Wednesday at 11:20 a.m.
Chet had changed his clothes at home and was waiting when Ellie met him there. She’d intended to drive her pickup to the luncheon, but he insisted his own truck needed airing out. So she said a few Bless George’s and complied.
Right before Chet drove off, Ellie jumped out, jogged to her own vehicle, and retrieved her Louisville Slugger.
“What’s that for?”
“Never know when you’re gonna run across a varmint.”
Ellie had been friends with Pete Henley for several years and was also acquainted with his wife Irene. In addition to knowing all the Honor Guard members, Ellie was familiar with many of Henley’s neighbors since her Dirt Angels cleaning service had handled post-construction interior cleaning for several duplexes in that neighborhood. Some of the other luncheon attendees went to Ellie’s church and a few were relatives of people she knew elsewhere.
****
Kelly parked slightly up on the hill of Placid Lane, about two duplexes along the pronounced curve to the Henleys’ west. Not expecting Mitch that early, she began looking for Wade, who was supposedly the event’s chef.
Wade was lumbering from the back yard around the west side of Pete’s duplex when Kelly spotted him. When they intersected, he displayed a typically enthusiastic grin and then swooped her up in a clumsy hug. It took her breath away.
“What are you doing in town again so soon, you big galoot?”
“Don’t want to miss a big party.” He was still grinning.
“Pete told me you’re cooking all this meat. How’d you get conned into that?”
“Didn’t I tell you I hire out now and then?”
“As a chef?”
“Well, shoot. A good grill operation needs somebody that knows what to do with meat. You can’t just toss it down — burn and turn. Got to do it right. It’s like art.”
“Somehow I never thought of grilling meat as art.”
“Well that’s my cover story anyhow.” Wade tried very briefly to pretend he was mysterious.
“So, what’s your real reason?”
“You know how I sometimes buy a piece of equipment here and there?”
Kelly laughed out loud. “Wade, you’ve got more equipment than a third world government. In fact, you ought to sell off some as surplus.”
“Hmm. Wade’s Surplus. Nice sound.” He paused while that title likely wafted in his mind. “Well, anyhow, my girlfriend’s been riding me like a swayback mule gone lame.”
“A what?”
“She don’t want me buying all that stuff.” Wade didn’t explain his imagery. “But she said if I am gonna buy so much equipment, at least I oughtta set up a company so I can write it off.”
“Did you?”
“Well, not me. I let her write up the company and then write off my equipment.”
“Sweet.”
“So when Pop said the Henleys was looking fer a meat man, I said, I’ll grill their dadblamed meat fer twenty bucks, plus I take home what ain’t ate.”
“Not much cash flow in that deal, but likely plenty of leftovers.”
“I got three freezers and one’s just fer meat.”
Kelly didn’t ask what the other two were for, but figured ice cream for one. Maybe a man’s freezers are as private as his dresser drawers.
Wade practically twitched with excitement. “Oh, guess what else.” Wade didn’t give her time to speculate, however. “I bought over my new invention.”
“The Vegge-whatnot?”
“Vegge-zilla. And we’re calling that my ‘corporate entertainment expense’.”
“You think that’s gonna fly with the tax people?”
Wade rubbed his considerable chin. “Well, it ain’t no Super Bowl halftime, but I figure it’s entertaining. Them folks at Deer Holler think pretty high about theirs.”
“Those customers out there are mostly children, Wade. What if these grownups aren’t suitably entertained by apples blasted from a pipe?”
He looked disappointed.
“Wait, I got an idea. Just categorize your Vegge-slinger as R-and-D instead.”
“Huh?”
“Research and development.”
“Sounds better anyhow.” He grinned again.
“By the way, what’s the name of your brand new company?”
“Thought you’d never ask. Wade’s Cooking.” He manifested enough pride for his family to have operated this business since 1925.
“Is that a noun or a verb?”
“What do you mean?” Wade probably didn’t sit still in school when they talked about grammar.
“Does ‘cooking’ refer to what you’ve grilled? Or that you’re in the process of grilling it? The second one’s like ‘Wade is Cooking’.”
“I like the second one. Makes me sound hot.” He smiled cheesily.
“You are hot, you big galoot.”
Wade watched another guest arrive. “Well, that’s not the only reason I’m here. Pete said one of his neighbors was an old artillery man or something and he might be able to help me work out some kinks in my Vegge-zilla.”
“You’re not planning to shoot apple rockets in the Henleys’ back yard, are you?”
“No, ya doofus. Over yonder at them hay bales out back.” He pointed toward the general area — not visible from their position — where a hay shredder and spreader had been deposited, to be used later when the preliminary landscaping was done. “They dropped that hay in the wrong field. Ought to be over there where they’re building the new part.” Wade pointed the opposite direction to something also out of sight; then he hustled away, presumably toward his grill.
Kelly turned as a familiar green SUV drove up and Roger Jenkins got out. He went to the passenger side and helped a frail lady, dressed like she was going to church. Kelly went over to greet him. “I didn’t expect to see you here.”
