Chapter 10

Glen was surprised by the change of seasons. September seemed to come so fast and now it was almost over. Every afternoon was spent in the outbuilding that he had turned into a woodshop. He was now producing very nice quality furniture. He laughed as he recalled his early attempts. He kept the first one in a corner of the workshop. A number had ended up in the fireplace.

He went over to his wood pile to see how he was holding up on his supply of wood. The supply had significantly dwindled over the past two months and it was time to get some more wood. He shut down his shop and locked it up. Returning to the cabin, he cleaned up and changed his clothes to be presentable to the people in town.

Ready to leave, he got into his truck and headed out. About a half mile up the road from his place, workmen were finishing setting a mobile home on the site they had cleared a three weeks ago. Glen stopped and watched them work on the mobile home. The men did excellent work setting it up with a minimum of effort. He watched as they leveled it and tied it down. There were men running the wires to the trailer and another pair of men hooking up the water and sewerage. It was about ready to move into.

He wondered who his new neighbors were and if he would like them. He wasn’t that happy about having a mobile home next door. He was afraid that he would have trailer trash as neighbors. There were some upsides to their moving in, they had managed to get electric and telephone service run a ways down the road.

He drove past the place and headed into town. When he reached town, he pulled into the parking lot of the lumber store. Entering, he waved to the manager. The man came over with a large smile. Glen was his primary customer for the high quality woods. He called out, “Hello, Glen. How is it going?”

“Going good, Fred. I need some more ash and oak.”

Fred stood there for a minute as he considered his stock. He was a little low on ash. He led Glen over to the section of the store where he kept his furniture quality woods. Glen noticed the lack of ash. Fred said, “As you can see, I’m low on ash. I can get some more in a couple of days. I’ve got as much oak as you could possibly need.”

Glen nodded as he said, “Okay, I’ll take half your stock of oak. Leave word at the diner for me when you get the ash.”

Fred laughed and asked, “You still don’t have a phone?”

“Nope. They’ve just started running a line down the street. Might get one if I can justify it.”

Fred shook his head in amazement. This guy was able to drop ten grand on wood in an afternoon and wouldn’t spend the money to get a phone. He dropped the subject by saying, “I’ve gotten some very nice walnut in stock.”

Glen smiled and then said, “Um, not ready for that yet. Maybe next time. Do you have any cedar?”

Fred pointed to the very end of the row and stated, “Lots.”

Glen went over to the area that had been pointed out to him. He pulled out about twenty good sized boards. He said, “Add these. The orphanage said they needed some cedar chests for storing winter clothes.”

Fred stated, “Use a cheaper wood for the chest and inlay the cedar in the top. That will be a lot cheaper and look nicer.”

Glen said, “Good idea. I may make them a number of chests so that each child can get one.”

“If you want my advice, use particle board or something like that for the main body of the chest. Paint them a basic white and then let each kid decorate their own chest.”

Glen laughed and agreed, “Good idea. For a salesman, you sure are trying to save me money. Are you feeling okay?”

“Sure, I’m feeling fine. I just don’t like to see good quality wood wasted on furniture that is going to get rough treatment. It’s too hard to get good wood.”

Glen nodded as he thought about it. He realized that he had been taking the wood for granted. He replied, “You’re right. Could you put together enough wood for about fifty chests?”

Fred nodded and said, “I’ll deliver it tomorrow afternoon if that is alright with you.”

“Sure.”

Glen left the lumber store feeling good about his shopping experience. He had gone to Fred when he started his furniture making project. Fred had taught him a lot about the various woods and how to work with them. He trusted Fred to get him good quality wood and get him a good price on it. Fred bought about four times as much wood as he needed and resold most of it to hardware stores in the area. He went through each board and kept only the best. When Glen was starting out, Fred invited him to help him sort the lumber. He had learned so much from the experience.

He glanced down at his watch. It was almost dinner time. Rather than drive home and reheat some leftovers, he decided to eat in the restaurant in town. He drove there and parked in his regular parking spot.

Entering the restaurant, the waitress came over to him. She said, “Hello, Glen.”

