A Red Leaf Ten Orchids Ch 07
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A Red Leaf & Ten Orchids Ch. 13 free porn video
Rose’s mouth dropped open. ‘Poker? I thought it was just supposed to be a social sort of get-together.’ The three of them sat at the table in the loft surrounded by containers of the Chinese food that Rose had brought home.
‘Yeah,’ Kayla smiled, ‘That’s what it’ll be. It’s just going to have a poker game as the focal point, that’s all.’
Rose shook her head, ‘I haven’t played poker in donkey’s years. I doubt I can remember how. Why do you want me to go? I can take care of Jillian while you and Joshua go.’ exclaimed Rose over the table as she decided whether or not to try one of the other dishes.
‘Rosie,’ Josh explained, ‘I can’t go. It’s a lady’s poker night. I don’t qualify. And even if I was allowed to go, I wouldn’t understand all of the stuff that you guys talk about anyway. All that comparative, exponential superwoman stuff.’ he said with a smile. ‘Way above my head.’
He grinned, ‘I’ll look after the Jilly and Daisy while the two of you have some fun, ok? What’s the worst thing that could happen?’
Rose looked at Josh evenly, ‘The volunteer Fire Department is number three on the speed-dial on the house phone.’
Kayla threw in her plea as well. ‘C’mon Aunt Rose. It sounds like fun, and I don’t know the first thing about it. I need you to keep me from losing my shirt.’
‘And I’ll pay you fifty bucks if she comes home without it.’ Josh’s laughter was cut short by Kayla’s elbow in his ribs. He winced, ‘Not that kind of poker, huh?’
‘Alright, I’ll go. It does sound like fun anyway.’ Rose said as she made her choice from among the various dishes. ‘Think you can handle them both, Joshua? Jillian and Daisy?’
‘I’ll be ok, neither of them needs diapers, so that’s the hard part done, right?’ Josh gave his best clueless grin.
The women groaned.
‘Anyway Rosie, you guys ought to have a nice evening out. Neither of you have gone anywhere besides the cantina since Kayla and Jilly arrived and you’re both on vacation, and …, ‘
He lowered his voice, even though Kayla was sitting right next to him, ‘Kayla wants me to spend some time with Jilly and vice versa. She wants to see whether Jilly can keep me in line or not.’
‘Well I don’t see why she couldn’t, ‘Rose said, ‘She’s seven, after all.’
‘Ow. That’s a bit harsh, isn’t it?’ Josh asked in a wounded way.
‘I’ve told you before, Joshua, but you just don’t listen. You always make these self-depreciating remarks. All you do is put yourself down, and it doesn’t suit you. You leave the gate open long enough, boy, something’s just bound to walk in.’ She nodded, ‘That’s all I’m saying.’
‘So what’s on the agenda for you and Jilly?’ Kyla asked, ‘You could always just play one of her PlayStation games for the whole time, but I was hoping for something a little imaginative from you.’
Josh thought back to what had happened a few days before when he’d been around the back of the driving shed to get some hose. He’d walked by a square projection in the structure that stuck out and though he’d been by there a hundred times, he’d suddenly stopped and looked back at it, wondering.
Later on, he’d been in the shed and seen nothing that fit that thing. There was no room there, only a wall behind Sam’s big old tool boxes. He’d walked back outside and looked again. Coming back into the shed, he’d stared at the lines on the wall and moved the toolboxes aside .When he’d opened the doors that he’d found, they led him to that room.
And what was in it.
He’d been busy ever since, and he’d gotten a few things together. Baby-sitting Jilly was just the thing. Kayla had said that they ought to spend time together, and while Josh could pass an evening playing on a game system, what he had in mind would be a lot more fun for Jilly. He might even enjoy it as well.
‘Well I do have something in mind,’ he said, ‘but I can’t tell you what it is. I know that if I do, you’ll give me a ton of perfectly logical reasons against it and I’ll end up losing at anything that we play for the whole evening, so don’t even ask. We’ll have more fun my way.’
The conversation ran to what had transpired between Joshua and Kayla earlier and Rose just stared from one to the other.
‘So you want to get engaged? Is that what you’re telling me?’
‘Yeah,’ Joshua nodded, ‘The way that we saw it, there wasn’t enough for us to worry about.’
‘What are you going to do about a ring, Josh?’ Rose was thinking that, under the circumstances, she could lend him the engagement ring that Sam had given her a long time ago, at least until he could get her something better.
‘I dunno, ‘he said, with a shrug, ‘I was thinking that I ought to practice alternating between looking overcome with joy and blushing shyly for when Kayla puts it onto my hand. She’s the one who proposed.’
