30 comments/ 32386 views/ 76 favorites And The Horse You Rode In On By: TexasFarmBoy Year One Gerald Murphy was screwed and he knew it. He preferred to be called Gerald but for some reason, most people including his now ex-wife and former boss called him Jerry. He went with the flow but it still rankled him sometimes. But what people called him was the least of his worries. His primary concern was what a 35 year old man was going to do after he had been stripped of his dignity, reputation, livelihood, family, and 75% of his assets by his divorce. The biggest problem was that he honestly didn't know or understand what had happened to him. A few other people could have told him but he was unlikely to understand. They would have told him that he was Mr. Loyalty, the eternal Boy Scout, the guy who everyone relied on because he never let them down. They also would have told him that he was so focused on what he was doing that he seldom let people get close to him. He didn't hang out with co-workers or go to many social events. The results were that he had made several relatively incompetent supervisors look very good but he had been passed over for promotion because he never earned his membership in the good-old-boy club. These qualities came together and culminated in his divorce from his wife of ten years who then took up with one of his arrogant former bosses who was notorious for taking credit for other people's work and treating them like peasants. Their ensuing marriage and move for another job opportunity caused Gerald's two young children to move to a high energy city 600 miles away. Gerald was left alone in a smaller city with a job, a small house, his pickup truck, and no idea how his life had gone from satisfactory to the dumpster in less than a year. Then the economy took one of its frequent trips into the toilet and Gerald became an unemployed 35 year old with a small house and pickup truck and very little likelihood of finding another decent job in the foreseeable future. The plant closing had been sudden but he did receive a year's salary as severance and a good recommendation. A month later, he realized that he was just slowly slipping towards bankruptcy and that he had to do something. He managed to sell his house and got some money from that deal but had escaped from a mortgage payment. He found a 5 acre plot of land 80 miles away that he could pay cash for and bought a repossessed one bedroom cabin and had it installed. At this point he had a place to live that cost him little and had some money left to survive on. But that was it; his life had been reduced to a trailer house on five acres and no tomorrow. The finale came one night as he was watching television. The news commentator, who made more a lot more money in a year than most people made in a lifetime, had spent the better part of an hour justifying that people should quit complaining about the economy and just go get a job and work hard so that they could be successful like he was. He had brought out three or four well dressed, well-heeled "experts" to support his arguments. Just before the program ended, Gerald took out his .22 pistol and shot the television screen three times. For a brief minute, Gerald considered turning the gun around and firing off one more round, but that thought disappeared and he put the pistol back in the drawer. The next morning, he drove into town and bought a used garden tiller, some compost, and a variety of vegetable seeds. For the next week, he worked from sun up until dark tilling an area not far from the cabin and planted a garden. He was going to make sure that he had some food available to him. On his next trip to town, he saw a sign for an estate sale. Without much thought, he decided to stop and see if there was anything useful at the sale. Unfortunately, the sale was all but over and only a few odds and ends were left. He talked with the person who handled the sale and discovered that the man who had died had left the place to his son who didn't really want the place and was going to put it up for sale. The person in charge asked Gerald if he knew anyone locally who might be willing to come over and clear out the barn of a lot of junk and haul it off and also tear down a small shed that had seen better days. Without thinking, Gerald said that he would do it for $200. The man handed him $200 and asked if he could have it cleaned up within a week. For the next week Gerald carefully tore down the shed and put the lumber in his truck and stacked it behind the cabin. When he started on the barn, he was surprised at what he found among the "junk." It was obvious that the seller had not take the time or interest to sort through the dirty pile of stuff in the barn. He had only told Gerald to clear it all out and get rid of it. By the time he had hauled the scrap to the dump and had made three trips to the metal recycling center where loads of broken and bent metal had earned him another $150, Gerald finally surveyed the other "stuff" that he had salvaged. Besides the lumber from the shed, he had saved thirty metal fence poles, a 200 foot roll of fencing, several worn but useful garden and hand tools, and his prized find, a 5' by 8' trailer buried under everything else. The tires were shot but he had been able to get it home in one piece. Everything he had accumulated would need cleaning and some repair but he now had some material to work with. Since his television was now also filling space at the dump, he relied on listening to the radio while he worked around the garden and restored the equipment he had accumulated. In the evenings, he listened to music and read. Over the next two months, the estate sale person had called him twice more to do the same at two other places. He readily accepted the jobs and happily took $200 for each of them. He also picked up some additional money from metal recycling from these efforts but also added additional lumber and some siding and metal roofing to his collection of building materials. He also picked up a lawn mower that he was told was dead. I proved to be very much alive after an oil change and a new spark plug. It was at this time that his garden began producing results. He discovered quickly that he needed to learn how to preserve some of his crops for later use. The local library supplied him with two books on canning and preserving vegetables and soon he was blanching and preparing his harvest for storage. His only problem became a lack of storage space. He solved that by using some of the lumber and materials that he had collected and built a strong storage building partially underground to act as a combination storm shelter, root cellar, and storage room. He built it into the side of a north facing hill and it kept the interior surprisingly cool during the summer and dry during the rainy spring and fall. He had evolved a schedule so that he worked six days then took the seventh day off to clean house, do laundry and take care of any other chores. From another library book, he learned to bake his own bread so he baked a week's supply on his day off. The other thing that he did religiously was to write a letter to each of his children each week. He mailed them and they did not come back but he never knew if they received them or not as he never got a reply. Two years later, they started to come back marked "Moved, no forwarding address." He continued to write the letters but no longer wasted the money for postage. He put them into two boxes, one for each child. While in town one day, he discovered that there was a small farmer's market open on Saturdays only. Saturday became his shopping day with the market his first stop. He was able to buy vegetables and other things that he hadn't or couldn't grow. He also discovered that several women baked a variety of breads and baked items and sold them at the market. After finding out the details about how to do this, he began baking ten loaves each week and taking them to the market to sell. The women baked lighter things while he preferred the darker, heavier multi-grain and rye breads. The first weekend he tried, he sold six loaves at $5 each. After that first weekend, he sold everyone of his loaves and was often asked to bring more. As a result, he used Thursday and Friday as bread making days. He mixed the dough and set it out to rise on Thursday evening and baked all day on Friday. This method allowed him to increase his offerings to between 15 and 20 loaves a week. While the amount of money he made wasn't huge by any means, it was enough to allow him to buy meat and other staples. The other thing it allowed for him to do, which ultimately turned into a greater blessing, was to meet many local people and become recognized as a member of the community. Since this wasn't a high pressure situation, people quickly discovered his positive traits and found that while he was quiet, he did indeed have a charming personality even if it was subdued. The ladies at the market became particularly fond of the quiet man who made such good rye bread. When they also discovered that he was a gardener and a handy man, several of them asked him if he would build them raised bed gardens and get them started with a garden. They tended to be older women who found gardening difficult in the ground. Most were retired widows or women with husbands who were unwilling or incapable of building even the most simple thing. Gerald agreed to all requests and began building raised bed boxes from his stock of lumber and taking them to their homes and putting them where they were wanted. He also invested in new tires for the trailer and had a welder repair part of the frame. With that, he found a source for bulk compost that was much less expensive than the individual bags from the garden center. Over the next two months, he built and installed twelve of these beds at $75 each ready to plant. While doing this, many of the women asked him to do other repair and maintenance projects around their houses. As a result, he usually left their house with between $100-150 in his pocket. This continued until the holiday season when things began to slow down. This gave him time to take care of some chores that he had been postponing. It was during this time that he was able to sit down and take stock of where he was. He was surprised to discover the results when he finished. After he had bought the land and mobile home, he had about $10,000 left to live off of. When he added up everything, he now had $12,000 in his savings account. He had survived the first nine months of his new, simple life without a regular job and still added money to his account. This also didn't take into account the supply of tools and materials he had amassed to work with. As he finished his assessment, he began to cry. His tears washed away his initial feelings of sorry and became tears of thanks and joy that he had survived and that gave him confidence that he could continue to survive. As a Christmas present, he had an internet line installed so he could access all of the information on the net. For the first time in years, he went into town and joined a community Christmas event and brought five loaves of bread to the festivities. People expressed pleasure that he showed up and introduced him to even more people. One of these people was his next door neighbor. He had been aware that someone lived next door but had never made the effort to actually meet them. "Them" turned out to be a single mother about his age and her eight year old daughter. The woman was introduced as Gwen Lambert and her daughter Cherilyn. As they talked, he discovered that she was a school teacher in town and that explained why he did not see them around during the day. Cherilyn proved to be quiet and shy, much like he was. Before they parted, they exchanged phone numbers and offers to call if they needed help. Two days later, he got a call from her. She explained that her brother and his wife were supposed to come for Christmas dinner but had to cancel because of an emergency. She said that she had far too much food prepared for the two of them and would he like to join them for dinner on Christmas Day. He fought back his initial inclination to decline the offer but accepted and asked if he could at least bring a loaf of bread or something. She accepted his offer and said that she was planning on dinner at 1:00 and that he was welcome at anytime he arrived. He took a shower and put on a clean pair of jeans and shirt and started towards her house shortly after noon with the loaf of bread under his arm. As he walked, he noticed what he thought was steam coming out of a window. When he realized that it was smoke, he began to run and burst through the door nearest the smoking window. He found Gwen sitting on the kitchen floor with tears pouring down her face. The stove was black and soaked with water and fire extinguisher residue. "Are you and Cherilyn alright?" Between sobs, Gwen nodded her head. "Come on; let's get you out of here." He helped her up and led her to the back porch and sat her in a lawn chair. He then went and found Cherilyn cowering in fear in the living room. He led her out to the backyard and sat her next to her mother. Then he went back inside to look things over. The gas oven had obviously caught fire and spread to the stove top. Everything was a mess. The wall behind the stove had suffered some smoke and water damage but for the most part, the rest of the kitchen was intact. He went outside and found the gas shut off valve and closed it. He went back inside and pulled the electrical plug to the stove and pulled it away from the wall. Overall, the mess could be cleaned up and the wall board behind the stove could be easily replaced. The major item was the loss of the stove unit. He went back outside and sat down next to Gwen who had brought her sobbing under control. "I'm sorry, Gerald, The turkey is in the grill over there staying warm but everything else is ruined." "Hey, both of you are OK and that is the important thing. The damage isn't too bad but the stove is a loss. We can just take the turkey to my place and finish the meal there, if you are up to it." "I can't ask you to do that." "I don't recall you asking for anything; I am offering it. My place is small but I think that the three of us can fit and still have a nice dinner." "Alright, if you don't mind. I'm not sure I am ready to face cleaning up that mess on Christmas Day." "We will clean it up tomorrow. I can replace some of the wall board and then we can see about replacing the stove." She smiled a thin smile that left something unsaid but nodded. They put the turkey on a large platter and the three of them got in Gwen's car and drove the short distance to Gerald's cabin. As he led them inside, Gerald said to the young girl, "I'm sorry Cherilyn, I don't have a television to watch. I listen to music most of the time. But you can go on the computer and perhaps find something interesting. She nodded nervously and said, "Thank you." Gwen surveyed the cabin and decided that it was neat and clean and livable. With Gerald's help, they opened several of the canned foods that he had put up and heated up a variety of vegetables for dinner. By the time they sat down to dinner, the kitchen smelled of fresh vegetables and turkey and everybody sat down in a refreshed state of mind. Both Gwen and her daughter commented on how good the vegetables tasted while Gerald praised the turkey. After dinner, Gerald showed her around his garden and storage room. Cherilyn had found things on the computer and was lost in a child's world of different things. Gwen and Gerald ended up sitting on his small deck and they each began to reveal some of their history while drinking a glass of tea. Gwen told him that she and her husband had bought the house next door three years ago with big plans to fix and update it. The economy had cost him his job and the remodeling plans had come to a halt. He finally found a job 200 miles away and he went to work at a lesser paying job while she stayed in the house with Cherilyn because of her job. Things were looking up until her husband failed to call as usual. When she was able to finally find out what happened, her life went into turmoil again. He had lost that job too and went out and got drunk. Then he went and tried to rob a convenience store and wounded the owner but the owner had also shot him. He survived but had been under arrest for four months. The court appointed lawyer had told her that he would probably have to go to prison for a couple of years for his crime. As a result, Gwen had had to cut back on many things to make ends meet. One of those had been that she had to drop the homeowners insurance on the house. She didn't know how or when she would be able to replace the stove. Gerald listened to her tale and nodded. He then said that he understood her situation completely and that he would look around a couple of places that he had found and see what he could do about a stove. She thanked him for helping her. She then asked about him and he told her his story or at least as much of it as he could as his understanding When they left, Gerald had made them agree to come over for breakfast in the morning before he and Gwen went back and began the cleanup. Gwen agreed on the condition that she would bring the sausage and eggs. Gerald agreed and things were settled. They arrived just