Life on the Farm 3# - With Justmedk

[Destined_One]

It had been only a day ago when Riley O'Connor got a phone call, detailing the death of his ex-wife and the notice that his daughter, whom he had'nt seen in years would be coming to live with him....

Riley O'Connor sighed tiredly as he waited for his daughter, Michelle, to arrive.
Riley wasn't a very tall man, but neither was he very short. He had wavy blond hair tucked underneath a wide strawhat and a rather crooked tan nose that would often draw rude stares from young children.
Patting at his jeans as to remove some dirt, Riley looked at his watch again. "Eleven already?! It's almost midnight," Riley commented. Tomorrow morning would be tough getting up, but at least he'd have his daughter there to help out.

[justmedk]

Michelle sat in the back of the car with the lady from social services. "I know it'll be different, Michelle", the woman said, weighing her words carefully, "But at least you'll have a chance to get to know your dad, right?"

Michelle shrugged: "Yah....I guess so". She didn't really know her father at all. She had a few memories of him, and those were happy ones, from when they had all been together almost 10 years ago. She seemed to remember a tower of a man smiling down at her, calling her princess, and she remembered feeling that this man was the best man in all of the universe.

She knew, though, that little kids idolize their parents....but this memory meant that she wasn't as scared as she would otherwise have been. Nervous, though, certainly. And unhappy with being removed from all she had known...being moved from Manhattan that she knows and loves, to some remote backwater. She sat and looked out the window as she could feel, even in the air-conditioned car, that even the nights are hot as heck in Alabama.
Michelle looked out the window. The motion of the car had a calming effect, not completely dissimilar to the rocking motions of a boat in the marina, and as there was quiet on the back seat while the social worker next to her were filling out some papers, Michelle gradually dozed off.

When she woke again, it was because she felt a gentle hand on her shoulder.

"Wake up, Michelle", the social worker smiled, "we're here."

Michelle groggily sat up straight and rubbed her eyes, looking around her somewhat disoriented. It was completely dark outside now, and though she had just slept, she was still extremely tired.

"I....I'm sorry, I must've....you know...slept", she said, and the young woman next to her smiled.

"That's nothing to apologize for, Michelle. It's been a long day"

"You can say that again", Michelle answered as she exited the car, the hot summer night hitting her like a ton of bricks. She was no stranger to warmth. New York City could be plenty hot, but it was a different kind of heat, and not so crushing as this.
The day had started in New York when she had looked back in the airport before boarding the plane westward, realizing that this was the last time in a long time that she would set foot in the place she had grown up in...and that had made her sad. She had insisted on being able to travel alone. "I'm not some little kid" had been her words, but the social worker would hear none of it. So she spent the next hours sitting next to this kind, but somewhat out-of-the-loop, old woman from social services who tried the best she could to make conversation and be "cool", with the same degree of success as old people who try to be cool normally have.

Michelle hadn't minded too much, though. It was certainly better than having to sit next to some idiot. And at least the woman left her alone once she got the hint that she preferred playing games and reading on her phone, to listening to the "Back in my day, we didn't have phones"-speech.
When they landed in Montgomery after several long hours, they were met by two other social workers, one of whom were the young woman who had sat next to her on the five-hour drive they had had. The other, a young man, had been the driver.

"I'll wait by the car, Rachel", the latter said to Michelle's companion, who nodded and took Michelle's hand heading up towards the house. Michelle was about to pull her hand to her, but she couldn't help admitting that holding someone's hand was a nice feeling. She didn't want to admit that to herself, but there was something about the human touch that she couldn't just dismiss. So she allowed it, but rolled her eyes as if to make a silent protest. She didn't see "Rachel's" smile. Rachel'd seen that before. Teens liked to try to pretend to be "cool", but that didn't change the fact that they were, still, no matter how much they denied it, children.
And this was a child who'd been through something no one should have to.

They walked up to the door, and Michelle was hit by a wave of nostalgia as scattered memories came flashing back to her mind....nothing coherent, just a flood of emotions and a couple of memories of running out of the door they were now approaching.

