The Adoption of Nancy

by Leslie Schmidt

Living on the edge of urban civilization, the rotting bungalows and abandon warehouses on the Gulf Coast-dead after the oil bust and loss of shrimping to foreign boats, gave me just the place to set up my "studio." In an empty Quonset hut I weld together "sculptures" that end up in the foyers and on the patios of visitors from the North. I don't make much money, but then, I don't need much. My single wide next to the shop has two good air conditioners and my 8 year old F150 carries the steel.

Nan lived in a trailer in the "park" next door. Actually, it's a vacant lot that Brian put eight beat up old trailers on and rents them out for $250 a month. He really made his money supplying meth to the local high schools-the smells coming out of a couple of the trailers will sometimes make the mosquitoes drop. Then, when Nan's mom drank up the food stamp money, Brian decided she could earn her rent as his live-in girl friend and occasional drug runner. Nan started hanging around my shop.

One night I was a little distracted by the yelling next door, I was behind on my electric bill so the windows were open. They hadn't turned me off-yet. When I did have the cash to pay it I knew there'd be a big fine on top of a couple months usage. I heard a door slam, then it was quiet. A few minutes later I happened to look out the window and saw Nan sitting on the stairs to her trailer, swatting at mosquitoes.

"Hey, Nan, come on over here," I called out the window, she looked like she needed someplace to escape to.

She looked over at my place, about 50 feet away across an overgrown ranch fence, then started toward the driveway to the road so she could come over. I watched her thin form, long skinny legs, light frame, straight blonde hair to her collar, as she went down the drive in dirty pink shorts, a light blue tee, and flip-flops. A couple of minutes later she knocked on my door.

"Hi, come on in," I called from the couch. She had been crying, puffy eyes, snotty nose.

She plopped down on my sofa, looking around. I ripped a couple of pieces of paper towel off the roll on the kitchen bar and handed them to her. She wiped her face and blew her nose, then looked around.

"Thanks."

She had been in my place several times over the past few months but just for a few minutes. She usually hung around the shop while I welded, coming in after school. Sometimes I gave her a few pointers on her homework, but more often I think it stayed in her desk at school. I know that she isn't much of a student, not the brightest kid around, but nice. She was some help around the shop, handing me tools, maybe holding a piece. I had to buy a set of smaller leather gloves and adjust a mask for her. She even, a couple of times, tried her hand at welding.

We sat and watched TV for a while. She got up and helped herself to a Coke, I asked her to bring me a beer while she was at it. "ER" ended.

"Your mom kick you out?"

She looked out the window, "Tony, can I stay here tonight?"

"Sure.....Don't you need to tell your mom?"

"She's too high to care." She watched the commercials for a few seconds. "It's hot in here." She fanned herself.

I thought for a moment, then got up and went to the window in the kitchen. "Ok, I'll put on the AC." June in South Texas is good training for Hell. August convinces you that you've graduated. As I passed it, I twisted the knob to high. As I went down the hall, I heard Nan moving around, closing the front door. I went into the bathroom and reached over the tub, closing that window, then I shut the door and took a piss.

When I came out I saw Nan in the bedroom. I stood in the doorway. She was looking down at a fuck book on my chest of drawers. It was open to a full spread of some blonde taking a huge shot in the face. She must have known I was there, she reached down and turned the page, now the blond was laying on her back, one guy's cock in her shaved cunt, another in her mouth. She walked to a window and pushed it down, then reached over and turned on the other AC. I moved aside to let her push by me, "Nice pictures" she said as she passed. I followed her back to the living room. She sat down on the couch, took my beer and drank some. I could feel the cool air from the window unit but it was still hot.

I realized that I must really stink. I had worked late in the shop, finishing up a couple of jumping dolphins for a blue-haired lady in a Lincoln. If she actually showed up the next day I'd be able to pay off the electric and have two weeks of groceries. "I'm going to take a shower," I said. All Nan did was nod.

I took a cool shower, not because I was horny but because it was hot. I pulled on a pair of gym shorts and a Spur's T, then went back into the living room. We had moved to a "reality" show. My beer was empty.

