Emend by EclipseChapter 2
- 3 years ago
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February 14, 1976
Valentine’s Day is the one day of the year in which couples in love are expected to demonstrate their attraction in some romantic manner. For many, the demonstration should be in a public forum where others can see the expression of romantic love, at least as much demonstration of it which can be performed in public. Flowers, chocolates, and dinner out are classics only because so many lovers choose to do it that way. Or course, that inflates the price of it all. Earnest boyfriends spend four times as much for roses as normal, pay an exorbitant amount for cheap chocolates in a heart shaped cardboard box, and pay through the nose for a lousy meal in a crowded restaurant filled with other couples desperately pretending it is romantic.
As unpleasant and unnatural as a commercial Valentine’s Day celebration might be, there are some lovers who would give everything they own to participate in one. In 1976, a couple of young women staring at each other across a restaurant table with love in their eyes could end up seriously hurt. Society was not willing to accept such things lightly.
This year, Valentine’s day fell on a Saturday. The high school was holding a big dance in the gymnasium. Somehow, the social significance of this dance grew way out of proportion. It had become the must do thing at the school. Even Benny and Tim could not escape the social demand that they attend with their dates. The source of that demand came from the most unlikely person: Mrs. Lancaster.
Benny arrived at the home of Mrs. Gladys Parker dressed in a brand new suit. His suggestion - made partly in jest - that he could wear his orange tuxedo to the dance didn’t go over well. It resulted in a shopping expedition led by his mother that lasted for several hours. He was not the only victim of a shopping extravaganza. Sharing the misery with him, Tim had been accompanied by his mother. They came out of it with new suits and new dress shoes. Now he was wearing his new duds to pick up his date.
He knocked on the front door while holding a bouquet of flowers in front of his chest and a heart-shaped box of chocolates under his arm. It was Valentine’s day and the forms had to be observed. He had not gone so far as to purchase roses, though. He went with the much cheaper bouquet of daisies.
The way the wind was blowing it was a miracle that the flowers were still in one piece. Gladys opened the door and smiled at him. It had been years since a young gentleman caller had knocked on her door seeking to escort a young woman under her care to a major social occasion like a school dance. She remembered those days when her daughter would wait anxiously for some young man to make his appearance, and how nervous the young man would act in the presence of her husband.
“My don’t you look handsome!”
Benny looked puzzled. His nose was swollen and bandaged. He had an impressive pair of black eyes. There was no definition of the word handsome that fit his appearance. He guessed she had to be talking about his suit. “My mother picked this out.”
Gladys laughed. Young men always were nervous picking up their dates for special occasions like this school dance. That was true even if they had been dating for a while.
“Come in, Benny. She’ll be ready in a minute.”
“I can wait in the car,” Benny said gesturing to the automobile parked at the curb. Rather than the van, he was driving his father’s sedan. His mother and father, although it was more his mother, thought his van was not appropriate for a formal date.
“Don’t be silly, Benny. Get in here and greet your date for the evening.”
Benny entered the house. He didn’t understand what was so important about tonight that had everyone so interested in his date. Cathy had been his fake girlfriend since December of 1974, so they’d been supposedly dating for more than a year. Now all of a sudden his mother is taking him shopping for a suit, Mrs. Lancaster is insisting that he bring Cathy to the dance, and Mrs. Parker was flitting around like she expected him to propose to Cathy.
He held out the flowers and chocolates. “What am I supposed to do with these?”
Across town, Tim parked the bright red 1940 Ford Truck in front of Sandra’s house. Carrying a bouquet of flowers and a box of chocolates he walked up to the front door. A gust of wind, coming in at leisurely 26 mph, nearly blew the roses out of his hand. Her father opened the door before Tim reached the porch.
“Hello, Tim. Sandra isn’t ready yet. Come on in.”
“Thank you, Mr. Miller.”
Mr. Miller put a hand on Tim’s shoulder and directed him into the living room. Tim was soon sitting on a sofa, still holding the roses and box of chocolates, waiting for Sandra to make an appearance. Mrs. Miller was standing next to her husband with a large smile on her face. They were just standing there looking at him.
“Nasty weather out there, isn’t it.”
“It was really overcast earlier. I was afraid it was going to rain on your big date.”