before 8:00 and Gerald made fresh biscuits and sausage gravy while Gwen cooked the sausage and scrambled eggs. They worked together surprisingly well in the small kitchen but breakfast was a hit for everyone. Gerald provided her with some bell pepper and onion to mix in with the eggs. Both Gwen and Cherilyn liked the biscuits and gravy, something that they had never had before. They went to Gwen's house shortly after 9:00 and began the clean up. The first thing he did was wrestle the stove outside and load it into the bed of his truck. He would take it to the metal recycler the next day. He expected that he would get about $20 for the scrap as it was an old and heavy gas range. He and Gwen then cleaned and scrubbed the floor and cabinets. After she made sandwiches for lunch, Gerald began cutting and removing the old wall board. He found several of the studs inside the wall had deteriorated and needed replacing along with some insulation. The next morning after a stop at the metal recycler, he went to the building supply store and bought what he needed. By the time he stopped that evening, he had the studs repaired and the insulation installed. The wall board would go back in the following morning. Gwen and Cherilyn came to his house for breakfast and dinner each day and they had lunch at Gwen's house while they worked. After the wall board had been installed, he told Gwen that he needed to run an errand and would be back in time for dinner. She smiled and told him to take care of what he needed to. She would get the things for dinner and to not worry about it. Gerald drove 50 miles to a recycle store he had come across and found a gas stove that was only three years old. The previous owner had decided to remodel the kitchen and the white stove didn't fit with their new color scheme, so they had donated it to the resale store which supported a local charity. Gerald bought it for $100 and drove it home with a tarp covering it from a light rain that had sprung up. When he arrived home, Gwen was already busy in his kitchen preparing a roast and potatoes and other vegetables. The three of them shared another excellent meal made even better when Gerald put a loaf of bread into the oven. The warm bread and the lingering aroma made everything almost perfect. The next morning, he backed his truck up to their door before they had come down for breakfast. After knocking and being greeted by Gwen still in her robe, he unloaded the stove into the kitchen and had it installed in less than an hour. Gwen couldn't believe that he had found one and put it in so easily. That morning, they cooked breakfast on the new stove and Gwen couldn't have been happier with the new features that the stove had. She faltered and almost cried when Gerald turned it on for the first time and it lit right up. She finally asked him how much she owed him for the stove. She couldn't believe that he had bought it for only $100. She had expected to have to pay closer to $300 for one in worse condition. He told her to just pay him back at $20 a month which was an offer she really appreciated and accepted. And The Horse You Rode In On After breakfast, Gwen casually mentioned that she had been invited to a New Year's party at another teacher's house but that she hadn't been able to find a sitter for Cherilyn. Gerald suggested that he would be pleased to stay with Cherilyn at either house while she went to the party. After getting reassurances that he was really OK with that, she accepted his offer. After checking with Cherilyn, they decided that they would stay at Gerald's cabin so she could use the computer. Gwen had a computer but had to give up the internet during her cutback. Gwen dropped Cherilyn off at 7:00 and went to her party. Cherilyn was thrilled when Gerald told her that they were going to make homemade pizzas for dinner. They worked together and she doctored her pizza just the way she wanted it. While they ate, Gerald talked to her about school and things going on in her life. The major thing she said was that she missed her dad but knew that he wouldn't be coming home for a long time. Gerald got a little misty thinking about his own children who he knew he wouldn't see for a long time. After dinner, they played some games and then he showed her where some games were on the computer. She began trying some of them out while he settled down to read. Shortly before 11:00 he heard a car drive up which was highly unusual. As he opened the door, he saw Gwen get out carrying a bottle of wine. She smiled and said that she had enjoyed the party but had decided that she would bring in the New Year with them instead of waiting for another hour with her co-workers. She entered and they opened the wine and toasted each other. Cherilyn got a glass of grape juice and joined them in their toast. Midnight arrived and hugs were shared around. Gwen and Cherilyn left shortly afterwards as Cherilyn was beginning to droop. Year Two Gerald spent New Year's Day building an outdoor brick oven from a design that he had discovered on the internet. He felt that the wood heat would add to the flavor to his breads. Saturday, he spent at the farmer's market and sold out his twenty loaves. The market was only open on the first Saturday of each month during the winter and would open aback up every weekend starting in April. Saturday night, Gwen called and invited him over for Sunday dinner. She was going to make enchiladas and tacos for dinner. School was going to start back up on Monday and she felt like this would be a good start to close out the holidays. Gerald accepted and they had a grand fiesta on Sunday night. On Monday a cold front came through dropping the temperature to around freezing. He had been telling people that he had quite a bit of seasoned firewood available if they needed it. His phone started ringing Monday morning and he spent most of the week delivering trailer loads of wood. In all, he made close to $1000 that week which made him feel good since his bread sales had dropped with the limited schedule of the farmer's market. He also hadn't been called for raised bed garden for over a month. In expectation of more business, he went ahead and built a dozen frames that were now ready for spring. With the cold weather, he couldn't finish his oven but he spent his time looking for new recipes for breads. And with school starting up again on Monday, he didn't see much of Gwen and Cherilyn during the week. But they talked on the phone. He invited them over on Friday for dinner which she accepted if he would accept an invitation for dinner on Sunday. That became their usual pattern unless either of them had a conflict which didn't happen very often. As January turned into February, he started receiving calls for raised beds. Having them already made meant that he could spend half the time setting up someone else's garden and still have time to plant his lettuce, potatoes, and onions. When he was done with this, he had an idea. Gwen and Cherilyn came home from school one afternoon and found a neatly tilled garden running along the fence that separated their properties. A phone call confirmed that he had in fact tilled the garden and put in compost so that it was ready to plant. Cherilyn did not have school the next day but it was a teacher work day so they decided that Cherilyn would help him plant their garden. Gwen had told him that she had wanted a garden but didn't have the time nor the tools to build it but she thought that she could maintain it if she had one. Now she had her garden. A month later when Spring Break came upon them, Gwen told him that they were going to be gone for several days. Her husband's trial was scheduled and she felt that they should be there for him. Gerald understood and wished them a safe drive and that he would watch over their place. When they left, Gerald felt a shiver of loneliness set in until his phone starting ringing again. Then he was busy with calls until after they returned the following weekend. Gwen called on Thursday night and he could tell that she was fighting herself to seem cheerful. She said that they would be home Friday night but it might be late. He told her to just come to his place and he would have dinner ready when they arrived. She thanked him for his generosity and promised him a meal on Sunday. They arrived at Gerald's place at 7:00. Gerald had prepared the makings of pizza again so the only thing they needed to do was put their favorite toppings on and pop them in the oven. He could see the strain lines on Gwen's face and Cherilyn, who was usually quiet, seemed more so than usual. He assumed that the trip had been taxing and the results not very satisfying. He chose to not ask but to just focus on the needs of the moment. As a result, dinner was subdued but by the time they left for home, he could see that some of the tension had abated. As she left, Gwen whispered to him that she would tell him more on Sunday. Gerald just nodded and wished them a good night. Saturday was busy at the farmer's market. He offered half of his as oven baked and the other half as brick oven baked. Both sold out but he asked each of those who ought the brick oven loaves to let him know what they thought of the new baking technique. Many of his regulars smiled and said that they expected it to be good but would let him know. He didn't see Gwen or Cherilyn when he got home but decided to leave them alone as he suspected that they just needed some downtime alone. On Sunday, he spent the day tending his garden and was deep into weeding his onions and potatoes when he heard Gwen's voice. "I hope that we didn't upset you Friday night; it has been a tough week and the drive back was hard." "I figured that out. I hope that you two are alright." "We will be OK. It was just that everything was such a shock. He looked sullen and like he had lost ten pounds. He was glad to see Cheri but acted insecure and embarrassed for her to see him. The trial was very short. They trial was over before noon and the jury found him guilty before 2:00. The next day the judge sentenced him to five years in prison. His lawyer says that he will be out in three years if he keeps his nose clean in jail. We had sort of prepared ourselves for that but it still came as a shock to hear it. We talked that night and decided that the best thing was to just go on doing our best like we have been doing. But it is still very hard on Cheri. She knows what happened but she still can't understand it all." "I think that she and I share that trait. It takes me a long time to understand things that have happened to me. I would probably be better off if I could just decide right away who I could point a finger at and get rid of my confusion." Gwen gave him a wry smile. "I can't see you being one of those angry judgmental people. Your kindness and acceptance of people and events is really one of your strengths even if you feel like it is a weakness." All Gerald could muster was a weak, "Thanks." "Anyway, I have to go to the store and get some things. Can I get you anything while I'm in town?" "No thanks; I picked up most of what I need yesterday after the market." "OK, we will have dinner ready around 6:30. Hopefully, Cheri will be a little brighter tonight." "I'll be there and if she isn't, that's alright. It is tough on you but it must be much tougher on her." "See! I'm not sure that I could look at a situation like this and say that." Gerald didn't know how to respond. He just gave her a small hug and she went back to her house and he went back to work culling the weeds. His mind, however, remained focus on her words. He realized that he seldom rushed to judgment but he didn't know why. His parents had been tolerant people but could be could also be judgmental in some situations. He had always tried to understand a situation before he decided what he felt about things. At times, he did feel like it was a flaw in his personality. Some people including his ex-wife often considered him weak. Was he weak? He didn't know. They had a good dinner that night. Cherilyn was brighter than she had been on Friday but was still subdued. He talked to her and she responded but there wasn't a lot of life in her responses. He hoped that getting back to school and around her friends would be a spark for her. Gwen asked if Cheri could stay with him for awhile on Thursday as she had a training class to go to for several hours. Gerald agreed without thought. He liked the quiet young girl and he felt that she liked him as well. The first part of the week, he was busy clearing out a barn before the property went on sale. From this project he collected some more tools but the one item that caught his eye most was an old tractor. It didn't look like it had been started in a long time but it also wasn't weathered and beat up like many older tractors were. He asked the owner about it and discovered that it had been there since he had bought the place. He had intended to try to restore it but had never found the time. When they finished talking about it, the seller offered him the tractor in lieu of payment for his work. Gerald accepted that offer but had to go rent a trailer big enough to carry it. While loading it, he also discovered a box of parts for it that had never been installed. When all was said and done, he had a tractor and more wood and building materials to add to his store. As he was unloading the lumber, he realized that continuing to stack it outside was just causing the wood to further deteriorate and that the tractor really needed to be kept indoors. He looked on the internet and found a variety of designs for build-it-yourself barns. One in particular struck his eye and he printed out the scale drawing. He spent most of Wednesday night adjusting the scale of the drawing to fit his needs and then laid out a floor plan that would work for him. On Thursday, he laid out the dimensions on the plot of ground that he wanted to use. By the afternoon, he had dug the hole for the first corner post. He stopped when he heard the school bus stop to drop off Cherilyn. She came down his drive with her book pack in tow. When she walked up to him looking at the barn that was so real in his mind, she started asking questions. What was he doing? How big was it going to be? Why was he doing this? He walked her through the area and explained what he intended for each area. His explanations drew nods of understanding but often provoked additional questions. They talked for about thirty minutes before he suggested that they go inside and she could help him prepare the dough for his Saturday batch of bread. Instead of just helping him prepare the dough, she peppered him with questions about different ingredients. He became aware that often these interrogations ended with a question beginning with "Why?" Why did he need to use yeast? Why did you add sugar to the yeast? Why did he need baking powder and soda? Why did he add seeds? For many of these questions, he had a ready answer but for some, he struggled to find an acceptable answer. He made hamburgers for dinner as they waited for Gwen to arrive. Cherilyn opened her homework and began working on it. But with this activity, she also asked questions and again many of them began with "Why." When Gwen arrived, Gerald was explaining to her that multiplication was a form of addition. He had dried beans spread out on the table to demonstrate counting beans individually and how much faster it was to count them if they were in equal rows. She seemed accepting of his explanation if not totally in agreement. With Gwen's arrival, he stopped and put the burgers on the grill which was already hot and ready. Cherilyn continued with her homework while Gwen helped him chop lettuce, tomatoes and onions. When they had finished eating and the two girls were about to leave, Gerald called Cherilyn over to his shelf and showed her how the bread dough had risen to twice its original size. He had the answer for her "why" question ready when she asked it. She smiled for the first time since she had gotten home and said a simple, "Thanks, Gerald" and gave him a hug. After they left as he was cleaning up, it dawned on him that this change in Cherilyn was perhaps her initial step in trying to figure out why things were happening to her father, mother, and herself. She hadn't gotten to the point of comprehending the "whys" of abstract concepts yet, but she was starting on the journey of trying to understand the world around her. For some strange reason that he didn't fully understand, he was pleased that he had been the one she chose to begin her journey with. The next afternoon as he was taking the last loaves of bread out of the brick oven, he saw Cherilyn walking toward him again. "Gerald, momma wants to know if you will come to dinner. She is making spaghetti and it will be ready in just a little while." "Let me put these loaves on the cooling rack and we walk up there together." "Gerald, I made a 100 on my math test today." "Congratulations. I'm glad to hear it." "Every time I looked at a problem, I saw the beans on the table like we did last night and it all made sense." "Well that is really good news to me too. I would have felt bad if you saw the beans and got all of the problems wrong." "Oh Gerald, I don't think you can do anything wrong." He thought for a minute and then said, "Most of us don't do many things wrong; but sometimes, even if we