Alien Among Us (TJ Steele Book 1)

by L. Edwin Brown

  I rode in the back seat, while Janice drove. They were talking to me about the Phoenix area, but I could read the ladies minds. I knew now why Lois wanted me to see Janice’s house. She was planning to move down here, with her sister.

  Janice lived in a gated community, in a nice size three bedroom house. By the time she pulled into the driveway, it was clear to me, why Lois wanted to move down here. Her sister was retired and had sold a small business. Her husband had left her, in a great financial position.

  When we got inside, the ladies said they were hungry and began fixing lunch, for all of us. Maybe they thought the lunch would soften the blow, of what they were about to tell me.

  TJ, Lois said. I’m going to return home with you tomorrow, but I’m going to come back here to live with Janice, after I sell my house and unload my furnishing. We want to do some things together, before we get to old to do them. I smiled at her and said, I understood.

  We had great lunch before, Lois and Janice, showed me around the area. There were lots of shopping centers and grocery stores, close to the gated community. The neighborhoods were also very nice, with no abandon structures or high crime areas.

  We had dinner at a local restaurant and were back at Janice’s house early. Monday morning, Janice drove Lois and me, to the airport. We flew back to Mountain View and I took Lois home. She told me, she would put her house on the market, as soon as possible. She said she plans to have a yard sale, as soon as she can sort things out. I told her I would help her, with anything she needed.

  I left her at home and drove to my house. As I walked around the huge home, I wondered what I should do now. I guess I’ll call Gabriela Alvarez in the morning and have her hire me, a cleaning service. I didn’t want another home manager, like Lois. All I needed was a cleaning service that would come in once a week. I really didn’t do much more than sleep here and work on engineering CAD drawings.

  The next morning, I heard the front door open. When I walked into the foyer, I saw Lois. She was coming to work. I walked over to her and took her hand. I sat her down on the sofa and told her, she never had to clean this house again. I told her, I was going to make sure she had everything she needed to retire, so she and Janice could do all the things, they wanted to do.

  I will buy your house, the way it is. You go through everything and pick out what you want to take to Phoenix and let me get rid of the rest. I don’t know what my house is worth, she said. Don’t worry about that, I plan to give you two million dollars for it, I said.

  Don’t be ridiculous, she responded harshly. That’s ten times, what it’s worth. No sweetheart, you don’t understand, I responded. It’s not the house, I’m paying for. It’s all the years of service, you have given me. Call it severance pay, if it makes you feel better.

  I can’t take that, she said. You don’t have a choice, I responded. I’ll transfer the money into your sister’s account if I have to, but you will take it, I said sternly. Lois hugged me and said she will always remember me, no matter where she goes, or what she does.

  Now why don’t you go home and start planning your move. I can take care of myself now, thanks to you. She said she would leave, right after she fixes us breakfast. She said she doesn’t have anything in her house and she is starving. After breakfast, she still wouldn’t leave, until she had done my laundry, from the last three weeks.

  Lois stayed all day and all night. She said sleeping with me gives her hope and energy. I know it is the energy within me that transfers to her, she is feeling. I knew holding her, while she slept, was good for her, and would only last a few more weeks.

  The following week, I flew her to Phoenix, where we picked up Janice. We brought her back to Lois’s house, in Palo Alto, so she could help with the packing. I honored my commitment and paid Lois for her house. I had my San Francisco attorneys handle, all the transaction. By midApril, Lois was gone, permanently living with her sister in Phoenix, Arizona.

  The things Lois did not take with her, I donated to charity. I auctioned off her house a few months later.

  Gabriela hired a service that supplied me with another housekeeper. The new house keeper arrived in the morning and fixed me breakfast, lunch, and supper, if I requested it. She did all the things, Lois did, but I never warmed up to her.

  I kept in touch with Lois and she and Janice were headed to Paris then Rome and would be gone through August.

  My forty fourth birthday passed with no fan fair or a chocolate cake.

  By the end of August, I was feeling the need for another change in my life. I flew to Sarasota and met with Sally Jenkins, the lady realtor, the lady realtor I met when I was here a few months ago.

  I purchased a penthouse condominium in the Ritz Carlton, Golden Gate Building next to the hotel. I hired a local interior decorator to furnish the condo, in a modern style.

  I flew back and forth until the end of the year, while the decorating was going on. I celebrated Christmas and New Years in Sarasota, making new friends every day.

  Now I had a home on both coast. I found I was spending more time, in Florida than in California. By the end of 2007, my Los Altos Hills, California home, went on the market. I removed all my personal items from the home and shipped them to Florida. I continued to maintain the security, at the estate, until the property sold.

  By the beginning of 2008, I was living full time at the Ritz Carlton, Golden Gate Condominiums. Before leaving Los Altos Hills, I sold my Cadillac Escalade. Once I was settled in Sarasota, I purchased another new Escalade. My plane was stored at Florida Coastal Aviation. I wasn’t flying as much as I used to, but I like knowing, I could take off for parts unknown, anytime I wanted.

