"The Unimagenable"

[CountryGuy]

Not sure where this came from but I was sitting here last evening working some on the next chapter of Prep 101 and looking thru some of the other threads and categories here on the site and guess my muse up and slapped me upside the head and I started writing. I'm not sure where this is going, how long it'll be or if it will continue on but for now, hope you all might enjoy what spewed forth.



I'm going to add this and try to keep it updated as it grows just to try to help everyone and myself keep clear who everyone is.

List of characters:
Tom Narwood - 45yo, Husband, Dad, boss, winner
Emily Narwood - 39yo, Tom’s wife and mother to their three Children
Junior (Tommy Jr) Narwood - 20yo, oldest Narwood son
Brock Narwood - 14yo son, middle child
Kimmy Narwood - 7yo daughter
Derrick - Engineer, Tom’s employee
Shawn - Engineer, Tom’s employee
Meaghan - Engineer, Tom’s employee
Jill - Plant Manager, Tom’s boss

[CountryGuy]

Chapter 1

Tom Narwood slowly opens his eyes, waking from a solid night of sleep. He glances to his left judging the pale purplish color out the window. In his head he plays the little game he often does on mornings like this where he wakes before his alarm. 5:05 he says to himself with his internal voice. He pulls back the covers, sits up and reaches over to his nightstand and picks up his cell. He taps the black screen twice until the clock pops up showing Tuesday June 26, 05:11. He thinks to himself close but no winner. About the norm he thinks. He unlocks his phone and turns off his upcoming alarm which shows it’s to go off in 19 minutes. With that he stands, does a bit of a stretch and pulls back and flattens the blankets trying not to disturb his wife. He heads for the bathroom where he strips off his underwear, tossing them in the hamper as he reaches over and turns on the faucet in the walk-in shower.

He gives the water a minute to flush the cold water from the lines. As he stands there with his hand in the spray waiting to feel it warm, he thinks to himself for the thousandth time about how he should install a water recirculation circuit so the water would be near instantly hot and not require him to waste water down the drain. He then promptly forgets about it as he steps in and enjoys the powerful jets and warm water as it cascades over his 45 year old body.

When he finishes his shower he rolls through the rest of his normal morning routine. Shave, pop in his contacts, brush his teeth and go get dressed. As he finishes dropping everything into his pockets in the normal spots they live, he goes over and leans down kissing his wife Gail on the cheek as she’s partly awake. He gently nibbles her ear and says “Love you, see you when I get home tonight.” She grins, smiles and has a light purr and stretches as she says “Love you. Be careful. See you tonight.”

Tom slips out of the bedroom and out to the kitchen. He grabs his travel mug from the dish strainer and goes over and places it under the coffee brewer before he grabs a K-cup and pops it in and hits brew. He then hears music playing and steps over to the archway leading into their family room. There is his 14yo, soon to be 15yo son, Brock, sitting with his Switch game console. “Morning Buddy.” Without his son looking up from his game, Tom gets a “Mmhmm, morn’in…” “Up early aren’t ya” “Ya, guess… couldn’t sleep anymore.” “Are your brother and sister up?” “Naa don’t think, else they’d be down here bothering me.” “I see. Well don’t forget, the yard better be trimmed and mowed by the time I get home tonight or that game is mine for a week.” This statement is worthy of his son’s attention now, as looks up at his Dad and responds “I know Dad, it’ll be done. Have to wait till a little later anyways until the dew and fog burns off.” Tom asks”Oh, is it foggy out? I hadn’t looked.” “Yeah it’s pretty heavy, I got an alert on my phone early this morning.” “On your phone?” Tom asks as he raises an eyebrow. “You know your phone is to be off at night, right?” Sheepishly and with a look that he realizes he just told on himself, Brock looks to his Dad “I’m sorry, I fell asleep before I shut it off.” “I’m not going to need to put it in our room when you go to bed, am I?” “No honest Dad, I wasn’t up late or anything, Chad and I were texting about the campout this weekend and I fell asleep. I didn’t mean to, honest. I wasn’t up on it.” “OK, I’m gonna believe you, but you know the rules if you want to have it.” “Yes Sir.” “And tell your sister she can help with the yard and also all three of you need to go through and weed anything in the garden and give everything a good drink before it starts to get hot out. Clear?” “Yes Sir, clear.” “OK, I’m off as soon as I grab my coffee. I love you.” “Love you too Dad.”

Tom swings into the kitchen, grabs his mug, stops at the fridge to throw a splash of cream in it and grabs his work backpack on his way to the front door. As he opens the door he’s surprised with how low and dense the fog is. ‘Man this ride is gonna suck this morning’ he thinks to himself. He goes out to his old faithful Tundra. He tosses his bag in the back seat before opening the front and leaning in to put his coffee in the cop holder. He stretches out to make the high step up that the 4” lift and 34” tires added. As he gets situated and gets his belt on he turns the key and the 5.7L with the factory supercharger rumbles to life, exhaling through the 3” Banks Stainless exhaust. Tom makes sure his headlights and fog lights are on and then slowly pulls down his drive and out onto the township road. He is hoping that as he gets a little ways out of the valley the fog might lift but even that means he’ll have about 9 miles of his 52 mile commute, having to deal with this mess.

Where normally he’d be zipping along at 60 to 65 mph, this morning finds him putting along at around 25mph. He shakes his head at the number of dumb asses he passes who suddenly appear out of the fog with no lights on. He flashes them with his in hopes they’ll turn theirs on to make it easier on the rest of the drivers. One guy flips him the bird. Tom waves and mumbles under his breath ‘whatever asshole, just hope you don’t kill someone down the road. As he suspected, as he leaves the valley and starts climbing up through the pass at the end of the valley, he’s quickly out of the fog and he can pick up the pace. He’s listening to the Patriot Channel on the truck's XM radio. He doesn't enjoy the morning hosts as much as the afternoon and evening hosts like Andrew Wilkow and Mark Levin. The two guys this morning are going on about which asshat Rhinos are likely going to sell out the people and vote with the Dems on more ‘free’ stuff. As he gets tired of it he clicks over to Ozzy’s Boneyard where he’s greeted with his favorite band. Like when he was a teenager, he reaches over and turns up the radio, though only a fraction of what teenage Tom would have as Sanatorium rings from his speakers.

