager; by the way, being a teenager is something I missed the first time around. I think you're right about him not wanting to grow up. Perhaps wanting to remain a kid is the thing about him that's attracting me. I'm probably older than he, but I hear younger men are the 'in thing' these days. I'm going to check him out, if he isn't already entangled and of the mind to have a go, I'll soon find out what he has to offer.

"Well, I'll be double damned," Nellie breathed out. "I'm coming to the point of thinking there's hope for you after all, old girl. All I can say is, if you decide to take a bead on him he'll need to turn awful quick else you'll bag him for sure."

"All right, just to clear up some final business," Rita said in a more business like tone of voice. "I'm gong to sound out Sam and if he's agreeable, I'll show him the land and if it suits him he'll probably need maps, photo, etc. to start work on dividing the land into lots, laying out roads and the like. If you agree with the steps I mentioned and if Sam is still interested, I'll get the potential light of my life, Ted, to give Sam an aerial view of the land and it will also give an excuse to evaluate Ted's level of interest in yours truly."

"Gawd Rita! When you get turned on you don't believe in wasting time. Go ahead with the preliminary stuff. I'll get Land Investments to take another turn on Gus and Buck's tails just to make the little dears fret a bit more before we let them off the hook.

A half hour before noon Rita dialed the number of Cactus Copter Service. After several rings she was about ready to hang up when rewarded with a familiar voice.

"Good morning. This is Cactus Copter. Ted speaking

"I'm calling so see if you have any books lying around needing to be dropped?" Rita asked.

"Not at this time," Ted answered. "The library is pretty well in order, but if you're considering lunch, that's in a different department requiring my undivided attention."

"Since you mentioned it," Rita giggled. "I'm in the mood for lifting a dining fork instead of heavy books anyway. Would about forty-five minutes be stretching your endurance envelope?"

"Reckon I could always switch over to emergency if need be," came chuckles from the other end.

"Take a firm grip and don't let anything slip until I get there," chided Rita before setting down the telephone headset.

"Now what do you suppose that's all about? Ted wondered aloud. "It'll be interesting to find out where this'll lead. This Rita woman may have some loose shingles on the roof, but I bet she can still get a fire going in the rec. room. It'll be interesting to check out her temperature."

Rita was mindful in selecting the clothes she was going to wear. She chose a suntan tailored slacks, a light green short sleeve shirt, bone colored medium-heeled string sandals, with sandalwood shade hose. She highlighted her outfit with solitaire diamond earrings, a plain gold neck-chain, ending with a small un-tooled leather purse to match the color of her shoes. After applying a muted red lipstick, she checked herself in a full-length mirror and was satisfied with her reflection. The tailored clothes she wore outlined an above average figure and her appearance gave off an aura of class and refined sexuality.

"I have a feeling Ted is the kind of man who has an appreciation for quality and has the patience to savor the goods without getting overanxious and grabby," Rita thought in route to her car.

Drawing along side the hanger office, Rita noted the main doors were drawn closed and Ted was standing in the office doorway waiting. Glancing at the car's digital clock it read twelve thirteen. "Not bad, Rita thought, he can't complain about my kind of punctuality."

Pushing the passenger door window down-button she called out as it opened.

"I'm glad to see you didn't crash and burn."

Pulling the office door shut Ted crossed the short distance to her car and got in. Rita noticed he was wearing clean, semi-pressed khaki pants and shirt, and unscuffed brown shoes. Most important of all, she was pleased to see he didn't have a beer gut. "He's not bad at all, in fact he's a better package than I expected," she thought.

"Where to?" Rita asked, facing Ted.

"Depends if you want food or ambience?" Ted replied with a question. "The only place I patronize serves good food at a reasonable price without much in the way of amenities; anything else is up to you."

"Tell me where to turn and when to stop." Rita answered, putting the car in motion.

Within a few minutes Rita and Ted were seated in a back corner booth at the Burger and Grits Café where they were immediately approached by a more than ample middle-aged waitress of mixed ethnicity.

"Howdy, Ted. I'm glad to see you're introducing a new pilgrim to our house of fine food and soothing drinks, remarked the waitress, handing them menus. "You'll need menus today and if the lady is smart she won't be taking you seriously about suggesting food or anything else for that matter."

"Atta way to go Cuddles. You hold me in complete rapture, snared and held by your usual golden effervescing words." Ted replied, through pursed lips.

"You never fail to impress me, Teddy. Doesn't he spout the nicest educated words you ever heard? If only my LeRoy could speak with such graceful culture," rattled the waitress fluttering her eyes at a crack on the upper back wall

Rita, meet Gladys aka Cuddles, Cuddles, meet Rita."

"It's my pleasure to meet a lady with the fortitude to chose the presence of our distinguished Sir Teddy, of Cactus Flats," complimented Gladys taking Rita's hand along with a small dip, imitating a curtsy.

"It's always a pleasure to meet an admirer of Sir Teddy's," Rita replied.

Returning to her waitress banter Gladys remarked. "With the social essential out of the way we can get on with the business at hand. Would you like a margarita or something less lethal before ordering solid nourishment?"

"A margarita for me, please," Rita ordered and lifted a questioning eyebrow at Ted.

"Better make mine a Shirley Temple look alike. Hopefully a paying customer may drift in this afternoon demanding my extensive copter flying abilities."

"You appear to hold a position of distinction in these parts," Rita commented. "Or at least with Gladys aka Cuddles. I gather you must eat here quite regularly."

"Yes, quite. As our Limey cousins would say. Whenever I'm flush and can afford to eat out or I'm able to con someone into buying."

A less ample and younger waitress, wearing barely enough clothes to cover the essential parts of her eye-catching figure delivered their drinks and took their food order.

"I suspect you learned to fly helicopters while in the army?" Rita asked. "I'm retired Air Force civil service supply so I acquired a limited experience with various types of aircraft and the logistics to keep them doing whatever it is they do, that is when the birds were not setting in a hangar taking up pace because some simple headed broad in supply couldn't get the right parts."

"I don't have to reach very far back in time to recall hearing such a litany played a time or three. Ya, I was Army. I put thirty years in, in one form or another. I began in armor flying Piper Cubs before switching to copters. I like flying because I could escape to places where no one could find me.

I may as well throw in the rest of my biography while I'm at it. I've been married a couple of times by the chaplain and few that weren't sanctioned. I like women and respect them, unfortunately I have failed miserably at being able to communicate to wives the fact I can't be retrained to fit whatever their concept of a husband may be nor to become a house broken male as they feel I ought to be. I've tried a few times, but never could make a passing grade."

Their lunches arrived and served. Rita had a seafood salad and Ted waded into a burrito with all the trimmings. After each had sampled and approved of their respective dishes, Rita returned to their interrupted biography sharing.

"I never married for a different set of reasons. Most of the men I was exposed to were such assholes it dulled my incentive. Plus I was propositioned at every opportunity, mostly by married men who couldn't get it though their heads by me being single I automatically had hot pants and was free game. To put it simply and bluntly, I pretty well marked men off my list. Like you, I valued my freedom and never cared about being trained in the combination roles of mistress, house servant, replenisher of the race, beer waitress and in particular, being the major wage earner. If I find someone who wants to enjoy the benefits of a non-controlling monogamous relationship where each person is left with a freedom of choice, then I may be interested in investigating the fun possibilities."

"That lays it out about as plain as it can get," Ted remarked, between bites before asking, "Would it be safe to assume you're making an inquiry?"

"If you wish to makes such an assumption, feel free to do so." Rita confirmed, looking Ted squarely in the eyes. "If you decide to take the plunge, I suggest you heed this warning. I saw a bumper sticker recently which put my position in perspective very accurately and succinctly. "I'm fifty-one percent bitch and forty-nine percent sweetheart', so proceed at you own risk.

**Chapter18 - Rita Hooked Ted**

The following morning, Rita awoke to the smell of coffee seeping into her bedroom, turning onto her back she stretched her body to the fullest length muscles would allow, including flexing her toes to their limit. After relaxing, her thoughts drifted back to last night when she and Ted enjoyed the most intimate conversation a man and woman can share, the nakedness of their bodies and beliefs of their minds.

Yesterday after lunch Rita returned Ted to the Cactus Copter office with the agreement they would meet at the Sands Motel at seven for dinner and retire to a room Rita would secure on her way home. Everything went as planned. They enjoyed a leisurely dinner with sufficient social lubricant to dissolve any shyness either may have harbored. Over drinks and during dinner they discussed in more detail the possibilities of a potential mutual relationship.

Rita told Ted she understood his financial position and for him not to be concerned with paying for things she suggested, explaining she was not exactly overly wealthy, yet had no particular money problems while at the same time had no intentions of buying a man. Her desire was to enjoy life with the hopes of sharing future enjoyment with a man sufficiently secure in his own skin to accept her as an equal, allowing her intelligence and independence not to be abrogated, should these qualities pose a threat to his ego.

She defined personal freedom as being free to engage in activities she found interesting yet reserving quantities of time for a shared relationship. Included in special activities were projects she and Nellie currently had underway, especially development of the rock pile land they flew over. She was open to including Ted in her new life, should he care to do so. They could do things when they felt an urge, without money being discussed. Ted could count on getting new and additional business not only from the rock pile project, but also from other sectors where Rita's influence reached.

Ted listened with a mixture of mild shock and amazement. Most of everything he heard Rita say was analogous to him having stumbled over a magic bottle and loosed a genie in the form of Rita. He found himself sitting next to a very attractive lady, the kind he was never fortunate to attract during his younger years. She possessed an amazing mind with more disposable income than he could fully understand and in a business like manner she was offering him an opportunity to become her bed partner without him have done anything more than fly her and friend over a worthless looking piece of property.

On several occasions he was forced to pull himself back to reality by setting his brain to work comprehending the things this woman was telling him. During her life she was exposed to the masochism of men and although she desired intimacy she wanted more than the mere physical aspects of a man. He heard her say she hungered for a man to treat her with respect and as an equal. She was searching for a companion willing to accept her intelligence while giving her tenderness, honesty, love and patience as she worked toward allowing herself to engage in a safe close relationship.

The paramount problem facing him amounted to not becoming intimidated by her intelligence in exchange for giving her affection, acceptance and solid security of a man she could trust. This was going to be a new experience with untold potential beyond his past concept of sharing his life with a woman.

Pulling herself out of bed and commencing her morning routine, Rita remained flabbergasted at her own behavior. Her actions were so out of character when viewed in retrospect from a few hours ago. Returning to the present she expressed her thoughts aloud.

"I'm not one bit sorry for a single thing I said or did. It's time I turned over a new leaf in my life and if I scared Ted out of his boots that's his problem, at least it was a start." Entering the shower she continued to reminisce in detail about her evening with Ted. In examining her actions, she was surprised to discover a new form of joy arising from sharing her inner self-leading to the awakening of a new cluster of sensation she kept buried during her life.

She found herself appreciating Ted for not rushing her and displaying his patience when he slowly coaxed their passion to unfold so wonderfully; allowing her to savor each building moment. Her body still tingled when reliving how his lips and tongue sought out the sensitive places of her body.

Stepping from the shower she knew it was her turn to share her evening's experiences. Julie must have been up or at home long enough to have the coffee pot going. Drying herself she heard the unmistakable sound of Nellie's giggle mixed with Julie's muffled voice penetrating the walls alerting her to the fact her late night arrival was no longer a secret.

"Oh well! I'll only have to bare my soul once instead of twice since Nellie is here; it will make the news all the more juicy if they have to wait awhile, after all it's not every morning I'm called upon to confess giving up my virtue, especially to Julie since she was unaware I had found a man to breath hard over."

Walking into the living room Rita heard Julie and Nellie talking like a pair of magpie conspirators and drinking coffee around the breakfast table.

"All right!" Rita announced. "You two had better be mindful of your talk; the subject of all this gossip is now present."

"How do you like that?" Nellie asked. "She walks in here telling us to mind our tongues like she was once the head vestal virgin and overnight fell from her throne of chastity and still insisting on keeping the vulgar in their place. It's nice to see you're still able to walk without having to keep you legs apart this morning."

"Listen to all the noise, will you?" Rita asked, jumping into the fray. "It wasn't very long ago when someone, whose presence I'll not mention, was making charges of jealousy, envy and covetousness, just to mention a few lesser sins. For your individual and collective information, last night I charged forth like a Valkyrie of old, brandishing my irresistible methods to devastating use, I successfully got myself laid. Does my confession satisfy your prying evil minds or must I draw naughty pictures on the wall to prove my long hidden talents have finally been put to use? Rita slowed for a second before continuing.

Knowing you two rutters as I do, it would not surprise me if I'm soon to be subjected to inquisitional tortures unless I violate the sacred oath of lovers never to reveal our deepest secrets. You'll probably not be satisfied with anything less than my laying bare the buds of this young and delicate love affair, that my enjoy a life span amounting to less time than the setting of today's sun."

"Spare me, oh spare me," Julie begged, waving her arms above her head before pouring Rita a cup of coffee. "If the bullshit gets any deeper in here I'll have to call in a backhoe to muck out the place. Well Rita, my sacrificial friend, don't just stand there with a stupid angelic look on your face; sit down and report your last night's adventures over a cup of life sustaining coffee."

Rita accepted the coffee and began sharing her experience.

"Actually there's not much more to tell. Ted and I had a wonderfully unhurried dinner at the Sands, went to our room and made slow, passionate, outstanding love. Ted proved himself a sweet, understanding and sensitive man. He is well versed in ways other than operating expensive eggbeaters. Our love feast was broken when he had to get up early to fly some customers out into the desert for reasons I choose not to remember. I got up at the same time and came home.

The next thing I remember, I found myself savoring the smell of Julie's coffee a little while ago. For your further edification, we talked over the concept of having an ongoing relationship based on mutual independence in which each of us live separately and get together when needed and /or time permits. He's retired from the army, was married a couple of times, but was unable to make his marriages work because of his need to be alone and function independently. That concept fits me just fine, which further translates into, 'he'll continue to wash his own shorts and socks'. Are there any other pertinent questions? Oh yes! He sends his regards to Nellie. He wants her to know his hernia is recovering nicely, but his nerves are still in recovery."

