Page 6 of Kinsey

“She had us to show for it.”Mrs.Ruby said that wasn’t what she meant.She meant for them to be able to move on from here.“What do you think this land will be sold for?I mean, what kind of buyers will they be that want this much land?”

“Mostly developers.And in that, they’d bring more businesses into the town.Everyone will benefit from the sale of this land, Kinsey.Not just you six, but towns across the state will as well.It will be a good influx of cash for a lot of people who live and work around here.”He said he’d not thought of that, and his brothers agreed.How the town would be affected hadn’t been brought up before.

“A developer would bring in construction crews that would eat and sleep in this town.I know that you have a few places that can accommodate people, but it would be a boon for the ones that are already here.The school will also benefit from the sale.There will be taxes paid to the town that will really do a lot for the local schools and other civic centers around here.Then it will only go up from there.New businesses.They’ll hire locally, which will stimulate a lot of money in families’ pockets.There is more, too.”She explained how they’d more than likely get a grocery store that would be catering to the needs of the town.Car dealerships would come in, and cars would be there for the new money.“It’s incredible what can happen if you decide to sell now.”

They ended up ordering pizzas for dinner.He couldn’t believe that they’d been talking for nearly six hours when he noticed the time.Inviting them to stay and have food with them, of course, they turned them down.They had plans tomorrow to go up to Amish country, and he thought that they were excited about that trip.He knew that he’d love to go, too, but didn’t invite himself.They still had a lot to talk about.About the sale and the other things that came up while talking.

After the women left, they talked more into the night.There was a lot more that they had questions about that wasn’t on the paperwork.Making notes on it, he knew he’d wait until Monday to talk to her so that they could have a good time on their trip.

“If we’re taking votes now on whether or not we should sell, I’m for it.I never realized how much it would help the town.I’m not thinking that it’ll all be roses and daisies, but if we can get a new school out of this with a new football and soccer stadium, if nothing else, I think it would be worth it.”Ara laughed as he continued.“We have the blessing of Grandma on this, and I think she was right in saying that she wanted us to move on and raise a family.While I’m sure that we could raise a family here, we’d be struggling for the rest of our lives, and that’s not what she wanted for us to do.”

They took a vote on whether they’d sell or not, and while they had some stipulations on the sale—more of the money going to him, they wanted to get out from under it while they were still young enough to enjoy the life that came from a big sale of the land.It would make them wealthy beyond any place they were now, and that’s what they were looking forward to.

“I’m going to give you a sixth of whatever the amount comes to of my money.I want you to know that we all appreciate what you’ve done for us.And how, even though you’re our brother, you never once said you were going to take it all and not give us anything.”The others agreed with Raphael.“I love you, big brother, and I don’t know what we’d do without you.That’s about as serious as I can get right now.I have to go to bed to get some sleep before I have to pull out again tomorrow afternoon.Oh, and thanks for dinner.It was just what I wanted.”

As the others slipped off to bed, he straightened up the dining room and went to bed as well.It was going to be a long day tomorrow, and he wasn’t looking forward to it.He was going to be running on less than four hours of sleep when he usually had about eight.Yes, he thought tomorrow was going to be a long day, and it was going to be made longer by his thoughts about selling the land that they all had a vested interest in.

Waking when his alarm went off, he had three messages from Meggie.She’d forgotten to ask him when they’d be able to do this if they decided to sell things off, and did they have any questions about the sale that she might have missed going over.There was only the one thing, and he messaged that to her right away.He just hoped that she wasn’t messing with their little vacation, worrying about them and their sale.It looked to him like it was going to go through.He was almost giddy with the factthat he was going to be getting out from under the farm.

~*~

Meggie parked her car in front of the massive cheese factory.This was the place that she wanted to visit more than any of the other places they’d been.Although they’d had fun at every place they’d been.She and her grannie had gotten lunch at one of the little diners along the main drag and were now so full they might bust before driving home.Of course, it didn’t help that they’d eaten about their weight in fudge when they’d found a shop that dealt with a variety that seemed to defy anything that they’d ever seen before.Also, there were little shops that she’d picked up gifts for people that she was going to be hard pressed not to keep for herself.

“Have you heard from him since he messaged you at six?”She told Grannie that she’d not but wasn’t expecting to.“I think they’ll sell.And I looked over the paperwork that I had from his grannie, and there is no mention of us doing this for free.I don’t know what the percentage will be on that, but it’ll be a goodly sum.”

“I’ve not put a price on anything yet, but I’m thinking that you might be right on them selling.They seemed kind of desperate about getting out and being on their own.I can’t believe that they, all six, still live in that house.But wasn’t it a pretty one?”Grannie told her that it was from love and care from the boys.“I don’t know if you noticed it or not, but none of them are boys, Grannie.They’re all good-looking men with good heads on their shoulders.”

“I’m going to call them my boys from now on.I just loved the way they went out of their way to make sure that we had everything we needed.And that snack tray wasn’t out there just for us.Did you see how the others tucked into it when they wanted?That Kinsey is a good-looking man, for sure.What did you think about him?”

“He’s nice.And you can tell that he’s been in the service.It’s the way he talks and walks.I’m going to enjoy working with all of them.”Grannie asked again about what she thought about Kinsey.“Are you trying to set me up with him?Don’t bother.I’m more of a workaholic than he is.I’m betting that he wants a wife who will stay at home and cook dinner for him.Although I guess he can cook too.And keep a nice house.Have you ever seen a house lived in by six men so neat and tidy?I don’t know what I expected, but it certainly wasn’t the house that we went to.I at least expected there to be dirty socks lying about.”

