Date: Fri, 28 Dec 2007 12:00:17 -0800 (PST)
From: E Walk <cane_lane_candy@yahoo.com>
Subject: Pinochle Chapter 18

Pinochle
By E Walk and Arli
(Copyrighted by the authors)
Edited by Will B. and Radio Rancher

Chapter 18 -- The Truth Comes Out

Authors' note: I was able to write this chapter with the assistance of my
brother and friend Arli.  We have had our differences of opinions but his
creative genius comes through.  His story The Second Time Around and this
story of Pinochle are very closely related but will be taking their own
twists in the very near future.  We just need to get the guys enrolled in
college.  The two stories will evolve naturally from there.

This is Beau.

Grant, Inga, Ben and Maria arrived right at 5:30.  Ben took care of the
amenities and went to get everyone a drink.  We had just gotten seated when
Harley and Gregg arrived.  Harley quickly announced, "I'm sorry we are a
little late, but Sally called just as we were leaving the house and told us
that she and Mrs. Dolan would be joining us at Madeline's for dinner.  I
suggest that we leave now so we can be at the restaurant to meet them."

Ben took my vehicle with Grant and the two young ladies.  Becca and I
crawled into the vehicle that Harley was driving.  We had just entered the
restaurant when two ladies came in.  Harley and Sally made the
introductions and Harley approached the host.  "The Garrison party is
here."

We were shown to a round table and the attendant seated us.  How odd, the
older lady, Mrs. Dolan, made sure she was seated between Ben and Grant.
The two young ladies were seated on either side of them and Sally Lundgren
was seated between Gregg and Harley while Becca was seated beside Harley,
so I was next to Maria. There were five men and five women.  The ages were
so scattered that we looked like we were at big family gathering.

The waiter approached, "Good evening ladies and gentlemen. My name is
Henri.  I will be your server to tonight.  May I bring you something from
the bar?"

The older lady looked up, "Cut the charade Hank, we'll start with a bottle
of the best white wine and the best red wine and then we'll go from there.
These four beautiful young people can only have samples of the wines."

"Yes, Mrs. Dolan, I'll bring the wine while you decide on what you would
like for dinner."

"Hank, who is the chef tonight?"

"Maxim is the chef in charge tonight."  Hank said as he faded away.

Mrs. Dolan turned to us and announced, "If Maxim is in charge, then
everything will be good.  Order what you like and I am treating."

I leaned over to Becca, "Who does Mrs. Dolan remind you of?"

Becca whispered, "Your Grandmother Tillison."

 Hank returned with the wine.  Mrs. Dolan looked around, "Hank, bring us
all a cup of your bouillabaisse and a tossed salad with the house dressing.
While we are enjoying the first two courses, we can decide on what we would
like to have for an entrée."

Hank laughed as he left.  He returned with the soup and some menus.  We
studied them and Hank took our orders.  I noticed that he did not write
anything down.  He looked at us after we had ordered, "Gees, you don't make
it easy for us poor servers.  We have ten people who ordered ten different
entrees.  The poor kitchen staff is probably going to go berserk."

Mrs. Dolan frowned, "Hank, are you telling me that the kitchen is so inept
that they can't roll with the punches?"

"No ma'am, what I am saying is that I am going to have a difficult time
remembering who ordered what."

We were eating our salads and Mrs. Dolan started, "Okay, Mr. Ben.  Tell me
everything about you in one minute."

Ben was very brief, "I am the oldest child of my parents who are here at
the table tonight.  I have two sisters and a brother who you would probably
love.  You remind me of him.  You cut through to the chase and don't take
any captives."

Mrs. Dolan looked at Maria, "Okay young lady, you have one minute and don't
make me waste my time pulling the story out of you."

"My name is Maria Theresa Montoya.  I am of Spanish descent.  I have had
some relatives who have attended Cornell before me.  I have been taking a
course in conversational English so that I will be ready to understand the
professors this fall when school starts.  I will be finished on Friday and
then I am flying to London on Saturday to spend two weeks in Europe before
the fall semester starts."

Mrs. Dolan got a funny look on her face, "Senorita Montoya, what does your
father do?"

"Daddy is the Ambassador to Great Britain from Espana."

"And what does your Mother do?"

Maria started to laugh, "All the Spanish government will permit her to do
is look like a lady in waiting.  She has her doctorate degree from Cornell
in finance.  But she is happy being the wife of a diplomat, so I have no
problem with that."

Mrs. Dolan looked at Grant, "I am going to skip you for now young man.  I
have the feeling that your story will be like a melodrama that will keep us
here all night."

She turned to Ingrid, "Okay young lady, tell us about you and your family."

"Ma'am, I am the only daughter and youngest child of my parents.  I have
six older brothers.  My Mother also received her Doctorate here at Cornell
and then moved onto the University of Stockholm where she won a Nobel Prize
for her writings on the economic standards around the world.  My Father is
a Supreme Court Justice in Sweden.

