Chapter 15

Like Jon and Tanisha, Ben and Joy had never acquired elegant tastes in dining, so, after a brief look at a number of houses, they wound up at a chain restaurant not far from their apartments. The food was normal American and good, although nothing special, but it was all right with them, especially since it was their first chance to talk over what they'd seen without the woman from the real estate company hovering over them.

"So," Joy started things off, "What does anyone think?"

"Well," Jon shrugged, "Just off the top of my head, I could live in any one of them and like it, but I think I tend to lean toward the last two."

"I think I lean the same way," Ben agreed. "The neighborhood doesn't seem as cramped as the others. I mean, here we are, the west, wide open spaces, and all that, but still those other houses seemed built right on top of each other. Hell, it wasn't that bad back home outside Cleveland."

"Me, either," Jon replied.

"The last two seemed like the best to me," Tanisha agreed. "Granted, they're the most expensive, but it seems like there's a reason for it. I like the fact that they're right next door to each other. Joy, you're the one who's been pushing the hardest on this. What do you think?"

"Well, I like the last two houses, too," she said. "As far as I'm concerned, I think I could be more comfortable there than I would be in any of the other four. The view is better, and the neighborhoods seem nicer."

"The only downside I see is that it's farther to work for me," Ben said. "But that's just me, and it's not a whole lot farther. It's closer for the rest of you, a lot closer to Lambdatron for you two."

"Right," Tanisha agreed. "Close enough that we might consider walking to work for the sake of the exercise. I kind of like the fact that they're pretty close to a school, too."

"I suppose that begs the question," Jon said. "Do we want to get serious about those two houses? I mean, we're pretty sure they would do without going through them more thoroughly. Do we want to take a second look at these two, or do we want to keep on looking?"

"I wouldn't mind looking around a bit more if we had the time to do it," Joy replied. "But you know the situation we're in for time, with our lease running out. I think these would do, and I don't want to let it go till the last minute. I think we need to take a better look at those two places, and if we're agreeable, we can make offers."

"I think I'm basically with you on that, honey," Ben agreed. "It's kind of fun to look around, but I think we could spend a lot more time looking and not come up with anything that suits us as well. Jon, Tanisha, that's assuming the two of you are still up for the idea of being next door, or at least close by."

"That's fine with me," Tanisha said. "You're right, there are some real advantages. It wouldn't be like we're moving into a neighborhood of nothing but strangers."

"It's not a show stopper to me, by any means," Jon said. "I think it would work well to have friends as close as the two of you living next door. I think we need to take a closer look at those houses, and we need to have someone who really knows something about houses come along to take a critical look at them."

"Yeah, good point," Joy agreed. "Unfortunately, I think that lets my dad, the unhandyman, out. Anyone got any better ideas?"

They all had blank looks for a moment, before Tanisha replied thoughtfully, "I suppose we could call up to Flagstaff and see if Jeff would come down and help us."

"That might work," Jon agreed. "If he isn't up for it, I'll bet he'd know someone who was."

"Jeff?" Ben asked, "Who's that?"

"You remember him; he was on the second half of the trip with us last spring," Jon said. "He's the bus driver and kind of the Canyon Tours jack of all trades. If he can't fix something, it can't be fixed."

"Yeah," Joy brightened, "Kind of a character, isn't he?"

"Oh, yeah," Jon said. "You remember him telling us about how he was a carpenter for years before he had to slow down a little? He got to driving a school bus and was sort of a handyman while the kids were in school before Al scooped him up. I'll bet they're not so busy with rigging yet that he couldn't get free for a day."

"Good idea, Jon," Tanisha said. "As far as that goes, I'd tend to trust Al's advice on something like this, too. I know he's bought and sold a few houses over the years."

"Yeah, I remember him saying that he and Louise used to do that on the off season," Jon nodded. "It might even be how he got to know Jeff; I don't know. What do you think? Tomorrow, or should we put it off till the weekend, just to think about it?"

"I wouldn't mind putting it off," Tanisha said. "And we probably should think about it. But if we put it off till the weekend, then it's a week before we could get going on the paperwork, so there's a week lost right at the beginning. We don't have a lot of weeks to waste."

"Wow," Joy said, "It sounds like you guys are about as much in a hurry as we are. It sure didn't sound like that yesterday."

"Well," Tanisha grinned, "We weren't in this big a hurry yesterday. Jon, should I?"

"Might as well," Jon grinned. "I don't know how we've managed this long."

"That's true," Tanisha smiled and turned to Ben and Joy. "Yesterday I didn't know I was pregnant."

"You ... you mean I was right?" Joy replied, wide-eyed. "Hell, I was just teasing you."

"Tease or not, it got us to thinking," Jon smiled. "And yes, we are in a hurry since we want to be moved in when the baby comes."

"But you're not in that big a hurry, are you?" Joy protested. "I mean, if you just found out you were pregnant, it takes months."

"Not if you've been pregnant for a while and didn't realize it," Tanisha grinned. "We're looking at a due date of around July first. That means we want to be moved in not much later than June first, and I wouldn't mind if it was sooner. If it takes two months for mortgage and closing and all the other red tape, we're already getting tight for time. So, if you guys are willing, I think we need to push on ahead."