"Can I have another coke?" she called when I went to the fridge.

"Last one," I said as I handed her the red can. I opened my beer and sat back down on the sofa, opposite her.

"Were you serious about staying here?" I asked.

She looked at me. "Can I use your couch? I don't want to go back tonight."

"What about your mom?"

"She's fucking passed out and Brian'll be 'cooking' his shit, smells up the place. Usually when he's finished he tries it out-I don't want to be there."

"How 'bout if I just put a note on the door?"

"Whatever floats your boat," she said, turning back to the TV.

"I just don't want her worried when she wakes up."

The girl turned and looked straight at me. "She won't notice." Her voice was flat.

I decided to drop the subject.

We stayed up for a couple of more hours, then I gave her some blankets and put her to bed on the couch while I crashed in my room. I have another bedroom but it's so full of junk you almost can't open the door. She was still sleeping there when I got up in the morning and went out to the shop.

My customer showed up right on time-9 AM. She was counting out the ten $50s when Nan walked in.

"Oh, is this your daughter?" she asked. She was either not too observant or being polite. If Nancy was my daughter I was having a hell of a time when I was 15.

"No Ma'am," I replied as I folded the bills and put them in my shirt pocket, "Nan's my assistant, in fact she helped out a lot on your piece."

The older woman turned to Nan, "Why thank you dear," she looked admiring at the two jumping dolphins (to me they looked like they were fucking). "You do beautiful work."

Nan didn't say anything, I think she was surprised by the complement, I'd learned that she's not used to praise.

"Let me carry this out to your car and put it in the trunk," I said.

After I closed the lid on the rear of the Town Car I noticed Nan and the woman talking near the door to my shop. I couldn't hear them but, obviously, she was trying to give Nan money and Nan was refusing out of politeness. In a moment Nan reneged and took a bill from the lady, then they hugged.

After she had left I looked over Nan, she was still wearing the same clothes and her hair was a mess. "I need to go to HEB and buy some food, also pay the electric bill."

"Can I come along?"

"Sure."

"I need to get cleaned up," she said. "Will you wait a while?"

"OK, I can get started on my next project." I went over to the metal rack to look around for some materials.

"I'll be right back." Nan disappeared.

I had just pulled down some long, thin strips of plate when she reappeared.

"Tony, Brian's cooking and, well, the place stinks....ahh, can I use your shower?"

I looked at her. She was holding a bundle of clothes, a hair and tooth brush and a pair of sandals.

"Sure hon, the water's wet."

"Thanks." She disappeared again.

I went back to work, drawing out an idea I had for a crane. The only place that Whooping Crane's stay in winter is near here, they're a popular item with the tourists. Then I thought about whether there was any way I could peek into the bathroom. After thinking for a few minutes I decided there was no easy, not obvious way. Still, the idea of a naked ten year old in my shower...

After 20 minutes she appeared again with wet hair and a change of clothes. Now she had on jeans and a blue tee. On the way to the store we stopped at one of the local Tacoreas and got taciquos, Nan wolfed hers down and commented that she'd not had anything to eat the night before. We got groceries then went back. Nan worked with me for the afternoon in the shop.

It was about 4 that there was a loud bang from next door, accompanied by shattering glass, then a lot of swearing and shouting. A dog ran off howling, its cries getting lower as it ran away. We both went to the door to see Brian standing outside the trailer. Most of the windows were blown out and the door was hanging from one hinge. He grabbed the garden hose and went back inside. When he came out he was met by Nan's mother, April. They talked some, she was holding a beer can. Then he went back in while she fell into a plastic lawn chair and drank more of her beer.

"Fuck!" Nan said. "He blew up my house! That mother fucker. All my stuff was in there."

"Looks like he put out the fire," I said. "Maybe you should go over and see if your mom's OK."

"She's fucking fine, the explosion didn't make her drop her beer."

At this point, a few things, mostly boxes of stuff, started flying out the window, accompanied by more cussing and some banging around in the trailer. Then Brian reappeared and said something to April. She struggled to her feet and turned to face us in the doorway fifty feet away.

