Chapter 35

Why does time stand still while you are going to class and flies when you are on Holiday? Another thing that is unfair is that on Holiday you can sleep in all you want, but I keep waking up at my normal time.

Once I was up and had done my exercises life did slow down. I sat and talked to Mum and Dad. We discussed my patents and how we just had to be patient. We went over the rental situation. It was coming along nicely. Apparently, there had been a dearth of good rental properties in town. As fast as Dad could get one ready someone was moving in.

The phone rang off the hook that morning. Well, we received three phone calls. Mum took the first call. She handed the receiver to Dad and told him it was Jingles Meyer.

I asked her, “Who is Jingles Meyer?”

She told me he was the water taxi driver who took me to the boathouse.

He was introduced as Dick Meyer to me. “Why is he called Jingles?”

“If you’re around him very much you would know. He has a nervous habit of jingling the change in his pocket. It will drive you to distraction.”

When Dad hung up he told us it was good news. Dick Meyer had unpacked the new Chris-Craft boat hull and it was in perfect condition. If we put one of the engines in the good hull the whole boat would sell for four thousand dollars.

He had managed to salvage the controls and gages from the old boats and they might be worth five hundred dollars to someone rebuilding boats. The hulls sitting there were rotten, from not being cleaned before storage, and would have to be taken to the scrap yard or burned.

The crates with engines in them had never been unpacked. Dick had gone to a boat dealer and looked up their cost in a catalog. They sold new for six hundred dollars apiece. He figured we could get four hundred dollars each at least.

At the dealer, he visited he described the chain hoist in the building. The dealer said he would give one thousand for it if it really worked. There were also tools and welding gear in the back room which must be worth another five hundred.

All in all, we were ahead of the game. The only question was whether or not to keep the boat. It wasn’t really a question because we were all for it. Dad told us he was going to give Dick several hundred dollars for his efforts. From the way Dad called him Dick and Mum Jingles, I knew who was driven to distraction.

The next phone call was for me. It was Doctor Costin. My Dad’s application for the country club had been approved. He had the temporary family membership cards at his office and would leave them with the receptionist for my pickup. He also suggested we plan on going to the New Year’s Eve party. I told him I would talk it over with my parents.

We discussed it and they decided they would like to go. That meant a new suit for Dad, a new cocktail dress for Mum. They decided that I should go with them but they would get a baby sitter for the other kids. If Mrs. Hernandez was back in time she would be perfect if she wanted the job.

This brought up another subject.

“Rick you know that we haven’t attended an organized church since we moved to Ohio,” Dad began. “There were reasons then but things are changing. I hate to be cynical but with the housing business it would be best if we were seen in a church.”

I didn’t remember ever living anyplace but Ohio.

Mum broke in, “Your Dad never attended church as a child. I am Church of England. The closest they have to that here is the Episcopalian. I talked to the priest when we first moved here and when he found out that your father had never attended church on a regular basis he wanted to know if Jack knew how to act in church.”

“I am afraid I said some un-Christian things to him. I also told him that if Jack could have you baptized in a real church like the Church of England with Princess Elizabeth and General Eisenhower present then he would know how to act in his Jonnie come lately religion. That ended any chance of us attending that church.”

“We didn’t miss it but now is the time for business reasons to attend church. It will do the younger children well. At least I have seen you reading the bible, so you have a general idea of what it is all about.”

“Jack and I talked to Pastor Bowers at the Lutheran Church. He seems nice and that church is one thing the Huns have done right.”

With Mum, the Germans will always be the Huns and let’s don’t even talk about the French.

“To make a long story short the family is joining the Lutheran Church here in town. We are going to Christmas Eve services to make our first appearance. That will get us lost in the crowd but some people will recognize us so we don’t feel so strange the following Sunday. You are old enough that if you don’t want to go every week we understand, but we would appreciate your support at the start.”