Chapter 16

When we got back to my house, to pick up George's fifty-six, I decided to back the reefer into the garage and drop the trailer. It wouldn't hurt a damned thing to have it inside and I wasn't short of space. Of course, Meka was ever so glad for me to hold Tutsie while she took her turn with the hand crank. George smiled so wide about it I was afraid he'd break his face.

Meka and I boarded the tractor then and we left, with George trailing us. As we neared his house, Meka decided she could use a sip or two of Coke so we pulled in and parked.

George and I agreed we could hold some coffee too and into the house we went.

"Have you finally got done with Jerry?" Ethel asked.

"Near 'bout. He had the new truck done just right, we just gotta bring it over here first so John can move his and Meka's things to it before we take the other tractor to Jerry," George said.

"Move what things?" Ethel asked.

"I just need to move the few clothes from one truck to the other, and then I'll take the sheets off the old bunk and make up the new one, in case we have to go somewhere while Jerry is working on the truck we've been using," I said.

I knew right away that I'd said something wrong, and then it came to me. Ethel, and Wanda too, were swelled up like I was a contract worker trying to scab in on their union job. I knew there was no way out of this mess except take the tongue lashing I was probably about to get.

"You just do your truck drivin' part and bring the new one over to park right by the first one. Me and Wanda'll take care of the moving to make sure you don't get in over your head," Ethel said, and I considered myself lucky to get off so easy.

I know damned well that Meka couldn't have understood any of what Ethel and I had been talking about. She didn't have any trouble with understanding the tone though. When I looked at her she even gave her head a sharp nod, as if to say, " I guess she told you."

I guess she had at that. I tried to keep a meek and chastised look on my face and I think I did a good job. I didn't give a rat's ass if Ethel and Wanda made me let them make up the bunk. Please, Mrs Ethel, please don't throw me in the briar patch.

George and I tried to leave like our tails were between our legs, but I had the feeling that he was having a hard time keeping from laughing too. Meka strutted out behind us with Tutsie in her arms; she didn't even fuss about having to ride in George's airseatless pickup. Of course that could have been because she was plenty high enough to see out from sitting in my lap.

Jerry had a new bright idea when we got back to pick up the other tractor. He wanted me to hook the log trailer and fold the pole to make sure everything fit right.

"I got it as close as I could, but we won't know for sure until you load it. Might have to slide the fifth wheel forward or back a notch or two," he said.

I didn't see where it would hurt anything so I backed the truck toward the trailer. He had it hanging from a regular rack that he'd built, instead of from a tree, and I was just as glad.

When you hook a pole trailer that's hung from a tree, you have to be careful and not hit it hard enough to break the limb off. Just for safety's sake I had Meka take Tutsie and go stand with George, about a hundred feet away.

Everything went fine when I hooked the trailer and I got onto the back to connect the brake lines and the pigtail. When I did I noticed Jerry removing a big two-inch diameter pin from the main hinge, where the pole connects to the front bunk.

"What's that Jerry?" I asked.

"It's something that goofball X bullwhacker of Granderson's came up with. He must have seen it on another trailer somewhere, because there wasn't enough left between his ears to think of it on his own," he said.

"Maybe so, but what's it for?"

"It locks the front hinge when you want to unhook the trailer. You don't have to worry about the damned stakes falling over and bustin' your head," he said.

"I'll be damned, that'll be handy."

"It will for you for sure. Just keep it greased so you can get the pin in or out when you need to, and take it out as soon as you're done with it. If you try to load the trailer with it in there you'll tear up the hinge in a heartbeat," he said, and I could see that he was right.

We were set, so I pulled forward until the trailer had straightened out behind me, and then backed up and yanked down on the trolly valve to lock the trailer's brakes. The pole jumped up in the middle and in a few seconds the trailer's wheels were off the ground. I kept backing until they settled against the trailer ride's bumper and then stopped and set the tractor's brake.

"Worked just like it's supposed to," I said, to Jerry, when I got out.

"That's what people hire good welders for," he said, smiling.

