Chapter 12

Mary was standing in the open doorway waiting on us. “Hey, I thought you were lost. Chloe and John have invited everyone who has been involved in all the updates on that shabby old rough joint that was worthless and soon to disappear. It is a free meal tonight as a thank you. Now the restaurant and bar has style and at the opening tonight for those of us who worked to make this happen will see it as our patrons will see it at noon tomorrow. We have to be there. That includes you too, Clara and Sam.”

Chloe was here to pick up Ricky, and stuck her head around Mary, “You don’t have to dress up. This is a come as you are get together.” Ricky jumped out of his car seat and ran to his mother.

“I’ll take Clara and Sam home and be right back, Chloe.”

“Okay.” When I dropped them off, it was decided that Clara would drive to the restaurant and I wouldn’t have to wait on them.

I escorted Mary into the restaurant and everyone was here except for Sam and Clara. Chloe was the hostess at the moment and told me to head for the bar. “All the men who have worked on the project are in the there.” Gina gave me an okay sign and maybe had a drink already for she was looking happy.

Geno, who had to be convinced at the beginning, was looking especially happy and was sitting in one of the large booths with Guido. He shouted at me, “Sit with us, Pete. You’re behind and I have a drink ordered for you.” Guido was laughing at his cousin.

Geno explained why. “Do you know what my cousin and Chloe have done? Somehow Chloe has kept track of all the hours our workers have put in. Guido went to Charley, our banker, and took out a personal loan to pay for every hour they worked. They did this on their own so Capparelli Construction wouldn’t lose anything. Of course Gina volunteered my time and I think Mary volunteered yours.”

I spoke across the table looking at Geno. “That’s nice Guido, maybe he will stop worrying about the business going under. That’s not going to happen.”

“Say Pete, Chloe will have something to say to you about this when she has a private moment.”

“She doesn’t have to. You know it and she should by this time too.”

“Okay Pete, she did clear it with Mary and your time is coming.” I knew this was about the $28,000 that Chloe felt she owed me when Harrison had cheated it from me.

John came out and slid into the empty seat beside me. “What do you think, Pete? Chloe and I have some kind of establishment here. Nobody could call this a joint any longer. I have all the help I need in every position and they are all experienced. I have dreamed of owning something like this, but with Harrison it never could happen. Chloe is giving you much of the credit.”

“John, I have put in very little time here on this, and I haven’t put in a dime and have fully enjoyed myself.”

“Well that isn’t what she tells me. She’s some kind of woman. A month ago when she first began talking about being a working partner I had my doubts, but it has all come together. I’m still laughing about how Geno, Guido, and Gina came in and rousted Harrison. I wish I had a tape of it. He was as good as gone at that minute in time and he just didn’t know it.”

Geno was laughing too. “I’ve seen and had some of Gina and her attitude directed at me at times. Mary has seen it and she came right back at Gina. Do remember that night, Pete?”

I had to laugh, too. “Yeah, I remember. Let’s see, that was also the night that Guido met Chloe and his future was immediately determined.”

Sam got into the conversation. “You know I was pretty discouraged as little as three weeks ago when Kenny Goodell brought me over here to look at this place. Since then, I’ve met some great people. I was at the point where I felt life sucked. I was having to move my shop. It was located in the same place for almost twenty years and I didn’t know what to do. I gave a little advice to some of you and gained so many friends. I have never seen a group of people work so well together.

“Now I have a place to move my shop to and a future that looks great. Clara, my wife has caught the feeling too. For the last couple of years we spent as much time bitching at each other as we did appreciating each other. How this will all turn out, I can’t tell yet, but I have faith the future will be better than the past.””

“Where are you moving to, Sam?”

“I’ve agreed to purchase a lot from Pete on that piece of land he owns out where some woman has started a storage business in a big barn. I might just go into expanding the shop and look for new customers. I’ve been piddling along working just enough put to food on the table, knowing all along that I would be using our savings to move. I’ll get out there and set up and then I’m talking to Pete and Geno about prettying up those rehab units they are working on.”