  I continued you work with the military on designs and advising them on new technology. I had my favorite places to eat, or have a cocktail or two. I started smoking expensive, hand rolled cigars, especially Cubans, after the bartender at the Ritz gave me one. I limited the cigars, to one a day. I joined Hines martial arts studio and would work out several times a week. One of Thomas Hines’s older students, was carrying on his tradition, at the school Thomas built.

  In July, a rock musician, from San Francisco, purchased my Los Altos Hills estate. I shifted my personal management, from Gabriela Alvarez to a personal managing company, in Sarasota. I also moved all my banking from California to Florida, as well as finding a new attorney and accountant firm, in the Sarasota area. I wasn’t dissatisfied with the west coast services. I just wanted things closer, to where I was living.

  I spent Thanksgiving with Sally Jenkins, the real estate agent that sold me the condo. Her husband had passed away several years earlier and she was also alone, during the holidays. Although she was in her mid-sixties, I found her attractive and interesting.

  I helped her prepare the turkey and she showed me how to fix the dressing and other side dishes. I set the table, like Lois had shown me years earlier, with a napkin, fork, knife, and spoon on the right side of the dish. I placed a crystal wine glass and a crystal water glass at the top of the dinner plate.

  With the table now prepared, I pulled a chair back from the table and stood waiting on Sally to sit. We ate until we were stuffed. We put off cleaning up the mess, until our food settled.

  While we were washing dishes and putting the leftover food away, Sally got a call. I continued with the cleanup, while she spoke to the person, on the other end of the line. I heard her say, she would try again, to talk to the family, on Monday.

  When she got off the phone, she told me about this house a friend of hers built. Her friend, Leo Scott, is a contractor, who has built some of the most fantastic beach homes, along the gulf coast.

  The new house is complete, but the final payment for the construction is in limbo. The older couple, who had the home built, set aside the last fifty percent of the cost, in an escrow account. The husband died of a heart attack five months ago when the house was about sixty five percent complete. His wife passed away four weeks ago. Their family is fighting over the estate and h
as put a hold on the seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars, still in the escrow account.

  No one in the family wants the house and has sued Leo to recover the initial payment, their parents paid, to have the house built. A court order has put everything on hold until a hearing, scheduled for late next month. I warned Leo about being the banker on this project, but he felt safe, because the couple was extremely wealthy and were excited about returning to Florida.

  The house is on Casey Key and sits on a piece of property that belonged to the wife’s family. Her grandparents, built a one story motel on Casey Key right at the start of the Great Depression. They also owned, a small grocery store, in Venice that helped support them through the depression. The motel finally took off right after World War II.

  The wife’s parents, took over the grocery store while her grandparents, moved out to the motel and ran it. When her grandparents passed on, her mother ran the motel, while her father handled the grocery store.

  The motel stayed full almost all year long. Families returned there every year, to swim in the gulf and play on the beach. The motel, had been remodeled several times, over its seventy years of existence. The last time was in 1975 with an electrical update. The electrical contractor used aluminum wiring throughout and in 1998 the wooden structure, burnt to the ground.

  The Albee Road Bridge, was under construction, and all the fire trucks had to be diverted north to Blackburn Point Road, to reach the burning motel, which is at the southern end of Casey Key. By the time they got to the motel, it was totally engulf. The State Fire Marshal said the fire was due to the aluminum wiring.

  The wife’s mother was running the motel at age eighty when the fire started. Her father had passed away, a few years earlier and the grocery store was closed. Her mother moved into an independent living facility in Venice, where she lived until two years ago, when she passed away.

  The wife’s mother, refused to sale the property, even after several investors, had offered her a lot of money for it. Once the wife inherited the property, her and her husband decided to build on it and retire there.

  The wife was still planning on moving into the house, even after her husband passed away. She had Leo finish the house. Her death came as a shock to everyone, because she was fairly strong and healthy.

  I wasn’t sure why Sally was telling me all this, until she asked, if I wanted to see the house. Sure I said, just trying to be accommodating. I was reading her mind and knew she was hoping, I would fall in love with the place, and buy it.

  I stayed at Sally’s house, until 10:00 PM, before heading back to my condo.

  Friday morning, Sally called me and asked if I had time to run out to Casey Key. She was in her office on the first floor of the Ritz Carlton, when she called. I told her to give me an hour and I would meet her in her office.

  I fixed a pot of coffee and read the morning paper, before a quick shower and shave. I was dressed and out the door in a little over an hour. I rode the elevator down to the first floor and made my way over to the condo sales office. Sally was on the phone, talking with someone. I sat down in a chair, next to the door, to her office.

  She got off the phone, grabbed her purse, and said she was ready to go. We walked out to her car and I got into the passenger seat. She pulled out onto Gulf Stream Drive and headed over to Highway 41 south. We drove down to South Sarasota and pulled into a parking lot, just before Phillippi Street. The sign on the building said, Scott Construction Company.

  When we entered the building, Sally introduced me to the receptionist and then Leo Scott. She told Leo, she was parked out front, and wanted to show me the Brunswick house, on Casey Key.