“I washed the truck this morning and then it drizzled all afternoon. Now the truck has got water spots all over it.”
“Don’t worry about it. It’s too dark to tell.”
“That truck tends to attract a lot of attention. People can’t resist coming up to it and checking it out.”
“It is a nice antique. You did a great job restoring it.”
Sandra came out of her room looking very pretty. She was wearing a formal gown and her hair had been styled. Tim looked at her hair, thought about the wind, and knew it wouldn’t last to the truck.
“Wow, you look beautiful,” Tim said.
“Thank you. You look in good in the suit.”
“I brought you some flowers and chocolates.”
“The flowers are lovely. I’m going to enjoy the box of chocolates.”
Her mother came over and said, “I’ll put them in some water for you.”
Her father said, “Come on you two. I want to take your picture over here. Stand together.”
Tim and Sandra stood in front of the television while her father picked up his new Polaroid Land camera. They adopted several poses while her father snapped off a couple of pictures. He set the film emerging from the front of the camera off to the side to develop while taking the next picture. Her mother stood off to the side making cheerful comments about the lovely couple.
It seemed like forever passed before they were able to make their escape to the truck. Tim held the truck door open for her and then closed it once she was inside. He turned and waved to her parents who were standing at the door of the house. He got in the truck and started it.
“I’m sorry.”
“Let’s get out of here,” Sandra said. “They’re watching us.”
Tim drove off. After driving for a couple of blocks, he pulled the truck over to the side of the street and parked it.
“I’m really sorry. I know you would rather be with Cathy.”
“It’s not your fault.”
“Maybe we can sneak off after putting in an appearance. We’ll go by the office so that you and Cathy can have a Valentine’s Day date of sorts.”
“We can’t sneak off.”
“Why not?”
“They’re announcing the recipient of the Haley Scholarship.”
“What’s the big deal? They hand the scholarship to some lucky person and that’s that.”
“They’re making it a big deal. They want you to hand the scholarship over to the person. Your mother and father are going to be there. You’ve got to be there.”
“Benny, too?”
“Benny, too.”
“Benny’s not going to like that. He doesn’t like people things and crowds.”
“People are going to expect to see him doing date things with Cathy. He’s going to have to really play the role of attentive boyfriend. It is Valentine’s day.”
“Benny doesn’t dance.”
“Cathy will dance with you for one or two songs.”
“She’ll cry the whole time because she’s not dancing with you.”
Sandra sighed softly. “I feel sorry for both of them. They’re going to be miserable tonight.”
“What about you?”
“I’m okay. We’re more of a couple than they are. We actually have feelings for each other.”
While Tim and Sandra were sitting by the side of the road talking, Benny was still waiting for the appearance of Cathy. She came out of her room with her long hair tied back and wearing makeup. She wore a long red gown that hugged her figure showing it off to its best advantage. It made her look very sexy.
“You look nice, Cathy.”
“Thank you, Benny. You look good tonight, too.”
“Why does everyone say I look good tonight? I’ve got bandages covering a broken nose and bruises that look like the mask of a raccoon.”
“They’re being polite. They’re remarking on your clothes rather than your face,” Mrs. Parker said gently.
“Why? I don’t care.”
Mrs. Parker said, “Oh, Benny. You just can’t help being yourself.”
“I’m me. Who else should I be?”
“Benny, you are who you’re supposed to be,” Cathy said with a smile.
Gladys held up a Brownie Fiesta camera. “Get over there together. I want to take a picture.”
Cathy and Benny stood posed like young couples have posed for the camera before significant dates for decades. After a half dozen poses, Gladys was satisfied and released them to leave for the dance. Cathy and Benny were quick to make their escape. Benny didn’t quite spin his tires leaving, but he didn’t waste any time. He pulled over to the side of the road after driving for a couple of blocks.
“Cathy, I’m sorry that you’re not able to spend Valentine’s Day with your lover.”
“It’s not your fault, Benny. It’s the world we live in.”
“If Tim and I are successful in what we are trying to do, one day a young couples like you and Sandra will be able to go to a dance in public as dates. Until then, I guess you’re stuck with me and Tim.”
“I wouldn’t say we’re stuck. I’d say we’re partners in this.”
“I guess we should get to the school.”
