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I could hear Ashley and the girls jabbering away coming up the stairs. "Hi Milo, I think I was shanghaied. Gee, what smells so good?"
"Hi yourself, Ashley. It is something the girls haven't been getting very often. I'll tell you about it sometime."
"The girls tell me they have a job working for Mrs. Brown. You will continue to work for me, won't you?"
"Of course I will. I'm working for her tomorrow afternoon and Monday and Tuesday half-days next week. I need someone to watch the girls some of the time and this is a way to get that done. Oh, the gazebo will be here early Friday morning. I had to arrange for a small crane to place it. I'll be planting shrubs around it in the afternoon."
"That is okay I guess. I am taking Friday afternoon off. The museum curator is coming to look at the paintings. You can stop long enough to open the box. I gave you everything in the garage. I'm still saying they belong to you."
"No way."
"What are you and Mrs. Winslip talking about, Daddy?"
"Mrs. Winslip wanted to give me all the stuff stored downstairs. I found a box with some paintings in it and I think they are valuable. I gave them back to her even though she thinks I should keep them. They belonged to her family so it is only right that I give them back."
"But what if they are worth a lot of money?"
"Doesn't matter Marie, I couldn't take them. I just wouldn't feel right about it."
"Even if it made you rich?"
"Yes Marie, even if it made me rich. Sometimes it is better to have friends than to be rich."
"I've heard you say that before, Daddy. Can we at least see them?"
"Ask Mrs. Winslip. They belong to her."
Ashley smiled at Marie and Lindsey. "We will all be here and you can see them. Someday, if they are what your father thinks they are, we may go to a museum to see them. If they aren't, at least we can display them in the house."
"Enough of that, kids. Saturday is the fourth of July and that means big parade. I want to go down and stand in front of my old restaurant and watch it. I want to speak with any of the people that used to work for me. That is if any still work there. Does that sound like fun?"
"Yeah! Is Mrs. Winslip going with us?"
"I think she will. We are all going up to camp in the afternoon and spend the night. We might as well go to the parade and go on from there as it is on that side of the city. Besides there is room enough in Uncle Calvin's old jeep and we will go in that. We might just get through the mud hole now. It has had two weeks to dry up."
Ashley and I did the dishes and cleaned up. The girls had preempted the sectional and both were zonked out. Ashley was getting ready to leave, but I asked her to sit awhile and have a cup of tea with me.
"Milo, how do you do it? You haven't seen your kids for four months, and yet they have been here only a few hours and it is like they were with you all the time."
"I know and I was worried about that. But they were almost literally ripped from me and we all want to reconnect and get back the way we were. Now I have to worry about them returning to live with Jean. I was going to ask you about the support I pay. It is supposed to be used for their welfare. Jean is using it to feed her new spouse and family. Can she do that?"
"Probably as long as she gives Lindsey and Marie reasonable care. If she doesn't deny them the basics, she can get away with it. Why, what did they say?"
"One of them just said that when my check came they all ate good food for about a week. The rest of the time they ate chop suey and cheap stuff."
"I don't think you can do anything about that. How could a family have separate menus? At least they are eating well part of the time."
"I guess so, but it doesn't seem right. Lindsey said the boys were mean to them. If you gain the girls' confidence, maybe you can find out what that is all about. If it is anything, Jean will say I pumped them for information. I want to be able to deny that I did."
"Okay. They will be here for a month. I can do that. Now I want to ask you a question? Why are you taking work from outside? I don't mind, but you are working for me."
"Ashley, unless you come up with much more for me to do, I will have finished your work in about two months, three at the most. Mrs. Brown needs some work done and she knew of my situation through Mrs. Hamlin.
"I need to work all the time to pay my rent. I can't do a lot of things here early in the morning because it is an exclusive neighborhood, and there is a noise ordinance. So your work may be extended out for awhile because I want to stay in my home as long as I can. I love it here you know."
"I want you to stay in your new home too. Do what you think is right, but you don't need to feel pressured about the rent."
"Ash Baby, we have had this conversation once before."
"I know, I know. Damn Milo, you are prickly. Okay, go ahead and manage things the way you need to. You always seem to come out right."
"I'm so afraid you and the people around here are going to think I am taking advantage of you. I need to bring myself up to where I can have confidence in myself again and I am not going to do it on the backs of my friends. Can you understand me?"
Ashley looked at me trying to decide what to say. "It is the same with me. You did me a favor and apparently I have done one for you. Let's ease up on each other and just be friends. If you feel I am encroaching on the way you want things to be, tell me. I'll do the same with you. We can back off on trying so hard and be the friends that Calvin would want us to be. Now walk me to the foot of the stairs and put your two lovely children to bed. I envy you having them. I wish they were mine."