"Isn't that woman the soul of efficiency," exclaimed Nellie. "Here I am all set to ask a bunch of soul wrenching questions and before I can get a word in, she beats me to the punch on every last one of them. I'm glad to hear Teddy Boy didn't tear anything worse than his pride for being caught sleeping on the job. My special brand of reveille probably woke him up and made him move faster than he has in years."

"You do move with the speed of light, Rita, when it comes to reporting your evening's activities," Julie complimented. "You struck without warning, when I came home last night and found a note telling me you were with the love of your life and offering little hope of being home until tomorrow. You could've pushed me over with a feather.

This sudden romance has to be of your doing, since I can't remember you allowing a man to push you at such blinding speed. Regardless of how it happened, without question you have not only turned a new leaf, you've opened a whole new book. I'm happy for you, Rita. I can't remember having seen you wearing such a soft smile. Ted must have drained you of all your alum."

"Thank you Julie," Rita smiled. "I do feel happy this morning and speaking of being happy, Julie would you be so kind as to summon Sam to drop by? Nellie and I have a business opportunity which may be of interest to him, provided you're up to leaving him with some free time."

Julie looked from Rita to Nellie wanting to trust them, but was not fully secure with their possible motives. She hesitated and quietly asked.

"Do I have the permission to ask if I need a security clearance before being included in this secret project before I call him?"

"No problem at all. Having shared my innermost bedtime stories with you, I see no reason to harbor business secrets. I recall Sam mentioning he always wanted to design houses able to blend in with the rocks and hills of the desert. It just so happens Nellie and I have access to a piece of property we are thinking about developing. Remembering Sam talking about his dream, I thought the plans Nellie and I are putting together may hold the fulfillment of his dreams. We want him to design the houses and do the ground layout for an eighty-acre rock pile and rattlesnake ranch out northwest of the Junction. I propose to call the project, 'RockPile Estates'."

"The name does have sort of desert ring to it," Nellie nodded.

"The name came to me in a sudden flash of illumination along with the concept for using the project to twist a certain set of balls I know." Rita said.

**Chapter19 - The RockPile**

During the afternoon Rita was alone in the condo when the phone went off with its usual chirping.

"Good afternoon, Rita Blaine speaking."

"Hello, Ms. Blaine, this is Gus at Junction Realty."

"Yes, Gus, it's nice to hear from you. How may I be of service?"

"I'm calling in regard to your interest concerning land northwest of town. An eighty-acre parcel has become available in that area. I have a proposal which may interest you. It involves joining a possible combination of interests to purchase two parcels of land, the small one in the northwest and another rather large acreage in a different location. If you still retain your interest and have the time, I would appreciate you dropping by the office where you can meet the other principal and hopefully arrive at a mutual understanding of value to all concerned."

"Yes, I would be interested," Rita answered. "Do you have a time in mind for the meeting?

"We are pretty much at your disposal."

"I have nothing scheduled for the next couple of hours, if this afternoon would work for you.

"It would be most convenient," Gus replied, with a shade of surprise in his voice. "I was ready to suggest this afternoon. Would forty-five minutes from now be agreeable with you?"

"Forty-five minutes would do very well. I'll meet with you at your office." Rita agreed, staring at the phone she just hung up. "So, I get to enter the lions' den and meet the great and mighty 'Buck' all in one shot. My, my. How lucky can I get?"

Forty minutes after ending her phone conversation with Gus, Rita parked her car in front of Junction Realty. Entering the office she saw a rather slim fairly tall man wearing cowboy boots, jeans and a western shirt sitting in front of Gus' desk. She made a quick appraisal and thought,

"So this is the legendary Buck. He's not too bad except for a weather beaten face. I guess that goes with being outside most of his life doing whatever cowboys do." Both men stood as she entered the office.

"Good afternoon, Ms. Blaine," Gus greeted her. "Please meet Buck Thorn, the other principal.

"Mr. Thorn," Rita smiled, extending her hand. "By the way, I prefer being called Rita. This Ms. thing is a little much for me. It doesn't appeal to my old fashion sensibilities, nor have I been able to see the point in burning perfectly good bras."

"It's my pleasure to meet you Ma'am," returned Buck accepting her hand.

"It's Buck if you please. This mister stuff always makes me think whoever is calling me Mister has a hand rechin' for my pocket."

"Well put, Buck," Rita agreed. "I agree with your sentiments completely, only in my case when a man is being sickly formal he's generally trying to get his hand someplace other than in my pocket."

Rita's last comment caught both men off guard for a moment before they grasp the significance of her remark, causing a mirthful reaction. Soon all were enjoying a hearty laugh, breaking the initial tension of stranger meeting strangers.

"I'd like to thank you for responding so quickly to our request, Rita," opened Gus. In the interest of saving time, I'll go the point of us being here."

Unrolling a map on his desk, with the eighty-acre parcel boundaries shown in red, Gus pointed out the property's location. Next he outlined the sale conditions placed by the seller and how Buck was only concerned with the larger property." Gus pushed the map aside and talked about how the seller would not separate the two properties, forcing Buck to buy both properties to get one.

"Rita if you would join in a joint purchase where you guarantee to purchase the smaller parcel it would give Buck more negotiating leeway." After Gus explained various option combinations available to them he leaned back and waited for Rita's comments.

"Gus, if I understand you correctly. When one gets down to bedrock nitty-gritty, I have two basic options open to me." Rita summarized.

One, I can let you negotiate a price on the two properties followed by me purchasing the smaller parcel at whatever price you were able to reach, hopefully lower than the current asking price. Or.

Two, I could negotiate directly with the Land Investment Ltd. in parallel with you dealing on the larger parcel, this option allows me to purchase the rock pile at whatever price I can wear them down to accepting. I would further enter a good faith agreement to complete my negotiations within approximately two weeks or less so as not to interfere with your dealing on the larger property."

"I think you have an accurate understanding of the situation. I appreciate your consideration for us by agreeing not to prolong your negotiations and later throw in the towel. With the eighty acres being peripheral to a bigger package involving rather delicate serial negotiations, we expect time to become a limiting factor. Without resorting to a bunch of legal mish mash, I will accept you are a credible business woman and act in good faith with you arriving at a 'go' or 'no go' position in two weeks or less."

"Based on your last statement, I gather it's acceptable with you for me to negotiate independently with Land Investment Ltd. and reach a definitive position in two weeks or less. This will allow you to deal on the larger property. I will assure the seller I'm acting in concert with you to ensure Land Investment Ltd. will not be stuck with a bastard stepchild piece of land inhibited by reptiles."

Rita paused to let Gus think over her conditions. While waiting for Gus to comment, Rita wondered how the two men were thinking. It became obvious from the 'get-go', Gus was the business man of the two because Buck failed to utter a word and wore a blank look on his face, indicating he likely didn't understand a large portion of the multi-syllable words used by Gus and herself.

Buck was probably like most men of the soil, when it came to business negotiations he would probably think three or four times and speak once. Nellie described Buck as being quick on his feet and getting to the point using more actions than words. "I wonder if Buck will make a move on me today."

"I believe the course of action you summarized will be acceptable to us." Gus nodded, bringing Rita back to the present. "If we work separately, but in concert it will make a much cleaner situation by not having to create so much legal paperwork. Incidentally if you haven't given the rock pile a looking over I'll be glad to take you out there."

Thank you," Rita replied. "It'll not be necessary; I've already given the area a general looking over to get the lay of the land, to use an old cliché. In my opinion there isn't much difference between rocks, it's more a matter of how they're stacked. I appreciate and enjoy the quietness and privacy afforded by that section of the country.

If everything works to our mutual satisfaction, I'll probably be living out there in the not too distant future. I'm surprised you gentlemen haven't recognized the potential the area has to offer." Standing up, Rita extended her hand to Buck and Gus. "You'll be hearing from me in a few days."

"You're a friend of Nellie Bunmeyer, aren't you?" Buck asked, speaking for the first time. "If my memory serves me right I saw you at the VFW with her sometime ago."

"Nellie and I are acquainted through a mutual friend," Rita replied. "Yes I do faintly remember the night. As I recall you and Nellie had some urgent business to discuss and left quite early. I trust the negotiations turned out satisfactory." Rita gave Buck a knowing smile with a raised eyebrow.

"Ah, yes. As a mater of fact it did. Since we're sort of neighbors like, with you rentin' one of my condos, it would be my pleasure if you were to have lunch with me sometime soon."

"Thanks for the invitation,' Rita smiled, taking a step toward the door, then paused an instant and turned back to face Buck. "It should be an enlightening experience, I've heard through the ladies' grapevine you claim to have a potion guaranteed to be a sure cure for the symptoms of menopause and its related follow on maladies."

Rita left the office, got in her car and drove away, leaving Buck with his mouth agape and Gus with a confused inquiring look on his face.

Driving home Rita thought over bits of the recent conversation. "I thought the offer Gus made to personally show me the rock pile was a pretty sneaky maneuver, after Ted told him I had flown over the property. I suspect he's also wondering how come I was interested in that particular chunk of desert before he called me to day with the purpose of bringing me into the deal."

Arriving home Rita noticed Sam's car was parked in a visitor's space.

Thinking to herself, "it looks like the play is beginning to unfold. With Buck and Gus put to bed for a. .while we can move on to the fun stuff of getting houses built."

Opening the door and letting herself in she found Julie and Sam sitting on the couch watching a movie on T.V.

"Hi, you two," Rita greeted, "Sam, are you ready to do something constructive?" It looks like we'll soon be in a position to start moving dirt and building houses."

Rita sat down at the breakfast table and Sam soon joined her.

"Julie has been telling me a few tid-bits about you and Nellie cooking up a sting operation to burn some poor unsuspecting cowboy and you want me to help. It sounds to me like a pretty severe action."

"You have it partly right. There is no need for you to worry about the sting part, since you will only be a background player anyway. Remember the time you were here and talked about designing houses to fit in among the rocks and rattlesnakes.

As I recall the houses you had in mind would blend in with the environment and once completed will hardly be noticeable. If you're still inclined, I'm on the verge of having eighty acres of boulders, gullies, ridges, horny toad, rattlesnakes and cacti along with a few wondering coyotes waiting for your hand and genius to turn the aforementioned items into RockPile Estates."

Sam sat stone still as if an unseen hand had silently substituted cement for sugar in his coffee and the resulting concrete suddenly hardened. After a moment without movement, Rita turned to Julie.

"Looks to me like you need to throw some water on Sam, I think he's gone spastic or his joints have frozen, one or the other. He's stopped moving."

At the same time Sam returned to the living.

"No need for anything so drastic," Sam said looking around. Good God, Rita! You sure know how to shock a person. Here I sit all innocent like and without one speck of warning you come out of the blue with an opportunity I've been drooling to have for most of my life. No wonder I went into shock. Can you lay all that stuff on me again, only this time take it a little slower so I can suck it all in?"

"Julie, I believe you need to bring Sam a tall glass of whatever he drinks to help relax him before I hit him with the full load. All of the required explaining may take some time."

Armed with a cold beer in his hand Sam sat back to hear how his long hoped for dream was about to become a reality.

After Rita completed her narration and made him an offer of becoming a partner in the new venture, Sam was still without words. For someone as talkative as Sam this was a rare moment.

"Well, I'll be. This must be a new version of the same old dream and I'm still unsure about being fully awake," Sam ventured.

After downing a few large gulps of beer, to mark time while he mentally digested the significance of Rita's offer and received positive reassurances from Rita and Julie he was back to operating in real time, Sam slowly regained his full in-the-now presence.

"I gather this project is still something you want to do? Rita asked. "And when do you want to begin?"

"I, I think right now is about long enough to wait," Sam stammered.

"Sam, there's one important item I must warn you about before we go any further with this joint business undertaking," Rita said. If you begin neglecting Julie by devoting all your time to this project, I'll fire your ass with no recourse."

Sam blinked a couple of time, looked at Julie, where he received a gentle nod and turned back to face Rita.

"O.K., I'm in."

**Chapter20 - Hard Ones or Soft Ones**

After Rita walked out of Junction Realty, it took several clicks for Buck to recover. "Now what the hell does this menopause cure stuff supposed to mean?" asked Gus, facing Buck as Rita cleared the parking lot.

"It sounds to me like your night time activities are becoming daytime conversations. A few guys I know seem to have it, while the rest of us have to be content with thinking about the old days. Strange as it may seem, it doesn't really bother me much anymore. I seem to have reached the point where if I were to wake up some morning with a hard-on, I'd believe petrifaction had set in for sure."

"Hell if I know what women talk about when they get together," Buck answered. "I've never been around more than one at a time and when I'm with just one I don't understand or care much about what they're talkin' about. Most times they yack about how men don't respect them for their thinkin' and only want to use their bodies or some blame thing that never makes sense to me anyway."

"Buck, my boy, I hate to tell you this, but one of these days you had better start learning to understand women more than you claim to know now; else one of them will bend an iron skillet over your thick skull.

You have about as much appreciation for how a woman thinks as an Angus bull in breeding season. You need to learn a woman will not suddenly come in heat like a range cow whenever you chance to look at her. Could be a woman gets receptive from time to time, but damn it all Buck, you can't expect every time you saunter up to a woman she's ready for you to throw your prod to her."

"I sure seem to be collectin' lecture these days," Buck scowled. "Nellie dumped a feed-bucket full of words on me the other night for reasons I've not been able to figure out and now you give me a father to son talking to, like I ain't never had a woman in my life. Well, let me tell you something Gus Ol' Friend. I've satisfied more women than you've ever thought about tryin'. Sometimes I think I should've stayed back on the ranch and been content talkin' to cows. At least they don't give me a ration ah shit at the drop of a hat like most of folks I know around here like to do."

