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- 03/10/2022
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ARROW - 14. Chapter 14
Walking back to the Club, “Armand, are you serious about painting that wall in the club?”
“Yes, but after we finish our apartment and my studio.”
“Studio? Where?”
“Third floor. I’ll need to enlarge one of the windows to get more light into the studio.”
Arriving back at the Club, I knew exactly how I would like to see the Club redesigned. I was sure after our trip to Europe, Colin would agree.
For the next four weeks, we worked on converting the second floor into our apartment. Removing the floor covering, we brought in sanders, sanded the wood, applied a stain, and then topped that with several coats of lacquer. While the floors were drying, we worked on my studio. That major work was enlarging the windows in what would be my studio.
We took one of the booths from the Club, replacing it with a table, to our apartment and set it up in the kitchen. “Colin, we need to cut the back down to the height of a chair.”
As soon as the floors were dry and we could walk on them, we replaced all of the appliances and cupboards in the kitchen. We bought living room furniture and had that installed. I wanted a bed like Colin had, so we brought his bed over. In the other bedroom, we converted to a study for Colin.
Two weeks before school started, we moved into our apartment.
My studio wasn’t complete, and I needed lights installed and equipment installed to make my frames. The kitchen I left as it was, I only needed it to store paint and the material I used to make my paint.
Within a week, we were back to our routine. Lunches at the Cafe, only now we had a lot of my classmates from the art program, and Colin had his friends from the Club. Pete asked us to select our lunches a day in advance so not to overload his kitchen when we all showed up.
I continued to send my work to Mrs. McNiel for display in her Gallery.
Time seemed to fly for me. I was busy with my studio at the Club and the art classes in the school’s studio. Holidays came and went, and I worked on a new design for the Club and planned our European trip.
Colin was busy working with his dad on the weekends. He would be working with his dad when he graduated.
I was commissioned to paint a portrait of Colin and his dad for the reception room in their office building.
I had made sketches of Colin’s parents for a gift on their anniversary. Colin had seen the sketches and approved them. They were clothed, and later I would paint them in oil on a canvas.
This would be our last semester before graduation and our European trip. As we got closer to graduation, I became more excited about our trip. I spent evenings in my studio planning our Itinerary. We would fly to Amsterdam to be married there and then to Paris. From Paris, we would fly to Madrid. We would take the train from Madrid to Barcelona, then to Rome and then to the village of Vietri Sul Mare south of Rome, for a short, relaxing vacation.
Once these plans were made, I confirmed our plane reservations for the week after graduation.
Graduation was a solemn affair at school, but we had a party at the Club. The Club’s chef went all out with a smorgasbord. Those girls that helped themselves to Colin and my dinner didn’t talk to us. But I did see one of them take something from the table, take a bite, and put the rest back on the plate. I went and removed the plate. I told Pete to remove any plate where the girls had placed the food they tasted and the uneaten food on the dish.
The boys who were members of the Club watched the girls. When Marylou did that, they went and asked her to leave. She didn’t leave, but every time she approached the table, two would escort her from the serving table back to her seat. She was upset the first time, but then she started to flirt with the boys, and one was assigned to bring her food and glasses of wine.
“Colin, look at what Marylou is doing. Let’s close the Club until we return.”
The next day, we changed the lock and posted a sign, ‘Club closed for renovations.’
The staff was given a vacation, our chef went to France, and our waiter visited his mother and dad. We made sure they didn’t lose any money by giving them a special bonus. When we told the staff, we would close the Club for the summer, and they would still be paid when the Club was closed. Then suggestions flowed quickly.
“If you are going to renovate the Club, it would be nice to have another freezer with a walk-in refrigerator. We have one freezer that is a small unit like you would have in your home, and it doesn’t allow us to take advantage of specials.”
Later, when Colin and I were in our apartment, “Armand, we could use that freezer the chef has in the club’s kitchen in our kitchen.”
“We should take a hard look at his kitchen and see what else we will need to update and help the chef. I’ll bet he will come back with a lot of recipes for the Club.”
Graduation services were on Saturday. The following Monday, we were on our way to Europe. For me, It was a renewal of old times, and for Colin, it was an adventure.
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Note: While authors are asked to place warnings on their stories for some moderated content, everyone has different thresholds, and it is your responsibility as a reader to avoid stories or stop reading if something bothers you.
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