Chapter 50

I got my coffee and took a deep breath and headed back outside. Doris called me to the side before I had gone a hundred feet.

"Were you able to help those poor people, Harry?"

"They are in the process of getting their permits as we speak. How are the kids doing with the bays?"

"We got lucky on one of them. There were two portable sawmills in it and they both were on wheels. They have already been loaded on one of the trailers and headed for the gulch. I am having all the stuff for auction put in the field that you used to land all those choppers in. The toolboxes go next and I have several large portable lights that are being put on top of the old house by the field. They will light up the whole area so the guard will be able to see better. The cars we drove over yesterday and several of the gulch residents were able to buy a couple of them before they went for auction. I figured they needed them more than a few hundred dollars extra we would get out of them."

"That is one point you and I agree on completely, Doris. If they want the stuff at the Auditors price then they are welcome to it. So far, what we are taking over is all top notch stuff so it should bring good money. How are we set for winter tires, Doris? We have a lot of new units coming in and they will all need winter tires put on them when the season changes. They are all four wheel drives."

"I talked to my supplier and he gave me a sweet deal if I can buy them before September. I told him I would be able to. Harry, can we talk about Jimmy and Sandra for a minute?"

"Sure, what's up, Doris?"

"I was wondering if you will let him stay at your place a few nights a week. He has been driving me crazy about this new music Sandra wants to teach him. Harry, I haven't seen him so excited about something for a long time."

"Doris, he is very welcome to come and stay as long as he wants. I have enough room after this weekend for several more. Mark and the girls are moving into their new place Saturday, so it will just be me and Sandra there. I know your going to throw a fit, but I decided to buy him one of those Harleys in the bay there."

"Not this time, Harry. I've already picked out the one I want to get him for his birthday. I put a do not sell sign on it already. This time I will do the buying. Hell, I have the money. I don't do anything with my pay from here but pay a few bills. Thanks to you I now make a good wage."

"Ok, I won't argue about this one because I have a feeling I would lose. Did you know Sandra has one picked out for herself? She wants it for when she gets older."

"I know I helped her pick it out. They both picked out the same colors only different models. She liked the color of the one I let her help me choose for him then she found one almost the same color. It's got a do not sell sign on it too. Harry, if something ever happens to me, will you make sure Jimmy's taken care of?"

"Now that goes without saying, Doris. He will always be welcome to come and live with me and Sandra. I have come to have a lot of respect for him and I know that Sandra thinks a lot of him. I never figured I would ever trust anyone where she is concerned, but I have had to change my mind on that one. Those two are like two peas in a pod. I don't think either one could be happy without the other one around."

"He thinks more of your granddaughter than anyone else I think. All he talks about is her and how she is such a great musician. He keeps talking about some songs she knows from a man she learned from in Mexico. Do you know what he's talking about?"

"I don't know his name, but Jimmy says he was a great musician and then he retired and disappeared. Sandra took her lessons from him, and I guess he taught her a lot of songs that were never heard by the public before, and he refused to publish or sell them before he left the public eye."

"He has been so excited to be able to learn them that that's all he talks about. He has talked more in the last few days than he has in years. He played his new violin last night for me and it brought tears to my eyes. I asked him what the song was and he said it was one he composed. I didn't even know he knew how to write music. He said it was one of many he wants to teach to Sandra. I wish he were younger because I would send him to Julliard to study music."

"Well Sandra is good with her music but she is one of the greatest artists I have ever seen. You should see the mural she did in her room at the cabin. I can't believe they are so smart, and I feel so dumb next to the both of them. I just try to keep up with them and stay a little ahead of them when I can."

"Those two are about the perfect pair. I just wish he had met her a long time ago maybe he wouldn't be so backward now. I sure haven't been any help to him these last few years. Trent got me in so much trouble I didn't have any time to spend with him. Every time he tried to talk to me I shut him down. I have had to live with that for a long time. Now that he is so happy I want so much to help him, and maybe share in some of his happiness. The lord knows I haven't had any for a long time."

She turned and walked away to the garage and I went slowly to my chair, thinking about all she had told me. I knew she felt guilty about all she had done, but I never realized it went so deep. With the abuse she had gone through it was a wonder she was still in her right mind. I still hadn't met her daughter, but I would be almost willing to bet she was as hard as her mom was. I wondered how Kit and Danny were doing. I hadn't heard from them since he had moved him here for his physical therapy.

I saw Sandra open the next to the last bay, and then she and Jimmy were laughing and clapping their hands at whatever was inside. With these two I didn't know if I wanted to see what was inside or not. The choice was taken out of my hands, when they called for me to come over and look and see what they had found.

I went over and the whole bay was full of bicycles of every shape and form. From little kids to mountain bikes. Stacked on the sides were new tires and rims and inner tubes by the box full. I immediately knew what I was going to do with these. Every kid in the gulch would now have their own bike to ride. I sent Jimmy for his aunt and told Sandra what I had in mind. By the time I was through explaining she was jumping up and down in excitement. Doris came up with Jimmy and I outlined my plan to her. She had a smile on her face by the time I was done.

"I'll get on it right now, Harry. This is really nice of you to do this."

She called one of the men over and told him what she wanted him to do and he smiled then took off. We went to the last bay and opened it and at the look on my face, Doris lost it laughing so hard tears were coming out of her eyes.

"I told you I had a surprise in the last bay Harry. Now what are you going to do with all of them?"

"What the hell am I supposed to do with I would guess a thousand double barrel shotguns. Where the hell did all these come from Doris?"

"They were bought for pennies on the dollar, when the old manufacturing company went bankrupt two years ago. They are all collector's items Harry. Some of them are inlaid with gold and silver and are special ordered from all over the world. The auditor said to record the serial numbers and sell them for whatever we can get for them. Harry, all the anniversary ones are in the front, and I was ordered to give them to you as a gift from the state for your services. Harry, please don't turn them down, because we went to a lot of trouble to dig them out and get all the paperwork done so they could be recorded in your name. You can give them as Christmas gifts to your friends."