6 comments/ 14449 views/ 1 favorites Inhibitions out the Window Ch. 02 By: magmaman Looking up from my check, still surprised at the amount, I saw Amiko walk into the room. Wearing nothing but a towel wrapped around her waist. My Amiko. At least I had been thinking she was my girl. My surprise turned to shock, she saw me and seemed startled, then she looked down. I looked back at Cary, he just grinned at me. "Darla is up at the house if you want to go up there." He said. Like that would somehow make this right, perhaps we would be..even? Cary's wife Darla was beautiful. The best I can say about that is that it is an understatement. Most of the time Darla looked like she was ready for a classy magazine photo shoot. Six weeks I had lived with Cary and Darla, I knew them a total of seven weeks if I counted the one week I worked for them. Rich people. Beyond belief rich people, too. Plus not the kind that have worked all their lives and earned it, it was all inherited. Cary had a devil may care don't give a shit attitude all the time. I suppose people with huge resources can get that way, if they want something they just get it and that is it. At the same time he was friendly and pleasant, unlike Darla that could switch from sweet and pretty to demanding in an instant. I won't lie, I liked living there. I liked the good food, attentions of women almost daily in Cary's massage room. I didn't even much mind the odd quirks that Cary showed, he liked it when one of the women he hired attended to his needs and he liked it when I was there recieving the same. I had even wondered if perhaps he had some latent homosexual tendencies? But considering the number of beautiful women always around, nearly always in various stages of peek a boo dress I dismissed that. I never really got to know Cary. We never talked, not like one man does with another. Cary was just there, then he would be gone. If he wanted to do something, he did it. If he wanted me to come along, he just expected me to. There was no relationship. I had been hurt, Cary's fault. That seemed to mean to him that it was his job to take care of it. It was a bit like he had ran over the neighbor's Dog, so he paid the vet bills. To him, that was all there was to it. So to him I was hurt. Medical attention, food, shelter, pay the bills. The closest I ever got to having any idea at all what he was about was when I saw the look on his face as one of his hired women took care of us. He would get a look on his face, it wasn't really even enjoyment. It was...power..control? Then my leg healed and I was back in my own lifestyle. Broke, looking for work, wondering what the next day would bring. The bright spot had been Amiko. Tiny, pretty, wild in bed Amiko. Smitten? Hell, more than that. I had even had visions of what our kids might look like, my Irish and English heritage mixed with her obvious oriental features? It was just an accident that I called a number in the newspaper looking for work. An accident that Darla had answered and not one of the staff. Another accident that Cary was even there. He took the phone, I had the job and he was gone. No explanations about the job, no questions, nothing. I showed up for the work. There wasn't any "work." I just went through the motions, putting in the time. Then Amiko had stayed with me, overslept and was late picking up Darla. Darla's idea of power, control was to show up and have me serve her orally. Put me in my place, so to speak. I did that, feeling shame and excitement at the same time. Then Cary, competitive Cary. We raced, I won. Perhaps he even let me? We raced for Maria, so sweet to look at, so efficient in the kitchen and around the house. Yet she accepted sex with me as a reward? Or was it just to allow Cary even more control? To both Cary and Darla staff were nothing more than servants, plus they doubled as playthings at their whim. They all acted like this was normal? I had looked at my check, three times what one would expect. I had hesitated, too. Shameful of me, but I thought about putting up with it for the money. It flashed in my mind that if I could put up with everything going on for maybe a few weeks, a few months. Build a fine nest egg, then take off on my own. I had even decided to do just that, even heartsick at the idea of Cary and Amiko together, obviously having sex. So I went and bought the old van, went home. I just loaded it up, easy to do when all there is is a couple of small suitcases. Then I drove away. Just like that. I didn't even think about it, didn't plan it. That just happened. Even packing my few belongings, rolling my bike into the back, I never thought about it. I guess I knew, though. I drove until the needle on the gas gauge read nearly empty, finally stopping at a little cafe in a tiny town on the Oregon coast. It didn't look expensive, it wasn't. The waitress was a slightly chubby but pretty little thing that cracked one joke after another in a style well practiced from dealing with a solid string of passing through customers. The first one was when I tried to push the door open, then spotted the sign that said "pull." "You must be from the city!" she laughed as I stepped in. Then she asked me if I wanted my eggs "Up, down, or sideways?" When I ordered the $6 Steak and eggs special, rare and sunnyside up. I heard her sing out to the cook, "Special!! With a bandaid!" Just