North Of Austin - Chapter 24

Something New in Town - The Automobile

Chapter Twenty Four

Lately there were several of what they called automobiles in town, and one of Abner’s boys was crazy about them. He came and talked to me and asked what I thought about them.

I said that it looked like there was a lot of room for improvement on them.

He wanted to go to the place where they were making them and learn all about what made them run. He said his pa didn’t want him to leave the ranch but if I said he should go it would be alright with him.

I told Linus (the boy) “I need to ride out to the ranch and while there I will talk to your Pa before I gave my opinion on the subject.”

Linus said, “Good, let’s go.”

I could see he was all caught up in the idea of know how the things worked. He rattled on about autos all the way to the ranch.

After cooling off with some cool water I sat down and talked with Abner about some business. He then said he wanted my opinion on the subject that he didn’t know anything about which was them automobiles.

I said, “It is the coming thing and we might as well get used to them. It is going to be like when we started using steam driven equipment on the farms.”

Abner said, “I guess you’re right.”

I said, “Linus isn’t going to be much use around here till he gets it out of his system so let him go.”

Abner agreed and called the boy in from the porch and said, “Your uncle thinks it would be alright for you to educate yourself on these engines and get it out of your system.  Just don’t go forgetting where the money comes from around here.”

I knew Abner didn’t want to lose him but he is going to have to let him find his own way like I did when I was about the boys age.

Linus spent much of his time in the two what they called motor stations. It was the place where people could get their auto worked on when it wasn’t working right which was quite often.

He quickly got the drift of what made the autos run and was given a job to work on them. After two months one of the station owners decided to send Linus to the factory of one of the most popular autos so he could learn everything from the beginning to the end of manufacturing process.

After three months Linus knew every screw and bolt that was required to put an auto together. He stayed another three months to study other car models.

He returned to work in the stations but discovered the station owner who sent him to the factory had gone out of business.

He came back to live with Abby and me and wanted my advice about his future.

We talked for hours; discussing what his options were if he stayed in the auto business. I finally understood what he really wanted to do, was to own his own auto store.

I told him; It would be best if he was to set up his shop in a larger town. There just wasn’t enough people who were in the market for a horseless carriage in our town as of yet, and not in the foreseeable future.

Then I suggested for him to get a job at one of the large car shops and learn all he could about running an auto business.

I emphasized that the most important thing to know was how to convince people to buy his product.

Notice how the sales clerks were able to sell the auto to people who were on the fence so to speak. This means you are going to have to become a successful sales person.

He said, “That means another six months of learning.”

I told him to think in terms of a year.

Linus took my advice and in just a little over a year he opened a small auto sales station. It was one he could handle by himself. He stocked the autos, sold the autos and repaired the autos. As his business grew he hired two people who he trained.

One to repair automobiles and another to sell them. He kept this process up till he had a large business that was built on a fair price and good service.

Finally Linus built a warehouse and stocked it with the parts that either wore out or broke most often. He could have a person’s auto back to them in half the time and it would be fixed right.

Things were going very well for Linus and I was surprised to see him come to my office.

After we chatted about the home folks he said; “The reason I’m here is because you have a good marriage and a family that is growing up. I need you to tell me how to get a wife like Abby.”

I told him, “To be frank I just lucked out but in selecting a wife you need to follow your heart after you have decided the kind of wife you need.”

I told him; “You are in a business that requires you to deal with people with money and they have families who are society people. It would be best to find a woman who is an asset and could be helpful to your business.  

You certainly wouldn’t want a country gal who has very little education.  

Seek for a woman who is real and flows within the society you find yourself in without any pretense. But the most important thing is to find a woman who you can love and one who completely loves you.  As you meet young women your heart will tell you who is right for you but take your time and let love grow just to make sure.”

It was a couple of years later that I received a letter from Linus,.  He wrote that he more or less followed my advice and met and married the love of his life.

He said, “She is everything that you told me that I should look for.”

 

TO BE CONTINUED

North of Austin Chapter 23

 

Chapter twenty three

Daniel came to me and wanted to go out to the ranch to help with the branding of the new calves. He would have to skip school to do it and I knew Abby wouldn’t allow it. That was the reason he came to me, thinking I might over rule her.

I told him, “No but let me talk to your ma and see what she says.”

I knew what she was going to say but thought I might get her to relent a little. After some back and forth and there being a lot of tenseness in the air I got her to agree to let him miss Friday’s school which gave him the weekend to play cowboy.  I was proud of him for he was already a good hand with both horses and cattle.

