Chapter 9

Sally called Bob about hooking up the new computer to the Internet and Bob wanted to see what kind of unit Ed had purchased so he came right over. Nothing could be done until the first of the week. He was curious as to who would be using the computer after it was hooked on. He knew that Sally didn't bother with the computer much. He looked around when Ed spoke up.

"Paul and I are going to talk. I have a system just like this so he is familiar with it. I have a favor to ask of you though. Would you come over Monday evening and just walk him through the physical mechanics of it when he connects to me the first time? That should be enough and he can do it by himself after that."

"You're crazy! His brain is scrambled. Why, he can't even talk. How can he do anything like you think he can?"

"Bob, your nephew is a lot smarter than anyone thinks. I honestly believe he is smarter than me. I know you play 'Free Cell' because Penny said you did. What is your percent of games won?"

"I do play and my average is nearly seventy-two percent which puts me a class above most players."

"Would you believe Paul has played thousands of games, mostly because he hasn't had anything to occupy himself, and is still at one hundred percent?"

"Bullshit, I don't believe it."

"I really don't think Paul is going to have any trouble handling the Internet. I showed him how to read what comes up on the screen. When he learned that part, it unlocked the whole process to him."

Bob sat there looking first at Ed and then turned his attention to Paul. Paul was at the moment sitting on the couch. The involuntary motion was as bad as it ever was. Shaking his head in disbelief, Bob came out with, "I still don't believe it."

Ed went over to the computer and typed in some instructions and then sat Paul down at it. Paul immediately moved the mouse and highlighted the top few lines. It said, "Your Uncle Bob is going to set you up on the Internet on Monday. Type a 'Thank you' to him so he will be glad to come and do it for you."

"Thank you Uncle Bob."

Bob stood there with his mouth open. Later after he calmed down and Ed had told him more about what he was trying to do by keeping Paul's mind occupied, he said Myra and the chief wanted Sally, Paul, Cindy and Ed for supper that night. Sally accepted for all of them. Cindy was real sweet when she thanked Bob for the little figurines. Ed let Cindy tell Bob how her mother had a new job and had met a new man she might be interested in if she got to know him better. She told him the man was a friend of Ed's.

Bob asked Ed if there was any chance of Penny ever forgiving him. Ed said she had already, but felt she could never trust him again so there was no use for Bob to look for them to resume their relationship. Bob took this pretty well and admitted that he was the one to destroy the good thing he had with Penny.

Sally and Cindy wanted to dress for the supper date with the chief and Sally's mother. Ed gave Cindy some money to go shopping and told her to make sure Sally bought something for herself if she saw something she liked--just say the money came from Penny.

While the women were gone, Paul played Free Cell on the new computer while Ed and Bob became more acquainted. Bob declared that he had been on the wagon since he had been incarcerated for the drunk and disorderly arrest. He also said he was helping out an old man that was a wall plasterer. Bob said the guy was an old Italian who had worked in Italy on some of the world's most renowned churches. The old guy was truly an artist and was showing Bob the basics of making designs in newly plastered walls and ceilings.

"If the old guy doesn't die of old age before I learn the trade, I'm going to have a skill that would have been soon lost. It is remarkable what he can do in wet plaster. Come on, I'll show you an example of his work." Ed and Paul got into Ed's car and went up into the ritzy section of town to a house that was under reconstruction.

Letting himself in with a key he had with him, Bob led them into an upstairs bedroom. "My job before I became an alcoholic was a sheet rocker so I'm familiar with slinging mud. I never thought of doing anything like making designs in the plaster. It was always 'is it smooth enough?' Look at this ceiling? Some day I'm going be able to do that. It just takes so much practice and not many people dare have anyone as untrained as me work on their home."

Ed was amazed. The design inscribed in the plastered ceiling was beautiful. The symmetry was perfect. A huge set of circles held the center while quarter circles adorned the corners. The circles were about nine inches apart with acanthus leaves evenly spaced between the circles. The center was one huge rose blossom.

One wall only was finished with one circle and a blossom. The wall itself was trimmed with a border design around the top and down the corners to a foot from the floor. The same border design was scored about a foot up from the floor actually making a whole picture frame for the center design.

Ed inspected the work closely. He could see that there was a heavy application of plaster over the wall and the design was scored directly into the wet mud. "The hardest part is working the design into the mud before it becomes too dry to take the scores to the same depth. This guy does all this freehand, but he is showing me how to have a stencil on the wall to work from--and I'm not telling you what that process is. Trade secret, you know."

