Disclaimer: The following story is a work of fiction. If you are offended by descriptions of homosexual acts or man/man relations, please exit this page.
ROUTE 66 TOUR Copyrightc 2003 by Tulsa Driller 7. All rights reserved.
This is a work of fiction and in no way draws on the lives of any specific person or persons. Any similarity to actual persons or events is entirely coincidental. This work is copyrighted8 by the author and may not be reproduced in any form without the specific written permission of the author. It is assigned to the Nifty Archives under the terms of their submission agreement but it may not be copied or archived on any other site without the written permission of the author.
PLEASE: In a perfect world AIDS doesn't exist. My characters sometimes have unprotected sex. I hope you use proper precautions because I'd like you to be around the read the last chapter of this story.
Route 66 Tour Chapter 9
To be fair to Doug and, ourselves we drove past the other two houses he suggested we look at. One appeared to be a nice house, but in an uninteresting neighborhood and the other was going to need a lot done to it - and you could see that from the street. However, we did park in the driveway and make our way around the property. A.J. was looking in the living room window when he discovered that someone was living there and was at home.
The lady opened the front door - wearing only a slip and house shoes and proceeded to give both of us a piece of her mind. A.J. apologized, saying, "Doug didn't tell us the place was occupied and we were wanting to look at the outside before having him show us the inside."
"Well, then I suggest that you get back in your car and look at it from the street. He's supposed to give me a day's notice before he shows the house, anyway."
A.J. looked at me. "Have you seen enough?"
"Enough to know that I'm not interested in buying it," and loud enough the lady could hear us as we walked off the front patio.
After we got in the car, we both burst out laughing.
"To be honest about it, I'd be upset if I walked through my living room and saw someone peering in the window," I said.
"You're right, but at least we've seen enough to know not to come back here," A.J. answered.
We arrived back on 27th Place and I had A.J. drive up the driveway and around to the back so we could see if there were problems getting in and out of the garages and turning after the car was backed out. There wasn't, in fact a couple of cars could still be parked back there and not interfere with getting in and out of the garage.
We had a 20-foot tape measure and a legal pad with us and I'd also picked up my digital camera so we were ready to explore the place and take measurements. The first measurements we took were outside, checking the garage and breezeway, then the length of the walls on the south and west sides. A.J. was good at making drawings and marked in windows and the backdoor, with measurements for each. We took plenty of pictures as we went along, too.
Going on around to the front, we measured the north exposure and then walked around to do the same on the east side. When the house had been remodeled two years ago, all of the windows had been replaced with Pella thermal windows. There was very little outside trim to have to paint.
I liked the double doors on the front entrance. The house probably sat about 15 feet above the street level and this was nice as it gave the impression of a park when you looked out the front, toward the street. The house across the street was actually a little below street level. We later discovered that there was a small creek behind it. The house we were looking at was on the highest point on the street - in this block, anyway. That was good; there shouldn't be any drainage problems.
We made quick work of taking inside measurements and writing them down. We also listed the pieces of furniture that we might be interested in. Most were in the living room, but we later discovered the suite in the second upstairs bedroom appealed to us, too.
In examining the 2 bedrooms on the ground floor, we decided that the bathroom could be made private for the bedroom in the corner. The other bedroom could be used as an office, taking part of it for a new half bath for guests and putting the door in the hall.
We went on downstairs. The den was nice and comfortable with a fireplace. All of the furniture in that room would serve our purposes quite nicely. There was a bath with a shower off the den and a good-size laundry room beside it. There was a new Maytag washer and dryer. A.J. made a note to ask about the disposition of them.
There was even more basement than we had thought. The basement was under the entire house, we just hadn't looked in a large, unfinished room on the other side of the room containing the furnace and air conditioning. It was easily as large as the den.
In that room was a complete weight set with bench. It wasn't a cheap brand, either. There was also a Bowflex machine and it appeared the plumbing for a sauna had been roughed-in, too.
The furnace and air conditioning was new and high efficiency. A.J. made a note to find out about utility bills. We made note of the electrical box and counted circuits. There was a good reference sheet on the inside of the cover. The person designing the system was better than excellent.
Back up the stairs and to the second floor. We had discovered a laundry chute when in the basement and there were doors in the hall on the main and upstairs floors for that.
The master bedroom was large enough to have a king-size bed (we didn't want one) and a couple of easy chairs, too. It wasn't a huge room, but would seem larger when we put our own queen-size bed in there.
The master bath had a stool, a bidet, 2 washbasins, a Jacuzzi and also a steam generator for the large glass-enclosed shower. There was plenty of storage for linens and towels in the upstairs hall. We were amazed that the second bedroom was almost as large as the first. It was turned so the long side was 90 degrees to the other, which made it look different. The bathroom had both a tub and small glass-enclosed shower in one corner. The bathroom and walk-in closet were actually above the two bedrooms and bath on the first floor. The only thing that seemed to be awkward about this whole arrangement was that you had to go through the bathroom to get to the walk-in closet for the second bedroom. That really wasn't a problem, but didn't seem to be as convenient as having the bathroom and closet side-by-side in the master bedroom.
The other discovery we made was that there was a furnace and air conditioner for the second floor. It was tucked away in what appeared to be a hall closet, but the thing that impressed me was that it was hooked to floor vents and the return air was in the ceiling. There were also ceiling fans in both bedrooms on that floor.
We already had a nice dining room table that pulled out to eleven and a half feet, with 8 chairs and a nice china hutch, so we had no interest in their furniture. I had a beautiful crystal chandelier in storage and reminded myself to show A.J. a picture. In my thinking it was much more striking than the brass and wood light presently used in there.
The kitchen was the room that really caught both our attentions. Top of the line equipment everywhere. Gray marble, black glass and brushed stainless steel was the theme here. A huge Amana refrigerator and freezer, Maytag appliances and a Chambers gas range with 6 burners and two ovens all caught our eye. In addition there was a built-in convection wall oven and a microwave right below it. There was plenty of storage for small appliances under the upper cabinets and a moveable center island on rubber casters. The floor in here was gray slate; at least that's what it appeared to be.