As he slows down for the exit off the highway that will drop him in front of the plant he looks at the clock. He’s about an hour earlier than his normal time. His stomach growls, reminding him he didn’t eat at the house since he wanted to get a move on due to the fog. There is a small mennonite owned restaurant about a half mile down the road so he flips on his turn signal and heads there. As he walks in there are a good number of people for the time of the day. There are some of the local farmers, some of the old retired guys, even two Amish guys and then a few older couples. He sits down and a younger girl comes over to his table with a coffee pot in hand. “Morn, don’t usually see you in here till lunch. Coffee?” “Yes please. Well, it was bad foggy over my way, so I got an earlier start today.” “I sees, know what ya wants?” After glancing at the chalkboard where they write their specials Tom says “I’ll take the special.” “How yous want your eggs?” “Scrambled with some cheese on top.” “Toast?” “Sourdough” “And da ya want bacon or sausage patty?” “Sausage please.” “Good choice, Pa makes it himself. Anything else?” “Just some cream for the coffee and a glass of water when you get a chance please.”

His food was out in less than 10 minutes and Tom hungrily tore through it like a woodchipper. He had to admit, the sausage patty tasted amazing, even better than his blend he makes. It had a nice aromatic blend of spices with just a touch of heat and wasn’t overly salty. Tom wondered if he might get her Pa to share his recipe in confidence but that was a question for another day. She had dropped his check to him along with a to go cup of coffee. His check was only $8, he thought to himself, how can they afford to sell for these prices. He dropped $13 on the table, grabbed the coffee and beat it out the door. He’d still be about 30 minutes early but that was OK. He got to the plant, swiped his badge and headed for his office. Up the backstairs, down the hall through the doorway marked Engineering, into the corner office. The office with his name on the left side of the door and the title, Director of Engineering under it.

Lunch time came and Tom was going to step out and grab something until he got a call and said there was food in the front office for a luncheon. Free food he thought, score. He went up, schmoozed for a few, grabbed a sandwich, bowl of soup, bag of chips and a tasty looking iced chocolate brownie that looked more like a piece of cake and stuffed a bottle of water in the pocket of his khakis. He made his excuses and headed back to his office to eat. He’d finished up the progress report before he’d broken for lunch but they didn’t know that. It wasn’t that he was against hanging out but several of the front office types were like a cheese grater on his nerves. The food was pretty good, from a favorite local sub shop. As he ate he surfed around the web some. He checked the markets, looked at a couple stocks he held to see how they were doing, checked his Gmail and tossed his trash. Last, it was time for the brownie/ cake but first he got up and went out to the main office area where they had a Keurig machine. He might not have a glass of ice cold raw milk, but he’d have a hot fresh cup of coffee to wash it down.

He kept surfing a little bit and saw a headline about there was one winner for the previous night's big mega lotto and it was in his state. It had once again broken its own record, this time exceeding $1.8 billion with a cash payout of around $1.05 billion. As he read that he remembered he’d bought a ticket. He was the type that didn’t play it all the time but when the amounts started to get obscene, like over 500 million, he’d spend $10 or $20 on it. He joked that he figured it was no worse than putting it in his 401K with the way the performance it had been having that last two years after the way the current administration had the economy so hosed up. He didn’t read any further on the article as he recalled this was one of those obscene moments when he’d bought a ticket. Day before last on the way home from work he’d stopped to gas up and grab a cold drink at the one little country store he sometimes frequented. He’d seen their sign with the amount of jackpot hand written on it, three previous values crossed out and the next increase written under the last. He thought, what could it hurt?" He joked with the girl that was his cashier that he was putting money into his retirement fund. She said well if you win, don’t forget to tip your server. He was going to grab his wallet out just as his desk phone rang. Issue out on the floor, he’d look later.

When he got home that night he noted the yard was freshly mowed and looking good. Well looks like Brock did what he was supposed to. As he walked in the door Emily met him and on tip toes reached up to give him a soft kiss on the lips. “Hi babe, how was your day?” she asked. “Better than some but worse than most…” he quipped, pulling her closer and giving her a little stronger kiss. As he did he heard “Ewww… gross.” it was their 7yo old Kimmy. “Keep it up and I’ll come over and kiss all over our face young lady and then tickle you.” She squealed “Nooo… as she turned and playfully ran from the kitchen. Turning his attention back to his wife “You know how it is, next week is end of the month and quarter so finance and accounting are going nuts trying to scrape up every penny they can. So they want me looking at every project to play their game of seeing what money we can pull in early. You think they’d realize that just makes us short of plan the next month and quarter since that is where that money was supposed to be per their supposed ‘plan’”.

Emily, sensing the stress in his voice changed the subject to distract his thoughts. “Oh did you hear the news today?” “No, I was listening to an Audiobook on the way home. What happened?” “It’s all over the news that someone had won the UberBall jackpot.” “Oh I did see a headline at lunch, someone here in the state.” “Yes, isn’t that exciting, but more than that, they are saying the ticket was sold somewhere I think over towards the plant.” “Really?? Wow, good for them. I mean that amount is truly life changing.” The microwave buzzed and Emily pulled out a glass dish with some of their home grown sweet corn. “This is the last of last year's corn.” “Really? Well I’m glad we increased the garden size and added in two more rows of corn this year. It’s still another 3 weeks I’d guess before the first will be ready. Mmmm can’t wait for the first corn on the cobb of the year.” “Well go get washed up and I’ll round up the kiddos.”

They sat down and enjoyed a meal of meatloaf with gravy, mashed potatoes, corn and some fresh homemade bread. During dinner Brock mentioned the riding mower was making a strange sound so when they finished eating he and Tom headed to the garage. “Emily looked at Kimmy, I’ll wash you dry?” “Deal.”
Tom quickly found the issue, it looked like one of the mower deck pulleys was giving up the fight. He figured the bearings were going as it would intermittently seize and then turn. He could see where when that happened the belt was slipping. It had the belt looking pretty rough and worse for the wear. Brock was right next to him as he walked through diagnosing it. “You did a good job, realizing something doesn’t sound or feel right when you're running equipment is an important step. Those sounds or feelings are often the first tell tale that an issue is starting. In this case if it fails, not so much an issue, but if it was say a car and it’s your brakes failing, issue. Well bud, not much more we can do for the old girl tonight. I’ll have to stop by the shop and get a new pulley and belt. While I’m at it, I think I’ll pick up a new drive belt for the old girl as it’s looking a little rough.”

