ARROW - 52. Chapter 52

It was the first Saturday in August when I went to the gallery with two new paintings. Walking toward the gallery, I noticed a small boy sitting on the floor looking at a painting by one of the Yale students. I said hi and continued my walk toward the office.

“Mom, who is that young lad sitting in front of that painting?”

“I don’t know who he is. He’s been coming here all week and sits in front of that painting. He seems like a well behave young man.”

“I brought a few additional paintings I had finished.”

“Your Yale professor was here this week with his class. They spent several hours in the village.”

“I wonder what that was all about. I wouldn’t be surprised if he doesn’t bring a few paintings over.”

We took the paintings I brought with me to my alcove. That is where all of my paintings were suppose to be hanging. Mary said she had to move some of the smaller paintings to the front to make room for the larger paintings.

Maybe I should send more to Mrs. McNiel. That would reduce the need to move my paintings to the front.

Walking back to the office, I glanced over at the young boy. “Mom, find out his name and see if he will have lunch with us.”

I went to the office to check the books for July. We were still suggesting a price for my paintings. Mrs. McNiel was still using the bidding method. I need to determine one method and have both gallerias in concert.

Mom came back to the office with the young boy, “Armand, this is Thomas and he has accepted our invitation to lunch.”

“How do you do, Thomas. I’m glad you have accepted our invitation to lunch. Should we go out or call in? What would you like for lunch, Thomas?”

“Pizza”

Mom and I laughed. Mom called and ordered a pizza to be delivered. “What would you like to drink? Mrs. Roberts and I are having coffee.”

“Is milk alright?” “Sure”

For the next several weeks, I found Thomas sitting in front of the painting. It became habit to have lunch when I was there. Mom now brought chocolate milk as well as a few cans of soda. Now, Thomas and I would go out to buy lunch for all of us. These times we would talk about general subjects. I found out he was an orphan who was staying at the orphanage operated by Haven Children Orphanage.

Over time, he began to call Mary, grandmother. Mary said when he asked her her name, he asked if he could call her grandmother. So from that moment on I was Armand and Mary was grandmother.

I told Colin about Thomas and calling his mom, grandmother. “That is probably the only time she will hear that.”

I thought about that. If Colin had married a girl, I’m sure his mom would be expecting grandchildren. But now, that won’t happen. I wonder about my mom and dad, they also probably expected to be grandparents and now that won’t happen.

I thought about that and I wondered what Colin would think about adopting. What would I think about it. Our life would need to make a major change.

“Armand, you seem to be in deep thought a lot recently.”

“I was thinking about our parents not having grandchildren. I noticed Mom at the gallery smiles when Thomas refers to her as grandmother.”

“Do you want children?”

“I’m not sure. I have grown fond of Thomas. But a child would mean we would need to make major changes to our lives.”

“Mom, said some students have approached her about renting the apartments above the gallery. What do you think?”

“I haven’t seen them. The next time I go to the gallery, I’ll take a look at them.”

“Let’s go now.”

We did go, the entrance to the apartments were from the rear of the building. There was a door, that led to a stairway. The area was lighted but I felt since it is the only way into the apartments we needed a stronger light. I watched as Colin took out a small note book and started to take notes. I chuckled to myself.

Entering a small hallway on the first floor, I noticed three doors. “Colin, are all of the apartments the same.”

“Yes, on this floor, on the third floor they are the same but not the same as these apartments.” Colin opened apartment 2A.

I entered into an eat-in kitchen, at the end was a bathroom with a washer and dryer. Between the kitchen and the bathroom was a doorway that led to a living room and there was a door leading to a bedroom.

“The kitchen and the living room appear to be the same size but the bedroom is smaller. It appears to be different.”

“The bedroom is half the width of the living room. Apartment 2B is identical only flipped 180 degrees. The other half of this bedroom is the bedroom for 2A.

Now I wanted to see 2C. There was no way apartment 2C could be a copy of 2A or 2B.

Exiting 2A, we walked to 2C. It was different. Entrance was into the kitchen but to go into the kitchen you needed to make a left turn. The living room was next to the kitchen but the bedroom was horizontal to the living room and kitchen. The one nice thing about this apartment, there was a door from the bedroom into the bathroom. I thought 2C was a little smaller than the other two.

Now I wanted to see what was on the third floor. We had to go out to the hall way and take the steps to the third floor. I was surprised as the layout was identical to the second floor.

“Before, we rent these out, I like to call my carpenter to take a look. I am also concerned if we had a fire, how would they get out.”

Colin agreed to have not only to have my carpenter look at the apartments but to have an electrician check out the electrical systems.

“After we get all of the systems checked and see what the carpenter and electrician says, we will need to make some modification for safety reasons.”

“I’ll ask Mom to check out the kitchens and see what she think. I’m sure she will have some ideas.”

“Do you have an idea of what to charge?”

“What do the dorms cost?”

“I don’t know. I can check with the school.”

The apartments were empty except for built in equipment like the bathroom. Kitchens would need to be updated. There wasn’t any kitchen appliances, there was a sink next to what appeared where the range was located.

Locking up we went to the gallery. Mom was in the office and Thomas was sitting on a small chair in front of his painting. I said hi and ruffles his head as I passed him.

He got up and took my hand leading me to the office. He knew Colin but he didn’t see him often, only on Saturday.

I sat down and Thomas sat next to me, between Colin and me.

Colin told mom about the apartments and asked her to look at them from a woman’s perspective. I knew what her first words would be, ‘You need ranges and refrigerators.’

I left Colin with Mom while Thomas and I want for ice cream. We had to bring one back for grandmother. I felt I better bring one back for Colin as well.

“Who is that ice cream for?”

“This is for Colin.”

“You like him?”

“Yes, very much.”

I gave him the ice cream for grandmother and I had Colin’s. Walking into the office, he handed Mom her ice cream. Colin being a smart ass, asked him where was his. Thomas came over to me, I gave him the ice cream for Colin. When he gave it to Colin, I was surprised, Colin kissed him on his cheek. Looking at Thomas, he looked surprised, then he gave Colin a hug.