D I V O R C E by cmsix

Chapter 33

We ended up with plenty of daylight left to feed everyone again, and even sit around with coffee to give them a head start on digestion. About forty-five minutes before sunset George and his woman stood up and headed home with all the ones that were going back following. Randy, Jr, and I started filling and tying trash bags so Sky and his guys fell in helping us out.

We all went to bed almost as soon as we were inside and a few minutes later, as I started licking Ginny's tasty twat, I heard Star Trek start on Jr's TV. It wouldn't be long before I taught him something better to spend his bed time doing.

The next morning, after breakfast, Randy took over the details, with Jr and I helping him move the triple-wides into place. He did most of the driving and loader manipulating while Jr, Sky, the other braves, and I did the grunt work. There was no backbreaking labor involved and damned if I didn't learn something.

I'd always wondered how they got those sections pushed together after they were lined up. I'd never seen it done and had been content to wonder. Randy knew exactly how and if I'd have had to figure out a way to do it I might have come up with something similar. Of course Randy had known how all along and he'd made sure we had the right equipment.

Said equipment consisted of several twelve-inch-wide, long channel-irons with wide rollers that used them for guides and jacks that rode on the rollers. The channel-irons were placed under the section that needed to be moved, perpendicular to its long axis. After that the rollers and jacks were put in place and the section was jacked up so the wheels could be removed.

With the wheels and axles off, we just pushed the section toward the other one and did serious adjustment as they came together - lining the two sections up to match each other and then leveling everything in sight. It was concrete blocks and fairly hard work after that but still nothing to get in a bind over. I was surprised at how well it worked.

Of course this was only the first iteration and we still had three more to go before the six sections were combined into two separate homes, but what the hell? It didn't even take all day, or not quite all day anyway.

Six days later the triple-wides were ready for occupancy. There'd been dozens of details to take care of after the frames of the houses were joined. Fixing the shingles was only the first, and it was followed by putting the carpet back like it was supposed to be, and on and on. We saved the worst part for last.

Screw in anchors and metal banding to keep the houses from blowing away in a storm were a pain in the butt, but necessary. This was still Texas after all, and even though tornadoes weren't as popular down here as they were where I'd come from, I still didn't want to take a ride on one if I could avoid it. The anchors wouldn't help much with a direct hit, but they could do a hell of a lot of good if it was only a close call.

That didn't even get started on the things we had to unpack from the trailers and bring into the houses. The giant stereo system I'd thought I had to have needed to be unpacked and I spent three late nights getting it all hooked up. I also found one hell of a bonus while I was at it.

I'd heard a little about projection TV back in my old life, but it wasn't like you could go to any store and buy one. I knew there was a company named Advent that made a model for home use, but I'd never even heard of any place that had them for sale. Apparently the guy that bought the giant stereo system had, since there was a brand new one still in its several boxes along with the stereo stuff.

It took Randy and I both to figure out how to get it up and playing but it was one hell of a TV after it was assembled. The big part was the screen of course, and then we had a time lining up the projection part to point in exactly the right direction on the screen so the picture would be just right. It would have been worth it if there were any TV stations. At least we had plenty of VHS movies.

Moving out of the single-wide homes into the triple-wides was next, and somehow it took four days. I couldn't figure out how we'd gathered so much stuff in the single-wides, but we had. Of course one whole day was spent digging stuff out of the storage trailers, things we had bought but hadn't bothered unpacking yet.

As soon as we had our new homes set up we helped our work crews move out of the camper trailers and into the single-wides. This didn't take nearly as long but it did take some time. I'm sure they appreciated it too, even if it did mean more floors for the men to vacuum. It also left us with two perfectly serviceable camper trailers that were vacant. Neither Randy, Marilyn, nor anyone else could come up with a good use for them right away.

We took nearly a week off from any major projects. Some time each day was spent going through the trailers looking for things we needed in our houses, but it wasn't really a big job. It did let Randy and I know we needed to get started on at least one of the metal buildings. We had a lot of tools and machinery that needed a good home, and none of it was doing us any good in those trailers.

Originally we'd planned on just putting them up with dirt floors, but both Randy and I had changed our minds. We had plenty of remix, mesh wire, rebar, and Portland for a concrete floor and plenty of equipment to dig out for a slab and pour it. Hell, it would take a little longer but it would just be better.

After we got started we discovered it would take more than a little bit longer, and Randy was partly at fault over that. He had taken me at my word on buying two large metal buildings. Hell, I'd thought the place that had obviously been left for one of them looked pretty big. It was, because it had to be. Randy had bought two 150 by 400 buildings. At least after they were up it would be a long time before we ran out of space.