“This is my aunt.” Roger pointed with his entire hand. “Aunt Lucille, this is Kelly Randall. I told you about that cave-in last spring, Gordon’s Cave. Kelly was with us.”
“Not just with you. I helped dig us out.” Kelly poked his upper arm.
“How do you do?” Lucille’s voice was as frail as her form. “Do you know the Henleys too?”
“Not really. I mean I just met Mister Henley today. Interview.”
“Sergeant.” Lucille spoke so quickly that even she seemed surprised. “Were you at the funeral this morning?”
Kelly nodded.
“Was it nice?”
Kelly didn’t know how to respond.
“I wanted to go. My Ardis used to be in the Honor Guard. Ardis knew that boy they buried today.” Lucille looked up at Roger. “Can’t remember his name but I used to be friends with his first wife.”
Aunt Lucille lightly touched Kelly’s elbow and then slowly made her way toward the Henley condo.
“I was supposed to take her, but got a flat tire.” Roger displayed the remaining grease on his hands. He was mid-sixties, with a handsome face and short gray-white hair. He’d kept his waist pretty trim until his fifties and currently was fighting a belly with a combination of diet and exercise. So far the belly had stubbornly resisted those efforts. “We were lucky to get here for the big feed afterwards.”
“Is she in your Uncle Chet’s family?”
“No, my dad’s sister in the Jenkins line. No relation to Pop at all.” Roger watched until his aunt got through the front door and then turned again to Kelly. “She lives out here on Cordial Lane. Two of their streets are temporarily blocked by utility trenches. Makes it hard for these older folks to get around.”
“Well, it’s good you could make it for the luncheon. Wade’s here, with a promise to demo his fruit-shooter.”
“Couldn’t very well miss that, whatever it is.” He smiled. “But, in truth, I would have passed on Wade’s entertainment. I’m just here because Aunt Lucille really wanted to come to Irene’s lunch.”
“Too bad your wife couldn’t come.”
“Yeah. Lena’s in Lexington with her mom.”
Kelly nodded once and then looked around a bit.
Roger turned to head toward the house. “Guess I’ll go say hello to our hosts.”
****
Roger encountered Pete just inside his front door. “Glad you could bring Lucille to Irene’s do. Your aunt’s a fine lady. Her Blackie sure was a good man.”
Roger didn’t often hear his deceased uncle called by his nickname anymore. “Sorry we didn’t make the funeral today. Flat tire.” He showed his greasy hands again.
“Probably best. The way that widow acted would’ve upset Lucille.”
Roger’s gaze swept over the part of the condo interior where he stood. “These units look real nice inside. I think this has a slightly different layout than the ones over on Aunt Lucille’s street. Got enough space here?”
“By the time you move somewhere like this, you’ve either downsized or you should’ve. Me and Irene had to get rid of lots of things, but it was probably time anyhow.” Pete sighed wistfully.
“I hadn’t remembered how much the elevation changes in this subdivision. How far down is that creek bed over there?” Roger pointed north through the open front door.
“Oh, that little piece of the branch is something like seventy-five feet lower than I am here. Don’t know the last time you saw it…”
“Only driving by just now on Great Vista.”
“Well, it used to be enough water you could catch a little fish here and there.” Pete shook his head. “Now it’s mostly dried up.”
“I notice they’ve also cut back those heavy woods.”
“Yeah, still real thick, but they took them back enough to lay a good bed for that north loop road. They’re adding an entire new double row of condos up there. Probably two dozen more new duplexes. They’ll start framing next spring.” Pete pointed to a hallway wall where a scale drawing of the Community development was hanging. “My great-grandson did this for a school project. Liked it so much I told Irene to frame it up. This doesn’t show that new loop — North Serenity — but you can see where it would be, right up against the line of trees. Right now they’re just clearing and rough landscaping. But somebody with a loader apparently had extra time on their hands and started digging out some of the cellars. Just the rough-outs.”
“Is that the way it actually looks?” Roger’s greasy finger approximated the shape in the frame.
“Well, Little Pete modified it to make it easier to draw. Irene says it’s shaped a bit like a kidney, with the inside curve to the left.”
“A kidney?” Roger squinted.
“Here. Take a look at this satellite picture.” Pete retrieved it from a small desk in the nearby guest room. “My daughter found this on her computer and printed it.”
“Well, you have to be real careful with satellite pix. They might show a relatively current date, but maybe they’re a year or more old. How many duplexes had already been built by…” Roger looked for the date. “…January of 2007?”
“Almost all, except the two farthest west on Cordial and two here on Placid.” Pete peered closely. “Oh, I see what you mean. This picture shows probably a dozen or more empty lots.” He thought for a minute. “Well, doesn’t really matter. Nobody would be interested in up-to-the-minute maps of our Community anyway.”
Roger peered again at the satellite image. “Aunt Lucille lives down here on Cordial.” He pointed at the spot. “But I didn’t think her street had that much curve in it.”
