Chapter 34
Mrs. Mandragorn was one hell of a sneaky bitch.
“Now David, I hope you understand that this really would be for your own good.” Principal Bernstein said to me for what had to be the third time in the last five minutes. He was holding a test Mrs. Mandragorn had tricked me into taking, saying it was something the school was supposed to require before a student had entered the second grade. Since I had started the year out in
“I know, sir.” I said with a bit of anger and resignation. The test really had been the Aptitude test given to third graders and used to determine how well prepared they were for the fourth grade.
“You scored perfectly on the test.” Principal Bernstein re-stated and I resisted the urge to grind my teeth. “Thousands of students in the third grade take this test every year, and maybe once every two or three years do we get a student who only misses two or three questions. You’re in the second grade and you missed none of them. I’m afraid I just don’t see what good your being in the second grade will do for you. I’ve called your mother’s house and apparently she’s not home. Your grandfather said she’s out looking for a job but that he’d come over so we’ll discuss this with him when he gets here.”
Oh great, Papa was coming. I thought to myself, not sure if that was good or bad. He’d left early this morning, the day after the Super Bowl, and since it was now almost the end of the school day, that meant he’d already managed to return. I hoped that meant good news, that he’d had no problems. We were supposed to be going into
Okay, my mind was rambling.
“Mr. Bernstein, Mr. Barrow is here.” The Principal’s secretary said over the intercom.
“Send him in.” The Principal said, rising to his feet to meet my grandfather. Papa was wearing jeans with another flannel shirt and had a frown on his face as he shook the Principal’s hand. Okay, maybe this wouldn’t be good at all.
“So what’s my grandson done now?” Papa asked.
“Nothing bad, Mr. Barrow.” Principal Bernstein told my grandfather and I let out a small sigh of relief when Papa’s shoulders relaxed slightly.
“So why the phone call?” Papa asked the Principal who proceeded to explain about the test and my scores, and his idea that I should be put into the third grade immediately. When the Principal was done explaining, Papa looked over at me. “You want to move into the third grade?”
“No sir.” I answered him quickly, happy that he’d at least asked me. I’d half expected for him to just tell me what I was going to do.
“Why not?” Papa asked me as the Principal frowned at me.
“I’m not in a hurry to grow up.” I answered honestly and got a bark of laughter from my grandfather.
“I’ll bring it up to his mother, but I think the boy’s got a point.” Papa said to the Principal who frowned even more. “Now if you don’t mind, I need to take him out of school a little early. We’ve got some business to take care of.”
“Of course, and I do hope your daughter will think this over some.” The Principal said with a look that probably meant he’d make sure to bring it up to my mother personally. It really was a short walk to the house from here.
“I’ll make sure they both give it some thought.” Papa assured him before motioning me to leave the room. A minute later, I was strapping myself into the van’s passenger seat, making sure the seat belt was snug. It was a habit I’d had since I was this age the first time, after I’d learned about Aunt Bev’s accident. She was paralyzed because she didn’t have her seat belt on and so I’d always worn my seat belt in vehicles.
“Thanks.” I said to Papa as he drove off, heading towards
“If you want to take a look before we get to the bank, the money’s in two bags in the back.” Papa said as we were nearly to downtown
“Okay.” I said, feeling a momentary greed that I just couldn’t shake. Moments later I was on the floor of the van and looking at a small bag that held a lot more cold, hard cash than I’d ever seen before. Sure, I’d had money before, but it was all on paper, not where I could reach out and touch it like this.
“Yours came to a little over three hundred thousand, after taxes.” Papa said from the driver’s seat as I touched the cash with a little reverence. This really had been a gamble, and was just about the first thing that had gone right in this timeline so far. It left me feeling hopeful that there’d be more things going right soon.
“That’s a lot of money.” I said as I zipped the bag shut and returned to my seat, buckling up after I’d sat down.