"Nancy, you better get your ass over here and get your shit before he blows up the whole fucking neighborhood!"

Nan looked at me and rolled her eyes. "I guess now I'll be sleeping in the car."

"Just bring your stuff over here," I said. "I'll talk to your mom."

"Good luck," she said. As we left the shop she stopped me. "Thanks," she said.

"You have a gas leak or something?" I asked April as Nan went to the door and looked in.

"Fucking I don't know. At least the place didn't go up in flames." Then she called after Nan. "Nancy, bring me another fucking beer!"

The black mix-breed lab reappeared, her tail between her legs. She sat down next to April and leaned her head on her knee. I noticed a couple of cuts on her face and chest, she was still bleeding from a cut above her right paw.

The first time I had met April she had been chubby overweight. Now she was bordering in cadaverous. What had been a head of full chestnut hair that just reached her shoulders now hung limply and tangled. Her teeth seemed to be being eaten away.

"Nan can stay over at my place 'till you get this put back together," I said.

Brian appeared at the door carrying a case of cold medicine. "I'm going to put this stuff in number four, it's empty right now.

"I suppose," April said just before draining her beer. "Nan! Where's my fucking beer!"

Nancy came out of the door and handed her mother a can of Coors Lite.

"Bout time girl," her mother said, snatching the can. "Tony says you can stay at his place for a few days...just behave yourself and don't fuck it up like you do everything else."

Nan turned and went back inside. Brian came back and followed her while April nursed her beer. About two minutes later Nan reappeared with a box and put it down next to the stairs, then went back in. Brian came out with some plastic jugs and plastic tubing.

"You need help there?" April asked.

"Yeah."

April walked unsteadily to the plastic jugs, then lifted them and headed down the line of trailers. A little later Nan came out with another box. She put it down-there was a blue and pink teddy bear on top.

"That's it," she said.

I picked up the larger box and we went down the drive. When we got to my trailer I put my box on the table, Nan put hers on the floor. She stayed down, leaning over it. I saw a tear fall onto the bear.

I reached over and lifted her face. "Hey, it's OK. You can stay here as long as you want. We'll clear out the other room for you." She started to sob. I pulled her to me, hugging her. "Fuck, no one should have to put up with this," I said. She didn't make any moves to return the embrace but stood against me, her face in my chest, and quietly cried.

We spent a while cleaning the 'spare' bedroom. Really, it held all the junk I couldn't figure out what to do with, so a lot of the stuff went in the trash. There were more than a few magazines, some I said throw out, some were piled in the corner, and all of the video tapes were kept. A couple of times Nan looked strangely at me when she was holding some especially explicit fuck book. Soon she came to recognize I was keeping the fuck books and throwing the girly mags, so she did the sorting. By the time we finished up it was getting dark.

"Why don't we go out tonight? I've got the cash, it's been an age since I've been to a nice restaurant."

Nan was standing in the kitchen looking out the window at what used to be her home. "OK," she said. But I smell like that shit Brian makes, can I take another shower?"

"Sure," I said, "I need one too. Who goes first?"

"You go ahead, I need to put my stuff away." (We had cleaned out a chest of drawer for her.)

When I got out of the shower I realized that, out of habit, I hadn't brought any clothes with me so I wrapped a towel around my waist and went to my room. Nan looked up when I passed the doorway to her room.

A little while later I was sitting in the living room watching the TV and I got a glimpse of her, also wearing nothing but a towel, going from the bathroom into her new room.

When she came out I was really pleasantly surprised. Nan had on some nice fashion jeans and a green top. Sequences across the top with string straps, the front was pointed down in the middle, had fringes. I'm sure my eyes got big when she passed and I saw the open back, held with only a shoe string across from one shoulder blade to the other.

"Hey, you clean up nice!" I said.

She turned her head and looked at me over her shoulder (that's when I noticed the eye makeup and lip gloss). "Fuck you," she had a friendly smile.

Nan was tall for her age, a few inches short of five feet, and that made her skinny. Her hair, dirty blonde, just reached her shoulders, she kept it mostly in a low pony tail but now she had it loose and parted down the middle. She has wide set, almost Chinese eyes, a small nose and small mouth. While she's not beautiful, she's pretty, reasonable eye-candy.