With that he and Brock went out the back garage door and took a stroll down towards their large, nearly half acre garden. Tom was impressed with how clean and neat it looked. This year he’d put a lot of the responsibility of it on Brock and Kimmy. He’d stressed to them the importance of the garden doing well since it was a big contributor to their dinner table. They’d both had years working with their parents seeing how things needed to be weeded, watered, occasionally fertilized, patrolled for pests and that things were kept mulched. “You guys are doing a really great job Bud, looks as nice as any one your Mom or I have done in the past. Brock seemed to stand taller and Tom could see a smile and look of pride on his face. “What say we go back up to the house. Mom said something about their possibly being desert… ice cream and sliced strawberries with a little sugar, for on top. Though I’m sure that wouldn’t interest you.” They smiled at each other and Tom took off running full blast. As they ran for the house his son not only caught him but gaped him by a good 10 feet. Damn that boy is fast, he thought to himself.

After they all enjoyed a small bowl of ice cream they played a couple games of Sorry, Kimmy’s favorite and then he and Brock got into a contentious game of Battleship. It was a pretty typical night around their house. Friday nights or a weekend evening they might watch a movie or a couple favorite shows. Brock and Tom’s favorite being Alone. As they finished their game Brock started packing it up and said he was headed to bed, Kimmy had headed to do the same about 30 minutes earlier, having come down to give Tom and Emily good night hugs and kisses. Emily had gone up with her to tuck her in. Brock stopped a minute and looked at his Dad “Has Junior said when he’s coming home next?” Tom looked up at his son and gave him a solemn smile. “He’s hoping he can get leave to come home in October. Missing him?” “Yeah a little. Think he’ll be able to make it to one of my games.” “Bud, if he’s home and you guys have a game, I’ll bet you won’t be able to stop him.” Brock just nodded his head. “Welp, night.” “Night? Hey, where’s my hug?” “Dad…I’m getting too old for that.” “Bull I’ll be the judge of that.” With that Brock stepped over and gave him a sideways hug. Tom pulled him in and said “look, you might be able to outrun me, but when I do catch you, I’m still bigger than you to tickle you.” With that he gave a couple light pokes to his son's ribs which had him squirming like a worm.

Thomas, Tommy Jr, or just plain old Junior was Tom and Emily’s oldest child. He was 20 and in his second year of college but was also in the Navy ROTC program. He wanted to get his degree and then on graduation was thinking he’d take a commission to the Marines. So his summer was being spent doing some sort of bootcamp/ OCS program. With the way the schedule was working out, it looked like he’d have to go straight from training to school to be there in time for classes to start and to restart his part time job. It looked like the soonest he’d have a break to come home was the tailend of September or first of October. Tom missed having his boy around but he knew he was living his life and growing into the man they’d raised him to be. With that, he got up from the table, washed up the bowls and spoons from dessert, placed them in the strainer and then made his rounds checking the doors and turning off the lights. He headed up to the bedroom and slipped into the master bath to grab a shower. After drying off he headed to bed and slipped into the soft cool covers. As he got settled, he felt Emily slide up behind him, pressing her warm body to his, draping her arm and leg over his before planting a kiss on his neck. “I wondered when you were going to get here.” With that he rolled towards her, wrapping her in his arms and exchanging a deep kiss. “Oh yeah, why’s that?” he teased. After an intense love making session, they both fell soundly and happily to sleep.

A few days passed and much of the talk it seemed was about the winning lotto ticket that had yet to be claimed. With all the things going on at work and home, Tom had forgotten about his ticket. That day as a couple of his younger engineers were coming back from lunch he overheard them hotly debating what they would do if they won. Derrick was all over Shawn after Shawn said if it was him, he’d travel the world better than first class. Derrick scoffed at him “Yaa right, knowing you, you’d spend it all on video games, Pokemon cards and Whiteclaw. Oh and online porn.” He was rewarded with a bird from Shawn. Their discussion of the missing ticket jarred Tom’s memory. He grabbed his wallet from his desk drawer and pulled up the lotto’s web site to find the winning numbers. He had 5 plays on the ticket. As he started to review the winners against his numbers, line 3 had the first three numbers match up, then 4 and as his heart started to race he saw the 5th match. He sat stunned for a second, dare he look at the uber humber??? He glanced at the Uberjackpot ball number to his ticket, time stopped, his mouth suddenly like cotton. Tom couldn’t believe his eyes. He read all the numbers again. He got up from his desk and walked over to pull his door shut. Going back to his desk he sat and rechecked the numbers, 6 times. He had a rush of excitement and trepidation. Could this be real? He stared at the ticket he held in his hand. He was the mystery winner.

[gipsy]

We can only dream

[223shootersc]

Great start! Thanks!

[CountryGuy]

Chapter 2

Tom sat there for a few minutes, his mind blank and his stomach suddenly sour for some reason. Suddenly he had a small wave of paranoia wash over him, like everyone knew. He quickly regained his composure, placed the ticket back into his wallet before heading to the mens room. Once there he washed his hands, cupped some water into his mouth with his hands trying to erase the sourness. Lastly he splashed some cold water on his face before grabbing some paper towels to dry his hands and pat dry his face. He stood looking into the mirror and thought to himself ‘My God, things are about to seriously change.’ He then quickly said a small prayer of thanks for this gift and asked for his guidance in how to best use it to honor His name.

He stood and thought for a moment, trying to collect his thoughts and make a plan of his next steps. He knew that over the next few hours, days and weeks, they would need to tread very carefully. He went back to his office, Meaghan, one of his other engineers looked up and with concern on her face asked “Are you OK boss. You’re not looking too good.” Tom forced a weak smile “Feeling a little green around the gills, think something from lunch isn’t agreeing with me.” “Maybe you should go home, rest a bit. Not a lot going on this afternoon so as we can’t hold down the fort here.” “Thanks Meaghan, maybe your right, maybe I should head out early. Thanks.” “You’re welcome, I just hope you’re feeling better soon.” With a wink she followed with “I mean, got to look out for you, we sure don’t want to have to break in a new boss.” Tom smiled lightly at her typical sarcastic humor.

He walked into his office and pulled the door shut as he reached for his phone and punched in the plant manager extension. “Hey, what’s up?” “Hey Jill, wanted to let you know I’m going to head out early, I’m not feeling real great, think I might have gotten some bad food or something at lunch.” “See this is why I tell you don’t eat over at that roach coach across the street.” Tom grinned “I didn’t even eat at Javier’s today, and I’m telling you his food is great. No, I brought lunch from the house.” “Oh so Emily has come to her senses and is trying to off you?” she chuckled “Yeah no problem, get out of here. Your crew can cover anything that might come up. Hope you feel better.” “Thanks Jill.” With that they hung up. Tom shut down his laptop and dropped it into his pack before heading out of his office, clicked off the light and pulling closed his door. As he walked by Meaghan’s desk he said “OK I’m out of here. You have the helm number two.” She grinned. “Feel better.” As he stepped around the corner of the door frame he heard her poking at the others on the team already “You all heard him, I’m number two, that makes me the boss.” That was followed by Shawn saying “Oh you’re a number two alright.”

