With This Ring
By
Retta Michaels
Preface
Dear Reader,
In a lot of my writing, I've never felt the need to write a preface. With this story, I want you to know what to expect. For me, the story is a mixture of a whole lot of truth and a whole lot of fiction.
For me to explain it, I must sit and tell you what my conceptual plans were for the novel
IN LIFE, we are not given a set list of directions and plans how to complete it. Some people don't like the unknown, so they don't take any foreign steps into different territories. With others, they know no structure.
Rather than having a nameless character out there who could sue the fuck out of me for even inferring they're a member of the mafia, I chose to go personal and use my own name. It's a lot less messy and a lot more friendly for my lawyer.
I am not a member of the mafia. I will not say I do not know a lot of the family members from several cities, but I am not a member myself.
I will state at one time I was with a man named Gino who headed a crime family. He's since passed and this story has been released with permission and editing done by his son who is still a dear friend of mine. (Thanks Dave.)
The names I've used in the story besides my own are ficticious. The names have been changed to protect everyone. Where names weren't important, I have not used them.
I have given enough references to who the person is so if you can read between the lines, you can see who they are. With that said, I will not say more about the characters.
The story is made up. It is totally ficticious. None of the incidents happened, and nothing of the sort ever occurred. If you choose to believe it did happen, and if you choose to believe it's true, then that's on you. I will state now if I receive an email asking me if such and such part is true, I'll be polite and refer you to the Preface and leave it at that.
The reason I'm writing this preface is because I want people to know when I write, I write fiction with an air of the style of writing used by the National Enquirer or the Sun. There's an air of truth in there someplace, but it's actually fiction. If you choose to believe it's truth, then do so...I've got about twenty acres of swamp land I'll sell you and someplace on that land is a complimentary Iphone. If you can find it, it's yours.
With that said, I'll now state the characters of this story will probably be used time and time again. I think I've found a niche in this style of writing. I'll tell you now, it's done in the style of Mack Bolan “The Executioner”, James Bond, or Scarface.
“With This Ring” is the first book of the saga. It shows how someone can go from leading a normal life wanting to lead a normal life to being thrown into a complex cast of characters which require him to be more and more of what he doesn't want to be.
I hope you enjoy the story.
Chapter 4:
The next morning, the sound of the phone awoke us. I rolled over and answered it.
“Rhette?”
“Yes mom.”
“They caught the last guy.”
“Good what time is it?”
“Nearly six am here.”
“Man, that means it's eight here, I think that's the most I've slept in a long time.”
“Oh, I'm sorry I woke you but I just saw the news and they had him.”
“Kevin told me last night they had him.”
“I wasn't aware. What's on your itenerary today?”
“We're driving on home and sometime I've got to call and get phone service turned on and get a shower so I can go meet his family. We're then going to drive up there and I'll have to wash the car before taking it to meet them.”
“Is it nice?”
“You'd love it. The seats are like recliners. They're puffy under all that leather.”
“Oh, I bet it's nice.”
“When you come out, we'll see what you think of it and I'll get you one if you want.”
“That's too high of a car. I like my Buicks.”
“You'd love this though and Buick doesn't make a convertible.”
“Well, Kevin is going to go up and get your things out of the house today and get Gyp taken to the big house. “
“She'll like that. She'll feel like a queen.”
“Kevin said he's going to drive out with you guys next week to see the house, do you think that's a good idea?”
“Yeah, Steve secure with it and I want Kevin to know we're going to be good friends.”
“Well, don't invite trouble. I love him, but he still loves you dearly.”
“I know mom. There's no invitations which are going to be extended except friendship.”
“Good. Do you think he'd like living out there? He mentioned it.”
“It's a bit more laid back, but I think he'd like it. I've got some extra parcels of land so if he wanted to build on one he could.”
“How much land came with it?”
“Mine sits on five acres. There are two to the left and two to the right and he'd be able to have a nice area.”
“Do you think you'd like him that close?”
“Yeah, He and Steve have a lot in common so they'd be able to get along.”
“When you get all settled, I'll see about coming out.”
“How about we make plans for Easter here.”
“That'd be nice. Do you have the space?”
“There's five other bedrooms and an apartment above the garage. We'd have plenty of space.”
“We'll see. I'll buy a ham and have it shipped just in case.”
