The Contraband Pipeline
happyhugo
36,136 words
A Brattleboro, VT Tale
Romance, Mystery, Drama
Readers score 7.52
Bobby is married until he finds out his wife is
dealing drugs. Divorced, he moves away,
finally finding happiness that doesn't last long.
He receives notice someone is living on the
land that came to him when he divorced his
ex-wife. Checking it out, he is drawn into the
underworld and crime.
Copyright (c) 08/21/12
I was packing up my personal things here in Greensboro, NC. Three days ago, I signed the papers after selling my business. I thought about doing this last year. It all changed because one month ago I received a tax notice in the mail informing me my assessment on some property I owned up north had increased again.
Last year the assessment on the building lot that I owned in Brattleboro, Vermont was doubled from the previous year, doubling the taxes I had to pay. The latest notice I just received indicated I would be paying taxes on the land and on an unfinished dwelling. This needed tending to, as I knew of no building on the property.
My decision was made and I accepted the standing offer to sell my bookstore. It took a month to finalize. I dealt in used books. Many were ones that the students at the university wanted to sell when they completed a course which the new students needed when they signed for that particular course. Sales were brisk at certain times of the year. I also stocked a few rare editions and was connected to other dealers who had a better inventory.
Half my inventory was used paperbacks. Old and used, I charged half of what the book originally sold for. The reader could read the book and then return it for one-half the original of the cost he paid for it. For example, say a book sold for ten dollars. I charged five dollars for it and, if the book came back from the reader, he/she would receive two dollars and fifty cents. My inventory was stable and the reader could read four books for the cost of buying one new one. It worked and I made a good living.
My feelings for New England, and my roots where I grew up, tugged at my heart. My reason for being here in Greensboro was now gone. I came south to work in the bookstore and enjoyed it immensely. I married again and for years I was happy, but that reason was now gone. There was only sadness remaining when an accident took my wife and partner.
This confusion over the taxes on my property solidified my decision to head north. I would miss the books, but it was just a job. Vermont had books too. I chuckled when I thought this.
I headed north one fine May morning. I was driving a two-year-old 2500 Chevy pickup. I traveled right along; cruise control pegged four miles over whatever the speed limit posted. I was two days on the road and they were long days. It was too late for the Brattleboro town offices to be open, so I drove through West Brattleboro and up Route 9, taking the first right after the Mobile Home Park.
It was three miles off Route 9 to land that was owned by my family years ago. The road was steep, the last two miles rising a thousand feet in elevation. I turned left onto Hescock Road when I was almost to the top of the hill just before I reached the Dummerston town line.
At one time my grandparents had owned land both sides of Sunset Lake Road, Hescock Road as well. That was years ago. My father sold off most of it, but my grandfather wanted me to have some land and he had reserved two lots, one of ten acres and one of seven acres and deeded both to me. When my first wife and I divorced, she ended up with the seven-acre lot on the right side of the road just across Hescock Road above the home place.
My ten-acre lot was to the left and a half-mile down an old logging road that meandered along beside a small brook. There were ledges and a steep hillside bordering the road on the opposite side. When I came to my lot, the land leveled out and there was at least five acres of flat land. Three acres dropped down to the brook. The other two acres stood on end with a promontory where you could see down the valley. You could see the town of Brattleboro seven miles to the east nestled next to the Connecticut River.
To me this lot had everything. I never planned more for it than having a camp built on the property. It was great deer hunting country and secluded. Partially open, it had enough trees spaced widely to find shade if you moved around and it had one acre open. Trees had never grown on this opening and this was where I had planned to build a camp.
Reaching the entrance, I turned onto what was the logging road. This also was a deeded right of way owned by me. It was more than that now. It had been widened since I was here last. When I came to a section that had been a muddy area, it was now filled with gravel.
A little farther on, there was a narrow section between a ledge outcropping on the right and the brook. Large boulders had been tumbled over the narrow side into the brook for a base and then large crushed stone fill had been built up to the road. This section was fifty feet long, and it had widened the road by five feet. Barely enough to get by the ledge outcropping earlier, you could easily now travel through.
The work must have been completed last year, since it didn’t look new and had gone through the winter. Therefore, this must be why my assessment had doubled last year. Someone had spent a lot of money to make the road as passable as this. Now with the improvements it made my property more valuable. That didn’t bother me, but I was concerned. Who would lay out money when they didn’t own the land? What would the dwelling mentioned in my tax assessment be like when I went around the next little corner and into the opening?
I drove onto my lot. I slammed on the brakes, surprised enough to come to a stop. The building was more than a camp. It was a hipped-roof lodge and had to be twenty-four feet across the front. How deep it was, I couldn’t tell from this angle. There was a roof over the start of a porch. It came to me then that although this was livable it wasn’t yet finished. For one thing, it had no siding on the plywood-sheathed walls.
The yard was graveled in front of the building and it was big enough to park three vehicles. There was no car here now so whoever lived here must be away or in town. I turned my truck around and parked on the edge of the gravel. It would be dark in a couple of hours. I had better get busy.
I climbed into the back of my truck and pushed a four-person tent out onto the ground. I found a level place between two pine trees fifty yards from the house. I popped my tent up, smoothed the floor. My air mattress needed inflating by electric pump or a person’s lungs.
I looked around and saw a line of poles with wires set back from the road that I hadn’t noticed as I drove in. It used to be that the closest power was at the FM tower for the local radio station that perched on a peak above the logging road. The wires had apparently been extended to here. This was another costly item and it would improve my property even more.
I went over to the house and found an outside electrical plug. In ten minutes, I carried my blown-up mattress back and put it inside the tent. I lugged a small bottle gas-fired grill from the pickup. I brought my cooler to the fire and got a steak out. I had put the meat in a plastic bag with marinade when I purchased the steak. It was a three-pound sirloin, more than I would eat tonight, but it wouldn’t waste.
I wrapped two medium-sized potatoes in tin foil and set them on the grill. When I had the steak seared, I turned the heat down and let everything cook. I opened a beer, sat in the canvas chair and waited. In fact, I dozed a bit. I did waken enough once to turn the steak and roll the potatoes over.
I split the steak and put it onto two separate plates. I would eat one piece now and eat the other piece tomorrow. Just then I heard a vehicle arriving. It paused when my truck was spotted, then it drove up in front of the building. I turned my back and bent down to get another beer out of the cooler. The car door slammed and then I heard footsteps stalking toward me.
“Who the hell are you? This is private property. Pack up and get the hell out of here.”
It was the day’s final light. I turned around and faced a woman dressed in camouflage. She had a cap on. I didn’t speak until after looking her over. The woman was five-seven, slim, and I couldn’t tell her shape. She was standing before me confident and arrogant.
“You are right, this is private property. You might not be aware, but I am the owner. It is you who is trespassing. My grandfather left this land to me and as far as I know, I’m still the owner of record.”
“Bullshit. What is your name?”
“My name is Robert Kinsman. Look lady, that is if you are that, my steak is getting cold. There is another piece of steak and a potato. Join me and we’ll talk later.”
“You are mixed up about everything. You are the one who has made a mistake.” For some reason after her saying this, I could see her thinking. It had to be because I had told her my name. She eyed the plate with the meat on it. I had eating utensils wrapped in a towel. I handed her a knife and fork.
“Beer?”
“Yes, please.” She stood there awkwardly wondering where to sit. I closed the cooler and indicated this was her seat. I got a half smile. She was also awkward at sitting down, sitting sideways to me. We both attacked our meal. She ate as fast as I did, finishing at the same time. I took her plate and scraped the fat she had left into a gallon pail with a cover. I put the plates into a pail with the knives and forks.
“I’ll be right back.” I grabbed another pail and headed by the house down the bank to the brook. I could just barely see, but I trusted the path was still there. It was. There was a pipe about halfway down coming from a spring. It was still there and I soon filled the pail with water. Returning, I put two inches of water in the pail with the dishes and put it on the camp stove to heat.
I took a kettle and put some water in that as well, placing it on the second burner to heat. It only took a few minutes for the water in the pail to warm enough. I squirted a few drops of liquid soap in the pail and washed the plates, dipping them in the kettle to rinse. I dried the dishes.
“You could have brought them into the house. I would have done them.”
“Maybe next time.”
“Bobby, I know who you are, but I still can’t see where you think this land belongs to you. Come into the house and we will talk. Different subject; I must say I am impressed with your camping skills.”
“Thanks. Okay, we can get this settled.” I was getting a sense who this woman could be and I was curious about her. I followed into the house. She walked with an unusual gait.
The porch steps were in place with just a three-foot-wide strip of decking to the door. The sides were open; the joists waiting for their own deck boards. She mounted the steps using the handrail that was installed.
The door wasn’t locked, I could understand why when I entered. There was nothing much to steal. There was no furniture. The walls of this first room hadn’t been addressed and showed only bare sheetrock. The walls were taped, but that was all. The windows did not have the inside moldings installed. The floor was plywood, no carpet, tile, or wood. It was a large room stretching the width of the building and 12 feet deep. This was definitely a work in progress.
The kitchen was to the right; and I could see through the opening a cook stove, a fridge, sink, cupboards, and a counter with four stools. The floor needed covering with tile or something.
“Follow me.” There was a decent-sized room to the left across an aisle from the kitchen. This was apparently meant to be a bedroom with no door yet. “Bedroom,” she stated. Another room without a door, “Office or den.” There was a small room back across the hall behind the kitchen. “Bathroom.” This room had a door.
On the left there were three steps with a landing at the foot going upstairs, and this was open to the side. On the far right, there was a door and she pointed to this, “Cellar door.” Turning, she announced, “There are two bedrooms and a bath upstairs.” She eased by me headed for the front of the house. Suddenly she stumbled. I put my hand out, but she pushed my hand away. I followed her back to the front room.
She pulled two sawhorses away from the wall. There was a smooth 8 foot 2x10 piece of lumber on the floor. I placed it across the two sawhorses. This was where we would be sitting.
I asked, “Your name?”
“It was Mrs. Cameron Turner and I am divorced. I go by Sheri Turner now”
I smiled now. “I’m guessing your maiden name was Goresuch. Am I correct?”
“Yes it was. We’ve never met. How did you know?”
“A couple of things. You called me Bobby instead of Robert or Robby. My former wife, whose name was Cassie, always called me Bobby. Your name is Sheri. I remember she had a sister named Sheri. You must have some reason for being here and on this property. That would be the connection.”
“You’re batting a thousand. I still can’t see why you think this is your land. Cassie gave it to me. She gave me explicit directions when she sent me here. She had the building started before I got here and the construction company stayed long enough to make it livable for me. She even has been paying the taxes on it.”
“No, that’s not true. She hasn’t paid the taxes because I have paid them. I have paid about the same on this lot for several years now, and the assessment didn’t change that much until last year when it doubled. This year I received the assessment and it stated there was an unfinished building on the property. I only have five more days to get my letter of grievance into the town clerk’s office. I dropped everything at home so I could find out what was going on up here in Vermont.”
“Cassie said she was paying the taxes. I believe her and I don’t believe you.”
“It is something we will look into. We’ll get it straightened out. The town offices are closed for the weekend. We will go down Monday and I will prove it to you. So tell me, how is Cassie?”
“The same. She is getting married again.”
“The last time I talked with her was ten years ago. She was about to be married again at that time.”
“She did get married then. She also was married again five years ago. This wedding coming up will make four times for her. She told me one time not long ago you were the best husband so far and has never found another one as good as you. Hey, if you hurry up you could be her fourth instead of the guy she is going in front of a judge with. If you wait too long, though, you’ll have to wait until you are the fifth. That shouldn’t be too long if she follows the same pattern.
“Your humor escapes me. I wish I was not her first. That was a fiasco of the worst kind. Looking back, I was too damned foolish to get married so young. But then I couldn’t help myself, especially as hot as she was.”
“She is even hotter now. Men think so anyway.”
“How about you, you're her sister?”
“You mean am I hot? No, I guess not. Not hot enough to keep my husband, anyway.” Sheri said this bravely, but I could tell that being divorced bothered her.
“That’s too bad. I married again myself. I am not now.”
“What happened?”
“She died.” I didn’t continue as it still hurt to think about. Sheri must have realized this, and she didn’t ask any questions. I changed the subject. “So, how come you ended up here? The last time I spoke with Cassie it was over the ownership of the two different lots separate from my father’s farm. That was twelve years ago. We argued over it, as we both wanted this one. It belonged to my grandfather originally, and the court finally awarded this one to me for that reason. I should have had the other lot as well, but I didn’t have a pot to piss in and the judge said I had to give up something, so it ended up being awarded to her.”
“That sounds like Cassie. Get married, take what you can get, divorce your husband, find another man, and do it again. She seems to be on her way to being well off. Bobby, I honestly didn’t know this was your land. She told me I could come here, finish the home she started for me and be happy. After all, why wouldn’t I believe her, she is my sister? It looks as if she was getting even with me or maybe you for some reason.”
“What were you planning by living out here in the woods? Do you intend to be a recluse?”
“Not really, although I don’t mind being alone. Cassie has done a lot for me. She paid for the road and putting the power poles in.”
“What about the building? You have a long way to go to finish it.”
“Cassie put the cellar in and had the building framed. I’ve planned to finish it myself. I have found it is a lot more difficult than I thought. Especially with my condition.”
“And what would your condition be?”
Sheri looked at me. I could see she was debating whether to tell me. “Bobby, the easiest way is to show you. What I have to put up with I could tell you, but you still wouldn’t know. I’m going to do this because for some reason I trust you not to take it the wrong way.”
Sheri stood and unbuckled the belt to her fatigues. She let then fall. I suppose I was interested in her lace panties as they came into view. Then my eyes traveled down. Her left leg stopped above the knee. There was a complicated prosthetic leg below that. This ended in a boot that matched the one on her right leg.
The light wasn’t that good, but I could see her right leg was wrinkled and scarred. Sheri leaned down, pulled her fatigues back up, covering herself. I was in shock. “Fucked up aren’t I? Now don’t you go blaming anyone. I volunteered for the service and the government has done well making sure I can at least move around. I get a big disability check every month to compensate.
“What hurts and I don’t blame her either, Cassie doesn’t even want to be in the same room with me because I am so ugly. Therefore, truth be told, I’m here because she pities me. I’m telling you Bobby, don’t you dare pity me. I can’t stand people who do.”
“One question. Why are you sleeping upstairs? Wouldn’t it be better if you slept in the room down here? The stairs must be difficult for you to navigate.”
“They are, but it is to maintain the strength in my good leg. Use it or lose it.”
“If you say so.” I was shaking my head. She could feel the pity I felt for her. Not for long though. She slid off our seat and faced me. Then she raised her hand and slapped me hard enough to make tears come to my eyes.
“I told you not to pity me. I mean it.”
“Yes, I guess you do. My god woman, you should be in the boxing ring.” I was rubbing my face.
We looked at each other and then I smiled. Sheri did too. Soon we were both laughing. “Sheri, I won’t pity you, but I can’t stop feeling sorry about the situation you are in. Would you tell me how it happened?”
“Sure. It was four years ago. I was almost ready to come home from Iraq. The truck I was driving ran over a mine. There was a medic in the vehicle behind me. He got me out of the wreckage and stopped me from bleeding to death. I spent some months in the hospital. I learned to travel on crutches and when the stump was healed enough I was fitted with this thing. I didn’t like it at first and often reverted to my crutches, but I wear it most of the time now.
“To be honest, there were many times when I had the wish that the medic who saved my life wasn’t near enough to keep me alive. I don’t feel that way now. The first time I came here and saw this property, I wanted to make it into a home for myself. I hope you aren’t planning to take it away from me. I still don’t know why Cassie led me wrong about who owns it. It seems like a mean thing to do.”
“It does seem that way. I do know your sister and she has about as devious a mind as any person I know. She probably has some off the wall agenda. She may have done it just to piss me off. Looking at it another way, she may have figured I would show up here some day and kick you off the land. Are you sure Cassie is your friend as well as your sister?”
“We never traveled in the same circles. We did live in the same town and I very seldom ran into her. That was when I was home from the military before this happened. I suppose she knows I don’t think much of her life style either.” I could see she wanted to say more. She did. “Bobby, am I still going to be able to stay here?”
“Sheri, we will work something out. Tell me about your husband. You said you have been married.”
“I was. He came to Germany to see me when I was first injured. Before he left he asked for a divorce, just saying he didn’t want to be married to half a woman. He said the government did this to me and it was up to them to take care of me. I couldn’t live with someone like that so I agreed to the divorce. I didn’t get much from the settlement and I have used most of it up. It would be all gone by now if Cassie hadn’t stepped up and provided some money to help me finish this place.
“It is odd, but I haven’t seen her for months. I came here in March and that is the last time I saw her. My mailbox is at the end of Hescock Road on Sunset Lake Road and I sometimes get a note and a check from her, but that is all.”
“That is one point in her favor--I think.”
“Yes, and I am giving her the benefit of the doubt until I find out otherwise.” I was pleased when Sheri said this. It made me think she was a loyal person.
“Sheri, I was on the road early this morning. I think I need to go to bed. We’ll talk more tomorrow. Would that be okay?”
“Sure. What are you sleeping on?”
“I have a queen-sized air mattress. I used the outdoor electric plug to blow it up.”
“You’re fine then. Breakfast at six? Come early and you can shower.”
“That would be great. Thank you.”
“Goodnight, Bobby.”
“Goodnight.”
I went to bed still not knowing what my female squatter looked like. She had kept her hat on so I didn’t know if her hair was long or short. Her camo clothes were loose, so I didn’t know her shape. I really hadn’t seen much of her private area, because again her top covered all but the bottom of her panties. It came to me if she wore lace undies when she wasn’t expecting company, then she must be very feminine even though she dressed in camo.
I was looking forward to seeing her in the morning in full daylight. Did I dream about her? No, I didn’t, I zonked right out. I was up at three and went quite a ways to find a tree to water. The next thing I knew, I could see the sun shining on the wall of the tent. I got up, took my shaving bag with toothbrush, and headed for the house.
The house was quiet and I went right into the bathroom. I took care of business, wishing I had a can of air fresh. I got into the shower and made it short. Sheri was just coming down the stairs. She was a different woman this morning. Her hair was down to her shoulders. It was a beautiful thick brown. There were freckles across her nose and the upper portion of her face. She wore an army olive drab tee shirt. It was stamped U S Army across her chest. I noted it was a nice chest too and just right for a woman as tall as she was. She was dressed in jeans. Her hips flared out slightly. Overall, she had a beautiful figure. Then I remembered she wasn’t all there. I ached for her.
“Bobby, I told you not to pity me.”
