The Colonel
Copyright© 2026 by happyhugo
Chapter 7
Four days later, Bill and his crew arrived to tear down the foundation of the burned house. When he finished that part, he was looking for filler. The distance to the main road was considerable, and the land never leveled. There were bumps and hollows in that. Approximately five acres of brush had been growing since the house burned, and it was dense and overgrown. “I’ll put a chipper in here and chip it. Placed will be on top of the old foundation and covered with dirt. I’ll pack it well with the dozer and put good dirt on your lawn. Is that okay with you?”
“Fine, how long will this take?”
“A couple of days; contact Paul Butler to determine where the new foundation is to be, and that is where some of the fill will come from. I’ll have a mound when I backfill next to the new foundation. Doing it this way, I won’t have to bring in material from the outside. It’s going to change the look of the property. On the opposite side of the driveway, you strung the white rail fence halfway to the town road. You’ll have a well-defined driveway if you put matching white posts and rails until you reach the section in front of the new building. I sure am glad I won’t be paying the taxes.”
“Molly Burns will pay some of them, 20 percent anyway. We’ve already talked about it.”
“Good for both of you. Things are getting done at a fast rate.”
I called Mother and asked when she was coming to visit. I told her of the progress I was making. I said the Colonel, Amelia, and I were living on the bus, with Amelia cooking breakfast and lunch, and we were going to Maggie’s for dinner in the evening.
“Is there enough room for us to stay with you on the bus?”
“Yes, there is. You can decide if you want a cottage built to live in that you spoke about once. The new house will have extra rooms. I’ve arrived at what I want for the total size. The architect I have hired is working on the room sizes. Molly is to have an apartment on the first floor, closest to the horse pens in the barn. She’ll have a monitor inside the barn that will alert her to any disruptions from the animals.
“The porch and balcony will be the last thing that goes on. A column will be at each end of the balcony, with two columns framing the grand entrance. A column will also be at each end of the main building to support the roof. The front will resemble the width of the main house, with the two outside columns extending beyond the end of the porch and balcony. Looking at it, the main house will appear to have a wing on each end.
What you take from what people think is wings go back to the house’s edge, making the house one huge square building. The two center columns frame the grand entrance and the upper balcony. There are large, tall windows, two on each wing, and four facing out above and below the balcony, back of the columns framing the grand entrance, as well as two more, one balanced across the front, to let in plenty of light. It is a big house with six columns and twelve windows.
“Jim, you seem extremely excited about what you are doing in the South. Tell me why.”
“I don’t know, Mom. I had no idea what to do until Macain and Macain told me I had a significant portion of Grandfather’s property. I don’t even have the dream that Molly has. Thinking deeper, I wanted Molly to have her dream, and I have made it happen. Grandfather was alone in the corner of a busy restaurant when I first saw him. He had nothing; his land was gone, and he had no money, relying on just two people to support his livelihood.
“With luck, I bought a lottery ticket on a whim many years ago and didn’t need the money at that time. Right now, I have no idea what to do with my life or what to do with the rest of it. I do miss the service and its regulations. I’m prevented from staying in the service by the severe injury to my foot.
“I do need a woman, and I thought Molly would be that woman. I’ve pushed away from women before, and now it is just a disappointment that this woman isn’t that interested in me that way. I suppose returning this property to its heyday is just a plaything for me. I’ll finish it, and when that is done, maybe I’ll receive more satisfaction than I feel now.”
“Jim, Bill can get some time off, and we’ll be down to visit next week. Look for us on Tuesday. I’ll phone when arriving at the airport to be picked up.”
“Okay, Mom, I look forward to having you here.” I looked for the Colonel to tell him my mother was coming next Tuesday, but he and Amelia were away. I went into Maggie’s and described her as well. She was especially pleased to be meeting Mom in person.
“Molly will be happy to meet your mother, too. She still has the card your mother sent her when she was ten years old. If your parents don’t want to stay on your bus, they can have the Colonel’s rooms. They are all cleaned up.”
“Thank you. I’ll tell Mom, and the choice will be hers.”
I picked my Mother and Bill up at the airport. I didn’t take anyone with me, thinking that Mother might be a little nervous while riding and unable to talk face-to-face while returning to her former home. Mom sat in the front seat, and I gave her a rundown of the Colonel, Maggie, and Molly. I included how close I was to Grandfather and how well we got along. I told her how close I was to Maggie and how much I appreciated that she had taken care of him all these years.