“They sure weren’t happy to part with it or with my share.” Papa said with a gruff chuckle. “I had my slip though, so they had to pay me. Those men tried to get me to place some more bets and offered me a big suite if I wanted to stay. Your nanny will enjoy that next time I take her there.”
“I bet she will.” I agreed with him. Nanny loved playing the slots in Tahoe, and I was willing to bet that the casino owners would get a decent portion of their money back from her over the years. Then again, maybe not. In the first lifetime, she’d tended to come back with a little more than she’d left with, and on occasion, a couple thousand more than she’d left the house with.
“Here we are.” Papa said as we pulled into a small office complex in the middle of downtown. I’d been expecting a bank, not an office complex. With a confused look plastered on my face, I got out and went to the van’s side door while he came around the front and then opened the door. He handed me the smaller of the two bags, kept the other tight in his grip and led the way towards one of the doors of the single-level complex. When he paused in front of one of the offices before opening the door and heading inside, I began to have some idea of what he was doing.
“Good afternoon, Mr. Barrow!” A perky young receptionist in her mid-twenties said as Papa entered the small reception area. She sat behind a typical 1970’s era metal desk, and I refrained from rolling my eyes at the décor of the room, which was totally 70’s with wavy art on the wall and shag carpeting on the floor. “Steve’s been waiting for you.”
“Thank you, Shelly.” Papa said a lot more kindly than he ever did talking to someone who wasn’t a pretty young lady. At least he knew better than to touch them. Nanny would hoist him by his own balls if he dared to get involved with a pretty young thing and she found out.
That’s why the prostitutes were so much a better choice for him, as long as he used rubbers.
“Pete, I thought I heard you pull up.” A man in his late forties said as he came out a door that led towards the back of the office. He was just slightly overweight, with thinning black hair on his head, and was just a little taller than Papa.
“Steve, this is my grandson, Davey.” Papa introduced us after the two had shaken hands. The man faced me and shook my hand with a smile, his eyes noticing the bag I held in the other hand.
“I sure do wish you’d told me you were placing this bet before the game.” Steve said with a smile. “I might have given you a few hundred to play for me.”
“Next time, Steve, next time.” Papa told the man. “If you don’t mind, I’d like to get to the bank before they close today.”
“No problem, just hold on a minute and I’ll drive you down there myself.” Steve said before he disappeared back into his office.
“He’s the attorney who handles all the financial stuff for the union.” Papa said in a low voice to me while we waited. I just nodded as Steve reappeared with a briefcase in his hand and his car keys in the other. Papa rode in the front seat for the three blocks to the bank, and I got to ride in the back with my bag of money on the seat next to me. Part of me didn’t want to part with the money, just yet, but it would be for the best.
It didn’t take long to be reminded what it was like to be in a fish bowl. Papa’s bringing the attorney with us had proven to be a smart move. I’d really had no idea how much fuss could be caused when a man and his grandson walks into a bank with just over a million dollars between them. Half the tellers found their way over to the branch manager’s desk to ruffle my hair and stair at the bags of money, all the while two armed guards had been called in and stood guard between us and the rest of the bank’s customers.
I’d known, but not really considered that bank transactions of the amount we were depositing were highly unusual, and would end up having to be reported to the federal government. Fortunately, Papa had thought through those things and had all the necessary paperwork from the casino, and had an attorney present to cover the legal issues of the money that was being deposited in my name. I was a minor, something I hadn’t really forgotten, and Papa wasn’t my direct parent or legal guardian. Somehow, though, he’d managed to get Mom to sign papers with the attorney, and had all the arrangements made so that I could keep control of my money without any other adult but him or the attorney taking my money, and it would take both of them working together to screw me over.
Two hours after we entered the bank, we were leaving and Steve was driving us back to his office where there was some more paperwork to be completed by Papa. He led us into his office and once we were sitting down, gave us the bad news about his fees. Sure enough, he wasn’t working for free, and I signed over my first check to him (countersigned by Papa as was required). Still, even after that check, I had three hundred and eight thousand, two hundred and six dollars in the bank account.