“I know.” I paused wanting to make it right and rubbing my face. “Sheri, you may be too sensitive. Let the other person feel for you a little. It doesn’t do any harm unless you let it. I’ll get used to you and after a bit, you won’t see it in my face. I’ll also forget about your problem if you will let me.”
“Okay, got it.”
I let Sheri make breakfast, as the kitchen was small. When she said it was ready, I pulled up a high stool while she poured my coffee. She sat down and we ate. Occasionally our elbows touched. “I have bacon and eggs in the cooler. May I bring them in?”
“Sure. Do you have anything else?”
“A couple of bananas and a loaf of bread. The remains of a lemon pie. I tried eating it while driving, but it didn’t work too well.” Sheri laughed, picturing this in her mind. The dishes were done when I came back in. “What’s on for today?”
“Not much, I have company.”
“What would you be doing if you didn’t have company?”
“I have enough decking to finish part of the porch from the doorway to one end. I have to wait till next month to buy the remainder.”
“Okay, let’s do it.” I was thinking constantly as we were working. Sheri had trouble if she had to get down on her knees. I took over that part. We were finished before ten o’clock. “Sheri, let me ask you if you would like a partner in completing your home. This would be a strictly business deal.”
“I would owe you forever. I don’t think so.”
“That’s true, but I would like to help you. In the meantime you would have a completed home to live in.”
“Yes, and when it was done, you could boot me and I wouldn’t have anyplace to live. I am now pretty well convinced you do own the lot.”
“I could, but I won’t.”
“You say that now, but it could change.”
“I could make it easy for you.”
“How? I wouldn’t want anything too complicated or give up too much.” I knew she didn’t want to be committed to trading sexual favors.
“Okay, hear me out. Say I can prove I own the land. Legally anything on the land I also own even though it is an improvement made by someone else. I suppose you could move the building, but I can’t see that happening. Too big. I’m being generous here I believe, but we will set a value on the building just as it sits this morning. I agree you own that much of the improvements and if I kick you off I have to pay you that amount. What Cassie put into it is included. That way you can’t lose what you have so far.
“I can’t see where I would want to do that. If you did want to move away on your own, I still would pay you. Then I am the only person you could sell to if you did. Again, you can’t lose. One more stipulation. You have to lease a room for me to live in and I won’t transfer the lease to anyone except you. If I want to get out of the lease, then the room returns to you.
“Okay Sheri, that is where we are at this moment. I can go get more decking, buy doors, finish the floors, do the walls, and finish the windows. I will have made those improvements so I own that much of the building. I am assuming that we will both be working on it. I believe working together, we can make a comfortable home without needing a contractor. I have the time and I think enough money to complete the house.”
“It sounds good, but I still don’t know as I trust you.”
“We’ll stop in and talk to an attorney Monday and have him write it up. On my side of the equation, I don’t know if I want to put money into this without some assurances that I have a place to call home. You think it over and ask questions before you decide. In the meantime, I’m going down and get more deck boards to finish this. Do you need anything downtown?”
“We need a gallon of milk and enough hamburger for a meatloaf. I’ll give you the money.” I shook my head and waved my hand in the air as I headed for my truck.
On the way to town, I did some praying. I hoped she would go for my proposition. Was it pity? Maybe a little. Oh, hell I might as well admit it. I was falling in love and it was way too soon. If she didn’t go for it, I knew I would walk away. Hell, I might even deed the land to her. I could afford to.
I bought the groceries and then stopped at the Leader Home Center. My pickup would transport the deck boards without any problem at all. I was back before noon. The home center had a porch swing so I bought that. I wasn’t comfortable sitting on a 2x10 stretched across some sawhorses.
We had the porch deck finished by the time the meatloaf was done at six that evening. After we had eaten, I set about putting the swing together. I didn’t make it before dark. Tomorrow would have to do.
“Bobby, wouldn’t you like to bring your mattress into the house? I am sorry I don’t have another bed, but I haven’t got that far. I only have one bed and a bureau in my bedroom.”
“No, I’m good, but I would like to shower tonight. We have worked hard today.”
“Yes, but look what we have accomplished. That would have taken me a whole week. That is after I could afford the boards. I have decided we will see an attorney sometime on Monday. We can have an attorney examine the situation and suggest a solution. We can go ahead then and have papers drawn and both of us can sign them.”
“Sheri, you think my idea has merit then?”
“I’m willing to explore it. I have another question. What about the improved road and the power line? Cassie paid for those, and I was not involved.”
“I don’t see where they enter into our agreement at all. The road is a deeded right of way and the power company must have an easement. Cassie is out on the money for building the road as far as I can see. But then, you say she can afford the cost?”
“She bragged she could.”
“Okay, she is screwed then.” A flush rose in Sheri’s cheeks. “Okay, poor choice of words. My point being, she put the road and power in of her own free will. I still think she has to have an ulterior motive.”
“It does seem odd the way she has handled everything. She is my sister though, and I’ll believe the best of her until I find out differently.”
“I commend you for feeling that way and I hope you are correct.”
I slept very well, but couldn’t get back to sleep after watering the same tree as I did the night before. Sheri intruded on my mind. I knew I was going to stay around for a while. I wanted this woman in my life. I wanted to make her happy. I didn’t know but what she wasn’t, but I would not have been if the things that had happened to her happened to me.
Also her husband had left her, when she needed him the most. Sheri had lost one of her extremities. That limited the things she could do during the remainder of her life. She didn’t appear down about it. I considered her one brave person. I didn’t think her financial situation was that great either. I had told her but little about my life, and especially not what my finances were. Time enough for that when we knew each other better.
Sheri was adamant about not wanting pity, but there was no law that said I couldn’t help her. Besides, legally, I held the upper hand because she had started working on the house on my land. We would see an attorney tomorrow and eliminate most of my so-called legal position. There was nothing she could do about the moral aspect because I would retain that. Ten minutes later I heard Sheri shout that she was putting the coffee on.
Sheri was humming a song when I stepped into the house, looking across to watch her working in the kitchen. She was stirring something and her buns were shaking back and forth. She was wearing a dress that fit her rather loosely over her slacks. I made myself known, “Morning Mrs. Turner. What are you mixing?”
“I am scrambling eggs for an onion and cheese omelet. I like them and although they take a little more time, it is always worth it. Coffee is almost brewed. Would you pour me a cup, please?”
I filled two mugs and sat one on the counter near where she was cooking. I sat on a stool where I could turn and watch her. Occasionally she would flash me a smile, but concentrated on getting the omelet just right. “Bobby, tell me about your wife, unless it hurts too much?”
“No I don’t mind. Cassie remarried ten years ago. That was in the paper and dad wrote me about it. Shelly and I were married about the same time. My wife was three years older than I was. She treated me like a king, but then she was a joy to me and I treated her like the queen as she deserved. Shelly was one of the women whose beauty was all on the inside and not considered fair by anyone.
“And yet you loved her?”
“Very much.”
“Tell me how you met her?”
“Maybe first I should tell you what happened to me as soon as I was divorced by Cassie. I was twenty-one, just about broke with no prospects, and not really trained for anything. I did know computers though. I was online and saw an advertisement looking for someone with computer skills. The ad was posted by a bookstore located in Greensboro, North Carolina. I was told to come for an interview.
“I hitch-hiked down south and I did get the job. It was a couple in their early fifties who owned the store. They mentioned that they had a daughter who worked in a library. I did not meet her for a couple of months and I wondered why. I concluded after awhile there was something wrong with her. Curious, I went searching. When I reached the place where she worked, the librarian directed me down into the bowels of the library.
“I opened the door and walked in. Did I ever get cussed out as she was reaching for a shawl to cover her head?”
“What was wrong with her?”
“I’m getting to that. Her name was Shelly. Shelly was born with a huge birthmark on the top of her head. She was operated on to have it removed when young. The operation was successful to a point. The dark skin was removed, but hair would not grow on that part of her scalp. She tried a hairpiece, but that made her look weirder than ever. She never went anywhere without a shawl, and always hesitated going out in public, afraid her affliction would be seen.
“Could I have told you what her face looked like? Hardly, as your eyes traveled to her affliction. Even when covered with a shawl, you were bound to be distracted away from her facial features.
“Back to when we first met. Shelly ordered me out and threatened to call security to have me removed. I talked over her, telling who I was and that I worked for her parents. I said I was invited to dinner with them on Sunday. I told her I had asked her parents if their daughter was going to be present. They told me no, you were never there when they entertained.
“This calmed her down somewhat and it gave me a chance to speak rationally with her. Sheri, would you like me to relate how I came to eventually marry the woman I loved?”
“Bobby, tell me. I am interested. Lord knows I know all about afflictions and the damage they can cause to your ego.”
“Okay, I will tell you as if you were present as we spoke together.”
“Shelly Franklin, listen to me for a moment. Your father and mother love you very much. I can hear it in their voices when they mention you. When I asked them if you would be at dinner Sunday, they said no. I could hear in their voices that they would like you to be there so we could meet. That is why I have come to invite you personally. It would make them feel so good. I take it you hide yourself away down here in the bottom of the library and do not go out.
“I’m not very old and have just gone through a divorce. I’m from up north and the transition to the south has been rough on me. I need a friend. You know someone to talk to and explain about the different cultures we grew up in.”
Shelly said, “I can tell you a lot about growing up. You saw what I look like. Do you think I had a happy childhood? My parents had to have me tutored because the kids were so cruel. I wish every day I had never been born.”
“I can understand you feeling like that. Other people have worse afflictions than you do. You at least can hide it if you want to.”
“That is okay for you to say, but you just don’t know, do you? What if I lose my shawl?”
“Shelly, no I don’t know, but I would like you to tell me. If we could meet, then you could tell me all about it.”
“That isn’t going to happen. Look, I have work to do. Would you please leave? I don’t want you hanging around and waylay me after I finish work either.”
“Okay, I will leave and I promise I won’t waylay you. I wish you would reconsider about Sunday. It would make your parents so pleased. They have been terribly good to me and I want to see them happy.”
“I turned and left. I went directly back to the bookstore. I knew that a Muslim woman was coming in to look at the new stock arriving today. I was familiar enough to approach her to talk. Aalia did come in.
“Aalia, would you please do a favor for me? You may choose any book from the new stock if you will. If it is a children’s book, you may choose two.”
I gave her some directions where to find Shelly. I knew this might blow up in my face, but I thought it worth the effort. I didn’t go into any details about Shelly’s affliction, just saying she needed a head covering. I also suggested that to keep from standing out, she might like to dress the same way as Muslim women did. It is not unusual to see these women on the street. They would be on their way to school or to work.
I didn't see Aalia again that week. She didn't come back to choose a book. I had promised Shelly that I wouldn't contact her. I felt I must have made her an enemy not a friend. I felt bad about it. Apparently Mr. and Mrs. Franklin didn’t know what I had done, for they treated me the same as always.
This changed a day later. Mrs. Franklin came up to me and told me her daughter had called and would be dining with us on Sunday.
She cautioned me, “Now Robert, I must caution you that Shelly has an ego problem because of how she looks. Please don’t make too much of it. I am surprised she called and said she would come. Please be circumspect as I don’t want to make her uncomfortable.”
“I’ll do my best.”
“I know you will. All of our customers are so happy to have you wait on them. You treat them the same as you would treat a friend.”
Sunday at dinner Shelly came in full Muslim attire. I was introduced to her. She had a small smile on her face as the introduction was made. Later she had a moment alone with me.
“Mr. Kinsman, would you believe I have a new friend? Her name is Aalia. She appeared in my office the afternoon of the same day you were there. She had some clothes in a bag with her. Later after I left work, we went shopping. Would you have any idea how this came to be?”
“I might just a little. I have been worried since the day I spoke with you. I haven’t seen Aalia and there was no word about you until your mother informed me yesterday I was to meet you.”
“You didn’t hear from either of us because I felt manipulated by you. Now though, I think we can go on and become friends. You did say you needed one the day we met.”
I returned to the present and Sheri after relating my meeting the woman who was to become my wife. Sheri spoke. “So Bobby, you met Shelly and lived happily ever after.”
“I intended to, but she was killed in an accident, or I would be with her now. To finish up about Shelly. We dated for several months. I never saw her with her head uncovered again in all of that time except when we were alone. We did fall in love, helped along by her parents. Shelly eventually left the library and went to work in the book store, making it a family operation with me included.
“Occasionally when we were out together, derogatory remarks were made, but it was mostly because I was with a Muslim woman, not because of her looks. She thought this so funny and we had many a laugh over it. We were happy, had our own home, went everywhere, and enjoyed our life together. My in-laws soon made me a full partner in the store. We looked to the future and a full life together.
“I had five very wonderful years with her. That ended five years ago. Shelly and her parents were going to a conference on book selling one day in February. It was over on the coast. A freezing fog bank suddenly rolled in and there was a massive twenty-seven-car pile up. The Franklins and Shelly were wiped out instantly. I have been slowly winding up my affairs with the intention of coming back to Vermont next year. This property tax situation here just brought me home sooner.”
“Yes, and when you get here you find someone has destroyed your dream of having a little cabin in the woods.”
“That’s about right. Whether good or bad, I can’t tell yet.”
Sheri wanted to know more about my life with Shelly. “You didn’t have children. Why not?”
“Shelly was afraid that any children we might have would be marked the same as she was. We reached the point of exploring adoption. We both enjoyed being around children, so it could have happened. I have had five years alone now. Memories of Shelly are always with me, but that is all they are, just memories and they have to be enough. We did have a good life together. The only regret is that her life was cut off so soon.
“I am thirty-four and just looking forward to see what the future will bring me. I was thinking a lot last night. Some about you. When I am ready to move on, I will see if there is some way you can end up with the title to this place. I think you need it more than I do. In the meantime, I will keep busy. I have never helped build a house before and I want to see if I can do it.”
“Bobby, I do think I will like having you here. We worked well together yesterday and it appears as if this is the only way I’m going to get this place finished. I know you think I am taking advantage of you, but I don’t know what else to do. I started dreaming about a home two years ago when my sister offered it to me. I just have to continue on this path and see how it plays out.”
“Okay. I do understand the position you are in. Tomorrow when we talk to an attorney, I’ll try and relieve the uncertainties about your future here.”
“Thank you, I appreciate that. I suppose I could offer myself to you to pay for this, but I wouldn’t be worth that much.” I could see that Sheri did not want to do this.
“No, I don’t think that will work. I would feel guilty about accepting your favors. What you are worth is an unknown. But then, you might be worth more than you think.”
“Bobby, I would feel guilty as well. Why would you want to be in bed with me as I am only a half woman? That is all I have to offer. I guess we will have to blame Cassie for both our situations. Too bad you come out on the dirty end of a short stick.”
“I guess. Enough of this, let’s go somewhere this morning. We don’t have any more material to work on the house with today. We will go for a ride and then have dinner somewhere. We’ll come back and I’ll finish the swing. We can sit on the porch and swing back and forth and let the world go by.”
“Okay. Do you trust me to drive? If you do we can take my car instead of your truck.”
“Sure. I’ll point the way. When we get out to the end of our road, stop and I’ll show you where Cassie’s lot is located. I know she owns that. I suspect at some point she will be visiting. We can ask about why she put you on my land. Maybe you should call her. I’m hoping you will get to talk to her before she knows I am here. You might find out more that way.” Sheri did not say anything. I still thought she might not believe me.
The lot I was talking about had been open pasture ten years ago. Now it was brush covered in places. I asked Sheri if she wanted to walk up to the farthest boundary line. She said sure. I picked what I thought was the easiest route. It was somewhat difficult and I ended up holding her hand to steady her before we reached the point I had headed for.
Neither of us made note of the fact that she was having a problem walking. Sheri really was adept at navigating, but it wasn’t the same as having two of your own limbs. I pointed out the property boundaries from the top so Sheri knew what the lot was like.
We continued into Brattleboro and I suggested we travel north on I 91. We went into Bellows Falls and across the bridge to North Walpole, NH. Aumand’s furniture store was still there, although it was in a newer building than I remembered. We went in and I looked around. I ended up purchasing a king-sized bed for the room opposite the kitchen. It would be delivered on Wednesday.
I announced I would buy bedding in town, but Sheri said she had a spare set so if I didn’t want to buy now, I would not have to. “Don’t you want a bureau or a stand or something?”
“No, I’ll just throw together some shelves out of odds and ends of lumber. If I decide to stay permanently, I will have my furniture moved up here from storage in Greensboro. I have some things that will fit right in. Actually, everything I own is in storage. I have been renting a motel room and living out of that. I sold my house a year ago.”
“Why did you sell?”
“Too many memories. It made me depressed to go home to an empty house. That was the time I began settling all of my affairs and planned on coming north next year.”
“Yes Bobby, and I screwed it all up for you, didn’t I?”
“Not complaining yet because I won’t have to live in a tent this summer. I have a room with amenities. Where do you want to eat lunch?”
“Anywhere. I don’t know the area.”
“I’ll find a place for lunch and we’ll eat dinner in Brattleboro before going home.”
“Okay.”
Chapter Two
We spent the afternoon in an antique shop in Chester, Vermont. We returned to Brattleboro going to The New England House for dinner. We ordered wine and she drank most of it through dinner, finishing off with a brandy and Benedictine. It was early and still light when we got back to our home.
Sheri had too much to drink to climb the stairs alone. I helped steady her as we slowly climbed. She giggled, “There has never been a man up here, but that is okay and I trust you. I haven’t been this happy in a long, long time. I think you are good for me.”
I knew Sheri wouldn’t be saying this if she were sober. I also knew I wouldn’t be taking advantage of her. She needed to stop in the bathroom. She told me to go into her bedroom and wait for her. She came out in a few minutes. I had waited by the door because I didn’t want her to fall. I guided her to the bed where she flopped down.
“Bobby, please help me take off my leg. You have to be careful with it because the servos and sensors are fragile. They are embedded in the prostheses just below the knee joint. The battery needs to be removed. Plug it into the charger. I am just too unsteady to do it tonight and it is all your fault. You were the one to get me inebriated.”
She mangled the word “inebriated” and giggled. “Oops, half a tongue on that word. Me with a half leg. I guess you could call me the half-and-half girl. Yes, and I am only half here.” Sheri paused there and I turned away for just a minute as if I was looking where I was to deposit the contraption I was about to remove.
“Okay for me to start now?”
I received a subdued yes.”
I took the shoe off her good foot, pushed her dress up slightly and worked her slacks down. I inspected how her leg was attached to her shortened limb. As gently as I could I removed the leg. The sock came off next leaving her stump in view. Some portion of this was bare so the nerves could activate the prosthesis. The end of the stump was red and looked sore. “Ahh,” she said. “That feels so good to have that gone. Thank you. You might massage the end a little. There is some lotion there on the bureau top.”