His mother said; “He may become a cowboy but he will be an educated one,” to which I agreed.

I knew there was a driving force in him to become a rancher. There was one thing about Daniel and that was he was real. He was what he pretended to be. This was what the cow hands recognized about him and he had won their respect.

He had learned what Abner had taught about handling horses and cattle to the point he was as good as any of the other hands on the ranch. He could break a horse to ride without being mean to him and have him working cattle in a short time.

Daniel had found a large, lean and mean stud he wanted for himself. The horse threw him a dozen times or more but he finally had him working like he wanted him to do. He also made friends with the horse to where the horse wanted to follow him around like a dog.

Daniel talked straight to the cow hands and though still a boy he always talked sense and not foolishness. The hands would tease him about taking him to town to where the ladies were and get him a woman.

This was the one thing that always embarrassed him and he didn’t have a good retort back at them.

On one such occasion he decided to try to turn the tables on them and he said; “Take me to them.”

They didn’t know how to handle this turn of events for some of them knew his mother and they knew she would run them out of the country if they pulled off such a stunt.

After a hard day’s work the men had this Saturday night off. Several times Daniel had rode night herd if they had some cattle rounded up but this Saturday there were none except for a few that hung around the compound all the time.

This time he was ready when the teasing started and he said he was going with them and “Get him a woman.”

Some of them started to back out and not go to town but figure they better go and watch over him. Daniel had told me about the teasing he had been getting from the hands so I decided to help him get even with them.

Unbeknownst to his mother I went down to the house of pleasure and talked to the madam whom I had legal dealings with on several occasions and set it up where Daniel would get his woman so to speak. He rode in with the hands and the madam immediately made over him and called one of the younger women over and whispered in her ear with all of the hands watching with their mouths open.

The young woman said; “C’mon big boy” and they went upstairs. All the cowhands waited downstairs for two hours till the woman and Daniel came down stairs laughing. She was making over him and whispering to the other women. They all crowded around him and said; “Me next big boy.” Daniel told the hands he was going to stay at home the rest of the night and would see them later.

I saw him come in and asked him how it went; “Were the men fooled?”

He said: “What do you mean fooled?” I could see he was going to try to give me the same treatment the cowboys got so I said, “All right for you cowboy.”

His mother came in and hugged him and said; “Phew, where have you been?”

Abby looked at me and said; “All right what is going on?”

I told her ask Daniel cause he is the one who smells. She decided to drop it but said; “You take a bath and get that stink off of you.”

 

TO BE CONTINUED

 

 

 

Ways and Means

Ways and Means: a committee in the U.S. House of Representatives that is in charge of taxes, trade issues, government debt. 

The Ways and Means committee views the people and their resources as theirs to do with as they please. It is their task to formulate some method to cover the costs and expenses of government conjured up by the congress (and the President). Their methods and enforcements create a lot of pain to the ones supplying their needs. In other words the costs are high to the ones paying the price. 

Similarly the Ways and Means committee in Heaven when viewing the condition of lost man realized that it was up to them to provide the price of the redemption of mankind for no one else had the wherewithal to accomplish the task at hand.

Enter the redemptive twins; Grace and Mercy. Only by employing Grace and Mercy could the committee (The Godhead) accomplish the needed task. The price to be paid fell on the Son of God for after a total evaluation He was the only one who was fully qualified to pay the price of redemption. 

1 Corinthians 6:19-20 gives some pertinent information concerning our salvation; Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore glorify God with your body.  

Did you get that?  

Let's break it down so as to emphasize the parts of the statement God is making! 

Your body is a temple!  

While you live in it, once saved the Holy Spirit that you received as a gift also inhabits it with you! That is as close as you can get. 

The next thing to consider is; You were the property of a holding agency known as spiritual death but was redeemable for a price. God in His mercy purchased you (paid the price) and now you are His property.  

 

 

GOD NOW HOLDS THE TITLE DEED TO YOU. 

Let's make one final check to see if you understand this.  

Does your conduct reflect  God's ownership of you or your independence  from Him? Is it obedience or rebellion? Will it be reward or judgment?  

There is a measure of confidence and peace in knowing that you belong to the king of the whole universe and understanding this - - should motivate you to further pledge all that is within you to serve Him with all of your being and no longer be slack in your service for your master.  

In the halls of heavenly records there is a birth certificate with the name of God as your father. Fair thee well child of God!