Bob grinned when he said this. "Come down into the cellar. I have permission to practice on the cement walls down there. I'm not doing too badly if I say so. After the designed plaster dries, you treat it just like any plastered wall. The whole house is going to be done this way. A lot of the rooms will have tinted glitter paint on them, those with ceiling lights anyway."

Bob's work in the cellar was definitely the work of an amateur compared to that upstairs, but Ed was duly impressed with the skill that Bob had acquired already.

Sally and Cindy weren't back from shopping yet. Ed asked Bob, "You were working construction and carpentry before you were fired, right, Bob?"

"Yeah, and I still would be if I had cut out drinking."

"Do you know the person that makes up the estimates on the jobs?"

Bob nodded, "Yeah, he's still a friend of mine and now that I have quit drinking, I think he'd like to rehire me. Work is slow so he hasn't been able to yet."

"Can you get him to do an estimate of this house? Have him make sure it is still structurally sound and then upgrade the kitchen and the bathroom. Maybe put in a half bath if a suitable place can be found to put it. Check out the wiring and plumbing and the heating plant.

"The house needs a new roof and maybe new siding. No vinyl, though, it wouldn't go with the neighborhood. What I want is an estimate for a total rehab. This is a pretty small house so maybe if work is as slow as you say, the work might get started the first of the new year."

Bob was looking at Ed. "Sally doesn't have any money. How are you going to work that?"

"I'm thinking of purchasing a percentage of the property. Then she can use my credit to get her house done. One other thing when you talk to the company you worked for make it a prerequisite that you be hired to do the plastering. You said you need practice, and I'm sure Sally would love to have her house done like the one we just looked at."

"I'm not good enough, yet. I wouldn't dare."

"If your work here is as good as I saw in that cellar, she would be satisfied. I know I would be. Besides, you have to help that old man that is showing you how. By the time you finish that job, you'll just be that much more ready to do something on your own."

"You got a lot of confidence in me. Why?"

"Because of Penny."

"Penny? Christ, I screwed that relationship up."

"I know, but I don't want Penny thinking she was attracted to the loser you were when she ended it with you. I want her to think that you are the person she saw when she first moved in with you. You have stopped drinking and as long as you don't start again, you will get back to being that person. She has felt guilty all this time that things didn't work out and is taking some of the blame. If you rehabilitate yourself she won't have any reason to think she was the cause of your slide into drunkenness."

"She is a wonderful woman and has no reason to think she was the cause of what I did. If you say it will help to have her think well of me again, you can bet that's what I'm going to do."

Sally and Cindy finally returned and prepared lunch. Bob seemed comfortable with Ed and of course had almost become a father to Cindy. Cindy wasn't one to hold a grudge about the whipping she had received when Bob was drunk that precipitated the split-up between him and Penny. Bob hung around all afternoon. Ed thought to himself that Sally's brother just seemed lonely, so he made an effort to engage him in conversation. After all he might in a very few months be his brother-in-law.

Cindy and Sally retired to the bedroom to get ready for the supper that night with Sally's parents. Cindy came out first showing off a red skirt and white blouse topped with a little brocaded vest. Sally had tried to put Cindy's hair up like it had been the week before and had succeeded pretty well ... not professional, but good enough. To Bob, seeing this twelve-year-old who could have been his step-daughter, again drove home the fact of how much he had messed up.

Sally came shyly out into the room. She was wearing a black velvet skirt with a high-necked white blouse that buttoned up to just under her jaw line. A black matching velvet choker adorned her throat and the overall effect was startling. A red rose was stitched onto the choker and then Ed realized there was a matching one stitched onto the skirt. The skirt itself was tight from the waist down to the top of her thighs and then flared out to become pleated and full, falling to about three inches below the knee.

Bob stood there looking at his sister. "God Sis, I never saw you look so good." He glanced at Ed who was feasting his eyes on Sally "Okay, I understand now. Anyway, I approve."

Ed said just one word, "Elegant!"

When it was time to go, Cindy said she didn't mind riding with Bob. Bob even offered to take Paul in his car. Ed said "no" he would see to Paul. Shortly after Bob left and Ed was putting on his blazer, Sally asked, "This doesn't make me look too thin does it? I know I don't have much for buns and hardly anything on top. I could wear the same bra as I did the other night at the dance. Do you think I should?"