Joan looked over hers and asked my advice. I told her, “You should add a few more rooms you may need them at a later date for nieces to sleep over once in a while.”
She looked at me and giggled before she said, “Instead of them sleeping over, you and Kathryn can go over, and I’ll come over here. My nieces can sleep in their own bed. You will just have to change the sheets on mine.”
I chuckled and ask her, “Where your kids going to sleep?”
Joan gets a thoughtful look on her face, “I never thought of that, I guess I will have to have a couple smaller bedrooms added.” Joan gets Daniel to add total four bedrooms that make her house have a total of seven bedrooms. She has Jack and Jill bath instead of each bedroom having separate baths on the smaller bedrooms.
I also suggest they should have safe rooms built as well. I said, “Just in case we have a tornado or something, you may not be able to get to my house in time, but you’ll be always welcome.”
Daniel adds that to their homes, it really doesn’t cost that much more to add because they all have basements anyway.
We decide to continue on with the class until Alyssa, Johnny and Mom return from California, which may be another week.
Them leaving seem to bring on the rain, we’ve had several inches and the last two weeks and the Lake has responded well, coming back up to a usable level. We have been fortunate that none of them have been severe thunderstorms. Although the Lake is a little murky it would be fine for just riding around in Kathryn speedboat.
After trading today we decide we’re going to go to a movie and dinner out. Of course I bring the entire family and we descend upon a restaurant we like in town. The owner has a bright smile on his face as he ushers us in. We get two waiters considering how large our party is, and we easily take up half the restaurant dining area. It being the middle summer there’s not a lot of people here. Our little town isn’t that much of a tourist attraction. The Lake is not that large and we’re too close to the smoky mountains and too far away from the coast.
There is some farming in the wider valleys near here, but not much. Nothing in the way of industry has ever really been part of this area. There is some lumber but not extensively. So this area is pretty sparsely populated it wasn’t for this small town they would be much here at all. That was the reason I initially like this area. I wanted to get away from the larger cities and their major problems. Now I can’t see myself living anywhere but a small town like this.
I bump into one of the chief organizers for our Christmas charities an older man by the name of Jeremy. It’s a chance for me to brag on Sam. I’m telling about how she got such a kick out of giving her birthday present as gifts to the family. He is thinking as well as I am and we both blurt out at the same time. “That’s what we need to do.”
I guess that’s how the idea started, were going to help some underprivileged children and let them do Christmas shopping for their parents and siblings. The only rule is they can’t buy anything for themselves. We may have to limit them to a certain dollar amount for each parent and siblings so we can help as many as possible. The fundraising will begin before this month is over, and I agree to match every Dollar they raise.
We’re talking right at our table. Marshall gives him a check for fifty thousand dollars. Jeremy has an astonished look on his face as he looks at Marshall. MC and Joan wouldn’t be outdone either, and they hand him another two checks for fifty thousand each. Jeremy is eyes go wide he quickly realizes that easily going to be more than three hundred thousand dollars for this new program.
Jeremy places the three checks in his shirt pocket with a large smile. He shakes Marshall’s and gives Joan and MC a peck on their cheek say his thanks before he leaves. That should give the kids between two and three thousand dollars each to spend. It wouldn’t surprise me that he’ll cover to three counties with this money.
I remember when I was four years old, wanting to buy Mom something for the holiday. Once I was older I asked her for an allowance and I would say that up, she didn’t get a surprise under the tree but she usually had a tear in her eye at the store. I hope this makes some kids holidays brighter.
I know that some parents never get a single Christmas present until the children are out of the house and on their own, they much rather spend the money on their kids, then even give the kids allowance to have the kids spend money on them. I feel sorry for those children. They never get to feel the joy of giving. So they definitely lose out on part of the fun, and maybe the most important lesson in the holidays.
It still July and that’s a lot of time for Jeremy to raise money, and I tell you the truth I hope he raises a lot. We have a lot to do ourselves, ought to figure out what to get the family. This year I have Sam help me. She did an excellent job with her birthday gifts. Misty definitely used her cookbook. You need only to flip through it to realize that. There’s more than one stain on the pages. Marshall is very happy with his present too, he is wearing his tennis shoes right now. Alyssa was wearing her charm bracelet when she boarded the plane. Joan got her a good luck bead for her bracelet. Mom bought her best friend bead for it.