Not bad for an eight-year-old.
“Can you arrange for part of my money to be invested in stocks?” I asked Steve and earned myself a frown from Papa. He considered the stock market to be the worst possible place to put money. Then again, he’d been a little older than me when the stock market crashed and his father had lost nearly eight thousand dollars he’d invested there.
“I could.” Steve said cautiously, waiting until Papa nodded before continuing. Papa was still frowning, but he was looking at me intently as I drew out a piece of paper with the big lines used in elementary schools. It had a ten year plan, and had cost me a night of severe headaches as I scrounged every memory I’d had of stock histories from three lifetimes. The end result had been sixteen companies tracked over a ten year period. I’d be eighteen at the end of the plan, and as long as this timeline didn’t vary too much from what I remembered, it should result in the sixty thousand I planned to invest today yielding nearly six hundred thousand before taxes. It wouldn’t make me a millionaire as a teenager, but it would be enough to guarantee an excellent education for Brian and for me, as well as provide us a good base for whatever business we might want to start together after college.
“I’d like to have sixty thousand invested in accordance with this plan.” I said as I handed it over to him and he began to read it over. His eyes went a little wide and he shook his head a few times as he read through the paper.
“I don’t even recognize some of these companies.” He said to me with a frown and I just smiled at him.
“Don’t ask.” I warned him softly and he looked at Papa for a shrewd moment before nodding to me. I wrote out another check in my new checkbook and handed it to Papa who signed it before opening his own and writing out a check for one hundred thousand dollars.
“Invest this the same way.” Papa said shortly and Steven nodded before getting a very shrewd look on his face.
“Do you know what attorney-client privilege is?” Steve asked me and I felt a smile warming my face. I hadn’t really thought this out, but he was right, I’d paid him a retaining fee and he was my attorney. Legally and ethically, he was bound to keep my secrets.
“Yes.” I answered succinctly and I could see Papa sit up a little more in his chair and look over at me like he was finally going to get some answers.
“How do you know all this stuff?” Steve asked as he jiggled the paper and the two checks Papa had just handed over. “You’re just a kid.”
“Never underestimate a kid.” I told him secretively and got two frowns for my efforts.
“How much would you be willing to bet that if I looked up all these companies on here I’d find out some of them don’t exist?” Steve asked shrewdly and I wondered just how transparent I’d been, and if I’d just ruined some things. Several of the companies on the list didn’t exist yet, no wait, they did exist. They just weren’t public yet. I’d removed the defense companies I’d considered investing in, but hadn’t come into being yet.
“Some of them aren’t public yet, I know.” I answered him with a frown of my own. “Some of them are just penny stocks, but I have good feelings about them. The ones that aren’t public companies yet, they will be. Especially those two I marked down, Apple and Microsoft. They’re going to revolutionize the computer market. In ten years, any office without an Apple computer or a computer running Microsoft software is going to be operating in the dark ages.”
“You were right, Pete.” Steve said to my grandfather. “The boy is too smart for his own good. How do you know so much about these companies, Davey?”
“I like to read the paper a lot.” I answered with another shrug of my shoulders.
“I’ll do it of course.” Steve said, putting the checks and paper into a drawer of his desk. He was looking at me thoughtfully and when he spoke next I knew he was doing his best to rein in his curiosity. “It’d be unethical for me to do it without asking, so I’m just going to ask. Would you have any objection to me…investing some of my own money and some money of my other clients into all or part of this plan of yours?”
“As long as where you got the ideas for it remains confidential, feel free.” I answered immediately, having already anticipated this question. “I’d warn you though, that pulling money out of some of these companies a little early could be bad news.”
“I’ll remember that.” Steve said as Papa nodded his head towards the door, indicating he was ready to leave.
“Thanks for your help.” Papa told the attorney, shaking the man’s hand as he stood up. I also shook Steve’s hand before we left his office. On the way out, Papa made sure to chat the secretary up briefly before hustling me out to the van.
