Chapter 5

Abby showed up at Jack’s door at nine in the morning. Her car was filled with her clothes and other essentials, but she still had an apartment full of goods back at her old place. She was going to have to make a dozen trips and her little old ‘88 Nova wouldn’t hold the furniture. She looked at the pickup truck hoping that Jack would help her move.

After having spent the morning cleaning out the room for Abby, Jack opened the door and said, “You’re here.”

“That’s right. I’ve brought my clothes,” Abby said.

“Let me give you a hand getting your stuff in the house,” Jack said stepping out of the house and leaving the front door open. He figured that with a half an hour of work, he’d get her moved into the house and then he would be able to mow a couple of lawns.

“Thanks,” Abby said with a little relief.

It took three trips for the pair of them to carry her stuff into her room. Once her car had been unloaded, Jack said, “There you go. Now you’re moved in.”

“Uh, not exactly,” Abby said biting her lower lip.

Frowning, Jack asked, “What else have you got?”

“Well, all of my furniture and kitchen stuff. I’ve packed up everything in boxes, but they won’t fit in my car,” Abby answered. She had furniture for her living room, dining area, and bedroom back at the apartment. In addition to an entertainment center, she had a bookcase and a couple boxes of books that weighed a ton.

“Furniture?” Jack asked realizing that he hadn’t thought that much about what it would mean to have her move in with him. There wasn’t even a bed in the bedroom. He hadn’t even considered what she would sleep on.

“I’ve got my own bed. There’s no way I can carry my mattress in my little car,” she said looking at empty space where she planned to put her bed. The room wasn’t very big and her furniture would fill it.

Jack frowned upon hearing her answer. He could see that his plans for mowing lawns that afternoon were out the window. Giving into the inevitable, he said, “Let’s get on the road. You lead and I’ll follow you.”

“Thanks,” Abby said feeling a little embarrassed. She knew that she should have rented a moving van, but she couldn’t afford it.

They made three round trips to pick up her stuff from the apartment. Driving back from the last trip, Jack looked down at the gas gauge on his truck. At nearly four dollars a gallon, he was pretty sure that this had cost him twenty dollars. He swore and said, “I’ve burned up half a week’s worth of gasoline today and lost out on earning some money. This day probably cost me a hundred and forty dollars.”

He pulled into the driveway and looked at the furniture in the back of his truck. He had no idea what he was going to do with her couch. There wasn’t a place in the house for it. He had to admit that her furniture was better than his, but he felt that his was more comfortable. He opened the tailgate and pulled the couch to the edge.

Abby pulled up behind him. Her car held the last of her household goods. All of it was from the kitchen. Getting out of her car, she said, “We should probably get my food in the refrigerator.”

Jack looked over at her and said, “I don’t have electricity.”

“I keep forgetting that,” Abby said with a sigh. She looked at the boxes of food in her car and said, “We’re going to have to have a feast tonight.”

“Sorry,” Jack said despite the fact that the idea of a feast sounded pretty good to him. It had been a long time since he had sat down to a large meal.

Jack and Abby carried her couch into his living room. He looked around at the room and how crowded it had become. With the addition of an entertainment center, her furniture, and a television set, there were just too many pieces of furniture for a single room. He had a couch and his comfort chair. Now she had a couch and her comfort chair. There was still a table and four chairs in the back of the truck. Jack took a deep breath and said, “Something is going to have to go in the garage.”

“You’re not putting my stuff in the garage,” Abby declared standing beside her chair protectively.

“I’m not moving my stuff,” Jack said crossing his arms and thinking that he had made a really big mistake. He was beginning to get tired of this woman and she hadn’t even been there a day.

“I’ll put my couch out there, but not my chair,” Abby said seeing that Jack wasn’t going to give in on this issue. This was why she didn’t want to just rent a room.

“Fine,” Jack said.

Abby said, “Your chair has to go out there.”

“My chair is staying right where it is,” Jack said.

“Something has to go out to the garage. There’s not enough room for two chairs and a couch,” Abby said. She still had the bookcase to put up.

“The couch can go out there,” Jack said unwilling to give up his recliner.

“Where will other people sit?” Abby asked.

“In the garage,” Jack answered realizing for the first time that she would be having company over too. Rather than simplifying his life, having her rent a room from him was beginning to complicate his life.

“Okay,” Abby said. She figured that with time they would come to a better agreement, but she could live with that for the moment.

The pair carried the two couches out to the garage. More furniture was carried out to the garage since they didn’t need two dining room tables or two coffee tables. It seemed to Jack that every item that she brought with her on this last trip became the centerpiece of an argument. A lot of it was pretty stupid, but they were both tired.

About the time they got everything stashed away, Jack looked at his wrist watch. He said, “It is dinner time. We worked through lunch.”

“No wonder I’m crabby,” Abby said. She didn’t function too well when she skipped a meal.

Jack was about to make a comment, but bit his lip. There was no sense in making things worse than they already were. He said, “Well, I’ll start a fire in the barbecue.”

“I’ll cook if you wouldn’t mind setting up my bed,” Abby said looking into the disaster that was her bedroom. She wasn’t going to be able to find anything until the boxes were unpacked.