George, Meka, and Tutsie came back over and Meka was still wide eyed over the trailer's antics. She watched fascinated while I hooked the winch line to the pole, near the middle hinge, and let the winch pull it down into its cradle. After that I slung the tie chain over the pole and bound it all down tight, letting off the winch line's tension as the last step. Then I realized that I hadn't intended to take the trailer with me.

"You gonna go ahead and take it with ya?" Jerry asked.

"I hadn't intended to, but I bound it down without thinking. Old habits die hard I guess. We'll just have to find a tree over at George's place to hang it in," I said.

"Well ya can, but you don't really have to. That's another thing that big pin is good for. You can go ahead and drop the fifth wheel down on an old tire and the pin will keep the stakes from giving you grief. They'll stand up straight," he said.

"I guess it'd be all right, but we don't have a loader to help hook the trailer again," I said.

"It would be better with a loader, for sure, but with that cover plate over the end of the frame rails, you can use the winch to lift the fifth wheel and bunk high enough so's you can back right on under it," he said.

I'd never seen anyone do that before, but when I looked it over I thought he had something there. Hell, I'd give it a try if I ever wanted to haul logs again, hell of a big if though.

I thought I'd finally confused the new garage doors when we went back to park the truck. The door in front of the reefer trailer started up and I guess that whatever worked them couldn't tell the difference between a normal tractor and one with its pole trailer loaded on its back.

Shame on me, and what the fuck is going on; both those thoughts flashed through my mind. The reefer trailer was gone. How did that happen?

When I looked more closely, I could see that there were two eight inch by five foot pipe stands sticking straight up, exactly where they'd need to be for me to hang a pole trailer off them, they seemed to be set into the concrete floor.

I finally decided that there must be some kind of elevator arrangement for the garage too, one to take the trailers somewhere else for storage, as in, put them in the basement somehow.

I was beginning to feel like I was a mouse in a maze, trying to find my way out, or was it in? Except new turns kept springing up and there was cheese for me everywhere. At least I had sense enough to know that someone wanted me to unhook the pole trailer and put it in this new rack.

"Daddy, what?" Meka asked when I drove into the back parking lot and hopped the curb, driving out into the pasture a little way.

"I have to unload the trailer?" I said, and she didn't understand of course.

"I'll show you," I said, and that satisfied her.

I did a show and tell for it, even though I knew she couldn't understand the tell part. She liked watching the trailer come off nearly as much as she liked seeing it loaded though, so everything was fine.

When I backed into the open bay, I lined the front bunk up with the poles that had appeared and we got out. Chains were already hanging from the big pipe stands and I disconnected my brake lines and pigtail and barely remembered to put the big pin back in the hinge.

After hooking the chains to the bunk, I popped the fifth wheel. Meka, Tutsie, and I got back in the truck, and I pulled out leaving the trailer hanging. The door started down as soon as we were out.

"What we now, Daddy?" Meka asked.

"Let's go see George and Ethel," I said, and Meka smiled.

Meka, Tutsie, and I were good to go now, and we got in our truck and shut the left door.

She was happy, since we were still truck riding, and she played with her air seat a little, just for drill I guess. Maybe she was making sure the one in this new truck worked as well as the other one. Suddenly I noticed her looking at the dash, right near the middle. She demonstrated her new command of English then.

"Where CB?" she asked.

I might have known she wouldn't miss anything.

"We have to go get it," I said.

"Good, we go Clay's. See Janice too?" she asked.

"Yes, we have to get our other trailer," I said.

"Good. Janice meet Tutsie, Clay too, maybe," she said, and then grinned.

"We go Clay's in morning?" she asked.

"I guess we can if you want to," I said.

"I want. Tutsie want too," she said.

Well, that was that.

Ethel, Wanda, Geneva, and Carolyn swarmed us when we pulled up beside the other tractor. They already had it stripped, with our things in boxes. I could see that they had a completely different set of sheets and coverlet for the bunk, new pillows too.

"T'other truck's done empty. No need fer you two to tarry, George is already gone and probably waitin' to bring you back," Ethel said when we got out.

"Ok, then, we we'll be back in a few minutes."

