Chapter 9

Day Nine - Tuesday

I woke up about six with the TV playing an exercise program featuring a skimpily dressed babe and a slick looking guy with an eight pack, far past just the standard six pack abs. The only thing those programs were good for was to drool over the workout chick and remind yourself that you probably ought to workout yourself.

Thinking about it, I should probably get some tennis shoes and run or something. I could walk down to the pool and swim some laps. That would be good exercise.

I put on my swimsuit and walked down to the swimming pool. There were two older ladies swimming slowly back and forth getting their morning's exercise too. I stepped into the pool on the opposite side they were on and pushed off swimming at a leisurely pace then on the return trip picking up speed. On each turn I sped up a little until I was swimming as hard as I could. Becoming winded, I started slowing down till I was swimming back at about the same speed I started.

As I stood up and sat on the edge, a short gray haired older lady turned to her companion, "Be still my heart. Helen, I think our wish just swam into our lives."

I glanced over at the grinning ladies, "You two ladies be good. Your husbands will be out here holding me under if they think I'm making a play for either of you two fine looking ladies."

One of the ladies glided over to me in the water to stand right in front of me, "We are both single and ready for a treat like you. Think you can handle a couple of horny old ladies?"

I was blushing bright red when the other lady swam over and joined in, "Gretchen don't be teasin' this guy or making promises your dried up ole' crotch can't fulfill."

"He looks like he could fill me right to the brim Helen," the first lady bantered.

"Ask nice and offer him a C-note and maybe he'll haul your ashes for you, you nasty ole' lady."

"Ladies, ladies I'm just a new guy around here trying to work off a few calories and some extra beer from this past week. You two look like you're in pretty good shape, so maybe we can be workout buddies," I smiled with open arms.

"You the guy been sparkin' Kathy? You the one that took out the slime ball Jeff?" Helen asked.

"Kathy and I have gone out and Sunday we went to Busch Gardens with her kids."

"We know that," Gretchen commented. "You went with Charlie and his wild red headed wife."

"No secrets around here, huh?" I asked.

"Not when it has to do with a new young stud moving in," Helen smiled.

Gretchen asked, "You here permanent or what?"

"I'm on vacation, a long vacation," I said remembering about buying twenty grand worth of work tools yesterday.

"So what do you do that makes you want to have a long vacation?" Helen asked.

"Until last week, I was working on oil pumping and drilling platforms off the coast of Belize. I've been working hard for the oil companies, seventy to eighty hours a week for almost four years. I needed a break and I ended up here to enjoy myself."

"I have a cousin that works on the Alaska pipeline and he complains that you don't make much money up there. At least not enough to have some decent meals and go to the tavern after he sends six or seven hundred a week home," Gretchen was saying.

"I didn't go to town up there very often while I was up there. I was there to make and save money. I really can't tell you much about it."

"You were probably smarter than Gene is, I know him well," Gretchen darkened. "He drinks too much and chases wild women all the time. He just uses the excuse of being up there to get away with his mischief."

I got out of the pool drying off with the towel I brought.

"Want to use the hot tub, stud?" Helen asked. "It was probably you and Kathy in there the other night making all those groaning noises."

"You might have heard another couple that was getting into the tub when we left. Can you believe it, they just stripped down right in front of us and got into the tub?"

"Helen, we gotta start coming to the hot tub late at night. We might get some action while some lady ain't lookin'."

"See you girls later. I'm going to try to exercise every morning, so if you want to play with me, be here," I smiled and waved as I left.

The coffee was barely done and the bacon was just about done when Glenda and Alice banged on the screen door.

They came in and sat at the table. They were both grinning at me so I got them each a cup of coffee, "Either of you need cream or sugar?"

Alice spoke for both of them, "No Steve, we're fine."

"So what do I owe the pleasure of this morning's visit to?" I asked.

"We just wanted to say hi to you this morning, that's all," Glenda sighed.

"What else?" I asked knowing there was more.

"Abe wants to take you into town to buy a gun," Alice was saying and looking a little embarrassed. "He says that Jeff guy won't be in jail that long and Jeff has a passel of kin that is as warped as he is. I don't know what you think about guns, but it might be a good idea to get one and learn how to use it."

"I was in Desert Storm Alice, I know what a gun is and was trained how to use many of them," I said thinking that I really didn't have a lot of combat experience.

"Well Abe is coming over here soon and wants to take you into town. Do you have enough money to buy a pistol or do we need to loan you some money?" Alice asked getting up to leave.

"Martin and I could help you too, Steve," Glenda said as she went out the door.