 

NORTH OF AUSTIN - Chapter 22

Cattle Drive

 

Chapter 22  - Abby Goes to Town with her 4 Children.

Abby was just turned thirty when she gave birth to another boy.  

Three boys and one girl.  Daniel was the oldest and spent as much time with Abner as I would allow.  There was something about Abner’s rough exterior that appealed to my son. I could tell when he had been with Abner by the way he acted when he came home. He would act roughly with his siblings.

On this particular day our hired hand hitched up the buggy for Abby and she came to town with all four of the kids. Daniel was big enough to hold Lloyd our new baby so Abby was free to drive the horse. When she arrived she took baby Lloyd and Daniel jumped down and hooked up the horse to the rail. Sammie got down and Daniel helped Lorry to which she objected.

Abby with all her brood started her shopping tour when she was braced by a cowboy who was above the deadline and he was armed. Along with him were four more intruders. The first one began to say unseemly things to Abby and wanted to take the baby. Daniel lit into him kicking him with his sharp metal toed boots and the man fell to the ground.

The other four men started to move forward as Daniel relentlessly kept kicking the man wherever he could. As one of the men reached for Daniel a gun barrel crashed across his skull.

Cody hit another one and knocked him out in the street where a heavily loaded wagon ran over his leg, breaking it. Cody’s deputy hit the other two with his gun butt in quick succession and Cody pulled Daniel back from the man he was still kicking.

They disarmed the men and his deputy took them to jail.  Abby hugged Cody and said "I’m glad you were here and handled this."

Cody said, "Daniel almost had it under control. It looks like his time with Abner was well spent.  When I was with Abner he taught me the same stuff he used on that worthless tramp."

The man laying in the street was hurting and pleading for help.  The doctor finally showed up and got him down to his office. Those who got pistol whipped had split scalps and were sewed up by one of the nurses later on.

I arrived after it was all over and felt a little ashamed for not being there.

The next day the rancher whose men were involved in the fracas showed up and was plenty mad. He came to me and demanded an explanation why his men had been mistreated.

He wouldn’t listen to anything I tried to say so I told him to sit down and shut up or I would knock him silly. That quieted him down and I told him what happened and if I had seen what they were doing they would be lying dead for no one messes with my family.

Then I told him he had better keep his mouth civil or he would need some new teeth.

After seeing I meant business he meekly said, I’m starting roundup and I need these men. There are not any more men available around here with experience.

I asked him how many men he needed and he said “I could make it with six.”

I told him to get back to his gathering herd and tomorrow he would have the men he needed. Cody took the men before the judge and he fined them all the money they had and gave the thirty days for being above the deadline and thirty days for accosting Abby.

They were complaining about losing their job and for the time in jail. The judge said; if anybody is unhappy I will double their time in jail. The noise went silent immediately.

The next day I pulled five of our hands to go with me and help the ramrod finish his drive. I knew what it was like to make a round up and a hard drive to the rail head and have trouble the last minute. Before the week was over his herd was either loaded and on the way to market or in the corrals to be loaded tomorrow.

He came over to me and said; you’re alright. “I’m sorry for the way I acted when I first saw you.  I want to thank you and your men for I was really in a bind. I had to meet the schedule or the rail road would have refused my herd.  If that happened, I don’t know what I would have done.”

I said, “We cattlemen have to stick together. Just try to pick hands with a little more self-control for the next drive.”

TO BE CONTINUED

 

 

 

North of Austin Chapter 21

Sewing and Gossip

Chapter twenty one

The sewing circle was where all secrets became gossip and rumors were respected as fact.

The advice I usually gave women was, “Living with your husband is hard but without him - - life will be much harder.”  

In most cases where I determined the man was at fault I made it my duty to try to effect some change in the man to improve the situation. I made it a point to run into him and engage him in a conversation saying something to the man like; “You have a fine woman. You better take good care of her cause a lot of men would die for a woman like her.”

Of course they would look at me suspiciously which was what I was aiming at.

I know for a fact it helped many men’s attitude toward their wives for I would see the woman on the street and they would give me a look of satisfaction. It also made me grateful for the woman I have.

As time went by I had fewer women coming to me for advice, because as a judge they weren’t as comfortable talking to me as when I was a lawyer.

I think the very word “Judge” had a connotation they weren’t at ease with. But at the same time there were more ladies going to Abby and telling all after a couple of visits.

I never asked Abby about her counseling sessions and she kept the things she heard to herself. I know for a fact a lot of the problems the ladies had, revolved around sexual things. That was an area where I wasn’t as proficient as Abby was.