Tom got in the truck and started heading for home. As he got about 15 minutes away from the plant he passed that small country store and the place was a mob scene. There were satellite news trucks from every major network and looked to be dozens of people trying to get into the store or just standing around watching the circus that was happening. That was a bit of the reality break he needed. He knew he needed to keep this as quiet as possible and to carefully plan things out. As he drove he began to form a plan in his mind.

When he pulled in at a little after 2 in the afternoon Emily was surprised to see him. “Is everything OK Baby?” “Yaa, everything is OK. Hey where are the kids? Brock was helping Kimmy with a Lego thing she’s building. Why?” “Was just wondering. I need to talk with you.” “Tommy, your starting to scare me…” “I’m sorry Kitten. I promise, it’s nothing bad but it is severally overwhelming. Tell you what, let me grab 2 bottles of water from the fridge and let's walk down to the gazebo.” “OK, let me yell up to the kids in case they are looking for me.” With that she went over to the stairway and called up to Brock. “Brock?” “Yes Ma’am?” “Hey Daddy is home early and we’re going to take a walk. We’ll be back in a little bit, I just wanted to let you know so you weren’t wondering where I was if you all needed me.” “OK, thanks Mom.
They head out the back door and walk towards the lower part of their 10 acre parcel where there is a small spring fed pond and a small gazebo Tom built not long after they moved in 15 years ago. As they walked Emily asked him “So are you going to tell me what this is about?” Tom smiled at her “Yes, but not yet. Let’s just enjoy this beautiful day for right now.” They continued on but Emily’s mind was swirling with thoughts of what he wanted to talk about. Had he gotten fired? Prompted? A job offer closer to home? His stalling was driving her nuts.

As they got to the gazebo Tom sat down and pulled Emily down to sit on his lap. “You know I love you with every bit of my being, right?” “Yes. Tommy you’re sort of scaring me. What happened? Did you get fired or quit or something?” Tom laughed “No, I told you it’s nothing bad.” Well… then what.” “What would you say if I told you that we are the newest billionaires in the country?” He was smiles from ear to ear. Emily looked at him confused, “What are you talking about Thomas.” Using the name she reserved for when she was aggravated or mad at him. He grinned even louder. “I won. We won. I have the winning lotto ticket.” She gave him a very confused look. “I’m the missing winner. I hadn’t looked at my ticket until today while I was eating lunch.” “Are you messing with me?” She asked with a serious tone and look. Tom heartily laughed. “I’m serious Baby, we have the winning ticket. I think I heard them say the cash payout is over $1.1 billion dollars.” A look of recognition and anxiety washed over her face and she swayed some as he gripped her tighter. “I know babe, it’s a lot to take in. I thought I was gonna barf when I first realized it.” “Thomas Narwood, are you messing with me?!? Is this some sort of late April Fools prank?” “Not even close, baby.”

As he sat there he leaned in and kissed her. She put his face in both her hands and held him back to where she could look at him. “For real?” she asked as she looked back and forth in his eyes trying to see any bit of foolery. “OH MY Lord…your serious?” “Tom gave a goofy smile “That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you Mrs Narwood.” “We… we have to tell someone, our folks, our friends… Kelly… the kids” “Whoo whoo whoo… We can not tell anyone Babe.” “What? Why not?” “Baby, this is gonna bring out every nut job, freeloader conman and news person out there looking for handouts or a story and thinking we owe all of them something. Coming home, when I passed Herman’s, the store where I bought it, there had to be 200 people there and I’ll bet 12 to 18 News trucks. It was a mob scene with everyone clambering trying to find out if they knew who won. I did a little Googlefoo before I left the plant, not a lot, but it was enough for me to know we need to do some research and a lot of planning to get our ducks in a row. We have a year to claim the prize so we don’t need to be in a rush. For now babe, only you and I can know. We can’t even tell the kids. Understood?” “Yes. Understood but can’t say I like it.” as she said it she put on an exaggerated pout face like a mad toddler. “I promise to make it up to you when we go to bed tonight.” With that she threw her arms around his neck and gave him a long deep kiss. “Deal stud.” she leaned back looking in his face and she was smiling so wide hey thought her face would crack. “This is happening?” He smiled back “It is.” With that his hand was on her backside and gave a slight pinch. “Ouch!! What was that for.” “Just priving to you it’s real. And plus, you know I use any a reason I can to grab your butt.” SHe leaned in and wrapped her arms around his neck. “Perv…” A second later she said “Oh my God, this is happening.” He pulled her tighter.

She stood and he hugged her to him, resting his head on her chest as she pulled him close and stroked his hair. He looked up and she kissed him deeply. “So you ready to go back up to the house?” “Almost.” with that she squealed and stomped her feet in excitement like she was 5. “Hunh… So now I know where Kimmy inherited that from.” She just smiled at him as he stood and took her hand. “Now remember, you can't say anything around the kids or anyone else, not even joking. Ideally, no one will know we won. Ever.”

They went up to the house and the kids swamped them wondering why Dad was home early. He just said that he’d not felt well so he came home early. He said he was going to go to his office and do some work for a while. He asked Emily “What’s the plan for dinner tonight?” “Well the kids have been asking about chinese and wanting to know if we could go to the buffet?” “Hmmm, don’t see why not, it’s been a bit since we’ve been there. Guess we could splurge.” He said it before thinking about the irony in that statement. It garnered him a bit of Emily’s 3rd grade, disappointed teacher look. He shrugged and smiled. “Yell at me when you guys are ready to go.”

He went into his office and unlocked his personal laptop and launched a new browser screen. He typed in a few words like “What to do if you win the lottery” “first steps after winning the lottery” and he started surfing down the rabbit holes. He pulled out a tablet and started scribbling notes. He heard a light knock on the door. “Yes…” The door opened slowly and a smiling Kimmy’s head appeared. “Mommy said it’s about time to leave.” “OK, thank you sweety. Tell her Daddy is going to use the bathroom and I’ll be right out.” “OK” Five minutes later he came out to the kitchen “You guys ready?” “Yes” came their replies in unison. “OK, we’ll take Mom’s car.” “I can drive” came Brocks reply. “You wish. You still have five months before you can even think about your permit.” “Harsh Dad.” Tom laughed “We want to get there in one piece and Mom and Kimmy are hungry, they can’t wait all night for you to figure out how to back out of the garage…” Tom teased.

