Partners

Jane Thom waited until 9:30 for Ray Tate to show up. Ray’s phone was turned off so there was no way of getting a hold of him except to drive the 8 miles to his place. He was supposed to insulate the basement ceiling underneath the dining room and cover it with sheetrock. She was nearly done painting the dining room. It had taken just two weeks to doll the place up. She could open her Breakfast in a couple of days with or without the insulation. Insulation would make the room a little warmer.

Jane decided to go get Ray. She listened to the news station while the engine warmed. They announced a winter weather emerency. That wasn’t news. The temperature had been below zero every day for four weeks, the highs sometimes below 10. Another storm had rolled in from the west the night before, dumping 10 more inches of snow. The tail end of the storm was lingering over Central New York. Winds were gusting between 10 and 20 miles an hour, creating whiteout conditions.

The announcement meant that only emergency travel was permitted. Jane wondered what kind of fine there was for being out. It wasn’t really an emergency for her to get the basement finished up. Then again she had 4-wheel drive and knew the roads to the Tate place well enough. She wasn’t likely to run into any state troopers and they all knew she was the sheriff’s sister. Still, whiteout made her ansty. Sometimes you couldn’t see where the road was, if you could see anything at all except a white cloud. If she ran into a ditch she could be stuck there for hours.

She finally decided it wasn’t worth it, went back to painting. Not a minute later Ray knocked on the door.

“Hi, Ray. How the hell did you get here?”

“Skid drove me.”

“Skid’s crazy.”

“Always was, but he’s running the big plow for the county on Route 88. There’s nothing else out there, tell you that. We scraped the road from Harpursville to Sydney and back the other way.” Ray had brought some of his own gear, a saw and an adjustable contraption he made out of PVC to hold the sheetrock in place. He stepped into the mudroom and stomped the snow off his boots, then stepped out of them and into a pair of work shoes.

Jane followed Ray into the basement. Ray looked over the ceiling, then took stock of the materials Jane had gotten – R30 was overkill, he thought, R19 would have done, and there would be at least one full 8x4 of sheetrock left over.

“So you’re going to open a bed and breakfast?” Ray had a habit of hedging between question and assertion.

“Just a breakfast. Not the bed part.”

Ray nodded approvingly. He didn’t know what Jane meant but didn’t want to let on.
“So what are you going to serve, bacon and eggs?”

“Yep” Jane had not given much thought to the menu and was off balance. She’d serve whatever people wanted, as long as she had it. Everyone knew how good a cook she was.

Ray hoisted a full sheet into place and balanced it on top of his contraption, made it look like it didn’t take much strength. He turned a cranklike thing to lock the sheetrock into place. Jane left him to his work and went back upstairs to hers.

“Bacon and eggs” he echoed. He was trying to find the right words to ask Jane what he had been up at 4am thinking about – could he get in on the deal? He had 3,000 in the bank now. If he spent it he’d be right back where he was, nowhere. There wasn’t a lot of opportunity for a young man in Chenango County. Friends of his had moved out of the area, to Syracuse, Albany, or down south. He had no desire to live in Syracuse or Albany, had never been to the south.

Jane called Ray up for lunch at 1pm. She had fixed venison meatballs with mashed potatoes and gravy, and a salad of escarole fresh from the greenhouse. The deer she had shot on her property in early December. It had been feeding regularly in the cornfield so it was as tender as farm raised venison, better since it was free ranging. The potatoes were some weird very dark purple variety that Jose had grown. Jose had some with him when he arrived five years before. No one had ever seen potatoes like that. Sweet enough that they didn’t need butter but Ray put some on anyway.

Ray was no judge of cooking but it seemed to him Jane was as good as it got. He had eaten a lot of venison in his 23 years. His mother’s was always good but nothing like this.

Ray filled up on seconds and had no room for the apple fritters, wrapped a couple in a napkin and put them in his pocket. He sipped his coffee while Jane nibbled on a fritter and decided it was a good a time as any to ask.

“I’d like to invest in your Breakfast.”

“What do you mean?”

“I have the money from the barn sale, 2 or 3 thousand. I could be partners with you.”

“Ain’t that your mother’s money too?”

“Just some of it. Maybe she’ll be in on it too.”

“How is that going to work, being partners in the business.”
“I’ll help you in the kitchen and wait tables, too, collect the checks. You know I’m good with numbers. We split the profits, uh, say 60-40, 60 for you. I’ll put up 2,000 and not charge you for my labor, including what I’m doing now.”

“Let me sleep on it, Ray.” Jane smiled to reassure him. She did have to think about it, maybe talk to her brother about it.

After lunch Ray bounded downstairs to finish the basement work. Jane went back to her painting. She went through a checklist:
Did she get along with Ray? Well enough.
Could she trust him? She thought so.
Would he be reliable? That might be a problem.
Did she need his help? Good question.
Did she need the 2,000? Another good question.

All afternoon Jane could hear Ray through the floorboards, insulation or no insulation. He sure was in high spirits, constantly whistling, humming, or singing. He finished up before 5pm, came upstairs with a big smile, expecting nothing less than a yes.

“Well?”

“I’m going to sleep on it.”

“What do you have to lose. If it doesn’t work out you won’t owe me anything, not even the 2,000.”

“I can’t take advantage of you like that. If it doesn’t work out I’ll return whatever I can of the 2,000”

“So it’s a deal?”

Jane wondered how it got to be but could not deny it.

“It’s a deal.”

Ray thrust out his hand, then took it back and threw his arms around Jane, hugged her off the ground.

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