banter, somehow funny. It made me feel better. I decided to spend the night at the little motel I had passed a mile back. The tired clerk handed me the keys, I settled in. The next morning I stopped by for breakfast to get in on the $4.95 early bird special. There was a pile of golden brown hash browns, three eggs, some bacon. Good, too. I was just shoving the last forkful of hash browns in my mouth, thinking about the $17 I had left in my pocket. Then I saw the sign. "Dishwasher needed. Apply in person." The sign was maybe 6" X 6", I thought that was funny, the "apply in person" part. I was still laughing to myself about that when the waitress walked up with a pot of steaming coffee. "Is the job still open?" I asked her. She looked me up and down. "How many years of college do you have?" She asked in a dead straight face. "Uhhh....." Then she laughed. "Six bucks an hour, sweep the floors, do the windows and clean the rest rooms?" "I can do that." "Well, you are the cutest dishwasher I ever hired." She handed me an apron. "Starts now. Breakfast is on me!" She said over her shoulder as she headed for the kitchen. Then she stopped. "I'm Katey." Well, that made sense, the place was called "Katey's Cafe." "Dan." She nodded and went to work. Great. My new career. I got up and went to work too. The place was already spotless so there wasn't much work to do, just a steady string of plates, cups, saucers and untensils. "You work good!" Katey said that evening as she reached in the register and handed me some bills. "I don't want to mess with taxes, is that all right?" "Fine with me." I wasn't exactly thinking of being there the rest of my life, anyway. "You coming back tomorrow?" "Yes." "Good. We open at 5 AM." 5 AM. Great. I went back to my motel room, paid the clerk. Then I went to bed early, slept like a log. I dreamed about Amiko, the way she muttered under her breath as she was on top of me, her head tipped back, eyes closed. I woke up before the alarm went off, washed in the shower stall if it could be called that. It was a tiny metal cabinet, crude but it worked. One day bled into another. I was actually gaining, my stash of capital was up to nearly $100. I was thinking of getting it to $1000 and then hitting the road. Then I looked up as someone came in, the little jingle of the bell over the door always let us know. It was Darla. She walked across the room and sat at a table by the window. There was a couple of regulars in there sipping the never ending coffee, they both came to a stop, stared. Darla looked like she has just stepped off a page in a magazine. I tried to look as busy as possible, the three plates I had in the sink got really clean. "Check that out!" Katey hissed as she went by. "She ordered a poached egg on an English muffin." I grinned. "Well, we have some muffins anyway." She laughed. I was wondering what the hell Darla was doing here, over 250 miles away from her home? "Hello, Danny." I heard Darla say. "Hello." She stood there at the doorway, wearing a pair of slacks and one of those halter tops that didn't leave a lot to the imagination. The old guys out front were leaning over so far to look at her that I thought they would fall out of their chairs. "So what are you doing here?" "Washing dishes." "You are kidding me! Why?" "I needed a job. I couldn't take what was going on." "Why? I liked you, I thought you liked me?" "Darla, you are married. I just..I wasn't comfortable." "Honey, if you want to visit with my crew they are off the clock." Katey said to her as she went by with a plate loaded down with french fries. Darla gave her a dark look, it had no effect. "I need a few minutes." I told Katey. Darla turned and headed for the door. "Hey, are you going to pay for your order?" Katey asked. Darla stopped, fished a $100 bill out of her purse, set it down and walked out. "Wow. Hey Danny, watch your rear end with that one!" Then she stomped off, letting her irritation show. I went out and got into my van. I realized I hadn't even told Darla where I was staying. Somehow I figured I didn't need to. The limosine was sitting in front of the motel when I pulled up. Maria came around and opened the door for Darla, smiled at me. Maria looked just like she always looked, too much showing. "You live here?" Darla sniffed as she saw the inside of my room. I didn't say anything. "So why did you just leave, no word, nothing?" "I told you. Too much going on." "Was it me? Or was it..Amiko?" "Amiko." No point in lying. That was just part of it, though. "Oh. Well, that's just the way Cary is." She dismissed it like it wasn't important. To her it wasn't, I guess. "But why leave? Why here? What are you making, maybe $15 an hour? We were paying you twice that!" It hit me how out of touch with reality this woman was. "So you were mad because Cary was messing around with her? That's nothing, Cary messes around with all the women." "Look, Darla. I am from a different world. I want my work to mean something, I want my life to mean something. I want the woman I am with to mean something." "You could be with me. I have way more to offer than Amiko does." She smiled, her fingers tracing the edge of her halter top. Then she stepped up to me. "No, Darla. I just can't." "Why don't you come back, we will even give you a raise." "It's not money, Darla. It's just not money!" She looked at me oddly. "Then