"Wow, yeah," Joy said, feminine imperatives taking over from her desire to push ahead on a house. "Well, congratulations! So, are you guys hoping for a boy or a girl or what?"

"No hoping involved, I had an ultrasound today, we're going to have a girl," Tanisha smiled and tried to drag things back on topic. "We're going to have a lot of other getting ready to do and the time is short, so the less messing around we have to do on looking for a house just buys us time to do other stuff."

"God, yes," Joy shook her head. "I guess that puts a little different light on things. Jon, why don't you call up to Flagstaff and see if Jeff would be willing to come down and look at the house with us?"

"I'll have to call Mom and Al," he said. "I don't have Jeff's number. Which brings up the thought that we haven't told her about this either, and I'm wondering what she's going to think about it. It's going to be her first grandchild."

"She'll go nuts," Joy predicted.

"I'm afraid you're right, although it might not be quite what we expect," Jon sighed, pulling out his cell phone. "Well, I might as well drop the bomb, unless you'd like to, Tanisha."

"No, she's your mother; you have the fun," Tanisha grinned.

"All right," he said, thumbing the autodial number for Al's house.

The phone only rang a couple times before Jon's mother picked it up, answering "Canyon Tours, may I help you?"

"Got the phone switched over again, huh?" Jon smirked.

"Yes, and it's been busy," Karin said. "I'll bet we've booked two dozen customers today."

"Mom, I have to ask," Jon said. "I know things are pretty screwed up with the boatman's schedule, and I presume that you're going to want to be running as much as possible, but is there going to be any problem with you keeping yourself off the schedule, oh, mid-June through mid-July?"

"I probably can if there's a real need to," Karin replied. "I swear, the boatman situation changes every day, and the schedule will probably keep changing right up until each trip launches. Is there some need for me to be off the river right about then?"

"Well, really, it's up to you," Jon smirked. "I mean, you don't have to take the time off the river if you don't want to, but Tanisha's due date is about then."

"Tanisha's due date?" Karin replied with a questioning sound in her voice. Then it hit her. "Oh, my God! Jon! Are you saying what I think you're saying?"

"Yeah, I don't think it would be wise for us to be planning a spring river trip this year what with everything else," Jon teased some more. "Actually, we're not real sure about the due date, it could be off by a couple weeks, there's no way of telling."

"My God, Jon, let me sit down. You're telling me that you and Tanisha are going to have a baby?"

"Well, the odds are really against kittens," Jon laughed. "Especially since the ultrasound said it's going to be a little girl."

"Oh, my God," Karin sighed. "After all those years of being scared Nanci was going to be the first to make me a grandmother ... you're sure, right?"

"Oh, yeah, no question," Jon replied. "Look, we're probably going to have to lean on you a bit to help with getting ready, and I know the timing could be better for you. One of those things is that we're looking at buying a house, and I need to get Jeff's phone number. I'm thinking that he can go through the places we're looking at and see about repairs and stuff that we probably wouldn't notice. Maybe Al, too."

"I'm sure they'd be willing to help, and I'd be willing to come along, too. When are you talking about?"

"Probably the sooner the better, but we haven't worked out a date with the agent yet," Jon told her. "We wanted to see if Jeff was going to be available before we set something up."

"If it's a one-day thing I'm pretty sure he's available any time. He's been piddling around the shop getting started on rigging mostly because he can't stand being around his wife's TV set. I can call and find out for sure. But Jon, you didn't say anything about this when you were up here Saturday."

"Well, we didn't know any of it," Jon replied. "Things are happening quickly around here, Mom. If you're sure you can get Jeff and Al down here in the next couple days, I'll have Joy call and get us an appointment with the realtor."

"Joy? Are Ben and Joy involved with this, too?"

"Yeah, it's kind of complicated, but we're looking at two houses that are next door to each other. We haven't worked out who is going to buy which one, but between us it looks like we're going to be buying both of them."

"You all have been busy little beavers down there," Karin sighed. "Look, let me talk to Tanisha."

"Sure thing," Jon smiled, handing the phone across to his wife. "Thus begins the grandmother involvement," he smirked as Tanisha rolled her eyes and picked up the phone.

"So," Stan said in the conference room around mid-morning the next day, "How did the house hunting go last night?"

"Not bad," Jon reported. "We were with our friends who are looking, too. We looked at half a dozen places, and we're going to head back this afternoon and take a closer look at two of them."

"I think either one would be all right," Tanisha said. "Our friends seemed to feel pretty much the same way. I wouldn't be surprised if we each wind up buying one of the places."

"Just don't get yourself wrapped up in one of those short-term, low-adjustable-rate mortgages," Stan warned. "They're sucker bait. When you hit that balloon payment you can really get stung."

"One of our friends is a CPA," Jon said. "She said pretty much the same thing."

"Well, good," Stan said. "I think buying a home is a good move for you at this point in your lives. Let me know if I can help you with anything."