trip to sequoia

ch,12 cont. 

          It was early spring and the rain was beginning to fall and this broke his thought as cold rain drops bounced off his face and lee looked down at Ann and said.

      “We had better head back into the house dear, it is starting to rain,”

      “Afraid you will melt? “Asked Ann

      “Actually I was thinking of you “Lee laughed and caught a jab under his ribs, and with that they walked hand in hand to the house as a light rain dampened their path. And then Ann spoke.

     “So is everything ready for the sale, what a mess it is hope it isn't raining tomorrow?”

      “Far as I know everything is ready, the sales crew is supposed to be here early lay everything out in boxes and then they will start selling around 11, with the sale of the property afterward. Think I am going to keep at least one tractor and have around here till after the sale. We will need it to pull everyone out. Looks like we are going to have a muddy one even if the sun shines,” he goes on to say. “ hard to believe I am going to be a stranger in my own home after tomorrow and seeing all this go kind of makes me sad , but at same time I am glad as it means we can be together more often , are you ready for that? “

     Ann laughed and said “Don’t know does it mean you will be talking all the time now? “

      “Oh and you don’t like me talking? “

   She stopped him mid ways up the walk pulled on the front of his coat and brought his face close to hers, and said. “Listen young man use that mouth for what it is intended a little less talking and more kissing.” They stood in the soft rain as the grey skies weighed heavily over them and kissed a long sensual kiss , with tongues dancing off one another and their hot breath escaping in folds of steam as they held  each other exploring paths taken before but seemingly always new to them . Ann knew how to get lee out of his funk and have a good time doing it, and soon they were in the house releasing themselves from their bindings as straight to bed they went. Lee was slow and methodical as he understood Ann’s wants.

        Ann woke first in the morning and slipped down to the local diner as all the food was gone from the house now and picked Lee and her  up some breakfast and coffee even though they had coffee at the farm still. The rain had quit and the sun was peeking through and by the time she returned the auction sales crew was doing their thing and Lee was standing on the porch of the house talking to the auctioneer. Lee was glad to see the breakfast and Ann, and helped her carry the packages into the kitchen and they sat and ate at the table. A man came in and said excuse me and started pulling the dishes out of the cupboards. Lee had already moved his belongings to Ann’s apartment. It was small but would serve them both for now. Lee also was taking his dog, Susie to her house. Something Ann wasn't all that crazy about but accepted as part of the deal and said nothing as Lee would take care of her, she had been a faithful loyal dog and followed Lee everywhere. Lee often said when working alone on the farm if something ever happened to him just find her and she would be close by. And she was always. That is one thing about those German shepherds they are protective.

     More people were coming to help with the auction and soon the house was bare refrigerator , stove , freezer , and washer and dryer was now sitting in the front yard , boxes of memories were scattered in long rows to be picked over by eager prospectors looking for the lump of gold hidden somewhere in them. No such gold existed but still it didn't stop them from looking as they picked up old purses Darla had and examined the change pockets and then searched through the pants pockets to see if Carl had maybe left  a coin stuffed here and there that someone may have missed. Some just reminisced as one lady did as she stood there and played with an old Etch a Sketch. Another guy was picking up a power saw and trying it out at an electric outlet. Lees life was played out in the front lawn as was his parent’s as  soon Lee realized that this was the sum total of his parents life. Not what they earned but the stuff they kept afterward, some of it knowing they would never use again and others they used daily like the light that used to sit bedside Carl’s chair which was also sitting out there.

   Carl was a creature of habit and would daily do the crossword puzzle and he was never very good at it but still he tried or at least Lee did for him. Carl would yell through the house to Lee from the time he was kid how do you spell this or that and Lee would answer, and Carl would yell back that isn’t right it doesn’t fit. Lee often thought why don’t you just give me the damn crosswords and I will do it myself. But that never happened as Carl would already have it so scratched up from trying to answer it was fruitless to try and solve it. Memories, time for new ones thought lee as him and Ann watched box after box being pulled out of the house. The bed Ann and him had slept in the night before was now headed to the front lawn. Lee thought back to the memories of Ann‘s face as she lay there in the semi darkness drifting off to sleep. He stared at her for almost an hour before going to sleep himself. He never wanted to forget her face and often wondered what she was thinking. This was one memory he was never going to forget.  They finished their breakfast and Ann met some friends she knew from town and was talking to them as Lee watched what was going on all over the place.

       His brothers and sisters also showed up an immediately started taking things to their car they felt should not have went up for sale and this disturbed Lee as they agreed to let everything sell and if they wanted something then they could buy it at the auction and it would be taken out of their share when it was said and done. Lee watched after item after item as it made a march to someone’s pickup and then he decided he had enough of this , when he saw his Dad’s apple butter stirrer head to his brother’s pickup, and Lee wondered why.  So he proceeded to bring it back and put it in line to be resold. After all what kind of memory could be attached to something like that. When they were kid Ken was nowhere to be found when it came to stirring the apple butter but sure was there to eat it. it took hours to cook down the apple sauce , let alone cutting the apples and grinding them . But now he had this sentimental attraction to this apple stirrer, so Lee grabbed it out of the back of his brothers truck and placed it back where it was in the line to be resold without telling his brother or confronting him. Lee thought that was the end to it. It wasn't.

As soon it disappeared again, and again Lee found it in the back of his brother’s truck as lee was busy and couldn’t watch it all the time. Again lee returned it to where it originally came from and Lee told Ann the next time he saw her, I don’t care what it costs but I want you to buy that apple butter stirrer when it comes up for auction, and Ann looked at him like he was crazy but said OK as Lee offered no explanation except I will tell you later.

    The auction started and an explanation of how the auction was going to go along with where you needed to register to get a number and other details and immediately they settled into selling off the household items and the apple butter stirred came up for auction . Lee was watching Ann and his brother Ken from the other side of the crowd but he looked directly at Ann as she was bidding and she caught his stare and kept on bidding despite what Ken offered up as Lee was nodding go ahead all the time. The auctioneer who was quite surprised at what he was getting for the stirrer and finally stopped the auction and said, “Wow I don’t know how many of these I sold but this one must be special, I never had one go this high before and then he asked for one hundred and fifty, and Ann nodded yes as lee smiled at her. Then it went to Ken who couldn't see who he was bidding against him.  Ken was wearing down and stammered a yes and nodded back to Ann and she said yes enthusiastically, then it was back to Ken almost immediately and he finally said no. Ann won the bidding.  

   Well “the auctioneer said, “Young lady that was a hard fought battle but you won what’s your number?”

Ann replied, “Don’t know about the young but my number is 103.”  With that everyone in the crowd laughed as they went on to the next item.

       It was only then Lee caught up with her and told her what ken had done and why she needed to buy that stirrer. They both laughed at denying Ken that stirrer, despite what it cost.  The rest of the auction went on as planned and soon items were loaded into trucks and what took years to accumulate was soon loaded and seen hanging from a pickup truck as it headed down the lane to become someone else’s stuff now.

         Lee made good on the equipment and the cattle fetching a high price as the market was good for those items. Tractors and scrap metal and an old corn crib all made their exodus out that same lane until all was left was Ann, Lee, and Susie, his dog and torn empty boxes and trash littered the lawn. Lee made a round of the farm checking what was left and closing doors , and shutting off lights. Finally they climbed into lee s old f-150 and headed to Ann’s house. Susie who was always happy at riding leaned over and slapped Ann’s face with a wet tongue, giving her a grateful kiss to be going along.  Time to start making new memories lee thought.