[iamnobody]

He then quickly said a small prayer of thanks for this gift and asked for his guidance in how to best use it to honor His name.

That is the wisest thing he could do.

[gipsy]

For sure he needs a plan

[feralferret]

I can hear the Wurlitzer organ than fell out of his butt playing "Who Of Thought It".


Great start.

[imahic]

Looks like a great start to another good story

[bluefox2]

Can you say total retirement? Full preps for a collapse just became completely possible

[jpr9954]

I know we've all thought about what we'd do if we won. I know I have.

Tom is smart to have his ducks in a row before he even thinks about claiming it. If he is lucky, he will live in a state where you can stay anonymous.

The major thing I'd do is start a charitable foundation with half or more of the winnings. It would minimize the tax bite and you could use it to make a difference. I know for sure I'd be subsidizing a lot of lawsuits taking on the current administration and the Deep State. That and 2A issues.

[freebirde]

Set up a trust fund and/or LLC.
Some places allow anonymous claiming of winnings.
I have heard of someone setting up a trust to provide for family emergencies with guidelines to prevent abuse.
Security systems are well worth having.

[feralferret]

Unfortunately my state is NOT one where the winner can stay anonymous. Trusts and private charitable foundations are both valuable tools for retention of assets. Even with them, the government is still going to take a substantial chunk of taxes.

[iamnobody]

Jul 16, 2023 15:52:09 GMT -6 feralferret said:

Unfortunately my state is NOT one where the winner can stay anonymous. Trusts and private charitable foundations are both valuable tools for retention of assets. Even with them, the government is still going to take a substantial chunk of taxes.

I joke at work that I had won that big $2 billion lottery a few months ago but had to turn it down because they said I would end up paying $2 billion, 100 thousand in taxes on it.

[CountryGuy]

I know things immensely vary by state. From whether a person must show their face and also depending on how things are set up and if it's claimed by an individual vs a trust or an llc can impact the percentage of tax rate.

When I saw some of the posts here it made me to go on a search and I found this little gem.

www.omnicalculator.com/finance/powerball

It lets you change your files status, and which state your in to see how the tax rate impacts you and it also shows the amounts if you go lump sum vs the 30 year annuity.

[papaof2]

I think Indiana may be one of the "no name" states. Some of the other states have "Must publish name" laws because of fraudulent lotteries that were run many years ago - more old laws that need to be updated to the current century.

[CountryGuy]

Chapter 3

The next few weeks Tom would spend a couple hours in the evening after the kids went to bed doing research. He’d even stumbled across a couple TV series from 10 or so years before with titles like “How the lottery changed my life” and “Winning the lottery ruined my life” and a few others with similar twists. He and Emily watched these, garnering what info they could on missteps and the unexpected that might come from strangers, friends and even family. They also found a few installments with “experts” who discussed key things large jackpot winners should do, even before they ever stepped forward to claim their prize. Tom took more notes and then he and Emily began refining their plan and trying to find key items they needed. These included a well versed and trustworthy lawyer or two, a CPA and tax expert and a financial planner who only deals with those with large holdings.

Around the end of the first month Tom and Emily had appointments scheduled with two different lawyers. One on the other side of the state and the other halfway across the country. They were able to get Emily’s parents to come over both times to watch the kids, making excuses on why they needed to be out of town. The first firm was about 4 hours away and was supposed to be well versed in these sort of situations but to be honest they had been difficult even just trying to get an appointment, seemingly ignoring the part about how this was a sensitive subject and they were not comfortable discussing it over the phone. They even offered to pay an initial retainer fee which the firm waved after they granted an appointment, although seemingly begrudgingly. The other firm, completely different experience. When Tom called and mentioned he had a sensitive matter to discuss involving lotto winnings they were completely understanding. Initially they even only wanted first names and set up a date and time that worked for Tom and Emily.

Tom had plenty of days of vacation coming so he took a few to make the trips. They ended up deciding to hit both places in the same trip. They would drive the 4 hours to the large city where the first firm was located. Since there was a large airport there, it would be easy to catch a direct flight to their next destination to meet with the second firm. Then they’d fly back, spend the night and drive back the next day.

Emily’s parents arrived on Wednesday afternoon before Tom was home from work. He and Em would be leaving early the next morning so with her parents there it would make things easy. Tom did some baked potatoes and sauteed mushrooms on the grill along with some nice ribeyes from the half beef they bought last fall. Em had made a peach cobbler that they all enjoyed. Kimmy was excited to go for a walk after dinner and wanted to show Grammy and Pap the garden she was so proud of and her chickens. Everyone turned in early, Tom and Emily saying goodbye to the kids that night since they would be leaving around 4:30AM.

Tom had mugs of coffee ready to go out the door as Emily made it to the kitchen. He’d already put their bags in the Sequoia and they weren’t on a tight schedule but Em was definitely wound up. He gently took her by the shoulder, stopping her as she was flustering by. He got her looking into his eyes. He smiled “Calm down, we’re not in a hurry. Don’t feel rushed, baby.” She smiled up at him “Thanks” “Your welcome. Your chariot awaits.” He said with a flourished wave of his arm. “Oh so gentlemanly, ladies first.” “But of course, and also the view of your backside in the dress is so much better.” She feigned insult, playfully swatting his arm as she walked out, being sure to throw a little extra swing into her hips. Tom backed out of the garage and closed the door. They sat there for a moment as he turned to look at her. He held out both hands and she took them knowing the intent. The both bowed their heads as Tom said a short prayer for safety and guidance during their travels and meetings the next few days.

Along the way, just after the sun came up showing what should be a beautiful day, Tom asked. “Are you hungry? There’s a small truck stop up a few exits that has an amazing breakfast. The boys and I have stopped there a few times on Scout trips and the guys and I have too on some of our fishing or hunting trips that take us this way.” “A truck stop?” “I promise this isn’t some dirty place. It’s a privately owned business and the family that owns and runs it keeps it neat as a pin, they are always so friendly and I’m telling you the breakfast bar…yum.” “Well if you’re sure. I suppose I’m in.”

