Kate

by Dwight W. Hunter

Chapter25 - The Final Solution

  During the past two weeks, Buck made such a nuisance of himself at Junction Realty; Stella finally reached her saturation point with him hanging around. After dropping several subtle hints she finally told him to bug off, letting him know she would contact him the minute word came from U.S. Resorts. Since then Buck stewed alone in his mobile home and occasionally going to the VFW post to swap war lies with other old vets like him with nothing better to do.

  Swapping stories over a can of beer soon wore thin with his focus constantly turning to a financial ax poised ready to drop on his real estate deal. With the prospects of his million-dollar deal crashing down on him, the worst possible condition settled over Buck, he lost interest in dancing and chasing women. Always before when something bothered Buck he could shift his thoughts to reliving a past conquest or fantasized about making-it with a woman he had recently seen who peaked his interest.

  Worry mixed with anxiety was over-taking his complete thinking and keeping him from sleeping; seeking relief from worry, his mind conjured up an imaginary plan to call U.S. Resorts and ask about their plans for either paying off the option or making a down payment of the land. But reality suddenly struck, he didn't have the slightest idea about how or where to begin placing a call. Buck was forced to admit he was up against a totally new frustrating world of business he knew absolutely nothing about and the only person who could save him, was a woman by the name of Stella.

  He was used to dealing face to face with whomever he was dealing, not talking by paper to some faceless person thousands of mile away known only by a printed name at the bottom of a fax message. Then there was Nellie; she was a complete mystery to him.

  Somehow he was drawn to her, as he had never been pulled by any of his other short time conquests. At times he thought a sixth sense was telling him Nellie cared for him; because it was her caring for him that made her dump so many words on him in her attempt to tell him something he didn't really want to hear. And lastly there was Rita Blaine and her damn combination rock pile and snake den that pulled the last straw.

  "Once I get my ass out of this bind I'll have to give Nellie a call and see if she'll give me another chance." Buck thought.

  Buck was faced by another plate of crow he prepared and served to himself stemming from the fact his monumental pride and stubbornness blanked out his hearing when others attempted to tell him something. The last card filling his hand was about to be dealt that would most likely cost him twenty-five grand. The loss of twenty-five thousand dollars was only a minor irritant; the real pain was being inflicted by this Blaine woman, he had the hots for, and she was pulling in the big bucks over a deal he was too dumb to recognize was galling him to the bone.

  On the morning of day fourteen and counting before his land options came due, Buck unenthusiastically dragged himself out of bed wearing a two-day-old beard to face a breakfast of soggy corn flakes, stale toast and warmed over coffee, when the phone rang. It was the first time his phone had rung in weeks, immediately his expectant thoughts raced to it being Stella at Junction Realty.

  "She must have heard from the hotel people," he thought picking up the phone.

  "Hello! This is Buck."

  "Good morning Cowboy," Buck heard a cheerful voice. "This is Rita Blaine. Do you have the cows fed yet or are you sitting around letting your whiskers grow?"

  "Well, as a matter of fact, my whiskers have been growin' right good since I ain't had the gumption to shave. I must say it's a surprise to hear from you and especially so early in the day. What causes you to be thinkin' of me on such a lonesome mornin'?"

  "Well for openers, how about having lunch? I heard you own a property option which you may consider selling, if the rumor is true, I hope you are interested in meeting me at the Cactus Bowl coffee shop, say around eleven forty-five to talk about it. By the way, I'm buying lunch."

  "Wa,wa, well." Buck stammered. "Suh, sure, that sounds fine. I can meet you there."

  "Great!" He heard Rita's voice say just before the phone clicked. Hanging up his phone, Buck stood looking at the now silent telephone and recovering from Rita's unexpected call.

  "Now what in hell's name is that woman up to this time? If she gets her hands on that land I bet she turns it into another moneymaking deal in the same way she did that damn rock pile. Damn that woman! She's out to rub my nose in shit again, no doubt about it and I don't have the slightest idea about how she's going to do it. Suppose I had better check with Stella to see if she knows anything that's causing this sudden change in events. Goddamn it, I never in my life thought I'd see the day when I would be bouncing off uppity business women like a cue ball in a double bank pool shot."

  Picking up the phone Buck dialed the number for Junction Realty.

  "Good morning, Junction Realty, this is Stella."

  "Mornin' Stella, this is Buck. I just had a call from Rita Blaine and she is talkin' about making me an offer on the Land Investment option. What do you think I should do?"

  "Well, for Christ sakes, the first thing to do is talk to her, Buck! If you don't do something quick your ass is going to get stretched over a twenty-five thousand dollar barrel head."

  "I just know she has somethin' up her sleeve else she wouldn't have called me."

  'Hell yes, she has something up her sleeve, you dumb Cowpoke. It's called an arm. Buck whatever smarts you have must have been transplanted from a frozen cow."

