The Blossom Sisters

by Fern Michaels

  He looked at the page in his notes with the heading, FORTUNE COOKIES. He opened the oven doors, bent over to look inside. He scribbled more notes. He moved on to the stoves. His gut told him his grandmother would never okay prepared and heated food. Sixteen burners going three times a day. It would work for now, since occupancy was a little over thirty, more if you counted Granny and the aunts. Food service versus local vendors. Granny would want local, that much he knew. Which then opened another can of worms. Who was going to do the shopping? Maybe they could cut deals with the locals for delivery if they bought everything in bulk. Gus made more scribbles in his notepad.

  Gus eyed the industrial dishwashers and the huge sinks. Hospitals used throwaways. He made more notes on his pad. Labor hours in the kitchen versus throwaway plastic. Maybe they could get rid of one of the sinks and put in another oven if they could justify the use of plastic plates and plastic utensils. More notes. He was so engrossed in his scribbling and his thoughts, he didn’t see Barney until his buddy clapped him on the back.

  Gus explained what he was doing. Barney absorbed it all as he walked around, then peered at Gus’s notes. “I agree, we take out one sink and put in another oven. Right now, there are going to be thirty-some people, not counting Granny and the aunts. When and how will you decide if you’re going to take in more people?”

  “I don’t know, Barney. Let’s check out the rest of this place. The good news is it’s sound and in excellent condition. Four wings. Right now, only the east wing is being used, with rooms to spare. The seniors are gung ho, and we’re going to have to rein them in. I believe they think that they can fill this place and just keep doing what they’re doing. They can’t do it financially. I need to tell you something, Barney. They do not take kindly to the word no!”

  “What you’re saying is, they’re stubborn?”

  “Try fixated. And they want it all done yesterday. We have to convince them that whatever we come up with is beneficial to all of them.”

  Barney groaned. “Are they more or less stubborn than Granny, Vi, and Iris?”

  Gus grinned. “They’re running neck and neck. Granny will listen, but that doesn’t mean she’ll agree. See, they were doing fine, according to Granny, before I came along.”

  “What about the legal end of things? Do any of these people receive Social Security? Where does that money go? Who controls all of that?” Barney asked.

  “Granny has a lawyer and an accountant, but from what I can tell, the lawyer, at least, isn’t top-notch. They need hands-on twenty-four/seven help, at least for now.”

  “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” Barney asked.

  “If you’re thinking about asking Jill to take over the legal end, then yeah, and if you mean me and my firm doing the accounting, then yeah again. I’ll do it for free, but I guess Jill will need to be paid.”

  Barney laughed out loud and slapped his knees. “That just goes to show how much you know about that young woman. First things first, she does not need the money. This is something she’d love to do simply because she’d have a whole passel of grandmothers and grandfathers. She is so good with elderly people, you have no idea. I’ll hate to lose her, but she’s a perfect fit for this operation. Do you want to ask her, or shall I?”

  “You sure about that, Barney?”

  “Oh, I’m sure,” Barney drawled.

  “Then, I’ll do it. Or we can do it together. We can walk over to her house this evening and broach the subject.”

  “That’ll work. What’s next on the agenda?”

  “Let’s walk this place. I was thinking we could use the entire west wing to store all the supplies. We won’t need all the rooms for storage and can use the other rooms for the computers for their newsletters—that voodoo and magic stuff they do. I wish they’d get out of that, but they’re digging in on that. They say it’s entertainment, not for real. Jesus, Barney, they have Web sites, blogs, they tweet, they have it going on. They just need to be organized. Then there’s the sex hotlines, the sex newsletters. Don’t go getting excited here. I’ve seen them, and about all they say is just because there’s snow on the roof doesn’t mean there isn’t a fire in the chimney, that kind of thing. Nothing outlandish. Oh, and they advertise in AARP. Barney, they have thousands and thousands of members. What the hell they’re members of, I still don’t know.”

