Chapter 2

After unpacking and putting stuff away, I headed back to the house.

There, I took some boxes into the garage and emptied my big Snap-on cabinets and loaded the cabinets onto the trailer. They had to be tied down real good. I pulled all of my miscellaneous tools that only I would use and put them in the trailer too. I figured I could use my compressor, so I loaded that plus my bench PC and the other bench tools such as the oscilloscopes and the bench meters. Too bad about the bench, but where would I put a four foot by eight foot steel bench.

I began going through the office stuff that I had pulled out. There was a coffee pot, toaster, and microwave that we had used there. I loaded those in the Bronco. I took the old ink jet printer from the office and went inside to look at the bedroom TV. I should be allowed at least one TV. There was another, but it didn't work well. This one worked with one of those conversion boxes, as it was analog. That was fine with me since I didn't watch that much TV.

I took the little desk and the chair that were in the daughter's room, as she didn't need them anymore. I loaded my laptop, then thought about going by the used PC store to see if I could trade my old PCs and some cash for a faster one, along with a flat digital monitor that would take up less space.

I took the old TV from the spare bedroom and put it in the master bedroom so Judy could still watch TV in there. She can't go to sleep without the TV on. I slowly walked around the house to make sure I wasn't leaving anything that I wanted. I can always come back tomorrow and take the old junk that I had to the dump. That would clean out everything else.

Duh! I forgot, about something. I opened the bedroom closet and in the back corner was my keyboard that Judy didn't like being set up in the living room. My old Gibson ST125 with my Gorilla amp was sitting there as well. Next to it were my two shotguns and my 30.06 rifle. Damn, I forgot my pistol. Back in the under the bed drawers, I pulled the little case out and looked at my dad's ancient Smith and Wesson .38 police positive. It had a small frame with a tiny handle, but it was still a working handgun. I wrapped it back up in the oil cloth and put it back in the little case. I took my collection of hunting knives too. That sent me back to the closet by the front door to get my pool cue case out. Hopefully I would still have money enough to play league. Shit, I forgot Monday. I'll have to call the captain and apologize. I think I have a good reason.

It was near lunchtime, so I made up a couple of sandwiches and looked through the cupboards to get the canned goods out that Judy will never eat. I began eating but was pulling all the hot/spicy stuff from the fridge and cabinets. There was an old skillet that I've had all my life. It was my mom's favorite and it became my favorite. I had a whole box of kitchen stuff. I took a couple rolls of paper towels and some cleaning supplies, along with some old rag towels for cleaning. I checked over everything in the kitchen one more time and didn't find anything else that I had to have. I took the old knives because I know Judy never used them. Out in the garage refrigerator, I pulled out a full eighteen pack of beer, along with an opened case of water bottles. That should be fine. I went through the freezer and decided there was nothing there I wanted, then remembered I had the Beefeaters under the sink. I didn't drink that much except beer, but I took the Beefeaters and the Scotch.

The truck and trailer were loaded, so I made the trip up to the trailer park to empty the house stuff before going to the storage building.

I was finished unloading and was unpacking quickly when Betty came in. "Let me help you unpack, Mark. We can get it done quicker. Oh, I like the little desk and chair there. You need a TV stand, though. Are these pictures of your kids and grandkids?"

She was full of questions, but did assist me in getting everything neatly put away. I broke down the boxes and was putting them into the Bronco when an old guy came up and introduced himself.

"Hi, I'm Martin, I do some of the yard work for the park, but mostly I wander around and help people fix stuff on the trailers. Betty is always having me fix something for her."

I said, "Hi Martin, I'm Mark Robins. I'm just moving in."

"Where are you going to put those tools?"

Betty came out and said, "He rented one of those storage garages down the street. He says he has stuff to put in it."

Martin said, "You need a little storage building that you can use as a shop. Let me think about it. There may be one available I can move over here. Can you use those tools, can you work on cars?"

"I'm okay on most cars but some of the new ones are too sophisticated for me. I haven't learned how to do everything on them yet."

He said, "I know what you mean. The new ones have all kinds of strange things that can go wrong. Most of the older folks out here have older cars. They would probably love for you to help them with little things. They can't afford a lot of the little nitpicky things that go wrong with a car. They can usually afford the parts but sometimes, not even that. I'll get you a storage building big enough for a workshop."

"I have a big workbench that I could bring if the shed is big enough. The bench is four by eight so the storage building would have to at least twice that big."

Martin scratched his chin then said, "Let me run over to the truck body building. I'll be right back."

I hadn't noticed that he had come up in a little golf cart, but he jumped in it and took off. Betty said, "Martin gets things done. He does stuff for everyone. His wife, Glenda, is my best friend. You'll have to meet her. Martin will have you busy and broke helping everyone like he does. He has Steve Sharp that helps him with the parts he buys. Maybe Steve will help you if you help the old folks out here."

I had a couple of lawn chairs that we didn't use at home any longer and had put them by the trailer, so I opened them up and put them on the little concrete pad. Betty sat, and I sat with her. I commented, "The tree does give some nice shade. It's nice being on the end like this with a little extra room before the bushes and the fence."

Betty said, "When the tree is shedding its leaves so bad in the fall, use the awning on the trailer. It will keep the acorns from hitting you too. You get all the highway noise though, it can get loud sometimes. You know, since there is an awning, you can open it when it's raining so you can sit out here."

A big flatbed truck was coming down the street. I could see several legs sticking off the sides and a large building on the back.

Martin got out of the truck and went over to the side of the trailer and measured out to the tree. He said, "Just enough space. Come on, you guys, bring those shovels and let's get this leveled out so we can put the shed here."