“Would you call the phone company and have them turn on the phone? We can stop someplace and buy a phone and it could be turned on by the time we get there.”
“It might take more time than that.”
“If it does, tell them to forget it and call Southwestern Bell. They only took one day to get the house phone turned on at the big house.”
“Ok, if I need anything I'll call your cell.”
“Love you mom.”
“You too, bye.”
I hung up and rolled back over to an empty bed.
I got up and went to the bathroom. Steve smiled and said, “It's hard pissing with this thing.”
“Turn the water on at the sink.”
“It doesn't work for me. It's got a mind of it's own.”
“I'm glad it decided it liked me then.”
He laughed and said, “Don't make me laugh, this is painful.”
“You need to drink more water.”
“I know I should but it tastes bad.”
“We'll have to get bottled water.”
He finally went and I said, “Thank you.”
“You could have came over and went, you know.”
When we were done, we packed and went down to the lobby. We gave the pass key back and went in and got their breakfast. I had strawberry bagels with strawberry cream cheese and strawberries on the side. He had one of everything I think.
He smiled at me and I said, “No lunch until we get home.”
“We'll stop someplace around Savannah to get your phone and get a quick sandwich.”
“Ok, you heard the call again.”
“Yeah, what'd your mom have to say?”
“She told me that Angel got arrested, but Kevin told me that last night.”
“Oh. Ok. It must be making big news back there.”
“It's on CNN too.”
“Really!”
“Yeah. Kev said there are satellite trucks parked outside of the little house.”
“Man, I'm glad we're not there.”
“Me too. He's going over today and getting Gyp and my things loaded. What will be interesting is the press will think I'm staying at his place and they'll move there. They have no clue I'm here.”
“Good. What'd they say on CNN?”
“It's a big splash about the police chief being arrested and all the charges.”
“Oh man, so your name got put out?”
“No, but all it would take for the press is to ask around as to who it was that got beaten and all fingers would point to me. Mom was rather aggressive with the law there.”
“I bet she was.”
When we were finished eating, we went out and gassed the car. Gas was notably higher than in Missouri, but I'd find it interesting what the fuel mileage would actually be. I know the car felt more solid than any car I'd driven, and knew the metal used was the way they used to make all cars, so a good coat of undercoating would probably be in order.
We drove and I locked the cruise at seventy five. Steve looked at me and said, “I'm glad we're together.”
“Me too”
I held out my hand and he held it. “This feels nice.”
“Yeah, do you mind if we listen to the radio?”
“Sure, what channel?”
“See if the Sirius is working and find the news.”
“Ok”
He turned on the radio and we programmed all the channels in I thought I'd like. It held two hundred in it's memory, but I knew from past experience only about twenty of them would be used. When we got to the dirty joke channel, we listened. Steve and I laughed for a long time and finally, he said, “I'm sorry, we were going to get the news. I'm so tired of laughing my ribs are sore.”
“It's you tensing back up after being relaxed. It happens. That's why I want to get one in the house.”
“We ought to get the construction done during the off season because once Summer hits, they'll be focusing on the communities.”
“Ok, how fast do you think the approval will take for the swimming pool?”
“IF I get the plans, it will take a day. If I don't take them in, it could take six months.”
“So you know someone?”
“Yeah. A lot of things like that are accepted without going before a zoning board if there are others in the communities. For an outsider who doesn't know that, the zoning board will drag their feet to exert their authority.”
“It's going to take Kevin six months to clear hurdles?”
“Hon, between you and I, I can get it done quicker if you'd let me.”
“How do you mean?”
“Kevin could get the house designed to his specs. Then, once it's designed, I could say I'm building it and rush it through. Once it's built, Kevin could buy it and no one would be the wiser.”
“That's good. I don't think he'll mind.”
“It's just a shell game is all it is. They'll rush things through for me because they know they'd want the returned favor.”
We listened to the weather channel and got told there'd be rain and storms. On the news channel, we listened to the national version of what the story was and it didn't give my name. Steve said, “Good, no one here will know your past. I think that will be good.”
I nodded.
The miles rolled along and Steve used the phone to call his mom. She said she'd hold supper for us and for us to drive safe.
When we got to Savannah, I saw a Circuit City and made for the exit. We went in and I went to the computers. They didn't have Dell's but they had some nice duo processor ones which were nice. Steve looked at them and asked, “Why do you want on this fast?”
