Two o'clock in the afternoon was the quiet time of the day when no one was usually in the garage. Jack was seated on the couch waiting for Claire, Emily, and Sally to arrive for a quick meeting. He sighed while thinking about the bad news he was going to have to deliver. He took a sip of the generic store brand soda wishing that he was drinking his usual brand. The generic soda was better than nothing.
Claire arrived and took a seat on the couch next to him. Smiling at him, she asked, "What did you want to ask me?"
Rubbing his shoulders in an attempt to get rid of some of the tension in them, Jack answered, "I'd like to wait to discuss it when Sally and Emily arrive."
"That sounds ominous," Claire said pretending to shiver in fear.
Jack laughed and said, "It is and it isn't."
"How are things with Abby?" Claire asked. For the past three days, Abby hadn't been over to her house. She knew that Abby had only worked a small fraction of that time and that wouldn't explain her absence.
"She's still upset about something. She won't tell me what is bothering her so there isn't too much that I can do to help," Jack answered. He had no idea what he had done, but she was demonstrating significant hostility towards him.
Claire studied Jack for a minute. The young man was always helping people. Everyone in the commune had come to depend upon him. He always answered the call despite the fact that he was trying to find a job. He had spent the past three days fixing things around the neighborhood. She said, "She just needs to work it out on her own."
"I'll take your word for it," Jack said. The fact was that he didn't understand women. He didn't know what they wanted from a man anymore. A man was supposed to act like a man and not act like a man.
Sally arrived and took a seat on the other couch facing the pair. She asked, "What did you want, Jack?"
"I'd rather wait until Emily arrives," Jack answered.
"Oh, I didn't realize that you had asked her to come also," Sally said.
Jack said, "I had an idea and thought we should all discuss it."
Sally asked, "How's Abby?"
"Still upset," Jack answered thinking everyone was asking him and he knew less about her problem than anyone.
"That's a shame. I don't think that working at Taco Emporium is all that bad," Sally said. She felt that Abby was probably over reacting to something.
"I don't think that bothers her so much," Jack said. She had been talking about leaving the nursing home for a while and didn't think actually leaving it would depress her. He wondered if one of her favorite patients might have died.
"She's lucky to have you around," Sally said.
Jack was puzzled. He asked, "Why?"
"I'm sure that you are helping her deal with this. A snuggle or two at night in bed does wonders for getting over depression," Sally said causing Claire to chuckle.
"She's just a roommate," Jack said wondering why everyone assumed there was more between the two than there was.
Sally snorted and said, "Then she's a foolish young woman."
"What?" Jack asked.
Sally said, "She should be strutting around the house nearly naked to get your attention. If that doesn't work, she should try sneaking into your room at night."
"Mrs. Bagley," Jack said shocked at the suggestion.
Claire laughed at Jack's reaction. She said, "Sally was always a little more liberal than everyone else in the neighborhood except Bev. She embraced the sexual revolution. The parties she used to have at her house were the talk of the town."
"And you were a prude," Sally said looking across the table at Claire.
"That's true," Claire said without embarrassment. She added, "And I don't regret it."
"Neither do I," Sally said.
Jack shuddered and said, "Another topic please."
Sally laughed at the expression on Jack's face and said, "We've embarrassed him."
"He's a lot more conservative than you," Claire said.
Turning to Claire, Sally said, "I still say she's a fool. Jack is too good to let someone else get to him first."
"Come on, Emily. Get here," Jack muttered. He really didn't understand why everyone was trying to push him and Abby together.
Seeing that Jack was actually very uncomfortable with the topic of conversation, Claire said, "So how are things going with the garage sale?"
"Pretty good. We need another young man or two in the commune to help with the heavy lifting. Poor Jack has been working hard," Sally answered. He had been carrying stuff from the houses for sale at the garage sale without stopping for a break.
"I figure he's put in thirty hours of service to the commune this week," Claire said.
"At least," Sally said.
Jack shrugged his shoulders and said, "I've got nothing better to do."
"You could be out looking for a job," Claire said.
"I spend two hours every morning making calls to the contractors that I know and I know a lot of contractors. As soon as one of them gets a job, I'll be working again," Jack said. He was afraid that he would be joining Abby at the Taco Emporium by the end of the week if he didn't get a line on a job soon.
"Maybe you should consider a career change," Claire said.
Jack shook his head and said, "To what? I don't have a college degree. I can probably get a low paying part-time job at a fast food place, but it wouldn't pay well and would mess up any chance of getting a construction job. They'd have me working while the kids are in high school so that I wouldn't be able to get a higher paying job."
"It would still be a steady income," Sally said.
"I can work two days on construction and make as much money as working thirty-two hours at a fast-food place. If I get a job that lasts a week, then I'm way ahead," Jack replied.
