Chapter 36

On Friday I did some chili that I threw in the crock pot, and when I got back from class spent about an hour cleaning the trailer. I had no idea what Crystal might have in mind, but I wanted to be ready.

I picked her up at her mom’s house, and we headed out for dinner. We each had burgers, and afterwards Crystal asked if we could go back to my place. And it surprised her when I drove east instead of west. “George, where are we going?”

“Oh, you didn’t hear? I no longer fly for that guy, and had to move out of my place. I moved out to San Fernando a month or so back.”

“Wait, you had to move? Why?”

I explained that the guy that owned the airplane got arrested, and his wife was selling the property so we had all been evicted. “You met Dani, she and a couple of other gals lived in the big house. They got evicted too, so it had nothing to do with me. The wife is just selling some of the property to pay his legal fees, which will be huge.”

She was surprised to see the trailer, but admitted it was nice when we got inside. And after handing her a soda she cuddled up against me. We talked for a bit, and she sighed as she told me that tomorrow after the practice she was going out on a date.

“Honestly, I wish you had called me right after I left you that note. I was hoping we could get together again, but we had already made plans for tonight when Aaron asked me to go to a movie with him tomorrow.”

I looked at her, and she nodded. “So, I take it nothing tonight?” She looked a bit ashamed, and shook her head. I reached out and used two fingers under her chin and had her look up into my eyes.

“Crystal, it’s OK, honest. We are still friends, and I am glad to see you even if just as friends. And you figured that you weren’t seeing anybody, and I wasn’t seeing anybody. So you wanted to get together again, right?” She nodded at that, so I leaned forward and kissed her cheek.

“It’s OK, honest. Don’t think that it would have been you using me, or anything like that. You were horny, and wanted to get laid by somebody you felt you could trust, right?” And I said that in a teasing voice and as I smiled at her, and she smiled back and nodded.

“Well, I think it would have been nice, using each other for a few hours. But it’s also nice just seeing you again, even if it’s only to cuddle a bit. Can I ask a favor?” She smiled at me and nodded, so I asked her to call me a bit more often.

“I do like hanging out with you, even if it’s just as friends. We can’t practice here like we did at my old place, the walls here are so thin I only practice myself with headphones now. Your guitar would definitely be too loud. But we can always get together like we used to at Becky’s on weekends. We can even jam again with Kris sometimes.”

She gave me a big hug for that, and said she would like that. “You know, it’s kinda sad we never did any more performances.”

“Well, I got busy flying for Pavel and that took a lot of my time. Plus you were busy with a few boyfriends, and do not show up that often anymore yourself.”

She nodded at that, and after talking for a few hours Crystal gave me a huge hug and I drove her home. When I got there she immediately opened the door, then leaned in and gave me a long and soft kiss. Then pulled back and gave me a grin before heading into her house.

The next day I again picked up Dani, and we got breakfast on the way. But the line was larger than normal, and it took almost twenty minutes until we got our food and finished the drive. I was surprised however when we walked in, and I saw Pete talking with Rad and Jack. And looking at the couch on the far side I saw Mandy sitting there, along with their two kids and Grace. I smiled and walked over, and Grace saw me and ran over to give me a hug.

I asked what they were doing there, and Mandy said they had been invited down to catch the session. After hugging her and my niece and nephew, Pete came over and gave me a hug also. A moment later Rad called us all over to his board, and Jack explained that this time we were trying to put the music to some of the footage he had edited.

He pointed out the screen that had been set up on the wall, and said he would be projecting the footage as Rad gave us hand directions like a conductor. So to see if we could follow his lead to keep the music in time with the video. Rad then went over the signals he would be using, and they were just about like those the conductors used in school. We did a run-through of the closing song, and a few times he would direct us to go faster or slower. After three times he said that was good enough, and we repeated it with the projector playing the closing theme on the wall.

We did it another three times until he said he had a good take. He then had us do a few more takes of other segments, all in all about three hours to record all of the ones they wanted. And I noticed Pete and Mandy watching closely as we did this, and at some point Grace and the kids left. When we finished he had us all take a break as he directed Dani back into the recording booth and started recording her vocals.

We all headed outside, so it was all of us but Rad, Jack and Dani outside and I saw Grace and the kids kicking around a soccer ball on the grass. And when Pete pulled out a cigar, I asked if he had another. And with a grin he pulled out another tube and handed it to me, then another for Keith.