“Benny, there’s something you don’t know.”
“What?”
“They’re giving out the Haley scholarship tonight at the dance. They want you and Tim to be there as part of the ceremony.”
Benny moaned. He hated being the center of attention in public like that. He knew that he’d have to talk nice for an hour or more. He was wondering if there was any way to get out of attending the dance at this late date.
“Will the torture never end?”
“I don’t know.”
“I guess we better get there.”
It was a horrible night for a high school dress up dance. The wind was blowing at 16 mph with gusts up to 23 mph. The coiffures which the young women had spent so much time on were easily destroyed by the wind. Dozens of couples made the long trek from the parking lot only to arrive at the front door of the school looking like a mess. Young women ran crying to the bathrooms hoping that they could undo the damage.
Tim and Benny both looked at the weather and figured that they’d drop the girls off at the front door of the school so that they wouldn’t be exposed to the wind for too long. The two young men met up at the school parking lot and walked to the building side by side. Despite the wind, neither was in a hurry to reach the building.
“I have bad news for you. We’re going to be the center of attention tonight,” Tim said.
“I know. Cathy told me on our way over here that they are making a big thing out of awarding the scholarship.”
“Will you be okay?”
“Do I have a choice?”
“Not really.”
“I know the scholarship was my idea, but I really didn’t think it would turn into something public like this.”
“To be honest, I don’t think a Valentine’s Day dance is the place to announce it. That’s more of a prom kind of thing.”
“I don’t think so. I’d say it is more appropriate for something like a school assembly. Dances are for entertainment, not serious news.”
They entered the building to be met by Cathy and Sandra. They paired off as usual. Mrs. Lancaster approached the four of them. Tim leaned over and whispered, “Even after forty years, she’s still a commanding presence.”
Mrs. Lancaster didn’t greet them with hellos. Instead, she said, “Come with me.”
The two couples followed her to the coach’s office which was near the gymnasium where the dance was being held. They could hear the music through the wall that separated the room from the gymnasium.
“I understand that I have you two to thank for my current position.”
“We thought you’d appreciate the boost to your pension,” Tim said with a grin.
“Thank you, I do. Although to tell the truth, I don’t really need the money.”
“We know.”
“So what can we do for you?”
“You two are a puzzle. Benny you are the most brilliant person I’ve ever met, yet you have all of the personality of a gold fish.”
“I’d agree with that,” Benny said without rancor.
Cathy said, “Benny’s a nice guy.”
“Tim is personality personified. Everyone likes Tim. The only person in the world who should be immune to his charm is Benny. Yet, you became the closest of friends.”
October 27, 1973 It was nearing noon on a Saturday morning and Benny was walking eastbound towards the intersection at which he would turn right to head southwards towards home. He was returning from school after having just finished taking the PSAT. Although he knew that what was going to happen in a few minutes would be important, he was more worried about his score on the test. It hadn’t been that difficult, but it had been a real struggle concentrating enough to get each section finished...
November 11, 1973 After backing the van out of the garage, Benny turned the key off and listened to the engine die. He was afraid that it might diesel or backfire. Outside of a bad muffler and exhaust pipe, the van was running like a Swiss watch. Even his father had been impressed on hearing the van running. “All we need is a muffler.” “Skip agreed to fix it. All we have to do is get it there,” Tim said continuing a conversation that had begun well before Benny had started the van. Tim had...
January 14, 1974 Mrs. Parnell watched the two boys who were hard at work. She was having second thoughts, wondering if she had made a good decision to hire them to clean the office building she owned. They were so young, but they had come across very professionally in selling the idea of contracting their cleaning service. Their professionalism aside, she had been more tempted by the chance to get the cleaning of the common area off her shoulders. The price they had quoted her was...
May 24, 1974 Tim and Benny had been cleaning the two office buildings for five months less eleven days. They had been paid $2,400 so far with another $600 coming in a few days. They had over $800 of that money sitting in the war fund. They had spent some money on paying for insurance, gasoline, cleaning supplies, and a second vacuum cleaner. They had used $600 of that money to buy a 1962 F-150 pickup truck and to completely rebuild it. For most days, the truck remained parked in front of...
