Lusting For Elliot

:Part Two: Chapter Eighteen

~Chapter Eighteen~

We arrived after eight o'clock and found the tractors already roving. They'd been roving for a long while now, but it had often been dad, Jonny, and I who'd been the ones to start the final weekend. Memories assault me as I got out of the car and the thick, heavy yet light air filled my lungs and clouded my ears with it's out of city sounds. I felt much warmth that I begun laughing.

My mother had hired the old foreman's son to care for the ranch, and every year I was awarded with papers and papers to inspect and file. It was a gruesome task I left for the evenings, or, sometimes in the morning. I only had one chance this time.

Marvin Junior greeted us with his big smiles, pulling Jonny and I into big hugs. He already had a twenty year old second son, so one can imagine he'd lived quite long.

"I thought you lot weren't coming," he'd exclaimed upon seeing who had jumped out of the odd bunch.

I was grinning, too happy to temp it down or change it to a more society approved way. "We wouldn't miss it for the world," I said, hands on Jonny's shoulder.

"Yeah, I still have to beat her, y'know," he said, and I rolled my eyes. He was starting to talk like Chris now. A cough sounded behind me.

I blushed. Too excited I'd nearly forgotten my friends. "And who are these guys?" MJ asked. "Oh, not that I'm not excited with the newcomers. Please, feel welcome. It's about time this place was shared anyway."

I grinned. "MJ, this is Elliot, Chris, Andrew, Mathew, Elaine, Elijah and Meredith," I announced, rather happy at the large compilation before me. Everyone waved as their name was mentioned, and by the end of it, MJ was staring between Elliot and Elijah.

"Damn, never been witness to twins before," he mumbled, which caused many to laugh, including the workers who'd stopped to meet. I waved as I recognized many of their faces. "How d'you tell who's who?"

Chris was the one to answer, laughing boldly. "That's easy," he said, grabbing onto Elliot's shoulder with more vigour. Elliot scowled. "The one that's sniffing at Chrys' heals all the time's Elliot."

Elliot whirled around and caught him in a head lock, causing everyone to laugh as he knuckled him. "This one would be joking around."

MJ adjusted his stance so that his thumbs were hanging off the loops. "Oh, don't worry," he smiled. "I got that one. Well, since I know exactly why you're all here, why don't we get the show on the road? I assure you my ladies, the field is set."

Jonny's mouth dropped and he stared from MJ to me; and back again. I tried not to laugh. "You're supposed to be on the male team, MJ," he exclaimed.

MJ laughed, turning around and walking away without a word. I coughed my laugh as Jonny turned to glare at me. "Well, that sums things up," I said. "There's enough room in the main house for all of us, so we'll settle in first and then go join them. How does that sound?"

The harvest part had more fun than I'd ever remembered. After dumping our bags in the living room in a hurry to get there, the hurry having been psyched by Chris and Elaine's eager to learn enthusiasm, we'd all found ourselves in a wheelbarrow race down the farm, collecting pumpkins that quickly piqued enthusiasm to win.

Elliot deliberately went slowly, I figured. "You need to learn to lose," he'd said lightly. He'd gotten an already rotting pumpkin to the face slugging his face. Oh, but the madness after that. It wasn't the ripe ones we went after, but rather the rotting ones. And I remember pulling some into the wheelbarrow just for the plan. Sunday was always the day of the game.