Chapter 149

I began looking for deals on line. I needed a particular item. A twenty foot steel shipping container. I was going to build my own tiny house, but with easy expansion possibilities. I could simple add another unit. The additional units would be much less expensive than the first unit, since the first would have all the utilities in it.

The trick was to buy the unit shortly after I bought the lot to put it on. Then get moving on it very quickly. I contacted several people and found one who had a unit only used ten times and in good condition. It was sitting outside the port of a few hundred miles away. It wasn't on wheels but if they would load it, I knew someone who would bring it to me. I got it all arranged except the pick up date. I was waiting on the Realtor for that.

"Lori, I expected to hear from you before now. It has been two weeks," I said rather shortly on her voice mail. "This is Sylvia Porter, if you want to do business call me, if not I will find someone else tomorrow." As I expected the phone rang later that afternoon, and it was Lori.

"Miss Porter, I'm sorry. I have been looking but nothing has come on the market, which meets your criteria," she said. "Please feel free to contact other Realtors, if you think they would suit you better."

"Very well then Lori don't bother to call me again," I said wondering what the hell had got into her. Yes my paranoia was showing again. It usually was nothing, but sometimes it was something. Since I realized that something was wrong, I decided to keep an eye out for other strange things going on around me.

I took a chance and called Monk, but I did it from the burn phone. I was also sitting on a park bench when I did. I made sure there were no cars parked near me. Early May in the mountains is not the real park weather. That comes in late May and early June. I figured that I could use the park for a couple of more weeks anyway.

"Hey Monk, it's Sylvia I need to buy a piece of dirt out in the county, so I thought of your dad's place." I said.

"Well Dad's in a nursing home, and there are three of us. We would have to all agree to sell. Do you want it all?" he asked.

"No just from the road back to and including those woods were the storage building is located," I said. "There are county water and sewer lines there?"

"Yeah, the county put them in two years ago," Monk said. "You know I can't get you a better deal. If it were up to me I would. but I got a brother and sister to satisfy,"

"I know Monk. I just want a fair price nothing special," I said. "When you work something out, let's not talk on my home phone, we will just meet somewhere to discuss it."

"Sure is anything wrong honey?" he asked.

"I'm just a little paranoid these days. It's nothing," I said.

"Okay, we can meet, when I know something," Monk said and hung up on me.

While I was waiting for Monk and his siblings to get a price in mind, I got the coded message from Colonel Martin. I went to the park, since it was still empty. I called.

"Swampland Enterprises," receptionist said.

"This is Sylvia Porter. He is expecting me to call," I said. There was a click. I found myself on hold, but no elevator music played there was just silence.

"Are you still working for us?" Martin asked.

"That depends, are you bugging my apartment?" I asked.

"No is it bugged," he asked.

"Yes, I'm sitting on a chilly park bench talking into a burn phone," I said.

"Good girl, how long have you known about the bug, and how did you find out." I explained it all to him. He commented that I had done the right things. "It is a good thing you didn't run' It was also good that you stayed and acted normal. I'll take it from here. I will find out who is bugging your apartment, and I'll let you know who it is. Now don't worry about this job, it will all work out just fine without you. It is more important to find out who is bugging you," he said that as he broke the connection.

I went home and continued to work on the details of my new home. It was nuts, when I thought about it. The whole thing was crazy. It was a lot like living in a boxcar. But I was determined to make it work.

"Sylvia?" Monk asked when I answered my house phone.

"Yes Monk, I only spoke to you yesterday," I said remembering how Lori had acted.

"Well, I have good news. Believe it or not that piece of land isn't part of the original farm. Daddy bought it for the Tobacco allotment. So if you want to buy it without any allotment, we can maybe make a deal. The deed had the small fields on either side of the road and the small patch of woods where the trailer is. It goes all the way back to the creek. It is seven acres in all."

"It sounds expensive," I said.

"I don't know what you call expensive, but there are ways," he started but I cut him off.

"Monk why not meet me for coffee at the downtown cafe, and let's talk about it," He seemed to understand that something was wrong.

"It needs to be after 6PM." he said

"Make it 6:30 then," I suggested, and we rang off.

I had three hours to kill so I went to the Internet and to an adult chatroom. While I was there the Lucy Martin message appeared. I left the computer and went to the park, but there were cars in the parking lot with no people in the park. I turned the two wheeler onto the bike path the rode it till I got to a bench. One with a view of the walking/bike path for a about a hundred yards in either direction. There were no parking lots near me or any line of sight places that weren't in my view.