August 8, 1974 It was a Thursday and the weather was reasonable. It had started out at 70 degrees at 8:00 when they started mowing lawns and hit 81 when they finished shortly before noon. The weatherman said it would reach 90 in the afternoon, but they’d be done with all of their outdoor activities by then. The worst they would suffer was to drive around in the van which lacked an air conditioner. They had just finished showering and changing out of their yard work clothes. They ate a quick...
September 3, 1974 With the start of a new school year, Tim and Benny were now driving different vehicles to school. Tim was driving the truck and Benny was driving the van. Sometimes they traded off vehicles for situations when one had a need that was better supported by the other vehicle. With school starting, they couldn’t mow lawns first thing in the morning. Getting out at 3:30, they could only get three lawns mowed before 5:00 when they needed to start cleaning the first office. With...
November 24, 1974 It was Sunday afternoon. The day outside was in the high 40s, the sky was clear and the wind was blowing at a nearly constant 20 mph. Taking into account the wind chill, it felt like the mid-30s, it was a good day to stay inside. Tim and Benny were taking it easy at Benny’s house. Now that the weather had turned decidedly colder, they were done with mowing lawns and painting curbs. Their work week now consisted of cleaning office buildings. The good news for them was that...
December 13, 1974 Sandra Miller and Cathy Peterson glared at Tim when he sat down at the lunch table across from them. He had just walked over and sat down without any kind of invitation. Cathy said, “Go away.” “No. I have a proposition for the two of you.” “We’re not interested.” “Yes, you are.” “Are you stupid or something?” “No. In a couple of weeks we will be entering the Christmas holidays. That’s normally a reason to celebrate, particularly since we’ll be out of school for almost...
May 10, 1975 The day was perfect for painting curbs. The temperature the previous night had never gotten below 54 degrees. It was overcast, but there was no rain predicted for the day. The temperature climbed into the seventies around three in the afternoon. It was the first Saturday of the year where they could paint curbs. Sure, there were a lot of days in the middle of the week where they could have painted, but they only worked the curb painting business on Saturdays when homeowners were...
May 24, 1975 Trust is an interesting thing. If you have it, it’s easy to lose. If you don’t have it, it’s nearly impossible to gain. Some people just can’t trust others no matter what. Others shouldn’t be trusted no matter how nicely they smile. When Suzie was five, she broke the cookie jar. Still holding the cookie in her hand, she solemnly swore that she was nowhere near the cookie jar when it mysteriously fell off the counter. Sam tossed a ball through the window when he was seven. He...
May 27, 1975 There was a bit of a chill in the air that morning. The four young people were all wearing jackets to keep warm. The mayor was going along organizing the participants in the parade. They had the fire department with their fire truck, the EMT squad with their new ambulance, and the police department riding front and back. Sandwiched in there were the scouts, cub and boy scouts and brownie and girl scouts. The high school band was there despite the fact that school had ended the...
June 18, 1975 Gladys Parker was born in 1903. At 72, her eyesight was failing, her hands trembled, and she wasn’t as spry as she had once been. She lived alone, but it was getting harder to maintain her independence. Her children had taken away her driver’s license because her eyesight wasn’t good enough. Even she had to admit that she didn’t feel comfortable behind the wheel of a car and had known it was time to stop driving. Her children were pressuring her to sell the house and move into...
August 18, 1975 June, July, and the first half of August had passed with glacial slowness. The weekdays were filled with work, starting early in the morning and lasting until late at night. Yet the money kept growing, slowly but surely. They now had five crews with each crew mowing lawns at four lawns a day and five days a week. Their profit on a lawn was three dollars so they were bringing in $300 a week net. The season would last about 20 weeks and bring in $6,000 in profit. Most of their...
August 22, 1975 During the summer, Fridays were usually the worst day of the week for Tim and Benny, particularly on Fridays before a Saturday which the weatherman had said would be nice. Fridays were already a little stressful because it came at the end of the week after everyone had been working. Then the morning was spent mowing lawns in the heat. After they finished the lawn, it was payday for the mowing crews and paying people actually took a lot of time. The afternoons were spent going...
August 25, 1975 Benny sat up in his bed and then turned so that his legs hung off the side. It was Monday and it was going to be a very busy day. It was the kind of day that was the most difficult for him. He was going to have to be around a lot of people, and they were going to ask questions. He could handle any question they could put to him, but they weren’t going to give him time to think about the most accurate answer. He was always ill at ease in those situations. He pulled off his...
