Team Manager 2: SPRINT!
Chapter 35
TUESDAY MORNING was humid, but the rain had stopped and the grass was dry. Dennis was at the school at a quarter till eight and was waiting when Randy pulled in with the tractor on the flatbed truck. Lana jumped out of the cab and joined Dennis as Randy backed the truck up to where they could off-load the equipment.
Dennis had seen the tractor with the mower attached, but never with the scoop on the front.
“I’d suggest you do one round of mowing first,” Randy said. “That will give you a good view of what the terrain looks like. It will take three passes with the mower to clean a swath the specified 5.5 meters wide. I’d guess there are wider places in the path that will require a fourth pass, too. Your helpers can walk behind a safe distance and check for stones and such. There are places in the three-mile trail that are dirt and not grass. That’s what the scoop is for. You can do basic grading with it.”
“Thank you for doing this for the school,” Dennis said. “And for loaning me out to them as well.”
“It’s a good deal,” Randy said. “But I need to get moving. I need to go out and check the fields for damage from the storm Sunday and yesterday. Lana, let me know the fuel situation when you come home this evening.” He mounted up in the cab and drove off without another word. Dennis looked at Lana.
“I thought he wasn’t going to let you stay unless the others were here,” he said. Lana came straight to him for a hug.
“They’ll be here. We passed Brenda on her way out to pick up Tori and Debbie. The Armors were at the grocery store getting supplies with Leanne and Rosie. I’m guessing the Longs are on their way, too.”
“Well, I don’t think I should hang around waiting for them. I’d better get started on the mowing. Maybe you can pass on the instructions for picking rocks when the others get here.”
“I don’t want to wait by myself. I’ll ride along with you. They know what to do.” They climbed up on the tractor and Dennis started it as Lana settled herself on the fender to watch the terrain and check the mowing path behind.
Of course, the tractor was too loud for all but rudimentary conversation that amounted to pointing out features along the trail. Even with the sections that were dirt, it took half an hour to mow a single swath around the course. When they reached the track again, where they started, Natalie, Brenda, Amy, and Judith were waiting for them. Dennis shut down and they jumped off to greet their girlfriends.
“Aw, Mr. and Mrs. Farmer,” Natalie said, looking at their bib overalls and straw hats. Lana kissed her on the cheek and pulled her hat off to pull over Nat’s hair.
“Now you look like the missus. You can ride the trail on the next pass while the rest of us walk to investigate.”
“The others are already following the trail,” Natalie said, returning Lana’s hat and putting her own on. “Tori assessed the path and said you’d be coming around to make a second pass. She and the others are walking the trail to pick up rocks and such.”
“We’re going to need shovels and rakes when we walk the dirt sections. I can do some smoothing with the front-end loader, but it’s going to take more than that. For now, I’ll get rolling and start the next swath. This is going to take a while.”
Dennis climbed into the seat on the tractor and Natalie mounted the fender in the position Lana had been riding. They started putt-putting along as the girls fell in behind them to police the trail. They caught up to the first team of rock pickers when they reached the dirt portion of the trail. Natalie got off the fender and swapped with Tori. Dennis had them all stand well back as he drove past to the next grass section of the trail.
Tori’s trip was almost all the way around the track before they caught up with the trailing group again on the third pass. She dismounted and Brenda joined Dennis for the ride up to the next group. There, she swapped out with Leanne and they continued back to the school. There, they found Randy waiting for them with the truck. He was unloading the hay rake.
“Lana called me and said she thought you needed to rake the path. Otherwise, the cut grass will lay on top of the fresh and kill the new growth. You won’t need to ted it, but we can come through with the trailer and pitchforks to clear it. We can take it out to grind up for mulch on the garden.”
“Sounds good, sir. We’ve got another full pass of mowing to do yet and then once around to pick up the wide places in the trail. I’ll probably rake it this afternoon,” Dennis said.
