Chapter 59

June 22, 1980

The male half of the wedding party was gathered in the back of the church. Tim was the groom. Benny was the best man. Robert was the groomsman. It wasn’t a very talkative group. Tim was thirsty, but afraid of drinking much of anything lest he needed to go the toilet in the middle of the ceremony. Benny was lost in his thoughts about his new house. It was finished, but the second one for the help wasn’t. Robert was just watching the two of them amused by it all. It was amazing that he even knew them, yet they had saved his life and he knew it.

“Your dream is coming, Benny.”

Shaking himself out of his head, Benny replied, “I know. It’s hard not to be impatient. It’ll be another two weeks.”

“Just in time for me to return from my honeymoon to help you move.”

“I’ll have to furnish it.”

“Ikea?”

“God, no. Has that even started yet?”

“I don’t know.”

Robert listened and added another company to the list that he would watch for. So far, it was a pretty long list. Two of the companies, Microsoft and Apple, were already in existence, but they hadn’t gone public yet. He was waiting for them to go public, although Benny assured him that it wouldn’t be anytime soon.

“What about you, Robert?”

“Sorry, I was lost in my thoughts.”

Benny chuckled, “I know how that is.”

Tim asked, “So what do you want out of life now, Robert?”

“I guess my goals aren’t all that different from yours, Tim. A wife and kids would be nice. Of course, I’d like to get use of my legs back.”

“I’m sure you’ll get married and have kids. I fear that getting use of your legs back is a tough one. Medicine hadn’t solved that problem by the time I died. There’s always the other solution: solar eclipse.”

“Yes, I know about that final solution. It’s not one that I’m particularly fond of.”

“Rightfully so.”

“It’s going to be a little tougher finding a good wife now. Word about my money is starting to get out. I’ve been getting calls about donating to charities. I expect the gold diggers will not be far behind.”

Benny looked away for a moment with that phased out expression that he got. Tim and Robert watched him. Robert shrugged.

“Hopefully, he’ll be back in time for the ceremony,” Tim said cheerfully.

“He’s different.”

Benny said, “It’s trite, but you need to establish a good relationship with a private detective. I can’t see any other way of protecting yourself.”

“That’s not a bad idea.”

“You need to do that soon.”

“I will,” Robert said. Wanting to change the subject, he asked, “So, Tim, where are you going on your honeymoon.”

“We’re going on a cruise to Grand Bahama Island.”

The question of where to go on their honeymoon had been talked to death. They considered Paris, Tahiti, Hawaii, and dozen other hot destinations. They could afford any place, but neither one of them was particularly driven to travel that far. It was like they would be going there only because Tim could now afford it. That didn’t seem right to her or him. It was like they were asking the question, are we doing this because we can afford to, or because we want to? Too often the answer was the former.

It was only when Tim talked about the cruise that he had taken in the previous pass through life that Lily seemed to get excited. He told her about the all you can eat buffets, the games on the deck, and swimming in a pool. Then you reached the island and there was lots to do that didn’t cost a fortune. They could walk along sandy beaches, swim in clear blue waters, and see the sights. It was the kind of thing that she could see other people their age do for a honeymoon.

“Private cruise?”

“No. It’s a regular cruise. It was one of the things I did in the first pass, and I remember it fondly. We’ll stay in a better room, but it’s a basic cruise.”

“That does sound like fun. Maybe I ought to do that one day,” Robert said.

“You might enjoy it.”

Inside the church, the female half of the wedding party was busy getting dressed and made up for the ceremony. Lily was acting the nervous bride. Cathy and Sandra were a little melancholy that a wedding was denied them. Lily’s mother was the most flustered of any of them. Her little girl was getting married. The presence of her mother did prevent the three younger women from talking about a lot of topics.

Her mother asked, “Are you looking forward to the honeymoon?”

“Yes, I am.”

“So will you be sleeping on the cruise ship?”

“No. It’s actually not that far from Miami to the Bahamas. We’ll leave early in the morning and arrive about 8 hours later. Tim picked out a nice hotel for us to stay at.”

“Can Tim afford this?”

“Yes.”