how about if I tell Cary that Amiko is off limits?" "Some things can't be put back, Darla." Her expression changed, got dark. "You are crazy!" Then she stormed out. I heard the big limo start, drive off. Maybe I was being crazy? I drove back to the cafe. I was wondering why Darla would come all the way down here to try and get me to come back. I didn't have an answer. Maybe she just couldn't stand the idea of one getting away? "That was quick." Katey smiled. I just got my apron, went back to work. I was eating a late dinner, Katey came over and handed me the day's pay. "I didn't dock you." "Thanks." "Can I sit down?" "Sure." "So do you want to...talk?" Her voice had a trace of nervousness. "It's nothing, just some past catching up." Then I started talking, it all came pouring out. All of it. Katey sat and just listened, let me talk. "I knew you were unhappy about something, Dan. I just didn't know what." "I shouldn't be burdening you with my..." "No, it's all right. You are a good man, Dan. Sometimes a life like that doesn't fit." "Besides, they sound like they are a little...sick?" I just nodded. "So you want to be with Amiko?" "I thought I did." "It sounds like you could still be?" "No. Not now, not after all of that." "I do wonder about one thing. How did she find you way down here?" "I think they could find anybody..anywhere." "Rich people." She nodded. "Well, if you need anything...anything at all, just let me know." She put her hand on my shoulder. I looked up at her, it hit me. "Not many good looking guys are around here, and most don't stay long." "A woman has needs, Danny. When I saw...that woman...I thought you would be gone, too." I really didn't know what to say. "But you came back here." Katey headed back to the kitchen, I watched her as she walked away. A bit chubby, pretty, maybe a year or two older than me. Her hair was tied up tightly, I had never seen it any other way. The waitress uniform worked very well to hide her figure, snugly buttoned at the top to protect modesty. I saw the look, knew what Katey had in mind. I wasn't in the mood for any entanglements, I still hurt from the idea of losing Amiko. I guess I thought I was in love. I was sitting in my motel room thinking when I decided. That was an obvious offer. It had been way too long. Life goes on. I took a quick shower, shaved. Then I got into my van and went looking. I had no idea where Katey lived, but in this town it shouldn't take long. It didn't. I spotted the little red Camry pulled up at a house just 3 blocks from the Cafe. I walked up and knocked on the door. Katey answered, looked at me for a moment, then smiled. Her hair was still pulled up in a bun, but she had changed into a pretty housewife type printed dress. "I thought you might come over. I hoped so, anyway." She beckoned me in. We sat and sipped coffee for a full hour, just talked. I told her all about my hopes and dreams, the bike shop I wanted to build and own someday. Maybe even some land for a track to rent out. She told me about her first failed marriage, then she had inherited the little Cafe from her folks. They had run it for decades, a nice steady business as I had noticed, with a solid stream of trade from travelers. Then she stood up. "I think I should slip into something more comfortable?" It was a question. I smiled at that. "Hey, I am just a dishwasher." "Hey, I am just a cook!" We both started laughing. Katey went into a room off the side of her living room. I sat and sipped coffee for another 15 minutes, lost in thought. Then the door opened, she stepped out. My jaw dropped. She had on a light pink negligee, it lay over her breasts at the bodice, the darker area of her nipples clearly visible. The material bunched at the waist, then flowed out and over her hips. The slit at the side came all the way to the top of her thigh on the left, one long leg was bare. I could barely make out a tuft of reddish pubic hair through the almost sheer material. Her hair was let down and brushed, it flowed out and over her shoulders, the reddish highlights seemed to catch the light in the room. She was beautiful, the dowdy and chubby looking waitress had vanished. I got up on reflex and walked towards her, she met me halfway. I wrapped her in my arms and kissed her, she kissed right back, eagerly. With our arms around each other's waist, we went into her bedroom. The bed was covered with piles of pillows of every size and shape. I was eagerly reaching under her negligee, exploring. I found her soft breasts, so firm, her nipples soft and flattened out, both nipples inverted inwards. I put my mouth on first one, then the other and sucked lightly, feeling them give and pop outwards. I felt her hands fumbling at my belt, my shirt had already come off somehow. Her lips came down and suckled at my nipples, sending waves of pleasure through me. Then her hands were on me. "Oh, God!..Big!" She said, as she slid down and opened her mouth. She sucked firmly and with almost a fury, in seconds I was solid as a rock. I slipped downwards, she was naked now, her legs opened easily to allow me access. My right hand came down, I felt the fullness of her proud lips. I spread her open with my fingers, pressed towards her as her hips moved around seeking me. Then I felt her opening against the head of my erection, her hips came up, almost reaching out for me. She slid over me