After we had toured the house on our own, made measurements and sketched everything out, we were ready to see if we could make a deal. We agreed to call Herbert Flowers as soon as we got back to the apartment to get his advice on how to proceed on this since there was a chance they might sell for the amount due on the mortgage and that we were interested in some of the furniture.
The only thing that we couldn't easily check was what kind of floor was under the carpet in the living room. I was hoping it was hardwood and we could use oriental area rugs. I had A.J. make a note to ask about that.
We were ready to leave and discovered that we had been there over two hours. After setting the alarm and locking the front door, we wandered around the yard to look at flowerbeds and other plantings.
"I sure like this house," A.J. said as we got into the car.
"Me, too. Do you think we can swing the deal?" I asked.
"I'm sure Herbert will be able to give us some insight on that."
"We should be able to finance the difference with no problem if we have to pay a little more," I said.
"I don't think grandmother would want us to do that. My guess is that she might come up with additional funds," A.J. said.
"Herbert was pretty specific about having $450 thousand and that was supposed to take care of remodeling," I replied.
"Let's hurry home and call him," he said, clearly as excited as I was.
As we were driving home, we decided that maybe we should talk to Doug Reynolds before calling Herbert. After a quick stop at the grocery store for some fresh vegetables, coffee and orange juice, we were back in the apartment. A.J. put the speakerphone on the table in front of the love seat and was ready to punch the number when I sat down.
The number he called was Doug's cell phone number so we didn't have to go through the secretary, or whatever her title was.
"Doug Reynolds," was the next thing we heard after two ring signals.
A.J. got right to the point. "Doug, we just got back home from looking at the place over on 27th Place again and we really like the house. We did a lot of measuring and made sketches of the floor plan, window placement and checked things out fairly thoroughly."
"Good. and.?" he asked.
I spoke up. "We had several questions about things. Do you have any idea what kind of flooring is under the carpet in the living room?"
"Let me get my book," Doug replied.
He came back on the line. "Nothing in my notes, so we'll have to find out."
"Okay, we want to know about a couple of other things," I said.
"What?"
"What have the utilities been running?"
We could hear him turning pages.
"Looks like they have been running from about $200 to $350 a month, depending on the season."
That wasn't too bad, considering the square footage and two systems, I thought.
"We would be interested in buying some of the furniture, do you have any idea what they are taking with them?" A.J. asked.
"They got hit pretty hard when he got laid off and they are planning to move into a furnished apartment. They aren't taking anything with them because, quite frankly they can't afford to pay storage on it."
That was too bad for them, but might help us some.
"What are you interested in?" Doug questioned.
"Most of the living room, the furniture in the second bedroom upstairs, the furniture in the den and the washer and dryer, to begin with," A.J. said. "We figured we might be able to offer more than what they would get at a sale and they wouldn't have to pay commission on it."
"You might be able to get a pretty good deal on buying everything, then having your own sale. These people are pretty strapped and don't want to damage their credit any more than it already is."
That was an idea.
I had an idea. "What if we offered to buy out their mortgage and pay all closing costs and your commission, then find out what they wanted for the furniture?"
"I think you would probably buy the house on the spot," Doug told us. "They have to get out from under this because the next payment is going to be due in a couple of weeks. I'm not sure they can do that and put down a deposit on a place to rent in Houston."
A.J. and I hugged each other.
"Let me ask you this," Doug said. "Do you want to work with the finance company and make a loan application to take over the payments?"
"No," A.J. said. "We wanted to talk to you, and then give the information to our attorney. I think we can move pretty quickly on this and possibly conclude the deal by the end of this week."
"You're kidding?" asked Doug.
"No, we have money in escrow, we just need some firm figures to give our attorney," I said.
"Herbert indicated that you had money to buy a house, but he didn't give me any particulars about it. I just assumed you had a down payment."
"Doug, can you put some figures together as to what it would take to close the deal on the house and then check with the present owners about selling us all of the furniture?" I asked him.
"Sure, I can do that and either e-mail the figures or fax them to you."
"Fax would be okay, but you need to call us before you send the fax so we can turn the machine on. We don't have a separate line for it." I said.
"I can do that and get back with you in about a half hour."
"By the way, Doug, how do you figure a sales commission on a deal like this since the property is selling for the amount of the mortgage?"
"It's still 8% of the sale price and you're buying it for about $387,000, so I'll get about $31,000. Let me assure you, you fellows are getting a rare bargain."
"I know. I can't believe that we only had to look at one property and would fall into a deal. I honestly figured that we would be looking for at least 6 months and then still not find exactly what we wanted."
"Quite frankly, you are only the third people I've shown it to. The first people were 'just looking' and not ready to buy. The second people stepped into the house, saw the large 2-story living room and that's as far as we got. They didn't even look at the rest of the house," he laughed.
"Well, that's hard to believe," A.J. said. "But, I guess that's the reason they build houses with all sorts of floor plans."
"You have that right. Listen, guys, let me get some figures on paper and I'll see if I can reach the owners on their cell phone. Maybe I can get everything together yet today."
"Okay, we'll be looking forward to hearing from you," A.J. said.
I echoed with a "goodbye" and the connection was broken.
"Can we call grandmother?" A.J. asked.
"Honey, you don't have to ask my permission to call Laura," I said.
"I know I don't, but I guess what I meant is if you want to talk to her, too?"
"You know I always want to talk to her." I was about to bust my buttons, too. We both needed to tell someone about our good fortune.
A.J. pushed the speed dial button and Laura's phone rang immediately. She answered on the third ring.
"Grandmother." A.J. started to say.
"How are my grandsons today?" Laura broke in. "Are both of you on the phone?"
"Yes, Laura, I'm here, too." I heartily said.
"What's going on? You usually don't call until evening."
"You won't believe this, but we've found the perfect house to buy." A.J. said.
I broke in. "And it doesn't have to have anything done to it right away. It's ready to move into now."
