CommunityChapter 49
- 4 years ago
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Alan’s turn:
“Okay, none of MY business, Alan Dean,” Elise said, “but what do you mean, others?”
“You didn’t look in the bag?” I told her there was a canvas bag in the same cubbyhole as the envelope with the paper money.
“Well, no ... It was under the envelope. Figured it was none of my business.”
“I admire your self-restraint.”
“So what’s in it? Doubloons?” she smirked.
“Close,” I said. “Where’s the key?”
“Back in your whacky-assed cannon,” Elise retorted.
“Lemme go get it,” I said.
I led a parade. Opened the fake electrical panel door, unlocked the door behind it, reached down inside, tugged up a HEAVY canvas bag. Then another.
“Let’s take these inside.”
Parade back into the house. Tina’s got a knowing smile, serene. I’d TOLD her.
“I need a towel out of the bathroom,” I said. Terri bounced off and returned.
“Spread it out on the table.” She did.
I dumped the first bag. Little round plastic cylinders full of coins.
“That’s money, Dad,” Terri said.
“Bingo,” I replied. “Old money. Silver. Dimes, quarters, half dollars. Why would I keep such a thing, Terri?”
“Intrinsic value,” she said. “What’s silver going for today, Dad?”
“It’s been bouncing between sixteen and seventeen bucks an ounce.” I watched my daughter’s face. My ‘walked right through engineering math’ daughter’s face. A couple of minor gears turned.
“So, like, FIFTEEN times face value, for silver content?”
“Correct,” I said.
“How’s she DO that?” Joe asked. “And how much is there?”
“This bag? I think it’s two hundred and forty dollars face value. Call it thirty-six hundred dollars in silver.”
I dumped the other bag. More rolls. And a stack of little plastic holders with the distinctive glint of gold.
“Shit, Alan!” Elise squeaked.
“Leesie!” I chided. “Kids present. First time that Kathy says ‘shit’ I’ll know where it came from.”
You don’t mention Kathy’s name with her standing on a chair by her mom and dad.
“S’it. Aun’ Leese.”
“Kathy!” Tina gasped. “Don’t SAY that. Bad word.”
Sense of humor in a toddler. The eyes explained it all.
“I’m sorry, Kathy-baby. Your Aunt Elise shouldn’t say bad words...” Elise back-pedalled.
“Wub Aun’ Leese,” Kathy said.
“Two hundred silver dollars,” I said. “Five one-ounce Krugerrands. Twenty tenth-ounce Krugerrands. We’ve been meaning to clean the stash out, but right now I’m glad we didn’t. The five thousand wouldn’t’ve been there when YOU needed.”
“Dad? Why?” Terri asked.
“Conversation for later,” I said.
Joe’s looking at me oddly. “Dude, you had twenty thousand dollars stashed in this house and you weren’t here?”
“I knew about it. Tina knew about it. You’d’ve had to tear the house down to find it, otherwise.”
“Or a fire...”
“You have to pay really close attention, Joe. You didn’t notice the wall’s thicker there, did you?”
“No. Guess not.”
“Insulation. High-temperature stuff. You could’ve burned this house down TWICE around it and not damaged the paper money. Now, if you really wanna see something...”
“You have my attention,” he said.
“Mine too,” Elise mirrored.
“Let’s go back in the garage, then.”
Parade back out the door.
“Help me clear this shelving unit off.”
Joe and I moved a bunch of the standard things one finds on a garage shelf. Paint. Lubricants, couple of boxes of odds and ends.
“Let’s pull this out of the way.”
We moved the shelf. I picked up a powered screwdriver and started pulling screws that were holding a plywood panel. Finishing, I got a pry bar.
“This’ll swing,” I said, and I pried the edge of the panel I’d just unfastened.
“You really ARE nuts, brud,” Elise said. “What’s all THIS?”
“Coupla cheapo AR-15s. Few magazines. Couple of thousand rounds of ammo... 22 rifle. More ammo. Old shotgun. More ammo.”
“And this is stuff you just stuck in the wall and ignored?”
“He’s got the same toys back in Alabama,” Tina said.
“Yessir, Uncle Joe. I’ve shot ‘em,” Terri said brightly. “It’s fun. I’m actually pretty good, too.”
“Any other surprises?” Elise asked.