in a smooth motion, a small cry escaping her lips. "It's been so long!" She cried out. Then I was overwhelmed as she thrust at me. She reached her peak first, then again much stronger as I blasted off in release. We lay together for awhile, I felt her hand reach down and begin to slowly stroke me. In short order I was once again erect, this time our strokes were very slow, in unison. My orgasm this time was the strongest I ever felt, it seemed to go on and on, each convulsion stronger than the next. My life became a mix of work at the cafe, then off work and over to Katey's house. I was spending more time at her place than my own. I even graduated to short order cook, I got to be very good at doing a half dozen things at once. It was fun to see how nice I could make a plate of food look, how good I could make it taste. The business grew, we got even busier. I began to notice regulars, people going out of their way to stop. That made me feel good, I surprised myself, I was actually pretty good with a grill. Katey and I even engaged in some risky type sex, we made love in the local tiny park, alongside the trail that led to the Ocean. Once we were having sex in the cafe, the outside lights off as we had just closed. A customer walked in on us just as I was in the throes or orgasm. Katey was naked to the waist, her pretty breasts bouncing as I thrust at her, her skirt hiked up, panties tugged aside. He turned and walked back out, lucky for us he was a stranger, we never saw him again. We also didn't do that at the cafe anymore. The truth is I was completely content. My nest egg grew and grew, the $1000 I had planned for as a stake became $2000, then $4000. That was nice but I really didn't care. I was perfectly happy with the easy lifestyle, good sex. Katey told me she loved me, I told her the same. The problem with that was I really did like Katey, a lot. In love? I wasn't sure. Then one day a letter arrived. I had an Uncle that passed, he named me in his will. I have no idea why, we never were really close. There had been a funeral, a cremation. Even a ceremony. I missed all of that, no one really knew where I was. I hadn't bothered to let anyone know, all of my own family was gone, my two sisters had gotten all of our parent's small estate. I knew they would, the oldest one was executor, so our parent's holdings had been bled until there was no inheritance. I didn't think much of my two sisters, both of them were way older than me. I had been a late in life accident for my Mom and Dad. Perhaps that is why my uncle left his property to me, I will never know for sure. It wasn't a huge amount but it was over $100,000, a house and "other" assets, the papers said. A lawyer had managed to track me down somehow. I was suddenly rich. All I had to do was go back and sign the papers. I gave Katey a hug and a kiss, told her I would be back in a few days. She had tears in her eyes as I drove away, it had been ages since we were apart for any time at all. I rented a nice room in a midtown hotel, the next day I sat as paperwork was handed to me. There was more than just the cash, there was a house, now vacant, and some land holdings south of town I never even knew about. Inhibitions out the Window Ch. 02 Over 100 acres. I drove out to take a look. The old house was in a mild state of disrepair, the yard was overgrown and it needed paint. All in all, not bad. Then I drove out to look at the property. As I got closer to the address I felt a cold chill come over me. I rounded the last curve and came to the gate, realized the acreage adjoined Cary and Darla's place. I wandered around the property, they were bike tracks everywhere. Somebody had been using it for a riding area. I found the gate in the fence that went to Cary's place. Cary and his friends, I knew. There was one big plus, the small stream on the south side of the land was the line for what was now all mine. Water. Land. My dream of a bike track, shop. Maybe even a small restaurant? I was sitting under a tree when I heard the sound of an engine. Cary rode up, shut off his bike. "Hi, Dan! What's up?" "Just looking at the river." "Where is your bike?" "Back at my place, I didn't bring it." "Well, want to ride one of mine?" "No, not really. I am just sitting here, thinking." "Well, you can't be out here then." His voice changed tone. "What are you talking about, I just inherited this land." "No, it is mine. By adverse possession." "You are crazy, I have the deed." "Leave or I will call the police." Now his manner was threatening. "Well, call them, then!" I was mad now. I was even madder when the police showed up and escorted me off the property. "What the hell is this? This my land, I have the deed." "Mr. Walker has a claim, it might be valid. So it's a civil matter, and until settled, you have to stay out. If you don't stay out, then it's criminal." "That is crazy!" "That is the law, son. Go get a lawyer." I had no choice. I went back to the house, there was a notice of claim hanging from the doorknob. I went to see the lawyer that handled my Uncle's estate. He explained the very old law relating to fenceline disputes, property disputes. I had never heard of it. "Open and notorious use for 7 years, unchallenged." Is the key, he explained. "If they can show they have used the property for any purpose regularly without challenge, then they can claim