"Tell me about it," Laura said.
We babbled on about the house for at least a half hour, telling Laura about each room, the people wanting to get out from under the mortgage right away, the location of the property, the fact that we might buy all of their furniture and everything else we could think of to tell her.
Laura had lots of questions and we answered each, either separately or both of us together.
"I'd like to see the house," Laura said. "It does sound too good to be true."
"Sure," A.J. told her. "I can come over to get you tomorrow morning and we can take you back home tomorrow, later in the day."
"I hate for you to have to make two trips in one day. Why don't you make reservations for me at the motel where we stayed on the tour? Isn't that close to where you boys live?"
"Yes, only about 4 blocks as the crow flies."
"That place is nice enough and maybe I'll stay for a couple of days if that doesn't interfere with your plans."
"Not at all," I said. "Why don't you plan to stay through the weekend and we can take you back home on Sunday afternoon or evening."
"I'll do it. I want to look up some old friends while I'm there and introduce both of you to them. They'll be good people for you to become acquainted with and I've known them since right after Jim and I were married."
"Okay, Grandmother. That sounds great!" A.J. was enthused. I couldn't blame him, I was, too.
"We're getting some information from the realtor, then we'll call Herbert and talk to him about how to proceed with this deal."
"That's a good idea. He'll have some ideas and lots of questions, I'm sure," Laura told us.
We chatted for a little bit about other things, then A.J. told Laura we would talk to her a little later in the evening and work out the time one or both of us would pick her up in the morning.
"I'm looking forward to seeing this place. And, I'll look forward to your call a little later. Boy's, I'm really happy about this. I didn't think you would find what you wanted so soon."
"We didn't either, but we think this was supposed to happen," I told her.
A.J. agreed.
We said our goodbyes and sat back.
The telephone immediately rang. A.J. pushed the speakerphone button after he answered. It was Doug.
"I was able to get in touch with the owners and they gave me instructions to 'sell the place' as they put it."
"Wow!" I said, A.J. echoing.
"They are willing to sell all of the furniture to you and would even be willing to talk about china, kitchen utensils, pots and pans, whatever. I think they would be happy to leave there with their clothing and a few personal effects."
"You mean that they just want to walk away?" A.J. asked.
"Guys, just between you and me, this has been a bad experience for both of them. They lost a baby - miscarriage - right after he got sacked. She lost a couple of months of work and I think they want a new start with nothing to remind them of Tulsa or what they've been through. Personally, I think it's a mistake, but I'm not their grief counselor."
"How do we come up with a value on the furniture?" A.J. asked.
"I'm going to give you the name of a fellow I know who handles sales like this. I suggest that you call him and pay him for an appraisal. He'll come up with amounts you might be expected to pay at a sale and give you an idea as to what to offer. He'll probably charge you about 10% of the value to appraise it. Quite frankly, that's reasonable."
I wrote down the man's name and telephone number, promising that we would call him right away.
"While I'm thinking of it, the floor in both the living room and dining room is hardwood and they said it was in pretty good shape. They just preferred carpet to bare floors."
"Most people seem to. I like nice floors and area rugs," I said. A.J. agreed.
"Now, I've put together the figures you would see on a contract. I've checked with the mortgage company for a payoff without the next payment being made and giving us two weeks to close. There are property taxes, which are current, closing costs, my commission, title search and insurance. There are no liens on the property, so there is no threat of a problem to you. I'm going to suggest 'sellers insurance' even though equipment and appliances are new. They can buy this, but we'll make it part of the deal so you pay for it. More and more people are opting for this and if there are any problems in 60 days, say the dishwasher gives up, it gets replaced at no cost to you."
I was familiar with this, I'd purchased it on the sale of my house and a friend had bought it when selling his house. The 30- year old furnace had quit a week after they closed the deal. The people got a new furnace for free and the air conditioner was cheap because they 'got a deal'.
"We'll look this over and send it on to Herbert Flowers and get back with you as soon as we can," I told Doug.
A.J. told him we'd turn on the fax machine as soon as we hung up, which we did.
The telephone rang immediately, the fax machine came on and we had two pages of figures within a minute.
While I started looking at the papers Doug sent, A.J. called Curtis Cunningham and explained what we were doing and that we needed to have some household furnishings appraised. At first he seemed reluctant, then when he understood that it was about nine rooms worth, he was interested. As Doug had told us, he based his fee on 10% of what he thought it should bring if he was having a sale.
It was 3:30. He could either meet us at 4 p.m. or the next afternoon. Since we had to drive to Oklahoma City to pick up Laura, we opted for the appointment in a half hour.
The next phone call was to Herbert and I think we were both amazed he was in his office at that time of the day. We later found out he was working on our "money" project.
We explained what was going on and we both could tell that he was stunned things were moving so quickly.
"I didn't think you would find a place for several months and then it would be several more before you could get the remodeling accomplished," he told us.
He told us he was going to call Doug to get the owners names because he wanted to run a credit check on them.
"Doug told us there were no liens on the property," A.J. said.
"Yes, but if you are going to buy furnishings, I need to make sure those aren't secured or under a purchase contract. They could be repossessed from you and get the owners in trouble for selling items that had a payment contract on them," he said.
I hadn't thought of this, but that's why Herbert was an attorney and I wasn't.
"Regardless, I'll tell Doug to talk to them about this, too. If the furniture isn't clear and you want it, we can deal on those contracts directly and pay them off."
"Herbert, in looking over the figures that Doug sent us, it appears that it is going to take about $425,000 to close on the house," I told him.
"Well, you've got that much available, with some left over."
"Can we use any of the extra $25 thousand to buy the furniture?" A.J. asked.
"Oh, probably. I'm sure Laura would have no problem since she gave the money to you for the house and this is part of the house," he laughed.
I was a little relieved, but knew that wasn't going to cover the amount it would take to close that part of the deal.
