Ed Loading Vegetables on His Truck to Sell by the Road for a Little Extra Retirement Money Ron AI

“About $500 to secure the down payment on the land and construction loan. We will have about a year before we have to start making payments. By that time, should be up and running.”

Becky put her hand on Ed’s and gave him a look of caution. But he'd been in business before and said, I can loan you, maybe $300 now, and get you the rest working around here. It's harvest time and there’s lots of fieldwork. Becky and I should be able to earn $200 in a couple of weeks. What you say… 10% interest?”

“Ed, you drive a hard bargain. Give me the money and tomorrow I’ll get together with the lenders and tell them I can close the deal in two weeks. Then, we’ll get started right away. After the harvest, we can hire cheap itinerant workers to throw up the buildings and assembly lines. Be in business in as little as just after Christmas.”

“Becky, give him the cash and have them write a receipt, promising to pay us 10% interest on $300 and sign it. I like handshake deals as long as they’re in writing.” They all laughed. Others in the bar wondered what it was about.

Becky counted out $300 from her purse where she kept most of the money to keep him from spending all they had in bars like this and shopping.

Bob borrowed a pen from her and wrote out the promissory note on a bar napkin for the loan and signed it. When he finished, he said…

“For your small contribution to getting us started here, how would you like a job with us? All of the top positions are filled with my backers from back in Elkhart where the big money comes from.”

“You know, Bob, I had a business once and it made me worry all the time. Even though I made money at times, most of time we were broke. That’s why we left it all and came out here with our savings to start over. And, I don’t want any work that involves physical labor anymore. I’ve done that all my life so far and I’m tired of long hours and nothing or little to show for it.”

Bob ordered a round of beers for them and thought a minute. “I know you’ve got a sharp eye, Ed, from your shooting stories. And I know you grew up on a farm and are familiar with all kinds of construction, including mobile homes. I will need someone to check on both the quality of construction, and then, when we get rolling, someone to supervise our inspectors, train them and suggest ways of improving the quality of our work as we grow. I can find a job in the office for Becky, too, if you like.”

Two weeks later on Friday after the vineyard paid them for picking grapes, Ed and Becky arrived at the construction trailer Bill had set up on the land where the factory was to be built.

As they opened the screen door and came in the trailer Bob greeted them with a smile. Ed already had $200 in his hand to hand to him, also smiling a big smile.

Bob had Jill type a formal loan contract with an amortization schedule and they all signed it.

“I’ve got good news,” Bob said, chuckling. “We dug up the money and closed the deal this morning. We were just waiting for you to show up so that we could take you with us to the pool party we’re throwing at our apartment. You’re coming aren’t you?”

Ed looked at Becky, and replied, “Sure, have you got any of that good California brandy we drink? If not, we’ll have to bring our own.” He smirked.

“That’s what I like about you, Ed. You’ll make a good quality control guy. And, if you don’t mind coming to work in these tight quarters for now, I want you to start Monday because we’ll be pouring the floors next week and I want these itinerants to do it right, especially the concrete floors that will have to be perfectly flat and level so that a marble won’t roll on them after they dry.

“I’ll start you at $350 a month and I’ll find something for Becky, like accounting, at $150 a month. You only have to work 8 to 5 with an hour off for lunch. I think you’ll find that satisfactory for now. The way I think things will go, you will be receiving raises within 6 months. Is that okay with you? Hurry, we’ve got to get to the party… It’s already started.”

Ed looked at Becky and they both shook their heads, Yes, without saying a word. Ed replied, “Well, we’re holding up the party–let’s go!”

Ed never worked another day in his life. The company grew quickly and Becky became the company’s primary auditor. They both made good money and were able to buy a house in Modesto within three years with only their salaries and small savings as a down payment.

With his new name, Ed regularly sent subscription money to the Hazelton Enterprise to see what Nona had posted on what his other family was doing. And he was glad they were doing quite well without him. All the more reason not to ever let them know where he was.

Occasionally, there was news of Audrey’s family as well. Their secret was well kept, while they knew what was happening back home. It wasn’t fair, but life isn’t. Their kids had to learn that the hard way.

With so many new people coming into California and the price of housing skyrocketing, including their own home, they both were happy with working together at the same company with ample vacations for hunting and fishing. Sometimes flying to places with Bob and Jill in their airplane. It was a good life, especially since they didn’t have kids to worry about.

In only 20 years, the mobile home boom in California was over except for a few exclusive retirement villages with very strict construction rules for their units.

 Mobile homes were considered places where “trailer trash” lived and folks in small towns didn’t want them around, passing ordinances to prevent them from coming into their communities. Even farmers started building more substantial housing for their seasonal workers under California law.

Bob and Jill closed the factory in 1982 and sold it to an automobile repair company. Ed and Becky retired to Idaho Falls so that they could go fishing and hunting easily, and bought a small home in a small development with a yard large enough for a garden.

Ed became a master gardener. The excess vegetables they grew in abundance were put on their pickup truck with a sign on the doors that read, Ed’s Fine Veggies. He sold them right from the truck.

       ###                       

Finally, in 2004, Audrey’s kids, grown-up but, still missing their mother, hired a private investigator. Very quickly, the investigator, using Audrey’s Social Security number, located her in Idaho Falls. After he notified the family, they arrived with him at the address where Audrey and Ansel had lived. It was an empty house. But the neighbors next door filled in the pieces of their lives there.

   The next-door neighbors had inherited the house one year before when Rebecca died, but had done nothing with it, thankfully. When the neighbor let them into the house, they found records and pictures of the couple. As well as copies of the Hazelton Enterprise, the paper that Ansel had subscribed to under his assumed name of Ed Hansen.

 Audrey and Ansel had been able to read what was happening, at least, to Ansel’s family, and maybe, an occasional mention of Audrey’s kids as they graduated or were reported for some of their accomplishments like small town papers do. Using all of the documents and pictures, as well as what the neighbors could tell them, gradually the story of Ansel and Audrey’s secret life was revealed.

   The combination of smoking and heavy drinking reached a culmination and Ansel died of emphysema and congestive heart failure at 75 in 1993. Audrey lived on alone until 2003 when she died from emphysema. It was just a lucky break that Ansel and Audrey’s children finally knew what happened to their father and mother. They also knew, that through that local paper, at least in Ansel’s case, he knew everything that was going on with his family long after he left them with the secret of his leaving.

Even his obituary was a combination of the truth of his life after leaving and a fiction about his life before. Ansel never knew that the secret would be revealed.

Copyright 2024 © Ronald W. Hull

7/17/24