Danny Ray (Ray Trilogy) (14 page)

Aimee nodded her head acknowledging that she understood her daughter’s predicament. She was too choked up to speak, but she also felt that if she were in her Angela’s shoes, she would need to get away, too. She prayed a little prayer for guidance on her daughter’s behalf.

Angela had such mixed feelings as she drove to the post office to drop off the envelopes. She always had felt that she and Danny were meant for each other ever since she knew him from high school. One of the reasons she never could commit to a permanent relationship in college. While they dated during the summer, it seemed that they fit so perfectly together, even Danny commented on that when they danced.

At work every once in a while she heard some little insinuation that Danny was dating the reporter. If that were the case she felt like she had done the right thing by applying for the modeling job.

All of the families who were friends of Danny and his family met at the Banquet Hall along with half of the citizens of Pryor
, who congregated to witness the ceremony for Danny. All the Council men stood behind the Mayor on the temporary platform to hear his speech and watch as Danny was presented with the honorary plaque and key to the city. From now on he declared that December the first would be recognized in Pryor as Danny Ray Day. Cameras from several newspapers in the area including a reporter from the
Tulsa World
snapped pictures throughout the presentation which of course included one of his biggest fans, Eve. Even Mr. Green was present and he had a friend in tow, Roger Sinclair, the man who wanted to write Danny’s biography.

Danny looked for Eve over the heads of the other people after the ceremony. He couldn’t see her but then she slipped up beside him and told him,
“I have to hurry to the newspaper office to write up the story. Mr. Green has held up the print of the paper until late so the events of the day plus coverage of the Santa parade can be included in the Sunday morning issue. Believe you me, he will pay some overtime for this,” she vowed with a nod.

Before Danny could get out of the building Mr. Green edged up to him and introduced himself and Roger Sinclair
. They made an appointment for Roger Sinclair to meet at nine on Monday morning at Danny’s house.

For once the night of the parade was warm enough for light jackets. The sky overhead sparkled with stars. The Christmas spirit was palpable in the air.
Danny’s family and the Dodd family stood together. Jerry Dodd held Tommy on his shoulders so that he could see over the heads of the others.

Toward the end of the parade a new silver convertible Chevy Corvette with a large banner across the front with large block lettering displayed ‘DANNY RAY DAY’. Danny s
itting on top of the back seat smiled and waved at all the people lining the sides of the street.

Lauren and the Dodd children especially whistled and waved jumping up and down cheering
proudly for him. Danny waved to Tommy perched on his Dad’s shoulders and to all the family as they excitedly waved to him.

Toward the end of the parade when Santa rode by on the top of the fire truck little Tommy
scrambled down. He along with the other children hurried to catch their share of the candy thrown by Santa and his helpers. 

After watching the parade,
Danny went to Art and his mom’s house to visit for a while. Nora, Jeremy, and Lauren had driven home from Tulsa for Danny’s big day so they had quite a celebration. Nine year old Lauren begged her Mom and Dad, “Please, may I visit with my Grandma and Grandpa during the Christmas holidays?”

Laura added her pleas along with her only granddaughter, “I would be very happy if you would let her stay with me.
” She put her arms around Lauren and pulled her close to her.

After very little deliberation, her parents agreed to the visit. Upon hearing the answer, Danny requested, “Lauren, will you stay at least one day with me?”

“Of course, Uncle Danny,” Lauren appeased. “I know that you miss me, too.”

Promptly at nine on Monday morning Roger Sinclair rolled into Danny’
s driveway. He stepped out of his car looking all around getting a sense of Danny’s farm. Danny had just returned to his house after attending to his farm animals. He walked out on his back porch to invite the little man into the house. Considering that Danny stood six foot four inches tall in his stocking feet, he towered almost a foot taller than Roger who sheepishly joked with a smile, “You may have to sit down while I stand up in order to talk to you or I’ll get a crick in my neck.”

Danny laughed opening the door, “Come in, we’ll see what we can work out.”

Roger looked to be about forty-five years old with balding brown hair that he combed over the top of his head. The bridge of his larger than usual nose supported horn rimmed glasses. He had a friendly likable smile that instantly put Danny at ease.

After a few pleasantries had come forth, he explained, “Danny, if you decide to let me write your biography, I will spend a lot of time here with you on the farm if that is okay.
” He had found when writing biography’s for other people, he had much better success with the subject being much more forthcoming when they were in the relaxed setting of their own home.”

They spent the next few hours walking around the farm
and talking, just getting acquainted. Roger met the kittens, Kibble and Bit, who were almost full grown now. Frisker, who kept sniffing Roger’s shoes, followed them every step of the way. Roger knelt down to pet him and let Frisker get used to his smell. Should he continue with the biography it was important to get along with the animals as well, especially the dog.

Danny proudly showed him his calves
grazing out in the pasture, his half-grown pigs, and his pullets which should start laying eggs after the first hint of spring in the air. Already he should have sent all but one of his roosters over to Aimee to butcher. He had promised to give them to her not long after he got them. He made a mental note to take care of that.

Frisker started barking at the side of the chicken house. They went around to the side of the barn to see what all the commotion was about. Frisker had found a little grass snake. When they rounded the barn frisker grabbed the snake and shook it. It slipped out of his mouth slinging it in their direction. Roger yelped and jumped back around the side of the barn out of harm’s way.

