Monday mornings are a real pain in the ass. I guess if work started on Tuesday's then Tuesday's would be a real pain in the ass, but Monday was it for me. I was dead tired and it showed. We were out cutting grass on the job and my ass was dragging all day. It was hot and sweaty work and I just couldn't get into it. I kept thinking of Mother's admissions and what I had told her. The entire conversations. Nothing she had said really bothered me, in fact it turned me on!
I had asked her to marry me and I knew she wanted to but just didn't see a way for that to come true. I had a surprise up my sleeve for that though. One of my good friends in school's Father was a Justice of the Peace and I had already talked to him about my particular situation. For the license Mom would use her maiden name as required by law and I would use my name. We were both consenting adults in the eyes of the law and so there would be no problem. There would be no children born of this marriage and hence no possible moral violation. The discussion flowed over several meetings but was finally agreed to. So that part was set.
Then there was Sammy and the deal. I worried about that a lot of the day too. It kept popping into my thoughts all day long.
Pamela and George also took a prominent place in some of my thinking as the day wore on.
As it turned out I had to be flagged off to a stop when the rest of the crew was ready to quit for the day. I was busy thinking about everything and didn't hear the whistle for quitting time. All the guys thought I was just a work horse and laughed it off, but I knew better.
When I got off that afternoon there was a message for me to call my Mother at the cleaners before going home. Kind of strange as she got off just an hour after I did, so I was a little worried as I made the call.
"Hello, Sammy's One Hour, this is Millie, how may I help you?"
"Hi Mom, It's me!" I said quickly realizing that something was wrong because Sammy wasn't there to answer the phone like he always was!
"Oh honey, Sammy's dad fell in the shower and his caretaker was outside, poor man laid in the running shower for almost an hour before the caretaker found him! He's in the hospital and their checking him for a broken hip. Scared the living shit out of all of them!"
"Oh crap Mom, I hope everything turns out all right for Sammy's Dad!"
"Sammy already called me and the old man's fine, no broken bones. All the caretaker was doing was taking out the trash to burn, but it's about 200 yards out and he didn't hear the old man in the shower until he got back up to the house."
"Man that really sucks and sounds like it wasn't anyone's fault."
"Well Sammy told me to tell you that he was ready to do whatever it takes to make the deal go through, and if at all possible he wants it done so that when the old man gets released from the Hospital he can just move into our house instead of going back out to the ranch."
"Holly shit, he told you that!"
"Yes and he said he told his lawyer to draw up the agreement just like you told him and he would sign it today, and he also upped the cash to $15,000 for us if we'll get moved out by Friday as that's when the doctors told him his dad would be released and able to go home."
"Damn, Sammy's serious huh!"
"Serious enough to close the store the rest of the week so I can be off to move!"
"I'll go straight to the U-Haul place and get us a truck. What about Sammy's dad and the caretaker?"
Mom actually laughed at my question saying, "Son, you know Sammy... he hired Red Ball Express to go out to the ranch this morning with a semi trailer truck and 6 men and move them out! The damn truck is sitting in front of our house sticking out like a sore thumb right now!"
"Okay Mother, here we go! I'll meet you at home as soon as I can get the truck, I might need you to give uncle Ed a call and tell him it's all right to let me have it though."
Uncle Ed was what we called a really good friend of our family. He had dated one of the aunts early on but it didn't work out even though they dated off and on for quite a number of years. We just took to calling him uncle Ed and that's how it was.
"Don't worry I already did and it's not a problem with him, he's letting us have a truck for a couple of days at no charge."
"Mother."
"Yes, dear."
"I love you!"
"I love you too dear, please hurry!"
"Bye."
I hung up and went straight out to the bike and fired it up and didn't wait for Jackie this time! When I got to the station, Ed was there and had everything ready for me. I just signed the papers for insurance and got the keys. It was a new Ford box truck with a lift gate. I lowered the gate and rolled the dike onto it and rode the metal plank up with the bike. I rolled it inside and used three straps to secure the bike in the truck bed and jumped out of the back and lowered the door. In the cab of the new Ford I started it up and noticed the gas gauge read full. I was happy about that!
This day was turning out to be much better than it started out to be!
When I got to the house Mom and I had a short running conversation as I maneuvered the bike as far forward in the truck as it would go and strapped it down securely.
"You're going to leave the bike in there?"
"Yeah, it's going out to our new house in the first load."
"Our new house?" Mother asked before she caught on and said, "Oh, our NEW house!" and chuckled at herself.
"Let's take the bedroom stuff first Mom, because all that stuff will fit up here standing and then the dining room table and chairs next and the couch and easy chair last."
We got busy tearing down the bed frames and loading them. Hardest were the mattresses but we managed.
"Where are the men that belong with that truck?" I was curious.
"They took off as soon as it got here knowing that we weren't out yet. I suppose they'll be back in the morning to unload."