Sam like normal is on my lap, after Jeremy leaves Sam slides over stands on the edge of the chair and kisses me on the cheek. Sam giggles and says, “Mommy don’t you just love Daddy when he does things like that.”
Kathryn giggles, “Why yes I do Sam. He makes me so proud sometimes, especially when he does things like this and doesn’t realize how many people’s lives he’s going to touch.”
Coach chuckles, “Your Daddy used to try to hide all the good he was doing. But it just made it all the more obvious to the people who knew him.”
Helen with a giggle says, “Why do you think there were three ministers that insisted on helping with JJ’s and Kathryn’s wedding. Nearly eight thousand people showed up for it. Why we hired every restaurant in town to cater. Sam it’s because, soon after your Dad moved here he started doing things. Money appeared like out of nowhere for charities. The county hasn’t been able to foreclose on a single house. Someone always pays their taxes just before their houses auctioned off. He learned to cook from a retired teacher, as a way to feed her and few of her neighbors.”
Misty giggles, “Marshall is that why, were taken lessons from Ms. Sims.”
Marshall shakes his head yes with a smile. Then he says, “Maybe we’ll take your younger sister to start classes soon. She’s getting a little suspicious because you’re getting too good.”
Kathryn’s eyes light up, as she says, “I need to gets some lessons on dinner. JJ and I got breakfast down pretty good.”
Chuckling I say, “I’m better now that Sam is helping me. She’s a great spotter for the pancakes.” I give her a kiss and then place her back in my lap.
Sam giggles, “That’s because you keep looking at Mommy.”
Now I confess to Sam with a chuckle, “Whenever your Mommy is around I have a tough time paying attention to anything else very long, but maybe you Sam.”
Sam giggles, “That’s good Daddy, I know that’s because you love us.”
The food arrives in cuts our conversation short. This is one of the better restaurants in town, but you really couldn’t tell it other than us there are only two tables occupied. I know some of the other restaurants are having it tough too. The first thing when the economy goes bad people stop eating out, of course when the economy recovers the few restaurants that remain usually do very well.
We take our time eating, and the conversation goes well a lot of lighter subjects. The wait staff here is always right there when you need them, my tea hardly ever gets empty as well as anyone else’s around the table. When Sam says she didn’t like one of the sides I ordered, they bring order mac & cheese for her. The way the owner runs this place is like a well-oiled machine. Considering two of the wait staff is his daughters, and seemed to be born to the business.
The wait staff still does their job well, but they’re missing the cheery attitude, especially his daughters that I’m accustomed to seeing around here. I can tell something is wrong, there’s nothing wrong with the food is excellent. There’s something else that seemed to hang in the air, like a low cloud over your airport. It’s there and there’s nothing you can do about it, you can’t fly forever so sometime you just going to have to trust your instruments and land. Right now my instruments are my instincts, and what they’re telling me is there something happening that they don’t want to share with anyone else.
When one of the tables gets up to leave and stops of the cashier, the owner, Robert everybody calls Bobby, simply smiles and says the check is on him tonight. They gleefully think him and leave. I move Sam to Kathryn’s lap, and she can tell I sent something is wrong. I walk up to the teller, where the owner still stands. He smiles and says, “JJ there’s no charge tonight, you can tip your wait staff if you wish.”
With a look over my shoulders at the table I realize they’re serving desserts to everyone. I shake my head before I ask, “You can’t really afford this can you?”
He shakes his head and says, “It’s either give it away or let it go bad. As much good you’ve done around here, I can’t think of anybody better to give it to than your family.”
I chuckle looking straight in the face I say, “Haven’t you heard no good deed goes unpunished.”
He raises an eyebrow before asking, “What good deed deserves punishment?”
I said, “Well you fed me for free. The least I can do is keep you in business. Besides that this is my favorite restaurant in the area. If you went out of business, I would have to hire your chef, and there’s no way I can keep her busy enough.” His chef happens to be his wife Mary.
He takes deep breath he says, “That’s a nice offer JJ but you don’t know how deep in the hole I am. I mortgage my house and this restaurant to try to keep going. I owe almost two hundred thousand dollars and the bank is threatening to foreclose in a week or so.”
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