Chapter 9

I had been out on a bike for the last two hours and was finally pulling into my own little bit of the American nightmare. Home ownership proved to be less attractive as I went along. I suddenly had a leak in the roof. I found it during the second day straight of a gentle rain., Okay, since the interior roof deck was dripping water, I should have called a roofer when it stopped raining. I didn’t only because I needed to ride my bike. Again, I had to ride the mountain bike. After an hour and a half I was exhausted. Especially since I came home while trying to outrun another minor rain shower. Since I was caught out in it for fifteen minutes, it soaked me to the skin.

When I got myself and my bike inside, I discovered a small puddle of water on the floor. That of course reminded me to call a roofing company. The need of a roofing company reminded me I needed to call Tonya. She had asked me over for dinner earlier, I hadn’t been ducking her. She just never asked me again. If it didn’t rain more, I planned to ride the bike to her diner that evening. Yes technically it was her uncles place, but in my mind it would always be hers.

She wouldn’t be there of course, but the diner had a really nice fish sandwich plate special that night. I called her cell phone, “Hey Tanya, would you like to go to the diner for dinner tonight?” I asked. “Call me.”

I waited until five before I headed out again on the bicycle. I made it there before it rained. It was almost six when I found myself staring at the bulletin board with the customer’s business cards held by push pins. I found three companies and took a card from each, then went to have the Alaskan Whitefish sandwich. It came with coleslaw, French fries, and of course free iced tea.

My waitress was none other than Tanya. “What the hell are you doing here?” I asked.

“One of the waitress’s kids had to be rushed to the hospital. I came down to finish her shift,” she said.

“I’m sorry to hear that,” was my reply. “I called to invite you to dinner. Now I know why you didn’t answer.”

“How about we make it for breakfast. I’m not going to open tomorrow, and Sarah is spending the night with my mom and dad,” She said.

“You got it,” I agreed. “It’s good that your parents will step in like that.”

“I guess it is, but if they are busy, I have a couple of sitters who will work a few hours,” she said.

“It’s still nice that they help out,” I said.

“Yeah, so anyway I’ll come by from work, if that is alright?” she asked.

“You know it is,” I replied much too quickly.

After dinner I left her a nice tip, then rode the bike home. I was back in the house well before nine. I immediately went to the shower. It took only a few minutes to wash the sweat off. I was back in the office part of the living area when I heard her car in the drive.

“Hello,” I said as I met her at the door wearing cutoff jeans and a faded black tee shirt.

Instead of answering me she kissed me. “I needed that,” she said after she broke the passionate kiss.

“Now that’s what I call a greeting,” I noted with a huge smile. “So how is Sarah?”

“She is fine,” she said a little deflated.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

“I come here expecting to forget, least for a while. that I have all these responsibilities. So the first thing you do is ask about Sarah,” she explained.

“I was just trying to show an interest in your life,” I suggested.

“I understand, but sometimes I just want to forget my life, and be free again,” she said.

“Okay then, we will declare this a no reality zone,” I suggested. “Inside the house anyway.”

“Fair enough,” she agreed. “Oh I have news for you. You need to buy that air conditioner, if you want this to be my fantasy place. It’s going to be over a hundred degrees next week.”

“Oh you don’t like being all sweaty when you do the dirty?” I asked.

“Not really,” she said with a grin. “It’s sorta cool now, but it’s going to be unbearable soon.”

“Before you come back again, I will have an air conditioner, I promise,” I informed her kissing her again.

We made love until midnight then went out for ice cream. It was a nice evening after all. She also told me which of the three roofers worked on flat roofs as well. It had turned out to be a very good experience, after a rocky start, I thought.

When we awoke the next morning, neither of us had slept a lot. Sleeping two in a tiny bed inside a hot house was as miserable as she had predicted it would be.

So the next morning, after breakfast, she dropped me at the end of my driveway. I immediately removed my scooter from the packing case, and the small cargo trailer from underneath the tarp which covered it. Once I got the scooter train assembled, I rode it to Walmart.

Since I had done my online research, I did very little shopping. I walked directly into the store and then right into the appliance department. I didn’t find a customer service person anywhere near the appliance section, which was okay with me. I managed to get the unit into a cart, then to checkout without any help. I got it tied to my cargo trailer by myself. After all that I managed to pull it home without blowing the scooter’s small engine. I realized after that ride that the geography had been in my favor. The land was mostly flat between downtown Siler City and the Walmart store.

I was home before lunch. I discovered that I was living right or something, because the air conditioner fit inside the opening where the original heating and air conditioning unit had been. The only thing that kept it from being a perfect fit was that the wall opening was one and a half inches taller than the new unit. The opening was also wider but the air conditioner had those filler shades on the sides. It sat easily on the eight inch wide block walls.

I called Ed before I fucked it up. He came by looked, then drove to Lowe’s hardware. He charged me fifty bucks to build in the air conditioner. When he finished, it fit like a glove and the wooden filler strips were painted to match the stucco.

I bought a bag of burgers for dinner, then rode to the lake on the scooter. When I got back, I found the lock shop almost cold, but not quite. I turned the damn thing off, and went back to using the fans. I still didn’t have any idea what I would do for a heater. It would be several months before I would need one, that was according to everyone I asked. So I let that decision slide for the time being.

Every now and then I ran into someone interesting at the diner beside Walmart. I couldn’t be bothered with the diner’s real name. For some reason it just went in and out of my head. It was either the diner beside Walmart, or Tonya’s place in my mind.

Anyway the next morning on the way into the diner for breakfast, I saw a roofing company truck in the parking lot. I asked Tonya, “Is the guy who owns the AA roofing company having breakfast in here today?”

