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am got up and went to the door and got his duffle bag and brought in into the
bedroom and threw it by the unmade bed. Lydia came in and said "Go have
another coffee Sam and I'll make the bed."
Lydia shouted from the bedroom and asked Sam what was in this duffle
bag, a surplus battleship after she put the blue canvas bag on the neatly made
bed.
"Oh just some souvenirs all the way from Saigon, my gear and some
other stuff" said Sam.
"I thought maybe it was a fish or something because Jehosaphat sure
has been interested in it all morning."
Sam looked over to Lydia and said "Do you still have that mongrel
cat?"
"Yes we do Sam, didn't you notice him at the foot of the bed last
night when you woke me?"
"Aw heck, all I was interested in was having you in my arms after 3
years away, not saying hi to some mangy pussy cat named Jehosphat. How bout some
good old Canadian back bacon and real American eggs to go with this coffee?"
Lydia got busy at the hot plate as Sam went back to the bedroom to empty
his duffle bag. He could hear the bacon, it was sizzling, as he unpacked. He
left his clothes on the bed as he went to the head, Sam caught himself thinking,
no it's a bathroom now. You're out of the service, take the star out of the
window. Sam put his shaving kit on top of the toilet tank and once back to the
bedroom he pulled a small cloth package from the duffle bag, unwrapped it and
placed the contents in the bedside table drawer. The bag was still 3/4
full.
Sam started the engine then he gave it some gas, smiled over a Lydia
and told her he still remembered how to drive as he backed up his beat up old
car out on to Main street and headed over to Rudy's. The air smelled like snakes
as they drove down the county road and pulled into Rudy's White Rose service
station.
"Hey look who's back from Chinatown, Sam Stone you old son of a sea
cook, how are you?" shouted Rudy loud as usual.
"Your still all wrong Rudy, first I was in Viet Nam not
Chinatown, I did get a head full of Sake in Chinatown in San Francisco on shore
leave, second my old man worked in the coal mine and third I wasn't a sea cook I
was seaman 1st class and I refueled jet fighters on the USS Enterprise. You
remember Lydia, Rudy?"
"Sure do Sam, don't make it over to Paradise much, this place keeps
me going 12 or more hours a day, but I did see Lydia around a time or two while
you were overseas."
"Good day Rudy" chimed in Lydia.
"Well Rudy do you still keep that bottle of JD in behind your safe
because we ought name a drink after you and talk some business as I spied your
for sale sign on my way back into town yesterday."
Rudy headed into the shop and got a couple of dirty coffee cups, fished
the bourbon from in back of the safe, poured 3 fingers into the cups and got a
cold Coca-Cola for Lydia, "or do you want a Orange Crush?" asked Rudy.
As the afternoon rolled on like a thousand railroad trains Sam and Rudy talked
about a price for the garage while Rudy had to go out from time to time to fill
an automobile with gas.
"I used to refuel fighter jets twice the size of this service
station" said Sam.
Rudy barked loudly "You know the shop and everything but we left
your partner out of this deal so far. Lydia go have a look around the house
while Sam and me kill the rest of this quart and let us know if you
approve."
Lydia strolled the 20 yards over to the tiny house, not as big as a home
she thought. She peeked over at the cafe. Fifteen minutes later Lydia came back
and said "Sam the house is fine, Rudy are you sure you don't a woman in
there? It's nice and clean for a single man, why you even make your
bed."
"Well Lydia my grandma used to buy me comic books if I kept a neat
room and I guess the habit stuck. So you like the house?"
"I do, Sam won't care, he left that up to me. I'm going to plant a
little garden and I noticed you have a peach tree out back too."
"Oh yeah I hope you like to eat a lot of peaches, once the start
you'll have all the fuzzy peaches you can eat. When you have kids you can feed
them on peaches. Well Sam the boss has spoken, what do you say about buying this
place and letting me move up to my shack on Lake Elizabeth, retire to fishing
and I'll be in heaven before I die."
"Rudy this being Friday I'll go to the bank on Monday and see about
that loan on the GI bill and take it from there." Sam drank back the last
of the Jack Daniels and shook hands with Rudy.
The weekend went like thunder.
Sam sat down on Saturday afternoon and rolled a joint of the pot he
brought back from Viet Nam. A helicopter buddy had air lifted on to the Enterprise
from Saigon for Sam before he got shipped back to Hawaii to heal his knee until
he got sent stateside. He went out back of the house and smoked and felt just
like Sunday. As he looked around he thought, oh my stars, I sure am lucky to be
back in Paradise all in one piece except for this bum knee.
He wondered how he was going to tell Lydia about the 25 kilos of grass in
his duffle bag which he had now stashed in the trunk of his old Chevrolet.
Next....Sam giggles "I got glue on my strings"
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