Jack went outside to start the fire. Abby looked around the room trying to figure out how to arrange things so that they’d be comfortable. The living room did not fit in with what she thought was proper for a living room. It was overly crowded in the room and there was nowhere to entertain visitors.

While fussing around in the room, she noticed the stack of papers on the table by the front door. Thinking that leaving papers around like that was going to be another source of conflict, she looked at them. The title of the topmost page caught her eye. Reading it, she said, “Communes? He’s got an article on communes?”

She picked up the papers and flipped through them. There were a dozen articles describing problems and issues associated with the communal life. She noticed that there were a few articles on Kibbutzim. Putting the articles back where she had found them, she said, “I didn’t think he had taken me seriously.”

Jack returned to the house and said, “It will take about twenty minutes for the wood to burn down to coals.”

“Okay, I’ll start to work on supper,” Abby said. Her mind was still on the fact that he had collected some articles about communes.

“I’ll get to work putting your bed together,” Jack said thinking that he had wasted an entire day with this move. He didn’t mind working all day, but he couldn’t afford to go for long without earning any money.

Abby went into the kitchen where there was a stack of her boxes that held her goods. She dug through his cabinets examining his kitchenware. His stuff was a lot heavier than her stuff. He even had a set of cast iron skillets. The drawers were loaded with kitchen gadgets. Of course, his dinnerware was pretty plain compared to what she owned. She looked over at the boxes of stuff that she had knowing it was going to be tough getting everything put away.

She went to work trying to put something together for dinner that could be cooked over a barbecue grill. She hadn’t tried to cook a meal over a fire since she was in girl scouts and realized that she didn’t really know what to do. She exhaled loudly and said, “The first thing we are going to have to do is to get electricity.”

The problem of paying for the electricity immediately raised its ugly head. She sighed at the thought that neither of them had the money for it and said, “Maybe we could have a garage sale.”

She had never really considered the full implications of renting a room. She hadn’t thought about how much stuff she had. She couldn’t bear the idea of having it all stored away, but she didn’t really like mixing her stuff with his. The idea of a commune was suddenly a whole lot less appealing than the rosy economic picture she had imagined. She understood that in marriage his stuff would become their stuff. Renting a room didn’t make that the case.

In the bedroom, Jack was busy assembling the bed frame. He had to admit that she had very nice looking furniture. In carrying her stuff over to the house, he had noticed that she had spent a lot more money on the decorative items of the house than he had. His stuff was junk that he had collected over time. She even had a headboard for her bed while he just had a mattress on a rail frame. Between the two of them, they could put together a pretty nice place.

His television and stereo were much better than hers. Of course, his stuff was over at the pawnshop at the moment. The only things of value that he hadn’t pawned were his tools. His tools could earn him a whole lot more money than they could fetch at a pawnshop. His father had always told him that if he could work with his hands that he’d never starve. It had been good advice. Of course, his father hadn’t told him that he’d never be rich that way.

He finished assembling the frame and stood back appreciating the nice piece of furniture. It was a nice solid wood frame with a deep cherry wood finish. He wrestled the box springs and mattress into place. Standing at the door, he had to admit that she had a pretty nice looking bedroom. It was a little crowded since he was using the master bedroom.

He stood up and stretched. Looking out the window, he noticed that the shadows were getting longer. Thinking about how dark the house would be soon, he said, “Only a couple more hours of sun. She’s not going to be happy when it gets dark.”

He walked into the kitchen and looked around at the boxes stacked there. There just wasn’t room for much more junk in the kitchen. He jumped when she said, “Would you like to fix the salad? I’ve got lettuce that should be used before it goes limp. The tomatoes will last a day or two, but I’d like to add them to the salad. We might as well use them before they go bad.”

“Okay,” Jack said. He looked at the small packages of yogurt that were on the counter. He didn’t like yogurt, but knew they’d go bad without refrigeration. He asked, “What are you going to do with the yogurt?”

“I guess I’ll eat them tonight,” Abby answered. She had some milk, eggs, mayonnaise, and frozen vegetables. There was going to be a lot of food for dinner that night.

Jack started to work on the salad. It was a pretty easy thing to prepare. Eyeing the milk sitting on the counter, he said, “Maybe we can borrow some ice from Claire. We might be able to keep a little of the yogurt and milk for tomorrow morning. I’ll admit the idea of actually eating cereal for breakfast has my mouth watering.”

“Cereal?” Abby asked amazed that anyone would actually look forward to eating cereal. She looked at the refrigerator realizing that every meal from now one was going to be coming out of a can.

“Yes. I think it has been two months since I’ve had a bowl of cereal for breakfast,” Jack said feeling a little depressed.

“Oh,” Abby said. She looked at the wood cabinets in the kitchen. They looked relatively new and very expensive. She asked, “Did you put the cabinets in?”

“Yes. That was before the money ran out,” Jack said. The kitchen had been the first room that he had tackled in bringing the house up to modern standards. All of the appliances were new. Now they sat there useless because he didn’t have electricity.

“I’ve got to say that it’s a nice kitchen,” Abby said. The floor was a nice tan ceramic tile that was meant to last decades. The engineered stone countertop wasn’t the top of the line granite countertop, but it was high quality. The dark green color provided a nice balance for the oak cabinets giving them a slightly lighter appearance.

“Thanks,” Jack said.