They both laughed as they made their way into the cheese factory.She made her grannie promise that she’d not buy any more fudge, no matter how good it looked.They were teasing one another when they got to the old-fashioned candy aisle.There were candies there that her grandma had grown up with, and they bought some of them for nostalgic reasons.

When her phone went off at two in the afternoon, she almost didn’t look to see who it was.But when the Pennington name came up, she had to calm herself before she answered his message.Meggie didn’t know why she was excited for them, but she really was.They’d be the right kind of men to get good use of the money they’d earned from selling off the family land.She didn’t know what she’d do if she had that much land and wanted to sell it off.

“It’s Kinsey again.He said that they all agreed and they want to sell.But they’ve also gotten a loan to get a new roof on the place and are going to wait on the furnace.”She thought that was a good idea to get it done.“He said that they’re going to do the roof themselves at a better cost and will have it done in a week.I guess they took your advice about getting a home improvement loan.I wonder if he told the banker what was going on?”

“More than likely.He’d want them to get the best price, too.”She put two rolls of cheese in the cart they had and moved on to the jerky.Grannie and her were going to weigh a ton each if they didn’t stop buying food while they were here.“I’m going to get myself a roll of Swiss.I’m going to have our cook make us some quiche and put them in the freezer so we can have them anytime we want.I so loved the taste of the one that we had for lunch.”

Not only did they get a lot of cheese, but they also bought some herbal butter to go with the crackers they’d gotten.Grannie had picked up some spices that she wanted, and they soon had a nearlyfull cart of things.And of course, they got more fudge to take back.But she was going to put it all in a basket for the Pennington sale to give them as a gift for using her as their brokerage dealer.Grannie thought that was a wonderful way to gift them something.

“I’ve never done this before, but I want to with them.It’ll be a good sale, I hope, and I hope soon for them.I have a feeling that as soon as it’s put out there that it’s for sale, then there will be a lot of buyers trying to get it cheap.I’m hoping that someone with a lot of free cash hanging around gets it instead of us having to split it up into sections.That would make them a bit more money, but it would take them longer to sell.”Grannie asked if she had someone in mind.“Two men that I’ve dealt with before.They’re forever asking if I ever come across a land deal, and this is a prime one.”

“That little town is going to be in for a huge surprise when it’s out there that they’re selling.I think the little town depends on them to be around for a long time.Ara told me that the Penningtons have been on that land for over five generations.This is the first one of them to make a living at it.I guess their daddy wasn’t worth a plug nickel.”Meggie asked if she knew what happened to him.“He’s in prison, last I heard.He accidentally killed his wife, he said in a drunken rage, and got life without parole.The boys were young then, I’d say that Kinsey was eighteen when it happened.Last time I got to talk to their grandma, she told me that he’s where he should be.And his kids are better off without him around.”

“I don’t know why, but I thought that he was dead.No one mentioned him when we were there.The land I know belonged to their grandmother, and she never left it to anyone but Kinsey.She is said to have thought he’d be the one who would sell it all and divide it up with the others.”Grannie told her that he’d be the one that she’d depend on, too.Even when they were in the service.“Yes, he told me that they all sent their grannie money when they were away all those years.They’re good men, and I hope they get what they want out of this.I surely do.”

“I do as well.Like I said, this is the perfect time to be selling it off because they’re young and have time to get with someone before they’re too old and worn out to have kids.”She had no idea why the thought of them having children depressed her so much, so she changed the subject.“What are we going to do for dinner, Grannie?Did you want to go to that all-you-can-eat buffet?I don’t know about you, but I’m about snacked out for the day.I’d like some comfort food for dinner.”

“That sounds wonderful.I don’t know that I can eat all that much, but it would be nice to have choices.I heard their fried chicken is the best in the state.And I want a slice of that chocolate silk pie that we overheard those women talking about at lunch.Doesn’t just the name of it sound good enough to eat?”She said that she wanted some of the chicken noodle soup, too.“Yes, the noodles are made right there on the premises.I tried to make noodles once, and it was the worst mess I’ve ever made.I had flour up my nose for three solid days and thought I’d never sneeze right again.”

She and her grannie had been laughing all day.It had been wonderful to get away, and she wanted to do more days like this with her.Her grannie was in her seventies right now and was getting around well.She didn’t know what the future would bring and wanted to get as much time with her as she could.

After dinner, they decided to get a room for the night.It wasn’t that far off until darkness descended on them, and she didn’t want to drive while being so full.Buying them an extra-large cooler meant they could keep their stuff cold through the night.Plus, she wanted to have a big breakfast before they got on the road in the morning.It was time for a celebration.And the fact that she had gotten such a deal going made her feel like she was going to be doing something that would help people in the little town of Dresden.

Meggie couldn’t sleep right away, so while her grannie was asleep, she pulled out her laptop and worked on the wording for the sale.She knew all the particulars about it, the acreage as well as the size of the house.Wanting it to be perfect, she even had pictures of the house and land sizes per state that she could incorporate into the sales pitch.

She did have two buyers that she wanted to give a heads up to, and she’d call them on Monday as soon as she got the contract to sell from the Penningtons.She didn’t know how much interest theland was going to generate, but she was hoping for a landslide just for the men that she’d gotten to like.

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