Glen, having learned her name only after the twins left, said, “Hello CJ. How’s business tonight?”

“Good. I’m afraid you’ll have to share your regular booth tonight.”

Glen looked around the restaurant and noticed three heads with sandy brown hair sitting at his table. He looked closer and then looked at CJ. He asked, “Is it?”

She just smiled at him and winked. He picked her up and spun in a circle holding her up in the air. She shrieked in surprise. He set her down and raced over to the table. Amazingly, it was the Metchettes. He said, “Hello! How? What? Uh!”

As he left, CJ looked a little sad. That was the closest that she had ever gotten to Glen. No man had ever just lifted her and spun her around like that. The fact that he could do that excited her and stimulated her in ways she never thought about. She went into the kitchen to recover her normal demeanor. She didn’t want to spoil his reunion with the Metchettes.

At the table, Sandy looked over at Glen and pretended to be afraid. She grabbed her sister and said, “Who is this stranger? He can’t be Glen. Glen was dour and unfriendly.”

Wanda, with a look of mock horror, answered, “You’re right. This guy looks happy to see us. It can’t be Glen. Is it a pod person that looks like him?”

Cliff laughed at the antics of his sisters and patted the seat next to him. He said, “Sit down, Glen. Don’t mind those two.”

Glen sat down smiling happily. He asked, “So what you are doing here?”

Cliff looked at his two sisters and realized that he had become their spokesman. He answered, “Well, we are moving here. Sandra and Wanda finished their courses in record time. We started a little business and it is going well. We decided that we would settle in a nice low cost of living area where we knew people. So after a long discussion, we decided to come here.”

Glen was confused and asked, “If you started a business how could you move away from there?”

Wanda answered, “We started it on the Internet. We can run it from anywhere.”

Glen nodded as he thought about it. He wasn’t all that familiar with the Internet. It had been in the news about the time that his tragic year started and he had never paid any attention to it since. He smiled at the twins and said, “I knew you’d rock the world.”

They smiled, happy to see him. Sandra said, “We are so happy to see you.”

Glen wanted to know all of the details about their plans and couldn’t decide what to ask first. Finally, he settled on the most mundane question and asked, “So where are you going to live?”

The trio all looked at each other like people holding a great secret. Wanda finally replied, “We’re not going to tell you. You’re going to have to find us.”

Her answer really surprised him, but he decided that it meant they hadn’t found a place. He asked, “Well, do you want to stay at my place until you find yourself a home?”

Cliff answered, “We already have a home, but we’ll spend the night with you if you would like us to stay.”

Glen was excited at the prospect of them staying with him, but tried to look disinterested and shrugged his shoulders. In a bored tone of voice, he said, “Well, if you want, you can.”

Sandra’s smile evaporated for a few seconds. She looked at Wanda seeing her own face mirrored there. Then they realized that he was teasing them back. She said, “Okay. However, with that level of enthusiasm I guess we’ll just have to act all prim and proper and virginal. We won’t be able to accept any welcome back kisses or hugs or anything like that.”

In reality, all Glen wanted to do was reach out and hug all three of them, only the table was in the way. He laughed as he said, “Oh, God, it is great to have you back. You have no idea how much I’ve missed you.”

Wanda smiled back and said, “Oh, we had a little idea when this truly huge check arrived at our place a month ago.”

CJ arrived at the table with a bittersweet smile on her face. It was good to see Glen so happy for a change. He had become a lot friendlier over the past few months, but it was easy to tell that he was very lonely. She had entertained hopes of being the one that relieved that loneliness. However, the twins clearly had him wrapped around their little fingers. She couldn’t be too upset, they had all been through a lot together. He had saved them from a madman three times.

Wanda looked at CJ and said, “Well CJ, what has he been like while we’ve been gone?”

CJ replied, “Well, he was real sad for a long time after you left, but then he really cheered up. I think he found someone that he really likes. You wouldn’t believe the change that he underwent.”

Sandra’s eyebrows raised as her lips pursed. She wondered if Glen had found a new woman in his life. She asked, “And when did that change take place?”

CJ smiled and said, “Oh, about ten minutes ago.”

