by D. R. Mather
She looked at him for a few seconds and nodded her head.
“Well if you say so,” said Will. “I guess we’re off to sunny San Diego for the winter!”
Everyone shouted out a huge cheer and the congratulations began. Not five minutes after she had decided, Barb went into panicky packing mode. She never left that mode for two days.
***
Two days later and Kevin went out to check the road. It was clear, as were the skies.
“Okay, we can take both vehicles and everyone can come. Roland, you take the truck, get everyone in that’s comfortable to get in. I’ll take the rest with me.”
Kevin, Judy, Will and Barb were in the Mustang, their luggage and everyone else’s was in the truck. As they exited the driveway to the Inn, Will and Barb both looked back at the sign then faced front. Kevin was glad to be back behind the wheel of his car, he missed her. Judy was really gabbing it up. She knew why too – to help prevent ‘second thoughts’ from coming to them.
At the airport they got to the point where they could no longer follow. Everyone was crying, everyone was saying their goodbyes. Will never felt Kevin as he slipped up beside him; everyone was so close already with all the hugging. Will never felt Kevin slip ten thousand dollars into his pocket either.
Just after they got into their business class seats, Will noticed the big lump. He reached in and with Barb watching, pulled out the money. He saw a note in the center. He read it out to her.
“Use it there or I’m just going to deposit that same amount into your banking account instead. Enjoy, Kevin.”
Barb counted it and they both began to cry on each other.
***
Christmas was on a Friday. Monday became one very busy day. By 7 a.m., the yard was filling up with equipment of all sorts. Four trucks had already come and gone, leaving behind piles of the same stone that the mansion was built from. Kevin was outside sending builders to their starting location so that the demolitions could begin. He was waiting for a few special delivery trucks to show up. They contained things that everyone was going to need. Judy was busy in the kitchen with everyone, telling them what to pack and where to put it.
“Beth, this box of food storage containers can go out to the ballroom, so can these two boxes of pans.”
“Got it boss.” Beth went over with a little dolly to get them. “Did you keep out enough containers for us to heat stuff up in?”
“Oh yeah, I have two boxes over there. I’m about to bring them out to the dining room.”
“Good deal honey.” With that, Beth set off with the boxes.
Alex, Roland and April were still packing boxes of dry goods to be sent out to the ballroom for safekeeping. Judy was looking at the two circa 1950s fridges that were Bars cold storage.
“You guys are about to meet retirement,” said Judy and slapped the side of one. “April, no hun, we need some of the cleaning stuff, put it in that small box near the sink.”
“Ok, got it Judy.”
Things were hectic that morning; men were already starting to take out the stove and counter area while everyone was trying to wrap up the last of the storage and food products. Judy looked at the fridges again; they needed the new stuff now. She spun and looked at the very large chest freezer at the side of the kitchen entryway. She was trying to make contingency plans in case the units were delayed; she didn’t want to hold up the work because things were still in the way.
“Aha, Kevin, my answer man,” Judy headed outside. Her answer was solved when she walked out the front door. Kevin was standing at the side of a delivery truck; the workers were unloading a fridge unit now. It was a massive, eighty-one inches wide, three door, stainless steel unit with a total of seventy-two cubic feet of storage. Kevin bought it for fast retrieval of food. Judy was also waiting for the two microwaves so she could set up at the serving area in the dining room. She ran over to Kevin with no coat on.
“Honey, can you get the fridge and the microwaves set up soon?”
“Yes, sweetie, I’m working on it. I’m going to have some of this stuff taken into the ballroom for now, but these guys will be all set and gone in an hour, so no problem.”
“Good work baby.” She kissed him, turned and ran back inside.
“Looks like I have a second in command here, let’s hope she doesn’t try for the top spot,” Said Kevin. “Guys, before we start unloading all the other things, can I get this fridge set up in the living room first?”
“Sure Mr. Chase, right on it now.”
They jumped off the truck and started wrangling the massive fridge into the Inn. Kevin could now see behind, where they had been standing in the truck, “After that, I need those two microwaves placed in the dining room serving area. You can’t miss it; it’s as long as the room. It’s on the left, and has like a million drawers in the front of it.”
“Can do Mr. C.”
Kevin chuckled to himself; it had been a long time since a worker had called him that. He looked to the doors and saw a man wearing a hard hat and tie, coming out of the main doors.
Kevin would be the general contractor for this job, making him the boss. Steve would head all the crews, plumbers, electricians, carpenters and masons, as well as any other teams that might show up.
“Steve, got a second?”
“Sure Kevin, what’s up?”
Kevin headed over to meet him, “Did you check out those panels in the living room?”
“I sure did, just came from there. I looked the whole system over and I think your idea will work as long as we build a thick enough wall to hide them in, then the electric motor and cable/rod system will work great.”
“Excellent, did the guys pull any panels out yet?”
“Just one for now, we only need one out to figure the whole design.”
Kevin knew what he was doing when he rearranged the living room. He managed to fully expose the entire removable panel system that separated the living room from the ballroom, which made the work a lot faster and easier.
“Okay, can you leave it out until these guys are finished with this equipment delivery before they set it back?” asked Kevin.
