"Another hot one," he sighed. "We sure do need some rain awful bad. All my sweet corn is just dryin' up… just parchin' under that sun."

"Is that what you raise out there, corn?" Ray asked, waiting for his boss to come around to the purpose of his visit.

"Oh, I raise a little bit of this and that. Main thing, course, is my beef cattle. I'm just a gentleman farmer, and I guess that's a good thing, because it's hard to make money at farming these days."

The girl appeared with two large cokes and Blodgett nudged Ray's elbow.

"Look at that," he said in a husky undertone, "Just look at that sweet little ass on that child!" It was true that the girl's nylon mini uniform barely cleared her tender, youthful buttocks. Ray had actually been too busy to notice her nubile figure before. Blodgett opened the lower desk drawer and brought out a bottle of Jack Daniels whiskey he kept there. He added a generous slug of the amber liquid to each coke.

"Course you got yourself something a lot nicer than that right upstairs," he continued in an aggrieved tone, "Why, man, you're practically still on your honeymoon. But when you get to be my age you sure will appreciate those cute, raunchy little teenagers, let me tell you!" he pushed one of the drinks toward Ray.

"I don't like to drink in the store," Ray said doubtfully as he picked it up. "You know-old ladies come in and smell it on your breath, they spread it all over town that you've taken to drink."

"You're a smart man, Ray," John Blodgett said admiringly. "Yes sir, always lookin' ahead… a damn smart man. You know, I just got the bad news the other day that I'm gonna have to cut down on the brew myself.