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

CHAPTER 21

Even though I tossed and turned all night I woke up quickly. I'm always excited when we start a new project. Thoughts of site locations ran through my head while I was showering and drying my hair. From the noise, Ginny was up and in the shower too.

I finished first, went into the kitchen to turn the coffee maker on, then went to the door for the newspaper.

Ginny was in the kitchen, “What do you prefer, a muffin or a bagel?” as she banged around. “I'm doing a blueberry muffin.”

“Me too Ginny.”

We sat at the counter with our coffee and muffins each reading a different section of the 'Globe'. It was nice not to be in a rush to get to work, with a fifteen minute ride instead of an hour.

We finished up and headed for the SUV, then to the site on the harbour. I gave Ginny the keys and sent her for coffee, thinking it may be a while before the office trailer showed up.

I was wrong; Ginny had no sooner left the lot than the truck and trailer showed up. I directed the driver to where I wanted the trailer spotted, and after that I got out of the way, and let the pro do his thing. In less than 30 minutes he had it leveled and tied down.

Just about the time Ginny returned, he was handing me the keys. “The septic guy should be here in an hour, and the electrician is pulling up now. Unless you need anything else, I'll be out of here.” he said.

I gave him a wave, and picked up my coffee. A phone company truck pulled in, and parked beside the electrician's van. This was more activity than the lot has seen in years.

“What are they doing?” Ginny asked.

“The electrician will bring power to the meter socket on the trailer; when he's done the electric company will put in a meter. The phone line will come from the pole to the trailer's junction box. We should have phones by lunch. A temporary generator will get hooked up and we'll have power by lunch too.”

Ginny climbed the stairs, and looked inside. “Hey, there's no furniture! Where do we sit?”

“Next stop Staples,” I said. “We'll order desks, chairs, and filing cabinets to be delivered tomorrow. We'll buy telephones, a fax, a copier, and all the other office supplies, you know, paper, copy paper, pencils, file folders, staplers, scotch tape, anything else that strikes our fancy.”

“Wow, I'm overwhelmed, you've done this before, haven't you?” she asked.

“Way too many times Ginny, this time though I'll be here at least two years, maybe more.”

We headed to the nearest Staples and ordered furniture, and bought supplies. I was able to get two chairs in the back of the Explorer, giving us a place to sit when we got back.

I returned along the beach, stopping at Kelly's original place, for roast beef sandwiches, and diet sodas.

“I'm going to like this site, great food everywhere,” Ginny laughed. “I'm going to gain ten pounds, none of my clothes will fit, and I just bought them!”

After unloading the boxes of supplies and the chairs, we sat down to eat. “Ginny, there is something we need to talk about. It's Morales.”

She almost choked on her soda, ”What! Where is he?”

“Not here, I saw him last Saturday. As we left the barn, he drove in the other side. There were two kids in the car with him, I almost fainted.”

“Why didn't you tell me?” shrieked Ginny, ”He might have recognized me!”

“Your own mother wouldn't recognize you, my dear. You are a girl now, remember? And a pretty one,” I added. “Don't panic yet, I'm going to make a phone call to Cathy, and ask her about him. Besides, everyone thinks you're a girl. Do you think Kevin would have been all over you if he had any doubts?”

We were interrupted by the door swinging open. The electrician stuck his head in and said, “The generator will be hooked up in a couple of minutes; you can leave it running when you go home, it's got plenty of fuel and that way the trailer will be warm in the morning.”

I walked over and thanked him, and asked when he thought the power company would put in the meter. “Sometime tomorrow they'll put in jumpers, the meter next week or sooner.”

As he left the phone company tech came in. “Hi ladies,” he said. “Your phones are all set, you have two lines at both rooms. The numbers are written on the box outside, I'm going to do the same in here.”

I batted my eyes a bit and thanked him, Ginny was staring at me in shock, she started to say something, but I waved her quiet.

After the tech drove away, she turned to me and asked what that was about. “You never know when a favor is needed from the phone company. That guarantees it.”

“Let me plug a phone in, and I'll call Cathy about Morales. While I'm doing that, why don't you open the boxes of supplies?”

I grabbed a phone and a chair, walked to the small office and closed the door.

I dialed the barn's number from memory. “Cathy, hi, it's Ellen Hanson, do you have a minute?”

“For you, of course, what's up?”

“I don't know how to ask this, but did I see a man on Saturday named Morales? He's a suspected drug boss.”

Cathy laughed nervously, “You did. Remember the tall girl on the bay in your lesson? That was his daughter Tina. Why?”

“I thought I recognized him, wasn't he in the news last week in that big drug bust in Newburyport? The owner of that trucking company was said to be working for him.”

“I don't know about that, I live in New Hampshire, Don't worry though, He's just another doting father watching his daughter ride. I've got to go, I have a student coming in. I'll see you Saturday at eleven?”

I told her I'd be there, and hung up. I turned around and jumped, Ginny was three inches away.

“Don't do that! You scared me half to death.”

“It was him wasn't it? He was at the barn! I can't go back there again. He'll see through my disguise.”

“Hold on,” I said. “Is wearing a dress a disguise, or is it the real you, a woman in the wrong body? Tell me now, no fooling around, I need to know, and now!

To be continued.

Many thanks to Bronwen for fixing the typos and grammar.