"Are you ready, Michelle?", Rachel asked, and Michelle took a deep breath before nodding, and, finally, ringing the bell.

[Destined_One]

Riley sighed as he felt his eyes-drooping closed, and his breath even out. It wouldn't hurt to take a few moments of rest would it?
Of course that was when his dog, a kind-hearted Golden retriever, decided to jump up onto his lap.
"Oof!" Riley gasped at the sudden weight pressing down on him. Goldy, his dog -his friends always teased him about the name- wasn't as small as he used to be and having him on his lap was more of an nuisance than a comfort now.
"Get off, Goldy," He said, and Goldy obliged, jumping off with a sad whine. Riley's heart felt for it and he started petting him softly. The dog beamed under the affection.
"I'm sure Michelle will love you, you old dog," Riley said, thinking back to when Michelle was younger and how she had always loved going for horse-back rides with him, and watching him tend to the animals. His heart, which had previously sped up when Goldy jumped onto him, calmed at the thought.
Of course, then his heart shriveled a bit when a thought crossed his mind. "But things can't be like they used to be." There was too many things in the way, like-
Ring! Ring!
Riley was startled when his home telephone began to ring, and jumped up from his chair, a scarlet red one which rough fabric. Grabbing his telephone, Riley put it to his hear.
"This is the O'Connor Farm, owner speaking." Riley recited.
"Ah, Riley," Riley blinked at the old, shriveled voice. It was Selena, the old and wrinkle covered lady that lived just outside of the end of his property (which was a good walk from here).
"Ms.Whetherbee, did you need something?" He asked tiredly, not really in the mood to talk to her. There was nothing wrong with the old lady, but it was late, he was tired, and most of all, he didn't want to hear her go into another tale of her youth.
"Yes, actually. I was just wondering when your next batch of crops were going to be finished." Riley felt himself smile a bit, Ms.Whetherbee was defintelty a loyal customer.
"Sometime next week, my Potato's are already starting to sprout and tomatos are changing color." He informed.
"That's great...you know Riley," The old lay began, "I remember when Bob was still alive, and he used to go out and plant tons of crops over here. He would-"
Ding!
Quickly saying good-bye, and not giving the poor old lady enough chance to protest, he hung and quickly started towards his old, shoddy door. Taking a deep breath, he pulled it open.

[justmedk]

(just a mnior thing Could you find another font, more like the one I'm using? It's not a big deal at all, it's just that your font is somewhat harder to read, and it's slightly irritating to the eyes, you know? )

It seemed like forever, after Michelle had rang the bell. In those few seconds that seemed like hours, a million thoughts ran through her head. "What if he doesn't want me to live here? What if he doesn't really care about me? It's been so long, after all....I can't even remember clearly what he looks like....", and many, many more like that.

She couldn't help but smile as she caught the old barn out of the corner of her eye. She looked towards it, and instantly was hit by a flashback:

She had been around 3 or so, not long before mom and dad split up, and she had been riding on one of their horses, with Daddy holding the animal under firm control. Michelle smiled at the memory of being three years old and feeling as if she was the tallest person alive for just a little while as she sat on the horse's back and towered above even Daddy, who, to her, had been the tallest person alive! She remembered laughing out loud in childish exitement as they calmly walked around the farm, and she saw a whole new perspective of the world.

"I'm going to be this tall someday!", she had thought then. Now, though, she was happy that she hadn't grown THAT tall, though she wouldn't have minded being slightly taller.

When the door opened, she was still looking at the barn, and smiling slightly with the thousand mile stare in her eyes, before her head snapped back and she saw her father standing in front of her, still taller than her, of course, but not towering in the same way she remembered. In a way that made her both happy and sad.

"Uhm...H..hi dad", she managed to mutter, not really sure of what to do with herself.