do something right, it doesn't turn out like we wanted it to. Come in and I'll show you. He led her into the cabin and over to his cooling rack. "See this loaf of bread? We made the dough last night just like all of the others but this loaf didn't rise right and is kind of flat. We didn't do anything wrong, but for some reason, the results just didn't happen like the others." "Why? I mean we made the dough the same, they should turn out the same." "They should; but sometimes things happen that we don't expect. I don't know for sure what happened to this loaf but I suspect that maybe this loaf got too warm last night and the yeast died before it was ready to go in the oven. On my rack, one loaf is always going to be on this end. On the other side of the wall is the heater and the wall gets hot sometimes. That might have been enough to make this loaf be different. The taste will be the same; it just looks different." "Oh." "So let's go see your mom about dinner. I'm hungry and she will be mad at us if we are late." He picked up a bottle of wine he had been saving and a loaf of warm Italian bread that he had tried out in the brick oven. They walked to Gwen's house together and were met with a smile. The next week, Gerald had two calls for raised bed gardens which he handily took care of. As he was leaving the second house, the woman asked if he would remove a shrub which had gotten too big for her yard. It took him twenty minutes to dig it out and put it back of his truck. Instead of hauling it to the dump, he went home and planted it along his driveway. This started his development of non-food gardens which eventually were admired by many people driving by. He spent the rest of the week working on the tractor and looking up many details on the internet along with more work on his barn. The barn was a timber frame design which basically meant that the corner posts, other vertical posts, and headers were thick heavy beams that when attached created a strong skeleton from which the siding and other components could be directly attached. He had sufficient beams to make the framework but lacked the triangular shaped rafters to support the roof. He also had about half of the siding he needed to complete the job. When he priced new rafters for the roof, he was disappointed at the price and went back to the Internet and read up about how to make them himself. Once again he was disappointed because the cost of materials alone was as much as the fabricated ones. He felt that there had to be a better way. That way reared its head when he was leaving the metal recycler one day. One of the trucks in line was carrying a load of metal siding and a number of straight roof trusses frequently seen in flat roof warehouses. He stopped and asked the driver what job this came from. The driver told him that they were tearing down an old warehouse on the east side of town. Gerald drove over there and talked to the project foreman. He learned that the entire building was going to scrap because there was little demand for used building materials like this. Gerald offered him twice the salvage price for 15 of the trusses. A phone call later and Gerald had bought fifteen 25 foot trusses for $500. He had to rent a longer trailer to carry them and it took three trips, but he now had the trusses he needed for the roof. He just had to figure out how to use them as they were five feet longer than he needed. It didn't take long for him to decide to make the roof slanted. All he had to do was add several more feet of height on one side of the barn. Then he had to figure out how to raise them fifteen feet in the air. A crane could have lifted them easily into place in a day but a crane cost almost $2000 per day. After thinking about it he mounted a boat winch on the tallest side and used a wide board as a ramp and pulled them up individually. It took two days but all fifteen were properly place and bolted securely onto his frame. A week later, the metal roof was securely fastened to the rafters and stringers and he stood back and looked at his work. He was both surprised and pleased that he had done the roof for only $500. When he showed Gwen and Cherilyn his work, they both praised his work and Gwen pointed out that the slope of the roof almost exactly matched the slope of the surrounding terrain and looked perfect in its setting. Gerald had not noticed this until she mentioned it. During this time, a couple of things began to evolve. The most important one was that Cherilyn made it a practice to come over and have him explain a number of the things she had been shown in school. More often than not, she reported on Friday night that she had made a 100 on her test in that class that day. On the whole, her grades were good but she seemed to be especially proud of making 100s on her tests. The other was that Gerald seemed to fret less about what might happen and accepted the fact that he was able to work out almost every issue that confronted him. In April, Gwen came to him and they had a talk. "Gerald, they are moving Jim to a prison about 50 miles from here. I can see him once a month but I'm not sure how Cheri will take it going to see him every month. I was wondering if she could stay with you every other month. That way I could take her on the alternate months." "Gwen, you know I don't have a problem with taking care of Cherilyn. All you need to do is let me know when and I will adjust my schedule." And The Horse You Rode In On "Thanks. You don't know how much I appreciate it and she does seem to like spending time with you." "I guess you have noticed that she has turned into Ms. Curiosity. She asks me endless questions about everything." "No, I haven't noticed that. She and I have been talking just like we always have. She used to ask her daddy questions sometime, but not often." "Well for whatever reason, she had questioned me about the barn, making bread, and almost everything else. Frankly, I kind of like it as long as I have the answers." He grinned a slightly embarrassed grin." "Thank you for helping her. I know that this has been hard on her. I have been concerned but her teachers say that she is doing just fine. Actually, they say she has been doing a little better recently." "Good. Then I will just do what I can do with her when she asks." Gwen eyed him closely for a moment and then said, "You are so special. I don't think you realize it." Gerald had no response. He actually turned a little pink. That Saturday, Cherilyn went with Gerald to the farmer's market while Gwen went to the prison. She wandered around looking at things for awhile and then came back to Gerald's table. He had sold about half of his bread. When a friend of hers from school stopped by with her parents, Cherilyn proudly told her friend that she had helped Gerald make the bread. Her friend commented that that was cool. She told her friend about the yeast and what it did and how the bread rises and almost everything else they had talked about. Her friend and her parents were listening carefully and then they asked Gerald some questions about his recipe. They bought two loaves of his bread. When they sold out and put things in his truck, he took Cherilyn to a local franchise restaurant where she ordered a hot dog and he ordered a hamburger. When they were served, Cherilyn took the bun off of her dog and ate it and all of the condiments with a fork. "Why aren't you eating the bun, Cheri?" "Since I started eating your bread, this just doesn't taste good anymore. Why don't you make hot dog and hamburger buns. They are just bread aren't they?" Gerald just stared at her, his mind swirling in a maze of images. Then he smiled at her and said, "Thank you." "For what? I didn't say anything." "You would be surprised at what you said." "Gerald, we are starting to study division at school and everyone says that it is hard. Can you help me?" "Let's go home and get out the beans. division can be confusing but once you understand it like you did with multiplication, it is easy too." They drove home and when Gwen arrived, she found them with a table full of beans again and she laughed at the sight. She had stopped and bought the fixings for a chicken Caesar salad and invited him for dinner with them. By that time, Cherilyn was comfortable with dividing bunches of beans into various sized piles. Gerald accepted the invitation for dinner but before he left to join them at their home, he took out some frozen bread dough to thaw out. After he arrived home, he spent a late evening trying out different dough in different forms and set them out to rise. On Sunday morning, he stoked his brick oven and when it was ready, he put twelve buns in to bake. Since these were smaller than a loaf of bread, he had to stay close to make sure that he didn't over bake them. When he took them out of the oven, he was pleased. Several of the buns looked usable. Several of the others just looked like a small loaf of bread. At noon, he called Gwen and invited them over for burgers and hot dogs for dinner. Gwen agreed but said that she would bring some potato salad. When they arrived, they found Gerald standing at his grill deep in thought. "What are you thinking about, Gerald?" Cherilyn asked. "I am thinking that I am going to change the hamburgers a little before I put them on the grill." "Why?" she asked. "Because you told me a lot of things yesterday." "No, I didn't. You told me a lot of things." He smiled, "You would be surprised, little one." Gwen just looked on mystified at what they were talking about. Gwen went inside and put the potato salad in the refrigerator after Gerald removed the platter with the burgers and hot dogs on it. He took them outside and carefully changed their shape slightly and soon they were sizzling on the grill. Gwen set the table and poured tea for them. Cherilyn helped her mother. When Gerald brought in the hot platter, both girls looked at it with a funny look. That disappeared when he placed the plate of buns on the table. The buns were oval shaped; a little longer than a regular hamburger bun but wider than a hot dog bun. The burgers were also oval in shape. Cherilyn squealed in delight as she loaded up a bun with a hot dog, lots of relish, and other things. Gwen took a bun and put one of the oval burger on it and put lettuce, tomatoes, onions and ketchup on it. She was surprised that the bun held everything without it falling out on the sides. She also found that it was easy to hold and didn't fall apart like many commercial buns did. Otherwise, the burger tasted just like it was supposed to taste although the bun was a little sweeter and had a slightly different texture. They ate heartily while laughing a lot at the funny shape of the burgers and buns. "Alright, Mr. Chef. Do you want to explain this? They are really good." Gwen asked. Gerald replied, "It is all Cherilyn's fault." "Me? I didn't do anything." "Yes, you did. You said yesterday that a hot dog bun didn't taste good anymore and that I should make buns like my bread. Well, that is what you just ate. Last night I tried several different ways to make buns and let them rise. This morning I baked them. I liked these buns the best but a round hamburger wouldn't sit in it very well, so I made them the same shape as the bun. See, it is all you fault. I'm going to call them Cheri Buns." Cherilyn squealed in delight. Gwen just looked between her daughter and Gerald with a big smile on her face. "By the way Cheri, what did I do after I baked the buns?" Gerald continued. She thought for a moment before she tentatively replied, "Well you let them cool and then you cut them in half. I don't know what you mean." "Yes, you do. You just said it." She looked confused. "What did I say?" "I cut the bun in half. What is another way to say that?" She thought and then replied, "You divided the bun into two parts." "Exactly. You do division every day and never think about it." Her eyes brightened and said, "I guess I do, don't I. Hey, that's pretty cool. So division isn't really as hard as they said." "Nope. I told you that it was pretty easy when you understood it. I think you understand it now." Cherilyn beamed with pride. Gwen responded, "So was this a cooking lesson or a math lesson?" Gerald replied, "Both, I guess." She continued, "I was just thinking, these could be buns like you made them, but they could also be dinner rolls or sandwich rolls or a bunch of other things. You need to try to sell some at the market and see how people like them. They really do taste better than a regular old roll or bun." "Thanks, I was kind of thinking that but now that you have put them to the taste test, I'll work on them some more and see what I can come up with." On Monday morning, he tested out several ways to make the buns and put them up to rise while he went and working in his garden. He also went over to Gwen's and checked her garden and pulled weeds for an hour. Then he went home and fired up the brick oven. An hour later a dozen buns made with varying techniques were on the cooling rack. Just by looking, he could see that one clearly stood out. For that one, he had floured the dough and rolled it out like a pie crust. He had then cut it into a five inch circle and rolled it like a tortilla wrap and pinched the ends. It proved to be light, yet the crust was firm enough to hold it together. He decided to make a couple of dozen and try them out at the market on Saturday. Then he sat down and tried to figure out his tax return. He quickly got lost in the myriad of details but it seemed to him that he would owe over $5000 and that brought back fears about remaining solvent. He called one of his bread customers and arranged an appointment to go over his returns. When he walked out of his meeting he felt a tremendous sense of relief as he owed nothing. He had failed to properly acknowledge his expenses. The accountant had also recommended that he build a separate building to house his baking operation and to set up a sales tax exemption so that he could buy materials at wholesale prices. He also gave him a spreadsheet program for him to keep track of his baking, recycling/demolition work, and his farming efforts. He had never realized that he was in fact an independent businessman operating three different businesses. By keeping better track of his records, the accountant felt that he would not actually have to pay taxes for several more years and even then, there were ways to minimize this bite. He went home and installed the spreadsheet and entered all of his expenses since the first of the year. He was surprised because he had already made the same amount of money as he had during the previous year before expenses. After expenses, he showed less income but he had more cash in the bank and knew that he was much more comfortable than he had been previously. The idea for a separate kitchen dwelt in his mind for several weeks but became a firm idea two weeks later. He had taken 30 of his buns to the market on Saturday and had sold about half of them and given away the rest as samples. The next week, he had orders for almost 200 buns. It was outdoor grilling season and people wanted his buns for their cookouts. The next week, he had to start making dough on Wednesday because he would need both Thursday and Friday to bake it all in his kitchen oven and his brick one. While he waited for a brick oven load to finish, he looked at the area around the house but instead of seeing a kitchen, he saw a whole new wing including a new kitchen and a new bedroom. The existing building would turn in a dining room and living room. He felt that he had enough materials for most of it and knew that he would have to add some additional baking equipment to the kitchen. The more he thought about it, the more he liked the idea. He sat down with his spreadsheet later and worked through the numbers and decided that he should charge $4 for six buns. He wondered if people would pay that much. So he came up with a scaled price where people could buy one or two and three or four and then larger quantities. He felt that this was a better solution since many of his customers were single or just a couple. Wednesday night, Cherliyn came over and helped him roll the dough for Thursday's baking and returned to help him on Thursday also. Gwen had a PTA meeting one night and a school open house the next. Gerald had a light dinner waiting for her each night, a gift that she really appreciated after two long and tiring days. She promised to make dinner for them on Friday night. Saturday he went to the farmer's market and sold everything he brought. On the way home, he stopped at Gwen's house and gave Cherilyn $40 for helping him. Gwen tried to object but Gerald refused to listen to her. He said that Cherilyn had worked for two hours each night as he prepared his dough and that she had saved him a lot of hours of work. She earned it and he insisted that she take it. Gwen finally relented. Just before noon on Sunday, Gwen and Cherilyn walked over to find him sitting on his small porch drinking tea. "And to what do I owe the pleasure you're your delightful company this beautiful morning? Would you like a glass of tea?" They agreed and when they were all seated on the porch, Gwen said, "Go on Cheri; ask him." "Gerald, momma said that I could keep the money if I saved half of it. The other half I could spend on things that I want." "I think that is a great idea