“Hon, the speed of the processing is where it's at. The duo munches through the information fast. We could use this on a plasma and have it for a monitor at home. I'm thinking that's what I might do.”
“Why don't we wait and check Dell's site and just get a phone today.”
“Ok,
but I know if we order a Dell it will take about three weeks to get
it here.”
“I'm not going anywhere, so let's just shop around.”
“Ok”
We went over and got a set of phones for the house. They had the Vtech add-on phones. The original set of three were decent priced, but the add-on ones were seventy dollars each. I stood there doing mental math as to how many we'd need and Steve said, “Carry it with you and put one on each floor.” So, we bought the three and got a spare.
On the way back to Bluffton, Steve said, “Don't take this wrong, but I don't want to see you wasting your money.”
“That's ok. Sometimes I need someone to reign me in. Thanks for not being afraid to say what you think.”
“You want things nice and I know that. But there's such a thing as too much.”
“I don't mind. I was trying to think of all the rooms, but you're right, the bedrooms don't need phones.”
“No and to be quite honest, they don't have to be wireless. The phones are going to be replaced at the Sheriff's office soon and they throw the things away. We've got a nice Merlin system, so we can use them.”
“Good, I like Merlins.”
“They're a nice phone.”
When we got back to the house, we saw a news truck across the road. Sam waved us on through and I didn't stop. I looked in the rear mirror and saw the crew carrying their camera across the road.
Steve said, “When we get ready to leave, they'll probably try chasing us. We could drive the Viper if you want.”
“It's up to you. They could find a person under a rock.”
“I imagine it was the guy who you upset yesterday. There's not that many who know you're here.”
“No, so it'd have to be him. IS there anything you can do?”
“No. They were parked legally and it's their job to get a story.”
“Maybe we could speak with them and I could tell them something.”
“No, just leave them be. If they attempt to chase us then I'll pull over and arrest them once they pull upon my parents property. They don't know that road is our as soon as they leave the highway, so I'll do that.”
“Ok, but isn't it a ways up there?”
“Just north of Beaufort. You'll love it up there.”
We went in and I hooked the phone up. There was a dial tone. I took the second one to our bedroom and the last I put in the skyhouse temporarily. Steve came out of the shower and said, “I'll be getting dressed and then carry in your shopping while you have a shower and then we'll get up there.”
“We have a phone but I'm not sure the number.”
“Dial your cell and you'll have it.”
“Glad you're here.”
He smiled and said, “I am too.”
I went in and took a shower. As I was finishing, Steve came into the bathroom and asked, “What do you want to wear.”
“That shirt I got at the Outfitters and the Levis. I'll take that new pair of shoes and some ankle socks.”
“Ok, I'll get them laid out.”
I dried. When I was done, I went out and hugged him. He motioned with his hand and said, “Your clothing sir.”
I turned around and stepped back into his arms. “You sure make it hard to look at your butt.”
“Yeah, it could be hard.”
He kissed my neck and said, “You're getting it that way.”
“Good, that feels good.”
He rubbed my chest and nipples. The feeling was such I ground back into his cock. “Oh babe”
“Yeah, you're feeling as I am.”
“I want to make love with you, but I want it special.”
“You have a date, but when?”
“Tomorrow night?”
“Fine with me. I'll cook us up a nice dinner and we'll do it up special.”
He smiled and said, “Get dressed. I've got to get away from you. You standing naked is too much of a turn on. I'm dripping real bad.”
I got dressed and he came back in as I was lacing up my sneakers. “Man, it's a sin to cover that body.”
“I'm not the only one stud.”
He smiled and said, “You really think I'm hot?”
“Yeah”
“I've never really had anyone that's thought that.”
“I don't know why not. People around here have to have eyes.”
When I stood up, he came over and hugged me. “Hon?”
“Yes babe.”
“I'm going to speak to TJ tonight about getting my soda machines loaded into his truck so we can bring them here. We need to get things moved over here from my place if that's fine with you.”
“Sure, that's no problem. Where do you find the bottles for the machines.”
“They sell them about once a year. I stay in contact with the company as to when and get twenty cases. It's not much, but I allow myself one a day.”
“You might want to get a bunch of them. I'm sure our guests will enjoy them.”