I had laid the leg down on the floor, but I picked it up now and put it onto a soft pad in a long box on the bureau. It was quite heavy for the size of it. The brain and controls for the prosthesis were in this section. I examined the device and could see where the battery was installed. I took it out and put it in the charger. I now turned my attention back to Sheri. She was almost asleep. I coated my hand with the gel cream and slowly rubbed the end of the stump.
I could tell this was pleasing to her as she gave a little sigh. “Bobby, you have a beautiful gentle touch. This has been a wonderful rewarding day for me. I haven’t had too many of these in the last four years. Thank you so much.”
Her eyes closed now. The stump had regained all of its circulation and I knew she would sleep. I sat in the chair for ten minutes or more watching her. I heard her sigh again and then came a little snore. I laid her crutches within reach. It was a warm night so I just threw a light blanket over her.
I went to bed in my tent, lying there thinking of what I had just done. It was an intimate gesture such as a husband would do for his wife. I wondered how she would feel tomorrow morning. Then I wondered if she was testing me in some way. She certainly had put herself totally in my hands. She could not have been any more helpless. Maybe it wasn’t a test of me. Maybe it was a way of seducing me. I smiled, thinking, test or seduction, I’ll bet I passed.
Again, I heard the early call about coffee being almost ready. Sheri glanced at me when I came in. As she placed a plate of bacon on the table, she said, “Thank you for helping me into bed last evening. I will not get into that condition again. It was stupid of me.”
“You are welcome.”
I took a sip of coffee and she slid two eggs and two slices of bacon onto my plate. Sheri reached for the toast and started buttering it. She handed me a slice, but held onto it until she caught my eye. “That’s it? That is all you have to say about last night?”
“Do you want to get into this? You asked me to help you. I did. The question now is why? Do you want to answer that?”
“Why? I needed help, that is why.”
“No it isn’t, Sheri. You are enough aware about your condition so you won’t even think about drinking to excess because one fall would screw you up worse than you are. If we are going to live in the same house, we have to be open about our actions. For some reason I felt this was some kind of test. Were you outright trying to seduce me? Maybe you had to see if I could resist your charms. Which is it?”
Sheri looked long at me before answering. “Bobby, it was both. I won’t try either again.”
“I thought maybe. That still doesn’t tell me why.”
“Why? The reason goes back to Cassie when she was married to you. I was what, maybe thirteen at the time. She described you as a wonderful, loving, caring man that she was marrying. Two years later you were a complete asshole and weren’t ever going anywhere in your life. She was sick of waiting for something exciting to happen. That changed after she dumped her second husband. More about how wonderful you were by the time she rid herself of her third husband. According to her, now you are god’s gift to women. I had to find out the truth about you.”
“Did I pass that test?”
“I’m not saying a word except I am glad I put myself in your care last night.”
“Okay, I won’t ask more about that subject. What about the seduction? Anything to say on that subject?”
“Do I have to explain my reason?”
“Sheri, I am asking you to bare your soul.”
“You’re mean.”
“I know.”
“Okay Bobby, this is why. I may only be a half woman, but there are parts of me who remember my marriage with satisfaction. Do you realize I haven’t had a man other than doctors and rehab personnel lay their hands on me in five years? I’ll leave it there and I won’t say any more.”
“You don’t have to say more. Last night you put yourself into my care. I admit what I did for you was about the most intimate thing I have ever done for a woman. You could not have picked a better way to seduce me. That said, we have known each other for a total of three days. If we went forward with this right now, I would feel as if it was a one-night stand. I need more than a one-night stand with you.”
“Okay Bobby. God, was my sister ever stupid to let you go. I just hope I can catch you.”
I smiled. “I would say you have a good shot at it. Friends, anyway. Hey, let’s get off this subject.” I shook my head, because I actually didn’t want to change. I did though. “After we get the property ownership settled we should have time to pick up some supplies to go in the house. Do you want to finish the outside or work on the inside first?”
“Let’s finish the outside. If we don’t finish before winter we can do the inside even if it is cold and snowy outside.”
“Good thinking.” I worked on the porch swing until it was time to head for town to see who actually owned this property. We took my truck. I was hoping the Leader Home Center had a door in stock that would fit the downstairs bedroom. I would bring it home with me.
We went into the municipal center and went down the hall to the Lister’s Office where the property records were. Inside the door, there was a large book of maps showing every listed property in town. I looked up the map that showed the area where my property was located. There it was, property of Robert Kinsman, 10.1 surveyed acres.
The other property I looked for was also listed. The one owned by my ex-wife. It was listed to Cassandra Kinsman. Must be she hadn’t changed the owner’s name through the divorce and two new husbands. In one way, this was understandable, as the property was turned over to her before the divorce became final.
I asked one of the secretaries if a copy of the construction permit was on file in this office. She got up, found it in a file with other papers, and handed it to me. Sheri and I looked at it. It was signed by one Wallace Bly, agent for one Robert Kinsman. The fee for the permit was listed as paid.
In addition, there was a report where the construction had been warned. None of those abutting the property had objected. There was a detailed sketch of what the building would look like when completed. The estimated cost was there and this was what the fee was drawn from.
Everything seemed in order, except it wasn’t I who ordered the work. I paid for nothing beyond the property tax. I went further. “May I see the easement for the power company that installed the poles?”
“Certainly.” Again, Wallace Bly’s name appeared as my agent. I didn’t look at the improvement for the road, as I knew I would find the same name as agent. The secretary asked, “Is there some problem with this property?”
“I can’t tell yet. Things got ahead of me and there are some surprises. In one way, things look in order. Nothing to bother the town about.”
I jotted a few notes and as we exited the building, I said to Sheri, “Let’s go find us a lawyer. We can leave the truck here. There is a law firm across the street near the federal building. We will try there.”
We were able to get in for an initial interview. We had thirty minutes without it costing us anything. The attorney listened as I explained and he took notes. “Let me recap what you have told me. You started getting increases in your appraisal. You come up from North Carolina and find a partially built house on your lot, a new road, power to the property, and a woman you have never met before living in said building.
“Your question is, do you have to pay for these improvements? Legally, I would say no, although the person or persons who did this may sue for the cost. I doubt they would win in court if things are as you say.”
“That is all correct.”
“People don’t do this. I am puzzled.”
“I am too. Now that you have the facts, I’ll go into detail a little more. Some of this is supposition, but it still doesn’t answer the question why. We think this is my ex-wife who ordered the road, the power and the construction, although her name doesn’t appear anywhere. We were divorced 12 years ago and we did argue over this property and another parcel nearby. The court awarded the other parcel to her in the settlement.
“I haven’t talked with her for at least ten years. One more fact, this lady here beside me is my ex-wife’s sister, Sheri. They were never close and I had never met Sheri until after I arrived last week. Her sister has promised Sheri my property, although there is no paperwork to that effect. Sheri and I have come to an agreement about her continuing to live on the property. We would like this agreement down on paper, signed and witnessed.”
“That is no problem and won’t take long or cost much.”
“I will be paying for that. Also if there is any litigation, that will be billed to me as well.”
“Okay, give me the facts as you see them. I will ask the lady the same.”
“My ex-wife has paid for the construction of the house. I believe it is a little more than 55% complete. She also has had the septic system installed and the water system put in. I am estimating she has put up 65% of the total cost of the value when the house is completed.” I turned to Sheri, “Do you think that a fair estimate?”
“More than fair.”
“Good. Her sister promised Sheri the house if she would finish it. If Sheri leaves at any time for any reason after we complete the house, I will pay Sheri that percentage for the lot improvements. If Cassie complains, I will come down on the side of Sheri. Another part of the agreement is I am leasing a room to sleep in and have full use of all of the amenities while living there, much the same as she does. We will be working to complete the house together, so no money will change hands.”
“Are you in agreement with this arrangement, Mrs. Turner?”
“I am, and Mr. Kinsman is being overly generous given the circumstances he found when he arrived. I still have a home and he has a place to stay.”
“I’ll write this up. If you are in town in a few days, say on Thursday, you can come in and I will have a first draft for you to look at.”
“Great, we will be in touch.” We went back across the street to the parked truck at the municipal center.
Before I started the truck I asked, “Sheri, do you want to call Cassie and get everything straightened out?”
Sheri thought for a few minutes. “Bobby, I don’t want to deal with her now. I would imagine she would be contacting me soon. Our position of defense is better than if we attack.”
“Good, I’m in no hurry to confront her either.”
“You may not feel that way when you see her. She has matured into a very beautiful woman.”
“You ain’t no slouch in the good looking department, kid.”
“Leave it Bobby.”
“Right.” Sheri may have said to leave it, but I knew any woman would be pleased by my compliment.
I did purchase a door unit in its frame for the bedroom I would be sleeping in. When we got home, Sheri told me she would finish putting the swing together while I installed the door. The door was predrilled for the handle and the lock. Sheri spoke up when I said I could not finish installing the door because I didn’t have enough tools. “I have some tools. Tell me what you need and I may have it.”
I had no problem, as whoever framed the building had done an excellent job and everything was square. I soon had the unit installed. Sheri grinned at me. “I bet you feel safer now with a locked door.”
“I doubt I will lock it. Do you lock your door upstairs?”
“Nope, didn’t before and don’t plan to now. I think I can trust you.”
My bed was coming Wednesday, but it could rain tonight. I brought the air mattress inside and put it in the front room. Also tomorrow, I was going to arrange to have my household goods and tools transported from NC. For the rest of the day, we sat on the completed porch swing and I drank beer. Sheri had iced coffee. We didn’t touch, but I’m sure she was aware of me as much as I was aware of her sitting at my side.
I made a call to Claremont NH at eight the next morning to the concern I had used when I had to move from my former home. Needless to say, it had been a small move. I had sold what contents Cassie had left me to a single person. All it amounted to was some furniture and appliances. Chase the Movers had been sold since that time, but Ann the bookkeeper and office girl were still there. I explained what I needed.
“We can help you. Nathan Hewes, who is the new owner, will contact you. He does have goods going to Virginia next week, so he might give you a better than standard price if he has his trucks full on the return trip.” I asked if Hewes had a storage facility and she assured me he did.
I turned to Sheri, explaining that I had enough furniture to furnish our house. “I think you will like the living room furniture and I have a dining set. I have one full bed for the room upstairs, or we can move the one that is coming tomorrow up there. It will depend where I end up sleeping.”
“I think I would like to have it placed upstairs. You know in case I have any trouble. I might fall or something.”
This was a perfect opening for me to say something smart. I feared what I would say would be asinine, so I kept quiet. “Okay, I can do that.”
That settled, I suggested we go back down to the Leader Home Center in West Brattleboro and decide what we wanted to put on the house for siding. Talking with the resident expert, we decided on fiber cement panels. We could order this to arrive from the factory painted, so we picked out a color. The vinyl standing seam roof was forest green, so we picked a brown color for contrast.
Sheri brought the house plan with us so we could order the amount needed to cover the first level and the ends of the house on the second. We went home with the rolls of fiberglass wrap for the vapor lock. I hoped we would have this on by the time the siding arrived. I wrote a check.
When we got into my pickup, Sheri said, “Can you afford this? I’ll have my check in another ten days and I’ll pitch in.”
“I have it covered. If you start putting money in, it will just complicate who is paying for what and mess up the bookkeeping.”
“But I’m not doing anything.”
“You will be. I’m counting on you to fetch and carry while I’m on the ladder. I’m not particularly crazy about painting, so that can be your job.”
“Okay, but I want to do my part. Don’t you go babying me just because I have a mechanical leg.”
“I won’t. I haven’t so far have I?”
“No you haven’t. I like it, because I’m beginning to get some self-respect again. Before this, there was no one here to see me work so hard to accomplish some of the tasks I set for myself. You are good for me.”
“Good, get me a beer.”
“Screw you! Get your own beer. Better yet, bring me one too.” We were getting along famously.
The bed came and was installed upstairs. I said, “Luckily, we have a spare bedroom. We will have to move the bed out when we do the floors and walls in all the rooms this winter. The same in your room.”
“We could bunk in together if need be.” I turned and looked at her.
“We could.” I looked away and turned. I turned back, “Is that what you want?”
“I’m not averse to having sex. I don’t think I am a slut either. It is just that it has been so long since I have been loved and cuddled.”
“Sheri, I’ve been here a week. We are getting along great. What happens if you don’t like sex with me? That is going to put us into a horrible position if we are living together.”
“You’re right. I shouldn’t have said anything.” I didn’t agree or disagree. Nothing more was said until dinner that night.
“Bobby, is it because I only have a stump and no leg that turns you off?”
“There is absolutely nothing about you that turns me off. I wasn’t ready to make love to you yet, but I can see you are. You go upstairs and I’ll be up in a little while. Hell, I’ve wanted you since the first night I was here. I still think it is too soon, but I’ll live with the consequences if you will.”
I watched Sheri climb the stairs. She paused and looked down at me just before she passed from my view. I couldn’t read her expression. I heard her crutches on the floor after she removed her leg. I heard the door to the walk-in shower close. It was time for me to clean up myself. I headed for the downstairs shower.
Was this a mistake? It had been a long time since I had a woman. Truth to tell, she was the first one who interested me even a little bit in a long while. I took my time and shaved real close making sure I was dry. I had no men’s deodorant. Hell, she’ll just have to live with me as I am. This was her idea anyway. When I heard her crutches leading back to the bedroom, I slowly climbed the stairs.
Sheri had pulled the shades in the room and it was dim when I entered. “Would you go around to the other side of the bed? I can’t lie on this side. It isn’t that I’m that fragile, it is just uncomfortable.”
“Good, that is my side of the bed anyway.”
I slid in next to her. Her shortened member was on top of her other leg as she was laying on her right side. This was weird. I paid little attention to it. I leaned to her and found her lips, kissing her gently. My hand started playing with her hair, and I would slide it down and caress her neck and her ear. She shuddered and I kissed her again.
My hands traveled up and down her arms, finding them well muscled. I took one and kissed the inside of her wrist, then up until I found her lips again. “Please lie on your back with your arms over your head.”
Now my hands traveled over her torso. Her tummy was taut and flat. I was coming close to her breasts, but I was missing them. Soon though, I had to know what they felt like. Closer and closer, I came until I had one in my fingers. It was as near perfect as any man could wish. To me anyway. Still gentle, I made love to first one and then the other. Sheri was whimpering, pushing them into my lips or fingers. She indicated she wanted me to be rougher, but I continued with my light touches.
My fingers drifted down her tummy to her mound. Her legs parted and my fingers played in her thatch.
“Bobby, please no more caresses. I want the real thing. I have to warn you that I am not on any type of birth control as there has been no need. You have me so aroused I don’t care what you do to me.”
I laughed, saying, “Sure, leave it all up to me.” I climbed from the bed and went around to the other side. I pushed her back onto her side as she was at first and got back into bed behind her. She bent, and reached through her legs to guide me. Three of my strokes later I had her climaxing.
Where my control came from, I couldn’t say. Maybe it was that I was so intent on giving her pleasure, I didn’t think of my own needs. Sheri went wild and I just hung on until she calmed down. “You didn’t finish?”
“No not yet. I will before the night is over.”
“You mean there is more?”
“I would hope so.”
“I hope so too.” We snuggled together. I asked her how her stump was and she said it was the same as always. She would massage it before sleeping. I offered to do it for her.
“You are treating me like a queen. I have never felt this loved in my whole life.” I found the lotion and the towel for wiping the residue from your hands. This started innocently enough, and I did do the massage, but I couldn’t keep my fingers from exploring high and higher. Again, we came together.
I was thinking of myself and needed release, so gentle went out the window. Sheri was screaming, now with pleasure I hoped, but I didn’t care. I wanted so to erupt into her, but found the will power to withdraw into the waiting towel. Spent, Sheri turned and kissed me. “That was so wonderful. I’m sorry you had to restrain yourself and I’ll take steps so you won’t have to.”
“You mean we are going to do this again?”
“Ha, try and get away from me.” She thought a minute. “No I don’t mean it that way. It is just that I have never felt so loved. I would like a future with you, but I’m in no position to demand one.”
“We will work on it. I don’t see any advantage to us pulling away from each other. I’m happy and you are happy. What more can two people ask for?” I paused and then asked, “Do you want me to go back to my room or stay here tonight?”
“It is up to you.”
I thought a minute. “I’ll go back to my own bed. If we do this again, and you want me to stay, you can say so, and I will.” I leaned over and kissed her on the lips. “Goodnight, Sheri.” I went down stairs to my air mattress. I lay there thinking. Damn it, what was the matter with me. I could be upstairs right now cuddled up to Sheri.
Then I decided I made the right move. I’m sure she would say if she wanted me to sleep with her. I chuckled to myself. What a change a week can make. Hell, I now had a home and there was a woman in it. It looks like I was going to have to thank Cassie, my ex-wife for both.
I got up early, showered, and climbed up to the promontory overlooking the Connecticut River valley. The sun was just coming up. I doubted if Sheri could get up here. Too difficult with a missing limb. This was such a beautiful sight, I might carry her up so she could see it.
I went back to the house and found my housemate still hadn’t come down from the bedroom. I started breakfast by putting coffee on. I quietly climbed upstairs. Sheri’s door was open. I stuck my head inside. She was lying on her back with her eyes open.
“You made coffee, I can smell it.” She studied my face. “I have been awake only a few minutes. I have been going over in my mind what happened last night. I feel so mellow this morning. How do you feel?”
“Me? I feel just the opposite. I feel energized. Whole, complete or something like that. I’m alive, would say it all. Hey, I’m putting eggs and bacon on the table in fifteen minutes. Be there.”
I headed for the door. Before I got as far as the stairs, Sheri shouted, “Bobby, come here just a minute.”
I stepped back and looked in the door. Sheri had swung herself onto the edge of the bed. She was only partially covered. Leg and stump that was all. She was a vision. Tousled hair, pert breasts, flat tummy topped off by a laughing, teasing expression on her face. “Thank you for last night.” Her eyes glinted and she smiled. “I am hungry and I will be right down.” Tease!
I slid two plates onto the counter as she climbed onto her stool. Coffee cups were full. When she took a sip, she jostled my arm as I picked up my coffee. “Am I too close?”
“No, not at all. I didn’t mean to hurry you this morning. The furniture mover will be here sometime before noon. Also we both have to go downtown to sign papers at the attorney’s office.”
“I know all of that. First though, do you want to talk about last night?”
“Not really, that is unless you weren’t satisfied with my performance. I did rush things a little. Slower and longer would be better.”
I didn’t look at her. She was silent and I turned enough to look at her. She wasn’t looking at me either, just down at her plate. This didn’t change even when she started speaking. “Bobby, I had a husband. He was my first and only lover. Oh, I had plenty of chances for sex while overseas, but I kept to my vows. Then I was injured and my husband didn’t want me anymore. I thought after he dumped me what a fool I had been. I should have lived more when I had the chance.
