“Calm down,” he said, “what are you squawking about?”
“All gone,” Rosalie told him as she pointed to the kitchen.
Jerry got up and walked out to the kitchen and looked around. Then he ran up the steps and looked in every room. The beds were stripped, and all their clothes were gone.
“I’ll be dammed,” he shouted. He went downstairs and Rosalie and Roberto were sitting at the kitchen table.
Jerry looked at them with a sly grin, “Don’t worry they will be back they have nowhere else to go.”
Several days passed and Jerry didn’t hear from them, nor did they come back. He began to wonder where they went. The first thing he did was to ride over to the Brown’s. He knocked on the door and asked Ida if she had seen Amelia or any of his brothers or knew where they were. She told him nothing. Then he began riding around and decided he would go to the Lane farm. When he looked down at the Lane farm from the top of the hill, he spotted the pickup trucks, he knew they were there.
He went back to the farm and told Roberto and Rosalie he knew where they went, and it wouldn’t be long before they would be back. The Lane farm was too small for all of them to stay there.
In a few days, they would run out of food. Rosalie complained the kids were hungry.
“Go out and kill a chicken,” he said, “or did you forget how to do that already?”
“No chicken, gone,” she said, “vamoose.”
That got Jerry’s attention. He got dressed and went out to the barn. There were no animals in the barn, he got in his father’s old pickup truck and rode around the farm. He saw that all the animals were gone, and she was right, no chickens.
“Those mean sons of bitches,” he said, “leaving us here to starve and stealing from my farm. I’m gonna get the law on them.” He called the sheriff and told him what happened. News travels fast in a small town and people gossip. Everybody knew the score, about what was happening at the farm, and how Jerry was trying to take over.
The sheriff told Jerry he would come out to the farm to investigate.
He arrived the next day and said, “Well let me see, how long have you been back now, Jerry?” He asked, as he spit out some tobacco juice from the plug he was chewing.
“A few months or so,” said Jerry.
“How long was it you were gone for?”
“A little over 4 years.”
“Do you have a bill of sale for the livestock, saying where you bought them, how many it was, and what breed they were?”
“No,” said Jerry, “my brother has all that paperwork if there is any.”
“How many chickens are you missing?” He asked.
“I don’t know, I never counted them, just ate them,” replied Jerry, being sarcastic.
“Well how are you going to prove you had any livestock here at all?” The sheriff intoned.
“What does that mean? You know we had livestock here and chickens too,” said Jerry angrily.
“I don’t see any livestock or chickens now maybe you ate them all. That’s what that means. That also means there’s not a damn thing you can do about any of it,” said the sheriff, “unless you can prove you had the animals.”
“Well that’s a bitch, I thought cattle rustling was against the law, and a cattle rustler could be hanged, what are we supposed to do with no animals to sell, starve?”
“You might try finding a job,” said the sheriff, “plenty of farms looking for hands.”
“I’ll think about that,” said Jerry indignantly.”
Jerry was really pissed at Roger and the rest of the family and he knew from the sheriff’s attitude that he wouldn’t make any headway with the law. Jerry also tried to sell the construction equipment that Roger kept stored in the barn. He went to town and talked to the dealer that sold heavy equipment and then to the two other businesses that used heavy equipment. No one was interested in doing business with Jerry. He talked it over with Roberto and they decided that he would go and confront Roger. For courage, he and Roberto had a six-pack of beer and then they went to Deana’s father’s farm. Jerry went up and knocked on the front door. Deana’s father, a big burly man, answered the door and asked Jerry what he wanted. Jerry said he wanted to see his brother. Roger and Matt both came to the door when they saw Jerry, Roger said, “Let’s step out here on the porch and talk. What do you want Jerry?”
“You ran off and took all the food and animals,” said Jerry, “now we don’t have anything to eat.”
“Well you’re the foreman of the ranch Jerry,” said Roger, “it’s up to you to find a way of getting food and whatever else you need, you could always work, ya know.”
“Are you saying I’m lazy?” Asked Jerry.
“I’m not saying anything. You told me you own the farm, so you can do whatever you want with it now, Jerry,” said Roger. “Tell me what you came here for and quit wasting my and Matt’s time.”
“I want you to come back to the farm and we can run it like before.”
“Do you take me for a fool? Why don’t you put the devil to shame and tell the truth? Matt, Amelia, Deana, and I would do all the work, as we were before, and you and you so called wife, and her brother would sit around and drink all day. Then I would have to pay you rent, and on top of that, give you half the profit from the livestock I sell. I didn’t fall off the turnip truck Jerry.”
“We are family,” said Jerry.
“We were until you came here and treated us as though we were your slaves. Now get out of here and go back to “Your farm,” Roger said sarcastically, “and good luck with making a go of it.”
Amelia began unpacking her things and discovered she left some pictures that were precious to her in her room at their farm. Since she was going to see Ida later, she decided she would try and stop at the farm and if no one was around she could sneak into the house and get the pictures. She left her truck a good distance away and not seeing anybody out front she tiptoed up the steps and went to her room. She was only there a short time when she heard shouting in the back yard. She looked out the window and saw Rosalie, Roberto and Jerry in the back yard.