As we were getting in the truck a little later I told her, "Really, you look really nice, pretty and....sexy." She slid over to the middle of the seat and, while I was starting the engine, she reached up and kissed me on the cheek. Quietly, almost too low to hear, she said, "You're so nice to me, no one else cares."

I slid my arm around her side and gave her a friendly hug to my side. "I think you're a sweet-heart," I said. "I like having you around."

We drove across the causeway out to the bearer island where a small town sits at one of the few 'passes' from the Gulf to the lagoons. It's mostly hotels and sport fishing and boasts more than a few nice places to eat. We sat at an outside table overlooking the marina and watched the sun go down over Texas. A big tanker went by on its way out to sea, dolphins were jumping in the bow wave, the wake made the fishing and shrimping boats tied to the docks rock. Later we went out onto the beach.

I parked my truck about 20 feet from the water and we both took off our shoes, then walked through the murky dark. In keeping with the weather in South Texas, it was very humid and warm, the air was like a hazy blanket. There were quite a few others out there, a number of camp fires in front of motor homes or tents. For a while we held hands and, just before we got back to the truck, we were arm in arm. We were silent on the drive back across the bay and it was a quiet time with the TV for a couple of hours before we both went off to bed. Nan sat next to me and cuddled up to my side. I had a hard time not looking down her top and trying to get a glimpse of the strawberry cones pushing against the green fabric. A couple of times I did get a nip flash.

The alcohol and walk, along with a really enjoyable evening with Nancy, made me drop off right away and I didn't stir until eight the next morning. I was making breakfast when a sleepy ten year old came in.

"How'd you sleep, darling?" I asked.

She was wearing a cotton night gown. She stretched, then sat down at the table. "Won-der-ful," she said.

Her hair was a mess but her face was just beautiful in the sun through the window. "You look like you had a good snooze. In fact, you look really good."

I turned back to the stove. "How do you like your eggs?"

"Anything's great."

"I do mine medium, that OK?"

"Great."

I poured her some orange juice, then put two bacon strips on a each plate on the counter. These were followed by toast, then the eggs. When I put the plate in front of her and slid into my seat she looked up at me.

"Why are you so nice?"

"How am I nice?" I asked. "I'd do this for anyone."

She looked down at her plate. "No one's ever made me breakfast before," she said in a low voice.

"Oh come on. Someone had to when you were a baby."

"Yeah, I guess..." she looked sad. "I mean, not that I can remember."

"Don't you get breakfast before school?" I asked.

"No, mom says she's paying taxes so I can have breakfast there."

"What about now, when school's out?"

"I don't know," she took a sip of her orange juice. "Usually there's some leftovers or something. I pretty much take care of myself. Mom's more interested in beer. Brian usually brings home stuff."

"Well, eat up before it gets cold," I said.

"Thank you."

As she took a bite of one of the bacon strips, I noticed that her eyes were watering and her face was red.

We worked the whole day on more sculptures, I taught Nan how to use the oxy-acetylene cutter and gave her some more practice welding-her help was really great and we got a lot done. During the day I noticed that she touched me often, a hand on my arm, several friendly hugs, one more than friendly when she lay her cheek against my chest. She just seemed to eat up having the attention-the positive attention. Every time I told her she did something well or that she was a big help she'd be quiet for a few minutes and, more than once, she gave me long looks.

We drove out to What-a-Burger for lunch. During the afternoon she became even more affectionate, a couple of times peering up at me with a face that just begged for a kiss. Once I did, leaning down and giving her a peck on the lips. As a reward I got a long dewy-eyed face-it was pretty obvious that she had a crush on me.

As the shadows got long, but the heat and humidity remained just this side of hell, we were both getting kind of drained. About four I called it a day and we both escaped to the air conditioning of my trailer.

Nan pulled her top away from her skin (she had definitely had a 'wet tee-shirt' thing going) and fanned herself. "Whew...I need a shower."

"You can go first," I said. "I'll start hunting up something for dinner."