“How many do you think?”
“Let's see. Mike's kids will be here for about six weeks this Summer. Six kids and an adult probably three a day so that's a case a day. That's forty two cases there. Other family members will be about that many, so we might want to get a hundred and fifty cases.”
“They're ten dollars a case.”
“I'll pay for them.”
“No, I can help but it's a lot to put out for just Cokes.”
“Feeding everyone will cost a lot too but I think we need to think about getting freezers.”
“Freezers with an s?”
“Yeah, dependent upon what meat prices are here, I'll look at shopping back home and we can haul it out here.”
“Will meat stay good?”
“I”ve learned to pack it so it stays good. The key is not having any air space in the coolers. We can buy a cow back home and have it slaughtered and also have another for ground beef. Then we can have a freezer for chicken as I like to cook rotisserie chicken. I'll have to buy another rotisserie, but that's no biggie on Ginnys.com.”
“What's Ginny's?”
“It's a neat little catalog which has all sorts of kitchen things cheaper than I've seen them in stores. The feather mattresses are way cheaper.”
“Have you checked to see what we have for linen?”
“No, I've been using that towel hanging from the bar in the bathroom.”
“Me too. We ought to look.”
“Let's do that on Saturday. I'll be off. We'll make lists and go shopping. Do you think five days will be enough to go out there and come back?”
“Yeah, I doubt if it's that long. With Kevin packing things, it'll be easier. That way, all I'll have to do is go in and grab the server and all the hook ups.”
“Why didn't you ask him to get it for you?”
“Hon, Kevin and I have an agreement. He doesn't mess with my computer stuff and he stays alive. Him with wires is like a cat with string. I've set all the servers up and he now knows what to turn on first to get everything back up, but I imagine there will be a lot of panic phone calls over the computers.”
“How'd you learn so much about them?”
“Trial and error. Lots of that and hours of pulling my hair out. It gradually sunk in. When things were rough, I'd go to either Sun's forum or Dell's forum and would get a lot of answers to questions which would help me with the others.”
“How many servers do you have?”
“We've got twelve and then I've got the eight Sun monsters. Each one of those is a quarter of a million dollar machine. I got them on the government auction site for a hundred and nine dollars.”
“Oh man”
“Yeah a city was selling their computers and I'm guessing no one knew what they were because they weren't clearly labeled and the description didn't state they were what they were. I did some snooping around and found where Sun had a press release about selling them. So, I bid hoping I'd get them. When I got them, I drove through a blizzard both directions to get them.”
“Where were they?”
“Out in Ohio.”
“So which are you bringing out here?”
“I'd love to bring two of the Suns and my Dell. The Dell has attachments which one is an array which gives me a terrabyte of storage and then there's my HP jukebox which holds and burns two hundred dvd disks.”
“What do you do with all that space?”
“The master code for the plasmas are on the Suns at the shop, but I want to have a copy of them before Kevin sells out. That code took me almost three weeks to write.”
“What's so special about it?”
“Ok, we've got eight jumbotrons in a row up at West Quincy. The speed limit is 45 mph there. As you drive along, you see a GM pickup truck. The next sign shows the truck from the side. The next shows it from the back. Then, the next four signs sell you the truck. The signs click so it's like they're following you, but they click over for a period of six point one two five seconds. We had to do a lot of driving through that area and finally I hired a high speed video crew to drive it at speed so we could get the timing down perfect. Once we were done, GM gave us a huge contract.”
“Sounds neat, but it sounds complicated.”
“It's something that wasn't done before. Once I wrote the code, we figured it could be done with different spacings of the signs and different speed limits. It all sounds complicated, but a good person who knows a lot more math than me offered to do the equations and he got them to all sorts of distances and speed limits. The thing is each sign has to be spaced equally apart.”
“And they gave you a big contract for that.”
“Yeah, those signs are exclusive to GM. Nothing else can be advertised due to the timing. GM bought up the ad space on all of them for two years and then got me all sorts of fees. It's a twenty million dollar contract.”
“Twenty million dollars!”
“Yeah, but Coke's got one set of them now and we're setting up another set for McDonalds. Once word got out about the neatness of them, we had a really good turn out.”
“How much does one of those signs cost?”
“The plasma which I call a jumbotron is six hundred thousand each. The signs cost about thirty thousand each, so the investment paid for itself nicely.”
