Chapter 73

Upon awaking, we discovered that the dorms were truly frozen. The girls had no place to go. So ... I took the old Suburban to the local lumberyard, and explained what I wanted. They sent me to the local office furniture store.

Luck was in. They had a panel system that locked together, and formed little boxes.

"Cubicles," he said. "They're soundproof."

"It's a temporary set up," I explained. "When the dorms are running again I won't need them."

"We don't rent."

"Bummer, got any used?"

"No," he did make a suggestion though. They were dismantling several Lake Freighters in Detroit. Maybe I could find what I was looking for there.

Maybe I could.

"Hells bells, boy, We'll deliver!" said the guy at the ship demolisher. "Just tell us what you need."

"Bedrooms for three coeds at UofM."

"Wood, or steel?"

"Either."

"Let's go look."

The older Lakers are wooden. They have a front wheelhouse and quarters for the captain, his mates, and a good sized cabin on the back for the crew. The back outfit would make a decent house. It has a kitchen, a lounge, and several bunks in private rooms. The stack generally runs through the middle of the deck house, because the boilers and engine are at the stern. Easy to heat, spring and fall. Hell to live with in the summer. There were several rear deck houses to choose from. But only two forward wheelhouses.

The iron boats were longer, wider, heavier and usually oil fired. The wheelhouse is taller, more capacious and some of the interiors were beautiful. Many of the rear deckhouses were two storied. More crew I guess.

"You deliver?" He had said. "Ann Arbor?" I wanted to be sure.

"Yep ... tomorrow. Which one?"

"How much?"

"Two thousand five hundred cash."

"Take a check?"

"What's your bank?"

"Ann Arbor National."

"Care if I call?"

"This is business ... you better call. I'd think poorly of you if you didn't," I said.

"In that case, I don't need to call," he said, spitting on his palm.

I spit on mine. We shook. "Done!"

I wrote him a check on the spot.

"What if I don't deliver?"

"Pop's a lawyer."

"Ah," He grinned, "Which one?"

"Amazon, the wheelhouse and officers quarters ... nicest wood."

"You surprise me, kid. I figured you'd take the biggest"

"It's what?" I guessed, "30 by 18?"

"Thirty by twenty-two"

"Gonna be a tight fit. The door it's going in is 23 wide and 29 tall."

"It's going in? Where do you live?"

"Next to the Ann Arbor tracks. Tall brick ... just west of Rohde Brick but across the street."

"I know the place ... old machine shop. Ever been in the basement?"

"There's a basement?"

By the time I'd saddled up old paint he had the Amazon on two trucks ... the wheel house on one and the quarters on the other ... how about that ... it came with a floor.

With the wheelhouse off the quarters he was only a bit oversize ... well ... a lot oversize but he didn't have to fuck with the electrical ... it was short enough to miss.

I went home.

Pretty amazing. He brought the two pieces up with a couple of outboards and a barge. The government claim the river navigable and I guess he knew something because the two pieces were sitting on two flatbeds in my drive by the time we got back from an early dinner slash late lunch Arnold was grinning and said, "What on earth are you going to do with that?"

"The girls needed a place to stay and I couldn't stick build a house faster."

He got busy with the forklift and started pushing concrete conduit out the door.

I'll say this for the flatbed drivers ... they knew what they were doing. So did the crane operator. Slick as a whistle. The two pieces were assembled ... the bolts fit in the angle iron holes. The whole shooting match was on rollers and in the warehouse before two lambs could shake.

I gifted the drivers, crane man and Arnold with a hundred each and declared myself satisfied. I made up a 6-3 extension cord in 240 and an 8-3 cord in 120 and rigged the house wiring. Sure the light switches were white button on and black button off but the the washer and dryer were both 220.

"Ladies," I said to the freshmen coeds... "Your temporary domicile awaits."

Grace even thought it was good ... but she did say ... just to upset me poor heart, "Aw ... I liked sleeping with you."