“Thanks.” I said simply to Papa as he pulled out of the parking lot.
“Thank yourself.” Papa said with a shake of his head. “I just was smart enough to play the bet. You ready to look at houses? Your Nanny’s taking your mom and sister to dinner with some money I gave her so we don’t have to be back until later.”
“Sure.” I said with a sigh of relief. We were supposed to have done this on Saturday, but I’d spent the day playing catch with my father in Papa’s front yard, both of us under his watchful gaze. That had been a result of the birthday-night incident. I’d never learned what Papa had said or done that night, but the next day he’d told me that we weren’t going house hunting on Saturday. Instead, my father had shown up on Saturday morning, and we’d played catch while Papa watched every move we made. Nanny had brought sandwiches outside to us for lunch, frowning at my father the entire time. Jenny and Mom had conveniently been gone, visiting Aunt Fran the entire time (a convenience arranged by Papa I learned later). For the afternoon, all three of us had gone over to Grandma’s and helped Dad clean out the garage. Grandma had decided that when Bev got out of the hospital, the garage would be the best place for her to stay. While we worked cleaning out a lot of stuff that had belonged to my recently deceased paternal grandfather, Papa and Dad had talked at length about all the things that could be done to turn the garage into a habitable room. That was something Papa was very familiar with as he’d turned his own garage into a family room shortly after he’d bought his house.
“I think I’ve found the right house for your folks.” Papa said with smugness as we drove out of downtown and headed into east
Papa drove for another twenty minutes until we passed over Scenic Drive and entered what was at the time a relatively new subdivision. In twenty years, one of my paternal grandmothers would have a sister who lived in this area, and I knew that I’d lived here myself in my original 1976 timeline in a house that Papa had put the down payment on for Mom and Dad. They’d sold that house in 1977 when Dad got a pastor position at a small Missionary Baptist Church in north Modesto, and I’d been devastated once again because I’d really enjoyed the school in that district (not just because it’d been a change from the hated Mrs. Mandragorn, although I could admit that had been a large part of the reason why I liked the school).
“I was looking at this one house near here the other day, but now I think it’s a little small for your folks.” Papa said as we drove past the street my memory told me I’d once lived on for a very short time.
“It doesn’t have to be a big house, Papa.” I said as part of me yearned for us to turn around and go back to look at the house I had remembered fondly. Part of me wanted to do that because I now also knew that Brian had gone to that same school, although he’d been in a different classroom with a different teacher. Sure, in the second timeline we’d met at the beginning of the seventh grade, but there was nothing to say we couldn’t meet now and be friends for years before puberty hit and something more developed between us. That might even be for the best. Certainly it had been an idea I’d been toying with over the last week.
“What do you think your father should do with his life?” Papa asked me and I stared at him for a long moment, my mouth hanging open and a feeling of being totally floored washed over me. I’d never really expected Papa to be asking me my opinion on this!
“I…I…haven’t really thought about that.” I lied and regretted it immediately when Papa’s hand shot out and lightly slapped my cheek.
“Don’t lie to me, boy.” Papa said sharply, more sharply than the slap across the face. It had been a little more than a tap, a reminder of what would happen if I really did cross the line and earned myself another spanking. “I don’t know what’s come over you in the last few weeks, but I know you now. You’re always thinking, always planning. Don’t try to pretend different with me.”
“Yes, Papa.” I said as he turned right and headed down the road that fronted the
“Tell me what that brain of yours is planning.” Papa ordered and I let out a sigh.
“Dad thinks he should be a preacher, but I don’t think that’s what he’s really good at.” I said after a moment as the van began to slow down. The homes here were all really nice, and expensive even in this day.
“What should he be doing then?” Papa asked in a voice that still held a sharp edge. I was delaying and he knew that.
“He should go into politics.” I stated firmly and risked looking at Papa directly. To my surprise he was just nodding at my words.