“Oh man. I'd want that code too.”
“What I do is I now sell that code to other sign companies. They tell me how far they want it spaced and what the speed limit is. There are a string of twenty signs going up out in Los Angeles. They paid two hundred thousand for the code to experiment. The advantage for them is the speed limit is the same on all the interstates, so if they space the signs the same, they can use that code multiple times.”
“Why don't you make it exclusive.”
“No, the only thing I do is I make it for only their use. If they resell it, I go in suing for copyright and breach of contract violations.”
“They wouldn't do that, would they?”
“No because I've got a patent pending on it and it's a real money maker.”
“How'd you come up with the idea?”
“I don't watch television much but one night I saw a commercial on television of a similar thing where all the ad signs were changing. I thought to myself it could be done and told Kevin I wanted to try it. Little did I know how complex it would become, but it's sure nice when you get that check in for that contract.”
“I imagine.”
“Now you know why I was able to sell my part of the company for so much. There's a lot of money in ad revenue and what you don't know is I sold out for a graduated price.”
“What's that mean?”
“Ok, through the years, the prices of advertising goes up. I projected what the revenue would be for this year and then each year for the ten years. Last year, we grossed twenty one million. The GM contract is in this year's budget and not last, so it's a lot more. The good thing is GM has pledged a contract of the next ten years if we bring down the price ten percent a year.”
“In ten years, you'd be giving the ads away!”
“No hon, each year it's less, but it's a two year contract. The second contract in two years is eighteen million. The next one after that will be sixteen point two. It will still be five million a year at least after then end of that contract, but by then the company will have up more and more signs. The plasmas are huge money makers.”
“Why's that?”
“On an average sign, you only have one advertiser. That sign stays the same for the entire month. On a jumbo, that sign changes every ten seconds or six seconds during peak hours. For each ad that goes up, it's a thousand a month and it's a twelve month minimum with two changes of ad which are fifteen hundred each. That's fifteen grand a year. If you sell ten ads, that's a hundred and fifty thousand. Now, what is slick is people do a lot of changing of their ads. I was just involved in the change over from Black history month to Valentines. Then will be Easter. Then luck leprochaun which is half price changes. That's still seven hundred and fifty to change a photo in the computer.”
“You mean drag one in and pull one out and that's it!”
“Yeah.”
“Man, that's sweet.”
“They get seen because stop lights happen along a road and a person's eye is drawn to the sign because of the change of movement. What we're wanting to experiment with is gif or moving pictures. Cullegan is wanting us to do that so they have their lady saying, “Hey, Cullegan person!”
“Is that going to be more?”
“No, but it's a benefit a lot of companies will like. I started that and Mazda was on in an instant doing their Zoom Zooms.”
“Ok, that's cool”
“So now you've got the gest of what I did to make the money.”
“And the sign shop will make that kind of return?”
“Oh yeah. We have investments in the signs and once they're paid for, they return nothing but profit. So far, we've not had one go black, so it's good and believe me, it seemed we put them up and a hail storm will come. None of them have taken any hits by lightening or high wind, so we're lucky.”
“They insured?”
“No one will insure them. Those up there in the air are nothing but loss if one goes down.”
“You ever had a bunch of signs go down like that in a storm?”
“Yeah, we had a tornado that knocked seventeen of them down. It seemed that thing had an eye for great advertising. Fortunately, we put in sheer bolts which allows the sign lay over in a high wind.”
“Why do you do that?”
“Same reason you were worried about that fence out back. Once one of those signs gets to wiggling, it will rip apart and become a missile. Now all I need is a sign that's not insured to come flying and hit a car and decapitate them all. The lawyers would run from me.
Rather than do that, I'd rather the sign lay down and us some sheet metal to straighten it back up and get a crane to re lift it.”
“Is that difficult?”
“You'd have to ask Kevin. He took a crew over and had them all back up in a week. Fortunately, none of our advertisers asked for refunds.”
“If you come over here and put up signs, how many would you seek to put up?”
“I don't know. We'll have to get traffic counts and see where the traffic is. I could put up a sign in every buffer zone there is but that doesn't mean I could get advertisers to sign on. Right now, I'm not even sure it's possible. I'd have to check with Lamar.”
“They'd let you, wouldn't they?”