  Barney leaned against the wall so he wouldn’t fall over laughing. “Hey, don’t get me wrong here. I am not laughing at the seniors; I am laughing with them. I think this whole thing is great. Damn, I’m glad I came home. I can’t wait to get started.”

  Gus looked at his watch. “We should head to the community room, so we can get this show on the road. I have to tell you, none of the seniors are keen on the idea of shutting down for ten days till we get this ball rolling smoothly. They like being productive and contributing. They’re going to fight us tooth and nail. We’re going to have to be our most persuasive. I gotta warn you about Oscar; he’s pretty vocal. He’s the one who wanted to take me out to the barn to kill me.”

  “What?” The word exploded out of Barney’s mouth faster than a bullet.

  “I think he was joshing me. But he looked serious.”

  “I got your back, big guy.”

  “Thanks, Barney.”

  Gus led the way down one hall, around the corner, down another hall, and finally they came to what Shady Pines back in the day called the community room. The seniors had set up chairs in neat rows. It looked like everyone was present, including his grandmother and the aunts.

  Elroy Hitchens shouted out so that everyone could hear, “The bus driving test is next week, young fella.” All the seniors clapped.

  “I’m on it, Elroy,” Gus shouted back. The seniors clapped again. Barney clapped the loudest.

  And then the meeting got under way. It went from curiosity to anger to belligerence, then back to anger, with shouted comments that hurt Gus’s ears. Barney marched up front to take his place next to Gus. He put his fingers to his lips and whistled. As one, the seniors clamped their lips shut. They sat quietly like chastised children, which had not been Gus’s intent.

  “Okay, ladies and gentlemen, I’m here to suggest a solution to Initial B Enterprises’ problems. I repeat, it’s just a suggestion, and I’d like all of you to consider it, then vote on it. So, here we go.”

  Gus talked for a full hour, outlining a plan that he thought would work for all concerned. When he wound down, the thirty-or-so seniors stared at him like inquisitive squirrels waiting to see if there would be anything else for them to consider.

  Albert Givens stood up and posed the first question. “What are we going to do for the ten days you say we are not operational?”

  Barney stepped forward and introduced himself. “You’ll be working with me. We need to do a lot of paperwork where you are all concerned. We need to square away your Social Security payments. That money was going toward your room and board where you lived prior to moving here. Staying here is free. So we need to make your money work for you, and that’s where I come in. You’ll be paid a salary, but it won’t be a lot of money at the end of the week. But by the same token, you will only be working a few hours a day. Weekends will be free for socializing. We’re going to run this operation like the business it is.

  “We want each of you to write down everything you think we need to know. What you like to do, if you excel in anything in particular, your food preferences, your current health status, and anything else you want us to know so we can provide the best of the best for you.”

  A little lady named Anna Bristow stood up and asked about the gardens that she and several of the others had planted that would provide fresh produce for the whole summer.

  “I don’t see this as a problem, Anna. We have the golf carts, and there’s enough room on the back of each cart to transport the produce in baskets. Put that down on your sheet when you write what you’re good at or want to do.”

  Rose took the floor. “How do you
want me to discharge the legal firm and the accounting firm when we’ve been doing business with them since we started?”

  “Barney and I can do that. You have both firms on a retainer, and you really haven’t utilized all the money you paid out. I’m working for free. The lawyer we plan to bring on board will probably donate her services. It’s win-win. People change firms all the time, and no one takes offense; that’s just part of doing business. I feel confident when I tell you I think we can have all the legalities and accounting up to snuff inside of a month. You won’t have to do the ledgers anymore, Granny. Everything will be computerized and will serve as valid records should you ever have to produce them to any agency making inquiries into your business.”

  “When do the ten days start?” Violet asked.

  “Today. We’re going to start carting all your inventories over here and use the west wing to store them. You will also work in designated rooms in the west wing for each project. It will be a day or two of chaos, but we’ll get it all worked out. We’re up for volunteers to help us cart all your supplies and inventory. We can call Pastor Evans to see if he has any high school kids who want to work a few hours after school.