"Apparently nothing you've been told has penetrated that case-hardened skull of yours," commented Gus. "I'll agree with you on one point. You've had too many one sided conversations with cows for you to hear anything humans try to tell you. You're one hell of a transmitter but a piss poor receiver. I have a feeling if you start your macho crap with this Blaine woman, she'll verbally skin you alive and have your hide drying on a board so fast you'll wonder why the sun stopped shining."

"My, how you can go on," chimed in Buck. "I don't see why you have to get your blood pressure so riled up about how I view women. I know I get pretty one sided about them ever so often. But damn it, Gus. You have to admit, I ain't done all that bad so far. Here lately I've been thinkin' about bein' a little easier on them and maybe find me a wider to live with full time; one that would like to have a little lovin' more regular than either of us is getting' now."

"So far as I've heard," Gus said. "There isn't an auction house in this part of the country specializing in selling widows. Since you can't go out and buy one, I can't imagine any rational-minded woman voluntarily subjecting herself to you full time.

"I just might surprise you," smiled Buck. "I have qualities that haven't been used yet and the right woman could do herself right proud to discover them."

"It's obvious this conversation is another exercise in futility," Gus declared. Let's get back to figuring out what this Blaine woman is up to, something just don't ring right with her. She didn't ask enough questions to suit me. She sat there and said more in fewer words than a Phoenix lawyer, then let fly with that comment about us not recognizing the potential of that rock pile out there. On top of everything else, she knew the property was for sale because she hired a helicopter to fly over it a few days after I did and didn't say a damn word about it. I feel we are overlooking something and the probability of us getting the shaft is growing with every move we make."

"Ah hell! Gus." Buck soothed. "You're just looking for shadows on a cloudy day, is what's botherin' you. All she's lookin' for is a place to build a house and you know how lots of these women can get some mighty strange notions in their heads about houses that ain't all that reasonable. Now why in the world would a pretty lady like her go to all the trouble of cookin' some scheme to stick a couple good ol' boys like us. We ain't never done her any wrong."

"This whole deal is getting down right spooky," Gus persisted. "The more I think about it the more I think this Blaine woman is up to something and knows a whole bunch more than we do about this land deal."

"Can't see as how there's much we can do except wait and see," rattled Buck. "It ain't costin' us money to wait a bit."

Two days later a part of Gus and Buck's answer came in a fax from Land Investment Ltd. informing them the northwest eighty acres was sold independently. They were now ready to proceed with negotiations on the in town property and asked to be advised on the payment schedule Junction Realty's client intended to use for debt retirement.

Within minutes after reading the fax Gus was punching Buck's number on his phone pad.

"Hello," answered Buck.

"Better get you lazy ass down here, summoned Gus on the other end. "We have some serious talking to do, in fact, several million dollars worth of talking."

"Oh, my gawd," croaked Buck. "Guess I better wander down your way sure enough."

Entering Junction Realty, Buck could see Gus bent over his desk punching numbers into a hand calculator.

"Sort of sounds like the shit done hit the fan," greeted Buck. "What happened? Did our Blaine lady go and buy the rock pile levin'us with a clear shot at the town property?"

"That's exactly the news I received," answered Gus still working his calculator with a worried frown etched on his brow. Looking up to face Buck he offered a question.

"Remember my telling you I thought there was something spooky about that Blaine Woman?

"Ya, sort of," Buck mumbled. Not fully getting the drift of Gus' question.

"To further refresh your chicken wire memory,' Gus began. "She was looking for property in the twenty-five hundred to thirty-five hundred dollar per acre range. The sixty-four dollar question now becomes, why didn't she just go ahead and buy the land for the two grand as it was offered to us right after she rented the helicopter? Instead she waits around until I called to ask about her joining us. She shows up, asks some good questions without a hint of knowing anything about the land before and two days later I get word she bought it.

I'm still convinced we're dealing with some smoke and mirror stuff here we don't know about and it's starting to get the hair on the back of my neck to feeling funny."

"It does sound a little on the strange side sure enough. Main thing is she bought the land and we got the rock pile off our necks so we're free to go for the big piece with no attached baggage."

"If you say so," shrugged Gus. "There's no need for me to get worked up about something that's not really my problem. It's your money that's at risk, which brings us back to reality. Are you ready to write a check for the down payment or do you have to sell some cows to come up with the cash?

"Hey Gus, ain't you forgettin' somethin'? Like how much do they want for the big hunk of ground now the rock pile is gone? All they ever told us was one price for the whole spread."

"I guess you're right. It is kind of hard to make a down payment on land without it having a price. O.K. Buck I'll get back to them about a price."

A day later Nellie and Rita were having lunch when Nellie posed the question about how she should price the land Buck was planning on making his fortune by reselling it to U. S. Resorts.

"Gus was quoted $6.7-million for both pieces, right?" Rita asked.

"Right." Nellie confirmed. "Yesterday afternoon Gus faxed Land Investment asking for a price on the big piece."

"How about dropping the price to get Buck drooling over the profit he plans to make, then stall him along with a buy option for six months or so and jerk the rug."

"Rita, you have a vile streak in your blood. It must be inherited from some of your ancestors being caught by the inquisition making it possible for you to think up ways to torture men. If your idea doesn't break Buck to lead with a short rope, I seriously doubt if anything will. I'll figure out some numbers this afternoon that will get his juices to flowing."

"Hello," said Buck answering his phone.

"O. K. Buck. You had better get a hold of yourself and mosey on down. A price came through on the land from Land Investment Ltd." Gus said.

"How much do they want?"

"I think it ought to wait until you get here. It maybe too much for you to take while you're alone, it may cause you to have a stroke."

"Ah come on Gus you can at least." Buck stopped talking when he heard the click of Gus's phone hanging up.

"Damn. Gus sure is gettin' testy these days. Guess he must be getting crabby in his old age. Then maybe I've been pushin' him kind of hard lately."

When Buck walked into Gus's office, Gus wore a look of don't mess with me.

"May as well sit down," Gus said without any greeting. I received a fax from Land Development about an hour ago, which I'm not completely sure about. I still believe there are some spooks messing around, the likes of which doesn't set well with my suspicious nature. With my immediate concerns being said, I'll get to the news. It's short and sweet. Land Investments wants $5.5-million with ten percent down and four point one percent interest for ten years in nine equal payments with first payment one year from date of sale."

"How come they dropped the price or else Rita Blaine paid a bunch for the rock pile?"

"Fax didn't include any explanation. The question now becomes. Do you have five hundred and fifty thousands to make a down payment?"

"I hadn't really thought much about the money part of the deal yet. I was sort of thinkin' maybe we could get some earnest money from the hotel outfit and jawbone the rest. We could have the hotel make payments higher than the payments would be to the land company and bank the difference."

"You do have a simple mind, Buck. And where do you get this 'we' stuff? Are you including a turd in your pocket? So far you've contributed absolutely nothing to this deal and now you come up with a far-fetched idea of WE can pull all this off without putting any money on the line. The question now becomes, why do I need you? Going on your idea of letting the hotel pay off the land with banking a difference is even better than perpetual motion."

"Naturally I thought we'd split the profits," Buck replied.

"I don't recall us ever discussing this as a partnership. Just to refresh you memory, I'm a broker and I take a commission every time land is bought or sold. I've also been spending a lot of time and my money trying to make this deal work that you fail to get through your granite skull.

This isn't like getting a cow bred and then setting back to wait for a calf to drop nine months later. Buck, your problem is you got spoiled on the deal I worked for you on the condos. That deal was almost like taking candy from a baby. This time it's a different game, if you're still going to play in the real world game you've got to get the concept through into your mind it's a tough grownup world out there, and with Land Investment thumping on your staves, the time has come for you to realize you can lose your ass and everything else that goes with it."

"I thought your commission paid for the work you do." Buck said, weakly.

"That's true, but the time has come for you to put some money on the table for greasing the skids to make something happen or else I quit working and everything grinds to a screeching halt."

"Speaking of commissions, how much are you fixin' to charge me."

Gus leaned back in his chair with a look of exasperation written on his face deep in thought.

"Buck, have you heard anything I've said?"

"You've been goin' on about so many things I don't know which one to answer about."

"All right Buck. It sure didn't take you long to get over the, 'we' stuff and back to being 'I'.

Since you're so all fired worried about how much commission I'm going to charge you on this imagined windfall I'm supposed to make happen for you. It's time you turned those dollar signs your pea-brain mind has been seeing dancing before your eyes and tell me how much collateral you have and /or you're willing to put down to make this deal happen. When you're ready to pull your side of the load, I'll get back to work. It's your move Buck."

Buck sat back looking like a kid caught with his hand in the cookie jar and not knowing quite sure how to keep the cookies without getting his butt worked over.

"Gawd, Gus, them are hard words you're throwin' at me. I really hadn't been thinkin' about the collateral stuff you're talkin' about. How do I go about figerin' it?"

"You're trying to make yourself out as a big time land trader. I notice you didn't have any problem figuring out how the few acres of rock and cactus Rita Blaine bought... left you free to deal on the town land. The way I'm beginning to see you; you're nothing but a lard bucket full of daydreams thinking somebody else is going to make you piles of money without you having to do anything but set around expounding on your big ideas while thinking you're the cure for female menopause.

For the last time are you willing, no let me say it another way, are you willing to commit a substantial pile of money on this big land deal you've been planning on me making work for you?"

"Well, yes. I guess I am. But I'll need some help getting this collateral business whipped in shape."

"Buck. Pay attention. I'll share the risk with you and charge you twelve percent on any profits made, or the term we use in the business is 'net'. Most brokers charge a lower commission on the gross or full amount of the sale. Sometime the broker's commission eats up most or all of the profit. By charging on the net, I only make money if you do."

Isn't twelve percent kind of high?" Buck quibbled.

"Take it or leave it, Buck. If you didn't understand my offer, you had better think about going back to talking with cows because I sure as hell don't seem to have any luck telling you anything. If you're going to be a land tycoon you had better start learning something about how the dollars move so you can participate in the action or at least treat your broker nice and sweet if he's going to do the thinking for you. Now what's it gong to be? Either 'put up or shut up'."

"Ah heck, Gus, don't go and get yourself all heated up. Do whatever you think is best."

"Do I hear you saying yes?" Gus asked. If it's yes, my commission will be twelve percent of net and you'll have to sign an agreement to that effect. It has been my experience written contracts are like well-maintained fences, they tend to make better relations between neighbors. In addition this agreement will specify the amount of collateral you're willing to put up. Are you still willing to sign?"

"O.K., go ahead and make out the papers and I'll sign 'em even if I don't understand half of the words you're throwing at me anyway. Now where do we go from here since I'm in no position to come up with over a half-million dollars? Looks like you're going to have to earn some of that commission by figgerin' out how to make the money move, if I'm goin' to be the sack holder.

"I know about your holdings here and how much they're worth, now let's talk about the ranch. How much is your ranch worth? I suspect, when the price of beef is up it should be good for close to half a million. So from the way I figure it, you should be able come up with enough collateral for the down payment that you'll have to float a loan for. However, there are some options open to you. U.S. Resorts will have to come up with some front money and a fairly high rate of interest. If U.S. Resorts has a good credit record there is a better than fair possibility of getting an interim loan at a low rate of interest. We know the terms Land Investment want. But we are still in the dark about how far U. S. Resorts will go. Another important thing we need to watch is interest rates. More profits are made or lost on interest point than the difference between buying and selling prices.

"Dammit it Gus,' expelled Buck. "All that stuff you're talkin' about is givin' me a headache."

"Well, Bucky Old Boy that's why it takes a hard pair of balls to be in the land trading business. The few who make big money has the hard one, while the rest of the herd packing soft ones loose their shirts. Buck, Old Buddy, it looks like the time has come when have to decide on whether you carry hard ones or soft ones.

**Chapter21 - Buck Makes a Play**

Activities at Cactus Copter was anything but busy letting Ted enjoy his favorite resting position, leaned back in his chair with heels on his desk when a series of rings from the telephone interrupted his slumber. Unfolding himself and scooping up the telephone in one practiced motion,

"Cactus Copter, this is Ted."

"Hi there, handsome, would there be a possibility of working a little charter run into your busy schedule? Asked Rita.

"I'm kind ah overbooked for the next fifteen minutes, but for a pretty lady like you, I'll see about fitting you in. Where will we be going? Back out to the rock pile per chance?"

"I'll have you know that desert paradise is now semi-officially known as RockPile Estates."

"Ooops, sorry about the downgrade," chuckled Ted. "Come on out, I just detected a sudden lull in business, your presence would go a long was toward brightening up my day."

"Thank you. You'd better not let too many people hear you talking so pleasantly or they'll accuse you of becoming a romantic. I'm bringing an architect along so you can give him a close up view of property. I'll bring you up to date when we get there. Oh yes, better get me on your calendar for dinner tonight before any other offers come along."

"Roger to all the above, me and the copter will be waiting for you.

Thirty minutes later, Rita and Sam arrived at Cactus Copter and Sam was introduced to Ted.

"What are the prospects of you having a workable aerial mapping camera?" Ted asked.

"Pretty good as a matter of fact, I've got an old Mark 20 I mount on the copter frame and use a remote trip in the cockpit. It's sort of crude, but it gets the job done provided you're not overly fussy about resolution. It should show rocks bigger than a wheelbarrow."

"I have a working acquaintance with Mark 20's and it will do just fine. Let's get it hooked up and go take photographs of some horny toad and sidewinders. While on the subject, where and how long does it take to get films processed and printed in this part of the world?"

"Most times it takes about three or four days. A lot depends on the mail service. Or maybe in a day if you want to hand carry the films to Mesa and wait."

"Can you check with Mesa to see when they have a window to develop and print the film? I'd like to have two sets of twelve by fourteen prints if possible."

"Sure can." Ted answered, looking through his business card files. Finding the number he placed a call to the film processing lab in Mesa and was told they could start processing the film upon arrival, if no later than eight o'clock each morning. A montage arranging room was also available should a composite photomap be desired.

Sam began thinking out loud and counting time on his fingers.

"We shoot this afternoon. Julie and I can drive to Mesa after we get back from the flight, the pictures will be ready tomorrow afternoon and if the quality is good we can do a montage and have the map made in, hopefully four days."

