HARD TIMES... Change; not for the better (Part 55b)

AJ finally showed up in mid afternoon. I was not looking forward to seeing him face to face and having to try and explain what had happened with the three footed horse. I'd had plenty of time to think about it and realized that it was probably my fault. I'd not had my feet in the stirrups and when the horse stumbled I was unable to possibly pull him back up by the reins. I was fully expecting to get a "new ass hole" but he said nothing. The rain had stopped and he wanted us to get the horses out of the stalls and give then a walk. With my back I probably should’ve just stood around but I didn’t, wanting to get away from AJ. I ended up walking a few of them hoping we could get done earlier. The pain in my back was excruciating. I was afraid to ask AJ where he was staying and, not knowing anything at all about the city, decided that I’d just sleep in the car again that night. After AJ left I was headed for the cook house to get something to eat when I saw Eugene. I asked where he was staying and he said that he and his wife had an apartment in a suburb with his father and mother. That didn’t help me either.

The night in the car was better without the rain. Actually, my back felt better too. I made it through most of the workouts with the horses on Monday with tolerable pain but was glad when it was done. One thing that I’d noticed was that Eugene hadn’t showed up at the barn. They had one man working for them and when I asked him where he was he didn’t know. It seemed strange as he had seemed to be totally engrossed with the horses.

It was after lunch when he finally appeared. The smile I’d seen on his face the whole time I’d talked with him the day before was gone. I went over to ask if everything was OK and he shook his head to say no. He said that there had been a fire on the farm and his parents had gone home. They had driven up in one car and the horse van and now he was without a way to get around. The van was to large to park on the streets. He had taken a cab to get to the track and couldn’t believe how much it had cost.

I’m not sure when my light bulb turned on but, luckily, it did. I told him my situation about not having a place to stay and with a baby due, couldn’t afford the prices of places in the area. Even though my first impression was that he was a little “slow“ he quickly proved how wrong I was when he offered up his parents room. We were both excited and all sorts of ideas were put forth. I’d pay some money for the room and he would ride back and forth to the track with me. I’d pay some money for food and his wife would make me one good meal a day. There was more but you get the idea. In any case we both felt like a major problem had been solved.

The only thing wrong was this was all negotiated without involving his wife. It was on our way out to the apartment that he realized it. All of a sudden we both had some doubts. The apartment was on the fourth floor and you had to walk up. I was hurting really badly by the time I made it to the top and had to work real hard to have a smile on my face when we walked in. All I can say is that seeing his wife took my breath away. She was truly beautiful in a country girl way. Her name was Faith and if her beauty wasn’t enough she was standing there holding their baby wearing nothing but a full slip and I could see the outline of her panties under it. I would’ve expected her to go running into the bedroom to get something to put on. But, she didn’t. I’d walked in with a forced smile but the one I had on at that time was real.

Eugene introduced me and then we all sat down at the table so he could go over what he and I’d discussed. I had a hard time not staring at her. The baby was squirming around and when she put her on the floor I got a good peek at her cleavage. It too, was breathtaking. Eugene did 95% of the talking. She never raised any real objections. Her only concern was that without a car it was going to be difficult to do shopping and get to doctor’s appointments. I was so excited about the arrangements that I told her that we’d be able to work that part out. I think that the thing that surprised me was that she was writing the whole ”deal“ down. There was nothing wrong with doing that but it was a bit of a shock knowing that these were relatively uneducated people.

Eugene and I shook hands on the arrangements. Since I’d removed most of my clothes and things I needed to live with from the trailer when I’d parked it, they were in the car. Eugene helped me bring them upstairs and when we returned I was disappointed to see that Faith had put on a dress. But, all in all I was very happy even though I was still in pain. For the first time since I’d arrived I was looking forward to the coming month.

That night we sat around and got to know one another. Eugene was only 21 and Faith was 19. They’d gone to school together and got married as soon as she graduated. The baby was almost one so, while lying in bed, figured out that Faith was probably 5 months pregnant when they did. She’d never really worked and since getting married had done the record keeping for the racing stable. That sort of explained why she did all the calculations when we had been discussing my ”share“ of the costs. I had a hard time keeping my eyes off her. There was a lot of her that reminded me of Elle... blonde, good looking, easy smile, a bit naive, and a nice figure. As for Eugene, he was focused on being a harness racing driver and had persuaded his father to come to Boston so he could see what ”life“ outside Delaware was like. He was easy to talk to and I could see how that might get him in trouble. When we said our ”good nights“ I felt really good about the situation.

To be continued...