I was cutting mine when Mandy said she was impressed with how well it had all come out. Pete agreed, and asked where Peggy and Kris were. “Oh, we record them now separately. They were here a couple of times, but Rad was having too many problems with the sound levels as the sax and flute would be either too loud or too soft on the mix. So they come in a week later and do their parts alone.” Becky said her cousin was doing her singing on the same day because it is a lot faster if she is not here while the main recording is going on.

I asked about Grace, and Mandy gave me a smile. “Oh, she wanted some more flight hours, and volunteered to take care of the kids. Which was a blessing, as I did not expect they would enjoy sitting in there and watching for so long.”

“What, so she flew part of the way?” I asked, a bit surprised.

“Actually, she flew the entire way” Pete said. “We came down in the Bonanza, as it’s almost time for an updated inspection. We’ll leave it here and one of the new guys will fly us home in the Commander.”

“You can’t do that in Idaho?”

Mandy smiled and nodded. “Actually, we can very easily. But we are having the interior replaced also. All the seats are being completely reupholstered, the interior is being updated to a real wood trim, and a two sided screen is being added in the back so all the passengers can watch TV or movies in flight.”

I whistled, as I knew that would cost a pretty penny. Of course, that was also their main personal plane so it made sense. Especially the TV, as that would let both kids watch something in the back as they flew.

Pete then asked me to join them for dinner, and I accepted. And after our usual bull session and asking Dani to come back next week for some more vocal work Rad let us all go. Pete asked if they could see my place, and I said it was not a problem, but I had to drive Dani home first. He said he would follow me, but I gave him the address anyways in case we got separated.

Dani gave me a soft kiss when I dropped her off, then with Pete and the rest following me I headed back to the trailer. It was a bit to get everybody inside, and of course the kids were poking around everywhere. I was glad I had all the dishes done already and it was fairly clean. The only comment Mandy made was that it was really small.

“Yeah, got that right. It’s a little more room than the UAV, but not by much. George, why didn’t you just come up and get one of our fifth wheels? You know we could have let you have one of those.”

“Well, that would have another problem. I don’t have a truck, how would I get it here? I don’t want to trade in the Aztek, even if everybody tends to laugh at it. And I would either have to drive a truck round trip to get it here, or pay somebody to bring it down. So long as the tanks are all empty and not much is in here, I can actually haul it with what I have now.”

Grace said she thought it was cute, and came and gave me a hug. “George, just for you I think this is fine. Don’t listen to them, I wish I had a place to go to like this to be alone sometimes.”

The kids were getting restless, and I told Pete and Mandy there was a small playground in the back of the park. Pete smiled at me and ushered the kids out and went over there with them as Mandy and Grace stayed. I took a seat on the bed as Mandy sat on the sofa. Grace smiled and sat next to me as Mandy asked me how much this was costing me.

“Well, actually it’s paid for. I saved some money when I was flying for Pavel, and it was just enough to get this with some upgrades. Like the heatpump to replace the AC unit. And last month I went ahead and replaced the toilet. The other one was really low and like a box, this one is more like one in a house and looks nicer.” I told them how much my rent was, and even Mandy was surprised at how low it was.

“That was about what I was paying for my first apartment, and that was almost twenty years ago. I know rents here are a hell of a lot higher, so you are probably saving a bundle there.”

“Yep, that was my thought also. Plus I own this, so if I decide to move my house goes with me.”

She nodded, and said it was just like my brother. “When he went to Arizona, he did the same thing with the UAV. He lived in that until his accident. You would not remember, but you and your mom spent a couple of months in it until he was transferred to the hospital in San Diego. I stayed with you two a couple of times when I came then.”

I asked when they were going back, and Mandy told me they were going to fly out on Monday. She and Pete had to have a meeting with Mrs. Goldberg, she was insisting on talking with him before agreeing to an actual contract for future work at the office clusters.

As she was saying that Pete returned, and said the kids were still in the play area and knew not to leave the park. “And yes, she insists on meeting me. Julie will be there too, and Mrs. Goldberg needs to understand I don’t run that business anymore, she does. But I can also understand, as we never really had a firm contract with Pavel. It was always just a handshake deal, I sense she thinks we have been ripping her husband off.”

Mandy nodded at that, and I asked what he expected. “Well, Julie is giving the presentation, and we are going to offer a discount on an annual rate for all of his clusters. That will include on-site inspections every six months, same day service within three hours during normal working hours, and maintaining hot swap equipment so problems with most equipment can be resolved quickly.”

Mandy nodded, and added that it was a take it or leave it deal during the meeting only. “If we leave without a signed contract, she then has to negotiate with Julie at our normal business rates.” Grace asked how much more that would cost, and even I was shocked when they said that would be almost ten thousand dollars more per year.