and you will be glad you did that, Cheri. So what are you going to buy with your spending money?" "I am going to buy dinner tonight for you and momma at the Mexican food place." She announced proudly. Gerald looked at Gwen who looked right back at him with a smile on her face and a slight nod. "I accept your generous offer. We will do this tonight to celebrate but let's make this special. In the future you use it for yourself. You earned it. OK?" Cherilyn smiled and said, "OK." Then she went inside. Gwen sat there and looked at Gerald. "You can't imagine how good she feels that she earned some money and that she can spend part of it on herself. I try to get her everything she needs but I can't always get what she wants. But she insisted that she wanted to take us out to dinner tonight. I'm not sure she has enough to pay for three dinners but I will pick up the difference." "Only if I don't take care of it first." He smiled at her and she grinned back. Cherilyn came back outside and announced that she needed to go home and get ready for her dates tonight. Both Gwen and Gerald laughed out loud at this pronouncement. They agreed that he would meet them at their house at 6:00. Gwen drove them to Cherilyn's favorite Mexican restaurant which was a chain but had decent full course meals. It didn't take Gerald or Gwen to figure out that the bill would be closer to $30 than to $20. Gwen looked at Gerald and he gave her a knowing nod and after they ordered he said that he was going to the restroom. Gwen saw him stop at the hostess' station and talk to her for a moment. He pointed to their table and he handed her something. She smiled and nodded. Cherilyn had tacos, which she dearly loved, while Gwen and Gerald had enchilada dinners. When they were through, Gwen offered to take everyone for ice cream, an idea that was met with great approval. When the waitress brought the check, Gerald nodded toward Cherilyn. The waitress smiled and put it in front of her. She looked at it and smiled proudly and then marched to the counter and paid $15 for their dinner. Both Gwen and Gerald thanked her for their dinner with a hug. She beamed as they went to the car. For the next several weeks, Gerald did little but bake bread. He managed to take care of his garden requests but had to turn down two lucrative barn clean ups. One day two of the local hamburger restaurants approached him at the market about making batches of buns for them. He told them that he would look into it and get back to them. It didn't take long that night to figure out that he could make buns for the restaurants or he could make buns for the market. He would make about the same money for either but he would lose the contact with people at the market. He decided that he would pass on the restaurant business and decided to call them after this week's market and tell them. He never had the chance to make the call because he was approached by a man at the next market who introduced himself as the sales manager for a regional bakery. When Gerald packed up, they met at a local coffee shop. The man opened the conversation with, "I'm Bill Medwick and as I said I am the sales manager of Sun States Baking. I was visiting with the two hamburger restaurants in town who are our customers. They tell me that you have been baking a new type bun and selling it to local people. Apparently, the locals have started coming in and asking for a burger on a Sherry bun but they don't have it. They brought me a couple and I'll tell you, you have come up with something special. They are really good and can be used for a lot of different things, not just burgers." "Thanks you and for the record, I call it the C H E R I buns after a young friend of mine who gave me the idea to make a tasty bun." "That's nice. In any event, we would like to talk to you about buying the rights to your bun so we can make and distribute it throughout the region. Are you interested?" Gerald would have spurted out an immediate yes but he had just swallowed a sip of coffee and he couldn't talk. When he finally found his voice, he said, "I might be. What are you thinking?" "I am prepared to offer you $25,000 for the recipe and the rights to use the name Cheri Buns." Gerald's inclination was to say yes but he thought for a minute then replied, "That sounds very generous. I'll tell you what, let me talk to my accountant and business advisor Monday morning and I will call you in the afternoon. Taxes and stuff, you know." "I understand. Here is my card and I will be waiting for your call. It has been good to talk to you." They shook hands and each left. Gerald felt like he was walking on cloud nine. He wanted to run home and tell Gwen and Cherilyn but then he remembered that this was the weekend they went to visit at the prison. He doubted that they would be in the mood to hear his news tonight so he decided to hold off telling them until the next day. Instead, he called the accountant and left a message asking for a brief meeting on Monday morning. Before he got home, the accountant had returned his call and asked if he could come in on Sunday after lunch. He was going to be in the office anyway but was going to be tied up in meetings all day Monday and Tuesday. Gerald said he would be there. He left the accountant's office with several things to think about. As he drove home, he decided on his course of action. First, he would offer the baking company the rights to make the bun for ten years at a royalty of one cent per bun. They would be happy to not have to put a large chunk of money up front and if it didn't sell well, they wouldn't be out much. On the other hand, if it did sell well, Gerald would make more than the $25,000 they offered. They each shared the risk. The second thing was that Gerald wanted to have Cherilyn participate in the payout as his inspiration and the use of her name. The accountant suggested that he decide on the percentage for her and then set it up to be deposited in a college fund. Neither he nor Gwen would have to pay taxes on it due to her age and it would be there for her when she graduated high school. She would have to pay taxes then but it would be a small amount if any. Gerald saw the value in both suggestions but he decided to ask for one more thing in addition. He didn't think that it would be a deal killer. He wanted to keep the right to sell up to 200 on the buns a week at the market only. He had too many people particularly older people who probably wouldn't buy a package of six or eight. They wanted two or three and he wanted to continue to supply them. He felt good when he got home and felt even better when he saw the note on his door telling him to come to dinner at 6:00. It was going to be spaghetti night. Fortunately, he had the dough in the refrigerator for a fresh loaf of bread and a new bottle of wine in the pantry. They had a wonderful dinner but Gerald remained fairly quiet and just listened to the banter between mother and daughter. Finally, Gwen turned to him and said, "You are being awfully quiet. Either something wonderful or terrible happened while we were gone. Care to share it?" He smiled, "I think that it is pretty wonderful; I hope you do too. I think that I am going to sell the rights for the bun. A bakery has offered to buy it and sell it throughout the region." "That's wonderful, Gerald, really great. I'm proud of you." "Gerald, does that mean we won't be making buns anymore?" Cherilyn sounded down about this turn of events. "No, Cheri, it doesn't mean that at all. I am going to retain the rights to make buns for the people at the market." "So I can still help you make them?" "Of course, you are my bread making buddy. But that isn't the best of it. Gwen do you think that the buns are going to be successful?" And The Horse You Rode In On "I can't see how they won't be. Why?" "They offered me a lump sum. I talked to the accountant today and he suggested that I ask for a small royalty for everyone sold for ten years. If it sells well, then I could make more than they offered. If it doesn't sell well, then I don't get so much." "Then I think you will make more than they offered. Are you pleased?" "I am; I just hope that you will be too." "Me! Why me?" "Because I have decided to give a third of the royalties to Cherilyn. She inspired me and they will be using her name, that's why. The money will be put in a college fund for her and will be hers when she graduates from high school. That way neither you nor I will have to pay taxes on it and when she gets through with school, the tax bite should be very small." He looked at Gwen only to find that tears were rolling down her face. He looked at Cherilyn and she looked like she was in shock although he felt sure she hadn't understood what he had said. He sat silently until Gwen recovered herself. "Gerald, you don't have to do this." "Yes, I do. It is the right thing to do." Gwen looked at Cherilyn and then back to Gerald. "We started a college fund for her but I am embarrassed to say how little is in it and I don't expect that it will grow very much. I have been encouraging her to do well in school so maybe she can get a scholarship." "Gerald, what is a scholarship?" "It is what a student gets when they prove that they are good students. Then they pay for you to go to college." "Oh. Don't worry, mom; I will get a scholarship." "I know you will honey. Just do your best." The tears were still falling from Gwen's eyes as she turned to Gerald and said, "Thank you, Gerald. You can't imagine how I feel right now." "I can make a guess and I feel the same way." On Monday, he called Bill Medwick at 9:00 in the morning. Medwick was surprised that he called so early and was even more pleased when Gerald told him that he had a counter offer. The sales manager was even more pleased when he heard what the offer was. When Gerald was finished, Medwick told him that he would call him back within the hour. As Gerald expected, the return call accepted his offer readily and told him that he would have the papers drawn up before the end of the week. They could meet and sign them and Gerald could provide his recipe at that time. Gerald invited him to come on Thursday when he would be mixing dough and making buns for the Saturday market. Medwick said that he would try and would let him know when he would be coming. When he hung up, Gerald left to install four gardens and was gone until late but he came home satisfied with the way things turned out. Gwen had agreed to teach summer school to earn extra money. Gerald insisted that Cherilyn would stay with him while she worked. Gwen didn't have an argument to deny this especially when Cherilyn looked at her and said "Please." Cherilyn came over in the morning after breakfast. Gerald adjust his schedule to do certain things like gardens and dough making in the mornings. Gwen got home at 2:00. If he had a clean-up job, he tried to work it in the afternoon. As they worked and spent time together, Gerald talked her about a variety of subjects. She asked many questions. In the end, she had had an unofficial education covering plants, chemistry, biology, math, reading, and writing. Every day, he would have her write a description of what they had done that day. By the time Gwen's school was through, Cherilyn was writing accurate and vivid descriptions of her day. Gerald had also paid her for all of the time she helped in planting gardens and making bread. When summer school ended, Gwen and Cherilyn went to spend a week with Gwen's parents. That week was one of the longest Gerald had ever felt although he was busy most of the time. He had a celebration feast ready for them when they returned and he felt like life had returned to normal. As the work slowed during the fall, Gerald began building the addition onto the house. He got it framed and the outside and roof done before the fall rains began. He was surprised at how quickly he was able to finish off the inside. Part of that was because the new kitchen was next to the old one and he was able to use the existing plumbing only turned the other way. They held Thanksgiving at Gwen's house but Gerald insisted that Christmas dinner would be in his remodeled dining room. He bought Gwen and Cherilyn a nice Christmas present and they in turn each bought him a present. At the Christmas dinner, he handed Cherilyn her first royalty check with a smile. The bakery had introduced the buns in October and sales had begun. The first quarterly check had been for $750 and he gave Cheri a one third share. Both Cherilyn and Gwen were excited about it and couldn't wait for the bank to open the next day to deposit it in her college account. During the week between Christmas and new Years, Gerald put the finishing touches on the new addition and they had a formal housewarming on New Year's Eve including the first fire in his rock fireplace. Year Two and Three The second year went by in a blur. Gerald planted seeds early for both of their gardens. To avoid wasting anything, he planted all of the seeds in a packet and discovered that he had twice as many of plants as he needed for both gardens. He continued to care for them and took them to the market on the first of March. Every one of them sold quickly. The next week he planted several packets of tomatoes and peppers. In all, he had over 500 plants of different varieties. He sold half of them in April for fifty cents each and the rest in May when they were bigger for $1 each. He then began looking up plans for a green house. He decided to plant seeds during the winter and sell them in the spring. He noted which varieties the garden centers sold and he included some of those on his list but also added some other varieties that were adapted to his area and were reported to be great tasting. As spring turned into summer, he amassed used windows until he had enough to make the size greenhouse he wanted. Cherilyn continued coming over and helping him with his bread. By now they had a system worked out that allowed them to make more loaves in the same length of time. He limited his buns to about 200 but increased the number of regular loaves. On the first of April, he got their second royalty check. This time, he put $3000 in his account and $1500 in Cherilyn's account. Gwen marveled at the success of the buns. During the summer, Gerald and Cherilyn worked on building the greenhouse while Gwen taught summer school again. She, of course, asked a myriad of questions and Gerald often sat down with paper and pencil to show her the answer and the various optional choices that he could have made. She found his practical approach to teaching easier to understand than the more theoretical methods used at school. Her grades had improved significantly during the past year and she had been commended by her reading and writing teachers as well as her math and science teachers. The fall was busy and they once again shared Thanksgiving and the Christmas and New Year's holidays as they had the previous years. Christmas was once again joyful because the royalty check was the largest one yet. The two previous ones had been similar to the first one but the last one put $6000 in his account and $3000 in her account. The third year started off well but in February, he got a call from Gwen during the middle of the day. "Gerald, I just got a call from the prison. Something has happened and I need to go find out what. They wouldn't tell me over the phone. Can you take care of Cherilyn for a couple of days? I .....I don't know how long I will be gone." "Of course, you go take care of things there; I will take care of things here." He could hear her sigh of relief. "I knew that I could count on you but I always hate to take things for granted. You already do so much for us." "Hey, you do a lot more than I can say for me. Now go, things will be fine here." That afternoon he drove to the school and picked Cherilyn up rather than waiting for the school us to deliver her. She was happy to see him and climbed into his truck. Before they left the school, he told her what was happening. Her face got cloudy but she didn't cry. She just nodded her head and stayed silent until they got home. Once there, they stopped and she picked up a change of clothes and they went to Gerald's house. She changed while he made tea for them. Then they went and sat of the porch. "Gerald, I know that my daddy loves me and that he loves momma, but he does things that hurt us. Why does that happen?" "Cheri, I don't know that anyone can give you a simple answer to that question. As we have talked about, sometimes you do things that you think are right but they don't turn out the way you want. That can hurt people. Sometimes, you get angry and do things that hurt many people. Sometimes, you just get frustrated and lash out at those who are nearest to you. I don't know your daddy so I can't say what is in his mind but I would guess that he gets frustrated because he can't be with you and your mom and may do things that hurt himself but also hurt the two of you too." "You don't do things like that. I can't imagine you ever doing something that would hurt someone." "Sometimes you hurt someone without doing anything special. Is there a girl or boy at school that you just don't feel comfortable being around?' "Yes, there is this one girl that really makes me feel uncomfortable." "Has she ever done anything to hurt you?" "No. I don't know what it is about her but