“Yeah, we've had no problems with them, but we're between two cities and I'm sure that interstate out there has the traffic count, but just as soon as I went to compete against them, they'd put up signs to compete and that'd be a mess.”
“They'd do that?”
“Yeah, but zoning is where we'd fight them if there's an ordinance. If there's not, they could put up a sign right next to mine or right in front of one. I'd doubt if they'd do that, because I'd come and move a sign in front of theirs, but I'll look into it. If they're covered, then I'll see if I can buy rights for this area from who has it.”
“They'd sell to you?”
“Yeah, there are variances we all do. I sold away a chunk of good advertising space down in St. Charles county What I kept was the best of the best, but they wanted it bad enough to ask and we made the agreement.”
“What's the agreement?”
“Ok, say you have a strip of interstate in your area I want. I come in and offer you a hundred thousand a mile for the use of that area for ten years. At the end of the ten years, I have to leave my signs on the poles and you get them free.”
“That's sweet.”
“Yeah because I wouldn't have had the income to get that stretch of interstate populated. They did, so they really helped us out because they bought thirty miles worth. When you multiply that by two, you've got a nice pay check.”
“Why two?”
“Each side of the interstate. That's how it's done.”
“I'm learning and I can't believe the money involved.”
“It's a huge investment, but the returns are great. I've had no complaints.”
“I'd say not, how long you been in it.”
“Five years.”
“You started with nothing five years ago and you just sold out to him for that much!”
“Yeah, but he really got the best end of the deal.”
“Why?”
“I just signed over half the company to him in December.”
“So, if you hadn't, you could have sold for a hundred million.”
“Yeah, but here's the wisdom of how we got so big so fast. I saw the price of signs raising as metal costs were raising through the roof. I bit the bullet and bought fifty signs which I figured is what we'd put up in a year. The price of those signs tripled in cost right after I got the order in.”
“Oh man, so you have them as spares.”
“Yeah, now lets get out of here.”
He smiled and said, “You drive because I want you to know how to get there.”
“Ok hon.”
We went out and got into the Viper. I pulled it out of the garage and saw it was a four car garage. I had Steve pull the Rolls in and he came back with a remote in his hand. “Where'd you get that?”
“It was on a shelf in there. There are four of them.”
“Good, I'm glad we found them, I wonder if they operate the gate?”
“I don't know, but we'll check.”
When we got to the end of the drive, I tried the remote and it didn't control the gate. There had to be something that operated the gate so I'd call Robert when I had a chance to see what operated it.
At the end of the road, I pulled up to the guard shack and said, “Sam, if those guys over there are too much of a problem, give us a call and we'll come get them.”
“Why are they after you?”
“Problems back home. It's on CNN.”
“Were you the one beaten?”
“Yeah.”
“Oh, I'm sorry.”
“That's ok. You'll see me scoring like a bandit when it's over.”
“I'll let you know if they're a problem, but they've been good so far.”
“They'll get the hint they're not going to get a story after a while.”
“They said they'd not be here after five o'clock.”
“Ok”
We left out and they didn't follow us. When we got to the buffer zone, Steve showed it to me. I did a quick scan and said, “We could put up double signs on each side.”
Every so often, he'd show me another zone and it was always the same. The road was void of any signs along the way.
Once we were out to the main highway, the signs picked up but most were mom and pop shop signs...plywood on wood poles...which are unsafe during any kind of wind after they've rotted.
We continued up to Beaufort and on past. When we got to the exit, Steve said, “Just remember this truck stop and you'll be fine.”
“Ok”
“Turn right.”
We went down the road and he said, “Slow down because when that white fence over there begins, you're going to need to be prepared to make the turn.”
We drove for what seemed a mile and he told me to turn left. We turned and went through an elaborate gate. “You're now on our property.”
“This is you guys?”
“Yeah”
“Ok, I'm going to start clocking on the odometer to see how long it is.”
“It's
about three miles”
“Three miles! Damn, that must be a helluva bunch of snow!”
“It doesn't snow here hon.”
“Oh yeah, I forgot. How do you mow all this, or is this the greens patch?”
“You'll see the horses up there.”
“Horses? I thought you said they got rid of all the horses.”
“We got rid of the ones we ride. These are quarter horses which are bred to be race horses.”
“Must be a lot of money in them.”
