Chapter 174

The auction was cash only. Not only that you had to clear the locker out by end of day. I had a young man, who had helped me before, with his truck standing by. I was going to call him if I won a locker. He could at least carry the crap to the dump for me. I would pay him of course.

I expected I could make a deal with Brit. In exchange for babysitting, Jeremy he would let the kid drink some beer on the pub.

Jeremy and I left county seat the following sat morning at 9AM. The auction started at 11AM, we should have about fifteen or twenty minutes to spare. I found Jeremy to be rather amusing, when you threw your yardstick away and just took him like he was.

His catty remarks about movie stars and other in the limelight were hilarious. I actually enjoyed the drive down. I would never have believed it possible. But we kept it light and it never got nasty. Well not between us anyway,

By the time the auction really started we were hot and tired and already looking for the exit. Nonetheless I looked at the lockers as they came up. I was always looking for jewelry and other collectibles. The first couple had nothing at all.

However the third one looked like something my own mother might put in storage. I decided I wanted it even though it was lots of furniture packed into the space. None the less I bid on it. I got all the way up to $200 and I was ready to quit there. The others bailed because it was a lot of mattresses as well as the two pieced of an antique bedroom set. I didn't move on I was ready to arrange pickup of the items I had just bought.

Since I had to pay cash for the locker, I paid with gray money. I would be a good way to clean some of it. That is if we found anything in the locker with a commercial value when my friend came. He was the one who helped me with the lockers when Mary Ellen was my partner,

The summer was heading to a close, if there was any business we wanted to start, it was the time to do it. Winter was no time to start anything. Since I had recently emptied out the storage building on wheels, I had a place to put it all. There was also a piece or two that would end up on ebay. At least a third of it went to the landfill. By 4PM we had taken care of it all. All but the costume jewelry that is. I was planning some more research on that. Jeremy wanted to research it on his computer. So I let him.

The kid with the truck led us back to County Seat. The fact that there was nothing to do for the long winter months bothered me. I thought about going back into the liquor business but even if I did it would only last a couple of months and I would be looking again.

I left Jeremy researching jewelry while I started research on my end of the summer project. Before anything else I planned to get a serious heating plant installed. I fellow who drank at The Brits Pub sold and installed those things. He usually subcontracted the installation of someone else's sale. However he could be forced into a sale.

"To be honest with you Sylvia I have access to a full line of furnaces." he said to me.

"Well Sammy I have a metal shipping container I need heated this winter. Have you got something that will work in there." I asked.

"Honey I got something that will work everywhere. Let me look at it and I can put something together for you." He said.

"When you gonna come look?" I asked.

"I can come now if you drive. I would probably get lost," he said with a great laugh.

"Let's go," I said.

Ten minutes later we were walking around my place. "What's the volume of air you need heated?"

"It's 25 by 8 by 8, that's all there is to it now. I'm going to add a bedroom in a few months, I think."

"We should include enough volume to handled another box even larger." Sammy said.

"I might go with a 8 x 40 box and yes, I want to get it all on one furnace," I said with a smile.

"You ain't gonna like it," he said.

"Well, I have had to do a lot of things I didn't like. Tell me quick don't drag it out." I demanded.

"Well it could make it do with a smaller one but this is the one I recommend. That way you can have a heck of a lot of space before it starts be to small." He said.

"What's it going to cost." I asked afraid to hear it.

"With the tank large enough for a good reserve, before you have to be refilled it, everything is going to run $8,5000. The thing has a good trouble free life for about ten years. He said one thing that made me decide to wait till I had the other piece of the system ready. He said it would really be a lot better if it was together before you heated it.

The next day I arranged to buy it, and then for Jerry to bring it. I should have it by the end of the week. I was about to hire someone to set it but the Brit lost his temper. "Are you telling me there was something wrong with the last one we set."

"Of course not, I just hated to ask you again. You got the pub now." I said.

"Bullocks," he said.

"Okay you and I and Tomas will set it. Jeez I had no idea it was going to make such a fuss." That's how the box would being just a little out of level. I didn't dare mention that to the Brit. He might have pitched a fuss at me. I was just glad to get it done period. Both shipping containers were were rust red so it should be okay, I thought.