When Sam finished all eyes turned to Rita.

"I think the best thing for us to do, is to just do it." Rita nodded.

With Ted supervising, the camera was quickly attached to the copter and RockPile Estates was photographed. By late afternoon Sam, Julie and the RockPile Estate films were on their way to Mesa. After dining at the Prospector Restaurant, Rita and Ted adjourned to the condo for the night.

Rita and Ted were each discovering their monogamous relationship in which each partner was able to enjoy independence and mutual respect for each other's feelings and each person's need to be alone. When Rita suggested a shared activity, she picked up the tab and when Ted extended an invitation, he paid. All helicopter related business associated with RockPile Estates was billed to RPE Development at the going rate.

After a night filled with snuggling, talking, lovemaking and segments of sleep, Rita delivered Ted to the airport and continued on to the bowling alley coffee shop for a conference with Nellie. Entering the coffee shop Rita found Nellie waiting for her while putting away a cup of coffee.

"You have the look of a lady recently out of bed, where she enjoyed the night with a man able to do his duty," greeted Nellie.

I'll have to confess Ted was a major contributing factor. Having a man in my bed all night takes some getting used to. It's great stuff once in awhile, but I doubt if I'd care to put up with it on as a full time project. Too many years of having the bed all to myself has taken its toll."

"I understand how you feel and agree completely." Nellie nodded. "When the horns start getting in the way it's nice to have a man in bed for a night or so, but for the long term, I prefer to sleep alone. How is Ted anyway? I only asked because it's interesting to learn if one of the sacred sisterhoods is being satisfied. You don't have to answer, unless you're up to reveling your inner most secrets."

Ted was a little nervous at first and I'm very impressed with the way he cares and desires to please. He didn't and hasn't come on like a super stud. As you would expect from most men stuck on the range for a while. Ted actually surprises me with his tenderness and caring. The first night he was sort of nervous as we got acquainted. Since then, each night we've spent together it keeps getting better and better. He's gaining assurance and becoming one hell of a lover and very sensitivity to me. I have to admit I was pretty uptight in the beginning, but he has definitely found ways to relax me and I enjoy him more each time. At the rate he's going, he'll dissolve my protective shell leaving me dependent on him.

After a lifetime of seeing men as an irritation, I'm sort of enjoying my change of view. As a matter of fact, I think I'm falling in love with this guy. I'm also fairly sure; the beginning of my new way of thinking began with John Henry. John was so different and I have felt like a fool ever since for trying to make him notice me. I have kept going down the same track with Ted... only this time with wonderful results."

"Well, good for you," Nellie encouraged. "It's about time you came out of the cannonball you've been living in for most of your life. You may accidentally find it's a nice place to be out here in the wide-open world where you can be cuddled, caressed and be told you're a special person. One of these days I may decide to settle down and look for a man such as you have hopefully found. Having covered the latest installment of ongoing love affairs in our lives, perhaps we should switch over and get some work done.

"O.K. Master." Rita smiled and began her report.

"RockPile Estates has been aerial photographed and the films were taken to Mesa last evening by Julie and Sam with process supposing to have begun this morning at eight o'clock. The pictures should be all printed by this afternoon so Sam can fit them into a collage and then construct a pictorial map. When the map is completed he can begin laying out house locations, roads and that sort of thing.

All of this will probably take about a week. In another week or so Sam will have preliminary house elevations drawn in. When the artwork is completed, give or take two or three weeks from now and a scaled map completed I can go to the county planning commission and apply for a planned development authorization.

After the county blesses my request with its special blend of christening water, I plan to call a press conference and announce the birth of RockPile Estates. The publicity should give your friend, Buck, something to think about since neither he nor Gus could see any potential in rocks and cacti. Oh yes, I almost forgot to tell you. The other day when I visited the real estate office, Buck offered to buy me lunch. If I was to revert to my old ways of thinking, I'd have reason to believe good Old Buck has designs on getting into my knickers. After he extended his lunch invitation, I told him about hearing he carried around a special potion claimed to be a sure cure for menopause. The last I saw of him as I was walking out of the office his mouth was hanging open."

"You do have a way of getting to the tender parts of a man by using a minimum amount of words. Speaking of dear Old Buck," Nellie continued. "I'm thinking about taking your suggestion of slowing down the land sales for a while. I would sort of like to have the full crunch of RockPile Estates hit him at about the same time of the major financial crisis I'm cooking up strikes. We may as well let him have it all at once rather than dragging the crash out piecemeal, maybe by having his ego flattened it will teach him to lead quicker."

Rita nodded her approval. "It's O.K. by me. After visiting the lion's den and watching Buck's reactions, I've been wondering how long Gus will put up with Buck's bumbling. Gus came across as being a pretty savvy guy and he presents a good demeanor for dealing with customers. It's kind of hard to believe Gus is able to take a steady diet of Buck. When it comes to Buck learning to lead, you had better be careful. Breaking him to lead may cause the world to split in half."

"I've sort of been thinking the same thing. That's one of my reasons for slowing things down. I don't want Gus to throw in the towel while trying to drag Buck along. All Buck can see is dollar signs without having the foggiest concept of all the steps involved in pulling off a deal of this magnitude."

Within a few days Gus received a fax from Land Investment Ltd., asking about his client's intentions concerning buying the land. Gus in turn fired off a fax to U.S. Resorts requesting a milestone schedule of their intended development plan.

While waiting for responses from the seller and potential buyer, Gus continued to prod Buck to make up his mind on how much money he was willing to put at risk. As time passed it became more apparent Buck was getting in over his head and he was finally realizing land trading required more capital than the discretionary cash he had laying around, as many snowbirds all ready learned to their lasting sorrow.

The next question Gus was forced to face amounted to making a personal decision as to whether he should cut his losses and let Buck stew in his own juice. Buck' over inflated ego and so little knowledge it was getting harder to deal with by the day. Or perhaps it was Gus' fear of not living up to his own false self-expectations that were clouding his judgment. As Gus sat pondering the Buck problem, his fax machine came to life. The incoming fax came from U.S. Resorts, stating:

_A hold has been put on any further development for the next seven to eight months. However, Cactus Junction remains number one on our list of expansion locations. This fax is to serve as our letter of intent to purchase subject land within the next six to eight months_.

As Gus sat re-reading the U.S. Resort fax, his fax machine once again clattered into life as it regurgitated another paper. This fax came from Land Investment Lt. reiterating their sales conditions.

Minimum down payment is ten percent (10%) of the selling price with interest on the unpaid balance at four point one percent (4.1%) with a ten (10) year payoff. Yearly payments are to be one-tenth (1/10) of the initial unpaid balance, paid on or before the sale anniversary. If the anticipated sale cannot be consummated within the next two (2) weeks, Land Investment Ltd. will entertain the issuance of a transferable option to purchase said property at thirty-nine thousand dollars ($39,500) per acre for a period of eight (8) months. The cash price for this option is one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000) that will be credited to the down payment asking price at the time of sale.

As Gus sat studying the two faxes and he was caught with how each condition fed into the other; once again the little voice in the back of his head began to question. 'Why is there such synchronicity of these two events, unless a common hand is at work? The buyer is now on hold while the seller cut the asking price and offers a fixed price option for close to the same duration as the buyer is on hold.' After thinking for a while Gus decided to call Buck and put him to the test.

With Buck sitting across the desk, Gus explained the significance of the two recent faxes and summarized his position.

"Buck it looks like the jig is up. The time has finally come for you to make a decision. In my opinion I have done my job as fully as possible and there is nothing more I can do. You are faced with making a decision within the next two weeks. As your broker I feel it's my duty to tell you there's considerable risk involved, especially with the hotel outfit not giving any more assurance than they have."

"We have their letter of intent, don't we?"

"Sounds like you're back on this 'we'shit, White Man. Buck, let me remind you once again, you have an unsigned fax as a letter of intent that isn't worth a fiddler's fart. You don't see where they have put any of their money at risk, do you?"

"No I guess I don't," Buck mumbled. "Can't you get the hotel outfit to buy an option, like the Land Investment Company is asking me to do?"

"Buck, ever once in awhile you amaze me," Gus chuckled. "Sure I can ask. It sounds like a reasonable thing to do, provided we're living in a perfect world. Next question, 'What do you think is going on here'?"

"Kind ah sounds like the city boys are testin' to see if us Ol' Country Boys know how to get out ah bed of mornin's."

"Could be you're right Buck. How much do you think we ought to charge the hotel folks for the option?"

"How about the same amount Land Investment wants up to pay?"

"Think you may be getting a bit greedy with an uncommitted buyer and you're holding the bag."

"O.K., go for seventy-five thousand," Buck wavered. That should wake 'em up.

"With all this fracas going on with Land Investment, you haven't the foggiest notion how much U. S. Resorts will pay for the land. If I send them a request for buying an option without knowing their side of the deal, they will think both of us don't know how to get out of bed."

"Ya, Buck mumbled. "I guess you're right. How much did you say they were willing to pay?"

"U. S. Resorts quoted a fifty to sixty-five thousand range. Since Land Development lowered their price to thirty-nine five per acre I suggest we not get outlandishly greedy and go down the middle with sixty-two thousand at five percent with a ten year payoff and a seventy-five thousand buy option good for eight months."

"O.K. if you say so." Nodded Buck.

"Buck, you do realize if U. S. Resorts reneges on the deal you are going to be at risk for twenty-five thousand dollars?"

"Ya, I hear you. I can handle that size of a hit if need be. I kind of think that's a fair risk on a gamble to make over two and a half million."

"Buck, I want to remember over one-third of million of this illusionary deals goes to treat my ulcers."

Within a week U. S. Resorts agreed to Buck's price on the proposed building site.

**Chapter22 - Buck Learns a Lesson**

Two weeks passed since Ted and Sam photographed RockPile Estates. During this time Sam put together a high-resolution photos map used to mark off property lines, house construction sites and roads. By using surveyed property corners and employing a Ground Positioning System instrument, a contracted land surveyor quickly located and staked out property marker points, road rights of way and written property meets and bounds corresponding to boundary line maps recorded with the country assessor's office.

Working with oblique pictures of the terrain, Sam set about designing proposed house elevation outline drawing to determine how the houses would look and blend in with the environment. He sketched out the houses basic outlines and turned the sketches over to architectural illustrators to transform his preliminary work into final full color illustrations.

While Sam was busy with design activities Rita formed a corporation she named RPE Development (RPE was the initials of RockPile Estates) as the subdivision development entity. She haggled with the county to get subdivision permits, environmental impact statements and processed the usual blizzard of paperwork associated with such a project.

The building commission required extra paperwork because this was a first time experience dealing with house construction corresponding to those projected by RPE. Bureaucratic foot dragging was eased after Rita explained the significance of this groundbreaking type of residential development.

The proposed houses would have an absolute minimum of environmental impact, they were energy efficient and natural materials would be used as construction medium. All of these features were calculated to gain national recognition. Anticipated national recognition for the development would also bring special notice to the county building commission for its forward-looking position in assisting to pioneer an environmental and energy friendly development of this magnitude. In addition, the projected selling price of nearly two million dollars per house gave extra leverage from projected tax dollars the county would receive from the development plus additional property taxes would be generated from an anticipated across the board property values increase resulting from an increased demand in new conventional houses as more people learned about Cactus County.

It was nearing ten A.M. while Rita was out doing early morning errands when her pager beeped and displayed a number she didn't recognize.

"I wonder who this may be," she thought. "I suppose all sorts of people will soon be calling as word leaks out about RockPile Estates. Oh well I may as well stop and find out who is calling me, one never can tell, it may someone important." Turning her car into a shopping center she located a phone booth and dialed the number.

"Hello, Buck here," answered her question about who called her.

"I wondered who did a treasure hunt to find my number. I suspect you have something important on your mind."

'Thought I'd follow up on the invitation I made for havin' lunch with me today."

"Sorry about today. I'm committed for lunch with a couple of contractors, followed by a session with the county planning department. Hold a second while I check my calendar. O.K. tomorrow is open."

My, you sure are mighty busy. I thought a pretty retired lady like you would be takin' life easy. Ya, tomorrow will be fine. Would The Dutchman be all right with you?"

"I'll meet you there about eleven forty-five."

"That'll be dandy with me," Buck replied. "See ya there," as he hung up the phone headset Buck thought. "I wonder what she is up to all of a sudden. Never thought women should be mixing in business. She sure is might busy foolin' around with that worthless rock pile. I should be able to find out tomorrow about what she's doin' out there."

Buck's mind switched over to remembering the night he saw her legs outlined by entry light at the VFW Post shining through her skirt and though aloud. "Damn she has a great body and I'd sure like to get next to it."

As Rita hung up her phone, she smiled thinking Buck's interest and how easily she deflected his lunch invitation, when she actually didn't have anything important to do. Immediately her mind turned to Buck's probable reason for inviting her to lunch.

"I know he thinks himself irresistible to women while at the same time believing they are incapable of having an original thought and should such a thought accident occur they wouldn't know how to put it to use.

I rather doubt he's completely on the prowl although I wager the thought is close to the surface. Best bet is he's wondering about the rock pile. I probably tweaked him enough with the remarks I made at the real estate office to set off his imagination. He did pick a good time to have lunch with enough progress on the project to have something I can dig him about.

Sam will have a few illustrations ready to copy, so I can casually whip out a few aerial pictures and artworks of a sample house along with a couple of elevations and I can casually mention the planned selling price for a proposed house. When he has a chance to see a sampling of the visual materials and learns the selling price, the combined package should set him scrambling for Mylanta."

Walking to her car, Rita checked the time noting Nellie would be at the coffee shop. Exiting the shopping center parking lot, she headed to the familiar bowling alley. In a few minutes Rita joined Nellie and was soon telling about her recent call from Buck, including their lunch date for the following day.

Nellie reported about Buck buying an option from Land Investment Ltd for one hundred thousand dollars and then sold an option to U.S. Resorts for seventy-five thousand. Nellie found it amusing the three parties were now locked in a Mexican standoff for the next eight months. Have you worked out a plan for dealing with Buck when you meet him for lunch tomorrow?