“I think we need to get some riding mowers out here after the long grass is cleared,” Tori said. “The grass is still too long to meet the cross country standard. It says an inch and a half or less. I’m pretty sure we’re closer to three inches after the hay mower goes through.”
“I agree,” Dennis said. “But we need to take care of all the holes and high spots before we bring lawn mowers out.” He told Randy about the need for rakes and shovels as well and Randy put it on a list to bring out at lunch time. Dennis and Tori got back on the tractor and headed out on the next pass.
When Dennis and Tori caught up with the nearest group of rock pickers, Tori jumped off and Brenda got on the tractor. The other girls stepped back a safe distance as Dennis started up the mower again and pulled out. It wasn’t long before they caught up with the next group, pausing for a drink at the dirt portion of the path that went into the woods. Brenda dismounted.
“That doesn’t seem fair,” Dennis said. “You only got to ride for ten minutes.”
“I’m okay with that. Too bumpy on my bony tush,” Brenda laughed.
“Us next!” Roberta yelled. She and Daniella got on opposite sides of the tractor.
“Our tushes are better padded than Brenda’s,” Daniella laughed. Dennis started the tractor again and when they came out of the woods, he lowered the mower and started cutting the last swath around the trail. In twenty minutes, they were back at the start and Dennis shut down.
“Well, there are three of us. We can start the third pass around the trail picking rocks.” The girls groaned at the thought, but happily accepted kisses as incentive to keep working. They thought they were working along as fast as the other groups were, even though they were the smallest group scouting the trail. They’d reached the dirt path when Dennis’s phone buzzed.
“Hey, sweetie. What’s up?” he asked.
“Turn around and come back to the start,” Lana said. “When we came out of the woods, we met up with the rest of the girls and stretched across the whole width. You shouldn’t need to work the last section, which wasn’t as bad as the first section anyway. Besides, we’re hungry.”
“Okay. I guess it’s closer to backtrack than to continue on. We’ll be there in a few minutes.”
“Coach is here with pizzas and soft drinks. Hurry!”
Dennis turned to Roberta and Daniella.
“They say they finished the last segment, so we should go back for lunch,” he said.
“Okay. But first, I want some sincere kisses. I’m feeling deprived,” Daniella said.
Dennis wasn’t hard to convince when it came to kissing the twins and they spent a few minutes doing it before they headed back to the trailhead.
“So how does the course look?” Ardith asked the teens as they all camped out on the ground to grab pizza.
“It’s really a beautiful trail,” Debbie said. “We’re definitely going to have fun running it.”
“All the grass needs to be cut shorter, but we’ll wait until we’ve got the holes filled and the cut grass taken out,” Tori said. “A hay mower doesn’t really cut close enough for a cross country course.”
“There are a lot of holes to fill, though. We moved some pretty big rocks out of the way, and the gophers have really been at it,” Judith said.
“Plus there’s a lot of work to be done in the woods on the dirt path. It’s really uneven,” Lana said. “Dad is bringing rakes and shovels, but that might not be enough. We’ll have to get some fill from somewhere or there will be exposed roots tripping people all over the place.”
“And there’s that section that runs along the old fencerow of Mr. Abernathy’s farm. Technically, it’s all grass, but it’s got two deep wagon ruts along most of it and a slight rise where the fence used to be,” Dennis said. “I think we should pretty much grade it and reseed if we can.”
“I’m just so glad you were all willing to come out here and pitch in. Believe me, none of the coaches are expecting you to sacrifice the rest of your summer time to work out here,” Ardith said.
“It’s kind of fun when we’re all able to do something together,” Brenda said. “And I think some of the other athletes will join us when we put the word out. A couple of us are going to get text and email out to as many as we can.”
“Well, that spoils my plans,” Amy said. “I don’t want to run naked through the woods if there are going to be people who aren’t girlfriends around. And our boyfriend.”
“Please be cautious about anything like that,” Ardith sighed. “We really don’t need rumors of naked orgies on the cross country trail.”
