by D. R. Mather
“Good girl.”
“HUH, he isn’t going to be our Governor the next term, he’s going to run for the U.S. Senate.”
Kevin snapped his head back a bit, “You can read what he’s thinking too?”
“Some of it, a lot is fuzzy, more like noise.”
Kevin thought to himself, ’Wow, she has more than I thought she did, we may be able to use that later.’ Kevin refocused on April, “I need you to see if he has a cell phone on him somewhere.”
“Not a problem, it’s in his hand, but he’s doing something on it, a schedule, he isn’t using the phone itself.”
“Okay, good, April can you see his private phone number in that phone?”
“Why, do you want to call him now?”
“Actually, now would be good, give me the number you see.” Kevin reached over the desk to get a pen and paper.
“You don’t need to do that Kevin, just pick up the phone at the desk.”
“What?”
“Go on, pick it up, I’ll dial him for you.”
Kevin was now in a place he didn’t get to visit many times. Let’s call it ‘Shockville’. “Yo…you can do that?”
April looked at him like he thought she was some kind of idiot, “Just pick up the phone superhero.”
Kevin shrugged his shoulders, “Well, alright.”
He got the phone and placed it to his ear; there was only a dial tone. April put up one finger, “Sec, I wanted to make sure you were ready.” Then the phone in Kevin’s ear started ringing another phone.
“Hello?”
Kevin was stumped for a second, “Ah…ah…ah…Hello Governor, this is Kevin Chase, we spoke this afternoon?”
“Oh yes, Mr. Chase, what can I do for you?”
In any given circumstance, the Governor should have been pitching a fit about now as to how Kevin had his got personal cell number; the Governor didn’t seem to give it a second thought.
“Well Sir, I thought that before you go and meet with the state about the William Colburn matter, you should also bring up the fact that the contract says NO taxes, and because it seems to be a closed end clause, that would mean and to include, business taxes as well I believe.”
“How so, Mr. Chase?”
“Check your copy again, under the stipulations part; ‘future endeavors’ I believe.”
“Could you hold on a minute please Mr. Chase?”
“I sure will.” Kevin reached over to April and gave her a pat on the back, “Very nice honey, and thank you so much.”
“You’re very welcome Kevin. So we’re good here?”
“We’re very good, thanks.”
April walked back to the living room. Kevin could hear rustling papers on the phone.
“Mr. Chase, I have the copy here now,” said the Governor. “As I read this, I do believe you’re right. As a matter of fact, because of the way this was written, I think I can unload some of the blame off of the state of Colorado and point it at the U.S. Government as well.”
“How so Sir?”
“Well, according to the way it is on this agreement, it would seem that not only should they not have taken business taxes from him, but anyone who is or did work there at any time after the final stage of the contract was signed.”
“Very nicely done Sir, even I didn’t get that far into the ramifications of it.”
“Ah, Mr. Chase, before you start thinking I’m some genius, let me admit I have two of the state’s best attorneys sitting with me here.”
Kevin smiled, “Even better Mr. Governor, then Mr. Colburn should be hearing from you sometime soon?”
“Yes, very soon I would imagine, and while I have you here, I’m told we have laser markers in the Indian Hills area. A chopper will be doing a fly over tomorrow, with the state’s surveyor. We should have that problem settled very soon.”
“Thank you very much for your time Sir, please have a nice evening, goodbye.”
“The same to you Mr. Chase, goodbye.”
Kevin stood there holding the phone and thinking. He had to reorganize what he was going to say. As He turned to put the phone back, his eye caught Judy near the coat closets. She waved. Kevin got a jump in his heart, and he waved back. He then gestured for her to hold there and close the inner doors, before he headed off to the kitchen. Ten minutes later and everyone except Judy was assembled in the living room. Kevin was about to speak when he said, “Oh shit, Judy.” He headed to the doors to get her.
She was standing there with her arms folded in front of her, “Forget the love of your life did you, Kev?”