  “Barney and I are going to leave you for a bit. Talk about this among yourselves, and if you’re all in agreement, fill out the sheets about your likes, dislikes, and goals. We’ll be back in an hour for your decision.”

  A short round man in the back stood up, introduced himself, and asked for confirmation as to the two weeks’ vacation and how it would be arranged.

  “With a travel agent,” Barney said, heading for the door.

  “What about holidays?” Elroy Hitchens called out.

  “All holidays are paid and you have Christmas week off, too,” Barney shot back.

  “Well, I want to go to Las Vegas. They give seniors a free lunch and twenty-five dollars to gamble. Can we do that?”

  Gus thought Barney was going to pull his hair out. “You can go wherever you want on your vacation.”

  “It has to be a senior trip, or you don’t get the free lunch and the twenty-five dollars. A bus trip. B-U-S!” Elroy bellowed, his eyes on Gus. “A special trip, not a vacation.”

  “I’ll work on it, Elroy,” Gus said, shoving Barney ahead of him.

  “Damn! I’d rather go up against a bunch of Wall Street sharks than those people. You sure we can make this work, Gus?”

  “Yeah. I’m sure.”

  “You gonna drive a bus all the way to Vegas, Gus?” Barney laughed so hard, tears rolled down his cheeks.

  “Only if you’re my copilot.” It was Gus’s turn to laugh. “I think you need to buy these guys a bus, Barney. I mean, you’re rich, it won’t make a dent in your bottom line, and I’m sure you can write it off.”

  “A big yellow bus?”

  “Well, yeah. You’ll need to call Detroit and order it. Get all the bells and whistles and make sure there are seat belts. Elroy is going to want TV for the long trip.”

  Barney gaped at his friend.

  “Isn’t this fun, Barney?” Gus asked.

  “I gave up making bushels of money to do this and to buy a bus. Already I’m losing money. And yeah, I’m having a hell of a good time.”

  “Sure you are. Wait, it’s going to get better. I’m feeling the love, I really am. Listen, Barney,” Gus said, turning serious, “you’re getting this, aren’t you? It’s not about money with the seniors. It’s about being a family, belonging, your peers watching over you, helping you. They just want to be productive, to count for something at their age. Before they came here, according to Granny, they were the forgotten ones. Barney, if I live to be a hundred, I will never forget the looks on the seniors’ faces when I rolled up in that yellow bus. They couldn’t wait to get on that bus, to get as far away from the facilities where they’d been living. I was the guy who made that happen. At least, the getaway part. We both know that feeling from when we were kids.”

  “What? You think I’m not getting it? Of course I’m getting it. What the hell do you think I’m here for? Sometimes you’re a jerk, Augustus Hollister.”

  “Takes one to know one.” Gus grinned. They were back to being kids again. He loved every minute of it, and he knew Barney did, too.

  Chapter 23

  ELAINE HOLLISTER SASHAYED INTO SYCAMORE MEMORIAL HOSPITAL and walked straight to the information counter, where she asked for Isaac Diamond’s room number. “I’m his granddaughter,” she explained. She waited, looking around to see who, if anyone, was watching her. Visitors, nurses in white uniforms and rubber-soled shoes, and technicians moved from area to area. She didn’t see anyone who might be paying attention to her. She’d never been here before, so she asked where the gift shop was, then she asked, “By any chance, do you know if Grandpa has any visitors? I don’t want to intrude if other members of the family are visiting. I can wait my turn.”

  The sweet young candy striper offered to call the nurses’ station to ask. A moment later, she said, “The head nurse told me that Mr. Diamond has no visitors, and you can go straight up. His room number is E444. The gift shop is around the corner.”