“Can do.”
“Did you meet up with the electricians that were heading to the basement?”
“Yeah, they checked it all out and said that they can run you two, 220 lines from the basement, right up behind the wall where the serving buffet is. The hole they punch through the wall behind the buffet should only be a few inches. This will be an easy fix, as it’s a plaster finished wall.”
“Excellent Steve, thanks.” Kevin headed into the Inn.
“Did it fit?”
“Yip; dropped right in, you want the micros next?”
“Yes please, if you could.”
The guys headed out again. Kevin walked into the dining room and checked it out, there was already a hole in the wall and two thick wires were draped over the front of the buffet. Kevin walked over to the fridge, put his hand on it, felt it was running, and headed to the kitchen. He began to laugh before he even got through the door. He could hear Judy in there:
“Hey, don’t touch that yet, we haven’t emptied it out. Alex, get over there and finish that cabinet. Roland, did you clear out the broom area yet?”
He opened the door and saw everyone running in every direction.
“How’s it going hun?” Kevin asked, walking over to her.
“People don’t listen is how it’s going. You two men, don’t move that yet, we have to take the food out first!”
“I see I’ve placed the right dictator on the job here. Listen, in about a half hour you can load the fridge stuff into the new one.”
“OOOOOOOO…….let me see!” Judy ran from the room. When she returned she was all excited, “Oh nice, it’s a monster!”
“Yeah, they’re going to need it when I’m done here.” He kissed her and left the kitchen. On his return to the dining room, he saw an electrician. “How’s it going for the power?”
&nbs
p; “No problems, we hung the cables across the basement ceiling. All I have left to do is set up my boxes here, then turn on the juice.”
“Good, good, I’ll check back later with you. You guys have your next assignment, right?”
“Yup, Steve gave them to me.”
Kevin slapped him on the back; it was the ‘good work’ sign for the trades. Then he headed outside and the guys were unloading a massive top quality gas range with eight burners and two ovens underneath. Sitting on the edge, waiting their turns on the left, were two double convection ovens. On the right were a seventy-two inch, six burner, one-hundred and eighty thousand BTU standalone gas griddle, and a seventy-two inch, three deck oven. Behind that Kevin could see the three gas floor deep fryers as well as the steamer cabinets. There were other boxes that he couldn’t see yet, but he knew what was in them; the salamander oven for one, and the three commercial toasters, as well as the brand new, top of the range dishwasher; he got that one with Will in mind. Kevin walked over to the guys unloading the truck.
“Go inside, turn left into the living room and you’ll see a panel removed from a wall on the right. This brings you into the ballroom. Over near the doors to the outside, you’ll see sheets of plywood on the floor and that, gentlemen, is where you’re going to with the rest of these things. Do not let anything rest on the floor okay?”
“Got it boss.”
Kevin heard a large truck in the driveway somewhere but he couldn’t see it yet. He heard it drive a bit, then he heard beeping from reverse safety beepers, then heard the truck go forward again.
“Crap, I know what that is,” said Kevin and walked towards the entrance to the driveway. He didn’t get half way there when a truck came into view. Behind it was a fifty foot construction trailer. Kevin pointed over to his right, then ran over to the driver’s side and jumped up on the running board, “I need this right over there.” He pointed to the far side of the yard.
“Right, got it.”
Kevin jumped down and got out of the way.
Two hours later and the mansion had one fully functioning work trailer that was only waiting for heating fuel to be ready to run. There was a heavy black bundle of wires going across from the garages to the trailer. Kevin was looking them over when he saw Steve come out of the trailer.
“Steve?” Steve came over. “Can we get the guys to make a safety ramp for this wiring? We’re going to be driving in and out of the garages right over them.”
“Hell, I can do better than that.” He whistled to one of his men over at the construction equipment trucks parked in the yard, “Bring that truck over here.”
Once the truck was there, Kevin saw what was in the back and got it right off. For the next thirty minutes they set up the aluminum ramps that the cars could drive over without hurting the wires. They were securely locked into a special hole under the ramps.
By the end of the first day, the kitchen was completely gutted except for the sink at the back. The fridge was running and loaded with food, the chest freezer was in front of the china cabinet and the two microwaves were working just fine. The oil for the trailer was delivered in the afternoon, and everything was up and ready to go. The construction trailer came completely furnished with desks, file cabinets, separated rooms and even trash cans for each area. The place even had carpeting, which, in Kevin’s opinion, was not such a bright idea. Construction sites and carpeting did not mix well. Outside of the trailer, off to the right, sat five porta potties.
Kevin and Alex were in the head office trying to get his laptop to ‘talk’ to the blueprint machine that sat on a wall off to the side. After several failed attempts at getting Kevin to understand it all, Alex threw up his hands.
“You know what Kevin, you just hired me to run this for you. Go find Judy and take a break.” He rolled Kevin out of the way in his chair and leaned into Kevin’s PC, then starts typing away.
Kevin relinquished the chair to Alex, “Just be careful, all my plans are on that PC.”
“Yes, I know,” Said Alex, “and in a while they’ll all be on paper as well.”