“I always thought he was a better politician than a preacher.” Papa said. “He’s good at talking with people, getting them to like him, and he could weasel money out of a snake. The Good Lord knows he’s got the morals of a politician more than a preacher as well.”
“You can say that again.” I said with more than a hint of bitterness and managed a reproving glare from Papa. That statement probably fell under the category of badmouthing my elders.
“Don’t let me hear talk like that.” Papa warned me and I nodded in acquiescence. “I think you’re on to something with your dad, though. What kind of office were you thinking?”
“The State Assembly would be a good start, I think.” I said quickly and was rewarded with another nod from Papa. “The only problem is, Dad’s a Republican and this district is pretty much Democrat.”
“That’s another thing I’ve never liked about your father.” Papa stated, being the good old Southern, Pro-Union Democrat that he was. “We’ll have to talk some sense into him about a few things, but even as a damn Republican he could probably get enough people to like him. I even know a few of the unions in the area might support him over that Democrat bastard that screwed us over last year. He’s going to need money, though, and those damn new campaign laws won’t make it easy.”
“Loan him money from my bank account.” I suggested as Papa brought the van to a stop in front of a very nice two-story house that sat right on the river bank. In this section of town, the river bank was nearly eighty feet high, and the houses here were flush with the road, but extended back on wooden supports so that the large back patios were actually angled out over the bank. It was part of what made them so expensive.
“This is the house.” Papa said with a hint of pride in his voice as he shut off the van’s engine. I stared at it for a moment. It was the kind of house I’d always loved to visit, but had never imagined my family being able to afford. It had white stucco walls with dark brown trimming and brown rock along the base. The driveway was circular with a small fountain in front, and it was two stories. “I helped build this house at the end of last year.”
“Wow.” I said in a hushed voice as he got out of the van. It took me a moment longer to open my own door, and I forgot the seat belt was still fastened as I tried to get out. After hanging off the edge of the seat where the belt caught me, I reached back and unfastened it, nearly falling out of the open door as a result. Papa had a smile on his face as I disentangled myself and got out of the van.
“I take it you like the house?” He asked me rhetorically, and with a great deal of amusement.
“From the outside, yeah.” I answered and he nodded as a black Buick pulled in behind the van and he walked towards the car as its engine shut down. I followed him, and noticed the driver was a man in his early thirties, and there was a kid in the front seat whose face I couldn’t quite make out.
“Hey there, Pete.” The man said as he got out of the van. “I thought I was a little early.”
“We got done downtown a bit early.” Papa said with a shrug. “How ya doing, Bob?”
“Not bad.” The man, Bob apparently, answered as he shut his door and came forward to shake Papa’s hand. The passenger door of the car opened and the kid inside got out, heading towards us as Papa introduced me.
“This here’s my grandson, Davey.” Papa said and I moved forward to shake the man’s hand. He looked oddly familiar, but I couldn’t quite place him. “Davey, this is Bob Rule. He works with the development company that built these here houses.”
“Nice to meet you, sir.” I said as the man’s kid came around the car and I got a clear look at him. It was funny, I’d never know this connection between our families before, and neither had the kid whose face I now could see clearly. He was smaller than me, even though we were roughly the same age, but his freckles were just as plentiful as they’d ever been. When I’d heard his father’s name, everything had clicked into place.
“It’s nice to meet you too, young man.” Mr. Rule said with a wide smile and motioned for his son to come over. “This here’s my son, Sean. Sean, say hello to Davey.”
“Hi.” Sean said, holding his hand out.
“Hi.” I said as I shook his hand and greeted my old friend, and hopefully new friend. He smiled very shyly, and disappeared quickly behind his father’s legs.
