Almost As Much (The Cherished Memories Book 3)

by Linda Ellen

  So, it was decided. As Vic shook Mr. Lockridge’s hand and signed the papers, he suddenly found himself with a man whom he could trust to oversee the station when he had to be away – and a way to guarantee his salary.

  They closed up the station together that night and Floyd promised to be on duty first thing in the morning.

  As Vic climbed into his old pickup for the ride home, he couldn’t wait to tell Louise the good news.

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  CHAPTER 5

  The House in Buechel

  “Two forty nine, there it is…” Louise murmured as Vic allowed the car to slowly roll past a mid-sized house with a for-sale sign in the front yard. “What do you think? I like the flower boxes…”

  Louise had been scouring the real estate section of the paper every day since Vic told her of his decision to buy a house, and this was the first property that had become available in their price range. Or rather…this was the first one worth looking at – the rest had been dumps. Quickly calling the telephone number, a Buechel Terrace exchange, she made an arrangement to view the house without Vic’s knowledge. With his busy schedule, however, Vic was relieved and grateful that his wife had taken the initiative to get the ball rolling.

  Now, on the following Sunday after church, with Floyd taking care of the station and Lilly minding the boys, Vic turned the car into the driveway and shut off the engine. His eyes scanned the front of the house, recalling the newspaper ad that had said it was a three-bedroom ranch. It had tan siding, two crank-out windows with white shutters and cute little flower boxes to the left of the front door, and a large three-pane window on the right that presumably was the living room. Alongside this was a one-car, three-sided carport.

  Immediately the front door opened. A short, stocky man, who looked to be in his early thirties, sporting a military haircut and khaki work clothes, stepped out and walked toward the car.

  “You the Matthews?” he asked.

  “That’s right,” Vic nodded and began to climb out on the driver’s side. The man flashed a friendly smile and extended a hand to shake.

  Vic took his hand in a firm greeting and then turned back to reach in and help Louise scoot over the seat as he said over his shoulder, “This is my wife, Louise.”

  The man greeted Louise with another smile and a handshake, introducing himself as Bill Hazelwood. Turning toward the house, he began, “Well, let me show you the outside first, and then we’ll go on inside so you can take a look.”

  They spent the next few minutes taking a tour of the yard, with the man pointing out the features of the house and explaining details as well as the improvements he had made to the property in the three years that he had owned it. Knowing the man had purchased and had it built with a G.I. loan, Vic asked, “So, why are you sellin’ so soon after buyin’ it?” His tone suggested he wondered if there was something unseen, even unwanted, about the house.

  “I hate to, because I really like it here and it’s a great house, but my job transferred me to Evansville. I’m set to start work up there by the first of next month.”

  Vic and Louise exchanged smiles at that – Evansville; both thinking it was a small world. Just the name of the city in Indiana brought back memories for Vic – of Al and Goldie, his brother and sister-in-law, and of friends and places he’d visited while he lived there. Vic wondered for a moment where the man was going to work and if it was anywhere near Diamond Dry Cleaners, his gravy job he once had thought would be the career from which he would retire.

  The man glanced from one to the other, briefly wondering at the secret joke, but only shrugged. “Well, let’s go inside and see what you think,” he continued. “Now, I built this porch last summer…”

  Mr. Hazelwood described, in detail, everything that had occurred with the house, and even his dreams of someday being able to expand, perhaps adding another bedroom out the back thereby utilizing some of the ample space in the back yard.

  After the tour, Louise wandered the rooms as the men talked. She inspected the closets; the bathroom with its modern shower; the size of the rooms as she pictured their furniture filling the space; the kitchen cabinets and counters, imagining herself and Lilly working to prepare meals. As she envisioned their future there, she pushed back the thoughts of what the house didn’t have and she had wanted – namely a basement, more living space, and two bathrooms. However, she had quickly found out that what she wanted did not correlate too well with their budget. But, she reminded herself, the house would actually belong to us, and no one would ever be able to tell us to find another place to live. We could do what we want with it. That thought gave her a pleasant feeling of satisfaction as she pictured painting and wallpapering several of the rooms to suit her own tastes. No more all white walls or old, peeling wallpaper.