there is something." "Well you could say that she is hurting you but has never done anything to cause you to hurt." She thought about that for a minute before she replied, "I guess I see; I think." "Well there could be another side to that too." "What do you mean?" "Have you ever done anything to hurt her?" "No, never. I don't think we have ever even talked to each other." "Have you ever thought that she is afraid of you too and is afraid to talk to you?" "But....Oh, I don't know how.........." "That is one of the strange things about people. Sometimes you are afraid of things for no reason and react differently for no good reason. Maybe you should just try to talk to her some day. You might find that she is very different than you think." Cherilyn didn't reply but Gerald could see that she was thinking about it. He suggested that they go into town for Mexican food. Her attitude brightened and she agreed. They made a batch of bread dough and put it on the shelf to rise. Then they washed up and drove into town for dinner. When they had finished with dinner and were waiting for their check, a woman came up and introduced herself to Gerald. She had been buying some of his buns at the market and her family really liked them. She wanted to know how he made burgers to fit into them. He told her to sit down and he would explain. Cherilyn looked around and saw a girl sitting alone looking at the woman talking to Gerald. "Gerald, excuse me for a minute. I'll be right back." Gerald nodded and started telling the woman about making his oval burgers. That led to other things and pretty soon twenty minutes had passed. When the talk slowed down, he looked up to find Cherilyn standing next to the table with another shy looking girl next to her. When Gerlad looked at her, Cherilyn said, "Gerald this is the girl we were talking about before. Her name is Jennifer but everyone calls her Jenny. She has been having trouble understanding fractions. Can she come home with me tomorrow and have you help us both?" Gerald smiled and said, "It is alright with me but you better check with her mother first." Jennifer looked at the woman sitting next t Gerald and asked, "Mom, can I go with Cheri tomorrow and get some math help?" The woman looked at her daughter and then at Gerald, "I guess it is alright as long as you don't have a problem with it. I'm afraid I'm not much help to her on math things and her dad is so busy running for sheriff, he hasn't had time either." "Well, it will be my pleasure to help out as I can. Would you like for me to bring her home when we are finished?" "Actually, I have a meeting too. I can pick her up about 7:00, if you give me your address." "Why don't I go ahead and give her dinner too; that way you don't have to rush." She looked surprised and replied, "I would appreciate it very much. Is that OK with you Jenny?" "Yes ma'am. I would like that very much." Gerald replied, "I will pick you both up after school." They both smiled and then went back to the other table. Jennifer's mother continued, "You have a very nice daughter, Gerald. Jenny has always been a little shy and doesn't have many friends at school. I'm glad to see she and Cherilyn get along so well." "Thanks, but she isn't my daughter. I live next door to her mother and her. Her mother is Gwen Lambert." "The teacher? I met her at the PTA. I like her a lot. I heard that she had an emergency come up; something about her husband or something?" Gerald felt that she was fishing for gossip details so he replied non-commitally, "Yes, she had a family emergency; I'm not sure about the details. I just offered to take care of Cherilyn while she is gone." "She must trust you a lot to leave her daughter with you." Once again, Gerald's antennas caught the familiar tone of a probing tongue. "Well, we are neighbors and have shared meals together and I have helped Cherilyn with her homework some. So I guess she trusts me enough." He hoped that that would put a cork in any rumors but had the fear that it wasn't enough. "Well, it is good to have a neighbor like that. Well, we better get going. I'll make sure that Jenny is picked up before 7:00." "It was nice to talk to you and I will take good care of Jennifer while she is there." The woman rose and went back to her table and gathered her things. Cherilyn came back to Gerald with a smile on her face. Once in the truck, he asked her, "Want to tell me about it?" Cherilyn almost couldn't stop talking once she started. "I thought about what you said and I decided to go talk to her. We haven't been in the same class together so we never really met. She seemed surprised when I came over but was pleased that I did. She is kind of shy like me. She does really well in all her classes except math. When she told me that she was having trouble with fractions, I told her how much you had helped me; she asked if you might help her also. I told her that I was sure that you would. She was also pleased when I told her that you were the one who made the Cheri Buns. Can we have those for dinner tomorrow night? Her mom hasn't figured out how to make the burgers like you do. We can do math after school and then grill the burgers. Does that sound OK?" Gerald laughed at the sound of excitement in her voice. "So you aren't afraid of her anymore?" "Oh no, she is just quiet like I am. She said that she was scared of me because I made such good grades in math and she was having trouble. She usually gets her daddy to help her but he has been out almost every night because he is running for sheriff. Gerald, what is a sheriff?" Gerald explained that a sheriff was an elected official who was kind of like the chief of police except for the county, not the city. That made sense to her and they drove home quietly. She finished her homework and then got ready for bed but Gerald could tell that she was excited about her new friend and was looking forward to the next day. Gerald spent the next day baking a fresh batch of Cheri Buns and picked the girls up at school on time. They sat together in the truck and talked continuously from the time they left school until Gerald parked in front of his house. Cherilyn took Jennifer's hand and led her around showing her the brick oven and the garden. Then they came inside where Gerald had fresh tea and the beans spread all over the table. For the next two hours, they divided stacks of beans into equal parts and slowly he could see the light of understanding in Jennifer's eyes. Then they began talking about adding and subtracting fractions. With their new understanding of fractions, the rules of adding and fractions came easily. They each started their homework assignment while he went outside to start the grill. The grill was just about ready for the burgers when Gerald heard a car enter his driveway. He was hoping that it was Gwen but saw a strange car pull up behind his truck and a well dressed man got out. Jennifer recognized the sound of the car and ran out to greet her father. She took his hand and led him to Gerald and introduced them. "Gerald, this is my daddy. He's running for sheriff." There was pride in her voice as she said this. "Daddy, this is Gerald. He showed me about fractions today. I understand them. And this is Cherilyn from next door. She is my new friend." The excitement in her voice was obvious. Gerald shook hands with the man who said, "Hi, I think that she forgot to tell you that my name is Jim, Jim Sanders." "Welcome Jim; I am Gerald, Gerald Murphy." "Oh, you are the guy I have been hearing about. You do gardens and bread, don't you?" "Yes, that is me. I hope what you heard was good." "Well, if it was any better, someone would put you up for sainthood." "I was about to put some burgers on the grill; do you want to join us?" "I don't mind if I do, if it isn't a problem. I haven't eaten since breakfast and I don't feel like eating at the diner again. If I get elected, I'm going to have to find more places that serve better food and less fattening food at that. I don't want to end up like a fat cartoon sheriff." "I can understand that and it is no problem. Cherilyn, will you go get a couple more burgers from the refrigerator? And if the two of you are finished with your homework, you can set the table." "Yes, Gerald. We are done." They ran into the house to do as he asked. "So Jim, I take it that the missus was concerned about a single guy taking care of your daughter and sent you to check up on things?" Sanders smiled and replied, "You read the cards right. She liked that Jenny found a friend but when she heard that Cherilyn was staying with you while her mother was out of town, she got a little paranoid. Pam watches all of the crime shows on television and I think that she feels that all men are rapists or pedophiles. You had no problems, I hope?" "None at all. I guess that there are enough bad guys out there that a little caution is not a bad thing. No problems at all; we went through fractions and they did their homework. They both are great kids." "Jenny is a good girl but a little shy. I haven't seen her so excited like she is about you and Cherilyn very often. To be honest, I didn't think that running for office would take so much of my time. I miss being able to sit down with Jenny and help her with her homework. She struggles a little with math. I appreciate you helping her out." "It is no problem at all for me." They talked for a few more minutes while the burgers were finishing. Gerald invited Jim inside and they found the table set and the girls talking at the table. Gerald put the platter on the table and then spooned up a large bowl of beans that he had made as well as baked potato wedges. There was plenty for everyone. They sat down and started filling their plates when Gerald heard another car enter his driveway. This time he recognized the sound of Gwen's car. "Cheri, I think your mom just got home. Why don't you go meet her and bring her in? We have plenty for her too." Cherilyn jumped up and ran outside to meet her mom with a big hug and then she tugged at her to come inside. When she entered, Gerald could see the lines of strain in her face, but she smiled the best that she could as Cherilyn introduced her to Jennifer and her father. Jim stood and shook hands with her. And The Horse You Rode In On Everyone was surprised when Jennifer said, "Hello, Ms. Lambert. I miss you this year. You are the best teacher I have ever had." "Hello, Jennifer and thank you for that compliment. You were one of the best students I have ever had. Is school going good for you this year?" "Yes ma'am, especially after Gerald helped me with math today.' She smiled a tired smile at Gerald and said, "So your student load has doubled, has it?" Gerald blushed. Cherilyn looked at Jennifer and said, "They won't let me be in mom's class. I think that they think I will cheat or something." The adults laughed and Gerald pulled up a chair for her between the two girls. "Thanks Gerald, I am famished. I didn't feel like eating at all today." Jim replied, "Try these beans they are tremendous. And the potato wedges are really good too. Where did you find these beans, Gerald? I want to get some for home." "Actually, I made them. I grew these beans and have been experimenting with different spices to find one I like." "Well I like this recipe just fine. If you decide to sell them, I will buy them for us." Everyone settled down to eat and Gerald could see that some of the weariness left Gwen's face. The girls talked continuously. For the most part, he stayed out of the conversation and listened to the two conversations as something caught his interest. It was almost 8:00 when Jim's cell phone rang. "Oops, my better half is wondering where we are. Excuse me. Hello. Yes, everything is fine. No, we are just finishing dinner and we will be home in thirty minutes. Gwen Lambert just got back and we were getting to know each other. Yes, Jenny seems to be very proud that she understands fractions now." There was a long pause and then he answered, "I'll think about it but I don't think that it is a good idea. We will be home shortly and we will talk about it." He hung up. He then announced, "We have been married for ten years and she still needs to check up on me." There was a silence around the table except for the girls who ignored the comment. Jim finally pulled himself up and told Jennifer that they need to go. He shook hands with both Gwen and Gerald and said their good nights. Jennifer told Cherilyn that she looked forward to seeing her in school the next day. Cherilyn replied the same and they gave each other a hug before Jennifer went outside with her father and they drove off. Cherilyn held her mother's hand as they watched the car drive off. When they were gone, Gwen turned to Cherilyn and said, "Cheri, I need to talk to Gerald for awhile. Will you go inside and look on the computer while I talk to him?" "Sure mom." Then her face clouded and she added, "Is daddy, alright?" "Yes, honey; he got hurt but he will be alright." "OK. Jennifer talked a lot about her daddy but I was embarrassed to tell her about daddy." She went inside and Gerald pulled one rocking chair near to the other and sat down. Gwen joined him. "I'm not ready to talk just yet, Gerald. Tell me about Cheri and her new friend." Gerald related their talk and dinner the previous night and how Cherilyn went over and talked to Jennifer and set up today. Gwen just nodded but had a smile on her face. "Gwen I wanted to talk to you too. While talking with Jennifer's mother last night, I got the feeling that she was probing to find out about your emergency trip. I tried to put it to rest but I'm not sure that I did a very good job. And then when I told her that Cheri was your daughter and not mine, I think that she felt like there was something going on between us. I tried to put a cork in that too but, ...well you might hear some rumors." Gwen looked at him and nodded. "It's alright; I hear the same things. I met Jenny's mother at the PTA and I got the same feelings that you did. But I like Jim; he seems like a good guy like you." "Yes, I got the same feeling." "OK, it is my turn now." She took a deep breath and then continued. "When I got to the prison, I found out that he was in the hospital with a stab wound. It turns out that he got affiliated with one of those white supremacist groups and a fight broke out between them and the black and Hispanic groups. He got stabbed but the worst thing was that he hit a guy over the head with a broomstick and the guy died. He will be facing manslaughter charges on top of his existing sentence. That will probably mean another ten or fifteen years on top of what he still has left. When I talked to him in the hospital, he apologized and asked that I not tell Cheri about his wound. Gerald, he told me that I ought to get a divorce and move on with my life without him. He knows that he screwed up again and that it will be a long time before he gets out again. I went to the motel and cried all night and all morning before I got myself together enough to drive home. What should I do, Gerald? I didn't marry him to walk away when there were troubles but this is almost too much. He had white power tattoos all over his body now and even if he got out soon, I'm not sure that I want Cheri around him if he stays involved with thei kind of people. I'm scared and confused. Help me understand, please?" The tears were back in her eyes as she finished. Gerald thought for several minutes before he said, "Gwen, I have never had to face something like this and I don't know exactly what to say to comfort you. I guess the best thing I can offer is to tell you that you have the right to be scared, confused and worried about Cherilyn's future. I don't think that there is an easy answer at all. Therefore, I would suggest that you don't need to make a decision right now. You have your house and job and are doing fairly well as you are. I think you need to give yourself time to think all of this through and try to make some sense of it. At some point you will have to talk to Cherilyn about it at a level that she can understand. When you are ready, I think you will be able to make the right decision for both of you." "I wanted for you to tell me what I should do and make it easy but I think that what you just said is the right thing for me for now. I am so confused right now that I would probably make a rash decision that might not be right. And your words are very comforting and understanding. Thank you Gerald; you are the best friend a confused woman can have." "That is what I hope I can be for both you and Cherilyn. Anytime you want to talk, I will be ready to listen." She reached out and stroked his cheek. "I knew that too but it makes me feel better to hear it directly from you." Her tears had stopped and she made a feeble smile. "Why don't you and Cherilyn go on home when you are ready and have a good night together. Tomorrow, plan on coming over here for dinner and we will just have simple and quiet evening." "I think that is a good idea too. Give me a few more minutes to get myself together and I'll come in and get her together." Gerald nodded and went inside and left her to her thoughts. Cherilyn looked up at Gerald and smiled. She looked like she wanted to ask or say something but she chose not to. Twenty minutes later, Gwen came in and went directly into the bathroom. Gerald heard the running water in the