[Destined_One]

Riley gasped at the beautiful sight that awaited him. His daughter was the spitting image of his ex-wife, what with her long curly black hair that went a bit past her shoulders, and soft-almost timid brown eyes.
"Uhm...H..hi dad", Michelle muttered, looking like she was struggling to just bite out the world. Her eyes seemed to swirl with emotions, darkening as they did. Riley hesitated a bit, did she not want to see him? He supposed it was only natural as his ex-wife probably had only said bad things-or nothing at all- about him.
And he doubted that she remembered anything, considering it had been almost a full nine years since she had last saw him in person.
"Hi...Michelle, you look very beautiful," Riley said, voice soft, velvety. He could see her eyes widen at the compliment and he admired the red flush that coated her cheeks. Was she not used too compliments? He supposed not...Kasadhe, his ex-wife, had never been one to give compliments very often and teenagers around her age didn't often give sincere compliments either.
"Come in-you too," He said to the social worker, who nodded curtly before herding Michelle in, kind of similiar to the way Goldy did with the sheep.

He took them into the dining room, which was pretty simple in design, with only a wooden table and some old chairs along with a door that led to the kitchen and another to a broom closet.

Speaking of Goldy, the dog started to sniff Michelle before deeming her acceptable and licking her face in earnest.

"You never met Goldy, huh," Riley said aloud, "I got him around five to six years ago."

[justmedk]

(perfect, thank you Again: Sorry, didn't mean to be annoying, but that font was, slightly )

Michelle entered the house, and immediately was struck by not a conscious memory as such, but more of a "I know this place"-feeling. She couldn't really remember living here, but having actually lived the first three years of her life here, she did know it on a subconscious level. So as she returned to her "childhood home", she had the same feeling as one normally would of "coming home", but not the sense of recognizing everything the way one usually would.

She did have one memory of the dining room, which triggered as she entered it: She remembered running around playing with her dolls, before bumping into Daddy, who then picked her up. How she had loved the way he picked her up as if she was light as a feather, she thought, as she suddenly felt something at her feet. She looked down and her face instantly brightened, her eyes widened.

"Awwww, he's adorable", she exclaimed and bent down to hug Goldy just as he started licking her face, and she giggled

"Ewww", she said, but hugged the dog, and petted it. "You're a good boy, aren't you though...yes you are!", she smiled and kissed the dog's forehead before standing up again, but still petted it.
Michelle had always loved animals, but they hadn't been allowed to have animals in ther downtown-Manhattan apartment.

BAM....mom....mom's face just came back to Michelle, taking the smile off hers, and somehow Goldy instantly caught the change in this small human's, who inexplicably smelled a lot like Master, emotions, and he let out a little whine.
Michelle sniffled and stroked the animal gently, as if to reassure it, as she felt tears welling up in her eyes, which she annoyedly wiped away with her other hand, hoping no one else had seen it.

[Destined_One]

Riley watched as Michelle swarmed Goldy, smiling slightly as he saw her talk playfully. But suddenly the smile was wiped off her face and she then batting at her eyes.
Was she crying? Riley wasn't sure, and if she was, Riley was not really sure what to do...he wasn't good with crying females. Even when he was still with his wife, Riley had never been good with direct comfort. Instead, he always just did something behind the scenes that would end up cheering her up.
Deciding to just figure out a way to cheer her up later, Riley gestured for them both to sit down at the table.
"Is there anything I need to sign, or are you just going to drop Michelle off and go?" Riley asked.

[justmedk]

The social worker gave him a look that was a mix between being puzzled and a frown saying "I hope you're not that stupid".
"Of course there are a few papers", she said, and pulled some papers from a her briefcase; seemingly a hundred or so, but in reality more like twenty....transferrence of responsibility acknowledgements, guarantees, etc.
In the meantime, Michelle had gone back to the car to get her suitcases, and it appeared that Goldy had taken to the new human very quickly, as he follwed Michelle immediately.
Rachel's colleage offered to carry the suitcases for her, but Michelle refused, first slinging her computer bag over her shoulder, and then a large rolling suitcase in each hand. She headed back towardds the house, Goldy having run ahead of her, standing in the entrance and barking happily as if saying: "Come on, little human...what are you waiting for?" She couldn't help chuckling a little, even as she wiped another tear on her shoulder with her t-shirt.