"You might be right," Sally said shaking her head. She would have settled for less knowing that it was consistent from week to week rather than face continuous uncertainty like he did.
Emily arrived and took a seat beside Sally. She asked, "What did you want to talk about, Jack?"
"I've got some bad news and what I hope is a good idea," Jack answered.
"What's the bad news?" Emily asked feeling a tightening in her abdomen.
"Well, I found some problems in your house that I don't think we can afford to fix immediately," Jack answered knowing that he was going to upset Emily.
"What?" Emily asked feeling like Jack had just slapped her.
"You were concerned about the roof," Jack said. She had said that the roof leaked when it rained, but that the damage wasn't too bad. The cursory survey that Rich and Dave had performed had not identified the full extent of the damage.
"Yes," Emily said.
Jack took a deep breath and said, "Well, I looked into the problem a lot closer and discovered the water damage is pretty extensive. Rather than dripping into the interior rooms of the house, the water ran down through the walls. There's some major damage to the interior structure. I'm going to have to rip out some walls and replace some of the wood before the whole house collapses."
"What can I do?" Emily asked. She understood that she wouldn't be able to rent out the house until the damage was repaired.
Jack said, "Well, I was thinking about that and came up with a little idea. I wanted to see what the three of you thought about it."
"What?" Claire asked wondering how this involved her.
"Well, winter is coming and the weather is going to get bad," Jack said.
"That's true," Sally said. The coming of colder weather had been a frequent topic around the dinner table.
"Right now, we are meeting here in the garage. We aren't going to be able to do that in the future when it gets cold," Jack said looking at all three women.
"I've been wondering what we should do about that," Claire said. Discussions had mainly focused on shifting the meeting spot from house to house over time. No one really liked that solution.
Jack said, "I'm suggesting that we all contribute a bit to cover the bills for Emily's house and use it as our meeting place. That would get us out of the weather. We could all chip in seventy dollars to cover the taxes and utilities, but it would give us a common kitchen, dining area, office, and storage space. We could use a common room for meetings and things like that. Her garage could serve as a common repository for our tools. Emily would collect the rent and still move in with Sally."
"That's not a bad idea," Emily said.
"I could fix the house when the weather is bad since it is interior work. It might be a little inconvenient at times, but I'm sure that we could all live with that," Jack said. A renter would not appreciate having a work crew fixing up the house for a couple of months.
Looking at Jack in surprise, Claire said, "That solves a lot of problems."
Jack said, "To tell the truth, it solves one of my problems too. I got the electric bill this month. It was a whole lot more than usual because of the cost of having people use my garage. I'm paying for an extra refrigerator, a freezer, and hot plates in addition to washing three loads of dishes a day."
Claire looked embarrassed and said, "I didn't even think of that."
"It was only fifty dollars, but that's fifty dollars Abby and I don't have," Jack said a little defensively. He felt like he should have been able to cover those increased costs and was a little embarrassed at having to bring up the subject.
"It is not fair that you have to pay for us," Sally said with a frown. She hadn't even considered the possibility that it was costing Jack money to host everyone.
"I don't really mind doing that when I can afford it," Jack said.
Claire said, "With two more people coming in, that would reduce our costs significantly. We already have enough leftovers to feed an extra person or two so that wouldn't directly impact our food budget. I'll work up the numbers and see what it would ultimately cost us."
"The only problem that I see is that money is still tight for everyone," Jack said. He hoped that this wasn't the straw that broke the camel's back.
"We'll have the garage sale and see what that does for our budget," Claire said.
Although he didn't have much hopes for the garage sale earning much money, Jack said, "That's great."
Claire said, "Oh, by the way there is one other little thing I need to mention to you."
"What?" Jack asked.
"You've been selected to serve on the committee to come up with the bylaws," Claire said with a smile.
"How did that happen?" Jack asked dismayed by the idea.
"Well, only one person didn't nominate you," Claire said with a smile.
"I didn't nominate me," Jack said.
"I know," Claire said with a laugh.
Frowning, Jack asked, "Who else is on the committee?"
"Rich and me," Claire answered.
"What about Abby?" Jack asked thinking that all of her hard work shouldn't go unappreciated.
"She's on the budget committee," Sally answered.
"The budget committee?" Jack asked. This was the first that he had heard of a budget committee.
Looking embarrassed, Emily said, "We talked about it after you went inside the house Sunday. All of us felt that you would watch out for everyone. We felt that Abby was doing such a good job managing the food budget, that we should make it official."
"We're going to discuss it at the next Sunday breakfast," Claire said.
"Does Abby know?" Jack asked looking from one woman to the next.
"I was going to talk to her about it when she came home from work," Claire said. She hoped that it would help rouse Abby from her depression.
"Maybe I should make myself scarce," Jack said.
Emily and Sally exchanged looks. Sally said, "I'd like to talk to her."
