Chapter16 - Let the Sting Begin
A week passed without Rita receiving one whit of notice from Henry. His complete lack of attention was wearing at the foundation of her belief system causing her ego to crumble and at the same stroke casting doubt on her ability to attract men. She was keeping the embers of hope alive while Henry remained totally mute. Henry's continued silence was a new experience for Rita. During her high school years Rita, perhaps due to Ol' Lizzy's strong advice about boys, formulated an opinion, which soon became etched in her mind believing she carried the holy grail of womanhood between her legs. This particular belief served as a fountain which gushed forth-verbal complaining material every time a man offered the briefest second look at her, real or imagined, accusing him of having desires on her body.
Suddenly along came Henry; he threw her for a loop with his impeccable gentlemanly behavior and subsequently paid her the most devastating insult possible; he didn't care one whit for her body. His complete lack of inattention was beginning to annoy her and time passed quickly as Rita delved deeper into putting together a 'sting operation' she and Nellie were cooking up to rip Buck. This particular morning there was nothing special to do and the memory of Henry moved into her thoughts. She began thinking aloud as she went about her chores.
"How could he have been so thoughtful and attentive to me without getting the hint I was interested in him. I'm sure he enjoyed looking at my legs and feeling my body against his. Yet he was so damn platonic when he bid me goodnight. I'm completely lost as to why he hasn't contacted me. Maybe I shouldn't have been so brazen to deliberately flash my legs and push my boobs against his chest. I hope God knows why Henry is ignoring me, because I sure don't."
Getting nowhere thinking about Henry, Rita's thoughts turned to Julie spending more time with Sam than at home. The concept of Julie moving out never really crossed her mind before, but it was becoming a serious possibility.
"I suspect Julie will be moving out of the condo if this thing she has with Sam keeps building. It's nice to see her happy and enjoying life again and I'm quite sure most of the happiness she projected after Steve died contained a lot of put on. Now her high spirits are looking real."
Rita continued her thoughts as she went about routine household chores. Keeping physically busy was helping the morning to pass quickly. Near noon the phone chirped and brought Rita back to the real world. It was Nellie inviting her to lunch at the bowling alley, promising there was something interesting to share.
Entering the bowling alley coffee shop, Rita noticed a reserved card resting on their favorite table caused Rita to mill around with her face reflecting a questioning expression.
"I wonder what's coming off this morning. None of the other empty tables has reserved signs."
The waitress noticed Rita's confusion and waived her to the table.
"You and your friend are such regular customers we decided to keep your table reserved."
"Thank you very much, I'm truly impressed with being noticed and appreciated." Rita replied, as she sat down.
"Our pleasure," assured the waitress. "I'll bring your coffee."
"Thank you again," Rita replied.
Before her coffee was served, Nellie came bustling in and sat down opposite Rita.
"Greeting and salutations," Nellie effervesced.
"My! You show all the signs of being in an above average mood this fine morning," greeted Rita.
"It could accurately be said, 'I am'," glowed Nellie.
The waitress arrived with their coffee and inquired, "Care for anything to eat now or just coffee and food later?"
"Coffee now and give us about twenty-five or thirty minutes and bring us the lunch special." Nellie looked at Rita with a lifted eyebrow and received a nod before confirming the order.
"Did you know we have become VIPs in here, as of this morning?" Rita asked.
"How did our notch-up in appreciation come about?"
"Since we're such regular customers and I suspect above average tippers, he crew decided to reserve this table for us. We can drop in anytime now and find our table waiting for us.
"How about that?" Nellie responded in her upbeat manner. "It's about time we received notice and recognition. I'll take all I can get whenever it comes along."
"I'm all ears and eager to hear your interesting news," Rita remarked, between sips of coffee.
"There's news on two fronts," Nellie began. "First, it looks like Buck is taking the bait. His real estate friend, Gus, has been in contact with both principles. We'll come back to them later. Second, I got a run down on your friend, John Henry."
Rita straightened up at the mention of Henry's name and remained at full attention as Nellie continued her report.
"As you already know, his name is John Henry Mills, a retired geologist. He's also honest, a rare commodity among men in this part of the world. Everything he told you checked out, except he didn't tell you everything. It seems when he was in Africa, twenty or so years ago he contacted one of those rare exotic jungle diseases and before he could get treatment it infected his gonads. It's unclear if his malady resulted from the disease or as a side effect from the treatment, whichever way the results were the same, he lost his ability to get it up. He is now totally impotent. A side bar to the story which may or not be true. When his condition was diagnosed and before treatment began, he was given a choice of living or losing his manhood, he chose to live."