Rita outlined her plan.

"Sam and his crew will have some house elevations completed this afternoon making it possible for me to take a few representative thumbnail copies of the property and a couple of house elevations.

The package should start a couple of minds to spinning. Once construction is well along on the first house, I'll contact Gus about becoming our sales executive. Should he accept, having him working for me will grind Buck even deeper. If Gus decided to come on board I'll feature him in a progress press release as the man to see about being considered for purchasing RockPile Estates properties."

"I'm beginning believe you must have been trained by the Dominicans to come up with all the different hurts you plan to inflict on dear Old Buck." Nellie chuckled.

"It sort of came as a surprise to me after getting Buck's call, to actually realize how much enjoyment I'm getting from working on this project, completely aside from giving Buck a crank or two once in awhile.

If I continue to enjoy working so much, I may decide to come out of retirement and seriously work at developing land. Sam and Julie are having more fun than a barrel of monkeys designing houses and doing land layouts is leading me to think Sam may want to begin a new career.

They fully enjoyed their trip to Mesa delivering the films and staying on to make the composite photomap. So a good time is being had by all, especially with the amount of time I'm spending with Ted. How about you, Nellie, are you getting any enjoyment out of your project? You have quite a collection of things to juggle and keep straight as we bump along down the road."

"You know, I'll be glad to get it all over with. There are times when I wonder if it's going to be worth all the effort I'm putting into this sting deal; then I think back and realize what a complete asshole Buck really is and those thoughts get me re-inspired to kick him squarely in the balls with everything I've got. I hope you get a good tail twisting plan worked out to ding him with tomorrow."

Promptly at eleven forty the following morning Rita guided her car into the parking lot next to the Dutchman. Looking around she spotted a likely looking pickup set off with a cattle brand on its door as belonging to Buck.

Rita thought to herself,

"Farmers readily joined the mainstream in their mode of dress; but ranchers, like Buck, never give up their pointed toed boots, big hats and fancy shirts even when their ranches are sometimes in Florida or the east coast."

Entering the restaurant she spotted Buck sitting on a waiting-room bench visually examining a short-skirted well-endowed cocktail waitress as she swished between the dining room and bar.

"Looks like the old cowboy is still up to giving his best shot when it comes to inspecting new breeding stock," Rita thought as she walked across to Buck. He was distracted from watching the waitress by the clicking of her high heels on the tile floor. Watching Rita draw near, Buck stood and extended his hand to her.

"Good morning, Buck," Rita greeted, shaking his hand. "I see you like being on time. Sometimes being on time can make one lonely; but I noticed you were able to amuse yourself inspecting the indigenous live stock."

"I agree with you about being on time. Maybe with you being a business lady makes you different than most women I've known who tend to take their time along with a big chunk of mine." Buck nodded to the hostess and they were quickly guided to a quiet table next to a large window featuring an excellent vista of the Dutchman Mountains.

"Shall I call the cocktail waitress?" The hostess asked.

Without consulting Rita, Buck answered.

"No thank you. We'll stay with coffee."

"How's business treating you these days?" Rita opened the conversation. "I heard a rumor about you having a rather substantial motel deal in the works to put on the town property you are dealing on?"

"It's still a little too early to tell for sure; although it's lookin' like there's a good possibility the deal will soon come together. Right now we're sort of feelin' each other out a bit. I bought one option and sold another keepin' everything bound up for a few months to give us some thinkin' time."

The food waitress appeared to take their orders. Rita decided to try a small swordfish fillet with a side of asparagus and white sauce. Buck stuck true to form with a rare lunch steak, red beans and cold slaw.

"I see you're keeping loyal to the herd," Rita commented.

"Ya, I guess so. Old habits just come natural and are hard to break when it comes to food. My granddaddy Thorn was one of the first sodbusters in my part of the country. They lived on buffalo meat, spuds and beans until the buffalo were gone and by that time there was enough beef to replace the buffalo, so I guess you can say it's a family tradition."

"And where was or is this, 'part of the country'?"

Eastern North Dakota. Near a little cow town called Antelope. Never did find out how the town got the name Antelope, since there were mighty few Antelopes around. In my opinion it should have been called, Buffalo. Counting all the critters that walk, there must be about hundred residents in Antelope.

The town has only businesses needed to support the ranches and a few country folks who move into town for the winter. It's a hard country in the wintertime; the wind blows a kind of cold able to cut you to the bone. Summers are pretty nice, not much spring or fall. It tends to be a two-season country.

"In another life, I experienced a few North Dakota winters and can sympathize with you. I worked at Minot Air Base for a few years and like all Air Force related people I was grateful to be someplace else. That's one of the overriding reasons why I spend my winters in the desert."

Their lunches arrived, slowing their conversation other than for brief comments made about the food.

"How's the land you purchased out in the rocks and cactus doing?" Buck asked.

"Great," Rita smiled. "I'm just about to announce the opening of RockPile Estates. All I'm lacking are a few permits needing to be rubber stamped by the county planning commission, which I'm expecting will be done by the middle of next week."

Her announcement grabbed Buck's attention and wiped a budding smirk off his face, to be quickly replaced by a blank expression. Rita continued.

"I had the eighty acres divided into sixteen five acre lots. It's set up as a planned development with a basic design concept ensuring each house blends into the natural environment and the lots will not be further sub-divided. Electrical power will come from solar and wind sources so the cost and damage to the land associated with bringing in electrical power has been eliminated.

With no above ground utilities there is less contamination to the primitive ambiance. Roads will be surfaced using a natural color topping to eliminate any distracting colors. A completed three thousand square foot minimum size house, including land and improvement will sell in the neighborhood of two million dollars each."

Buck sat in full focused concentration during Rita's capsulated description; when he heard the unit-selling price his jaw dropped and sucked in his breath.

"Sounds like quite a project," Buck remarked with a monotone mumbling voice.

"Have you contracted with a developer to manage the job, or are you running the show?"

"Just me! Rita emphasized. "What's the matter, Buck? Don't you think a woman has the brains to manage anything bigger than a broom?

"Wa... wa...well," stammered Buck, while trying to get his mind around the unexpected business bomb Rita laid on him.

"I suppose there's a few women capable of runnin' such a job. I guess you must think I'm one of them male chauvinist or whatever it is men are called these days who thinks the main reason women were put on earth was to cook, wash dishes, and have babies. If you think that way about me, I suspect you're pretty close to bein' right. Like Gus told me the other day I've had too many one-way conversations with cows during my life.

I've been doin' a lot of thinkin' here of late, along with lookin' at the way people live their lives here in the Junction and I'm havin' to change my way of thinkin'. It ain't easy to change a lifetime of bein' one way and tryin' to become another."

"Buck! You surprise me. Are you for real about the things you just said or are you pouring my ear full of cow fertilizer?

"I suspect is must come as a surprise to hear me admit I'm a little on the old fashion side." Buck confessed. "But yes, the thinkin' part is for real. The doin' part is the real sticker and it's goin' to take awhile, probably a long time."

"I'm forced to be honest with you, Buck. You completely blew me out of the water with the confession you just made. After spending my working career working with, and under the supervision of, a wide assortment of asshole men who sat around holding the same opinion of women you mentioned and most times worse than you just described. I find it very remarkable for someone of your age and background to muster up courage to make such a confession. That's not to say I'm convinced any of your self-inspection inspired changes will ever see the light of day; I must reserve the right to believe any part of it until I can see measurable proof of your action. In the meantime, I commend you for making the effort to verbalize your thoughts to someone you know little or nothing about."

"Just like Gus said about you, you do have a way of saying a lot with a few words. No I wasn't blowing smoke, I meant everything I said and believe me, it wasn't easy. So what do these environmentally compatible houses look like?"

"As a matter of fact, I have some elevation illustrations with me. Rita answered, drawing a group of photos from her leather folder and handing them to Buck. He looked through the material slowly and paid each photo close attention. When completed he handed them back to Rita and commented.

"Well, I'll be. Here it was right in front of me all the time and I didn't have the brains to see it. This is pretty much the same idea my Granddaddy and other early settlers in North Dakota used when they built sod houses and stock pens on the southeast side of hills, away from the wind and catch the sun. Gus and I looked at the same thing you did and saw nothin' but boulders and sage brush. My hat's off to you, Rita. It looks like you're on to somethin' and have sure done one hell of a job kicking us where it hurts the worst on this project.

Chapter23 - Gus and the House

Leaving the Dutchman, Buck decided to drop by Junction Realty and share the news with Gus. After his self-inspection and confession to Rita with all the honesty and best intentions he could dredge up and try as best he could, he was unable to get over having a woman one-up him in a business deal. His eyes and ears continued to inform him women were competing with men and proving themselves successful across the board in business and other professions and it damn well didn't feel right to him. Women should be at home taking care of house and family instead of butting into business where men had always been. Having just been shown how a woman could have knowledge in so many different areas and then bring diverse information to bear on developing something that hadn't been done before was like opening a deep raw wound in the psychological core fabric making him a man. Acceptance was not only a new word to Buck; it was totally a new concept, somewhat akin to a Southern Baptist converting to Mormonism.

If he was to practice this new concept of acceptance, he would be required to change his whole belief system. Driving along he harkened back to something Nellie tried to tell him the night she left him in the motel room. Women are supposed to be treated as equals; but what kind of equals? He always knew when one added up a bunch of numbers and they equaled something else. That 'something else' was about the same color as getting ah hold of the idea of there being equality between men and women. It used to be simple; men did certain chores and women did others. Back then roles were well defined. With all this new role swapping going on, Buck was having trouble attempting to grasp the definition of certain words which had changed meaning while he remained rooted in the values learned from his family.

Arriving at Junction Realty, Buck found Gus alone and pulled up a chair next to Gus' desk before sitting down.

You're awful quiet and wearing a funereal look on you face," Gus observed. "Did somebody die?"

"Not somebody. Just some of my old-fashioned ideas are feelin' mighty poorly. New subject, I just finished a very interestin' lunch with Rita Blaine."

"That does sound interesting, indeed," Gus commented, perking up. "Well, don't keep me in suspense, tell me about it?"

"It would help if you give me time to do just that. That rock pile we both thought was worthless is bein' turned into a thirty plus million dollar development, as we speak. I just saw pictures of houses she's about to build, as well as an overall picture map showin' where the houses are to be located along with the connectin' roads. The houses are environmentally compatible, which means they'll be partly underground like the old Dakota sod houses.

They're going to use solar panels and windmills to supply power without havin' to build electric lines. There'll be sixteen houses, each on a five acre lot and will sell for about two million each." Buck sat quietly shaking his head waiting for Gus to speak.

"I knew she had something up her sleeve besides her arm, but I never tumbled to her having something of this size in mind. The funny thing about it all, I bet she pulls it off. Is she running the show or does she have someone else doing it for her?"

"Gus, I asked her that very same question and I wish to hell I never asked it. She's runnin' the whole shebang, lock, stock and barrel and she let me know in no uncertain terms she was pulling the strings."

"Apparently you must have made a degrading remake she took to heart about her female psyche being bruised."

"I don't know about this 'psyche' stuff. But she flat let me know women have more brains that it takes to run a broom."

"I'm not surprised to hear she informed you about women's mental capabilities." Gus chuckled. "I tried to warn you she would have your hide on a board should you get mixed up with her. I get the distinct impression you received another feed bucket full of words dumped on you head."

"You don't need to set there so almighty like; lettin' me take all the shit for being so dumb. You set right there yourself and said that rock pile was worthless. I'd like to see you take a few of her words and see how you like it."

Sam realized people putting the RockPile Estate project together needed a place to work, in addition to space for temporary job-shop help and Julie, serving as all around secretary, motivated Rita to rent office space with necessary furniture to accommodate everyone. Rita was once again sitting behind a desk; feeling like old times and doing something worthwhile. Launching the project was turning into an enjoyable experience, she was calling the shots without having to get approval on each trifle from a hierarchy of drones.

Returning from lunch with Buck, Rita entered the office to find Sam on the phone talking about excavation and site preparation with someone who apparently didn't fully understand the concept of 'minimum environmental disturbance'. The architectural illustrators were busy putting finishing touches to Sam's initial sketches.

"Hi boss," greeted Julie, "enter the fun place. You had a call from the county planning department, the lady wants you to call her back and Ted called to let you know he would be flying from three this afternoon until dark. You may want to call him back. He sounded a little lonesome. That's it for phone calls," handing Rita telephone message slips.

"Thank you Julie. I was just thinking, it's almost like old times being back in an office filled with activity and interesting things going on, I like it. Do you?"

"Yes. I do. It's more fun working with people not set on promoting themselves at others expense. Sam is just beside himself. Like us, this is the first time he has been able to be his own person without having to butter up someone before doing something. He is designing new houses and dealing with people who will be putting everything together. I can hardly wait for the day when construction begins."

Crossing to and sitting down at her desk Rita returned her calls. First to Ted, confirming Julie's surmise he was lonesome. Ted confirmed he would come to the condo later in the evening, plus it was nice to hear her voice. The person in county planning told her the last hurdle had been overcome and Rita needed to sign some papers plus pay for permits.

Sam was in the process of replacing his phone headset when Rita let go with,

"Hurrah!!! The county has given us the last permits and we're ready to start moving dirt. I think its time to celebrate. We also need to notify the local news media and arrange for coverage of our official groundbreaking ceremony of RockPile Estates. First I suspect it would be a good idea to set a date and line up a caterer to provide the necessary celebrating ingredients.

"I'll drink to that, came approval from Sam, Julie and the illustrators."

"If everyone will get a firm grip on themselves for a few minutes, I'll see about getting something to celebrate with." Rita said on her way to the door.

Thirty minutes later the good news was duly christened with three bottles of champagne, sliced cheese, crackers and mixed nuts. Amid the festivities a calendar was consulted and a date set for the groundbreaking ceremony. Rita took time out long enough to place telephone calls to the local newspapers, television stations and head of the county planning commission inviting them to be present for the RockPile Estates official groundbreaking ceremony. Press releases would be delivered the following day providing a map to the development and a description of the unusual housing development. A catering service was contracted to provide necessary celebratory materials.

