Chapter 16

Tuesday, I went to my tennis class, and we worked in smaller groups than we had before. The coach had separated the entire class of thirty or so students into four different playing levels. My group of six students were comprised of the better players. We took the farthest court from the gym, and spent the entire two hours doing different hitting drills. Henderson, the boy that I'd rallied with from the previous week's class, had been left in charge of us. While everything that we did was new to me, I was easily able to keep up with the other players in my group. We were hitting forehands and backhands to different spots on the court. Each player would continue hitting until he missed putting the ball into a quadrant that he'd been told to hit. I found that I could hit any quadrant pretty much at will, but I missed on purpose several times in order to give the rest of our group their opportunities to also hit, and I also did this so that my new tennis skills didn't stick, out and draw any attention to me.

<Don't make me too good.>

I adjusted your hand eye coordination last week, and I also taught you the basic fundamentals of court movement. If you don't want to appear too good, you can hit the ball out or into the net whenever you choose to. Don't blame me, all I did was improve on your very inferior skills.

After my class, I showered and then went over to Tiny's house. My mom and dad pulled their car into Tiny's driveway a little before noon. Both of them looked tired from their travels, but happy to be at their destination. I gave my mom a welcoming hug and my father and I shook hands.

"Welcome to California. How was the trip?" Terri came out of the house then and she also hugged my mom, and then my dad. Dad took the opportunity to plant a kiss on her as well. I noticed my mom's look of annoyance, but she didn't say anything to him, at least not then. We all moved inside the house. Terri got my dad the beer that he requested, and my mother, Terri and I all had fresh lemonade. Tiny and Terri had planted two big lemon bushes when they had first bought their house, and these bushes each produced so many lemons that I really wouldn't have believed it without having seen them for myself. It was a good thing that Tiny and Terri both loved lemonade. We had been sitting down at the kitchen table for less than a minute before my father asked Terri about the boat. She started talking to him, and, in less than a minute, the two of them were out in the driveway, tearing off the boat cover, and Terri was showing him everything about it. My mom and I stayed inside and talked.

She told me that they had both had a good time on the trip. Her visit with her sister had been great, if too short, and the Carlisle's in Austin had been very hospitable, and had taken them out to a real Texas barbecue. She told me that my father had gotten drunk with Chief Carlisle, and the two men had stayed out until three in the morning, leaving their wives home to worry about them. Her real excitement though had been reserved for Las Vegas. It seems that my mother had discovered real gambling. She had always been an avid bingo player before, but now, she had discovered slot machines, and she was hooked. She told me about this one machine that she had hit five different jackpots on. It was a nickel machine, and each jackpot was 150 nickels, or $7.50. When I asked her how much she had ended up winning, she just looked at me strangely.

"Jimmy, I put it all back in the machine, plus another thirty dollars of my own money. The thing is though, that it was my first time playing and I hit five jackpots. Now that I know how to tell when they're going to hit a jackpot, I can just walk around until I find a machine that's going to hit, play it, and win a jackpot. Then, I'll quit that machine and go find another one that's due to hit."

"Ma, what do you mean? How do you know when it's going to hit a jackpot?"

"Jimmy, it's something I noticed while I was watching other people play, after I had lost all of the money that your father gave me to gamble with. Most of those machines can go a very long time without hitting anything at all. You need to wait until the people playing these machines lose all their money, and then have to leave. It is almost certain that the very next person that comes by after that will only have to stick a few nickels in before the machine pays off for them. I saw it happen over and over again. I told your father about it too, but he wouldn't let me have any more money. He did promise me that he'd take me back soon, so that I can try my new system out with real money."

"Ma, I'm not too sure about your system, but I'm glad that you enjoyed Las Vegas." Just then, my dad and Terri came back in. My father didn't look tired anymore.

"Martha, you've got to see our new boat! Tiny really did a good job of picking up everything that we'll need. Terri says that Tiny's off tomorrow, and we can all take the boat and go fishing."

"I'm not getting on any small boat like that, Jack. Have you completely lost your mind. What if it tips over? You can go if you want to, but I'm not going anywhere in a boat that size." My father looked disappointed by her lack of enthusiasm.

"It's okay if Tiny and I go tomorrow though?"

"You can go, I'll just sit here and have a nice visit with Terri and Jimmy." Terri then spoke up.