  Her thoughts were interrupted as Vic called from the back door, where he and the owner had been lounging in a set of chairs on the back porch while they chatted over possible deals. “Hey babe? Where are ya?”

  “I’m back here, in the master bedroom,” she responded, struggling with a measuring tape as she sized the window.

  Vic appeared in the doorway, a slow grin taking over his face as he watched her – his industrious little wife. He had left Mr. Hazelwood on the porch so they could have a private chat.

  “Well? Whatdya think? Do you like it?”

  She turned from the window and met his eyes. “Yes, I do like it…do you?”

  He glanced around at what would be their room and down the hallway with a slight shrug of one shoulder. “Yeah, it’ll do. And I think it’s a good deal for the price. He mentioned that we could assume his loan. That’ll keep the payments low. But the main question is…will it…make you happy?”

  Louise drew in a quick breath at the look in Vic’s warm brown eyes. At that moment, more than at any other time in their marriage, she realized how much her husband adored her – and would do anything he had to do in order to keep her satisfied. A memory surfaced of Vic, on one knee, pledging that he would work his fingers to the bone to take care of her and the children. The realization gave her conscience a pang.

  In a split second, she knew she had a choice – stubbornly hold out for a bigger place, essentially believing they would receive some kind of miracle – or go with what they could afford and make it work. Instinctively, she knew if she did the former, it would result in Vic working more hours and their money being stretched impossibly far.

  Walking over to her husband, Louise slipped into the circle of his arms and leaned her head back enough to meet his eyes. “Yes, I think so. I like that it’s right down the street from Earl and Ruth. Getting this place would mean we would live closer to the station, we would finally be out of the west end, and best of all…we would finally have a bedroom with a door – and a lock!” she teased, grinning when he threw back his head and laughed before tightening his arms around her.

  “Well, all right then. What say we go talk turkey with Mr. Hazelwood?”

  With a teasing little smile, Louise murmured, “Sounds like a great idea.”

  He leaned down to give her a quick kiss and with an arm around one another’s waists, the two strolled down the hall from the bedroom.

  *

  That evening, the couple stepped out onto the porch of what would be the first home they would own, and watched as their youngest two boys frolicked in a giggling game of chasing lightning bugs and each other.

  Two young voices instantly yelled out, competing to be heard. “Mama! Wait till you see how many fireflies we’ve got!” “Almost a whole jar full!”

  “There’s lots more here than our yard back home has,” Buddy added as he ran excitedly up to his mother and thrust the glass jar into her hands, its interior alive with the delicate flashing insects.

  She held the perforated top tightly and smiled down into his eyes as he looked up at her adoringly. Then she murmured, “That’s good, honey.”

  “You go on back and play with your brother, now,” Vic gently
instructed, tussling his son’s hair. “We’ll be gettin’ on the road for home in a few minutes.”

  “Okay, Daddy,” Buddy answered, reaching out and grasping the jar again as Jimmy hollered, “Got another one! Bring the jar!”

  Vic watched them, a soft smile adorning his lips as he remembered catching lightning bugs with his own brothers in days gone by – carefree days of his early life before first his mother and then his father had passed away and he had spent a long succession of years shuffled from one relative to another.

  Shaking off that thought, he reached out and pulled his wife close to his side as he concentrated on the here and now – his first home purchase.

  Although the couple had gone ahead and signed the papers to assume Mr. Hazelwood’s loan, deep down, Vic was a bit concerned about meeting the payments. Specifically, an extra twenty dollars a month they had agreed upon as a second mortgage, because the owner had insisted he wanted another $1,000 above the original loan for the improvements he had made to the property. Due to the fact that Vic and Louise didn’t have that much money saved, the man had agreed to accept monthly payments to be sent straight to him to make up the difference.

