An Enchanted Beginning by Frank W. Butterfield

Author:Frank W. Butterfield [Butterfield, Frank W.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: N30
Published: 2016-10-03T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter 2

I like Eureka Valley. Nice houses.

In bed

Saturday, June 18, 1949

Between 7 and 8 in the morning

After a long shower, the two played around in bed until Carter fell asleep. Nick sat there at his side, smoking a Camel, watching his lover sleep.

The big man was stretched out on his belly, his broad back rising and falling in synchronized time to his light snore. Nick noticed that, on this particular morning, Carter's hair looked like straw hay. He'd never seen it like that before and was charmed by it. That was the effect that so much of what was unique about Carter had on him.

After about fifteen minutes of being charmed in this way, Nick quietly got up and got dressed. He slipped out the front door and down to the street. He walked down the block to the market and picked up a few things to make breakfast for when Carter woke up. Along with these provisions, he bought a cup of coffee and a couple of sweet rolls. All that rolling around in the hay made him hungry.

. . .

Carter hungrily wolfed down the scrambled eggs, fried bacon, fried potatoes, and toast that Nick had made for them to eat.

As Nick took a forkful of eggs, Carter nonchalantly said, "Let's move in together."

Nick swallowed and looked at the man across the table. "What?"

"Let's move in together."

"You practically live here already."

"Not here."

Nick took a swallow of his coffee. It was cold. He stood up to grab the percolator off the stove.

"Where?"

Carter held up his cup as Nick topped it off. "A house. Our house."

Nick topped off his own and put the percolator back on the stove. As he sat down, he looked over at Carter in disbelief.

"Say again."

Carter smiled. He pushed his empty plate away. "I want to have a yard. And a basement. And a garage. I'm tired of living in an apartment."

Nick nodded. "Uh huh."

Carter added, "I figured on my salary, my half of the mortgage could be $65."

Nick cocked his head to the left. "That much?"

Carter shrugged. "Sure. It'd be a little tight."

Nick picked up the plates and put them in the sink. He didn't bother to wash them. He was confused.

"So, you want to buy a house together? With a mortgage of $130 a month?"

"Yeah." Carter was smiling.

Nick was stunned. He leaned against the sink and watched Carter, feeling like his entire life was ending in some horrible way.

Carter continued. "I have $500 saved up for a down payment. The way I look at it, we could buy a place for $15,000. There's a lot of houses over in Eureka Valley that we could afford at that price."

Nick sat down, still in shock. Carter glanced at the sink and asked, "Do you want me to do the dishes?"

He yelled, "No!" as he banged his fist on the table.

Carter turned and, with an innocent look on his face, asked, "What's wrong Nick?"

In a low tone of voice, Nick said, "Don't you ever do that to me again, fireman.

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