"But, I've been working on your funds today and I've already set up bank accounts for each of you with the first two installments of your 'allowance' in them. You each have $33,500 in your accounts as of now. If you need more money, I can fund it for you with no problem. What I'm doing is basing the funding on an annual amount of $300 thousand figuring a third for income taxes and dividing the rest into 12 equal payments. This figure will change as income from the investments go up and down - hopefully up."
Again, the figures spun in my head. That was strange. All of the years of working as a corporate accountant, figures were just that - something you wrote in the ledger. Yet, when it was your own money, it took on a whole different meaning.
"I'll call Doug as soon as we get off the phone and have him send me everything he has and we'll get the ball rolling on this. Do you have any idea as to when you can have possession and move in?" Herbert asked.
"The people are moving to Houston and are there now, looking for a furnished apartment. I honestly don't think they are taking much more than their clothing and a few personal items. We're meeting a person who handles estate sales in a few minutes and he's going to give us an appraisal on the furniture. Doug recommended that we buy everything, then have our own sale," I said.
"That makes sense. It certainly will get the present owners out of the picture right away and give you a little time to actually decide what to keep and sell."
"We'll get off the phone now so you can call Doug," I said.
"Do you have his cell phone number?" A.J. asked.
"No, why don't you give it to me, then I can find him right away if he's out of the office."
"Thanks, Herbert," I said.
"Hope we hear something from you soon," A.J. said. By the way, we're coming to Oklahoma City tomorrow to pick up Laura and bring her back to Tulsa for a few days."
"That works out good. Come past my office and sign the signature cards and I'll give you each a checkbook. Just let me know what time so I can be here," Herbert told us.
We agreed and hung up the phone.
"Did you think yesterday at this time that we would be doing this today?" I asked A.J. as we were on our way to meet Curtis.
"I certainly didn't. Talk about a whirlwind. I can almost feel the world spinning around," A.J. laughed.
As we drove up the driveway, a Toyota pickup came down the street from the opposite direction and pulled in behind us. A good-looking fellow, probably in his 40's got out and came toward us. He was about 6' tall, graying hair, slender and well dressed.
We introduced ourselves and he followed us into the house. I'd have to ask A.J. about it later, but my gaydar was pinging - big time.
"We want to make an offer on all the furnishings, then we'll have our own sale," I told him.
"Oh, okay. Will you want me to handle that sale?" he asked.
"Probably. We understand the people aren't keeping anything except some personal items and clothing. We need furniture to fill the house, but don't want to keep everything they have."
Curtis had a large briefcase with him and pulled out a headset, plugging it into a micro cassette recorder that must have been voice-activated. We started in the living room and he was spewing out descriptions and amounts almost faster than I could think about it.
The recorder was a great idea, as it allowed him free use of his hands for picking up furniture and other items.
As he was working, A.J. and I wandered around. There were very few items on tables. No pictures on the walls, only 2 candles on the mantle. The owners had either packed up what they were keeping, or didn't have anything to begin with.
We went into the dining room. The same thing there. There was a set of 6 place settings of Lenox china in a simple pattern in the china hutch. Some very cheap goblets and wine stems. It looked like Libby, but may have also been "Early Martha Stewart" as some friends jokingly called her K-Mart specials. There was no flatware in the drawers, only six placemats and napkins. I wondered if they had ever used the dining room. Curtis told us that the furniture was Thomasville, but bottom of the line.
There were no sheets on the beds in the downstairs bedrooms, only a cheap bedspread and pillows on each. The beds didn't have headboards and the frames, box springs and mattresses were old and pretty much worn out. The two dressers and nightstands had probably come from a used furniture place and maybe had been repainted, but certainly not professionally.
There was no furniture in either the upstairs or downstairs hall. The linen closets upstairs produced no sheets or bath towels. There were sheets and spreads on both upstairs beds and towels in the bathrooms, but nothing extra. We discovered that most personal effects had been removed, nothing in dresser drawers and only a few articles of clothing in the closets. The storage cabinets in both baths were empty.
The furniture in the basement den was the best in the house. Well, who could blame them? That's probably where they spent most of their time. There was a very comfortable sofa, two love seats, three coffee tables and four end tables with matching lamps on them in the room. There had probably been a large- screen TV, and it was obvious that speakers and stereo equipment had been removed. The wires were still there.
When we were through, Curtis told us that the best furniture was in the den, the master bedroom and several pieces in the living room.
That left the kitchen and some things in the breezeway, including a charcoal grill and a few aluminum chairs.
Again, the kitchen had been cleaned out of most dishes and appliances - if they had been there to begin with. There was a round dining table and four chairs in one corner. We hadn't looked in the refrigerator, but it and the freezer were empty except for a few things that could be thrown away.
I apologized to Curtis about the furniture.
"Oh, don't do that," he said.
"We thought there was more here than met the eye," I said.
"Actually, you would be surprised. This stuff will sell better than really good quality furniture. Most people are looking for things to furnish a new home, like newlyweds, or maybe a second home - a cabin or weekend place."
"I hadn't thought about that, but some of the nicer things I had in my home hadn't sold very well. In fact that's the reason I kept a Century dining room table, chairs and china hutch. It didn't sell and the fellow was going to take it to an auction. It had cost $3,500 twenty-five years ago and I sure couldn't replace it for that now."
Curtis grinned at me. "It doesn't always pay to buy the best. It looks good and lasts forever, but when you want to sell it, it might as well be made of wood chips that have been painted."
"You got it," I agreed.
A.J. was still poking around in the kitchen cabinets. There was a set of new cookware, heavy aluminum with Teflon lining and glass lids. I'd seen it before, but couldn't think of the brand name.
"Now, that will sell quickly, and at almost new price," Curtis told us. "It's funny what people will buy and what they will ignore."
"We have enough kitchen appliances and gadgets to get us started anyway," I said. I kept a lot of things I probably shouldn't have, but I like to cook and the replacement was going to be a lot more than they would have sold for."
"Excuse me for asking. but are you guys." Curtis was choosing his words carefully.
"A couple?" A.J. asked, with a grin on his face.
"Yes," Curtis said, obviously relieved at the help.
"We are," I said. "Newlyweds at that," I grinned.