  At an original price of $12,000, a loan percentage of 3.5% on a fifteen-year loan meant the payments were nearly eighty-six dollars a month. That was almost double what they were paying John Womack to rent the house on Thirty-Eighth Street. Then with the extra twenty, it would be over $100 per month. The amount made Vic’s head feel light and his stomach feel queasy. He had never imagined, in his wildest dreams, that he would ever sign his name to a promissory note for such a monthly amount. The thought of having slow months or a reduction in customers at the station – and as a result a decrease in their profits – made Vic’s stomach do somersaults.

  Doc would say to pray about it…but maybe we shoulda prayed about it before we signed the papers…? Well, what’s done is done. And if it’ll make Louise happy, that’s all that counts. With an unconscious shrug, Vic pushed the concerns to the back of his mind.

  As Vic watched the boys’ carefree play, a doting twinkle in his eyes, Tommy walked up from the side of the house and slouched at the edge of the porch. Casting a sideways look up at his parents, he asked off-handedly, “So, when do we move in?”

  Without taking his eyes off the cavorting youngsters, Vic answered, “Hazelwood and I decided on thirty days. That gives us both time to get everything packed and ready. He’s got to make a trip to Evansville to secure a place to live, and your mom wants to have time to scrub the place from top to bottom and do some sprucing up before we move in.”

  Tommy nodded in reply to the answer, his features thoughtful as he watched his younger brothers. He grinned and shook his head at their antics as they both scrambled after the same lightning bug, resulting in one crashing into the other as they landed in a chuckling, tangled heap in the grass.

  Lilly walked out of the back door at that moment, sighing in the early September heat as she lowered into one of the chairs on the porch and began to fan herself with a discarded newspaper. She had put on weight in recent years, something easy to do considering her short, stocky frame. Her penchant for wearing dark colored dresses and knee-high stockings only exacerbated the situation. “It’s not as big as I hoped it would be,” she commented to no one in particular.

  Vic and Louise exchanged a look, and Louise answered over her shoulder, “No, but we’ll make it work.”

  “No basement. And it doesn’t look like I’ll be having my own room…” Lilly grumbled under her breath, omitting the rest of her sentence, which would have been along the lines of, “Like you promised.”

  Vic knew she was miffed that they hadn’t included her in their decision and he half turned toward his mother-in-law, feeling the urge to explain, “We looked and looked, Lilly, but just couldn’t find a four-bedroom place we could afford…and even this one’s payment’ll be a stretch to meet…” he stopped, not wishing to air his fears.

  Tommy turned his head and looked at his parents’ expressions, as his concern turned from the fact that he would have to change schools and leave his friends, his girlfriend, and everything familiar, to a niggling worry and hope that the family hadn’t bitten off more than they could chew.

  Emotions beginning to heat up, Louise opened her mouth to send her mother a sharp retort when they all heard a voice shout, “Hey! What’s this I hear? They’re letting just about anybody buy a house in this neighborhood!”

  The boys stopped playing, and the adults all turned toward the carport side of the house before reacting in smiles and laughs as a familiar face peeked around the edge.

  “That’s right, Grant. Somebody’s gotta keep the peace around here, seein’ that the neighbors have to put up with your nonsense,” Vic shot back, causing his long-time friend, Earl, to burst out laughing and head on into the back yard. Ruth followed behind, swatting at her husband’s arm in a joking attempt to get him to behave. Gina and Terry, the Grants’ son and daughter, ran over to see what the boys were doing.