“Lucille’s street curves like a real relaxed S shape. My street is a broad bow-shape. They started with just these two — Placid and Cordial. Units on both these streets had to have additional retaining walls, because of the steep grade we’re on.”
“I just noticed regular retainers in the front yards, between every other unit or so. Where are the others?”
“Well, the way we tell it out here, the surveyor and engineer had a bottle of moonshine when they decided where to put retaining walls. I’m right on the crest of the big slope so I can understand mine going south twenty-five feet from the back of my unit. But there’s some down below me on Placid, and all those on Cordial, that look like they just had a dozen extra loads of concrete ordered and didn’t know what else to do with it.”
“So they quickly set up forms and poured retaining walls all over?” Roger chuckled. “Maybe there’s more engineering to it than meets the eye. Grade, slope, drop, curve, erosion, drainage. Who knows? Might even be the only thing that keeps your duplex from sliding down the hillside.”
Pete ignored that last comment. “My retaining system also extends out another twelve feet of real thick hedge. Supposedly for erosion. But Norm, over across my street, also has a retaining wall in back because we’re on the same part of the slope. Well, he has a long bed of heavy rocks on the far end.”
“That’s the more typical treatment for erosion dampers. Wonder why you got hedges instead?”
Pete shook his head. “Wonder why lots of stuff got built like it is out here. Norm’s bed of rocks must be a good six feet wide.”
They had to separate briefly as a distressed-looking man, who didn’t acknowledge either of them, passed right between them to get through the narrow hallway.
Roger looked again at the framed drawing.
Pete sighed. “You can also see how messed up it is with those utility trenches, for water and sewer lines to that new section. Adding that many new housing units would way overload the existing systems.” He pointed to the places where two of the three main streets were blocked. His fingertip tapped the intersection of South Pleasant Drive and Serenity, which bordered the western edge of the subdivision. “This southernmost trench was dug to repair a forty-two-inch drainage culvert that was crushed. You know what those workers hauled in here? A long low-boy trailer with a dozer and a grader on it. That kind of heavy equipment doesn’t belong on these residential streets. Plus, they should’ve used concrete culverts anyway.”
“I’ve heard those reinforced PVC culverts are pretty strong.”
“Well, somehow that culvert got crushed like an empty toilet paper tube. I walked down there Monday evening.” Pete pointed again at his grandson’s drawing. “The east end of your aunt’s street is also blocked, by a deep trench waiting on the new utility lines to be run. Right now, Placid is the only thoroughfare for residents to get from the east side to the west side.”
The man who’d previously passed came back through the hallway and eased between Pete and Roger again. This time he smiled lamely. Must have gone to the bathroom.
Pete greeted him with a nod. “Anyway, now we’re getting all the traffic that would be using South Pleasant. It’s a mess. The folks living on Cordial can still drive to the west, but they’re blocked on the east side.”
“Whose bright idea was it to dig the utility trench up here when that culvert was already crushed and blocking the road down there?”
“Not much logic with contractor timetables.” Pete put the satellite picture back on the guest room desk. “It’s all about weather, cash flow, and available labor.”
“And equipment. I noticed a grader and dozer over there in that northernmost section.”
Pete nodded. “And they left a backhoe in the east corner of the common behind my place. Just switched off the engines, hopped out, and they were gone. Maybe they were ticked off about not getting a holiday on Monday. Anyhow, they didn’t come back at all yesterday, and you can see they’re not working today.”
“Wonder if that’s because of the big drill.” Roger checked his watch.
“Huh? Oh, that. I doubt it. It shouldn’t affect us except when the siren blows we’re supposed to hike up the curve and hill and check in at the main complex where the nursing home buildings are.”
“When’s the siren going to sound?”
“Nobody knows. That’s part of the drill.” Pete looked around and lowered his voice. “Some of these folks say they aren’t going anywhere, siren or not. Especially if it goes off during lunch.”
“Can’t completely blame them.” Roger was thinking about their average age when he spotted someone about six decades younger. “Who’s that young girl over in the corner?”
Pete smiled broadly. “Oh, that’s my Ashley. Youngest grandchild. She’s practically in her own category — so much younger than our other grandkids, but a good bit older than any of the great-grandkids.”
“Does she live with you?”
“No. She used to live in Bowling Green with her mother, but in August she moved to Richmond to live with our son. She comes down here every chance she gets. Nearly eighteen and she’s a good driver.”
Roger paused before asking. “It’s none of my business, but shouldn’t she be in school?”
“She had to start attending a new school in Richmond and it’s been hard on her.” Pete was answering the wrong question. “Oh, and it’s a teacher training day. She’ll have to go back tonight for classes on Thursday.”
“Well, she’s very lovely.”
Pete nodded. “Really means a lot to me and Irene. She’s special.”
“I noticed a lot of garage doors partway up.” Hardly anything escaped Roger’s attention. “Kind of late in the season for that, isn’t it?”
“Truth be told, I don’t know that it works all that well even during the hottest days.” Pete shook his head. “But some folks swear it makes the house cooler to vent the garage door like that.”
“It might let hot air out… but it can also let varmints in.”