Email

He was interrupted by the servers bringing top sirloin and lamb to the table. "Yes," Jerry said, moving his fork to the side of the dish. "I'm glad we're not sitting outside."

Susan's plate was covered by the time the server left and she attacked the meat with gusto, slicing it up. "Thank you for taking me here," she gushed, "I love this place."

They stayed for two hours and then asked the hostess to call them a taxi, finally putting the red card down, indicating they were finished.

One came ten minutes later and Jerry told him to take them to Balboa Park's aerospace museum. Because of traffic it took over a half-hour but they got there and Jerry had the driver wait for them while they went outside, the museum being closed, giving him half of a one hundred dollar bill.

"I've always liked this museum," he said, later. Outside was the A-12, sister ship to the SR-71, sitting in the southern California sunshine on a high pylon. He had Susan stand in front of the plane while he took several pictures. He then had to sit down, his leg was starting to bother him. There was a park bench not far away and he hobbled over, finally sitting down.

"Baby, what happened?" she asked with a worried look on her face.

With a grimace, he just said, "Leg..."

"Let me get the taxi driver..." she said, hurrying to where the car was parked and bringing the man back to help.

The three of them slowly made it back to the taxi and then they drove back to the hotel. Jerry tipped the man handsomely and the newlyweds walked into the Coronado and then to their room.

Jerry collapsed on the bed and Susan took off his shoes, putting them in front of the dresser. She then unbuckled his pants and pulled them down, massaging his bad leg. "Oh, baby, I'm so sorry." She then lay down next to him and held him, tears flowing from her eyes. She didn't know what to say, wondering if this is what life was going to be like.

A few minutes later, she heard the soft breathing of her husband as he fell asleep from exhaustion.

*****

Several hours later, they awoke and surprisingly, were hungry again and so decided to go to the restaurant in the hotel, Serea, to have the lobster croquettes for dinner along with a bottle of French white wine.

"Are you feeling better?" she asked anxiously.

"Yes, I just got tired, I guess. It was bad. Sorry."

"It's all right, as long as you're OK."

After dinner they slowly walked along the beach path, watching the sun settle into the Pacific. Aside from the rush of the waves, it was quiet and mostly deserted.

*****

"Time flies when you're having fun," he said, holding her hand in his.

"What do you want to do?" she asked, looking at her watch.

"I guess we should head back," he said, taking her arm and heading for the Challenger from the zoo and drove back to the hotel. It was hard finding things to see, not what he had planned.

He parked the car and they walked into one of the bars for a drink. "What'll you have?" Jerry asked Susan. "I'm having a Wallbanger."

"I'll have a Mai Tai," she answered.

Their drinks quickly came and they sat together, watching the sunset. "We'll soon get back to work," Susan said.

"I have a girl named Rama Lama Lama Lama Ding Dong," he laughed, offering her some of his drink. She took a sip, liking it but stayed with her own drink.

They left their empty glasses on the table and walked arm in arm to their room. She turned on the television and they lay on the bed watching "Inside Edition", catching up on the popular news.

Before she knew it, they were asleep, his head back on her shoulder.

*****

It was finally time to return home and he handed her the keys to the muscle car and went to sit in the passenger seat as the bellboy put their bags into the trunk. She tipped the man, got in the car and started it up, feeling the power beneath her feet for the first time, quite a change from the Malibu she had been driving. Susan turned on the stereo and found KRTH. She revved the Hemi a few times, watching the tachometer needle swing to the right each time and then put the car in gear, leaving the parking lot. Before long they were on the 5 heading north, expecting to be in Los Angeles in a few hours.

Jerry was asleep next to her, a testament of how much he trusted her driving and they eventually entered the South Bay, with Rosecrans just a few miles ahead. Susan slowed down, moving over to the right lane and signaled to leave the freeway. She entered the neighborhood and quickly found their street, finding her mother-in-law, Clara, watering the flowerbeds in front of the house, shaded by the large tree in the parkway. Pulling into the driveway, she turned off the car and waved to the older lady, smiling at her and then touching Jerry, waking him up.

He turned in his seat, yawning as he woke and then opened the door, getting out of the red car and hugging his mother who had just kissed his bride.