"Excuse me, but you don't look like the typical gay couple I deal with." He was still a little uncomfortable.
"We have an age difference, I guess, but I don't think it's going to be a problem," I told him.
"If anything, I may have trouble keeping up with him," A.J. teased.
We all laughed.
"Well, fellows, that's grand. Good luck and a lot of happiness to you," he told us.
"Thanks," we replied, almost together.
"As I see it, if you want me to do a sale for you, we could schedule it in a couple of weeks. I would suggest moving everything you don't want into the garage and I'll bring in tables and we'll put everything out, price it and go from there. I'll charge you 30% of the sale price on everything and ask that you pay me $450 for appraisal on the things you've pointed out that you want to keep."
That certainly was fair and we'd have other things to add to the sale that were in the apartment.
"I forgot to ask about the drapes in the living room, dining room and bedrooms. Are you going to keep those?" Curtis asked us.
"They aren't that bad. Certainly we'll replace them later, but they don't clash with anything. They are new, or at least were bought for these rooms, I think," I added.
"Not a problem. They are of fair quality and were custom made by a professional shop."
"Maybe we can add them to a sale you're having when we replace them down the road a ways," A.J. put in.
"That's fine. I'll sit down at the computer, make a detailed listing on a spreadsheet and can either email you the file or fax the report to you. You can mark the stuff you want to keep and we'll settle on a date for the sale as soon as you know what your possession date is."
Curtis packed his briefcase back up and started to leave. I remembered that we hadn't looked in the large basement room. We went down to look at the exercise equipment.
"Good stuff," said Curtis. "Again, it won't bring much on a sale. If you guys are into working out, I'd keep it. You've got everything you need for a home gym except a treadmill."
"We like to walk outside whenever we can, and the hills in this part of town will be good to exercise on," A.J. said.
The three of us walked back up the stairs and let Curtis out, telling him goodbye.
A.J. and I went into the living room and sat down on the love seat. We just sat there and looked around, then started pointing various features out and discussing them. It really was a neat house. The remodeling was well thought out and although there were a couple of things that didn't seem to fit, the project had been done correctly. We both liked the fact that you could stand in the upper hall and look down into the living room.
We were soon on the way upstairs to look again.
"I can hardly wait to rip up the carpet and see what the instruments sound like in here," I said.
"We might be able to do that next week," A.J. said, giving me a kiss. I returned it, wondering if the present owners loved each other as much as A.J. and I did. Somehow, I doubted it.
"Yeah, we'll have to see if they need to be refinished." I had another thought. "I wonder if maybe we should have a moveable platform built for the organ? One that's on rubber wheels."
"What about the cables?" A.J. asked.
"Not a problem. There is a power cable on the console and a 15-wire round computer cable that runs to the four amplifiers. It just needs to be protected that someone doesn't step on it."
"Oh, I thought it was a great big, thick cable," A.J. said.
"You mentioned screening the doors with a facade of pipes," I said. "How about a wall that goes up about 8 feet with a platform that ties it to the bedroom wall? It would screen the doors; we could put the organ speakers on the platform and screen them with the facade of pipes."
"Are they easy to find?" he questioned.
"Sure. Every organ serviceman has stuff they've taken out of churches. Most are glad to get rid of them so they don't have to store them," I said. "I'll show you those pictures of the old studio again."
We walked through the house again, standing in each room, our arms around the other's waist. Just standing there and taking it all in. having a hard time believing our luck.
There was a call on the answering machine from Doug Reynolds when we got home. A.J. and I both needed to use the bathroom before returning it.
"Is this what you want to do?" I asked as we walked back into the living room.
"Yes, but only if you are satisfied," A.J. told me.
"Let's do it. I think this is a good deal and it certainly has what we need in the way of space."
A.J. and I exchanged a kiss. "Call him," I said.
Doug told us, "I've talked to Herbert and we're ready to start the paperwork to close the deal if that's what you want to do."
"What about an inspection for termites or structural fitness?" I asked.
"The company that did each of them two years ago has updated their certificates. It's already taken care of," Doug said.
"Okay, just happened to think of it now," I said.
"When are the owners coming back to town?" I asked.
"They will be here on Friday afternoon. They have some things stored that they want to pick up and will rent a one-way trailer. It's more than will go in their two cars."
"Do we need to meet them?" I questioned.
"They actually don't have to be at the closing, because they are signing their interest over to the mortgage company. I don't know what the reason for that is, but I guess they had some kind of agreement to do that."
"The reason I asked is that Curtis is preparing a listing of the furnishings and we should know later this evening what the estimated sale value of it is. On closer examination, a lot of it isn't very good, but Curtis said that usually sells better than the expensive furniture."
"Is there anything else in the house that they want to take with them?" A.J. asked.
"I'll have to find out for sure, but I don't think so. I think they reached an agreement with the mortgage company to let them have the house if it didn't sell by the end of the month. Since you are buying it, the mortgage company doesn't have any claim unless you wait until after that to close; it could change everything because they could demand a much higher price."
"Get on the closing," A.J. said, sounding concerned.
"Yeah, Doug, we don't want to screw this up," I laughed.
"Quite frankly, the mortgage company is relieved because of all the legal implications if they were to take the property back. All they want is the money due them."
"We're going to Oklahoma City tomorrow, probably in the morning, to get my grandmother and bring her back to Tulsa for a few days. We're going to see Herbert while we're there. Is there anything that you need to have us take to him?" A.J. asked.
"Yes, it will save us FedEx-ing some things back and forth. I'll drop a contract off at your apartment on the way home. You'll need to sign it at his office where it can be notarized, and then return it to me. He can have the checks prepared and I can have everything back tomorrow afternoon instead of Friday or Monday. In that case, you actually don't have to go to the closing, either, and the house will be yours tomorrow afternoon."
"That's simple," I said.
"There isn't really a formal closing on this deal. We give the mortgage company the checks they need along with the signed contract and that's it. If you were financing the house with a mortgage company, it would get a lot more complicated.