"You and Jimmy can stay here Martha, but I'm going fishing. It's the one thing that Tiny and I really enjoy doing together. I'm not getting shut out again." My mother sniffed in disdain.

"Go if you want to Terri, I can just sit here and enjoy the quiet and get some rest, all by myself, if I have to. After being cooped up in that car for so long, I might just enjoy having the whole house all to myself. In fact, you all should just go, and I'll make a nice dinner and have it ready for you by the time you get back. I can't wait to try cooking on that new range of yours. I bet Tiny has been missing my Yankee pot roast. He always used to ask for that when you guys came over to see us."

Mom and Terri started talking about that oven and went over to twist knobs, look at the broiler and the oven, the new timer attachment. You would have thought it was a car, the attention that they paid to each tiny detail. I finally had to break things up. or they would have been at that stove until it got dark.

"Mom, dad, we need to run over to Fullerton, to get the paperwork started on that house that you're buying." The two of them turned and looked at me like I was crazy or something. My father spoke first.

"You already found a house that you think we should buy? Without your mother and I even looking at it? Jimmy, don't you think that we should make those kind of decisions?"

Careful, Jimmy. I didn't prepare them for the house. I assumed that you'd lead them to it at a later date, allow them to make the purchasing decision. Remember, to them, their first home purchase is the largest financial decision that they think they'll ever make. I'd advise you to back pedal and start all over again. Remember, that house isn't going to go off the market anytime soon.

<I wish you'd warned me about this before I stuck my foot in my mouth.>

"What I meant was that you need to fill out the financial questions for the GI Bill loan papers, so that we can get the process started. After you do that, we can go looking at some houses that I've found that you might like. You did tell me that you're buying a house didn't you?"

"Your mother and I are going to buy a house, Jimmy, but, we're going to rent an apartment first, and then take our time looking around first, so that we know for sure what area we want to settle in."

"Sure, pop, I knew that. It's just that I saw this one house that would be so perfect. It's close to my college, in an area where values are going straight up, it has a really nice lot, over two acres that can be split off for building other houses, and the house itself was really well constructed when it was built for the owner. It was all custom built, not just thrown together like most of these new tract houses are. It's big too, with plenty of room for a sewing room for mom and a den for you. It's a two story house too."

"How far is it from where my ship is berthed?"

"It's about a forty minute drive each way, pop, but you don't want to live in Los Angeles, or anywhere around that area where your ship is. It isn't really a good area to be living. Besides, Tiny and Terri and the boat are all out here. Plus, who's mom going to have for a friend way out in Long Beach? Terri and Tiny are close by for when your ship is out of port. You'd only be a twenty minute drive away from the ocean, and all of the good lakes to launch the boat in are out this way, unless you want to drive up North."

"I said your mother and I will decide, Jimmy."

<You want to jump in here and help me out?>

Only if you ask me real nice.

<Please, pretty please, please with sugar on top.>

Oh, I like it when you grovel. All fixed.

"Jimmy, since you went to all of that trouble though, your mother and I will go look at this house, but we're still going to end up buying when and what we decide."

"Sure, pop, I wouldn't have it any other way." I looked over at my mother. She hadn't said a word through all of this, but, I could tell by the smile that she sent me that she was happy that I had been thinking about her requirements and needs, and I really felt that she would make an effort to be receptive of the idea of buying the house.

We all went outside and I had them all get into my Cadillac. My mom sat in back and my dad asked me if he could drive it. I handed him the keys and went over to the passenger side. I first took them on a little tour of Fullerton, showing them my school, and showing them where the shopping area was. My mom was asking how far it was from the house that I liked to the grocers and to the other things like beauty parlors and the cleaners. I answered her as well as I knew, and, finally got my dad to drive over to the house itself. It was already vacant, and there was a big sign in front with the realty company that was handling the sale.

When we pulled up in the long driveway, my father started complaining about all of that lawn that would need to be cared for. I told him that it was all handled, explaining the deal that I'd made with Tiny. Next, he stared complaining about how big the house was, and about how much work it would be for my mother to keep clean. When he asked how much they were asking, I told him the price, ($16,000), and he nearly went ballistic on me.

"Are you crazy, Jimmy? Do you know how much the monthly payment would be on something like that?"

