Truk 8 — Taking Care of Business
What a difference a good sound system in ones car makes. I had worked on the construction of I-80 over Donner Summit ten years earlier. It was nice to see vegetation coming back. I noticed early morning water skiers on Donner Lake. I was traveling with windows down & enjoying the High Sierra air. Much heavier truck traffic than I expected on a Saturday morning. The temperature increased to a point near Auburn when it was appropriate to close windows & turn on the air. I rolled into Sacramento quite early. Decided to park illegally at the curb of Capitol Towers as is the custom & call the wife from a nearby pay phone. She was ready to lunch. She had stopped smoking, dressed very nicely, hair in a great cut — she was so improved over the wife I said good-bye to on the island months earlier. She suggested a new restaurant overlooking the boat launch below I-5 freeway at American River. We both ordered seafood salad & white wine. I presented my proposal for dissolution & property settlement. My attorney in Reno (a fireman on the island hooked me up with his attorney in Reno) would file as soon as I got back from the islands in about 4 months & we each would be single almost instantaneously. I would sell my house as quickly as possible (hopefully to the house sitters) & give her half the net proceeds. I would give her half of my residual cash savings from regular earnings on the island — not bonuses, not separation incentive, etc. We each would keep any material things we had in hand & the wife would keep any cash she had. I went over the income tax scenario drafted by my accountant. I felt this was far more than she deserved but I wanted things to move quickly. The wife voiced tentative agreement with one exception. She wanted her to use her own tax accountant, the one in San Jose that her sister used. I didn’t want to talk about real estate matters (they didn’t involve her anyway) until my house sitters showed up. The wife & I talked for hours, mostly regarding extended family, her new job, her new boyfriend, my plans for returning to an overseas contract, and just thoughts. She was planning to purchase a car — I offered to help get her car at about 50% savings through the program I bought my car. She declined my offer. We stayed on the restaurant deck for two hours sipping wine & nibbling salad. Steps from the deck led to the river bank — we joined the many walkers on the bike path that I had helped construct years earlier. That was nostalgic. Back to the Capitol Towers.
I gave the wife two hours to herself to do whatever while I got a room for myself. She invited me to spend the night at her apartment — very bad idea. I got a room at the Red Lion near Cal Expo. I had planned to do a little clothing shopping at the adjacent mall but found myself just staying in my room. Unpacking, showering, shaving, looking up the restaurant where I had reservations until it was time to return to the Capitol Towers.
The wife & I drove to the Black Angus, a steak & salad bar place. The house sitters were waiting for us. The four if us were seated at a table I knew was too small to look at the papers I brought. It didn’t matter much though — as soon as we finished eating, the sitters announced that their mortgage company backed out. The sitters had a better plan — I would carry their mortgage. That wasn’t going to happen. I had performed work on their stables & they never paid me. I liked them being in my house but I didn’t like them owing me money. I wondered how much the wife knew about the financing debacle before hand. There was no reason to talk encumbrances, easements or anything else at that point. I told the sitters they had three months to find financing. I would at that point be back from the islands & clean up the problems then list the house with a realtor. The sitters left early citing Sunday morning riding lessons for their clients as their excuse for their early departure. The wife & I wandered into the Black Angus bar with a small dance floor.
The wife had taken dance lessons & wanted to show me what she had learned. It was the early days of hustle, bump & disco — the wife, for the first time, was a better dancer than I. My having been on the island for more than a year gave me little exposure to current dances but I was a small step above embarrassing. Although we ordered drinks, neither one of us were consuming. We stay much longer than planned & I think the restaurant was glad to see us leave since we weren’t drinking. Took the wife back to the Towers; let her know I would be in Reno until Wednesday. I told her I’d call her Tuesday night after I got my phone. Although the wife & I usually greeted each other & said good-bye with a casual kiss, there was no affection implied. Kisses on the mouth were common for persons in their twenties of opposite gender during the mid-seventies. I walked the wife from the car to her door after our evening at Black Angus — the wife kissed me in a manner that did not say good-bye. I chose to leave quickly — she may have taken my exit as an insult but I wasn’t about to screw things up with an implication of reconciliation or other entanglement. Back to the Red Lion for a good night sleep.
In the morning, I was at the Red Lion coffee shop with my Sunday Sacramento Bee sipping coffee as I had done so many Sunday mornings four years previous. From across the restaurant, I was spotted by Vince, a person with whom I had worked while at the State of California Lab job. He came to my table & we talked of what was happening in each of our careers & lives. He mentioned that a couple of weeks ago Paul, who was my supervisor doing ultrasonic weld inspection was now working on the Alaska Pipeline. Paul was assembling a team if ultrasonic techs for a job coming up in Iran — Paul thought I may be interested in leading that team. No one knew my contact information. Paul left his phone number and address in Alaska with the Lab so if any one ran into me, they could pass on the information.
Following events of last night, I was concerned that things seemed complicated in the divorce process as well as the sale of the house. After breakfast, I called the wife to see if there was more to talk about before I left town. She was waiting for her friend Marilyn to take her to Farmers Market. The wife said she was in agreement the plans. Last night she just felt like a big sloppy kiss & it meant nothing; she didn’t really want me to stay. I was relieved. Headed back to Reno. As I drove up I-80 with Elton John singing something about a Yellow Brick Road, I organized in my head the week I had ahead of me. There were three flights — Reno to SF Wednesday afternoon, SF to Honolulu on Wednesday evening & Honolulu to the island on Thursday morning. I wanted to leave those reservations in place even though house sale & other issues were falling apart & I may need to stay a day or so longer.
