Chapter 6

The next morning at work, I asked Geno if his father and Uncle ran full crews. “Yeah, they do. They even keep men on until it starts to hurt their bottom line before they are laid off. Why?”

“I was wondering, it is going to take a while to find the men we need. Why don’t you call your family and see if they can spare a couple of men. In the meantime we’ll be looking around here for what we need.”

“Good plan, I’ll see what I can do.”

The men still rode in with me and I had excused myself to talk with Geno. At 7:30, I came back and we all went to work. This was our routine. Guido had one house 90 percent done. There was some outside work that needed doing around the yard and a solid fence to be built on that one. Guido gave me that job to tackle. Geno didn’t want time spent on wrecking any more houses yet. With Guido’s guidance and my understanding of what was needed, and with my natural ability, I used my two men as a floating crew to do the rough work.

It wasn’t often that we made any mistakes. It was the first of the next week that Guido told me that his mom had called and said his father was sending out one journeyman carpenter and Geno’s dad was sending two. Geno filled me in the next morning.

“Where in Hell are we going to find living quarters for them?” he asked me.

“Geno, you own fifteen of these houses that can be lived in just by turning on the lights and water. You’d have to get some insurance, but it shouldn’t be too much. If the town has a department in charge of rent, you had better inform them. Hell some of the four workers we have already might like to live here too. I imagine all are single. Put Kenny Goodell on it. He is our lawyer.”

“They won’t be able to go into town shopping. No one has a car.”

“I’ll leave my truck for them to use. We should have a company van anyway. Tell Kenny to have the company insure it and I’ll turn the truck ownership over to the business. We can shop around for a van soon.”

“Okay, I can do that.”

On Wednesday, the three new men arrived and Geno informed them. “There will be a meeting tomorrow morning before work.” This was after Guido and he finished asking about their parents and how the business was going. “I’ll put you guys up in a motel tonight and maybe we can make other arrangements over the weekend. Pete Manning is a minor partner and he bosses the wrecking crew. He is about on par with Guido so if he asks you to do something, he is the boss. I rely on him a lot.”

I mentioned to Guido about Geno and my decision to turn the lights and water on in a couple of the houses and let them live in them until we started rehabbing them. At noon Guido and I discussed this and we headed down the street to the farthest end. We took all the men with us.

We had a surprise when we looked into the second house from the end. Apparently, there were some squatters using this one. There was no one around, and the back door was unlocked. The people were neat, anyway. There were clothes and a few utensils neatly placed. There were using a bottled gas stove cook top to cook on. It looked like they were all adults and we made out one married couple, one separate female, and two other males. They were all using blow up mattresses.

It didn’t seem as if they had much for personal goods, but they were a cut above the usual homeless person’s belongings. I should know because I had been homeless for a while. We saw a sign made out of cardboard so we knew at least one person was panhandling.

I made a snap decision, “Why don’t my four men take the house on one side of this one that has the squatters and you three new men from the east take the house on the other side. I’ll have the water and electricity turned on for the three houses so you can live like human beings. Now you be respectful to these squatters. I have a feeling that they are good people down on their luck. If they want to work, I can find something for them to do if it isn’t more than doing yard work or maybe outside painting.

“The houses all have blinds. Some of them will not go back on after the others are painted. These squatters might find a place to sell them. You know also, we are wrecking most of the kitchen cupboards. Some could be salvaged instead of going into the dumpster. They might be some inside doors, too. I won’t be here when they return. Talk to them and let me know in the morning.

“Geno will be pushing to get homes on the market as soon as possible. We might even use them to work with my wrecking crew to do more of the grunt work, like moving trash to the dumpster. I’ll get our lawyer to make it all legal and you should be able to move your stuff in after work tonight.”

I told Geno what I had decided and he was okay with this. It all ended up for me to arrange, but that was fine.

I called the city utilities. I was directed to the power company. The power would be turned on sometime Saturday before noon. I remarked that it was fast. I was told that Capparelli Construction paid the bill.

“Water is paid too because they bought the whole street of houses. That is until a house is sold. Call the water and sewer department and you may be able to turn the water on yourself. Capparelli has the tool and will tell you where to find the valve. You had better have someone inside the house to check the faucets when you turn the water on.”

“Thanks, I’ll see Geno.”

I looked up Geno, “Geno where is the tool that turns the water on for all these houses?”