It took three weeks to dig out for the foundation, lay and tie the rebar, and unroll the mesh wire, not to mention putting in the redwood expansion joint every twenty feet or so. During this process Randy and I both figured out that there was no way in hell we could teach our helpers how to pour and finish the concrete as we went. We also realized we'd need more helpers too.

The next morning it was time to discuss matters with Louise and the girls. She listened to our sad tale and came up with a wonderful suggestion right away.

"Ask George move tribe here with us. Build him log house to live in. Give <i>woman</i> a stove, bathtub, hot water," she said.

Of course she'd called George's woman by name, but I still didn't have any idea what it was. The idea was perfect though, and I was ready to hop in a pickup and go see if we could make a deal.

"No. Do fishing first. We go ask them come fishing tomorrow, early. We ask George while most women cleaning fish," Louise said, while Helen, Louise, and Ginny nodded their heads, and then Randy put in his two cents worth.

"It'll be great and I've got just the thing to help with the fishing. I brought two hand cranked telephone generators. We'll just give the fish a long distance call," he said, and it made me laugh.

"Sounds good Randy. Why don't you take the guys down to the river for a practice run while we go and talk to George," I said, and it was a done deal.

Jr, Louise, and I hopped into the red Silverado and headed for George's tribe while Randy, Marilyn, and all the others hitched one of the bass boats I'd bought and headed for the Neches. Louise spent most of the trip to George's explaining to Jr what we were up to. He was all for it.

Of course they heard us coming and George and his woman, along with most of the tribe were out to greet us. Jr was out first and he surprised me by introducing me to his mother, George's woman, right away. I figured that it was about time but though I'd heard her name called several time already I still had to make up one for her that I could pronounce. Ouida popped into my mind and when I tried it she saluted with a smile.

With the formalities out of the way I invited them down for a fishing get together. I explained that Randy had brought a new method with him and also that we had better boats now, leaving Louise to do her best with the translation.

Apparently George was a bigger fan of fish than I'd thought, since he started grinning about the proposal as soon as Louise sprang their word for fishing on him. We hung around talking and grinning for about an hour and then headed back. George said they'd be down fairly early in the morning.

On the way back we swung by the river first. Sky was the only one there and he was making a half-hearted effort on the pile of fish everyone else had left him with. Louise started in with questions and it only took a few to find out what was going on.

With his first try Randy had discovered that the telephone generator worked better than he could have imagined. The excellent results had let him know that one boat would not be sufficient for gathering the stunned fish. He'd left Sky to guard the one boat they'd started with and taken everyone else back to get more.

We waited and helped Sky out with cleaning what they had already and Randy, Marilyn, and the others were back in about half an hour. He'd managed to bring three boats back with only one truck and trailer, but they were riding on a lick and a promise.

Two of them were sixteen-foot aluminum boats, and their outboards had been left behind. The other, the one riding almost normally on the trailer, was another bass boat and it did have its outboard.

"Man, I couldn't believe how many fish floated up with only one try. I guess I did a little too much cranking, not realizing that it would take a while for the suspects to float up," he said.

"It does look like you got quite a few if these were from only one try," I said.

"Those aren't half of it. They were just all we could gather with one boat and no dip net. I didn't do as much planning as I should have," he said, and then laughed.

"I'll say you didn't. You should have seen us all leaning out over the sides trying to grab fish," Marilyn said, laughing herself.

"Are you going to try it again?" I asked, waving toward the extra boats.

"Maybe this afternoon. Right now I plan on doing some boating instruction. We're going to need a little training in paddle use for the troops," Randy said.

"Hell, it sounds like fun," I said.

They unloaded the two smaller boats and then Randy surprised me by loading all the guys back up and heading back to our place. As he left he told me he was headed back for two more aluminum boats. I barely thought to tell him to bring back some life vest too.

He was back in half an hour, with two more boats and life vest for everyone. I was glad I'd thought of them because nothing spoils a fishing trip like someone drowning during the party.

He took one boat and I took another and we both set out with two pupils each. Of course Jr came with me. I could tell that he was excited to get in on this too. Randy and I both discovered that we were about to make a dumbass move before we pushed off from shore.

There was no way in hell we could teach them anything without a translator, and we had to ask Louise and Helen to come along. Surprisingly it was pretty smooth sailing after that, no matter what Marilyn and the other women thought about our antics.

