Distribution Ch. 13

Marian called again. "Brian, I want you to have the desk back. I never paid for it."

"It was a gift."

She was insistent. I put her off, telling her that I was in the process of setting up a new business. "I'll call you before I come by to pick it up," I told her.

"I hope you didn't go to a competitor for funding? I'd hate to lose a good customer because I disappointed you with my behavior."

I explained that I didn't need a loan. "The rent is free and we have excess inventory. My only expense is for advertising. You didn't disappoint me," I said, wondering if I should tell her about Paige.

I knew by the frequency of her telephone calls, that Paige was excited about my project. I kept her appraised on the progress I was making, the selection of the dealers I'd offered rental space, the wording on the new sign that went up on the building, and my ideas for advertising.

"Could you use some help?"

Was she suggesting that she pay me a visit? "What kind of help?"

"You seem tense, Brian. I'm sure I can help you relax."

Her offer stunned me.

"Do you want me to come...to help?"

"Yes, of course I want you to come."

The timing couldn't have been worse. Paige and her kids were to arrive the sixth of June, only a few days after the grand opening on June 1.

To further complicate matters, Marian called, demanding that I pick up the desk or she would cut it up for firewood. I didn't believe her, but I wanted the desk. John and I went to her house to pick it up. We had it loaded on my truck when she called me back into the house, like I'd forgotten something.

She closed the door and stood with her back to it, preventing me from getting out. She looked good. I could see what made Mark Leach sniff her out as soon as I left town. She was a well-to-do eligible widow. What puzzled me was what made him trade off with his brother. "Why are you ignoring me, Brian?"

"I'm not," I lied. The truth was that I sent John or Mrs. Nixon to the bank to make our deposits because I wanted to avoid telling her about Paige. Which one of us had strayed first? I was just as guilty as she was. I'd become involved with Paige without giving it a second thought. My only redeeming case was that I had not let Paige switch off with a look-alike. How could Marian be so gullible?

"We were close before you left. I'm sure you found me desirable. Are you going to hold my one little mistake against me?"

Marian was a self-assured woman, who was accustomed to getting what she wanted. Why was she being uncharacteristically submissive?

"I don't blame you, Marian. I made a similar transgression, only mine was not a mistake."

"I knew it! You've been fucking someone else, haven't you? How can you be so smug? Who are you to be judgmental?"

I had to forcefully open the door to get out. "You don't know what you're missing, Brian. Mark didn't have any complaints."

"Max didn't either," I said.

She screamed an obscenity before she started to cry, making me regret that I'd opened my mouth.

We took the desk to the new discount store, to serve as my office when I had visitors.

June 2008

The discount store opened on June 1, with three dealers moving from the original location, and three new dealers. The booths were huge compared with the small cubicles at the flea market. There was also an owner's booth, which I used to get rid of one-of-a-kind items or odd lots of merchandise.

We got off to a rough beginning. Fortunately, Paige would not be arriving until the sixth when her children were out of school.

Henrietta complained that she was loosing business because my customers were using her parking places. I told my dealers and their helpers that they would have to park someplace else. They asked where. I told them I would find a place.

I knew I didn't want them parking on the street because I wanted customers to be able to use those spaces. I went across the street to the church, and offered to make a contribution in exchange for the use of a few parking spaces.

"I'm sure the board would consider accepting your offering if you come to church and place it in the collection plate."

"That's not possible, Vicar, I have two businesses that need my attention on Sundays."

He took exception to my calling him Vicar.

"Young man, I'm a servant of God. Please call me Reverend."

What the hell did I know? It was not a Catholic church, but he wore his collar backwards.

"Anyway," he continued, "our parking lot is full of churchgoers' cars on Sundays."

"Thanks anyway, Reverend," I said, turning to leave.

"Do you have children?" he asked.

"Yes, I have a girl and a boy, ages eleven and eight."

"The board may approve you parking a few cars on our lot six days a week if your children attend our Sunday school."

What a cagy bastard, I thought. "Thank you, Reverend. Their names are Amanda and Phillip Driver. They'll be here next Sunday."