15 minutes later Tom was wheeling the SUV into a spot off to the side of the main restaurant entrance. He hopped out and went around to open the door for his bride. Walking with her hand in hand, holding the door for her to enter. There was a stand just inside the door with a ‘Wait To Be Seated’ sign. They only had to wait a moment until a lady about their age stepped up and with a smile “Is it just the two of you?” She asked as she grabbed two menus. Emily answered “Yes” As she marked the table list on the podium “Right this way please.” She led them part way thru the restaurant to a table for two. “Is this OK?” Em nodded her head and said “Yes it is.” “Kara will be your server this morning. I hope you enjoy breakfast and thank you for coming.” With that she hustled away back to the guest podium to the next group of diners waiting.

Just a couple moments later a young girl in a waitress outfit came zipping over to their table, coffee pot in hand. “Morning, I’m Kara. Can I start you with some coffee?” Both said yes as she flipped over their cups and filled them up. “Cream?” Tom shook his head yes and she pulled a few out of her apron, placing them on the table in front of him. “Have you had a chance to look at the menu or are you interested in the buffet?” Tom said “I’m going to have the buffet. What about you Hun?” “Well for the last hour he’s been going on about how great the buffet is so I don’t think I have an option.” She said to Kara with a wink. “I’ll stop back in a little bit to check on you. IS there anything else I can get you right now?” “When you have a moment, could we both get a glass of ice water.” ‘“Totally, not a problem. ENjoy your breakfast.”

As the walk to the buffett Em says “She was very friendly and efficient. Cute too. Too bad Junior isn’t along.” “Oh stop, you and your matchmaking, I swear you have been trying to marry that boy off since he was 5.” “Oh hush, have not. She just seemed like a nice girl.” Tom smiles and shakes his head. They go thru the buffet and pick their items and head back to the table. A few moments after they sit down Kara comes back again and tops their coffees and asks how everything is. Em says “My gosh, everything is so tasty and fresh. I think we are doing fine.” “Great. Well I'll leave you all to eat and check back in a bit.” Which is what she did. In the meantime, Tom made a second trip for some more of their bacon and one of their fresh cinnamon rolls. “Where are you putting that all. I’m so stuffed.” “cinnamon rolls like this, I can’t pass up.” “Oh, so what, aren’t mine good enough now.” Em said with a grin. “Now baby you know I love yours but you’re a bit stingy on how often you make them… So guess these are a great runner up in between the months and months I go without yours.” Tom said with a smile.

They were sitting there sipping their coffee and just chatting a bit when Kara came back. “Can I get you all anything else this morning?” Tom looked up and said “No sweety, I think we have both eaten enough till we are about to pop. I probably shouldn’t have gone back for another cinnamon roll but they are just so good.” “Yeah they are one of our most favorite items, Everyone loves Grammy’s cinnamon rolls.” “Oh so you’re part of the family that owns this?” “Yep, Momma and Daddy own it and most of those that work here are family. My brothers and sister, my cousins and a couple of my aunts. We do have a few non family members but several of those have been here longer than us kids have been alive that they are considered family.” “That is so great to hear, don’t see things like that now days.” Emily said.

“Several years back I had a chance to meet, I guess it would be, your Dad. Some friends and I were on the way back from a hunting trip and we stopped to eat. When we went to leave my old truck wouldn’t start. I came in to see about some fuel filters as I suspected I’d gotten bad fuel at the last place I filled up. He helped us big time. You all only had filters for the big trucks and your Dad drove me over to a parts store not far from here to get some filters. Then he had a friend of his who was a mechanic come by to help pump my tank empty and to flush the system before i put on the new ones. Your Dad got us some fuel to get things primed and restarted, and he wouldn’t take a dime. Only thing I was able to pay him for was when I filled up the tank from your pumps. Not sure he’d remember us as I’m betting he helps out a lot of people that come thru here that have problems, but I sure remember him.” “That sounds like Daddy.” Kara said with a bit of a tear in her eye. “He’s not by chance around is he? I’d sure like to say hi if he is.” Tom Asked. “No, he’s not able to come in very often Now days. His health has him limited to the house most days.” “Oh, I’m sorry to hear that. Is it his heart or something? I’m sorry, I shouldn’t be nosing.” “No, it’s OK. No it’s his back, he had an injury several years ago and it just continued to deteriorate and wear on him for years. Now he can’t hardly get up and around. I mean he still helps from home with the books and things but it’s tough not having him here.” “That’s terrible, I’m sorry to hear that. Isn’t there something the doctors can do?” “Well those around here won’t touch him. One told him there is a new sort of experimental surgery that only a couple doctors in the country will perform but it’s crazy expensive. We have very basic and not very good health insurance and they won’t cover it since it’s classified as experimental. So unfortunately that’s not in the cards. It’s one reason I’m home this summer working here rather than working an internship for my degree. At this point I might have to stay home this fall to help Momma to keep things going here. I know that upsets Daddy, he wants us all to go to school and live our dreams. He says this place was his dream, he doesn’t want it to be our nightmare.” “We’re so sorry to hear that Kara. We’ll put him in our prayers tonight. He and your entire family. Where do you go to school?” Emily asked. “Over at State.” “Oh? Our oldest son goes there. He’s a junior in mechanical engineering and is taking a minor in operations management. He’s doing ROTC so he’s off at boot camp this summer.” “Oh that doesn’t sound like a fun summer. I’m in the nursing program and I’m a junior too.” “Really, same class then.” “Yeah but the engineers are pretty much so on the opposite end of campus from the nursing program.” “Well isn’t that interesting, the two of you are both at the same school.” Emily said as she glanced at Tom, who gave her a raised eyebrow glance. “Well Kara, before my wife here tries to set you up on a date with our son, we better let you go, it looks like you guys are getting busy.” Kara chuckles as Emily lightly swats Tom’s arm. “Yeah I better get back to it. It’s been great talking with you. Hope you’ll stop again some time. And safe travels today. You can cash out up at the register with my aunt.” “Thank you Kara, best wishes and like I said, we’ll pray for your Daddy.” “Thank you, we can use all that he can get.”

With that Kara hustled away to wait on the other tables in the quickly filling up diner. Tom went to pay and Emily to use the restroom before they got back on the road. When asked how things were this morning, Tom told Jean, that the service was great and that her niece was a special girl. “She is, if you only knew the half of it.” Tom paid the bill and gave a 20% tip. But then walked over to their table and took out two, $100 bills and tucked it under his coffee saucer. As he walked back to the front Em came from the restroom and asked him “All Ready?” “Yep just dropped her a little extra tip.” “That was sweet of you.” “Honestly it’s the least we can do, for now.”

