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.