“You haven’t mentioned Molly, the partner in your property?”
“Oh, we get on with each other very well. Molly will have her apartment in the new house. It will be next to where the horses are quartered.”
“Is there a future in which you are closer than you are now?”
“No, Mom, she made it clear from the first that Molly was my stepsister. I thought for a while we might be close to becoming partners, but Molly is tied up in the horse business, and I have no interest in that kind of work. I will have a horse here to ride; sometimes, when I’ll ride on the trail above the ranch. I’ll have Molly get a couple of horses, and we can ride there while you are here. You must have ridden that trail before, and you can show Bill the whole valley.”
“Jimmy, I remember it, and yes, I would like that. Jimmy, different subject, from what Maggie told me, you have worked hard to rebuild the property so Molly could have a horse business, and it must have cost you untold dollars to provide it?”
“Yes, if you look at what I have done that way; but I did that for Grandfather, not for her. Please consider how much he spent on my schooling and the maintenance he provided for us for years, until you married Bill. That was because Father shirked his fatherly duty and failed you as your husband. I’m down now to providing a nice home for Grandfather, and I have a lot of money left.”
“Jimmy, I’ll bet you haven’t. Bill and I aren’t poor, so we can help you out when you need it.”
“Mom, trust me, I have enough, much more than I’ll ever need, and I’ll tell you how come. I have been rich since I pinned the first bar on my collar. I bought a lottery ticket that day. It would have been for twenty million if I had taken it out over twenty years. That doesn’t sound like much, and the lottery winnings are a lot bigger now, but that amount was huge back then. I went directly into a Brokerage firm and engaged them to manage my winnings. I still own some of the same stocks that one of the brokers recommended. The amount I have now is more than the face amount that I won.”
“Truly, Jim?”
“Truly, Mom!”
“Sarah, I guess you can stop worrying about Jim now.”
“Thanks, Bill. I don’t even tell the local bank how much I am worth. If I need more funds, I call my broker and ask him to transfer what I need. I’m unsure what I will do for the rest of my life, and no one needs to know how rich I am. I can buy a business if I want to, but it won’t be connected to horses. Molly will have to make it on her own from now on.
“Will I be meeting Molly today?”
“I imagine so, because we all usually meet at Maggie’s for dinner. I brought Amelia down from Virginia. She and the Colonel are getting close and may get married sometime soon. You’ll love Amelia just as much as I do. Grandfather asked her to go to a dance with Molly and me soon after she arrived. He is Seventy-six now, but he doesn’t act it. Amelia, a widow at Seventy-two, was lonely and unhappy living in her three rooms.”
“She is the person who injured your foot. I would think you would dislike her.”
“Yes, she is the one who broke my foot, but she lost a lot after that happened. She lost her car insurance, and then the DMV wouldn’t renew her driving license. I invited her to come with me, and she agreed to. She talked about wanting to travel, which hasn’t happened yet. She suggested we buy a travel coach, so we did. She paid for half of it. She, the Colonel, and I will live in it until the new house is ready to occupy. You can stay there with me if you wish, or stay in the house that Maggie owns.”
“Oh, I’ll stay with Maggie. Bill can hang out with you and the Colonel. I’m not sure The Colonel will even speak to me.”
“He will, Mom. He regrets sending you away. That’s about the first thing he said when we met. Of course, he didn’t know Father was as bad as he was then. He thought he had to defend Father for how he treated us. Mom, you must feel that Grandfather ended up treating us pretty damned well for all he was sending us away?”
“I do now. How much further is it? I’ve forgotten much of my living here.”
“Bill, I can’t believe that. Mom gave me directions on how to get to the ranch thirty years after we left.”
“Stop picking on me, and Bill, don’t you agree with him either?” This exchange made us happy, for not much had changed when Bill and Mom found each other and became my stepfather. I was satisfied and loved. I drove slowly through town, and Mom remembered some of the buildings. I guess Maggie had sent her a picture of the diner, for Mom remembered that, and I knew the building was only sixteen years old.
“Not far now, Mom. You’ll likely remember many of the places. Main Street, I understand, hasn’t changed much.” I turned into the driveway. “The original sign, ‘The Colonel Thorp Horse Farm,’ is new. It was gone when I arrived, and there was no need for it for a long time; it was just where kids used to hang out. The driveway littered with trash, and the situation was even worse inside the barn. There are no horses here yet, but the fencing is all-new, and you will know what the fences are here for without asking.”
