Chapter 10

cabin tents rented for $25 a day summer.$30 a night winter rate
trailer rentals: larger $75 mid size $60 small $50
John Boyd 28yrs old
Gabby Boyd 25 yrs old.
Alice Boyd current owner of the Gatehouse
Edwardo world famous catfish chef (according to mom)
Joy and Jen wait staff for Alice Boyd’s catering
Jasper Amos hunter, guide, knife make
Sylvia Amos sheriff’s detective lieutenant
deputy Angie Davenport
Marion davenport Angie’s mom
Clyde Summers suicide victim
Edward Gaines suicide victim while serving time with John
Max Bork Gabby’s fancy man
Willow computer geek
Tom Jasper’s cousin and half ass builder
Martin cameraman
Vanessa producer
Walter Pickering Vanessa’s boss
Lamar the mechanic and junkyard owner
Everette mom’s new bf
Greta a camera person for cctv
Manson cctv lawyer

Everything went back to normal for a couple of days. Then from out of the blue Manson, the Country Channel’s lawyer, called. She had the agreement and the check ready for me. She wanted to know when I would be able to meet in their offices. If not that, she wanted to know if she should she send the paperwork to Marcy.

Just to be a prick I asked, “What about the apology?”

“Mr Pickering will make the apology live on our 7PM news show the same night as you sign the release,” Manson said.

“I’ll make arraignments to travel to Marcy’s office to sign, but the apology comes first on a digital file. I want to be able to post it on line. Tell ‘Pick’ it was nice doing business with him,” I suggested.

Everything happened two days later in Marcy’s Grenada Mississippi offices. I signed off and she handed me the check for one hundred thousand dollars. Then I followed Ash to the bank in my truck. Ash made sure the bank verified the funds, then I signed a transfer authorization to transfer twenty five thousand to Marcy’s account in a different back.

“Give the boss a kiss when you get back to the office,” I insisted.

“I just want you to know I’m going to miss the Gatehouse. I had some great fun there,”she said.

“Thanks Uncle Keith speaks highly of you,” I lied to her.

The hour and a half drive home passed quickly as I tried to decide what I would do with the money. I was temped not to do anything with it. I just didn’t know what I would do. I was so used to living in a disjointed environment, that it just didn’t bother me any longer.

The answer came to me while I was emptying the trash cans at the campground. I decided to add a better roof system to the Titan for one thing. The roof support would be no more than an exposed wooden frame. The roof would be slanted forward over the trailer but not touching it. On one side of the deck would be a storage room for tools. On the other side would be a free standing shower addition. The roof could be made from a light weight metal material. One that would be easy to repair or replace after a big wind. The shower addition would require that I walk outside, but I wouldn’t be sharing it, so my phobia would be returned to my subconscious.

Jasper’s builder cousin came to mind for the work. It wasn’t much of a job, so I figured he and Jasper could do it. I had stored all of the plumbing fixtures after the Gatehouse fire in the Circus Tent. Some of them might be salvageable, but I knew that call could go either way.

I did my run upriver about 4PM, so it was pretty cold. I really didn’t like working in the cold, but it was one day closer to spring, I thought. When I went up river lately, I left my cute little phone locked inside the truck. I figured there was a greater chance that I would drop it over board than of anyone stealing it.

When I got home I was able to use my dinosaur computer to check my email and my bank account. I was also able to send Jasper an email advising him I needed to speak to his cousin Tom the builder. After that I checked in with mom. I checked to be sure she didn’t need me to help out with anything. I liked to know at least a week in advance. That gave me a chance to schedule the my work around hers.

I also checked out the pro/con site. It was the usual people whining about the usual things. It was kind of boring, since I usually didn’t bother to participate. Once in a while I spoke to one of the people in the chat room in private. I bother to do that only when I thought I could help them, which wasn’t very often. Once in a long while someone asked me for a private chat.