As they got back on the road they started talking and the conversation turned to the future and what they were going to do with their new found wealth. “Babe, I’ve been thinking about our security and how to keep us all safe, especially if word gets out about this. We’ve been trying to prepare for bad times since we first married and you indulged my “Prepper” ideas. This is going to let us get prepared to a level neither of us could have ever dreamed of in even our wildest dreams. I mean we have a pretty good handle on things but all these years, until we paid the bills, fed 3 kids and put a little away for our future there was never a lot of money to dedicate to things. That’s all changed now. I meannow things like a BOL, BOV’s, shelters and more can become a real thing. And besides taking care of our family, I want to help people. I don’t mean just give away money like we’re the government tossing it out to every outstretched hand. I want to help people that are worth it and who maybe just haven’t caught a break or who have fallen on rought times.” “Like Kara’s Dad?” Emily asked. “Exactly. That man helped me beyond anything he had to do and wouldn’t take a nickel for it. He just said pat it forward, which I tried to do myself. Now I think it’s time for that to come back around to him in spades.”

“I think that is a fantastic idea babe. Like you said, we’ve been gifted this money for some reason, so let us share and help where we can. I believe the Lord will guide our lives to cross paths with people and he will enlighten us to know those that he wants us to help and show us those who are charlatans.” “I agree babe, we just continue to place our lives into his hands, it’s worked for the last 20 plus years, why change now. But we need to stay as discreet and as anonymous as possible. We need to worry about our family’s safety and security first of all and then we help those we can, when we are able. Oh and once we do get the money, One of the first things I want to do is give a gift to the cashier that sold me the ticket. The day I bought it we joked about if I won and I told her I’d be back to give her a tip. She’s a nice girl and seems to be there everytime I stop. I don’t know her name but I know she’s a struggling single mom.” “How much?” I was thinking like $100K.” “That much babe?” “Think in the grand scheme, it’s not that much to us now but that is life changing money to her. We have to get used to our new world and the new numbers that are now our reality.” “True…” “I think the Lord already showed us to the next people.” “Kara’s Dad?” Tom just nodded. “I think you’re right babe. We’re to help him and to make sure she stays in school. This is going to be so amazing being able to help deserving people when they cross into our lives. Sort of like a year round secret Santa.” Tom laughed deeply.

As they got into the city Tom navigated thru the morning rush hour traffic. With the help of the Google Map on his phone, he found the entrance to the parking garage they’d been told about. After getting parked he and Emily walked hand in hand to the elevator and took it up to the 39th floor. The elevator opened directly into the law firm's lobby. Tom had a bad vibe as he stepped off but gave a weak smile to Em. The Lobby had shiny black stone floors and dark walls and some sort of modern art on the walls that appeared to be flames or something. It just gave off a dark vibe. As they stepped to the reception counter there was a, well a person. Tom wasn’t sure if it was a male or female. The hair was short and shaved on one side and was a mix of lime green, blue and pink. Whatever ‘It’ was, it had all sorts of jewelry sticking in the face, both lips, eye brows, nose and last but least top to bottom on their ears. Tom thought It should likely stay away from magnets and anything electrical.

“Yes?” came a snotty question. From the voice, Tom was pretty sure it was a guy dressed up into this freak show appearance. “Mr and Mrs X to see Mr Malish.” “Ohh isn’t that cute, so you two are the mysterious Mr and Mrs X. I’ll let him know you are here. Sit over there.” Tom noted there appeared to be zero manners to this thing. As they sat in the hard, uncomfortable, shiny, black metal chairs, Tom noted some of the items and articles on the table in front of them. He picked up a few perusing thru them. Several appeared to be reprinted magazine articles about big cases the firm had won. He noted several were ones he recalled hearing about, and not for any positive reasons. He noted they had won several cases all along the the lines of in support of progressive and woke lib agenda lawsuits. There were ones where people had sued their employers, saying everything was racist or sexist or not inclusive, they’d fought cases to let boys into girls sports, let boys use girls restrooms, let whatevers have cat boxes in all restrooms in schools and the latest one they appeared to still be fighting, they were defending a Satan church club to have the right to hold after school programs in elementary and middle schools. Tom glanced at Emily and her eyes were wide having read the same headlines.

“Let’s go Babe, this isn’t the place for us, no matter how good they are, this place seems evil as hell to me.” “I agree, let’s get out of here, it’s been giving me the hee bee gee bees since we got off the elevator.” Tom stood and took her hand helping her up. As they approached the desk Emily broke off to head to the elevator to hit the call button while Tom stepped to the desk. “I didn’t call you. What do you want?” said the thing. Tom had to strongly resist the urge to reach across and start removing piercings one at a time with quick jerks.

“What I want to do and what I’m going to do right now are two different things. You have the worst attitude I’ve ever ran across for someone in a secretary or customer service position. But I digress. Tell Mr. Malish, we have changed our minds and don’t think this firm will meet our expectations or needs.” “As if, this is the best firm in the state, you can’t do better.” “Oh I think we can find better, As you say, maybe the best in the state, not in the country though. This place just smacks of nastiness and evil, we have no desire to be involved in any way here.” Tom heard the ding and without waiting for a response from It, he turned and walked to the waiting car. “What’ev Ma and Pa Kettle…where did you get those clothes, Walmart. Probably nothing but a bunch of white, christian, racist trash.” Tom ignored it and as the elevator descended he felt the angst and discomfort of the last 10 minutes quickly dissolve the lower and further they got away from that floor.

When they were back in the SUV Tom sat quietly for a moment collecting his thoughts. Em respected him and his process and stayed quiet until he was ready to speak. Before turning to look at Emily. “I think that was a glimpse into the gates of hell. The evil just seemed to ooze from that place. I’d bet anything they’ve all sold their souls. I felt so unclean sitting there. I think the Lord showed us a glimpse into their hearts so we knew to run.” “I agree babe, I was feeling ill and nauseous just sitting there. Well with that canceled, it’s 9AM and our flight is not until 8PM. What are we going to do all day?” she asked. “Well what about a date? I know there are a couple museums here, we could go check out one or two and then later on we could grab a nice dinner before we head out to the airport. Or if you want we could hit one of the places in the airport. There is a natural history museum, I think it has a dinosaur exhibit and things like that. There is an art museum, I’m not too keen on seeing, but if you want to, it’s ladies' choice today. And seeing you're the only lady present… Oh and there is a science center too.” “A daytime date, how long has it been since we did that? When we were dating?” “Maybe. If so, I’m way overdue in making it up to you.” “Well it sounds lovely, let’s head for the history museum, maybe it’ll give me some ideas for my lesson plans this fall.” “Your wish is my command fair maiden.”

