Picking up the Pieces Ch. 01

"What do you say, partner? Shall we give him a break?"

Brian nodded his agreement and the deal was struck. Peggy pocketed the money, and the man left happy to have purchased eighteen teddy bears for less than three dollars each.

"How much did we pay for them?" she asked Brian.

"I make it ten cents each, but there's the sweat equity, and we don't know if we will be able to salvage the ones that have water damage."

"Not a bad night's work," Peggy laughed before becoming serious. "Don't read anything in to my calling you Honey. That was only for show. I'm soured on all men, and I don't expect it to wear off any time soon."

"Don't worry. I'm soured on all women, too."

Peggy took on a look of shock and concern for a second, but Harry's arrival disrupted their talk, which suited Brian fine. They loaded the truck and started home.

Brian wondered if it could be his imagination, but Peggy seemed more comfortable sharing the seat with him. He knew he'd elevated her curiosity by his remark about being soured on all women.

"I'm planning on wholesaling these bears at a dollar-fifty each if that's okay with you guys," Peggy said when Harry was backing the truck up to the barn.

"Ask Brian. I have no say in this. I'm just helping," Harry said.

Brian was having trouble holding his eyes open. He grunted his agreement that a dollar-fifty was okay with him.

"Are you going to work today?" Peggy asked as they were getting out of the truck.

"I have to," he said, not thinking an explanation was necessary. He'd only been on the job for six months and still had lots to prove to his manager.

"Go take a shower. We'll unload the truck," she said in a commanding voice that he could not refuse. He headed for the house, only to be greeted by a wall of cartons. He had to turn sideways to navigate his way along the narrow path that Harry had left him to get his room.

He would have liked to stay under the warm water all day, but duty called. There was no sign of Peggy, her father or the truck when he left for work. He vaguely remembered that Harry had the keys to the house. Oh well, he had a spare set.

Somehow, he made it through the day without falling asleep while talking to customers. During those brief moments when he was not taking a call, Brian amused himself by remembering the long night before. He recalculated his estimate of the number of cartons they had transferred from the boxcar to Harry's truck. The cost of ten cents per bear could be off by a few cents either way, depending upon how many bears had taken on moisture and would need to be discarded. Still, at a dollar-fifty per bear it would come to a tidy sum. He wondered where Peggy planned on unloading that many teddy bears.

Someone in the break room mentioned seeing scenes of the train wreck on television. "The scavengers reminded me of sea gulls, grabbing what they could. It was disgraceful!" she exclaimed.

"I saw that too," Brian said, neglecting to say that he had been one of the scavengers, and had witnessed the scene first hand.

When he arrived home that evening a strange car was parked next to the house. Expecting the worst, he rushed inside. Peggy was sitting at the kitchen table, talking on her cell phone. It sounded like she was giving directions to his house. She ended the call quickly.

"Do you know that your refrigerator was empty?" she asked, accusingly.

Brian just stared at her.

"Why don't you have a phone?"

He opened his mouth, but was distracted by the empty space in the next room. The wall of cartons had receded, noticeably.

"Here," she said, handing him a beer. You look like you can use it."

He accepted the beer and tipped the bottle back before asking, "Did you get any rest today?"

"Yes, I also went shopping and ordered a phone for...what are you looking at?"

"Has anyone told you that you're beautiful today, Mom?"

This caused her to stop and ponder; should she scold him for saying that she was beautiful or for calling her mom? It must have dawned on her that he was accusing her of acting like his mother.

"You're being...impertinent."

"Did you sell some of the bears?"

She pushed a metal box across the table. "Count it while I make something for you to eat. You must be famished. Will scrambled eggs and toast suit you?"

This was too good to be true. She'd shopped, and now she was going to make scrambled eggs. He nodded and began counting the money.

Brian wrote $1404.00 on a piece of paper, and closed the box just at Peggy set the plate of eggs and toast in front of him.

"Oh, here's the fifty bucks the grandfather paid for one carton," she said as she added the bills to the box. She opened two more beers and sat down to have one of them.

They discussed business while Brian ate. "We need to pay my dad back for the check he wrote," she said.

"We should pay him for the truck and his work last night," Brian added.

"He won't take it. All he wants is his thousand dollars."

Brian ate quickly, and then he told Peggy about the lady in the break room saying they were like seagulls. She laughed, and took his plate to the sink. He watched her wash the plate and silverware.