“That is the way it was until you arrived here last week. When I dropped my fatigues and showed you my mechanical leg, it wasn’t to seduce you, it was to let you know I was only a half person.”
“That could be, but it had the opposite effect on me.”
“I suspected that after I saw the expression on your face. That is why I asked you to massage the stump of my leg to see how far you would go.”
“And that was the most intimate thing you could have asked me to do. I hope you will ask me to do that again. If you don’t, then you will be hearing me asking if I may. That said, if we are going to get this house built, we can’t spend all day having sex. We know it is there, it is enjoyable and we are going to continue.”
“Good enough.” We cleaned up from breakfast. “Bobby, I’m going into town to the doctors.”
“Okay, do you need any money?”
“I think I have enough, but I’m not sure. Could you lend me some? There is the co-pay and I’m hoping a prescription at the pharmacy.” I opened my wallet and handed her two one hundred dollar bills.
“I don’t need anywhere that amount.”
“Well, buy yourself a pretty. Something you think I would like to see you in.” I qualified that. “Something after we finish work for the day, that is.”
“Bobby, I am so in your debt. You’re making me feel like a real person again.” I grinned and took the peck on the lips when offered.
While Sheri was gone, I took notes and measured all the rooms for floor coverings. The kitchen floor had to have stone tile on it. I would do the two bathrooms the same. The upstairs one should be simple, but the one downstairs was irregular because it had some built-ins. I measured the walls for square footage. Some would be painted, but I wanted the walls papered in the two bedrooms upstairs.
I hadn’t gone down the cellar stairs yet. There had been no need. I looked around as I stepped off the bottom stair. There was a small washer-dryer unit in one corner. Good, I had been debating a run to town to locate a Laundromat. This surprised me, as Sheri hadn’t said anything about having one. She was using one of those tiny washers, which were just a kettle and a motor driven paddle. I examined this one and it didn’t look like she had ever used it. We would from now on.
There was a furnace halfway down one side of the cellar. It was hot air, but I didn’t see where there was any oil pipe going into it. Then I realized wood pellets fired this when I saw fifty bags or more stacked by the bulkhead to the outside. Fifty bags would be one ton of pellets.
There was something unusual about the room. Then I realized there was a wooden bench sixteen inches wide half the thirty-two foot length along the other side. I had my tape rule with me and I determined the height was seventeen inches off the floor. Just seat high. Why, and for what reason was this constructed? Were there going to be enough people here to sit on it? I wondered if Sheri was aware of this. The stairs were steep and she might not have been down here much after the house frame commenced.
I tried to remember how long she said she had lived here. I knew she hadn’t been here this winter. She said the contractor wouldn’t let her come until it was livable. He had worked on the building through the cold weather. I looked around some more. The cellar windows had a heavy steel wire mesh imbedded in the cement with the sashes outside. Hell, this was more a prison than just a cellar. I walked over and looked at the bulkhead door. This was steel as well.
I broke into a cold sweat. What if I was ever trapped down here? Was I in danger and was this meant for me? Was Sheri aware that this was a prison? I wouldn’t think she would be a party to something like this. She seemed so honest. Still, I didn’t think I would want to bet my life on her until I found out more. I was more than half in love with her already and I didn’t want her to be involved in something crooked.
Cassie, my ex-wife, now, I could believe she might be involved. This goes back to when I was married to her. I had worked in a large office in the mail room of a company with national connections. It wasn’t the highest paying job, but we could afford a small single bedroom apartment on Elliot Street. Cassie had not been able to find work, but we paid our bills.
After a year of marriage, I noticed she was dressing in better clothes. She explained that some of her friends and classmates gave her their cast-offs because I didn’t provide. I wondered, but passed it off. We had been married eighteen months and I was home alone. Where she was, I had no idea.
It all was explained when there was a knock on the door. I opened it and found a young woman standing there. “I need to see Cassie. Have her come and talk to me.”
“I’m sorry, she isn’t home.”
“But I need her.”
“Why?”
“I need a hit.”
“A hit? Not here, you will have to get one somewhere else. Cassie is out of business.”
The woman started crying and slumped down on the floor. “You will have to leave. I can’t have you in the hall in front of my door in this condition.”
“Please, can’t you let me have something?” The woman was hurting.
“Sorry, I don’t have anything. Leave.” I heard someone coming up the stairs. I was hoping it was my wife. It was. She saw who was on the floor and she turned white. I looked at Cassie. “Take care of your friend, and then get her out of here.” I turned and went inside and shut the door. I did stop with my ear glued to the door panel.
“God damn you, Tammy, how did you find out where I live? You may have destroyed my life. My marriage anyway. You got money?”
“Yes, I got enough for what I need until tomorrow night. Can you hurry?”
“Wait here. No, come in and I’ll get it for you. I don’t want you out here in the hall sniveling.”
Cassie opened the door and the woman followed in behind her. “Talk to her Bobby. I need a few minutes in the other room.”
I accused the woman. “You just killed my marriage.”
“I guess, but I need something and Cassie is always available. You don’t know how it is.”
“No, I don’t, but it must be bad.”
“It is.” Cassie came out of the bedroom with two small packets in her hand. The woman dug some money out of her shirt pocket and gave it to my wife. Cassie then handed over the packets and the woman clutched them to her as if they would save her from drowning. She looked at me, and started to ask, “Can I use your …?” I shook my head and then she rushed out the door.
I turned to Cassie. “Are you a user as well as dealing?”
“Of course not! I’m not that stupid.”
“I might debate that.” Staring her in the face, I said, “I’ll be looking for an attorney tomorrow.”
“Your choice. I’m fed up with being married to you anyway.” She had to ask, “Are you going to squeal on me?”
“Probably not. That would show me up as being God-awful stupid by being married to someone like you.”
“Whatever. You better start packing, I’m keeping the apartment.”
“Can you afford it?”
“Of course. I have money saved up.”
“I can believe that.” I started putting my things into the one suitcase we owned and the rest in a couple of cardboard boxes. I drove up to my parents’ farm and moved back into my old room.
I hired myself a lawyer and filed. My assets were not much. Cassie claimed she didn’t have any. All I had were the two pieces of property my grandfather had left me. The judge gave Cassie the car, but did let me take my choice of which one of the two properties I wanted to keep. Cassie received the other one. I did get what furniture we had.
I had studied computers in high school and got on to how they worked quite easily. Most of the inventory work was performed on the evening shift where I worked. I started hanging around the man in charge of that after my shift ended in the mail room. He taught me what he knew, and was more than willing to have me do the actual work. It wasn’t long before I knew this portion of the business as well as he did.
This lasted until a month after my divorce was final. The company objected when they found out what was going on. They immediately fired the friend who had been teaching me. I was offered his job, but declined. Surprise! I wasn’t needed either. I looked for other employment, finding it in North Carolina.
All this went through my mind as I was puzzling why the cellar was constructed the way it was. I heard a vehicle drive in as I was coming up the stairs. It was the furniture company bringing my bed. Sheri was following them. They installed the bed in the other room upstairs. They put it together and I would be sleeping on it tonight.
As we were getting dinner I asked Sheri, “Do you go down cellar much?”
“Oh no, the stairs are too steep and I’m afraid of falling. I asked the contractor to build a railing, but he ignored me. Have you been down there?”
“Yes. Who was the building contractor?”
“I don’t know. There were Massachusetts plates on their vehicles. According to Cassie, they started building last summer and stayed in a trailer all winter. Two did anyway and occasionally two more came during the weeks before they said they were finished.”
“When did you come?”
“I’ve been here since mid-March. The builders left the first of May. I was cold a few times but, I have a ceramic heater in my bedroom I use. Why all the questions?”
“Nothing really. The cellar is well constructed and very tight.”
“That’s good isn’t it?”
“I would think so. Are we going after the papers this afternoon the attorney wants us to sign?”
“No, I called his office while I was downtown. We can do it tomorrow. I do have my prescription. The pharmacist said I would be 60% safe for sex after a week. If I wanted to be positive, I should wait a full cycle. I’d like to be positive.”
“Works for me. Hey, I think I will go down to the home center. I need a few more tools and some screws. While I am gone would you call the phone company and see about getting us DSL?”
“We have it. I made sure of that. I just don’t have a computer yet.”
“I do. I have a laptop behind the seat in my truck. I’ll bring it in and set up.” I went online and e-mailed some friends back in North Carolina. I talked to the attorney that handled my affairs there. I e-mailed the bank where I had my accounts and had some money transferred into my checking account. I also informed the storage facility that there would be a moving company there on Tuesday of next week to empty out my unit.
Getting prepared for installing the siding, I went to the home center and found all of the tools I thought I might need. When I came back, I looked for building contractors listed in the yellow pages. Recognizing a name I knew, I called and made an appointment for one of his siding men to show us how to get started.
Sheri and I needed someone to show us how to install the fiber cement siding being delivered on Thursday. He promised a man for Friday. I stated if I got into any trouble, I would hire him to finish the job of putting it on. I could talk easily with the owner as he remembered when we both went to school. We played football and baseball together and made a good team in our junior and senior years.
We had a few days before things got busy and were marking time for things to come together. The two of us were existing in a partially finished home. We had a minimum of furniture. Cooking utensils were sparse. Sheri hadn’t needed any while in the military. She had let her husband take their household goods in their divorce.
The recuperation from her injuries took many months and then it was a year or more before she could do everything for herself. I told her there were enough of my household goods coming next week to fill all of the cupboards in the kitchen and enough furniture to eventually furnish our home.
For now, Sheri was trying to cook a pot roast. She was worried about how it would taste. She was using a six-quart copper bottom kettle and she hadn’t browned or seared the meat. Laughingly, I assured her I would eat it however it turned out. It turned out okay and it could have been a lot worse.
We didn’t stay up late and went to bed early. I took my shower in the downstairs bathroom. I felt the shower upstairs belonged to Sheri. She had made up my new bed in the afternoon, so I was able to crawl right into it. I went right off to sleep as soon as I heard her take her shower. I woke up at three for a pee break.
Instead of going back into my room, I thought I would look in on Sheri. I could see a faint glow of light under her door. I cracked it opened and stepped inside. The light was coming from a night light plugged into a receptacle at the head of the bed. She was asleep, lying on her back and softly snoring. There was a young, sweet, innocent look on her face and she appeared so vulnerable.
Her crutches were leaning handily against the bureau, her leg in the box on top of it. I was looking at it. I had the leg in my hands only once before. I had never examined it. I heard her breathing shift and the snoring stop behind me. I turned around to see if she had come awake. I almost jumped out of my skin. Sheri had a flat black automatic in a two-hand hold and it was pointing right at my gut.
“Did you want something?”
Thinking fast, I said, “A kiss.” This sounded so foolish and stupid, even to me.
She stared at me. No person would believe an excuse such as I just uttered. “Bobby, you came awful close to getting your ass shot off. Next time, knock if you want to kiss me.” She put the automatic under the pillow and kept looking at me. “Well don’t stand there. Kiss me and then get out of here.”
I leaned over her and kissed her gently on the lips. “Nite, Sheri.”
“Good night, Bobby.” I turned and closing the door behind me as I left, I wondered if I was crazy as I crawled back into my bed. I was sure I would find out in the morning. I didn’t dwell on it and soon slept.
I made coffee and was putting it on the counter when Sheri came down in the morning. We didn’t speak until she asked what I wanted for breakfast. We decided and then she came out with the question. “What was all that about last night?”
“To be honest, I don’t really know. I had an urge to see you sleeping. I did not intend to wake you. I was ready to turn and leave when you caught me.”
She was thinking. “I guess that’s a better excuse than looking to get a kiss from me. Are you going to do that again?”
“No way, you are too light a sleeper.” I grinned as I said this, and Sheri smiled back.
“Bobby, if you get the urge to kiss me again, do it. Just make sure I’m wide awake when you do.” Sheri changed the subject. “What are we going to do today?”
“Go into town after those papers for one thing.”
“You know when we sign the papers it is going to be more difficult for us to split up.”
“I know. Are you having second thoughts?”
“No, are you?”
“Sheri, it was my idea. It is too early to go in now. I’m going up on the promontory. I wish you could climb up there with me. There is a great view down the valley.”
“Sorry.”
I climbed, thinking I had put Sheri on the spot and highlighted her disability by mentioning something that was impossible for her. That wasn’t my intention at all. I spoke without thinking. I heard the house door close. You couldn’t see the front door of the house from where I was sitting from this angle because of the trees. The sun was shining and I dozed a little. Sheri stayed in my thoughts.
I had been here a half hour or more and was just about ready to climb down. I heard a noise behind me. Fifty yards away I could see Sheri’s head and then the rest of her. She was coming out of the woods behind me. I was amazed to see her up here.
She came up to me. “Hi. A few weeks ago, I found a deer trail that isn’t too steep back along the road that comes up the bank. I knew there must be a view from up here so I searched for a way up and found one.” She sat down beside me. “I find the view is worth every bit of the difficulty getting up here.”
I didn’t say anything. “Bobby, I want to talk about last night some more. I know why you came into my room even if you don’t. You came in because you pity me. I told you not to do that. I see pity in your face when you think I don’t notice. I want you to stop it. I am the way I am, I’m living with it, and I want you to do the same. I promise you if I get into a situation where I need your help I will ask for it.”
“But I …”
“No, don’t go there. Now I came up here to be with you. The least you could do is kiss me.” Sheri hitched over beside me and I did as she directed. She then lay down with her head on my lap. I brushed her hair back and caressed her face. I wasn’t making a sexual advance. I just wanted her to know I was her friend. She took my hand and placed it on her tummy, closed her eyes and smiled.
“You aren’t looking at the view.”
“I know, but if I open my eyes I’ll be looking up at you. That’ll do for now.” She lay there quietly and I thought she must be asleep. She wasn’t. “Bobby, you know I’m going to need you to massage my leg tonight. It will be sore after coming up here and more so by the time we get back from town.”
Her smile was a smirk now. “See, I told you I would ask you if I needed something.”
“Sheri, that is going to lead to something more than a massage. You can’t imagine how doing that affects me. It is just so intimate.”
“It is isn’t it?” As she opened her eyes, the smile got wider. “Let’s go to town. We can’t lie around here all day.” I pulled her to her feet and held her hand as we went back into the woods. Her crutches were leaning against a tree. “I bring these to help brace myself when I go down. It works very well.”
We went to town and into the attorney’s office first. Neither of us hesitated in signing the papers. The die was cast!
I asked Sheri to give me a few moments alone with the attorney, and to wait in the car for me. I quickly explained to the attorney about the concerns I had and the position I had been placed in by my ex-wife. I handed him some notes I had jotted down telling of my suspicions about her and what I thought she might be involved in. I conceded I had no solid facts, just suppositions. I asked him to file the notes with the dates and hoped I would never need what they contained. He suggested I contact the authorities.
That done, Sheri and I went into the Price Chopper grocery store for a few items. When I walked by the meat counter, I saw some marinating steaks. I bought three pounds. Sheri remembered. “We had those for our first meal together.”
“Yes, and when we get home I’m going to cook them the same way as before on the picnic stove.”
We waited until evening before we ate. What time I had in the afternoon before dinner, I cut some brush and piled it where I could burn it after snow fell this winter. I always wanted to make the area as neat as could be. I just hadn’t planned on a house. I had vision of a camp, but this was much better, especially with Sheri here to share it with me.
Sheri and I went to bed just as it was getting dark. Massaging the stump of her leg was more of an excuse than needful, although I did give it some attention. Sheri was easily aroused.
This was moving faster than I wanted it to. I wanted to savor the experience. I whispered a suggestion to her.
She answered, “I’ve never had anyone do that to me before. I’ve wondered about it. My husband, Cameron, would not have done it even if he knew how. He would have thought it was against his religion. Honest Bobby, you had me more worked up the last time we made love than I ever was before.”
“It does take some practice and it has been a long time since I have had a partner to love this way. Let me try it and if it turns you off I’ll stop immediately.”
“Do you want me to take another shower?”
“You had one a half hour ago. Why would you want another shower?”
“I know, but you have me terribly turned on. I’m thinking of you.”
“Trust me, your essence is perfume to me.”
Sheri giggled. “You say the sweetest things. Okay, you can try it if you want.”
I don’t know what she expected. I prided myself as being an expert at this. I was working on her as a neophyte and it didn’t take long. When I had her almost there, I paused and asked, “Do you want me to continue?” Her stump came around and clipped my head.
“Don’t you dare stop now. You started this and you better finish me. My god Bobby, I have never felt so good or so turned on as I am right now.” I went back to what I was doing and five minutes later, her screams of pleasure almost took the roof off.
It took awhile for Sheri to come down and I waited patiently. It didn’t take me very long after we recommenced before I reached for the towel. Sheri made note. “Two more weeks and you won’t have to use that. You know we could take a chance? I’m willing if you are.”
“I’ll wait. A pregnancy in our lives at this point might be a complication.”
“I agree. She paused before asking, “Do you want me to do for you what you just did for me?”
“Have you ever?”
“No, but I will, and I want to learn how to give you the same pleasure.”
“We’ll get to it sometime. No hurry. Put it on your to do list.”
“Okay. Bobby, would you stay in bed with me tonight? I want to hold you and show you how much I appreciate what you do for me. I don’t mean just the sex either. You know I haven’t had a minute of depression since you arrived.”
“Okay, I’m here and I’d love to stay.”
Chapter Three
For the next two weeks, we were living as husband and wife. As we were advised, we painted the trim around the house before the siding arrived. It would look neater and we wouldn’t have to be so particular with the painting the trim. We also had the fiberglass vapor wrap stapled in place.
My furniture came up from North Carolina. I directed most of it to be stored in the storehouse in Claremont. We just unloaded the necessary things, like a couch for the big room in the front of the house. The kitchen utensils were welcome and cooking was made easier. Eventually we would use my dining furniture and the rest of the living room furniture when the walls and floor were finished.
“You sure have some elegant furniture.”
“I kept the best of what my in-laws owned. My own furniture wasn’t anything special.”
The next day our fiber cement siding arrived. I called the friend who was the contractor I had gone to school with. He was waiting on my call and we could have a man (Joe) Thursday and Friday.
Joe was older by fifteen years than I was. “Hell, this will be a snap. Two of you on a ladder and you’ll be done in no time.”
“Joe, it isn’t going to work that way. There are only three legs on the two of us.”
“You?”
“No, the lady. She left one knee and everything below it in Iraq.”
“I wouldn’t have known it. Well you can get it done. I’m here to show you how. Let’s get to work. I think we had better start on the ends. There we’ll have to make some angle cuts. We get the angles first and then cut them to length last. That way if you make a mistake on the angle you can cut it again.