“Oh sweetheart, of course not.” He gave her a kiss and rolled the cart to the side of the living room entrance where it was out of sight. He had everyone seated and even turned the two closest chairs for Will and Barb to sit in so that they faced straight in front of Kevin.
For over forty minutes, Kevin went over contracts this and agreements that; President him and President him; invoices and shipments; gold and platinum. Then he covered land here, land there, land everywhere. He was pretty sure he’d lost a few of them on the journey, but he kept plugging away. He gained them all back once he started talking about the illegal taxation that was going on with the local, state and Federal Government. For that part, he had them all. When he was finally done, he just stopped. Everyone was looking at him with doe eyes. Will actually raised his hand.
Kevin couldn’t resist it, “Yes, the gentleman with the glassy stare.”
“Kevin, are you telling me that not only have we been paying taxes for decades on this place when we shouldn’t have done, but that they actually owe it back to us?”
Kevin smiled, “Yeah Will, I am.”
“And that I don’t own to the far bottom of two mountains, but four?”
“Yeah Will, you do.”
“I see, and what can we do about this?”
It’s clear that neither Will nor Barb had grasped what Kevin had told them. In fact, it was clear that no one in the room had. He turned to Judy and looked at her.
”You did it baby,” she said. ”You saved them.” She kissed him lightly and stepped back. Judy got it just fine.
“I’ve meet with the Governor of the state of Colorado today and just got off the phone with him a few minutes ago. A chopper will be flying around tomorrow, checking the land markers with laser, against the original makers set out by the U.S. Government for this property. As soon as I hear from them, so will you,” Kevin summarized.
“I see, is this going to be one of those battles in court until I die things?”
“It might not even get close to a court room except maybe a few documents that will need to be signed. This will prove a great embarrassment for the Feds as well as the state, Will, I’ve already proposed that we might reach a settlement for the taxes if they give back the last five years of paid taxes. That final choice will be made by the two of you though; you’ll need to decide what’s best to fight for. Personally, The Governor perked right up when I suggested the five year deal. I’d say that was your best shot to a fast resolution, but again, it’s your call there. As to the business taxes, I have a feeling that you’ll be receiving compensation along with a letter fairly soon. Tell me, Will—have you and Barb been paying income taxes against the profits here?”
Will looked at Barb, then back at Kevin, “We sure have, because we claim the small profits as income.”
“Unless I miss my guess, you should be receiving compensation from the Feds for that as well.”
Will sat back down, he was having a harder time talking now, “Kevin, are you telling me that not only did my land just double, but we do not have to pay taxes for ANYTHING that is ever done here, EVER and FOREVER?”
Kevin had a huge smile on his face, “Yeah Will, I’m telling you that.”
Barbara Colburn just passed out. The ‘pass out’ squad was on her case in an instant though, and got her coming round. Kevin turned to Judy, tears were flowing down her cheeks.
“Baby, the car
t,” he said to her.
She turned and rolled the cart out. Sitting on it were ice buckets with six bottles of champagne in them. Kevin put out his hands, “Ladies and gentlemen, the drinks are on me.” He then shuffled to the side.
For one brief instant, the room was silent and still. Then, as if a bomb exploded, there was a tremendous roar from everyone at one time. And so the celebration began.
Kevin went over to Barb and stood her up, pulled her in tight and gave her a huge wet kiss, “Am I good or what?”
Barb was just smiling, crying and wiping her eyes, over and over. Will took Kevin over to a corner; they could hear corks popping from the other end of the room. Kevin heard Cindy say, “Oh look, and an alcohol free one.” Followed by Judy’s “We had to make sure you were covered sweetie.”