“Well, there’s the emergency food supply in the pantry...”
“THAT I sort of understand, although – how much?”
“Family of eight for six months,” I said. “Wouldn’t be GREAT food, but it’s better’n nothing...”
“You’re one of those survivalists...” Joe said.
“I could take offense at the tone, Joe. I had the money to do this. Didn’t deprive a soul of a thing, and with hurricanes around here, being ready’s a good idea ... You remember evacuating your family, right?”
“Oh, yeah. But when we came back...”
“I just wanted to make sure that if something happened, I was prepared to take care of ... Well, YOU guys, at the time. Now I’ve got Terri and Tina and Kathy, but at the time, it was to take care of my immediate family, which includes you and Elise and the girls.”
“Well, it’s kinda nuts...”
“Look, when the divorce was final, all I had to do was make sure Terri had everything she needed, and I fixed this place up in between projects. This is the result.” I looked at Tina. “What was I supposed to do? Chase women? Look what I caught without trying.”
She popped me on the arm.
“Indeed.”
“I think he did good,” Terri said. “Can’t imagine better.”
We went back into the house, stopped at the table. Tina picked up one of the one-ounce gold rounds. “Pretty.”
“And gold,” I said. “Not the best investment...”
“We GOT investments,” Tina said. “But it’s all on paper...”
“Yeah, Dad...” from Terri, who’s got seven figures spread over several different financial tropes. “Is that why we built that thing in our new house?”
That ‘thing’ was a floor safe. When we get back to Alabama, this pile’s going in it.
The next thing on the agenda was roughing out our plans for the financial operations of my sister and her husband.
“Guys, don’t think you’d hurt my feelings if you DON’T want to buy this house. Seriously, stay here for as long as you want. Go find another house ... But I’m – we’re – not trying to make a profit here. You get a lot of house for your dollar.”
“You don’t have to answer right now, guys,” Tina said softly. “Take your time. We’re in no hurry.”
When we left, heading to our hotel for the night, there was me, driving, Tina beside me, and Terri and Kathy in the back seat of the SUV we rented.
“Dad,” Terri said, “I got questions about some of the things I found out about you this evening.”
“About what?”
“Being prepared like that.”
“It’s not a special thing, baby,” I said. “We have to think past the ends of our noses.”
“I want you and me and Tina and Jerry to talk about this. I don’t think Jerry’s thought about it.”
“Did YOU think about it?” Tina asked. “I think that if Terri thinks about something Jerry thinks about the same thing...”
“Yeah,” Terri said, her voice taking a wistful tone. “We talk. I guess the subject never came up, though...”
“It’s just PART of life, baby,” I said. “Having cash on hand – part of finances. Same thing with having a bit of hard money. Not your WHOLE savings, just a piece. Kind of like having a fire extinguisher. That extinguisher’s not part of your décor. It’s not gonna make you money. Not gonna impress people. But if you ever NEED it...”
“By the way, sweetie,” Tina said, “we’re chasing Mandy and Cindy and Dan 1.0 back to Alabama tomorrow afternoon.”
“Huh?”
“Cindy’s delivering that Cessna 152 in the morning. Well, she’ll be here around noonish. Drop it off here at Dukes Field...”
“I like it,” I said. “Dukes Field. Has gravitas.”
“Gonna be a neat place. Saves the ramp fees at the other airport,” she said. “We’re still arguing about fuel.”
“Well, we’re a whole five miles from a big airport. Got both gas and jet juice.”
“Yeah,” she said. “But if we can knock a buck or two per gallon...”
“True.”
Cindy’s turn:
I can’t help it. I really LIKE having a teen sister.
“Your choice, Mandy. You can stay here with the rest of the Munchkins at the lab or you can come with me...”
“Where’re we going?”
“That little Cessna Wally’s had in his hangar?”
“Yeah. Said he was doing an annual inspection. Talked to me all about it.”
“Wally’s a good ‘un,” I said. “So anyway, that plane’s gotta end up in Louisiana at our new airfield tomorrow. I’m gonna fly it. Dan’s gonna follow us. We’ll drop it off, have lunch, then fly home.”
“Lemme make sure Mom and Dad are okay with it.”
“I like that, you know. They’re ‘Mom and Dad’ to you, just like that.”
“How should I be, sis? Can you begin to imagine what COULD have happened?”