“Three Kentucky Derby winners.”
“Really!”
“Yeah, it's mama's one social event of the year.”
“She goes to the race?”
“Yeah, but with the way daddy's sick, I don't know if she'll go this year.”
“We'll watch him.”
“I doubt if he's around that long myself.”
“Oh man, I'm sorry.”
“That's ok hon, I'm prepared. He's not young.”
“They had you late?”
“He was married previously and she died. He wed mama straight out of high school.”
“How old was he?”
“Nearly fifty.”
“Jeez, what the hell was she thinking!”
He laughed and said, “Believe it or not, she loved him.”
“How'd they meet?”
“Let her tell you, just up around this bend you'll see the house.”
We went through another set of gates and I saw the house. “Oh man, it's beautiful!”
“Yeah, it's been in our family since the late seventeens.”
“Oh man, is that the ocean out there?”
“Yeah, out there where those trees are is where the house used to be.”
“Oh man, it would have been ruined.”
“Yeah, but we've got a good while to go before it comes close again.”
“No hurricanes in that length of time?”
“Yeah, but as you can see, they've got it up so it's not going to get a lot of water. The wind doesn't catch it on one side but on two which splits the wind.”'
“That works?”
“Yeah, Hugo hit and we rode it out. It was exciting.”
“You stayed!”
“My dad was the Sheriff. He evacuated everyone and then came home. We rode it out and all we lost were trees.”
We pulled up front and got out. His mom came running down the steps and into his arms. She turned towards me and said, “My God you're handsome! She came over and said, “Welcome to Jacksonland”. She gave me a hug and said, “What's that cologne”
“It's his smell mama. He thinks that's body odor.”
“Oh really!”
“Yes ma'am”
“You call me Rose. My name is Pearl Rose, but just call me Rose.”
“Thank, you can call me Rhett.”
“Rhette! He said that was your name, but I thought he was giving me a clue as to how you looked. You look nothing like a Rhette.”
“I know, but it's a name I can't outrun.”
“Man you're a good looking kid.”
“Thanks ma'am, I can see where he gets his looks too.”
“Thanks” she said blushing. “Well come on into the house and let's sit for a spell.”
We went in and as soon as we entered, I could smell the old wood. “Cyprus?”
“You know your woods.”
“Mine at home is river cypress, but the stain's not the same. Mine's more of a mahogany.”
“There are different varieties. It's rot resistent.”
“That's what the woman told me that used to own the house.”
“Smart people back then, I hear you bought one of those new old mansions.”
“Yes, it's nice, but this one is awesome.”
“It's lovely, but it creaks and groans with old age.”
“I've got a question and excuse me for being so forward, but he said this place was built in the seventeen hundreds. There's electricity in the ceiling.”
“When it was moved, they took it apart piece by piece and added in the electric and plumbing.”
“Ok That was nice. Look at that view. Oh man!”
“Yes, for me, that's what I think of whenever I'm away from here.”
“It brings tears to my eyes. I couldn't leave here.”
She came over and hugged me and said, “Hon, it'll be yours one day. Love it like that for me and I'll be obliged.”
“It's already got me thinking mine is nothing but a cheap knockoff.”
“Hon, they don't make them like this anymore because they're too costly to build. I'm sure yours is lovely.”
“It's beautiful, but this takes my breath.”
“Well come into the parlor and we'll get our tea.”
Steve brought in the tea and I said, “Rose, from now on, he's going to be doing his own laundry.”
She laughed and said, “I like you. If you can get him to do it, then you've got ways I don't.”
“He's gotta. I'm not going to do it.”
“I hope you've got plenty clothes hon, because he'll wear everything down to the hand me downs before he'll wash.”
“Oh no he won't! He'll be in doing chores just like me, or else!”
She laughed and turned to Steve, “Good kid. Where are you from and tell me about yourself”
I told her everything and as I spoke, she listened. Steve went out to the car and got my laptop. When he came back in, he sat down next to her and said, “Mama, look here. This story is on CNN right now about the police chief up where he lived.”
He showed her the story and then said, “He's the person. If you want, you can see the photos of his beating and you'll be sick”
He opened them and she said, “Oh dear”
She came over and hugged me. “That had to be horrific.”
“It was, but I managed.”
“You did quite well.”
