Chapter 5

He wakes up to darkness. "Son of a bitch! I slept the day away." He searches out the lamp he brought and turns it on. Of course nothing happens.

He sighs, doubly annoyed, and gets up and uses his flashlight to find the light switches on the wall near the door that leads out into the hallway near the stairs, and turns them on one by one until the fourth one ignites the socket he has his lamp plugged into. "Ah, let there be light."

He stretches and yawns mightily. "Let's see, tomorrow is Thursday the second of February. I guess I will find a furniture store, a hardware store and an appliance store. At least this place has a stove. I'll just get a cheap little refrigerator that will work for me until I get the house fixed up and ready to sell. I think just a couch and living room table with maybe an end table for my lamp will do me fine. Yeah, that'll work.

"Oh shit, I almost forgot about a TV, and I definitely need to get a cheap radio for while I'm working." Still yawning, he is still trying to work out what he needs to do. "Oh, what the hell!" he says, pulling out a tablet and pen and starts making a list. He loves lists. It calms him to be organized, and of course the Army and the Rangers always taught him to be prepared.

He goes downstairs and finds a plug for his second lamp, and then he places his back against the wall while sitting on the floor. "Step one, get a couch and ... Oh, wait a minute." He flies up stairs and grabs the cheap push button phone he brought with him, and then he comes back down and looks for a phone jack. He sees two and picks the one closest to where he was already sitting that was on the divider wall with the kitchen. He plugs in the phone, picks it up, and gets a dial tone. "Excellent, they did their job. I guess I need to get a phone book so I can find the places where I can buy the stuff I need.

"Okay, back to step one, a couch, living room table and an end table. Also immediately I want to get a refrigerator. I guess I don't really need a kitchen table, although with my affinity to spread out my papers everywhere maybe I should. We'll see. It seems like a waste of money to me, though. Let's see, step two, I won't worry about getting the stuff to do the yard work until the coming snowstorm passes. Let's see what else?" Christopher spends the next four hours figuring everything out that he could possibly need. By the time he is finished writing and rewriting his list, he now also needs more tablets and pens to write on and with.

After a few glasses of his cheap rotgut whiskey he tries to go back asleep. It takes him an hour, but he finally manages to doze off again.

He wakes up about nine o'clock Thursday morning, walks down the stairs and notices that it is snowing. "Well, this might hamper today's plans. Maybe I should go buy a four-wheel drive truck. Yeah, that'll work, and plus I am starving."

So as Christopher goes and gets dressed, he is about to find out how his beloved hotrod will do in the snow. He slowly pulls out his '67 Chevelle SS and leaves it running as he runs through the house and shuts the garage door. "I guess I need to look for the garage door opener."

He puts it in reverse and he spins his tires out of the driveway. When he gets out into the street he hits the brakes and slides a little, almost hitting the curb. At this point he has about a half dozen new neighbors watching him with amusement. He starts to take off, but he gives it too much gas so his tires just spin, and then he lets off and goes to it gradually. At last he is heading north up the road. He stops at the stop sign with a little slide and goes to make a right. He can see the gas station two blocks up the road that is easily accessible off of Highway Five.

Again his tires spin, but at last he reaches the Chevron gas station. "Ah, you just got to love a Chevron gas station when you're driving a Chevy." He pulls up to a pump and gets gas, but before he leaves he goes inside to talk with the worker. She is a pretty little thing with red hair and blue eyes, and is maybe twenty-five. "Excuse me."

"Yes?"

"I just moved into to the area and I need to find a truck dealership, a furniture store and an appliance store."

"You'll have to go into Hartford for those. Just go left out of here and go up to the next overpass, and then turn right on the other side of the overpass and that will loop you around and get you right into Hartford. What kind of truck are you looking for?"

"Well, besides it being four-wheel drive, I want it to be a Chevy or maybe a Ford, though Dodge will work also."

She nods her pretty little longhaired head as she is thinking, and then she says, "Go to Highway Eighty-Four and go west. Not too far up on the right is a whole row of dealerships. You can't miss them."

"Well thank you, darling, you have been most helpful."

"You're welcome." she says.

"My name is Christopher."

"I'm Tammy, nice to meet you."

"Yeah, you too. I'm sure we will see each other again and again, as this is definitely going to be the gas station I use." She smiles prettily as Christopher walks out the doors.

As Christopher gets to the loop that will take him to Hartford, he is doing about five miles per hour until it straightens out and merges with the freeway. The snow is still coming down, but only in light flurries. At last he limps his way to a Chevrolet dealership.

"Yes, sir, how can we help you today?" says a finely dressed man with way too smooth of an approach for Christopher's taste.

Christopher smiles inwardly as he can see the ridiculous back and forth games getting ready to begin. "I'm looking for a quarter ton four wheel drive Chevy truck."

"We have lots of those. Right this way. Looking for anything specific?"

"No, I just don't want to wreck my Chevelle in the snow."

"Beautiful car."

"Thank you. This white one right here looks good." He walks up to the sticker on the window and he turns to the salesman and says, "Take a thousand dollars off of it and I'll take it right now!"

"Well, I don't know, I'll have to check with my..."

"Okay, f•©k it! I'll go get a Ford. Later!"

"Okay, Okay. Deal."

"Excellent. I will also need someone to bring it to my house today so I can get my Chevelle home."

"I don't know." Christopher gives him a look while he is tapping his finger on his lips.

"Sure, no problem, but it is an extra hundred dollars."

"That's fine. Let's get all of this taken care of, because I still got to find a furniture store and an appliance store."

"There is a big place not far from here that carries all of that stuff, and they'll deliver it. I just got a couch the other week."