Fifteen minutes later I was pleased to see her towel-clad figure go down the hall for the few steps between the bathroom and her bedroom. The towel barely reached below her butt-for an instant I got a flash of a cheek. "Shower's open!" she called from her room just before the door closed.

A while later I came back into the living room, now smelling a lot better, to a sight that really made my head spin. Nan was sitting on the sofa, still wearing only a towel. It had fallen open across her thigh but was still well closed across her chest and the other thigh was covered. Really sexy yes, but she was also looking through one of my 'Barely Legal' magazines. A quick glance, a really cute little redhead was on her back on a bed, some lucky guy on his knees cramming his schlong into her shaved pussy.

Nan turned the page (I don't think she knew I was there), now the red head was sucking him off and, on the opposite page, was a series of shots as she took his cum in her mouth. Then she noticed me and, for a moment looked shocked, then embarrassed. She closed the book.

"Good reading?" I asked with a smile.

"I guess."

I walked through the room into the kitchen, going to check the pizza in the oven. Taking my dare, Nancy opened the magazine again.

"That tastes gross," she said, "it's like having a mouth full of snot."

For a moment I was speechless, trying to come up with a response. She turned the page back to where the couple was fucking. "I don't think it's so great." Her voice was low, sad.

After checking the oven I went back in and sat down next to her. "Brian?"

She looked at me, her eyes were watering. "When he's high, and Mom's passed out...well, I guess I don't mind all that much...the first time, a couple of years ago, that hurt but...it's just fucking now."

I started to say something but she cut me off, "And don't get all stupid because I'm only ten...I know what I'm doing."

"OK," I said. "But, it shouldn't be 'just fucking.'"

"He doesn't care," she replied, an edge of anger showing in her voice, "when he's high he'd fuck anything with a hole."

At this I had to smile. "Must make that Lab nervous."

She started to giggle, then laugh. She put her arm on my shoulder and leaned her forehead against it, laughing, then the laughing started to change into crying. I put my arm around her as she cried. I kissed the top of her head.

After a minute or so she pulled away and wiped her tears and snot with the back of her arm. "Why are you so nice to me?"

For a moment I didn't know what to say that wouldn't sound like a platitude. Then, "I like you," I said. "I've been pretty lonely for a while and, well, I've had a lot of fun having you here."

She looked at me with a brooding expression, then sniffled. "I better put something on." She stood up and went back into her bedroom.

We ate a frozen pizza, then drove to the video store for a movie. The rest of the evening was spent watching 'Last of the Mohicans.' The movie gets pretty intense and many of the scenes are extremely violent. I was a little afraid that it was a bit much for a ten year old but Nan seemed to really fall into the movie and get caught up in the love story and conflict. During many of the battle scenes she squeezed my arm painfully, and, as the story reached its final climax she held close to me.

"Damn," she said when it was over.

I looked at her, she returned my gaze and I leaned down and kissed her. Somehow the atmosphere changed. Nancy pulled back from the kiss, her face was calm. "I'm going to sleep in your bed tonight." Then she stood up and took my hand, pulling me up standing. Without saying another word, she lifted her top off and let it fall to the floor next to her, then she started pulling at mine.

I helped her, my shirt joined hers at our feet, then I wrapped my arms around her, her warm and soft skin pressed against mine. Again I leaned down and we kissed, this time letting our tongues intertwine. I ran my hand up her back and into her hair, cradling her head. Her hands were cool, one in the small of my back, the other between my shoulder blades. She, of course, was a lot shorter than I and I had to bend over to kiss her. Her chest was against my abdomen and, I'm sure, she could feel my growing cock against her stomach through my jeans.

She broke away, a smile on her face, and turned down the hall, walking quickly to my bedroom. For a moment I just stood there, in the middle of my living room, and watched her bare back as she walked. There were two small dimples on either side in the small of her back, her shoulder blades were sharp 'V's. Then I turned around and looked at the TV, the credits were still rolling by, and thought to myself, 'do I really want to do this?'

I picked up the remote and hit the OFF button, then shrugged and headed down the hall.