ownership." "Great. That sounds like theft." "It is, but it's legal theft." "Ok. So what will all this cost?" I asked. "You do realize we would be going up against a huge team of lawyers? So it could get expensive. I need $30,000 as a retainer, it can go way higher depending on how complicated it gets." "It's going to get really complicated, isn't it?" "Yes. My advice is to take that house and the hundred grand and walk away." I left, completely pissed off. I went down to a local store, bought a computer, printer, scanner. I went back to the old house and set it all up. I hired a contractor, had the house fixed up, and a yard company came in and fixed up the grounds. I had a phone line put in, called Katey and we had a tearful conversation as I explained I had to stay to deal with all of this. I began to research the laws. Finally I thought I had found the loophole, so I filed a challenge in court to the adverse claim. As expected, here came documents. It seemed to be an almost never ending stream of black vehicles, men in suits. Then came the offer to "settle." That encouraged me, I had found and used the law on adverse possession restarting at death, unless the prior party was given notice. They offered me $1000 per acre. I declined. The next offer was $5,000 per acre. I blinked at that, thinking of what I could do with a half million dollars. But I was mad. I declined. Days became weeks, weeks became months. I could recite from memory case law on the subject, I had literally thousands of case studies, thousands of pages of documents printed. I slowed and then quit calling Katey, she quit calling me. She somehow became a memory, almost like a story that happened to someone else? Every time she had asked me tearfully when I was coming home, every time I had an excuse, something more to do, another case to research. My land. I became totally obsessed with it. I found myself living off of takeout, I quit shaving. I even quit bathing, no time or need, no one around anyway. Court cases, there were thousands and thousands of them. State Supreme court decisions. One where a man bought a ranch but lost it, forced to turn loose expensive horses to give them a chance to live. Forced off his own land by a squatter. A man in a treehouse on coastal land, he lived there for years, before finally being paid enough to move out. Just squatting on private land, unknown by the owner. Fencelines that stood up to legal challenge after surveys, on and on. No end to it. The paperwork kept coming, I knew what they were trying to do. Bury me in paper, waiting for me to run out of money. I answered them all. I was running out of money, too. Then finally, mercifully, the case was heard. I arrived cleaned up, presented my case with case law to back it up. I presented hundreds of photos into evidence, as I suspected, those were glanced at, not really checked over closely. My ace in the hole if the adverse law being restarted at death didn't hold. Cary's lawyers had documents, hundreds of photos of my land being used by them. All unchallenged by my Uncle, according to them. Days of it. I sat there quietly, by myself. No lawyer, just me. No chance. Everyone knew it, I am sure. I waited for closing arguments, I stood up nervous. I picked up the stack of documents, pulled out three photos I had found in my Uncle's papers. They showed the fence, even the gate. Clearly in three of the photos was the sign. "Private property, no Tresspassing" With the word trespassing on all three mispelled. Date stamped photographs from four years before, developed at the local photomat. Not seven years. Four. I sat down. The room was quiet. One of Cary's team stood up, went into a rambling attempt at trying to explain my "fake" photographs. He didn't do well. I had rebuttal, I walked over and picked up one of their own photographs taken just a couple of years before. Date stamped. No sign on the gate. But clearly in the photos were the holes where it had been. I looked up at the judge. He was doing his best to stifle a grin. In the hallway, Cary came up to me, actually shook my hand. "I saw potential in you, why don't you come back and work for me?" He asked. I burst out into laughter, all the tension in me went in that one moment. I went back to my little house, now all fixed up, landscaped. I was down to just the small nest egg I had saved up, still sitting in a strongbox in cash. I had made up my mind that before I did dip into that, I would walk away. I was sitting there thinking I now needed a job. Just then I heard a car drive up. It was Amiko. I had the door open by the time she reached the porch. She looked beautiful, like always. We sat and talked for quite awhile. Then one thing led to another, we ended up in my bed. I really don't know what I was thinking, it was almost like...revenge at Cary? A waste of effort, I knew Cary didn't give a damn about that. "You and I belong together." She told me. I didn't answer, she lay there in my arms, her fingertips stroking my chest. "I could quit, you and I could go away together." She smiled. "What would we do?" "You could sell that property to Cary, we would have plenty of money." She purred, nuzzling my neck. We? I sat up. I knew right then why she was there. "Get out!" I told her. "What? What's the matter?" "That prick Cary sent you over here, didn't he?" "Oh, no. I just want us to be together!" She