Lifting the trunk lid, he removed the bags and took them into the house, one at a time, seeing that Susan had taken the last one in herself.

Putting her arm around him, his mother walked with him into the house and poured two ice cold lemonades for the travelers.

"Thank you... Mom," said Susan. She sat down, stretching out the kinks from the drive and taking a drink from her glass.

"Did you have a nice time?"

"It was wonderful," answered Susan, "we did so many things and went to Balboa Park to see the museum and the zoo. But we had to wear the masks."

"My, my, my... I bet you were tired."

"Jerry was... his leg bothered him one day too much so we went back to the hotel. We had so much to eat..."

"I'm glad you're home safe."

"I'm taking a nap," said Jerry, getting up from the sofa and heading to their bedroom. "Please call Crystal and let her know we're home and will see her tomorrow."

*****

"Welcome back... I had to replace the water heater at the 134th Street property, it was twelve years old and was leaking."

"OK, thank you, anything else?" he asked.

"No, it's been quiet. I've scouted several new properties for your perusal, just in case, you know."

"Great... good lookin' out. I'll check them out later today."

Susan walked in with three Subway sandwiches. "Here you go," she said, passing them around the kitchen table.

"Welcome back, Susan. I liked San Diego the few times I've been there."

"Yes, it's a beautiful city with a lot to do." Blushing, Susan bit into her ham and cheese.

"Have you thought about a baby?" Crystal asked, looking at her roast beef sandwich.

"No, not really... we just got married, you know." Susan blushed again, thinking back to their week in San Diego. She felt herself getting warm.

Jerry put the Stones on the CD player and with "Satisfaction" vibrating the walls he asked Susan to dance. She put her sandwich down and began to dance with him only to be interrupted by the baby crying from the noise.

"I'm sorry, I forgot," Jerry apologized.

"That's OK, it was time for her to wake up, anyway." Crystal went into the baby's room and brought her out, the music having been turned off.

Susan put her arms out to hold the baby and took the child to her. "Hello, little Suzy. Oh, my, you need a diaper change."

Crystal took the baby from Susan and went back into the bedroom to change the diaper. "Well, that was fun," she said, laughing at the situation. She picked up her sandwich again and finished it. "I went to the drug store and bought some Aspercreme with lidocaine in it for you. Let's go to the bathroom and I'll spray your leg with it."

"Ah," he said, "that's cold," as she sprayed his leg, hoping that it would make him feel better. They went back into the living room where he ate the last of his pastrami sandwich.

Jerry picked up the monthly financial printout and began to read it through. A half-hour later he was finished and signed off on it, indicating that he had read it. "Here," he said, handing it to Susan who quickly began to read it, mostly interested in the latest acquisitions. Buying the twenty houses had used one percent of his funds for the down payment, the rest coming from the low-interest loans that were available.

When she had signed off, he asked, "What do you think?"

"We're doing OK..."

"Well, that's one way of looking at it. We're making $18,500 annual profit on each house right now, so that's good, not counting Crystal's and your paychecks."

"Are you sure you want to do that, for me?"

"Sure, why not? You're worth it."

She determined to put the money away in a college account for any children they would have. Now that Crystal had mentioned it, Susan realized that time was passing and she was getting older every day that passed.

She looked at the photographs that Crystal had taken of prospective houses to be bought. Although each house had been built to the same floor plan, over the years changes had been made giving each one its own character.

"I like this one," she said, "the wooden shingles have been replaced with stucco so the maintenance is easy. The garage is in the front."

"OK, we can drive out there later today and then go to dinner."

Susan went into the front bedroom that had been turned into an office and sat at her desk, starting her computer and checking for any emails from renters.

Two hours later, the couple drove the three blocks to the house to see it in person. While the house was in good condition, from the street, anyway, the surrounding homes were run down, somehow neglected.

"I'm interested in these others, too," Jerry informed Susan as he walked up and down the sidewalk in front of the six homes, his cane tapping the cement walk. "I wonder what happened, here. There's no excuse for letting them fall apart like this. Let's call the Realtor and see what she can tell us."

In the car, he gave her a kiss for luck, smiling at her for the millionth time that morning.

Back at what they now considered Crystal's house, Susan made the call, giving the woman the addresses of the houses in question.

