Hick, Hybrid Santa/Taskmaster

Remember that little weirdo who popped his head into my garage as I was getting out of T-Hoe a couple weeks ago? Wanting to know if anything was wrong, since he heard my dogs bark? The kid who asked if Hick had any work for him to do? Well, HE'S BACK! But I'm getting ahead of myself.

Hick saw this kid's dad driving on our gravel road, and stopped him to ask if it was okay for the kid to come down. He said he could find some work for him, if he was wanting to earn money. The Dad said it was okay. Hick also told him that we had some boy clothes to clean out, and he wasn't trying to offend him, but he could bring them up to their house. The Dad said that would be fine, having three boys of assorted sizes.

The next day, as I was kicked back in the La-Z-Boy, a tall figure came a-knockin'. I was still in my pajamas, with bed-head, and had no desire to hoist myself up and hobble to the door. So I turned off the TV sound, and let him knock. I hadn't seen the vehicle, with Hippie flipped open on my lap, blocking my view. When he finally left, I saw that it was a silver truck with a camper shell. Hick said that truck belonged to Kid's family. I was pretty certain it was NOT Kid, because he was not tall, and Hick had found out that Kid was 13.

Hick went up to make arrangements for which day Kid could come work, the chores, and what he would get paid. While there, The Dad said HE had come down to the house earlier, looking for Hick, to see if he had the clothes ready. Hick said he would have them the next day. Then came home and told me to clear them out of the laundry room, and The Pony to clear them out of the stuff he brought back from college.

Hick drove the clothes up there that evening. I know I had found 14 pairs of athletic shorts (not that either of my boys was ever athletic), and 15 shirts (14 of which matched the shorts). The Pony had cargo shorts and cargo pants. It was two big trash bags full. Hick said they were digging through them like it was Christmas!

Anyhoo... the next day the Kid came down to shovel some gravel around the porch. Hick loaded it in his tractor scoop, and Kid shoveled it out. Hick said he worked him pretty hard, Kid being a kid, and used to a life of luxury walking down to the creek and back, having not much else to do, with school being closed since mid-March. I made sure that Hick at least gave him water. And hopefully didn't give him blisters with the shoveling. Hick paid Kid $20 for maybe 90 minutes to two hours of work.

Kid told Hick that he needed a job, because he ate his mom's ice cream, and had to pay her back.

A few days later, Hick brought his little helper back down here, to move bricks from over by the BARn to the carport, where he had to remove them from the tractor scoop and stack them for Hick to pick up and use on the sidewalk.

"He worked about as good as HOS's (Hick's Oldest Son's) boy! I had to tell him every little thing. It's like kids these days don't have no sense."

"I hope you weren't mean to him! I know how you boss around your workers!"

"I wasn't mean to him. I'd suggest ways that would be easier, but he'd have an excuse. He'd shovel about 10 shovels of gravel, and then take a rest. I said, 'If you get the shovel full, you have less times that you have to fill it. So it's less work.' He said he was doing fine with his way. And he'd pick up a brick with each hand. But by the end of the brick-loading, he was picking up six at at time, and said it was easier. Just like I told him."

"He's 13! AND he has two brothers around his age, and the older brother who walks to work at the prison, and two sisters. So I doubt he's being overfed! He was probably weak with hunger, having already eaten all him mom's ice cream, and you had him down here in the heat, doing physical labor!"

"Yeah. I guess he done all right. I paid him $40. He said he had to give $5 of it to his 15-year old sister, for watching his 2-year-old sister. It was his turn today, but he came down here to earn money."

I don't know if Hick has any other projects lined up. I don't know if Kid has suddenly gotten less bored.