"We need to talk to A.J.'s grandmother about picking her up, but we'll probably be back here in time for a late lunch. We can bring the things Herbert gives us to your office before we eat," I told him.
"That works for me. We can firm this up when I bring stuff to you later. I'll call before I leave the office."
"Maybe you can have a drink with us, then," A.J. said.
"That sounds good. I've worked so hard on this deal," Doug laughed.
We had no sooner hung up than the phone rang again. It was Herbert.
"Have you talked to Doug about what's happening on the house deal?" he asked.
"Yes, and we're bringing the paperwork he's preparing with us tomorrow, but we need to find out when Laura wants us to pick her up," I said.
A.J. added, "Doug said that if we carry the paperwork, the house could be ours by late tomorrow afternoon."
"That's right," Herbert said. "Doug faxed me everything I need and I can cut the checks needed to give the mortgage company and other fees that need to be paid. It's almost a done deal. If you carry the paperwork back and forth, it just speeds everything up a couple of days."
"We need to check with grandmother about picking her up, but I think we can come see you, pick her up and be back in Tulsa to give Doug the closing papers and checks, then have a late lunch," A.J. said.
"Are you guys going to be in shape to show Laura the house after you have lunch?" Herbert asked.
It took me a couple of seconds to realize that he thought we were going to celebrate by having a liquid lunch. He was probably right.
"We'll try not to get carried away, but we do have reason to celebrate, don't we?" A.J. asked.
"Yes, and I wish I could be there to join you. Do you have pictures of the house?" he asked.
"We took a bunch with our digital camera today. We'll print up the best ones and bring them along," I said.
"Great, I'm anxious to see them. Then, maybe I can make a personal inspection sometime soon after you get moved," he said.
"Let us call grandmother right now and we'll call you right back," A.J. said.
"That's fine. I'll be here for another half hour, or you can call me at home. My number is 555-9684," he told us. A.J. wrote the number down.
"We'll call you before you leave there," A.J. told him, then pushed the button to break the connection as soon as Herbert acknowledged what A.J. said.
Within 20 seconds we had Laura on the line again. Ma Bell was making a little money off us today.
After we exchanged greetings, she listened as we brought her up to date on our house deal and was especially interested that we were going to see Herbert and hand carry the necessary paperwork to finalize our purchase.
"Can we pick you up about 11 o'clock?" A.J. asked.
"That would be fine. I can be ready earlier, if need be," Laura said.
"No," I broke in. We'll still be back in time to take the paperwork to Doug and then the three of us can go to lunch."
"I called my friends and they invited us to go to dinner on Friday night, so if you've made any plans you'll have to cancel them," Laura told us.
"No plans," I said. "I'm writing it on the calendar right now."
After saying our goodbyes, A.J. broke the connection and called Herbert again. We made arrangements to be at his office at 10 o'clock.
We hadn't much more than hung up from talking to him when Doug called again. He was ready to leave his office and would be at our place in about 20 minutes.
"How about we have that drink at your place, then I take you out to dinner? I'd like the chance to get better acquainted with both of you."
"That's fine with us," I said as A.J. nodded his head.
We decided if we were going out to dinner, we should probably look a little more presentable. We took turns in the bathroom and I reminded A.J. when we were trading spaces that we would soon have a big bathroom with two basins and could shave at the same time.
"Yeah, and don't forget the bidet," A.J. teased. "I can hardly wait to try washing out my asshole after you've deposited a big load up there."
We hugged each other and shared a kiss. I would like to have taken him back to the bedroom and stripped his clothes off right then, but we didn't need to keep Doug waiting.
Both of us shed the Levis and pulled out Dockers and polo shirts. It was amazing what washing ones face, putting on fresh deodorant, a squirt of cologne and clean clothes would do for you.
A.J. had just started filling the ice bucket when Doug knocked on the door. Good, he was dressed just like us. We had picked the right outfits for the evening.
Doug also liked his martinis as we did. He chose Bombay Sapphire Gin and A.J. and I drank our usual Beefeaters. We had one bottle of Tomolives left. These are pickled green tomatoes, but look like olives. A.J. speared two on a toothpick for each of us. When Doug bit into his, he got a pleasantly surprised look on his face and wanted to know what they were.
I told the story of my discovery. I hadn't been able to find them in Wichita, but some friends found them in their grocery store in another city and I usually bought 6 bottles each time I visited them. I hadn't looked for them in Tulsa, but surely someone here stocked them.
Doug was going to look at his grocery store and said he would buy some for us if he found them.
The three of us had a great, relaxed visit. It turned out that Doug had a lover, who was away visiting his parents, both of which were going to have to go to an assisted living facility. Doug and Tom lived about 3 blocks from our new home. We found out that there were at least six other gay couples that lived within two or three blocks.
"We're going to have to watch out, otherwise the area may get the nickname of 'the gay ghetto'," Doug laughed.
He wanted to know of our plans for the house and we told him that the first project would be to make the downstairs bathroom accessible only from the corner bedroom, then to turn the other bedroom into an office, but put a stool and lavatory in one corner, with an access door from the hall.
"Sounds like you've solved that awkward problem. When I looked at the house, I thought it was a poor arrangement, with the two bedroom and bathroom doors opening into the living room. I hadn't really thought it all the way through."
He thought our idea of concealing the two remaining doors was a good one and that organ pipes would certainly add interest to the room.
"So, are you going to move next week?" Doug questioned.
"If we get everything signed, sealed and delivered, we'll probably start moving furniture that we don't want into the garage over the weekend. The first project will be to rip the carpeting out of the living room to see if the floor has to be refinished. If it does, then we'll rip the carpet out of the dining room and possibly the hall, then have the floors refinished before we do anything else," I said.
"Let me give you the name and number for a fellow who does excellent work. He's reasonable and will be in and out of there in two or three days time," Doug told us.
"It's going to look pretty bare to begin with and I think we'll be taking our time buying furnishings," A.J. said. I shook my head in agreement.
We had a second round of drinks, and then went to a really good oriental restaurant for dinner.