“You’ve got eighteen or more houses that aren’t started yet. See what I suggested for this place and what little was done, but it has increased the value of it by a couple of thousand dollars each on just the appearance alone. I’d ask you to get your women involved and they will tell you what the buyers would like. Clara used to do that for me all the time until I got crippled up and couldn’t do much any more.” He continued.

“You have some houses that have a second floor. Open up one side and install stairs showing a banister to the view. I even have a molding machine that can figure out the drop down curve on a banister so it doesn’t look chopped off with a straight end. The rungs, I can feed squared material into a lathe and they will come out as balusters with a little design. That is almost new and I don’t believe I have a thousand balusters out of it yet.”

Geno asked, “How long before you get set up out there? Maybe we should hold off until you get moved.”

“No don’t do that. Get me another person to handle the pieces and I can make them if I move the shop last. I can move all the lumber as soon as I take down the storage sheds for the lumber and put it up again. I think Pete can get the paperwork on the property done in a couple of weeks and then I can start on that part. Kenny, his brother-in-law, has been palling around with me for a couple of years so I’m thinking it is as good as done.”

John got up and headed for the kitchen. He came back and said maybe we should go into the dining room within the next half hour. I looked around before I sat down in one of the booths and Mary soon joined me. Ricky sat between us and we waited for Chloe and Guido to sit across from us. The eleven men who sat at the bar came in with two women and joined their group. I was wondering who they were. We hadn’t found out much about the thee new hires yet and they must be wives of two of these workers.

Mack and Randy split away and sat in the next booth down. It filled up with two more of the single workers. Mildred and Fred came in and chose a booth. Sandy stood there looking around. Her face flushed when she went over to Randy and asked him to sit with her. His face was now redder than Sandy’s from the attention. I knew the two were a couple and now everyone did.

Soon everyone was seated. John and Chloe waited for everyone’s attention. John spoke. “Please, I wish to thank everyone for the work you all have put into making this restaurant one to be proud of. I hope the meal will be to your liking. I’ve hired all experienced help and I believe the service will be great as well. Chloe, you said you wanted to say a word?”

“I do. It is just a thank everyone for helping to put this together. A year ago I was sad and lonely with only one friend, and that person was Mary Manning. Now everyone at the Capparelli Construction company is my friend and soon to be more since I’m to be married to Guido Capparelli in June. My life has turned around and I thank all of you. Please enjoy your dinner.”

Chloe came and slid into our booth next to Guido. Chloe looked at me and then at Mary. “A special thanks to you two; Mary for being my friend and Pete for not hating me when he has the right to. You are a most forgiving person. I love you both.”

John was in and out of the kitchen and when everything was to his satisfaction, sat in the booth nearest the kitchen door. There were wine goblets and beer glasses on the table and as we sat, waitresses came by and asked our pleasure. Another waitress brought baskets of just out of the oven rolls.

Appetizers came out on plates and placed on the table where they could be reached by all. There were three different choices on each plate. Single slices of thick rolled crisp baked bacon, sirloin tips of beef, and chicken wings. The waitress picked up the guest’s choice marked on paper slips of the two dinners being served with the table number on them. There was individually baked American Lasagna with a thick crispy cheese crust, and of course, spaghetti with meatballs.

Geno got up just as we were about to begin eating. “I’d like to say a little prayer for this bountiful repast that is being set before us.” He did and it was short with him saying immediately after, “I know John and Chloe will make this a great place to dine. I’m proud to have been a part of it. Thank you.”

The dinner was consumed and people soon began to leave. It was a work day tomorrow and everyone had to work. I know I had enjoyed not having to work for the last two and half weeks. I asked Sam if he needed me to massage his hands and he said no, that Clara had it down to a science already. He did remind me he would need some salve mixture by the day after tomorrow. I nodded that I would have it ready.

