Page 1 of Kinsey

Chapter 1

Kinsey didn’t want to go to the bank to get a loan.Getting a loan for a new hot water tank seemed to be fruitless to him, especially since he knew that he’d get turned down and have to go all summer without hot water to take a shower.It really sucked being broke all the time.Wylie came into the house when he was getting his tie tied.

“Going to the bank?”He told him about the hot water tank.“It’s too bad that we can’t make arrangements to pay in the fall.That’s when the crops are in and we can afford things like this.”

“Barely.Just when I think we can put a little by for a few months, something like this happens.”Kinsey asked if he wanted to go with him.“I mean, we can get a sandwich at the dairy bar.I’ve got just about enough for that.”

“Nah, I have to go into town anyway, but at the other end.Mr.Thomsonsaid he had some work for me to do.Not that I can spare the time, but I know a little cash right now would go a long way.Have you thought about taking him up on his offer of plowing his fields and then ours?It sure would be nice to have a better tractor to get the fields up and going this year.We could even do that extra fifty acres that we couldn’t last year.”

“I already told him that I’d do it.And if I help him with the planting, he’ll let me use his tractor for planting and harvesting as well.Those fifty acres would be a good deal easier to plant with his tractor.”They made plans to meet up in town at about two.That way, they could get the other supplies that were needed to plant the rest of the fields once they got the tractors going.“I thought that we could use ours, too, even though it’s old.Having two tractors going at once would get twice the work done in half the time.I mean, so long as old Tim—who named the tractor that anyway?At least until he poops out on us again.”

It took him a while to get his truck going.It had been his granddas vehicle when he’d been alive, and he’d been babying it along since he’d passed away.Like a lot of things on the farm, they needed to get a replacement for that as well.But things never seemed to come to fruition for them in the fall.He thought again about giving up the farm and getting a steady job that had insurance with it.

The banker was out to lunch when he finally got to the bank.It was just barely eleven o’clock when he got there, and he’d be out until one.He wondered if he could have a job like that one.Where you could justify a two-hour lunch.Sitting on one of the benches that he’d been wearing a soft spot in for years, he thought about having another job.The others did.

Wylie helped him around the farm.They had two hundred head of cattle that needed to be milked daily.Then they sold the milk to the Amish so that they could make their cheese.It was the only really good-paying part of the farm.They also sold off some of the cattle for meat.It was their only source of dairy and meat they had on the farm, if you didn’t count the occasional fish or two they’d get from the pond.

Gleason had an outside job.He worked for one of the local farms doing what he did by himself.Planting and harvesting the fruits of their labor was something that kept them afloat through the winter months when no other money was coming in.He’d even do that if there were a place that paid well enough.

The other three had different jobs that took them all over the state.Raphael drove a semi for a large company.While it paid well, Raphael, his brother, wasn’t around as much as they’d like.He would usually be home late on Saturday afternoon and have to go out again late Sunday evening.When he was able to get home, that was.

His younger brothers Bodi and Ara worked in town.Bodi at the gas station which again paid well but work was sparce.Ara worked for the newspaper as a reporter and seemed to love his job agreat deal.

They all worked the farm when they had time off, but he and Wiley worked from sunup to sundown and sometimes well into the next day.The spring and fall were their busiest times of the year.Not that they didn’t work in the other two seasons, but it was just longer hours in those two seasons.

“What’s your name?”He had not heard the kid come up to him and smiled at her.After telling her his first name, she smiled.“My name is Kelley.My dad said I’m not supposed to talk to strangers, but if I tell you my first name and you tell me yours, we’re not strangers anymore, are we?”

“I guess not, but I don’t think that you telling people your name is what he meant.”She got up on the seat next to him and took his hand into her tiny one.“Where is your daddy, honey?I don’t think he meant for you to come sit by me.”

“He’s talking to the woman at the counter.He likes her and thinks she’ll make a good momma for me.I don’t know.She seems to have a lot of playdough on her face, don’t you think?”He couldn’t help it; he burst out laughing.Everyone turned to look at him, but her daddy and the woman with a playdough face.“I don’t care if I have a momma anyway.The one I had just up and left me one night when her and daddy were fighting.”