“Kevin, I don’t know what to say to you, I really don’t. You came here and you changed our lives. Not just mine and Barb’s, but look, you’ve changed everyone here. I don’t know what rests inside of you, but to me, it must be an angel. That’s the only way I can figure it. I would have never even bothered to look for that trunk, let alone bother to open it. And even if I had, I never would have read anything into all of that, I would have just seen it as neat old papers. It was you who put it all together, you who made this happen. How can I ever begin to thank you?”
Kevin could see that Will was barely keeping it together; the tears were practically rolling down to the floor. “Will, you started thanking me the minute I walked through those doors. So from now on, no more thanks, just enjoy the rest of your life with your wonderful wife, you both deserve it.” Kevin hugged him, then turned him to the group, “Go on, have some champagne before those people engulf every last drop.” They walked over together and joined in. Kevin didn’t touch the good stuff though, he shared Cindy’s bottle with her.
The evening was a great success. Kevin ordered Chinese food for delivery and they had a feast as well as the champagne. Judy was nestled into the side of Kevin on a sofa. The talk didn’t stop for hours as people were talking about every possible scenario.
***
In the morning, Kevin, Alex and Will were getting wood from outside to bring to the fireplace. It was a long haul too; the wood was delivered and stacked to the far left of the building, close to the wall. This meant they had to walk from the wood, all the way through to the secret panel at the end of the living room in order to stack a bunch of it in the left hallway.
“You know Will; this sure would be a lot easier if your house had a door to the outside in that hall. Hell, the stack is practically right next to the wall that should have a door. So close that the man who delivers it could have just brought this whole pile in and stacked it in the hall when it was delivered.”
“You know Kevin, I never even thought about that before.” He took three steps, looked into the hallway window and watched Alex dropping his wood off not more than ten feet away from him. “I couldn’t imagine how much it would cost to cut through solid stone that’s almost two feet thick though.”
“You wouldn’t have to cut through every one Will; from the pattern I see here, about every other one. But you’d need them pulled out first, then cut where it’s easier to do it.”
Will laughed; “I forgot, I’m talking to a builder here.”
They continued hauling in the wood.
***
The following week was a very exciting one. With only two weeks to go before Christmas, Kevin got a call from one ‘Leo’ of Leo’s Rod Shop. The truck was ready anytime he wanted it. Kevin grabbed Judy and went to town. There had been a strange absence of snow storms lately, perhaps it was waiting for a better time. Kevin knew that at least for now, the roads were clear. He had a few things to do today. One was a visit to the D.O.T. in Denver. Judy sat in the car for that one; it only took Kevin ten minutes so she didn’t have a chance to get cold. Of course, to hear Kevin describe it, “Judy spends the winter with a polar bear wrapped around her anyway, how could she get cold?” She saw Kevin walking back to the car; he was tossing his keys in the air and catching them over and over.
‘Is he…whistling?’ Judy thought.
Kevin got in and started the car, “Well, that was just too easy.”
“What was too easy?”
He turned to Judy, “I just nailed down a side job for Bill; they‘re in there right now, making a contract for Bill to plow the whole mountain road from the first storm of the season to the last. He’ll get paid for it, as well as free truck maintenance and even mileage coverage.”
“OH BABY, you’re a sweetheart, you really are!” Judy moved in for the pending kisses she was about to release.
On the way back, Kevin pulled into Leo’s. “Wait here hun, I’ll be right back.”
“Okay you…you…you sweetheart you!”
Kevin was all smiles as he entered Leo’s car shop. Leo brought him out to the shop, “There it is!”
“Very nice Leo, those tires are different though, something you decided on?”
“I sure did, I’m figuring you didn’t want those street tires on this baby, am I right?”
“You are at that Leo. Just tell me the difference in cost.”
“No charge man, Think of it as a Christmas gift!”
“Thank you very much; did you give it a run?”
“HA, did we? We put 30 miles on her to make sure everything was good to go. This baby purrs like a kitten now, one really mean kitten.” Kevin and Leo shared a laugh.
“Tell you what, you pull it out and I’ll go make the driving arrangements.”
“Good deal man.”