After Doug dropped us back at the apartment, we stripped down to our shorts and sat in the living room to talk about the day.
This was Tuesday evening. The last two days had been a blur, having been given the money to buy a house, then finding exactly what we wanted immediately. and at a bargain basement price. The best part was that the place needed very little done to it before we moved in. If the floors needed to be refinished, that would be done before moving anything in. Might as well get the dust out of the way first.
To say we were excited would be an understatement. We were elated! A.J. hauled out the pad with measurements and the list of furniture and we were just starting to discuss it when the telephone rang. It was Curtis and he wanted to verify our email address to send us the spreadsheet file. He used Quattro Pro, also, so we could read the data with no problem.
After he hung up, I accessed our account and the file arrived shortly after I logged on. I downloaded it and started it printing so we could look at it together. He had grouped it by room and had two columns of amounts. The first column was for the things he thought we wanted to keep for ourselves and the second was the "sale" column.
It was no surprise that there wasn't a great deal of value to what was going to be sold, but it still came to a reasonable amount. We weren't out to make any money on the deal and we could pay the present owners an amount that was fair. Actually the things we wanted to keep weren't priced that high, a reminder as to what I'd run into at my own sale several months before. The total Curtis said to offer them was close to $19,000, taking into consideration his commission on the sale. We decided that this wasn't that good of a deal for us, but would help them out as they had already taken a severe beating on being able to get out from under the mortgage. We decided to go with it and A.J. called Doug to have him make an offer for us.
After printing about a dozen pictures to show Herbert and each of us having a couple glasses of port wine we decided that we were tired. We need to be up early and on our way to Oklahoma City by 8:30 since our appointment with Herbert was a 10 a.m.
After brushing our teeth and taking care of other bathroom needs, we stripped and crawled into bed, wrapping ourselves around each other. We must have been really tired, because I didn't remember anything after a passionate goodnight kiss. A.J. told me the next morning that he was the same way. We must not have moved because when I woke up about 5:30 to pee, we were still laying in the same position as we went to sleep. As I was making my way back to the bedroom, A.J. sleepily stumbled into the bathroom to do the same.
The next thing we knew, it was 7:15. We lay there and idly played with each other, not trying to achieve a climax, just loving looking and feeling each other. We did, however, stimulate each other almost to orgasm with our hands and fingers, kissing each other passionately. When it was time to shoot, we swung into a 69 and finished each other. It wasn't the greatest sex we'd had, but we weren't out to win any contest this morning.
After getting out of bed, I headed to the kitchen to start the coffeepot and pour orange juice for us. A.J. was shaving as I stepped back into the bathroom. I set two glasses of juice on the counter and brushed my teeth. Somehow, cum-flavored orange juice didn't appeal to me. Then I thought of the Anita Bryant orange juice commercials of years ago and started laughing at the idea.
"What's so funny?" A.J. questioned.
I told him and we both had a good laugh at the idea of her advertising cum-flavored orange juice.
We dressed casually for the day, made the bed and straightened up the apartment and were ready to leave by 8:15. Both cars needed fuel, so we drove them to a Phillips 66 station about a mile from the apartment, then returned mine to the parking lot at the complex. That way we didn't have to fill it later.
It seemed like we had driven back and forth so many times in the past few weeks that both cars should know the way with no help from us, but of course, that wasn't true. Traffic was heavy this morning and not all moving at the same speed so A.J. was continually going back and forth from using cruise control to speeding up or slowing down to avoid traffic problems. There had been talk of making this turnpike 6 lanes and I could certainly see where it would be helpful this morning, although there was no guarantee that slower traffic would stay in the right lane.
We arrived at Herbert's office just at 10 a.m. He had just parked his car and walked into the building with us.
It didn't take long to get the paperwork signed and notarized and receive the envelope containing the checks and other papers to go back to Doug. Herbert then had us sign the signature cards, and had set it up so each of us could sign on both accounts. I don't know how he had accomplished it, but had new personalized checks for us with both names printed on them AND... our new address! He also had TransFund Cards for each of us, Bank of Oklahoma's answer to an ATM/Check Guarantee card.
We showed him pictures of the house and he was suitably impressed.
"I had no idea this deal would happen so quickly," he told us.
"Thanks for connecting us with Doug Reynolds," I said.
A.J. agreed. "He is tremendous to work with."
"It's really interesting how all this fell together. Doug just happened to have the right listing. If you had worked with another realtor, this deal probably wouldn't have come about," Herbert told us.
We agreed. Things that were supposed to happen just did.
We picked Laura up just before 11 a.m. She had two small cases and a garment bag, which probably contained suits and long dresses.
Of course, we were all glad to see each other although it had been less than 48 hours since we'd told her goodbye on Monday.
We had barely gotten started down the street when Laura announced that A.J.'s parents were getting ready for another trip. "You'll never guess where they're going this time?"
I was sitting in the backseat and leaned up to join the conversation.
Laura started laughing. "An African Safari in Kenya."
"What?" A.J. laughed. Soon all three of us were laughing.
"Well, Mother might be able to find a bridge game, but I don't think Dad is going to be able to find any appliance stores to visit."
I, of course, had not met the parents yet, but from what I'd been told, I didn't think a safari was "their thing" to do.
"When are they leaving?" A.J. asked.
"Friday morning. They just called me last night to say they would be gone for two weeks as they are going to Cairo before and Cape Town afterward. Can you imagine?" she asked.
"No, quite frankly, I can't. They certainly are out to experience everything they can this year, aren't they?" A.J. asked.
"I was counting up last night. This is the 11th trip they've taken this year. They've been to Hawaii twice, Cancun, the Bahamas, England, Europe, Alaska, Toronto, Singapore, the Virgin Islands and Mexico," Laura told us.
"And I bet you that they can't tell us anything about any of the places," A.J. laughed.
"Right," said Laura. "Betsy played bridge the whole time and Jim visited every appliance store he could find and probably told the owners how to run it."
"They could stay home and do that," I said.