I took the kids shopping for clothes suitable for church. Amanda protested about having to wear a dress, and Phillip said the new shoes hurt his feet. Begrudgingly, they accepted my explanation that their sacrifice was necessary for me to make a go of the business.

Freeing up a dozen or so parking spaces helped, but Henrietta was not totally satisfied. "You're treating a knife wound with a band-aid," she said.

As our visitors' date of arrival approached, I began working on Mary. "You don't want us sneaking around to strange motel rooms, do you?"

"Isn't that lady's apartment still vacant?" she asked.

"Yes, but there's no furniture," I answered. I think Mary knew I was referring to the lack of a bed.

"All right, Brian, I see that you're determined. I hope you realize that you're setting a bad example for the children."

"I'll speak to Amanda. She'll square it with the younger kids," I said.

Amanda was even more opposed to my sharing my bed with Paige than her grandmother had been. She accused me of forgetting about her mother. "You don't visit her grave any more," she said, beginning to cry.

"Yes, I do. I'll take you and Phillip with me the next time I go to ask for her advice."

"Go ahead and boink Mrs. Kindle, Dad, but don't expect me to convince the other kids that it's okay."

Paige was just as uncomfortable with the new sleeping arrangements as Mary and Amanda had been. "I was making headway with Amanda. Now, she's calling me Mrs. Kindle."

At breakfast the next morning, Mary was actually pleasant, compared to the cold stares we received from the four kids. We told the boys that they would be bunking with me that night, and Paige would take Phillip's room. That brought smiles to everyone.

I activated plan B. Mary had given me the idea when she reminded me that Henrietta's apartment was vacant. I dropped off an air mattress, and took the precaution of telling Lois Barns that she could not show the apartment if she saw my truck parked out front.

"You're hampering me, Brian," she complained.

"It's only for a week or two, Lois. I'll be finished with what I'm doing before you know it."

I'm sure she knew what I was up to, but she was a good sport, and that's the last I heard about cramping her style.

Paige was anxious to see the new business. Naturally, the kids wanted to go, too, but we put them off until another time. When we left the house, Amanda had them busy playing dodge ball in the back yard.

I knew it was going to be a good sales day when I saw customers waiting for the store to open. I introduced Paige to the dealers, and was getting her set up to work at the owner's booth when I heard a commotion on the sidewalk. I looked out the window to see Henrietta shouting at my customers. Some of them were actually walking away. I opened the door and demanded to know what was going on.

She got up in my face, and shouted at me, raving mad. "I'm fed up with these people taking my parking spaces, Brian. I'm loosing business because there's no place for my customers to park their cars. Why are you grinning like an idiot?"

I wiped imaginary spit from my face, which really pissed Henrietta off. I became concerned that she would burst a blood vessel in her long neck. My customers stopped in their tracks, hanging around to watch our confrontation.

"You're sputtering like a spoiled child, Henry. I'd take you over my knee and tan your bottom if these good people weren't watching."

This struck everyone, including Henrietta, as funny, but I don't think the others would have laughed if she didn't howl.

"In case you haven't noticed, my bottom is already tanned," she said in a remarkably calm voice.

"You know I'll make it right by you, don't you?"

"I know you will," she said, and then to the small crowd, "I'm sorry."

"Come inside, I want you to meet someone," I said to her while holding the door open to welcome the customers.

The dealers looked on in dismay as I guided Henrietta to the owner's booth.

"Paige, this is Henry. She's a little upset about the parking situation."

"A LITTLE upset!" Henrietta exclaimed. "I'm FUCKING bullshit at you."

Her rant was drawing the attention of the dealers and customers, but I was more concerned about the impression she was making on Paige. I'd portrayed Henrietta quite differently from the raving maniac we were witnessing. I assured Henrietta that I'd work out a suitable solution, and she graciously apologized to everyone for her most recent outburst.

"Soon," she said as she was leaving.

"Soon," I agreed.

We took advantage of the empty apartment three times, once while the four kids were in Sunday school, once after we closed the store, and one time when we were supposed to be working. Paige loved the way the air mattress bounced while we were having sex on it. She told me she loved having sex with me, period. I responded that I loved her, period.

She became melancholy. "What are we going to do, Brian? Phillip is a little dear, but I'm having trouble getting through to Amanda."