I thought I’d make Sunday night my last night at the Nugget. I needed to sleep in my apartment Monday night because of the telephone man was coming to my apartment sometime between 8:00 AM & 5:00 PM on Tuesday — that could eat up my whole day. Monday before I left the Nugget, I would call Vince at my old lab & get contact information for my old boss Paul in Alaska. I’d give Paul a call to find out the details of his Iranian adventure. If the timing was right, it would be something I’d really like to do. Lots of my friends from the islands went to work for ARAMCO in Arabia & loved it. The mid-east seemed like the right spot for we who are involved in overseas construction. There were lots of moving parts to my plans for the coming week; flexibility was going to be a key element for success.
I had told my travel agent on the island to call me at the Nugget if she needed to contact me; my contacting her was not possible. I’d heard nothing from the travel agent so I assumed the two last legs of my flight were intact & I had reservations at the Ala Moana in Waikiki on Wednesday night. The Nugget travel agent was insistent that she reserve ground transportation with a Nugget airport shuttle — I was moving out of the Nugget Monday so that wouldn’t work & the travel agent didn’t seem to understand. I figured I’d arrange for a taxi to pick me up at my apartment at noon Wednesday.
I spent the rest of Sunday shopping for the apartment. I wanted a water bed but those were prohibited by my lease. I procured a king sized air bed thinking it would be good for guests after I moved from the islands & got a real bed. I looked at stereos but I knew electronics would best be procured in the islands. Picked up a card table & 2 folding chairs. Bought a bunch of laundry product, ironing board & iron, plus a drying rack. Got a mop, broom, sponges & other cleaning products. I considered buying a vacuum but decided to wait & grab the one from my house in Tahoe. I found myself in the electronics department of some mall store. I’d not planned to have an answering machine (I hated talking to them) but it seemed logical in my situation. The one I was considering had a 120 minute tape & I could access the answering machine remotely to listen, skip, delete, or archive messages. There had been much complaining about my being unreachable by phone in the islands. With this machine, one could always phone myself & leave a message. I walked off & left it — just didn’t feel right. I did procure an AM/FM cassette player alarm clock. I dumped all the stuff at the apartment. I would have liked to spend the night there but I needed to do a bunch of telephoning from the Nugget Monday morning.
I went to breakfast early so I could finish before 8:00 when i wanted to be in my room telephoning. I caught Vince just as he arrived at work at the state lab; he gave me contact information for my old boss Paul who lived in Alaska. I called the number Vince gave me & some person in Alaska answered then put me on hold. I had mixed feelings about this call; it was costing me a fortune, I didn’t even know if Paul was there & if he was there, did he still want me to go to Iran. I was spending thousands on this trip to Reno — nickel & diming this very important call would be foolish. A different person than the one originally answering the phone came on.
“Is there some one there? Who were you holding for?”
“Paul Smith — is this his number?”
“This is the the field office & several engineers have this number. This is the best number to reach him at but he’s out in the field now. Can I take a message?”
“Is he going to be back in the office today?”
“He spends the last hour, six ’til seven, of each day in here filing the paperwork & reviewing progress with the managers. He should be back here by 6:00 PM but he may be in meetings.”
I gave the man on the phone my name & explained that I was told that Paul wanted to get in contact with me. I further expelained that I was calling from a hotel from which I would be leaving at noon — I had no call-back number. I asked that a note be left for Paul indicating I would call from a pay phone at a quarter after six his time. Paul & I had a history of communication over challenging phone systems. I had a crew doing ultrasonic testing on a bridge at Happy Camp, a community with no traditional phone service. Each evening, I would give Paul the days test results via radio patch. His playing phone tag with me from the Alaska wilderness is consistent with our professional communications throughout our relationship.
I called my accountant in Tahoe South Shore. When i left my position with State of California, i should have obtained the services of an accountant before I performed my first task as an independent sole proprietor. I brought them onboard very late and they were able to, while i was on the island, clean up the mess I’d made over the two years I was playing accountant. I sent a letter to the accountant before leaving the island suggesting I would stop in to see them this trip. I needed to let them know I wouldn’t make that appointment. The accountant could use my new Reno mailing address & they should be aware that the wife would be filing her own taxes. We chatted about the sale of my house, my employment status & the money in escrow collected from my old clients. I let the accountant know I’d be back in three months & I’d see them then.
It was just minutes after I got off the phone with the accountant when the phone rang & it was Alaska calling. Paul had come into the office from the pipeline to address an equipment failure. Transducers die all the time & you think carrying one spare for the team is good enough. As long as Paul was in picking up a transducer, he’d give me a quick call but there were techs unable to test welds out at the site. Paul indicated that he was no longer under contract with the Alaska pipeline welding contractor & that he could leave with little notice. He was trying to put the Iranian contract together but there were California labor laws that prevented the agreement with the welding contractor from moving forward. Paul wasn’t sure the project would move forward at all. He wanted the personel participating in the project identified & necessary clearences run ahead of time. I told him to count me in. Paul would send a letter to me on the island explaining every thing he knew about the Iranian situation. I would send him a resume plus project list, references, etc. This stuff I was sending was for the welding contractor & pipeline owner — Paul already knew I was the one for the job. I told Paul I would fly up to Alaska to see him after I got settled here in Reno three months from now. It would be so wonderful to head to Iran as soon as the house was sold, the wife was divorced & the aftermath of my business failing was addressed. So glad this call wasn’t made from from a phone booth as I originally planned.
It was about time to empty the room into my car & settle my account with the Nugget. Unloaded the car into my apartment. I declared the apartment’s furnishings complete for the next three months with one exception; I was going to procure that answering machine that was under consideration the other night. So I set up the answering machine on the card table & began developing my best greeting message
