Read Online Percy's Mission by Jerry D. Young - Free Book Online

factions making the same demand. Percy shook his head when the report was finished and muttered, “Too many things in too many places…”

All the cows had been serviced that needed it. One of the milk cows to refresh her, and the heifers to produce beef for the market. Clyde would service the other three milk cows when they went dry and then went into estrus. The calves from the milk cows would also go to market. Percy usually kept a percentage of the meat the local butcher shop prepared for him. It went into his freezers or other storage. The rest of the meat sold through his regular local outlets, including the butcher shop that did the work.

He spaced the butchering out to have fresh meat available all year long. It was time to send in one of the two year old steers to the butcher shop in fact. Susie hated to do it, so Percy sent the twins in with the steer. It would be a few days before the meat and hide were ready. Percy had learned to treat hides to make leather and would do that with this hide, too. There was a good saddle shop in the city that could turn the hides into just about anything he wanted.

Although he didn’t think of it in quite that way, Percy found himself looking for reasons to go into the city so he could see Sara. They’d had a pleasant dinner when he’d gone in for his checkup and dental work, and Percy wanted to do it again. He found an excuse, a very good one, when Mattie mentioned the gossip she’d picked up at the hair salon she visited from time to time. Pretty much monthly, actually.

Mattie was telling Susie at breakfast one morning that the town council had been trying to get a clinic going, with the help of the hospital in the city, for some time. They finally had a husband and wife doctor team interested. Now they were working on a building.

“They know where they’ll put it?” Percy asked.

“No. That’s part of the deal. The couple wants to be out of town a ways… kind of a back to the earth thing. The council is checking with all the real estate agents in the area looking for a suitable place. But you know how land is here. If it can grow anything, it’s being used to do so. Someone is going into the city tomorrow evening to meet the couple and bring them to town to take a look around.”

“Who?”
    “Abigail,” Mattie replied, curious about Percy’s interest. “She kind of got roped into it. She’s not too happy about it.”

“Oh,” Percy said thoughtfully. It was several moments before he spoke again. Mattie and Susie waited expectantly. “Can you call someone and tell them I’ll get the people. I have a piece of property that… I’m trying to… I have a piece of property that might be suitable. I might be willing to just donate to the clinic if the people like the spot and they build the clinic and a house to live right there by it.”

Susie interjected, “Do you mean that forty acres Donaldson was leasing? I didn’t know you wanted to get rid of it.”

“Uh… Well… I just decided recently…” He left it at that, not specifying that it was as recently as that morning, after the subject of the clinic came up.

Mattie and Susie suspected as much but didn’t say anything about it. Mattie did say, “I’ll call Tom and let him know. I think he’ll be pleased, about not only the land, but also about Abigail not being involved. Her idea of fixing the problem is to buy a bus and haul people to the city at the town’s expense.”

“Sounds like her,” Percy muttered, and then said aloud, “Get it set up and I’ll go in and talk to Tom. I’ll get the deed to that property out.”

When he left the table, leaving the last bit of his breakfast behind, Mattie and Susie exchanged a look. “You think he’ll really just donate that land? You know how he is about owning property.” Susie looked at her mother quizzically.

“I don’t know. He is pretty generous, when it comes right down to it. But this…” Mattie said, her eyes on