When the ground breaking ceremony was held, a week later, it was attended by media reporters, contractors, a smattering of politicians and special attention shown to county planning department with the top manager offering a short speech in support of RockPile Estates as the first planned housing development in the Southwest designed to blend into the environment with minimum impact. As a side note, Buck and Gus were invited, only Gus chose to accept.

As sole keeper of Junction Realty, Gus was becoming comfortable and enjoying a fresh cup of coffee when he telephone rang.

"Why does the damn phone always have to ring when I'm just getting comfortable," he mumbled. "Good morning, Junction Realty, Gus here."

"Good morning, Gus, this is Rita Blaine. I hope I'm interrupting a million dollar land deal."

"Don't I wish?" Gus moaned

"Otherwise how are you doing?"

"As soon as I finish wiping up a hot coffee spill on my hand, I'll be in a better position to comment."

"Well, damn it Gus! Change hands. If you can see your way clear to pull yourself away, I'd like to offer you a business proposition."

"You just said the magic words. Who? What? When? And where? Gus asked.

"The 'when' part amounts to, your availability to spend two or three hours in my company?"

"You are indeed a lady who doesn't waste time talking about the weather. I can be ready at the drop of a dollar bill."

"Good. I'll pick you up in twenty minutes, that is, unless you're afraid of a woman driver."

"I'll take the risk. Having lived in North Dakota among cowboys, I have nerves of steel when it comes to riding with other drivers."

Arriving on time, Rita parked in front of Junction Realty and tapped her car horn twice. In a few moments, Gus came out, locked the door and walked to her car.

Opening the car door he greeted Rita and asked, "Would it be safe to assume we're headed to RockPile Estates.

"You got it," she replied, moving the car into the street traffic.

Nearing the project Rita slowed the car to allow Gus more time to look around. Following a bend in the road and cresting a small rise of ground, a large tasteful sign came into view announcing RockPile Estates to the left.

"Here we are," announced Rita, turning onto a graded sand-topped side road named Rattlesnake Blvd. The road topping blended into the natural sand and rock colors of the desert as it gently threaded its way around and past huge boulders to arrive at a fork in the road, where Rita turned right onto Horny Toad Ln.

Gus remarked, "You have chosen rather unusual road names."

"Road names were chosen to be in keeping with the overall concept of blending in with the natural environment by being named after creatures whose homes were here first. Each house will have its own road name, allowing it to have an address number of 'one'. Owners will have the option to choose their road names from a pre-approved list. It's another little perk adding up to snob appeal and a ridiculously high package price. Privacy from the main road is achieved by two sharp view blocking turns between boulders."

After negotiating the turns they arrived at a nearly completed house. Stopping on a wide entry apron, they left the car and stood looking at a house partially hidden by large unmoved boulders and indigenous shrubbery. The only major indicators of it being a house were large tinted windows, a painted entry door and a faux cave with stalls for two cars to park.

Gus was the first to speak. "Your architect has done a masterful job of blending the house facade into the natural ground creating a stunning harmonious package."

"Thank you," Rita smiled. "Shall we take a stroll through the inside?"

Inside spacious rooms curved around large natural stones, augmented by tinted sculptured concrete offered the impression each room was chiseled from inside the earth. Outside heat quickly gave away to cool indoor comfort without benefit of air conditioning. As they explored the interconnecting rooms illuminated by natural light streaming down from above ground through recently developed large diameter light pipes and diffused through plastic lens panels set into the ceilings.

Following their inspection of the interior, Rita led the way to a covered patio and complementing swimming pool. The patio was arranged to deflect the heat, making it only a few degrees warmer than inside the house.

"I'd like to hear you reaction to our creation?" Rita asked, motioning Gus to a nearby table and four chairs. After being seated in comfortable designer chairs, Gus replied.

"To tell you the truth, I could never have imagined a house such as this ever being built. Its overall ambiance is such a dramatic departure from houses I'm accustomed too. It takes time and thought to appreciate the total magnitude of everything you have created. I have a soothing feeling of an unusual presence enveloping me with an almost magical quality; it leaves me without words for adequately describing all I see and feel. I have never experienced the presence of a house like this before. Perhaps it's due to such a close connection between house and earth feeding this illusion of peace."

"Gus, you completely overwhelm me with your near poetic description of the house and its connection to the earth. I, too, notice and experience such feelings when I come here, especially when it's quiet without the workmen around. I appreciate you making your time available to look over the first of my children, as I'm coming to call these houses.

Since I have apparently succeeded in getting you in a seductive mood, I'll come to the point for having brought you here, to ask you one quick simple question. Would you consider accepting the position of marketing executive for RockPile Estates? You will receive administrative support from RPE Development and support from an extensive advertising campaign. Your primary job will be to qualify prospects you feel worthy of living here."

"Ever since meeting you, I have said many times you are a woman who doesn't waste time and knows how to render a man speechless. During my lifetime I have run the gamut of shocks, surprises and other sudden changes in directions, but never have I experience such a shock as you just laid on me.

Here I am a small potatoes land peddler making enough to keep wolves from my door and suddenly without a hint I find myself offered a prestigious sales job every male realtor in the valley would surrender up his left nut to get and you just dropped it in my lap." Gus paused before giving his answer.

"Excuse me for fading out for a bit. Please realize you dealt me a complete unexpected surprise. As I mumbled before, the last thing in the world I could have imagined amounts to you bringing me out here to make such an offer. Yes, it would give me great pleasure to be your broker on this development; but in all fairness, I have never handled anything of this magnitude and with such prestige as this project represents. Rita, I don't doubt your business abilities for a minute, but why did you select me?"

"I have my reasons. Some are logical and other reasons spring from my female intuition. In actuality my initial reason for selecting you has merged into the background. I now realize you have a unique quality about you. Perhaps this quality stems from your small community up-bringing mixing with a non-threatening talent for allowing people in your presence to be at ease.

And then there is the unexpected surprise, a few minutes ago, when you described this house in words so ethereal they touched notes in my emotions, I never considered before you give them expression

You have an uncanny appreciation for my basic intention of maintaining integrity with the earth. Only you and Sam, the architect responsible for taking my crude idea and giving it life in this house, have been able to articulate the indefinable essence connecting body and house. I have also heard the old cliché which I believe aptly defines you. 'You can take a man from the soil, but you can't take the soil out of the man.'

I see the basic honesty in you that is common to men whose souls is linked to the soil. You have the qualities and sensitivity to select people I want to live in my very special houses. There is one overriding quality I hope you will continue to maintain, the simple fragile honesty you expressed a few minutes ago.

Don't let people, having buckets full of money, fool you into believing they innately have the intangible qualities you so eloquently expressed, are acceptable for owning one of my houses. During the course of this job, you will encounter every stripe of people under the sun. There will be those as phony as three-dollar bills, wannabes of every description and a few nice people. I feel you have the sensitivity and perception to sift through the crowd and winnow out the best fits for these houses.

If a prospect doesn't connect with your gut feelings as being compatible with the ideals of this community, dump him. If your basic veracity remains unchanged, you will select the best buyers.

Your decisions will not be questioned. I would rather you turn away a half-dozen suitable prospects than to allow one clinker to get in. There will be fourteen houses to sell. My old friend, Julie, and I will each have a house accounting for the full sixteen lots in the development.

This will be the model house and the last one sold, unless of course someone is willing to pay enough to wrench it out of my hands. The price of a basic house is $1.75- million. Naturally any changes will be added scope that comes at a price. My architect will either perform the design work or approve a prospects design, so you will be responsible for coordinating changes between prospects and my architect. Anytime you need help I will be available. When in doubt ask, I'll not fault you for asking, but I'll have a piece of your ass if you go off on your own and make a wrong assumption.

Your commission will be two and a half percent of the selling price. I suggest you not get greedy and try to push the prospect into buying some do-dad they don't need while at the same time remembering, money makes all things possible, within reason of course. I believe everything required at this moment has been covered, unless you have any questions."

"Repeating myself, I'm still in the process of catching my breath at the suddenness of this offer. I value your judgment much more than you know. I accept your offer and I will do my best to maintain the trust you are placing in me."

"Oh I forgot a couple of important items," Rita said. "I failed to mention your starting date. I have yet to bring a promotion or publicity expert on board to launch an effective advertising program. When such a person is hired, hopefully within a month or less, your job will begin and you will have the option to draw against anticipated commissions. The second item is your contract. Normally I'm a stickler for contracts, but in this case I believe all we need is a handshake."

"Rita, again you surprise me. I can go with a handshake without a problem."

Gus and Rita shook hands, sealing their employer/employee contract.

Returning to his office, Gus sat absently staring out the window looking into a mind-blotted fog for an unmeasured amount of time. All the while his mind was whirling from the suddenness of Rita's offer and the unbelievable houses he was being called up to sell. Amid the confusion, Rita's voice brought a sense of calmness.

'Gus, if your basic veracity remains unchanged, you will select the best buyers. Your decisions will not be questioned.'

At last Gus said aloud, "God that woman can come up with some awful simple ideas which can be a real three-legged bitch to carry out. All I've got to do is to stay honest without succumbing to temptation and all will be well. I see no problem in resisting temptation when I can make more money being honest than I'll be able to spend before the undertaker grabs me, so there isn't any need to sell my soul for money, I wouldn't have time to spend it anyway."

After getting his mind cleared, he picked up the phone and gave Buck a call asking him to drop by when he didn't have anything better to do. Buck showed up an hour later and Gus reported on his afternoon's activities.

Buck could only shake his head and say,

Gus, Ol' Buddy, the world has done been turned upside down by these smart uppity women; here you are standin' in the doorway of riches workin' for a woman younger and smarter than you. We have both had our balls cracked by this woman who out thinks and out does us at every turn and I keep getting' this funny feelin' I'm not done with her. I still have twenty-five thousand hangin' out there in the wind and it wouldn't surprise me one damn bit if there isn't a woman or two messin' with me on this deal. Just thinkin' about women being behind all the deals we've been in and are now in, and them showin' us how dumb we are is damn near enough to make me stop havin' hard-ons.

"

**Chapter24 - Buck and an Assortment of Women**

Shortly after arriving in Cactus Junction a couple of years ago, Buck bought a large acreage of raw land east of town at his friend, Gus' suggestion. Following his land purchase, prices took off and hadn't slowed since. Gus put Buck in contact with a condominium developer, who through blind luck made himself and Buck a sizeable amount of money. Making a lot of money quickly and without getting his hands dirty went to Buck's ego-inflated head believing there was no end to gaining riches and he was next to the Pope at being infallible. Buck believed himself to be an accomplished land speculator and begin hounding Gus ever since to find him another deal.

As is usual, for anyone with a brain similar to Bucks, such a person typically fails to appreciate the people who grease the skids for them to accomplish anything, be it catching mice or getting rich in real estate.

Acting on his believed infallibility, Buck took a plunge six months ago at playing with the big boys dealing in land options. He bought an option to buy a hunk of ground and sold an option to the prospective buyer at a lower price on the same piece of ground Buck held visions of this risky deal making him a millionaire and the envy of his peers. The options were coming to maturity in a few weeks causing Buck to become worried. Furthering his concerns, Gus brought in a lady broker, Stella Davis, to keep the office going while he was away serving as sales executive for RockPile Estates.

After being scolded by everyone in sight, Buck decided it was time to change his long cherished view about women's place in the overall scheme of life. He decided to accept them as equals in business. Reaching further he nibbled at the concept of women being placed on earth to do more than being mere housekeepers and lastly, there was more to a man and woman relationship, than a woman being a mere outlet for his libido drives.

Putting these just born views into practice was taking more backbone than anything Buck ever set out to do before. His nascent resolve was being tested at every turn by Rita's constant one-up-man-ship. The final knee-buckling straw came when Buck learned Gus hired a lady broker, causing him to believe the last bastion of male strength had been sold down the river.

"Gus, how could you do this to me," Buck moaned. "Just when I need you the most to close this land deal you run off and hire some woman to look after my interests,"

"Sorry Buck. A man on the make, such as yourself, should be able to see you're not making me a living sitting around here waiting for your long-shot eggs to hatch. Stella is capable of doing everything I can do and probably do it a lot better. I doubt she'll sit around by the hour listen to you spin yarns about how you're going to make big commissions for her on deals you just talk about."

After giving the news time to percolate through his thought process, Buck slowly reached the position of acceptance. Six months ago, much to his dismay, Rita Blaine took a rock pile Buck was sure didn't amount to a hill of beans and was now turning into a trend setting multi-million dollar development. Here was a woman with good business savvy, along with a sack full of imagination proving a woman could do more than keep house while in the process it made him look like a fool.

Within a few days of Stella's presence, Junction Realty took on a new business stance and was attracting a new breed of clientele. It was a hard plate for Buck to eat from, but eat from it he must. Stella was more than a match for Gus from a business standpoint. She knew real estate procedures far better than Gus and not only was she smart, she was efficient. Against all his previous thinking, Buck's attachment to money prevailed when he unthinkingly paid Stella and Rita the highest compliment he probably ever paid women before, when he thought.

"Maybe, just maybe, it would be a good idea to give this Stella woman a chance to see what she can do. Who knows? She just may be another Rita Blaine."

During the early stages of RockPile Estate development, Rita recognized her need for someone with above average expertise in advertising to launch a quality publicity campaign promoting RockPile Estates. Following in the footsteps of her initial idea for going afield with a new concept in designing and constructing houses, she wanted to take a similar approach to advertising, not the typical advertisings splash costing an enormous amount of money and having to put up with all the fall-de-rall required to make an effective advertising promotion successful.

Instead, she wanted to use non-commercial exposure from news releases, talk shows, public interest orientated programs, etc. to focus on her homes' friendly environmental impact, low energy drain and trend setting designs made possible through cooperative interaction between the developer and county planning department.