Alarm bells went off in his head, but he didn’t so much as blink at the little girl.Talking to her about her momma seemed to be all she wanted to talk about, so he just nodded and kept his mouth shut.While talking to the little girl, he looked around for someone who could entertain her besides himself.When the banker came into the bank, Kinsey decided that he needed to get away from the little girl, or he was going to be embroiled in some kind of murder investigation and didn’t want that at all.

Standing up, he told her that he had to go and left her on the bench.As soon as he was in the banker’s office, he let out a long breath that had him slightly dizzy.The banker, Mr.Howard, asked him if he was all right.

“I don’t know.”Shivering, he just told him what was going on and how much he didn’t want to be involved in a murder arrest.Howard got up from his desk and looked at the man at the counter when he pointed him out.“Do you know him or his wife?”

“No.I’ve never seen them before.When he leaves, I’ll talk to Candance and see what he had to say.”He sat back down at his desk.“I guess you’re in here for a loan to tide you over until fall.I can’t do that, son.I wish that I could.But you don’t have enough income on your own to get much more than five hundred dollars.”

“I’ll take that.”Looking a little shocked, he told him about the hot water heater.And while he could afford small payments of about a hundred a month, he couldn’t outright pay for it.“I wouldn’t need it for a year, just about six months should do it.”

“You’d need to take it out for at least two years.If you pay it off early, that’s up to you.Kinsey, what if I could loan you five thousand dollars?I could make that sneak by the board, I think.If not, then we’ve already done it.Would that help you?The payments wouldn’t be much over a hundred dollars for five years.”Boy, was it tempting, but did he need five grand?“You could not just get yourself a hot water heater, but you could put some real money into that truck of yours to keep it running.Or even buy you something newer.I think that truck is about as old as you are.”

“It’s actually older.”He thought about what he’d do with the money and decided that if he was going to get the loan, he was going to pay off his bill at the feed store, too.As well as be able to get some real groceries in the house that would last a while.“I’ll take it.Tell me what the payments will be, and I’ll tell you if I can get that much.Thanks, Mr.Howard.I thought for sure you were going to turn me down.”

“You never told me that you were in the service, Kinsey.I wish you had, I would have tried a bit harder to get you some money all those times you came in here.”He said that he’d been out for three years.“Doesn’t matter.You did this town proud by keeping us safe, and I want to be one who can help you out.”

The payments were something that he could manage.It would be tight, but he’d have a hot water heater as well as his feed bill paid off for the cattle.Getting the check, he went out and cashed itto do what needed to be done.As soon as he was finished, Mr.Howard brought him back to his office.

“She left him, he said.The man at the counter.Told Candance that she had up and left him in the middle of the night.I’m going to have Rosie look into things.She’s a good cop and does all right for this town.She’ll know how to ask the right questions.Sure did make me nervous when you came in here.I’ll let you know what they find out.”He thanked him and noticed that the little girl was gone as well.After telling him her name, he left the bank.

Heading to the hardware store, he ordered a hot water heater for the house.He got the size that should have been in the house and thought it would be wonderful to have enough hot water to take a shower long enough to wash his hair and his body.Laughing to himself, he was proud of the way he was getting things done and was happy that Mr.Howard had thought so well of him.Then he went to the feed store.

The bill wasn’t as large as he’d thought it should have been, so he had a bit more left over than he thought.Going to the grocery store with enough money to buy all the things that he needed, he was thrilled beyond words that it took him three trips to take it all into the house.The hot water heater would be in tomorrow, and he’d have to install it, but he was actually looking forward to it.Something that he usually dreaded, he was going to map out the entire morning for getting it done.The others would be thrilled to know that they’d be able to take a long shower too.

It was nearly three o’clock when Wylie came back from his meeting.Telling him about the bank loan and how he’d been able to use the money, he got a bear hug from his younger brother.As soon as they sat down to dinner that night, not only had Gleason made it home for dinner, but so did Bodi and Ara.It was a good night to have fresh vegetables at the table with their beef steaks.

All of them had a hand in cooking when they were home.Usually, they had stuff that was easy to put on in the morning and eat in the evening.His favorite thing to make was chili, but it had been too hot to have over the past week, so they’d been eating a lot of steaks and pot roasts.Kinsey decided that if he ever got a job that paid well, he was never going to have another crock pot meal as long as he lived.

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