sat up, reached for her pants and blouse. "Get the FUCK out!" "You are making a mistake, Danny." "No I'm not. Beat it." Amiko was still tugging her blouse on when I slammed the door shut. I could see right through that one. There never was anything there, I just thought there had been. Why in the hell did I let her back into my bed? Then I thought of Katey. I loaded up my van, this time I had a few more possessions. I made the long drive down the coast. The old guy at the motel grinned at me, gave me the same room I had had before. Then I drove down to the cafe. I walked in, sat down. Katey looked at me in what seemed to be shock. "How are you, Dan?" "Fine. I won my case. I have been missing you." I blurted out. "Oh. Well, do you want something to eat?" "Uhh..Yes..OK." That confused me some. "OK. I will get a menu. Plus I have someone for you to meet." She came back in just a moment, a tall man, slightly balding was with her. It began to dawn on me. "Dan, I want you to meet my husband, Charles." The guy grinned, stuck out his hand. I shook it in shock. "Nice to meet you." He said. "Well, I need to get back to the kitchen." I ate my breakfast, left a nice tip. Katey came over and gave me a hug, a peck on the cheek. "Good luck to you, Dan." She said. I went out and got into the old van, drove away. It seemed like I had come full circle, it seemed like I was reliving a memory. I got to the highway. Was it to the right, back to my house? Or left, into the unknown? I sat there for a long time. An old lady pulled up behind me, finally blew her horn. "Are you going to sit there all day?" She yelled out the window. I gave her a wave of my hand, flipped the blinker on to the left. On down the highway, on to the unknown. I knew what was behind me, that would all still be there when I came back someday. I hadn't found anything back there I wanted, not really. The bike track? The dream? All lost in the jumble of everything else. I even had found a place with something I wanted. Or I thought I had. Katey. Sweet Katey. That life would have been just fine. But she wanted that fine life, too. I just hadn't been there to give it to her. So. On down the road. Who knows what is ahead? Inhibitions out the Window Ch. 03 {It took me a long time to get back into this story. I wrote it once before but it got mixed up with another and posted in error with someone else's text. Here is my attempt at the conclusion, sorry, there isn't any sex in this one. And I don't think there needs to be.} Life on the road, it's always something new around the next bend. I didn't need to be on the road, but there was that loss in my life that filled my mind with pain each and every day. That loss? A woman named Katey. I had thought I loved her but I wasn't sure, I let myself get distracted, I guess the term was obsessed. Rich people, Cary and Darla, they thought that they could do just about anything they wanted to and most of the time they were right. It was a stupid accident that I even met them, an inch or two one way or the other, a second in time difference and I would never have even known that they existed. So I found myself with a broken leg, being more or less kept and taken care of, just like a pet that got hurt. I also found myself doing things that just was not me. The day I went up to Cary's office and found Amiko, the woman that I had thought I was falling for there, it was obvious that they had been having sex. That was a shock. It took me awhile to understand that this was just Cary's way of letting me know who was in control, who had the power. He even suggested I go up to the house and be with his wife Darla. Even that was with his permission, and totally in his control. Darla was the same way, to her sex and money was a means to control, too. I couldn't stand it, I loaded up my Van and drove away. Then in a few months came the next surprise, an inheritance from my Uncle. I was suddenly rich by my standards. Suddenly Cary was in the picture again, trying to take what was mine, to show me that he had the power. I came to realize that he had known all along about the property next door, and he had made plans to take it from me, put me in my place. The one thing he just could not stand was anyone defying him. Adverse possession, it seemed to be a silly law to me, but it was the law. Cary had me removed from my own property, that made me furious. I had to fight him in court to prove it was still mine. There was that long battle over my inheritance, I had no chance in court and they knew it. Except I spent over a year teaching myself, by the time we finally got the case to court I was an expert in the field of real estate law. In the end it all came down to some simple photos. My Uncle had posted the property, and he was smart. He took some photos to prove it, I found them in the stacks of documents he had left. Normally I would have simply looked at them, they were just photos. But I had studied the laws, and I knew what they meant. I will always think my Uncle left those for me, figuring I would understand. It was as close to perfect as it could be, Cary's lawyers entered their photos into evidence, showing the property and the open gate, tracks where Cary had ridden his bikes for years, they said. Open and continuous and notorious, they said several times. I just entered my own photos, date stamped, showing the sign