Chapter 155

I woke at 5AM but I didn't want to get out of bed. I was sleeping on the floor with the Brit. All six of my sofa cushions made the bed. It was reasonably comfortable. Mostly it was being in bed with someone, who I wasn't in a hurry to get away from, was almost a gift. It felt really nice, so I had to forced myself out of bed.

I slipped into my bike outfit of shorts and a sweat shirt, with the sleeves cut off, trying not to wake The Brit. Even though I knew he was only faking being asleep. Why I had no idea, but I left the apartment and walked down to the stairs to my bike. It was five fifteen, so I would ride till seven fifteen without a break. I usually stopped at the Plaza for breakfast but not today. I was meeting Tomas at the site of my new house at 8AM. I had to admit I was excited.

When I got back to the apartment just after seven The Brit was dressed in Jeans and a cut off sweat shirt. I thought what the hell, I found my jeans and my scissors. I stood topless and cut off the sleeves of my winter running sweat shirt. Somewhere I had one already cutoff from previous years. It was in the pile of laundry to be done as soon as I got around to it. I cut the sleeves out of the winters sweat shirt every year. Every fall I bought a new sweatshirt to cover my pistol while I ran or rode the bike. Then I cut it off in the spring to do the same thing for the summer months. It was just that I hadn't planned to wear one with my jeans, so the winter sweat shirt was the only clean one handy. I didn't mind sacrificing it.

We went through the drive in window at Hardee's before we went on out to the site. The Brit agreed to ride in the Toyota, even though he would have preferred the SUV. Since I wasn't contracted to the Swamp Dog at the moment, the Swamp guys would be pissed if anything happened. There was no need for that. The Brit could drive my Toyota for coffee, if we needed it.

"Did you run this morning?" I asked while we ate biscuits filled with animal fat and drank restaurant coffee.

"Yes, but only an hour, after that I came home and bathed, then dressed for this." He said.

"Did you hear yourself call my apartment home," I said with a laugh.

"I realized, I had done it right after I did. I know it was a bit presumptuous of me, but it did feel right at the time." he said with a smile.

"It most certainly did," I said in agreement. Before we got to mushy, Tomas drove up in his truck. I had parked the Toyota at the end of the newly graded driveway. so Tomas pulled in beside me.

Since The Brit spoke Spanish, I asked him to translate. Between the two of us we managed to have Tomas move his truck nearer the house site so we could unload the blocks. We made a pile of them about ten feet behind were we hoped to set the container. I called Jerry when I was sure he would be awake.

"So Jerry when do you think you will be here?" I asked.

"I should be at the convenience store off the highway about 11AM. I am going to have my friend Sammy meet us there with his tractor," Jerry said.

"Jerry, if you tear up my container, I'm going to take it out of your ass," I said.

"Sylvia trust me, I know what I'm doing," he said.

"Famous last words spoken by General Custer to his men," I replied, but I let him go.

The Brit had Tomas start the trench for the water line. If I had a Ditch Witch or whatever they call those pipe burying machines we could have made short work of it but we didn't have one. Tomas was digging it by hand. We had to go down two feet to get below the freeze line. It was the depth at which the earth about it would insulate the pipe and prevent the pipe from freezing. When the pipe came up from the earth, we had to do something else.

I had decided that even though it would be a little more work I wanted the house back about thirty feel from the road. So Tomas had a lot of digging ahead. But he didn't seem to mind. I expect he was just glad to have the work. I didn't rush him because I wanted to see what his natural pace was. If he worked steady at that shit job, then he had a job till we finished the whole project. If he fucked me then he was gone after we set the house.

I wasn't too surprised that he worked at a slow steady pace on the trench. He opened the trench to the stub off from the county water supply and dug back toward the house site. He got about a forth of the way, when I left to go meet Jerry and his friend Sammy.

I saw a farm tractor sitting on a trailer attached to a pickup truck. It was all sitting in the very large parking lot of the Convenience store. I parked the Toyota went inside the store for coffee. Since Jerry hadn't arrived I went to the farm tractor.

"Hey, you Sammy?" I asked.

"Yes Ma'am that's me. You must be Sylvia?" he asked.

"Yep," I replied. "Have you ever done this before?" I asked.

"A time or two out on the farm, We move and set Tobacco Barns all the time. The are just metal buildings on skids. These are pretty much the same thing." he said.

"Why don't you go on out, and brief my friend and the other guy out there helping us?" I suggested. "I can tell you where they are."

I gave him detailed directions, then sent him off to coordinate with The Brit. I had complete faith in The Brit, even if I didn't completely trust Sammy and Jerry not to fuck it up.

I finished the coffee and started another one when Jerry pulled in. The box was a terrible yellow color. I could not believe, I had not asked about the color. Well I had it now So I might as well learn to love it, or plan to buy paint.