“Sure, he comes in now and then with some of his workers.” she informed me. “Don’t tell me you have a leak.”

“Okay I won’t tell you, but you will know when the rain drips on your head,” I suggested with a smile.

“Smart ass, it’s the Latino man in the red tee shirt and the red ball cap,” she admitted.

“Let me go speak to him, while you bring me the special. Make it with the oldest coffee you have sitting around,” I requested.

“You know the coffee is made fresh every day, so you are just going to have to live with it,” she replied.

“Hello you are the roofer?” I asked the man she had pointed out.

“Yes I am. What can I do for you,” he replied.

“My name is Raymond Selfridge, I bought the old lock and key shop downtown. With this constant rain, I found out I have a leak. I was wondering if you could check it out for me,” I asked.

“Sure, I can have one of my men stop by this morning,” he said.

“I rode my bike, so it will be over an hour before I arrive home. Make it after nine if you would,” I suggested.

He just nodded his agreement. I left his table, then returned to my place at the counter. Breakfast was the same as it was every morning. I liked starting the day with no surprises. Meeting a roofer at the diner really wasn’t a big surprise, it was just damn good timing. Since I had taken three roofer’s cards from the board, it was just a matter of time until I ran into one of them there. The fact that it happened the first day was just pure luck. I knew that I was due for some good luck after the Paris job. It wasn’t often that I did anything for absolutely nothing. I considered that as the beginning of the end of my run of bad luck. There was still the potential for more bad luck, so I didn’t celebrate just yet. I wouldn’t celebrate until the work was done, and the bill paid.

I planned to have Ed look at it to tell me if the roof needed replacing after this Juan the roofer checked it out. His name wasn’t really Juan, I had just forgotten his real name already. It was more like 11:30 than 9:00 when the next Juan showed up.

After he climbed his ladder and looked, he came back and told me that it was going to require a new roof. I didn’t tell him that the seller of the building had assured me the roof had recently been replaced. He also assured me that it should be good for another ten years. I told him thanks for looking but I really didn’t think I was interested in a new roof.

“If I decide to go with a new roof, I will call you for an estimate,” I said.

“Well there is a service call fee for coming out,” he said.

“Your boss didn’t explain that to me, or I wouldn’t have had you look at it. Now if you want to climb up there and patch the roof with me standing on the roof watching, I’ll be happy to pay you a reasonable amount. If not go fuck yourself.” I said angrily.

His answer was to storm out to the truck and call his boss. He was on the phone for some time then said, “Boss said one hundred dollars and we will spread a sealer on top of and all cracks. Also in the area where the plumbing vent comes through the roof. It will stop any leaks for two years guaranteed”

I agreed by signing the contract he hastily wrote. They must not have had a huge work load, because two kids came out to do the work. I stood on the roof and watched. There was a crack down what looked like a seam in the new roof. The kids filled it in with a cool seal type material. They also rebuilt the mound around a plumbing vent pipe which protruded through the roof. It was located over the bathroom toilet area. Since I knew less than nothing about plumbing, I kept my mouth shut, so as not to show my ignorance.

They worked between one and two hours. When they were finished the kid who dealt with me earlier came back to collect. He handed me the bill and it was for $150.00. I didn’t feel like starting a war over $50 bucks, but I made sure to call Tanya and suggested she remove his cards from the bulletin board. I made damn sure the kids saw me make the call.

“You know? You got a deal,” the kid said.

“You know that you lied to me. Ordinarily I would tell you to go to hell, and let you sue me for the payment. I’d show the judge the estimate I signed. Then I would let him decide who was wasting their time. The only reason I don’t do that is it was my friend who introduced us. So if I were you, I’d take the money and get the hell out of my face.”

“The addition money was for the material we used,” the kid said.

“You should have said that there was an additional cherge in our agreement. The one which doesn’t state there is an additional materials charge,” I said. “Ask any lawyer. Now get the fuck off my property, or I will call the police.”

Yes, I could be a prick, I thought. I doubted seriously that my leak was repaired, but I felt better for having attempted to fix it. I should know if it rained again for a two day stretch.

It was during a date with Tonya that the Lt called me again. I saw his name and almost didn’t answer. When I did answer it was with a snippy. “What?”

“I guess you are busy. Call me if you want to take on a job that pays well and allows you to pick your own team. By the way Lucy is back. It seems that the sheriff’s gig didn’t work out,” he said.

“Let me call you in the morning,” I suggested.

“Who was that,” Tonya asked.

“My boss, he has a gig to offer me,” I explained.

“Is it out of town?” she asked.

“They always are,” I admitted.

“I’ll miss you,” she commented.

“Good,” I said.

Tonya had started to come over almost as often as Sarah spent the night away. I couldn’t tell if she was less abrasive, but she did appear happier. I really hated to admit it, but I was getting bored. It was almost like being married again. Marriage just never was a good fit for me. It was like a size medium tee shirt, when my body was an x large. In other words not painful just uncomfortable.

At 5AM Tonya showered and dressed for work at my house. I got a late start because of that. She drove her car and I went by bike, so I was thirty minutes later arriving. The way it worked out, we didn’t appear to be lovers. I thought that I just appeared to be flirting with her. Lots of us old timers did that, flirt with the younger employees in positions like front of the house managers. Which was one of the reasons why I never watched her at work.

The roofing company owner came in and walked right past me. Neither of us acknowledged the other’s presence. Since neither of us would have backed down, It was probably a good thing. I thought he was a crook, and he thought I was an ass. So giving each other some room and time to cool off was a good idea.

I waited until 10AM before I called Junior Martin, aka the Lt. “So what kind of job do you think would interest me?”

“I figured you would jump at the chance to work with Lucy again,” he explained.