reading "No Tresspassing" clearly, both of them misspelled. His lawyer's photos showed the same scene with no signs. But the holes where the sign had been were clear as a bell. Not over seven years as they had claimed but just three. I saw the Judge try to stifle a smile, kept a straight face myself. Then he banged his gavel and said adverse claim is dismissed. I won that day, all by myself against probably a quarter of a million dollars of the best legal team money can buy. I should have been overjoyed, as I walked out of the courtroom it hit me that I didn't even care. I wanted to be back at that tiny cafe, back with my Katey that I had neglected for so long. I drove down there expecting one thing, arrived to find her lost to me. Married to someone else. I left the house I inherited vacant, I left the land, over 100 acres of fine property to just lie there and I became a tumbleweed. It is tough to describe my world other than to say that nothing much mattered during that time. Looking back, those times were just a blur of faces and places. I seemed to be able to always find work, the time I had spent at Katey's little cafe had made me into a fine short order cook. Every little town seemed to have a small cafe that wanted me. I would stop, work for a few months, then hit the road. I also worked for a few weeks in a Gas Station, once I worked stacking boxes of something on top of other boxes of something. There were a lot of those boxes, too. A week of that and I was on the road again. There were women, not many. I found them here and there. All of them were moments, all of them became hazy memories when I left for the next place. I never had a clue where the next stop would be or why. I spent several years doing just that, belonging nowhere, needing no one. I did keep up with the taxes, I noticed the taxes on the house I owned kept climbing but the bare land always stayed about the same. I would drive back to the town where I kept a post office box a couple of times a year. There would be the bills, and some junk mail, not much since I never wrote any letters or subscribed to anything it was mostly just boxholder junk. I pulled up to the post office to check for the tax bills I knew were due. The house was up again but not much, the bill on the land made me blink. It was up by around 2000 percent. That had to be a mistake so I drove down to the assessor's office. The bored looking old lady pulled the files, then told me that had all been rezoned as residential, annexed into the city. I figured I had better drive out there and take a look, it had been over four years. The first thing I noticed was the road was wider and freshly paved. I passed row after row of homes, all new. They were all paved driveways, to expensive looking homes. When I got to my property, It all looked pretty much the same except for stakes with flags all over it. It hit me that someone had mowed it, too. I pulled in, looked around. Then I walked down by the creek and sat down to think. I was there for about an hour when a car pulled up and two men got out and walked over to me. "Mr. Magnusan?" "Yes, that is me." "We are happy to find you, we need to talk to you." "About what?" "We want to buy this property from you." "I don't want to sell it." "It might be to your benefit, the city is going to take part of it for a school up there." He waved his arm towards the fenceline bordering Cary and Darla's place. "The rest will be mostly homesites." "How can the City just take it?" I asked. "Imminent Domain, for the public good." "Oh." I knew about that from all of the research I had done. But never really thought that it would affect me, or that the City would want to come way out here. But I also realized that "way out here" had become a bit close in the four years I had been gone. Another long drawn out court battle to hold onto the land? No way could I deal with that. I gave up. They both were looking at me oddly, I had tears in my eyes. I brushed those away with my sleeve. "What is the offer?" I asked. "We can offer $10,000 per acre...cash." He smiled. I didn't need to think very long, that was a million bucks. Sure, there would be taxes and all of that but the appraisal was $500 per acre as farmland. It was just three weeks later when the deal completed. I did the math in my head and knew that the buyers would probably make a mint, I didn't care. I also looked at the name of the company that I had just sold to, I didn't recognize it. I drove back to the old house I had in town, it was cleaned up again and livable. There had been lots of dust when I arrived earlier and a half hour of work to get the door lock unstuck. I had decided to sell that too, anyway. I turned on the old computer, it still worked fine. I started searching, it didn't take very long. The corporation that owned the 2nd Corporation that owned the company that bought my property? Cary and Darla. They had beaten me after all. I sighed, there was no way to get away from those people. I called a broker, listed the house and lot. I gave him my PO box number and a message machine phone number I rented. It rang the very next day, the house was sold. More paperwork, I just signed where they pointed. They handed me the check, I put it in the bank with the rest. I was now a very rich man. I went out and climbed in the new van I had bought, started the engine and once