Disclaimer: The following story is a work of fiction. If you are offended by descriptions of homosexual acts or man/man relations, please exit this page.
ROUTE 66 TOUR Copyrightc 2003 by Tulsa Driller 7. All rights reserved.
This is a work of fiction and in no way draws on the lives of any specific person or persons. Any similarity to actual persons or events is entirely coincidental. This work is copyrightedc by the author and may not be reproduced in any form without the specific written permission of the author. It is assigned to the Nifty Archives under the terms of their submission agreement but it may not be copied or archived on any other site without the written permission of the author.
PLEASE: In a perfect world AIDS doesn't exist. My characters sometimes have unprotected sex. I hope you use proper precautions because I'd like you to be around the read the last chapter of this story.
Route 66 Tour Chapter 11
Our passions not withstanding, we both had to pee. A.J. woke up as I started to separate myself from him. The dried cum pulled at the fur on his body as it did mine, joining us as one.
"Morning beautiful," I whispered into his ear, although I don't know why I was whispering.
That wonderful smile of his appeared. "Morning, yourself." We exchanged a kiss and both of us had "morning breath" from the cum cocktail we had mixed together and swallowed after our mutual climax. A.J. had triggered another massive orgasm the night before and he had shared some of the result that had landed on my face and neck with me. We hadn't cleaned up afterward, just wrapped ourselves together and gone to sleep.
So, we pulled ourselves apart, not without a little pain and made our way to the bathroom to pee. He went to the kitchen to make coffee while I peed, then started shaving. It was 7:30 and we had agreed to pick Laura up at 8:30, our usual time for breakfast the last few days. While I was showering, A.J. stripped the bed and put the dirty sheets in the washing machine. Then after I dried my hair, while he was showering, I put clean sheets on it. These would only be used one night, as we would sleep in our new home on Monday night.
Each of us decided to wear slacks and sport coats, but hadn't put ties on yet at the time we picked Laura up. She was wearing a gray suit with a beautiful red, white and blue blouse that had a large ruffle from the neck to the waist. Somehow, it seemed to look perfect on her. She had her clothing for the afternoon with her, so we wouldn't have to return to the motel.
We arrived at the restaurant and seated ourselves. It was amazing to me that we seemed to be recognized as regular patrons now and most everyone greeted us as we made our way to a table. No one knew our names, and we didn't know them, but there was a feeling of community there.
After breakfast we went back to the apartment and I started the washer to wash the soiled sheets and towels from the bedroom and bath. By the time they were ready for the drier, it was time for us to leave for church, which was about a 15-minute drive from the apartment. We parked in a lot on the west side of the street and walked across Cincinnati, then up the steps into the narthex. The ushers gave each of us a service folder as we entered the long nave, going to the front to seat ourselves. We genuflected in turn, then entered the pew, settling ourselves, then pulling out the thick, individual kneeling cushions. These were much better than an upholstered kneeler attached to a pew.
Shortly afterward the organ prelude started and the organist really outdid himself this morning. The prelude was the Bach Toccata and Adagio in C. We would hear the Fugue section for the Postlude. As this was the Feast of St. Michael and All Angels, the music was extra special this morning with the choir singing a Haydn Mass in Latin, unusual for most Episcopal Churches, but not the men and boys choir at Trinity.
The processional hymn was "Hyfrydol" (Alleluia, Sing to Jesus) and the fanfare trompettes on the west wall received liberal usage between the third and fourth verses of the hymn. The thurible had been well loaded with incense and the smoke seemed to hang in the air after the thurifer passed our pew.
We received a second dose as the Gospel procession stopped with the processional cross and candles at our row. The Deacon did an excellent job of chanting The Holy Gospel.
I must say that the mass was beautiful and Laura was impressed with what she saw and heard. After the mass, some friends invited us to join them for coffee hour. It certainly seemed that Laura knew her fair share of the people who were there this morning.
So, we took the elevator to the parish hall in the undercroft and got in the line for coffee. There were two tables set up with cookies and small pastries. We visited with several people I knew, introduced ourselves to others and of course, the people Laura already knew.
After we got in the car, we decided that we really weren't hungry as far as having lunch, so decided to change our clothes and work on the moving project. Laura suggested an early dinner with a snack mid-afternoon.
A.J. started loading stereo components and speakers into the cars while I made sure Laura had the things she needed to wrap fragile items in the curio cabinet and bookshelves. I started taking pictures down, stacking those with glass and padding them with newspaper. Most could be put in boxes, although several were too large and would have to be put in the cars with just paper wrapped around them and secured with tape. In a short time we were ready to make another trip with two cars.
It didn't take us long to unload and stack our things in the various rooms where they would be needed. By the time we arrived back at the apartment, Laura had a dozen boxes packed. Those, along with the ones already packed on Saturday made up two more loads of things to go to the house. We determined that we could probably use another 20 boxes, so stopped behind the liquor store on the way home. We just did find the number of sturdy boxes we needed. Most had already been hauled off by others.
Arriving back at the house, we loaded small appliances out of the kitchen, canned goods and other things out of the pantry and laundry area. We soon had two more carloads ready for transport. I was beginning to think that maybe we should have rented a pickup, although we were doing well with the two cars. We probably made about the same number of trips.
By 3:30 we were through with everything we thought we needed to move ourselves. Only furniture and the organ and piano remained. We still had towels and clothes for the next day, however, would have to do our evening cleanup at the new house as good clothes were there. Laura had gone with us on the last trip and unpacked towels, putting some in each bathroom as a temporary measure.
We had a list of things to buy for the house and each of us added several items at a time as we thought of them. Monday and Tuesday were going to be very busy days.
Laura decided to go back to the motel for a nap and told us to call her at 5:30 and plan to pick her up at 6:15 for cocktails and dinner. We were at a loss to decide where to eat. Neither kitchen was really usable for anything. The liquor had all been moved to the new house and was sitting on the kitchen cabinets (along with 37 other items) so we could have drinks there later.
We decided to go to a great Italian place on 15th Street, called Tucci's. They had alfresco dining, but we would eat inside. They didn't take reservations, however I'd never waited more than 10 minutes for a table before.
A.J. took Laura back to the motel in his car and I rode along so we could stop at Albertson's to get cheese, crackers, chip and dip and a few other things for our "happy hour between residences" party. We would forgo our morning coffee and juice when we got up and have that at the restaurant.
The two of us could hardly wait to get to our new house to play in the shower. The only other times we'd showered together was in his bathroom at his parent's house. We had everything we needed, towels, soap, shampoo and hair conditioner. We needed to buy shower sponges and bath gel on our shopping expedition. We decided to try the Jacuzzi first, then the shower. Although I think we both intended to play around in the Jacuzzi, it had a very soothing effect on us. Tired muscles won out over amour and the hot, bubbling water soothed away the cares of the day.
The next thing we knew, it was almost 5:30. A.J. called Laura and we got into the shower. Same reaction. We needed the warm water to help relax. It was a good thing there wasn't a bed where we could lay down, because Laura would probably have been left on her own for dinner.
The evening would be casual, so we dressed in chinos and pullovers. Laura wore a skirt and blouse. She had a sweater with her when A.J. brought her back from the motel.
We'd brought the living room furniture that we intended to keep back inside, so had a place to sit while enjoying our drinks and snacks. We had the folding wood TV tables from the apartment, so set two of those up in front of the chairs for the cheese and crackers.