Mrs. Dolan started to laugh, "So we have a Supreme Court Judge's daughter
and the daughter of an ambassador, Grant can you top that?"

We were interrupted because Hank and his assistant brought our food.  We
were starting to eat and Mrs. Dolan looked at Grant, "Okay Grant, tell us
what makes you so special."

Grant looked at Mrs. Dolan, "Until two and a half weeks ago I was a piece
of wood.  Ben did some things that made me come to life."

The people who didn't know Grant's story looked at him in disbelief.  The
rest of us were enjoying our dinner.  Mrs. Dolan looked at everyone,
"Grant, we'll hear the rest of your story after we look at the building
that your father is considering buying.  We'll all go back to my house and
relax.  I can hardly wait to hear this story.  It sounds like a fairy
tale."

Ben looked at Mrs. Dolan, "Okay lady, you have one minute to tell us about
yourself."

I thought Harley, Gregg and Sally were about to jump out of their seats.

Mrs. Dolan was so cool, "I am 70 years old, my husband died a little over a
year ago.  I want to get out of this town and move to Florida to be near my
children and my grandchildren.  I have a part-time teaching positioning at
the university in the town where my son lives and I'll be living with my
oldest son and his wife.  Their children are grown and live close by with
their families.  Quite frankly I am very tired of shoveling snow and
cooking for myself."

Ben looked at his watch, "I'm sorry you lose.  That took one minute and
forty two seconds."

"Well I never!"  Mrs. Dolan stood and handed a credit card to Hank, "Hank,
please bring the check and one of your signature cheesecakes.  I am going
to take these young punks home and teach them a lesson.  I'll feed them so
much cheesecake that they will blow their test tomorrow and never get
admitted to Cornell."

Hank returned with a box and a folder.  Mrs. Dolan signed the check and
slipped several bills into the folder.  "Okay, let's get out of here and go
see Mr. Garrison's store."

Maria picked up the box with the cheesecake and Mrs. Dolan was holding onto
Ben's arm.  It was a nice evening so we decided to leave the cars parked
where they were and we walked on The Commons to the building that was for
sale.  Sally opened the door and turned on the lights.

Gregg suddenly sparked, "Look at this show room area.  There are showcases
already in place and there would be room for display shelves behind.
People could see the merchandise from the street, and there are two big
display windows to show the new merchandise."

Grant started to laugh, "Dad, don't let Timmy know.  He'll be here to
arrange your new puppets to accentuate their best assets.  You'd better not
be planning to bring Poker."

"Grant, we'll talk about that later.  Let's move to the second floor."
Gregg led the group to the elevator.

"The elevator is only big enough for two or three people at a time."  We'll
go up with Sally and turn on the lights and send it back down for
Mrs. Dolan, Beau and Becca."

Grant looked at his Dad, "The four of us teenagers will walk up the steps.
We need to work off the fattening dinner we ate."

When we were assembled on the second floor, there were two small
apartments, one each side of the center hallway.  Gregg said, "Harley and I
could live here very nicely until we get the third floor finished the way
we want it.  Then, after the guys finish their freshman year, they could
always live here.

I watched as Ben and Grant looked at each other.  I could tell that was not
something they thought was a good idea.

We moved to the third floor.  Gregg started, "We would like to make this
into a luxury apartment.  I have started to sketch plans to show how it
could work.  The front would be the living area and the back would be the
sleeping area since it would be away from the noise on The Commons during
festivals and such.  We were thinking that we might build a set of stairs
to the rooftop, so we could enjoy the warm summer evenings in the fresh air
and listen to the sound of the people strolling by."

Mrs. Dolan asked, "Gregg, you used a word several times that has me a
little concerned.  You kept referring to `we.'  By `we,' did you mean
`Grant and I' or did you mean `Harley and I?'  I don't think you were
referring to you and Grant since I think he is already spoken for.  Let's
get out of this place and go back to my house where we can at least sit
down and visit."

When everyone was reassembled on the first floor, the front door opened.
"What the hell are you people doing here?  I have the exclusive rights to
show this building."

Mrs. Dolan turned around and her face was bright red, "Mr. Johnston, if you
will remember, I still own this building.  I have every right in the world
to be here.  In case you have forgotten, your contract to sell this
property expired on July 15.  I have called your office two or three times
and you have never returned my calls.  Ben, please go remove the For Sale
Sign in the window that lists this jerk's company as the realtors.  Grant,
please go get the key to the building from the loud mouth man who swore in
front of ladies and escort him out."

The guys did as directed.  As we were departing, Sally looked at
Mrs. Dolan, "Kathryn, did you realize that Mr. Johnston is employed by the
person you despise?  The person you think is trying to make The Commons his
own venue."