In a meeting with Nellie, Rita expressed her need for an unusual promotion specialist to attract public attention and gain notice for RockPile Estates. After a few days of calling around, Nellie learned from a contact about a woman-advertising executive leaving a well-known agency holding the attributes Rita wanted. The woman's name was Irene Stock.

Within minutes Rita was on the phone to Irene explaining the job she had in mind and posing the question to determine if Irene would be interested in relocating to Cactus Junction and opening a marketing consulting business with RPE Development as her first client. Results from Rita's phone call were positive; Irene was in Cactus Junction within two weeks. In the meantime, Rita secured Irene an office plus setting in motion the paper work necessary to form Desert Marketing LLC

Ten years prior to Rita's call, Irene was hired into an account executive position with a prestigious mid-western advertising agency with clients among the upper fortune five hundred. Irene was very much aware of her physical attributes and business abilities with an inner knowing she would at sometime in the future be forced into litigating a sex related charge against her employer.

During the first week of her employment, Irene sought out a sharp on-the-rise female lawyer reputed to be making a name representing clients taking on their employers for balking at implementing EEO standards. For a relatively small retainer Irene acquired legal representation she could call upon at any time. The lawyer advised Irene to send her regular C.M.A. (cover my ass) career reports. Create and keep current a detailed chronological work diary listing names, dates, who was promoted, paraphrased conversations between herself and superiors, observations of office happening, and other pertinent information impacting the agency's business or client confidentiality.

A decade later, Irene's preparations were called into play when she was passed over for promotion to a department level position. The job went to a less qualified male colleague who immediately became Irene's boss. Within minutes after the promotion was announced, a chain of phone calls resulted in Irene's swift departure from the agency, at a very high cost to the agency.

It began when Irene called and informed her attorney of a colleague's promotion. Her lawyer, in turn, called the agency's CEO who after hearing he was in violation of EEO directives and unless Irene was given an equal promotion, a civil suit would be filed immediately. After hanging up his phone the CEO placed a call to the agency's chief lawyer who completed the circle by calling Irene's lawyer.

The central issue revolved around the question Irene's attorney posed to the agency's lawyer. Does the agency want to settle now, based on available evidence, cited by Irene's attorney, or go to court and face a charge of sex discrimination which would lead to adverse publicity the agency would receive, regardless of whether the agency won or lost the suit?

An answer came in less than an hour. Irene would retire immediately with monthly retirement payments equal to one twelfth of her preceding year's salary and bonuses plus down stream cost-of-living raises. In addition she would receive a onetime severance payment of two hundred fifty thousand dollars.

Following her arrival in Cactus Junction, Irene was immediately at work. Most of the preliminary information concerning RockPile Estates was discussed during prior telephone conversations with Rita. All that remained for her to do was view the development site and meet with Sam and Gus to get her bearing. With these items accomplished she set to concentrating her energies on formulating a public relations plan for immediate execution.

Irene moved quickly and with enthusiasm. Within ten days top quality 'free' publicity began appearing across the media spectrum touting the advanced environmentally friendly homes featured by RockPile Estates. Publicity was carefully shaped to highlight the exclusiveness and uniqueness of RockPile Estates in a natural setting allowing each owner to personalize his /her house through direct contact with the development's lead architect to incorporate individual design criteria. One special perk enabled the owner to choose the street name where her/his house would be located.

Deliberate praise was given to Cactus County Planning Commission citing how it set the standard for environmental friendly development through its foresighted vision and outstanding cooperation with RockPile Estates at each step in the conceptual planning phase.

The city and county prospered from many serendipitous fallouts resulting from the publicity campaign Irene put into action. Real estate sales increased, retail volume rose, motel and entertainment services prospered. Based on the heightened attention Cactus Junction was receiving as a result of RockPile Estates publicity, Rita was named Business Woman of the Year.

In keeping with the warning Rita made to Gus, when she hired him as sales executive for RockPile Estates, concerning a broad range of prospects he would encounter; people the likes of which he never met before. He soon found Rita's warning amounted to more substance than mere words. Most surprising he learned money and civility were seldom found in the same person. It also became obvious money robbed people of their basic humanity Gus believed dwelled in each fellow human.

One day while Rita was in his office, Gus related his frustration at being unable to qualify a singe suitable prospect from a large pool of interviewed prospects. After listening to his problem, Rita suggested he consider being blunter to prospect during qualification and immediately dismiss anyone he thought unsuitable. She further assured him he would receive her full support for his decisions. There was no doubt he would have to winnow a lot of chaff to find a few grains of wheat.

Gus' first sale came as a result of the approach Rita suggested he use. It came about a week later at mid-afternoon when a black limo parked in front of Gus' sales office. A distinguished looking man in his sixties stepped from the limo and entered the office. His first words were, "I want to talk with man in charge, not some flunky salesman."

Without standing or greeting the man, Gus, using a southern drawl answered,

"Fraid I can't do that sur. Ya see, the man in charge just happens to be a be a lady who don't like to soil herself with fertilizer that blows through the door, so looks like ya just gonna half to ta deal with the flunky peddler setten in front of ya, else climb back in that fine funeral car ya got parked out there and drive on back to the feed lot where ya come from." Concluding his comment Gus remained seated and picked up a magazine. Holding the magazine at eye level, leaving the lower part of his face unseen by the man and began slowly thumbing pages one by one shutting the prospect out completely. After Gus turned several pages the man spoke in a more congenial tone.

"O.K. You win. Sorry about acting as I did. There are times when I need being brought back to earth and I admit you did the most effective job I've experienced to date. Allow me to introduce myself, my name is Richard Calvert," extending his hand.

Gus stood up to take Calvert's hand. "I'm pleased to meet you, Mr. Calvert. My name is Gus. How may I be of service to you?"

From then forward Richard Calvert was every inch a gentleman. He became congenial, friendly and admired Gus for his ability to thread his way through the minefields populated by the rich and mostly infamous.

Richard knew his way around the land business having made a fortune or two in oil and land. Calvert was searching for a quiet place to become his home away from business where he could close out the world. He invited Gus to ride with him in his limo to view the setting and model house.

The house's inside was a show place for an interior designer's talent using complimentary furniture, wall hangings, drapes, accent wood and wall paint. Outside, the landscaping blended into the original unspoiled setting, suggesting the house belonged to the original wild desert. A state-of-the-art solar system provided hot water, central heat and electrical power. Underground telephone wires, water service and septic tanks were complete and functional. Richards was able to view a finished house ready to receive its owner. Gus explained how initial problems were discovered and overcome along with the rationale behind each feature in the house and why each particular feature was selected.

Richard's experience and financial position made him a hard man to impress; however, after having been given a tour of the house at Number One Horny Toad Ln. he was impressed.

"I have to congratulate your organization for conceiving one hell of an idea and carrying it to fruition with such advanced imagination and technology. Over the years I've seen and lived in many houses, yet not one can remotely be compared to this. Its setting, simplicity and the way it affect one's senses is absolutely staggering. Is this house for sale or must I wait to have one built?"

"Richard I understand exactly how you feel. When I entered this house for the first time it was only eighty percent complete, yet I was left without words to describe my feelings. It is truly an awe-inspiring home. The most profound experience comes on the first night one spends here. The silence becomes almost deafening when all lights are turned off leaving starlight to guide your way and only sounds of the original residents to break the ringing in one's ears. Excuse me for getting so carried away, In answer to you question, I'm sorry, this house is not for sale."

"How long will it take you to have a house like this built?" Richard asked.

"Richard, please don't get cross threaded with my next statement. Before a sale can be made there, for lack of a better way to say it, a few hoops must be jumped through."

"What do you mean? A few hoops must be jumped through. Isn't cash money good enough?"

Gus nodded, "True, money is important; however it takes more than money to buy a house here in RockPile Estates. Everyone allowed to view this model home has the where- withal to buy it, but not every viewer is offered the opportunity. We are looking for people with a special type of character. The main criteria for selection amounts to whether the prospect will fit into the overall community. We define character as having respect for the environment, indigenous life, meaning the current residents: plants, critters and people who will soon make this community their home."

Who makes the decision about who is allowed to join this exclusive club? So to speak."

"I do." Gus answered.

"How do I stand on the list?" Do I impress you as having the character to be worthy of consideration?

"Richard, my gut has a good feeling about you. It tells me you're the kind of resident we're looking for to live here. Provided you're willing to comply with a half dozen or so restrictions imposed by the deed. These restrictions are for you and your neighbor's protection. They are imposed to prevent further sub-division of each lot, prevent modifications to the existing structure or addition of structures having a negative impact on the environment, plus a few minor don'ts' imposed by the county."

"I see no problem with those restrictions, in fact I welcome them. I'd sure hate to wake up some morning to find a neighbor's billy goat chomping the shrubs on my patio. Now where do we go to from here? Oh one other question, as much as I like this house, am I allowed any design input into my proposed house?"

"You can have most anything you want on the inside. All outside variation will have to be approved by the development architect. You will find Sam and his crew are very pleasant folks to work with. I'm sure he can accommodate almost anything you want, other than a goat shed or dog kennel."

After selecting a lot, with Richard and his wife Maria working out a design with Sam, Gus wrote up a sales order for the Calvert's house, including a few extras for $2.436-million.

Once the ice was broken, with Calvert's house order, within a month an additional five houses were sold. Each house included a few extras for an average unit price of $2.274-million. Four more strong prospects were on the verge of making a commitment and Gus was on his way to making more money than he ever dreamed possible.

Rita and Sam calculated the break-even point would come when eight houses were sold. With six houses sold and four solid prospects, RockPile Estates was on the way to being the fastest pay back development started to date in Cactus County. With cash flow beyond the most optimistic expectation and a bright future for RPE Development, Rita and Sam decided to issue corporate stock to those who helped make it happen, Ted, Irene, Julie, Gus, Sam and Rita.

Business at Junction Realty picked up substantially riding on the wave of publicity RockPile Estates shining on Cactus junction. With Gus away from the office most of the time at RPE, Stella brought in two salespersons to keep up with increased business. All was going well for everyone except Buck; he was still in a holding pattern with U.S. Resorts. Buck was worried and began suffering anxiety attacks from knowing in less than a month both options would be due; unless U.S. Resorts came through on their land purchase within the next three weeks he would lose twenty-five thousand dollars.

Losing money was not actually the root of his discomfort; it stemmed from knowing a bunch of women, headed by Rita Blaine was pulling in millions while he was on the verge of losing a few thousand. Sometimes he thought it would be less humiliating by losing everything he owned. By losing it all he could expect some sympathy, but by losing only peanuts on a deal poised to make him a millionaire was just plain crushing to his pride.

Another barb pricking Buck came in the person of Stella Davis. She was another fast thinking woman pulling in buckets full of cash with moxie equal to and most times better than Gus. She knew the real estate business inside and out and was skillful at applying her knowledge to make things happen. She was happily married, therefore didn't cater to Buck's imagined woman killer charms, which made the barb all the more painful.

Since RockPile Estates began, Rita and Nellie spent less time together managing to meet only a couple times each week. Their meetings were primarily information swapping sessions, but occasionally they shared parts of their personal lives. Rita admitted she was losing her long held hard attitude for the way she felt about men. Her feelings for Ted were deepening and causing her to mellow as time passed. She and Ted were spending more nights together than she originally expected. Having a man in her bed now felt more natural and she missed Ted on nights when alone.

Ted's feeling were falling in step with Rita's, he was becoming more domesticated than he cared to admit. Talks about their shared future were becoming common with more time spent discussing how they could harmoniously blend their interests together, yet retain individual pursuits. In addition Rita was basking in being top gun at RockPile Estates, although she was seldom arbitrary in her decision; she enjoyed knowing and having complete control that made the difference.

One day Rita admitted to Nellie she was getting over the idea of deliberately causing Buck misery. She recognized natural events, such a RockPile Estates, were having their desired effects. It was during one of their, soul sharing sessions, Nellie confessed she was also losing interest in hurting Buck having learned he was feeling pretty well subdued by plates of humble crow being dished up lately by successful deals going on around him and having to deal with a woman broker. In fact Nellie admitted she was beginning to feel a little sorry for him and concerned she was slowly growing a deeper feeling for Buck was beginning to bother her when she was alone and wanting company.

Buck was a prime example of being a grade A egotistical asshole without question, but he also had a few other qualities she liked. When not filled with snakebite remedy, he was hell of a man in bed. Now with Julie and Rita having full time companions she was beginning to feel left out. Maybe if she caught Buck at the right moment after Rita dealt him a killer blow and tolling him with the right kind of incentives, Ol' Buck may be trained to lead after all.

"Have you decided how to deal with Buck when the options come due?" Rita asked.

"You know, I haven't made up my mind just yet how to handle that issue. One day I'm ready to rip him good, then the next day I want to tell him it was all a game and let him off the hook."

Goodness gracious we're both on the road to destruction. You're going soft on Buck and I'm well on the way to thawing out to the point where I enjoy having a man around. Tell you what, Nellie. How would it work if R.E Development offers to pick up his options? The reason I'll give Buck is because Land Investment Ltd. gave him a better price on the option than they were selling it straight out for. Now with the success of RockPile Estates, RPE Development is looking to the future for further development possibilities"

Nellie studied on the idea for a few moments before committing herself.

"Rita, I think your usual imaginative thinking has scored again. I can see the logic to you dealing with Land Investment Ltd.," Nellie nodded, "But how about U.S. Resorts? I may be developing a soft spot for him, but not twenty-five thousand dollars worth of softness just yet. I'm not at all interested in enriching him by letting go of his options."

"How about if I offer him ten grand for the deal as it stands? Having me pull his nuts out of the fire for a paltry ten grand isn't going to make him feel too great. We can let the U.S. Resorts deal sort of rest for a while, who knows? I may be able to put together something with a real resort outfit. With The Junction growing like it is, it could do with an upscale resort. Anyway, you may not want to sell the land at this time. It's sure to get more valuable with time. We can work something out later for using the land. I'll regain my ten grand when something is worked out for the land Buck was going to make his million on."

After thinking for a moment, Nellie nodded and said. "O.K. let's go for it. This way he'll not have to know I had anything to do with the deal. When are you going to contact him?"

