Chapter 44

When I got home, Saturday morning, I had several phone messages awaiting me. I turned the phone off again, then went to bed. I needed the rest more than information. Sometime during the falling asleep and the waking, I decided not to see Maurine until the next week. She and I both needed to decide how we felt about what happened the night before.

It was shortly after noon when I crawled out of bed. My head was fuzzy from either too much sleep, or too little. I wasn’t quite sure which. I showered, made coffee, and cinnamon toast.

I sat on the deck and drank the coffee and ate the dry toast. It was my penance I supposed. The plain cinnamon toast wasn’t very good, it was just filling. After I finished my breakfast I decided to check my messages again.

Since John’s was the first message, I called him first. ‘I got your message and we will work on the papers. Call me sometime over the weekend, so we can get the basic information out of the way. That way I can get Porter on it Monday. Love you dad’.

“Me to,” I said to the afternoon breeze.

The next message was from Tommy. ‘Hey I liked your friend. I also enjoyed Lucinda’s little entertainment. The land purchase is an excellent move. You can sign a lease with the preservation group renewable for 20 years. That should give the professor a good feeling. We need to find something you can grow on the land after July first every year. I’m sure we can come up with something worthwhile. Let me know if you need to borrow any money,” Tommy said.

It was nice of him to ask, but I had barely enough money in legitimate traceable funds to complete the purchase. I would need to add even more from my secret savings account over a long period of time to replenish my monthly operating account.

The next message was from Mary Beth. ‘I’m so glad you are seeing Maurine. You will be good together. I’m going to call and grill her for details, so you better treat her right.’

The Last message was from Gerome. ‘I’m calling to ask how you liked the video. I’m trying to decide if it’s ready for utube. So is it ready?’ the message asked.

I sent him the following text. ‘Sure go for it. First set up a non profit to clear any donations. Get the professor to help you. He and Mary Beth will know more about that kind of thing than I do. If you need any legal help, I’ll con John into donating his time’.

I realized when I went inside that I needed to wash clothes. It had been five days since my last laundry day. Which meant I had about as many things to wash as I could handle. Since my kitchen sink was a heavy duty plastic utility room janitor’s sink, I had plenty of room for a few days clothes. That is when they were wet. When they were dry it was a different story.

In the winter I suffered from dry skin, so I showered less often than in the warmer weather. I still change clothes as often except for my jeans. Those I would wear up to three days. So I had about half a sink full when they were completely wet. I had a 1x4 board with a handle bolted onto one end. I used that board as an agitator.

After I washed and rinsed them, I wrung them out by hand, then hung them on the deck railings. I used a plastic coated dog cable as a place to pin my clothes. Even in the winter I found they dried within a day. Unless they were rained on, or they were otherwise abused. To be honest I enjoyed the almost ancient chore. I did laundry the way people had done it for thousands of years. Of course hot and cold running water was a great advance over the local river.