Gregg was beginning to look concerned, "So are you saying that if I buy
this property I would be getting in the middle of a civil war?"

Kate, as we would learn to call Mrs. Dolan, answered, "Gregg, Mr. Petrillo
has been trying to buy up all of the property on this street so he can have
the buildings razed and build super apartment houses.  First, that would
destroy the ambience of the area, and second, there are not enough parking
spaces to support such a complex.  It would drive the pedestrian traffic
totally away from the area.  Now let's get back to my house and finish our
conversations.  I need to find out about Grant and this piece of wood."

This is Ben.

We went to our cars, which were parked in close proximity.  Mrs. Dolan took
charge, "Ben, you are going to be chauffeuring me and Maria, Sally, you
take Beau and Becca.  Grant, don't you and Inga get lost.  Harley, the
address is 326 Hudson Street.  Ben will be driving the white Towncar so
keep your mind on your driving and follow us."

I looked at Maria and Inga and they were struggling to keep from laughing.

Miraculously, the four vehicles made it in caravan fashion to Mrs. Dolan's
house.  We parked the cars in the circular driveway in front of the house.
Mrs. Dolan led us to the front door.

Grant and I took off our shoes as we entered the house.  Mrs. Dolan looked
at us like something was wrong, "Why in the world did you take your shoes
off?"

I guess I must have had a funny look on my face, "Ma'am, why would we want
to scuff the beautiful floors and track dirt into the house.  It looks like
something from a Washington Irving novel.  Besides, it feels good to walk
around in just our socks, and we can also check to see how clean your
floors and carpets are."

Maria stopped any more frivolity, "Mrs. Dolan, where would you like me to
put the cheese cake?"

"Ben, why don't you and Maria put the cheesecake in the refrigerator while
I fix everyone an after dinner drink?  While you are in the kitchen, would
you please start the coffee makers?"

Maria and I went to the kitchen and both Maria and I stopped.  It had all
new state of the art appliances.  We finally figured out how to start the
coffee makers.  There was a wonderful seating area overlooking a lighted
garden.

Maria and I returned to the parlor.  I was so excited that I couldn't
contain myself, "Hey everyone, you should see the kitchen.  Mother, you
will probably want to move it to Fremont."

Maria was laughing, "Heck the kitchen is even more state of the art than
the kitchen in the Embassy in London.  Dad and Mother's cooks would have a
field day with appliances and features like the kitchen has."

Mrs. Dolan stood, "Why don't we move the party to the kitchen and we can
relax in the bay window area while we have our dessert and I finally get to
hear the story of Grant and this piece of wood."

We went into the kitchen and Mrs. Dolan led us to the alcove with ten
chairs around an oval table.  My mother and Ms. Sally were busy looking at
the appliances.  Mrs. Dolan was determined, "Everyone sit down while these
extremely beautiful teenagers serve us dessert and coffee.  I want to hear
Grant's story."

I started to tell the story of what I had done to make Grant come to life.
Dad and Mr. Garrison filled in some of the details.  Everyone was laughing
especially Mrs. Dolan, Ms. Sally and Mr. Harley Gordon.  I thought
Mr. Gordon was going to split his pants he was laughing so hard.

Dad had been very pensive and all of a sudden he asked, "Aunt Kate, would
you mind showing us the rest of the house?"

"Why would I mind?  Let's go and I'll take care of the dishes after we
finish the tour."

I think we were all amazed at what we saw, Mrs. Dolan started to show us
the upstairs, "Hal and I were planning to open a bed and breakfast after we
retired, so we had work done on the kitchen and the bedrooms.  While we
were at it, we made a master suite like we always dreamed of having."

"We kept the rest of the house and especially the first floor intact since
both Hal and I had inherited a bunch of antique furniture and accessories.
We thought they might be a drawing card for the patrons."

"Let's go to the lower level.  I think that you might like what you see."
Mrs. Dolan led us to the lower level or what I thought was going to be just
a basement.

Boy was I wrong.  The first thing that you saw was a walkout door to a
lighted patio.  Mrs. Dolan opened a door, "In here there is another guest
room with its own private bathroom facilities and small study with an
internet hookup.  We were planning to spend our time down here, especially
during the peak periods so we could rent the five bedrooms on the second
floor to guests."  Dad's mind must have been going faster than the bullet
trains, "Okay everyone, we would like to have to you meet us at the Statler
for breakfast at 7:30.  We have a lot of work to do in a short time."

If you would like to read more of this story and other interesting stories,
you might want to visit www.tickiestories.us.

Editor's Comments: Have we seen the last of Mr. Petrillo or Mr. Johnston?
Somehow I think not, but what do I know?  I'm just the poor editor.  Stay
tuned for the next chapter.  At least our writers don't go on strike!  Will
B.