Kayla was about to counter that Josh had broached the subject first, but her aunt was laughing too hard. When she could manage a sentence, Rose just grinned at Kayla, ‘That’s my girl.’
Rose thought for a minute and said, ‘Well, if that’s how it’s going to be, then I think that you ought to give some thought to it — and then some thought to Jillian. She’s had some kind of rough ride for a life that most kids never do. I’m not sure what to advise, to tell you the truth. But if you’re serious, it might be better to just involve her, and depending on what she shows you, it might just be best to start living it.’
‘What do you mean. Aunt Rose?’ Kayla asked.
‘Well for starters, Kayla, if she seems to be alright with it, then you ought to think hard about just dusting your man there off and moving him into your home, ‘Rose said, ‘But see how the next couple of days go and tell her what you’ve got in mind, anyway.’
They discussed what could be done with the ranch and there were several options. Rose sat and felt a little overwhelmed until Josh held up his hand.
‘Listen. The fact of the matter is that it basically comes down to running the place or selling it. You’ve said that you wouldn’t mind trying to get it to go, but Rosie, I have no idea about that.’
He got up from the table and walked to his desk, ‘But I do have an idea about asking somebody that I know and trust. If it’s not a big imposition, I’d like for him to come out for a few days and look. He’ll be able to tell us what’s what at the very least.’
He rolled his eyes, mostly for his own benefit, ‘He’s always been able to set me straight — no matter if I wanted his advice or not.’
Josh smiled as he picked up the phone, and then decided that he didn’t feel like squishing the receiver to his ear for very long in the loft, so he punched the speakerphone button and set the receiver down. He stretched to grab his wallet and fished out his long distance card.
Kayla and Rose looked at each other and then at Josh as he punched the second listing on his speed dial and then all of the required subsequent digits, finally adding the number that he wanted. He glanced at them and sipped his beer.
‘Who are you calling?’ Kayla asked him.
He lit a cigarette and inspected his fingernails. ‘An old friend of mine.’
The other end picked up at the fourth ring. The voice sounded like a human rock crusher.
‘Brisebois. Go ahead.’
Josh smiled. ‘Hey, Jim! You still haven’t learned any telephone manners after all this time on civvy street. I’m surprised that Bell will still let you use the system at all, frankly’ he said cheerfully.
‘Taylor! Is that you? You ignorant, misbegotten, illegitimate spawn of an albino ape and a confused syphilitic sheep! How the hell are you?’ The gravel voice on the other end began to chuckle.
Rose and Kayla exchanged glances, their eyebrows climbing.
Josh laughed. ‘I’m so pleased that somebody still loves me, Jim. How are you doing these days? What’s the weather like back in T.O.?’
There was a grunt from the speaker. ‘I’m
not in Toronto. You know I live in Vaughn, you stupid shit. I’m ok, I guess. I’m bored out of my fucking mind is all. The weather here sucks. Hot, sticky, the same shit every year. Where are you? Out in the desert again, last I heard.
Why you go there when you can have all the heat you want for free right here is beyond me. Then again, you always were eight cylinders running on five.’
Josh was looking down, shaking his head with a smile. He’d forgotten the way that they’d bantered sometimes, and with the phone on speaker, … He just knew there would be hell to pay for this somewhere.
He opened the small fridge and took out two beers. He opened them and handed them to the astonished women.
‘I love you too. See, the reason that I’m here, and not there, is that out here, I can have the hot without the sticky. It’s dry here, y’know? Sweat actually dries here and keeps you cooler. It’s a wonderful invention that they call an arid climate. You ought to try it sometime.’
Josh snorted, ‘And you call me stupid. Hey, I was wondering. If you’re sufficiently bored, why not come and visit me? The beer’s ok here, and the company is pretty grand too.
Now before you answer in the mellifluous fashion that has made you famous all over the globe, I must point out that two of the finest-looking women in the entire state of New Mexico are sitting in front of me, and you’re on speakerphone.’
Rose and Kayla smiled and chuckled.
‘Taylor,’ the voice growled, ‘what’s this about? I’m listening, and you know I have a short attention span.’
Josh leaned against the edge of the desk. ‘Jim, I have a small problem.’
The roaring laughter out of the phone reminded Kayla of tires spinning on a dirt road.
‘Now that is an understatement if I’ve ever heard one, Taylor. That’s one hell of an oversimplification,’ Jim chuckled, ‘but hey, a journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step, they say. At least you recognize a tiny part of your trouble. So what’s gone wrong THIS time?’