This carpenter knew his business He spent an hour figuring and marking before he measured the first course for length. We did the end over the porch roof first. Joe was talking all the time he was working. This was for our benefit so Sheri and I would know how to do it.
“Every one of these panels on the ends has to be cut at an angle. The contractor that built this building was good and that makes it easy as everything is square. We can do much of this on the ground as all the angles are the same. That keeps us both from getting up and down the ladder. I’ll do the first couple and then you can cut the rest. I’ll nail them and you can pass them up to me as I call for the next one.”
Joe showed me how to score the panel with a knife and to snap the end off. It was necessary to smooth the cut with a sanding block. “I also have a saw that will cut this type of material. It has diamond tipped teeth. The problem is, this creates dust and it is deadly because there is some silica in it. You should wear a mask when making a cut with the saw to protect yourself.” Joe went to work as I passed the cut panels up to him. He caulked the ends where the panels met the trim to make sure water didn’t get in behind them.
I was concentrating on getting the angles. I heard him exclaim, “Holy shit, look at that.” I looked to where he was pointing. There were five deer coming down through the heavy woods. Two were buck and they were in velvet. “One is a four pointer and the other is at least eight points. I don’t suppose I could get permission to hunt here during season, could I?”
Joe knew he was asking a lot. He sweetened it by offering, “Let me hunt here and I’ll work this weekend for nothing. That will give us just about time to finish putting the siding on.”
I laughed for I would have let him hunt anyway. “You can hunt and if you work this weekend, we’ll feed you.”
“Deal.”
Joe did not quite finish by Sunday night, but promised to come up Monday evening. Sheri and I worked on it during the day, and had it all done by the time he arrived. I paid him overtime wages anyway. We sat around and drank a couple of beers. We had made a friend; that was for certain.
I hadn’t slept with Sheri since the day up on the promontory. I thought I could have, but wasn’t certain. I could see Sheri looking at me during the afternoon and then when Joe was here she looked resigned that I wouldn’t be coming to her room tonight either.
She went to bed shortly before Joe went home. I showered and shaved. I knocked softly on her door, not knowing if she was still awake. “Come.”
The light on her nightstand was on. She spoke, “I thought you and Joe were going to make a night of it.”
“I am going to make a night of it, but not with Joe.”
“I was hoping. I’m not even going to use my leg for an excuse, either.”
She flung her summer blanket and the sheet off. She was naked and with the glow of the soft light, she was beautiful. I trickled my fingers lightly over the stump, up between her legs, pausing just a moment there before going farther. She raised her arms over her head and I continued lightly touching her skin to her underarms. She was ticklish because she squirmed and sucked in her breath. My fingers caressed the sides of both breasts before I leaned down and kissed each nipple.
Her arms came up and pulled me into bed with her. “Bobby, would you teach me to do what we talked about the other day. I’ve had it on my mind and it is only fair after what you do for me. Just a little and go slow. I want to get used to it bit by bit.”
“Wouldn’t you like me to continue doing what I was just doing?”
“We will get to that. I’m not going away. Someday I want to give you as much pleasure as you give me.” Her education began and a little while later. “You have opened up a whole new meaning to pleasure. I swear I get terribly aroused when I do this for you. Is it okay if I stop now? I need you to take care of these new feelings or I’m going to pass out.”
This woman I was making love to had been seriously deprived. I was changing that and yes, I was teaching her. She was putting herself in my hands and was totally uninhibited. What more could a man ask for? I stayed the night.
She said, “One more week and we can go all the way. I’ll bet you are looking forward to that.” I knew she was thinking more of me than her own pleasure.
Sheri and I worked every day on our home. I knew in the back of my mind that we would hear someday from Cassie. A person just did not lay out thousands of dollars to provide a home for a crippled sister and an ex-husband without wanting some payback. Cassie wouldn’t think like that. Maybe she had changed in the last ten years, but I doubted it.
It was a week before Labor Day at seven in the morning. I had come downstairs and was looking out the window for deer. A van with Vermont plates drove into our yard. A very large man got out and came to the door. He knocked. I went to the door. “Are you Bobby Kinsman?”
“Yes, I am.”
“Good, your ex-wife wants to speak to you. Invite her in.”
“She’s invited.” Bly made a signal to the van and then stepped off the porch and lit a cigarette. Cassie got out of the vehicle and came up onto the porch. She was a beautiful woman. When she got close, I could see she looked hard and tense. I wouldn’t say the years had been kind to her, but no doubt she was still beautiful. I held open the door.
She turned on entering and put her arms around me. “Hi Bobby, nice home you have here. You must know I made it all possible.” I escaped from her embrace as soon as I was able to.
“I do, but what is it going to cost me?”
“That is why I’m here to explain it to you. Where is Sheri? She might as well hear this too.”
“She’s upstairs. I think she is putting on her leg.”
“God, how can you stand to see that thing? It turns my stomach.” She paused and then asked, “How have you been?”
“Pretty good. Yourself?”
“I’m great. I’ve got a good business going. Are you still working for peanuts some place?”
“Not working, quit the last place. Have to find something soon.”
“I can solve your problem as I do have a position for you. Pays good and you can stay right here with my busted up sister. The only requirement is that you keep your mouth shut. In fact, if you even mention anything about my business or me you will end up in prison. I’ve taken steps to make sure you do.”
“How is that?”
“Think about this. You have had an agent working on your behalf for the last two years. If the authorities ever investigate you about what I do, everything leads back to you.”
“Explain more.”
“All I need is a place to come to once a week and transfer goods from one vehicle to another. Occasionally I’ll leave something stored in your cellar for a few days. You don’t need to know more. Better for you if you don’t even though you are the only one who would be charged with the contraband. Questions?”
“Am I free to go into town?”
“Of course. Your life doesn’t have to change at all from what it has been this summer.” She opened her shoulder bag and took out an envelope. “This is your first payment. You will get one of these every time Wallace comes with the van.”
“Wallace?”
A crooked grin appeared. “Yes, Wallace, the man who came to the door. He is your agent for your smuggling operation.” Cassie’s eyes looked beyond me. “Hello Sheri. Make us coffee and we’ll visit for a little. I can’t leave yet, but can as soon as the other van shows up. Bobby, would you go upstairs while I talk to my sister.” This was said as a command.
Earlier, when I was more suspicious of Sheri than I was now, I had discovered by opening one of the hot air registers at the end of the upstairs hall, I could hear what was being said in the front room. A person had to be close to it, so I laid down and put my ear to the grill. I could follow the conversation easily.
Sheri didn’t speak. She went into the kitchen and built a pot of coffee. She came out and sat on the couch. Cassie went over and sat alongside of her. “So tell me Sheri, is Bobby as good in bed as Cameron was?”
“I wouldn’t know. I don’t let him into my bed. He hasn’t pushed it. He knows I would scream rape.”
“Well, if I remember when I was married to him, he wasn’t that great. I doubt he would improve any. How are your finances? Are you okay?”
“I get by. Bobby pays for most of the food.”
“Where does his money come from?”
“He said he sold his cottage down south somewhere. He has been moaning about having to find something to do for work. I certainly can’t support him.”
“He can pay you something now. I’m paying him for something he is doing for me. Don’t be shy about asking him for money. Sheri, why don’t you come into this operation with me? I’m making money hand over fist now that I have my route established. You would be good cover with you being a crippled war veteran. No one would believe you were a part of something like this.”
“Let me think about it. All I really want is to live my life here alone. Bobby is a burden, but if he is necessary to you I suppose I’ll have to put up with him.”
“Well, maybe it would be better if you stayed here and watched him. If you think he is trying to get out of working for me, tell Wallace when he comes next week.”
“I can do that. How long is this supposed to go on?”
“It should last at least for several years. It took me a long time to get this into place, but I’m sure I have everything covered. Or should I say, I made sure I have. Everyone does what I ask, just like I have made sure of Bobby.”
I saw another van drive in. This one had Massachusetts plates on it. Wallace and the other driver started moving some boxes from his vehicle to the other one. A satchel passed to Wallace. I wondered what that contained. Cassie shouted up the stairs that she was leaving. Both vehicles turned around. Cassie’s van left first. After sitting there idling twenty minutes, the Massachusetts van drove away.
I came downstairs and Sheri said, “Bobby, I managed to get pictures of Cassie and the other man before I came down. I also got a tape of your conversation with my sister. When she came in, did you kiss her?”
“Had her right on the couch completely undressed and then you showed up.”
Sheri was shaking her head, knowing I was kidding. “Bobby, stop pulling my leg. Do you feel anything at all for her?”
“Pulling your leg? Which one?” This brought tears to Sheri’s eyes, but it was because she was laughing so hard. She came into my arms.
“Bobby, I hate it that my sister is a crook. I hate it that she is forcing you into a life of crime. I hate her just because sisters are supposed to love one another and I don’t feel any love for her at all.”
“Would you want to see Cassie in prison? I know I have told you about the qualms I have had over this whole situation. I have tried to prepare for whatever she is planning. I guess we know now what kind of operation she is running. That is why I had you take a picture of the cars and the people who came with them and turn on the tape recorder when Cassie showed up.
“We should go to the authorities as soon as possible with what we suspect. I don’t want to take a bullet from Cassie and I’m positive she has me as the target if she suspects this is going to unravel on her.”
“I’m with you all the way. You’ve planned some of this already and I can see why you needed to.”
“Let’s say I know Cassie. Here is what I thought we could do. I want you to go into the post office building and get an interview with a federal marshal. They handle the federal security detail in the federal court. I think there is a marshal still there by the name of John Hook. He knows of me. My bookstore had a book he was searching for. It was in stock and I mailed it to him. Tell him everything. He should know what to do with the information you give him.
“If someone wants to meet with me, give them directions on how to get up to the promontory the same way you got there. Make sure you tell them to come in hunting clothes as if scouting for deer. We don’t need any suits running around in the woods. Make it for two days from today at noon if possible.”
“Where will you be while I’m there with the marshal?”
“I’ll stay in the Harmony Parking lot. I’ll go into Baskets Book Store and hang out. They have a store much like the one I had down south. It is much smaller and they only deal in paperbacks. From the parking lot, you go through one of the stores to Main Street and then up the street to the post office. Come back the same way when you return. You can poke your head into the bookstore and find me when you are finished.
“Kind of cloak and dagger isn’t it?”
“Yes, but we don’t know much about Cassie, She might have some friends left over from when she lived here who would recognize me. Understand why I’m putting this first meeting on you. When I meet with the feds, that should make it clear that neither one of us are involved in Cassie’s scheme. When this is all over, we can go on with our life together.
“Bobby, you have never said you love me. You certainly treat me as if you do. Do you?”
“I do, but I was waiting to hear ‘I love you’ from you first.”
“I love you and I can’t imagine being without you.”
“Just what I wanted to hear. Now if we can get away from Cassie, we’ll be all set.”
When Sheri returned from the federal building and we were on the way home she said, “There will be someone to meet you on the promontory two days from now. I didn’t go into any supposition while talking with Marshal John Hook. He has called the Drug Enforcement Agency, the FBI, and the Department of Homeland Security. You will be talking with one of the agencies. Did I do what you wanted?”
“You did just fine.”
“Bobby, I’m worried. I’ve never dealt with anything such as this. What if these feds don’t believe us?”
“That is why I wanted to inform them that there was something happening that they should look into. We’ll be okay.”
“I hope so. I did something you didn’t know about. You didn’t hide the envelope with the money Cassie gave you. I took that and gave it to the marshal with the rest of the things. Are you mad? I know you probably need it, but to me it is dirty.”
“You did just right. I should have thought of doing it.”
We anxiously waited for the two days to pass.
I was sitting on a boulder and Sheri on a ledge outcropping back from the edge of the cliff. Sheri and I had brought a lunch and came up earlier the easy way. We could see the view very well from here. There was a pair of hawks circling high up. Always there were interesting things to look at, if you took the time.
Just before noon, we could hear someone coming through the woods. I didn’t think they were deer hunters as they weren’t that quiet in their progress. They might not have sounded like hunters, but they were dressed as hunters when they came into view. We watched as a man and a woman approached. They introduced themselves and showed us their badges.
“I’m Mike Stinson with the FBI. This is Molly Summers with the DEA. We work together sometimes.” We introduced ourselves.
Mike questioned me. “Are you two related or how is it you know each other?”
I explained, “I was once married to a woman named Cassandra Goresuch. When I found out she was dealing drugs, twelve years ago, I divorced her. She did receive a piece of land in the settlement, but not this one. This property here I was able to keep title to. I then moved down south and made a new life, even to the point of getting married. My second wife is now dead, killed in an auto accident.
“When I started getting tax bills on this property that were increasing because of improvements I didn’t make or was aware of, I returned here. I was coming back eventually, as I grew up here and it is home to me. I found Sheri living in the building that was the cause of the higher assessment.”
“Did you know her before?”
“I knew of her because she is my ex-wife’s sister, but we had never met.”
Molly did the questioning of Sheri. “Sheri, did you know Robert?”
“I knew of him. I had heard my sister speak about him when they were married. I thought from the way she spoke, she regretted the divorce, but I don’t think that now. She is just using him.”
“And how come you came to be here?”
“I was in the military and was injured. When my sister suggested living in this place, I took her up on it. I was to finish the building in payment. Cassie told me all along that she owned the property, but I found out a month ago it belonged to Bobby.”
“What are your injuries?” Sheri stood up and showed them just the way she had shown me. Mike was as interested in her underwear as I had been at one time, which made me chuckle. I had concluded that pretty underthings was something she indulged herself in without stint. Both agents were as amazed as I had been that she was able to get around and up here over such difficult terrain.
Sheri was asked to explain about the relationship she had with her sister. Mike turned to me again by asking in more detail about Cassie and me. Molly was interested in the same when I explained about discovering her drug dealing years previously.
“That is one reason why I have been so suspicious of her. That and why she was making improvements on property she didn’t own. I can see why from what she said the other day. It was a way to warn me about keeping my mouth shut. She must have been planning this for two years or more, so it did set alarms off in my mind. She admitted that all trails would lead back to me and I would be the one holding an empty sack if she was found out.”
“That is why you came forward?”
“Yes. I would have anyway after the first time I went into the cellar.”
“Why is that?”
“The cellar is constructed as a prison. At some point I figure she is going to have someone down there she wants to keep out of sight and they can’t get away or get out.”
Mike thought a minute before saying, “It might be you.”
“I know, but I have it covered. I fixed it so if a person knows how he can escape.”
“Would you share?”
“Sure, I have no secrets from you people.”
“Tell us then.”
“Okay, all of the doors are steel. Also, the bulkhead is steel with the bolts sunk into cement. A padlock on all three openings would make the cellar a prison. The windows are small and have a heavy steel mesh embedded into the poured cement. Both entrance doors are steel and the lower one has a hasp so it can be secured with a padlock.”
“So how can a person escape?”
“I removed the screws in the hinges and cut them almost off and then reinstalled them. They look solid, but with a sharp blow, the heads will snap off. I also have a strong pry bar that will work and do the same thing. Both the bar and the hammer are well hidden.
“The steel bulkhead was a little more difficult to figure a way out. The nuts are showing, but if you don’t have a wrench, you can’t remove them. I made one and it is hidden in the bulkhead. There is also a wrench I purchased and that is hidden with the hammer and the pry bar. With the nuts removed a person can lift the bulkhead completely off.”
“What makes you think this is a prison and who would it be for?”
“I was thinking illegal persons. Maybe Latinos or Asians. Maybe even terrorists from the Mideast. Of course it might be for Sheri and me if they think we are talking to the authorities or just want to get rid of us.”
Mike asked another question. “What kind of operation would you think she has?”
“I’m guessing she has built a pipeline to move contraband from Canada to the cities south of us. If drugs, I doubt any of it is sold here in Vermont. We have to go to Massachusetts for that.”
“And what besides drugs would you suspect?”
"It could be anything. People, pills, methamphetamine… maybe even counterfeit money.”
“That would cover just about everything.”
“Cassie is intelligent and she has the ego to match. She usually reads people well. She could read me when I was married to her. I didn’t do anything when I caught her and she knew I would not finger her at the time. She thinks I would either slink away or suck it up. People change though, and I have, but she doesn’t know it yet.”
“You certainly are doing something. What’s so different this time?”
“Too much to lose if I get tied in with her. I don’t like the way she is treating either her sister or me. We have fallen in love so we are trying to protect the future we hope to have together.” I wanted to know what was to happen next. “What should Sheri and I be doing?”
“Don’t do anything other than just what she tells you. We have pictures of the license plates and we have pictures of the two men as well as Cassandra. Don’t expect this to come together in a couple of weeks. It may take months. We don’t want just Cassie and Bly, but everyone connected with them. I’m guessing we will be locating at least one border patrol agent who is helping them for money, just as she thought you would help her. You will be informed in plenty of time so you can keep safe in case this turns nasty.
“Bobby, I am returning the money you gave us. You earned it, so use it. It has been checked to see if it is counterfeit. We did get a few clear fingerprints off the envelope and we’re checking those. It might be a good idea to let us check the money every time you receive some. We don't think you will find it counterfeit because from what we are supposing, Cassie won’t be spending money that is in her pipeline. That is if counterfeit money is one of the contraband goods.”
“Makes sense. When do you want to meet us again?”
“Molly and I were talking on the way coming up. How about we mail you a phone that you can use to contact us? To be really safe, only phone us when you are in town with other people around. I’ll also send you a key to a box at the post office. The number on the key will not be to the box that it opens. The real box will be two to the right of the number in the same row. This is in case the key is lost and the wrong person finds it.
We went over all the details again before the two agents left. Sheri and I stayed behind and loved each other as we sat on the edge of the cliff. This seemed apropos as we felt we actually would be close to the edge of a cliff in the coming months, at least figuratively.
We got back to the house at 3:00 p.m. I opened the envelope that held the money that had just been returned to Sheri and me. It held $1,300 in hundred dollar bills. I handed it to Sheri. “This is yours. You spent your savings to start this house.”
“Oh no, we split it. I have my disability check coming every month and you have paid for everything since you came. I don’t know how much money you have, but you must be close to running out at the rate you are spending.”
“Sheri, remember I am the one who will be charged with a crime if this doesn’t play out the way we hope it will. You put it into your account and if I need it, I’ll ask for help when I need to engage an attorney or something. Also, from what you told your sister about not liking me here, it means you and I can’t marry until this is all resolved.”
“I hadn’t thought about that.” She looked at me before saying, “Bobby, you’re talking real marriage. I’ve screwed up haven’t I?”
“No, you haven’t, we are going to be living as man and wife. The day Cassie is sentenced to prison is going to be our wedding day. We just don’t know what day that is going to be. Those are my intentions anyway.”
