Gene's Story or How I Gained a Cousin A novel by Karen Lockhart Copyright 2016

CHAPTER 53

We woke to pristine white everywhere; the fresh snow covered every tree branch, every shrub and bush. This is a postcard moment, the sort you'd love to see on Christmas morning, but around here, there'd be a rain storm, or a warm-up to melt it all away, leaving bare trees, and dead grass for Christmas.

I said to Ginny that it was my turn to drive today, but help clearing the snow would be appreciated. This time I remembered to get a snow shovel from the garage, so we wouldn't have to clear snow with our feet when we got to work.

Together we made quick work cleaning the snow from the Explorer, and were on our way in fifteen minutes. I hoped this year wasn't like 2014 when over one hundred inches fell in a month and a half.

Well, snow cleared, lights on, coffee made, all by 7 AM. If women ran the world, at least things would be done on time!

Now the subject of the drug dealers came up. Ginny was worried about the money, more than what she'd heard that day between Morales and MacDonald, the trucking company's owner.

“Look Ginny, I bet they think Morales grabbed the cash, blamed the truck's driver with taking it, and then made a deal on his own. He needs Gene, to take the pressure off with the Mafia.”

“So as long as I ,err, Gene stays hidden, the more Vinnie has trouble? Maybe that explains the way he was acting with Tina, he's under a lot of pressure.”

I nodded, “The kind of pressure that results in a funeral. Morales already lost his distribution method when the State police raided the trucking company last August. He set up something on the fly that's not as profitable, I'd think.”

“It's a good thing Tina moved out, otherwise, she might be in deep trouble,” Ginny took a deep breath. “We can't tell her my secret, just in case.”

“The more I think about it, the more I'm convinced not to move on a name change. With the publicity of Caitlin Jenner and bathroom use, if you get stopped carrying a man's license, the cops will probably just laugh a bit, and call you a name.

Ginny decided that when we got home, she'd finish the outside Christmas lights, and I'd pay the bigger electric bill. Nothing like a division of labor.

That night the news was full of auto accidents, from Portsmouth, NH, south to Plymouth, MA. Why don't people slow down in the snow?

The weatherman had a Cheshire Cat smile, as he bragged about being right ten per cent of the time. In the next breath, he warned of black ice overnight, with a slow melting following day, and sunny on Wednesday and Thursday.

Ginny finished those outside lights by 6.30 PM,and I made supper. It arrived a little after 7. What? You thought I was going to cook?

The next day a full crew showed up, and got busy on rough grading the site. Even though it was cold, we could pour the concrete foundation and first floor slab in two weeks. These days, concrete could be poured almost any time, and kept from freezing.

The following day, the carpenters and iron workers would get started on the forms and reinforcing steel. Once the slab was poured and had set for two weeks, we could start the real work, framing, and floors. This called for four stories, and a loft to be built on the foundation.

There would be three floors of apartments, with businesses on the ground floor, and a couple of huge loft apartments, with panoramic ocean views. I'm starting to sound like a real estate broker!

Needless to say it was busy at work, and thoughts of name changes and drug deals were pushed to the back of my mind. Ginny was very busy keeping the paperwork filed and up to date, and Morales never came up.

On Friday afternoon she had another appointment with Doctor Singh to monitor her oestrogen levels. We left the office at 3 PM with the sounds of Christmas music on the radio. In a week or two, I'd be sick of Rudolph, St Nick, and Gene Autry.

When we got home, I called Tina to see if she wanted a ride tomorrow. I was surprised when she said she was at her father's house, and would stay overnight, promising to fill us in at the barn after our lesson.

I repeated this to Ginny, who said, “I hope she knows what she's doing.”

“You know, last week when we forgot her, she told me she had the Mercedes up to 100 mph on Route 1, When I said she was crazy, I got a funny look from her. Something is going on. Hey, what's going on with you and Kevin? You haven't even mentioned his name for two weeks. Is it off?”

Ginny blushed bright red. “It's still on, just a little cooler. I spoke to him this morning, and we'll see him at the barn tomorrow. I can't wait to show him how well I'm doing with my riding.”

“Now you have a scheduled lesson, you can't go for rides with him until your lesson is over. That makes it hard on his horse. He'd be going for well over an hour, it wouldn't be fair to Doc.

By now, Ginny had a pot roast ready, along with mashed potatoes, carrots, and Brussels sprouts. I'm putting on weight!

We arrived at the barn early, giving us time to chat with Cathy. She said Chris Brady wouldn't be here for the next two weeks, and that it would just be me and Tina.

About this time, I saw Tina's red rocket go by the windows, well, she made it out of the house anyway.

To be continued.