Tom pulled up the address in his phone and his app calculated the route. It said 17 minutes till they’d arrive. They headed out of the garage and on their way. Emily turned to sit sideways in her seat to address her husband. “Speaking of school. What are we going to do?” Without taking his eyes off traffic Tom said. “What do you mean kitten?” “Well are we going to keep working or are we gonna quit our jobs?” “Hmmm, good question hun… I guess for the near future we keep working till we get everything figured out. Unless you don’t want to, then you don’t have to. Until we have cash in our bank account though I have to keep working, and keep working till we figure out our medical insurance. Well, and maybe that isn’t a concern anymore as we could pay for any situation that comes up.” Emily thought for a few minutes as they sat waiting to get thru the same light for the third round of red, green, yellow, red. “Well I do love working with the kids but you know how much I just hate the politics anymore and dealing with all their union BS and all the new junk curriculum being forced down from the state and feds. If I’m leaving though, I should probably do so as soon as possible so they have time to find a replacement for me.” “Babe, it’s like I told you when we got married, it’s up to you. If you want to work, work. If you want to stay home, stay home. I mean this would let you do what you’ve talked about a lot of times, stay home and homeschool the kids.” “Yeah, but I don’t know how Brock would react to that. Kimmy either, I mean she’s only going into second but she already has several friends.” “Well, you think about it, we’ll talk to the kids and get their sense of it. I mean everything doesn’t have to happen tomorrow.” “True. This is just such a complete change. I mean you dream about not having to work but now finding that we suddenly won’t have to, that we will be able to do whatever we want, whenever we want… I mean it’s liberating but scary too.” Tom reached over and put a hand on her knee “I don’t think this is even a next chapter in our lives. It’s more like a sequel to the one that came before. Hey, I think that’s the garage for the museum…Madam, your chariot has arrived.”

[gipsy]

They are planning well.

[feralferret]

Excellent chapter. Thank you.

[223shootersc]

Good stuff, Thanks!

[feralferret]

The Powerball Jackpot after the Monday, July 17, 2023 drawing is $1 billion, with the cash option of $516.8 million. It's halfway to the jackpot in the story.

[papaof2]

I think I could live very well for 10-15 years on that much money ;-)

[prepguy]

This is very well written. The emotions of the characters is complex and it has a very realistic feel to it. Definitely looking forward to reading more.

[CountryGuy]

Chapter 4

Kimmy stirred a bit, all warm and cozy in her bed. As she laid here she could smell bacon, cinnamon and coffee. She popped awake, Grammy! She beat feet down stairs and there was PawPaw and Brock sitting at the kitchen bar eating bacon and french toast. PawPaw just sat his coffee down as she came in “There’s my sweet pea. Where is my morning kiss?” She rushed over and gave him a hug and when he leaned down, a kiss on the cheek. “Morning PawPaw” “Hey now, where’s mine?” Grammy asked. Kimmy slipped around to the kitchen side of the bar and Grammy bent down for a hug and gave her a peck on the lips. “That’s better. How is my Princess this morning?” “Hungry” Kimmy chirped. “Well I can fix that. Would you like 1 or 2 pieces of french toast?” “2 please.” “Two it is.”

When the food was ready, Grammy sat Kimmy over at the table in the eat-in-kitchen area. She had 2 pieces of french toast, crusts removed, 2 pieces of her Daddy’s home cured bacon and a cup of ice cold, raw milk from Farmer Yoder who was just down the road. They all talked as Kimmy ate. PawPaw said “After breakfast you get yourself washed up and dressed and we’ll go check your garden, feed your chickens and turkeys, collect up any eggs and… oh, feed your rabbits. After that, I think we might go down to the lake and fish a bit. See if we can catch enough for Grammy to cook up for supper. Also, maybe we’ll go to the range. “Ohhh yes please! That sounds like so much fun. And we haven’t got to go to the range in like a month.” Brock perked up too “Yeah some time at the range would be great. I have to agree with Squirt, a day fishing and shooting sounds a lot better than working.”

PawPaw spoke again “That’s fine, but remember, he who plays today, works tomorrow. Your Dad said your to have the yard cut and all the trimming done before he and your Mom get back. And I think there was mention of firewood?” “argggghhh… Yeah I know.” “Excuse you?” “Yes Sir. Sorry Pap. Just Dad must have told me 20 times if he told me once, to get it done.” “Well, just exactly why do you think he felt he had to remind you so many times?” Brock’s cheeks pinked up a bit… “because I’ve forgotten too when he’s told me other times...” “Ding! Ding! Give that boy a cupie doll. So… make it so your Dad doesn’t think he needs to repeat himself, over and over, to get you to honor your commitments.” “Yes Sir. Sorry I was grumbling about it.” “Forgiven, but learn from it and don’t repeat. You're becoming a young man and learning from your mistakes will let you grow to a ripe old age like me.” Paw said with a grin as he gave Brock a light pat on the shoulder.

Brock headed out as soon as he had finished eating and rinsed off his plate in the sink. He got to watering the garden and then the animals along with feeding their two pigs, ‘Bacon’ and ‘Sausage’. Come this fall when the weather turned cool, they would become their name sakes and more. He left the chickens, quail and rabbits for Kimmy to feed. After Grammy approved Kimmy’s outfit and made sure her teeth and hair were brushed, the two headed to the animals and then it would be on to the garden.

As they appeared out the door, Rocky appeared seemingly from no where. He must be coming from wherever his nighttime and early morning patrols took him. Rocky was their 5 year old German Shepard and Kimmy’s near constant companion. When she was outside, he always had his eye on her. Kimmy made the rounds through the pens feeding the smaller animals. After they fed the meat chickens, in the newly positioned tractors that Brock moved earlier, they picked up the eggs. They got a total of 10 that morning. Each time Kimmy opened a laying box and found an egg she would say ‘Thank you”. Grammy got a kick out of that.

With the animals all taken care of, they headed to the garden. As they made the rounds, Kimmy was talking off Grammy’s ear, telling Grammy what she needed to be doing and looking for. Grammy smiled and nodded yes, enjoying how much her young Granddaughter already knew about taking care of feeding herself. They went along and picked any of the ripe things they found, putting them in the big stainless bowl Grammy was carrying. Seeing Kimmy and Grandma still busy in the garden, and with his chores done, he thought he’d take some of Paw’s advice. He headed of to the wood pile and picked up the splitting maul and went to town for about 20 minutes till he saw Gram and Kimmy heading for the house. He took the time to pick up and stack the small pile he’d created before he headed to the house.

[feralferret]

Thanks, CountryGuy!