Mary was in the last month of her pregnancy and she sat glad to rest and watched me while I was at the table mixing the potions for Sam together. I could swear I wasn’t distracted in what I was doing.

Suddenly she poked me. “Pete, pay attention. You almost spilled what you had in the spoon.”

“Sorry, I was being chided by Miriam for not putting in two of the ingredients she said was important. I’ll admit when she told me to include basil and oregano, I didn’t take her seriously. I’ll get it ready now and include it in this batch. It will take some extra minutes to do it, so why don’t you go to bed and I’ll join you soon.”

“What, and leave you alone with my alter-namesake? No way am I leaving you when she is this close.”

Mary stopped speaking and a blank look came onto her features. Then she smiled and giggled.

I knew Mary’s attention hadn’t been with me for few moments. “What did Miriam say to you, I know she said something?”

“She said you were too young for her. About 2,000 years, in fact. She also said for me to go to bed and stay awake for you to join me. I believe I will. Don’t spend too much time on this because I’ll be waiting.”

“This won’t take long.” I had been working while listening to my wife. The basil and oregano were ground into a powder in the bottom of a little bowl I had discovered in Mary’s dish cupboard and I was using the wooden handle of a spatula as a pestle. I didn’t even pay attention when Mary turned to leave. I soon had the potion of salve, oils, and powder mixed well and scraped into a little plastic container I had bought in a dollar store.

I then joined her. We snuggled together and talked about the coming baby’s birth and soon slept.

I drove over to Sam’s house in the morning. He was up and I gave him the new batch of salve to use.

We really tore into getting the lawn on number one house ready when we returned to work on the street of houses. We should have this finished and had it sold before the ground froze last November. The ground had thawed so we contacted the lawn concern. Now instead of trying to start the lawn from seed, we purchased some ready-made sod and had it unrolled. In just hours we had what looked like a two -year-old lawn.

The flower beds were in and planted and now mulched for the summer. On the back lawn, I purchased two peach trees and planted them. They were close to the back boundary and wouldn’t be much of a problem to mow around.

Number two house had been finished inside and we went to work on installing new siding. Now we had a full crew for all aspects of the work. Numbers five and six had been gutted and work was going full steam ahead with installing sheetrock and painting. Once there had been salvage in most of the houses and Sandy had taken this out and transported it to the big barn. She hadn’t done this in numbers one and two because all the possible salvage from these had gone into the dumpsters.

Sam Giles came out with some samples of what he manufactured and had in stock and used to rehab the restaurant. It would dress up the interiors the houses as we worked our way down the street. We took an offer on the number one house and it sold in the midrange of what we had anticipated the houses should sell for. At last we had some income coming in. The wolf was still out there watching our little company, but by selling the first house, we felt we had backed him up a little and he wasn’t as close to us.

Kenny was working on the paperwork for Sandy Hamilton, Sam Giles, and me. Applications for the permits for different parts of the deal we had made the day Sam went out there with me, and were putting them together. Sam needed a change of use on the lot he was clearing and a permit to move his woodworking shop and buildings to house it. I had made a deal with Sandy for a permanent right of way if I would remove the remains of the old cow stable that went with the big barn.

Kenny kept me in the know. “You want this to all come together, Pete? I’ll set it up and we’ll get this done in one meeting so you won’t have to do anything except put in an appearance.”

“Good enough, Kenny, my track record since I was a man on the street as a panhandler is good, I do believe.”

Randy began coming to work a lot neater than when he first was hired. He was shaved every day and his work clothes were always clean. I was sitting alone in my truck one day. He knocked on the door to get my attention. “Can I sit you with you a minute?”

“Sure, what’s up?”

“I guess you know Sandy and I are attracted to each other. Do you think I am good enough for her? I mean I’m a felon and just a laborer. Sandy doesn’t seem to mind and claims she wasn’t that much just a few months ago, herself. I met her the same time you did. She has so much going for her now and everything with her storage business. She claims it was all you who got her off the streets panhandling. How did you do it?”