“In the back of my car. It’s like a Tee wrench about three feet long with a socket on the end. Come outside and I’ll show you where to find the shutoff valve. There are all in the same place on each property. There is usually a part of the lawn that is a little lower than the surrounding earth level. Go straight out six feet from the corner of the house that is nearest the factory. The main water line actually runs the length along the street surface. When is the electricity being turned on?”

“Saturday morning. The town must like you to have them move this fast.”

“Yeah, because I promised I would double the value of each property and the taxes could go up to reflect the value upgrade.”

I headed for the end of the street with the tool and one man who was going to do the shovel work. I measured as I was told to, and told him where to dig. I was right on target, and found the valve. I cleaned the dirt away and fitted the tool. As I was doing this, two more of my men showed up. I sent them inside to make sure the faucets were covered in the kitchen and bathrooms. When they were ready, I turned the valve.

They started in the kitchen as the pipes got full, shutting the faucets. They did the same with the downstairs bath and then went upstairs. There was an outside faucet that leaked, so I had one of the men go into the cellar and shut a valve to that pipe.

“Guess we are good here. Lets dig down for the squatters’ house. One of them may show up before we finish. We’ll do the other house you men are staying in after we get down to the shutoff in the middle house.” We dug for that one and then went to the third house. One of the toilets leaked and needed a repair kit. There was a shutoff to the tank. Otherwise all the other faucets worked and were good. Soon all the men for the two houses arrived.

One of these of my crew told me there was a woman on a bicycle coming down the street. We stood waiting for her to reach us. She stopped and got off her bike two houses up the street looking ready to turn around. I walked toward her alone.

“Miss, I’m the construction foreman for the people who are rehabilitating these houses. There will be some of my crew staying in the last house and more in the one this side of the one I believe you are living in. We have turned the water on in those two houses and were waiting for some one to show up to check the faucets in your house.”

“When do we have to move?”

“I’m not asking you or the others living here to move. The city will be turning the gas on tomorrow. I wish someone would be here when the technicians check the gas fittings. The concern I work for may have some work that you could do in return for the right to live here. Will all of you be here tomorrow so I can talk to you?”

“You say you aren’t running us out?”

“That’s what I am saying. Are any of you related to each other?”

“My aunt and uncle are the two older people. One of the men is slightly autistic and has trouble keeping a job. The other man was injured and has only one finger and a thumb on one hand.”

“And what about you?”

“I watch out for them all among other things. We all have to panhandle to get enough food to feed ourselves. Other than that we don’t have many expenses so we get by okay.”

“I know how you feel. I was on the street myself for a couple of years so I know what it takes to keep body and soul together. I was hassled a lot. It took me a while to better my situation. I’d like to help you all if you are willing to do some work. Of course, when we finish rehabbing these houses we may ask you to move because the house you live in will be rehabbed like the others and go on the market. Who knows, you might be able to buy it yourselves by that time.”

“In my dreams.”There was a pause, then, “What’s your situation? I mean what changed to get you off the streets?”

“I was offered a job protecting a woman who was prospecting out in Colorado. Just to keep her safe, you understand. While there, we hit a bit of luck and now she is my wife and is pregnant. That is part of it. When I came back to this area, I met an old army buddy and he gave me the job I’m in now. His name is Geno Capparelli and it is his construction company. Luck is part of it, hope is another part, and hard work is the rest, I guess.”

“Lucky you.”

“I know. Okay, would you go in and check the faucets when we turn the water on? I can send a man in with you if you think it okay. Oh, and the electricity will be turned on day after tomorrow

“Please do. First, though, what is your name?”

“It is Peter Manning.”

“Thank you, I think I am glad to meet you, but we’ll see.” She smiled and got on her bike. I signaled for the water to be turned on when Joe and she went into the house. Shit, I forgot to ask the woman her name.

The men had the van to go eat in and I told one of the men to tell the woman that I would be seeing her about ten in the morning. I checked in at the job site and everyone had gone home so I did too. Mary was home and had supper ready for me. I was somewhat distracted. Mary noticed and I told her why.

“You know I was on the streets for a while. I met one of these people. They have been squatting in one of the houses we are rehabbing. I’m trying to figure out how to make life better for them. There is one woman who is looking after her older aunt and uncle. There are two younger men; one who has part of his hand missing, and the other one is autistic. If they are willing to work I’m going to talk to Geno into letting them do something on the job.”

“Like what?”