It was nice to sit and relax. The sunset must have been pretty that evening because the colors that came into the house from the west and north windows was a soft pink, then orange. While enjoying our drinks we put the shopping list into order by dividing in into several pages based on where we thought we would buy those items. There were such things as towels and bathmats, sheets, light blankets and accessories for the bathrooms, and we would find those at Foley's.
We would need additional chairs and a couple of loveseats for the living room, along with occasional tables, table lamps and possibly torchier lamps to sit on the floor. Those were things we would look for at the furniture store where we'd bought the bedroom suite for Laura's room.
There were other miscellaneous things we could find at various stores, however, the linens were the most important.
Laura spoke up. "This is a lovely house and I know that you fellows will enjoy it. I can't believe that you stumbled onto this place the first day."
"I can't either," A.J. said. "This is just going to be perfect. It's a beautiful house, in a good neighborhood and accessible to almost anyplace in town in a matter of a few minutes."
"I hope the other neighbors are better than the ones we met the other day," I laughed. "If not, I'm afraid that it's too late to do anything about it."
Laura surprised us. "To hell with the neighbors," she said. "It's not like you are going to allow this place to turn into an eyesore, or have big huge drunken parties, or disturb them."
"Why, grandmother, what makes you think we'd do that?" he asked, obviously teasing her.
"I can't imagine either one of you would allow a guest to get unruly, or get that way yourself. I raised you better than that and I can't imagine either of you doing something to intentionally make someone unhappy."
"No more dancing nude on the front lawn for you, young man," I laughed.
We all laughed about that.
A.J. fixed us another round of drinks and we continued to relax and enjoy each other's company.
"Tomorrow night at this time, we should be moved, but it's going to take another two or three weeks to get settled," I said.
"You did notify the apartment management that we were moving, didn't you?" A.J. asked.
"Yes, and they have someone who wants to rent it immediately, so I think by Tuesday night we can have it cleaned and ready to give the keys back. I don't think we'll have to do much except vacuum and clean the bathroom and kitchen thoroughly. We certainly haven't spilled anything on the rugs or hurt the walls except for hanging pictures. I don't think we'll be charged a penalty for moving out."
"That's good. I was afraid they might get nasty about it," Laura spoke up.
"The complex always seems to have someone moving in and out. After all there are over 325 units. Our apartment is in a prime location because of the duck pond, the pool and the landscaping, which if you notice, is not as well done after you get back about six buildings."
"What's the schedule for tomorrow?" Laura asked.
"The bedroom furniture is to be delivered tomorrow morning. They have our cell phone number, and are supposed to call us at least a half-hour ahead of time so someone can let them in. The movers are supposed to be at the apartment at 9 o'clock. There isn't a lot of furniture, so it shouldn't take them too long; then they have to go to the storage area and load the dining room furniture and the other things that are stored there. I can't imagine they will be more than about three hours for the whole project," I said.
"Just make sure everything is wiped down to get rid of cobwebs and spider eggs before they bring it in here," Laura said. "I think it would be a good idea to spray the bottoms of everything with bug spray, just to be sure."
"You are right about that. There are dust rags here and at the apartment and I know there is some bug spray at one place or the other, too," I said.
"The box of cleaning supplies is in the kitchen," Laura said.
A.J. went out to look. "There are two kinds in the box," he told us.
"What about the instruments?" Laura asked.
"We need to meet those movers at 1 p.m. They estimated less than two hours to wrap them, get them on the truck, unload and set them up here," I said.
Where do you want to put them?" A.J. asked.
"For now, lets put the piano on the east wall of this room, right about here," I said, getting up and walking to the middle of the wall. "There is an outlet here for a table lamp that I use on the piano."
It's too bad those light canisters on the wall can't be re- aimed," A.J. said.
"They can be and they are on dimmer's, too," I told him, walking to the door going into the back of the hall. There were several dimmer switches next to the door. I didn't know how A.J. had missed those, but it didn't make any difference. There were six dimmable circuits, four for track lighting on the walls and two that controlled some of the wall outlets so table lights could be dimmed. It would be a great effect when dark, although the track lighting could enhance some areas during the day, even when bright and sunny.
It was time for us to go eat. We were tired, but the drinks had relaxed us and our stomachs told us we were hungry. We'd just eaten some fresh fruit in the middle of the afternoon, planning to eat earlier than this.
Tucci's was great. We asked for Ryan to wait on us. He had personality plus and was a good waiter. He liked to joke with the customers and I'm sure that his charming personality gained him more tips than most of the other waiters. He had never given any clue that he might be gay, but friends who were "out" said that he didn't seem to be put off by suggestive remarks they had made. Not that we were interested, anyway.
However, he really warmed up to Laura and fussed over her like she was the queen bee, which I guess she really was. We didn't feel the need for another drink, but did order a bottle of good Chianti to go with our meals. This place had excellent pasta, which had to be fresh, so we each ordered a different pasta entree with the house salad. Good choices by all of us.
The meal was over too quickly, but we were ready to call it a night. A.J. was going to take Laura to her room, but she reminded him that she wanted to settle her bill tonight and be ready to check out when we picked her up in the morning. She took care of that and we agreed to pick her up at 8 a.m. for breakfast.
We were really too tired and too sated to make real love when we went to bed. It was nice to lie in each other's arms and drift into sleep. I'm not sure that I moved all night as we were still wrapped together when the alarm rang the next morning. I had to untangle myself to reach the radio. We both had to pee - badly - and A.J. went first, and then started brushing his teeth and shaving while I took care of my morning needs. There was no coffee or juice this morning as that was already at the other house. A.J. stripped the bed while I was in the shower and stuffed the sheets and pad into a bag with dirty clothes so they could be washed at the house.
We were ready to pick up Laura and also ready for the movers in another hour. A.J. took the cell phone off the charger and turned it on so we wouldn't miss the call from the furniture store.
Laura was ready and we both carried her luggage to the car, leaving her in the lobby to turn in her key. A.J. helped her into the car and we drove around the corner to Perry's for our last "breakfast with the gang" as we laughingly called it. In the past few days we had become regulars at that place and this morning almost everyone exchanged greetings with us as we made our way to a table.
As we were paying the bill, the cell phone came to life. The furniture truck would be at the house in 20 minutes. So, A.J. and Laura dropped me back at the apartment and went on to meet the men with the bedroom suite for Laura's room.
While I was waiting for the movers to arrive, I did a last minute check of cabinet drawers in the apartment. It was a good thing I did because there was a stainless steel mixing bowl in one of the lower kitchen cabinets and we'd missed a glass in an upper cabinet in the kitchen. We had saved a couple of boxes just for this purpose and I left them both on top of the kitchen stove.
The movers knocked on the door about that time, so I let the three men in, telling them that everything went except for the piano and organ. In the end, they did wrap the organ bench and pedal board and load the eight speaker cabinets, as there was plenty of room. They put the adjustable concert bench for the piano on the truck, also.
They had things taken apart and loaded on the truck within 45 minutes. I called A.J. to tell him we were on our way to the storage complex to get the other furniture, so it would be at least 45 minutes before we were at the house. I put the bag of dirty laundry in the car, giving the address of the storage place to the driver and told him I'd meet them there and let them in the gate.