“When I first met her, she needed a change in direction. She was doing more than that, though. She was guiding her family and friends to see that they always had enough to eat. She had that big barn that was empty and a definite liability at the time and she didn’t realize what a great asset it was. I talked her into opening it for a storage business. She just took it and ran with it. It was a matter of gaining some confidence to attempt it.

“Now you, you went to prison because you didn’t like your father and you still tried to stop him from committing a crime. You were caught up in a mistake in justice. It happens all too often. It hasn’t driven you to a life of crime either, although it easily could have.

“You are the hardest worker on my crew and I value you. I promised you someday that I would get you papers that say you are a master carpenter and that is my intent. It will happen if you keep on the same track you are on now. I hear you asking question all the time of some of the carpenters to explain different things they do that they know instinctively how to do.

“You will be that person someday. To get this all instilled in your mind, discuss it with Mack and talk about it. He has had it rougher than you because of his divorce and being older, it might be a little more difficult for him than you. You know those books on carpentry that one of you picked up at a yard sale and gave me? I still go to them all the time.

“When I came to Capparelli Construction, I knew diddly about carpentry and was just a friend of the owner. Here I am a year later bossing not only guys like you and me, but bossing those who know the trade. If your are given something to do, take a minute from whoever tells you to do the job and ask how to tackle what you have been instructed to do. They would rather take a minute to explain fully how they want it done, rather than have it botched and needing to be done over.

“Most people in charge like to brag a little about how smart they are.” I grinned, “Just like I have been doing to you. You can listen to him. As far as Sandy and you together, I think you are a great pair.”

Guido went over to talk to Chloe when we finished work. He first went down and got Ricky from Aunt Ida. He came bringing Ricky with him. The boy had a great time, Ida taking him with her when she went shopping for groceries. They came in after we had finished eating. “How did the first lunch go today for Chloe and John?”

“It was absolutely packed. They are feeding the latecomers now. They also are serving dinners in the bar. They will stop that after the crowd slows down and just serve bar patrons. Chloe gave us dinner in the back room behind the kitchen. Of course, the place was full from the advertising they did. I do believe they have a winner.” Guido didn’t stay long and left to get Ricky ready for bed.

“Ricky won’t see much of his mother before he goes to sleep, will he?”

“I don’t think so, Pete. I’ll bet Chloe will be late and not home before 9:00 tonight. I feel sorry for the boy.”

“I do, too, but she’ll be with him a few hours in the morning and that will help. She will figure it out. I can’t see Chloe ignoring him just to run the restaurant. Wasn’t she planning on coming home at 4:30 every day? The first day open I suppose she wanted to be there working.”

Friday was another full crowd night and Saturday was as well. Sunday wasn’t as busy and Monday they were closed. People now knew there was another decent place to eat so the place continued busy every day they were open.

After two weeks, Chloe and John found someone to take some of Chloe’s hours and she became the person who worked more morning hours doing the food ordering and managed the help in the dining room for lunch. Once patrons began coming in, if there was a full service crew, she could leave. John hired a chef to do the lunch cooking and John was there for the evening hours. They made it work and kept their good reputation intact.

Mary said she was going to have our baby on May first and we would see if she did. I worked evenings during April on making plans for Sam Giles to move his woodworking business. Sam called me early one Sunday morning. “Can I drop in this morning? I have something to show you.”

“Sure, we’re up and the coffee is on. Bring Clara so Mary can complain about how difficult it is to get around.”

Sam was at the door within a half hour. He came in smiling. “I think you are a genius, Pete. One source of the pain in my hands has gone away. They don’t look much different than they did before. Here, look at the back of my hand. My left one, especially. You may have never noticed, but the finger bones go all the way back to a person’s wrists.