again I just drove away. I was tired, so very tired. I had no fight left in me. The dreams I had, but never had acted on were gone now. I just did not care. I drove for hours, not really even having any plans of where I was going or even why. For several years it had been like that anyway, just down the road, something around the next curve, perhaps. And perhaps not, if not then on to the next spot in the road. Now I was rich by the standards of most. The dreams of being rich when I wasn't? Meaningless now. There just was no satisfaction in it, hard to explain, I know. If anything, it depressed me. I think I had been suffering from depression for quite a long time. I saw the motel sign, familiar, realized where I was. Where I had ended up, without even thinking about it, so much other stuff on my mind. I pulled in and stopped, one place was as good as another. There was a younger lady on the counter, the old man was not around. I asked about him. She looked at me, told me he had passed away the year before. I told her I was sorry, he was a nice old man. "You have stayed with us before, then?" She smiled. "Yes, it seems like a million years ago, though." She handed me a key, I looked at it. The same room, once again. I nodded and unloaded my suitcase. Then I drove on down to the tiny town. I pulled up in front of the Cafe, it looked exactly the same. I tried to push the door open, realized, then pulled. "Sign says pull, you must be from the city!" The familiar singsong voice said. "Hi, Katey." I said. She looked up at me in shock, then she set down the plates she had in her hand and literally flew across the room into my arms. "Dan! Oh my God! It is so good to see you!" I hugged her back, finally she let go of me. I looked at her closely. She wore the same shapeless uniform, the same hair pulled back tightly. I spotted the few traces of grey, knew my own showed that too. "Hungry?" She asked. That was Katey, always thinking of food. "Yea, a side of Horse and a sack of spuds to start...and that pot of coffee.." I grinned. "Coming right up!" She picked up the two plates she had set down and served them, then vanished into the kitchen. She was back in what had to be record time, with a steak and some hashbrowns and coffee. She set them in front of me and then sat down in the other chair. "So where have you been, what have you been doing?" She asked. "On the road, just from one place to another. Nowhere, really. How are things with you...and your husband?" I asked. "He isn't with me anymore." "Oh. Sorry to hear that." "Don't be, I'm not." I figured it was best to let that be so I dug into my steak. "What are you doing later?" She asked. "Nothing, I am staying out at the motel. Then who knows, back on the road, I guess." "Why don't you come over to the house tonight? We need to talk." "What about?" "Not here, come on by the house." She got up and went back into the kitchen. I drove up to her house at 6 PM. The red Camry was still parked out front, it was almost like everything in this town always stayed the same. I knocked on the door, an older lady I didn't know answered. "You must be Dan, come on in." She smiled. I walked in just as Katey came into the living room. She gave me a hug. "Thanks for coming." She turned to the woman and said something I didn't catch. The woman nodded and left. "Who is that?" I asked. "That is Nancy, she is my babysitter." "Babysitter?" I asked, confused. "Yes, come on. I have someone for you to meet." She reached out and took my hand, led me into the back room which she had used as a storage room before. There was a young girl sitting there, a half dozen dolls strewn about. She looked up at me and shyly smiled, her eyes as big as half dollars. "Hi!" I smiled at her. "Did you and your husband...." I turned to Katey. "No. Her name is Danielle, Danny." "Danielle? Why would you....oh!" I looked at the little girl and back at Katey who had tears in her eyes. "You never told me." "I found out right after you left and wanted to wait until you got back, then you weren't calling. I thought you didn't want me." "I came back and you were married." "I met Charles and thought Danielle needed a man in her life. He asked me to marry him so I did. It just didn't work out, though...." She let her voice trail off. "So what do we do now?" She asked. "Well...can you use a pretty good cook?" "Yes, I can!" She smiled. "I can do dishes, too." "I don't know about that, how many years of college do you have?" I laughed and reached out and hugged her. "Are you going to stick around this time, Danny?" "Yes, I am. I will if you want me to." "I would like that. OK. Then we can see how it goes?" "Sure, but I notice you have some grey hairs." I laughed at her. "I can fix that, but I notice you have a pot belly." "I can probably fix that, too." I grinned, as she leaned in and kissed me. Full circle, I was home. With all the time in the world. We went out and sat on the porch, holding hands. The Sun was fading out over the ocean, splashing the sky with streaks of red. I could hear Danielle singing softly to herself inside as she played. I knew I had a lot of catching up to do, a lot of things to make up for. Katey put her head on my shoulder, I slipped my arm around hers. The world suddenly seemed right after so long that it had been all wrong. I decided I would tell her about all the rest of it later.