Four young guys, probably high school kids, took shovels and in fifteen minutes they were raking a place that really looked level. Martin said, "Come on, Mark, you and I can help a little with this thing. It's not that heavy."

We carried the fiberglass shed over and placed it so the front of the shed was just past the end of the trailer. The trailer was small so the shed didn't overlap into the next street's rear area. I said, "The shed is almost as big as the trailer."

"It's twelve by twenty. You'll have a lot of spare room. Let's get the floor sections down and put the mats in there."

We carried the nylon and fiberglass floor sections and put them in, hooking them to the sides of the shed. When they were in place, the young guys put the mats over the top of the floor sections. I nodded and said, "This is first class, Martin. How much is this going to cost me?"

"Nothing, Mark. They would have given it away or thrown it out soon anyway. They don't use it anymore since they built on the parts area. This was just for overflow. As long as you're going to help others, others can help you. Let's get your tool chest and tools in there."

I put everything in there and figured that I would get the bench tomorrow and get it out here. It takes a while to take it apart and haul it. When I put the compressor in the shed Martin said, "I'll have the maintenance guy, or I will come down, and run you some power inside the shed for light and tools. If you think that bench is too big for your trailer, let's take this truck and these kids and go get it. Is your old place far?"

"About twenty minutes, Martin, good idea. Betty can you watch the place for me until I get back?"

Betty smiled, "I sure will, Honey, if you'll fix my power steering for me. The mechanic says it takes some kind of gasket."

"I'll do that. Well be back in about forty-five minutes."

We were able to go to the house, load one big bench and a few other big items like some shop light fixtures quickly and be back in about forty minutes. The boys had the bench into the shed quickly. Martin tossed them the truck keys and said, "Tell Kevin thank you for the loan of the truck and you boys. One of you bring my cart back and I'll drive you home."

Martin said, "If you have some stuff you want to get out of the storage building, go get it. You'll have plenty of room now."

I drove down to the storage place and loaded the bike and my electronic stuff on the trailer and swept out the space. At the office I said, "I don't need the storage space any longer. Can you get me a refund on the unused portion?"

The guy said, "I can, but you have to pay for a whole month. You can use the space for the rest of the time."

"Thanks, but why don't you rent it out and make an extra buck. I'm lucky enough to have been given a storage building."

The guy gave me a check for over six hundred dollars as the storage space was a hundred thirty-five a month.

Back at the trailer park, I pulled the old motorcycle off the trailer and pushed it back into the shed. Martin rode up on his golf cart and saw the bike and asked, "Does that old thing run? What year is it?"

"It's a nineteen thirty-nine EL. It's only a 61 inch knucklehead. It runs pretty good, but it's not practical. I'm going to sell it and get something newer."

"We have a few guys that are into motors out here. One works at the Harley Davidson store down on Dale Mabry."

"It will be nice to meet him," I said, as Martin was looking at the bike. I kept hauling my electronic equipment into the shed and unpacking it and setting it up on the bench.

Martin ran some Romex from the electrical box on the trailer through a piece of plastic pipe into the shed. He wired quad outlets on three walls and put wire to two places overhead along with some wire to a place by the door. It didn't take him but a few minutes to wire in outlets with a switch for the shop lights. He flipped the lights on and smiled; "Now you have a shop. This is better than Abe used to have up by me."

"Thank you, Martin, this is really great. I'm going to take the trailer off and stand it up on the side. It folds up decently and doesn't look bad sitting there."

I turned to Betty who was sitting in the lawn chair, "Get me your keys and let me look at your car. If I can see what the problem is, I'll go to the autoparts store this afternoon and pick up the part."

I pulled Betty's old Chevrolet Impala up to the shed and began checking where the leak was. I had Martin sit in the car and turn the steering wheel back and forth then all the way, lock to lock. That's when power steering leaks. Sure enough, a stream of power steering fluid shot up and almost got me. I used my flashlight and saw it was coming from a high pressure hose. It looked like a small pin hole and should be cheap to replace. I used my tools and had the hose off quick. I said, "There's a parts store next door in the little shopping center. Let me go see if they have a hose."

Martin said, "We'll go down to the truck store and mooch a piece of hose. No sense in spending money if we don't have to."

We used Martin's cart and drove to a big truck dealership that had a maintenance department in the rear. We walked up to the mechanic's parts counter and Martin showed the hose to the counter man. He took the hose and a minute later returned with another hose about ten inches long just like it. Martin said "Thanks, make sure your Mom calls me to fix that fan."

As we went back to the park, Martin smiled and said, "Everyone helps each other. They'll give you stuff as long as it's just material like that. If it's parts, you have to pay dealer cost, it's still cheaper. They don't have car parts, but a lot of parts are the same."

It took me about five minutes to put the hose back on then I hunted through my boxes for some power steering fluid and topped it off. I had Martin start the Impala again. He repeated the lock to lock turning and I couldn't find any other leaks. I did notice that two belts were getting frayed. I said, "Betty, the steering is fixed but you need some fan belts. I'll pick them up tomorrow and change them. If you don't have to go out, don't until I fix these."

Martin looked at them and said, "Good man. Glad you checked them for her. You'll be busy. There are a lot of older folks out here to help. Do you have a job?"

"No, not yet. I'm going to have to get a job though. I'm losing all my retirement money, so I'll need some extra money to get by."

Betty said, "You know, you're probably eligible for food stamps. Get the lady up at the recreation center to check for you. That's what she does. She's here during the week from ten till noon every day."