Michelle wasn't a tomboy as such, but neither was the the epitomy of a little princess. She had been used to more or less take care of herself for most of her life, as her mom had had a very demanding job with hours that meant that she sometimes hadn't been home until late in the evening. So Michelle had been used to doing pretty much as she pleased, both regarding clothes, bedtimes, dinner (which was usually handled by mom leaving enough money on the kitchen table for take-out), and the like.
It was a testament to Michelle's intelligence that she hadn't gone completely wild because of it. And, it was probably also because Kasadhe had known her daughter that she allowed that way of doing things. Michelle had a tendency to go to bed very late, around 11 or midnight or so, but that was about the extend of the "bad habits" she'd picked up from the unusual family pattern.

She had mentioned this as a casual matter of course to the social workers who had interviewed her after having picked her up from their apartment following the accident...and it was only their reaction that had told her that this model wasn't usual.
Michelle hadn't been used to having an adult authority as such for many, many years now.

Michelle entered the house again, just barely managing to avoid having her skirt getting stuck on a hinge, and put the suitcases and computer bag down, before looking around again, trying to suck up as much of the house as possible. She could hear voices in the other room, and decided to go stand quietly next to the door to the living room, so they couldn't see her, but so that she could hear what they were saying.

[Destined_One]

Riley sighed as he began filling out the mountain of paper work, scribbling on a napkin to get the ink to flow in the pen.
The social worker, after giving him a very clear look, had started pointing at different spots, going through brief oral summaries even as Riley read through the paper.
Deciding to make some conversation as they went through this tiresome task, Riley asked. "What is she like, Michelle I mean." He wanted to reconnect with her, and do family things like take her to Sunday Church, the beach. He wanted to smile at her when she got an A in a class and be disappointed when she got a bad test back.
Riley wanted to be a father, and the first step was learning about her.

[justmedk]

Rachel took a deep breath, as she pushed another paper towards him

"Michelle is...a sweet girl", she said, "Mostly keeps to herself....from the reports I read about her, she seems to keep to herself rather than play with the other children most of the time", she continued. "The people at the home she stayed at until today told me that she could usually be found in her room reading....or playing on her computer... She's very intelligent, that much is certain, but...", she paused, trying to find the right words, "she's not....as advanced socially if you know what I mean, sir?", she continued, and then frowned at herself, holding up a hand to keep him from speaking as she tried again.

"Don't get me wrong. There's nothing at all wrong with her, mentally. But....the recommendation from the home in New York is that she start 7th grade rather than 8th. She is a very smart girl. Smart enough, actually, to start 9th instead of 8th, but her social skills leaves a lot to be desired. Probably comes from the way she lived", Rachel said, and then proceeded to explain to Riley how the girl's mother had left her to pretty much take care of herself, in terms of social development.

"We had a difficult time getting her to understand that even though she didn't want to do something, she had to, because we told her", she said, "It seems that she doesn't really see adults as authorities... But I can't blame her. It makes sense when you haven't really had any kind of adult authority before", Rachel said, and then looked at Riley, "But....she isn't out of control as one might fear a girl like that was. As I said: She's a very kind, very gentle girl....and she's smart bordering on precocious...but at the same time there's a little girl just beneath the facade....who wants and needs attention just like any other child", she finished, before taking a deep breath. "I'm not sure if that made sense, but I'm sure you'll find out soon enough", she said as she took the signed papers and put them back in her briefcase.


Michelle stood on the other side of the door and had heard every word. She didn't know what to feel about it. She didn't mind being described as kind and gentle..she tried to treat everybody right. And though she didn't know what "precocious" meant, she sure as heck wasn't a child, or a little girl. And she didn't really NEED adults as "authorities", anyway. She could take care of herself if only she could be left what she needed. And yes, she did prefer the company of books and computer games over that of people sometimes...actually, most times.

She had just started sneaking from the doorway back to her suitcases to pretend to be coming with them just now, when Goldy chose that exact moment to announce his joy at having a new human in the house, and bark happily, drawing the adults' attention to the doorway, Michelle trying to sneak back to her suitcases, unmasking her whole strategy, and revealing that she'd been listening.