Thinking that it would be best to stay out of it, Jack said, "Let me find Dave. We'll go over to your house and try to come up with a plan on how to repair it."
"Thank you," Emily said smiling at him.
After Jack left, Sally looked over at Claire and asked, "Has he had a date lately?"
"No," Claire answered.
Shaking her head, Sally said, "He's such a nice young man. If I was forty years younger..."
"You'd still be too old for him," Claire said with a grin.
"Very funny," Sally said, "Abby isn't too old for him."
"She's not interested in him that way," Claire said shrugging her shoulders. The ways of love were mysterious.
"She's a fool," Emily said.
Claire laughed and said, "We're not the only ones who think they belong together. Ella has them bed and wed."
"I'm surprised Frau Shultz isn't pushing Abby out of the way," Sally said with a smirk.
"That's a strange relationship," Claire said shaking her head. She hadn't known Frau Shultz before starting the commune, but she liked the old woman. The night she had served the Weiner Schnitzel she had been so proud to contribute her favorite dish. She had hovered over Jack making sure that he got two servings.
Emily said, "She appreciates the fact that he's taken the time to learn her language."
"Let's face it. The rest of us are too old to learn a new language," Sally said.
Emily said, "None of us have even bothered to learn how to say hello."
"If anyone on this planet deserves a break, it is Jack. He's helping all of us. Look at how many hours he's putting into the commune," Claire said gesturing over at the work board.
"When he told me how bad the house was I had visions of losing everything. I can't believe the solution he presented. I think he just saved my life," Emily said.
Over at Emily's house, Jack and Dave were busy examining the walls. Dave pressed the wall and felt the give in it. It was worse near the bottom of the wall where the water had collected before leaking under the house. Like a lot of houses in the neighborhood, this house had a pier and beam foundation. Shaking his head, he said, "You're right. The sheet rock is rotting from the inside out."
"This is a load bearing wall," Jack said running a hand over the surface of the wall.
"We'll have to tear off the sheetrock to see just how bad the wood is," Dave said thinking that was going to be a lot of work to correct.
"At the least, we'll have to brace the roof and reinforce the beam," Jack said.
"Okay," Dave said. He was pretty good with a pipe wrench, but his experience with other kinds of home repair was limited to problems around his house. Bowing to Jack's greater knowledge, he was going to let Jack decide what needed to be done. In fact, he felt that he was learning a lot by working with Jack.
"We're going to have to replace the roof before we do anything else," Jack said. He hoped that the damage wasn't too extensive.
"It won't do to fix the effect without correcting the cause," Dave said nodding his head in agreement. He stepped back from the wall and considered the materials that would be involved. As dollar signs piled up in his head, he said, "That's going to be expensive. We're going to need two by fours, plywood, sheetrock, tar paper, shingles, and God knows what else."
"Would you mind finding out how much the basic materials will cost?" Jack asked.
"I'll spend tomorrow morning over at Homies," Dave said making reference to the large hardware store.
Jack said, "I'll get Emily moved out of here tomorrow. Once she's out, we'll tear off the sheetrock and get a good look at the damage."
"Good idea," Dave said.
Jack stretched and worked his back. All of the lifting he was doing was aggravating the muscles in his back. He said, "I'm not looking forward to this job."
"Is your back okay?" Dave asked.
"Just a little tension," Jack answered. He wished that Abby wasn't so angry. He'd ask her for another back massage, but felt like that would set off another tirade. She hadn't given him one since that day when she had broached the idea of a commune.
Dave said, "I'll help you carry some of Emily's stuff over to Sally's house."
"I wish they lived closer to each other. I'm going to spend too much money on gasoline on this move," Jack said. It seemed to him that everything boiled down to money. He didn't mind working, but it was a different matter when it cost him money.
"Talk to Claire. She'll give you some gas money out of the fix-it fund," Dave said although the money should probably have come from Sally and Emily.
"I don't feel comfortable doing that," Jack said.
Emily returned to the house and joined the two men. She said, "I was thinking about your suggestion, Jack. If this is going to be a common area, we might as well leave a lot of my stuff here. What we can't use should go into the garage sale. That will help cover some of the cost of fixing this place up."
"Just tell me what you want moved and I'll move it," Jack said. He had already carried everything in the guest room over to the garage sale.
Dave nudged Jack and said, "We'll move it."
"We'll just move my clothes and the bedroom furniture," Emily said looking around her house. She talked a good story about how easy it would be to move out, but it still hurt to be leaving her house behind.
Jack nodded his head and said, "Okay. I might as well begin now."
"Okay," Emily said leading the way to her bedroom.
Jack and Dave followed her into the room and looked around. There was the usual collection of bedroom furniture. Jack groaned when she opened the closet and showed all of the clothes in it. He said, "We're going to have to figure out how to move all of your clothes without getting them dirty."