"Those houses have been in tax default; the people have just left and the banks are looking for someone to take them over."

"Can you make arrangements for us to take a look?"

"Sure... tomorrow good?"

"That will be fine; thank you."

After hanging up with the Realtor, Susan looked at Jerry. "What do you think?" She was worried about his health.

"We might be able to get them on the cheap... depends on what has to be done to bring them up to speed... what do you want for dinner?"

"Oh, I don't know... how's spaghetti?" she asked.

"That'll work. Call Mom and let her know, say, six o'clock."

*****

"This is really good." He put down his fork and picked up his garlic bread, taking another big bite.

"Thank you," his mom said, passing the meatballs and extra sauce.

"We're looking at some homes a couple blocks over; some kind of tax deal so maybe they'll be a good buy."

Susan took three meatballs from the serving dish and passed it to Jerry. "It's possible that we can get them cheap and just fix them up, I don't know, we'll see them tomorrow."

When dinner was over, Susan and her mother-in-law put everything into the dish washer and went into the living room to watch television. She laid on the couch after taking off her shoes, putting her legs on Jerry's lap and he rubbed her feet, giving her a massage on her toes.

After watching Inside Edition, which had turned into their go to show, Jerry turned on Netflix, looking for a show. He liked the action films with plenty of explosions.

"Here's one," he said, picking 'Shooter'. Soon, he was engrossed in the story. When the film was over, Susan asked him if he wanted to go to bed. When he said 'yes' they got up, kissed his mother goodnight, and went into the bedroom.

In bed, she held him and asked if he wanted a baby. "Why?" he asked back, wondering what had brought that up.

"I'm getting older, so are you and we've got to think about it."

In answer, he reached out and kissed her, touching her breasts, and she said "Make love to me, sweetheart, give me a baby."

*****

"The properties in question are all in tax default. Don't really know why, just are. I have the keys and we can check them out."

"That would be good," he said to the Realtor, "we'll follow you over there."

Twenty minutes later they were on the block, looking at the six houses in front of them. Two were badly in need of paint, although Jerry would have painted them all, anyway. The grass was dead.

Jerry was using his phone as a recorder, taking notes for renovation. The front door was unlocked by the Realtor and they went inside. The house was in better shape than he expected and he thought a new coat of paint would change the look completely.

A cleaning crew would cost less than $500 per house for the bathrooms and he was quickly estimating the price of new rugs, drapes and paint.

"I'll offer 450 for each, all together. Please draw up the offer and submit it and we'll see what happens."

After the woman left, Susan asked him if he thought his offer would be accepted.

"No, they'll come back with a counteroffer of 500 which we'll take and go from there. You know how it works. We'll have to put in another 30 or so to get them ready but that's the easy part."

As he thought, a counterofferhttps://www.edn.com/user/Windbichler

came back for the six houses from the bank, higher than Jerry had anticipated, so he countered back with 475 to keep the ball rolling, which to his surprise was accepted.

Papers were signed and the houses were tented for termites as they went through escrow. He had the plumbing checked in each and had new garbage disposals and water heaters installed, new paint, rugs and drapes. Outside, new sod was put down along with trees for shade.

One month later, the houses were put on the rental market and Crystal quickly found people for them using the internet. The monthly rents, while not cheap, were fair for the neighborhood.

"Counting mom's and these six new ones, we have twenty-seven homes."

"Do you want to take a break?"

"Yeah, I was thinking that..." He was looking at the updated financial sheets, satisfied with what he was reading. He had depended on Susan to find the best loan situations for them.

Jerry sat back down and played with a yellow pencil, tapping it on his desk. "I need to go see the lawyer to change my will; can you drive me, please?"

"Sure... when do you want to go?"

"After I go to the bathroom, OK?"

"I'll wait outside in the car." Susan got her purse and walked out of the house to her Malibu.

A few minutes later they were driving down the boulevard to the lawyer's office in Torrance.

*****

"Yes, that's what I want... ten percent to Crystal, ten percent to my mother, the rest to Susan and any children. If something happens to Susan and any children, then it goes to Crystal."

"This seems pretty straight forward and I can have it ready for you in half an hour if you want to wait."