Knowing that the snake was harmless even if Frisker had left it alone, Danny doubled over with one of his belly laughs that were so frequent in his youth. “I apologize.” Danny said trying to contain his mirth. “That was just funny.”

Roger tried to laugh a little to hide his fright, now that the danger seemed to be over.

“That snake is perfectly harmless. It only eats bugs and such.” Danny placed a comforting hand on the little man’s shoulder. “Frisker feels it’s his duty to protect us.”

By the end of the day, Roger felt that he had a good sense of Danny’s personality. “Goodbye, Danny, I’
ll get back with you after the first of the year. We’ll make a decision at that time how to proceed.”

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Finally the weather cleared up but was cold
with the wind blowing out of the north. Danny had let the calves out of the barn for the day to graze on the stubble left in the pasture. Danny looked up into the sky assessing the clouds that lingered. If the weather kept up at the rate it was going he knew they could expect either ice or snow in the near future. He had already ordered a truck load of hay to be delivered from the farmer that Jim at the feed store had recommended.

Mentally he culled out the steers that he intended to send to market and then he would have
twelve heifers left for breeders. These were the beginning of his permanent stock. He would then reinvest the money from the steers in more calves in the spring. Again repeat the process the next year until he reached the optimum amount of cattle for his acreage. After a couple more years his first heifers would be ready to breed, and then he seriously would feel like a real rancher as his herd grew.

Not the most
pretentious beginning but he didn’t want to put every penny he owned into his livestock at the moment. He had other avenues of interest in which he wanted to pursue also before his money ran out. If he could get an income out of his cattle within the first few years, he would be satisfied with that.

Danny observed his pigs eating the corn mixed with other grain he had put in their trough. Out of the twelve little pigs, he should have five good sows out of the lot. He could sell the rest of them to local people who wanted to buy a pig for slaughter. Another two months he figured they would be ready to sell. That should pay for the
expense of the feed required of the other hogs until their babies sold next year. He had increased the size of the lean-to that he originally built so they now had a better shelter for the winter than he had originally built. Next year, he knew he could manage his pig operation so that he wouldn’t carry feeder pigs over the winter but this year being his first caused him to get a late start.

The
Tulsa World
picked up Danny’s story and printed their own article expressing also about the mayor proclaiming a Danny Ray Day. A picture with Danny riding on the Corvette with the banner across the front spanned the top of the article. Bradford Marvel came across the article through the Associated Press. Being the conscientious business man that he was, he recognized the name and picture of Lisa’s former boyfriend. He made a copy and brought it to his daughter.

C
ollege took up most of Lisa’s time as she took her school work seriously. Some day she planned to be a competitive participant at the Marvelous Advertising Agency. With her father as the executive president she knew that she would be accused by less aspiring and jealous associates of riding her father’s coat tails. She intended to earn her own place in the firm where there would be no doubt in anybody’s mind that she deserved to be there.

“I thought you might be interested in this article, Lisa.” He handed her the newspaper clipping. The pain that hit her heart just seeing Danny’s happy face waving at the onlookers tore at her heart. Apparently he had healed well and was going on with his life. It had been months since the last time she saw him in the hospital sitting in his wheelchair with his left leg still in a cast propped up straight ahead of him. That was the sight emblazoned in her memory.

“Thanks, Dad.” She placed a quick kiss on his cheek and went to her room to digest this information further.

Lisa despondently had drifted from one boyfriend to another since she left Danny in the hospital. None of the men she had met since that time intrigued her.

During the
last time she visited Danny, it seemed that everywhere she looked she saw people lying in beds in pain or traveling to physical therapy or some other such need. She knew she was being shallow but hospitals were not places she wanted be. Eventually she found excuses where she could be needed doing something else. Anything was better than being among all those sick people. Thinking about it made her shudder.

Now to look at his photo quickened her pulse. He definitely was as handsome as she remembered him. His masculine physic and engaging smile
depicted every promise she always saw in him. It was time for the family’s evening meal so she placed the article on her bedroom table. She certainly would give this some more thought.

Back in Oklahoma, Danny pulled out his house plans he started drawing earlier. He wondered how changing the location of the house would affect the thought process he used in room placement. He pulled his coat back on and went outside where he could visualize the new location of the house and to ponder the situation. He knew for sure that he wanted the front door of the house to be in the front of the house this time with the back door facing the barn which meant turning the house at least in a ninety degree angle from where it was now which indicated a new problem. The driveway was in the wrong place.

He looked at Nora’s thinking rock which overlook
ed the meadow where he kept the calves but that seemed almost sacredly Nora’s. If he moved the driveway another two hundred feet to the right of the existing driveway in the opposite direction of Nora’s rock, he could swing the driveway in a circular pattern to pull into the garage. By bulldozing some trees he could place the new house in front of the existing house, and have a larger backyard when he tore down the old house.

Satisfied with his new idea, he began earnestly making decisions about the interior. He wanted a large porch across the back of the house, which
designated that the kitchen should be near the back of the house. He scrapped everything he had drawn before and started over.

Saturday
morning Greg, Ted and Angela came by to collect the roosters to butcher. Danny brought them into the house to show them his new, latest effort in drawing a house plan. “Excuse me a minute while I move this mess.” He raked a whole box full of fan mail off the table back into a box sitting under the table, presumably the same box from which they came.

“I’ve been trying to answer some of this fan mail. It’s quite a painstaking job,” Danny explained resolutely.

Ted wiped his forehead, “Oh, that we all had such troubles.”