"My God! What a horrible choice Henry was forced to make. I can't imagine anyone being forced to make such a devastating decision. Such a terrible life sentence for a man to receive? compelled to live the remainder of his life suffering from such an intimate personal affliction," Rita lamented shaking her head. "Is there any more to his story?"
There is," Julie nodded. "He cares for a house-bound friend. This friend was one of the company owners where Henry once worked. I understand his friend is pretty well heeled and generous by letting Henry have access to his bank account as payment for caring for him. Henry is able to be away for short periods of time and from time to time makes business trips as a representative for his friend. There is no record of Henry developing a close relationship with anyone other than the friend he now attends, end of story."
"Had I not been stewing over my bruised ego, I could have figured out Henry had some kind of physical problem for not pursuing an intimate relationship with me. I admire him for devoting his life to the care of his friend. The burden of such care must be a difficult task, perhaps Henry's disability makes care giving easier.
I hope the years have been kind to him and helped ease some measure of disappointment he has been forced to overcome. I wish he would have mentioned his condition to me; but then, why should he? After having acted the way I did. He seemed like such a nice man and I wanted him to notice me. Now I'm faced with the cold hard facts he was incapable of responding to my rutting behavior. God I feel like a complete fool."
"Cheer up there Old Girl," comforted Nellie. "He does appear to be a more decent kind of guy than most members of the herd grazing here abouts. I hope you don't get a notion in your head to track him down, no matter how much you feel for him; besides, pity is neither your style nor his. It's best to let him call the shots. Having you chase after him would only become an embarrassment. I'm sure he feels there's no future for a relationship with you, other than being a platonic friend. Anyway, we have enough to keep your mind occupied for awhile."
"You're right, of course. It's best for me to forget about Henry and his disabilities. There's no reason for me to make a bigger fool of myself than I already have. O.K. Doctor, what's next on the agenda?"
"As I mentioned before, faxes have been flying back and forth between Land Investment Ltd., U. S. Resorts and Junction Reality. I think we're getting Old Buck stirred up a little.
'I've been thinking about something else," Rita interjected. "Is the eighty acres northwest of town for real, or is it a fictional part
of the scam?"
"It's for real all right," Nellie nodded. "I can feel the wheels turning from all the way across the table. Your devious mind must be hatching a plot."
"Have you taken the opportunity to look over the property?"
"I've driven by it but never walked over any part of it. If that's what you mean." Nellie answered with a puzzled expression.
"I may have a possible money making use for your rattlesnake playground. In fact, if my idea works, it will make a lot of money and further enhance the 'sting' operation we're working on. I'd like to hire a helicopter to take us out there so we can get a closer look at the property. Remember, part of my story to the realtor was a desire to build a house in that vicinity, so let's make a contribution to my cover story. Our food should be coming any minute, so we can leave after eating."
"You think it's a good idea to eat and rush out to go flying around? The flying may cause us to throw up our lunch."
"Aw heck, Nellie, live dangerous for a change. Flying has never bothered me and flying in a helicopter is about like riding in a car without having to worry about running off the road."
Their first stop after lunch was at the country assessor's office to get a map showing property boundaries for the eighty acres in question. With map in hand they drove to the local airport. Arriving at the helicopter service office, they parked along side a well-used pickup truck and walked into the office to find the attendant leaning back in a beat-up looking office chair with his heel resting on a cluttered and equally timeworn desk, fast asleep.
"Watch this," Nellie whispered as she picked up a four-inch thick maintenance manual, holding it waist high she let it drop so it would land flat side on the floor, resulting in a loud muffled BANG!
"Jesus H. Christ!!" Exclaimed the startled attendant attempting to get his feet unwound, on the floor, standing up and turn around all at once. The poor victim's actions caused Rita and Nellie to double up in hysterical laughter. Once the attendant got himself physically collected and realized how his actions must have looked to the two women standing in front of him, he joined in their contagious laughter. The man looked to about five foot ten inches tall with salt and pepper hair above a rectangular tanned smiling face. He wore loose fitting coveralls making it difficult to judge his weight.
"What can I do for you two dream wreckers and hernia makers?" The man asked.
His question threw the women into another round of laughter while the man waited and looked on with smiling amusement. Rita was the first to collect herself and declared their business.
"We would like to hire a helicopter to take us about twenty miles to the northwest so we can view some property. Oh yes, please excuse my practical joking friend, she's on a high this afternoon so I'm not surprised at anything she may decide to do." Producing a map, Rita continued. "The property we want look at is outlined in red. I suspect in your business it should be no problem for you to locate the selected parcel of land? I doubt if there are many landmarks out there, other than perhaps a rattlesnake potty or two. By the way are you the pilot?"
"Yes I am," confirmed the sleeping attendant turned pilot.
