She nodded quietly. "You ought to be more careful what you do." She commented.
"I'm trying to be Nina." I told her seriously. "I'm really trying to be."
This won me a smile. Not the best I'd ever seen from her, but it was getting there.
By the end of that lunch period she'd thawed a little more. Not completely, but a little more. She laughed a little. She offered looser comments. She even slapped at my shoulder playfully once, sending thrills racing through me at her touch. I began to suspect that things between Nina and I might just work out. Maybe even sooner than I'd expected.
I left the lunchroom happier than I'd been in quite some time.
Mike met me at the payphone just as I'd asked him to. The light snow of the day before had turned into heavier snow accompanied by an icy North wind. He was shivering when I found him there.
"God damn dude." He told me, hopping from one foot to the other to keep warm. "I was about to leave. I'm freezing my ass off out here. What took you so long?"
"Sorry." I apologized. "I was talking to Nina and time kind of slipped away from me."
"Nina's talking to you again?" He asked, feigning disinterest.
"Yeah." I nodded. "I guess you could say we made up."
"Cool deal." He told me wisely, speaking with his voice of experience. "I think she's got the hots for you man. You play your cards right, you might even get some off her like I did with Kathy the other night. Let me tell you, that bitch knows how to suck a…" He continued for more than five minutes, graphically detailing an encounter with this girl; someone I'd never heard of.
When he finished, I said, "Well that's cool. But anyway, can you make this call for me?"
"Sure." He said. "What do you want me to say?"
I explained what I wanted to him and we went over it a few times. "And be sure to deepen your voice a little, just a little, so you sound like an adult."
"And why are we doing this again?" He asked.
"It's a long story." I told him. "But you can rest assured it's for the betterment of all mankind."
He looked at me for a moment and then laughed. "Jesus Bill, you sure know how to come up with 'em."
I handed him a dime and he picked up the phone. As he plugged the coin into the slot he took a sheet of paper from me, scanned it for a second, and then punched in the number that I'd instructed him to dial. He held on to the paper after dialing so he could refer to the names and addresses I'd printed there.
I was worried that he would over-act but, to give him credit, he performed perfectly. He listened for a few seconds and then I could see by his face that the phone had been picked up. With just the right amount of deepening to his voice, he said into the phone. "Good afternoon Mrs. Browling. My name is Bob Hartley. I was referred to you by a friend of mine who purchased a house on Sallyport Way last month; Rick Whaling?"
He paused for a second and then gave me a thumbs-up, letting me know she was buying it so far.
"Yes," He nodded. "Rick loves the house and he recommended you if I should ever find myself in need of a good real estate agent. Well, as it turns out, my wife and I have been planning to buy a house for quite some time. After five years of saving we've managed to put aside eight thousand for a down payment." A pause. "Yes, that's right. Eight thousand. Anyway, we've been kind of looking on our own and we found a house that is listed with your agency out in North Spokane." Another pause. "Well it's at…" He read from the sheet. "Twenty-one nineteen Westbrook Lane." A pause. "Yes, Westbrook Lane." He rolled his eyes upward for a moment. "Why sure, I'll hold."
He covered the mouthpiece with his hand. "She's going to get the file on that house." He told me. "Who is this bitch anyway?"
"Maybe I'll tell you someday." I said cryptically.
He shrugged and went back to waiting. A minute or so passed. Finally he began to listen again. "Yes, that's right." He told Anita. "My wife and I would like to take a look at that house as soon as possible. Is there any chance you could show it to us, say today about one o'clock?"
He nodded, completely into the drama he was participating in. "Very good." He said and then listened some more. "No no, we know where it's at. How about we meet you there?" He listened some more. "That's right, one o'clock. See you there. Thank you very much Mrs. Browling."
He hung up the phone and looked at me. "Whatever you're planning." He told me. "You're dialed in."
"Thanks Mike." I told him. "I owe you one. You've been a benefit to oppressed people everywhere."
"Yeah right." He said. "Well I gotta go dude. Catch you this afternoon."
A thought suddenly occurred to me. "Hey Mike?"
"Yeah?" He said, in the middle of turning to leave.
"You got any buds? I've been itching to get stoned."
He looked at me strangely for a second. "I got some at home." He told me. "About enough for a joint, but I don't have any on me. You want to get stoned later?"
"Yeah." I said, hiding the grin that wanted to break out on my face. Mike had pot but he wasn't bringing it to school with him! For Mike, that was an accomplishment. "After we study today. I think we deserve it."
"Cool." He said, nodding. "Well, gotta jet."
"See ya." I replied, watching him go. He really was growing up.
Finally I turned back to business. I picked up the phone and put in another dime. Consulting my list I dialed a number. It rang three times and then a male voice responded.
"North Spoke Reality. This is Jack Valentine, can I help you?"
"Why yes, Mr. Valentine." I said, deepening my own voice. "You certainly can. You see, a friend of mine, Mark Vincent, recently purchased a house on…"
By twelve-thirty I was sequestered in the row of bushes in the park across the street from 2119 Westbrook Lane. Despite my overabundance of clothing I was shivering as the wind cut through my down jacket and snowflakes stuck to my cap. I was reasonably sure that I could not be spotted by anyone from the house even if they WERE looking for me, which they wouldn't be. The snow that was rapidly accumulating on me would do nothing but help with my camoflaugh.
I'd enticed the two real estate agents to this house by offering them dream clients, making my fictional customers almost too good to be true. It was something no agent would ever turn down; people that had apparently already decided upon a house and had large down payments in reserve in order to help finance it. They would show up, visions of large, quick commissions dancing in their heads. I only hoped that one of my suppositions was correct. If I remembered my real estate agents correctly, they always parked in the driveway if they could when meeting someone at the house. This allowed the customer to get the whole view of the house as they stepped out of their vehicle. The driveway was big enough for both Anita and Jack's cars to fit.
It would certainly make things easier and less dangerous to me if they did NOT park in front of the house. If I was wrong, and they did, there were at least the trees to give partial cover.
As it turned out my supposition was a correct one. Anita arrived first at twelve-fifty, fully ten minutes early. She pulled her car into the empty driveway, bringing it to a halt. Before she could even step out of her vehicle Jack pulled in, driving a late model (for that when) Buick. He parked it right next to hers.
They got out of their vehicles and looked at each other in surprise for a moment, holding a quick conversation. I couldn't hear them but I could guess what they were saying. What are you doing here? A client for this house? Oh really? One o'clock? What a coincidence. What's your client's name? Really? Well, I'll try not to step on you. Pretty weird, huh?
They spoke to each other as acquaintances, with no hostility that I could detect. I saw them shake their heads a few times as if wondering at the quirks of fate which brought both of them here at exactly the same time. Finally a comment was passed that had to have amounted to, 'why are we standing out here in the snow?'. They both headed for the front door.