***************
The girls and their stepbrother were gone quite a while and I was wondering where they were. Did I know this boy? Should I be worried? I went down the stairs and toward the gazebo. I was almost there when the three of them came around from Ashley's house. They had been visiting Mrs. Hamlin, and to prove it they had saved me a cookie. I decided it was time I took Mark home.
When we got there, Jean invited me in for coffee. I declined, but I did talk a minute with her, asking if Mark was a good driver in case he had to drive the girls somewhere while he was working with me. She said he was good and she had ridden with him. Before I left with the kids, she thanked me for letting her babysit Lindsey and Marie. She said it was nice to be away from home where there wasn't so much tension. I deduced that Jean's wonderful lawyer husband wasn't the easiest to live with ? too, too bad.
I spent the morning making calls and ordering material for the renovation job. I finished the paperwork Peterson needed to review and handed it to him when I went for Mark. I would make application sometime this afternoon when Mark was deconstructing the deli ramp. I picked Mark up and he was waiting just as he said he would be. I put him to work with a sledgehammer and wrecking bar while I went to make the application. Ralph said I was right on the money with the permit forms and to go for it. I filed them and would hear within the week if I would get the permit.
I helped Mark load what he had pulled apart and sent him to the dump with the first load. This ramp may have looked ready to fall down, but it didn't come apart that easily. We struggled where it was bolted and attached to the cement posts. We got all but one of the nuts off. On that one we broke the bolt itself and I sent Mark down to the hardware section at Home Depot to get a replacement for all of them because of the rust.
To end the day we put up a barrier and some police tape so no one would think there was a ramp there. When we got back to the apartment, I handed Mark the keys and said I would meet him at Home Depot at seven in the morning. "You mean you want me to take the truck home?"
"Yes. I was thinking if you didn't have a date or anything you might want to go see your mother or something."
"That's going to put an extra twenty miles on the truck."
"Your mother would like to see you wouldn't she?"
"Yes."
"Okay then, I'll see you tomorrow morning."