Rosalie was waiting out there for Jerry and Roberto to return. When they came back, Rosalie asked “What happened? My kids are starving.”
“Then let their father feed them,” Jerry said, pointing to Roberto.
Roberto was now very angry. “I give you my wife so you could come here, and this is how you repay me. The military police are still looking for you for selling drugs, and if they find you, you’ll spend a long time in jail.”
“I paid you very well for this woman, what did you do with all the money?”
“The money is mine I have it well hidden and I plan on going back to get it.”
Jerry lunged forward and punched Roberto knocking him to the ground. They fought and rolled around on the ground. Jerry had his hands around Roberto’s neck and knocked his head on the side of the well several times very hard. Roberto punched Jerry in the leg, and he fell over. Roberto got up and was coming at him. Jerry looked down and saw a shovel, he picked it up and hit Roberto in the head as hard as he could with it. Roberto dropped to the ground and didn’t move. Rosalie ran over to Roberto to help him up, but she couldn’t arouse him. She became hysterical and began screaming and crying, “You kill him, you kill him,” she shouted. Jerry went over kicked Roberto in the side, he didn’t move. He knew Roberto was dead.
“You get in the house and pack up all the shit and take everything you find and put it in that old wreck of a pickup truck, I’m going to bury Roberto. If you ever tell anybody what happened here, I will kill you and your kids too,” Jerry said, shaking his fist at Rosalie.
Secret thoughts: (Lord I don’t believe what I just saw? Jerry just killed Roberto. At first, I thought I was seeing things and then to be sure I looked out the window again and saw Jerry dragging Roberto’s li
mp body, then I knew it was true. He murdered Roberto! Murdered him!!!!Oh my God, oh my God I must not panic, but what am I going to do. I have to get out of here. I pray Jerry didn’t see me. If he did, he might come after me and kill me too. Dear God, please don’t let that happen. I must get away right now. If I run as fast as I can and get to my truck safely, I swear I will never tell anyone what I saw.)
Amelia slinked down the back steps hoping they would not creak and slipped past Rosalie who was rushing around muttering to herself and crying while putting things in bags and didn’t see Amelia leave. Amelia ran as fast as she could to her truck, she gave a sigh of relief when she got there that she was not followed. She started the truck and drove to Ida’s.
When Amelia got to Ida’s she was visibly upset, Ida asked her what happened. She was afraid to tell her everything, what if Jerry saw her somehow and he thought she told Ida. Then Ida would be in trouble too. She said, “My brother was fighting with Rosalie’s brother and it was horrible to watch, I got upset.”
Jerry took a break from the hard task of digging by hand and looked up at the house there was a light on in one of the upstairs bedrooms. He thought to himself I must have scared that stupid bitch Rosalie good. She’s even checking the upstairs rooms to see if they left anything behind. That’s good because I will need her and the kids as cover for me again, we have to get out of here tonight.
[ Chapter 13 ]
“I have a great surprise for you that will make you forget about everything,” Ida whispered in Amelia’s ear as she hugged her as if it were a secret.
“What is it?” chirped Amelia catching her excitement.
“Chad talked to someone in his squad who comes from the same town the college is in. He said that the college had nice dorms. He told Chad that one of his relatives is a housemother in one of dorms and will help you find a job. The best part is I found another grant for you that will help pay for some of your books.”
“That’s so great,” said Amelia, “I can’t believe I’ll be going to college, I’m so excited Ida.”
Amelia couldn’t wait to tell everybody the good news when she got to Deana’s parents’ house. They were all so happy for her.
Maybe something good has come out of a bad situation after all,” said Roger.
The plan was for Amelia to work on a construction job all summer provided that Mr. Nader would hire her. The job would pay more than working on the farm, and now that they were at the Lane’s and Amelia didn’t have the same amount of farm work she had before. She would help around the Lane’s, doing chores after work and on weekends, for her room and board. When they discussed it, Deana, Roger, and Matt thought they could get by with working for Deana’s father and Amelia could save most of her money for school. Matt would work construction too if he wasn’t needed at the Lane’s. Deana would sell produce at their vegetable and fruit stand and add flowers too.
Amelia was nervous when she went to see Mr. Nader, who owned the Nader Construction Company. He was both a friend and competitor of her father’s. What if he didn’t hire her? She would have to once again rethink her college plan. Amelia began telling him that she had worked for her father and asked him if he would give her a job for the summer so she could make some money for college. Mr. Nader agreed to give Amelia a chance to see if she could do the work. After a week he told her the job was her’s. Amelia worked 7 days a week, and if there was overtime, she asked to do it. She worked during the weekdays on the job, running a backhoe. The company installed underground utilities. Since nobody else in the construction crew wanted to, Amelia worked on the weekends doing cleanup work on the construction site, just as she had done for her father, but this time it was for pay.