Josh sighed as he spoke, ‘My friend has an old ranch. I’d love to help her with it, but I don’t know shit about this stuff, and I can’t even tell her if it’s viable. It hasn’t been worked in years as far as I can tell.’
‘That’s it?’ the voice sounded a little disappointed, ‘That’s what you called me and woke me out of a pleasant little daydream for? Shit, your life sure has slowed down to a crawl, then.’
Josh grinned mischievously, ‘Well there is more…’
‘Ok, NOW we’re getting someplace,’ the voice rumbled, ‘Go on.’
Josh smiled, ‘Well I keep trying to get milk out of the wrong animal, too. Apparently there are two kinds of cattle. I never read the manual. The ones I pick either just want to kill me, or follow me home. I can’t imagine what’s wrong.’
There was a long sigh down the wire. ‘Nothing’s changed, I see,’ the voice said, ‘The root of any of your problems is always the same thing, Taylor. You’re a lazy shit. I know you so well. You took one look at a herd of cattle and decided to take what looks to you to be the easy way out. Rather than try to tangle with one udder and four teats, you’re hanging onto one big thing and it’s the wrong one. Now that I’ve solved your difficulty, is there anything else that I can do for you today?’
‘Seriously, if you can come down for a week to advise us,’ Joshua said, ‘I’ll put you up and kick for half the fare. I can promise a change of scene, some nightlife in town, you get to ride my 1942 Harley, and you get to see my vapid, smiling face. Oh, and I do know where they hide the women around here. What do you think?’
‘You want me to go there to teach you how to milk a cow?’
‘No,’ Josh said dryly, ‘I need your help and advice on how to tell if this ranch can run, and maybe how to begin to do that so that my friend doesn’t have to sell it. Milking a cow can’t really be all that hard, can it?’
There was a groan. ‘Taylor, I’m trying to put this in words that you might understand. Cattle – the female variety — do not, as a rule, respond favorably to requests that they just pour their milk into the bucket for you, no matter how sweetly you might ask them.’
‘Well, what if you — ‘
‘No, ‘the weary voice added, ‘not even if you compliment them, Taylor.’
Rose and Kayla began to laugh. The sound of it caused the owner of the voice to remember that there were others present.
‘How many head of cattle are there now?’ the voice asked wearily.
‘None yet,’ Josh replied, ‘but –‘
‘Thank God,’ came the reply, ‘You’re serious? You need to know about getting a cattle operation going?’
‘I’m serious,’ exhaled Josh, ‘What do you think?’
There was a slow chuckle out of the speaker for a moment before Brisebois answered. ‘I think you’re nuts, but then I’ve always maintained that position whenever anybody mentions you in passing. But if you’re serious and need an opinion, I’m there, seeing as it’s you. I can’t stand this place in summer. I need a break from the boredom. At least I can go there and kill you in peace without the distraction of paperwork for once. Give me details.’
Kayla and Rose had no idea what Josh was talking about, but sipped their beer in silence for the next ten minutes as Joshua gave the man directions. At last they were about done.
The voice on the phone sighed tiredly, ‘Taylor, are there really two women with you now?’
‘Yes.’ Turning to them, he said ‘Say hello to Jim, girls.’
‘Hello Jim.’ They chirped in unison.
The voice sounded even more tired and resigned.
‘Ladies, please allow me to apologize for my language at the outset of this conversation. I did not know that you were listening. Joshua has once again proven with his innate and unique ability why he is such a walking endorsement for birth control.
He’s talked me into going there, and I’d like very much to apologize to you both in person when I arrive if I might be allowed that honor. My language was uncalled for and unconscionable. Please keep him in good spirits and health for me until then. I absolutely need him to be in fine shape when I crush his worthless skull for this.
Taylor, are you still there? Pick up the receiver.’
Joshua picked up the receiver, and the speaker was cut off. ‘Still here, Jim.’ Josh replied.
The voice lost most of its gravel, and softened. ‘Josh, just humor me here for a minute. I’m playing a hunch. Are you involved with anybody there, and is she present?’
‘Jim, what?’ Josh asked, ‘Yes, and yes.’
‘American national? Are there dependents?’
‘Yes,’ Josh replied, ‘What’s this pertaining to?’
‘I need to tell you what I’ve heard Joshua. There’s a warning order coming down. Soon.’
Joshua’s face froze, still holding the grin that he had, but he stared at the night sky through the windows at the far end of the loft for a second. Then he said quietly, ‘I just got back. Ok, if you can, I’d appreciate it if you could check on my status before you leave. Right now would be a bad time, and I was only advised verbally.’