"I'm fine ladies," I said. "Tell Abe I'm ready now as I have some jobs I need to do today."

Ten minutes later Abe came to the door while I was washing my dishes. He sipped some coffee while I finished, telling me exactly what the two ladies had been talking about.

Abe and I left in his truck going to a little gun shop out on Busch Boulevard. Abe had the storeowner show me several guns. I liked a couple of them so I made a deal on a Smith and Wesson 9mm and a used 380 PPK. I had always wanted a PPK but couldn't afford it. This time I could. I made the deal with three extra high capacity magazines and four boxes of ammo each after using most of a box with each pistol on the short range the shop had in the rear. I impressed myself, I could still shoot what I aimed at.

Abe made me fill out the application for a carry permit. He said that for ex-military guys, approval was automatic unless I had been in trouble. The guy said I should have the receipt to get my picture taken in less than two weeks.

Eight hundred dollars later, Abe and I were home where I stashed my new hardware. Abe looked over the gas cart in the shed while I brought the bike out saying I was going to go to the storage building to sort some stuff out.

I rode to the storage building and pulled the cover off the big truck. I checked over all the equipment and supplies on the truck then cranked it up and drove it to DMV office. Before going in, I went to the insurance office next door and obtained six months of insurance on the truck.

After getting the truck registered and the new plates on it, I drove over to the biker's house. The gate guard was bug eyed when I showed up wearing a 'support' T-shirt asking to speak to Hap.

Hap came out and re-directed me to another gate on the other side of the house where there were two deep empty lots fenced in making the place like a little compound. They had a metal building that may have housed a shop plus another building they called a bunk house and recreation area. There was a large outdoor cooking area that had a huge pot on it cooking something that smelled like chili.

I told Hap that I had just made the deal on the truck so he was going to be my first customer. He had a couple of prospects help me set up my big shade tent next to the rear of the truck. I pulled out the table with the vices and clamps that was the entire width of the truck and almost eight feet sliding straight out to stand with the help of some fold down legs.

Hap had club prospects bring out one bike at a time. With the help of some other guys, we lifted each bike up on the big table where I washed off the area I was going to weld shielding the rest of the bike with large pieces of heavy aluminum foil.

Three hours later I was done and accepted a beer from a smiling Hap while I was cleaning up and putting everything away. While we ate a lunch of sandwiches and chili, he complimented me on my work then handed me five hundred dollars. I smiled at him and pocketed the money knowing that if Hap offered it, I should take it, no questions asked.

"Steve, you would be good for our chapter, our club," Hap began. "I'm not going to pressure you but I want you to know, you're welcome here, anytime. That means anytime night or day. We've taken your picture and put it on our pride board so the gate guy will always know who you are. One thing though, you better treat Kathy and the kids right or we will have to have a discussion."

"I don't think you have to worry about that," I said with a gentle smile on my face. "I'm kinda partial to her and those kids myself. We may not ever be anything more than really good friends, but I'll definitely watch out for them."

"You already did," Hap smiled. "We heard what you did with that asshole that had been nosing around Kathy. You did good. We owe you. You did our job. It's our responsibility to protect a brother's family. That's why I said you would make a good person to be with us. Listen here, you need a phone or someway to get hold of you. Get one."

Hap said something to one of the prospects then turned back to me, "We checked you out a little and found out you're ex-military and were hurt in Desert Storm."

I nodded.

Hap continued, "I want you to go to the place on this card and get your carry permit for a piece. You might need it considering that guy and his crazy family."

The prospect came up to Hap with something in a towel.

Hap flipped the towel up and held out a giant pistol to me. "This is a .44 magnum that should be about right for a guy like you. You need to go learn to shoot it and keep it ready in case those guys show. Take this thing, it's clean and legal. Go learn to use it and get that permit."

"Hap," I began "I already applied earlier this morning and I bought a piece too. According to the gun store guy I should hear next week."

"You're all right Steve. You have it together. Take this thing anyway. It's way too big for any of us to carry around. Besides, I don't think any of us want to learn how to shoot that monster, and get a phone," Hap grinned.

I thanked Hap for the new gun before pulling out of the yard with my monster diesel welding truck. I drove to the address Hap gave me for the application to see if it had a range.

The gun dealer was nice and did have a range. When I asked if I could shoot a .44 mag he said sure but I would have to police my own brass. He sold me two boxes of shells. I shot up a box learning how to hit a silhouette consistently at fifty feet. With a .44 magnum, all you have to do is hit a piece of a guy and he'll die of shock anyway.