I had to limit myself to generalities where Abby was free to discuss the mechanics of love making.

Once the sewing circle realized Abby was counseling some of the women they wanted her to share with them all the juicy details of her conversations with women.

They did this partly because they loved gossip and partly because they wanted to find out if they shared their problems with her would she blab it all over the neighborhood.

She wouldn’t even give a hint about anything she was privy to and that gave them confidence enough to tell her anything.

The women caused Abby to smile for they pretended to be shocked at the things Abby was telling them in private but she knew they loved every bit of it. The icing on the cake was when they got up enough nerve to return and tell Abby the things they tried and the success they had.

I could go on but let me just say that for some reason, the ladies who performed at the house on the edge of town couldn’t understand why their business began to drop off to the point where several of them had to seek another occupation.

As for me I’m sure it had something to do with Abby’s counseling sessions.

On another subject the deadline is a line which the locals have established and which the ranch hands do not go beyond. It was an agreement between the town and the ranches and the hired farm hands.

The town had enough of the rough housing of the weekend warriors from the ranches. People were getting accosted and even shot by these hirelings. What money they contributed to the community didn’t pay for the damage they did.

Everything they needed was below the deadline so there was no reason for them to go above it. This method gave the citizens a measure of safety for no guns were allowed below the deadline to which the ranchers agreed to most hardily. Without the guns they were losing fewer cowboys to gunshots.

The state appointed a new judge relieving me of that duty. I needed to get back to handling the business of the ranches. There was always something that needed my attention and the judgeship left little time to get it done.

My last case I had to handle was my most difficult because it had to do with a rancher’s son who had shot and killed a man. There was a lot of tension surrounding the case for the rancher wanted me to make the judgment call but the dead man’s family wanted a jury trial. Since we had no jury panel to choose from I had to gather a group of citizens I felt were honest and would render a fair judgment. No matter how it was handled I knew someone was going to be disappointed with the outcome.

After hearing both sides of the issue the jury was undecided and the whole thing was dumped back into my lap. What made it hard was I knew the boy since he was born and to have him hung was more than I wanted to deal with.

Still there had to be a resolution to the matter. I had a visit from both sides of the issue; each trying to influence my decision.

I read the transcript of the trial and brought the witnesses back to the court and asked the questions the lawyers failed to address. I restated the case in the terms as I saw it.

Of course it was over a girl. Both of the men wanted the girl or thought they did. One went too far in his attempts to get the girl to marry him and the other objected to what he had done. He had forced himself on the girl and tried to get her to marry him for he had already had her.

When the rancher’s son found out about it and when he asked why she chose the other man she told him the whole story. Upon hearing from the girl, that it involved rape, the boy found his rival and shot and killed him.

My problem was deciding which of the two wrongs, was the worst offence.

I finally ruled in favor of the shooter and released him on that count but I gave him six months in jail for having a gun below the deadline.

 

The odd thing was when he had served his sentence he didn’t want anything to do with the girl because the other man had her first.

To Be Continued

 

 

North of Austin chapter 20

Back Home to my Abby

 

Chapter twenty

I was glad to get back home after my stint in Chicago but I was a little disappointed the boys didn’t make over me as much I thought they would.

Daniel had a dog and he thought more of the dog than me. Sammie was still tied to his mother’s apron strings and is suspect he will be vying for his mother’s attention in competition with Sally Loraine for years to come.

Sally Loraine was crawling now and she would pull to a standing position by pulling on my pants leg and then stand there with her arms stretched upward wanting to be picked up.

I could tell she was going to be as pretty as her mom, by looking at Abby’s baby pictures. I often think back to when we were kids and I first became infatuated with her.

I had many fights with other boys who were in love with her when I told them she was my girl and future wife.  I got whipped most of the time but would do enough harm to discourage the boys to want to fight me again.

It was hard to wait for the day to end and the children to be in bed for it had been three weeks since we had been alone, and I was ever so glad that I had married such a passionate woman, just lucky I guess.  As a result of an amorous evening Abby was pregnant again. It didn’t seem to bother her because she loved all of her children and didn’t mind having another one.

Boy or girl it didn’t matter now since she had both. Before Lorry was born, Abby was desperate for a girl to go with her boys but now she didn’t care.