“I have had little hard nodules that grew between the fingers covered by the meat and blood vessels in this part of my hand. Between the little finger and the ring finger, there were two of these. Between the middle finger and the ring finger there were three of these pesky little growths. There was only one between the middle finger and fore finger.

“Those little nodules would move around and pop up where you could see and feel them just under the skin. That is when they were the most painful and the only way I could stop them from being painful at all was to press them back down out of sight. I would have to force them back down and hold them a bit before they would stay there hidden again. The pain was excruciating. I awoke this morning with wonder that I hadn’t had this pain for two or three days.

“I rubbed a finger over those places and I can’t feel any of the nodules any longer. I had a surgeon look at them when they were really bothering and he told me he could remove them surgically, but they would return and basically told me to live with it so I didn’t have it done. The left hand was the worst with six of these. There were only four on my right hand and now this morning, I can’t feel a damn one on either hand.”

“Well, that is progress, Sam. How about the bunches that have grown out and around the knuckles? Are those any better?”

“I don’t know Pete. Sometimes I think they are a little better. I do know that the growths are getting softer. It was like growths of bone before. I hit a couple of knuckles yesterday and that’s still God-awful painful. I can also tell you that I am getting more sleep than I used to.”

“I think this is definitely good news. I would keep on working with the manipulation and keep the faith. To be honest Sam, I didn’t expect such good results this soon.”

“I am going to get my permit to install my shop out there on the property you sold me. Kenny called me and told me it was looking good and I’d get it soon.”

“That is good news. I haven’t gotten the road permit yet. I’m going to have to build a substantial fence along the boundary of the abutter all the way to my back line. He is afraid his cows will get out. The board told me good luck in having any help from the farmer in paying for any of it, but I expected that. Kenny said I could sue, but I don’t want the farmer upset.”

“I can give you some money. I don’t want this to all be on you. I’ll pay for the fence that is along side my property.”

“Hey, that would be great, Sam, but just the distance that you have a common border. Before you go, I think I had better order another batch of the salve ingredients. It is a big help that Clara is mixing this salve up instead of me.”

“She wanted me to ask you. She is happy to take that little chore off your shoulders. You know our love has deepened for each other since she has been doing this. It has made us closer. Before you came around, she was feeling so badly because she was seeing me in pain and there was nothing she could do to help me. I just wanted you to know you aren’t just helping me, but Clara as well.”

“Thanks for sharing that, Sam.”

I had talked to the utilities division of the city when I wanted to turn the water, gas, and electricity on for some of the houses on the street of houses. I told Geno I was going to be busy for an hour Monday Morning. “Anytime Pete, you don’t have to ask.”

I headed to the water and sewer department. I walked in and asked to speak to who ever was in charge. “That would be the commissioner. He won’t be in until 9:00 o’clock. What is the purpose of your visit? If it is a complaint, I might be able to handle it.”

“No, I sold some property and the water and sewer lines don’t extend that far.”

“What’s your name?”

“Peter Manning.”

“My name is Chris Murphy and I know your name. You’re connected with the street where a bunch of houses are being rehabilitated by Capparelli Construction. How’s it going?”

“It’s good now that the winter is over. We sold our first house and will be showing another one in a week or two. This property I sold isn’t connected with Capparelli. Do you know a Fred Hamilton who lives out west about five miles? I bought some property from him.”

“I heard that. Are you planning on developing it, Pete?”

“Some day. I understand that water and sewer ends just past the big barn. At present I’m looking at getting water to beyond the city end of the property in the far corner.”

“That’s correct according to the water lines on the map. I can show you exactly where it lies. Let’s see, those lines were installed about 30 years ago because there was high water use of the milking that went on when the place was a farm. Now where is this property you sold?”

Looking at the map, “Right there, I didn’t buy the woodland beyond this marker.”

“What kind of house is the new owner building?”

“First, I think I’m going to need a zoning change for the woodworking shop that Sam Giles owns here. He has to remove this from where it sits here in the city and I sold him that lot in the corner. It is only for the industry business. He will still live in his home here in town.