“So, Pete, you looking at this house for yourself?” Bob asked after a slight frown at his son. My skin was tingling and there was a slight bounce to my step as I walked behind the two men. Sean kept on sneaking looks at me out of the corner of his eye and I remembered that he’d had a relatively lonely childhood. Due to his small size, and his freckles, he’d always been picked on as a kid and hadn’t had too many real friends growing up. In the first timeline, that had continued on until the time-travel experiments. In the second, that had changed when Brian, Trevor, Brandon and I had stuck up for him during our freshman year of high school. In the third timeline, well things hadn’t really mattered as he’d come back during the freshman year. He’d come back in this timeline again, but hopefully by the time he did that, everything would already be taken care of and he could just relax and enjoy another round of high school.
“No, I’m looking at it for Davey’s parents.” Papa answered. “I remembered it from the last job and thought it’d be perfect for them. It’s my wife’s daughter, her husband, Davey and his little sister.”
“Well, you know it’s a five-bedroom home so there’s plenty of room.” Bob said as we approached the door and took some keys out. “I got the keys from the development office when you called me. They just finished the interior stuff last week and the pool’s on hold until the end of winter, but it’s pretty much done now.”
“That’s what I figured.” Papa said.
“Do you think you’ll be coming back on the Terrence Plaza job next month?” Bob asked him as he opened the door and led the way inside. The door itself was a dark-brown lacquered wood nearly four feet across and over seven feet high. Immediately inside was a large foyer complete with brass chandelier. Oh yeah, Mom was going to have a crying fit over this house.
“I just got the call on that last week.” Papa said with a shrug. “There shouldn’t be any problem with me getting a crew together for the job.”
“Good.” Bob said. “You did damn good work on this project and I want someone there who knows what he’s doing. I missed you at church this week. I’d planned to talk to you about the project after services.”
“I had some business to attend to.” Papa said with a shrug.
“Well, let me show young Davey around.” Bob said and began to take me on a tour of the place, filled with all the ‘modern’ conveniences of the 1970’s. The downstairs was huge as Bob took great pleasure in showing me. The kitchen was big, with plenty of cabinets. It had a full dining room as well as a breakfast bar area, a spacious living room, a family room, a den that would be perfect for an ‘office’ for Dad and a full bathroom. Upstairs were five bedrooms, two of them quite huge and with adjoining bathrooms. Another bathroom in the middle of the upstairs hallway separated two more good-sized bedrooms, both bigger than the room Nanny and Papa had at their house. I already had a good idea that the room down the left of the hallway would be Mom and Dad’s, because it had a balcony looking out over the back deck and the river. The other room at the far right would make a great play room for my sister and I, and we could each take the two bedrooms facing the river side along the hallway. The fifth bedroom was facing the front of the house, adjacent to what I was already thinking of as the ‘play room’ and was the smallest of them all, but still good-sized. It’d make a perfect guest bedroom. As he finished the tour, Bob turned back to Papa who had followed, listening all the while and pointing out a few things about how it’d been built as we went along. “Pete, the original buyer we had got transferred back east and backed out of the deal. I can offer you a twenty-thousand discount on it, but that’s about all I can do on the price.”
“How much?” Papa asked in a neutral tone and Bob took a deep breath before answering.
“One hundred and sixty-five.” He stated flatly and I had to work to suppress a smile. In twenty years the house would be worth five times as much, easily. Papa just nodded.
“Could you excuse us for a moment?” Papa asked him and Bob nodded, ushering Sean downstairs in front of him. Papa turned to me and gave me a thoughtful look. “What do you say about the house?”
“I like it.” I said instantly. This house was a dream home for my family.
“Do you want to look at some other houses?” Papa offered and I frowned.
“No.” I stated flatly. “This one is perfect even if it is so expensive. If you don’t want to help with it, we can always just use my money.”
“We’ll split the cost.” Papa said. “I’ll have the bank draw up the paperwork. We won’t pay it off all at once. That’s stupid. You get a tax deduction on mortgage payments so we’ll put together a fund with the money in rolling-over CD’s, with monthly payments coming out of that. That way we can use it to pay for the taxes. Don’t forget you’re going to have to pay your own taxes on what you earn and I’ll break the news to your parents that they can’t use you as a deduction anymore. The title to the house will be in your name and my name. When it’s all paid off in twenty years, it can go in your mom’s name or your name, or both, just as long as it’s not in your dad’s.”