September 5, 1975 It was 9:30 at night and they had just finished cleaning the office buildings. They’d had to let their regular crews leave at their normal time, which had dumped all of the work on the backs of Benny, Tim, Cathy, Sandra, and Terry. They were tired and hungry. They were at a chain restaurant waiting for an overworked waitress to show up and take their orders. Benny and Tim had to admit defeat. There were too many lawns to mow and not enough time or people to mow them. They...
September 14, 1975 “Where’s Benny?” “He’s around,” Tim answered. Cathy was genuinely concerned about Benny. She wondered if his absence had anything to do with the sudden sale of the lawn mowing company. She was convinced that Tim and Benny had a fight, and that Benny had left. “You keep saying that.” “He wanted alone time. I’m giving it to him,” Tim said. “I need to know what happened to him.” Tim replied, “You and Sandra wanted alone time, I gave it to you. Benny wanted alone time, I...
November 16, 1975 Sean McCray stood in the middle of the living room surveying the chaos of the place. He was 62 years old and hoping to retire. His parents had passed away four years ago with nothing in their estate except for this old house. He and his sister had inherited the place, but that wasn’t saying much. His father had never updated anything in the house since he bought it. The house was a white elephant. No one wanted to buy it as it currently stood, and it would cost more money...
November 28, 1975 “I’m going to have to fail your wiring.” “You are?” Tim did not sound at all upset. “Yes.” “Why?” “I’ve never seen such a bad job. It looks like a bumbling amateur did the work.” Because the laws had changed in 1974, the older simple two prong receptacle was no longer allowed to be installed in houses. New outlets were required to use the three prong grounded receptacle. While they had not been required to upgrade the outlets, the old wire motivated them to upgrade...
February 9, 1976 “I had a deal with Principal Haley.” Principal Atkinson said, “Mr. Haley isn’t here anymore. I’m his replacement, and I’m in charge now. You don’t have a deal with me.” “I had a deal with the institution of the school. Principal Haley was its representative. You can’t change a deal between the institution and me.” “Now I represent the institution, and the deal is null and void.” “Why can’t we keep things as they were?” “Benny, I find your absences from classes to be...
June 1, 1976 The school year was over, the temperature was comfortable, the wind wasn’t blowing hard, and it was dry. This was the first day that they could begin scraping the exterior of the lead house. Until then, the weekends had been too cold to work outside, or too windy for scraping, or both. Since they could only work on the weekends during the school year, they knew it would have taken more than a month to remove the lead paint. Now that school was over and the weather was nice, they...
June 23, 1976 Some car models have an appeal that is universal. From the first day they were rolled off the assembly line, to the day the last one remains in existence, there are some cars that are special. One of those cars was the Chevrolet Standard Phaeton. As soon as Tim saw it, he fell in love with it. It was in sad shape, but Tim had to have it. “I have no idea how we’re going to get it out of here,” Benny said in disgust. There was a tree growing through the engine compartment. It...
July 21, 1976 Sean McCray sat at the table next to Tim. He was still feeling a little stung by the dressing down he had gotten from Benny and tended to keep his distance from him. Yet, he had to admit that the kids had delivered more than what they had contracted to pay him and his sister. After paying the commission to the real estate company, he was personally getting $6,911 out of the sale. This was more than he had expected after learning about the real condition of the house. The...
August 17, 1976 It was nearing noon and the temperature had just hit 91. Benny had been walking around the property since 10:00 and he was nearly dead from the heat. He headed back towards the house, wanting to cool off in the air conditioning. He spotted another plant and stopped to hit it with a couple blasts of weed killer, known as Agent White, which the State Police had provided him. He continued on his way to the house. Reaching the back door, he put down the canister next to the door...
September 16, 1976 Cathy stared at the check for $6,893.33, unable to believe that she was actually holding that much money. The house had sold for $44,000 and that was her share of the sale. Sandra had a check for the same amount. Neither one could believe it. They each had another check for $163.23 which was what was left in the account which had held the money to fix up the house. Benny said, “You’re going to get hit with capital gains, but it shouldn’t be that bad. You’ll need to...