“Maybe just moving stuff to the dumpster when we tear it out. Most of the cupboards are going to be changed. A lot of the countertops are going to be replaced, not because they aren’t good, but because they are outdated. There might be away to salvage some of it.

“I’m thinking about asking your brother at the bank if he has a warehouse that the bank has repossessed where I could store things like that. I think he would give me a bare bones price on a property. I could buy it and store this stuff in it and put the old couple in there and have them sell it. I don’t have these plans nailed down yet. I’m going to talk to these people at ten tomorrow to find out their strengths. Would you like to join me?”

“I’d love to. It would give me a chance to be with you. With you working and me studying, we don’t see enough of each other.”

“My thoughts, exactly. For this evening though, I think I should see more of you than I’m seeing right now.”

The crew members were waiting at the job site to use the van to move their small amount of stuff. I asked if they had met all the squatters. “We have and all of them seem nice. They are ticked that the water, electricity, and gas are going to be turned on. They weren’t too concerned about the gas. The water heaters are electric. They were going to show us where we can get appliances. We can find most anything we need at the used appliance store they know of. They would look for us if we of don’t have time.
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“Come on Mary, I want you to meet those squatters this morning. We’ll catch some of them before they go out panhandling.”

“Pete, I do believe you have a soft spot for panhandlers.”

“I do, it is where people end up who have lost their self esteem, sick, or have lost their way. This bunch seem to have a little self esteem left for they kept the house they are squatting in neat even with not having much. I think I can ease their problems a little. They know they eventually will have to move. Who knows, by the time we get down to that end of the street their situation may have changed enough so they can buy or rent the property and stay there.”

“I doubt it.”

“Mary, things in my world don’t have to stay the same. Look at you and me. How long have we known each other. Both of us have definitely changed.”

“They have all changed for me, Pete. All of it is because of you.”

“Not really all of me. Your brother was involved and we sure have had a lot of luck. Maybe from a nudge from us, these people will catch a little luck too if we head them in a different direction.”

“Okay, Pete, I’m with you.”

When we arrived at the end of the street, Guido and Chloe were there visiting the three men from the east. Mary and I went around the squatters’ house to talk to my four workers.

“Hey Pete, guess what? Guido came down and got the new men to take them for breakfast. Miss Sandy saw them leave and came over and wanted to know if we wanted to eat with them. I told them we had food and were waiting for the power and gas to be turned on so we could cook.”

She said, “Bring what you want cooked because we have the outside grill going in the back yard. We joined them and they cooked our breakfasts. They are nice people.”

“Great. I’m surprised Guido didn’t offer to take you out with him and his men.”

“Oh he did offer, we just hadn’t got up yet.

We were talking on the front yard of the middle house. Chloe came out and headed our way with Ricky holding her hand. When he saw Mary, he started hobbling toward her. She left us and met him, picking him up and hugging each other. He was excited to see her. “Mommy said you would be here this morning. I was glad to come so I could see you.”

“Ricky, I was hoping you would be here.”

As this was going on, the squatters came out the front door and joined with us. Chloe came up to us and I began introductions the best I could. “Hi, I’m Pete Manning, one of the foremen working for Geno Capparelli Construction. These men all work directly on my team. The other foreman has the three men in the other house. He’ll be over in a bit. This lady here that came with the boy is Chloe Harrison and her son Ricky. She is friends with Guido Capparelli, the other foreman. I’ve known Chloe for quite a while now.

“The woman beside me who is showing her condition just a bit is my wife. We have been married over a year. Her name is Mary. I guess you know my four men. I heard you cooked them breakfast. I thank you for that.

“Sandy, I know your first name. Would you introduce the other people living with you?”

“Sure. My name is Sandra Hamilton. This is my Aunt and Uncle, Fred and Mildred Hamilton. The other two are Nick Jeffries and Joe Brooks. My parents are dead so we all came together to survive. My father and mother died in an auto accident. Aunt and Uncle owned a small farm. It was heavily mortgaged and it was foreclosed on more than a year ago.

“We moved into town and have lived with friends always looking for a better place to live. We have been living in this house for six weeks now. It is a little far out from the best panhandling places, but we make do to keep fed.”

“I know a little about what you are talking about. I was panhandling myself for two years when I first came home from being in the army.” I stopped speaking and stared up the street. I could see two utility trucks starting and stopping at each house. “It looks as if you soon will have gas and electricity very soon. I guess they are checking to see the power and gas are shut off in each house until they get here.”