“How your wife must have loved you. I’m only half a woman. I’m sister to a drug dealer and I tried to screw you out of your property. I’ve known you for four months and you’ve gone from pity for me to love for me. I’ve had more respect from you than I had from my husband in all the years I was married to him. I have also gone from thinking sex was only for procreation to one of joyous abandon.”
“Sheri, my wife did love me very much. Her mind set at first was a lot like yours was a few months ago. You are a compelling reason for a do over and I never expected I would have a chance for one. To be honest I didn’t trust you for the first little while. I held reservations even after our first time in bed together.”
“That has to be why I didn’t know about the cellar being a possible prison?”
“Yes. I could have shared all of this with you sooner. Tomorrow morning I’ll help you down there and show you what has to be done to break out if it is ever necessary.”
“I won’t need any help going down. I can go down backwards.”
“That’s great. I have made some hiding places down there. Not only have I hidden the tools, but have hidden two semi-automatic pistols as well. I think the original contractor who built the place is the only one who could spot the changes I’ve made.”
“How come you know this stuff---you know, protection, and being prepared and things like that?”
“I owned a book store. Sometimes, when it wasn’t busy, I had time to read. I read many books about spying during the cold war. Mysteries and detective magazines have added to my knowledge. Some of the popular novelists are ingenious at plot lines
“What did you get for pistols?”
“Both are Colt .380 caliber. Is that pistol you put on me a Colt?”
“Yeah, a .32. Not a heavy hitter, but it will do the job if you know where to place your shot.”
“Being in the service, you would know where.”
“I would hope so.”
“Well, let’s pray we don’t have to have to use them.”
“Squeamish?”
“Not at all. At least I don’t think I would be if necessary. I’d be protecting either you or myself.”
“You’ll do with an attitude like that.” Both Sheri and I had the feeling that we needed to be prepared for what might happen and at the same time hoped nothing would.
We worked steadily on our home. I purchased more pellets for heating, picking them up in Walpole at Tractor Supply. I could bring home a half ton at a time. I built a small slide, which was nothing more than two wide boards covered with a strip of aluminum tacked to it. It was slippery enough to slide the bags of pellets down into the cellar. Sheri was able to take them off the pickup and I would catch and stack them.
We worked on some project just about every day. Wallace Bly came once a week every week. We didn’t see Cassie at all. Sheri and I kept up the charade of not getting along by snapping at each other in Bly’s hearing.
At first there didn’t seem to be any pattern to his arrival. Then we noticed he came on Tuesday one week, Wednesday the next week and Thursday the one after that. He followed the pattern by repeating it in the following three weeks.
The vehicles changed also. There were the two unmarked vans we had seen the first time. There was a look-alike FedEx truck with a logo and a small brown van with UPS logo on the side. After two trips, we didn’t see the FedEx van again, but a small four-wheel-drive car marked the same as the van. We tried always to get a picture of each vehicle. Then we had one that had FTD on the side. The one that cracked us up was one that touted a food delivery service.
Personally, I felt Cassie was going overboard with so many different transport vehicles. No place in rural Vermont ever had this many assorted delivery vans come regularly to service it. There were places where flatlanders might. Those who had bought and rehabbed a big farmhouse and assorted buildings, but this was just a small house way out in the woods.
Cassie was out on a limb farther than she could know. Sheri and I were in town to the post office at least once a week and we called Mike and Molly once a month. We were getting concerned because we did not feel that there was enough being done to relieve the threat that was hanging over us. We were wrong, of course. The FBI was on top of it and set up a meeting place.
We had some snow in late November and early December, but a warm spell had taken it all away. Sheri and I took a hike going west a little ways until we hit a logging road. It came out on the Hescock Road near an old farmstead. The only building there now was a half fallen down barn. Mike and Molly were waiting inside when we arrived.
“Hi Bobby and Sheri. Did you have any trouble getting here?”
Sheri answered, “Not really. I had a man to hang onto over the rough spots. I actually enjoyed the walk.”
“It had to have been three-quarters of a mile.”
“About that. Molly, it was you who thought we needed another face to face meeting.”
“Yes. I just wanted you to know that we have Cassandra nailed to the wall. This has turned out to be a huge network of crime and we want to take down as many as we can. Your place is just one place that is a transfer point. There is another one about a hundred miles north of here. A youngish couple about the same age as you two staff it. I’m not going to tell you what their problem is that caused them to hook up with these crooks. It could be argued that they are victims. It is too bad they didn’t come forward like you two have.”
“What’s going to happen to them?”
“They’ll have to be charged the same as everyone else. They will need a good lawyer. If they do, they might get off without prison time. It is up to the federal prosecutor, a jury and then the judge.
“How involved is my sister in this?”
“She is one of the major players in it all.”
“Is there any way that she could be a victim the same as the other couple you just mentioned?”
“Sheri, it doesn’t appear that she is at this time.”
“Bobby and I agree then. We concluded she was just thinking of herself when she got first me, and then Bobby involved. She spent a lot of money setting it up and we were sucked in.”
I asked Mike, “Do you have any idea how long this investigation is going to go on? Sheri and I want to get married, but if we did now, Cassie would get suspicious of us.”
“That’s smart thinking. It might rock the boat and she would run out.”
“She might, knowing what she did when we were married. She would figure she could outwit everyone long enough to get away and then start over somewhere else. I guess Sheri is staying single for awhile longer.”
Sheri laughed, “Yes, and you are too.”
I didn’t reply to this, as we were comfortable just as we were for a while at least. “You didn’t answer, Mike how long this is ongoing.”
“It is hard to tell. We are trying to get someone into the organization undercover and we are close to accomplishing it. There are just too many tentacles to this octopus. You know with you two coming forward when you did, it has made our job so much easier. We might not even know about any of this except for you.” If you can hold out until spring, we should be done. We can close in at that time. We are shooting for a May 15 date.”
“Okay, we can live with that. I do want to thank you for getting us that alert with ADT security service. I installed a button in the cellar, one in the kitchen and one in Sheri’s bedroom. Those two are hidden as well as the one I have in the cellar.”
“I would say you are about as well protected as you can be. Molly and I are hoping we can all be friends when this is all over.”
Sheri went to Molly, hugged her, and then did the same with Mike. I shook both their hands. There was nothing more to say so we got ready to part. Mike cautioned, “You two keep safe and we will see you in May.”
“Thanks to both of you.” We walked down Hescock Road to where it branched off onto our own drive. The walking was much easier for Sheri than the old logging road we followed here. We held hands the distance to our front door. We also were silent because now we knew there was still five months to go before a possible ending to our uneasy situation. Five months seemed forever.
Christmas was nearly on us. We so wanted to decorate, but what if Cassie came unexpectedly? We solved this problem by my finding a straggly spruce tree and putting a dozen round ornaments and a box of tinsel on it. Sheri found in an antique shop one of those ceramic Christmas trees where you put a light in the center and it glows with various lights.
“Sheri, what would you like for Christmas?”
“Nothing more than I already have. I don’t want to do anything except to lounge around in my robe all day. Maybe I will not even put my leg on and just use the crutches. Then if I feel the urge, I can fall right into your arms anytime I choose. How about you? What would you like?”
“I would say the same. I’ll even cook the dinner. Do you need turkey?”
“No, but I would like to try a roast of lamb. Can you cook it for me?”
“Lamb coming up. I’ll go in today and get a roast. Anything else?”
“Can we have pumpkin pie? You can get one at the bakery.”
“I’ll see that you have pie.” I usually did the shopping anyway, so this was no chore. I was also the better cook. Sheri hadn’t had much time to hone her cooking skills while driving truck in the service. She didn’t leave all the difficult meal preparing to me either because she was interested in becoming a good cook. When I was preparing a meal, she was right beside me watching. I don’t know how I gained my skills. Maybe I got them from my mother. She was a woman who was the greatest cook ever.
Christmas was on a Friday this year. Wednesday, Bly handed me the usual envelope, turned away, stepping off the porch. He spoke over his shoulder, pausing long enough to say, “Mrs. Kinsman will be taking Christmas dinner with you. Make it for two in the afternoon.”
I spoke quickly with an answer, “I’m inviting you to come with her.” He kept going toward the van he came in and didn’t acknowledge my invite. I wanted to see how Cassie and Bly, who appeared to be her right hand man, acted toward each other. Who knows, they might inadvertently let more information slip.
I told Sheri about her sister coming. She was not happy and very nervous, afraid that we would be the ones to slip up and Cassie would get onto our subterfuge. “We don’t have any choice, do we?”
“I guess not. Christmas this year is going to be a horrible day.”
“We’ll get through it.”
I baked pies (pumpkin and apple), and homemade rolls on Thursday. Christmas Eve, we went to bed early and made love. It was a dance of love. This ended up as one of those memorable nights we wouldn’t ever forget no matter how long we lived. Before we slept, we planned how we would act before Cassie, trying to show that we held only contempt for each other.
Sheri did the vegetables and I prepared the roast lamb, timing it for 2:00 that afternoon. It was 1:15 when Cassie arrived. Wallace Bly was with her. When they came up onto the porch, I shouted upstairs, “Hey bitch, your sister is here. Put yourself together and get down here.” I knew Cassie had heard this.
“Screw you Bobby, I’ll come down when I get good and ready.”
I let Cassie knock on the door. I let it swing open and turned away, letting the two so-called guests enter and close the door. I hadn’t brought my dining set down from storage yet because we still had the floor to do. I had nailed a couple of sawhorses together and had put a sheet of plywood on them to use as a table. We would use the kitchen stools to sit on.
Cassie spoke, “Haven’t you got a Christmas kiss for me Bobby? I would like one for everything I am doing for you.”
“Doing for me? Christ Cassie, I’m here living with your sister. She’s a bitch.”
“Oh, come on. She can’t be that bad.”
“You might not think so, but you aren’t living with her.”
“Well kiss me anyway.” Cassie put out her arms and I stepped forward and kissed her hard. “Wow. I don’t remember your kisses being that hot. Have you been practicing?”
“Nope, but I do watch porn on the web.”
“Why don’t you sweet talk my sister?”
“No, never. She would probably bite me if I tried it. If I tried anything with her, she would report me for rape. How much longer does this have to go on?”
“A while longer. Things are going great right now. A year or two maybe. I’m going to make it worth your while when I quit. You won’t regret this, I promise.”
“Okay, I guess. I hope you are talking big money?”
“Of course Bobby.” She looked behind me. “Here’s my sister now. Hello Sheri.”
“Cassie.”
“Is that all you have to say to me?”
“It is. You don’t know what living with this bastard is like. He is a shit head.”
“I can’t believe that.”
“You would if he did to you what he did to me one time.”
“What did he do?”
“We were arguing one night and he snuck into my room and took my leg and my crutches bringing them downstairs. I had to hitch along the floor on my butt and come down the stairs the same way. I’m about ready to kill him.”
Cassie’s face clouded over. “Listen, and listen good. I want you both to lighten up. I need you both right here. If one of you drives the other off, I’m sending Wally in here to beat the crap out of you. I don’t care if you are my sister or that I still have some affection for Bobby.” She paused. “Understand?”
“Cassie why do you think it would be me who skinned out?”
“Bobby, you skinned out on me once. There was no need to divorce me. We could have worked it out. Now I came here today to have a nice meal with the people I love.” Her look when she said this was damned facetious.
I became aware of one thing in the three hours Cassie and Wally were with us. Wally was in love with Cassie, but he kept it hidden from her. It was something surprising, and I wondered if this fact might come in useful to me someday. Cassie warned us at every turn not to fuck up her operation.
She had me alone for a minute. “Bobby, I’m telling you to take Sheri out for dinner or a movie once in awhile. Stop getting her pissed off at you, and definitely stop being so sensitive. That’s an order. Remember you don’t want to get me pissed off either.”
Suddenly, Wally asked me to show him the cellar. I shrugged without asking why and took him down there. I had used what I had considered the seating to pile boxes on. “What’s in the boxes?”
“Personal stuff. Extra dishes, clothes, kitchen stuff. You name it.”
“Tools?”
“No, the only tools I have are upstairs and I’m using them.”
“You sure have a lot of pellets.”
“There was one ton here and I bought five more. I might get by and still have two and half ton left over. The house is tight and well insulated. I like the heat and it is not too costly. It isn’t like burning cord wood and it’s a hell of a lot cheaper than oil.”
“Sensible.” Then he paused and glared at me. “Kinsman, you listen to me. I know you were married to Cassandra at one time. Don’t forget that things have changed. She is mine now. I don’t want you ever kissing her again. I would suggest you suck up to her sister. You both are losers. Cassandra and I will see that you can have a good life, but you will have to work at it.
“You had better not skin out either or I will personally hunt you down and wipe you off the face of the earth.”
He had had his say and now toured the whole area without saying more. We went back up the stairs. I knew Wallace was looking to see if the cellar could still be used as a prison. He saw it could be. I was positive of that.
Cassie was getting ready to leave. Sheri was acting sour, so I knew she had got explicit orders from Cassie the same as I had. As Cassie went out the door, she reminded us again, “Remember, you two get along with each other and you’ll get a bonus when I close this down.”
Standing on the porch, we watched them leave. “Whew, I’m glad that is over. You know something? The bitch didn’t even offer to help clean up or do the dishes.”
This struck me funny, I started laughing, and soon Sheri was too. “You know something else? She wants me to seduce you to keep you happy. I said I would think about it, but didn’t think it would work. You were such an asshole.”
“Well, try it anyway.” This was said as I was shucking my clothes and Sheri was doing the same. I removed her leg and soon we were wrestling around, getting comfortable on the couch.
A lot of snow fell during the month of January. There was a neighbor on Sunset Lake Road who had a good-sized pickup with a plow and he plowed our road. I might decide to purchase a plow for next year and have it mounted on my own vehicle. We had one ice storm, but it came after some snow had fallen. The plow was able to plow it all off so it didn’t bother the traveling. All of this snow went over the bank into the brook. There were only a few places in the half mile where we had snow banks. I bought a small snow blower to clean up around the house.
I bitched about the cost of plowing to Wallace Bly when he came after a snowstorm. The next week when he arrived, there was an extra $500 in the envelope.
Chapter Four
In February, Wallace came to the door. “Kinsman, I have some people with me this time. They are going to have to stay in the cellar for three days. The arrangements we made for their journey has been held up on the receiving end. They are a man, his sister, his wife and two daughters, eleven and sixteen. Keep them down below in the cellar.”
“What about food?”
“They will need water. Set a jug on the top step of the stairs. They have trail mix for food.”
“Okay, I guess I can do that. Are they dangerous?”
“No, he is a professor with a price on his head from his own government. The wife and two daughters are American citizens. They will deal with the immigration authorities sometime in the future months after they reach her parents. It would be best if you didn’t interact with them at all. I’ll be back on Saturday to get them.”
He returned to his van and drove up close to the porch. He got out and slid the door open. He hurried the people in and then started unloading three duffel bags. The van must have been very crowded. The professor was coffee colored, as was another woman. The American woman was almost, but not quite white. The two children were just a tad darker than their mother was. All were tall, slim, and fine featured, and the dark woman and the sixteen-year-old girl were beautiful.
Sheri and I stood in the far end of the living room and watched as they filed by. None of them addressed me, but the youngest child stopped momentarily and looked at Sheri, smiled and gave a low wave with her hand. She appeared a little scared, but wanted to make a new friend. She made more than one, for my heart went out to her and I’m sure Sheri felt the same. Wallace Bly didn’t hang around and he didn’t even go downstairs to show my guests their living quarters.
I took a gallon milk jug filled with water to the stairs and was leaning down to put it onto the top stair. The sixteen-year-old was sitting on the bottom step. She turned and looked up at me. “Can we have some food? All we have is some dry trail mix. I’m so sick of it I can hardly get it down. Please?”
“How long have you been traveling?”
“I can’t tell you. I’m not even supposed to talk to you.”
“Okay, let me ask my friend what we have. We aren’t supposed to talk with any of you either.” Sheri was sitting on the couch. “The kids are hungry.”
“Probably they all are. We’ve got a loaf of bread and enough hamburger to make sandwiches.”
“You know we weren’t supposed to feed them.”
“I know, but Bly doesn’t need to know. We’ve got enough cheddar cheese to make them cheeseburgers.”
“Good, you start them cooking. We’ll feed them what we have and I’ll go down and buy some more food.”
“You’re a softy, you know.”
“I know and you love me because I am.” That got me a kiss.
It was I who carried the sandwiches, one large bottle of soda pop, three bottles of beer, and five apples down the stairs. I was met with disbelief at first and then many a thank you. I spoke to the wife, “Listen to me. I don’t want to know your names or anything about you. You are just passing through.
“That said, when you finish your sandwich, you may come up one at a time and take a shower. If you have underwear, you may wash enough to get you to the next stop. I have a blow-up mattress that is big enough for you adults to sleep on. The girls may sleep upstairs next to the room Sheri sleeps in. Please don’t mention this to those who are moving you on.”
I turned and went back upstairs. Sheri was curious, and I just said they thanked me for the food. Then I said they all could shower, use the washer and the girls could sleep in my room. I took the air mattress down and blew it up. A big box of mine held blankets. It had come up from Greensboro. It was somewhat dank in the cellar so I offered these.
The youngest girl came up shyly for her shower. She was shy meeting Sheri, but Sheri immediately made her welcome. I headed down town for groceries. It was almost two hours before I was able to get home as I was held up by an accident on Sunset Lake Road. A car had gone off the road and hit a tree. When I brought the groceries in, the tall black woman and the two young girls were sitting on the couch.
“Bobby, this is Etta Atu. The family name is unpronounceable so they all go by the shortened version. She is a doctor. Marie is her oldest niece and Berta is the youngest. Their mother’s name is Laura and their father’s name is John. He went to school at Northeastern and met Laura while there. That was several years ago.”
I was a little upset. I didn’t mind sharing our food with these transients, but I didn’t want to know anything more about them. I didn’t want to know who they were, where they came from, and especially not why they were in Cassie’s pipeline. It was fine to pass on images to Mike and Molly, but I didn’t want to know details. What if they were associated with a terrorist group? It seemed very unlikely, but I kept to the plan.
I started to say something, but Etta spoke first. “Thank you very much for making us comfortable. We can’t tell you our names. We aren’t bad people, we were caught up in a political situation in our home country, and managed to get away. We will always remember your kindness. Someday you will be repaid for it I’m sure. We really have only shared our first names. Berta is the one who said I was a doctor. She is proud of me and tells everyone. You can forget it if you want to.”
I doubted I would ever forget Etta. She was tall with a statuesque figure and spoke with a British accent. I had to assume she had spent some years in the United Kingdom, probably training to be a physician. I nodded that I would accept her explanation.