I was always fond of boys but that was before we had Lorry. She won me over rather quickly so now another girl would be just fine. Four kids before we were thirty years old. That sounded so strange to my mind

City wise things were too quiet for me and I kept waiting for something to break loose.  The City aldermen wanted to have a new judge appointed for the city’s court house. Our town had grown so much that the citizens wanted to make our town the county seat and appoint me as its judge.  The townspeople finally won out and I became the judge like Abby’s father had been before me.

I made it clear that I would only hold the position until they could get a permanent judge appointed by the state.

You really need a sense of humor when holding court otherwise you would get mad at some of the silly things people sue for. 

 

Chickens, eggs, someone beating your time with the widow down the street and occasionally a serious matter like when a soldier beat one of the local whores quite badly.

One of the other ladies of the night proceeded to stab the soldier and they both had to be tended to by the local doctor. The army didn’t want me to preside over the case but I felt otherwise.

The army threatened to make the town off limits for all of the soldiers which got the town tradesman get upset.  Seems they didn’t want to lose all of the army business. Not only would they lose the soldiers pay but the army also bought much of their supplies from the local merchants.

Then the army said they wouldn’t buy any beef from the ranchers or any horses which they trained and sent west.  All of a sudden we were talking serious money. My family were also going to be affected by this money wise for they supplied feed and beef to the depot for shipping to the western outposts.

Then Abby got involved saying even if she was just a whore the soldier needed to be judged by me to make sure he got what he deserved. I enquired for some advice from a guy I knew who was in the Adjutant General's Corps and he said; the army will come down harder on this soldier than you can for even if he is found guilty the army won’t allow you to put him in prison.

His input helped me to come to a more reasonable decision and I decided this is just the way things are at present. He went on saying it would be best if you try the woman who stabbed the soldier and let the army handle the soldier for they are pretty mad at him for stirring up this mess.  If he gets well enough he will be sent to where no one wants to pull duty.

 

I thanked him for his advice and after thinking it over accepted his counsel.

After having a hearing on the stabbing I found that the second woman acted in a reasonable manner and set her free figuring the beating her friend got was enough punishment.  By this time the whore that got beat up was back to work and was laughing about what happened.

Seems she had done something to provoke the whole situation, which I won’t discuss here, but she felt she had got even in advance.

Overall I felt all things came out even and every one seem to agree. Some of the more prominent women were glad that things were back to normal for during this episode they were forced to do their marital duties.

Normally they were excused from this task because their husbands were patrons of the house on the edge of town.  Most of their husbands were not up to snuff when it came to love making and the unsatisfied ladies had a saying which went something like this; ‘better not to try than to be unsatisfied.’

Perhaps I shouldn’t have told you that but everybody in town knows it so why not tell you.

I know quite a bit about the women in this town for when I was a lawyer many of them came to see me about their marital problems. In many cases I ended up being little more than a marriage counselor.  

I tried to help them find a way out of the situation they were in but in the process a lot of them formed an attachment to me. They would want to favor me with what belonged to their husband and I would have to reject their offer without it seeming like I was rejecting them.

The one thing that worked rather well was to say you know we’re dealing with something only a woman can understand so I’m going to have you talk to Abby.

 

She is smarter than me and is the rock of discretion. Your name and nothing you tell her will ever be spoken of in the sewing circle.  

Upon me recommending they talk to Abby the woman would lose any interest in a tryst with me.

To be Continued

North of Austin chapter 19

Any Job Will Do

 

Chapter nineteen

One day a man about twenty two showed up in town and was at loose ends looking for a job.

He stopped me on the street and asked if I knew where he could find employment.

“Find employment,” I thought?  “This man has to be from the big city talking like that.”

I spotted Abner across the street so I told the young man to come with me and he did. After chatting with Abner I asked if he could use another hand and he said; “Well I could use someone to clean out the stables.”

I turned to the young man and asked what his name was. He said Lawrence but most called him Larry.

I said, “Larry will do - - just go with Abner and he will give you a job.

I must say this city boy went through hell for no one cut him any slack but he got tougher each and every day.  He learned how to care for the stock and began to ride.  Eventually he began to break horses, rope and all of the cowboy stuff.

Until he arrived at the ranch, he had never shot a gun.  Abner gave him one of his repeating rifles and taught him how to shoot.  As it turned out he had a keen eye and could hit anything he shot at.

So far he had spent all his time working on the ranch then one day Abner said for him to go to one of the farms and help out there.  Larry felt he was starting all over in the learning process.  He found farming was a little harder than ranching in many ways.  Up at dawn and plowing until dark, planting, weeding with a plow and hoe, and all of the other chores was a job to be respected.

After a year Abner called him back to the ranch which pleased Larry to no end.