  Leo said he would follow us. He had another appointment in North Port later that morning. Leo grabbed a three ring binder and followed us out the door. He climbed into his large Ford F-350 pickup, while Sally and I got into her Mercedes.

  We headed south on Highway 41 and turned right on Blackburn Point Road. We took Blackburn Point west towards the beach, crossing a small inlet water way with a marina and restaurant on the other side of the bridge.

  We turned left on Casey Key Road and drove south. While Sally drove, she pointed out some of the other houses, Leo had built over the years. The houses were nice, but the property was small and your neighbors, were on top of each other.

  We drove about five miles south on Casey Key Road, when Sally turned right, into a driveway. We were now sitting in front of a three story house, with a formal entrance at the top of a set of fourteen landscaped steps. The house was wood clapboards, painted light grey. Sally said the exterior of the house, was all manmade materials, impervious to rot from the salt water and air. I could see the house had lots of roof gables, with a galvanized metal standing seam roof.

  What I liked about the house was the property. None of the neighbors’ homes were close. There was at least a two hundred foot buffer between the neighbor’s homes and this house, with plenty of palm trees and vegetation all around. The lower level was the garage and large storage area and was well design to match the rest of the house. Most of the lower level was hidden by fill dirt and quality landscaping.

  Leo had pulled in behind us and was already standing at the foot of the front stairs waiting, while Sally finished telling me things about the house. We got out of her car and the three of us walked up the stairs, to the front door,

  When we entered the house the foyer was two stories tall with a grand staircase in the middle of the space, leading to the second floor. A roof gable, on the front of the house, with large windows, let in plenty of natural light. To the left side, was a set of double doors that led into a small study with built-in oak cabinets and book shelves.

  The master bedroom ran along the south side of the house, with a large covered deck on the back. The rest of the first floor was open, with a dual sided fire place in the center of the floor. Sally pointed out the large open area, with three sets of glass doors leading out to a large deck. The great room, and a smaller area, on the front side of the fire place, was the dining room.

  The kitchen, was open to both spaces, extending out the north side of the house, about fifteen feet. A long bar, ran east and west, in front of the kitchen. A ten foot long by six foot wide island sat in the middle, with a large double sink and dishwasher. Behind the island, was a forty eight inch stainless steel Viking Professional Gas range and grill, with dual ovens. Over the top of the range was a massive stainless steel range hood. To the right of the Viking range was a dual Sub Zero refrigerator and freezer.

  I could see, this kitchen was made for entertaining, and not for a single man like me. But I liked it anyway.

  While Sally and I were admiring the large kitchen, Leo walked over and laid the three ring binder on top the bar. He flipped the cover opened and the first page was a picture, in a clear protective sleeve, of the motel, dated September 22, 1929.

  The motel was typical style for the times. It was U-shaped with six rooms on each side and four across the back. The right side had a two story live-in unit, with a drive through canopy. The three ring binder was filled with photos of the motel, through the years. The last two photos, were after the fire. One was a newspaper photo and article about a local motel, destroyed by fire.

  Leo said the land and property is grandfather into some sort of historical trust and cannot be divided. He has tried to talk the family members, into allowing him to sale the property, and he would then give them their share. The siblings cannot agree on anything. They just want the initial, three quarters of a million dollars, their parents had paid me, before they will let me do anything with the property, stated Leo. Unfortunately I cannot pay them. Most of my capital is tied up in this house.

  The house is worth twice what the total investment is. I have told the family it would be a quick sale, but they don’t want a simple solution.

  Leo got a call on his cell phone and Sally and I went on with the tour. Leo caught up with us, out by the pool and said he had to go. He handed Sally
the keys, telling her to set the alarm and secure the house, when we were done. He then left, by walking around the south side of the house to his truck.

  The one thing I liked about the house, was the landscaping. They built concrete retaining walls, from half way along the north side of the house, all the way around the back and south side to the front porch. Part of the stairs, to the front porch, was imbedded into the slopping landscaping. The only part of the house that showed the full three stories, was the extreme northeast corner where Sally parked her car. There is a two car overhead garage door, facing north, leading under the house.

  Sally took me back into the house and upstairs, where there were three large bedrooms and three baths. The bedrooms had five foot high walls, with steep pitching ceilings and gable sides, with ceiling peaks, up to twelve feet high. The one bedroom, in the back of the house, had a large covered deck and could be another master bedroom.

  I was standing at the set of French doors that led out to the covered deck, staring out at the Gulf of Mexico. Sally stepped up next to me. Beautiful isn’t it, she said.

  I didn’t respond to her question, but instead, I turned to her and asked, if the reason she is showing me this place, is she hoping I’ll buy it. Well are you interested, she asked. I didn’t think you were allowed to sell this home until the family released it, I replied.

  All they want is the initial payment their father paid Leo. You loan Leo the money to pay the family and the courts will drop the injunction. The family signs off on the property, releasing it to Scott Construction.

  What do I do with my condo, I asked Sally? Keep it, or I can sell it for you, she said. The beach house was around four thousand square feet in size, not counting the lower garage and storage space. I did like the thought, of owning my own, single family home again.