That night it was someone named Mississippi Delta Dawn. I expected it to be a homosexual, since they visited the pro/con site. I was tempted to close the window, but decided to go along for a laugh.

‘So Miss DD, what can I do for you?’ I asked.

‘Tell me how you survived long enough to get off parole.’ he or she demanded.

‘To be honest I had a very good supportive family. I walked into a new life and it took somehow,’ I typed. ‘The secret, if there is one, is to put some distance between yourself and the temptation. In my case that meant not going back to the town were I was busted. I ended up living on a kind of farm.’

‘So do you miss any of your old life?’ Dawn asked.

‘To be honest, sometimes I do miss the old feelings. The ones I got when I partied all night,’ I wrote.

‘So what do you do when that happens,’ DD asked.

‘I think back on those five years in the joint. Also I remember some of the really bad times before I went inside. Times while I was running outside of the law,’ I wrote.

‘Okay thanks, I’ll try to do that,’ DD answered.

‘Good night,’ I wrote. After that I exchange I drew up a rough set of plans for the addition to my trailer. I hated that I couldn’t move it to the Gatehouse slab, but it would be too much trouble. I still planned to build something there eventually.

By midnight I was ready for bed. Jasper called me sounding more than half drunk. “What do you need Tom for?” he asked.

“To build me two sheds. One one either end of that porch he built for me. One of them I want for tool storage, but one of them is for a shower. That one needs plumbing and electrical. Hell they both need an electrical supply,” I said.

“You gonna be home in the morning?” he asked.

“Yeah, but not to early. I got to take the trash to the Dumpster dump. If I’m not around, just wait a few minutes, I’ll be back,” I said.

“Okay we’ll be there around ten,” he said.

“Sure, you will,” I thought.

When I awoke the next morning I drank two cups of coffee at a leisurely pace. Then had two slices of cinnamon toast with raspberry jelly. When I had wasted all the time I could, I collected the trash. Before I completely finished filling the truck with trash bags, Jasper and his cousin Tom showed up in Jasper’s old truck. His truck looked even worse than mine.

“We are here,” Jasper said. “It was hard to get moving, but we managed.”

“Good, Tom come with me. I’ll walk you through what I want done,” I said as I walked back to my Titan Travel Trailer. “I want one four feet deep by eight feet wide storage type building, on each end of the deck you built. I don’t want them attached, but no more than a six inch gap between the trailer and the storage building. I also want a free standing metal roof over the trailer. Something that wont fall down in a wind storm and damage the trailer.”

“What kind of siding do your want?” Tom asked.

“Some kind of siding that comes in four by eight sheets. Inside one of them I don’t want anything but studs. Its just for tools. The other one I want the door about a foot from the trailer and it should swing in. I also want it hinged on the side closest to the trailer. Then I want a shower cabinet on the other end. The shower building I want fully insulated,” I explained.

“You need a slab floor for the bathroom building. You can get away with gravel on the storage room, but the shower needs to be level and concrete. What kind of roofing material?” he asked.

“I think that forty year metal shit,” I suggested.’’

“Good choice, A quick guess is will run about two to three grand. Take about two or three days plus half a day for the slab,” he said.

“I’m going to hold you to the three grand maximum,” I said. “How much do you need for the lumber. “Three fifty for the lumber and doors. Another two hundred for the roofing material. You know the roof has to be slanted at least a foot.

“Start and eight feet and slope down to seven,” I suggested.

“Yeah I can do that,” he said.

“Let’s take a walk to the Circus tent. I have the shower cabinet from the Gatehouse shower there. I’m not sure you can use it, but it won’t hurt to look,” I said. “It has sentimental value to me.”

We walked to the Circus Tent where Tom made me another deal. If I allowed him to use the shower cabinet, he would install the ugly gray fiberglass janitors sink in the room for free. I told him it was a deal. That sink was two feet by two feet. It was also about two feet deep. It would be perfect for washing small dogs. I though with a secret smile. The deal was struck with a one thousand dollar deposit and the balance due on completion.