“I know. Your life. My life. Stuff of fairy tales.”
So the next morning I’m walking Mandy around the little red and white plane. It’s two-thirds the size of our old 180, and it’s got tricycle gear instead of a tail-dragger, making it more like everybody else’s planes. Dan and I had the only tail-dragger.
Of course Stearmans are tail-draggers. But that’s another story, okay. We more or less promised Mister Dukes that the Stearman’s gonna live in southwest Louisiana, and just seeing the old guy’s face light up when he saw it, there’s no way I’m gonna go back on my word with him.
But we bought this little trainer. We had the radios upgraded and added an audio panel for intercom. Makes conversations a lot easier.
I’ve flown a lot of hours in a 152. We use ours here for instruction. However, Mandy’s still a bit apprehensive, so she’s in the right seat.
Dan takes off behind us. We form up in a loose pair in the air, and Dan pulls the throttle on the 180 back from its normal hundred and forty-five knot cruise to a sedate hundred knots, our cruise speed. Sixty-five hundred feet cruising altitude and not the least hint of autopilot.
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Alan's Turn: One might imagine that in the aftermath of the restaurant robbery, things might be in a turmoil. To a certain extent, one would be right. I'm fortunate. I have immediate family, my Tina and my Terri. I have my full family, and Tina made sure that she talked with my sister about the incident. And I have the Community. "You gonna be okay, buddy?" Dan 1.0 asked. "Yeah. Am I supposed to be all weepy or something?" He shook his head. "Not like you had any choices." "You...
Dan Granger's turn: I have to laugh. I tried very hard NOT to burn bridges when I left my old job. It paid off. Steve called. "Hey, Steve, what's up?" "You ready to come back?" "Not funny, Steve." "Seriously. One of our clients specifically asked if we'd subcontract you so you can come in and do some stuff for him." "What and when?" Steve gave me the run-down. I wasn't too surprised. Big facility. I'd done a similar scope for part of it prior to moving to Alabama. Now...
The World According to Susan: I am officially ready for a break. It's almost Christmas. I almost hide when I see my math professor. That's okay, though. He almost hides when he sees Cindy. Jason's right there with me, though. He's tested out of some classes and he's gotten transferred credits for a lot of things he took for his technology degree and if he does a summer semester next summer, he just MIGHT squeeze his way onto stage with the rest of us. I hoping. He deserves it. We work...
Cindy's Turn: I finished, well, actually WE finished a Skype session with Kara. This time it was me and Nikki and Kara. I turned to Nikki. "She's a sister, you know. Should be part of the Community," Nikki said. I'm glad Nikki said it first. I don't want everybody to think I'm running this show. I'm certainly not malicious or anything, but everybody contributes in this effort. "How do we make it happen?" I asked. "She's music, not engineering." "We had Mizz Patel handling...
Bill Carmody's turn: Interesting turn of events, I think. Two years ago I had Dan Richards on my power plant project. I knew him and Alan Addison from a previous power plant project where we were engineers, all three of us, on the same project. They're technically beyond reproach. Now I'm on THEIR payroll. 'Their' is, of course, 3Sigma Engineering. We're redoing several rural substations in Georgia. I ride herd on contractors, mainly, and make sure that they adhere to plans, and I...
Bill Hardesty’s turn: I’ve just become Bill 3.0. Cindy officially conferred the status upon me. “Bill 1.0’s my adopted dad. Bill 2.0’s Haley’s husband in Louisiana. Since you’re part of this now, you shall be Bill 3.0.” Which is fine, except to Herself, the Vickster, I’m ‘Billy’. “Cindy said you were ‘Billy’ when she first met you.” “I was. I like to think that I’m mature enough to be ‘Bill’ now.” Sparkly eyes. “Not ‘William’?” “Bill.” Snicker. “Billy.” That snicker is one reason I’m...
Beck’s turn: First thing I did when we got home is call Mom. “Hello, my lost daughter,” Mom said, using her best ‘poor me’ voice. “Did somebody go into the hospital? It is not yet Saturday.” “Mom, your GRAD-daughter...” ““GRAND daughter,” Mom corrected. “My grand-daughter the millionaire...” “Your grand-daughter the research scientist...” “What has become of her now?” “She’s holding a letter in her hands that says she’s graduated college with a degree in engineering.” “My...
