The Lottery - 4. Chapter 4

I was up early, had the coffee on, sausages in the oven, and was just about ready to make scrambled eggs when Paul and Roy came down. “Good morning, boys. How did you sleep?”

“We slept very well. The bed was very comfortable. It was nice to be able to sleep and not worry about someone disturbing you or stealing your stuff.”

“As soon as the rest of the boys are up, we’ll have breakfast. Have you showered?”

I guess not. I gave them a glass of orange juice and told them to take a shower. They must have awakened the other boys because it wasn’t long as they started to come down to the kitchen. Their hair was wet, so I knew they had been in the shower. I began to scramble eggs. “Luke, how about making toast while I cook the eggs. Bob, there’s orange juice in the refrigerator. Pour a glass for everyone.”

“By the time the eggs were done, all of the boys were sitting at the table. I took the sausages out of the oven and placed the bowl of scrambled eggs on the table, while Luke placed a stack of buttered toast on the table.

I poured myself a cup of coffee. “If any of you want coffee, help your self. When we go shopping today, I’ll get a few boxes of hot chocolate mix.” That caused a smile on the faces of the boys.

“How many of you boys know how to swim?”

They all said they knew how to swim. Todd said he learned at school, several of the other boys nodded in agreement. “Okay, I have some errands to do today, and when I am finished, we’ll go and get more clothes. I want you all to have at least five sets of clothes, so take a look at what you have. If they are salvageable, you’ll keep them as part of your five. If you haven’t washed your clothes, do so now”

Luke and Roy started to wash the dishes, I showed them the dishwasher, and the smiles I got showed that they appreciate this modern convenience.

I drove to the Ford dealer. I needed a pick up with two seats and a cover for the truck bed. He didn’t have one but said he could get one from another dealer in a few days. I told him to call me when he had the truck.

About a week later, he delivered the truck to the farm. “Thanks for delivering the truck. I wasn’t sure how I was going to get it.”

“No problem, I was on my way home when he asked me to drop it off.”

“Great, just give me a few minutes, and I’ll drive you either back to the dealer or home.” I told the boys I would be gone for a few minutes. I drove the gentleman home.

I decided rather than take all of the boys at once, I’d make two trips. I had the time. So returning home, I heard the boys as I was getting out of the car. They were in the swimming pool what I didn’t expect; they were swimming naked.

When they saw me, they waved and kept swimming. I just laughed, “When you are tired, I’ll take three of you for more clothes, and then when we come back, I’ll take the rest of you.”

Three of the boys got out of the water, “Rinse off before you get dressed. You don’t want the chlorine to cause itching. “

Once they were dry and dressed, we headed out to the shopping center. I wanted them to have one set of nice clothes and two more sets of everyday clothes. We went to one of the shops that only sold men’s clothing. I bought the boys slacks, a sport coat, shirt and tie, and a pair of dress shoes. Then we went to one of the clothing stores where we picked up two more pairs of jeans, more underwear, socks, and tee shirts.

“Arriving home, the other three were ready to go. “Hang up your pants and jackets, wash the rest. When your shirts are finished, hang them, and if you’re lucky, you won’t have to iron them. If you aren’t lucky, I’ll show you how to iron them. Let’s go, boys.”

I took the last three and repeated what I had just done.

The boys were enjoying the pool while I met with my architect.

“James, I was going to refurbish the barn, but my dad said it was in very bad shape, so here is what we’ll do. I want to tear down that barn and start anew. I sketched out a plan, and I thought we could look at this project in three phases, one phase for showers and toilets in this area, one phase for a kitchen and dining room in this area, and one phase for rooms on the top floor of the building. The shower and toilet area must include a large shower area, minimal privacy, a commercial laundry area, and a storage area for towels and laundry products. The second floor needs to have individual rooms on each side of a central aisle. The rooms will hold bunk beds with a small cabinet for each bed. The kitchen needs to be the industrial size with a large dining room off of the kitchen. Solar panels on the roof and exhaust fans. So what do you think?”

“This is a big project. I’m not sure the firm will let me handle it.”

“You tell them I said this was your project, and I’ll pull the business if you aren’t assigned to the project. We also will need to put in a large septic system and increase the drainage field.” He was smiling. I knew he was up for the project.

I now needed some army tents until the dorms are finished. I went to the sports store in town and brought all they had and ordered five more. I knew it would take time for the dorms to be finished, and I didn’t want to wait before bringing boys back.

I told the boys we would be making a run tomorrow night. “I’ll take two of you with me each time we make the run. Those that stay home can keep an eye on things.”

“I have to do some shopping. Who wants to go with me?”

“They all wanted to go, so they piled in the truck, and we headed to the country market. We took a cart, “If you guys see something you want, just check with me before you put it into the cart, okay?” They nodded in agreement. I headed to the meat department. I needed lunch meat and cheese for sandwiches as well as restocking my refrigerator. When I left the meat section, I had my cart half full. The next stop was the dairy. I got two cases of milk and then to the fruit section. My cart was full. The boys just looked, “Go and get another cart.”

“This time, we walked the different aisles. I’d see something and ask the boys. We got several packages of hot chocolate mix, as well as cereal and chips. I picked up some fresh vegetables, fruit, and also frozen vegetables. When I checked out, the boys packed, and I was glad I had brought the truck. We had to stop for ice cream on the way home. Passing a pizza place, the boys asked for pizza for dinner tonight, so we stopped. Three extra-large pizzas later, we pulled into the farm.

“I let the boys unload the truck, I plugged the refrigerator on the food truck into an electrical outlet, I wanted to get the fridge cold enough for the milk.

That evening after pizza, I had the boys help make the sandwiches, we had an assembly line, and it worked very well. I wrapped the sandwiches in wax paper, I’ll need to look for paper packets, but the wax paper will do.

When we were done with the sandwiches, I took the boys outside to set up the tents. “Tomorrow, when I’m gone, those of you who are here can set up the rest of the tents. I don’t know if we’ll have any boys coming back with us or not, but just in case we do, we’ll need a place for them to sleep.”

I went and emptied the freezer ice trays into plastic bags, which I put back in the freezer. I would use these bags of ice to keep the sandwiches cool. The crate of fruit was placed in the truck. There was no need to keep the apples cold. I let the boys draw straws to see who would go with me.

In the morning, I packed more ice while beginning breakfast. The boys decided to have cereal with fruit, which made my job easy. I had toast and coffee. That was enough. I wanted to get the truck loaded. I checked on the fridge. It was cold enough, so I loaded the milk. Now all I had to do was pack the sandwiches and ice bags to keep the sandwiches cool.

“With the help of the boys, we grilled hamburgers. I had bought some potato salad with fresh fruit, that was lunch.

“We’ll leave at two. Who is coming with me?”

“Todd and Bob won the lottery.”

“Okay, boys, I want everyone to have a chance, so we’ll rotate in pairs.”