It was about 55 minutes later when they backed the moving truck up the driveway. A.J. took charge of seeing to it that the underside of each piece of furniture was wiped down and sprayed as they unloaded it from the truck. Laura and I gave them directions as to where each piece of furniture was to go. It took them an hour to unload the truck and setup furniture as the dining table had to be put together, along with the bedroom suite. There was an almost 9x12 Kirmen carpet and pad that needed to be put down in the dining room before the table was put in place. A.J. made sure it was centered under the chandelier. Of course neither of them had seen this rug. It was mostly beiges and blue and was beautiful. I wondered what, in the current state of affairs, if they even made hand-knotted rugs like this in Iran anymore.
There were several pieces of furniture that were sent to the garage, as we weren't keeping them. Laura used furniture polish on all the pieces brought into the house and they were soon sparkling.
I couldn't wait to hang the crystal chandelier in the dining room and put it together. It would be nice to get rid of the brass and wood light we thought was "heavy" looking.
The movers were ready to leave at noon. A.J. wrote a check for the invoice they presented. The place was beginning to look like someone lived there again.
We decided that fast food was probably a good choice for the noon meal as we had less than an hour before the final part of the move, so stopped at Long John Silver's for a bite to eat. It seemed to be just the right amount to eat.
A.J. hadn't anymore than parked the car at the apartment complex when the truck from ABC Music pulled up at the gate. I walked to the gate to tell him the code to punch for the gate to open. It didn't take them long to park and unload the equipment they would need to pack the two instruments.
There were two men. The young fellow, Don, in charge of the move wasn't a big person, but strong. The other young man, Gene, looked like half of a football team. Between them, they wrestled the piano out into the middle of the living room, taking the left front leg off so it could be tipped onto the padded grand board. They shortly had it secured, wrapped and strapped into place, taking off the other two legs and pedal lyre. It was soon on their truck and secured in place.
The organ console weighed almost 600 pounds. They would have to take the outside door off to get it out of the apartment, turning it up on end to swivel it through the door. They handled it like it was a toy, but padded it lightly to keep from scratching it. After it was through the door and on a small dolly, they turned it upright and put it on organ trucks, padding and strapping it for transport.
I had to laugh when Laura spoke up, saying, "This place is a lot larger than I thought it was."
"Let's just say it was furnished by using a shoe horn," I laughed.
We were back in the car on our way to the house. The truck arrived shortly after we did, backing up the driveway to just below the level where the sidewalk went to the front door. It didn't take them long to set up the ramp to get the two items off the truck.
Our neighbors to the east, Michael and Michelle Langley, were walking across the lawn. She was carrying a dish with aluminum foil on the top. I think all three of us were probably thinking the same thing: "Geez, why us?"
We exchanged greetings while A.J. unlocked the front door and unlatched the other door so both could be opened fully.
"Looks like moving day," Michael said.
"Yes, this is the last load except for what we have to buy later," I said.
Michelle handed the dish to Laura. "This is a casserole that Michael and I like and we hope you will, too. It needs to be baked at 350ø for about 40 minutes," she said.
A.J. had joined us by that time and the three of us thanked them profusely. I was hoping that my first impression of them had been wrong.
About that time, the movers came up the sidewalk with the organ console on the dolly. Don assessed the situation and went back to the truck to get an aluminum ramp to span the three steps to the door.
Michael was looking at the console, although about all you could really see was the bottom of the front side where the swell pedals and toe studs were located.
"Wow!! Is that an organ?" he asked.
"Yes," I answered.
"A pipe organ?" he asked.
"Well, yes and no. It could be hooked up to pipes easily, but it's digital and sounds like a pipe organ. We'll have some pipes that will form a facade in front of a shelf where the speakers will sit, about halfway up the wall of the living room, but they will just be for appearance and to conceal the speaker cabinets," I told him.
The ramp was in place and Don and Gene easily moved the weight up the incline and into the house. "Come on in, I've got to show these men where this is to be placed," I said.
All of us went into the house.
"Let's put this here," I said, indicating a place on the left side of the fireplace and angled slightly about 10 feet from the wall. They moved it into place and quickly took the organ trucks off, along with the pads.
Laura took the casserole to the kitchen to put it in the refrigerator.
I took my key ring out of my pocket and unlocked the roll top, opening the console.
"Now that's a serious organ," Michael said. "It looks like one you would find in a church."
"Probably about 95% of the sales go to churches or auditoriums," I told him. "I just want a good instrument to play at home."
A.J. went on to explain about closing up two of the three doors and building a wall with a shelf about halfway up the wall, then indicated the 8 speaker cabinets that would be placed there. I could tell that for some reason this had Michael's attention. Michelle was visiting with Laura, who took her to see the new bedroom furniture.
"A.J., can you help me put the pedal board on the console?"
"Sure."
It would have to be moved, along with the bench, anyway because they were sitting where the piano was going.
A.J. held onto one side and I took the other, carrying it across the room and sliding it into position. As I was making sure it latched into place, A.J. brought the bench and set it in place. The organ looked beautiful, sitting on the hardwood floor. I could hardly wait to hook up the amplifiers and speakers. We could have organ music for our "happy hour" this evening.
The men came in with the piano, parking the dolly close to where the piano was to be located. They went back to the truck to get the legs and pedal lyre. The bench was sitting close by, already as it had come with the furniture.
The men made short work of taking the straps and pads off the piano, attaching the right front and back legs and the pedal lyre.
"Where do you want it placed?" Don asked.
"Just about with the keyboard here," I said, "and out from the wall about 6 inches."
A.J. was holding the wood cups that kept the double casters from damaging the carpet in the apartment.
"I don't think we'll need those here on the hardwood floor. If we decide later that we do, you and I can put them in place," I told him.
The men swung the piano into position; the small fellow, Don, holding the weight while the big guy, Gene, lay on the floor to put the third leg on the piano. I thought that was strange, but I was just paying the bill. They were the ones doing the work.
Michael was talking all of this in. "Is this a concert grand?" he asked.
"No, they call it a studio grand. This one is 6'10" and a concert grand is about 9 feet in length.
"Then what is a 'baby grand'?" he asked.
"A piano that's less than about five feet from the keyboard to the back," Don said.
He then looked at me. "Will you try the piano before we leave to make sure it's okay?"
"Thought you'd never ask," I said with a smile.
A.J. set the bench in place and I opened the lid, putting the stick in the highest position, then sat down at the piano. I started the Bach "Bourree" from the Second Violin Sonata, as it was the only thing I could think of immediately that had a wide range of dynamics from soft to loud and would really let me "lean into it" while playing. It was a short piece, only three pages long, so didn't take long to play. A nice round of applause followed, everyone was in the room.
The sound was magnificent. We had our own concert hall.
Michael was looking at the piano. "Honey, this is a Steinway!" he said to his wife, as if he was in disbelief. "Aren't these really expensive?" he questioned.
Don simply said, "Above $50,000 depending on the finish. Wood grains are more expensive, but everyone likes the elegance of the ebony finish like this one, so we sell about two ebony pianos for one with any other finish."
"Is it okay if I try it?" Michael asked.
"Be my guest, I told him."
He sat down and tried to play a few bars of the Beethoven "Moonlight Sonata" - in the wrong key. He got to about the fourth measure when it all fell apart.
"I had to take piano lessons when I was in grade school. I hated it at the time because it wasn't cool, but now I wish I could play.