Amelia didn’t see Ida too often because she was so busy working. Chad didn’t come home all summer and they continued to write. She went to Ida’s every Sunday evening to have supper with her, sometimes John, Ida’s husband would be there, but most of the time he was gone, leaving early to get back to his apartment near the milling plant in the next town. Amelia told Ida that she thought she would have enough money to get to school and buy her books. Mr. Nader was so good to her to give her the job and let her work extra. Before she went home, they emailed Chad to tell him the good news. She wrote to Chad separately and gave him all the details about her construction job and how she was saving money for college in detail. When he didn’t reply Amelia got worried, she told Ida. “Ida said, “When Chad doesn’t reply it means he’s out on a mission and they’re not allowed to communicate. He will send a reply when he gets back and reads your letter. I know he will be delighted for you.”
Working on a construction site and being the only woman is a challenge for any woman including Amelia. It was quite different when she worked with her father and brothers, they would see that no one got out of hand around her and they made the men watch what they said when Amelia was in earshot. If an employee complained that Amelia was getting treated better than the rest of the employees, or the other operators complained, her father would laugh at them and say, “She’s my daughter what do you expect?”
Amelia wrote to Chad about how careful she had to be on the job. He wrote back and told her his squad along with everybody else in the Army had just taken a sensitivity course on women in the workplace especially in a male dominated workplace. They told us that female construction workers were one of the groups that often have great difficulty on the job, because this industry is dominated by males. I immediately thought of you Mellie, wrote Chad.
He went on, women frequently experience sexual harassment, and gender-based discrimination and lower wages than their male counterparts. It has taken a long time and required laws to be passed for women to gain a modicum of equality and social value. In the last hundred years, beginning in 1776, when Abigail Adams asked her husband John, who was in the Continental Congress, to remember the ladies who were hard at work at home, to recognize all their efforts, little was done to distinguish women. It took a long time for a woman’s value to be appreciated. It wasn’t until 1839 when Mississippi passed the Married Woman’s Property Act, to allow women to own land. Before that, women could not inherit property. If her husband died, any property they had reverted to his father or brothers and the man’s wife got nothing. Women could not own property or vote and did not have the same rights as males.
“As time went on and more and more women entered the public workplace, they fought for equality and the same rights as men. In 1872, Susan B. Anthony was arrested for attempting to vote. In 1918 only a few states allowed women to vote, and The Woman’s suffrage amendment was not introduced into Congress until 1919. The 19th Amendment to the constitution was not passed until 1920, thus giving all women in America the right to vote. This amendment passed mainly because most of the male population went off to fight in World War I, women had to do the men’s jobs, and the government recognized this. I hope I’m not boring you to death with this information, I thought it was so interesting,” Chad said.
Women in non-traditional careers, especially in the construction industry which has been male dominated for years, are not welcome. In addition, to this attitude, which still prevails, females in construction continue to receive lower wages and have fewer opportunities to gain supervisory positions.
The question of why women want to work in construction has been posed often. Why would a woman deliberately want to put herself in a situation which is wrath with discrimination? The answer is economics. Construction workers get paid better than other traditional jobs women hold.
Other problems, in addition to discrimination for females on construction sites, are a lack of separate bathroom facilities, verbal abuse by co-workers, harassment, with foul language and sometimes pornography. It is even difficult for women to buy construction clothing, they are often expected to wear men’s clothing in the smallest sizes making them ill fitting, which is really a safety issue.
Amelia got
Chad’s letter and was surprised that he knows so much about women in the workplace. She responded, when Mr. Nader is at the job site everything goes well, except he can’t stay on the job all the time. As owner of a construction company, he depends on the skills of a good foreman in the field, especially if the company has more than one crew and is working at several job sites, which may not be close to one another.
The main goal of the company owner is to procure more work at profitable prices. Projects are advertised in various ways and need to be reviewed to see which might be the most profitable to bid on. This decision involves several important factors. Consideration of the skills and knowledge of the construction crew you employ and researching statistics and weather predictions. If the equipment you own will be adequate, or if rentals will be needed, if materials are readily available, and if the price of fuel, oil and supplies will remain steady are just some of the issues to be figured into the bidding and estimating of a construction job.
Bidding underground utility work is one of the riskiest types of construction work. Estimating materials and costs for building a structure is much easier than underground structures because the estimate is far more accurate. One can closely estimate how much lumber, nails, metal and shingles you will need to construct a building. When digging underground you are never certain what you will find 5-20 feet below the surface. You could find water, rock, clay soil, sand or an ancient burial ground which would shut down the entire project. Jobs are not bid for these unforeseen problems. Specifics such as soil boring reports, water levels, and rock formation all figure in the bidding process. An important rule of thumb is that a job is never bid if the estimator has not physically seen the proposed site of the construction. The plans may show what is to be built, but may not show specific obstructions, as the saying goes, “the devil is in the details.”
Secrets of Amelia Page 7