“When are you going to need the deposit?” I asked.

“I’ll pour the slab tomorrow, so pay me when I show up with the concrete mixer sometime before noon,” he explained.

“I can do one grand as a deposit, The rest on completion. If you don’t finish, I will be all over your ass,” I said.

“Don’t threaten me,” he said defensively.

“Tom, that is not a threat. Jasper tell your cousin what will happen if he fucks me,” I said.

“Trust me Tom, you won’t like it,” Jasper said. “If he is half as bad as his Uncle Keith is, it won’t be pleasant.”

“Then I think, I’ll pass,” Tom said.

“Fair enough,” I said turning away.

“Hold on John,” Jasper said. “You for sure want this done, so why not do what you did last time. Meet us at Home Depot and pay for the purchases. We will drop them on the site. Then you pay us by the hour. Payment due at the end of each day. Twenty bucks an hour each and we won’t stiff you. No long lunches, I promise.”

“Are you good with that?” I asked Tom.

“Sure, that way neither of us need to worry about getting fucked,” he said.

“9AM sharp at home depot. Bring your list, and a big truck,” I suggested.

“I will be there,” Tom said.

“Good, so will I,” I answered.

The rest of the day was like any other day. The only bad thing was I had to run the line up until dead dark. It was still cold in January, so I was less than thrilled. I spent a half hour just sitting by the fire when I got home. The day’s catch was in the refrigerator until I could get around to the processing of it. I had a little over twenty four hours to get to it. My plan was to get on it after our Home Depot Shopping trip.

Tom showed at at 9:30AM. He was a half hour late. Jasper didn’t show at all. I was not happy about either event. I went along and helped Tom load the carts. We got the blocks and concrete mix. Then we picked up the framing lumber and the outside sheeting. Tom had a truck a little larger than a pickup truck. We went back inside to load insulation onto a cart with the fake interior wood paneling, and the the metal roofing.

Jasper was waiting for us at the campground. He had dug up the water and sewer pipes to my trailer. He also had the sandy soil removed for a trench one foot deep over to my trailer. He and Tom stubbed off the pipes leading to the new construction and turned my water and sewer back on. before they left for the day. the concrete for the floor was poured and leveled, and the four by four posts for the roof were set in concrete.

Since they worked five hours hard, I gladly paid each of them their hundred in cash. I cleaned the catch from the night before, while they worked I also kept an eye on them with the security camera on the lamp post in the campground.

After I settled up with them for the half day, I went up river. I managed to get home before dark. I even got the catfish processed before the cold drove me into the house. I didn’t get frozen stiff as I had the night before.

I did some checking of the news first, then I went to the pros/cons website. Male or female I was happy to see Delta Dawn. I even sent him/her a message. ‘how was your day?’ I asked.

‘I don’t have your zen shit, but it went good. So how was your day?’ Delta asked.

“My last two days have been way too busy,’ I complained.

Then I had to explain why and all the things I had going on. Delta answered as a woman would have, so I was even more confused. We sent messages back and forth for a half hour, then I said goodnight. Even so I went to bed earlier than usual. I was tired from two days of too much to do, and not enough time to do it.

The next morning the two of them showed up early and went directly to work. I left them alone while I worked on the campground trash. Two hours later Joy showed up to clean the cabins. The ones that had emptied since her last visit. She was through in a couple of hours.

The two builders looked at her while they worked. It slowed them down some, but they got the storage shed completed. The concrete wasn’t completely cured so they had to leave after eight hours. I stuck to my scale and paid them one hundred and fifty dollars each. I docked them half and hour for the time they disappeared supposedly to go to the crossroads diner for lunch.

My day went into overtime because of the building shit. I worked on the river until 8 PM. When I got home, I had one nasty chill. I sat by the heater until nearly midnight drinking coffee and trying to warm up. I went to bed still chilled.