Again, Don spoke up. "We have two teachers connected with the store that take adult students. People like you make really good students because they want to learn and, as you know, a lot of the younger kids take lessons because their parents think they should.
"That's the way it was with me," Michael said. Then he looked at me.
"Could you give me lessons?"
The last thing I wanted was a neighbor for a music student. "No, I'm not certified and I'm not up on the latest teaching materials and techniques. There are a lot of good teachers out there and I'm not one of them," I said, hoping he got my message.
Don was writing up an invoice and handed it to me. They had only charged for an hour and a half. Very reasonable. I handed the invoice to A.J. to write a check.
Don and Gene took their equipment back out to the truck, then Don came back to get the check.
"Tell your technician that I want him to look at the piano in a couple of weeks after it settles from the move. There are a couple of notes that need regulating and it will need to be tuned."
"I'll do it. He told me after he worked on this piano the last time that it is one of the better pianos of this model he's worked on."
"It's always been taken care of by a Steinway technician and the fellow who has taken care of it since I've had it always did whatever regulation it needed as he worked. So, it's had good care."
"Thanks for the business," Don said as he went out the door.
"When will the organ be hooked up and playable?" Michael asked.
"Later this afternoon," I said.
"I hope we can come back and hear it," he said.
"You can. Give us a few days to get settled, then you will be invited over for cocktails."
"That would be great," he said.
Michelle walked up, indicating she was ready to leave. Each of us thanked them again for the casserole and shook hands as they went out the front door, promising we would have them over for drinks later in the week.
"Let's hook up the organ!" A.J. said. He was excited like a youngster wanting to open Christmas presents. I was, too.
"The piano sounds magnificent in here, so I know the organ will, also," Laura said.
"Okay, in the stuff the movers brought in, there should be a plywood board that's about four feet long and a foot wide. We need to mount the amplifiers on that. The four of them are in two boxes and the screws are in a plastic bag in one of the boxes. There is a distribution box and cables in there, too."
"I remember seeing the board earlier," A.J. said.
Laura spoke up. "I think it's in the kitchen. I didn't know what it was."
A.J. got the board and tool kit. The boxes he needed were sitting against the wall, close to the fireplace. I took back off the console so I could hook up the power cord and cable to the amplifiers. I attached those, and then helped A.J. with his project. Not wanting to have loose cables on the floor we placed the speaker cabinets on the floor between the fireplace and the south wall. They would be okay there until our shelf and wall was built. I sorted cables for the various hookups and showed A.J. how to attach the wires to the posts on the speaker cabinets. We didn't trim anything to length, as we didn't know the lengths we'd need in the permanent location.
It didn't take us twenty minutes to hook up cables and make them neat. We put the board containing the amplifiers behind the speakers on the floor, so everything was out of the way. Then we rolled up the excess wire and secured the bundles with cable ties. Finally we were ready. I went to the bathroom to wash my hands, and then pulled my organ shoes out of the bench, put them on and sat down at the console. When I flipped the switch, A.J. reported that all four amplifiers had green lights on them. A good sign.
"Hang on to your hats!" I said, pulling on the softest stop on the organ, a beautiful Flute Celeste. Indeed it was a very pretty sound as I played up and down the scale using block chords.
"I thought you were going to blast us out of here," A.J. laughed.
I pushed general piston 9. The "Rigaudon" by Andre Campra came to life. It was a tour de force all by itself, starting with full organ, less reeds, adding the swell reeds for the next section, then the Festival Trumpet alone. The final section called for everything except the 32' Bombarde, which was added at the very end.
It was enough to rattle every window in the house.
"Whee!! Laura said, coming over and giving me a hug and kiss on the cheek. A.J. did the same on the other side.
"This is wonderful," A.J. said. "I didn't have any idea that it would sound this way after listening to it through headphones."
"Most organs in churches don't sound this good," Laura added.
"I have to agree with you there," I told both of them. I was very pleased with what I'd heard. The sound would improve somewhat by getting the speakers up high where the sound source would be above us instead of being beside us on the floor.
"Play something else. soft this time," Laura laughed.
I chose "Dreams" of Hugh McAmis. It was a very quiet piece, dreamy, with a big, lush solo stop. Then there was a 16-bar section that could be described as a "nightmare". Then back to the original theme with a quiet Oboe solo and accompanied by celeste stops and chimes. A nice contrast to the first selection.
Again, oohs and aahs. I pushed the General Cancel and got off the bench.
"I could sit and play all afternoon, but we wouldn't get anything else accomplished."
"Slave driver," I heard A.J. say.
Laura laughed and said, "He's right," as she gave me another hug.
"Now I understand why these instruments mean so much to you. They are absolutely great and you play so well," A.J. said.
Laura agreed. "I may have to move over here just to enjoy a private concert everyday."
"You move over here and I'll see to it that you get one," I laughed.
A.J. had put the mattress pad from our bed in the washer earlier in the day and remembered that it needed to go in the dryer. He put the sheets in the washer and started it.
When he came back upstairs, I said that we needed to go to Foley's to get mattress pads and find sheets, towels and a bathmat for Laura's room and the second bedroom upstairs. There were other accessories that were needed, such as lamps for the nightstands and one for the dresser, along with bathroom items such as soap dishes and a nightlight.
We locked the house and went out the backdoor to A.J.'s car, shutting the garage with the remote as he started the car.
Going to Foley's at the Promenade Center was a real treat. Their merchandise was pretty much "upper middle of the road" but displayed much nicer than Dillard's and the store didn't have crowded displays to contend with. And, a plus. The clerks actually acted like they were glad to see you and be of assistance.
To say we bought out the department would be an overstatement, but we did buy six pair of sheets and pillowcases, two mattress pads, four feather pillows, three lightweight blankets, three bedspreads, six double sets of bath towels, six bathmats, a shower curtain and liner (for Laura's bathroom), soap dishes, toothbrush holders, candles, potpourri, nightlights and sachets for dresser drawers. I hoped the young lady who assisted us was getting a commission.
She rang everything up and the total was $1,860.38. A.J. handed me my checkbook (his shirt had a pocket, mine didn't) saying, "I bought lunch."
Laura let out a peal of laughter. "That's the funniest thing I've heard today."
We were all laughing now, except the salesclerk. She probably thought we were crazy.
"Would you like some help getting this to your car?" she questioned.
"Yes," all three of us replied at once.
She paged a stock boy who arrived with a big cart that looked like a playpen on big wheels. It was full when he finished putting everything in it.
As we started for the door, A.J. made the remark, "It's a good thing they were having a 25% off sale on most of this stuff."
I agreed.
The car was stuffed when we were through loading it. After we filled the trunk, I got in the backseat and helped stuff it full and we still ended up with two smaller sacks of things in the front seat.
"Young man, you have some laundry to do when we get home because I can't imagine that Laura wants to sleep on sheets or use bath towels that haven't been laundered."
"Yes, and be sure to use plenty of Downey. I don't want to wrinkle my skin any more than it already is."
More laughter. 'We must be getting tired from all the moving and activities of the previous week,' I thought.
"Obviously, we can't stop anywhere else to buy anything without unloading the things we've already purchased," I said. "Let's take this home and A.J. can wash some of this stuff that we need right away and I'll distribute the rest to the various rooms where it belongs.
He agreed.
"What kind of casserole did the Langley's bring over?" I asked Laura.