Wanda tittered at the revelation. She realized that Glen had really missed them. She leaned across the table and coyly asked, “Did you happen to use our going away present like we suggested?”

Glen blushed a bright red and didn’t answer. That was enough of an answer for Sandra. She laughed aloud and then laughed even harder when she noticed the confused look on CJ’s face. Wanda winked at CJ and said, “We left him some panties so he wouldn’t miss us too much.”

CJ laughed aloud at that. No wonder the twins had him wrapped around their little fingers. She would never have thought of doing that herself, but realized just what an effect it would have on a man. She looked at Glen with a twinkle in her eye and asked, “So what did you do with them?”

Glen blushed even harder. Cliff came to his rescue by saying, “CJ, you beautiful lady, if you give me a pair of yours I’ll show you what I would have done!”

She looked at Cliff in surprise. It only took her a minute to assess the young man. She realized that Cliff had always been in the background. The twins easily attracted attention just through their novelty. Glen was a powerful presence whether he was dour, sad, lonely, or happy. Cliff was just there, but now he seemed much more confident than ever before. She laughed as she said, “I may take you up on that.”

The twins turned on Cliff as Sandra said, “Oh my. Cliff is going to make a conquest.”

Wanda smiled at CJ and said, “He must really like you. That’s his best pickup line yet.”

Cliff waved a hand and said, “Come on you two. Leave her alone.”

Sandra giggled and said, “Oh, the white knight rides to the damsels rescue.”

Wanda looked at Cliff for a second and then nodded as if she just realized something. She said, “You know what? I think you really do like her.”

Cliff glanced over at CJ and saw her little smile. Rather than having to make any embarrassing denials or acknowledgements, he decided to have a little fun with it. He said to CJ, “Well, it looks like our secret is out. They’ll discover sooner or later that we’ve been secretly dating for a year. I came back to propose marriage to you.”

CJ laughed and held out a hand as though to accept a wedding ring. Glen, not realizing the joke, said, “Wow, that’s great. Congratulations you two.”

At the shocked expressions on everyone’s faces, Glen realized that Cliff was joking. He burst out laughing and said, “God, I’m an idiot. They aren’t back fifteen minutes and I’m already making a fool out of myself.”

CJ looked at Cliff for a minute as though trying to make up her mind. The young man had changed a lot and it was all for the better. She decided that she liked him. She put a hand on Glen’s shoulder and said, “Don’t feel bad. It’s not all that unlikely, you know.”

Cliff and CJ shared a look. It did not go unnoticed by the group around the table. The look was significant enough that no one wanted to make a joke about it. There were bounds on what was proper and joking would have crossed them. The silence was shattered by a loud growl originating from the proximity of Glen’s stomach. Everyone broke into laughter as Glen blushed. He said, “I did come here for dinner, okay?”

CJ asked, “So what will you have tonight?”

Glen asked, “What’s the dinner special?”

Cliff, surprised by Glen’s question, asked, “Why do you want to know? You always order it anyway.”

CJ laughed and answered, “After you guys left, he was so lonely he even started to talk to me. Can you imagine? He’d ask what the dinner special was and then order it no matter what I answered.”

Glen smiled and asked, “So what is the dinner special?”

“Fried Fish.”

Glen paused as he thought about the lovely trout back at home. He said, “Okay, I’ll take a burger and fries.”

His announcement was greeted by silence. CJ was shocked. The Metchettes turned as one and stared at Glen. The silence was finally broken by Sandra, “My God, it is a pod person.”

Glen grinned wickedly and leaned across the table. In a spooky voice he said, “You’re next, my lovely.”

Cliff reached over to CJ and grasped her hand in both of his. He said, “Protect me!”

CJ laughed and pulled him tight to her breast. She said, “Master, you take care of the twins while I give this one to the pod.”

Cliff didn’t jerk back like she expected. He just said, “Anytime.”

Another loud growl from Glen’s stomach brought everyone back to the business at hand. Cliff missed his formerly comfortable position. The rest of the table ordered diner. CJ had to double check Glen’s order and asked, “Glen, you’re sure you want a hamburger and fries?”