November 14, 1976 Cathy placed the plate with the pot roast on the table with pride. It was a crock pot recipe with celery, potatoes, carrots, and onions cooked with it. Mrs. Parker had given her the recipe and watched her prepare it. The dish looked great and she hoped that it would taste great as well. She took a seat at the table next to Benny and across from Sandra. Mrs. Parker was seated at the head of the table with Benny and Tim to her sides. It was a simple gathering of friends for...
November 17, 1976 Tim and Benny assisted Sandra and Cathy in removing their heavy winter coats. The two young ladies sought out Gladys’ family having been invited to sit with the family. The young men carried the coats to the coat rack that was off to the side of the entryway into the funeral parlor. They hung the ladies’ coats and then removed their own. It was a little awkward since they were wearing their winter coats over their suit coats. The temperature outside was a chilly 36 degrees...
December 31, 1976 The temperature outside was bitterly cold. At 4:00 in the afternoon, it had hit a high of 23 degrees. With the gas heater, the temperature in the outbuilding where they were sitting was in the low 50s. They were looking at the 1935 Chevrolet Standard Phaeton admiring the paint job they had just spent $900 on. That was a huge amount of money to spend on a paint job at the time, but it was worth every penny. Benny said, “Mohair seat covers.” “I thought they made sweaters...
July 20, 1977 Benny graduated and, as a result of his parent’s demand, he walked the stage and received a roll of paper that was supposed to represent the diploma. Tim told him that he had walked the first time through, but he didn’t remember it. It was highly unlikely he would remember this time, either. He had spent the walk mostly staring off into space thinking about things. After the ceremony, he went to the office and picked up the actual diploma. With the high school diploma, and his...
July 22 1977 After one day of taking Darvon, Tim swore he’d never take another one. It wasn’t because it made him nauseous or ill. It was just that the light headed detached feeling it produced reminded him of each time they increased his pain killers while he was dying of cancer. For a day or two, he’d feel the drugs, but then the pain would return, and remind him again that he was dying. That was a memory that he’d rather not recall. At the moment, he was carefully painting the trim...
August 17, 1977 It was at 11:14 on this surprisingly cool Tuesday morning when Benny finally received the certificate of occupancy for the house, and he was legally free to move into it. He looked at the slip of paper and put it on the kitchen counter. With a wad of bills in his pocket that was large enough to choke a horse, he and Cathy got into the van and headed to the largest department store in the area: Wal-Mart. Sandra and Tim followed in the truck with Sandra driving. They parked the...
October 19, 1977 The university’s semester was half over and Benny had mid-terms this week. He wasn’t exactly stressed out by them. His math class was a snap. He did have some concerns about the English class, which was taught by a woman who was in love with poetry; and the history class, which was taught by a ‘memorize the event and date’ type of professor. His chemistry class was something new for him, and was requiring him to work at learning new material. He was also taking a government...
November 24, 1977 An odd kind of emotion appears in parents of young men and women who are about to venture out on their own. It is most pronounced during holidays such as Thanksgiving and Christmas. There’s this sense that the family is starting to fragment with a child leaving the nest. As a result, there is a tendency to demand all of the children appear at home during the holidays. Sandra’s parents were coming to the realization that their daughter was already testing her wings in...
February 8, 1978 Snow is a rarity in Oklahoma City. It doesn’t take much snow on the ground to bring ‘the world’ to a halt. It’s a result of not having salt trucks, or snow removal equipment. Unfortunately, it’s seldom just snow, alone. It’s often preceded by drizzle, rain, or sleet. If the ground is cold enough for the snow to stick, it’s cold enough for water to freeze. The result is ice covered by snow. The primary hazard of that kind of weather isn’t trip and fall accidents - although...
April 22, 1978 The prom is a special occasion, particularly for seniors. It’s the last hurrah of high school. This makes it the social event to cap off the entire education experience which — as everyone knows, or should know — is more social than intellectual. It is a big deal and no one wants to show up without a date. Those without a date are more likely going to stay home rather than suffer the social embarrassment of showing up alone. Young men worry and fret if the young woman they ask...