"I'm not sure, but it looked like it might have chicken, pasta and broccoli in a cheese sauce," she answered.
"We can either have that with salad, or I'll get some steaks and we can grill them on the gas grill outside the backdoor." I'd checked it when looking at the house and it appeared that it hadn't had much usage. We'd found the grill inserts in the kitchen cabinets later.
"I didn't try to light it, so guess I'd better get one of the lighters and see if the gas is turned on and it lights okay." I went to the kitchen to get one of the butane torch guns. The gas was turned on and the grill lit immediately with no problem. The dual controls seemed to work fine and were calibrated for temperatures from 250 to 400 degrees. I assumed that was with the lid closed. I went back in the house and gave my report.
"Did you decide what you want for dinner tonight?"
"A steak sounds good to me," A.J. said. Laura agreed.
"Baked potato and salad?" I questioned.
"Yum," A.J. said. Laura nodded her head.
"I'm going to two grocery stores. Albertson's at 15th and Lewis for the main things on the list and then to Petty's in Utica Square for the meat." I knew that I was going to have a shopping cart full of groceries because we had used up a lot of things and hadn't replaced them before Laura came to visit. Besides, there hadn't been all that much storage in the apartment.
It was just before 4:30 p.m. and I knew Albertson's would be busy because of the hour. However, I was surprised. I hadn't shopped in this store before. The parking lot was an improvement over the other store where we had been shopping and this store was also better arranged. It still took me awhile to get everything on the list because I'd gotten used to looking for things in odd places at the other store. It was obvious that the same person hadn't designed this store layout. This one made sense and I thanked him.
The cart was heaped by the time I got through and I knew it would take yet another trip just to replenish staple items we would use on a regular basis. Again, there hadn't been room to store them. I knew this was going to be an expensive venture as I'd gotten a fair amount of meat to put in the freezer. The total was almost $260.
'What do people do that have growing boys?' I thought. Regardless, it was nice to be able to write a check without worrying that the bank balance would get too low and incur a service charge.
It was a short drive to Utica Square and I purchased three nice KC Strip steaks for our dinner. They carried only prime grade beef there so I was sure they would be tender.
I returned home about 5:30 and A.J. helped me unload the car. I put the steaks in a pan to marinate while Laura put everything else away and started to tear salad. There were new packages of cheese and crackers for our upcoming "happy hour" and they were laid out to soften.
"How does the new washer and dryer work?" I questioned A.J.
"Great. The washing machine doesn't twist all the sheets and towels together like the one at the apartment and I think it has a larger tub, too. I know the dryer holds more items and has a much better heat sensor in it."
"Good, because that always annoyed me, having to pull clothes apart so they could go in the dryer. And, even on the "fabric care" low heat selection, that dryer shrank some bath towels," I said.
"Dad can't rave enough about Maytag appliances and these are 'top of the line'," A.J. said.
"I'm sorry that the Martin's worked so hard on this place and spent so much money, but I'm thankful to you, Laura, for helping A.J. and me to buy such an ideal house. This is just perfect and we'll enjoy it for many years to come," I said.
I gave Laura and hug and kissed her on the cheek.
"Yes, grandmother, this is wonderful and I'm glad that you came over to help us move and get settled. This has been a lot of hard work for you and we appreciate it."
"Nonsense!" she replied. "I feel better than I've felt in years. I think I don't get enough exercise. You know, when you live alone, it's easy to just sit around and feel sorry for yourself and not do anything."
"I have a suggestion," I told her.
"What's that?"
"Anytime you get to feeling lonely and down in the dumps, we have the perfect place for you to stay - right in the next room."
"You may wish you hadn't said that, because I think I'm going to be over here a lot," she told us.
A.J. and I spoke, almost in unison, "Great!"
Laura said, "Now let's have drinks and hear some music. After all, that's part of the reason you fellows bought this house."
"I don't have to be asked twice," I said, while washing my hands.
My organ shoes were on the bench, so while I was putting them on and pulling music out to play, A.J. went to the laundry room to check on the things in the dryer. He came back upstairs with a mattress pad and sheets for Laura's room. I helped him put them on the bed, then took one of the lightweight blankets out of its package and put that on the bed, also. He had put the lamps on the nightstands and dresser earlier. The room looked like it was occupied as Laura had hung her things in the closet earlier.
"I made our bed earlier," he told me, "so the necessary laundry is done for the day."
"Thanks," I said, giving him a giant, sloppy kiss. "I'll give you a real 'thank you' after a while."
"I'm looking forward to it," he told me.
I slapped him lightly on the butt. "Go fix drinks for us older people and today you can have one, too."
We left the bedroom, giggling like little girls, so A.J. told Laura what I'd just said. She laughed.
"I think you can fix me a scotch and soda," I said while they were standing there.
A.J. went to the kitchen to do the bartending duty and I made myself comfortable on the organ bench. I had a stack of music that was almost a foot tall of things that I was either currently playing or working on. I pulled out about ten pieces that I wanted to play, mainly just to see how the organ sounded in the room, so it was a great variety of selections, even a couple of selections for theatre organ.
A.J. came back with a tray of drinks and a wooden coaster with a cork liner for my drink, setting it on top of the right stop jamb on the console.
I decided that Mr. Bach deserved a chance to be heard, so played "When Thou Art Near", followed by the "Little Prelude and Fugue in g minor" just to hear the crisp Principal choruses in each division.
These met with approval. After I sipped my drink, A.J. put a cracker and piece of cheese in my mouth.
"Fountain Reverie" of Percy Fletcher was next, followed by the Purcell/Clarke "Trumpet Voluntary" so I could try out all the reeds in different combinations, ending with the Festival Trumpet for the last chorus. I was having a good time. The organ wasn't going to need much changed in the voicing scheme. It had been in a large studio room before so seemed to sound well here.
"What was the first piece of the last two you just played?" Laura asked.
When I told her "Fountain Reverie", she said, "It sounded just like trickling water with that pattern you were playing in your right hand."
Indeed the sixteenth note patterns played using the little Holz Gedackt on the choir manual did sound that way. The stop had just enough "chiff" to help the effect.
The next two pieces were my own arrangement of "Calm as the Night" by Carl Bohm and followed by Robert Tall's arrangement of the hymn tune "Ellers" which in most hymnals is "Savior, Again to thy dear Name we raise".
Those brought approval from my audience.
Next, I chose the "Priere ... Notre-Dame" and the Toccata of Boillmann's "Suite Gothique. The first was beautiful and the second was fun.
And, to close our "happy hour" concert, I played two theatre organ arrangements. The first was Raymond Shelley's arrangement of "Autumn Leaves" and the second was Ashley Miller's arrangement of "Gigi".
I got hugs and kisses from both members of my audience and that was a great reward for me.
A.J. fixed another round of drinks for us while I changed my shoes and then went out to light the grill. He had turned the steaks in their marinade several times and taken care of baking the potatoes. They were wrapped in foil, and would be ready about the time the steaks were done. I don't know how we had timed everything to be ready at the same time, but it was. A.J. finished up the salad while I set the table with nice placemats, silver candlesticks, crystal goblets, claret wines and sterling silver flatware. I decided to put all of us at one end of the table where we could be close while we ate.
A friend always says, "Living well is the best revenge" and I thought we had reason to believe that tonight.