“I always gave Pavel a discount, and always fair and honest advice. Our relationship was based on that back when he had, oh, I want to say eight clusters. Now he owns almost fifty of them, and Speedy Tech has just been charging him a flat rate that has only changed as the price of our labor rate increased. And it only increased each time he added ten clusters. But he’s added five clusters in the last two years, we have not been charging for those. If she thinks we are ripping her off, she is welcome to talk to another service company and see what they charge for what we do.”

I nodded, and sighed as I knew I had to ask. “Pete, did you know about what all Pavel was doing? Or about what he was having me do?”

He sighed, and gave a half nod. “George, that would be both a yes and a no. I had long suspected that Pavel had some shady connections. When I first met him, all I knew about was those office buildings he did. It was not until, oh, it would be 1995 or 6 that I even knew he was a major investor in the porn company Linda worked for.”

Grace looked up sharply at him when he said that, and Mandy nudged him in the side with her elbow. “Shit, sorry, I didn’t realize you did not know that, Grace. Honey, you want to take this?”

Mandy sighed, and nodded. “Grace, let’s just say that my sister was involved in porn for several years. But the last several years she was working only for one company, and had stopped performing in them. She was writing scripts, and running the office. And that was at the same time Knucklehead here was doing work on the office clusters. It was only later when Linda had quit the industry completely that Pete ran into her working in Pavel’s office, then later after he and I got together that he found out that he owned about thirty percent of that company.”

“So is that how Linda got the job with him?” I asked, and Mandy shook her head.

“Naw, by that time she had gone to school to get trained in computer work, and got a job as a secretary. We’re going to see her tomorrow night for dinner, anything else will have to come from her.”

Grace slowly nodded, and I think she suspected there was a lot more that was not being said. “And then you ended up flying for him. How did that happen, George?”

“Well, several months after I got here I realized just I did not like living in the dorm. Being an only kid, I was not used to sharing a bedroom with another.” At that Pete cleared his throat really loudly, and we laughed.

“OK, only kid living at home, happy? But I decided I made enough to get my own place and not live in the dorm. And when I was looking, Linda suggested I ask Pavel. He had this small mansion that some actors built like seventy years ago that had this large garage with an apartment above it for the chauffer I guess. He offered me a fair price, so I took it. And when he found out I had just gotten my pilot’s license, he started asking me about what I could fly. Well, he knew this dude who used to fly for the Russian Air Force. Ivan, and he suggested an Antonov Colt.”

Grace asked what that was, and both Pete and Mandy laughed. I pulled up a photo of the plane on my phone and showed it to her and she gasped. “Oh George, you flew that? A biplane? Why? That thing’s ancient!”

We all laughed at that, and Pete shook his head. “Actually, that plane is about as old as you are. It’s over a decade newer than the Bonanza. George?”

“Pete’s right, they actually still build it to this day. And it can land on almost any flat surface, and can take off and land on very short runways. The technology is mostly from around World War Two and not One, but it really is modern. And one of the largest single engine airplanes mass produced and can carry over two tons of cargo, or up to twelve passengers.”

And after looking at all three of us to see if I was serious and getting nods, she actually looked a bit impressed. “Single engine and over two tons of cargo, that does make sense now. How did she fly, George?”

At that I actually smiled. “To be honest, like a dream. Oh, she was a slow beast, top speed was just under 140 knots. But I had Pavel add an extra tank, so she had a range of over seven hundred miles. Originally I was flying to Mexico to pick up alcohol, but after a couple of months he was having me fly cigarettes just north of San Francisco. The first trips I had to stop and refuel on the way, and again at the destination and on the way home. With the extra tank, I could fly non-stop each way.”

“Wait, you flew cigarettes? Mom told me you were in trouble for smuggling.”

I sighed and took her hand in mine and squeezed. “Sis, you should know me better than that. Yes, it was just cigarettes. I almost did get in trouble for it, because they were bootleg cigarettes that had none of the import fees or taxes paid on them. I had no idea that they were illegal until one day some Customs agents knocked on my door and told me the plane had been impounded and Pavel arrested.”

“And trust me, if he ever gets out of jail I could kill him for that!” Pete said, and even I looked up at him sharply as he did sound furious. “Pavel used to joke that he was mostly honest, even though he cheated on his wife and his taxes. He was almost a success story in a way. Poor Jewish kid who fled the Soviet Union, five years later he bought a liquor store. And over the years built up a small business empire. Porn companies, more liquor stores, a motel, homes he bought and rented, and all those office complexes. But even I had no idea he was a high ranking member of the Russian Mafia.”