Larry had been tested in both ranching and farming and Abner was pleased with the result of his labors.  Abner had protected Jeanie Ann after her bad experience to the point that no man would come near her. She was satisfied with the arrangement for the trauma she suffered was still having some affects. 
 

He was at the point now where he wanted her to find a man who was right for her and would consider getting married.  He thought he had found the right man in Larry. He was polite, well educated, good looking and wasn’t a trifling type like so many cowhands.  He had stood up to every task they threw at him and Abner was pleased with him.  Jeanie Ann was twenty years old and should have already been married so time was wasting.  
 

Abner told Larry to come to supper this evening which he did after cleaning up.  While eating he said to Larry, you know Jeanie Ann and Larry said yes but I haven’t got acquainted with her. Abner said well we should do something about that.  After supper you can sit in the parlor and get to know each other a bit better.

Jeanie Ann and Larry exchanged glances and were wondering what Abner had in mind. They adjourned to the parlor and after sitting and exchanging a few remarks Larry said, “Maybe I should go and get ready for work tomorrow.”

Abner said, “Sit down and get acquainted.”

After an hour the two of them began to loosen up.

Abner asked Larry, “Did you enjoy the food tonight?”

He said, “Very much it was so much better than our regular chow.”

Abner said, “You come again tomorrow and have supper again and get acquainted some more.”

This made Larry nervous for he knew how protected Abner was of Jeanie Ann. He didn’t want to end up getting shot.

This went on for two weeks and now Larry was expected every night. There was the usual time in the parlor. Now added to that was going for a ride for an hour or two each day.

Abner was getting a bit impatient for he wanted to see more progress in the steps to matrimony.

Actually there was more happening than he knew about. The fact was Larry had his eye on her before Abner began his attempt at matchmaking but he was afraid of showing any interest in Jeanie Ann; and she had cast an eye in his direction as often as she could.

She took Abner by the arm and sat him down at the table with her mother.

She said now that you have found me a husband when do you think the wedding should be?

Abner looked stunned for he thought he had set it up in such a way that - - - .

Her mother spoke up and said, “Will a month be enough notice?”

Larry just said, “Yes that will be okay.”

Abner said, “Don’t you think he should ask me for your hand?”

Jeanie said, “He asked me so consider yourself asked.” She said, “I told him about my bad experience and he said it didn’t matter.”   A friend asked her, “But do you think he meant it because men don’t want girls who have had a man.”

Jeanie Ann answered, “Well he said after the first night all women are the same so don’t worry.”

I liked Larry well enough but there was something that bothered me about him. During the time he had been working at the ranch he hadn’t spoken about his family and any attempt to get him to talk about his past was unanswered.

I decided to have the detective agency check him out and come to find out he was from a different city than he had told us at first.

He was from Chicago originally and the town he said he came from was just a place he stayed at for a month or two.

None of that bothered me but the agency found out he was from a wealthy family that didn’t know where he was at and his family had no idea he was going to be married.

Upon further investigation I found out that an uncle was trying to take over Larry’s father’s holdings and leave him destitute. The uncle didn’t have much of a claim but the father wasn’t fighting very hard to ward him off.

I decided to brace Larry and see how he felt about the uncle stealing his father’s estate. I gave him a copy of the detective report and at first he was a bit nonplussed about the whole thing - - until I asked him if he loved the uncle more than his father.

This riled him a bit and he said, “Absolutely not.”  He hated his uncle because he was a leach and had lived off of his father most of his life.

I went into the details a far as I knew them and told him what must be done to defeat the uncle’s suit. I asked about his father’s attorney’s and he said there was only one who could be trusted the rest were crooked.

We decided on a plan and headed to Chicago and I met with the attorney he could trust. We decided the first thing to do was get his father to give Larry full power of attorney. Without anyone knowing about it this was done.

Now Larry had full control of his father’s estate. We filed a suit against his uncle for fraud and filed to get all claims dismissed against the father’s estate. With the threat of many other suits being filed against him and the lawyers that were working with him folding and they quickly paid back the money they had stolen from his father.

The father apologized for breaking up Larry and a girl he was in love with. It was this that caused Larry to leave home and end up at the ranch. He met the girl he had been in love with and they renewed their relationship with the father’s blessing.

This left me with the task of telling Jeanie Ann the whole story and that Larry had decided he was going to marry his old girlfriend.

I wasn’t very popular around the home place for some time but eventually they all saw it was for the best.

TO BE CONTINUED