Kevin headed to the door; Leo went to the key lock box in the office.
Kevin leaned into the car, “Honey, I need you to drive this back to the Inn, okay?”
“Amm…sure, how are you getting back?” Three seconds after she asked, the shop door opened and she heard a rumble. As soon as the door opened enough, Leo drove the truck out and stopped just past the garage door, which closed behind him. Leo jumped out and stood there.
“WOW!”
“That’s right honey, wow it is.” Kevin had a big grin on his face. Judy was already out of the car and walking over to the truck.
“Is this yours?”
“I guess so, and seeing as I can’t drive two vehicles at one time, you get to bring the horse back.”
Leo walked over now, “Hey is this what you were driving when you came here last week?”
“It sure was.”
“Holy shit, may I?”
Kevin bowed off to the side; Leo popped the hood and whistled one loud freaking whistle. “You found a 429 Hemi?”
“I sure did!”
“You’re stacked with a 1071 blower and supercharger. Is it functioning?”
“Yip.”
“What’s it pulling for ponies?”
“Dyno says 1240 horse.”
“Son of a bitch! Does she stay where you put her?”
“All the time, all the time.”
Leo closed the hood, “Shit, this truck’s gonna seem like a Tonka toy to you man... Whoa…1240, that’s a shitload even by my standards man.”
Kevin thought it was time to end the love affair with cars and trucks; he walked up to Leo and shook his hand, “Thank you so very much for this, I won’t forget it.”
“The pleasure is always mine; you have fun now, you hear?” Leo went back inside and Kevin and Judy stood there in the lot.
Kevin held the keys out to her, “You keep bugging me to take it out again.” He dangled the bait once more for good luck and Judy was at his side, taking the keys.
“Thank you sweetie. Are you going to follow in the truck?”
“Nope, you take the Mustang and garage it. I have one quick stop, and I’ll meet you there.”
“OK hun.” She gave him a big sloppy one, “See you soon!”
Kevin watched as she waited for a car to go by before she hit the gas, smoke billowing from under the wheel wells in the back, the tires scr
eaming down the road. Then they quieted down, and Judy was away.
Kevin walked over to the truck, laughing to himself, “Damn lead foot.” He jumped in the truck, got the feel for it, and then drove off the lot as well. As he drove off, snow began to fall. It was light so he figured Judy would be okay.
Three hours later, Kevin had the new truck stopped at the drop-off area of the Inn. There’d been enough snow to cover the driveway and walkway by the time he’d returned to the Inn. Someone must have been waiting for him because he had just shut the truck off when the door opened and out popped his little polar bear. Snow could be funny, it caused a very excited person to think about both safety and the overwhelming desire to get somewhere at the same time. Enter Judy: she was so excited that she could barely get to Kevin fast enough, but she was aware of the slippery snow on the walk at the same time. Her feet were moving fast, but it looked like she was doing the shuffle; both of her forearms were up so that she could touch her thumb to each ear. Kevin heard her boots scraping across the walk like someone was sanding wood. Then there was the tiny squeal, let’s not forget that. All wrapped up in white snow pants and a white super puffy coat that had a fur lined hood, which was pulled over and tied so that he could only see her eyes and nose. This was what Kevin had greeting him as he rounded the truck. Kevin took a look at her as she moved slowly across the slippery walk and thought, ’My god, I’m about to be attacked by the great abominable snow bunny.’ A part of him was wondering if he should run for the hills now, while he still had a fighting chance. Kevin decided he’d freeze to death before she made it to him so he headed her off.
Kevin reached her soon enough, “Hi honey, miss me much?”
“You know damn well I did.” She looked at the truck, “OH, you got a tree!!”
Kevin smiled. How had he guessed that Christmas would be Judy’s favorite time of year?
“I thought you girls might like to put it up. While I was looking in those storage rooms, I saw a bunch of boxes that had ‘Christmas decorations’ written on them.”