He could hear the older man’s smile as she spoke. ‘Where did you think I was going with this? I’ll do better than that. I’ll try to advise somebody of your change of dependent status when I get back. I think that I can get the forms for you to fill out while I’m there, but I’m not sure. I’ll need names and personal info when I get there. Now put me back on speakerphone.’
Josh complied, and sat back. ‘Go Jim.’
There was a pause before Brisebois’s voice picked up cheerily. ‘Uh, Taylor has informed me that one of you is in some small way what he might — purely in a fit of fantasy – define as a ‘significant other’. If this is correct, and not a figment of his diseased mind, please identify yourself to me if you would be so kind.’
Kayla stepped forward looking at Josh, who smiled to her and nodded for her to speak. ‘Hello, uh, Jim, I’m Kayla Fra
ser. How are you?’
Brisebois chuckled happily. ‘I am fine Ms. Fraser, however I am truly sorry. I have for years tried to shield the women of the world from our young Mr. Taylor. Unfortunately, he is an adult, and I can no longer hold him back as effectively as I once could. He has chosen to cross an international border to prey upon defenseless elements of fine American femininity such as yourself. I look forward very much to meeting you, Ma’am. You must be very courageous indeed.
Taylor!’
‘Yes Dad.’ laughed Josh
The growl was back in that voice instantly, ‘There is no way, Taylor, that you can stop me from going to see you now. I absolutely need to meet the young lady who surely has the bravest heart of any woman on the planet, one who has taken the place in your heart that I thought would always belong to your own right hand,’ he chuckled quietly.
Kayla and Rose burst out in laughter.
‘I’ll see what I can do, Josh, but I’ll need info when I get there, as I said. And some kind of map of the place could prove to be of use. You remember what they are? Maps are pieces of paper that show a two-dimensional symbolic depiction of an area of land. See what you can come up with and have it ready. Out.’
Josh said. ‘Bye Jim.’ The line went dead.
Rose walked closer to Josh and said, ‘What was that all about?’
Kayla asked, ‘Who was that, Josh?’
Josh remained fixated on a small moonlit cloud for a second before he came back to himself. ‘I’m sorry, what?’
Josh still leaned against the desk looking at something beyond the horizon. As Kayla and Rose sat down again, he looked at them both and smiled.
‘That was an old friend of mine, Jim Brisebois. When I took a release, he opted for retirement, since he has the time in. He’s the meanest man I’ve ever known. That’s why I love him so much, I guess. I wanted to ask you first Rosie, but then I decided that he can stay with me in the loft while he’s here. He’ll think it’s a palace anyway. I invited him for his ability. Now hear me out Rosie, ok?’
Josh pulled on his beer, and went on. ‘You’re stuck with a decision that you need to make about this place. You can live here, but it’s not doing anything to earn its keep, and I think there are still taxes to be paid regardless, so it might as well be doing something for you.
To make it go in any way will need advice and organizational skills that I can’t provide. I can do the grunt work, but that’s pretty much it. Jim comes from ranching stock out west back home, so he’ll know what has to happen to make it work, or even if it can be made to work. The other main talent that he has lies in strategic ability. He’s got a real knack for turning hopeless shit into a plan.
I’ve invited him down because I really want to see him again for one, and he could use a break from the boredom of retirement that I suspected has been bothering him. That conversation confirmed to me that I was right. So he’ll be here in a few days. I want to show him the place if that’s all right with you, and he can provide you with a good assessment to help you in your decision.
If you decide to work this ranch, he can also help with all kinds of useful advice, and I’m hoping, put together a plan with you to achieve the best chance at success on the start up. Forgive me for being forward with all of this, but you don’t seem to be making any real move toward a decision here, and the place needs to be doing something besides growing weeds. It’s only for a week. If you’re put off by him at all, I’ll just keep him hidden away, ok?’
They all looked at each other for a few seconds. Rose spoke first with a sigh. ‘You’re right Joshua. I have been procrastinating. I was hoping that a miracle would happen if I could get us all here. I do need to come up with something soon, or just sell it.’
Josh reached across the table, and grasped her arm as he smiled at them. ‘A miracle has happened. I’m happy and so are Kayla and Jilly. But I also know my limitations. You had a great idea and I thank you for it.’
He winked at Kayla. ‘We just need to figure out how to get it to lift off and fly. Jim can help a lot with that. There are so many things that we need to figure out. With his help, we might have a few less to worry about for now.’
Jerri
- 03.04.2020
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