"Good, we'll wait." He put his hand on Susan's and leaned back in the chair.

Soon, the lawyer was ready with five copies of the will for Jerry to sign which he then countersigned along with an assistant.

The lawyer filed one copy and gave the other four to Jerry who slowly stood, shook his hand and walked out with Susan.

They got into the car and drove north back home, the car rumbling on the boulevard past Blue Bird Liquor where hundreds of people were standing on the sidewalk to buy lottery tickets.

"My grandfather," Jerry started to say, "had gone to Alaska to look for gold and found it and that's where the money comes from."

"That must have been exciting," Susan answered. "Except for the winters, I suppose."

"He did it all in the fifties and then invested the money in stocks when he got back. He was pretty smart and married an Italian countess. Go figure."

"Wow, what a story. It would make a great movie."

"I suppose it would but it's family history."

When they got home, Jerry gave a copy of the will to his mother and one to Susan. "We can give one to Crystal tomorrow," he said, forgetting it was Saturday.

"Let's go to dinner," he told his mother, opening the front door. "Susan, please drive. How does Mexican sound?"

"Works for me," said his mother. She sat in the front of the car and Jerry squeezed himself into the back easily enough, the Malibu having enough room for him to do so.

"Let's go to Maderos by the pier."

It took a while to get there on PCH but they finally made it, realizing that they should have gone there after the lawyer's office rather than driving all the way back home first.

"I'm having the tortilla soup and the carne asada."

"Sounds good to me," said Susan, pulling into the parking lot and putting the car into the handicapped spot only to find that the place was closed.

"Damn," said Jerry, "I should have thought about that."

Disappointed, they drove home to have another dinner of spaghetti. "Want to invite Crystal?" asked Susan.

"Sure," he answered as they drove to the other house to pick her and the baby up. He used his cell to call Crystal and ask her if she wanted dinner.

"Thanks," said Crystal as she got into the car with the baby seat. "I appreciate the company."

Soon they were at Jerry's house and walked in, Clara carrying the baby as Susan unlocked the door, carrying the diaper bag. She put the baby in the bassinet in the living room and headed into the kitchen, only to find Susan and Crystal already there fixing dinner. Jerry was starting the grill and letting it heat up while Clara got four steaks out of the refrigerator. The other two women were fixing a salad and a pitcher of ice tea.

"Here," Susan said, handing a loaf of French bread to Crystal, "butter this and we'll put it in the oven. This is better than just spaghetti."

Clara went into the living room and turned on the television, keeping the sound down because the baby had fallen asleep and turned on the news, dismayed at the day's events. "I hate this," she said to herself, wondering what had happened to the world she used to know.

"Dinner," called Jerry, setting the table, bringing out the steak knives. He soon had all the plates down and stood back while the others brought out the salad and bread. He brought out the steaks, setting the platter down on the table.

"Cheers," he said, raising his glass to the others and then taking a sip. He took a steak from the platter and passed it down, receiving the salad in return. Soon, he had the bread, also. "Tastes good," he said, putting his fork down and biting the bread.

"Here's to us," said Susan, raising her own glass. She cut into her steak and had a bite. "This is so good."

"Thank you for inviting me," said Crystal, "I was going to make an egg sandwich."

"Nothing wrong with an egg sandwich. I hear that Washington DC is going to fine you $1000 for not wearing a mask outside. I wonder if that applies to the president?"

"Must be tough on people with children if the schools don't open up again, especially if they're small."

"Are we going to have a problem with the houses?" responded Crystal.

"I don't think so," answered Jerry, "they're all rented out. Shouldn't be a problem. We'll just see what happens."

"Dessert?" asked Clara.

"Not for me," answered Jerry, patting his stomach. "I'm full."

"Me, too," said both women, rising to clear the table. Jerry got up and went into the living room to watch television. He looked at the baby and made sure he didn't wake her up like he did last time. 'Good practice' he thought, wondering if he was going to be a father soon.

"Crystal's putting the dishes into the washer, your mom's going to bed, what're you watching?"

"Oh, nothing, just sitting here... want to watch Netflix or Hulu?"

"Whatever you want, sweetheart. It's getting late, can Crystal stay here tonight?"

Email

Report Page