  "Ah come on Stella, no cause for you to start thumpin' on me. I do have enough smarts to know the pickle I'm in. You being a smart woman who knows about real estate, I thought you might have some idea why this Blaine woman has taken a sudden interest in the land. It just plain pisses me off to think about her scoopin up the land I'm in a bind on and then turnin' around and makin' some more million on somethin' I can't figure out."

  "What can I say, Buck. You're the one who has this fixation about the only position a woman should occupy. Until you get all that macho bullshit washed out between your ears, you'll just have to live with being pissed off."

  "Dam it to hell! I asked you women one simple question and the next thing I know I get a bucket full of high falutin' words dumped on me. Most of them I don't understand."

  "Poor Baby, you ask us, we tell you, and you don't listen. Now how can I make it any more simple? I'll try to put it another way. Just because it's natural for you to be on top of a woman for a few minutes once in awhile, doesn't mean you're superior to her the remaining twenty-three hours and fifty-five minutes of the day. Next time, try doing it sideways. Then notice the woman will be in front, that should tell you something. Think about it Buck. Let me know what happens with the Blaine woman. Bye."

  "I do believe the longer I live, the more mixed up I get. There are times when I wish I'd never come down here to this crazy country. Things just move too fast and I can't get the hang of what's goin' on. Women doing men's work, women sleeping with other women, men having sex with other men and then there are them who don't have the foggiest idea of which way they're threaded and worst of all, none of them seem to give a damn. Well hell. I guess I'd better get ready and go see what that Blaine woman has on her mind."

  At eleven forty-five, a long wrinkled-faced Buck ambled into the coffee shop. As he entered a waitress greeted him.

  "Mr. Thorn?" She said, raising her eyebrows.

  "That's me."

  "This way, please, Mr. Thorn. Ms. Blaine is waiting." She answered, leading Buck to Rita's table.

  "Good morning again and thank you for joining me," Rita said, closing a folder and laying it aside before extending her hand.

  "It's always a pleasure to see you." Buck replied, shaking her hand before sitting down. "From things I read in the papers you have been kind ah on the busy side since last we met. Been noticing how you've done a right good job turnin' that rock pile into a down right gold mine."

  "Thank you, Buck. We've been very fortunate. In fact it has progress
ed beyond our highest expectations. A large portion of the credit for our success must go to your friend, Gus, for the outstanding sales job he had done. He informed me this morning the fourteenth and final house was sold. Our major problem now is getting the houses built. If all goes well, construction will be completed in less than a year.

  You sure haven't wasted any time." Buck shrugged.

  The waitress arrived to take their orders. Rita had her usual salad and toast. After listening to Rita, Buck pretty well lost the little amount of appetite he sat down with. To be sociable more than a desire to eat, he settled for a BLT and coffee. When the waitress withdrew, Rita decided to plunge ahead with the conclusion of her and Nellie's sting operation.

  Rita noticed the drawn look on Buck's face and his failure to radiate his typical woman killer presence this morning. She almost began to feel sorry for him; after all he was a pretty simple specimen to be heaping her years of built up vengeance upon.

  "It's too late now, so I may as well stick it to him and get it over with," she thought.

  "I heard from an unnamed source the two-way option you were telling me about is about to come due and you're sort of hanging in the wind for about twenty-five thousand dollars. Am I right? Rita asked.

  "Ya, that's right. I'm surprised you'd be interested in something that big"

  "You just never seem to understand, Buck. Oh, well, no matter. I suspect it must be difficult for you to do business with a woman."

  "It does sort of rub an old sore spot sure enough. No matter how much I try to tell myself the world has changed, I still ain't gettin' used to it."

  "So you still hold on to the old idea of women having only two positions, pushing a broom and lying on their backs, right?"

  "Them are pretty blunt words you're usin', but I think the world would be the better for it if that's the way it was," answered Buck, showing a little heat in his voice.

  "Unfortunately there are a great many men who share your opinion and I was forced to work with and for a lot of them during the course of my career. Sorry, Buck, I didn't intend to insult your belief system; I think it's best to get back to the business at hand, before our tempers get pushed too far out of round."

  "Maybe so."

  "To be blunt about my intentions, if you're interested, I'll give you ten thousand dollars for the total package; and you can walk away a free man with ten grand in your pocket and I'll assume whatever risks are involved."

  All Buck could think was, "She's doing it to me again, no beatin' around the bush either, she just sets there all calm and cool while she sticks it to me and I ain't got nowhere to go but take it. Damn I wish I knew what she's up to."

  "Hum." a down cast Buck mumbled, "That does sound sort of interestin', but how do you know I'm in a mood to sell?"