"You deserve more for the sales work you're doing."

She turned to look his way. "You deserve more for storing our inventory. Let's call it even," she said, turning back to the sink.

"Did you give Amanda one of the bears?"

She turned his way again. "I think you should give it to her. She will like that." Her eyes lingered for a second before turning away.

Questions flooded his mind. Why had she said that? Could she see that he and Amanda had a special connection? "I'd like that, too," he said.

This got her attention. They exchanged a long look, but were interrupted by a car's doors being closed.

"You should get some rest. Take the box to store in your closet. I've got one more buyer coming after this one, and then I'll lock the door as I leave."

He took the box, but turned. "Who are these people?"

"They're flea market dealers. Now go."

Brian did as he was told, put the box on the top shelf of his closet, removed his clothes and got into bed. He fell asleep immediately, but sat up in the bed when he heard the door open.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to disturb you," she said as she took the box from the shelf. "They took four cartons each so I'm adding two hundred and sixteen dollars to the cash box."

Brian watched as she placed the box on the shelf. She turned, and their eyes met. She approached the bed. "Get some rest. I'll be back in the morning," she said, reaching for the blanket to cover him.

He pulled her down, and was about to kiss her when she placed her hand on his bare chest to push herself away. She left without another word. It took Brian a long time to go back to sleep. He cursed himself for misreading the way their eyes had met. Why had she offered him the pleasure of giving Amanda the teddy bear?

He was having his second cup of coffee on Saturday morning when she entered the kitchen without knocking.

"We're business partners. That is all. Got it?" she asked in a stern tone.

"Got it," he answered. "It won't happen again."

With that out of the way, they began work. Brian brought one carton of bears from the barn at a time. They unpackaged every bear, inspecting for water damage, and repackaging the ones that were free of moisture.

Peggy made several calls, and buyers began showing up. Brian listened as she told each buyer they had to agree to charge three dollars, plus sales tax for each bear, and they had to agree to pay the sales tax to the state.

"There's nothing we can do if they don't abide by their agreement, except refuse to sell them anything else if we discover that they didn't comply," she told Brian.

At ten before twelve, she told him that there were cold cuts in the refrigerator and left. When she got back she had Amanda with her. The little girl was happy to see Brian. He handed her one of the teddy bears, saying, "Amanda, this is for you because you're such a good girl."

"You'll have to take it out of the package," Peggy said.

He lifted the little girl to his lap and took the bear out of its enclosure. She was delighted with the gift, grinning at Brian as she hugged the small bear. They watched as Peggy dialed a number.

"Mom, will you send Dad to pick up his granddaughter? Brian has work to do and she's monopolizing his time."

"Was that necessary?" he asked.

"Yes, we have work to do, unless you want to work tomorrow. I know I don't"

"You sound like you have a date tonight," he teased, and was met with a vicious stare.

"Amanda, did you hear your mama say monopolizing, like it's a bad word?"

"Don't tell her it's a bad word. She'll believe anything you tell her," Peggy said, attempting to hide a blush.

Harry arrived to take his granddaughter. They brought him up to date on their progress, boasting that very few of the bears were failing to pass inspection. Understanding that she was about to leave, Amanda kissed Brian, and then her mother. She left, clutching the bear, and grinning at Brian.

They worked through the afternoon, inspecting cartons that Brian brought in from the barn, only stopping to make a sale when buyers arrived. At five PM, the room was filled to capacity, leaving a narrow path for Brian to get to his bedroom.

As Peggy was leaving for the day, she said, "There may be one or two people stopping by tomorrow. If you run into a snag you have my phone number."

That was the last he saw of her for the better part of a month. Each night when he arrived home there was evidence that she had been there. Sometimes there would be a note, curt and to the point. 'I did your shopping. You owe me thirty-five dollars.' Other times he would have to rely on the shrinkage of inventory to know that she'd made sales.

Once, he opened the cash box to find a sheet of accounting paper with each day's transactions posted. Except for the one thousand dollar payment to Harry, all other entries were additions. He counted the bills, feeling embarrassed when the cash matched the balance on the accounting paper.

"If you can't trust your partner, who can you trust," he said to himself.

On Saturdays, he brought more cartons in from the barn to replenish the inventory in what should have been his front room.

For the first time since Samantha had given him the boot, Brian felt lonesome.