The Peter Charles - 47. Chapter 47

Three days later, John Adams called to let me know the numbers, to bring the place to code, would cost fifty thousand and to update the kitchen and bathrooms would cost another hundred thousand. Converting the store to a galleria would cost twenty-five thousand, mostly lighting and partitions. I called the realtor and gave him the numbers, “I’ll make a counter proposal of two hundred thousand.You can tell your client that she’ll never sell the building as is and could be in legal problems if the city ever did an inspection.”

In less than an hour he called me back, “She agreed with your price but it must be in cash.”

“I’ll meet you tomorrow morning with a cashiers check.” I called John Adams and told him to go ahead.

That evening I announced to the boys that I had bought an apartment building close to the University. “I don’t think it will be ready for use for a few months. Charlie and John Adams will start working on it, but they need to bring it up to code and then start the refurbishing. So Nicky, you and Jamie will have to find an apartment or stay in the dorms till the apartments are ready.”

“How many apartments are there?”

“In total there are 6 two bedroom apartments.”

“We're going to look at a two room apartment tomorrow afternoon. It’s on top of a one car garage, so it won’t be very big, but it'll do temporarily.”

I told Scott and Travis about the store at the bottom and turning that into a gallery for their paintings. They liked that Idea, “Dad, my mom came by and picked several paintings to send back home for her friend who owns a gallery.”

“Good, I can use her to help design the gallery for you boys. Is she going to be here tomorrow?”

“I think so, I’ll go to the Wharf and check.”

“I have a better idea, why don’t we all go to the Wharf for dinner and then you can check.”

When Glen arrived home, “What no dinner?”

“We’re going to the Wharf, Steve is cooking. So hurry and change.” It took him about fifteen minutes to change, I called the boys up from the rec room, and we headed out to the Wharf.

“Steve, what is this?”

“Its called hobo stew.”

“What is hobo stew, I never heard of it?”

“Well, you know when we have a refrigerator raid, it’s like that only I cook it all together into a stew. Mary had a lot of bits and pieces in the fridge, so I made a stew. Do you like it?”

“Yes, it’s unusual. How did you know to make this?”

“A hobo showed me.” I didn’t asked anymore questions, I knew Steve lived on the streets.

Travis spoke to his mom and she was quite excited about the idea of helping with the gallery. I promise to take her there tomorrow so she could see the place. I always enjoy taking the boys to the Wharf, besides being good friends with Mary and Barney, the Captains always provided some entertainment. I invited then to come and check out the small houses John Adams built. Gus didn’t want to come but Uncle and Jim said they’d come. I told them if they could get up early, come and have breakfast with us.

“You know we need to get Scott, Travis and Andy driving lessons. They are old enough to start taking lessons.”

“I’ll call the people who I used for Nicky and Jamie.” I think Scott heard us, when I looked at him he had a big smile on his face. The next morning I told Glen I’d meet him for lunch. I was going to take Travis’s mom, Diane, to check out the grocery store.

Glen left and Uncle and Jim showed up as Glen pulled out. Scott and Travis started to fix breakfast, Steve helped and soon we had a very hearty breakfast, pancakes with fired eggs and bacon. Diane showed up, Travis invited his mom in and got her a cup of coffee. As the boys came into the kitchen, Scott fixed them a plate which they took to the dining room to eat.

“Diane, would you like something to eat?”

“No thanks, I had my breakfast at the Wharf. If I had known what you all were eating, I would’ve came here sooner.”

Scott got up and fixed her a small plate of what we were eating. “Oh no Scott, I couldn’t eat his.”

“You should try it Diane, Travis helped to cook breakfast this morning. What did you cook Travis?”

“I did the pancakes while Scott did the eggs, the bacon we did in the oven.”

Diane looked at her son, “You cook?”

“Yes, Scott and I usually cook breakfast and dinner, Steve helps when he’s home.”

It was obvious to me that Diane didn’t know about Travis’s cooking skills and second the pancakes were good. “It’s so Glen and I don’t even cook anymore except to make coffee. The boys prepare excellent meals, you would think they are professional chefs.” Scott and Travis smiled. I wasn’t lying when I said that. The boys do very well and I have eaten in enough restaurants to know the quality of their work as compared to those restaurants.

When breakfast was finished, I asked Uncle and Jim if they wanted to see the houses I had built. Diane went along with us as well. I told the boys to get dressed and that we would be going to the city. We walked to the houses, I showed them the interior of the house, “Uncle, look from here you can see The Peter Charles, Jim you can see your boat as well.”

Diane was impressed with the houses. “These are prefect for a single person, they are well equipped, I can’t get over how concise they are.”

“Uncle, I’d like to see you living in one of these. You can sit on the porch and watch us go and come.” Laughing, “I’ll even let you eat with us.”

“Kevin, are you going to charge rent for these?”

“I haven’t thought about that. I really wanted Uncle to live here, that way he’d be near us.”

“Are you interested?”

“Yes, the room at the Wharf is nice, but this is a little more private and as you say I can see my boat from here.”

“I’ll tell you what, if you can get Uncle to move into one, you can have one without paying rent.”