I slowed down so Mother and Bill could look at the fence. We arrived at the point where the intersecting fence began and headed around the field. I paused, and they saw that I had left a space outside the fence for horses to enter from the driveway and exercise at a fast clip around the pasture. “That was my idea, where more horses could get exercise simultaneously. Before, all the ranch had was the track behind the barn, where the racing track is. Molly can have as many as fifteen horses exercising at the same time. There is room to pass if a faster horse comes up behind a slower one. Molly gets paid by everyone who exercises here.”
“Jim, what do you get out of this?”
“There is nothing, yet, really, except making Grandfather happy. I hope Molly will decide to name Grandfather her consultant and pay him a little out of her pocket. When I arrived, he didn’t have any money at all. When the chimney came down, the money from the used bricks went to him. That tickled him with that. Especially when Amelia arrived, he had enough money to buy her breakfast coffee. Maggie was the one who suggested that I not give him any money directly, for it would take away some of his pride of being his own man.”
“James, I always remember he did want to stand on his own.”
I drove up the driveway along beside the fence. When I reached where the house on the left was, Mother said, “Good, that ugly old building is gone. It looked okay when I first came here, but its shape was ugly. Maybe having to live in it was some reason I wasn’t too happy here — no, that wasn’t the reason, it was to whom I was married.”
Bill uttered, “Sarah, don’t go there, you promised.”
“I know, Bill, I promised, and I’ll keep that promise. James is standing by the barn behind that bus, isn’t he?”
“Yes, Mom, it is Grandfather waiting to greet you.”
I pulled up, and Mom jumped out to greet her former father-in-law. “James, you are looking well.”
“Thank you, Sarah, you are too. You have done a wonderful job raising my Grandson.”
“It was because you ensured I had the funds to make it possible.”
“Yes, well, the Fourth wasn’t doing what he was supposed to. At least Jimmy studied hard and made something that you and I can be proud of. Incredibly, he made Major in the service as soon as he was eligible; that shows dedication. Come inside, Sarah, and we’ll get re-acquainted. You must meet Jim’s friend, who followed him down here on his urging.”
“Good. I haven’t met Amelia yet, but he speaks of her when he calls. I’m sure I’ll love her.”
“You will, and I’m more than half in love with her myself. I’ve even taken her out dancing. Before Jim came home, I had a chair and a small table in Maggie’s restaurant, and my life was over. I felt that way. Look at the ranch, too. Jim has done all of that in just a few months. You have never met Molly, but I understand you have corresponded with her?”
“I have, and we seem to get on well together. You have raised Molly as well as you did with Jimmy.”
“No, that was most of Maggie’s doing. Molly is Maggie’s niece, so she has been well taken care of. I love her about as much as I love Jimmy. She and Jim rebuilt the ranch using his money and her knowledge about horses. I was hoping they might become a couple. It doesn’t look like that is going to happen. Jim isn’t interested in the horse business, and she says she is his step-sister. They still are friends, and I’m satisfied with that.”
Amelia opened the door to the bus and reached her hand out to Mom. “Sarah, please come in. I’ve been looking forward to meeting you. I hope you don’t mind me treating Jimmy as my son. He is the most forgiving person for someone who I injured by running over his foot.”
“Jim thinks of other people before himself, so I’m not surprised you feel that way. Would you please point me to somewhere I can freshen up? I had a cookie on the plane, and the plane was landing before I had time to wash my hands.”
“Certainly, James is treating you okay after so long away from here, isn’t he?”
“Yes, of course. I’ll tell you all about the day I left when we were alone. We always got along until my first husband stopped loving me. I never blamed James, knowing he had to stand by his son.”
“I’m glad to hear that. I like James very much, and I’m serving a pie I made. We won’t be going to Maggie’s for a few hours. I’ll show you the bus after coffee. It is awkward getting around inside. There are several beds in it. James, Jimmy, and I are the only ones sleeping here so far. You may want to sleep in Maggie’s rooms if you don’t feel uncomfortable in the RV.”
I went back outside, where Grandfather led Bill into the empty barn. Brad came around the end of the bus. “There you are, Jim. Is that your father I saw with the Colonel?”
“My Step-father Bill, yes. Stick around; Amelia made pie. You can meet Mother. It has been several months since I last saw her. Is Molly here?”
“Someone brought her a horse to exercise. She is on the long track and will be gone for a while.”
“I’ll see her later.”
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