Chapter 5

My schooling was screwed up. I had missed so much class time I would have to repeat. This would put me behind a whole semester. There was nothing at this point I could do about it. I wasn't going to sit around home. Monday morning I had breakfast and saw the boys off to school. I had an appointment with therapy at ten-thirty. I had a couple of hours, what was I going to do until then?

Helen was bustling around doing up the kitchen and planning dinner for tonight. I asked. "Hey, run me over to headquarters, would you please?"

"You have an appointment this morning."

"I know. I'll get someone to take me from there. Bob or his secretary could."

"Okay. Call me when you get done and I'll come get you."

"Good, bring our lunch. I want to go out and look at the jobsite. I have no idea how much progress has been made. Bob tells me, but I need to see it for myself."

"Okay, I'll see you at noon. You be careful and don't overdo."

"Gotcha."

"Rich, what in hell are you doing here? You have an appointment this morning."

"I know, Bob, but I thought I would come in and see how things operate here at headquarters."

"I didn't plan on you being here until after the first of the year."

"That's a whole month from now. I can't go back to school. I suspect I'll be kicked out of the reserve because I have a gimpy leg. I have all kinds of time on my hands. Maybe I can't run a piece of equipment, but there is nothing wrong with my head."

Bob looked intently at me. "Is it the salary? You get paid every two weeks. You were on the job and besides that, you're family."

"That's just it. I'm family. I haven't had a family for years. It isn't going to hurt if I come in. There are things I can do, even if it is keeping track of inventory. I do have some knowledge about how a business runs. I took classes all the while I was in the service and I had a good start again on learning more this year until I was injured."

"Well, there are things I was going to look at and haven't had time. I'm leasing a lot of equipment for this road job. I have to figure out if it will pay to buy or keep on leasing equipment. You've been here long enough to know what we are using. Sam Kline can give you all of the figures on what we own, what we lease and how many hours each piece is used.

"I think we are going to clean up big on this job. If we do, we'll bid on more of them and move the company in that direction. It isn't too soon to be looking that far ahead. Do it at your leisure, as you have time. When you get well enough to get outside I'll have you looking at the personnel we have and how best to use them. You seem to have the knack for doing stuff such as that."

"Good, I'll see Sam. I have to leave about ten. Is there someone to run me over to therapy? Helen will pick me up."

"Have Sam do it. He hardly ever gets out. Sam is one of the best accountant/ bookkeepers I have ever had. I have to have an independent audit every year. His books were right to the penny."

I walked into the offices. "Hi Sam, Bob sent me in here to look at some figures."

"Rich, you should be home in an easy chair."

"No, I can get around okay. Getting into and out of a car is difficult. This damned leg brace doesn't let me bend my leg, so I have to hitch around to get comfortable. I have therapy this morning, and I'd like you to drive me there if it isn't too much trouble. Helen will pick me up for lunch from there. She is going to drive me out so I can see how much has been accomplished on the road. I'll be hanging out with you here off and on. I can't just sit home."

"Glad to have you with me. What do you need?" I told him and he found a folder from the cabinet. Looking through the file I saw immediately one piece of equipment that we owned that wasn't used very often or for very long at a time. This is something that Bob should be leasing rather than owning.

We had two large road graders and one smaller we owned. From working and from what was coming up, I knew that owning one big one was fine, and a smaller one would handle the remainder of the chores. When this job was over, we could sell the other big one. Bob had been flying by the seat of his pants, with no real organization. I began making notes to go to him with suggestions. This might save him some real dollars.

"Sam, Bob said you could take a break and drive me over to the hospital where the therapy unit is. Can you do that now?"

"Sure, I want to talk to you about something." He didn't say anything until he had me settled in his van. "Rich, you know I do some of the banking for the company. Well I had been joking around with one of the tellers every time I go in. We kind of have been sharing a little personal stuff about each other. Long story short, I've asked her for a date. Would you and Helen go out to dinner with us the first time? I've told her some about you and how you've always been my friend."

"What about Connie? Shouldn't it be her you have with you?"

"No, she doesn't need to know. I'm more comfortable with you and Helen. I don't want Louise's name to come up in the conversation."

"Sure, when you get your date arranged we'll go with you." I stopped and then asked, "What about Louise? Where is she now?"

"Connie tells me her mother has found a new man to boss around just like she did me. I pity the poor bastard. His problem and not mine, thank God." I laughed and Sam did too.

Therapy was bad! Before I was discharged from the hospital, I had met with my therapist, Kate, in the hospital and had listened to the doctor suggesting a course of action. Neither one had mentioned how much pain this was going to cause me. This first time was mostly a consultation with the head of the department standing by. "Okay Rich, here's the deal. Some of your muscle has been removed. It is something that couldn't be replaced. But you have other muscle in and around the same area. I'm going to make it so those muscles will do the work of the missing one."

