It was cool in the morning, with dew on the grass, and I looked around at the neighborhood, such as it was. We were a couple of miles west of Commercial Drive, and the area was fairly rural. There were a number of dairy and vegetable farms in the immediate vicinity. While I wasn't sure, I figured I was about three or four miles from the Oriskany Battlefield, max. I took off at any easy lope down the side of the road. There wasn't much traffic at this hour.
I kept the pace down for the first mile or so, before picking it up a notch, and made it to the battlefield in about half an hour. It was definitely warm enough by then, or I was warm enough, that I took off my shirt and carried it. Once there, I wandered around in the parking lot, not that there was much to see. The Battle of Oriskany was one of the opening salvos in the Saratoga Campaign in the Revolution, but it was a small battle and not very well known. There isn't even a visitor's center, just a monument and some memorial plaques. After about ten minutes I ran back to the Lefleur house, and tried to up my pace, so that I had a good sweat going by the time I got there. I made it back about 7:15 or so, just in time to find some of the older Lefleur boys wandering around the parking lot.
I wiped my face with my shirt and walked up to them, blowing out and cooling down. It was Mark, Luke, and Gabriel, and they were looking at the old rust bucket Galaxie. "Hey guys, what's up?", I asked.
"Where've you been?", asked Gabriel.
"Out running. I try to run or work out every morning." I wiped my face off again.
"Where'd you run?", asked Luke, looking around the yard.
I pointed down the road. "I ran down to the battlefield and looked around, and then ran back."
Luke stared at me. "The battlefield? The Oriskany Battlefield? That's, like, miles away!"
I nodded. "Yeah, I guess so. It's three, three-and-a-half miles or so. I wasn't measuring it, but I left here at six, and I didn't push it. I guess that's right."
Luke kept staring at me, and Mark, true to form, said, "Bullshit!"
I just smiled at my once and (hopefully) future brother-in-law, and I shrugged. "No, no bullshit. Come down and join me tomorrow morning. It's a nice morning run. Or we can do calisthenics for an hour. You choose."
Mark didn't respond, but Gabriel asked, "Why?"
I leaned back against my car. "Oh, a bunch of reasons, but really, only two. First, I'm going to be a soldier. I need to be in shape. Second?" I hooked my thumb towards the house. "Girls like a guy who's in shape."
All three of them groaned and rolled their eyes at that, especially when the door opened up and Marilyn stuck her head out. "What are you doing out here? It's freezing!"
I waved at her and I smiled at her brothers. "Like I said, there's benefits to being in shape."
"What's that on your neck?", asked Gabriel, the youngest of them.
I grinned at that. I winked at the boys and answered, "Ask your sister." Luke and Mark just groaned in disgust, but Gabriel was mystified. He wasn't quite at the age where girls mattered.
I headed towards the door with the boys following.
Needless to say, the hall bathroom upstairs was occupied when I got there. I just sat down on the floor and waited. Eventually it was free and I got inside before anybody else got any smart ideas. I made it a quick shower and shave, and then changed into clean khakis and a sports shirt. I grabbed my stuff and went back downstairs; the bathroom was filled as soon as I left it!
I found Marilyn and the three boys in the kitchen with their mother, along with a couple of the smaller kids. Marilyn looked at me curiously, and said, "Gabe says there's something on your neck?" Behind her, Luke and Mark were damn near breaking up with laughter, and Harriet was eyeing us curiously as well.
I just gave her an innocent look and shrugged my shoulders. "No idea what he's talking about, hun." I leaned in and kissed her quickly. There was a basket of apples on the corner table, and I grabbed one. "Want one?"
"No thanks. So, you went running this morning? Down to the battlefield?"
I nodded as I chewed a bite of apple. "I wanted to make sure which side won. I'd hate to find out I was rooting for the wrong side all these years."
Rafe popped up. "General Herkimer stayed in the house!"
"Really? General Who?"
"General Herkimer! After the Battle of Oriskany!"
I nodded in understanding. The farmhouse was at least a couple hundred years old, and in dilapidated condition almost the entire time. I remembered vaguely that Herkimer died of wounds after the battle. "Did he die here, too?"
"That would be cool!", came from Rafe.
Marilyn said, "Yuck!"
I smiled at her and nodded towards her brother. "Boys!"
"Very funny."
"Come on, are you going to show me around? I want to know all about trailers."
"HOMES! They're homes, not trailers.", said Harriet.
Yeah, Harriet, I know. We used to call it the T-word, sort of like the F-word and the N-word. I spent enough time in the business to call them any damn thing I wanted to. "Yes, ma'am." I leaned over to whisper directly into Marilyn's ear. "Trailer, trailer, trailer."
She gave me an elbow to the ribs, and whispered back, "Behave!" I just grinned at her. When she was done with her cereal, she put her bowl in the sink, and grabbed my hand. "Come on, let's go."
I grabbed another couple of apples and stuck them in my pockets, and followed her out the side door. She was already describing anything and everything in sight. It was a pleasure to hear her talk. She loved her family, even though she wasn't totally in love with the trailer business. I was the one who ended up working there full time; she never became more than a gofer.
In most ways, this was because of Big Bob. Women were second class to men. He was a very traditional sort of father and businessman. It was very curious, in a way. He often hired women for sales positions, which were the highest paid positions in the company, but it was because women were better at the touchy-feely sorts of things in house hunting. He never once promoted a woman to a management position, and his own daughters never rose higher than part-time secretary. Marilyn's jobs were cleaning lady, trailer escort, secretary, and general gofer. Sarah and Miriam understood this immediately, and it was why they went to school and never got into the business. Ruth never had any choice; nobody else would ever employ her.
I will point out that his sons, the second generation to own the company, never had this problem. We frequently had women in various management positions. Big Bob didn't like that, but after he sold it to us, he didn't get a vote.
Marilyn led me on a tour of the facility. The office was a metal sided double-wide that had seen better days. There was a gigantic warehouse full of parts. There were about a dozen or so trailer homes of various sizes, and another couple of dozen used trailers further back, and to one side were three double-wide trailers. It took me back in time. These homes were state of the art in the trailer business at the time. Lefleur's had a reputation for only carrying high end trailers, and the brand names were like a time machine for me.