I went down into the cellar to put pellets into the furnace. John and Laura were lying on the air mattress. She spoke, “Thank you so much for taking care of us. I wish I could say more, but what you are doing for the girls is very much appreciated.” I smiled and went about filling the hopper. Marie came downstairs and rattled off in a language I didn’t recognize something. She went back upstairs. I said goodnight.
The aunt and the two girls had the run of the house for the next two days. I would not allow them outside, even though they asked. This was buttressed by John and Laura, who remained in the cellar. Saturday morning, I made sure all evidence of my guests being upstairs was removed. Wallace came about two in the afternoon and loaded them into the vehicle that had the food service logo on the side.
Sheri had tears in her eyes as we watched the van leave. “I really enjoyed having them here. I wonder where they are going and why? I would like to see them again someday.”
“You had better forget them. It will be safer for us.”
“I know.”
Cassie came the next week with Wallace. They stomped into the house. “Listen, you two, I understand you made those people who were here last week comfortable. The kid couldn’t keep her mouth shut and blabbed about how well you treated them. Wally told you not to do that. You didn’t follow orders.”
“Damn it Cassie, they had kids with them and they were hungry. If you put people in here and they are hungry, I’m going to feed them. I’m not running a gulag here. You warn the people not to talk to us. It is their responsibility, not ours. I told the last ones not to divulge anything and they wouldn’t have if it weren’t for the youngest girl. I don’t like you moving kids anyway.”
“Okay, this time, no harm done. I guess you are right. I just have to be careful. There will be a bunch of Latinos from Cuba coming through tomorrow. They will be here overnight, that’s all. Go ahead and feed them. You might as well get another air mattress. I’ll make this into a halfway house. It pays better. You’ll get more money, but what you feed people comes out of that.
“Another thing Bobby, the only vans coming here from now on will be food service vans. They are easier to explain. One will be here every day except Sunday. If anyone asks, neither one of you can cook, so you have joined a meal delivery service. I also notice you two are getting along better. I haven’t heard you two spitting at each other today at all. That’s good, makes for happy living. You’ll probably be in bed together someday.”
I could see Cassie thought this was unthinkable as she chuckled. She sobered and continued, “Sheri, make us coffee, I have something else to discuss.” She waited until the coffee was poured.
“I’m looking to the future. When I quit this business, I won’t want any ties to this part of the country. I’ve bought a piece of property in another state. I want to get rid of the lot I own here. I’m giving it to you. I don’t think anyone locally knows you are my sister and I don’t want it known.
“Wallace is handling the sale as your agent this time. One more thing to keep your mouth shut about. I hope you have enough money to pay the taxes on it, but I really don’t care. Maybe Bobby will give you some of the money I am paying him.” Again, she chuckled. She and Wallace finished their coffee and then left.
I asked Sheri what she thought she would do with the land she was soon to own. “I’m going to sell it and continue to live right here with you.” She changed the subject. “Bobby, how much are you worth? You know what I have, which is not much. You have never said and I would like to know.”
“What would you say if I said several million?”
“I wouldn’t believe you.”
“Well it is true. Think about it. My wife’s parents owned a bookstore and did for ten years. Before that, her father was a stockbroker and retired when he was forty-two. Her mother sold real estate. Shelly and I had some money from both working in the store. The last one to die in a situation like this inherits. Shelly was her parent’s heir and outlived them by only an hour. I was her husband. Then there were their insurance policies. I inherited it all.
“I sold the bookstore before coming up here to see who was preempting my property. Do you believe me now?”
“I guess I have to believe you. That worries me. You’re fairly young and handsome.” Tears were starting to fall from her eyes. “You’re rich and don’t really have any reason to stay with me now. Especially as I have my own property. I can make my own way. I’m thinking the black woman, Etta, is a professional, and she is beautiful and quite taken with you. You could hunt her up and have a great life with someone who is all there.” Sheri was crying hard now.
“All that is true, if that is what I wanted. I don’t though because I want you. We were thrown into this situation together and it hasn’t played out fully yet. You need protection and I love you so I want to protect you. The money I have has nothing to do with us. It is there to use if we need it, but that’s all. Besides you have a sexy stump of a leg and it turns me on as much today as it did nine months ago.”
“Is it my leg or is it a fetish you have?”
“It definitely is your leg.”
“Okay, this is the last time I will ever doubt you love me. My stump is a little sore and needs a massage. Can I have you tend to it before we get ready for the bunch of Cubans that are coming tomorrow?” We made it to the couch and this was comfortable enough to play on. Nothing more was said about my net worth and I figured as long I was with Sheri, the money was no more of a big deal to her than it was to me.
I guess there were many people who moved in and out of the country. Cassie had now made this her main operation. Rarely did we have a time when we didn’t have at least one over-nighter in the cellar three times a week.
Cassie gave her attention to each and every one by not trying to combine them. I mean, if there was a single man, she didn’t have a woman that he didn’t know with him. The same when there were multiples. Blacks and Asians were always kept separate. Many who came through were from the Latin countries. I guess the reason was that she didn’t want to have any ethnic trouble develop while they were her charges in transit.
I went so far as to post a notice showing a plate and cup with a (5:00) in a circle. Whether everyone from the different countries understood, I wouldn’t know. This was the only time we served hot food, unless they were staying more than one evening. In that case, we served cold cereal for breakfast, a ham sandwich for lunch, and did a pot roast with potatoes, carrots, and onions cooked in a cast iron kettle at five. No one complained. Sheri and I assumed we were treating our guests better than at their other stops along the way.
Cassie had increased my payment so I didn’t have to foot the food bill myself. At first we trusted that no one would hurt us, but that changed. I slept in the room closest to the stairs.
I awoke one night and saw a shadow pass down the hall toward Sheri’s room. I got out of bed and stood watching him trying her door. I flicked the hall light on. The man got a scared look on his face and ran back by me and down both flights of stairs. Was it me or was it the .380 I was holding? Didn’t matter. The next night there was a bolt on the door leading to the cellar. Before this, I had relied on a thumb lock and didn’t always think to push it. Dumb!
It was the last of March when a mixed group of seven Mexicans was going south and stayed two nights. The food service van had to have been packed full of humanity. As they went by me to load up and leave, a small, older woman, definitely of Latin heritage, stumbled in front of me. When I reached down to help her up, she whispered, “Mike and Molly.” This had to make her an agent of the FBI or the DEA. I felt safer knowing the two agencies hadn’t forgotten Sheri and me.
Another month went by and it was the end of April. We were having over-nighters more often. Also, it looked like Cassie was not only moving people down the pipe, but was now combining other contraband in the same van where there were people. We tried to get images of all the people who arrived, but that was difficult. Earlier in the year, I had installed a motion detector that tripped a camera, so we were collecting pictures of 75% of the arrivals and didn’t need to be upstairs and physically take the picture.
There were very few transients going north… maybe one every two weeks. The group of seven Mexicans in March was the biggest bunch to go either way. Both Sheri and I were getting tenser by the day. Mike and Molly had promised this operation would end by mid-May.
Sheri became concerned about how much food we were purchasing when the clerk made the comment that she sure bought a lot of groceries. “Do you have a large family or run a restaurant?” We then decided to spread out our purchases to different stores. This meant we had to travel to Wilmington, Putney, Bellows Falls or Keene for groceries. We were fast becoming sick of this whole operation and wanted it done with.
On the third of May, Wallace arrived at barely daylight and approached the door. “Bobby and Sheri, please go for a walk. Your guests today don’t want to be seen. They will require food so in a half hour please return and cook something for them. Just open the cellar door and put it on the top step. I also warn you it wouldn’t be wise to get curious. I’ll be back tonight after dark and get them.”
“Okay, whatever you say. None of our business. How much food will be required?”
“I don’t know. Make up a big kettle of pasta and sauce. Add a loaf of bread. That should do it. You can return from your walk when you hear my car leave.”
Sheri put on a heavy jacket and covered her head with a shawl. We stayed away from the van that held the people we were warned not to see and headed up the road. We got almost halfway to Hescock Road when Wallace went by us. He just waved and we turned around and went back to the house. Sheri started macaroni for chop suey while I put onions, garlic and hamburger into a skillet.
We put this all together with some canned crushed tomatoes. I was sure if these persons were hungry, they would be salivating by now. It smelled wonderful. I wrapped some eating utensils in a towel, enough for a half-dozen people, filled an empty milk jug with water, a loaf of twelve-grain bread and a stick of butter. As an afterthought, I added a six-pack of Pepsi. I opened the cellar door, placed it all where Wallace said to, and closed the door.
This was the day Sheri and I planned to start laying the floor in the living room. We decided to go ahead with this. We moved the furniture and started cutting and fitting the flooring. This was the last project before our house would be totally finished. Hopefully, the other situation would be resolved at the same time. Cassie would be out of our lives, and hopefully out of circulation, probably for many years.
We would lay a couple of courses on the floor then stand up, and admire our work. This was certainly going to be beautiful. We did hear the toilet in the cellar flush three times close together. I surmised there were three people down there. Sheri took the time to bake a white cake. She frosted it with chocolate frosting when it cooled. About three in the afternoon, I knocked on the cellar door, to warn them that I was opening it.
All of the food I had left earlier had been consumed. The Pepsi had been drunk as well. I picked up the dishes and put down the cake. I had emptied two quarts of canned peaches into a bowl and left that with the cake. I went back to working on the living room floor. About two hours before dark, I put a pound package of sliced ham and another loaf of bread on the step. I added a jar of mustard and another six-pack of Pepsi.
It was dark when Wallace Bly arrived. “Go upstairs and stay there while I load up these people. It would be best if you forgot there was anyone here on this date.” We shrugged our shoulders and went upstairs as directed. It wasn’t long before we heard Bly’s vehicle leave.
“Bobby, you pick up what they left and I’ll do the dishes.”
“Okay, but I think if they didn’t wipe down the spoons and forks, I’ll wrap them up and put them in the mailbox for Mike to check for fingerprints. What do you think?”
“Why?”
“Because if we weren’t supposed to see them, they must be terribly important. One more nail in Cassie’s coffin. God, think of all the harm Cassie has caused with her drugs and contraband. Who knows what criminals she has helped get into the country.”
“Good thinking. Where did she go so wrong? I know I have never gotten along with her, and I can’t believe with what she has been doing that we are even related.”
“I know and I feel the same way. She is so much worse than when I was married to her.”
The next morning I went into town. I took the memory cell from the camera along with the towel that had the dirty eating utensils and stuffed them into the post office box. I came home and we worked on the flooring. One more day and our home would be finished.
The next ten days it was business as usual as far as Cassie and her pipeline were concerned. Wallace was there every day except on the two Sundays. The fourteenth of May was a Monday. Wallace drove in and Cassie was in a separate car behind him. She parked near the porch headed out and came into the house before Wallace.
“Bobby, you have five guests for today and tonight. They are all from China. One is an elderly woman needing help getting down the stairs. It will take both you and Wally, as she is quite heavy. Sheri, you gather up some food, as they are all very hungry. You know you two have done a wonderful job of feeding those who have stayed here. Keep it up for a few more months. I’m going to end this before Christmas.”
“You will have got rich enough and destroyed enough lives by then I take it?”
“You could say that, but you have been right in there, accepting each and every envelope I’ve passed to you. You are worthless. You haven’t even tried to find a job and have been living off me.”
“Maybe, but at least I’m not a criminal like you.”
“Whatever. Go help Wally get that woman in here. Sheri, get busy. I have to leave shortly.”
I went outside and Wallace had a woman in a wheelchair. Behind them were another man and woman and two older teenage kids. When we got the woman and chair inside, Sheri had some canned food and drinks stacked beside the cellar door waiting for us to go by. Wallace and I maneuvered the wheelchair down the stairs.
Cassie spoke, “Sheri, I’m going to take the food down behind them. You hand it to me.” Sheri stepped down onto the landing and had an armful of food ready to give to Cassie. Suddenly Cassie ignored the waiting hand-off, immediately pushing Sheri off balance, going past her and slamming the door closed. This effectively closed us inside the cellar. All of us stopped and stared at each other. Wallace shouted at Sheri, “Is the door locked?”
Sheri tried it. “Yes, I can’t even rattle it.” I was still holding onto the wheelchair and we were still a couple of steps from the bottom.
“Wallace. Let’s get this woman down.”
“Fuck the fat bitch! Let her go if you can’t hold her.” He paid no attention to me and let go the chair. I did get the woman down without tipping her over or other mishap. Wallace jumped off the stairs and ran to the door leading to the bulkhead.
“The bitch! The lousy double-crossing bitch! We’re trapped in here and there is no way out.”
I ran toward the end of the cellar. I could see through the window and under the porch. I heard a car door slam and could see the car that Cassie had come in drive off.
“She’s gone and left us locked in here.”
Wallace went berserk, running up the stairs and rattling the door again. When he found it still locked, he began kicking and scattering the food. I was afraid he was going to push Sheri off the side as she was still on the top step. The old woman was crying and the two teenagers, a girl and boy, were scared out of their wits. The man, their father was just as bad. The younger Chinese woman, whom I thought was his wife, said three words that I was extremely relieved to hear, “Mike and Molly.”
I knew then that if we could contain Wallace, we would be fine. He got a pistol out and was waving it around. I was headed for my firearms and figured this was going to get nasty. I had a pistol. The one closest and easiest to get to was hidden under a bag of pellets. It would take a couple of minutes to get it. If I was given time, I could turn this around. Sheri, knowing what I was about, started screaming as loud as she could to distract Wallace.
Neither Sheri nor I had to worry. The Chinese female agent stepped up two steps and hit Wally with a stun gun when he turned to tell Sheri to shut up. He toppled down the stairs onto the floor. The agent who had zapped him immediately restrained him with some plastic ties. She was prepared for this as she had the ties at hand in her jacket.
When she finished with this, she rattled off words in Chinese to the old woman, the man, and his two kids. They relaxed, knowing they weren’t in any immediate danger. I helped steady Sheri down the stairs with a hand. The agent said, “Hi, I’m Suni Chung, FBI. It is all over. I understand you have a way to get in touch with Mike. Now would be a good time.”
“It is already done. Someone should be here in a couple of hours. We will have to wait. If need be I can get us out of here. If no one comes before evening I will.”
“Fine, works for me. Just so you know, this is the day the sting operation ends. There are dozens of people being gathered up all over the country and other places as well. Mrs. Turner, see if you can salvage any of the food. We really are all very hungry.”
Wallace started to struggle while beginning to regain the use of his faculties. The Chinese man was directed to sit on his legs while Suni tied them up with a piece of clothesline to stop him from thrashing around.
The old woman looked faint so we managed to get her out of the wheelchair and onto the mattress where she could lie down. I had more food stored and I brought out the whole assortment. It was mostly canned fruit, but I did have some cans of Pringles. Wallace refused to eat anything, but did accept a drink of water. He could not stop swearing though. Sheri and I huddled in the far end of the cellar as directed.
It was almost four that afternoon when we heard the bulkhead doors slam open. Then we heard the steel entrance door being fiddled with. Suddenly it opened and Mike and Molly were both there. There were several other agents with them as well. They carried Wallace Bly up and put him into a vehicle. The Chinese immigrants were taken in hand and carted off. The agent, Suni Chung, went with them.
Mike promised that Suni Chung would be put in for a commendation, after listening to me about how she had handled the situation. Soon most all were gone except the two agents. Mike and Molly sat on the couch while Sheri made us a meal. Just before we sat down, Mike said to Sheri, “Would you set one more place, please. My wife will be along in a few minutes. She will want to congratulate not only me, but you two as well.”
“Sure, we would love to meet your wife.” Molly was smiling as if she was holding in a secret.
I asked Mike if Cassie had been caught. Mike answered, “Yes, she is under my control. How do you feel about that? Do you ever want to speak to her again?”
“I don’t know. I thought that at one time I would love to throw her lifestyle in her face after she was brought to justice. Now, I just want to forget her. I did love her at one time. I’m sure Sheri feels the same way.”
“I can understand. I just heard a vehicle. That will be my wife. I’ll open the door for her.” He went to the door and the woman came into his arms, but we couldn’t see her well. When they broke the kiss, Mike stepped to the side and Sheri and I could see Mike’s wife. We were speechless as Mike introduced his wife, “Bobby and Sheri, let me introduce my wife, super undercover FBI agent, Cassie Stinson. I guess we owe you some explanations.”
“I guess you do.” I was speechless. This was a wrinkle in the operation that was inconceivable. I thought Cassie would be caught and sent to prison for many years. Now she stood there before us as one of the good guys.
Sheri was not happy and had something to say. “Cassie, you have a lot to answer to me and Bobby for. I don’t know if I will ever forgive you.”
“I know and I’ll try to make up for it. I’m just so sorry that I made it so you had to live in the same house together hating each other as you do.”
I looked at Mike and Molly. “You haven’t told her have you?”
They both shook their heads. Mike said, “How could I? You and Sheri have seen more of her than I have in the last nine months. Cassie couldn’t break her cover to talk to me. You two have had it way better than we have.”
I grinned at my ex-wife. “Hell Cassie, Sheri and I were in love before the first week was out. We’ve been screwing each other ever since then. We made sure Mike and Molly knew, and we kept up the charade of hating each other before you and Bly. We were bound we were going to put your ass in prison.”
“You are familiar with Mike and Molly?”
“Of course. It started right after you contacted us. We turned you in the next day. We both wanted to bust your ass. We had a face to face twice with them. I don’t know how many phone conversations we’ve had. Did you know we were passing on images of every transaction that took place out in the yard? I would say we had pictures of at least 75% of the people who came through here. We were giving Mike what we could to take you down.”
“Cassie, Bobby was working against you from day one after you spoke to him the first time. He did as much to help us identify the criminals as you have. We have been able to identify and gather up most of the crooks you sent down the pipe. Some of those people you moved weren’t necessarily criminal. We know where they are and we can use them to build a case against those who are.”
Mike turned to me. “That’s the truth. We always suspected that Wallace Bly was someone other than who he claimed to be. Those three men he brought through here two weeks ago are what gave us the best clues. That whole network they were a part of is being swept up as we speak.
“When you took those early morning images of the three on their arrival, we identified them immediately. The fingerprints on the forks and spoons confirmed their identities. It was just a matter of identifying with whom they were associating. It led us back to the parent network that Bly was working for. Bly is actually a member of the Russian Mafia. He worked out on the west coast ten years ago and we lost track of him.”
“Over time we will tell you how this sting was put together. Cassie was a major player in getting it set up. That was her primary purpose and she did what she set out to do. This operation began more than three years ago. Bly was looking for someone to front an operation… this one that you just helped close down. The DEA first learned there was someone trying to start a business like this. Molly came to us at the FBI.