That began the session. I found that at first I couldn't bend my knee but just a little. Kate had some kind of gauge that she aligned along beside my leg. She pointed on it where she expected me to reach by the end of the certain number of sessions that had been ordered. I promised I would work with her.

Helen was waiting for me in the waiting room that first day. "How did it go?"

"I'm hurting. I asked for some Tylenol, but they said they weren't allowed to administer it. Do you have any with you?" Helen dug into her handbag and gave me two 500 mg tablets. I got some water from the cooler and took them. "Let's go. I'll be fine."

"Don't you think we should go home?"

"No, I'm not giving up this easy. I want to see how far the road work has got."

"Okay, but I think we should go home." Again, I shook my head, no.

We pulled into a wide spot just before where the dredging had begun on the swamp. I could see the dredging machine working in the distance. Close to it, there was a beehive of activity. Loaded trucks were backing over the near section that had the road base already put down. I could see drainage culverts with headers spaced periodically.

I took a moment and looked up the mountain to the top of the ridge. This was the place I had been smashed up. I shook my head, knowing it had been a close call for me. Just then the senior supervisor, Pat Brennen, spotted an unknown vehicle parked in the work zone. He headed toward us.

"Hey, get that car out of here." He stopped yelling when he recognized Helen as the driver. He peered in and saw me. Coming around to my side he opened the door and shook my hand. "Hey, Rich, how're doing? I was wondering when we would see you."

"I only got out of the hospital last week. How are things going?"

"They are going great! We will be finished getting the muck out of the swamp by Christmas, five months before we expected to. We are using the trucks to put down the base instead of having to use them to truck the muck off. I say muck, but it is pretty solid stuff. I think it can be leveled off come late spring. That was the plan wasn't it?"

"Yeah. So when do you think you will begin working on cutting through the mountain at the end of the swamp?"

"We're shutting down between Christmas and New Years. We'll be ready to go at it on January 2. Every one of the workers has worked hard and been on the job every day. Of course, Bob telling them to expect a good Christmas bonus has helped a lot." He grinned. "Well, back to cracking the whip. Glad you are up and around. Take care."

Helen backed up and turned around. The rock crusher was clanging away. I could see where the stone was being quarried. Ken Knowles was well on his way to having a new access to the basin. On the way home she said, "The reason we are so far ahead is because of you and your vision. Dad gets a check when each step of the project has been completed. The state engineer who oversees the job signed off on this. Dad didn't expect it until after the first of the year."

"Helen, it wasn't just me. It was you who had the courage to go into the basin and start the ball rolling. I'm so proud of you. You work as hard as I do with the children and all. Then I go and screw myself up and put more of a burden on you. I'm hoping when the baby comes I can give you some help."

"You are looking forward to having this baby, aren't you?"

"More than you know." I didn't continue.

"Maybe we will have a girl."

"It doesn't really matter."

"I think it will be a girl. Rich, I don't want to push you but I'm getting terribly horny. Do you think we can work something out?"

I grinned, "Tonight is the night." Sex wasn't quite the same and adjustments had to be made, but we made out fine. We still loved each other in the morning.

Being injured sure messes up your life. I had missed one meeting of my reserve unit. I made the December one. The medic in our unit advised me to bring all of the medical reports in, saying I probably would be discharged as long as I was physically impaired for the rest of my life. Helen got her wish; she had wanted me to get out. One more problem taken care of.

Christmas arrived, and there was one more thing I wanted to get settled this year. It was Christmas morning. The Clarks were here to celebrate with Brad and Scotty, their grandchildren. The stockings had been opened much earlier and toys and presents were scattered about the living room. I wasn't close to Helen's former in-laws, but I respected them.

"Mr. and Mrs. Clark, this has to be addressed. Helen has suggested that I adopt Brad and Scotty so we would be a family all with the same name. I think you should weigh in on this. You have strong feelings about this I am sure."

"We have, but I wouldn't want to go against Helen's wishes. We would prefer to have their name remain Clark in memory of our son, John. However, I see how the boys have come to love you, so we have no objection. In essence they are young and now would be the time to change their name. They call you Dad now and if their names are changed it would be more convenient."

Scotty spoke up, "I don't want to change my name. Can't I stay the same?" I was waiting for this.

"Scotty and Brad, as you are the ones most affected in the family, I won't mind. If you decide to change at some later date it can be arranged then. I will go ahead with the adoption in every way except your name change. I am proud to be your father in any case.

"How about you Bradley, would you want to have your name changed to mine?"

"Dad, what is your name?" This brought me up short and made me realize just how young my son was. I shouldn't have put this on him at his age.

"Brad, my name is Rich Rumford. If you changed your name to mine yours would be Bradley Rumford instead of Bradley Clark."

"Do I have to tell you today?"

"No, not at all. It's Christmas and we should be playing with our presents anyway."