Sandy asked, “Mr. Manning, what are you charging for us to live in this house? I hope it isn’t very much.”

“Please call me Pete. I’m not going to charge you very much. I’ve wracked my brain how you could make a little more money and live a little better. You know you might make some money if you went ahead of the wrecking team and took everything of value out of these houses. You would have to find a place to store it until you could sell it, though. There are the appliances and some of the cupboards. There are most of the counter tops and when we start wrecking there may door and window units that we will take out.”

“Who would buy it?”

“People who have piece of land who want to build a decent hunting camp. A lot of people buy houses to fix up. That’s what we are doing, but we are installing new. “Some people couldn’t afford new. You might have to advertise some, especially at first. There is always the internet to put a website on.”

“Could it be out of town a little less than five miles or so?”

“Probably better for you. Guys like to browse in places like that. Why, do you have a place?”

Sandy, answered, “I own the hay barn that is on the property my Uncle lost. My father bought it years ago planning on doing auto repair in it when he retired. He died before he got very far. It came to me as his heir when the estate was settled. The bank was disappointed when they found out it and two acres didn’t go with the rest of the property. There are some restrictions, the main one being it can’t be used as a residence.”

That’s too bad.”

“I know. Aunt, Uncle, and I have been kicked out of there, but we still do stay there on occasion. The bank hasn’t been able to sell off Uncle’s property and they have had no luck suing Uncle for what they lost above what the property is assessed for now. That’s why we are making sure we have no income to declare.”

“Would you lease the barn to the Capparelli Construction Corporation?”

“I’d let you use it if we can stay here in this house.”

“That’s a given. You have the use of the house until we get this far in rehabbing it. Maybe you would show the barn to me this afternoon or tomorrow?”

“Whenever you say.”

“I’ll call Geno. He is the owner of the business. How much land did your Uncle own?”

“Short of two hundred acres. He sold the cattle when he was fifty-five and was going to help my Dad in the barn doing Auto repair. I think Uncle is sixty three now. His health isn’t that good. He’s is pretty depressed most of the time and he hates going out begging for money, but still goes because the rest of us do.”

“I know the feeling. You just feel so small all the time. I stood it for two years until Mary’s brother gave me a job in his grocery store. Maybe we can find something steady for your Uncle Fred to do that will bring him out of his funk.”

“What is the matter with the little boy’s foot?”

“It is a birth defect. Chloe is divorced and doesn’t get any help from her ex. He is way behind on his support. Mary became her friend in the pediatrician’s office when she was there for a check-up about her pregnancy. Since then, Chloe has become fond of Guido Capparelli. We are all trying to figure out how to get the money to pay to have work done on Ricky’s foot.”

“Oh.”

“Sandy, let me call Geno, my boss now?” I pulled away and Sandy went to Mary and Chloe to get familiar with them and Ricky.

I called Geno, “Hey, I think I may have found a hay barn we can lease to use as headquarters and to store our tools in. We will be buying tools and we need a place to store them. I understand it is about five miles beyond the city limits. That’s not too far out is it?”

“Pete, we can’t afford anything right now.”

“Geno, it belongs to one of the squatters we are letting use one of the houses here. She said if she and the others were going to be able to stay here, we could use it. Just a swap, that’s all. I’m thinking I’ll go look at it this afternoon or tomorrow.”

“Pete, it sounds good. Make sure you nail down the details with your lawyer. Leave me out of it. Let this be a sideline for you outside of the business. Do remind these people that we will be reaching the house they are living in late next year sometime.”

“Geno, okay, whatever you say. About the house here, it has been discussed and agreed to.”

I walked over to the house where I knew Guido was. “Guido, the power and gas workers are coming down the street. I just talked to Geno. I have a chance to use a big hay barn five miles out of the city for a place to store our equipment and tools. Over time we will need it. I’m thinking of going there this afternoon. You want to come with me”

“Sure Pete, will there room for Chloe and Ricky?”

“Yeah, I was going to take the van. I’ll leave the truck for them or they can use Mary’s car.”

“Who is going besides us?”

“Sandy, Mr. and Mrs. Hamilton, Mary and you with Chloe and Ricky. I’ll talk to them now.”

“We’ll never use too big a barn, you know.”

“I do. I have something else in mind for the rest of the space.”

“Like what?”