“I know Sam, and he was supposed to move it five years ago. He fought it and won a five-year extension. Jesus, has the five years gone by already? Anyway, look at this map again, and it will show you where the pipes are located out in that area.”

He commented as I showed him where Sam’s property would lay. “Why have you sold him that particular lot? Why didn’t you sell him some of the land right up to the Hamilton land? He might have bought that piece where the tumbled down barn that is owned by the Hamilton woman?”

“Chris, Sandy is going to remove the remains of that barn and put some storage units on it. Sam wanted to put his business as far away from anyone building close because the mill is pretty noisy. That’s the reason he is being chased out of the place he owns now.”

“Yeah, I can understand his thinking. Are you going to sell house lots between him and the Hamilton property?”

“Yes, some of it is for sale. But not for residential lots right there. Some of the land may end up either as commercial or industrial but no residences. I haven’t decided what the zone will be yet. Probably an Industrial zone. You can understand why Sam needs some land.”

“Well, water and sewer may be too expensive for you to handle by yourself. The city might not pay to put in the sewer and the water lines. You may have to do that and they have to be to the specifications of the city. The good part of it is, if your work is up to code the town will take it over. They can bond these projects and over time, be reimbursed from the new tax base.”

“Do you have any printouts I can take to look at and take with me, Chris?”

“Sure. Are you going to have city gas or are you going to stick with electricity? Of course there is always propane for the owner to install themselves. Let me get a bundle of specifications to take with you. When the commissioner gets here, Pete, you can talk to him.”

“That will be good, thank you. I believe I will take the spec sheets with me and study them before I make an appointment with the commissioner.”

“Good, maybe you will decide on having a few acres zoned for an industrial park. The city is always looking to expand that base. By you selling land to Sam Giles and solving his and the city’s problem with his shop placement, that would indicate you have some interest out in that area. Talk to the city planner sometime.”

“Thank you, I will, Chris.”

I was thinking about what Murphy had told me while driving into work. I’ll have to talk to Sam about this. He had been dealing with the city for a while. Maybe I should also talk to Sandy. Who knows, she might get a little tax subsidy for a few years if she built those storage units and the whole plot of land from the road to my back land was zoned for something besides rural in that area. This was certainly something to look into.

I went right to work, thinking as everyone was busy, not hurrying really, but intent on what they were doing. Most of the houses had been cleared of salvageable items now and Fred was working at cleaning up the salvage to make it more presentable for resale.

I had given Randy a special job on top of being on the wrecking crew. He had moved his living quarters from the street of houses where some of our crew lived at the very end of the street to living over the garage at the Hamilton residence that was next door to the big barn.

It was now his job to sign out the tools stored in the big barn and then to drive the van with the small tools to the job site. Sandy had two of her men living there as well. Mildred and Sandy made their breakfast and packed Randy’s lunch. After work, Randy accounted for the tools and if different ones were needed the next day, he made sure they were in the van.

Basically, this was a ploy of mine so Randy and Sandy had a bit more time together. The set of carpentry books that I used to carry in my truck didn’t come back for a couple of days when Randy borrowed them. Randy informed me he was studying them. I thought this showed initiative and so I let him keep them where he could reach them when he had spare time. They would be in the van if I needed to look up something for myself or others did.

Mary was getting near her time for our baby’s entrance so I was home right after work to help her if she needed me. It wasn’t often, though, and she didn’t leave much for me to do that she had attempted during the day. This did give us a special togetherness.

Mary still did things for me which was using the telephone to contact people I wanted to talk to about what I was doing out at the big barn lot. She tried to make appointments for me so I could call a contact after hours. If she thought I wanted something clarified, she would call Kenny and discuss it with him.

We usually went to dinner on Wednesday evening to see Chloe, Ricky, and Guido at the restaurant. This was the one day a week that Chloe worked until 8:00 in the evening.