The 'Cousins'

Chapter 102 (F)- Part One

Walt slapped the arm of the couch again. "He knows to resist evil and temptation from the good book his mother reads to him every night before bed time since he was old enough to sit at her feet and listen. That's how."

Wayne said nothing, regarding Walt's ire reddened neck with a deadpan expression, as if waiting for more from the man. Walt grasped his glass, bringing it to his lips awkwardly, causing a dribble of the drink to flow out from the corner of his mouth. "Excuse me?" He mumbled, returning the glass to the table and taking a handkerchief from his pocket to wipe his chin. Wayne had not spoken by the time Walt settled himself back into the couch, and the uneasy pressure of silence prompted him to continue talking.

"No sir. Not Jess. He's a good boy and he's growing into a fine young man. Now I don't know what your man Greg truly has in mind for Jess, because it's not in the ordinary ways of this world anymore for folks to be good Samaritans with strangers. He does come across as sincere, and he's set on helping a bunch of other folks as well, not just Jess. I am surprised he's working up these plans for Jess without first speaking to Art White, the boy's father. I know Art intends for Jess to leave school and help him on the farm. Art grows sweet and juicy melons, fruits that people want to buy and with Jess there to help him, they'll be able to open up another half acre to melons and improve the family finances. I don't think for a minute Art would go along with Greg's grand design for Jess. But, that said, and after being around Greg today, and with him again tonight in the diner, I do think the man's intentions are genuine. It's my belief he just wants to get over his own problems through helping others in a deeper hole than himself."

Wayne pushed himself back into the chair, grinning with relief at his guest. "Thanks for your thoughts Walt. It's what I make of it as well. And I agree with you one hundred percent, he'd be best talking to Jess's father before he goes any further with his ideas for the boy. Now we've digressed a mite. Before we got talking about Jess and Greg, I think you were going to tell me about Mitt Fawley and his Grain and Feed operation, ...and how come you got yourself fired? That's if you don't mind telling it to me?" He reached out with the bottle to refill Walt's glass.

"No problem, there's nothing secret about what happened. ...Thank you Wayne, if I can have the same amount of water I'd be obliged." Walt half stood to reposition his cushion more comfortably before settling back down to continue enlightening Wayne.

"We started out together nearly fifty years ago when Mitt Fawley's father came up from Kansas and bought the business from Zak Gollancz. He needed a manager who knew the area and its farmers and he struck a deal with my Pa, who was between jobs at the time. I was about five years old and we moved into the house where I've lived until this morning." He paused to sip his drink, giving Wayne a chance to ask a question.

"Did he have no other family? Was there no Mrs Fawley; how does Mitt fit into this?"

Walt grunted. "There was no Mrs. Fawley. Mitt came up with his Pa and was about my age when they arrived. He was Frank then. We went to school together, played together and got to be like brothers. My Ma became his Ma too."

"Excuse me Walt," Wayne could not resist interrupting, "if you were so much like one big, happy family for all these years, how come he kicked you out today, making you homeless as well as jobless?"

"And 'Chevyless' too," Walt spoke through a twisted, half grin. "All went well until old Mr. Fawley died and Frank took over. By that time he was Mitt, with a right wing Republican belief and modelling himself on the Massachusetts Governor whose handle he took as his own. What you have to understand about Frank Fawley is his deep insecurity and lack of self-confidence. He shows this in adopting an apposite position to an argument, but usually with an attitude of aggression and bluster. He needs people around him to tell him what to do, people who'll let him think he's thought of their ideas first. Inside he's still a little boy courting love and affection. He got more coddles from my Ma as a kid than I ever did."

"Didn't that bother you?"

"Not a bit, we were like siblings then. There was only one time we fell out, about the time of my ninth birthday. He went too far rattling me with his bragging and boasting. I lost my cool and smacked him hard. He's never forgiven me for that. I reminded him of it when I came back from the condo this afternoon. That's when he fired me. But that's not important. What drives Frank Fawley is his swollen ambition to be the big shot around here. Five people run Cripp's County, and the other four all do what Ross Noble tells them to do. Frank 'Mitt' Fawley wants to be one of this local prominente, but they shut him out. ...They call him 'an outsider' and his driving force is to grow so big in these parts he becomes the next Ross Noble. The chicken plant and the deal with Lido is his means of doing it. He's a man on a mission who always has to get his own way, and he can be downright nasty those times when he doesn't."

"He don't sound much to me like a man capable of negotiating and landing a major supply contract with a German supermarket chain set to open multiple stores here in the USA."

"He isn't and he didn't, but he thinks he did. I don't want to be tooting my own horn here, but me and my Dad set up that contract with Lido when we met Guenther Fritsch on vacation in The Keys. At that time Guenther was a rising exec in the company, but with a huge ambition to open up for business over here."

"Is that a fact?" Wayne sat rubbing his lips with a knuckle while he assimilated this information. 

"Go on Walt."