April 25, 1978 Reading the newspaper, Robert Kane sat behind the desk at the pawn shop in his high tech wheel chair. This one, the latest of many, had a motor that pushed it along and a little knob that he could use to steer it. He had lots of things that allowed him to overcome any difficulties posed by his lost legs. It wasn’t that he was lazy, but it did allow him to move around while holding things in his hands. He heard the jangle of the cowbells above the door and lowered the paper to...
June 2, 1978 The weather was nice, but a little cold. It had in been in high 40s and low 50s all night. The wind was blowing, but not too hard. Sunset was around 7:00. Tim and Benny could grab eight hours of work on Tim’s house easily, even making allowance for the fact that they had to clean the office buildings. They could do the same Thursday. Friday afternoon would be spent putting out envelopes for curb painting and Saturday would be spent painting curbs. They would get a full day of...
August 6, 1978 Tim and Benny were sitting in their office chatting. It was one of those few occasions when it was just the two of them. They had felt a need to sit back and assess what was happening. There was a tendency for everyone to gather at Benny’s house to discuss business, but Benny objected to that. It was his home, his refuge, and he didn’t really want business intruding into it. Tim understood. Tim said, “It appears that I’m now a general contractor.” “Don’t you need a license?”...
August 19. 1978 Sandra finally chose to buy a very plain set of furniture for the living room. She managed to find a middle ground between ‘middle aged stodgy,’ furniture and the trendy fashion furniture which was favored by people her age. She avoided the ugly browns, oranges, and greens that seemed to dominate the furniture world, and ended up with a cream colored living room set with matching end tables and a coffee table. She had picked up a cheap dining table from Target. Her father,...
September 2, 1978 Tim woke up and scrubbed the sleep from his eyes. The birds were making such a racket, that sleep was impossible. He glanced over to the other side of the tent, and noticed the empty sleeping bag. Benny was up already. Tim poked his head out of the tent. Outside the tent was a remarkable tableau. Benny was sitting on the bench of the picnic table, appreciating the view of the lake. Three does were standing within twenty feet of him. One was eating some grass at the edge of...
November 11, 1978 This year things were very different for Benny. In the past, he would have worked at the office building every evening from 5:00 until 7:30. It was as regular as clockwork, and brought the four of them together every workday. The four would often eat dinner together after work, but without exception Benny ate dinner with Tim. Since they had sold the business, Benny didn’t have that hanging over his head. Sandra and Cathy were still working there, but were now answering to...
December 2, 1978 For early December, the weather wasn’t that cold. At 10:00 am, it was in the sixties although the wind was blowing at 20 mph with gusts up to 26 mph. The wind made it a lousy day to move. It seemed like anything bulky tried to take off on its own during the short trip from the van to the house. This was a major moving day for three of the four members of the group. Having made the decision to rent out her house, Cathy was moving into Sandra’s place. Tim, having finished his...
January 9, 1979 It was a Tuesday and college was out for Christmas break for another week. This meant that Sandra, Cathy, and Benny were available all day. Tim and Benny had decided that it would be a good time for a business meeting. Everyone was getting antsy about the price of silver. It was oscillating around $6.00 and everyone, with the exception of Benny and Tim, was hoping that marked the beginning of the take off in silver. It was a dollar increase over the past year. Tim and Benny...
January 16, 1979 It was cold that day, but not horribly so for January. It was a Tuesday and Tim was inside the house with his crew working on drywall. It seemed to Tim that his life was settling into a rut. First he’d tear out the walls, fix the wiring, put up new walls, tape them, paint them, and then put on the fixtures. Once all of that was done, the carpet layer would come in and install the flooring. Then it would be on to the next interior. It wasn’t that simple. There was also the...
April 13, 1979 Ted Brooks peered over his half rim glasses to examine Tim and Benny. They had opened their books for him so that he could prepare their tax forms. Their records were first rate and he enjoyed working with them, although the quality of their books was due more to Cathy’s efforts than either of the two young men. It was hard to believe that two guys so young were worth so much. He had watched them slowly grow the net worth of their businesses. He looked over the page that...
June 10, 1979 Happy to be ready to leave, Benny slammed the trunk of his car shut. He had finished packing for his trip to the Chickasaw National Recreation Area where he was going to camp for the next seven days. He had been planning to start this trip back on June 1, but the weather forecast had predicted rain for the next day. He figured he’d put it off for a day or two until the weather cleared. It was a fortunate decision since the weather had been terrible since then and he would have...