<What happened? I thought that you had fixed this.>

They've accepted that there is money now, at least in the general sense, and that you are now going to be living independent of their concern or control. It will just take some time for them to both get used to the changing situation when it comes down to their making actual purchases. Did you notice that they didn't bat an eye at your Cadillac? They never asked how you could afford such a car, and, your father never mentioned money or costs when it came to the boat and all of the newly purchased accessories.

<So, what do I do to get them to buy this property?>

The easiest thing would be to convince them of the merits of making the purchase.

"Pop, I know that it sounds like a lot of money to you, and it is a lot of money. This is a big investment, and it is only about three thousand dollars more than one of those little tract boxes that they're building all over the place. The thing is, this is a lot more house that you'd be getting, and, you won't need to spend three or four thousand dollars for a new lawn, or a block wall fence either. The most important reason though, is that when prices start moving up, and they will, soon, this house will be going up more than twice as fast as one of those tract houses will, with their cookie cutter design. As for it's size, that's a huge plus for you. You've got built in storage, plenty of room for company, and mom will have room to have her new friends over to keep her company when you're off traipsing around the world on the Bryce Canyon." I could see that I now had mom solidly in my corner after that last salvo.

"Jimmy, $16,000.00, that's more than I earn in three year's. What happens when I retire on half pay? This is going to be our retirement house, where we'll try to live on a fixed pension that isn't very big. I'll have to go out and get a job just to support that big house payment."

"Pop, try to be for real here. There was no way that you were ever going to be able to live on that $250.00 a month from your Navy pension. Even with your savings, you will still need to work. This house is really your best chance of being able to really retire someday. In a few years, maybe ten or fifteen years, this house will be worth a whole lot of money. We can split off four more lots from that big yard, and sell them to builders then, for twice as much each as you're now paying for the whole house and property."

"Your mother and I want to look around Jimmy, and make sure that we have what we want before we put down that kind of money for a house. You know that this will be our first house. Don't you think that we should start off small, just in case we decide that we don't like owning, and we have to sell?" Enter now, my mother.

"Jack, Ive seen enough. This is the house that I want. Jimmy's right, I'm the one who is going to be stuck at home while you're off on your cruises. The house is for me, that's what you always said. Well, you can start off small if you want to, but not me. This is the house that I want, and I damn sure better get it. Don't forget, Jimmy already goes to school here. Now, lets go talk to the people and see if we can qualify to buy this house." My father looked over at me. He was pissed, seriously pissed. If my mother hadn't been right there, I'd have gotten an earful of his best ass chewing. I decided that I better throw him something. I better do something big too, if I wanted to avert the hard feelings that were going to result from all of this.

"Pop, I've got some money that I've been saving. It's over four thousand dollars now, because of that compounding interest. I want to give you that for a down payment so that now this house isn't going to cost you any more than those little tract houses would have." I could see that, as my offer of that money registered with him, he got less angry and agitated at me.

Better tell him about those flying lessons, Jimmy. Bastard, I knew why he was doing that. He always did things like this, get me under a lot pressure, and then get me to do something that he wanted me to. I can hear that, Jimmy. You should remember that before you go calling me any names.

<I don't care if you hear it or not. It's true. That's exactly how you operate.>

I gave you my best advice. If you choose not to take it, that's not my concern.

<You're just locking me in to doing your bidding. I know that.>

I'm doing yours too. I don't ask for anything more valuable than what I'm willing to give you. Do you remember that box that's in your trunk? $19,200.00 is a lot of money, Jimmy. That should buy me a few flying lessons. Think of your father too. Don't you want him to get something that he wants out of all this. Is it too much to ask that you make him a little bit happy too?

"Pop, I know that you're a little upset right now. I can understand that. I really think this house will be perfect for the family. As soon as I finish with my pilot's training, I thought I'd rent a plane and fly us all over to Las Vegas. Mom could try her new slot machine system, and you and I could go fishing over at Hoover Dam. I hear there's good fishing. We could rent one of those fishing boats and have a good time. We could even bring Tiny if he can get off and you wanted to."

"What pilot's training? This is the first I've heard of any of that. When did you decide to do that? You hate fishing, I've asked you before if you wanted to go with me."

"Pop, things change, people change. Maybe I've been too selfish, only doing what I wanted to. I never really gave fishing a chance. I'm starting to learn how to fly because I remember you talking to me about that when I was little. I figured that now is a good time to try it, while I'm still young, and things are easier to learn."