sink and assumed that she was washing her face. When she came out, she seemed much calmer and more relaxed. "Cheri, my love; are you ready to go? We still have school tomorrow and we are fixing dinner for Gerald tomorrow night." "OK, momma. Can we make enchiladas and tacos again?" "We could or we could make homemade pizzas if you want." Gwen replied. "Let me think about it and we will decide in the morning. Then we can surprise Gerald." "I like that idea too." Cherilyn gathered her things and Gerald walked them out to their car and said good night. He went back inside and for the first time he wished that he had a television. His mind was busy with a wide variety of thoughts and some mindless Pablum would be welcome. Instead, he picked up a new novel that he had bought and started reading it. He finally went to bed after midnight and slept until 8:00 the next morning. Instead of fixing his own breakfast as usual, he decided to go into town and eat and pick of some supplies from the hardware store. He stopped at one of the local café's and ordered a light breakfast similar to what he usually had at home. While he was waiting for his order, a voice came from behind him. "Gerald, is that you?" Gerald turned and saw Jim Sanders sitting at the table behind him. Jim stood and came over to his table and said, "I want to thank you again for dinner last night and what you did for Jenny. She talked all of the way home about how you taught her about fractions with the beans." "You are very welcome." Gerald paused and then said, "Do you have a minute?" Jim checked his watched and replied, "Sure. Let me get another cup of coffee." He flagged the waitress down to refill both of their cups. When they were alone, he asked, "What's up?" Gerald took a breath and the replied, "There are a couple of things that I would like to clarify with you and it is a little uncomfortable. First, I suspect that there are or will be rumors about Gwen and I. I want you to know that we are neighbors and friends, nothing more. I like Cherilyn and she likes me, I think, but there isn't anything going on that the gossip mills need to be talking about. For myself, I don't care; but for Gwen and Cherilyn, I don't think that either of them deserves to be the target of a rumor like that. Gwen is married and Cherilyn has a father that she misses. I am only a friend." Jim looked at him with respect. "I get the picture and I will try to put a lid on anything if I hear about it." "There is one more thing that isn't my business and I probably shouldn't be saying this but you seem like an intelligent man. Gwen's husband is in prison. I won't go into the details but there may be rumors about that too. I would hope that people will judge Gwen and Cherilyn by their own qualities and not those of someone that they don't even know." Jim paused and locked eyes with Gerald. "I think you are being polite; you are referring to Pam and frankly she and I had a similar talk last night after Jenny went to bed. She feels that something is funny going on but doesn't know what it is. I had to remind her that I am a preacher's kid; hell we both are and that we both suffered stings when growing up because people expected us to be a certain way because of what our fathers did. She acknowledged that. But then I asked her if she had thought about the future if I am elected sheriff. I am sure that at some time I am going to have to deal with the mother or father or brother of one of the kids in Jenny's school. I asked her if she wanted Jenny to be shunned because I had to arrest someone's relative. She hadn't thought of that and our conversation went on for quite awhile discussing the old sins-of-the-father thing. I can't guarantee what will happen, but I think that her eyes were opened. I certainly won't stop Jenny from seeing Cherilyn and I felt nothing but respect for Gwen after meeting and talking with her last night. I doubt that will change your concerns but I think that we are on the same page of the hymnal." "Thank you, Jim. I think that you have a perfect understanding of my concerns. You also just earned my vote. We need good people like you in office." "Thanks. Now I better go. Another meeting awaits me." He stood as did Gerald and they shook hands. Gerald picked up the things he needed and went home with a sense that some of the gloom had lifted a little. That night he went to Gwen's house feeling better than he had in a week. They had elected to have taco pizzas and so they had an Italian/Mexican fiesta and enjoyed themselves. When Cherilyn went to her room for awhile, Gwen looked at Gerald and timidly asked, "Gerlad, Jenny's mother stopped by school today and invited the three of us to their house for dinner tomorrow night. I told her that I would check with you and get back to her tonight." Gerald looked at her and said, "I think I will pass. It is more important that you and Cheri build on this relationship than me. You need to get to know them better and they need to get to know you. Tell them that I had an important project to do." "Gerald, did you say anything to one of them?" "I had a brief chat with Jim this morning. He said that he and his wife had a talk after he got home last night." Gwen looked at him and could read his mind. "Thank you and I see what you are saying. I just don't want you to feel left out or ignored." "I don't and I won't. It is just important right now that Jennifer and Cheri cement their new relationship and that Pam and Jim get to know you. The next time I will promise to attend." "I'm going to hold you to that." "Deal." Gwen picked up her phone and placed the call. He heard her tell Pam that they would be pleased to come but that Gerald had some work he had to get done. They agreed on a time and said their goodbyes. Gerald smiled at her as she hung up. She smiled back but a little more timidly. Although he would have enjoyed getting to know Jennifer's parents better, especially Jim, he went to sleep that night knowing that this was the right thing to do. A week later, Gwen invited the Sanders family to her house for dinner and Gerald kept his word and happily attended and provided two loaves of fresh Italian bread and the beans that were specifically requested by Jim. As soon as he entered the house and he said his hellos, Jennifer and Cherilyn grabbed him by the hand and dragged him into the living room and there were the beans already spread out on the coffee table. He felt a hand put a glass of tea down next to him while Cherilyn simple said, "Multiply fractions." "Alright, here is a whole, one of you make two one half piles." Jennifer easily split the pile into two piles. "Alright Cheri, you make these into one quarter piles." Cherilyn took a moment and split the half pile into four equal piles. "What you have done is to make one pile into two and then made one of the piles into four piles. Do you see?" They both nodded. "In other words, you made one quarter of one half, right?" They nodded. "And when you hear the word 'of,' what are you thinking?" They both responded at the same time, "Multiply." "Correct. So how much does each of these small piles represent of the original pile?" The girls thought and Cherilyn replied first, "One fourth." Jennifer followed with "No, Cheri; that is what one fourth of one half is. I think it is one eighth?" She asked timidly looking at Gerald's face for approval. He remained non-responsive. Then Cherilyn lit up and repsonded, "I see. These are each one fourth of the half, but if we split the other half into pieces we have eight piles. So one pile is one eighth of the whole pile." Jennifer beamed along with Cherilyn. "You two just won the lottery and get to keep all of the beans." Gerald said to their giggles. "So on your homework and for the rest of your lives, every time you need to multiply fractions, you write down the fractions and you multiply the top times the top and the bottom times the bottom, like this." Jennifer asked, "Do we need to change the bottoms to be the same like we do in addition and subtraction?" "No ma'am, you do that only for addition and subtraction. That is to make sure that you are adding and subtracting the same things. With multiplying and division, you don't care about them being the same because you are multiplying a row of the same thing by the number of rows. So here are a couple of problems for each of you." He quickly wrote down three simple fraction problems for each of them. Each one had one problem where the top number wasn't "1." Each girl quickly did each problem without trouble although they stopped for a moment and repeated his words before they finished the last problem. Gerald said, "I don't know why you girls think you can't do these problems; you both got them all perfect. Now get away from me, you bother me." He used his best W. C. Fields imitation which brought another round of giggles. From behind him, he heard Pam say, "I just learned something that I never got straight before. I always just use a calculator." Gwen replied, "Me too. I think that the reason is that Gerald thinks just like a ten year old does." Gerald hung his head in embarrassment partly at not realizing that he had an audience and partly in feigned resignation that he had been found out. He finally rose and faced the audience of three standing in the doorway watching him. "Come one everyone," Gwen said, "It is time to cut our dinner into sixths." Everyone including the girls smiled and went into the dining room while Gwen and Pam went into the kitchen and brought out a platter of roast and vegetables along with a big bowl of Gerald's beans which was placed directly in front of Jim. "OK, I've got my sixth." He said. Pam replied, "Not if you are sleeping in my bed tonight." The four adults smiled but the two girls looked confused. The rest of dinner was a success and everyone ate their fill. Pam commented on the potatoes and vegetables. Gwen said that they were from her garden that Gerald had built and that Gerald and Cherilyn had planted. Pam exclaimed that she wanted a garden like hers. Before he knew it, Gerald had another garden to build and plant. He said that he could probably do it on Tuesday but probably couldn't plant it until Wednesday. The girls demanded that they be part of the planting too; so they agreed to planting the garden after school on Wednesday. By the end of school, Jennifer and Cherilyn were almost inseparable. Jim had been elected sheriff and had taken office in mid-May. Gerald with Gwen's help had supplied four kinds of bread and ten gallons of his beans for the victory celebration. Although he couldn't grow enough beans in his own garden yet, Gerald began making batches of his beans and sold them at the market. Like his bread, sales started slowly but once people tried them, he sold out every weekend. On a whim, he labeled them "Lawman" beans with the subtitle "Good enough to keep the lawman happy." Gwen was teaching summer school again and Pam had a busy social schedule, so more often than not, Jenifer and Cherilyn spent the days with Gerald as he pursued his various occupations. Both girls got hands on lessons in weighing and measuring everything from lumber to water to flour and spices. One or both of them usually went to market with him on Saturday's and he paid them both for their time working in preparing things and for selling things. Like Gwen, Jim and Pam had allowed her to make the money as long as she saved half of it. On their own time, the two friends became good shoppers while comparing quantities against price and qualities against other brands. They talked things over with each other and often came to Gerald when they were confused or uncertain on how to evaluate things. Gerald showed them how to use the internet to find information on products and ingredients. One of the results of that was both girls developed an aversion to a lot of makeup because of what they learned about the ingredients in them. Gerald also introduced the girls to the subject of percent and its relationship to fractions. This also led to an introduction into decimals. Once again, the beans were spread over the table as he demonstrated the concepts. The girls were now able to pick up many of the new concepts quickly as he continued showing an issue and having them tell him what was happening. They often discussed what they saw between themselves before they gave him an answer. He also continued his previous summer's practice of having the girls write about things they did and often had them read and explain a set of instructions or a recipe to him. Cherilyn was used to doing this from the previous summer but it only took Jennifer a couple of weeks to get the hang of what they were doing. And The Horse You Rode In On Jim and Pam held a big Fourth of July party and they all attended. This led to discussions about the history of the country. As usual, the girls had many questions many of them beginning with "why." Gerald would often tell them a story and let them decide what they would have done if they had been there at the time. In late July, Jim, Pam, and Jennifer went on a two week vacation and invited Cherilyn to go along. Jim was going to drive them through the east including Washington D.C. and other places. Gerald asked them to each keep a journal of where they went and what they did and saw. He gave them colorful notebooks and pens for this. While they were gone, Gwen visited the prison and then spent a week with her parents. Gerald was very busy but he still missed his companions but knew that they would be back soon. When Gwen returned, he had her over for dinner and they had a chance to talk without the girls around for the first time in a long time. Gwen broached the subject of her marriage again. "Gerald, when I was at the prison, he brought up about getting a divorce again. It looks like they will add at least another ten years to his sentence. I spent a lot of time talking to mother and dad about the situation. Both of them understood my conflict but they also stressed that I deserved a happy life and that Cherilyn also needed some closure to things. I am going to think about it some more and maybe make a decision later this year. Do you think that is a good idea?" "Gwen, I would only add that I think you will know when you are ready to make that decision. It might be later this year or next year, but you will feel it. I don't know if you and Cheri have talked about it but she might have a more difficult time understanding the decision. Getting her perspective on things will be important before you make your decision." "We have talked a little about it. She still defends her dad but she also shows signs of not remembering much about life when he was around. I know that she admires the relationship Jenny has with Jim but she also talks about her relationship with you in much the same way. I guess that it will be hard to determine how she would react to making a final decision." "Every time, I talk to Cherilyn about things, I am more and more surprised at how she is growing up. Her maturity is a constant surprise to me. I have a feeling that when you are ready, you too will be surprised at her response. So I guess I would offer that you just trust her. She is not ignorant of what is happening even if she doesn't understand all of the details." "Thanks, I guess I need to hear that from someone else. I see that too but as her mother, I was afraid that I was reading too much into it." Gerald smiled, "I guess, I ought to ask if you have thought about what you are going to do afterwards if you do get the divorce." "Are you reading my mind? That is one of the questions I keep asking myself and honestly, I probably think more about that than anything. The truth is, I would love to travel to some other places. I really haven't been to many other places before. I envy Cherilyn's trip to the east coast but I also would like to see the west coast particularly the northwest. I know that I could move to a big city and make more money teaching. But it would cost a lot more to live and I keep hearing horror stories about some of the things that go on in schools there. I really like the students here and I love being in the classroom but the state keeps adding more and more things that I feel are taking away from teaching and just focusing on other things. I don't have time to spend one-on-one with students anymore. I thank my lucky stars that Cherilyn has you to talk to about things she doesn't understand. You are a natural born teacher and she has just blossomed since you began working with her on math and other things." "Thanks, I guess I never considered myself to be a teacher." "But you are. Your patience and the way you can find a way to demonstrate a lesson and not just talk about it is what teaching used to be. Now it isn't. But in any event, I have decided one thing." "What is that, if I can ask?" "Of course you can ask. I am going to stay here until Cheri graduates from high school. I might stay longer but I am not going to uproot her before then. Maybe my personal dreams will happen after that, but I can wait. Right now, it is more important that she has some stability in her life and I guess I do too." Gerald hadn't been aware that he had almost been holding his breath until he let out a long exhale and began breathing normally again. He finally said quietly, "I think that is a good decision." "Me too." Gwen changed the subject. "I am