"She's very mature. I've always had success talking to her like an adult. She seems to respond."

"I'll try that approach," she said.

We went together to talk to Henrietta about the parking situation. Paige warned me not to say that our solution was mainly her idea, but I felt compelled to give her credit.

"I've looked up and down the street for additional parking, but there isn't any. We'll have to make do with the spaces we have.

"We're going to give my customers incentives to shop on our schedule. We'll have drawings on the half hour, and offer prizes to the winners, but to win, their last name must begin with a letter of the alphabet that corresponds with our printed schedule. In other words, people with last names that start in A, B, or C, will be encouraged to shop at a certain hour of the day. We'll go through the alphabet, three letters for each hour."

"What will you give as a prize?" Henrietta asked.

"Prizes. I envision handing out three discount coupons for lunch or dinner at your restaurant."

Henrietta shook her head, dramatically. "No way! I don't like that idea at all."

"Wait, there's more. I plan to run your specials in my advertising. You'll get exposure for miles in all directions."

"How much is the prize?"

"Five dollars minimum or ten percent of their purchase, but you'll only need to cover the five dollars. My dealers and I will underwrite the difference. We're asking you to try it for a month. If you don't make more money, we'll rethink the plan."

Henrietta agreed to try the idea, saying that anything would be an improvement over the present situation.

If Mary was happy to see our visitors leave, Amanda was ecstatic about it. It grieved me to watch her gloat, like she'd had a hand in ridding our happy home of the evil witch. I was not happy at all.

The new plan was a success from the beginning. It cut down on traffic in the store, which was the objective, but sales increased. Purchases were not required to win. I wasn't concerned that people would drive fifty miles in order to receive a five dollar coupon for a meal, but I instituted a sign in policy to prevent locals from dropping by at the drawing time on the chance that their name would be drawn. As I reported to Paige, "Henry's place is so busy that she's creating a new parking problem."

We talked about our impossible situation. Paige had no ideas and I couldn't think of a way we could be together either.

September 2008

The inventory was reduced to the point that I had to telephone all my old contacts to see what they could locate in the way of distressed merchandise. I hardly took notice when the kids returned to school. Paige said it was the same with her. She was working longer hours in order to keep her mind occupied.

Amanda came into the store one afternoon in late September. She was wearing a plaid skirt, a white blouse with a little black tie, and white knee stockings. There was a matching bow in her hair. She wore a somber expression on her face.

"You look nice. Where did you get the outfit?"

"Grandma took me shopping," she said, offhandedly, like she had a more pressing matter on her mind.

"Does she know you're here?"

"Yes, I've been to see Henrietta. She invited me to have a talk."

"Is that so?" I asked. Henrietta hadn't said anything about it to me.

"Dad, you said we would visit mom's grave."

"You're right, I did. How about now? Is this a good time for you?"

Amanda's smile lit up the room. We drove to the cemetery. I took a seat on the ground, crossing my legs like I often did. Amanda sat down in front of me, leaning back for support.

"I'm going to talk to mom, okay?"

"Would you like for me to walk around to give you some privacy?"

She shook her head without turning around. "You should probably hear what I have to tell mom."

"Okay," I said, and waited while she took a breath and composed herself.

"Mom, dad has a friend. She's a tall black lady, and they really like each other. Don't jump to conclusions, mom. It's nothing like that. Henrietta owns a restaurant and lives in the loft above dad's store, but you probably know all that. She invited me to come see her today. She told me I was acting like a kid.

"You see, dad met this lady that he really likes. Paige is her name. She has two children. Henrietta told me to open my eyes and see how he and Paige look at each other. She said it's plain to see that they are in love. She told me that Grandma and I are standing in the way of dad being happy, and since grandma is too old to change, she wanted me to consider dad's feelings for once.

"I told her that I like Paige. She talks to me about things that grandma doesn't think I need to know yet. Phillip likes her too. Her kids can be real stinkers at times, but we get along pretty good I guess.

"The reason I wanted to talk to you is to tell you how everyone feels about this. Dad's in love with Paige. Phillip and I like her very much. I need to know what to say to grandma so she'll understand how important it is that dad and Paige are together. Can you help me, mom?"

