Cardinal Meadows. Episode 8

"If I didn’t come up with something, they might just decide to take their pay in blood and busted ribs, mine."

Duet. 24:15 Pay them their wages each day before sunset, because they are poor and are counting on it.

Most of the trash in the house was now the trash in the back of the Dex’s and Twit’s large dump truck. With a decent rest break and the energy provided by Spooner’s Spaghetti-Os and curry chicken concoction, we were ready to finish clearing the trash from the inside of the house.

Spooner directed us to make long cuts with the pocket knife across the ruined carpeting, cutting it into sections, and to leave any garbage smaller than a cigarette pack on the carpet along with the dirt and little nasties.

As we rolled up the first section of carpet, Dex slid the flat edged shovel under the carpet pad, pealing it off the floor. There was a layer of dust covering the under-layment, so I looked closer. It didn’t have the look of a plywood floor. I asked the guys to hold up. I bent down and wiped the thin layer of dirt away. To our surprise, it revealed what I could have only dreamed of - solid oak flooring. Carefully peeling back the large section of carpeting, we confirmed the find. I had been complaining under my breath all day about how much I hated the carpet and its covering of trash, now only to realize, that the carpet had miraculously preserved the beautiful floor underneath. Absorbing the spills, the dirt, the melted wax and everything else, the carpet had shielded the floor wonderfully.

Even this late in the day, I found new energy. Now, I was in charge, directing the guys to be careful removing the carpet, and not to scratch the floor. Dex suggested that we leave the dirt, to perhaps protect the floor as we dragged the carpet over it. It seemed to make sense. I was so thankful that it was a wall-to-wall carpet. It had been installed throughout the house except of course in the kitchen, bath and laundry. It was a nasty job rolling and carrying the dirt-and-stink-laden carpeting to the truck, but it was worth it. The sooner it was in the truck, the sooner I could sweep the dirt out and find something to wipe the floor down with.

With a couple of hours left in the day, the guys finished cleaning the trash from the yard. All that remained were three stacks: pure trash which we loaded into the truck, a pile of reusable items that Spooner suggested I keep, and then of course the veritable mountain of bedsprings, car motors, rusty tractor parts, squished up chicken wire, wash machines, and, yes, even the veritable cast iron kitchen sink. There was still some work to do, but the vast majority of clean-up was done.

Dex and Twitter told us they were running to the county dump and would be back in an hour to pick up the heavy stuff. When they pulled away, Spooner and I went into the house. Something had been bothering me all day and this was as good a time as any to bring it up.

“Look Spoon, I appreciate your help more than you can imagine. With everything that was accomplished, it's close to a miracle. But look, I just wasn’t prepared to pay these guys, and unless your last name is Bezos, I’m sure that you can’t afford to pay them either. I mean, what does a dump trunk, landfill and two workers normally cost for a day? Four hundred, plus?”

Spooner spoke up. “Dude, I told you it was taken care of, and you didn’t discuss money with these guys, right?”

“No, but I’m going to have to, because there’s no way on God’s green earth that I’m going to let you pay for it.”

“Look, bro. I guess we do stuff a little differently than back where you’re from. I’m telling you, no worries dude. They’ll be getting paid.”

“Are you sure? But how?”

“Cool your jets, Lenster. The Spoon’s got it handled.”

I couldn’t help but worry. Dex and Twitter seemed nice enough, but they weren’t momma’s boys. If I didn’t come up with something, they might just decide to take their pay in blood and busted ribs, mine. But I wanted to trust Spooner too, so I kept my mouth shut and went back to sweeping. Like the boys promised, they arrived an hour later. They backed up to the junk pile and started loading it into the truck.

“Spoon, shouldn’t we get out there and help them?”

“Look Lenny, you better keep working in here, and let me help them. You might say something you shouldn’t.”

Now I was really worried. I swept like a maniac to keep myself occupied. It was about a half an hour before dark when the three came walking into the house. I pulled out my wallet. I hadn’t been to a bank yet to deposit a check with my remaining funds. I had 18 measly dollars in cash and an ATM card. I tried to pull out the money, but before I could, Spooner shot me a look and shook his head, no. Just then Dex reached out towards me and grabbed my hand and shook it so vigorously that an onlooker would have thought it comical.

“Thanks, Lenny. Thanks for the work. From now on, we’re your boys. You call us any time, and we’ll be here to help you out, all right?”

I was in shock. I just stood there speechless nodding my head in the affirmative. Dex and Twitter were wearing ear to ear smiles. Leaving, they both gave Spooner a fist bump and went straight to their dump truck. It was piled far higher than was probably legal, but I figured they knew what they were doing. As they pulled away, I decided to confront Spooner.

“Dang-it Spooner, you paid them didn’t you? Now like I said, I appreciated what you’ve done, but you’ve taken this way too…”

Spooner interrupted me. “Dude, take a breath, yer scarin’ me, yer gonna bust a vein.”

“No, Spooner. I told you that I knew you couldn’t afford to pay them, and still…”

He interrupted me again. “Dude, you’re right. All I got is a jar of change, and that’s mostly pennies. Tell me man, you got the job done, right?”

“Ya, so what’s that got to do with it?”

“Let me ask you. Was there anything in that big pile of junk that you were gonna hang on to?”

“No, of course not.”

“Then what’s your beef? They’ll be getting paid, tomorrow.”

“Yeah? How?”

“Like I told you man, I built my house and pretty much live on what I find or trade for, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Why couldn’t we do the same for you? Trust me, Dex and Twit are getting their Franklins. They haven’t made this kind of cha-cha in months. I figure when they pull into that recycler, tomorrow, with all those engine blocks, trannys, batteries and all that other scrap, they’re gonna come out at least $600 bucks ahead, and they still need to come back for one more load.”

Spooner could see that I was still confused. “Dude, you really don’t have a clue, do ya? It’s a win-win. That junk, the crud that you wanted to trash? It sells for big ka-ching. Don’t you read the paper? The Chinese have driven the price of scrap metal through the roof. Dude, you’re in the clear. The job’s paid for. It was a solid trade. That’s why I didn’t want you talking money with them. You could have thrown a wrench in the whole deal.”

“What?”

“Dude, you gotta start trusting me. This is how I survive.”

I was in shock. “And they were okay with that?”

“They ain’t no Joseph and baby Jesus if that’s what you mean. Sure they wanted money, and trust me, they got what they wanted.”

Spooner sauntered up to me, put his arm across my shoulder and ushered me towards the door. “So Lenny, whataya say we go into the city and get what I want? And oh, for future reference, bro? This hippie drinks only foreign beer.”

Spooner had done it again. As far as I was now concerned, he was the best friend I ever had, and I’d only known him for two days.