A bit later the boys went into the other room to set up their new train set. I spoke to the Clarks, "I guess I was rushing things. If it is okay I'll let them decide when they get older. It isn't a case where I have to have them take my name."

Gram Clark declared, "You are a good father to our grandsons. Most men would demand they change their name. I think you handled this very well."

We met Bobbi Jo Brown, Sam's date, during the Christmas Holidays and went out to dinner with them. Sam was trying too hard. Bobbi Jo took care of that. "Sam, I'm with you tonight because I want to be. Relax. Hell, have another drink. I don't bite and there is nothing you can do to upset me if you will just be yourself." I knew if Sam would do as she suggested they might just end up in love.

War was coming. President Bush went to congress and had permission to declare war, because Saddam's troops were invading Kuwait. We were moving ships into the Persian Gulf and making allies from which to launch our forces. I was out of the service, so this didn't touch my family to any great extent.

Snow slowed our construction, but since we were cutting through the mountain after getting across the swamp our work force was concentrating on that. Work went forward laying down the base through the swamp. We would have everything in place to put on the next layer of finer gravel across the swamp in early spring.

The dredging machine was parked back on high land. The leasing company didn't have work for it anywhere at present and we could use it again if it was readily available after cutting through the mountain. It was just parked at our site. The swamp on the other side was smaller and, if the dredger couldn't be leased, a shovel and trucks could handle it.

My leg was improving, so I was finally able to dispense with using the brace and I could drive a vehicle again. I still went to therapy, and I had exercises that I performed at home in the evening. Some I could do while doing my lessons as I was back in school again. Bob said I should attend the classes during the day and study at night.

Helen was showing a baby bump that was getting bigger. We had resumed normal activities in the bedroom, knowing that would come to an end in late spring. She was one of the most active and organized people I had ever known. She managed the house and still drove a piece of equipment when needed. It was something to see a pregnant woman step down from the cab of a tractor and start unbuckling a load from the trailer hooked on behind.

I was busy as well with going to school, therapy, and keeping up with what was going on at the job site. I usually had a couple of hours every morning before I went into the office or to school. I would drive out and talk to the supervisors that headed up the different operations. I got along great with the laborers and the operators, so I probably knew more of what was going on overall and could deal with problems before they reared their head.

The road to the basin was passable, but not as low as we had estimated. It was still damned steep. That was because, when we started cutting through the mountain that was in our way beyond the swamp, we were now using some of that stone instead of from the quarry.

I went over the road and talked to Ken Knowles. He was waiting for spring to set up his turbine generator. Jack Oberon had been in touch with the power company. Ken was now talking to them about putting his generator online by using the power company poles and connections to some of the homes in the basin. This, in effect, would be under the umbrella of the power company.

Each home would have to pay the basic connection costs, but their meters would be running backward and their electricity costs would be much less. If the generator went down, the flow of electricity would reverse and then come again from the power company.

This would switch automatically. It took me awhile to understand it, but when I got it through my head it sounded like a good deal. What did Ken get out of this? Not much as far as money was concerned, but a huge amount of satisfaction for helping his neighbors.

When Ken brought up how steep the road still was, I said that it looked like we didn't need as much stone for our own use as we had agreed previously, but we could keep on mining it to the point he was satisfied with the road level. We would stockpile it and sell it in the future as it had quite some value. We would split the profit equally after our costs were determined. I promised papers would be drawn for both of us to sign to that effect. Ken would have his road and would have a few dollars to go with it. Ken's eyes sparkled.

Bob had kept most of the construction crew working through the winter, but some of it was just busy work while the cut was being made in the mountain. We had three more miles of road to build after we got through. There was the small swamp and from then on it was just cut down the ridges and fill in the gullies. We were ahead of schedule, but in the construction business you couldn't anticipate every problem that would show up.

I was coming in from the job site one morning and I noticed a battered van in front of the office. When I opened the door, I looked over and saw Bob's door to his office closed. I could hear his voice rumbling. There was another voice that seemed to be begging him for something. I went down to ask Sam, "Who's the guy with Bob?"

"That's Orrin O'Donnell. He has the next section of road beyond ours. I think he has been having bad luck and is way behind on the job. Other than that I don't know what is going on." I sat down at my desk and was making notes of what we wanted to accomplish in the next week. I heard Bob's door open and he came down to stand behind me.

"Rich come up to the office and meet the person who taught me a lot when I first started in this business." I was introduced to Orrin. Orrin was an older man than Bob. I could see his troubles written on his face. Bob then went into the reason Orrin was here.

"Orrin is in trouble. He is way behind on his section of the highway. His first completion date is coming up in two weeks and he is not able to meet it. If it isn't met, the state will hold up his money. Not only that, his checkbook is empty. His foreman Randal Petrie took off with the bookkeeper, Sissy Chamberlin. She took the working capital with them."