thinking about putting the internet back in. It will cost a lot but I think that Cheri will be needing it more and more in school. Do you have any thoughts?" "Actually, I have been thinking about that for awhile and I agree that Cherilyn needs it now and will need it more as she goes on in school. I have checked and I would like to try something first before you spend the money to put it in." "Oh, what do you want to try?" "Our houses are less than 100 yards apart. My internet connection is supposed to be able to support up to five or six devices but Wi-Fi won't go that far. I think that I can run a wire from my house to yours and with a signal booster or a server, you can have access to the internet without having to pay extra for it. I'm already paying a lot more for the service and the amount I use. I don't have a problem sharing it with you and Cherilyn. You will just be added users on my account." "Will you get in trouble for doing that?" "Oh, if they ever checked they might squawk but I doubt that they will ever check. It is no different than each of you having a laptop and using it here really. All I would be doing is to run a wire along the fence and into your house so that you don't have to walk over here." "You make it sound so simple but I like the idea of having access here too. I could spend more time at home rather than at school when it comes times for grades and reading e-mails." She took a breath and nodded, "Let's give it a try. If it doesn't work, I can still get my own service." "I'll get the materials tomorrow and we can find out if it works before Cheri gets back." "Can I go with you?" "Of course you can. Let's go after breakfast." "Only if I make breakfast for you." "Deal." After breakfast the next morning, they drove thirty miles to a discount computer warehouse store that carried a little bit of everything. They found a salesman who seemed to be knowledgeable about networks. After he explained that he wanted to put a computer outlet in his barn about 100 yards away from his house, the salesman suggested a small server rather than a signal amplifier. He said that it would be more reliable and send a stronger signal. Gerald nodded and then loaded the basket with the other things he would need. As they turned toward the checkout counter, he saw a red laptop sitting on a clearance shelf. "What is the story on that laptop?" He asked the salesman. "Depending on what you want to do, that could be a really good deal. One of our good customers bought it for his son. It turns out that the kid was a big gamer and that this guy just doesn't have the power or the memory for some of the games he plays. Two months after he bought it, he brought it back. Normally we wouldn't take a two month old computer back and it has a couple of scratches on it, but this customer buys thousands of dollars of stuff every year. So we gave him a trade in credit and he bought a lot more expensive one." "But this one is still a good one isn't it?" "Oh, yes. Our service guys went over it and cleaned off all of the stuff that they kid had put on it and checked it over. It runs good. It will run videos and the internet just fine and it has word processing and spread sheet software on it. It just won't run the big complex action video games that kids like to play." "For that price, I think I will take it. I have been thinking about upgrading my home computer and that deal is too good to pass up." They put it in the cart and went through the checkout. Once in the car, Gwen looked at him with a smile on her face and said, "So my house is now a barn, huh?" 'Well, I might want to put a connection in the barn some day." Gerald grinned in reply. "But your barn is fifty feet from your house." "Isn't that what I said? I said I needed about 100 feet of cable just to be safe." "So that was why you got 100 yards of cable." "A little extra just keeps you from having to go back." They laughed at their inside joke. When they got home, Gerald began figuring out how to run the cable. The wiring for their previous cable was still in place and he began splicing the new cable onto the existing one. While he was doing that, Gwen got a phone call and said that she had to go over to the school for awhile. They had her fall schedule and some other materials she needed to look over. Gerald waved her on and continued with his work. An hour later, he ran the cable along the fence and over to his house. He easily set up the server and got it going and then plugged his computer in. It worked like it always had. He then went back to Gwen's house and plugged her computer into it. It fired up right away and Gerald sighed with relief. Finally, he went into Cherilyn's room and put the laptop on her desk and plugged it in. Five minutes later, he typed "Welcome Home!" of her screen and left. He also left a note for Gwen to come over for dinner later. He fired up the grill and marinated two steaks while the baked potatoes were in the oven. She arrived with a salad under her arms and a smile on her face. "Thank you so much Gerald. As soon as I got home, I tried out the computer and it works so nicely." She gave him a hug and a kiss on the cheek. Gerald blushed and said nothing. "By the way, Pam called while I was at school and they will be home the day after tomorrow probably in mid-afternoon. I told her that we would have dinner when they got back." "Then I need to go to the store and get a couple of pounds of beans." Gerald said. Gwen laughed and handed him two bags. "I figured that you would need these." He smiled and put them into a pot to soak and then went to put the steaks on the table while Gwen set the table and checked the potatoes. On Friday, he carried a pot of beans and two loaves of bread up to Gwen's and was met with a smile. "They called and will be here in about an hour. Have a seat. I bought some beer and a bottle of wine. I think Jim and Pam will need it after herding two eleven year olds for two weeks." She handed Gerald a beer. Beer and wine was something that Gerald enjoyed but seldom allowed himself the luxury of buying. An hour later, they heard a car drive up and went outside to greet the travelers. Both girls were the first out of the car and talking at the same high rate of speed. Both Gwen and Gerald got hugs from Cherilyn and Jennifer. Jim and Pam got out of the car and stretched with the look of two worn out travelers. Gerald handed Jim a beer which he accepted gratefully. Gwen had a glass of wine for Pam which she also took with a smile. Cherilyn got her bag out of the car and the two girls ran into her room. Before the adults could even get inside, they heard Cherilyn scream. Gwen got a concerned look on her face until Cherilyn came running out and hugged her tightly. "Thank you, thank you momma. I love it and its red too. It's my favorite color. And it has internet too." She released her mother and ran back to her room. Understanding slowly overcame the confusion and Gwen turned to Jim and asked, "How much jail time would I have to serve for killing a man who deserved it?" Jim looked confused but replied, "Probably five years; three is you have a good lawyer." Pam responded, "If it was a man who really deserved it and the jury was all women, they would probably find you innocent and offer to buy you lunch. So who is this man who deserves his fate?" "That smiling idiot over there bought Cheri a computer with me standing right next to him and never even gave me a hint that he was up to something." Both Jim and Pam burst out laughing. Pam added, "Just like man. He does something good but really deserves a good spanking." Gerald started to blush and then added, "Just tell her that you got it out of this quarter's royalty check." Gwen eyed him and responded, "And I better see evidence of that when the check comes." Gerald handed her their second quarter check." She looked and smiled and said nothing else. An hour later they pried the girls away from Cherilyn's computer where they had set up all of the social networks important to girls at the time. As they started to sit down, Jim said "I figured that I was in good enough shape to chase down a bad guy running away but let me tell, I am not in good enough shape to keep up with these two girls." Everyone smiled as Pam nodded in agreement. Gerald went to the market alone on Saturday because Cherilyn had stayed up late and slept until almost noon. Two weeks later, school started and things returned to their normal pattern. It was the Sunday after the last weekly market in October. Gerald was over for dinner which was running a little late. He had worked with Cherilyn on her homework and Gwen suggested that he watch the evening news as she finished dinner. He watched the news and went still as he watched the story about a new plant opening 100 miles away. They were interviewing the plant manager. When the story finished, Gerald stood up unsteadily and walked into the kitchen with tears in his eyes and apologized to Gwen and said that he had to leave. Then he walked out the door and went home. An hour later, a worried Gwen knocked on his door with a plate of dinner for him. His tears had stopped but the sadness was written all over his face. "Gerald, you have always been there for me. Talk to me. What happened?" "I'm sorry, Gwen. I just saw something that hit me wrong on the news." "Tell me, please." Gerald looked very sad. "They did that story they did about the new plant?" She nodded. "The plant manager was the guy who was messing around with my ex-wife. That was her standing next to him." "I'm sorry, Gerald. I know that this is still a sore spot for you." "Actually, that didn't bother me as much as I thought it would. It was that standing next to her were my two children." The tears started rolling down his face gain. Gwen just looked at him in shock. He had never said much about his ex-wife but he had never even mentioned that he had children before. She felt like a whole new dimension into Gerald had just opened up in front of her and she was totally unprepared to witness it. Finally, she stuttered, "You never mentioned them and I never thought......." He got up and went into his bedroom and brought back two boxes and sat them next to her. Then he went into the kitchen and got a drink of water. She looked through the box and saw a few school pictures of kids in their early school grades. She saw the envelopes marked "Moved, address unknown." Then she saw the letters written every week with the last one written that very morning. The most recent letters were short but showed no signs of being folded or made ready to mail. He had just kept the letters in case something happened. He came back and sat on the sofa again. Gwen struggled with herself before she could say anything. "Gerald, I can't think of a thing to say except....except that I am sorry that you have been put through this. I feel like I am intruding into a place that I don't belong." "No Gwen, don't feel that. I haven't said anything because I really didn't have anything to say. I couldn't explain things to you very well because I didn't understand what was going on either. Then I never felt like the opportunity was right to tell you. I guess, today was the day fate decided I should tell you. I just didn't do it very well." "You did fine from my side. I expect that you haven't had time to decide what you are going to do yet." "No, I am still in shock myself. But I will talk to you about it before I do anything. I am probably going to need some help deciding what to do." "I will be there for you anytime you want to talk." "Thanks, Gwen. I really appreciate you and your support." "You probably don't have a clue how much I appreciate the support you have given me. Now, I am going to put your dinner in the microwave and heat it up. Then you need to eat. I have to get back to Cheri." "Don't say anything to her about this, please. I can barely talk to you about this and I know that I couldn't talk to her about it for sure." "I understand. I won't mention it to her." She heated up his dinner and after he sat down to eat, she gave him a hug and walked back home. A week and a half later, he called Gwen and asked her to stop by after school. She dropped Cherilyn off at home and walked down to meet him. She found him sitting at the kitchen table with two envelopes and two letters. She sat down and waited for him to speak. "Gwen, I have been thinking. I don't know what they might have told Rick and Denise about me or why I haven't contacted them. So I don't think just walking up to them is a good idea. So I decided to write them each another letter and mail it to their attention at the plant site. It might break the ice more easily for them. What do you think?" She thought a moment and decided that this was also the easiest way for Gerald to protect himself if things weren't good. "I think that this is a good idea, Gerald. It breaks the ice without too much pressure on you or the kids." "That was what I was thinking too. I'll mail these in the morning." Two weeks later, she and Cherilyn came over for dinner and she saw the two envelopes sitting on the table. They were both marked "Return to sender. No Person at this address." Gwen looked at Gerald and saw only a sign of resignation. "Gerald, I have an idea. Would it be alright if I tried something to see what is going on?" Gerald replied with a lackluster voice. "Sure; I don't mind. I don't have any better idea." After dinner Gerald sat down with Cherilyn to work on her homework; Gwen stepped out on the porch with her phone and called Jim. "Jim, this is Gwen. I'm not going to go into a lot of details but a couple of weeks ago, there was a news announcement about a plant opening two counties over. Do you know anyone over there who can find out a little about the plant manager?" "Yes, I know the sheriff over there. We have worked on a couple of cases together. What are you trying to find out? Is this official or personal?" It is personal and I only have limited information. The news program interviewed a guy who Gerald thought he might have known earlier but wasn't sure. He tried to track him down with a letter and didn't get a response. He is just wondering if it was the same guy and if he is in the area." "That shouldn't be a problem. I'll give the sheriff a call in the morning and let you know what he says." "Thanks, Jim. I would appreciate it." "Gwen, there is a little more to the story than this, isn't there?" "Yes, but let's let that sit until you find something out." "Will do." The next afternoon, Jim pulled into Gwen's driveway while Gerald was inside helping Cherilyn and Jennifer with their homework. "Gerald, can you come outside for a minute?" Gwen asked him. "Sure. I'll be right there. You guys keep working on this and I'll be right back." He went outside and found Gwen talking to Jim. He shook hands with Jim and looked at Gwen with a questioning look. And The Horse You Rode In On "I asked Jim to talk to the sheriff over there and see if he could find anything out." They both looked at Jim. "Well, it turned out to be an interesting story. He came to town with his family and got a realtor to show him around town telling them that he was looking for a site for a plant that would hire a lot of people. That got people's attention including the television station who did the interview. When he finally went to the city council to discuss the idea, it turns out that he is just a promoter representing a group of investors looking for a place to build a plant to process toxic waste. At most they would hire twenty people and they wanted city to supply the land and abate taxes for twenty years. The council declined and he left and only left an 800 number for a contact number. They did some follow-up and found out that he had made the same pitch in three or four towns in different states." Both Gerald and Gwen looked disappointed. "Gwen said that you might know this guy, Gerald?" "Yeah, he used to be my boss. He has something of mine." "Valuable?" "A lot of sentimental value. Thanks for checking, Jim. I think I knew that it was going to be a long shot." Gerald went back into the house and the girls. Jim looked at Gwen with a raised eyebrow. "The woman was Gerald's ex-wife." "Oh. The kids?" She turned to him and looked him in the eye and said, "Thank you, Jim. Both of us appreciate it. I'll have Jenny home after dinner." Jim understood and gave her a hug without asking anymore. The rest of the fall went by smoothly. Gerald regained his energy and enthusiasm. The bright spots were that their third quarter royalty check was the largest one yet. They celebrated at a new Mexican food restaurant in town with Jim and Jenny. Pam had a meeting that night. They spent Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years as they had in recent years except that Jim, Pam, and Jenny became more part of it. Year Four and Five The New Year began quietly with no problems. It had been a cold winter so far and Gerald was almost sold out of firewood. He was cutting more wood when Cherilyn and Gwen came down his way bundled up against the cold. He stopped working and led them inside. He had hot coffee but quickly made a hot chocolate for Cherilyn. They all sat down and Gerald noticed that Cheirlyn was very quiet and shy, something she hadn't been around him in several years. Gerald said, "Let me guess. Someone wants something but is embarrassed to ask." Gwen smiled and said, "Go