He looked at me, I liked Jim he was Uncle’s best friend, so why not. “Well, I’ll think it over and let you know.”

Walking back to the house, I could hear Jim and Uncle talking. I heard Gus’s name and in my mind he’d pay rent even if it was ten dollars per month.

The boys were ready so we loaded every one in the van, I dropped off Uncle and Jim and then drove to the city. I had two hours before I would meet up with Glen. I stopped at the apartment building, there was a sold sign on it with the realtors name. I saw John Adams there with his crew including Paul’s dad. I told his dad to drop Paul off on Thursday evening since we’d be going fishing this coming week-end.

I showed Diane the grocery store, it still had the empty shelves from when it was a grocery store. “Kevin, do you have the measurements of this place?”

“Yes, I think maybe John Adams has it or his dad, I’ll get it for you.” She smiled, I wasn’t sure if it was because she had a project or that the project involved her son, either way she was happy to help. I showed them the apartment on the second floor, Scott said if he was living here he would want the top floor, light would be better for his painting.

“We are to meet Glen for lunch, so we should head in that direction.”

“Dad, can we stop for supplies?”

“Sure, I think if you know what you want we can do it now, but if you are going to browse, we need to do it later.”

“We know what we need.” I stopped at the art supply store, of course everyone had to go inside. Scott and Travis immediately went to the area where painting supplies were stocked, picked up what they needed and headed to the checkout. The boys where right behind them with more models. They looked at me, I smiled and they knew it was okay. Smiles all around, Diane offered to pay for Travis, I said we can square up later. I had no intention of squaring up later but it avoided a discussion in the store.

We headed to Stella’s for lunch. When we got there, Glen was talking to Terry. Stella had to make a big fuss over the boys. I watched Diane as she ordered a sandwich, I knew what would happen. “Kevin, I can’t eat all of this.”

Travis laughed, “Mom, she will bring a bag and in the bag you’ll find a cup for the extra meat.” Amy brought us the bags, Travis showed his mom the plastic cup and started to fill it with his extra pastrami. Scott said we’d use it for breakfast tomorrow morning.

I convinced Glen to tell his dad he was taking tomorrow off and we could go fishing early. Paul arrived that night, Nicky went to get Gus and Jamie brought Rusty. “Dad, we need to go and get George.” When Nicky returned, I sent him after George. I knew one other that would probably go with us, Vinni from the Pizza Parlor.

When all of the boys were in the rec room, Glen came in from work. “Mom is going to work with Dad tomorrow. I think he likes that.”

We went down to the rec room, “What do you boys want for dinner tonight?”

“Can we eat on the boat?”

“I guess we can, Glen what sayest thou?”

“Thou sayest, fine with me.”

We laughed, “Okay get ready for the boat.” The boys scattered to change into their shorts and shoes. They were ready to go.

We had to walk to the tune of the pipes. Andy went to see his Aunt Mary and Uncle Barney, she knew by the clothes he was wearing that he was going on the boat. One of the boys mentioned Robby, so Nicky went to get him.

Crab Master started to catch crabs, Scotty took Andy and Travis and headed for Chicken Shack, Glen and I went to the grocery store, I took George with us. We loaded up on eggs, bacon, sausages, bread, George found some frozen bread that would need to be baked off, we got that as well as some frozen pies for dessert. Glen said we should get hamburger for lunch, we did and buns, then we need tomatoes, cheese and lettuce. I was glad I brought George with us, we could have used a couple more arms. Everyone back, I ordered pizza and spaghetti. Vinni came in his shorts along with his dad.

“I’ve heard so much about this boat, I had to see it.”

"Vinni, give your dad the grand tour.” He took his dad to the bridge, and then the galley and then to the cabins. They were down there a long time, I thought he must have fallen sleep. When they came up, Lou was laughing. “I showed Dad the cabins, he wanted to test out the bunk beds, I thought he fell asleep.”

“These beds are very comfortable, how big are those motors?”

“Each engine is 250 horse power. We can move with one but if we're ever in a place we need to move out fast , we can use both engines.” Vinni looked at his dad with a smile, you could see his dad was impressed with him and there was a lot of love between them.

The boys scattered, Charles went to the bridge with Nicky, the Crab Master had a group of boys with him, the older boys sat around the galley chatting. Steve came over later that evening, to help Scott fix dinner. Travis went and invited his mom to come on board and have diner with us. He had to give her the tour.

He must have shown her where his dad had made the fuss, later that evening as the boys crashed and it was only her, Glen and I. She apologized for him. “Diane, you don’t need to apologize for him, he’s a grown man, he can do his own apologizing.”

“He doesn’t need to apologize to Kev and I, he needs to apologize to the boys if he’s going to apologize to anyone.”

Glen and I walked Diane back to the Wharf. We stopped and talked to Uncle, I bought a round for the Captains. “Kevin, how soon can we move.”

“Whenever you are ready Uncle. We’re going fishing and when we get back we can help you if you are packed and ready.”

As we walked out I heard Gus, “Where are you going?” I smiled.