  Moving over to the porch to give Louise a hug as Vic headed toward Earl to shake his hand in greeting, Ruth gushed, “I’m so happy for you, Louise! I know how exciting it is to finally be able to buy your first place. And it’s so keen, right down the street from us.” Glancing around, she remarked without thinking, “Of course, it’s not as big or as nice as ours, but it’s got potential…”

  Louise forced a smile and glanced at her mother, who had emitted a decidedly un-ladylike snort at Ruth’s clumsiness. Realizing the unintended slight, Ruth quickly backpedaled, her words tumbling over one another, “I…I mean, this is a nice place. The back yard has lots of room, and so many trees – and backs right up to that giant cornfield. Since ours is across the street, our yard backs up to the yard of the house behind us, and it’s not nearly as deep, and only a few trees. You guys could put in a garage, or even add on to the house if you wanted…I’ve always wished for more backyard space, with ours being on the corner like it is…” she practically sputtered, obviously feeling bad that her previous statement had caused a bit of a dimming in Louise’s countenance. “You’ll like it here, it’s a great neighborhood. The people are nice, there’s lots of kids for Buddy and Jimmy to play with…” she continued on and on, extolling the virtues of Buechel Terrace.

  Her momentary disgruntlement abating, Louise turned with her friend and they entered the back door, Louise nodding in agreement and making an occasional small comment as Ruth plowed on with observations and ideas. In no time, Louise’s level of excitement about actually buying and moving into their first home began to rise again and she looked forward to starting their new adventure.

  Outside in the backyard, Vic, Earl, and Tommy stood with their arms across their chests, watching the youngsters laugh and play a game of tag. It was obvious little Jimmy was feeling frustrated that he couldn’t seem to catch any of the others. Finally he came trotting over to his father, a pout on his sweet face as he fought to hold back tears lest the other kids begin teasing and calling him a crybaby.

  “Daddy, they won’t let me catch ’em. Makes me so mad,” he grumbled as he flung himself against his father’s leg. Vic chuckled and laid a hand on his youngest son’s head, ruffling his crew cut hair as he crooned, “Aw, don’t you worry, Jimmy. Some day you’ll be as big as them and you’ll be the cock of the walk. You just gotta give it time, and let yourself grow a bit, son.”

  Jimmy tipped his head back and gazed up at his father, thinking he was the biggest, strongest, most wonderful man in the world, and he wanted to grow up to be just like him. With wide-eyed innocence, he asked, “What’s a cocka the walk?”

  Tommy snorted a chuckle as Earl threw his head back and laughed.

  Before Vic could find the words to explain, Tommy stepped over and reached down to his youngest sibling, scooping him up and situating him on his shoulders as he answered, “It means the biggest and the best, little brother. Here, let’s go see if we can chase us down some meanies.”


  The teen took off at a trot with Jimmy bobbing up and down on his high perch, clasping onto his big brother’s chin with both hands. The little boy released delighted giggles as Tommy made snorting noises like an angry bull. Buddy and the two Grant kids squealed and scattered in three different directions.

  Vic watched with a twinkle in his eyes, breathing deeply of the late afternoon air. It seemed to him that it smelled a bit sweeter and cleaner, there in the back yard that he actually owned and wasn’t just renting – and out in the suburbs, away from the ‘old’ smell of downtown. Looking out past the edges of the yard with its large trees, he could see acres and acres of mature feeder corn, ready to be harvested. It was like having the pleasures of the country with the conveniences of the city all rolled into one. Taking a moment, he counted the number of trees scattered in his yard – sixteen! Sixteen trees…wow. That will be a heck of a pile of leaves to rake in a month or two…

  His keen ears then picked up on the two women in the house, in a back bedroom where a window was open, allowing their voices to float out to him on the evening breeze. He smiled as he heard Louise’s sweet voice discussing with Ruth what curtains she planned for the room and what color she wanted on the walls.

  With a slight nod, he drew in another deep breath, feeling the familiar stress that always seemed to dog his every waking moment begin to melt away.

  Good. Maybe now she’ll get back to being the sweet wife she’s always been.

  As he only half listened to the story Earl began telling him about something that had happened at his work, Vic pictured what the future would be like once they moved into their new house.

  With the U-Haul contract and his trusted best buddy, Floyd, now working with him, he looked forward to the next chapter in their lives.

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  CHAPTER 6

  Unexpected Visitors