“Well, thanks to Steve, I've managed to remember everything. He brings me back to security.”
“That's a fine compliment. He does do that. She turned to Steve and said, “Honey, I'm going to take him for a walk. You need to go prepare your daddy.”
We went out the side door and down the double stairs. She took the left and I took the right. “You did that like a Southern gentleman.”
“I won't look at your ankles.”
She laughed and said, “When Summer's on, you'll see more than ankles. I don't get out of my pedal pushers.”
She came over and caught my arm as we walked. “You love him already, don't you?”
“It's growing more and more all the time.”
“I can tell. Your eyes and his are both telling me their stories. What I wanted to talk with you about is his daddy. He's up there dying right now and he's not long. When he passes, it's going to be terrible.”
I reached over and touched her hand and said, “We'll be here. I'm supposed to go home, but it can wait.”
“He told me you were, but I chose to tell you because he's going to be shocked at how much his daddy's went downhill since yesterday morning when he last saw him.”
“He wanted me to meet him so he knew he'd found someone finally.”
“I'm happy about that because his daddy got told last night. I told him and then as we were talking, JT came in. He's quite taken with you too. Which I can see why, you're tiny!”
“Yes, but I'll tell you now I've only got eyes for Steve. You're going to hear about my ex coming here to live, but you must know we're dear friends. So please don't be worried.”
“I'm glad you told me because I hear a lot, but I can tell you're about your word. If you were up to no good, you'd not mentioned it.”
“Everything's completely honorable with me. Do I have your son's hand?”
She giggled and said, “You don't know how that makes me feel. A part of me says my son's a man, and a huge part of me knew this day would come when I'd meet his love. You being the way you are, I just get a sense you've got an old heart and you've come home.”
“You're right. I've lived in Missouri and it's beautiful there, but when we came out here when I was a child, I fell in love with Beaufort. Don't ask me why, but Myrtle Beach and Charleston grab me, but Beaufort hung in my mind. Interestingly, my first pick for a house was Tifton, Georgia, but there wasn't anythign available. I continued to search until I saw our house, so I got right on buying it. That's when I met him and oh man, the first impression of him took me. I'm not one to instantly make passes, but if you'd seen me, you'd not been impressed.”
She laughed and said, “His daddy did that too. What's funny is I was a car hop at a diner. A lot of men would whistle, but he's one that treated me like a person. Each day, he'd come in and bring me a rose and order the same thing. Biscuits and honey. That's it. Just biscuits and honey.”
“Oh man.”
“Finally one night, I was walking home and he came along the stretch of road. I had my uniform on and they were sort of like koolots in a red gingham with a white apron and bib and a white hat with lace edges. He pulled over and offered me a ride. I accepted and knew my daddy would raise cane if he knew. As we drove, he apologized for not having a rose with him. I told him he didn't need to bring me a rose and he said someday he'd give me a diamond to make up for it. My heart just melted then and I knew he was the one.”
“Oh man, I've got tears in my eyes just thinking about it.”
She smiled and said, “You're a softy.”
“I write romance stories.”
“Really!”
“Yes, they're gay romances, but a lot of women like them too. My mama reads them.”
“I'll have to read them.”
“You'll like them. A lot of time and effort goes in them.”
“Do me a favor and write our story. Tell the world so they know he loved me and I wasn't after his money. When I met him, I had no idea this place was here. The first time he brought me here, it grabbed my heart like it just did yours. That told me you belonged here. If you'd not said anything, I'd've known it wasn't for you.”
She patted my hand and said, “Now, let me show you something which makes my heart.”
We went down to the beach and I saw the holes of the hermit crabs. “These crabs are my heart. They're the one thing I know I can come out and see and know as much as life changes, they've been here forever and they'll continue to be here forever. “
“I understand. You look at the house and say, It's been here but someday it'll be gone. This land has been here forever and I am but a trace upon the history of this place.”
“Oh man, you've got it.”
“When I was laying in the hospital, I knew I was hurt and hurt bad. The bandages on my face were all over. For the life of me, I couldn't remember what happened, but everyone wasn't letting me have a mirror. When Kevin came in, his eyes were so sad but he never stayed long. My heart broke because I was so afraid of losing him. I mean it's hard because when everything in your life goes, you know the one that loves you is going to be there and when you've lost that, you don't know how it happened.”