June 16, 1979 Tim drove into the park and had to drive around the campground to find the spot where Benny was holed up. He drove around for thirty minutes before he noticed the tent tucked up out of the way. He parked his jeep and walked over to the tent. Benny was lying there, staring up at the sky. A golden eagle was circling above. Benny was watching the magnificent bird. Tim sat down, lay back, and looked up at the sky. The golden eagle was gone. A turkey neck buzzard had taken up in...
August 10, 1979 At 11:00 in the morning, the temperature was already 82 degrees but it felt like 92 and the forecast suggested that temperatures would be reaching the high 90s by the late afternoon. Tim was seated on the step before the front door, waiting for their university guest, Dr. Frank Hennequin, to arrive. The visiting professor was an historian specializing in studies of the French support of the American Revolutionary War. Tim wasn’t sure what to expect, but the professor was...
September 3, 1979 It was Labor Day weekend and, with the exception of Benny, the usual suspects were planning to participate in the annual Labor Day parade. Tim had missed last year since he had met up with Benny who was camping. This year Benny had taken off for lands to the south, for a change. He was heading towards Texas rather than the eastern end of Oklahoma. He didn’t have much experience traveling south like that, except to visit Tim once, in his first life, when Tim lived south of...
November 22, 1979 Benny walked into his parent’s house without knocking. After all, this was his family home and he had been invited for dinner. It was his first visit in nine months. He had begged off on other invitations using the excuse of school or working on houses. There just weren’t too many excuses one could use to escape Thanksgiving. He did manage to surprise the whole family by being early. Not everyone was happy to see him. Upon entering the house, Lana screamed at him, “You...
January 16, 1980 On Thanksgiving day the price of silver had been a respectable $16.19 and everyone in the business of investing was talking about the scarcity of silver. Your average person on the street was becoming aware that something quite unusual was happening in the silver market. The CBS, NBC, and ABC were now talking about the price of silver during the evening news. On Christmas, the price of silver was $24.60. If Thanksgiving dinners had quiet conversations about the price of...
February 22, 1980 The dust was starting to settle as far as silver was concerned. Silver had hit its peak at $49.45 an ounce on January 18, then started dropping precipitously. After thirty days, the price had dropped to $30 an ounce and was still falling although it wasn’t plummeting. People who had waited to sell their silver were upset they hadn’t sold it earlier. People who had bought silver at the high were cursing the drop. Today, Tim, Benny, Sandra, and Cathy were meeting to assess...
April 1, 1980 Tim and Lily drove up the road. Tim knew that he had gone too far when he saw the steel bridge. There was almost no traffic on the road, so he did a U-turn right there on the highway. Coming back they found the dirt driveway to Benny’s property. Tim slowed down and turned onto it. There was a cattle guard across the drive so he didn’t have to deal with a gate. The cattle guard was new. The posts of the barbed wire fence were wood tree limbs cut to size. The barbed wire was...
June 22, 1980 The male half of the wedding party was gathered in the back of the church. Tim was the groom. Benny was the best man. Robert was the groomsman. It wasn’t a very talkative group. Tim was thirsty, but afraid of drinking much of anything lest he needed to go the toilet in the middle of the ceremony. Benny was lost in his thoughts about his new house. It was finished, but the second one for the help wasn’t. Robert was just watching the two of them amused by it all. It was amazing...
September 11, 2001 The landscape around the house had changed significantly over the past 21 years. It was a lawn worthy of a golf course, front and rear. The lawn ended at a gravel path that led down to the river. To one side of the house was an orchard with apples, field pears, peaches, and pecans. There was also a little garden that was still producing vegetables, including tomatoes, bell peppers, beans, squash, and corn (despite the best efforts of the raccoons). Over 21 years, Benny...
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Pornacopia dressed quickly and stopped to look around the room he no longer slept in. The only signs that the room had ever been occupied were the damp towel on the floor where he'd dropped it while he was getting dressed in his red t-shirt and brown slacks, and the open door to his closet as well as the drawers pulled out in his dresser. Pornacopia picked up the towel from the floor and dropped it on the unused bed before he sat down next to it to pull on his socks and shoes. He still...