on, Cheri." "Mom, this is so hard." "Honey, there will be a lot of hard things that you will have to do in this life. Just take a deep breath and get it out. Gerald isn't going to yell at you." Without looking at him, Cherilyn began. "Um, Gerald, um, in a couple of weeks the school is having a, um, a party and, um, I was wondering if you would go with me?" Her face was red and she was almost in tears. Gerald looked at Gwen who was looking at Cherilyn. "That was the hard part, Cheri; now tell him the rest." Cherilyn's eyes shot up and looked at her mother and then at Gerald. Her spurted out "It is a father daughter Valentine's Day dinner party as if it was one word and then her eyes dropped to her lap again. Gerald lifted her face so that she looked at him and said, "Of course, I would be very pleased to go to the Valentine's dinner party with you." All of the strain left her face and threw her arms around his neck in a big hug. "Thank you, thank you." Gwen just sat there smiling at them both. Then Cherilyn ran to his computer and began sending a message to Jenny. Gerald and Gwen went out on the porch with refilled coffee cups and sat in his rockers. "What was all that about?' Gerald asked. "When this came up, she felt that she couldn't go because her father wasn't here. Jenny apparently said to her that you might as well be her daddy and to ask you to take her. She came to me asked what I thought about that. I told her that I thought it was a perfect idea. But then she started blushing because it was a Valentine's Day dinner and party." "Oh, I think I see." "She asked me if I would ask you for her. I told her that I thought that you would like it better is she asked you. As you saw, it was kind of like a boy asking a girl on a first date. She's starting to notice boys a little and she and Jenny talk a lot about boys now but she is embarrassed about talking about it even to me." Gerald smiled, "I guess that she is growing up perfectly normal, huh?" "I hope so." "You have done a great job raising her, Gwen." "Thanks." Cherilyn came out to the porch and looked at him. Without saying a word, she went to Gerald and sat in his lap. "Daddy, can I ask you a question?" "Of course." He made sure that his arms surrounded her to keep her warm. "Jenny and I have been talking and we think that you must have a daughter. Do you?" Gerald shot a look at Gwen who shook her head slightly. "Why do you two think that?" "Because you do all of the daddy things so well; we think that you must have had practice." "OK, then yes I do have a daughter and a son. Their names are Denise and Rick." "You don't talk about them. Do you see them or talk to them?" Gerald replied in a very soft voice, "No, Cheri. I don't. I don't know where they are and, as far as I know, they don't know where I am." There was a lump in his throat as he said this. Cherilyn was quiet for a few minutes as she was thinking. Gwen and Gerald just looked at each other. Cherilyn took a deep breath as if she made a decision. "Gerald, my mom told me that my real daddy won't be coming home for a long, long time. I don't like not having a daddy so will you be my substitute daddy? I would like to be your substitute daughter." Gerald looked at her and answered, "Don't you think you ought to discuss this with your mom first. She might have something to say about this." Cherilyn looked at her mother with an innocent look. Gwen took a moment and then said, "Cheri, most of us never have a choice about who their daddy is. I think you made an excellent choice for a substitute daddy and I think that you will be very lucky if Gerald accepts." Cherilyn smiled and looked back at Gerald. He smiled and replied, "I will proud to be your daddy and even prouder to have you as my daughter." They sealed their newly defined relationship with a hug. To celebrate, Gerald got out pizza crusts and they made homemade pizzas and toasted their new relationship with wine for the adults and grape juice for Cherilyn. After dinner, Cherilyn asked, "Daddy, I don't know when your birthday is. A daughter ought to know when her daddy's birthday is." "Alright but then you need to tell me yours. My birthday is July 15." Cherilyn began to giggle while Gerald looked confused. She finally said, "That's funny because mine is July 15 too. I guess I won't forget yours and mom won't have to remind me." They shared another hug. Gwen just beamed. The next two weeks went smoothly but as the day came closer, Gerald got more and more nervous. He hadn't dressed up in a coat and tie in almost five years. He wasn't sure how he would be received by the other parents. Finally, he wasn't sure what he ought to do. He sought out Gwen for advice. After explaining his concerns, Gwen responded. "I can't help you with your wardrobe, but I can assure you that some fathers will dress up while others will be in shirt and no tie. Be comfortable. Second, I wouldn't worry about the other parents. I think that you will be surprised at how well known you are in the community and school. Your name comes up often at the PTA meetings. Finally, the tradition at the school is for the father to buy a simple Valentine corsage for their daughter and the daughter will buy you a gift too. Other than that, just be yourself." Gerald went to several florists and flower shops looking at their selection of corsages. He found most of them too overdone in his mind. He finally bought four rose buds and some ribbon and took them home to make his own. He spent far too much time on it before he was satisfied, but he didn't care; he had what he wanted and put it in the refrigerator for the dinner the next night. The next evening, he put on his slacks and sport coat with a tie and took his corsage and went to pick up Cherilyn. He had washed and cleaned up his truck that afternoon. In spite of Gwen's words, he still felt a little nervousness about what was coming but as he walked up to the door, he changed his focus from himself to Cherilyn and vowed to make this the best Valentine's Day he could. Gwen met him at the door and gushed at how nice he looked dressed up. Then she had him stand in the living room while she went to usher Cherilyn out. As soon as she stepped into the room, all of his fears left. She was wearing a pink dress with maroon trim that he had not seen before. Her hair was done nicely and she had just a hint of makeup on. Her smile radiated and lit up the room. "Cheri, you look so beautiful tonight." "Thank you, daddy. Mom said that you look very good tonight but she was wrong; you look extremely handsome." "I brought you a corsage but I think I will need to have your mom help in pinning it on. I'm kind of clumsy doing things like that." Cherilyn giggled. Gwen smiled and just shook her head. When he presented her corsage, she fingered it lightly and said how beautiful it was. At the center was a large pink rose bud that was just beginning to open. On the top was a red rose bud and on either side were two white buds. He explained that the center rose was her and that the red bud was her mom while the two white ones were her real and substitute daddies. They were tied together with maroon ribbon and embellished with short pink, maroon, and white ribbon streamers. Cherilyn was quiet but the smile on her face told her how proud she was of it. Gwen had a tear in her eye as she pinned in on her daughter's dress. Then she took pictures of the two of them alone and together. When Cherilyn went to her room and to get her coat, Gwen asked, "That is a beautiful and thoughtful corsage. Where did you get it?" "I made it." Gwen didn't have time to respond before Cherilyn came back with her hands behind her back. "Daddy, Jenny and I made our daddy's a gift for tonight. Would you bend over?" He did as she asked and then she slipped a ribbon over his neck with a medallion of some sort tied on the end. When he stood up, he looked closely at the medallion. It was a round disc about two inches in diameter. On one side it had a picture of him and the words "He is my Daddy" and on the other side was a picture of her with the words "I am his Daughter." This time it was Gerald's turn to have a tear in his eye. Gwen took more pictures as she had tears in both of her eyes. They all shared a group hug. It was broken by Gwen's phone ringing. She answered and said that they were just about to leave. She listened for a moment and then said that she would take care of it. "Gerald, will you stop and pick up Jenny? Jim got tied up on a case but he won't be there for another 45 minutes. He will meet you at the dinner." Gerald smiled and said, "Of course I will. We better go, princess, so we can pick up Jenny and arrive on time." He took Cherilyn's hand and led her out to the truck and they drove off. Gwen finally let all of her tears out. She could not imagine a better father/daughter scene than she had just witnessed. They stopped and picked Jenny up. She was disappointed that her daddy would be late but had learned to accept that his job had strange hours. She was happy to go with Gerald and Cherilyn. She clutched her medallion in her hands as they drove to the school. Once there, Gerald discovered that each father daughter were to make an entrance and were announced in a very formal way. He suggested that they wait in the lobby area for Jim to arrive. For the next several minutes, the stood and said "hi" to their classmates as they entered. Jenny lit up when she saw Jim enter the school and ran to him. He bent over and when he stood up he was wearing his medallion and looking at both sides with obvious pride. They came over to join Gerald and Cherilyn. As the men shook hands, Jim said, "Thanks for picking up Jenny and waiting. I owe you." "No, I think that I owe you." Gerald noticed several blood spots on Jim's sleeve and a stain across the side of his uniform. He nodded at them. Jim nodded and replied, "Pam is bringing me a clean shirt. We had an incident with a drunk." Then the door announcer said in a loud and clear voice. "Miss Cherilyn Lambert and her daddy Mr. Gerald Murphy." Gerald took Cherilyn's arm and they entered the cafeteria to a round of applause. A few moments later, they heard, "Miss Jennifer Sanders and her father Mr. James Sanders." The crowd applauded them with the same enthusiasm. They found their places next to each other and sat down. A few minutes later a man came and whispered to Jim who excused himself for a few minutes. When he returned, he was wearing his uniform pants with a clean white shirt and tie which showed off his medallion proudly. Gerald noticed immediately that while many of the introductions said "father," an equal number of introductions were for "dad" or "daddy." He realized that someone had realized the potential confusion with the introductions and probably gave each girl the option to designate how her date for the night was introduced. He felt proud that Cherilyn had chosen to call him "daddy." They had a decent dinner of chicken and rice with steamed vegetables. Both girls whispered loudly that Gerald made better chicken, rice, and vegetables. The other girls at the table giggled. Gerald just smiled. After dinner they mingled at the other end of the cafeteria which was decorated with handmade hearts and decorations. He was introduced to several of the other fathers and daddies by Jim who was obviously well known among the parents. They had some music, punch, and cake. Several of the fathers and daughters danced clumsily together for the first few dances including Cherilyn and Gerald. Then the girls started dancing with each other singly and in groups. The fathers for the most part stood on the sidelines and watched with pride. Shortly before the end of the evening a man younger than Gerald approached him and introduced himself as the principal of the school. "I have heard about you for some time, Mr. Murphy. Both Jennifer and Cherilyn have told everyone about how much you have helped them with math and other subjects. I was wondering if I could interest you in perhaps working with a few of our third and fourth graders who are having problems with math. We are coming into testing season and these kids are really struggling." Gerald looked surprised and then responded, "I haven't done that before except with Jenny and Cheri. I guess I'm not sure that my methods would be proper in a school setting." "The kids we are talking about have been getting "proper school" teaching and they are just not getting it or responding to it. I am willing to give this a try. If half of them respond, I would be very pleased. I would be happy to pay you for your time. It isn't a lot but it is something." "I could do it on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday mornings. I get kind of busy later in the week." "I understand. My wife buys your bread and beans from the market almost every week. If you could work with them on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday mornings for a couple of hours, that would be more than satisfactory." "OK, I'll give it a try." "Thank you very much. Come to my office on Monday and I will show you the room you can use and introduce you to the children we are concerned about. I also have an aide who can help you if you need." "I'll be there at about 9:00." "Excellent. I'll be looking forward." The principal left with a smile on his face. Jim, who had been standing nearby, looked at Gerald with a grin, "Boy, I think you just stuck your foot in a fresh cow patty and don't realize it yet." "Jim, it can't be that bad, can it?" "Come for dinner Monday night and I'll have fresh six pack for you. Bring Cheri and Gwen. Gwen will probably need to drive you home." Gerald grinned at his friend and replied, "You're on but I don't think I will need the beer before bed." "We'll see." The girls came up and asked if they could stop and get ice cream before going home. The two softies agreed and they had ice cream on a cold night before they went home. Gerald went in with Cherilyn and they told her about the night. When Cherilyn went to get ready for bed, Gerald told Gwen about his agreement with the principal and Jim's response. She smiled and said, "You are going to do fine. But Jim is also right. These kids won't be anything like Cheri and Jenny and some of them will take all of your patience to crack. But I think you can do it. There is a quality about you that just gets people's attention. We will see how you feel Monday night." Gerald went home after a good night hug from Cherilyn and the first thing he did was take off his medallion and hang it on the wall right next to his recliner and computer. He then sat down and wrote a letter to each of his children telling them about his night and how he wished they could have been there with him. These went into their boxes and he went to bed. The next day, he was busy with baking and preparing for Saturday's market. When the girls came home from school, they helped him bake and rolled more buns for Friday's baking. They liked rolling the buns because they could talk and listen to music while they worked. Their choice of music wasn't high on Gerald's favorite list but he accepted it as being a lot better than some of the music that was out there. Gwen came by picked the girls up to go to Jim and Pam's house where they were going to sleep over. She also invited Gerald over for a late dinner as she had to stop by the store. They agreed on a 7:30 dinner. Over dinner, Gwen gave him a list of the students he would be working with and told him about each one. She would only do this when Cherilyn was not around and asked him to not talk about these kids when she was. Gerald nodded. She focused on three in particular. The first was Roberto. He was bright enough but seemed fixated on following his older brother who led a gang of sorts in the area. So far the brother had only gotten in minor trouble but everyone felt like it was just a matter of time before he got involved in something bigger. The second was Suzanna who went by Suzy. She did well in class and class work but by the next day, she seemed to have forgotten everything she had learned the day before or at least it had become muddled. No one would figure out what her problem was. The third one was a bright and cheerful kid, named Duane, who had already made up his mind that he was going to become a professional football or basketball player and didn't see the need to study or be successful in class. He had a charming personality but evaded everyone's attempts to motivate him. Gerald nodded as she spoke of each one and then asked a couple of questions. After he went home, he spent an hour on the internet reading about children's development and learning. While it didn't provide a prescription for working with these students, it did give him some things to think about over the weekend. On Monday, he arrived promptly at 9:00 and met the principal who once again greeted him warmly. He led him to a room off of the library. There was a table and seven chairs set up. The principal told him to make himself comfortable and he would go get the third graders for him. There were six of them including the girl Suzy. He had brought his packet of beans and a few other things but decided that he would try to get to know them a little better first. So they introduced themselves and asked each one to tell him his or her name and a little about who they were and what they wanted to be when they grew up.