“I know that he made some good money selling off the silver coins, but you two should be saving them for a rainy day.”

“Don’t worry, Mom. Tim knows how to save money.”

“He’s only flipping that one house this summer. That’s hardly going to be enough to support you.”

Lily said, “He’s got it covered.”

“It’s just that I worry about you, baby.”

“I know, Mom.”

“And you two. I heard you were taking a trip to Hawaii. I know you made a killing on selling coins, but Hawaii is expensive.”

“We know. Still, we’ve got it covered.”

“It just seems to me that you young people are so irresponsible with your money.”

“Mom.”

“What?”

“Sandra and Cathy made enough on the silver deal to never to have to work again.”

“It’s true. We made a lot of money. We kind of owe ourselves a little vacation.”

“Still...”

“We own the house we live in and we own two rental properties. We’ve got two good little cars. I’m sure you remember how much I worked before I headed off to college.”

“That’s true. I’ve got to admit you were pretty frugal with your money.”

“Yes, so we’re rewarding ourselves with a little trip to Hawaii.”

“It’s just I remember how hard it was starting out when I was your age. It seemed like we were stuck eating the cheap hamburger that was so greasy that you could smell it cooking from a block away. I don’t know how many casseroles we ate. We had to struggle to make the house payment.”

“You made a great home for me,” Lily said.

Wiping her eyes, her mother said, “Let me get your father. He wants to talk to you before the ceremony.”

“Okay, Mom.”

Tim’s father came out to where Tim was waiting for the bride to be ready. He didn’t know Robert, having only been introduced to him the night before. It surprised him that Tim had someone he thought well enough of to serve as a groomsman, without him knowing the guy.

“Hello, Tim, Benny, and ... uh...”

“Robert,” Robert said.

“Sorry, I’m not so good with names.”

“That’s all right. We really haven’t had a chance to get to know each other. Maybe we’ll have a chance to talk at the reception.”

“I hope so,” Tim’s father said.

“So what brings you out here, Dad?”

“I just wanted to see how you were doing.”

“I’m doing fine.”

“Look, you’re talking about taking a cruise ship for your honeymoon. Are you sure that I can’t help you out with that a little. I mean, we made a pretty killing on silver thanks to you.”

“That’s okay, Dad. I’ve got it covered.”

“Still, you’re young and just starting out. You need to be really careful with your money.”

“Dad, I own my house. I have rental properties that bring in a nice amount every month. I’ve flipped a house this year and made some pretty good money off of that, and I did do very well in the silver market.”

“If you’re sure.”

“I’m sure.”

“What are your plans?”

Tim, Benny, and Robert all looked amused.

“What’s so funny?”

“We were just talking about that. Benny’s dreams are coming true. My dreams are coming true. We’re just trying to convince Robert that his dreams can come true. Well ... except some of them do require rather extreme actions on his part.”

Robert barked out a laugh. Suicide would be ‘rather an extreme action’ on his part. He was going to take Benny’s advice about finding a good detective. One of the benefits of owning a pawn shop was that he had a lot of contacts. He didn’t think it would be too difficult to find a detective who would come to work for him.

“Extreme?”

“Benny just suggested that I kill myself. I figure that’s a little extreme.”

Tim’s father said, “Benny, that’s not something to joke about.”

“I know, Mr. Blake. There’s a long story behind that suggestion.”

Tim’s father frowned. He had never understood the relationship between Tim and Benny. Benny was about smart as they came. As much as he hated to admit as a father, he knew Tim wasn’t that smart. Why they got together like that was a total mystery to him.

“There are a lot of people here. A lot of them are pretty important. I saw that the mayor is here. I met a judge.”

“Lily’s father works for the city so I’m sure that he invited city hall.”

“There’s a bunch of people from the university here.”

“Benny and I do a little business with the university. The university rents our houses. The tenants are visiting professors and we socialize a bit with them.”

“Benny knows some people on the Board of Trustees.”

Tim’s father couldn’t understand how Tim could know so many people at the university, although he was aware that Two Guys Working sponsored a number of scholarships to the university. He imagined that had something to do with it. Yet, Tim wasn’t even going to college.