Teresa’s turn: Mom’s totally destroyed. I’m standing on a pedestal, a seamstress, a REAL seamstress, is taking measurements for my wedding dress. “Mom, stop crying, for heaven’s sake...” “Every time I think about you getting married,” Mom sobbed. “It’s the expected progression in life. Grow up, leave home, get married...” “Finish college is in there somewhere,” Vicki said. She’s my co-conspirator. We’re getting married the same day. She’s tagged my little brother, a big surprise, since...
Susan's turn: I'm waiting for the aliens to show up. Here's how I figure it will break down. Nikki and Cindy will work with Terri and Rachel on the Star Wars squirrel denial system. They'll actually GET that 95 gigahertz transmitter, and in the process of modulating its output so that it only severely annoys squirrels instead of cooking them on the spot out there in the yard, they'll transmit a signal into space where it will be picked up by an alien spacecraft. The aliens will come...
Bill Carmody’s turn: Yesterday’s wedding was a delight, especially watching my NEW daughter (!) and Cindy, my original daughter, looking and acting very much like twins. Can’t help but grin, just thinking about it. Both of ‘em have a little fire in their eyes, and when they’re together, you can nearly SEE the sparks flying between them. Couldn’t have asked for a more unlikely development, right up to matching green dresses they bought together for the wedding. And my phone buzzes --...
Tina's turn: "What's so funny?" my husband asked. "Stoney and Jo are coming back and they're still flyin' that Pitts." "Did they buy it?" "She says 'no', but two trips, you gotta wonder." I giggled. I know the real reason. A combination of scheduling conflicts and weather had kept us from holding the weekend airport social and landing contest. The social, however, now had a few outside participants. I mean, it was bound to happen. We don't exist in a vacuum. On any given...
Cindy’s turn: 0700 for a wake-up. The alarm caught me when it went off. Sometimes I’m drifting between sleep and awake, but not this morning. I finally got to sleep, found out that Dana’s a kicker, so I kicked back. When the alarm went off, I let it roll for a bit, listening to the whines and other sounds of the gang waking up. I killed it, turned to get out of bed, but was a bit slow. I saw a T-shirted Rachel flash by muttering “bathroom...” Well, at least with two rooms we can split the...
Tina's turn: I keep telling myself that Bot-bot is not a real pet. I only wish I knew what was going on in my little girl's mind. Parse that statement, won't you? I have a stepdaughter who's ten years younger than me, who is probably past me in some ways, academically speaking. I know she does things with technology that all of us in the community wonder about. What went on in her head that caused her to take a mobile squirrel repeller platform and convert it into a pet? Yeah, I know,...
Tim's turn: I'd be a janitor for 3Sigma after seeing how Vicki and Kim fit in here. I'm THAT happy. That whole 'divorced dad' thing is horrible. I mean, you talk with your daughter on the phone once or twice a week, trying to stay up with what's going on in her life, and then you get a week or so for Thanksgiving or Christmas and you get a few weeks in the summer. A week was BAD. I don't know little girls. Until this past year, I didn't have my own place, so we cribbed up at Mom and...
Donna's turn: Do you know how to bring on pure pandemonium in my daughter's little community? Let me tell you. Saturday nights are the big night for music. Everybody's usually there. Well, sometimes we add Stoney and Johanna, sometimes Jason and Susan are off visiting one set of impending grandparents or the other. This particular weekend, though, we're all together. Me and Bill, we have our own swing there. So we laugh and sing and dance and then there's a break and my Bill stands...
Terri's turn: I really DO love my mom. I'm speaking of my natural mom, the person who carried me for nine months, then gave birth to me. I did not and still do not understand why she left Dad for Mister Martin. I know both men and there's no comparison. Tina tells me that there are things that go on in people's hearts and heads that are not easily defined. Defined. If you define 'step-mom', it means the woman who marries your dad. That's Tina. Dictionary definitions are so...
Nikki's Turn: Mommyhood hangs over us all. Don't get me wrong, I am in no way disparaging FOUR new mommies. Let's run down the list. Susan 'n' Jason have little JW – Jason Wallace, named after him and his dad. Alan and Tina have Katherine Genevieve – after nobody in particular, but Terri is forbidden to call her Kathygen. Johanna and Stoney have Randall Stonewall, and Mister Bill and Mizz Donna have Cindy's half-sister Elise Ann, a whole two days old. I'm likely to be the next. My...