As A.J. turned the steaks, Laura got out the other condiments. I happened to think that she knew her way around our kitchen better than we did as she had put everything away. A bottle of Merlot was open and sitting on the kitchen counter. I took it to the dining room, filled the claret stems, turned the dimmer down on the chandelier and lit the candles. It was a beautiful table and I knew this dining room would be getting a lot of usage in the future.
We fixed our plates, putting the salad on a separate plate to eat with our meal. We were tired and hungry and didn't stand on the ceremony of a separate salad course.
I think all three of us inhaled the steaks, although I hadn't gotten large ones, only weighing about 10 ounces each. And, they were almost fork tender.
We loaded the dishwasher to run a load of dishes, as there were already some things in it that needed to be washed after they were unpacked. A.J. washed the crystal and silver by hand and I dried them while visiting with Laura. This was a perfect kitchen to work in.
It was after 8:30 at that point. Laura told us she was tired and was going to bed to read and would see us in the morning. Both of us gave her a hug and a kiss on the cheek as she departed to her new room.
"Do you want to hook up the electronic equipment this evening?" A.J. asked.
"Sure. It shouldn't take too long, everything is down there and the wiring for the speakers is still in place. A.J. had checked and our speakers were adequate for the layout of the previous owner's system. The cables were even tagged at the end where the equipment was housed. The movers had set the TV in place, so we put the tuner on the shelf next to it and started with plugging patch cords in. The "Auxiliary" on the tuner would handle the stereo output from the TV. A.J. hooked up the speaker cables, then we started adding the tape deck, 2 VCR's, one of which by-passed the cable box. I'd always used it mainly to dub tapes; although there were times it was handy to tape two different shows at the same time. There was a double cassette deck and equalizer as well as a double CD recorder/player. The DVD player plugged directly into the back of the TV. There was a linear turntable, also, and we had to make a place for it where it was accessible and be able to raise the lid. I had started the processing of copying about a hundred organ recordings from disk to CD, but had only scratched the surface.
Actually, I'd found out that after being copied to CD's, it was faster to use the PC to make additional copies and they could be stored on the hard drive. The bonus was that the system would print labels as well as a table of contents. With the scanner, we could copy jacket covers and reduce them to the required size for the jewel cases.
We were finished in a short time and tested all of the connections and various inputs before moving everything back together and closing the latches. The TV was on, but we were not listening to it. A.J. put a Virgil Fox CD on to play and we cranked it up pretty high, then went upstairs to the living room to see if we could hear it. We couldn't, so determined the basement ceiling must be insulated.
Laura's door was open and she was sitting in the bed, reading. A.J. stuck his head in the door. "We were just checking to see if the stereo could be heard upstairs."
"If it's playing now, I can't hear it," she said.
"Go turn it up a few more notches and start the disk at the beginning. I know the 'Toccata and Fugue' is one of the loudest things on the album. A.J. complied. We still didn't hear anything.
He came back upstairs to check. "It's louder down there than it's comfortable to listen to," he said.
"I could tell when you opened the door at the top of the stairs that there was music playing, but as soon as you shut the door, that was all I heard," I said.
We thanked Laura and told her goodnight again.
A.J. opened the door to the basement and the music flooded the hallway. We went back downstairs and turned the volume down to a level where you could hear well, without being overwhelming to the senses.
We collapsed on the sofa, me leaning back so my head was resting on his shoulder.
"You know, we've never been able to sit this way on the loveseat, because there wasn't enough room for two big people to spread out," A.J. said.
I laughed. "The word 'loveseat' was a misnomer. The only reason it was there was because a standard divan wouldn't fit in the living room with everything else that was in it."
We worked ourselves around to where both of us were comfortable and could kiss and touch each other without having to lean into an awkward position. It felt great to hold each other and snuggle.
"This is going to be a perfect place in the winter when we can have a fire," A.J. said.
"Certainly will be. Do you know that I've never lived anywhere that had a fireplace?" I asked.
"Ahh, poor baby. I did, but it was almost never lit, except maybe for Christmas Eve and other special events, although I remember my parents having a cocktail party several years ago in the summer time and it was lit, he laughed."
"Why?" I couldn't believe it.
"Mother probably read something in a magazine, probably while waiting at the beauty shop, about how much charm a fire added to a party. She probably didn't realize it was a winter issue of whatever magazine it was."
I laughed, A.J. joining me.
"I'm sorry, but that's about as funny as playing a round of golf at ten over par."
A.J. laughed. "The par on my hole is lower than that. I bet you could get a hole in one if you wanted," he said with his impish grin.
"Lead the way, Jose," I said, pinching him on the tit. "I guess you want to properly initiate your new bedroom tonight," I said with a leer.
"You can call it whatever you like, I just want a good fuck of some kind," he said, standing up and pulling on my arm.
"You got it," I said, turning off the TV and two lights. The rest of the lights turned off from the doorway that led to the stairway. The lights in the rest of the house had been turned off, or turned way down to provide just enough light to see where you were going.
We started up the stairs and I had to walk to the middle of the hall to look down into the living room. This was the first time we'd looked at it from there in anything but bright sunshine. It truly looked beautiful with just a dim glow from a couple of table lamps. Just enough illumination to see the instruments and furniture.
A.J. kissed me on the cheek, then whispered in my ear, "Beautiful."
We proceeded to swab the other's tonsils, then headed to the bedroom as we pulled away from each other. A.J. was leading the way, holding my right hand with his left.
We shut the door, just in case sound carried from the second floor, then started undressing each other. It was a form of "strip-kiss" as newly uncovered skin seemed to get laved as clothing was removed. We each were wearing loafers, so they could be toed off, but it didn't take long to remove pullover shirts, Levis and boxer shorts, leaving us in just socks. We each removed our own. Breaking our kiss, we moved to the bed to pull the light blanket and top sheet down. A.J. had thoughtfully put a couple of bath towels on the bed before putting the top sheet on. I wonder what he had in mind?
Our bedroom received light from a north dormer and two east windows and there was an almost full moon to illuminate the room. There was no need to draw the drapes or sheer curtains as the trees on the east side of the house blocked our house from the one next door. We weren't even sure if the windows closest to ours were in a bedroom.
Foreplay was long and sensuous that evening. We were reveling in the fact that we were in our own house and this was another milestone in our relationship, which had quickly come about, one each of us wanted very badly.
Great attention was paid to all the erogenous zones of our bodies starting with ears and going all the way to the perineum and sphincter muscle and back, many times. We were both leaking precum and enjoying the ambrosia, directly from the source. We tried the 69 position from the sides, top and bottom before ending back up to where we were facing each other again. It seemed we each sensed our roles for the main event. A.J. started southward on my body again, working toward my love channel. It didn't take him long to prepare the way, using his fingers, saliva and precum to open me. I was amazed that I was ready so quickly, but felt the snout of his cock at the portals, then starting a slow slide inside me.
They claim that your rectum doesn't have nerves on the inside, but I beg to differ with them because it seemed that I could feel every inch of the slow journey, A.J. touching my prostate as I felt a big dollop of precum leak onto my abdomen, then his cock slid on past. I wrapped my legs around his waist and held him to me. He held himself in position for a little bit to make sure I was ready, leaning up to kiss me. When started his slow thrusting rhythm, it seemed that I could feel his foreskin moving up and down as his cockhead moved in and out of its sheath. What a delectable feeling this act of mating was. Our arms were around each other, mouths and tongues in action and our groins slipping together, lubricated by my precum. I hoped we could experience this feeling for a long time tonight, it just felt so good.