“We built Cassie a background with a long record of crime and money hunger. She became the planner and was the one who set up most of the pipeline. She figured out how to get the halfway places up and running. When Bly ‘accidentally’ met Cassie, we were in business.”
“But Mike, Cassie dealt drugs years ago? I know; I was there.”
“Yes, and I can explain about that and it has worked to our advantage. As far as my lovely wife is concerned, you wouldn’t know this, but she was arrested shortly after you two were divorced. She was never charged due to my intervention. This was because she had some valuable information that was instrumental in a take-down of a drug network in Massachusetts.”
Cassie was sitting next to Mike with her hand on his thigh. She was looking at him with fondness and love. I had seen the same look directed at me one time many years ago. I hoped her apparent love would last longer for him than it did for me.
“Mike dear, let me tell how I became involved with the FBI after I was arrested at that time. I need Bobby and Sheri to know that I really am a good person.” Mike nodded and she took over the explanation.
“When I was arrested I was one very worried woman. I thought I had everything covered just as most criminals always do. I felt I was smarter, could think faster, and could talk myself out of any situation I got myself into every time. Then I was arrested and found myself in a situation where I had no control.
“Let me tell you why I woke up and why so fast. I was being held in a jail in Springfield. I was thrown into the same section with drunks, whores, and whatever. Probably half of them were on drugs. These were all women, mind you.
“One woman was extremely hyper bouncing around the cell where she and others were confined. She was shouting and cursing. Those in the same tank as she was pretty much ignored her. The guard sitting outside of the cell ignored her too. I could see all of this from the next cell where I was being held. I had the same mix of perpetrators in my cell. All of a sudden, the hyperactive person just quit, went to a corner and slumped down on the floor. An hour later those in the same tank realized she had messed herself. It turned out that she was dead and her muscles relaxed causing the others to look at her.
“I wondered if she had at any time used the drugs I had bought and sold. That was the wake-up call for me.”
“How did Mike get involved with you? Selling drugs hardly seems like something the FBI would be interested in.”
“He wasn’t at first, but then he became interested when Molly contacted the agency about needing help taking down a kingpin in Florida. My name came up in connection from a stoolie that was an in-between that was acquainted with me. Mike pulled me out of the tank and questioned me. I was so scared that I would go to prison, I spilled my guts about everyone and everything I knew. Little did I know that I was in the right place at the right time.
“The FBI needed someone to go undercover to get information on the cartel. Mike went out on a limb and suggested I be coached for the job. In return, my history would be forgotten. Of course, the agency built me a far worse record than what was my actual one. At the end of six months, the FBI and the DEA moved in, got me out of there, and closed down the operation. The information I had gathered put several people in prison.”
Cassie stopped talking, letting Sheri and me digest what she had just told us. I had a question, “So then what happened?”
Cassie smiled, not at us, but at Mike. “This is where the fun part comes in. The operation I was involved in was over and I was dropped back into the real world. I had a record of sorts, although not a real one. Vermont held nothing for me. Mike had been transferred to the Albany office. I did have a little money that the agency had paid me.
“I decided to start a private operation of my own, but of a different sort. I believe it has been the most successful one. I moved to Albany and went to work in the coffee shop that the agency staff frequented. I was attracted to Mike, and I felt he liked me too.
“Mike came in once in a while and he always spoke to me. I was pleasant to him, but that was about all until one afternoon he came in and suggested we go for a drink. He had just received a commendation from Washington and wanted to share the fact with me. This was the Florida operation I had been involved in my first time out. He was giving me more credit for what I had done than I deserved, but that was okay.
“I can skip over the details about that date, but I can tell you that it was just about two years to the day from when Bobby and I divorced that I became Mrs. Mike Stinson.”
“What about your other husbands and the money you took them for in the divorce?”
“All background, Sheri. I have been an undercover agent for ten years now and involved in four different operations. This last one that involved you and Bobby was the biggest and most dangerous. It hurt me to have to treat you as I did, but that was all for Bly’s benefit. I couldn’t break cover just because you were my sister. I find you and Bobby did basically the same thing working at feeding Mike information about Bly and me while this was going on. Why?”
“For one thing, Mike didn’t let on that you were owned by him. You were not only a hateful sister, but a hated crook as well. Bobby and I had to take you down. I imagine Mike felt we were all safer by not knowing who all the players were in this and kept each of us in the dark.”
Mike spoke. “Yes, and you were very effective at it too, or would have been if Cassie was what you thought she was. We have gathered up 217 people who were involved somehow or other. Some of them have turned out to be major players on the world crime scene. We got the ones we were primarily after and many more as well. Two ran drug networks and one was a prostitution ring recruiting women from Russia. Wallace Bly was much more than the bit player we thought he was at first.
“Getting the connection between him and those three men he made sure you didn’t see was a stroke of luck. I can tell you this now that the three men were connected to a terrorist organization. As soon as we identified them, we knew we had to close the operation down almost immediately. Cassie was in danger and we didn’t know when Bly might wipe you two out if he became suspicious of you. He did something like that ten years ago when cover was blown and someone died. That is how we lost track of him.”
“Cassie might have been safe.”
“What makes you say that, Bobby?”
“Cassie, Wallace was in love with you.”
“I wasn’t aware of that. I doubt he feels that way now.”
“Well, I could see it. Mike, so what happens now?”
“I guess you can say the exciting part is over. The federal prosecutors will take over and build cases against all of these criminals we have gathered up. It will take two years or more before this is finalized. For now we can all go back to being normal citizens again.”
“I have a question, Mike.”
“What is that, Bobby?”
“What ever happened to that African professor and his American wife and how did they get into Cassie’s pipeline?”
“That turned out to be a CIA extraction. Boy, was that agency surprised when they found out they had used a controlled operation run by Molly and me. I had a chance to speak to the professor recently and he inquired about you two. His sister has a green card and will eventually become a citizen. Immigration will deal with the professor. He will be fine as he is a professional educator and will be welcomed. Being married to an American citizen will also help.
“You should contact them. I’ll give you their address. The reason why you met them in the first place was because the CIA needed to immediately get them out of their home country. There was a coup about to take place and they were in danger.”
Mike hesitated before saying more. Then, “Say, Bobby and Sheri, I haven’t seen Cassie for more than a few minutes for far longer than I can remember. I have to be in Albany by 9 a.m. tomorrow. Would it be possible if we could stay here tonight and I would leave here early in the morning?”
“Please be our guests. How about you, Molly?”
“I’m heading for Boston, but I don’t have to be there until late afternoon tomorrow. I could use a room too. My agency gets first crack at Cassie to hear the finer details and debrief her. She will be traveling with me. Over the coming months, you two will be interviewed as well. Most of it will be depositions that can be sworn to. It won’t be safe for you to testify, but the prosecutors will need them to build their cases.”
“That won’t interfere with Sheri and me getting married will it?”
“Of course not.”
Mike and Cassie were anxious to sleep together. We gave them the room downstairs. Molly had my room. From now on, I wouldn’t be needing it. I would be in Sheri’s bed permanently, and soon as her husband. We snuggled together.
“Today was big doings and too many surprises. Way too exciting as well.”
“I know Bobby, and isn’t it wonderful that Cassie has turned out to be one of the good guys. I’m glad she is married to Mike. I wonder what she will do now?”
“I’ve got the feeling that they will start a family, and I think that’s a great idea. How about the same for us?”
“That’s the plan. I’ve taken my last pill. Tomorrow night we’ll be working on making a baby.”
“Why not tonight?”
“Bobby, not with my sister in the house. What would she think of me?”
“You’re so funny. Okay, we’ll wait one more night.”
We heard Mike and Cassie get up early. I went down and put the coffee on and started breakfast. Mike had an hour before he had to leave. I had never seen Cassie acting this happy. Not when she was married to me or in the last several months. There was always a cold, reserved tenseness about her. It was understandable the last few months, but before that when we were husband and wife, it was the same. I concluded she had never loved me. Now though, she acted just the opposite.
I was putting food on the table. Sheri still had on her nightgown with a light robe over it. She went about being the hostess. Usually she wore pants over her mechanical leg, but not this morning.
Cassie stepped in it. “Sheri, why don’t you go put on jeans or something?”
“Why? Does the lack of having one of my limbs bother you? That’s tough isn’t it? Think of me, I have to deal with it all of the time. I’ve been this way for five years now. I’ve seen you what---five or six times since this happened? All you can say to me is to go cover it up. Bobby lives with it and he loves me. You could do the same.”
“Sheri, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said anything.”
I broke in. “Okay you two, you have to find some way to get along together. Cassie, don’t pity Sheri. I did and I was slapped for it. Neither one of us like what happened, but bad things happen to good people. This is a perfect example of it.”
Cassie was contrite. “I am sorry, Sheri. Some of it is, I just don’t know my baby sister, and I admit, for one reason or another, I haven’t taken the time to. I wish now when all that money was flowing through my hands, I had given it to you instead of Bobby. He is able and now that he is free of this we have just gone through, he can find work and take care of you.”
Sheri and I looked at each other and we burst out laughing. “Cassie, Bobby has given me all the money you paid him. I haven’t spent any of it either. I haven’t had to because I get compensation. I know you wouldn’t know this, but Bobby is independently wealthy. Hell, he could leave here and find himself a whole woman. He claims to love me and I believe him. Instead of feeling pity or sorry for me, you should be envying me. I’m the luckiest woman alive.”
Cassie looked shocked and turned to Mike. “Is that possible?”
“I would say so, dear. The agency looked at him. He is worth considerable, although no great fortune by some standards. Living the way I suspect they will, it is sure to be sufficient to have them a good life.”
Mike and Cassie made plans to come and spend Memorial Day weekend with us. It was figured that much of the debriefing on the present sting would have been completed by then. I was glad Sheri and I would have some time to come to grips with Cassie in our mind. She had gone from being a criminal to well-respected FBI agent. Cassie would be thinking much about us as well. Not all our thoughts would be about her, as Sheri and I would be married by the time Mike and Cassie came for the holiday.
Sheri and I discussed how we were going to be married. Neither one of us wanted a big deal, so we just called a justice of the peace and had him marry us right here in our home. He brought his wife and a married daughter with him for witnesses. We didn’t want flowers, music, or anyone telling us we were such a beautiful couple. We even opted out of buying a wedding cake.
Actually, there were few for us to invite. It would have been normal for Sheri to invite Cassie, but Cassie just happened to be my ex-wife. I wouldn’t want her there. The only friend I had made who was also a friend to Sheri was Joe. He was the carpenter who showed us how to put siding on the house. We enjoyed his coming to visit and he did often. We did not really want to hear about deer hunting and killing on the day we married, so he didn’t get to be a witness for us.
Memorial Day weekend was around the corner. We planned a barbecue to let Cassie and Mike know we were now husband wife. I told Mike when I called that if he could get in touch with Molly, she was invited too.
“How about the professor and his family? I have talked to him a couple of times.”
“Is Etta still living with them? She and Sheri got along real well the three days they spent with us.”
“I believe so. I have the professor’s phone number. Have Sheri call and invite all of them if you want to see them again. I know the kids, who had never lived anywhere but in their father’s country, felt you two being so kind to them was like a personal welcome from the whole country.
“Cassie has never met them even though she was instrumental in getting them into the country. They will look on her as heading up a service that helped them. I’m sure they would like to meet her. She can explain she was actually an agent who was the head of running the route that got them into the country. This particular operation was illegal, but sanctioned by our government’s agency and they were the beneficiaries of it.”
Sheri was soon on the phone. Etta answered the phone. When Sheri explained what she wanted, Etta asked her to hold for a minute while she got together with her brother and family. She soon came back on and Sheri gave her directions how to get to our home in Vermont. This was needed because they had no idea how they had got from Vermont to Connecticut last winter.
The two girls, Marie and Berta, said they would love to sleep in a tent. Molly came with her fiancé. She wanted to camp out, so they brought a tent and camping equipment.
The day came and it was bright with total sunshine and it would be warm later in the day. A breeze sprang up so it was comfortable. Cassie was the center of attention, telling much of what she did as an undercover agent. Sheri then told her side of the story of how Cassie used her to build a place so exchanges in contraband could be transferred. Then how I entered along the last when Cassie had most everything set up. She brought me into this operation because she feared for her sister’s well-being. It was a weird way to do it though.
Mike then related how Sheri and I had become major players in the sting by providing both government agencies with the details of what was going on. By us giving him and Molly the images, they were able to identify many of the people who otherwise were coming into the country and might sink from sight. Cassie didn’t always know who was being transported because Wallace Bly had more hands on than she did. She was only the titular head anyway.
We learned much about John Atu and his family. Specifically why they had to escape when they did. The CIA were involved and gave them warning that the military was going to make a move and topple the present regime that the professor worked for with his cousin.
Etta Atu returned there from England where she had a pediatrician practice. She had arrived in her country at the worst possible time, and the CIA got her out along with her brother and his family.
She wondered if she could secure services at the local hospital here. To find out, we invited the whole family to stay after the weekend was over.
I talked to John Atu about his finances. He said they had transferred their wealth more than a year before they themselves had to leave the country. Etta was independently wealthy with her money banked in Switzerland.
Mike and Cassie also told us about Cassie’s adventures of being an undercover agent for nearly ten years. She had been in four major undercover projects interspersed with periods of home life with Mike. This last one had been the longest where she was shut off without any intimacies with Mike for months. She was retired now, and they were trying diligently to start a family the same as Sheri and I were.
Mike and Cassie left late Monday evening at the end of the four-day weekend. Molly and her fiancé left at the same time. John, Laura and the two girls had left the night before to go back to Connecticut as Marie and Berta had school. Etta stayed over to inquire about getting entrance into the Brattleboro Memorial Hospital.
I didn’t know any doctors so I could not give Etta any information on who to see or help in any way. Sheri said, “Let’s go, Etta. We’ll wing it. I will try to get you five minutes with my doctor. He’s always been willing to talk to me.”
The two women were gone most all day. When they returned they were hyper. Much had taken place. Etta had talked to a doctor’s group and had applied to become part of it. She had also applied to have use of the hospital services.
This predicated on getting her records from England where she both studied and practiced. This might take three weeks and she also had to pass her exams before the license boards for her license to practice. It looked as if Sheri and I would have a house guest for at least that long, as Etta didn’t want to find housing if she couldn’t begin a practice.
It was a week later that John Atu, Etta’s brother drove in. Etta and Sheri were off somewhere. “Bobby, do you know anything about Dartmouth? I am going for an interview tomorrow. They have a position open for a history professor, specifically of countries on the African continent. That is my area of expertise. I would be so happy to be able to teach my subject without adjusting to some other course.
“What I have seen of New England, this is where I want to settle. Laura and the girls say the same. We don’t have to live with Etta, but we would like to be close enough to visit any time we have a few spare hours.”
I laughed. “I do believe Etta is going to be living here close by us. Sheri just sold the vacant lot she owns to your sister. A bit of happy news, Etta just confirmed that Sheri is pregnant with our first child. I pushed her to buy here as I think it would be perfect to have a friend who is also a pediatrician.”
“Dartmouth isn’t that far away. It’s less than two hours from here according to the map. When will she building on the land? Maybe I can convince her to build big enough for my family too.”
“Talk to her.”
“I will. What do you do?”
“Me, nothing yet. I am considering taking up writing fiction. I’ve had a little excitement in the last year.” I grinned as I said this. “I think I have enough material where I can think up a dozen plot lines. If need be, I can go to Cassie or Mike for details for a spy novel and how the FBI works. I’m going to give it a shot anyway. Whatever I do, it won’t be where I’m far from Sheri. She is my real treasure.
Five Years Later
Today, I am sitting in a church pew surrounded by young kids. Four of them are mine. There are my identical twin boys, age four on one side of me, and my two-and-a-half-year-old identical twin girls on the other side. Mike and Cassie have twins too. Their two kids were not identical. Cute and just two months younger than my boys. We all filled up the pew.
Sheri, matron of honor for her friend, has just come down the aisle, standing in the front of the church, waiting for Etta to come down the aisle. Etta’s soon-to-be husband, Brad, was waiting also. He is another doctor in the same medical clinic as Etta. What change the last five years have brought to all of us.
Etta has built a duplex on the land that she purchased from Sheri. She built big enough so her brother could live here and establish residence here in Vermont. John works in New Hampshire and maintains a condominium there for when he can’t get home. His girls wanted to stay close to their aunt, so at first they stayed here with us.
When Etta’s home was completed, they moved into the new home with their aunt, mother and father. Marie has just graduated from UVM and Berta has just graduated high school. She will be following her sister to UVM as well. Laura, an artist, is becoming quite well known for her Vermont landscapes.
Sheri and I had decided after the first set of twins was born that living deep in the woods would not be so wise. Twenty acres of open land came on the market when the old couple that bought the farm from my dad decided to downsize. This had once been part of my grandfather’s farm that my father had sold off many years ago. We bought the parcel and built a new house on it much better laid out for our growing family.
From it, I can see the original farmhouse situated close to Sunset Lake Road from our new home. That aged couple still lives in it, and Sheri and I look after their needs. They have no children or close relatives. Therefore, we have taken them on as surrogate grandparents.
Our new house is directly across Hescock Road from where John and Etta live and it includes an office where I write. I am now into my second book. The first one was not all that great, but it has sold. I have more hopes for my second effort.
Dad had just approached me. He wants to move back here from where he and Mom had settled. I do have room so it is going to happen. Mom and he had moved out west when they sold the farm. Mom passed away ten years ago. Pop has been living with another woman, but she has now passed on as well.
All of these thoughts have gone through my mind. I return to the present when I realize the twins have escaped my attention. First the boys, and then the terrible twos. Their cousins had to go to the bathroom and now Mike and I have six kids racing up and down the aisles chasing each other. Cassie is looking frustrated, hating the spectacle the kids are creating. I am getting dirty looks from the front where Sheri is standing. Mike winks at me, thinking this is great fun.
Suddenly Pop, who is sitting on the end of the pew behind me, grabs Bobby Junior as he goes by. He whispers something in his grandson’s ear.
Junior looks scared and in turn whispers in the ears of his brother, sisters and cousins. The kids still race around, but I could see that some of the fun they were having isn’t there anymore. Cassie is just getting up to go after her kids. The first chords of music begin. All six kids hurriedly clamber over us and into their seats. I would have to ask Pop what he had said to Junior. Not important, but probably he said something about ghosts. Pop just loves to tell scary stories with ghosts in them.
Etta comes down the aisle. I glance at Sheri just before Etta reaches her place beside Brad. Looking into my eyes, my wife slowly slides her hand down to where her leg and stump join. She massages that spot. I know that Etta isn’t the only one who is getting lucky tonight.
The End
1 comment:
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