Still Nikki’s turn: I squeezed Dan’s fingers. “A bit of bad luck, this,” I said. “Baby, be so kind as to hand me my iPhone. I need to get the news out.” Dana’s turn: We’re a pretty connected group here. I mean, everybody’s always texting and posting updates during the day, so when I got one from Nikki, I knew where she was supposed to be – on campus with the munchkins. I thought I’d see another ‘you won’t believe what Terri (or Rachel or Vicki) just did’ post. It wasn’t. I’m at the...
Derek’s turn: This is trouble. Wonderful, happy, delightful, ecstatically wonderful. But trouble. I knew what was going to happen when Rachel called me to help her feed Dana’s cat. Empty apartment except for me and Rachel and the cat, and the cat gets petted while I’m sitting next to Rachel and the cat leaves and Rachel turns to me. I like kissing her. I like holding her. We talk about everything. Tara says we’re too young to have a past, but I’ve lived through a car wreck and the loss of...
Cindy’s turn: It was just another morning in the office when the phone rang and as Maddie was occupied, I answered it. “3Sigma, this is Cindy. May I help you?” “Cindy? Good, it’s you I wanted to talk to.” “Hello Mizz Patel. What’s going on today?” “Would you mind if I drive out to your office? I’d like to talk about something in private.” I noted that she didn’t have her normal happy lilt. “Of course it’s okay. You’re always welcome here.” This was unusual for her though, so I added,...
Tara’s turn: We did it. Derek and I talked. He agreed, but honestly, I’m the adult in this equation, actually his legal guardian, and he would have had to go along with my plan. However, a certain pre-teen Jewish princess seems to have gained my little brother’s eye. I think that if we HADN’T decided to move, he might’ve hitched a ride back here. The apartment. Cindy and her Dan used to live here. It belongs to the corporation. They told me I could paint it any color I wanted, but honestly,...
Dana’s turn: I’m lying in bed in that wonderful cusp between awake and asleep at the end of a very good day. Cindy’s done her presentation at NASA, and to my knowledge, they haven’t yet recruited her for a space mission. Nikki’s been, well, Nikki, and she’s a superstar in her own right, maybe a little more sane than Cindy, but those two are a binary system, both bright in a way I never witnessed until I found her sitting across the table from me and Ed one night at dinner. And...
Nikki’s turn: I managed the stress of Mom’s interaction in my life quite well, I thought, right until Mizz Donna met me at the plane and hugged me. Then the floodgates opened. “What was I supposed to do, Mizz Donna?” I sobbed. Poor Dan. He’s standing behind me, wanting to do SOMETHING. “Darlin’,” she said comfortingly, “You did the right thing. World’s full of assholes. I used to be one, so I know...” I heaved a wordless sob. Mizz Donna was hugging me, Dan’s hand was touching my...
Kara’s turn: The world NEEDS a pregnant fiddle player. That’s what I told Dear Old Dad when I broke the news to him. “Dad,” I said, “I have a wonderful, successful husband and it is only right that we present you with grandchildren.” I heard a definite sigh over the phone. My dad. I’m trying really hard to conjure (one of Johanna’s words) a vision of business-suited Dad bouncing a grandbaby on his knee. “You make me regret that I didn’t make myself a bigger part of your life, Kara...
Nikki’s turn: We’re still talking about new toys, right? Cindy was PIC for the flight back from Colorado with the new plane. Fair enough. After all, Cindy IS ‘Cindy of the Skies‘. When we landed, though, we had the entire community standing there waiting on the arrival. It’s a big deal. Cindy exited first. Me? I stood in the door, my butt still inside indescribable luxury and newness, and said, “Okay, who wants a ride?” We have seating for eight – one of their ‘executive’ options – plus...
Cindy’s turn: Tina started this volume. I get to finish it. Christmas season. Or Chanukkah, because we have a sizable Jewish contingent now. It’s been quite a good year in a million ways. Okay, SEVERAL million ways, financially speaking. 3Sigma’s original business, engineering, is now engineering and construction, and we regularly berate ourselves because we’re bursting the seams on our SECOND building since the company started. Millions going into various accounts, and some of the happiest...