"I'll get right on it. If I wait too long I may change my mind. As the cowboys always say, 'you can't get a good brand with a cold iron'."

**Chapter25 - The Final Solution**

During the past two weeks, Buck made such a nuisance of himself at Junction Realty; Stella finally reached her saturation point with him hanging around. After dropping several subtle hints she finally told him to bug off, letting him know she would contact him the minute word came from U.S. Resorts. Since then Buck stewed alone in his mobile home and occasionally going to the VFW post to swap war lies with other old vets like him with nothing better to do.

Swapping stories over a can of beer soon wore thin with his focus constantly turning to a financial ax poised ready to drop on his real estate deal. With the prospects of his million-dollar deal crashing down on him, the worst possible condition settled over Buck, he lost interest in dancing and chasing women. Always before when something bothered Buck he could shift his thoughts to reliving a past conquest or fantasized about making-it with a woman he had recently seen who peaked his interest.

Worry mixed with anxiety was over-taking his complete thinking and keeping him from sleeping; seeking relief from worry, his mind conjured up an imaginary plan to call U.S. Resorts and ask about their plans for either paying off the option or making a down payment of the land. But reality suddenly struck, he didn't have the slightest idea about how or where to begin placing a call. Buck was forced to admit he was up against a totally new frustrating world of business he knew absolutely nothing about and the only person who could save him, was a woman by the name of Stella.

He was used to dealing face to face with whomever he was dealing, not talking by paper to some faceless person thousands of mile away known only by a printed name at the bottom of a fax message. Then there was Nellie; she was a complete mystery to him.

Somehow he was drawn to her, as he had never been pulled by any of his other short time conquests. At times he thought a sixth sense was telling him Nellie cared for him; because it was her caring for him that made her dump so many words on him in her attempt to tell him something he didn't really want to hear. And lastly there was Rita Blaine and her damn combination rock pile and snake den that pulled the last straw.

"Once I get my ass out of this bind I'll have to give Nellie a call and see if she'll give me another chance." Buck thought.

Buck was faced by another plate of crow he prepared and served to himself stemming from the fact his monumental pride and stubbornness blanked out his hearing when others attempted to tell him something. The last card filling his hand was about to be dealt that would most likely cost him twenty-five grand. The loss of twenty-five thousand dollars was only a minor irritant; the real pain was being inflicted by this Blaine woman, he had the hots for, and she was pulling in the big bucks over a deal he was too dumb to recognize was galling him to the bone.

On the morning of day fourteen and counting before his land options came due, Buck unenthusiastically dragged himself out of bed wearing a two-day-old beard to face a breakfast of soggy corn flakes, stale toast and warmed over coffee, when the phone rang. It was the first time his phone had rung in weeks, immediately his expectant thoughts raced to it being Stella at Junction Realty.

"She must have heard from the hotel people," he thought picking up the phone.

"Hello! This is Buck."

"Good morning Cowboy," Buck heard a cheerful voice. "This is Rita Blaine. Do you have the cows fed yet or are you sitting around letting your whiskers grow?"

"Well, as a matter of fact, my whiskers have been growin' right good since I ain't had the gumption to shave. I must say it's a surprise to hear from you and especially so early in the day. What causes you to be thinkin' of me on such a lonesome mornin'?"

"Well for openers, how about having lunch? I heard you own a property option which you may consider selling, if the rumor is true, I hope you are interested in meeting me at the Cactus Bowl coffee shop, say around eleven forty-five to talk about it. By the way, I'm buying lunch."

"Wa,wa, well." Buck stammered. "Suh, sure, that sounds fine. I can meet you there."

"Great!" He heard Rita's voice say just before the phone clicked. Hanging up his phone, Buck stood looking at the now silent telephone and recovering from Rita's unexpected call.

"Now what in hell's name is that woman up to this time? If she gets her hands on that land I bet she turns it into another moneymaking deal in the same way she did that damn rock pile. Damn that woman! She's out to rub my nose in shit again, no doubt about it and I don't have the slightest idea about how she's going to do it. Suppose I had better check with Stella to see if she knows anything that's causing this sudden change in events. Goddamn it, I never in my life thought I'd see the day when I would be bouncing off uppity business women like a cue ball in a double bank pool shot."

Picking up the phone Buck dialed the number for Junction Realty.

"Good morning, Junction Realty, this is Stella."

"Mornin' Stella, this is Buck. I just had a call from Rita Blaine and she is talkin' about making me an offer on the Land Investment option. What do you think I should do?"

"Well, for Christ sakes, the first thing to do is talk to her, Buck! If you don't do something quick your ass is going to get stretched over a twenty-five thousand dollar barrel head."

"I just know she has somethin' up her sleeve else she wouldn't have called me."

'Hell yes, she has something up her sleeve, you dumb Cowpoke. It's called an arm. Buck whatever smarts you have must have been transplanted from a frozen cow."

"Ah come on Stella, no cause for you to start thumpin' on me. I do have enough smarts to know the pickle I'm in. You being a smart woman who knows about real estate, I thought you might have some idea why this Blaine woman has taken a sudden interest in the land. It just plain pisses me off to think about her scoopin up the land I'm in a bind on and then turnin' around and makin' some more million on somethin' I can't figure out."

"What can I say, Buck. You're the one who has this fixation about the only position a woman should occupy. Until you get all that macho bullshit washed out between your ears, you'll just have to live with being pissed off."

"Dam it to hell! I asked you women one simple question and the next thing I know I get a bucket full of high falutin' words dumped on me. Most of them I don't understand."

"Poor Baby, you ask us, we tell you, and you don't listen. Now how can I make it any more simple? I'll try to put it another way. Just because it's natural for you to be on top of a woman for a few minutes once in awhile, doesn't mean you're superior to her the remaining twenty-three hours and fifty-five minutes of the day. Next time, try doing it sideways. Then notice the woman will be in front, that should tell you something. Think about it Buck. Let me know what happens with the Blaine woman. Bye."

"I do believe the longer I live, the more mixed up I get. There are times when I wish I'd never come down here to this crazy country. Things just move too fast and I can't get the hang of what's goin' on. Women doing men's work, women sleeping with other women, men having sex with other men and then there are them who don't have the foggiest idea of which way they're threaded and worst of all, none of them seem to give a damn. Well hell. I guess I'd better get ready and go see what that Blaine woman has on her mind."

At eleven forty-five, a long wrinkled-faced Buck ambled into the coffee shop. As he entered a waitress greeted him.

"Mr. Thorn?" She said, raising her eyebrows.

"That's me."

"This way, please, Mr. Thorn. Ms. Blaine is waiting." She answered, leading Buck to Rita's table.

"Good morning again and thank you for joining me," Rita said, closing a folder and laying it aside before extending her hand.

"It's always a pleasure to see you." Buck replied, shaking her hand before sitting down. "From things I read in the papers you have been kind ah on the busy side since last we met. Been noticing how you've done a right good job turnin' that rock pile into a down right gold mine."

"Thank you, Buck. We've been very fortunate. In fact it has progressed beyond our highest expectations. A large portion of the credit for our success must go to your friend, Gus, for the outstanding sales job he had done. He informed me this morning the fourteenth and final house was sold. Our major problem now is getting the houses built. If all goes well, construction will be completed in less than a year.

You sure haven't wasted any time." Buck shrugged.

The waitress arrived to take their orders. Rita had her usual salad and toast. After listening to Rita, Buck pretty well lost the little amount of appetite he sat down with. To be sociable more than a desire to eat, he settled for a BLT and coffee. When the waitress withdrew, Rita decided to plunge ahead with the conclusion of her and Nellie's sting operation.

Rita noticed the drawn look on Buck's face and his failure to radiate his typical woman killer presence this morning. She almost began to feel sorry for him; after all he was a pretty simple specimen to be heaping her years of built up vengeance upon.

"It's too late now, so I may as well stick it to him and get it over with," she thought.

"I heard from an unnamed source the two-way option you were telling me about is about to come due and you're sort of hanging in the wind for about twenty-five thousand dollars. Am I right? Rita asked.

"Ya, that's right. I'm surprised you'd be interested in something that big"

"You just never seem to understand, Buck. Oh, well, no matter. I suspect it must be difficult for you to do business with a woman."

"It does sort of rub an old sore spot sure enough. No matter how much I try to tell myself the world has changed, I still ain't gettin' used to it."

"So you still hold on to the old idea of women having only two positions, pushing a broom and lying on their backs, right?"

"Them are pretty blunt words you're usin', but I think the world would be the better for it if that's the way it was," answered Buck, showing a little heat in his voice.

"Unfortunately there are a great many men who share your opinion and I was forced to work with and for a lot of them during the course of my career. Sorry, Buck, I didn't intend to insult your belief system; I think it's best to get back to the business at hand, before our tempers get pushed too far out of round."

"Maybe so."

"To be blunt about my intentions, if you're interested, I'll give you ten thousand dollars for the total package; and you can walk away a free man with ten grand in your pocket and I'll assume whatever risks are involved."

All Buck could think was, "She's doing it to me again, no beatin' around the bush either, she just sets there all calm and cool while she sticks it to me and I ain't got nowhere to go but take it. Damn I wish I knew what she's up to."

"Hum." a down cast Buck mumbled, "That does sound sort of interestin', but how do you know I'm in a mood to sell?"

"You know how rumors are. Sometimes they have substance and sometimes they don't. I thought it would be worth the price of a lunch to find out the facts. I'm not trying to horn in on the deal you have going, but if the end of the string is coming in sight with nothing hooked to it, I thought you may be interested in a quick way out. There's no particular hurry on my part. I would appreciate you letting me know your decision by the end of the week, provided you need time to think over my offer.

"I could be real interested for another fifteen thousand," Buck said, looking at Rita.

Rita sat holding Buck in an eye lock for a few seconds before she replied.

"Buck, I've heard you received your education from ranch cows, but I never fully appreciated the rumor until now. Let me ask you a couple of questions. First, are you a poker player? And second, if you are, do you ever win?'

"I never had much luck with poker," he grunted. "How come you asked?"

"Obviously you never figured out one simple fact about poker. Luck is only a small part of winning. A good poker player always has a feel for the cards in each of his opponent's hand. Before calling you this morning, I made a few inquires and found out exactly every card you're holding.

Being a want-to-be land dealer you should have known I would know all, or most of the details concerning your deal when I invited you to lunch. By getting to know the way you think, I'm not at all surprised at your attempt to hustle me into paying more for an option that's on the verge of costing you twenty-five thousand dollars, than its worth. In case you have a problem with arithmetic, my offer actually amounts to thirty-five thousand. My God, Buck, how dumb can you be. If I got up and walked away right now, it would, in all probability, cost you the twenty-five grand instead of grabbing my offer making it possible for you to walk away with an easy ten grand, all for doing absolutely nothing."

Buck attempted to muster up a smile and mumbled, "Ya can't blame ah guy for tryin'?"

Rita shook her head before continuing.

"Try getting this through your head in order to save yourself and others from wasting their time. The only reason I'm making you this offer is because Land Investment was giving you a reduced price on the land, which I thought was a good deal; while at the same time keeping someone I knew from losing his ass.

My advice to you, Buck, is to get out of the land dealing business as quickly as possible and never look back. You may know about cows, but you don't know Jack Shit about land speculating. Now, do you want to take my offer or lose twenty-five grand? How much simpler does it get? As of right now, I don't have a whole lot of enthusiasm, time nor patience to spend on someone who attempts to hustle me while I'm offering to pull his nuts out of the fire. In fact my patience has totally run out and I'm calling back the time part of my offer. As of now, you have sixty seconds to make up you mind. What's your answer going to be, Buck?"

Buck sat completely numb knowing there was no other way out for him. He had been out generaled on every flank and there was no way for him to go, other than surrender and eat humble crow.

"Gawd damn it all." He thought. "I never expected it to turn out this way. Here this woman whose legs and body I liked so much that night, not too long ago standin' in the VFW doorway and now she has just shoved it to me without so much as a kiss or Vaseline."

Getting to his feet, while still holding Rita's eye he said.

"You win. I'll ask Stella to make out the papers. Guess maybe I'll take your advice about getting' out of land dealin'. I'm just plain beat into the ground by you smart thinking women, I can't understand. Sorry about lunch, I'm about ready to lose the little breakfast I have left. I should thank you for getting' me off the hook, but if I did it would make me puke for sure."

Buck turned and made his way out of the coffee shop, walking the walk of a beaten man.

**********

Please accept my sincere "thank you" for having selected Rita for your reading enjoyment. If this is your introductory book to **the Sisters of Destiny Series** , I invite you to continue your reading pleasure with six additional vicarious adventures listed on the following page:

**About_the_Author**

He was reared in northern Idaho graduated from Nez Perce High school in the class of '50, spent a four-year tour of duty in the Navy which took him to California, Tennessee, Japan and Alaska. After leaving the Navy he received a B.S. Degree in Engineering from Indiana Institute of Technology at Fort Wayne, Indiana and subsequently spent thirty years in the Aerospace industry and private business

Shifting careers he received an A.S. Degree from the Allied Health Department of Mission College at Santa Clara, California, followed by ten years as a Psych Nurse with the California Department of Developmental Services.

Following retirement he returned to Idaho to keep a blind date with Mary, who became his life partner. He joined RVing with his hobby, writing fictional biographies of imaginary women living in the post Civil War era. Members of this sister possessed a common gene, giving them the chutzpa to out think, out shoot and out maneuver ego driven men thoughtless enough to stand in their way.

**The_Sisters_of_Destiny_Series** span seven full-length independent titles. Each book contains a fictional biography of a post Civil War era woman; caught in circumstances where each woman faced and created her destiny by breaking cultural and business boundaries. They seized available opportunities used brains, bodies or guns in their quest for independent identities.

Titles of the Sisters of Destiny Series are noted below:

Book One.... Kate

Book Two... Bertha

Book Three. Lorrenda

Book Four... Ruby

Book Five... Mei Ling

Book Six..... Francine

Book Seven Rita