  Elaine almost fainted when she heard the room number—444. How perfect was that? She forced herself to take several deep breaths before she was ready to walk on jittery legs to the gift shop, where she bought a single white rose with some mixed greenery nestled in a slender glass vase. She hoped she would remember to wipe her fingerprints off it before she left. The gift shop attendant wrapped several napkins around the sweating vase she’d taken out of the cooler. “So it doesn’t slip out of your hands,” the volunteer said. Problem solved.

  Elaine’s thoughts were all over the place as she walked to the elevator and pressed the button for the fourth floor. A good-looking young intern stepped into the elevator and stood next to Elaine. Any other time, she would have gone into full flirt mode, but she barely noticed the young man.

  Elaine got off the elevator on the fourth floor, and checked the painted arrows on the wall with the room numbers. She didn’t bother going to the nurses’ station but went directly down the hall to Room E444. The door was closed but not completely. Elaine knocked softly and opened the door at the same time. She made sure she closed it all the way behind her. She didn’t step forward until she heard the clack of the heavy-duty door snap shut. “Good morning, Isaac!” She loved it that the old man looked pasty and gray, as well as shocked to see her standing in his hospital room. “How are you? Your office called me the other day to tell me about your accident.”

  Isaac did his best to cover his surprise at seeing her standing there. His eyes were wary. “Everyone is trying to make my accident more than it is. I’m being discharged tomorrow and will have some physical therapy at home for a few weeks. I told them I was driving myself home tomorrow. I’m so sure of it, I had my son drop off my car last evening. This is just a blip on my hip. Get it—blip hip?”

  “I guess what you’re trying to say is you’re the same seventy-eight-year-old superstud you were the night you manhandled me. With the aid of four little blue pills.” Elaine made a sound of disgust in her throat before she said, “I just came here to tell you that I want a refund of my retainer.”

  “Elaine, as much as I appreciate your coming here, I really am not up to doing business of any kind. I’m sure my partners offered their services. Make an appointment to talk with them. I can tell you this, though. We did quite a bit of work on your case. We hired private detectives, I had meetings about your case, there were e-mails and phone calls and, of course, our hourly rate all gets deducted from that retainer.”

  “Isaac, Isaac, you aren’t listening to me. I didn’t ask you to return it. I told you to return my retainer. I won’t take no for an answer.” Before Isaac could respond, Elaine moved to the bed and reached for the call button, which was twined around the bars of the bed. “Don’t even think about calling out, because if you do, I’ll give you a chop to your throat that will crush your larynx. Tell me you understand what I
just said.”

  Isaac nodded.

  “Okay, now, this is what we’re going to do. Ooops, I meant to say what you’re going to do. I’m just going to listen. Oh, Isaac, you look . . . scared. What’s wrong? Are you not feeling well? Not that I care. Try and get comfortable because I’m going to make your day, you son of a bitch!”

  “What’s wrong with you, Elaine? Why are you threatening me like this? And you are threatening me.”

  “Why? You have the nerve to lie there and ask me why? All those disgusting, degrading things you made me do the other night, that’s why. You’re a pervert. You’re a dirty old man.”

  “You could have left anytime you wanted. You went along with it because you wanted me to lie and cheat for you. I’m a lawyer, and I don’t do things like that. I take my profession seriously.”

  “You took advantage of my greed. I admit it. You said you would make it come out right in the end if I had sex with you. Sex is sex, and, yes, I agreed to a simple bump and grind. What you did to me was not acceptable. And, Isaac, I have it all on tape. So, listen up, you bastard.” Elaine pressed the tiny button on the medallion hanging around her neck. Isaac’s courtroom voice, filled with lust and passion, reverberated through the hospital room. “Tell me when you’ve had enough. Make sure you pay attention to my voice when I’m telling you to stop, when I’m fighting you, and you’re telling me to shut up and take it like a whore. Once this goes public, if you force me to go that route, I am sure there will be many women, probably clients, who will come forward. Your call, sweetie.”

  “Turn it off. What do you want, Elaine?”