I drove the big truck back to the storage lot and put it away before spending some time sorting through what I wanted to keep and what I wanted to get rid of. It took a couple of hours to separate most everything between the two garages so that I had what I wanted to keep in one and the stuff I was going to get rid of in the other. I still had not uncovered everything that had been unloaded but I made a list of the separated expendable equipment and materials then rode over to the welding supply house to see if I could post a flier.

The counter guy said it would be fine. Just print it up and bring it in. He wanted to see what I had so I showed him the list. Thank goodness I had hand re-written the whole thing so it was in some kind of order with the supplies for each type of welding equipment grouped with the main gear.

The guy whistled then asked, "You going out of business?"

"Naw, I made a deal on a large group of equipment and I'm selling off the extras, the stuff I don't need."

"We buy used stuff all the time. A lot of the little guys come in to buy it. The supplies are easy. We'll pay you whatever we normally pay wholesale and save freight if that's good for you?"

The guy picked up his phone and talked a minute and then said his boss would be right out.

A short stocky guy came and nodded to me taking my list and looking at it a minute, "This stuff in decent condition?"

"Yeah, it's all clean and looks like it has been taken care of. Some of it is pretty old. Still good, just older model stuff," I said hoping that getting rid of a storage building full of stuff would be easy.

"Where's it at?" he asked.

"I have it a storage building off north Florida."

"Let me get a warehouse guy and we'll follow you out there and take a look. We'll make a deal on what you have," the boss guy said and went to the back.

He came out with another guy in a shirt with his name and the company name on it. The boss guy called out, "Let's go."

I rode out to the storage building and parked in front of my second door. The guy must have felt like we were going to make a deal as he backed his truck right up to the door I was opening.

He still had the list in his hand and immediately started looking at each item. My list was in the order that I had the separated equipment stacked in. After about fifteen minutes, he took a pad and started writing down numbers.

"The equipment is old but is in real good condition. Some of this old stuff is better quality than the new ones you can buy today. Your supplies all look like I can put them into stock. He looked at his pad and back at me, "How about sixty-five hundred for all of it?"

I was glad I wasn't looking directly at him when he said that. I about shit a brick thinking about the number. I looked up at him and said, "You know, I don't even know your name. What is it?"

"Fred, Fred Conners, the counter guy said you are Steve Sharp and were in Monday buying some stuff. So will you take the sixty-five?"

"I guess I could take that," I said trying to keep the excitement out of my voice.

The warehouse guy immediately started loading stuff into the big stake bed truck they had brought.

While we were loading the stuff up, Fred commented, "This stuff looks like some equipment that Simpson tool and Die used to have. They have a welding division that's about the best in the state. Since the old man died, the business hasn't done too well. His kid just doesn't know how to run a business."

"Simpson went bankrupt. This is where this stuff came from," I said being informative.

"No shit. When did they start selling the equipment?" Fred asked.

"They had an auction Monday and sold everything to the walls. The bankruptcy guy and auctioneer even paid me to sweep out the joint before I left."

"Damn, I missed that. I need to pay attention to what's going on," Fred said as he helped his guy lift an old wirefeed cart onto the truck.

When the separated equipment in that shed was almost all loaded, I opened the other door to show Fred the two big generators. Asking if he would be interested in them.

"Sure, if they run good. Have a mechanic look them over then let me know. We would have to bring a fork lift out here to load them up if the wheels and bearings aren't in good shape."

"I'll have a good mechanic check out both of them and let you know as soon as I can. I would like to empty this shed out a little more too. I only want to keep what I really need," I said thinking of Abe.

We finished loading the equipment. I took the broom that came from the auction and quickly swept the open area out hoping to turn it in so I would only have to pay for this first month.

"Follow us back to the store and I'll cut you a check. I think we both made a good deal," Fred said climbing into the truck.

Back at the supply house, Fred handed me a check then asked, "You know Simpson's just bought a custom truck and fitted it with some of the best equipment around. That was brand new when the old man died. It was his pride and joy. Wonder who got that?"

When I smiled, Fred exclaimed, "No shit, you bought that too?"

"I couldn't pass it up. The deal was too good," I said.

"Wow, anything under seventy-five would have been a good deal. I'll bet you could get eighty or ninety for it if you found the right buyer," Fred was gushing.

"Well right now I'm going to use it to make a buck. When I decide to go back to the oil companies, I'll make a deal with you."

Fred wanted my phone number but I said I didn't have one but would be getting one soon.

I wanted to get the check and the cash into the bank so I rode to the bank and made a deposit. Next door to the bank was a Verizon store. Verizon is the local telephone company. They used to be GTE but had changed their name. I think they changed it because of their cell phone division.