  "You know how rumors are. Sometimes they have substance and sometimes they don't. I thought it would be worth the price of a lunch to find out the facts. I'm not trying to horn in on the deal you have going, but if the end of the string is coming in sight with nothing hooked to it, I thought you may be interested in a quick way out. There's no particular hurry on my part. I would appreciate you letting me know your decision by the end of the week, provided you need time to think over my offer.

  "I could be real interested for another fifteen thousand," Buck said, looking at Rita.

  Rita sat holding Buck in an eye lock for a few seconds before she replied.

  "Buck, I've heard you received your education from ranch cows, but I never fully appreciated the rumor until now. Let me ask you a couple of questions. First, are you a poker player? And second, if you are, do you ever win?'

  "I never had much luck with poker," he grunted. "How come you asked?"

  "Obviously you never figured out one simple fact about poker. Luck is only a small part of winning. A good poker player always has a feel for the cards in each of his opponent's hand. Before calling you this morning, I made a few inquires and found out exactly every card you're holding.

  Being a want-to-be land dealer you should have known I would know all, or most of the details concerning your deal when I invited you to lunch. By getting to know the way you think, I'm not at all surprised at your attempt to hustle me into paying more for an option that's on the verge of costing you twenty-five thousand dollars, than its worth. In case you have a problem with arithmetic, my offer actually amounts to thirty-five thousand. My God, Buck, how dumb can you be. If I got up and walked away right now, it would, in all probability, cost you the twenty-five grand instead of grabbing my offer making it possible for you to walk away with an easy ten grand, all for doing absolutely nothing."

  Buck attempted to muster up a smile and mumbled, "Ya can't blame ah guy for tryin'?"

  Rita shook her head before continuing.

  "Try getting this through your head in order to save yourself and others from wasting their time. The only reason I'm making you this offer is because Land Investment was giving you a reduced price on the land, which I thought was a good deal; while at the same time keeping someone I knew from losing his ass.

  My advice to you, Buck, is to get out of the land dealing business as quickly as possible and never look back. You may know about cows, but you don't know Jack Shit about land speculating. Now, do you want to take my offer or lose twenty-five grand? How much simpler does it get? As of right now, I don't have a whole lot of enthusiasm, time nor patience to spend on someone who attempts to hustle me while I'm offering to pull his nuts out of the fire. In fact my patience has totally run out and I'm calling back the time part of my offer. As of now, you have sixty seconds to make up you mind. What's your answer going to be, Buck?"

  Buck sat completely numb knowing there was no other way out for him. He had been out generaled on every flank and there was no way for him to go, other than surrender and eat humble crow.

  "Gawd damn it all." He thought. "I never expected it to turn out this way. Here this woman whose legs and body I liked so much that night, not too long ago standin' in the VFW doorway and now she has just shoved it to me without so much as a kiss or Vaseline."

  Getting to his feet, while still holding Rita's eye he said.

  "You win. I'll ask Stella to make out the papers. Guess maybe I'll take your advice about getting' out of land dealin'. I'm just plain beat into the ground by you smart thinking women, I can't understand. Sorry about lunch, I'm about ready to lose the little breakfast I have left. I should thank you for getting' me off the hook, but if I did it would make me puke for sure."

  Buck turned and made his way out of the coffee shop, walking the walk of a beaten man.

  **********

  Please accept my sincere "thank you" for having selected Rita for your reading enjoyment. If this is your introductory book to the Sisters of Destiny Series, I invite you to continue your reading pleasure with six additional vicarious adventures listed on the following page:

  About_the_Author

  He was reared in northern Idaho graduated from Nez Perce High school in the class of '50, spent a four-year tour of duty in the Navy which took him to California, Tennessee, Japan and Alaska. After leaving the Navy he received a B.S. Degree in Engineering from Indiana Institute of Technology at Fort Wayne, Indiana and subsequently spent thirty years in the Aerospace industry and private business

  Shifting careers he received an A.S. Degree from the Allied Health Department of Mission College at Santa Clara, California, followed by ten years as a Psych Nurse with the California Department of Developmental Services.

  Following retirement he returned to Idaho to keep a blind date with Mary, who became his life partner. He joined RVing with his hobby, writing fictional biographies of imaginary women living in the post Civil War era. Members of this sister possessed a common gene, giving them the chutzpa to out think, out shoot and out maneuver ego driven men thoughtless enough to stand in their way.

  The_Sisters_of_Destiny_Series span seven full-length independ
ent titles. Each book contains a fictional biography of a post Civil War era woman; caught in circumstances where each woman faced and created her destiny by breaking cultural and business boundaries. They seized available opportunities used brains, bodies or guns in their quest for independent identities.

  Titles of the Sisters of Destiny Series are noted below:

  Book One.... Kate

  Book Two... Bertha

  Book Three. Lorrenda

  Book Four... Ruby

  Book Five... Mei Ling

  Book Six..... Francine

  Book Seven Rita