Chapter 6

Strangely this house doesn't really have an office room, so Christopher decides to put it where the dining room table would go. Since he completely forgot about a desk when he was shopping, he calls them and adds it to his order. It will be a good-sized computer desk with a reddish tint to it like his living room table and end tables. It will have two drawers on the right side, and a sleeve that pulls out for the keyboard.

After Christopher finds a phone book on his porch he lives on fast food pizza for Thursday and Friday. Come Saturday morning he will have the necessities of life, so he can go shopping. Just the thought of all the money he is wasting ordering fast food and the tip, well, he will be glad when he can get back to normal food. "Damn it! I forgot pots and pans. How can a list that takes me two days and is three pages long still not have everything on it that I need?"

He rifles through his stuff and finds the book he promised to give to Nan, his next-door neighbor on the south side of his house, and uses that as a segue into seeing if she wants him to do her yard at the same time he does his.

Finally, after he decides he might as well get a bed also, instead of sleeping on the damn floor for a year, one with its own nightstand, he also remembers he should probably get a very comfortable leather chair for the computer desk, because he spends up to six hours a day sitting at his computer writing new stuff or rewriting and or editing stuff not quite ready for publication. After all, good writing gets that way by rewriting.

Come Saturday, at last he has his house to where he can get to work. He plugs his refrigerator in and he figures it will be cold enough by the time he gets back from shopping and the hardware store. "Look out, yard, I am about to go to war on your ass."

But first, "Good morning, sunshine."

"Good morning, Christopher. I will see if Cathy is available. She is actually in a meeting with somebody, but she said she wants to talk with you."

"You know you need to tell that girl to take some Saturdays off. Hey, if she's busy I can call back later."

"No, she told me she wants to talk with you."

Beep. "Yes."

"Cathy, Christopher is on the line."

"Okay, thank you. Will you excuse me for one second?"

"Sure." says the hopeful young writer.

"Christopher, good morning."

"It's almost noon here."

"Oh yeah, well, good almost afternoon then."

Christopher laughs and says, "Good morning, Cathy. So how are things progressing?"

"Actually, Christopher, they are having funding problems."

"Ouch! Damn economy. Well, Cathy, I have perfect confidence in you. I know without a doubt, like the angel that you are, if it can be worked out you will shine your grace on it and it will get worked out."

Cathy is stunned, and you can see it by the expression on her face with the raised eyebrows. At this point Christopher would normally be ranting and raving. "How's Connecticut?"

"Actually, very beautiful. I bought me a new four wheel drive truck since my Chevelle wasn't doing too well in the snow." Cathy laughs, because she knows how much he loves that damn car. "I got my living situation squared away to where now I can start doing the work. I'm actually headed out to buy the tools to get the job done, and I just wanted to check in with you and let you know that the phone number I gave you is correct and hooked up."

"Christopher?"

"Yes, Cathy."

"What would you think about you and me funding the movie? It is going to make a darling movie, and I'm sure it will make money so we can look at it as purely a profit idea."

"I hear what you are saying, sweetheart." Every time Christopher calls her one of his adoring names she smiles shyly, for you see she likes Christopher very much. "And I would if it was any other book to movie other than the first one. I just think it should make it the regular way with all the trials and tribulations of the industry.

"If it makes it on its own merits, then maybe we'll look into getting more into the industry. Who knows, maybe I'll write a couple of outright screenplays. However it pans out, I have complete trust in you. You have a good day, Cathy." As Christopher is talking with Cathy he can just picture her sitting behind her desk in some cute outfit looking all so pretty. He smiles to himself.

"Thank you, Christopher, you too." She hangs up the phone and stares at it for a moment, and then a smile comes to her face and then she remembers she has another client sitting across from her, so she shakes herself out of her reverie and gets back to the half day of Saturday.

"You think you guys will have the TV and stereo system finished by the time I get back."

"No problem, sir!"

"Leave your names, and if everything is good for the satellite people who are coming Monday, the fifth, I will bring you guys an extra good tip."

"Alright! Thank you again, sir, and we'll be sure to lock up on our way out."

"Perfect! Thanks."

Christopher goes outside and fires up his truck and is waiting eagerly for the heater to warm up. He pulls into his favorite gas station, and even though he has no real reason to go inside he goes and buys a soda just so he can say, "Hello, Tammy."

"Hi, Christopher, how are you today?"

"Very well, thank you. I'll see you around, Tammy."

"Yeah." she says, smiling as she watches him leave. He may be in his thirties, but he is still a good-looking man to her.

"Okay, I need a skill saw with extra blades. Also I need a hammer, nails, screws, cordless drill, a power drill, and don't forget the sawhorses. Let's see what else," he says as he goes up and down the isles of the huge hardware store. "Oh yeah, I need a chain saw with an extra chain or two, a gallon gas can, two stroke oil mix and what else?" At last his brain has drained itself so he pulls out the ole trusty list. As he is standing there going over it people are zigzagging around him.

"Oh, I can't forget the shovel and the two different kind of rakes. Let's see what else we have here. Uh," he says tapping his finger on his lips with his right hand. "Damn it, I know I'm forgetting some things. I probably should get a wheel barrow."

Christopher long ago stopped caring that people look at him a little strange when he is talking out loud to himself. If he isn't going over a list, he is living out one of his many worlds in his head until he gets around to putting them on paper, or these days into the computer.

By the time he makes it out of the all-purpose hardware store, the back of his truck is full. Besides the tools necessary to tackle his runaway yards, he has bought wood so he can build a better workbench in the garage. One thing that surprised even him was when he was walking through the wood aisle and saw the two by twelve treated boards he thought of his neighbor's broken step, so he bought it so if she lets him do her yard at the same time he'll also fix her step. "Ah hell, who knows, maybe I'll fix it anyway."