I did as she asked, but she was a woman and had the last word. At the edge of the lot as she was leaving, "Milo, I can always reconsider what you are paying for rent you know." She turned and hurried up the path to her house, leaving me to stare after her.
The girls and I had a leisurely breakfast. "We have a lot to do this morning. You know I lived with Patrick and Linda after your Mom and I sold our old house. Well I have something to give Linda to thank her. We'll load it on and take it over to her. She'll love to see you with me."
"Are you sure Dad? We were with Mom at the mall when we met her and she would hardly speak. Mom cried after she left."
"She wasn't mad at you. She was just upset that your Mom and I weren't together anymore. You'll see I am right when we get there."
Patrick wasn't home, but Linda was. Lindsey, with Marie right beside her, rang the doorbell. I stood back and grinned as Linda opened the door and squealed as she gathered the two into her arms and hugged them to her. "Oh, I have missed you guys so much. Come in and tell me all about yourselves."
"We can't stay Linda. I came over to bring you a thank you present."
"Not the hall tree? Oh my god, you didn't, did you?"
"Yeah I did. You visit with the girls and I will bring it in." I said we had to be going after Linda oo'd and ah'd over her present. "We will get together next week. I have one more thing to do this morning and the girls have to work this afternoon."
"What do you mean work?"
Lindsey explained and said she and Marie might even get paid for it. This made Linda laugh.
I went to the rental store and rented a portable stump grinder to remove the roots of the five trees that I had cut down. I needed to get them out before the gazebo was delivered tomorrow morning. It only took an hour and by eleven-thirty the girls and I were having a sandwich and a bowl of soup. At exactly noon we presented ourselves at Mrs. Brown's door ready to work. Value for the money, I had rented a hedge clipper to do the hedge and shape some of the shrubs.
Mrs. Brown took the girls inside and I set to work. It took almost as long to pick up the clippings as it did to do the trimming. I tried to keep my progress balanced across the width of her estate as I worked. I wasn't coming back until Monday and this was a holiday weekend. Oh, crap. Monday w
ould be a holiday, because of the weekend. Well I would mention it and if she didn't mind I would work anyway.
At two forty-five, Lindsey came running out and said Mrs. Brown wanted me to come into the house. I went around and entered into the kitchen. She was pouring me tea as I entered and had some little sweet cakes sitting beside the cup. "Daddy, these are scrumptious."
I had never heard the girls say scrumptious and it struck me as funny. When I stopped laughing Marie said, "Why are you laughing? Mrs. Brown said they are and I think they are too."
"It's just that I hadn't heard that word for many, many years."
It was Mrs. Brown's turn to laugh. "That kind of dates me doesn't it? It is a word not used too often now. Mr. Burns, if I'm not prying, what is this great treasure that you found and gave away?"
"I don't know for sure and the girls shouldn't have said anything. As long as they did, I suppose it is all right to tell you. Mrs. Winslip gave me the contents of the building where I am living. I was looking it over and there was a large wooden box in the back under a lot of old furniture. I unscrewed the top and found that it had some paintings in it.
"I pulled up one from the middle section and it was signed by an artist named Eakins. I have never heard of him. The second one was signed by Wyeth. I've heard of him so I figured they might be valuable. I closed the box up and told Ashley? Mrs. Winslip about them. She said she gave me everything in storage, but I said I couldn't accept the box of paintings. She is having someone from the museum come tomorrow afternoon and look at what the box contains. Mrs. Winslip and I used the word treasure in front of these two kids of mine and they think maybe I shouldn't have given it away."
"Why did you?"
"Because Mrs. Winslip has been very generous in giving me employment and providing me with a place to live. You see, her husband was my very best friend and I miss him almost as much as she does. If I took advantage of her, then it would be like taking advantage of my friend."
"You are very quixotic Mr. Burns."
"What does that mean, Daddy?"
"It means I am a romantic and unrealistic. I think the way Mrs. Brown used it was a compliment."
"I did, indeed I did."
"In that case would you like to come tomorrow afternoon and see the so-called treasure when the box is opened?"
"I'd love to."
"Good and if you would be so kind, would you drive around and give Mrs. Hamlin a ride so she can see too. I'm afraid she can't walk across the lot. If you give her a ride, it will be only a few steps for her."
"I certainly will."
It was nearly six when I went to retrieve my little workers. They were all smiles and each carrying a shopping bag. "Daddy, we earned ten dollars for helping Mrs. Brown and she gave us each a present for when we grow up and get married."
"Mrs. Brown, that is too much."
"No, I have thoroughly enjoyed myself and these are things I was giving to the Salvation Army. As far as the money, they ran and ran and saved me innumerable steps. I will see you tomorrow and I will have Mrs. Hamlin with me." What could I say?