"You and George don't have to waste no time hidin'. We'll be done here in a few minutes and there's no chance you'll have to work, so come on back," Ethel said, and then the four of them laughed, even Meka was grinning and I'm not sure Tutsie wasn't.

George was waiting for us and Jerry took over the truck as soon as we unassed it. We piled into George's fifty-six and headed for my place.

"How'd you get rid of that pole trailer so fast," George asked.

"You might get to see when we're back to my garage," I said.

"What do ya mean, I might?"

"Just wait til we get there and I'll try to explain what I know about it," I said.

I knew I was being a little mysterious for George's taste, but damn. I still wasn't sure I didn't make it up.

No matter what Ethel had said, we went to my garage and as we pulled up the mystery door opened. The pole trailer was gone too.

"Hey, what happened to the reefer trailer?" George asked.

"You're behind times, George. The reefer was gone when we got back with the pole trailer," I said.

"Well where did you put the pole trailer, now that you mention it. I don't see it anywhere. Is it out in the pasture?" he asked.

"Nope. My guess is it's with the reefer."

"Humor an old man, how 'bout it. Give me a hint," he said.

"There's an elevator under the garage too, or that's my best guess anyway. When Meka, Tutsie, and I got back with the pole trailer, the reefer was gone and there was a stand here to hang the pole trailer on. That's where we left it," I said.

George was still scratching his head and I thought I'd be scratching my ass in a minute. Then Meka spoke up.

"Daddy, look," she said.

George and I both did. Meka was pointing to the inner wall of the garage, right beside where the door opened. There, glowing like our handprints had been near the other doors, were line drawings of the pole trailer and the reefer trailer. She put her hand on the reefer and an alarm type sound came from somewhere.

It must have been because George and I were standing in the part of the floor that wanted to move. We went to stand by Meka and sure enough, the floor started sinking.

Of course we looked into the open shaft that was appearing before out eyes as the floor sunk away. When we did we could see the reefer trailer off to the side of the shaft, probably fifty or more feet below the floor.

When the empty floor slot got down to that level, it started moving sideways and the reefer started moving sideways too, right into the space the empty section had just occupied.

"That's the damnedest thing I eve saw," George said.

"It gets my vote too."

Meka just smiled wide, no doubt proud of herself for finding the controls. I was proud of her too. We kept our eyes glued to the reefer though, until it was back where I'd first left it.

To me it was too much to even be amazed about. I don't guess it was any more surprising than anything else, but it was bigger. There wasn't a damned thing I could do about it either way anyway. What the hell, the way George had been buying trailers, we'd need the space.

"Looks to me like you got more room below than I thought. I can remember being down there in the basement and I didn't see anything like that. Besides, that looked a lot deeper than the basement seemed," he said.

"You know as much about it as I do," I said.

"Supper time," Meka said, and damned if she wasn't right.

George went on in his fifty-six. Meka, Tutsie, and I took the Hum-V pickup and followed. I dawdled to let George take the brunt of any grief over us being gone too long.

Everything was merry when we got there though. Supper wasn't quite ready but most everyone was already sitting around the table. Doctor Jorge was telling them that he felt much better already, after only a few hours on his diet. He even looked a little thinner but that wasn't possible.

I really felt sorry for Doctor Jorge when the peach cobbler and ice cream came out, after we'd finished with the roast beef and such. He and Tutsie were the only ones that didn't eat much peach cobbler and Jorge was the icecreamless one on his own. Ethel did have some kind of low calorie sherbet for him, but I just knew it wasn't the same.

Tutsie got a chance at the peach cobbler, but I think Meka had stuffed him with roast beef. He did lick up all his ice cream, but all he did with the cobbler was lick around on the syrupy part, and he didn't even clean that up. Meka even turned down the offer of a mug coffee. She'd made a pig or herself too on the roast beef.

I got the two of them to the house and in bed, making sure they both made trips to their respective places to take care of business. Meka could barely make it to her bed after she was done. I tucked them in, gave Meka a kiss on the forehead and poor Tutsie was already asleep before he could give me a goodnight lick. I felt I could probably get by.