Chapter 312

Thursday started with me headed off on the bike. I rode my bike to the Sit Down even though I had the ugly red Chevy in the parking space behind my Downtown House. I didn't need exercise, and I wasn't green conscious, I just enjoyed the slower pace of the bike as I carried me through downtown. Pedaling it along was not a problem, not even in the thirty degree temperature.

Since Sylvia had arranged a meeting at the bank for me at nine, I ate slowly. Sylvia and Peter Gordon were both in school that morning, so I was on my own until noon. I was looking forward to the quiet and solitude, as I always did. Of course it would be shattered by the meeting in less than an hour. The meeting included the Realtor, and Delbert at least. There could easily be others tagging along with either of them.

"Maxine, I come here everyday, and you come here every day, but this is the first time, in almost a year that we are here at the same time." The male voice belonged to Sammy Thomas. Sammy was a patrol sergeant.

"You are right Sammy. I have a meeting downtown in a few minutes, so I delayed the start of my day. What are you doing here so late?"

"Third shift paperwork," he answered.

"I'm surprised that you didn't just run off home," I said.

"Wife moved out. Seems she didn't like me anymore." he said.

"Yeah, a lot of that shit is going around. I'm sorry to hear it Sammy. I am glad I saw you today though. I need a place to show a new employee how to pull a trigger. You got any ideas." I asked.

"Sure there is a private range on Range road," he said.

"Damn, I must have Alzheimer's I knew that. Thanks Sammy I had forgotten about it."

"How about we have dinner one night?" he asked.

"I don't date much Sammy, you know that. If I run into you at the cop out, we can have a drink and dance though," I said smiling. My philosophy was to never piss a cop off unless it was necessary.

"Sure," he replied obviously disappointed.

It was only a few minutes later, when I headed to the old and vacant First Merchant's Bank. When I drove into the parking lot I guessed that the building had been erected sometime after world war two, but not too long after. The bank had vacated it while I was away, so I had no idea how long it had been standing empty. It did matter, the longer the building had been empty, the longer it had gone without proper maintenance. At least it was all brick and concrete so the termite damage was probably minimal.

I noticed that Delbert's ragged old pickup truck was waiting for me. There were three of them inside. "Hey guys," I said as I approached.

"Maxine, I brought a little help along."

"Good the more experts the better," I suggested.

Before they had time to comment a black sedan with magnetic signs on the doors drove into the lot. "I think that is the lady with the key," Delbert said.

"When we get inside, you guys spread out. I don't want her following you around. Give it a good look without any distractions," I suggested.

The bank was three stories and occupied the corner of a downtown block two intersections west of the main cross roads. The preacher had recommended it because it was big, it was already divided into smaller spaces, and it was well built. If it didn't require too much renovation and if the price was right, the building would probably do for a hostel. Half of the first floor was a large ornate room used as the main bank center. It was still set up as a bank with the teller windows in place.

It had a reinforced vault, minus the door of course. There were two vacant elevator shafts standing open and empty, since the cars, doors and even the cables were gone.

There were sixteen offices on each of the two upper floors. The flooring on the upper offices was mostly a thick rubber tile from the forties. The hallway floors were hardwood though. Sure the walls needed painting badly, but all in all It was a nice space. At least it appeared that way to my nonexpert eye.

I took a shit load of digital photos with my built in camera. I would have to remember not to show them to anyone, since no one would have seen me shoot them. The Realtor had a brochure on line with lots of images, so I was covered as long as no one copied my images.

"So Janice tell me, how much does the bank want for this property?" I asked.

"1.2 million," she said.

I laughed, "I can't believe you said that with a straight face. This downtown is past dying. It is totally dead and awaiting an embalmer. I will get an independent appraisal, if the owner is motivated to sell. If not, I'm not going to waste my time and money on this property."

"Maxine, I know you are committed to re-purposing these buildings, so I will advise the bank to look favorably on any reasonable offer," she said.

"Janice first of all this building is never going to be a bank, or an office building again and we both know it. If the bank can find a buyer it will be someone who wants the lot to put a one story strip mall on. No one is going to buy it because they have to take the building down. To reuse the complete building is impossible.

The things is just too damn big for a dying town. There are no sweat shop manufacturers coming to Aster. I know that, you know that, and the bank should know that. Like I said I will take it under advisement and let you know."

"I will impress upon them all the things you have said plus the fact that you will have to renovate it for any use you might make of it. Maybe we can work something out."

"To really work something out they should donate the building. See if they would be interested in that, if I could get some kind of non profit corporation thing going." Where that idea came from I had no idea. It might have been mine, but it might have been from the boys on the farm. No matter it was actually a pretty good one. I wasn't sure that I wanted to tie a million bucks up in a Hostel for students.