We sat looking at the stone with Peg's name on it for ten minutes before Amanda turned to me, smiling up at me the same way she did when we first met.

What she didn't know, I thought, as I drove her home, was that there were stronger forces at work than Mary's conflict with my relationship with someone new. Paige's reluctance to leave her parents was more of an obstacle than any of us knew.

October 2008

Every time I looked for Amanda, she was talking on the telephone or sending e-mail. She would look at me and explain that she was talking with Paige or Mrs. Peoples, or Mona, or Patrick.

"Yes, we talk often," Paige would say. That's all I was allowed to know.

November 2008

We received an offer on the Peoples' house. It was lower than our asking price, but given trends in the declining real estate market, I urged the committee members to vote with me. Yes, I reached out to Ms. Dixon and Mr. McMahan in addition to Nadine Meriwether. We set the closing for the day after Thanksgiving, not a good time to be away from the business, but the kids were on vacation from school, and I wanted them to see where I'd been for five months. To my surprise, Mary wanted to make the trip. I had Peggy's old car tuned up, and we took off early on Monday morning. We couldn't leave sooner because the kids had to attend Sunday school.

Over a year had passed since my first trip. The house looked the same. Charlie came over to greet us. I introduced him to my family. He asked about Paige. Amanda told him that she and her children would be there the next day.

We went on a tour of the house. I told Mary that she was to have the bed and we would camp out in the living room. And then we went grocery shopping.

Mary took over the kitchen, saying it reminded her of home.

I called Nadine and Janice to inform them that we had arrived. They said they'd been expecting me. They even knew that Paige and her family were arriving the next day.

Paige called. "I'm bringing my family. I hope you have room for all of us."

"There'll be room. We'll camp out in the living room. I'm afraid there won't be any privacy for just us but..."

"No, Brian, you don't understand. I was asking if there will be room in the car for my family. I'm bringing my parents."

"Your parents are coming?"

"It was Amanda's idea. She's been talking to my mother."

"Gee, I wish Amanda had told me. I already gave the bed to Mary."

"We'll camp out. It'll be fun," she laughed.

Nadine called the next morning to invite us to dinner at their house.

"You must be the only one Amanda hasn't talked to. She has a family meeting scheduled," I said.

"How old is she?"

"Eleven, going on thirty-nine," I responded.

"I want to meet that young lady," Nadine said.

Mrs. Peoples wanted to go on a tour of the house, and Amanda volunteered to show her around. They headed up the stairs, whispering to each other like old chums.

Mary talked Mr. and Mrs. Peoples into taking the bed. "I'm looking forward to camping out," she said.

"Mary wants to keep an eye on us young folks," I put in, and felt Paige's elbow hit my ribcage.

"We're only staying one night," Mrs. Peoples informed us. "We didn't want to miss the family meeting."

Except for Mr. Peoples, who sat on one of the chairs and ate at the table, the rest of us sat on the floor, balancing our plates in our laps. Everyone praised Mary for the meal she'd prepared.

"I feel indebted to Brian for letting me come along. I didn't want to miss the family meeting," she said with a twinkle in her eye that I hadn't seen in years.

Paige collected the plates and silverware, and barred her mother and Mary from entering the kitchen. She told Amanda to start the meeting. "I'll listen while I do the dishes," she said.

As Amanda took the floor, she looked small, but supremely confident. Do I know this little person? Then she smiled at us, the same way she smiled at me when she was two years old.

"This is about sacrifice," she began. "We make sacrifices for the people we love. Do we all agree on that point?"

We all nodded.

"Mr. and Mrs. Peoples will be making the greatest sacrifice. They will be leaving their home and the neighborhood and their friends. Paige will be leaving her work and her friends. Mona and Patrick will be changing schools and have to make new friends. Grandma will be giving up her position as lady of our house. My brother and I will have to share our dad, but we'll be gaining a mom."

What the hell was she talking about? I raised my hand, but put it down when she went on to explain that Mr. and Mrs. Peoples would have their choice of occupying the house where her grandparents had lived, the small house where my office was located, or an apartment in my building.