“Ooh! I hadn’t been thinking of an orgy. Good idea, Coach!” Amy jumped back in.
“All right,” Ardith said. “Every orgasm on the trail means a full lap you have to run. All of you. Let me see. There are thirteen of you. If you each get off once, that’s only forty miles you’ll have to run.”
“Uh-oh,” Daniella said, looking at Rosie. “We already owe two laps.”
Randy had delivered the hay rake and attached it to the tractor. He didn’t stay long enough to give any instructions, though, assuming Dennis would set things up the way he wanted them.
“I have an idea,” Lana said. “If you can rake everything up into two windrows that are far enough apart to drive the wagon between them, we could load from both sides at the same time. It might take us a little to get coordinated, but all we need to do is get the cut grasses on the wagon. I think a lot of this grass was longer than the hay you cut.”
“That sounds like a good idea,” Dennis said. “If I do a pass counterclockwise around the circuit at the far right edge, it will pile toward the center. I switch and do a pass clockwise around the circuit along the inside edge to do the same on that side. Then do one or two passes down the middle to clear the track for the wagon.”
“It will be easier to see the holes and rough spots after the grass is raked, so I think the rest of us should head for the dirt through the woods and start shoveling and raking. That’s going to take a lot longer than it looks.”
“Well, let’s get started.” Leanne got to ride the fender on the first pass while the rest of the girls headed out, maintaining a pace that was faster than the tractor.
“Coach said orgasms cost a lap for everyone,” Leanne said when they pulled up to the end of the first stretch. “But making out is free.” They only had a couple of minutes before the girls emerged to make a switch.
“We forgot to use sunblock,” Lana said. “And I know Dennis is going to take off his shirt as hot and humid as it is. Dennis, there’s sunblock in the saddlebag. I put it there this morning.”
He got the bottles out of the saddlebag and handed them around. True to what Lana had suggested, he pulled off his T-shirt and started to rub sunblock on himself. Lana snatched the bottle from him and pressed against his back while she rubbed the lotion into his chest and abs. As soon as the other girls saw that, they were all over Dennis, each one trying to touch him and ‘help.’
“Now do me,” Rosie said as she pressed herself against Dennis. He was suddenly face to nipple, as Rosie had stripped her shirt off, too. Lana felt a little displaced, but Debbie quickly pulled her aside and began applying the sunblock to Lana’s back and then onto her upper chest and abs.
“You are so sexy,” Debbie breathed. “I’ve just recently learned how sexy girls can be. I’m just not quite at that level, yet.” She nodded toward the other girls, all of whom had stripped off their shirts and bras. Debbie was in a bra top and Lana in her bikini. Lana started applying sunblock to Debbie, taking her time spreading the lotion to the edges of Debbie’s bra. She couldn’t help but squeeze the soft flesh a little and felt an answering squeeze from Debbie. The two girls looked at each other and leaned forward to touch their lips, as their hands continued to explore each other’s curves.
The break in the crew’s workday ended up being almost as long as their lunch had been. Rosie mounted the tractor with Dennis as he turned and made the next pass down the trail. She continued to ride topless until they were almost in sight of the school’s open meadow. She quickly pulled her T-shirt on and they rode into view.
This time, Coach Anderson met the tractor.
“Where is everyone?” he asked. “Is it just you two?”
“No, Coach,” Dennis replied. “There are eleven more working in the woods with rakes and shovels and hands to try to smooth that part of the trail. When I get back to the end of this section, Rosie will switch with one of them and she’ll ride back with me. Gives everyone a chance to ride the tractor and a little break.”
“How does it look?”
“There are a couple of places where it’s really rough. We’ll know better about the meadow turf once we have the grass raked and removed.”
“You’re going to bale it?”
“No. We’ll just stack it on a hay wagon and take it to be mulched. Then we need to do another pass through the grass sections and fill holes. The gophers have created havoc out there. We’ll have to spot check for new holes every week,” Dennis said.
