Cherilee
Legacy Name: Cherilee

Name: Cherilee
Age: 26
Location: Georgia, USA
Hobbies: Reading, jewelry-making, baking, music
Favorite color: Yellow
Pets: No personal pets outside of her farm, but she has befriended a field mouse and named her Suzannah
Favorite singers: Johnny Cash, Loretta Lynn, Dolly Parton, Jimmy Dean, Tammy Wynette, Bill Anderson, Patsy Cline, Marty Robbins, and Skeeter Davis
Romantic interests: Why, I never... You can't just ask a lady about her love life like that!

I grew up in a real nice part of southern Georgia, the type of place you see in Country Living magazines, the places where peaches grow ripe in the warm sun and farm animals roam free on the land until their time comes.
My ma and pa owned a modest farm, not for any reason other than they liked it. We were well off and didn't need the income from the farm, but it gave them a way to teach me what hard work and responsibility meant since I was a little thing.
I loved working on the farm, collecting eggs and cleaning out stalls. I found a lot of peace in the work I did with my hands, but the older I got the more I wished I would have explored the world more while I was still real young. When you're real young, the world can make deeper impressions on you.
I didn't blame my folks for the way they sheltered me. They gave me a plenty good life and I was comfortable, but I was tired of being comfortable.

I made a decision early on that I'd go into the neighboring town to cart myself around and get to see some new people and new things. The last time I'd gone into town, I stopped at the Sunoco station to get some gas, when I saw a tow truck pull up next to me. I sank lower into my seat so he wouldn't see me. It was an older man with a younger man. They hooked up the car that was taking up the spot next to me and left.
It wasn't nothin' special, but I read the back of their work truck and scribbled the company name down on an old receipt from my purse before they disappeared down the road.

I couldn't rationally tell you why I did it. I guess I just thought the young man was mighty handsome and thought if I ever had a problem with my car or needed it towed, I could have asked him and who I assumed was his father. I spent a long time back at the farm waiting for something to go wrong in my car before I made my move.

I knew my alternator was going bad before I even pulled up to that boy and his pa's yard. I reckoned I still had some time on it before it became a problem for me, but didn't want to risk driving if it got too bad.
When I pulled up, my heart skipped a beat before I got out of my car. He was staring at me real hard the whole time, wondering who I was, while we did our business. I wanted to be mysterious or somethin', so I was having a real hard time trying to make small talk with him while he drove me back to my house.

"You live clear out there?" The man, Rutt was his name, was dumbfounded when I told him where my farm was.
"Yes."
"Y'all ain't got any mechanics in your town?" He shook his head, but his eyes were on the road. I was mighty grateful he didn't look at me then, because I was blushing something furious.
"It's a real long story," I said then, a little too quiet to be heard over the roaring of his Firebird as we flew down the backroads towards my town limits.
He must have heard me anyway, because he looked halfway amused, halfway annoyed. "I bet."
"You hush," I snapped. "You should be grateful for business anyways, no matter who it comes from."
He glanced over at me then, and I realized his eyes were green. They were so green they looked like electricity. My mouth got dry.
He shook his head again, but was quiet. He turned up the volume on his radio and I brightened then, feeling a lot less nervous.
"Oh, I love this song."
Rutt glanced at me once more, quick, then back at the road. "Johnny Cash?"
"Yessir, he's a real idol of mine," I replied dreamily, and when Rutt smirked, I straightened.
"I'm just sayin'... He was a wonderful artist."
I twisted the knob on the radio to turn the volume up more and I rolled down the windows, feeling the sweet summer evening wind whip my hair around and I felt mighty famous then. I didn't know Rutt, but I liked him just fine.

When he finally pulled up into the long drive up to my house, we jerked to a halt and he saluted me. "I'll call you when I get ya sorted."
I felt like I should have said something witty or mysterious, but I couldn't think of nothin', so I just reached into my purse and pulled out my card. I had made them myself.
I offered it to him and he plucked it out of my fingers between his index and middle finger. He gave me a nod.
I hesitated for just a second. In that second, he held my gaze a little longer than I think he felt comfortable with because he looked away quickly and drummed his fingers on his steering wheel.
I felt awfully flushed, and I got out of his car and walked up to my house.
I didn't hear his car pull away until the door had closed behind me.

credits

Story by dakota
Art by Ola Rogula
Background by Wallpaper Safari
Images by Freepik (royalty free) and Wallpaper Safari

Thank you Ari for letting me adopt!