The day started out cold and hard, then went down hill. Oh it heated up as the day went on, but it sure did not get better.

I started to fixed coffee while Jed was outside, then I brought him inside to eat breakfast. I had a bowl of cereal while he had a bowl of kibble. He got a half can of Sam’s lamb and rice blend Dog food with his. I got a few dried raisins with mine.

After that I arranged for a tour of the new building by calling Ester. “Hi Ester. I wasn’t sure who I needed to ask about a tour.”

She sounded a little miffed when she said, “I’ll arrange it. Just wait there and I’ll send an Email with the time and address. I am in the middle of something. I’ll send it soon.”

I waited around all the rest of the morning, since I didn’t want her to wait for me. I didn’t have anything important to do anyway. The email showed up at noon. It informed me that Jason, Ned’s son, would meet me at a certain address at 3PM.

I researched the address and laid out a route for myself. Most people had no idea what was involved in my travels. With that all done, I had a couple of hours to spare, so I did some research on the building the Electric bicycles I planned to create.

The work was all on the computer. I used several different sites and blogs to gather information. By the time I left for the tour, I had a pretty good idea about my space requirements.

I pulled into the parking lot about ten minutes late. The traffic had been terrible which made riding the bike a nightmare. I knocked on the side door, then waited a half minute or so for Jason to unlock it.

“Hello Larry,” he said. “I didn’t think I would be showing you around. Anything I can answer for you just ask. I don’t know if I can, but I’ll try.”

“Well how is the heat?” I asked.

“It’s gas. Since we never had it on, I don’t know how well it works,” he explained.

“Do you have a floor plan?” I asked.

“I’m sure someone does, but I don’t have a clue. Earl and his mom are having some kind of a major melt down. Maybe we can find you one tomorrow.” Jason offered.

“Okay, I’ll just make some notes,” I said.

“Sure look around all you want. The door will lock when it closes behind you,” he informed me. He looked very uncomfortable as he left. It seemed a little strange but the whole day seemed strange.

By the time I left the concrete block warehouse type building, I knew a few things. It was approximately eighteen feet by forty feet. I supposed I could be able to rent about half of it. There was an overhead door in the front, another one in the rear, and a walk up door in the side. The floor plan was going to take some creative thinking in order to comply with the fire code.

I was home for dinner by five. I was able to get Jed’s dinner and have another bowl of cereal for myself by five thirty. The fact that I had started a new diet made it another cold hard day with bran cereal for dinner. The building had literally added a cold end to the day. It was somehow fitting.

It was before six when Jed went ape shit. I hadn’t heard the car drive up, I had been too busy checking out suppliers of bike parts on the Internet. I went to the waste basket in the living room for another short classical weapon. The one I pulled at random was a battle ax from the middle ages. Mine was a replica of course. Still it would easily kill an intruder. I recognized Earl, so I put Jed away before I opened the door.

“What brings you out tonight?” I asked.

“You and I need to talk. I love my mother and I don’t want you to fuck things up for her,” he said.

“Okay, I get that. You have made your feelings known. Now is there a threat that goes with that?”

“Yeah, it’s better to happen now than later, so I brought you a video to watch tonight. I was seventeen when this was made. If you are going to have a problem. lets get it out now.” he said.

“Do you want me to watch this?” I asked.

“Not right now necessarily, but before you and the family enter into anything like a partnership,” Earl said.

“This is awfully mysterious,” I said.

“Just watch it. You’ll get it from the video,” he promised.

“Okay before I make any decisions, I’ll watch it and consider whatever it means.” I agreed. “So no hints?”

“No I don’t think we need to discuss it,” he said. “Now or ever.” He turned and walked purposefully back to his car.

“That was truly strange,” I said to Jed when I got inside.

I walked around the house debating what to do about the video on the flash drive. One thought was that the video was at least five years old. Earl was a kid. His age now was over twenty one. That fact had a lot to do with Ned wanting me to drive the hooch.

What was so bad about a five year old video, I wondered. I finally decided to see if Ester knew that Earl had brought me the video. Before I called her, I got myself a drink made with left over hooch from Ester’s stash.

“Ester, did you know Earl was going to bring me a video? I haven’t watch it yet, if you would rather I not, I won’t?” I asked.

“Yes I would rather you didn’t watch it, but Earl was right. He told me he was going to show you the video, if I didn’t stop seeing you. I didn’t really think he would. I rather you see it now, rather than sit around waiting for the second shoe to drop.”