Family Forever

“Up next, the forensic team,” announced Vice Principal Henning. He glanced at his notecard. “It says here they are each auctioning off eight hours of spring cleaning at your home.”

Dylan’s brother elbowed him in the ribs and laughed. “What a bunch of geeks. I wouldn’t pay twenty-five dollars for the lot of them.”

Dylan cut Aric a sideways glance. The boy was knocking on the door of sixteen and sometime during the past year he developed a smart-mouth attitude about everything. “Show some respect. Those girls are contributing just as much as the rest of you are for the student spring trip fundraiser.”

His brother pointed at the six girls standing on the stage. “Come on, really, the forensic team. What the heck kind of team is that anyhow?”

“Just zip it.”

Aric’s eye-roll didn’t go unnoticed, but it went ignored because he just didn’t have the energy to deal with it at present.

The bidding started. The first two girls went quickly for a hundred dollars each. Not bad. It took a bit longer for the next three to go. Thank goodness for family and friends, as another three hundred dollars rolled in for the forensic team. The auctioneer called for another bid. Nothing. He called out again. Still nothing. Dylan knew this girl on stage right now, there was nothing wrong with her, but he also knew there would be no family or friends to save her. Marissa Geyer was a loner, the motherless daughter of the drunk who lived on the next farm over. The poor girl stared at her feet as silence filled the room. Her pain shot across the room causing Dylan to lift his bid paddle. “Three hundred dollars,” he yelled out.

All heads turned in his direction, including hers. Her bright blue eyes lit up with surprise. She smiled.

“Sold!” yelled the auctioneer.

His brother elbowed him again. “What in the heck are you doing?”

“It’s a fundraiser. I’m supporting the cause. You got a problem with that? Because if you do, you could easily scrub the floors and vacuum in her place.”

The teenager shook his head. “Nope, I’m good with her.”

Next, and last on the docket, was the Future Farmers of America livestock auction. Members, including his smart-mouth brother, Aric, sold their prized swine, beef, and poultry. This group of kids always did well with fundraising. There were so many in the program, but that made sense. After all, they lived in a farming community.

Dylan went to the cashier and paid his three hundred for eight hours of cleaning. Was he nuts? Maybe. But the poor girl looked so pathetic standing there he couldn’t help himself. The cashier handed him the girl’s contact information and, though he didn’t need it, he stuffed it into his pocket.

After the livestock auction, he rounded up his four younger brothers and headed for home. The boys were so loud during the short drive he could hardly hear himself think, and he darn near missed seeing Marissa, the girl, and neighbor, who’s cleaning services he just bought. Though she lived nearly seven miles from school, this wasn’t the first time he’d seen her walking home. Her no-account father forgot to pick her up again or was simply too drunk to remember she needed a ride.

Pulling up beside her, he lowered the window. “Hey, Marissa, why don’t you hop in?”

She nodded and walked around the front of the truck to the passenger side. His brother, Aric, slid out and Marissa climbed in as Dylan lifted the center console to make room for her in the front seat.

“So, Marissa, which trip are you planning to take?” Dylan asked.

She smiled and kept her shy gaze focused on the dashboard. “Madison, I want to see the capital. I’m so excited I finally get to take one of these trips, being a senior and all it was my last shot.”

He wasn’t surprised by her choice to take the more academic trip. He’d heard she was a pretty outstanding student, despite her lack of support at home.

Her gaze drifted toward Aric. “Which trip did you sign up for?”

“I signed up for the Wisconsin Dells trip. Last year, I did the white water rafting trip in Crivitz. It was awesome.”

Dylan turned onto the long, narrow, gravel driveway leading up to the old decrepit farmstead the Geyers called home. The foreclosure sign he passed had been there for a while now, making him wonder how much longer Marissa and her father would live there. Nobody in their right mind would buy the property for the structures on it. The house was about ready to fall down and the barn had already caved in several years ago. But the condition of the machine shed wasn’t too bad.

The land was the only thing worth anything, and that he knew because he was the one renting and farming it. He really needed to call the bank to find out when it was going up for sale, and then the courthouse to inquire about its current assessed value.

There wasn’t a lot of acreage that came with the farm, but he needed to snap it up before someone else did and he lost his rights to farm it. Its location was perfect as it bordered his property.

He parked his truck next to her dad’s rusted out pickup.

Aric slid out of the vehicle to let Marissa out. She turned to him, keeping her gaze from meeting his. “Thank you for the ride. And thank you for bidding on my cleaning service.” She tilted her head even lower. “Without that generous bid, I probably wouldn’t be able to go on the trip.”

“About that. Are you available to come over this Saturday, say eight o’clock?” He glanced around the truck, studying his noisy brothers in the backseat. Braden and Nate were pushing at each other over their sleeping little brother, Luke. The kid could fall asleep at the drop of a hat and stay that way through anything. He returned his gaze to the timid girl. “I’m afraid what I paid may not be enough to clean up after these guys.”

She giggled nervously and lifted her gaze to meet his. “Your bid was very generous, Mr. Jacobs. I’ll see you on Saturday, and I’ll do my best.”

Mr. Jacobs, when had I become Mr. Jacobs? He was only twenty-four years old.~ ~A sigh escaped him. He knew exactly when it was he became Mr. Jacobs. It was the day his parents were killed in a car wreck and he inherited his younger brothers. The day he became the responsible party.