"Oh shit!" Nellie stammered. "He'll probably get us out there over a rattlesnake den and dump us." This time it was the pilot who gave forth with a hearty laugh.
"I haven't had time to think about it, but since you mentioned such an action it does offer an appealing ring to my natural revengeful nature."
After studying the map for a minute or so, he glanced up at the women and answered in a more business like manner.
"There's no problem at all, in fact I hauled a realtor guy out there day before yesterday to look at the same parcel of land. Finding it again will be a piece of cake. Looks like that little hunk of rock and cactus has suddenly turned important with all the traffic it's generating."
"Do you happen to remember who the realtor happened to be?" Rita asked.
"Don't remember his name, but he's with Junction Realty. Are you ladies ready to go?" The pilot asked.
"Let go test our lunch to see if it'll stay down," Nellie answered, catching Rita's eye with a wink.
"By the way, my name is Ted and it costs one hundred and fifty dollars an hour for me and the copter."
"Yea, Ted." Nellie quipped. I'm sure glad you included yourself in this flying deal, I don't know about her," pointing her thumb at Rita, "but I'll be damned if I could ever get that flying erector set off the ground . Let's get this show on the road before my nerves give out on me. Here I am forgetting my manners, this here lady is Rita and I'm Nellie," extending her hand to Ted.
As they shook hands, Ted added. "I'm glad to meet you ladies, it isn't often I get beauty, humor and being scared near out of my wits all on the same job before leaving the ground. If you don't mind a little physical exertion, you can help me roll the copter out of the barn."
Following roll out, Ted assisted the women into the copter and when everyone was buckled up, he started the engine. In a few minutes they were skimming along over the sparsely settled desert and crisscrossing the ground at various heights and in different direction. By the time they were finished, the women were on intimate terms with every rock, gully and hill on the acreage. After landing and pushing the copter back into the hangar, Rita prepared a check for Ted's requested amount, including a generous tip.
Handing the check to Ted, Rita added, "Tomorrow, would you do me a favor by calling the man at Junction Reality and casually mentioning to him you hauled a couple of women out to look over the rock pile he looked at a few days ago?"
Looking at the check, Ted smiled and lifted his gaze to Rita. "I don't see any problem with exercising my finger a little. I thank you for the business, your generosity and the most amusing afternoon I can remember. Anytime you ladies get in the mood to drop some books or need to test your lunch, come on back.
"It's very likely we'll be seeing you again in the near future," Rita smiled.
With handshakes all around Rita and Nellie left and returned to their positions at the bowling alley caf?.
After ordering coffee Nellie picked up the discussion. "Now just what in the name of hell was this flying stuff all about? I've been more than patient waiting for you to tell me what's going on. I need to know what you have spinning around in that noggin of yours."
Rita leaned forward and began explaining her plan. "This may take a little time so you'll have to exercise a little more of your patience until I finish."
"O.K.," Nellie nodded.
Rita began her explanation. "It all began when you cooked up that cover story for me to visit Buck's realtor friend and feed him a yarn about looking for land out northwest of town. Hold that thought a minute while I digress a bit. This guy, Sam, the one Julie is in a terminal leg-lock with happens to be an architect. A few days ago the three of us were sitting around talking when he mentioned a long-time dream he held about designing and building houses in the desert, especially where there are big boulders and uneven land. His dream houses would be partly underground to take advantage of the insulating qualities of the soil and rocks. In addition, once the houses were completed and landscaped, the man made part of the structures would blend in with the environment and would be hardly noticeable except for access roads. The abundance of sunshine we have here is put to use heating water and powering solar cells to generate needed electricity, aided by windmills, so power lines to the development would be eliminated.
From the way he explained the parameters he needed to create his dream, I thought about the jumble of rocks we just looked at would suit him to a tee. On the other score, I'm sure we can turn this rattlesnake ranch into a successful development and it will more than piss the cowboy off because I'll bet he's bitching about that eighty acres as being completely worthless; since all he can see is the motel site. I can picture Sam's vision in my mind and with this unique concept we can get scads of promotional publicity for free. I think houses will sell faster t
han they can be built. Each house would be built on a five-acre lot to maintain quietness, openness and privacy. The parcel would only yield sixteen houses, but at a million bucks, plus, per copy, there's a bundle of money to be made, provided one has the nerve to pull it off." Rita concluded, leaning back in her chair.
Nellie sat with a dumbfounded expression for a moment before talking.
"All I can think of is, I'll be damned. Rita, my girl, I always knew you were a smart lady, but never in all my born days did I ever think you could weave a plan like you just mentioned from a bunch of scattered sources, including a rock pile everyone thinks is worthless. Hot damn! Let's do it. I can hear good old Buck laughing his dumb head off until he wakes up to find he's been taken to the cleaners.
Kate Page 16