“I brought a cooler with more soft drinks. Can you take it out to where the rest of the team is, or should I just keep it here until they come back?”
“I can put it in the scoop on the front. It should ride fairly securely.”
“That’s great. Maybe I’ll come out with you on this pass so I can see the progress. Can I have the other fender?” Coach Andy said. Rosie sent Dennis a panicked look and snatched her phone out of her pocket to send a ‘Cover up!’ message to the other girls. The cooler was loaded and the three headed out on the third pass down the front part of the course.
When the tractor came to a stop at the edge of the woods, the girls came out and gratefully accepted soft drinks. All had shirts or at least bra tops on. Coach Andy wasn’t sure what to think, but went into the woods to see what the condition of the trail was. He came out in time to catch the tractor and cooler on the way back to the school. Diane rode the other fender.
Andy waved goodbye and the crew worked another two hours, raking and smoothing the trail. Finally, they got back to the school, parked all the equipment properly and headed home. Lana was sure to check the fuel level in the tractor so her father would know to bring gas out to it in the morning when he brought the hay wagon.
“Know what this reminds me of?” Daniella said when they all gathered back at the school on Wednesday. “The second day of basketball practice. We were all so sore we could hardly move and Dennis just kept working us.”
Dennis looked around at the rather sad group of girls. A couple were pretty pink and he made sure they covered themselves with sunblock immediately. Four new volunteers showed up as well. Laura, Becky, Janice, and Emily joined the family hug before Dennis realized they were there.
“What a good crew foreman,” Laura laughed. “Do you pay bonus hugs, too?”
“Um… I… Uh… Here’s sunblock. Make sure you get it on anything exposed. And if you take something off later, get more sunblock,” he quickly said, thrusting the bottle toward the girls.
“Whoa! What do you expect us to take off?” They looked over at the girlfriends and spotted a couple already in bikini tops.
“I never know what people will be wearing,” Dennis confessed. “I just mean… Sometimes they dress in layers so they can take something off if they get hot.”
“I can see some of them are already hot,” Janice said. “Geez! I knew Lana was stacked, but she’s really gorgeous. Hey, classmate!” she said as she made her way over to Lana.
“Okay, so nobody needs tape today. Just work along at a comfortable pace and enjoy being outside,” Dennis laughed at the other girls as Janice left to go talk to Lana. “Anyone have experience with a hay fork?”
“I’m a farm girl,” Emily said. “So’s Becky. We’ve done plenty of hay pitching.”
“Great. I’m going to have you two and Tori work with me tossing hay on the wagon. Lana will drive. I think we’ll have Natalie and Judith working the top of the wagon. As we work our way up the field, we’ll switch around,” Dennis said. “Everybody else with rakes and shovels to the path through the woods. Remember on this pass, we’re looking to get rid of big obstacles, but it’s not like road grading. There will be plenty of that when we get the big stuff out of the way. I’m still not sure how we’re going to handle that fencerow that’s so uneven. We’ll deal with that later. Probably next week.”
People started grumbling immediately as they picked up tools and headed for their work areas. Randy had hooked up the hay wagon to the tractor when he refueled it early in the morning. Lana was experienced with the tractor and driving the wagon. She pulled it around and started down the center of the windrows so they could load from both sides of the wagon. Tori and Emily both had tips for using the hay forks without damaging anyone. They had to get coordinated with Natalie and Judith so they weren’t throwing hay onto each other.
The school board had designated an area next to the cemetery where they would compost the cuttings and allow community people to help themselves to the compost whenever they wanted. Mr. McDonald brought out a mulcher and stayed by it as the girls forked the first load off the wagon into the funnel. It ground up everything into small bits, including small branches that were collected along the way, and spit it out into the plastic-walled bin.
The work was hard. They switched off frequently so no one got bored with having to do the same job all the time. When they finally quit for the day, they were covered with grass clippings and dust, swearing they would study harder this fall so they could get an easier job in the future.
Comments
Please feel free to send comments to the author at devon@devonlayne.com.