Then, I don't know if A.J. changed position slightly, but I could feel him bumping the magic spot about every third, slow thrust. The tingle seemed to start somewhere behind my balls and felt so good. I involuntarily tightened my sphincter muscle and that seemed to trigger something in A.J. It seemed that his piston got harder and maybe even swelled some. All I can say is that our passions increased and we were earnestly driving to a climax. and what a climax it was.
Truly there were flashes of lightning and bells ringing. A.J.'s cock turned into an iron bar and it seemed that every nerve in mine was primed to fire when the button was pushed. A single, harder thrust from A.J. at a different angle was like he hit all the switches at once. We fired together and the orgasm seemed to last and last. It seemed as if we were one, having achieved the ultimate reward of our passion for each other.
Slowly we calmed down, riding the ultimate high nirvana we had experienced, not wanting it to end, but yet knowing it had to; hoping, knowing there would be another time.
Our heart rates slowed and breathing returned to normal. We slowly disengaged ourselves from the other, just laying there on our sides, tracing hair patterns in the cum on our chests. We were too spent to even pull the covers up, wrapping ourselves together and drifting quickly off to sleep.
The next thing I knew was that it was becoming light in the room and I could hear birds singing through the open window. Opening one eye, I could see that my lover was still asleep, although there were two hard rods poking each other. I kissed his left eyelid, which caused it to flutter open. Then I got a big smile and kiss. Both of us had "morning breath" so the next step was to go pee and brush our teeth. I looked at the clock. It was 7:30 so we figured that Laura would be up and about, as she liked to go to bed early and awaken early, too.
Saying "sweet nothings" to each other and kissing after brushing, we went to our own basins and prepared our faces to be scraped, then climbed into the wonderful shower to take turns washing each other. We didn't play around too much. There was work to be done today and we could play with each other again tonight.
"That was great last night," I told A.J. "We seem to get better all the time."
"I never thought I could feel so good," A.J. responded. "Somehow, I just can't imagine that a man and woman can have sex that feels any better than what we experienced last night."
"I, for one, don't want to find out. I have all I can do to take care of your needs and you pushed buttons that I didn't even know I had."
By this time we were out of the shower and dry. It didn't take us more than a couple of minutes with the hairdryers, then deodorant and cologne. Without consulting each other we pulled out shorts and polo shirts to wear, along with athletic shoes.
We were ready to tackle the day.
Laura was sitting at the kitchen table with a cup of coffee and reading the morning paper.
I was surprised. "Good morning, Laura. Where did the paper come from, did you steal the neighbors?" I teased.
"I was on my way to the kitchen this morning and heard it hit the storm door. This was inside."
A.J. greeted her as she handed me a sheet of orange paper that said, "Welcome to the neighborhood. This copy of the 'Tulsa World' is given with my compliments. If you would like to continue to receive the newspaper, please call me at 555-6754. Thank you, Tim Jones."
"That's something else we have to do today, is stop the paper at the apartment and have it started here," I said.
There were two mugs sitting on the counter and A.J. filled them for us, touching up Laura's cup, too.
"So, what's our agenda today?" Laura asked.
"I guess that we can spend some of it unpacking boxes and putting things away," I said. "We have the curio cabinet to fill. In fact I wonder if we want to buy another one since this one was just a little more than full." I said.
As we were discussing that, the telephone rang. A.J. answered. It was Ralph Greene. He had the bids on our remodeling project and wanted to drop them past the house at a time we could talk about the job, preferably this morning.
A.J. covered the receiver and relayed the message to us.
"Tell him that now is fine, or you and he figure out a time and we'll make sure we're here."
A.J. talked to Ralph for another minute, then hung up. "He'll be over in about 20 minutes," he said.
"I'm hungry. I think I've gotten too used to eating a big breakfast since you've been with us, Laura," I said.
She laughed. "You're right. I've not been a breakfast eater for many years. Why don't we talk to Ralph, then I'll treat us to a bite to eat somewhere. Then if we want to do errands, we can go from there."
The pad we had been using to list our "needs" was lying on the kitchen counter. I got it and looked it over while we were drinking coffee and talking about the day. We knew we needed to go to the apartment, run the vacuum and clean the kitchen and bathroom. The oven had already been cleaned several days before, but the refrigerator needed to be cleaned. We also needed to check all storage areas and built-in cabinets to make sure we hadn't left anything. The drapes belonged to me and could be added to the sale.
That reminded me, we needed to call Curtis Cunningham to tell him that we had the sale items isolated and were ready to be put on his schedule for a moving sale.
"Is Curtis Cunningham's phone number on the pad by the phone?" I asked A.J.
"Yes, do you want me to call him?"
"If you don't mind. I think everything is in the garage except for the drapes from the apartment, so tell him to schedule a sale when it's convenient for him," I told A.J.
While A.J. was calling Curtis, I refilled our coffee cups. The doorbell rang, so I went to the front door to let Ralph in. Taking him to the kitchen, I offered a cup of coffee, which he accepted.
"Sure, make it black," he told me, greeting Laura.
"Sit down," I said, handing him the coffee mug.
"I had a cancellation come up as another contractor is way behind because he's waiting for some materials. I worked up the bids on your projects, thinking that if we are in agreement, I can start right away."
A.J. was off the phone and shook hands with Ralph, joining us at the table.
He took a sheaf of papers out of his folio, handing each of us the first sheet, which covered Laura's room and access to the bathroom next to it. This was probably the easiest of the things we wanted done.
"This involves closing up the door from the bathroom into the living room, cutting a doorway into the bedroom, installing a pocket door, moving an outlet, rerouting an electric line and putting a mirror in the bathroom where the present door is located. I've come up with a cost of $3,137."
'That seems reasonable to me,' I thought. "Looks fair to me," A.J. said. I agreed.
Ralph handed us the second sheet which was for the new half- bath.
"The easy part of this is the two new walls to divide the room from the proposed office. A door will have to be cut into the hall and a doorframe and door installed. There will be plumbing; a sewer line and water supply line for the stool, a drain line and hot and cold water lines for the basin.
"A new, separate electrical circuit for the bathroom with lighting fixtures on the new walls, otherwise I have to tear into the ceiling. You agreed to a counter for the basin so you could have storage under it. The only thing we didn't discuss was wall and floor covering, so I am planning to paint all four walls. I'm sorry, we didn't discuss that, but I can figure wallpaper or whatever covering you might want. I figured you might use the present carpeting which just needs to be cut to size and stretched in place."
He had the items broken out. The total for this room was $3,850.
"That's less than I thought it would be," I said, also remembering that Doug had told us that Ralph was good, but reasonable, too.
"Now for the big one," Ralph said as he handed the third sheet, covering the office to us.
"This involves closing off the door into the living room, cutting a new door from the hall and installing a pocket door. There are two new outlets in the bathroom walls and the wiring for the outlet on the hall wall will have to be rerouted.
"The bookshelves are the largest part of this project, in that they are about 18 feet long and just over 8 feet tall with adjustable shelves, the holes being drilled 2 inches apart. I recommend that the uprights not be more than 30 inches apart for strength of the shelving and being less likely to warp. I'll use quarter-inch oak-finished plywood for the back, but the rest will be solid oak."