“He won’t like that.” I said, knowing Dad would feel like it was a sword hanging over his head.
“He’ll learn to live with it.” Papa stated in a no-nonsense tone. “If you’re agreed, we’ll tell Bob and I’ll get the paperwork going tomorrow.”
“I’m agreed.” I told him and he nodded before we headed downstairs. Bob and Sean were in the entrance foyer and Sean actually smiled when he saw us approaching.
“Bob, we’re going to take the house.” Papa told the man and the two men shook hands. “I’ll get the bank to start the paperwork tomorrow.”
“I’m glad to hear that, Pete.” Bob said with a broad smile. “Call the office in the morning and my secretary will get everything rolling. Now, can you spare a moment before leaving? I’d like to go over some details on the new job.”
“Sure, Davey, why don’t you and the boy go check out the back?” Papa said and I nodded while Sean got an excited look on his face. As soon as the two men were out the front door, we raced towards the back patio, throwing the sliding glass door open and racing to the very edge of the back patio. It really was a spectacular view. The river was about eighty feet below us, and on the other side was about a half-mile of flat land before the far side of the river bank headed upwards. The whole area was like a small canyon in the middle of town.
“We’re moving into the house two doors down.” Sean said as we leaned over the railing and looked down at the river. I’d known he lived in this area before, but never exactly where. I looked to each side of the house and noticed that there was at least fifty feet of space between this house and the nearest neighbors. Still, it wouldn’t be that far away.
“That’s cool.” I said with a smile and Sean returned the smile.
“What grade you in?” He asked me and I realized that while I knew we were the same age and same grade, he didn’t.
“Second.” I answered and his smile grew bigger.
“We’ll be in the same grade!” He said happily.
“Yeah, you think we’ll be in the same class?” I asked.
“I hope so.” He said and then got a thoughtful look on his face. “You ever seen Star Trek?”
“Yep, it’s one of my favorites.” I said and his smile got bigger. We stood there talking for a while about the show, and about our favorite cartoons before his father and Papa called out to us from the doorway to the house. When we said goodbye, he gave me a hearty handshake and a wide smile before getting into the car with his father.
“You look like you made a new friend.” Papa said as we got back into the van.
“They’re moving in two houses down.” I told Papa who nodded. Likely he’d already known that.
“Don’t say a word about this yet.” Papa told me as he drove back towards Ceres. “I’m going to tell your Nanny about the money tonight. Tomorrow, I’ll transfer some of it over to her, and let her know about the house. She’ll want to see it before we show Sandy. There’s still a lot of work to do before your mother and father are willing to live under the same roof again.”
“I know.” I said and he frowned a little more.
“It’s going to be quiet without you around the house.” Papa said as he pulled into the Happy Steak on Yosemite Boulevard. He must really be in a good mood. Happy Steak was a chain that went out of business in the early nineties, but they had good steaks for a reasonable price and had been a big favorite of mine growing up. Papa liked them, but groused about how expensive they were.
“I’m going to miss you being around all the time, too.” I told him honestly, surprising not only him but myself as well. I’d never gotten along with him this well in any previous timeline and it was nice. Sure, he was gruff, and he was stern, but once you learned what made him tick he was a good man to know. Look at what he was doing with this house. He could have gone for one of the cheaper ones, currently priced around eighty thousand or less, and we’d have been happy. No, he’d gone instead for a big one, a nice one that cost more but that he knew was worth the money.
“Sounds good to me.” I said with a smile as we got out of the van. I was hungry, and at the same time I felt full. The fullness came from a satisfaction that things were finally coming together. This timeline was going to be better than all the others. I could feel that already.
As with all my stories, E provides immeasurable input, grammar checking, and all those other lovely editing thingies that make the story so much better!
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