"I've got another closet full of clothes," Emily said looking a little embarrassed.
Thinking that he wouldn't want a couple of people going through his stuff without having a chance to pack a few of the more private items, Dave asked, "Do you have any personal items that you'd like to remove without us around?"
"Um, maybe," Emily said blushing a little. She hadn't thought about some of the more private things she had stashed away until Dave had mentioned it.
Giving her a curt node of his head, Dave said, "I'll tell you what. Jack and I will go down to the You-Haul'em place and pick up a couple of those wardrobe boxes. We'll be back in about thirty minutes."
"Thank you," Emily said thinking that she had a bit of packing to do before they returned.
With Dave driving to the moving store, Jack rode in the passenger seat thinking about how flustered Emily had reacted to the suggestion that she might want to pack a few items while they were gone. He said, "That sure was nice of you to give her a chance to pack up her lingerie."
"She's probably packing up some things that are a whole lot more embarrassing than lingerie," Dave said with a laugh.
"Like what?" Jack asked.
Dave looked over at Jack and snorted at the clueless expression on his face. He said, "Son, the Polaroid camera was the greatest marital sex aid of the 1960's and 1970's. Couples all around the county took pictures that were too explicit for the men's magazines of the time. I suspect that she's packing up some risqué photographs about now."
"You're kidding? Emily?" Jack asked floored by the suggestion.
"She was an attractive woman when she was younger," Dave said. She had filled out her swimsuit real well years ago.
"She doesn't seem the type," Jack said.
"What about my wife? Does she seem the type?" Dave asked amused by Jack's reaction.
Shocked by the question, Jack answered, "Not at all."
"I've got a couple dozen pictures of Laura that I won't show anyone," Dave said. He occasionally brought them out and looked at them. Forty years had not been kind to his wife, but that didn't keep him from loving her as much now as he had back then.
"I don't want to know that," Jack said.
Amused by Jack's reaction, Dave said, "Laura was a gorgeous young woman when I married her. When she walked into a room every man turned to look at her. She had long brown hair that was soft as silk; not the short gray hair she has now. She had a real figure back then. Kids and age changed her body into what you see today."
"That's interesting," Jack said. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't picture any of the old ladies as young women.
Dave said, "I was so proud that she chose to marry me. I was just a plumber earning a living fixing toilets. She could have married anyone she wanted, but she chose me."
"She must have seen something in you," Jack said.
"Sometimes, I look at her and see the woman that I married. Those are the times when I curse God for making us age," Dave said shaking his head.
"I can understand that," Jack said.
Dave knew that Jack wouldn't truly understand that until another thirty years had passed. He said, "I thought I was doing real good getting prepared for retirement. I saved as much money as I could. I invested in stocks and bonds so that my money would grow faster than in a simple savings account. I never expected to be in such a tight financial bind this soon after retiring."
"The economy is bad for everyone," Jack said shrugging his shoulders. Everyone said the same thing whenever it came to the economy. They thought they were doing okay and now they weren't.
"I lost half my savings in the past year and my property taxes doubled. Energy costs have gone through the roof. Inflation is killing us," Dave said.
"I don't have any savings," Jack said. He didn't have a retirement fund despite having set up a 401K plan. He had taken the tax hit to make the down payment on his house.
"Credit cards?" Dave asked wondering if Jack was one of those young people who had run up a huge amount of credit card debt. He was carrying a bit more than made him comfortable, but he heard stories of young men and women with thirty or forty thousand dollars in credit card debt.
Shaking his head, Jack said, "I paid them off and then cut them up. The interest rates were killing me."
"Smart move. Our credit card debt is a little high. The payments aren't too bad, but I'd love to have that money," Dave said.
"Take the money out of your savings account and pay them off. The sooner you get rid of that debt, the better off you'll be. Most of your payment is going to the interest. You're just throwing your money away," Jack said.
"I probably should do that," Dave said.
Jack said, "I know that if I hadn't cut up those cards that I'd have lost my house by now. I would have used it to carry me over to the next month. Of course, I wouldn't have been able to pay it off the next month and before long I would have had thousands of dollars in debt."
"You must watch every penny," Dave said looking over at Jack.
Jack said, "I've cut my expenses down to the bare minimum. I treat myself to a big bottle of soda once a month. I wear my clothes until they fall off. I don't spend a dime if I can avoid it. Despite that, I'm still not making it."
"That's rough," Dave said. Shaking his head, he asked, "How about dates?"
"I haven't had a date in eighteen months," Jack answered. The fact was that he hadn't met a woman in two years that he was interested in dating. Even if he had, he couldn't afford the gasoline to pick up a date.
"What about Abby?" Dave asked.
"Jeeze, is everyone trying to fix me up with Abby?" Jack asked in frustration.