We spent about an hour training our first crews, and by that time all the earlier catch had been cleaned and put in plastic bags. I thought it was time for another test run and said so.

Randy agreed and had his crew row him back to shore where he and Marilyn got in the bass boat and moved to the middle of the river. My crew and his moved downstream of him and waited.

He claimed that he wasn't going to crank so hard and long this time, but you couldn't prove it by his results. Of course there were two catch boats this time and he'd taken the time to get two long handled dip nets for each, but still.

Randy dropped a lead off each end of his boat and then cranked the handle for about ten seconds. At first I thought it hadn't worked, but after about twenty seconds I knew it had. There must have been a hundred fish that came to the surface, and we were hard pressed to gather them in. We even got several fairly large catfish, and I hadn't seen any in the first bunch. Randy and Marilyn netted a few of them too, but mostly they just laughed at the rest of us.

"That enough fish, save some for tomorrow," Louise said, after we'd picked them all up, and I thought those were words of wisdom for sure.

I didn't think we'd run out of fish by any means, but we damned sure had enough for our use, by a long shot. With the fun over, Randy and I switched back to instructor roles and got going with our next crews.

While we were at it Marilyn took some of the women back home for something in my truck. When she got back about an hour later I wanted to give her a merit badge.

They bailed out of the truck just as Randy and I were done with the training for the last of the men. Marilyn had gone back for a deep fryer, a propane bottle and cooker, and the rest of the makings for a fish fry. The men pitched in to get the last few fish cleaned while Louise and Helen took out all female crews for boating instructions.

Things were rocking along with no problem until I heard Louise calling me and pointing downstream. Apparently the ones that got away earlier had been easy pickings for the two gators that were now coming upstream. I guess they'd noticed the free lunch and had worked their way back toward its source, feeding as they went.

Louise and Helen got their students moving toward shore in record time, while I walked to the river to see if I could do any good with my Glock. Like a dumbass I didn't have a rifle with me.

It didn't really matter because the gators were not afraid of anyone standing on the bank. They came up closer, and while they didn't seem inclined to try for a landing they did sit out there in the river with mostly only their eyes above the surface. It seemed too much like taunting to me, so I fired a few shots and managed to get both of them, sorta.

They'd both obviously been wounded at least, since they were squirming around in the water and causing a fuss. I kept firing until one of them had quit moving completely and the other was not moving much. Randy headed for the boat with a motor and I followed.

It didn't take long to get to the dead one, and luckily there was a frog gig in this boat. I didn't know if it would snag a gator but I intended to see if it would. Randy might have been smarter than me, since he picked up a fishing rod and cast a lure on the other side of the one that could still move, snagging it with the lure's hooks.

We eased back to shore then, Randy playing the gator as if it was a damned fish while I used the trolling motor with one hand and tried to hold onto my catch with the other. When we were back to the bank Sky and another brave pulled us up, but they were reluctant to work with my prize, I don't guess I could blame them, so I hopped out and dragged it to shore. Once they saw it wasn't moving on its own, they pulled it aground too.

Meanwhile Randy was still trying to reel in his catch. It wasn't going to get off the hook now, since the way it kept rolling over and over had it hopelessly tangled in the line. If that didn't break, we'd have it sooner or later.

"Randy, do you think I should go back and get a rifle to finish it off?" I asked, once the other one was being cut to pieces.

"Naw, it's about done for. Why don't you see if you can get another line on it," he said.

So I did. There was another rod and reel in this boat, three more in fact, and I got a hook snagged on it with my third try. We didn't have much trouble pulling it in like that. I shot it again when it was close, just to be sure. We had it out on the bank and untangled just as lunch was served.

Marilyn had done this meal up right. She'd brought a card table down too, to work off of, and even a few jars of canned green tomato relish. Her hushpuppies were nothing to sneeze at either.

After we'd eaten everyone was up for an hour of sitting on our asses, and we covered our laziness by saying we were giving each other language lessons. Finally I started feeling guilty and we got back to it.

We spent most of the rest of the day lining things up for tomorrow's big fishout. Everyone got a chance for the boating school, and then we had another round of practice. I even gave Jr some training in handling a bass boat with an outboard. I'll admit that I spent more time on teaching him to use the trolling motor.

We had fish again that night at home. It suited the hell out of me. The only thing missing was Coleslaw but it would have to wait until we'd advanced to growing cabbage.

It had been an eventful day and we'd managed to get our fish and gators cleaned and cut up, freezing most of the fish. We expected to have a lot more of it tomorrow. I don't know about the rest of the crew, but when it was time for bed I was ready for it.