Ralph had broken the bookcase out from the rest of the bid for the room. The changes to the room itself would cost $2,970. The shelving unit was bid at $3,200. Again, less than I'd expected for custom work of this sort. I glanced at A.J. He shrugged his shoulders.
"Looks good to me," I told Ralph.
"Moving on to the living room," he said, handing out the fourth sheet.
"The shelf for the speaker cabinets will be 39 inches deep and you said you wanted it to be about 10 feet above the floor, right?"
I agreed.
"And 10 feet long or wide?"
"Yes."
"Okay, I understood correctly. Can we go look in there again?" he asked.
"Sure." All of us got up and went into the living room.
Ralph measured from the west wall to the door of Laura's bedroom, then moved the tape again.
"It doesn't have to be centered?" he asked.
"No, in fact, I think I could be happy if the left end was close to the center of the room," I said.
He did a little more measuring, then glanced over toward the fireplace where the speaker cabinets were sitting. We had arranged them in about the same manner they would be placed when on the shelf. You could almost hear the wheels turning in Ralph's head.
"How much weight is here?" he questioned.
"With the speakers and amplifiers, about 450 pounds. There will be some organ pipes up there for display purposes that could weigh another two to three hundred pounds," I told him.
"That still shouldn't be a problem with only coming out into the room for a total of 39 inches. My main concern was trying to get anything in or out of the bedroom after this is in place, but we're still going to have 36" inside width, and that still allows a dresser or mattress to fit if they are careful and do it right.
"Now, you said you needed to be able to plug these four amplifiers in, so you can use a four-gang outlet? They don't have to be four separate circuits?"
"No, a single separate circuit would be nice, but it won't cause a problem if it isn't."
"I'll have to look at the plans, but I think we can tap into the wall outlets in the room behind there. Isn't that a walk-in closet?" he asked.
"Yes, let me get the plans." They were in the kitchen.
I handed them to Ralph. There was supposed to be an outlet in that room, almost directly above the bedroom door. According to the plans, that circuit had four outlets, all in that closet.
"We can tap into that circuit with no problem. All we have to do is cut a hole for a four-gang outlet on this side and we can get into the back of the other outlet box and make the connection there."
"Sounds good to me. Easier that I thought it would be," I said.
"Now you said something about dropping a cable in the front wall of this unit. What's that for?" he asked.
I showed him. "We just need a hole at the top to drop this cable through, then a plate to cover a box where it comes through the wall down here."
"That's all that makes this thing play?" he asked, gesturing toward the organ. "I figured that would have a cable as big 'round as my wrist," Ralph told us.
"Not so. This is digital, so the computer tells the system which speaker is to be used."
That was an over-simplification, but there was no need to go into any detail.
"Can I hear this, I mean, I guess it's hooked up now?"
"Sure." I slid onto the bench and turned the organ on. "This is the softest stop on the organ," playing on the swell Flute Celeste with the swell shoe closed. You could barely hear it.
"And this is full organ." I pushed one of the general pistons and played one verse of "God of Our Fathers" complete with Festival Trumpet and close to full organ. A.J. told me later that he wished I could have seen Ralph's face when I played the trumpet fanfare at the beginning.
"Wow. and Double Wow!!" he said when I finished. "Our pipe organ at church doesn't even sound this good. It's hard to imagine having an organ like this in a home."
"It's rare, but not as rare as you might think anymore. Digital organs like this cost about 10% of what a pipe organ of like size costs, so although they are still expensive, they are within reach if you really want to spend the money," I told him.
"Well, you folks certainly have a swell music studio here and I can imagine that when the speakers go up above that it will sound even better."
We all agreed.
"Didn't mean to get off the track here," he said, starting back toward the kitchen. We sat back down.
"The figures on here will be okay, then. $675 for this because of the wood trim at the top and bottom."
A.J. and I agreed.
"The moveable platform for the organ console is easy to build. Do you want carpet to cover it?"
"I think only on top," I answered.
"Good, then I can use construction-grade plywood for that. The figure I came up with for that is $300. The reason for it being so much is the casters I want to use. They need to be larger to make the platform easier to move, and you want a softer rubber so they don't mar the floor." It sounded like he was apologizing.
"That sounds more than reasonable to me," I said. A.J. and Laura were shaking their heads 'yes'.
"So," Ralph continued. I figure I should be able to do everything you want done for $14,132. I can start tomorrow, if you want me to."
I couldn't believe what he'd said. I honestly had figured his work would be nearly double and, of course, he'd told us that he was probably about 3 weeks away from a start date.
"Sure, that will be fine. Let me give you a key so you can get in and I'll show you about the alarm system in case you have to leave or come back when we're not here."
"That's fine. Which one of these projects do you want me to start with? I need to order material today. Is it okay to store things in the garage?"
"Yes, we can give you a garage key, too. I think there is room out there, but we may have to move some of the things we are selling around to make more room. There is a sale coming up, but we don't have a date for it, yet," I said.
I looked at Laura and A.J. "Where do we want him to start?"
"I think maybe I'd like to go home on Friday, so he can work on the bedroom and bath next week when I'm not here," Laura said.
This was the first we'd heard about her going home, but she would have been here for 10 days. While we were not tired of her being with us by any means, we knew she had things to do and plenty of friends there to go places with. We certainly had enjoyed having her around and helping us.
A.J. spoke up. "Why don't you build the platform for the speakers first, then we can get them off the floor and in place and finish doing what needs to be completed in this room? Is that okay with you?" he asked me.
"That's fine. The console platform can wait until last. We're not in any hurry for it. Ralph might as well start on the little bathroom next, then the den and last, Laura's room and bath."
"I figure that with one of my boys helping me here and there, we can have that shelf completed and ready to put the first coat of sheetrock mud on it tomorrow afternoon. Bud and I can get that stuff up on top for you. How much do those big cabinets weigh?" he asked.
"Almost a hundred pounds each," I told him.
"We can use a ladder, pad the cabinets and attach a strap to them and slide them up with one person up on top, pulling. That's okay, isn't it?" he questioned.
"Works for me," I told him.
We gave Ralph keys and set up a code to admit him to the house, then told him goodbye. I looked at my watch. It was almost 11 o'clock. So much for our plans for breakfast.
"Sorry, I didn't think that was going to be an all-morning meeting," I said.
"Don't worry about it," Laura said. "This was more important than eating, anyway. By the way, what did you think of his price?"
"It seems cheap to me, but Doug recommended him and everybody else he's had us contact have been honest and also reasonable in their prices. I don't think we'll get hurt," I answered.
"I don't know that much about building things, but I really expected it to be closer to $25,000 for what he's doing."
"When he gets through, and it turns out to be a first-class job like we think it will, I hope you boys will give him a nice bonus, because he will deserve every penny of what he earns just doing the job right to begin with," Laura told us.
A.J. and I agreed.
We decided to have our noon meal at the Bistro at Brookside, which was just around the corner from us. It was a small place, but we were early for the noon crowd. The food was good and we enjoyed a drink before the well-presented meal.
Then, it was off to shop for furniture. Afterward we would clean the apartment so we could turn in keys and be officially moved out.
(to be continued)
Author's Note: I would appreciate your comments, criticism, suggestions, and anything else that you would care to say. All Email will be answered. If you wish to receive e-mail notification of subsequent postings, please let me know by sending your request to the e-mail address below. Contact me at: tulsadriller7@aol.com