"Sure, but then they couldn't brag to their country club friends about having gone to all these places," Laura said.
"The sad thing is that some of their friends have gone on these excursions with them and haven't learned anything about where they've been, either," A.J. told us.
"Well, enough of trashing them and their trips," Laura said. "I want to know more about the house, how you found it. the whole story."
So, for the next hour we told the story, interrupting each other, adding to what had been said and answering Laura's many questions. I pulled out the pictures to show her, but she declined.
"I want to see it through my own eyes. I only look at pictures if I can't see the real thing," she said.
I'd have to remember that. Although pictures were meaningful, they really didn't do justice to the view they represented.
Doug's office was on East 15th, close to the Broken Arrow Expressway and we found it with no problem. A.J. took the large manila envelope in to give to Doug. He needed our signatures on two more documents so A.J. came back to the car to have me go inside.
"Don't forget to have utilities changed and you probably should call your insurance agent and get coverage on the house," Doug told us.
We had already thought of this, but hadn't done it. We could take care of that after lunch.
"I'll have all the papers and legal documents for you about 4:30," Doug told us. "Is it okay if I drop them by on my way home?"
"Sure. A.J.'s grandmother is visiting us for a few days, but we should be at the apartment at that time."
We went to the Brookside area, on South Peoria for lunch at a really good bistro. I'd eaten there once before and the food was good. The lunch rush was over, so we were able to relax and enjoy the meal and conversation with each other.
Our new house was only a few blocks away and it didn't take long to drive there. A.J. took a route that would bring us to the place from the east, because you could see the house as you came around a curve. Coming from the west, you couldn't see the house until you were at the driveway. He stopped a couple of houses away so we could enjoy the view, then inched his way up the street and turned into the driveway.
"This place is beautiful," Laura said. "In fact, I think that Warren and Margaret Traumen lived here at one time. They were friends of ours years ago and we got acquainted with them through some other friends."
We had parked and were getting out of the car. I had the key and unlocked the door. A.J. helped Laura into the front hall.
"I remember the hall and this stairway," Laura said, with some excitement in her voice.
We led her into the living room and she was astounded. Of course, it didn't look the same because it was now a two-story room. Clearly, she was impressed. "What a beautiful room and it'll be so great for entertaining," she said.
The next stop was the dining room. "This room used to be paneled up to the wainscoting," we were told. They've made the room a lot lighter than it used to be."
The kitchen was the next stop and she was properly impressed. She especially liked the "panty area" which was a double unit of built-in cabinets that had plenty of storage for canned goods and everything else you could think of. The unit had several sections that swung out. I hadn't realized how much food storage there was until today.
We walked back into living room from the hall at the back, showing her the bedrooms and our plans for the remodeling that needed to be done to make one bedroom and bath, turning the other bedroom into an office and adding a hall half-bath for guests to use. Laura agreed with our ideas and we could tell she was pleased with "her room".
The next stop was the basement and Laura had no problem with the wide stairs. I was glad that there were rails on both sides. Again, she was impressed with what was there and loved the den with it's own fireplace.
We went back up to the back hall, going into the breezeway and looking at the garages. When we were back inside, we walked to the front entry area and went up the stairs to the second floor. Again, I was glad that the stairway wasn't carpeted and had a nice wood rail on the wall. Laura loved the view into the living room from the upstairs hall. We proudly showed her our room, bath and walk-in closet. "Now what are you going to use a bidet for?" teased Laura.
A.J. turned red and I laughed. End of discussion.
We went into the second bedroom and Laura agreed with our thoughts that it wasn't the best arrangement of bedroom, bathroom and walk-in closet. She thought it was possible that there might have been three additional rooms upstairs before they were taken out to become part of the living room. She was positive she had been there before but told us that the house was certainly more stunning than it had been years before. A.J. being the historian he is, told her that he was going to try to trace the history of the house.
When I pulled a drawer open in the closet of the smaller bedroom, I discovered the house plans. There were two sets. One was probably the original and the second was as the house now was. There had been two additional rooms on the second floor, but the arrangement now was completely different than original.
We took the plans with us to look at later.
Going back downstairs, we walked into the living room again, pointing out the furniture we wanted to keep. Laura agreed that there were only 4 pieces that were worth keeping. We were curious about the floor under the carpeting. A.J. went out to the garage and found a hammer and screwdriver. Quickly working in one corner of the room, we soon were able to uncover about 4 square feet of flooring.
"Looks good to me," I said. A.J. was also excited at what we were seeing. Laura walked over.
"If the rest of the floor is in as good of shape as this, there won't be anything we have to do to it," I said. The floor would have to be cleaned, buffed and waxed. It didn't appear that there was a high-gloss varnish on it and that was fine. We could call Doug's friend to see if he could clean the floors and wax them. This meant that there would probably be carpeting to sell from the living room, dining room and downstairs hall. We would leave the carpet in the bedroom and office.
We went back to sit down and talk some more. Laura was just as excited about the house as we were. She was in agreement about buying all the furniture and keeping what we wanted. Then she wanted to look at the kitchen again.
"I never had a large kitchen like this. I know you will enjoy this."
We hadn't shown her how the wall between the dining room and kitchen folded back into panels. We unlatched them at the top and bottom and opened the rooms into one.
"This will be great for large parties, especially if it's cocktails and buffet. There won't be any traffic problems with this wall opened up." Laura was really impressed.
She hugged both of us. "I don't think you could have found a better house if you'd had it designed and custom-built. This is just grand. Congratulations to both of you, my favorite grandsons."
We were proud, too. "Laura, thank you from the bottoms of our hearts. I don't know how we can possibly repay you for what you've done for us." I said this with tears running down my cheeks.
She hugged each of us again. "Just love each other and take care of each other. forever!" she told us.
(to be continued)
Author's Note: I would appreciate your comments, criticism, suggestions, and anything else that you would care to say. All Email will be answered. If you wish to receive e-mail notification of subsequent postings, please let me know by sending your request to the e-mail address below. Contact me at: tulsadriller7@aol.com