Kevin knew when he wasn’t wanted, so he headed back to the Inn.
As Kevin rounded the corner to the dining room, he saw Beth and April, sat at the table, eating something. April had an almost full bag of potato chips lying in front of her; she was casually eating from it. Kevin made out like he was just walking past, then spun and stuck his hand in the bag to grab some. April slapped his hand down and it closed Kevin’s hand in the bag, while also making an almost air tight seal. Meanwhile, the air had to escape somewhere and it did, as the bottom of the bag blew open and chips flew everywhere. They all stared for a second at the mess, then broke out into laughter.
“Nice one April,” said Beth.
“It was,” said Kevin. “Now she can’t block them.” He reached to the side of Beth, where a stack of paper plates were sitting, grabbed one, and scooped up a pile of chips from the table. “You girls can have the rest.” He walked to the kitchen and left the mess to the girls.
Kevin opened the kitchen door and saw Judy in the middle, looking things over.
“Hi baby.” He walked over to her as he scanned the kitchen. As he looked to the left, he saw the area that had been Will and Barb’s rooms. The walls were gone now, making way for one massive kitchen. All that was left of the living quarters was the bathroom in the far corner. As he got to Judy he said, “You know, I think I can leave that bathroom intact, the cook needs to pee too, right?”
Judy kissed him as he reached her, “Good idea honey. Can we do it all in such a short amount of time?”
“Yeah, I think so. There will be snags, there always is, but yeah, I think so.”
“I feel kind of melancholy right now, Barb and I had some nice times here.”
Kevin put his arms around her, “And you will again hun. This is for the near future, not just yet.”
“Yeah, I know, just the same, I already miss what it looked like.”
Kevin kissed her neck, “I know baby, it’s going to work out though, don’t worry about a thing.”
A single kiss turned into a ten minute make-out session. Judy pulled back and gave Kevin a look – a very sexy look – there was no way Judy could have missed the ‘something’ that kept poking her thigh. She walked to the kitchen door in a very sexy manner, and beckoned him with her finger. They both passed Beth and April at the table.
“Judy and I have to work out some plans; we’ll be back in a while,” explained Kevin. They both went past the table at a fairly good clip. After they were gone, April looked at Beth.
“Did you happen to notice Kevin’s ‘plan’ poking out straight in front of him?”
“Notice it? I was going to offer to hang a flag from it but they left too fast.”
The women get a good chuckle out of that one.
A while after Kevin and Judy had gone over their ‘plans’, Kevin sat in the dining room, just looking around. Everyone was there. They had just finished their first microwave meal since any of them had ever been there.
“Guys, this room has been bugging me. It’s massive. Hell, it’s bigger than a lot of restaurants.”
“Meaning what?” asked Cindy.
“Well, I’m betting I could get twenty five round four person tables in here, and not ever hurt the buffet area.”
Judy looked at him, “Will is pretty proud of this table hun, do you think you can take it out without him being upset?”
“That’s my problem, is he going to demand that we put it back if I take it out?” Kevin looked over to the leaf closet, “I’m already taking that out. It has to go, that’s the only place I can put it.”
Beth spoke up, “It, what ‘IT’?”
Kevin smiled at her, “My secret ‘it’, my dear.” He said no more.
“Call Barb, ask her how upset he will be,” suggested Roland.
Kevin sat forward, “Now that is a good idea.”
Kevin got up, went to the hotel’s phone and ca
lled the number that Barb had given them for San Diego.
“Barb?”
“Kevin, hi, we were just about to go out for dinner. How’s everything?”
“Everything is splendid here…”
Kevin spoke to Barb for about twenty minutes. Afterwards, he told them the table was going, but it was going to be stored his way, not just thrown in a dusty old corner.
“I’ll have a boat guy come up in the next few days. We’ll put padding all around it, the chairs, and the leafs, then heat seal everything in plastic. I even have the perfect place to store it.” Kevin’s mind was working it all out.
***
The next day he brought Steve down to the basement and walked over to the left side, where the steel chair sat.
“Right here, can you get some guys on it soon?”
“Good choice, I’ll get someone on it today.”
“Thanks Steve.”
“Hey Kevin, do you plan on doing something with this basement?”
“Actually, I do, but not until about the beginning of March.” He walked up the stairs and told Steve his plans.
Kevin’s ‘little secret’ showed up two days later. Now everyone knew why the leaf closet had to go, and why he was moving Marie into room twelve. Plumbers and carpenters were going in and out of Marie’s room for two days, and no one was allowed to enter. Carpenters had also removed the entire leaf cabinet, leaving a hole about five feet wide on the left side of the buffet.
Beth noticed the truck out front first; she spread the news like wildfire. Everyone quickly headed to the dining room, where they heard Kevin talking to someone. When they finally made it there, they saw Kevin and a man with ‘Regis Elevators’ printed on the back of his work shirt.
“But can it fit?” Kevin asked him.
“Oh yeah, it’s almost as if it was made to go there, but that would be the finished lift. This is gonna be a bitch because your guys are going to have to cut it back a bit or we can’t get the box in.”
“But it CAN be done?”