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 �>�The Cabin by Apache Chapter 3

   I went out and found a nice fishing rod.  Fishing is a good way to kill
a little time.  It took me a while to figure out just how to cast the light
fly.

   Suddenly the rod bent almost double.  The fight was on.  I would reel it
in and then it would strip off more line.  But in the end, I landed the
fish.  At the time, I didn't know what kind of fish it was, I found out
later it was Trout.

   I got it cleaned and ready for cooking.  It was almost noon so I took
the fish to the kitchen and fried it up in butter.  Some bread from the
store and the fish made my lunch.  I had never had a better tasting fish!

   I thought about going back to the city.  Did I really want to go back to
the bad air and traffic.  In a word, no.

   I had a few friends in the city, but I didn't think that any of them
would like it here.

   I made up my mind then, I would officially move here.  But I needed to
go back to the city and pack all of my stuff and bring it here.

   The next day I closed the cabin and headed back to my old apartment.

   When I got there, I went to talk to the apartment manager.  I wanted to
tell him that he could rent my apartment to some one else, because I was
moving.  He was busy with the books for the place.  I noticed that he was
writing in an amount that was $100.00 less ten the check he had in hand. 
The thought in my mind was he was skimming a hundred off each of the
monthly rents.  I did a little mental calculation.  There were four
buildings in the complex, each had forty apartments.  Four times forty was
one hundred an sixty times one hundred.  That was sixteen thousand a month.
He had been the manager for a little over four years.  In four years he
might have skimmed off more than three quarters of a million dollars.  Not
bad work, if you can get it, and he was about ready to lose it.

   I went out to my car and drove off.  I stopped in a gas station and
called my lawyer.  I told her what I thought was going on.  She told me
just to sit tight and not let the guy know anything.  She would take care
of everything.

   I went back to my apartment and packed up everything I would need at the
cabin.  While I was there I called an employment agency and asked them to
get me an honest apartment manager.

   I drove back to the managers office.  There were quite a few people
milling around.  I saw my lawyer and stopped.  She said,  -�Well, that was
easy.  We caught him in the act of inputing improper values into the books.
Then I introduced myself as the owners attorney.  The auditors are now
going over the books with a fine tooth come.  They told me that they are
going back as far as seven years.  They are in the process of getting
search warrants for his apartment here and his house.  From what I see, he
could get seven to ten years in the state pen and be forced to pay
restitution to you.  I hope that he is found guilty!

   I said,  -�No thats not right, I want the restitution be paid to the
family of the previous owner, if there is any -�.

   She smiled and said,  -�I just knew that you would do something like
that.  That's what I'll do -�.

   I asked her if she and her staff would oversee all of my holdings in the
area.  That would take a big worry off my hands.

   We had to go to her office and I signed a few papers to give her power
of attorney.  Then I was ready to head out.

   First I went to the Jeep dealer and had the car checked over.  Then it
was fill it up and drive.

   Three days later, I pulled up in front of the cabin.  Home at last.  Now
that was funny, I'd never thought of my apartment as home, but this rustic
old cabin was!

   I got all of my stuff put where it belonged and thought, 'I don't feel
like cooking tonight, I'll see what they are serving at the restaurant in
town'.

   I was served Southern Fried Chicken, with wax beans and mashed potatoes.
Very good!

   It was almost dark by the time I got to my drive.  I had just made the
turn when a woman stepped out in front of the car.  I came to a skidding
stop.  My heart rate had more than doubled.  I was about six inches from
her when the car got stopped.  She ran to the passenger side and tried to
get in.  I rolled the window down and was starting to ask her what was
going on.  She unlocked the door got in and ducked down.  She said, 
-�Please help me.  If he catches me he will put me in one of his whore
houses -�.

   From the sound of her voice, I knew she was terrified.  So I drove as
fast as I could on my driveway.  It was a very bumpy trip.  I'd have to do
something about that driveway!

   I got her inside and seated on the couch.  I sat in my chair and started
asking questions.  I found out that her father was the sheriff in a county
to the west of me.  He controlled everything that went on in the county,
from prostitution to petty theft.  He had three whore houses, a place where
if you were known could go in and buy almost any drug.  She said that it
was set up like a small store!  And on top of that he had a warehouse that
served as a storage place for stolen goods.  Things would be brought in and
stored for a while, and then shipped out to someplace else.

   I asked her if she would turn in her father.  She replied,  -�In a heart
beat -�!

   I said,  -�I served in the service with a guy that was recruited by the
FBI when he got out.  I'll see if can do anything about what you have told
me.  I'll call him first thing in the morning -�.

   A little later I found that her name was April.

   She went into the kitchen area and started looking around.  Then she
went to work cooking something.  I noticed that she was boiling some
noodles and cutting up some chicken.  Then she started on some fresh
vegetables.  Then I noted that she was mixing something in a bowl.  She
sure seem to know what she was doing.  That turned out to be the
understatement of the year.  This woman was not a cook, she was a chef.

   The dish she made was cubed chicken in cream sauce over buttered
noodles, with broccoli in a sauce.  I ate until I just couldn't eat any
more.

   She said,  -�You seem to like my cooking -�.

   I said,  -�That, by far was the best tasting dish I have ever had, now
if you want the job as my cook, the pay is twenty five a year, plus room
and board -�.

   Then she said,  -�Twenty five ,what -�?

   I laughed and said,  -�Thats twenty five thousand dollars.  Plus money
to buy all of the food.  You can use the Jeep to go into town to buy what
ever you need -�.

   She sat there and just looked at me like I was crazy.

   So I said,  -�O.K., make that thirty thousand a year -�.

    -�I can't take that much, it's way too much -�, she said.

   I replied,  -�That's what it pays, take it or leave it -�.

    -�I...I...I'll take it -�.

   I said,  -�Tomorrow, we will go to the bank in town and set you up with
a household account.  You will have a debit card, so you will not have to
write checks.  Then if you want, we will set up an account for your pay. 
I'll set it up so that six hundred is transferred in every week -�.

   She said,  -�Six hundred to cook twenty one meals a week.  WOW -�!

   If, by what I had just eaten, that much was a bargain.